The Heavenly Demon Can't Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 390

The sun was a hot eye in the sky, watching over the land.

The commander of Valhalla looked at Hector’s camp and spoke.

“Laughable fools. To think they would dare stand in the way of Valhalla.”

A short while ago.

Valhalla had urged them to surrender.

They said if Hector let them pass to Dimitri, Valhalla would remember Hector’s help and make them a protected state.

It was a better deal than the country being destroyed.

However, Hector responded by beheading the messenger, an extreme answer that provoked the commander of Valhalla’s fury.

A meeting was immediately convened.

In the gathering of key leaders, Valhalla’s commander spoke with a powerful voice.

“Our strategy is simple. We will advance directly to Hector’s border, seize the foremost defensive positions, and secure the warp gate. By securing the warp gate connected to Dimitri’s border, we can greatly reduce the time it takes to reach Dimitri. And as planned, turning Dimitri into a wasteland is the goal we must achieve through this war.”

“We will follow your command.”

Valhalla’s strategy was remarkably simple.

Despite the plan being merely to advance and crush, Valhalla’s leaders did not question it.

Only one person, a leader with much war experience, mustered the courage to speak.

“If Hector is prepared for war, they must have something they believe in. Wouldn’t it be wise to carefully assess the situation and find the best way to defeat Hector?”

The commander clicked his tongue. “That idea misses the point.”

The commander’s expression twisted.

The opponent was Hector, not Chronos, a mere small nation.

Valhalla’s commander also possessed an exceptional ability to gauge the difference in power through numerous wars.

“Hector is a weak nation that was defeated in the past war with Cairo, and its national power is severely weakened due to extreme crop failures. Recently, they have shown signs of recovering their situation with the help of Dimitri, but they are not strong enough to withstand a full-scale war with Valhalla. More than anything, the Valhalla Imperial Family has ordered us to show results within ten days. If we just waited for Hector to become weak, we might win, but we wouldn’t get what we really want.”

This war required a swift resolution.

Roman Dimitri.

With him tied down in Valhalla, they needed to inflict as much damage as possible.

The war would begin from then on.

To defeat Roman Dimitri when he returned and regained his army, they absolutely needed to seize the current opportunity.

Therefore, he did not heed the words of the leaders.

The people who currently held power in Valhalla were traitors who followed Chronos rather than caring for Valhalla’s safety.

The opinion was crushed.

Seeing the leaders lower their heads, Valhalla’s commander raised his voice.

“In one hour from now, we will advance to Hector’s border and crush Hector, who dares to stand in Valhalla’s way!”

News of Valhalla’s decision traveled fast. A dark shadow of Valhalla’s army stretched across the land, reaching towards Hector.

Valhalla’s advance was immediately reported to Hector.

Seeing the soldiers trembling with anxiety, Edwin Hector donned his armor and stepped forward.

“Hear, people of Hector.”

He stirred his mana.

The people raised their heads to look at Edwin Hector, drawn by the heavy voice that overwhelmed the crowd.

“Valhalla is advancing to destroy Hector. They have threatened to crush Hector if we do not open the path to attack Dimitri. I ask you, in the past few years, when Hector suffered from crop failures and people were dying, which country helped us?”

“Dimitri!”

“Yes, Dimitri. Dimitri helped us. If we abandon Dimitri’s grace to protect our own safety, if we survive so despicably and fall as a vassal state of Valhalla, who would ever trust us? Valhalla and Chronos have been in league from the start. Chronos burned Odelia to the ground. This showed they don’t want any other country to be free. I do not wish to live like a dog. I do not want to succumb to such a miserable life, picking up what is thrown to us as if it were charity, and supporting the empire like slaves.”

The people’s faces flushed with emotion.

He emphasized that there was no room for compromise.

At the edge of a cliff, Hector’s fate depended on this war.

He said that rather than being swayed by the enemy’s appeasement, they would exist as Hector, even if it meant falling off the cliff.

“From now on, Hector will live as Hector. To secure our rights, we must not succumb to the empire, nor should we pass all the blame for the war onto Dimitri. Let us show our strength. Let us show what kind of nation Hector is, how powerful the potential of Hector, once called a great power, truly is!”

“Let’s show them!”

“Let’s kill all those dog-like Valhalla bastards!”

They sympathized with his emotions.

Hector’s star.

The people accepted the fact that Hector’s proud hero was the successor of the royal family as an undeniable destiny.

“For Hector!”

The air crackled with energy.

As the atmosphere ripened, Edwin Hector, with his cloak billowing, moved to a position to directly engage in battle.

“Everyone, to your positions!”

Battle was imminent.

Butler, looking at Valhalla’s army from atop the castle walls, asked in a cautious voice.

“…Do you think we have a chance of winning?”

Hector and Valhalla.

The difference in power was significant.

Logically, it was a fight they could not win, no matter how hard they struggled.

Edwin Hector said.

“There is no chance of winning.”

“And yet, you still intend to fight to the end?”

“If the war drags on, we will inevitably be defeated. However, the first one or two engagements are a different story.”

“…What do you mean?”

This war.

Edwin Hector focused on the essential aspects.

“The reason Valhalla is rushing is to take full advantage of Roman Dimitri’s absence. Their goal is not to destroy Hector but to advance to Dimitri beyond us, and they will be willing to take risks as they hurry. If it were Valhalla from a year ago, they would not have been able to stop such a daring advance. But that is not the case with the current Valhalla. They are festering inside from the civil war and have lost many soldiers in the conflict with Roman Dimitri. And some troops are facing Roman Dimitri in the south. It is true that the opponent is an empire, but their current power does not match the empire’s reputation.”

“Still, they are stronger than us.”

“I agree. Therefore, the first battle, where we can exploit the enemy’s arrogance, is crucial.”

Back then.

The situation of the kingdom alliance was desperate.

Since the news of Dimitri’s victory had not yet arrived, Edwin Hector wanted to create a turnaround himself.

“Butler, do you remember the battle on the southern front?”

“…Of course. Although we now follow Dimitri, I will never forget what happened then.”

“Why did I, at that time, lose to Cairo even after leading the situation? It was because of our arrogance that we were at an advantage. With the warp gate in the rear secured, I was confident that there would be no problem as long as I blocked the variable called Roman Dimitri. The opponent was only a small number. So, I pushed the troops into the mountains, and with monstrous force that defied common sense, we suffered the worst result of losing many soldiers.”

The memory of that time was devastating.

But Edwin Hector did not ignore his mistakes.

Reflecting on his mistakes, he gained enlightenment to avoid repeating them.

“Valhalla is making the same mistake I made back then. Thinking that Hector is nothing, thinking that their power is clearly superior. They are pushing their troops in even more carelessly than I did. In the current situation, if we can deliver a powerful blow that deviates from their expectations, we can defeat Valhalla once, just as I faced a devastating defeat back then. And that one blow will be the starting point for a turnaround.”

Butler swallowed hard.

Hector’s successor.

When did he grow up so much?

The more he stayed by his side, the deeper Butler’s loyalty to Edwin Hector grew.

“I understand. If it is Prince Edwin’s command, I will jump into a pit of fire with you.”

He nodded.

He would follow.

Whether it was the right answer or not was not important.

Butler sincerely felt grateful that Edwin Hector was the leader of this country.

That was when.

“Attack!”

“Waaah!”

Dust clouds rose far in the distance, a dark line on the horizon that meant only one thing: the Valhalla Empire’s army was coming.

Following Edwin Hector’s silent signal, the Hector Kingdom’s army prepared for battle. Arrows and magic rained down from the Empire’s army, but they crashed harmlessly against a shimmering blue shield of magic.

The fate of the nation was at stake.

The soldiers were visibly anxious, but Edwin Hector calmly waited for the opportune moment, until the enemies had pushed in far enough.

“Just as I expected.”

Edwin Hector saw it clearly. The enemy soldiers, rushing forward, hadn’t noticed the battlefield beneath their feet. Hidden oil barrels waited for them, a trap they were blindly charging into.

As the enemy army filled his vision, Edwin Hector knew it was time.

“Attack!”

Edwin Hector issued the thunderous command.

As Hector’s soldiers fired their arrows, Edwin Hector opened his upper danjeon and unleashed his magic.

He had absorbed the power of the Archmage of the Sky, reaching the realm of the 7th Circle.

This power was more than just numbers. It was something deeper, something that couldn’t be measured in circles of magic alone.

The mage, who had shown power beyond his 5th Circle, had solved the problem of age, which was said to be his only weakness.

Mana surged through Edwin Hector, visible as a bright aura around his body, crackling like lightning ready to strike.

Through the study of the upper danjeon, he had made many advancements, especially succeeding in the double casting of high-circle magic, which was considered impossible.

“Burning.”

Fwoosh.

Fwoooosh.

His body burst into flames.

Immediately after accepting the Phoenix’s secret technique.

“Earthquake, Fire Storm.”

Rumble!

Fwoosh, Fwoooosh.

He simultaneously used 7th Circle magic.

The ground sank under the power of the Earthquake, causing a tremor, and the Fire Storm swept away the Valhalla soldiers, whose movements were restricted, in an instant.

At the same time, the oil triggered a violent explosion. The magic of the Valhalla mages had no effect. Edwin Hector’s eyes turned blue.

Each time his red hair fluttered in the mana, he split his consciousness into several parts, blocking the enemies’ magic and countering instead.

This was proof of what the Archmage of the Sky had said: Edwin Hector’s talent was real.

It was truly a variable that Valhalla had not anticipated, a disaster.

That day, Valhalla suffered tremendous damage.

They failed to capture the fortress and ordered a retreat, and that was the first victory of Hector that Umberto received.

News of this victory, however small, would eventually reach other corners of the war. Far away, in another part of the battlefield…

About a week had passed since the outbreak of the war.

Count Soler, a man with a cruel smile and eyes as cold as steel, the commander in charge of attacking Umberto, watched the situation before him with a calm face.

“Kill!”

“Wipe out all of those Umberto bastards!”

Umberto was cornered.

After their front-line defense was breached, they tucked their tails and ran, and now they were staging a final battle before their capital.

Their capital was not well-suited for defense.

So, they locked the gates at the intermediate point, which was called the Iron Fortress, and Count Soler immediately ordered an attack on them.

‘There’s no time.’

Recently, for the past week, contrary to expectations, bad news had been coming in one after another.

The Valhalla Empire said that they couldn’t hold Roman Dmitry for long, and the armies that attacked Dmitry and Hector showed shocking results of defeat.

Of course, the war was still going in their favor.

The unit that attacked Dmitry was annihilated, but the battle between Valhalla and Hector was still ongoing, and the Cairo Kingdom and the Southern Three Kingdoms were facing a crisis like a lamp before the wind due to the Cronos Empire’s powerful attacks.

It was definitely in their favor.

However, no one knew what would happen if Roman Dmitry returned.

While Valhalla was still holding him back, he wanted to wipe out Umberto at all costs.

Count Soler shouted.

“The opponents are just Umberto’s rabble. Wipe them out in one fell swoop! If we win this battle as well, we will be able to plant our flag in Umberto’s capital and enjoy a wild party in a few days! At that time, I will grant you all the rights as victors, such as plunder!”

“Waaah!”

“Attack!”

They gained momentum.

The fortress was on the verge of falling.

It was then.

“Commander, a magical communication request has come in from Valhalla.”

“This is during wartime. After the situation is all over…….”

“It’s urgent.”

He stopped talking.

Urgent meant that it had to be accepted unconditionally.

Feeling a sense of foreboding, Count Soler took the magical communication device.

“This is Count Soler. Why did you request a magical communication with such urgency?”

Beyond the communicator, Count Snodin’s trembling voice was heard.

[We have lost track of Roman Dmitry’s whereabouts.]

“What?!”

He was startled.

It had only been a week, but they had already lost track of Roman Dmitry.

This was different from the initial plan.

[We have no excuse. What is certain is that Roman Dmitry has completely broken through the encirclement, and with his abnormal speed of movement, we cannot guarantee where he will be. We have already contacted other units, but Count Soler, please be careful just in case.]

“Damn it.”

Click.

With that, the communication ended.

There was even less time than he had thought.

The thought that he had to end the war quickly grew stronger, and then Count Soler suddenly had a strange thought.

‘……Wait a minute.’

Umberto had been constantly pushed back.

They had been cutting off their tails with the intention of buying as much time as possible, but now, even though it was the Iron Fortress, they suddenly showed a desperate resistance.

At first, he thought it was their last struggle.

Rather than fighting in the capital with poor defense facilities, it was more likely to win if they fought before that.

But what if… Just what if… What if their courage was not born out of being driven to the edge of a cliff, but due to the presence of one being?

It was then.

“Kraaah!”

The rear of the formation. Soldiers’ screams were suddenly heard from there, where screams should not be heard.

In an instant, Count Soler quickly turned his head to check the place where the screams were heard.