Chapter 30: Strengths and Weaknesses

Seated on the throne in the Third Layer, Koda kept his eyes closed as he directed his demons through the siege of a medium-sized goblin den.

Order after order flowed through the throne and straight into their minds, forcing them to obey without question.

Even when those orders would almost certainly get them killed!

Koda had marked this den as a priority a full day earlier.

To finish the fight as fast as possible, he had even pulled back the squads he’d sent out scouting.

The reason was simple. Besides nearly a hundred goblins and three goblin shamans, the den held a strange statue made of rock and flecks of gold.

Once the goblins were dead, their bodies could be butchered for meat; food for the demons, and flesh for hatching new ones. Whatever junk the den had hoarded could go onto the altar for soul stones.

But that wasn’t all.

The truly valuable thing was the statue.

It was worth more than everything else in the den put together.

Even through the eyes of his Imps, Koda could feel it. It had a weight to it, a quiet pull, like something asleep.

Sleeping Relics.

They were rare and strange, even by Hell’s standards.

The altar would take one in exchange for a mountain of soul stones. Or, if a lord was willing to feed it enough soul stones first, the altar would wake the relic instead.

Once woken, a relic might turn into powerful gear, a scroll holding some rite, or even a map to a hidden hoard.

In short, whatever came out of it, a Sleeping Relic was worth far more than ordinary spoils.

That was why Koda was taking this fight so seriously.

He couldn’t afford a single mistake.

At the center of the battlefield...

"Squad One, fall back to A2!"

"Squad Two, take Squad One’s place and hold B7 against their counterattack!"

"Lesser Demons Five, Six, and Seven, move into C1 and cut off their escape... Damn it! I told you to support your teammates, not eat them!"

As it turned out, one Lesser Demon had been faithfully carrying out his orders.

However, while advancing, the wretched thing had also grabbed a passing Imp, stomped it to death, and quickly shared the corpse with the other Lesser Demons.

It hadn’t gone perfectly smoothly, but it certainly looked like the work of a seasoned repeat offender.

Before Koda could even react, another thread in his mind went dark. He had lost another Imp.

Squad One, which had started with seventeen Imps, instantly dropped to sixteen.

Seeing this, Koda covered his face with one hand as he sat on the throne.

"Good grief! These damned things are truly... beyond words!"

After more than a day of getting used to them, Koda had made a surprising discovery about their greatest strength.

They weren’t afraid of dying!

Or more accurately, losses didn’t shake them at all.

Any other army would waver after watching the soldiers beside them fall. Demons didn’t. They kept fighting as if nothing had happened.

Even when they were badly wounded, they wouldn’t take a single step back.

The only thing they did, on the verge of death, was throw every last ounce of strength at whatever enemy was closest.

They didn’t care if they could win. The dying screams of their comrades didn’t frighten them. They didn’t even care whether they lived.

All they wanted was to spread chaos and destruction, just like war itself.

All of this convinced Koda that demons had tremendous potential for war!

However, their weaknesses were just as obvious.

Even though the law of the Seed forced them to obey him, there was still a problem...

Every now and then, one or two of them wouldn’t carry out an order completely. Others would look for a chance to grab a little extra on the side while they did it.

None of this changed the overall battle, and none of it threatened his absolute control over the field.

Even so, how unpredictable they were irritated him to no end.

It was almost as if they were instinctively trying to resist him...

No. It was as if they were trying to resist the law of the Seed itself!

Crack!

A Lesser Demon crushed the skull of the last surviving goblin under its foot.

On the throne, Koda finally let out a breath.

Under his command, two hundred Imps and Lesser Demons had wiped out the medium-sized goblin den, with fewer than thirty-five losses.

At first glance, losing nearly a sixth of his army might have looked rather high.

But considering how much stronger each goblin was than an Imp, how chaotic his demons were, and how much the terrain favored the defenders, the result could only be called a major victory.

In fact, it was practically a complete rout.

The opening ambush, splitting the goblins apart in the middle of the fight, the final, methodical cleanup; Koda’s command had been outstanding.

It was almost perfect.

Every surprise had been corrected almost as soon as it happened.

He had even had enough attention to spare to think about other things while he directed the battle.

And yet, when Koda looked at the thirty-odd dead demons, he still frowned.

"I could have lost fewer..."

A flash of frustration crossed his face.

But it wasn’t because he was sorry those Imps had died.

He was frustrated with himself!

"I made mistakes."

"My orders and my tactics both had problems."

"They weren’t just imperfect. They were full of holes..."

"Next time, I need to fix how I fight, and make it suit what demons actually are."

Koda took a deep breath.

"Fine. I’ll stop thinking about that for now."

"First, I need them to bring back that statue."

"I wonder how many soul stones the altar would give me for it."

"Or maybe I should wake it up and see what I get."

As dozens of Imps hauled the enormous statue toward the gate like a gang of slaves, a pair of sharp eyes opened in the shadows beneath a tree in the nearby forest.

At first, those eyes took in the goblin corpses and the ruined den with deep disgust, and a faint trace of satisfaction.

But when their owner saw the demons, and how they behaved, the look in those eyes changed completely.

Boundless hatred, and overwhelming fury!