Became the Queen of the Legion

“Wa-Warrior Chief!”

“Stay calm. They’re just flying beasts!”

It was natural for the Gargoyles, who had thought no one could match them until now, to fall into panic.

And not on the ground, but in the sky they were supposed to dominate.

“Pounce.”

The Queen, commanding numerous flying combat troops, ordered them to attack all at once.

The newly created flying combat troops could fly freely by alternately moving four wings wrapped in membranes, and they had four thin, pointed legs with sharp poison stingers attached to their tails.

Their combat method was to attack from the front, grab with their legs, and pierce with the poison stinger.

However, they had one more weapon besides that: their overwhelming numbers.

Although the combat power of each individual might be lower, the flying combat troops, several times more numerous than the Gargoyle warriors, attacked from all directions, with multiple units clinging to each Gargoyle warrior, terrifying them.

“Ugh, aaaaargh!”

Few could respond nimbly to the assault of monsters swarming from all directions.

Even if they swung their spears to take down one, immediately other enemies rushing in from the side would mercilessly thrust poison stingers thicker than arms into the Gargoyle warriors’ bodies.

There was a reason why the Gargoyles particularly failed to cope properly.

While they were seasoned in attacking the ground from the air, being the only ones in the area who could fly, they were neither accustomed to nor prepared for battles in the air itself.

“This looks good, doesn’t it?”

The Queen smirked as she watched countless corpses falling to the ground after one round of collision. Even if there were those showing bravery and holding out, they would soon fall. One hand can’t handle ten hands.

If 10 aren’t enough, 100 will cling on, if 100 aren’t enough, 1000 will cling on to kill.

Even if they had the skill and power to kill, stamina was the problem.

The Gargoyle warriors, whose magic power was rapidly depleted and who became exhausted, eventually had their defenses broken and were overwhelmed.

“Retreat, retreat!”

The Gargoyle warriors, who had set out confidently saying they would unilaterally kill the enemies, were forced to retreat after just one collision, unable to discern the enemy’s strategy.

The extremely few survivors fled to the villages or cities where their allies were stationed, and they faced a crisis of having to endure the attack of countless devils pursuing them.

‘We can’t be pushed back.’

And that battle soon became a signal flare.

Seira, who had been watching the army’s battle in the sky along with the ground forces, moved with the ground troops.

Just as the flying soldiers had swept away the enemies, she intended to achieve military exploits along with the ground forces.

Their targets were the enemy cities and villages thrown into confusion by the defeat of the Gargoyles they had relied on. Like when they had turned the Orc territory into a wasteland, they began to attack the area as if they were locusts sweeping through a field, seemingly intent on leaving not a single living thing behind.

* * *

“It’s hard to keep up with this speed. We just heard that the Gargoyles had joined, but now the deployed Gargoyles have been virtually annihilated? And by flying devils at that?”

Kruger scratched his head, seemingly perplexed by the news. In fact, Kruger’s reaction was extremely calm.

With my flying troops annihilating the Gargoyles and the ground forces beginning to attack the Lamia territory in earnest, the locals were already in complete panic.

“The mayor is insisting we should abandon the city even now and join a larger city.”

“That’s crazy talk. If we encounter them on the way, we’ll be annihilated without even putting up a fight.”

Kruger grimaced at my words. The cowardly city mayor was clearly itching to flee right away but was forcibly holding his position.

On top of that, he was yelling about how there was no one who had successfully held out against the devils so far anyway.

“To think that the one who should be leading the people is such a person. For us who can’t fight mechanically like those beasts, how important a leader is in war…”

He showed a tendency to obsess over leadership qualities. It was because he had once been the heir to inherit a territory and had pondered how he would rule the territory if he became a lord.

In his eyes, the mayor, who could be considered the person responsible for the city now, was unqualified.

“Th-They’re coming! The devils are swarming in!”

And not long after, some of the devils, ‘my soldiers’, appeared in our city as well.

It was natural given that they were turning the whole area into a wasteland.

“Let’s go. To fight.”

Kruger, fully armed, headed to the front line with a resolute face. I, holding a single sword, was the same.

Numerous mercenaries including us, the city defense force, and volunteer militia who had stepped up to fight. This was all the military force this city had.

‘If I mobilize the Bomb Devils, there’s no chance. Can’t have too many Blade Devils either. Surely they can’t lose even this?’

Although it could be called a rigged game, if I acted too much, I might definitely be caught, and my disguise might be exposed.

So I intended to fight with all my might against my soldiers that I was commanding once the battle began.

Instead, I had adjusted the troop composition and numbers as much as possible so that if we fought desperately, we could barely win.

If we lose after going this far… there’s nothing to be done.

I’d have to make a new plan.

“Mayor, please give us directions quickly. The enemies are right in front of us!”

“What do you want me to do?! Just fight as much as you can from the city walls!”

As Kruger said, the mayor was a coward who wasn’t much help.

Inevitably, the city defense captain who took command in his place deployed guards and mercenaries on the city walls to prepare for the approaching enemies.

Normally, I would look at that deployment and command to find weaknesses and persistently target them, but this time was different. I just charged straight in as if I knew nothing.

“Th-They’re coming! Hiiiek!”

However, perhaps because our notoriety and the fear of us had spread too much in this area, the defensive forces’ morale began to break and they started to be pushed back just from that momentum. My calculations that we could win if we fought desperately were already starting to crumble from the beginning. Maybe because I had only been commanding legion troops that strictly obeyed my orders until now, I hadn’t even considered the possibility that they would tremble in fear instead of fighting with all their might.

“Sigh.”

I could only click my tongue in dismay. Clearly, my soldiers, unlike usual, were just charging straight ahead in a way that could somehow be held off and defeated if fought well.

“Ria, aren’t you affected at all?”

“If you’re not swayed by emotions, there are things you can see. Look carefully. Do you really think we can’t win?”

Kruger, also tense, turned his gaze at my words and soon nodded as if he had realized something.

“Looking at their composition, there are no troublesome ones, mostly just Doom Devils, said to be the weakest and most numerous. No flying devils from the rumors either… Then we can hold out. If we just hold out, we can win.”

Kruger easily understood my words. I wished the other guys would understand such obvious logic too, but unfortunately, there was no time for that.

The war had already begun, and my soldiers were charging towards the city walls, taking arrows and magic spells fired by the defenders with their bodies.

“Hold your positions! Fight!”

As my soldiers began to surround the walls and climb up, the defensive forces gritted their teeth and began a desperate resistance on the walls.

Defense turrets spewed fire, and archers and mages poured attacks over the walls without rest.

On the walls, warriors tried their best to hold their positions. Cutting off the legs of those climbing the walls and smashing the heads pushing in. Screams and shouts were ringing out everywhere, but no place had been breached yet.

‘Is this how it’s done?’

Meanwhile, instead of transforming my body, I practiced fighting by wielding a sword and moving magic power.

I dodged the poison stinger swung by my soldier who became the practice target, and in turn, thrust my sword into its neck. It was a truly strange feeling, like attacking and defending simultaneously.

But even though I had stabbed myself with my own hands, I didn’t feel much emotion about it.

After all, people don’t feel sorry for their nails when they cut them, do they?

The swarming soldiers are tools. Tools to achieve the purpose of me, our colony. Their reason for existence is solely for the colony, and now, dying by my hand was precisely that.

“You fight well.”

Kruger, catching his breath, smirked as if he had been watching this. He too was already proving his skills, having killed several enemies.

But the fight is only beginning.

My soldiers are still packed densely below and on the city walls, and the defenders fighting on top of the walls were already starting to tire.