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Janis felt a strange aversion to revealing her wings in front of Jeongjae, but in a situation like this, she couldn’t afford to hold back any false pretense.

First, Janis repeatedly flew high into the sky and landed to accurately pinpoint the location of the goblins. Unlike at first, the bandits seemed to have given up on hiding their intentions. Perhaps Janis and Jeongjae realized the nature of the spell cast upon this territory, understanding that their mission was to buy time for the flanking squad to escape as far as possible.

Thus, the existence of the goblin units left in this territory was nothing but a discarded card, a suicide squad. Under the assumption that they would die anyway, they were merely sacrificed in a brutal mission with the single purpose of surviving as long as possible.

If it were the imperial army, they would never employ such tactics regardless of strategic utility. But the Demon King’s Army, not just this time but at any time, casually sacrificed surplus troops to achieve strategic outcomes.

Of course, humanity does not willingly accept the sacrifice of lives in unavoidable situations. However, every time Janis saw the enemy employ such tactics, she felt that rather than embracing her identity as a hybrid of monsters, she wanted to establish herself as a complete human being.

No, her dream did not simply end at being human. The world she envisioned, the state of humanity she wished to unveil after this war, looked beyond mere military unification of the continent by the Caprice royal family.

For her great ambitions, she had to grasp the world. What road Janis intended to walk and what awaited her at the end were things she herself didn’t know. But right now, all she could do was to take down the goblins and wolves right before her.

The azure blade of Eramenia simultaneously sliced through the wolf’s torso and the goblin’s legs. She had dealt with all the enemies in this alley. Janis tasted the wolf’s blood that splattered onto her lips briefly before grimacing and spitting it out.

“Ugh, it’s slimy. I’m not cut out to live as a vampire.”

While Janis could fly high into the sky to locate the goblins, Jeongjae had to dodge through the streets, using rapid magic on his legs to search for enemies.

Of course, Jeongjae could easily elevate himself if he applied some levitation magic, but unlike the Grand Sage, who swiftly learned flight as if finding his calling the moment he realized he could fly, Jeongjae didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling of his body floating in the air.

Since his days in Korea, he hadn’t ridden roller coasters or drop towers. Having faced several threats from wolves ambushing him from hiding places since he couldn’t anticipate enemy positions, he managed to handle them all skillfully and focused on eliminating the remaining goblins.

Although Jeongjae was killing enemies on par with Janis, this kind of fight was not his preferred way of battling. Chasing and cornering hiding enemies resembled menial tasks handled primarily by Margaret and Bernard in the hero party.

That he hadn’t been completely lost in this battle while tracking the enemies was thanks to observing those two and providing them with a few supplementary spells.

Instead of flying directly in the air, Jeongjae conducted reconnaissance by jumping and walking on the walls to spot enemies from elevated positions. Suddenly, he and Janis encountered each other again in the central town of the Baron’s territory after each had downed dozens to hundreds of enemies.

“Whoa! Can you not press a sword against me?”

Seeing Janis reflexively press a blade toward him, Jeongjae raised both hands. Janis quickly withdrew the blade and nodded her head.

“Oh, I’m sorry. There were just so many hiding around…”

“But what are those wolves fed on? They’re extremely fast. By the time I spot their position and go after them, they’ve already left.”

“It seems the enemy has split their forces in half. This means there might be about three thousand enemies infiltrating this town alone.”

“I haven’t killed that many, but how about you?”

“I’m not satisfied either. If it starts getting dark, you’ll need a break too, and in the meantime, the enemies won’t be resting…”

“They’re very mobile enemies. Just thinking about how far they could go in a single day if we don’t chase them down makes me feel uneasy.”

The reason Janis and Jeongjae found themselves in such a predicament was largely because they had not anticipated that the Demon King’s Army would act with this level of strategic vision, without a proper officer in charge.

As for the Demon King’s Army thus far, the only opponents employing solid strategies against the imperial army were largely the Succubus Queen and, to a conservative extent, the Gargoyle Queen.

The goblins, whom they had thought were merely thieves, had exquisitely used magic to throw themselves as sacrifices and tied down their strongest forces within the territory, executing a highly-skilled strategy to attack the weak points with their remaining forces — something Walter could never have predicted.

“Is there no way to wipe them out all at once? Chasing the remaining enemies won’t really be the end, right? If we chase down and annihilate the cavalry going north, we’ve already fallen behind sufficiently.”

“There are ways. Without blowing up the territory entirely, there are methods to wipe out the enemies within this confined space.”

“I would like to request that it not put our lives in danger.”

“Of course. However… I’m one hand short.”

Hearing Jeongjae’s statement, Janis tilted her head with interest. Glancing at her staff, she muttered for a moment, then turned back to Jeongjae and asked.

“What method do you have in mind? If two of us can’t do it alone, it must be some substantial high magic you’re considering.”

“We’ll tie them all up and snare them in a web.”

Jeongjae shot a fireball towards an approaching goblin as he spoke. For a moment, Janis blinked, not understanding what Jeongjae meant, before suddenly clapping her hands.

“The Rope of Fire? Here?”

Naturally, as a specialist in binding magic, Janis knew that spell well. The Rope of Fire was a powerful spell that, like a spider’s web, extended its branches to ensnare all nearby enemies and burn them together.

It was strong enough to annihilate an entire legion if it struck just one target, but there were several realistic restrictions to swinging it around carelessly.

“But… to use that magic properly, the caster must have a rough understanding of the positions of all goblins. Without positional information on the targets, it’s useless.”

“You can fly up to observe, then use coordinate magic to determine the enemy’s positions and convey that information to the caster.”

“The enemies are very fast. Even if I figured out their positions and relayed it to the caster, the chance of their locations changing during transmission and while the spell is activated is extremely high.”

“I can freeze the entire territory with freezing magic. My feet might freeze in the process, but since I’ll be using the Rope of Fire anyway, I won’t need to move my feet.”

“Then while you make the entire territory into an ice rink, I’ll observe the enemy’s positions with the red eyes of the Magic Tower from the sky and relay that information… to whom? No matter how much of a professor you are, maintaining the freezing magic while simultaneously using the rope is…”

“That’s impossible. I don’t have enough mana for that.”

Janis seemed to understand why Jeongjae had said he was ‘one hand short.’ They had all the conditions to assist the only means available, but the actual caster wasn’t present at the moment.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Janis cracked a subtle smile as she nodded her head.

“How fortunate. I happened to call on just the right person. There’s someone who lives not far from here. Almost there… I think they’ve arrived.”

“You have a magician you know around here?”

Surprised, Jeongjae’s eyes widened as he had already given up on the Rope of Fire and was now contemplating alternative methods. Janis shrugged her shoulders.

“You shouldn’t be surprised. Are there any other notable magicians nearby?”

“Koesernis.”

“Jeminia Koesernis. The baron’s army might be unable to move, but a countess shouldn’t be a problem. Additionally, I had previously called her to the Magic Tower, and if big trouble arises in the southern region, I’ve discussed that she would not refuse my request for support.”

“When did you have such discussions…”

And powerful flames broke through the goblins’ magic circle, flooding into the Kirigis territory. Jeminia Koesernis, the baron’s wife, walked steadily into Kirigis wearing a red battle robe.

“I came upon urgent support requests, Grand Sage. And Baron Harriet. I am Jeminia Koesernis. If my strength can assist, I will help in any way I can.”

“I am Jeongjae Park. I have heard rumors of you often, but this seems to be our first meeting, milady.”

Jeongjae bowed respectfully. Janis looked at the flames she just passed while slicingly dispatching goblins with a hint of admiration.

“Powerful fire magic you have.”

“Using fire is my specialty, Grand Sage. By the way, it seems like there’s some big trouble here. I was preparing for battle upon hearing that goblins on wolves were approaching over the mountains, but I never expected them to completely disregard us and march west…”

“Thanks to that, you were able to arrive so quickly?”

“Actually, I used this.”

Jeminia held up a shattered jewel in one hand, smiling broadly. Jeongjae recognized the nature of the jewel in Jeminia’s hand. It was an extremely rare magical stone commonly used as a medium for teleportation spells.

“Teleportation, huh…”

It wasn’t a common item. Since it had to be shattered to use, its rarity was increasing day by day. If someone could casually procure and use such an item, there would have been no reason for Margaret to rush to the battle in Harriet’s territory with such narrow timing.

Then again, perhaps Jeminia had provided that rare magical item to the reinforcements she intended to call upon in urgent situations due to her experiences suffering in the southern territory landing battle. Jeongjae thought that he too should figure out how to obtain that kind of item to share with trustworthy allies like Margaret as a contingency.

“If I had to rush over using this, then there must have been ample reason for it, right, Grand Sage?”

Jeminia asked with a calm voice, bowing her head towards Janis. The Grand Sage fluttered her robe, spreading her wings from her back and lifted slightly off the ground.

“We have no time to waste, milady. The enemies that have infiltrated this territory are only part of it. Did you see the magic circle that was expanded when you entered this place?”

“It was unusual. The barrier that allows entrance but blocks exit. Usually… it’s quite the opposite.”

“That’s because it’s not our barrier. The enemies intend to trap us inside while their main force sweeps through the southern territories. To break this barrier, we must slay all the goblins and kobolds inside the territory.”

Jeongjae simply explained the situation. Jeminia nodded her head, indicating she understood both of their statements.

“What should I do, Grand Mage?”

“Do you know how to handle the Rope of Fire?”

“Actually, that’s my specialty spell. There’s no better spell for catching fleeing goblins trying to invade our territory.”

Jeongjae clenched his fist at Jeminia’s confident answer.

“Then Janis has truly called upon the right person. A support that is worth the mana stone. Milady, all you need to do is simply to receive the coordinate information conveyed through magic by the Grand Sage, then bind all the goblins and wolves in that spot with ropes and burn them.”

“Wait a moment, Grand Mage. Three thousand of them? Combine that with the mounts, and isn’t that six thousand? How in the world can you deal with such a number at once…”

“Well, bundling them all up is fine too, isn’t it?”

“No, I don’t know how the two of you typically fight, but I’ve never cast a large-scale spell of that size before…”

“You’ll get used to it as you go. Professor, I’ll take off first. Please start with the freezing magic.”

“Freezing magic? What range exactly…”

“Of course, the entire territory, milady. You’ll freeze and your feet might get cold, but please understand.”

At Jeongjae’s seemingly obvious statement, Jeminia stared at him wide-eyed. Perhaps she had caught onto the intent that fixing the enemies’ positions would make it easier to use coordinate magic, but it seemed she found it hard to believe that Jeongjae was intending to cast such magic on his own.

“The whole territory? You plan to freeze it all with freezing magic? What auxiliary artifacts do you have?”

“It would be nice if I had any, but it’s not strictly necessary.”

“In that case, you plan to do it with only your own mana?”

“That’s right, that’s right. You’ll see for yourself.”

Jeongjae slammed his fist down on the empty ground infused with freezing magic. As if his incantation had set off, the entire Kirigis territory turned into an ice rink in an instant, though Jeongjae seemed oblivious to the fact that he was defying not just human common sense but even the understanding of mages.

 

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