1 Chapter 159: Capital Defensive Battle

With no contact from the Labyrinth Invasion Force, Armoured Corps chief, General Calgurio, had become increasingly nervous.

Rather than the treasures, the high quality "Demon Crystals" were likely going to be needed much more from now on.

Since there was never enough, he had been leasurely watching them being brought up.

With around 350,000 troops already inside, there wasn't a need to send in any more. Even with all the possible dangers, suddenly losing contact with all of them was not predicted.

If something like ―― say Veldora ―― suddenly appeared, the fight would start at the front but all the soldiers would be notified by use of Thought Linkage ( thx @Alpha). But then, this happened.

The Labyrinth entrance didn't show any abnormalities, but there was no sign of anyone inside.

"What's this all now?"

Calgurio muttered, but his advisors are just as lost as him.

To that,

"A Labyrinth is a place to explore.

It's certainly not one that an army invades is it?"

Responded a bewitching beauty.

Wearing the Impirial Armoured Corps uniform, spoke one of the 3 bosses of Cerebrus, Miranda.

With orders from Yuuki, she was keeping an eye on Calgurio while also reporting back on the progress of the Tempest Invasion Operation.

But as a member of the Amoured Corps HQ Advisory Committee, she certainly had the brains.

So obviously, she was well received as one of Calgurio's advisors.

"Are those the words of that brat Yuuki?"

"Yes.

He says that to capture the Labyrinth, we must send in only the elites"

"What nerve! I did send in the elites!!"

Replied an annoyed Calgurio to her response.

More precicely, these elites were the 350,000 troops belonging to the Remodelled Corps who took pride in being the strongest corps in the whole Imperial Army. It was simply avaricious to ask for more.

"But as you can see, the thing has eaten up all of them, and it still stands.

We can't confirm the situation inside, and sending in even more seems like a bad idea.

Right now, the only thing we can do is wait till someone comes out alive, no?"

"Be at ease woman. The elites have been supplied with a charm that can revive them.

We have reports confirming that they should revive back here at the entrance upon death.

And judging from the fact that none have shown up, we can assume that there are no problems."

"You know.... we can't have you ignore the fact that we have not confirmed if that charm actually works, now can we?

Yuuki-sama has already said that, it's impossible for a cheap replica to replace a charm made with a Skill."

Calgurio didn't respond.

A General doesn't rely solely of brute strength. He isn't so incompetent so as to not understand the state of the battlefield, even if he was lacking in strength.

Miranda was certainly on point. They did not know whether revival was actually possible.

But it wasn't possible to throw in 350,000 troops and not expect simple maze to be completely conquered.

This was a force capable of burning several capital cities down to ashes.

Worst case scenario, they could only escape the Labyrinth after completely destroying it.

200,000 troops were headed for the capital of Tempest, with another 150,000 on standby.

Rather than another 150,000, it's better to say only 150,000 are left.

Now that it had come to this, Calgurio considered the possibility of underestimating Tempest.

(TN: Give this man a cookie. He's pretty smart.)

They should gather up the whole army, and go attack the capital with full force.

Calgurio considered various plans, and then,

"Leave one Communications Platoon here, and prepare to capture Tempest's capital!

And for the Labyrinth Invasion Force, prepare a search team, and――"

He was not allowed to finish.

Without warning, Calgurio and his men were swallowed up by circumstances that had suddenly become insane.

Their divide and conquer plan, was now all up in smoke.

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

Though the Labyrinth Capture force was quickly prepared, the capital was yet to be captured.

At only a few kilometers from their current location, it was like a stones throw away.

The Imperial forces thus decided to set up base, and only Reconnaissance had been sent to Tempest.

Gerudo laughed.

No matter how much recon they did, there aren't any traps, so it was a waste of time.

The capital was too close for traps, so it was decided that they would be fighting head on.

On top of that, their difference in number was like heaven and earth.

However, Gerudo's role was to keep them busy, a minimum force to defend the the capital's forefront.

It was a favorite strategy of the Dwarf King, from inside the troops acting as a wall, a fearsome magic attack gets launched.

It was a plan well suited for Gerudo and his men. (TN: err orcs?)

The magical might: courtesy of Crimson.

These personal guards of Benimaru were the cornerstones of this plan. We also got reinforcements in the form of 5000 or so elite Black Mages from all over the the Great Jura Forest.

There were more waiting to join them, but only the ones with high attack power had gathered this time.

The ones on the waiting list were on standby, and on the slight chance that Gerudo had lost, they were to fight as the last stand.

At that time, along with the volunteer human soldiers, they were in the process of organizing.

The 5000 Black Mages who came were led by the self-acclaimed wife of Benimaru, Momiji the Tengu. (TN: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

"For my husband, VICTORY!!"

It was a very sugary kind of battle shout.

They had already constructed a moat around the area.

Perhaps she was better at strategy building than Benimaru, but the latter probably didn't mind, thought Gerudo.

If he actually hated it, he would have said something by now.

Well, Benimaru's 'Generallisimo' wasn't just for show is what it meant.

The Attack Team and the Support Team were both ready.

Now it was only a matter of whether they of the Imperials had better Magic Barriers, as the initial shootoff may get to decide the outcome of the battle.

Well... if they got to do that in the first place that is.

Shion had come over and, since then, they were pretty much taking it easy.

Taking is easy would normally be bad with the sheer numbers that they faced.

But if a completely ridiculous person like Shion worked as a counter-balance, the scale would tip a lot more on their side.

Benimaru had said,

"Let her do what she wants. She's not gonna listen anyway.

But the enemy will get confused from her actions, so take that chance to strike!"

Gerudo's job was now solely that of a wall to stop enemies passing in.

And while Shion confused the enemy, they would break them apart.

A simply simple plan.

Gerudo believed in Benimaru, and believing in him, he would do what he was assigned to do.

And after a day of just watching each other (TN: meaning the Imperials and the Rimurus standing their ground.), the battle started.

Gerudo's wall was rightly impregnable.

The Imperial Army could not break through the 17,000 High Orcs that made up the Yellow and Orange Numbers.

Their portable magic cannon proved useless against Gerudo's Unique Skill 'Guardian', which provided his whole army with an iron-clad defense.

Furthermore, Gerudo's 'Gourmet' Unique Skill made his stomach storage shared with all his troops.

Minor injuries were immediately treated with magic from the Support Team, and recovery potions were prepared for serious ones.

In anticipation for the battle, a large number of recovery potions were stored in Gerudo's 'stomach'. (TN: heal spam….)

The'stomach' incubated everything in a sterile environment, so there was no problem with directly using the items inside.

From the outset, being able to heal like this without moving, effectively made these High Orcs into a true wall.

Observing Gerudo's battle from the sky was, a certain demon.

It was Carrera.

This Demon Lord had been assigned to Information Committee duties that day, with 2 others following her.

Gerudo happily accepted the girls and had them do as they pleased.

That was because he really had no other duty to assign to Carrera and co.

Carrera had received instructions from Rimuru to protect Gerudo.

As was probably true for Testarossa and Ultima, if there was someone stronger than the Executives assigned for the battles, Carrera and co. had the role of buying time until reinforcements arrived.

But, now it was different.

Because of the "Go all out!" wish from their master Rimuru. (TN: Here we go again…)

As such, something similar to the time with Testa and Ul would happen again.

Overkill, but that was what going all out meant.

That being the case, Carrera was about to shoot out some Nuclear Strike Magic.

"He〜〜〜y wait! Carrera-sama, what in the world were you about to do just now?!"

Arch-Demon Agera stopped her in a hurry.

Being around the Carrera who was like this for many years, she was able to read her behaviour patterns and take action this time.

"Oya? Is something wrong, Agera dear?

I was just going to fry up those things on the ground with some nuclear goodness, you know?

How's that? Genius right?

They won't even get to see us, a perfect 'going all out' if I do say so myself!"

"Amazing and Perfect! As expected of (TN: sasuga) Carrera-sama!!"

"You there, you shut your mouth!

...Please listen to me carefully Carrera-sama. That one isn't what we call a 'going all out' ok?"

"w...what?"

First shutting up her fellow demon Esprit, with Carrera, who was a bit off in the head, Agera explained slowly like one would a child.

Her superior, Carrera, was like a runaway car with the brakes taken off.

Stopping her was a high difficulty task.

With a ridiculous power, she came with no responsibility.

Her colleague Esprit, who was supposed to share in her pain, was instead only encouraging Carrera.

To that end, Agera suffered plentiful mental stress.

Testarossa would be evil but rational, and Ultima kept it under control too.

But, this Carrera who went 100% from the very start, was hopeless.

After going all out, and laughing about going too far , was something she had been doing with them till now, albeit hesitantly.

Until now, it was sort of okay.

They were elites among the most elite demons.

They worked under no one thanks to their raw power.

But now, to gain Demon Lord Rimumu's favor, they needed to gain the ability to use their brains too.

Agera was already doing that.

But she wanted her superior to use some grey matter too, it was her sincere wish.

This ever enduring Agera desperately tried ―― as they displayed symptoms of ADHD, she talked slowly and carefully. It was really hard ―― to talk some sense into these people.

Suddenly, something strange happened to the Imperial troops closing in.

Purple haired leader the Immortal Corps Yomigaeri, Shion's, personal guards charged.

They numbered 10,000.

Yomigaeri had since taken in a lot of Shion's fans who had gotten personal training from the woman herself.

Agera could clearly see that from the sky that, despite their numbers, their strength was not to be trifled with.

Every one of them had inherited Shion's 'Fear Haki'.

These 10,000 troops, these Terror Knights, were thrown towards the Imperial army.

The enemy began to surrender from the horror they unleashed.

Their actual strength sealed off through fear tactics, the enemy faced a hopeless situation, as Shion's team one-sidedly went wild.

They dominated the battlefield, donned in purple armour made by the eldest of the dwarf brothers, Garm.

3 of them in particular rampaged while releasing crazy amounts of Demonic Aura.

These were the 3 sons of Demon Lord Dagrule.

Those three had become the very incarnation of violence, spewing out plentiful amounts of 'Fear Haki'.

It was as if there were 3 vortexes in the middle of the battlefield, swallowing up and dismantling the Empire's forces.

Other than the 3 giants, every one of Shion's corps displayed an overwhelming of force incomparable to when they were newly formed.

She didn't know what kind of training they went through, but, though she was a Demon, Agera couldn't help but feel a chill.

"Look at that Agera, while you were blabbering on, Shion-san got a leg ahead. Care to take responsibility?"

Agera now became very nervous.

Carrera is usually like a car without brakes, but when she gets angry, its more like an 18 wheeler filled with TNT (without brakes).

And If Agera herself was the target of her rage, she would be dead a week ago.

"Carrera-sama! Look, there's some live game back there!

We can settle for them them right?"

Dammit Esprit! You have my utmost gratitude, you lovable idiot you! So and the two of them turned to where she was pointing.

Around half of the 200,000 who had come here, were busy setting up camp.

Carrera nodded with a smile,

"O you're right, they are! Very well, prepare the tea so I can start snacking!"

She nodded with a satisfied look.

It was now completely out of Agera's hands.

They were definately going to get scolded if Carrera was allowed to go out of control, but that was something later.

The important thing was that Carrera wasn't directing her anger at herself anymore.

The hardships of the ever enduring Agera, had yet to end.

In the end, The troops who were stationed farther away as the 2nd wave of the Capital Capture Force, were finished off with a single aerial attack.

The barrier generated from their special weapon Magic Canceller, was easily broken and they were decimated with Large-Scale Annihilation Magic. (TN: haha I'm pretty much running out of synonyms)

Agera and Esprit disabled different types barriers according to the types they specialized in.

And with precise timing, made it possible to leave them completely defenceless.

Nuclear Magic 'Gravity Collapse'.

Suddenly not being able to handle the pressure from their own weight, an intense gravity crushed the Imperial troops where they stood.

The area they had cleared to make a base, standing out in the demon's eyes made it impossible for them to run away or fight back.

With its full power, the ultra-gravity increase could cause a huge explosion but that didn't happen this time.

Carrera had kept Agera's words in mind apparently.

And without the explosion, as the last of weakling troops were crushed to death, the gravity magic ended.

This wasn't an action taken by someone who moved in an organized army like fashion.

But Carrera, now satisfied with that one attack, went back to join the rest.

And returned to being Gerudo's support.

The scene she left behind was like an Imperial army after a catastrophic natural disaster.

Their only relief, being granted death so suddenly, was having no time to feel regret or fear.

If inversely, some had survived, their soul buried in fear, their hatred for the empire and the realization of their own foolishness, such thoughts would certainly have eaten up at their lives.

In this way, the preliminary attack force of the Empire got one-sidedly overwhelmed by Shion's overpowered army, and their reinforcements were permanently put at ease by Carrera.

And Gerudo's wall, forget being broken, had not even budged a single step.

Tempest's Capital Defensive Battle was a complete offensive victory.

And with this siege battle over with, the war had moved to the clean up operations of the last portion of the enemy. (TN: waa! Calgurio still alive!)

* * *

Translator's Rant:

Oh wow, was this a rush job, well... You may see some things that a japanese author wouldn't write in japanese. That's because I just added them in on my own. The meaning should still be the same, well, if i understood the original text correctly. But rather than transliterating, I hoped to localize the content without ruining it. Hopefully it was fine. This translation may get some edits, when I get back Pedro corrections, but please consider this to be an overblown teaser to the main translation form clown or guro. Once again, thanks for reading and see you...

(•_•) / ( •_•)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■) ... on another chapter.

Update : After a good night's sleep, this mysterious lion finally realizes his shame. But then, he would take the comments and advice and try and reconcile the situation. You, the reader, may have noticed but theres a way to hide those pesky TNs and now theres a way to change the theme too. Since it's my preference, the dark theme is the default. Also, since I've been releasing as fast as I can, a lot of irl (uggh) things have piled up. This masked lion faces a fearsome Arch Demon called Calculus. The next chapter will likely be later than usual, so this lion bids the readers a temporary adieu.