Three days have passed since we received the mission briefing, and finally, the day has arrived for us to launch an offensive against the Republic battleship at sea. During this period, Imperial battleships had been steadily advancing northward from the south, heading for the port of Niuglo. It seed like the Empire was concentrating its naval forces, preparing for a major assault.
To be honest, those battleships of the Empire left much to be desired compared to the Republic’s counterparts. While they had lavish decorations, their hulls were mostly made of wood. Only a small portion seed reinforced with tal plates inscribed with spiritual circuits, but it fell far short in terms of size and defensive capabilities.
However, when it ca to defense, it appeared that the Imperial spiritualist units were tasked with most of the responsibility. The reinforcent part seed to serve as a precaution in case their defenses were breached.
“Is the Majin Regint all ready?”
“””Yes!”””
Right now, not only was that man standing before us, but also the commanders of the other Demon units, including Decius and Marcellus. They too were ard and seed intent on taking command on the front lines, just as Marcellus had ntioned.
Commanders accustod to being on the front lines, like Marcellus, seed composed as usual. However, so other commanders, including that man, appeared restless. It was a stark contrast to how he had issued orders to us before.
Perhaps he himself didn’t know until just before that he would be on the front lines too. After tossing us to the front lines with little regard and lounging in the rear, it seed like he was now facing the consequences, huh? Quite fitting, I think.
Here, not only the commanders but also all the mbers of the Demon Regint had gathered. While there were old demons, such as the crocodile demon and leech demon, with whom we had been involved in a brawl before, there were far more unfamiliar faces. This starkly illustrated the high casualty rate among demons.
“From here, the Demon Regint will approach the enemy battleship from underwater and launch a surprise attack. The objective of the operation is to disrupt the enemy battleship’s attacks and, if possible, neutralize it.”
It appeared that, like us, the other demons had heard the details of the operation beforehand, as their reactions were subdued. Those who did react strongly seed like rookies marching through their first battle; they exhibited not just surprise but also fear and apprehension.
Those who didn’t react could be broadly divided into two categories. First, there were those who were accustod to battle and remained composed. The other group stared into the void with eyes that seed to have given up on everything.
The forr mostly consisted of older demons, including us, and it was clear that casualties often resulted from those who had given up. In that regard, I knew that I would never reach a point of giving up; after all, I bore the mission of surviving for a hundred years. This mission definitely increased my chances of survival.
“It’s not realistic for us alone to neutralize the battleship. Concentrate solely on destroying the enemy’s weapons, like cannons. Now, let’s move out. Anyone other than the aerial squad, follow .”
Here, we temporarily separated from Farl and the others who could fly among us. She was the most skilled among those who could fly and would lead the special operations aerial squad. Before parting, she and her husband Gora briefly but firmly clasped each other’s hands.
Led by Marcellus, the Demon Regint arrived at a corner of the Niuglo Port. There was sothing long and black that was floating. At first, I thought it might be a whale or sothing like that, but upon closer inspection of the faintly visible wood grain, it beca clear that it was a wooden construct.
I strained my compound eyes and observed the black structure. Its overall shape resembled that of a toad, and its size was about one-third that of an imperial battleship. There were four door-like openings on top of it. It seed like one could enter from there. Apart from that, there was nothing else attached to it, giving off a not-so-simple as ager impression.
“This submarine will be the key to our operation this ti. One has been provided for each unit. Board this and…”
“Hahaha! Look who’s here, the clumsy bunch who can’t swim!”
Just as Marcellus was about to give orders, pointing to the vehicle he called a submarine, the sea’s surface began to bubble and churn. Right after that, sothing erged from the depths of the sea.
What erged was a demon of roughly the sa build as Tigar. He appeared to be a shark demon, with his distinctively large mouth and a triangular cone-shaped head. There were webbed fins between his fingers and toes and a large triangular fin on his back.
As the shark demon burst out of the sea with great force, he landed on the submarine and grinned slyly. Following suit, about twenty different demons of various kinds leaped out. These seed to be the forr pirate sea demons.
Most of them appeared to be synthesized with fish, but so were mixed with octopus or squid creatures. Many of the demons found the sea demons’ slimy bodies, covered in suckers, and their wriggling limbs to be eerie, judging by the tense expressions on the faces of both n and won.
Originally, I was just a scorpion, so I didn’t find them particularly eerie. However, it seed that these sea demons looked repulsive to those who had once been humans. Lappy and the other children averted their eyes and pressed their faces against my tail. Did the sea demons bother them that much?
What I cared about most was their strength, rather than their appearance. Unless they were concealing it cleverly, honestly, I didn’t sense any exceptional strength in the sea demons. Their abilities appeared to be easily within the reach of individuals in the middle ranks, let alone top-tier demons like Tigar and .
At least the shark demon that leaped out initially seed slightly stronger. However, even that was only a marginal difference. I felt like Julius, who was currently undergoing rigorous training, could probably defeat him. Unless they were in a situation that allowed them to fully utilize their underwater abilities, they were easy opponents. There was absolutely no need to fear them.
“Hahaha! Are you scared of us?”
“Well, well, are you frightened? Gyahaha!”
Perhaps aware of their generally repulsive appearance, the sea demons opened their mouths, bared their teeth, and moved their tentacles. It seed like they enjoyed seeing others fear them, as they laughed heartily.
Following their antics, Marcellus let out an exasperated sigh, clapped his hands, and ordered them to be quiet.
“Enough of that. You guys are going too far. The guest spiritualist has asked us to overlook your antics, but excessive behavior won’t be tolerated,” Marcellus said.
“Hah! The Imperial soldiers, who wouldn’t stand a chance against a battleship if it weren’t for us, are lecturing us?”
“Isn’t it true that this operation wouldn’t even be possible without us? Why don’t you try begging on your hands and knees? Gyahaha!”
There was a reason why the sea demons could brazenly hurl insults at Marcellus. Apparently, Marcellus has been told by Kalervo to give the sea demons so special treatnt because of their accomplishnts in sinking many battleships.
Yesterday, Decius secretly told that the reason Karelvo wanted to give them special treatnt was because he was conscious of our existence. Apparently, Karelvo wanted his demons to achieve feats surpassing ours.
The special operation mbers created by Orvo were marked as failures by Karelvo and received the worst treatnt. However, we were the ones who had achieved the most significant successes and survived. As a result, many had questioned whether we were truly failures from the beginning, and it seed that the number of doubters was increasing with each passing year.
Karelvo didn’t take kindly to that, and everyone knew he consistently lobbied the Imperial Army’s high command to send us into dangerous battlefields. He probably looked at us, who survived every battlefield, with a mix of frustration and annoyance.
During those tis, he heard about the sea demons achieving significant military feats, and he was pleased. Although the person who proposed the sea demons’ creation was different, what Kalervo focused on was the manufacturing thod. What was crucial was that the sea demons, created through “his thod” had played a significant role on the battlefield.
Subsequently, it seed that the sea demons themselves began boasting that they were the most outstanding unit in the demon regint. They requested better treatnt than the other demons, and Marcellus received orders in that regard as well. Decius started grumbling that the difficult part about being a soldier is that you can’t disobey orders even if you weren’t subjected to enslaving spiritual arts.
Thanks to the preferential treatnt and the person responsible for turning them into sea demons spreading the word, the sea demons seed to be getting carried away. Even though they didn’t have abilities as exaggerated as what was being promoted… I think being overconfident is more dangerous than giving up on life, right?
“Oh? We’ve got a rather seductive lady for a demon.”
“We’ve got normal won too! And they’re all top-notch!”
At this ti, the sea demons set their sights on us. They were eyeing Asumi and Sharl and the other female demons in our unit with a lustful gaze as if they were licking them. Their gaze was so intense that even I could discern the flas of desire flickering in their eyes.
The Special Operations unit instinctively shifted into combat formation, and the n, including myself, stepped forward to shield the won. Leading the charge were Zald and , with Tigar and Linardo ready to intervene should the need arise.
“Tryna’ act all noble by protectin’ the ladies, huh? That’s rich… I wonder what they’d say if we took them right in front of you!?”
“Endure. Listen, bear with it.”
“Grrrr…!”
“Shhh…!”
Facing the sea demons, who were making vulgar remarks and laughing loudly, Tigar and Linardo seed on the verge of launching an attack at any mont. I might have to resort to using the stinger on my tail to make them sleep if push cos to shove.
While the sea demons had been laughing for a while, they suddenly froze in their tracks. The reason for this was Marcellus. He had his palm outstretched toward the sea demons, his forehead showing a visible vein. Ah, so he was the type to go into a rage as well.
“I’ve told you before, enough is enough. I just ntioned that going overboard won’t be forgiven.”
“Grrooooh…!”
“Don’t get too cocky, you pirate-looking bunch. You were originally condemned criminals, and now you think you’re sothing just because you’ve achieved a little in battle.”
“You…!”
“Until the operation is over, I forbid any remarks from you lot. Also, any actions outside of my orders are prohibited. I won’t force compliance, but… rejoice; I’ll give you special treatnt. Now, hurry up and get into position.”
It seed Marcellus was genuinely angry, as he used his authority as the regint commander to both silence their voices and restrict their movents. Turning my attention to Decius, I could hear him quietly lanting about the trouble this might cause.
The reason for his concern was quite clear. There was a high likelihood of protests from Kalervo regarding how the sea demons were being treated. However, worrying about such matters could wait until we returned alive. With these thoughts in mind, we entered the submarine.
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TN: To the sea demons, Sharl and the other female demons of the spec ops unit appeared as normal won because they can transform back and forth so they had their normal form that made them look like humans. If you forgot, all the other demons made by Karelvo can’t transform; so they look like demons permanently.
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