Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 359

359: The Use of Life

The enemy army was swarming towards me—the Lord of Disease.

The Plague Banner, fluttering on a small hill, a short distance from our main camp, was a conspicuous target. It was only natural, as I was standing here as the ‘supreme objective’ for the enemy army.

They rushed towards me and, falling into the pitfall traps, which were not even spiked, and which had been chosen for their ease of installation and their mildness, in case an ally were to fall in, they became the prey of our bows and offensive magic. The defense here was composed of the elite from each army.

And since it was a gentle slope, they were unknowingly expending their stamina as they ran up.

Even if they killed me, it would be for nothing.

…Or rather, they should have taken a detour.

And yet, the humans, chanting, “Kill the Lord of Disease!”, as if it were a password—and perhaps it was—came like ants to sugar, and they were intercepted by our thick, elaborate defensive line, and their numbers were rapidly reduced. If that were the case, then the warriors of Listrea were, I suppose, the anteaters.

Here, a human life was surprisingly light.

Even in a world with magic—no, because of it, numbers were important. Offensive magic could only be stopped by defensive magic or a thick city wall. A warrior who could use physical enhancement magic was an absolute threat to one who could not.

But even those who had reached the realm of heroes could not defeat the simple and strongest enemy, fatigue.

Tactics to defeat a magic user without using magic had been devised. But the only one that had survived the sifting process of the battlefield was the human wave tactic. To line up spears, to gather archers, to stop the enemy with a forest of spears, and to rain down arrows to reduce their numbers. Even if you enhanced your body with magic, your skin did not become steel.

So, a large number of ordinary soldiers were prepared as disposable pawns… and that numerical difference was the difference in strength between the Human Alliance Against Demons and the Listrea Demon Kingdom.

In the end, it was a matter of numbers. And the extremely boring conclusion that it was better to have quality was the truth of the battlefield.

I had done enough to chip away at their numerical advantage. The difference in the number of mages had been considerably evened out, with the defensive mages being exhausted by the [Meteor] and the offensive mages by the [Undead Gargantua].

[Fireball], [Lightning], [Blizzard]. The major offensive spells, which were called the three primary elements of elemental magic, flew in a chaotic manner, and arrows were fired to the point where they filled the sky, and all of them were deflected by the defensive magic, [Shield].

No, not all of them. Offensive magic and arrows flew into the gaps where they had run out of strength or had not been able to fully deploy, and they widened those gaps.

Into the melee on the ground, a dragon charged from the sky, and with a single, hit-and-run attack, it took out a few. This was different from the attack on the imperial capital, where the objective had been to destroy the facilities. The bows and offensive magic were aimed at them, but they sometimes focused on evasion, and they turned, and the arrows, if not the offensive magic, lost their momentum and fell on the enemy army, causing a small confusion.

It was the tactic that Liz had called the worst. It had been a story about what would happen if a dragon knight, who combined the power of a dragon with the intelligence of a human, were to do it, but now, the silver dragon—Lital-sama—who was flying in a leisurely circle high above, was the commander of this battlefield.

And yet—even with a safe deployment, a dragon, its membrane blown away by an offensive spell, fell to the ground, taking both armies with it. If humans had not had fire, iron, and magic, then the sight of a human and a dragon killing each other on a battlefield would surely not have existed.

“Charge!”

The sound of clashing swords and shouts, the sound of offensive magic hitting its mark, the sound of a magic barrier shattering—a loud voice was mixed in with the noise of the battlefield and melted away.

I looked at the flag. Rank Kingdom. The armor was a matching scale mail. —And the reddish-gold color, which was familiar from the dragons that accompanied Lital-sama, was dragon scale. A long lance, and a shield. On the shield was the same emblem as the flag, ‘a shield supported by two dragons with crossed spears.’

They were the lancers of the Dragon Scale Knights of Rank Kingdom. —Nearly a hundred of them.

“To think they could prepare so much fodder…!”

How many had they starved, to maintain that number of warhorses? It was a costly unit, typical of Rank Kingdom. And yet, in this world where an ordinary cavalry had little value, they were a truly valuable ‘cavalry,’ with a breakthrough power that was desperately needed on the battlefield.

And meeting them was a group of cavalry in matching black armor—the heavy cavalry of the Dark Knights. The command was Dustin Wenfield—the current head of the family himself. But the heavy cavalry numbered less than fifty.

“—Do as I say. We will provide support with ‘offensive magic.’”

“L-Lord of Disease, yourself?”

I could see the mages in their brown robes, who were nearby, hesitate. They must have heard that I had no combat ability.

I raised my staff. The chains rattled, and the blue gem that was bound to it shone with a new intensity.

“Spell selection. —[Create Ooze]!”

In fact, the summoning location of the ooze from this spell was somewhat flexible. For example, in the air, a little in front of the charging enemy cavalry.

“[Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]!”

I repeatedly cast the ‘offensive spell,’ which was almost nostalgic. The mana consumption was light, and I was used to casting it repeatedly. Specifically, I had used it over a hundred times a day. —For bathing. When I wanted a long bath, I had used it even more. I had even relaxed in a morning bath, and then, after playing with the Barghests in the garden, I had gotten dirty and had taken another bath in the evening. Liz had said, “Why do you like bathing so much, Master?”

The strength of a mage was determined by their mana capacity, their imagination, and the amount of their training… in other words, the number of times they had used a spell. The only mage who was more skilled in [Create Ooze] than I was was probably an employee of a public bathhouse in Listrea.

The mages around me, though with some hesitation, also followed my orders and began to chant [Create Ooze], towards the same location.

A writhing, pale green swamp was created.

The enemy did not avoid it. They were already in a charging posture, and they had momentum. The ooze was not very familiar to humans, and if they knew about it, then perhaps even more so. A creature that just wriggled.

It was highly viscous, and at the same time, slimy.

Their horses’ legs were caught, and they slipped and fell, in a truly amusing manner. And yet, only a few were incapacitated by the fall, and many abandoned their horses, drew their swords, and headed towards us on foot.

—If you subtract a horse from a cavalry? Then they are just infantry. Though they were still knights.

The reason there were so few cavalry in this world was because there were few who could use enhancement magic on their horses. And for the past four hundred years, war had been centered around sieges.

But still, a horse was larger than a human, and it was more mobile, and a kick from its hooves was equivalent to a war hammer. They could not have withstood our cavalry charge, and their prized dragon scale armor would have been of little use if they had been knocked down and trampled, their ‘insides’ crushed.

“…Amazing… with [Create Ooze]… the Dragon Scale Knights…”

“What’s truly amazing is our heavy cavalry. But a little ingenuity can change things.”

And I turned my staff towards the next group that was heading towards us. This time, they were infantry, not cavalry.

“[Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]!”

Of course, I cast it repeatedly. The ooze was thoroughly weak, but if you stepped on it, you would slip, and if you created it in the air and dropped it, it was surprisingly painful. I had already… experimented… with it in the bath.

And above all, if you thought about why you had to ‘dilute it twenty times’ when you drank the natural stuff, but not when you bathed in it—

This everyday magic was so offensively applicable that I had even received a ‘letter of thanks’ from Liz’s seniors.

Though they were not many, a few were unlucky enough to be hit in the face, and they suffocated, unable to pull it off. A slimy, watery, viscous creature that did not allow air to pass. That was an ooze.

It would die at a little over sixty degrees. It would also die if it was frozen. It was actually quite delicate, so if you hit it hard, it would die from the impact. It was not a strong creature at all. It was a decomposer of the forest and the water, like an earthworm or a woodlouse or a bacteria on Earth.

But this was a summoned creature. A simple creature that could be formed with just mana. The horror of a life-creation magic that had reached the point of creating a pseudo-life was that it could be cast repeatedly, without any risk.

A flashy offensive spell would be blocked by a simple defensive spell. But the ooze would fall on top of the deployed barrier, and while some would die from the impact and disappear in a pale white light, the surviving individuals would wriggle and become a cushion for the next ooze.

“[Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]! [Create Ooze]!”

As I continued to cast it, the weight reached a level that could not be ignored. I could hear a creaking sound. Crack, I heard a small, light sound. One of the deployed magic barriers had broken, and the ooze poured in.

Few would have died from that. But to have your defensive magic broken was to die. Immediately, offensive magic rained down on that spot, and the enemy group, along with the ooze, was evaporated. And with that hole as a starting point, a chain of explosions began, and the defensive magic disappeared as the casters were lost. Like on the city walls, a long time ago.

When this war was over, I would probably be called the ‘Lord of Ooze’ in some circles. —No.

““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create Ooze]!””””” ““““[Create OOze]!”””””

It had become a great chorus around me. The movements of the swarming army visibly slowed. The burden of the defensive magic must have been great. While it was lacking in terms of offensive power, the cost-performance in terms of mana consumption seemed to be higher than I had thought.

The way they had immediately incorporated the strange use of [Create Ooze] into their tactics was a testament to their veteran status.

“Don’t… mess with me!”

A single knight, covered in ooze, shouted, his voice muffled by his visored helmet. —He was probably a knight from Rank Kingdom. He had no distinguishing features.

He shouted, and he ran towards me, being careful not to slip. The trampled ooze was a pitiful sight.

“Do you have no pride! To defile a battle… like this!!”

He raised his voice in anger. I couldn’t see his face, but I could tell that the veins were bulging.

I smiled, from behind my mask.

“—To expect such a thing from the Lord of Disease… you are a naive one!”

Laughter rose from our defensive line, and the knight, his charge killed by the ooze that was thrown at him, became a target for the bows and died.