Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 544

Rudina took on the role of providing large-scale magical bombardment where needed.

She always took up the spot that offered a panoramic view of the vast battlefield, and from there, she had the autonomy to decide where best to provide support.

The battlefield situation changed constantly, so Rudina had to make such autonomous decisions all the time.

It was always up to her whether or not to help. She used the Telescope spell to analyze the battlefield and provided assistance where it was most critical.

However, focusing on the most critical areas meant that certain places would not receive assistance. It was up to her to judge which units were important and which were not.

Some units were left to be annihilated while she supported more crucial locations and units.

Rudina’s job was to make choices every minute, every second, to save some while letting others die.

She used her intuition to guide her. She could not rely on committee meetings or other such consultations when the situation on the battlefield changed dozens of times per second.

The possibility that her judgment might be wrong was what terrified Rudina the most, and it was impossible that she had never made a wrong decision.

Moreover, the mana held within the Arc Crystal was not infinite. Therefore, she had faced countless situations in which she had to ignore certain units.

Whenever she saved some people while ignoring others and letting them die, Rudina couldn’t help but think about those who died because of her decisions.

Boom!

As she unleashed dozens of shockwaves to neutralize a swarm of flying beasts heading toward the rear base, Rudina could only watch in horror as soldiers were crushed under the falling debris of the flying beasts.

If she had allowed those beasts to approach, the artillery would be neutralized, causing even more damage. It was a choice had she made, but the fact remained that soldiers died because of Rudina’s magic.

...”

She might be recognized as the mage who killed the most beasts, but ultimately, Rudina would also be the mage who had the most people.

Clenching her teeth, Rudina looked out across the battlefield. She had countless deaths to witness.

***

It was a battlefield ravaged by death and slaughter.

Ludwig, too, found himself amidst the death and slaughter.

Thud! Thud!

Ludwig, wrapped in blue mana, was also killing beasts.

Much had changed since the time he first achieved Mana Reinforcement. Moonshine had helped Ludwig, together with other Royal Class members, to refine their techniques and achieve optimal Mana Reinforcement.

Even though he had yet to reach Master class, Ludwig was undoubtedly among the ranks of superhumans.

-Thwack!

He stabbed monsters with his sword, struck them with the pommel, and kicked them with his feet.

Beasts that weren’t very large were easily neutralized by Ludwig’s gestures. On such a battlefield, Ludwig’s talent shone brightly.

“Hup!”

Slash!

He didn’t tire. Ludwig, who possessed the singular talent of Stamina, never neglected to train it.

No one else in the Allied Forces could keep themselves in the best condition due to exhaustion from forced marches, but Ludwig was always able to maintain his peak condition.

However, just because his condition was optimal did not reduce the horrors of war, nor did it make Ludwig strong enough to face all the monsters arrayed against the Allies.

Screech!

H-help! S-save me!

Everywhere on the battlefield, the cries of beasts and the screams of humans swelled into a cacophony of chaos.

Naturally, not everyone was fighting.

Ah, ah... Ahhh...

Some had dropped their weapons and crawled on the ground in terror, having lost their minds.

—M-my leg... My leg,,,

Some who did not receive healing were slowly dying from fatal injuries.

In a hell where countless people died like dogs, Ludwig fought against the waves of beasts with the spears and swords of the fallen.

Why did this have to happen? Why did such things have to occur? Why did those thrown into these situations have to die such merciless deaths?

Ludwig clenched his teeth. He could not save the fallen, so he did the one thing he could.

He killed monsters. That was the only remaining good in this world. The other good would be the death of the Demon King, the root cause of this whole situation. But Ludwig could not face the Demon King and his dreadful strength. That was the hero’s task.

Therefore, killing as many monsters as he could face was the only justice—the only good—that Ludwig could bring about with his own hands.

There were those who had fallen and were groaning, and those who had lost their minds, but others still clung to their weapons and their sanity, likely because they were thinking similar thoughts to Ludwig. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

They fought against this calamity because it was too sorrowful and unjust to lay down their weapons.

From afar, Ludwig saw something leap up from within the waves of beasts.

Whoosh!

That thing, like a black sphere, flew at them and landed in the midst of the soldiers.

Boom!

It wasn’t a bullet or a shell; it was a beast. A beast that had curled itself up like a ball, and now unfolded its scorpion-like body.

Where its face should have been, there was only a dark hole filled with writhing black tendrils.

Screeeeeech!

“Ugh!”

The fierce and eerie wail emanating from that abyssal hole caused not only the nearby soldiers but even Ludwig, who was relatively far away, to falter.

The soldiers near the creature began to collapse, bleeding from their eyes, ears, and mouths just from hearing that cursed scream.

Sceeeeech!

“Ughhhh!”

Ludwig gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain triggered by that scream. It felt like his head was splitting apart.

Beasts came in all shapes and forms. Some spewed fire and lightning, while others attacked the mind. It was impossible to know what the enemy would attack them with, and some beasts possessed incredibly unfair attacks.

That eerie wail tore into thousands of troops, including Ludwig, forcing them to a halt.

The soldiers could not regain their senses, overwhelmed by the terrifying scream that had seeped into their consciousness even as they tried to cover their ears. Ludwig was no exception.

Crunch! Crunch!

The beasts trampled on and crushed those who had collapsed.

Thousands were on the verge of being massacred by this unfair attack, including Ludwig.

At that moment...

Screech!

Someone darted into the heart of the disaster, where the terrifying scream was originating, her red hair fluttering wildly.l

Although everyone who had heard the scream up close was coughing up blood and dying, the red-haired warrior seemed unaffected by the terrifying scream, darting directly toward the source.

Thud!

She thrust her sword into the abyssal maw that emitted the terrifying scream and twisted it.

Crunch! Crack!

The beast that had incapacitated thousands in an instant was torn apart.

The girl who had dealt with the beast, ran over to Ludwig. She was covered in blue mana.

“Are you okay, Ludwig?”

“Scarlett...”

“Get up. We don’t have time for this.”

“Okay.” Ludwig stood up, feeling the lingering echo of the scream in his mind as he steadied himself.

Scarlett’s talent was called Immunity, and its influence extended to these monsters as well.

For some reason, the bizarre powers wielded by the monsters had no effect on Scarlett. She was not affected by fire, lightning, nor mental suppression.

She was safe from all the monsters’ powers, aside from direct physical attacks. Therefore, Scarlett hunted down and killed beasts that wielded excessively unfair powers.

Without Scarlett, even Ludwig would have had no choice but to die a helpless death.

On this battlefield, hundreds of lives were exchanged hundreds of times in a moment. In this moment, Scarlett had subdued a single beast and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers.

There was no guarantee that they would all survive until the end of this battle, but she had undoubtedly saved them. Not just these countless soldiers, but also Ludwig. However, to avoid the next crisis, they had to keep fighting.

Before Ludwig had gotten fully to his feet, Scarlett was already diving into the heart of the battlefield.

There were monsters everywhere.

Scarlett’s Immunity kept her safe from most of the monsters’ bizarre powers, but it couldn’t protect her against the physical attacks from monsters that grabbed, tore, and bit.

Rumble...

The ground rumbled.

‘An earthquake?’

Were there now beasts that could even cause earthquakes?

Rumble! Rumble!

However, Ludwig soon realized it wasn’t an earthquake, nor was it caused by some special power. He watched as the tremors grew stronger and the ground began to heave.

In a situation where one could never know what enemy might appear, intuition was the most important asset.

A strong intuition, the ability to judge a situation quickly, and the ability to commit to a swift response were key.

When Ludwig realized that the massive tremor wasn’t an earthquake but something approaching from underground, and when he saw that the massive tremor was approaching beneath Scarlett’s feet...

“Scarlett! Get away!”

Scarlett turned around in surprise

Boom!

Ludwig watched as a giant, grotesque worm with a huge mouth burst from the ground, swallowing Scarlett along with dozens of other monsters and soldiers as it emerged.