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The formation quickly collapsed. The battle had just begun, yet the outcome was already decided. In the raging flames, the Eramenia army, engulfed in chaos, was able to showcase none of their usual skill. In the midst of this, Margaret, who had to stabilize the army’s chaos, ultimately lost something within her heart upon experiencing the scent of a complete defeat for the first time.

She fell off her horse but barely managed to avoid serious injury. However, the emotional wounds she had been hiding suddenly erupted all at once, leading to a devastating toll. Though she knew in her mind that she had to issue orders to minimize damage, despair at having perfectly fallen into the enemy’s trap immobilized her.

‘There’s nothing to be done. If the Demon King anticipated this much, it’s no longer a situation that can be salvaged on the fly. We’re all dead. No matter what I do, I can’t fix this.’

As Margaret showed signs of breaking down, the soldiers who had followed her felt drained of any motivation. Jeongjae, who had just managed to kill an enemy ogre with all his might, rushed over to Margaret.

“Margaret! Give some orders! You’re the commander here!”

“Orders… I see… we need to retreat… Everyone must fall back outside the canyon…”

Margaret crumpled to her knees right then and there. Jeongjae was shocked at how someone who had just seemed like a manifestation of a goddess had now appeared so weak, resembling a fragile child.

Her swords slipped from both her hands. In a situation where escape routes were blocked, the Fairy Lord looked around vacantly, murmuring.

“Where to go? Is this my fate? Right at the moment I could soar the highest, I’ve arrogantly crumbled, following in the footsteps of countless losers. You should escape, Park Jeongjae. I have no strength to leave this place, but you…”

Jeongjae couldn’t hold back any longer. He instinctively moved and slapped Margaret hard across the face. It was a strike powerful enough to make the Fairy Lord’s head sway to the side. With a dazed expression, Margaret looked up at Jeongjae, who was on the verge of tears.

“Enough! You crazy woman! Five legions of the kingdom came here just to follow you. You think in everyone’s moment of need, that’s something to whine about? Get your sword ready and prepare to run. With just a word from you, there are soldiers here who will do everything to get you to safety—just show us your will!”

This was a level of verbal violence rarely seen from Jeongjae. However, realizing she had no grounds to refute such words, Margaret shakily grabbed her sword with trembling hands. Meanwhile, the Demon King, watching the scene from the cliff, mumbled to himself.

“I’ve succeeded in breaking her spirit for now. But if I don’t break her will to live, she will surely rise again. Hurry, Gargoyle. Kill that girl before she escapes!”

Whether he heard the Demon King’s command or not, the Gargoyle Queen, having crossed through the canyon, began to rush toward Jeongjae and Margaret with her wings spread.

Jeongjae, realizing that the current Margaret was in no state to fight, prepared a magic circle to face the Gargoyle Queen alone.

“I am your opponent, Diana.”

“We’re not close enough for you to call my name like that.”

Without a word, the Gargoyle Queen rushed toward Jeongjae, her fist clenched. Jeongjae, wanting to ensure he could defeat her, enhanced his own physical strength with magic and waited until she neared.

The two fists crossed, but the Grand Mage’s strike was faster. As the Gargoyle swayed back from the impact of Jeongjae’s punch, a pre-prepared magic circle spat fire toward her.

Realizing her body was starting to melt, the Gargoyle Queen panicked and retreated, wrapping her wings around herself.

Meanwhile, the Succubus Queen, not to be outdone, charged at Jeongjae as a formidable member of the Demon King’s army. Originally, they were foes hard to take on alone, but today, he felt that he could manage somehow. Perhaps it was because he had someone worth protecting behind him.

Perhaps he didn’t realize that a once-noble being, now revealing a fallen visage, needed his protection.

With one discharge of electricity, the Succubus Queen screamed as she flew through the air. The Grand Mage, with a fire circle in one hand and a lightning circle in the other, unleashed flames and lightning simultaneously to block the approach of the Gargoyle Queen and Succubus Queen.

Fearing the power of magic, the Succubus Queen, who had hidden among the Orcs, whispered to the Gargoyle Queen.

“This is dangerous. Today’s that one is more dangerous than Rose Caprice. What should we do?”

“What should we do? Didn’t you hear the orders? We must smash them somehow!”

Even if she asked what they should do, the truth was, there were no choices. The overwhelmingly strong push against the enemy was in play. The Elf Corps was already being decimated in the hundreds and thousands, unable to withstand the concentrated fire from the liches and the Orcs, and it was absurd that the highest-ranking officials could not overcome just one wizard.

Looking at Jeongjae fighting, Margaret, barely able to steady herself, climbed back on her horse. The Grand Mage directly stopped her from joining the fight.

“Run away.”

“What… what did you say? I can’t do that!”

“The wizard is right. You should escape, Princess.”

This time, it was an elf legion commander who restrained Margaret. The commander forcibly twisted the head of Margaret, who was heading toward Jeongjae, back toward the canyon’s entrance, pleading.

“Princess! They’re soldiers at the forefront not for themselves, but for the ideals of Eramenia!”

“Those soldiers are dying, and you want me to run away alone? That’s nonsense! Let go of me! If you don’t follow my orders, I’ll have you punished according to the law!”

“Even if it costs the life of one general! Even if the lives of all five legions perish here! The ideals of the Fairy Kingdom will not disappear. Somehow, we can gather strength and advance again! But if the princess falls here, there won’t be anyone to lead the soldiers back here. The Eramenia army may never reach here again!”

Just as he was about to finish speaking, the commander, who was wrestling with Margaret’s reins, was struck by an arrow that had come from somewhere and crumpled to the ground. The Fairy Princess began to touch her cheek, reflecting on the shock of being slapped by Jeongjae a moment ago.

The Grand Mage skillfully drove back the two demon queens that rushed in again to ambush, before counterattacking in turn. The Succubus Queen screamed in pain as her wings were torn. The Gargoyle Queen was hiding among the soldiers with part of her face melted away from the fire.

Jeongjae turned back to Margaret and said, “Go. You need to hurry while I still have time to follow.”

“We’ll meet again. I’ll definitely be alive.”

Margaret seemed to understand that her stubbornness could be a burden. She swung her twin swords and began to carve a way toward the exit. As long as Jeongjae was holding off the Gargoyle and Succubus, hordes of ogres and orcs were no match for her.

The Demon King, watching the situation from atop the cliff, clutched his aching ribs and shouted out.

“Damn it! I might lose her! There’s nothing to be done. I’ll have to step in myself!”

“How dare you.”

Seeing the Demon King trying to fly toward Margaret, Jeongjae’s eyes gleamed as he pulled the Demon King toward himself with gravity magic. The Demon King, startled, turned back to Jeongjae, not expecting a Grand Mage to use gravity magic to pull him in.

“Three at once? Can you handle it, Grand Mage?”

“I’ll be the one to ask that. Do you think three weaklings like you can withstand my strength?”

At Jeongjae’s provoking question, the Queen began to gather her strength and charged at him. Jeongjae released a repelling force, sending Violet, Diana, and Elios who had approached him flying back, and growled.

“Back off. The one running behind me isn’t someone you can touch.”

“How can a mere human, a wizard, a foreigner…”

The Demon King shouted in rage. The moment she was about to construct a dark magic circle in her hands, a dispelling spell flew in, disrupting her incantation to a degree far surpassing her own. Today, Jeongjae was impenetrable. He couldn’t be stopped.

“Is it… this huge?”

Margaret was carving her way through with fierce momentum. It seemed possible that even after losing thousands of troops, they might return with several hundred alive. The effects of Jeongjae’s resistance had been tremendous. The commander, including the Demon King, had become all bound to Jeongjae, disrupting the Demon King’s army’s command, and the surviving elves were gradually making progress toward breaking through their escape route.

Though Margaret was on the brink of collapse, she forced herself to ignore it and focused on wielding her sword. With each swing, three or more Orcs fell simultaneously. Jeongjae was devastating all three of the Demon Lords with a single bolt of electricity.

“Chain… magic… is this… what…”

Bound by lightning ropes, the Demon King ground her teeth and groaned. The Gargoyle Queen was the first to shake off Jeongjae’s lightning magic, but the Grand Mage had one hand already occupied with casting magic. Jeongjae picked up an elf sword on the ground and struck down hard on the Gargoyle Queen’s melted face.

A large diamond shard fell from the Gargoyle’s face. Crying out in severe pain and clutching her face, she collapsed to the ground while Jeongjae kicked the Demon King in the chest, sending her sprawling back.

The Demon King hastily pulled back the Gargoyle Queen with gravity magic before breaking off her spell herself and darkly marched toward Jeongjae.

“I’ll do my best to hold you off, but… I will kill you…”

“I was just thinking the same.”

The Demon King lunged at Jeongjae with her sharp claws extended. Jeongjae instinctively realized that her attack was incredibly dangerous and tried to step back, but he was slightly late. The attack pierced even the dragon scales, shredding his robe and causing blood to gush from his chest.

Jeongjae, fearing that Margaret might see this scene, hurriedly wrapped his robe around his wound. The Demon King, realizing the fatal blow hadn’t landed, licked Jeongjae’s blood that splattered onto her face, seemingly disappointed.

“Such a strong magical power. Is it possible for just a drop of blood to taste this good? Then if I kill you and drink your blood, I will gain the power to pursue and kill even that fairy lord today.”

For Jeongjae, there was now one more reason he could not afford to die.

Though the claws were sharp, the robe had blocked some of the attack, and thanks to getting a glancing blow, the wound was not deep. The Grand Mage quickly used magic to seal the deep gash on his skin and deftly evaded the Demon King’s next swift attacks.

At that moment, arrows from elf soldiers somewhere began to rain down on the Demon King all at once. One elven archery brigade, which had been too preoccupied to break through to their side, had sensed Jeongjae’s dire situation and launched a coordinated assault on the Demon King.

It was a shower of arrows potent enough to bring down even a dragon if fired from the trees. As the Demon King swiftly extended her wings to protect herself and retreated, Jeongjae fired bolts of flame at her, causing additional wounds to her already scarred skin.

The situation was grim. At least four out of five legions had been annihilated. It wasn’t just the loss of combat power; it meant they had been reduced to lifeless piles of flesh, making it impossible to even identify who was who.

Though the Elf army fought valiantly, in this encircled situation, it was out of the question to ascertain how much damage they had dealt to the enemy, or even how many foes were present to begin with. From the perspective of the Eramenia army, it felt as if a million-strong army had entirely surrounded and was attacking them, but in reality, the army hidden in this canyon probably wasn’t that large.

It was a rare sight. There were more elf corpses scattered on the ground than orc ones. As the battle drew to a close, the surviving elves looked more miserable than the ogres and orcs.

An unwinnable fight. An impossible defeat.

And what had been barely achieved was just one success—getting Margaret out of the canyon alive.

Re-summoning another powerful attack magic circle, Jeongjae panted heavily as he glared at the Demon King in front of him. The Succubus Queen was now almost out of combat power, kneeling on one knee, her wings drooping low. The Gargoyle Queen, though she still seemed determined to fight, stood rigid with fear of Jeongjae.

In the center of them stood the Demon King, glaring at Jeongjae, but with a face expressing dissatisfaction at the victory she had created.

“I have ruined the forest of Eramenia, and shattered that legion, breaking its will to fight. This is a victory worthy of celebration, isn’t it?”

Jeongjae offered no response.

“Yet at the end of a battle I have put months into, I have gained neither that tome nor the original of the machine, and I have failed to kill the Fairy Lord. Because of you, because of you alone! And now, to reach this point where I cannot even kill you… Would I dare to say that I won? Can this be called a complete victory?”

Indeed, Jeongjae couldn’t respond. But at least it was certain that the Eramenia army had not won. That much was clear. The Demon King glanced behind Jeongjae and seemed to notice a small gap in their encirclement, realizing that Margaret had already managed to escape.

Violet raised a hand in resignation, signaling surrender.

“Retreat! We have won! The Eramenia army will not be able to target my territory for a while!”

At the moment the Demon King’s command fell, the armies of beasts that had filled the canyon began pouring out toward the north en masse. Without even glancing back at Jeongjae, they hurried northward. The Demon King, trying to regroup her forces and leave the canyon, turned back to the Grand Mage one last time and said,

“Now the reason I will kill Harker will soon become clear. How will you stop me?”

And after the Demon King’s army had left the canyon, Jeongjae stood for a long time staring blankly at the elf corpses, facing only the north.

After today’s defeat, when would Eramenia be able to return here again?

 

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