Nazarick, Tenth Floor, Throne Room.
Draco sat upon the throne, with the Guardians of the various floors below him.
Except for Mare, who was on his way, everyone was present.
"Demiurge, report on the intelligence regarding the Kistav army."
Draco's calm voice echoed from the throne, shedding his usual casualness and carrying an unmistakable pressure.
Demiurge bowed slightly.
"The opponent has an elite demi-human battle group of thirty thousand, as well as seventy thousand undead skeleton soldiers."
"The army is led by a human named Asam. According to observations via the 「Detection」 skill, this person has a strength of approximately Lv80."
"The army has currently reached the outskirts of the forest and is expected to arrive at the plains in one day."
Listening to Demiurge's report, the Guardians on the side were somewhat surprised.
Is there something wrong with the intelligence?
Is the enemy's combat power... too weak?!
"Demiurge, are you certain these are all the combat forces the enemy has?"
Cocytus asked calmly.
Pushing up his circular glasses, Demiurge shook his head.
"It cannot be ruled out that the opponent used 「Information Interference Magic」 to intentionally leak false intelligence, aiming to make us underestimate them."
"The number of pawns planted in this army is limited, so they cannot access many core secrets."
Demiurge has a skill called 「Command Word」, which can force low-level characters to obey orders.
This army of Clayman's usually doesn't show its face; being able to find pawns to plant inside was already quite an achievement for Demiurge.
Pausing for a moment, he continued his analysis, "Not long ago, two mysterious individuals appeared in the enemy army, but they have not shown their faces."
"These are likely the enemy's true trump cards."
Cocytus nodded, agreeing with Demiurge's view.
The others also felt this was more reasonable.
Atop the throne, Draco also fell into deep thought.
If it were just Clayman alone, he wouldn't be worried at all.
But the sudden appearance of mysterious individuals forced him to think of the Neutral Clowns.
"Could it be that Clayman discovered Nazarick's true combat strength and invited them to help?"
"That's impossible. With Nigredo's Anti-reconnaissance Magic, no one except Milim should be able to discover us."
"Right, Milim... could it be..."
Draco knew very well that this girl couldn't keep a secret; it was highly likely she had blurted it out without even realizing it.
But after thinking it over, Draco still felt something was wrong.
If Clayman truly understood Nazarick's strength, he would never dare to attack; he would definitely hide as far away as possible.
"Sebas."
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Has Milim returned recently?"
"That... it seems not."
Sebas shook his head after frowning and thinking carefully.
Everyone was puzzled by the question Draco suddenly raised.
Only Demiurge seemed to have vaguely guessed something, a meaningful curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Understood."
The appearance of the two mysterious individuals caused Draco's originally relaxed mindset to become slightly more vigilant.
"This is the first battle for the Duchy of Nazarick, and it is also the beginning of our true debut on the world stage."
"For this battle, I have only one requirement!"
Everyone looked solemnly at the incredibly handsome young man atop the throne.
"You must absolutely not reveal your true strength."
Draco instructed seriously.
"Master, why is that?"
Shalltear blinked her eyes in confusion.
"What is hidden is called a trump card, while what is exposed is a weakness."
"Oh!! As expected of the supreme being we serve, you are always so far-sighted."
Demiurge clapped his hands, expressing his admiration for Draco.
"Uh-huh, well then, let's continue the topic from just now."
He was just acting according to the principle of playing the fool to eat the tiger; Demiurge was definitely overthinking things again.
It would be embarrassing if he couldn't keep up with Demiurge's train of thought.
Draco waved his hand somewhat unnaturally, quickly moving past the issue.
"For this campaign, Cocytus will serve as the commander-in-chief, and the army of two hundred thousand will be entrusted to you."
Cocytus immediately stepped forward and knelt on one knee, then said resoundingly.
"To be entrusted with such a great responsibility as commander for Nazarick's first battle—as a Guardian and as a warrior, I feel immensely honored!"
After speaking, Cocytus was so excited that his nostrils were like a starting train, immediately puffing out two blasts of bone-chilling cold air.
Draco nodded with satisfaction.
"Activate the Fourth Floor Guardian, Gargantua!"
"Also, deploy Nazarick's idle undead army to the front lines."
"This time, we will all be there to support."
"Our trump cards must not be revealed, but our military power must be shown to the people of the whole world."
"Tell the world... whose territory this is!"
"Understood, Lord Draco!" xN
Everyone knelt on one knee, responding in a thunderous roar.
"All forces, advance!"
With Draco's command, the behemoth that was Nazarick began to charge toward the battlefield... On the other side, the army of one hundred thousand led by Yamsa was marching slowly.
Suddenly, the originally clear sky turned dark, and a massive black cloud loomed over the entire area.
An inexplicable sense of panic and deathly silence filled everyone's hearts.
"What's going on?"
Yamsa looked up at the sky, his face full of confusion.
In his field of vision, that dense mass of pitch-black was like a curtain covering the sky and sun, blocking out the light and making it impossible to look directly at.
Yamsa narrowed his eyes and stared at the sky for a long time.
A hideous head composed of countless black human faces slowly emerged from the cloud bank.
The head looked down at the ground below, and an unspeakable terror instantly surged into everyone's hearts.
I am one who serves the supreme being!
"I am one who serves the supreme being!"
"I have come specifically to proclaim your deaths!"
"But the supreme being is willing to grant you mercy, bestowing a painless death upon those who surrender!"
"Resist with all your might!"
"Let the supreme being laugh at you in amusement!"
"The warning has arrived!"
"Struggle, you ants!"
With that, the originally pitch-black sky vanished.
The cold words spread across the entire horizon, filling everyone's hearts with an uncontrollable panic.
"Hmph! It's just a 「Cloud Control」 magic, nothing but bluffing!"
Yamsa snorted coldly. "Continue advancing. Those who disobey shall die!"
These people were all puppets controlled by Clayman's fear; they had no choice but to keep moving forward.
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