"Sorry about the short notice," I told my friends as we traveled rapidly through the Enchanted Lands. Apparently the path there led straight to the Havan Kingdom, where I could finally meet up with the Heroes. I heard that Harold's party was located near the border there, just below the snowy mountains.
Right…the lair of the Frost Giants. I remembered fighting alongside Harold's party against the lumbering behemoths once, to defend a village at the foot of the snowy mountains. There, the lands were in perpetual winter.
But before we could reach the mountains, I had to first travel through the Enchanted Lands.
This might be dangerous because the Enchanting Legion and the Giant Legion had yet to pledge their loyalty to me. The giants were one thing, but I was surprised at the refusal from the Enchanting Legion. I would have thought that the incubus and succubus who made up the bulk of the Enchanting Legion would be more than happy to make peace with the humans.
I had believed that their motto was make love, not war. Which was why it came as a rude shock when they refused my invitation to the slowly unifying Demonic Empire. At least they weren't as hostile as the Shadow Legion, who outright tried to assassinate me.
"You okay, Wolfe?" I asked my dire wolf, who barked happily as he pulled the carriage across the snow. The dire wolves seemed at home with the snowy grounds. A layer of white had now covered the once verdant meadows, probably a prelude to winter.
No, I wasn't going to copy Ned Stark here.
"We'll take about three days to get to the border," Silvia Winters reported from further inside the carriage. I pulled my head back and turned to look at her. She was accompanied by Stella Nightsworth, Billy Cantwell, Doug Dubinski and Larson. The prowlers were in their human form, their fur retracted under their skin and their muscles shrunk to the size of normal men.
They would all be able to sneak into human territory without getting caught and identified as demons. Yay.
Silvia might be a bit of a problem, but we solved that by having her wear a hood over her head to cover her pointy ears. She actually looked cute with that hood, reminding me of a certain half-elf in a dark fantasy light novel or anime. You know, the one where the protagonist's ability was to return from death.
"Your highness, are you listening?"
"Yeah, Emilia."
"What did you just call me?"
"Sorry. I mean Silvia." I raised both of my hands sheepishly. "You remind me of someone else when you're dressed like that."
"Yeah!" Stella agreed. "You look super cute, Emilia…ahem, I mean Silvia!"
"Please stop this nonsense, otherwise I'll start calling you two Subaru and Rem."
"I think Ram will be more appropriate for me," Stella replied as she ran her fingers through her long, red hair.
"What are you guys even talking about now?" Larson asked, confused.
"Nothing, just web novel stuff."
Larson snorted at my reply. He evidently had no interest in web novels and thought they were a complete waste of time. While he might have a point when it came to many of them, it was a pity that he didn't give the specific web novel we were talking about right now a chance. He was missing out on a masterpiece.
Billy suddenly tensed, sniffing the air. Doug glanced at him before nodding, his lips peeled back in a growl. His teeth lengthened into fangs, but he restrained himself, suppressing his transformation.
"What is it?" I asked in a hushed tone. I had learned to trust the prowlers' instincts. Their senses were much more acute than humans'. Well, even more acute than vampires' senses, for that matter.
"Enemies," Billy replied, his tone low. He rose to a crouch and moved gracefully to the exit of the carriage, getting ready to fight.
"Well…I'm not sure if they are actually enemies," Doug admitted. But he was just as alert and tense as Bill. "But they are definitely not allies. They are from the Enchanting Legion, if I'm getting their scent right."
"Definitely enemies," Larson muttered. The elite swordsman had a narrow view of the world. All those who weren't with us were against us, or at least that was what he believed. I had to explain to him that reality wasn't so black and white or simplistic, especially since I didn't want him to attack humans in the future.
Fortunately, he had accepted my explanation, but he continued to bear hostility toward the three Demonic Legions who refused to swear their fealty to me. Apparently, he could understand why humans wouldn't bow to demons, but he believed that fellow demons should all unify under a single rule.
Of course, reality wasn't as simplistic as that. The term "demons" wasn't even accurate. We had over dozens of different species classified singularly as demons for no reason other than…why? I didn't know either. To be honest, it was probably easier that way. I was thinking from a human's perspective. By classifying all non-humans under a singular umbrella term "demons," it was easier to dehumanize them and view them as the enemy.
It didn't matter who or what they were. As long as they weren't human, they were the enemy. They were demons.
However, as I lived with the demons – as a demon – I understood their perspectives. Demons wasn't a name for species or whatever. To them, the words "demon" and "demonic empire" represented a coalition. An alliance of disparate tribes or legions, different species working together for world conquest and domination. It didn't matter what species you were, all would be united under the banner of the Demonic Emperor.
Of course, just as with every tribes even in human culture, there were rivalries and competitions. Demons were not a singular, monolithic entity. Even within the Demonic Empire, they fought amongst themselves, warring against each other to emerge as the supreme force.
With that in mind, I joined Billy and Doug as they leaped out of the carriage to confront the foe. To my complete lack of surprise, the enchanting legion was present. A legion of incubi and succubus were waiting in the mountains.
I was astonished, though, by the presence of the frost giants. Apparently the two legions had decided to team up.
"Your majesty…so you really decided to travel through here."
A pink-haired succubus stepped forward, stretching out her hand in a seductive manner. I recognized her as the Divine General, Cassandra. It had been a long time since I had seen her, but her skimpy outfit and gorgeous appearance was unmistakable.
Unfortunately for her, I was far from impressed or enthralled. I could sense the charm magic of the succubus hanging heavily upon me. Once upon a time, I might have fallen prey to her charm, but I had grown a lot stronger than when I was first a vampire.
My magical resistance had leveled up, so to speak. Otherwise I would be enthralled by her enchantments.
Staring back, I smiled humorlessly. "I assume you aren't here to swear fealty to me."
"Oh, no." Cassandra giggled. "Of course not. Not when I can be the Demonic Empress."
"How dare you?!" Larson drew his sword. Both he and Stella fanned out on either side of me, taking their bodyguard duties seriously and forming a wall of steel. "To defy our liege is treason! A crime punishable by death!"
"Quit the cheesy lines, Larson." I sighed wearily. "I think Cassandra knows that. The winner writes the history and decides the rules. If she kills me here, she'll become Demonic Empress. On the other hand, if I win against her…"
"That's correct." Cassandra nodded. "That's how the Demonic Empire has always worked. The strongest rules over all the others."
She then smirked.
"I must say, you seem to have quite the confidence, considering out vastly outnumbered you are."
"I've faced worse odds before and survived. Not just survived, but even won."
"That's true," Cassandra conceded. "We have heard of the tales. Of your victories and feats. Honestly, it'll be a huge waste to kill you. I would rather keep you alive and as a subordinate. You'll be a tremendous asset."
Once again, I could feel her enchantment spell pressing down upon me, but I deflected it with my magical resistance. Smiling, I cocked my head to the side and pushed my glasses up my nose.
"I could say the same. I would much rather have you on my side. All this fighting is meaningless. Why can't we all work together?"
"Hmm…I don't mind serving under you, but under certain conditions." Cassandra was considering her options, much to the consternation of her aghast subordinate incubi and succubus.
"But…Mistress!"
"You can't!"
"Only you are worthy of being the new Demonic Empress!"
Cassandra ignored them for now and focused her attention on me, a seductive smile flitting over her face.
"If your name is Sebastian and you decide to change your title to the Overlord instead of Demonic Emperor, then I will obey you. I will be your woman."
"I'm not the overlord!" I protested hotly.
"Then too bad. If you're not the overlord, then you'll have to be my subordinate."
"I'm the Demonic Emperor," I declared, not paying any attention to her. "Sounds better than overlord, doesn't it?"
"Ainz might disagree," Stella muttered under her breath.
"What about Sebastian?"
"Uh…I think Sebastian will agree with you."
"What are you guys talking about now?" Silvia asked, annoyed. "Can the chatter and focus on the battle before us!"
"Right, sorry." I raised a hand and summoned an ice dragon. He materialized and bellowed, freezing the entire place. A few of the incubi and succubus found themselves frozen, their bodies entombed in ice. Cassandra jumped back, her eyes wide.
"No wonder you're still so confident even though you're so badly outnumbered. You have such a trump card!"
"I thought you already knew about my ice dragon." I rolled my eyes. Cassandra looked sheepish, but she didn't reply. Instead, she issued an order. Immediately, all of the incubi and succubus descended upon us, their wings flapping almost manically.
Behind them, the frost giants charged, swinging their gigantic clubs and weapons.
My ice dragon bounded forward to meet the colossal enemies, swinging his tail and smacking the giants off their feet. Frost spread over their bruises, restraining them for a few seconds before my ice dragon finished them off. more lunged at him, but my ice dragon was more than equal to the task, casting huge ice spells that froze entire swathes of the enemy.
My elite bodyguard circled me, Larson and Stella slashing and stabbing with their swords. The both of them executed consummate swordsmanship, taking down plenty of the incubi and succubus, but they were slowly being overwhelmed by their numbers. Also, I could feel the multiple charm spells slowly taking effect.
The charm spells did not work as well on the prowlers, who had shapeshifted to their werewolf forms and were leaping about, tearing into the swarm of sex demons. Their talons lashed out over and over again, sending up sprays of blood. Wolfe joined Billy and Doug, growling as he pounced on an incubus and tore his throat out.
Silvia and I hung back. Being mages, we were more suited for backline roles, where we dished out tremendous ice spells. Much like the victims of my ice dragon, our opponents found themselves completely frozen, trapped in blocks of ice and shattered into fragments of frost.
"You…!" Cassandra snarled, lashing out. Larson parried her strike, but her strength sent him skidding back several paces. As expected of a Divine General, her physical strength was abnormal. Even the vampires weren't able to fight on equal footing. I could only watch as Stella was sent hurtling away, despite my best attempts to cover her with a barrage of icicles.
Cassandra simply smashed the icicles aside and broke free of the ice. Like me, her magical resistance was impressive.
And then, there was a sudden howl. All the combatants froze for a moment – not literally, of course – and looked up. Tons of snow was crashing down upon us, a tsunami of white that rolled down the steep slopes of the mountains and threatening to wash over us.
"Avalanche!" Someone shouted, and instantly everyone tried to break away and retreat from the devastating wave.