Strongest Superhuman System

Do they just see us as disposable war machines that they can resummon and replace once the old one dies?

No wonder they are losing. If they treat the safety of their leader in such a lackluster way, then they'll never even suspect there's a traitor among them.

Mark could tell that Arit was trying her best to hold herself back from attacking someone, given how she was openly glaring at them. If not for the fact that the council members already knew Arit didn't like them, Mark knew they would've already suspected something was wrong. Mark was just glad that Arit had enough self-restraint to hold herself back.

Hunn was still talking about the possibility of carrying out an attack on the Aragon island and taking it back from the Angels. Mark could tell that this island was very important to the demons from how much Hunn emphasized they needed to recapture it, and Mark sat up as he finally joined the conversation.

"You said the former demon lord built boats for the raid before he was killed. Were you able to preserve them?"

Hunn nodded and told Mark they were able to keep all twenty ships that the former demon lord built. Mark was shocked by the number of ships and asked Hunn how many demons each ship would be able to carry. Hunn estimated that the ships would hold at least thirty demons each, and Mark frowned as he went silent.

Six hundred demons was not a bad number to take on an expedition, but if they were to take that many demons out of the demon castle, it would leave the castle defenseless since they were so short on strong warriors. It would be better to take only three hundred soldiers and then call for reinforcements from the southern continent so they could carry out another two-pronged attack.

And since they just sent some soldiers out to the outposts they'd just rescued to protect them from any counterattack from the Angels, they were short on manpower as it was. Yeah, it would be best to just carry out another two-pronged attack. Mark started to lay out his plan to the council while drawing on the map in front of him.

"We're going to start off in the Northern Sea Path over here. We'll use all twenty ships, but we're only going out with three hundred men to reduce the number of casualties in case we go under attack from the angels. If any of the ships are sunk, then we'll only lose fifteen men rather than thirty. Before we arrive, we're going to send out a messenger hawk to the demons on the southern continent, telling them about the smoke signals and the plan.

"They'll initiate the attack from the eastern sea here and force the Angels to mount their defense there, and then we'll come in as support from the south and use the water mages to create a tsunami that'll drench the Angels and hopefully ground many of them. This will be a battle of attrition rather than strength. It's basically to see who can last the longest under these conditions. Kayel, does the army have any form of explosives or bombs?"

Kayel, the lamia who had first welcomed Mark when he came to this world, was surprised when Mark asked her about explosives. She shook her head immediately and started to explain.

"We have the mana stones, my lord, and if we put enough mana into them, we can use them as explosives, but they are too precious for the army, and we don't have a lot of them to begin with. The demon soldiers and civilians use them for warmth in winter and to trade for goods in the towns. Using them for something like this would be a huge blow to our economy."

Mark frowned at this again, and Kayel looked a little embarrassed as she saw the look of disappointment on his face. It was obvious that their economy was not in the best state. The mana stones were a precious mineral that could be mined in the faraway deserts of Nevada, but they hadn't been able to go out and mine for more since the last demon lord was killed. And since the stones lose their mana-retaining properties the longer you use them, the demon army needed every bit of the stones they had right now to maintain their economy.

Mark knew that the first battle had gone smoothly because of how sudden the attack was. Even when the Angels were informed by the rat, they didn't have enough time to mount a proper defense. But now, Mark was sure that the Angels would have prepared something at every one of their bases to deter the demons, and adding the fact that the traitor would also give them some information on the attack to the mix meant the demons were fighting an uphill battle.

Mark just shook his head and decided to let this go.

"If we don't have mana stones, then we'll just have to make do. Go and get your troops ready. Riger, make sure you pick out cavalry that is capable of handling sea battles. The ship will not be stable, so they need good balance. Mildred, air support is important, so give them more training in defense magic. We'll be seeing a lot of arrows fired at the boats, and make sure every soldier carries a shield that can stop at least a few arrows. Some will die, but I want to take that number down as much as possible. Hunn, stay back. The rest of you can go."

The council members all bowed to Mark as they filed out of the room, and Mark stood from the table and waved Hunn over as he moved toward another small table at the side. Arit was still there with them, and she followed behind Hunn as he went with Mark.

Hunn turned around to give Arit a curious look when he noticed her walking behind him. As a warrior, Hunn was not comfortable with anyone moving behind his unprotected back, so he was a little irritated at Arit's actions. But he didn't let that bother him too much as he reached the table and stood across from Mark.

"You wished to discuss something with me, my lord?"

Hunn said this calmly, and Mark nodded as he folded his hands and started to speak.

"For the plan to work out the way I want it to, I'll need to be absent for a few minutes at the start of the battle. The Angels will be looking out for me now that they know I've been summoned, so it's best if we hold the element of surprise. So, I'll need you to assume command of the army for the short period that I'll be absent." Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

Hunn was shocked by this and asked Mark why he was going to be absent. The army needed their commander if they were going to do well against the Angels.

Mark shook his head and told Hunn that the army would be fine. From the previous battles that Mark witnessed between the angels and demons, Mark knew that other than the S-tier angels, the demons did not have much of an issue with matching the strength of the angels with their own magic. On a good day, the angels and demons were basically equals in terms of strength.

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