In The Name Of Ingrad! (19)

My head was complicated as I looked at the Demonic Tribe, who were not withdrawing.

I was continuing to warn them, but had they not felt it as a threat in particular?

“What shall we do?” Looking at Volv, who was waiting for orders, I had no choice but to think seriously.

That was because, when looking at the faces of those currently out on the coast of the East Continent, there were more humans than members of the Demonic Tribe.

Before the threat, the number of humans had been small. However, now the situation was clearly different from earlier, and my head grew complicated.

Moreover, rage welled up at the Demonic Tribe’s behavior of openly pushing humans forward and then forming ranks right behind them.

‘There is no reason to force an attack. But they ignored the warning…’

The problem was that if we withdrew like this or ended the warning as merely a warning, I was worried about how they would think of us in the future.

They had now gambled with their lives on the line.

“We cannot fire naval guns while targeting only the Demonic Tribe, can we?”

“We can roughly predict the explosion range, but it is impossible to estimate which direction the explosive spread will continue.”

As Volv said, the explosive spread was definitely the problem.

Depending on how the shell exploded, the direction in which the flames spread would change, so it was right that it was unpredictable. Moreover, even though it was the Demonic Tribe’s camp, it was spread quite thinly and lengthwise, so in any case, humans were bound to suffer damage.

If we did not find a method, they might recognize our actions as a weakness and try to keep using that kind of method.

It was a situation where measures were necessary.

“What available forces do we have?”

After hearing my question, Volv mentioned the whale beastkin and the Rangers.

The number of Rangers was roughly a little over two thousand. It could not be called a small number by any means, but there was no way I could charge them alone into an enemy camp that looked to number in the hundreds of thousands.

Just then, when I was seriously considering whether we had to withdraw like this, Volv said,

“If we use anti-ship shells, I believe we can intercept the enemy with minimal damage to the humans.”

They were literally iron shells exclusively for magic cannons, with their explosive power removed. I knew of them, but since I currently did not know how much power they would have, I could not give a definite answer.

“As for the naval guns’ accuracy, judging by the form of the Demonic Tribe, I believe we will be able to hit most of them. Please give the order swiftly…”

“I want to know the power of the iron shells.”

He said he understood and would prepare them, so I immediately moved my steps. After arriving in front of the magic cannon where the iron shells were being prepared, following Volv, I waited a moment, and Volv showed their power by firing toward the rocky island where the flames had begun to die down.

I saw an iron shell fly at high speed, smash part of the rocky island with a rather powerful feeling, and bounce far away.

‘It would be appropriate to think of it as an enormous firearm.’

It was certainly powerful, and I was able to confirm that it was not greatly burdensome. But the question was how accurately we could intercept the enemy and inflict damage by lining up the ships and firing naval guns.

‘Am I thinking too softly?’

I wondered if the fact that I had avoided attacking because humans were standing there was tying my own ankles.

Thinking back on how many lives had died because of the things I had ordered until now, I had no choice but to bitterly curl up the corners of my mouth, and thinking that if I made the wrong judgment here, this kind of thing would continue to repeat, I squeezed my eyes shut and said,

“We will replace them with cooling shells… and attack the Demonic Tribe camp. If humans are harmed… we will later recover their bodies and treat them with respect.”

“Your Majesty… is that all right?”

Volv looked at me with a worried face. Moreover, the gazes Hare, Murumur, and Demina sent toward me from behind were quite intense as well.

However, my intent was clear.

“It would be nice if it ended with this one time. If we awkwardly turn our guns away, the Demonic Tribe will put humans in front of them whenever they face us from now on. Rather than acting softly each time and causing damage to our allies… I would rather abandon them.”

“Your Majesty…”

Silence settled. However, the order did not change.

“Have them prepare the cooling shells. And we will also have to prepare to recover and bury the bodies.”

“I shall convey it so, Your Majesty.”

I firmly steeled my heart and shifted my gaze far away. I thought I must never look away or avert my eyes, because I must not ignore the humans who would be in the place where the shells landed.

So it was the moment I made up my mind that I would absolutely root out the wickedness of the Demonic Tribe who had made me reach this decision.

Meanwhile.

“It seems the operation worked.”

“Heh heh, for the most part, humans do not have the same poison in their hearts as us. Hesna, in your judgment, what do you think will happen?”

“A moment ago, they likely tested something. And… if that test was successful, I believe they will attack us.”

“Why?”

When she had been captured in Ingrad, she had been able to speak often with the King of Ingrad. And Hesna had finished understanding, as though fully familiarizing herself with, what kind of person he was, what kind of ideology he had, and how dangerous an existence he was.

Because of that, she did not think he would easily withdraw and reveal a weakness.

“Because he will probably try to find a means and method to attack only us.”

“A means and method… But with something that causes explosions like that large-scale high-rank magic, it will only annihilate humans and us together. It is a point where we can see just how soft their thoughts and hearts are.”

Hesna wanted to tell him he should not jump to conclusions to that extent. Moreover, that Demon King was also cooperating with the King of Ingrad.

She did not know how it had happened, and although the momentum had certainly changed, Hesna had been able to feel that even the Demon King’s unique nature had not changed.

The Demon King had taken root in Ingrad.

At that moment, however, one Demonic Tribe member who had been watching the front made a report.

“They say the enemy ships are lining up lengthwise. What shall we do?”

Hesna felt unease. Perhaps because of that?

“There is something I must tell Your Grace.”

“…Is it something you absolutely must say now?”

At the rather sharp answer, she slowly nodded, and Hesna said to Helhaumer,

“There is news I must deliver to the Demon God. I am grateful that you helped me recover, but I wish to withdraw so I can convey the fate I bear. Please grant permission.”

Helhaumer turned his head toward the front and spoke to Hesna with ridicule and mockery.

“I sense fear from you. If you are so frightened that you even sell the Demon God’s name to withdraw, then go. Your help will no longer be needed…”

She had suddenly become a coward, but since it was an action worthy of mockery, Hesna left behind words of gratitude and withdrew. Helhaumer found Hesna’s action unexpected, and looked puzzled as he watched Hesna truly withdraw.

‘Is there… truly something?’

It was the moment he thought he could not get a grasp on it at all. Looking at the enemy ships gradually beginning to take formation, Helhaumer began to worry.

“What do you think?”

He asked the duke-class Demonic Tribe member beside him, and the man cautiously expressed concern.

“I think they will not attack easily. They are humans. If we use the humans under our control as shields, they will have no choice but to hesitate. Are humans not creatures that possess that ‘softness’?”

It was true that they were creatures covered with that sort of half-baked emotion, but occasionally, there appeared those who followed a different track of thought. And if there was a human among the enemies before their eyes who could make such a decision, he thought they might possibly end up receiving that ridiculous attack they had seen a short while ago.

‘Should we withdraw? Or should we hope the enemy’s judgment remains soft like this…?’

As the time of hesitation grew longer and he watched the Ingrad fleet gradually take position, unease began to sprout in Helhaumer. He let out a sigh and said,

“If Ingrad attacks, we will suffer enormous disruptions to food production. Move the battle line back as much as possible. However, keep in mind that humans are to be kept beside you while moving.”

“Are you truly trying to withdraw?”

“It is my intuition. And… because I am uneasy about what made Hesna terrified, we cannot gamble.”

In reality, he knew that even if Helhaumer were attacked here, he himself would not suffer great damage. However, the problem was that if he lost the Demonic Tribe members and humans here, his standing would still be in trouble, so he made a quick judgment.

After leaving the order to withdraw once again, he watched the enemy for a moment, and an abnormality began to occur.

The lined-up Ingrad ships fired something all at once.

“Damn it!!”

Seeing that, he shouted urgently.

“It’s an attack!!”

His judgment was late. And at the same time as his shout, most of the Demonic Tribe members who could use magic used defensive magic to block the black spheres flying toward them.

In Helhaumer’s case as well, he was able to fully deploy his magic and create a fairly thick barrier. The problem was that after only a few seconds, the beads that flew above the countless spread-out barriers caused explosions and created an unimaginable situation.

They were freezing.

The barriers, along with the countless Demonic Tribe members and some humans swept up beneath them, began freezing rapidly without being able to do anything, and started dying while breathing out white vapor at the end.

Helhaumer, who had tasted a fear different from when flames surged up, hurriedly used flame magic toward the air with all the power he could use, and when it flew through the sky and caused an explosion, Helhaumer’s shout rang across the entire battlefield.

“Withdraw with all your strength! Abandon… the humans…!!”

At the end, Helhaumer shouted with his teeth clenched to the point that his pronunciation blurred, and it could be called a point that clearly showed just how much rage he was swallowing down.

He had never imagined they would truly attack, and because he thought they had been careless and suffered enormous damage, Helhaumer quickly withdrew. Starting with him, the many surviving Demonic Tribe members pulled their formation to the rear, and at that very moment, seeing black spheres once again fly through the air, Helhaumer burst out in a furious roar.

“If you don’t want to die, then run!!!”

The naval guns were fired only four times. Three times with freezing shells, and the last time with scatter shells, as though to finish it off, allowing us to intercept the Demonic Tribe who were fleeing while leaving only the humans behind. Thanks to whether luck had followed us, we were able to save quite a large number of humans.

However, the problem was that we had to correct the nearby temperature that had begun to drop rapidly because of the freezing shells, and to do that, I decided to use one method.

“Use incendiary shells to weaken the power of the freezing shells.”

For this, I had to give orders to fire additional incendiary shells and the like outside the damage range, and soon, an appropriate number of incendiary shells fell into areas where no one was present and caused explosions.

In reality, this began to show considerable effectiveness and helped those who had been shaking from hypothermia. It was not enough for them to enter a stable state, but it bought time until we could send whale beastkin and others from the ships to help them.

Aside from that, after positioning the ships and the like closer to the coastline and giving orders to watch out for the Demonic Tribe members and others who had not all been dealt with, I began sending the items prepared for various situations from the Sea Fortress to land and mobilizing the army waiting in Ing City.

“I think it is a situation where the human army can certainly exercise its strength as well. Wijel, please do well.”

A total of twenty thousand artillerymen, one thousand magic cannons, and aside from that, thirty thousand riflemen organized to protect them began landing on the East Continent.

It was an operation order that used an item called the “Portable Gate,” and by seeing the army beginning to pour out from five Portable Gates, we were able to deliver a spark of hope to the people of the East Continent who had fallen into despair.

Aside from that, after bringing up the migration policy, I gave orders to send those whose physical conditions were poor to Ing City first for treatment, and it was the moment a large-scale inflow of population began.

‘Eating the pheasant and the egg too, good for the sister and good for the brother-in-law too… is that it?’