The Sword Emperor Transmigrates-Chapter 271

“But isn’t the Cap of Invisibility most useful in combat?” Demian challenged.

“Mm, I cannot bring myself to disagree. Even Zeus himself would be unable to see me. Even on a normal battlefield, Kynee would be one of the most powerful weapons for assassination.”

“Not even a Chief God can see through it? That’s amazing,” Leonard remarked. Anything capable of deceiving even the highest of gods could only be described as divine.

Orthodox martial artists would often denounce stealth arts and concealment arts as lowly and petty tricks, but they were some of the most universally useful techniques.

After all, such techniques allowed assassins to kill targets that were one grade above them—a Second Class assassin could kill a First Class martial artist, a First Class assassin could kill an Apex Realm martial artist, and an Apex Realm assassin could even kill a Peak Realm martial artist.

With that being said, things were different once the target was a Creation Realm.

“If it has no drawbacks or side effects, it just sounds like an invincible weapon.”

“Not quite. Zeus’s thunderbolt instantly kills its target, and if he wanted, he could practically destroy a continent by using it to summon a storm,” Hades said flatly.

In other words, Zeus was the only one who could be certain of defeating Hades while he wore Kynee.

“But those are bygone days. You lot do not have any reason to spare or negotiate with another god, and I doubt that my bident or cornucopia have endured.”

“If we find either of them though, we’ll bring it to you immediately,” Demian promised.

“I do not expect much to come of your search, but I will be waiting.”

“...Hold on.”

As soon as the conversation came to a close, Cruella closed her eyes, her expression turning serious. She made a hand seal to modify the spell attached to her magic array. It seemed like the undead she had sent on reconnaissance was urgently trying to send a message.

A moment later, with a flash, she projected the point of view of the undead that was spying thousands of kilometers away, so that everyone in the strategy room could see. The image was as pristine as a painting, blinking a few times before stabilizing.

Everyone’s faces fell as soon as they laid their eyes on the screen.

Apocalyptic.

That was the only word that could describe the sight of the Demoniac army. They were walking in an orderly, disciplined fashion—a stark contrast to their basic instincts and impulses. If a regular person saw this, they would likely lose their mind and start screaming frantically that the end of the world was upon them.

“That looks like at least 300,000... no, counting the ones that are flying, they might number over 500,000.”

“I don’t see many of the lowest-ranking Demoniacs, even though they’re usually the ones used as fodder. The vast majority are common Demoniacs or higher, and there’s quite a few noble-rank Demoniacs as well.

“Those are no ordinary monsters. They’d be able to survive at least three high-Class wide-area spells, maybe even more than five if they use their servants as shields.”

But the esteemed commanders and mages remained calm as they analyzed the situation.

“What if we sent some of the golems and Titans by the Hellgates into the battlefield? As long as we’re smart about this, I don’t think it’ll be too hard to wipe out at least 100,000 or 200,000.”

“There’s a big chance that will start an all-out war. Unless we’re willing to compromise our defenses, we don’t have any forces to spare. It’s better to leave the golems where they are now.”

“There’s no need for us to strike first. The Demoniacs will be at a disadvantage the second they step into Hades’s Divine Territory. They don’t even know how to manipulate their own energy that fuels the Demonic Realm.”

No matter how many more fighters the Demoniacs had in their ranks and how much stronger they were, it was nothing compared to all the preparations the Three Noble Houses had made. Even if there were a million of them, the knights and mages still had a chance of winning in a full-frontal battle. What they really needed to worry about was unexpected variables that could weaken their position.

Those variables were the entities that made up the most significant portion of Crom Dubh’s essence, the ones that made even Demigod Tiers like Leonard shiver.

Royal Demoniacs—the monsters that not only possessed high-level abilities but had also been alive for ages, gathering combat experience all throughout.

“...Found them.” The skeleton wyvern sent by Cruella had spotted the Named.

The infamous beasts had gone down in the Noble Houses’s history either for surviving fights against commanders and Grand Magi or downright killing them.

“So Asmodeus is still alive after all.”

“And so is Baphomet.”

“I see Sabnock, the one who owns the infamous castle of corpses.”

Though their names were in the records, nobody had known until now whether they were alive or not. Now, it was clear—they were all there, even joining forces.

Asmodeus was a Brain Demoniac who wielded a giant sword with Telekinesis. He could cut through space-time itself.

Baphomet was a Heart Demoniac who wielded an enormous axe forged from an unknown material. His physique was humanoid, with clearly defined muscles, but his head and horns were that of a ram, and his legs of a goat.

There were no reports detailing any special abilities, but it was said that Baphomet could crush a mountain with a single swing of his axe.

Sabnock was a Brain Demoniac who wielded powers resembling necromancy—he collected the bodies of friends and foes alike to adorn his castle.

“Oh.”

Just as the leaders managed to settle their anticipation and unease, something flew straight into the projected image.

Smack!

The projectile was as small as a bean, but its momentum was strong enough to crush the eyes of the skeleton wyvern.

Someone, or something, had not only detected the undead that was flying several kilometers above the ground, but had also managed to destroy it. This certainly wasn’t Cruella’s spell being sloppy.

“You dirty little...! Curse you, Beelzebub!” she yelled, blood trickling from her nose—backlash from her spell being forcefully interrupted. She quickly wiped it away.

Simon’s eyes furrowed at the name. “Are you sure it’s him?”

“I’m sure. Who else but the Lord of the Flies would implant a part of his brain into a fly to use it as a familiar? That bastard.”

“Ah, this will be troublesome. He knows how to use human magic, so he’ll be able to predict most of our basic strategies.”

Even among the Named, Beelzebub was a very special entity. Like Belial, he used his powers to glimpse, steal, and teach himself human techniques, except with spells instead of martial arts. He implanted slivers of his own brain into flies to create an army of familiars, and he targeted mages so that he could consume their brains and absorb their knowledge.

According to Simon, Beelzebub was nearly a thousand years old. The only one who could defeat such a creature was the Grand Magus himself, who also had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

“So there are four Named that we know we have to be careful of, but I’d estimate that there are at least ten in total, with the ones we haven’t seen yet. This is going to be tough.”

“However, if we fight them within the bounds of the Divine Territory, Hades can join the battle if the situation is truly dire, so the difference in manpower is not as big as you think.”

“The problem is that this might turn into a standoff, with neither one of us wanting to attack first.”

The Demoniacs weren’t stupid or naïve. Perhaps the lowest-ranking ones were, but overall, many of the Demoniacs were smarter than humans. Since they were deeply wicked by nature, they were predictable to some extent, but they were also as cunning as the villains from fairy tales.

As soon as they sensed the danger of the Divine Territory and figured out their opponents’ intentions, they would halt their march.

“Even though we were as careful as possible, just as Commander Leonard instructed, several royal Demoniacs appeared while we were attacking their camps. Once they gather in large numbers right outside the Divine Territory, they could summon tens of Demigod Tier entities for support!”

“But we can’t just stand here and do nothing. They’re only reacting to us, not making any moves of their own. If they don’t see us as a threat, they might send troops to the eight other Hellgates.”

“So you’re saying that if we don’t do anything, we automatically lose.”

Of course, it would be great if they could just wipe out the Demoniac army right then and there, but barring that, their best course of action was to inflict as much damage as possible while preserving their own forces.

But that won’t work if they realize the situation we’re in, Leonard determined.

It would all fall apart if the Demoniacs simply refused to fight them within the Divine Territory. After all, the Demoniacs were much stronger outside its boundaries, and fighting them in the Demonic Realm would cause much higher casualties.

And since the Three Noble Houses had to gather as much manpower as possible before the actual Outer God invasion happened, they couldn’t be so short-sighted.

“...So then, all we need to do is lure them into the Divine Territory, right?” Leonard concluded.

“Oh?”

“You got something in mind?”

Everyone listened intently as he told them everything else he knew, even though he wasn’t sure it would work. The knight commanders looked at each other in confusion, but the mages immediately understood.

Simon muttered unintelligibly to himself and then spoke up.

“I think it will work. Let us give it a try.”