Chapter 119: Complete Victory

Chapter 119 -46: Complete Victory

Jennifer was truly an expert, the theoretical genius Veronica had specially selected for Lilia.

The force Lilia led arrived early at the chosen battle site. Following Jennifer’s calculations, over a hundred Knights spread out and buried Demon Crystals in several of the barren mountain’s weak points.

In addition, she buried many more between the barren mountain and the troops’ encampment. She had clearly considered the possibility that the Demons, furious from the humiliation of an ambush, would charge straight for them. She was seeking to solve a bigger problem with fewer resources.

Lilia watched from the side, a sense of admiration welling up inside her.

‘A top student from the Royal Capital Magic Academy is on another level. I just proposed a concept, and she made it a reality in less than a few hours.’

‘Not only that, but she laid out a minefield as if she were a self-taught expert in the art of mine warfare.’

「Soon.」

The Demon forces gradually drew closer.

The oppressive, dark Demonic Qi was like a storm cloud crashing down to earth or a swirling gale, and the sense of pressure it exuded was immense.

At the very front of the line, the Knights in the bait squad swallowed in unison.

Looking at those vicious monsters, it would be a lie to say they weren’t afraid.

What’s more, the number of monsters was even greater than they had anticipated.

‘That young lady Lord from Navia had indeed devised a strategy against the Demons, but… would such an unheard-of combat method really be effective against them?’

‘This wasn’t like their usual skirmishes; this was a real battlefield!’

‘If those Demon Crystals couldn’t stop the Demons’ advance as Lilia predicted, then not only them, but the main force behind them and Sitrind even farther away—all of it would be destroyed by the Demons in an instant!’

The Knight Captain forcefully suppressed the worry in his heart.

Seeing the Demon host enter their alert range, he gave the order, and a dozen or so Knights charged out at once.

According to Lilia and Jennifer’s deductions, Low-level Demons had little intelligence and acted mostly on instinct.

Even if there was a commander controlling them from behind, it would be difficult to control their every move. This gave Lilia an opportunity.

Demons were bloodthirsty by nature and would pounce on humans like wild beasts upon sight.

Thus, the moment the Knight squad appeared, they attracted the attention of the Demon force.

Provoked by the rich scent of humans, the vaguely humanoid, red-skinned monsters let out a roar and wheeled around to charge the Knight squad!

“Wait!”

Seeing someone behind him start to retreat, the captain reined in his own heart, which was about to leap out of his chest, and shouted, “Wait until we’ve drawn them all in before retreating! Her Lordship said that the Magic Crystal Bombs will only have their greatest effect when all the Demons are gathered together!”

At this moment, their every action could determine the battle’s outcome!

The Knights gripped their longswords, their nerves stretched taut under the immense pressure, like strings about to snap at any second.

Just as they could almost smell the foul breath of the Low-level Demons, the captain’s order finally came: “Retreat!”

The squad fell back in an orderly fashion!

They followed the predetermined route through the barren mountain, the surging Demonic Qi hot on their heels. The Demon Crystals buried beneath the rocks were instantly charged by it, and they suddenly emitted a dazzling light.

「The next second.」

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of explosions rang out. Rocks and stones tumbled down, crushing countless Demons.

Low-level Demons do not rely on their physical forms. They feel no pain, nor do they experience fear.

Even with severed limbs, they wouldn’t lose their mobility. However, their combat strength would continually weaken as their Demonic Qi dissipated.

And the more Demonic Qi that dissipated, the faster the Demon Crystals charged.

Thanks to Lord Frost’s financial superpower, Lilia had brought an enormous number of Demon Crystals with her.

Batches of Demon Crystals detonated one after another. Within the area shrouded by the black qi, the rumbling of explosions was endless, like clusters of fireworks blooming in succession.

The captain led the dozen or so bait Knights to a safe distance, but he couldn’t help looking back.

All the Knights who witnessed this scene were utterly dumbfounded.

‘In their experience, Demon Crystals were mostly used for energy storage. Who could have imagined they possessed such destructive power?!’

‘Forget using them on brainless Demons—even on a human battlefield, an unprepared enemy would suffer a devastating loss. It’s practically an invincible weapon of war.’

The line of explosions crept closer.

From within the billowing black smoke, red-skinned monsters roared as they broke through the chaos. The Knight Captain, who had just been marveling at the sheer number of cunning tricks Mages seemed to have, instantly snapped back to reality and ordered his squad to continue their retreat.

‘It doesn’t matter if this didn’t kill them. There’s another minefield waiting for them.’

‘That should be more than enough to give them a hard time!’

…

The Demons’ Life Force was even more tenacious than Lilia had expected.

They had been blasted the entire way from the barren mountain to the camp, yet a considerable number still managed to reach the final defensive line.

Fortunately, after being weakened by round after round of explosions, they were a spent force. Even though Lilia’s troops had very few proper Mages or Knights, they still secured victory with minimal losses.

The battlefield finally fell clear only when the last Demon collapsed, its body dissolving into Demonic Qi.

The Knights took a moment to process what had happened, staring at each other blankly.

‘We… won? Just like that?’

‘We defeated the Demons?’

‘Why does it feel like… the Demons weren’t as terrifying as the legends say?’

‘Or… were we just too strong?’

「At that moment.」

Having won so easily, every single Knight developed a misconception about their own combat strength.

After confirming that not a single one of the hundreds of Demons survived, the Knights finally snapped out of their stupor and erupted in cheers, celebrating a victory that hadn’t been hard-won in the slightest.

“We won!”

Beside Lilia, Jennifer was equally ecstatic.

It wasn’t just because they had defeated the Demons, but also because they had proven the viability of the Magic Crystal Bomb!

For a researcher from the Magic Academy, this was as exhilarating as inventing a whole new type of Magic!

“Princess Lilia, you truly are a genius among Mages!”

In her excitement, Jennifer began to blurt things out, “A genius like you not pursuing advanced studies at the Magic Academy is a tremendous loss for the Royal Capital Magic Academy!”

“If, in your contest with Princess Veronica…”

She caught herself just in time.

She had been about to say that if Lilia were to lose to Princess Veronica, she should just go to the Royal Capital Magic Academy and become a researcher. She believed that with Lilia’s brilliant mind, she could shine in any field and perhaps even make a name for herself in the annals of history.

But she cut herself off, suddenly remembering she was Lilia’s subordinate now. Predicting your master’s defeat before the war had even truly begun… if her master had a worse temper, she might have been dragged off and fed to the Demons.

Fortunately, Lilia hadn’t seemed to notice that nearly treasonous comment.

The young woman’s brow was slightly furrowed; she showed no signs of joy at their victory.

She was more concerned about…

She hadn’t seen their controller among the Demon ranks.