"It will come at a heavy cost." Benimaru finished Fiain's sentence, as he had gotten a grasp of the situation. 'It looks like their hands are heavy, trying to handle the Silverback Gorillas. They should have sent people with enough strength to overpower us easily. But…unfortunately for them, they made this decision based on the old data.'
"You don't need to worry about it." Benimaru stood up and stretched his body. "Let them come. Just be careful of your surroundings. I don't want any ambushes."
Afterwards, Benimaru left for his room; no one knew what he would be doing inside.
…
Inside Benimaru's room.
"Hmmm. Even if we try to remain peacefully, danger will come walking toward us." Benimaru sighed, sitting on his bed.
"However, this doesn't matter much. I have to think of finding another treasure that can help strengthen us." Benimaru rubbed his forehead, thinking of the main problem that was bugging his mind.
Just a few days ago, the Pool of Body Mending had its blood essence completely depleted; now it was completely useless. It has brought them to greater heights by making qualitative changes in their bodies. But it ran out far earlier than he anticipated, making the generals who had used the least wait.
A couple of minutes later, Benimaru let out a disheartened sigh before continuing his cultivation. 'It is a waste of time thinking about it. Let's cultivate.'
…
North of Benimaru's area.
A small demon army, consisting of sixty demons, was heading to the north. This army was led by none other than Ragnar himself. He was riding an Emberhoof that he had taken for himself. He couldn't travel with just his feet, as he was a general.
Ragnar looked straight ahead, not caring to watch his sides. But that didn't mean he was careless, as he always had his mana senses on. He wanted the enemy to attack him by acting carelessly.
However, no fish caught on his bait, making Ragnar a bit surprised. 'It looks like the other party is cautious, but they are still preparing to attack us.'
Ragnar became very curious to meet his opponent now.
As he moved forward, Ragnar's eyes suddenly widened. 'This level of stealth skill. There is no way these ordinary soldiers can use it. Someone is good with spells.'
Just now, someone was detected on his mana senses—only for a second. But that was enough for Ragnar to gauge his opponents tactics. This was all the accumulation of the expedition he went on alone.
Ragnar caressed Emberhoof's neck and said it with a smile. "Buddy, you can go wild for a while, but don't hurt our own men."
The Emebrhoof neighed in joy before slamming its front hoofs to the ground. Instantly, a wave of fire ran through the ground, eventually hitting the trees and bushes to the sides and lighting them on fire.
"Raaa"
"Kraa"
Panicked screams followed after that, as several demons ran away from the burning trees.
Ragnar didn't glance at them, just ordering his men, he began to move forward. "Kill every single one of them."
Instantly, the army behind him divided in half and went to chase down the ambushers.
The ambushers saw themselves being targeted by Ragnar's men, but they didn't retreat. Instead, they signaled others with their eyes and rushed forward to kill the enemies before them. How could they be afraid of demons who were the same number as them?
Their leader had only told them to be worried about Benimaru and his generals.
But, their leader made a mistake. Not only were Benimaru and his generals strong, so were his soldiers. One thing that most demon lords do is that they just give their soldiers a basic training before letting them do whatever they want. However, that wasn't the case for Benimaru.
Benimaru had given his attention to every aspect, as he hated to have a visible weakness. So, he even bought some techniques that could be used by demons who had low intelligence.
This led to the ambushers getting crushed in a matter of seconds, not even putting a proper dent in their armor.
"March forward, my soldiers. We have yet to achieve victory." Ragnar's words echoed throughout everyone's ears. He didn't even let them take a breath, but the soldiers didn't mind, as they wanted to get this victory more than anyone else, to get the merits.
…
Inside a well-lit cave that didn't have any dim spots.
"Who is this guy!? How can his puny army be this strong?" A screeching voice rang throughout the cave, scaring the pair of Gorebuzz who were guarding the entrance.
The source of this voice was of a woman's. She had long dark hair, a pair of short horns, and a tail that was hidden under her long violet robe. Her ruby-like eyes glanced at the white ball in front of her, which was showing the complete annihilation of her army.
She was Gardenia, the lord that Ragnar was targeting. She was from the Witch race, the least known among the high-ranking bloodlines.
"No, I have to do something." She picked up the white orb and headed outside the cave. "I have to at least set up some traps before he arrives."
…
After ten minutes or so, Ragnar arrived before the cave entrance. It was on a relatively small hill, nothing special.
Raising his eyebrows, Ragnar glanced around. "Where is everyone? Did they escape right away?"
"Everyone, quickly search the surroundings." Ragnar continued by giving instructions to his soldiers.
His soldiers formed a team of four and scattered everywhere, in a strict disciplinary way. If one saw it, they would be surprised, as disciple and demon never went along with each other.
Meanwhile, Ragnar waited quietly, sitting on his Emberhoof. Closing his eyes, he calmly pondered. 'Was the demon baron of this place too confident or is hiding something?'
Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he glanced down. A large enough magic circle—approximately ten meters of radius—lit up below him, glowing red.
"When?!" Ragnar was extremely surprised, as he had checked everything through his mana senses but didn't find any traces of mana left by others anywhere.
He didn't have any time to think as a raging inferno burst out of the magic circle, engulfing Ragnar and his Emberhoof entirely.
This attracted everyone, especially Ragnar's soldiers. They were familiar with Ragnar's fighting style, so they knew this wasn't done by him. So, they quickly rushed in his direction in panic, even knowing they might be of no help.
However, in that momentary distraction, dozens of demons jumped at them, taking them by surprise.
"Hmph… Benimaru's generals are nothing but this? You sure were putting on a great arrogant font." Gardenia emerged from the cave as if she had always been there. She scoffed after seeing Ragnar not even notice her trap.
"Don't be disappointed. You have yet to see anything." Suddenly, a calm voice came from beside her, stumping her. She turned her head and saw Ragnar standing up, giving the Emberhoof lying on the ground a soft pat.
Gardenia's eyes widened, seeing Ragnar and the Emberhoof unscathed. The Emberhoof was even snorting the flares in the air leisurely.
"But, I have to say. I am very surprised by your mastery of spells, especially concealing techniques." Ragnar said it with a look of appreciation. He had never seen such high level spells used so easily, even hiding from others eyes. Not even Benimaru and Ravenna, who were well known for their use of spells, had this level of skill.
Gardenia raised her eyebrows, seeing the carelessness of Ragnar. She didn't take Ragnar's words very seriously, as she was very proud of her talent in spellcraft, she didn't need others to tell her how good she was anyway. "Tell me, what do you want?"
Ragnar with seriousness. "I am here to take you down before you attack us. You were deploying your troops just outside our borders. No demons do that except when they have the idea of attacking others."
What Ragnar said was true, as demons didn't care much about borders; those were only present for them to show off how much land they owned. Only humans had their soldiers deployed around the borders to protect themselves from others.
The veins on Gardenia's forehead began to twitch after hearing Ragnar's response. She shouted in anger. "Who told you that? I was deploying my men to protect myself from your guys. At the pace at which you are conquering the lands beside you, I was afraid that it was my turn. You are so unreasonable."
Ragnar was left speechless, not knowing what to say in return. Now that he thought about it, he felt she was right. They made an irrational division. But it wasn't their fault, as no demon ever deployed troops to guard the borders.
"I apologize for our mistake." Ragnar said it politely. In these past few months, Benimaru has taught them ethics and morals, which will help them tremendously as brute force doesn't work all the time.
Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience