The Remains of Demonic Army

Demonic Lord Franzen climbed up the snowy mountain with chips of ice stabbing his bare face. Behind him was two of his most trusted man and woman, an ogre named Argarr and a wolf denizen named Lyra. Even if the weather didn't like them, they had to get to the top of the mountain.

"My lord, are we there yet?" The dark green-skinned ogre covered his face with his hands against the extreme elements of the weather. No matter how thick his skin was able to scoff off attacks from a sword, it was not enough to defend himself from the elements.

Thousands of his fellow ogres passed away after the final battle, and only leaving three ogres left that were all under his command. He still believed in Franzen, no matter how the outcome would be, because he knew, living under the human rule would mean torture for him, alongside losing the honor of being an ogre.

Humans feared ogres, and it showed during the last battle when his fellow comrades held off the human army to let the demonic army retreat from the incoming slaughter from the mages and the sheer number of the human army and its main weapons, the summoned. All of them died honorably during battle, and Argarr still grieved from it.

"Just a little more," Franzen smiled, revealing his white teeth showing up among the almost gray skin of his face, the signature of a demon, besides their red eyes and two horns protruding from its temple.

Franzen sternly led the way while putting his hand forward while chanting his wind magic to redirect the wind so it didn't hit his most trusted ones. The death of thousands of denizens and demons still haunted him to this day, and to think that the human managed to capture almost all of his territories, including his own castle still damaged the pride of the demonic army.

His last large siege in the city of Denuvo ended disastrously as one of his commanders betrayed him and opened the gate for the human army to enter it, ending the long monthly sieges and slaughtering the last of the demonic army, including his own wife. The once fearful demonic army turned into nothing more than myths in one night.

The sheer power of the human army shocked him. Their sheer numbers and amount of magicians decimated the demonic army in one thunder offensive, reducing the number of his army from the huge three million personnel to not even half of it. And now, there were only seventeen people left that were still loyal to him.

This was his only hope, the myth of legendary weapons left by the now-dead legendary dragon guardian, Darlazir. He discovered the secret on the deepest floor of the library dungeon of his castle, between all of the books and papers left by previous demon lords thousand of years ago. Written on a white piece of paper, it showed the map of the mountain alongside what to expect from it.

Under no circumstance would Franzen even approach a lair of a former dragon, a dragon sat on top of the food chain, if a dragon noticed him, it'd be a fierce battle that would result in his death. His order to the remainder of his army was clear, "Leave the camp if I don't return in two weeks." He had his own doubts.

In desperate times, he would take desperate measures, even if it meant sacrificing himself for the better of his own army, these two followers of his only followed him to the dangerous mountain after Franzen let them. He planned to face the lair alone, using the last remaining of his demonic power. However, with two people, it'd be a tad easier.

"My lord, the weather is rather erratic today, eh?" Lyra commented.

"Indeed, this is the mountain no demon has ever climbed and no human has ever visited. Those who have aren't live to tell the tale to us, Lyra," Franzen replied, like a wise mentor to its student. The truth was in his words.

"Are we the first one, my lord?" Lyra asked.

"You're right. If we somehow manage to survive this mountain, we'd be the ones to tell the tale about it, Lyra. Tell me, though, do you regret coming with me?" Franzen asked, reinforcing the point that following him would be a bad idea, even more so since they ventured into the unknown land.

Lyra used to be an adventurer, before getting herself involved with the demonic army, especially after the formal declaration of crusader from the human side. She thought the war would be her way to gain fame and glory, but instead, she only lost her own family and a bunch of her own comrades and denizens.

Humans didn't look at denizens favorably, mainly because anyone that married them become impure. Something that everyone was made aware of after the first king allowed interracial marriage between humans and denizens, but once they found out everyone born from denizens had animal ears, that marriage rule got erased as quickly as it got established.

After that, denizens were seen as second-class citizens, and not long after that, the third-class, and rebellion emerged throughout the country, demanding more equal rights. The kingdom squashed on the rebellion as rapidly as it could and pushed the denizens away from its territory.

"Almost there, just one more step," Franzen said the obvious lie to bring the morale back. Truth be told, it's been hours of surviving in this extreme blizzard that should have frozen them to death. The road was not that challenging since it was flat, and a carriage should be able to pass through.

"My lord, could it be from the remnants of the dragon's soul?" Argarr asked.

It was no mystery even the power from a dragon's soul alone was able to change environmental conditions. For example, the lake where the fire dragon died turned into hot springs because its soul changed the water temperature.

"Possibly, Argarr, after all, we are going to fight its lair, not the dragon itself," Franzen said.

Argarr nodded as they followed the road leading to the top of the mountain. The road was made from an unknown black rock that felt hard to step on, but it was covered with a thick layer of frozen snow and ice. It created a weird impression on the trio, to step on something that they didn't even recognize beforehand.

"Is the dragon guardian used to be a lazy dragon?" Lyka joked, giving a slight smiled on her face.

Franzen sighed, "Lyka, the last thing I want to do is to make a joke about a dead dragon. There's a reason why dragons became the trump card of any known kingdom."

Dragons. Hard to tame, hard to maintain, and hard to find. However, once they entered the battlefield, a dragon alone could turn the full outcome of a battle, making it to be the greatest asset that any kingdom would ever want.

Arkarr sighed, "Dragons are bad memories, I'm not going to talk about it."

The demonic kingdom didn't use any dragon whatsoever, mainly because Franzen wasn't a warlord-type of demonic lord. He focused more on society building than his military building, making the demonic empire relatively weak militarily, but economically strong.

It made the neighboring kingdom jealous and justified the invasion of the demonic kingdom in the name of a crusade. However, the demonic empire wasn't a land filled with fertile land either, it was just that, the constant spending on people's development mattered the most. However, it all fell into ruins once the war broke out.

About dragons, since the demonic kingdom didn't use dragons, it couldn't achieve air superiority just by using wyverns, and fighting against dragons with wyverns was a bloody bad idea. So, practically, the fate of the army was sealed from the start.

"Well, Arkarr, what can we do back then? Dragons aren't exactly obedient creatures, you can't recruit one in months, much less days," Franzen added. Franzen was a lord, but he also used to be a military commander. Sacrificing his military strength was worth it as it increased the economic strength of his country by eight times, as long as his diplomats were able to keep the peace.

It only turned out to be his major blunder.

"And, here we are," Franzen said as he arrived in front of a rock with no interest.

The rock was just a rock, without any noticeable features. The rock was only covered in snow. Franzen put his fingertips on the rock, looking for its edge. This particular rock along the side of the mountains was special, the edges formed a perfect square, just like a door.

"My lord, this only looks like a regular square," Arkarr commented.

"Shush, I am about to do a ritual."