"Fifth squad, step back, Seventh squad, forward! Look around you, don't rush, don't get excited! Continue to [manage] the situation calmly!"
Following the Beast King Waldroy's instructions, the deployed troops moved busily.
There were shouts of anger, splashes of blood, and screams of monsters, coupled with the heat of battle and the clamor of the crowd.
They succeeded in establishing a line of defense at an early stage and prevented the monsters from invading the village.
So far, only a few people were injured and there were no casualties, so things seemed to be going well.
However, there were many, many monsters and because of that they were forced to deploy their forces thinly and widely, making the strength of the defensive line almost gone.
Even up to this point, the front line had already been breached several times, and each time the Beast King himself led his troops to extinguish the leak.
If even one unexpected incident were to occur, the entire front would collapse, and the situation would become far more dangerous.
-Originally, the beastmen did not have many standing soldiers.
This was because of their way of life.
The Dwarves, for example, were completely united as a single race, but the beastmen were divided into several species, like the monsters.
Although their basic appearance remained the same, their living environment differed slightly from each other because of the mixing of beast characteristics.
In other words, they did not live in a single place, but rather, they formed their villages scattered in different places to make their lives more comfortable.
The village where the Beast King Waldroy lived was the largest among the villages, and it could be said to play the role of a capital city, but its population was considerably smaller than that of other capitals.
If push came to shove, it would be possible to gather warriors from the surrounding villages and mobilize enough forces to engage in a single battle with other nations, but in this time of peace, there were not enough of them to deal with the monsters that kept appearing one after the other.
They had already determined that the strength of the village alone was not enough, and had sent a request for help to the village of Dwarf, which was the closest in distance… but until then, they wondered if they would be able to endure the situation.
Besides, there was one thing that concerned them.
The frightened monsters seemed to be running away from something.
This agitation…. It might not be the result of the earthquake alone.
One of the main reasons why the situation was still manageable, even at the very limit, was that the monsters were only trying to escape and were not aggressively attacking.
If left unchecked, the monsters would rush into the village, so they could not be ignored, but thanks to this, they were able to keep the wear and tear on the troops to an extremely low level.
But… for this many monsters to try to run away, it was looking bad.
Whatever came out, it would be really strong.
-I may have made a mistake in judgment.
The Beast King did not say it out loud in front of his subordinates, but regretted it inwardly.
He knew something might be wrong, but he still underestimated the situation and thought that it was just the effect of the earthquake.
And – the ordeal for them did not stop there.
ROAR…
With a roar, a huge quadrupedal monster broke through the forest and appeared.
It was a sub-dragon [Salamander].
Classified as a disaster class, it was an extremely powerful being. In the face of its presence, not only the Beast King's subordinates but also the monsters in the vicinity, seemed to be upset.
The Beast King knew about that monster.
It was a sub-dragon with a gentle temperament that ate mainly magic and did not need material food, and therefore did not attack other living creatures.
According to records, it had been living in the volcanic area near the village of Dwarves for about 400 years, and was believed by some to be a Guardian Deity.
Now, this monster had left its territory and came all the way here. It seemed extremely agitated and frightened.
The Beast King was not sure if this monster was also fleeing, the same as the other monsters, knowing the monster's strength and position.
"Damn it… First squad, follow me! We must deal with that monster! Ninth squad, fill the hole in the first squad! Second and third squads, send out your men one by one to assist the ninth squad!"
Waldroy yelled out instructions in response to the rapidly changing situation.
The First Squad was formed by the elites of the beastmen tribe.
It was the unit that Waldroy trusted the most and that trusted him the most.
The captain of the first squad of the Beastmen Army asked Waldroy in a slightly dismayed tone.
"Wa, Waldroy-sama, but that monster is the guardian deity of…"
Seeing his subordinate's hesitation, Beast King Waldroy replied in a resolute tone, "…I know. But now that things have come to this, we have no choice. We have to do it. I'm sorry to make you do this, but… we're going to have to fight it with the intent of dying."
"…Ha! We offer our lives to the Beast King."
"Kuku, but don't burn out your lives as much as possible, such is the life of a miserable man. Unless it's with a beautiful woman." (Beast King)
The captain of the first group also replied with a chuckle, "Oops, that's a terrible thing to say to a man who's prepared to die for you. I'm afraid I'm going to tell it to your wife and daughter."
"No, no, this is a generalization. I'd rather be liked by a woman than by a man or a monster." (Beast King)
"I am sorry, but you must give up. Unfortunately, the Beast King is more favored by men than women. So, I suggest you take good care of your wife." (Captain)
"What are you, some kind of lackey of my wife?" (Beast King)
"Yes, in fact, I have been instructed to monitor the Beast King's official business. I will keep your wife informed of everything." (Captain)
"My goodness, I'll never have a moment of peace with you." (Beast King)
Knowing that this was most likely the place where they would die, the Beast King and the captain of the first squad deliberately joked with each other to lighten their mood.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, weapons at the ready, ready to face the oncoming fury – but their resolve ended in vain.
"For God's sake, Spirits! Save the beastmen and get rid of the monsters! Enne, magic blade!"
After the beastmen heard those words, the first to appear was a humanoid figure of fire.
The humanoid, vaguely female-looking creature appeared across the battlefield, eliminating the monsters one after the other.
Next, a rain of slashes fell.
It gouged the forest, gouged the earth, slashed through the surrounding monsters, and vanished.
And finally – someone appeared.
For a moment, they didn't know who or what it was.
Power.
A mass of power.
A presence so strong that it made the disaster-class monster, a monster that would have destroyed any city in the world, look insignificant.
Overwhelmed, even though he was the commander, he was unable to think straight…and after a few moments, he finally understood who it was.
"Demon Lord Yuki…"
"Beast King, long time no see! I'm sorry, but please don't attack the spirit I sent out, the one that's female and on fire! They will disappear on their own after she is done defeating the monsters, okay!"
With these words, Demon Lord Yuki swung the huge sword on his shoulder.
At the same time, blood exploded as an oversized cut appeared on Salamander's body, followed by a screech from the monster.
"Oh? What is that? You're really hard. Ah, you're a dragon. With your abilities, you might be able to survive in the Demon Forest."
Waldroy hurriedly stopped Demon Lord Yuki, who was about to finish the monster off.
"Wait, Demon Lord! That monster is being worshiped as a Guardian Deity. It is usually mild-mannered and does not harm the people, so please don't kill it if you can avoid doing so."
Although they felt they were asking too much of Yuki to spare the Salamander's life if he could, they were also prepared to accept if it was necessary to get rid of it.
"Hmm? Is that so? Calm down, Sub-dragon."
[Roaaar-]
"Didn't you hear me? I said, calm down."
Then the salamander reacted with a jerk, backed up, and slowly sat down in place.
Yuki, the Demon Lord, easily made the sub-dragon surrender.
"Hmm, okay, great. Just in time, you, help me. Disperse the monsters here. Here, I'll heal your wounds. Oh, and don't let the beastmen get hurt."
[Roaar]
The wounds on Salamander disappeared at the same time as Demon Lord Yuki sprinkled a vial that he pulled out of nowhere.
Was that… an elixir, perhaps?
After recovering in this way, Salamander rushed forward to fulfill the instructions it received and started scattering the monsters.
"Well then, Beast King, I'll go eliminate the monsters as well! If any of your men are wounded, heal them with this!"
Yuki took out a dozen more vials, shoved them at Waldroy, and then flew off again without hearing a reply.
-Only 30 minutes after the appearance of Demon Lord Yuki, the anomaly was resolved.