Since there was a new plan, Eriri naturally wouldn't delay its start.
Thus, on the fifth day, Eriri led Darkness and the others to leave Axel, heading toward the frontlines near Belzerg Kingdom's royal capital where the Demon King's Army and human forces were clashing.
As heroes on a quest to defeat the Demon King, they naturally had to confront the Demon King's Army in an upright manner, not sneak into the Demon King's Castle to cause havoc.
That would make the whole thing lack any sense of game-like experience. At the very least, they needed to make a public appearance before the world.
Because Belzerg Kingdom bordered the Demon King's domain, the main battlefield between the Demon King's Army and humans was concentrated along its frontier.
The forces responsible for resisting the Demon King's Army consisted of Belzerg's border guards and numerous high-ranking adventurers—most of whom were transmigrators from Earth.
At this point in time, the battle between the Demon King's Army and the Belzerg Kingdom had not yet reached its most intense phase, so the frontlines were still relatively stable.
However, there were faint signs that the Demon King's Army was preparing to strengthen its offensive.
Not long ago, one of the Demon King's top officers, Wolbach, had arrived at the battlefield as a front-line commander and had even cast Explosion Magic once upon the city walls.
However, she was rarely stationed on the battlefield herself, and since the Demon King's Army also had to divert forces to deal with the Crimson Demon Clan, the war had not yet escalated into an all-out final confrontation.
When Eriri and her group used spatial transfer to appear on the battlefield, they immediately drew the attention of countless adventurers.
Just like in Axel, Eriri was the center of attention wherever she went.
What happened next left the crowd with an even deeper impression of Eriri's companions—especially Megumin.
"I am Megumin! My class is Archwizard! The wielder of the most powerful offensive magic—Explosion Magic! I have come here today to annihilate you, Demon King's Army!"
Megumin's boastful voice rang out among the crowd, drawing curious glances from nearby adventurers.
But when they saw her youthful face, most could only chuckle and shake their heads, not taking her words seriously.
"You must be from the Crimson Demon Clan, huh? No wonder you're acting like that."
"This isn't a playground, little girl. The battlefield is dangerous. You'd best leave while you can—come back once you've grown stronger!"
One after another, voices called out to Eriri's group in concern.
They knew the Crimson Demons possessed extraordinary magical power—every one of them became Archwizards upon graduation from their academy.
However, Megumin was simply too young. Even if her mana was immense, her combat experience couldn't be much.
Hearing the murmurs of doubt around her, Megumin's face immediately flushed red with anger.
Without a word, she raised her staff toward the Demon King's Army across the battlefield and began chanting her spell.
"Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark...…"
...
As her incantation continued, the sky began to shift dramatically. Spectacular magical phenomena filled the air, stunning both the human and demon forces alike.
The human adventurers were shocked that Megumin could actually cast Explosion Magic, while the Demon King's Army was overcome with terror.
The power radiating from her spell far surpassed even the Explosion Magic Wolbach had unleashed previously.
The demon soldiers no longer dared to fight. They poured all their strength into retreating from the range of the impending blast.
But their movements were far too slow. Those positioned in the very center of the target area couldn't hope to escape in time.
"Explosion!"
With Megumin's final shout, a dazzling pillar of light erupted in the midst of the Demon King's Army, obliterating more than a thousand demon soldiers in an instant.
After four days of relentless practice, Megumin's mana had soared to astonishing levels. The power of her Explosion Magic had reached an entirely new height.
Under Eriri's guidance, Megumin's Explosion Magic had broken past its previous limits. Its destructive power now scaled infinitely with the amount of mana she poured into it.
Even though Megumin's mana had surged to the point of rivaling Wolbach's human half, after unleashing one full-powered Explosion Magic, she still collapsed from complete mana and stamina exhaustion—just like before—falling straight into Eriri's arms.
As everyone stared at the massive crater that had appeared across the battlefield, the human army and adventurers snapped out of their shock and erupted into loud cheers.
"Whoa!!!"
"So that Crimson Demon girl wasn't bluffing! She really can use Explosion Magic—and with such terrifying power!"
"She wiped out over a thousand demons in a single blast! If she could do that dozens more times, the Demon King's Army would have to retreat!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Being able to cast it even once is amazing enough. Look, she's already collapsed from mana depletion."
"True… wait a second—why does it look like she's standing up again? What's going on?"
Just as everyone assumed Megumin was out of the fight, they saw her straighten up as if nothing had happened, her earlier weakness seemingly an illusion.
The adventurers exchanged puzzled looks.
But before they could make sense of it, something even more unbelievable happened—Megumin raised her staff once again and began chanting another Explosion spell.
"Elina, Lilian, if you want to join the fight, now's your chance," Eriri said with a gentle smile. "Although this is supposed to be an adventurer's game, don't push yourselves too hard."
Though they had already planned their "Heroes vs. Demon King" campaign, Eriri cared more about Elina and Lilian's feelings than the plan itself.
If they didn't enjoy fighting, she would never force them.
Lilian, however, nodded without hesitation, her face bright with excitement.
"Got it, Eriri-nee! We'll join the battle!"
With that, Lilian instantly activated her superpower, forming a barrier of light around herself before charging straight toward the Demon King's Army.
The barrier not only defended against surrounding attacks but also prevented enemy blood from splattering on her clothes.
Elina didn't hesitate either. After casting a similar light barrier, she followed close behind Lilian and plunged into the demon ranks.
A one-sided massacre began.
Meanwhile, Eriri, Darkness, and Eris didn't move. They simply stood beside Megumin, watching calmly.
Needless to say, Eriri didn't need to interfere—and both Darkness and Eris now possessed Level 4 strength.
If the three of them joined the battle, wiping out the Demon King's Army would only take minutes.
Thus, they too became spectators of this so-called "Heroes vs. Demon King" event.
"You cowards! Do you lack the courage to fight the remaining forces of the Demon King's Army?!"
After firing her second Explosion spell—and being instantly restored by Eriri—Megumin shouted loudly at the adventurers around her, who were frozen in awe by Elina and Lilian's overwhelming assault.
Her words jolted them back to their senses.
"What are you talking about, little girl! Do you think we came to the battlefield to run away?!"
"Haha! It's just the Demon King's Army! I've already killed plenty of them! Brothers, since we've got such powerful allies, why not take this chance to crush those bastards!"
"Damn right! Charge!"
Spurred on by Megumin's challenge, the adventurers roared and surged forward like they'd been injected with pure adrenaline, storming the Demon King's Army with renewed vigor.
The chaos on the battlefield quickly reached the upper echelons of both sides.
The Demon King's Army reacted swiftly. Before long, one of their commanding officers arrived with reinforcements—a massive group of demon soldiers led by none other than Sylvia, the Chimera and head of the Demon King's Army's Monster Enhancement Division.
At the same time, the Belzerg Kingdom's army commander, Princess Belzerg himself, rushed from his fortress to the front lines and joined the fight without hesitation.
Although Sylvia appeared to be a voluptuous beauty, her true nature was that of a chimera—a fusion of man and beast.
As a chimera, she possessed the ability to merge with various creatures and objects, gaining their powers. The stronger the entity she fused with, the more her own strength would increase to terrifying levels.
As one of the Demon King's Army officers, her main duty was to lead assaults against the Crimson Demon Village.
To that end, she had even constructed a grand base near the village, launching frequent attacks on the Crimson Demons every day.
However, her efforts had proven entirely futile. Not only had her forces failed to inflict meaningful damage, but she herself was often beaten up by the Crimson Demons. Among the Demon King's officers, her life could only be described as miserable.
This time, she had teleported to the battlefield with her army under direct orders from the Demon King himself.
Unfortunately, her arrival did nothing to turn the tide.
While Sylvia had extremely high magic resistance and formidable physical defense due to her chimera body—making her virtually invulnerable to ordinary adventurers—those traits were laughable before Elina and Lilian.
In their eyes, her defenses were nothing more than a paper shield.
Within mere seconds of confrontation, Sylvia was cleaved apart by one of Elina's Light Blades, completely annihilated.
As for her army, they followed the same fate as the Demon King's front-line troops—either obliterated by Megumin's Explosion Magic or cut down by Elina, Lilian, and the other adventurers.
...
Half an hour later, the battle between humans and demons finally came to an end.
The battlefield was now covered with enormous craters, countless demon corpses, and a scattering of human casualties.
Only a few surviving members of the Demon King's Army managed to flee in panic, retreating back into the Demon King's territory.
...
After the battle, Elina, Lilian, and Megumin were hailed as humanity's heroes—the true champions of the people.
Eriri, Darkness, and Eris, by association with the trio, were naturally recognized as members of the hero's party as well.
Ignoring the flattery from the surrounding adventurers, Eriri led Megumin and the others straight to the Adventurers Guild in the royal capital.
Since the frontlines outside the capital were the main battlefield against the Demon King's Army, it was only natural that the guild there would have bounties for subjugating demon troops.
Having slain such a massive number of demon soldiers, Megumin and her companions certainly weren't going to forget to collect their reward—after all, that was a lot of money.
The Adventurers Guild in the capital was far more luxurious than the one in Axel. Its vast interior and ornate decorations were on a completely different level.
There was another difference as well—most of the adventurers here were reincarnators, and nearly all of them were experienced high-level veterans.
It was around eleven in the morning, lunchtime, so the guild was packed with adventurers enjoying their meals.
The moment Eriri and her party entered, they drew the gaze of nearly everyone in the hall. Just like back in Axel, no one dared approach Eriri, though many stole admiring glances from afar.
Paying no mind to the attention, Eriri and the others walked straight to the counter and stopped before one of the female receptionists.
"Hello, we're adventurers from Axel," Eriri said with a polite smile. "Do you have any active subjugation quests related to the Demon King's Army?"
Her smile left the receptionist momentarily stunned.
Seeing the woman frozen in place, Eriri waved her hand in front of her eyes.
"Hey, did you hear what I said?"
Jolted back to her senses, the receptionist quickly regained her composure. Thankfully, she had enough experience to stay professional under pressure—otherwise, she wouldn't have even been able to look directly at Eriri.
After taking a deep breath, she nodded and replied calmly.
"Yes, we do have active subjugation quests for the Demon King's Army. The rewards are calculated based on the number of enemy soldiers slain."
"I see. We've just returned from the frontlines after killing quite a few demon soldiers. Could you help us calculate how much we can claim?"
The receptionist's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected a party from the beginner's town of Axel to have gone straight to the frontlines—and returned alive.
Still, as a capable guild employee, she refrained from asking unnecessary questions.
"Understood. Please present your adventurer cards," she said with a polite smile.
—
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