The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

"Did you sleep at the chapel again?" Aerindel asked when he saw Rye coming from the side of the castle.

Rye nodded as he cleaned his glasses, "Chapels give me the best quality sleep even if it's only a short nap. I am very refreshed."

"For someone who is about to go into a battlefield your face sure is glowing," Aerindel commented in amazement. He looked back at the castle, "I'm worried about leaving Frea by herself, but it's safer than the battlefield."

"I'm sure she's worried about you more," Rye comforted Aerindel, "That's why we should do our best and dispel her worry soon."

Aerindel nodded, "On the other hand, I bet you're not worried about your brother at all."

"He has been on the battlefield for 6 years. I should worry about myself."

Once Nandia arrived, all of them were ready to set off. Rye, Aerindel, and Nandia led in front along with the generals. Except for one general who was assigned to defend the castle, the rest of the generals participated.

They were shocked to see the second princess's participation and kept confirming and reconfirming with Rye and Aerindel on their march.

"The king and supreme hero approved of this," Aerindel patiently said the nth time, "You may ask me however much you want now, but don't get distracted later."

The generals quickly apologized and stopped asking more.

Rye received a call saying that they were estimated to encounter the demon on the waste plain they passed through yesterday. A wide, open space without any nature obstacles around them. Truly, a conducive place to battle.

Ludric's side was going to wait until they were close enough with the demon army. In the meanwhile, Ash was in charge to monitor any unnatural movement.

Nearing the scheduled time, Ash saw the demons take out their camp to rest and informed Ludric. Rye reported that they were about half an hour away from the location. He cast a barrier he made last night surrounding the whole army, fusing several of his isolation barrier and invisibility.

Hearing that, the four heroes began their move toward the demon army. Without any restraint, they made it seem like they were sent by the king to ambush the demon army by themselves. They shot, slashed, and crushed many demons with the least mana possible, focusing only on wide-area attacks.

"Ludric, someone is approaching from the commander's tent." Ash prompted.

Ludric readied his sword.

"How merciless, attacking us in the middle of the day? Very commendable." A man spoke from afar, but all of them could hear him clearly.

Soon after, a tall man with blood-red eyes wearing a lavish purple suit appeared. He didn't take mind the dead soldiers on the ground from the heroes' attack previously and stepped on them with his heeled shoes. It was as if he would trample anything along his way even if it was his own kin.

The soldiers bowed ninety degrees straight and didn't dare to lift their heads to so much take a peek at their superior. Even though the man was their commander, none of them has ever seen his face since they needed to bow when their superior was within 10 meters radius from them.

"The Supreme Hero and his band of heroes. I must say, it is quite disappointing that the humans sent you to deal with a mere five thousand of us. The difference of strength between an average human and a hero is that bad?"

Ludric aimed his sword at the man, "Who are you?"

"How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself," the man touched his chest with one hand and spread his other arm, "The name is Ezgaloth, the fifth archdemon under our supreme lord. You have slain both of my generals and now I shall end your interference to our lord's plan myself."

"I think he got punished." Desmund said to Lilith without lowering his voice.

Ezgaloth, "…"

2 huge magic circles appeared on his side. Countless black lightning spears emerged from it and bolted toward Ludric and the others.

Ludric unhesitantly flashed to Ezgaloth's spot to fight him head-on. Desmund erected a barrier to block the attack from Ezgaloth, but it soon cracked after 5 hits from the lightning spears. He hurriedly made three new layers.

When Ludric swung his sword, a trident appeared in Ezgaloth hands and blocked the attack. The force from the block pushed Ludric back a few steps.

Ezgaloth spun his trident flamboyantly before he moved to attack. Ludric's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected speed of Ezgaloth motion. He almost lost sight of him completely.

He couldn't afford to underestimate or let his guard down in this fight.

The spell ended and Rosetta immediately cast the teleportation spell.

Ash summoned out his Air Board and informed Rye, "We managed to hook the archdemon. Be ready to face Miril."

Rye affirmed it and placed the device into his storage pack. The location Ludric chose to fight the archdemon was beyond the range of the device.

He clasped his hands and closed his eyes.

We are guilty of our bloodshed and sin for we are a creature of flaw. Enlighten us with your guidance and bless us with your light. Our victory as your generosity or loss as your mercy shall be in the hand of your divine authority.

Rye lowered his hand and nodded at Aerindel, "It's time."

The demons were still recovering from the heroes' attacks when they suddenly saw that more than three thousand soldiers appeared out of thin air and charged toward them.

"What!? Where did they come from!?"

"I thought only the heroes came for us! What is Lord Miril doing?"

"These cowardly humans turn suicidal every time a hero is with them!"

"F*ck! We're going to fight under this damn sun!?"

"Defend the camp until Lord Ezgaloth returns!"

The demons picked up their weapons, brandished their claws, and bared their fangs. Their sluggish movements were apparent, but demons' strength was superior to humans'. They were still plenty capable.

Aerindel led the center group while the generals led the side wings. Nandia assisted the head bishop in the rear with a group of priests and mages.

Rye flew up and cast fire arrows imbued with holy attributes. Each one was as thin as needles with thousands of them filling the sky.

He launched them to the battlefield all simultaneously. It went past through the human soldiers without affecting them but stabbed only into the demon soldiers. Once the arrows entered their flesh, they ignited them on fire instantly.

The demon mages cast a barrier to block the attack and targeted their attacks toward Rye afterward. Rye flew into the camp and the mages quickly chased after him. When all of them entered the camp, Rye trapped them inside a closed space barrier along with some reserved soldiers of the demon army.

Seeing that Rye successfully caught the mages, Aerindel signaled everyone to attack all out. They didn't need to worry about any wide area and long-range attacks. The mage and priests also went to work.

Rye added 2 more layers of barrier before a magic circle appeared inside the dome. The demons inside watched as green ominous smoke sprayed out from above them. They knew it was nothing good and covered their mouth and nose but it was in vain.

The green smoke corroded their skin and melted their flesh. Their wails of pain were blocked by the noise vacuum barrier covering the innermost barrier.

Rye saw some spells were being cast around in an attempt to block or clear the smoke. He cast a spell covering the whole campground and all of the demons collapsed from their mana being drained down by the spell.

They couldn't hold their breath forever and screamed in despair as they helplessly breathed in the poisonous gas, burning and melting their insides.

When Rye confirmed that the one he could see has all died, he ignited the gas. Nobody noticed the explosion on the battlefield since the outermost layer of the barrier created an illusion of the camp in its fine state.

Rye didn't let his guard down. Miril hadn't come out yet. He imbued a holy element into the smoke to be more thorough, but if he, or she, was a demon general, his attack wouldn't kill them.

Once the fire cleared out along with all its residue, Rye descended down. The camp was completely roasted and burnt bodies littered all around him.

Amidst all that, was a very eye-catching clean wooden chest. On top of the chest was a burnt body protecting it.

Rye carefully moved the body to the ground, feeling that the body's features were familiar. He turned to open the chest.

Huddled inside were 2 demons, one big and one small. The big one looked up at him and he remembered where he have seen them.