Became the Queen of the Legion

“Ah… God. We…”

Lamia General Manuel, with a handful of remaining subordinates, blankly sighed while looking at the sky.

They had desperately tried to survive. As soon as the god gave revelations, they abandoned everything – the land they lived on, the resources and people they were supposed to protect – and fled desperately just to save their lives.

But the enemies persistently chased them.

Clearly, they would give up the pursuit if the situation wasn’t favorable, but they charged in, willing to accept losses and damages just to tear them apart.

They lost almost all of their forces while shaking off and escaping that pursuit.

With just this handful of remaining forces, it was impossible to rebuild their power, so they could only be used to prolong the player’s life.

“Lord Manuel… they’re coming.”

But now even that seemed to fail.

With no more strength to flee or soldiers to resist, the legion troops that had finally caught up with them grabbed their tail.

They might be able to join other lords if they went a little further, but they couldn’t shake off the enemies who had chased them with the sole intention of capturing and killing them, without considering anything else.

“Why are they doing this? What did we do wrong?!”

Manuel finally shouted, as if feeling terribly wronged, looking at these monsters that had surrounded them in an instant.

In fact, he had some idea. The god he served, the player, was particularly wary of them.

To be honest, it wasn’t just wariness.

As they repeatedly defeated the demon race forces with ridiculous numbers and rapid evolution speed, it went beyond wariness to almost fear.

“Devils. You are devils.”

What would be a threat to a god? Even though they were demon races, residents of the demon realm who are objects of fear in other worlds, in their own world, they believed in and followed their god and feared the ‘devils’ who opposed that god.

Therefore, it wasn’t strange that they mistook the legion attacking them now for a group of devils.

Moreover, from their appearance specialized solely for combat, abandoning their identity as living organisms, to their actions moving according to the colony consciousness, it all fit well.

‘They’re quite firmly misunderstanding.’

The Queen chuckled, seeing their misunderstanding through the eyes of her soldiers.

Of course, she had no intention of correcting them. It would be inefficient anyway, as they were the player’s forces that she would annihilate without leaving a single one.

“Kill them.”

“Ugh, uwaaaaah!”

With the Queen’s order, as enemies rushed in from all directions, the last force that the player had desperately tried to save was cruelly annihilated without a single survivor amidst desperate resistance.

[Another player has dropped out]

At the same time, she received a notification. It was then that the chat of this nameless player, who had been struggling until just before, was cut off.

‘Right now, we have no choice but to be ahead. But the future is unknown. It might be more advantageous to eliminate the players now.’

Although she had eliminated another competitor as desired, the Queen’s face wasn’t entirely bright.

Clearly, the flow of time is on the Queen’s side. As time passes, the legion becomes stronger and more numerous.

But it was also true that players become stronger as time passes. At least, they would inevitably become several times, dozens of times stronger than now when they haven’t even occupied a lord’s position yet.

She could be certain of this because she once had experience playing as various races as a player.

“Even if I can eliminate the players near me, players far away from me will occupy lord positions and develop beyond that, no matter what I do now.”

Although she had grown to a level where there was no one to stop her in this area, she hadn’t become strong enough to sweep across the entire demon realm continent.

With many players still spread across the demon realm, it was clear that she would face them as they replaced the local forces over time.

‘I should prepare myself in advance.’

Therefore, she cleanly gave up on the idea of eliminating all players before they grew. It was obvious that they would properly clash later after both sides had raised their class to the limit.

* * *

“It’s a rescue mission. We need to help the Lizardman unit that stayed to protect the fort escape.”

“Did you judge that we could handle that much?”

“Yes. It’s sufficiently possible.”

Kruger disclosed the mission he had received to his comrades. As he said, it was a mission to be carried out by moving in the rear and flanks instead of joining the full-scale battles happening in various places.

“The captain is extremely avoiding direct confrontation with them. I wonder if he thinks there’s no hope.”

Grash, an Orc shaman who was one of the first comrades to join, muttered beside me.

As a somewhat intelligent individual, he accurately grasped Kruger’s intention. Or more precisely, my intention in persuading Kruger.

‘If we participate in a full-scale battle to accumulate achievements, it means my soldiers have to lose in battle.’

The reason I persuaded Kruger to mainly take on guerrilla warfare or mobile warfare missions instead of engaging in full-scale battles was simple.

Because the moment they participate in a full-scale battle, they wouldn’t be able to accumulate achievements.

No matter how strong this mercenary group centered around Kruger was, it was still just a mercenary group of several dozen members.

They couldn’t exert enough power to turn the tide on a battlefield where thousands or tens of thousands of troops were entangled.

Neither the mercenary group failing to achieve military exploits nor my troops being defeated.

Neither was what I wanted.

“I don’t see it negatively. Even if we join the main army, we’re just one of many common mercenary groups. We have to follow their orders without question. Whether we die or live to achieve something depends on those in command. But if it’s a mission we can lead like this, it’s a different story.”

Rogre, a beastkin warrior with a head resembling a Doberman, added with a smirk.

That Rogre is quite an interesting fellow. When he first joined us, he immediately challenged me.

It seems he didn’t like that I was higher in rank than him, but even though it was an avatar I made in the early stages, there was no way I would lose to a mere beastkin mercenary from the borderlands.

I shattered him with one blow using just the swordsmanship I had learned and practiced, without even needing to transform my body.

Thanks to that, no one who saw it suspects my identity within this mercenary group, so in a way, he did me a favor.

“According to the information we’ve obtained, only a small force remains near the fort, and their main force has moved elsewhere. We just need to create a crack in that encirclement.”

“It’s utter chaos. More than anything else, I can’t believe that such a large number of troops move swiftly and accurately.”

Grash sighed softly at Kruger’s more detailed explanation of the operation.

As he said, complex events were continuously occurring in real-time on the battlefield involving no less than four territories.

My troops were moving to other places, splitting and merging along the way, swiftly and accurately attacking and capturing or forcing retreat from places that appeared vulnerable or weak.

All of this came from the power of overwhelming intelligence.

Not only spreading numerous scout troops for reconnaissance, but even highly confidential materials and news that my avatar here could access were visible as if looking at the palm of my hand.

Although I’m trying not to show that I know everything, even though the allied forces of the lords seem to be holding out somehow now, they were gradually being eaten away by my legion troops.

‘Kruger’s mercenary group is growing steadily.’

In such a situation, the lords naturally sought more troops. Especially among them, they had no choice but to treat those who had proven their skills as more important.

Kruger’s mercenary group was one of them. Although just a mercenary group, the achievements we had accumulated so far, centered around Kruger, were by no means small.

They had succeeded in many operations, and the number of enemies they had driven away or allies they had rescued was overwhelming.

Already, Kruger’s mercenary group had become a strong and disciplined armed group trusted by all neighboring lords, gradually increasing their numbers with the fame and strength they were accumulating.

“At first, I thought it was impossible. Coming here alone, I only had a vague dream of gathering forces again and reclaiming my territory.”

Kruger often spoke of how emotional he felt, as if he could hardly believe this fact.

“But now it’s really become not impossible. I’ve seen the possibility. I, no, we can do it.”

He saw the possibility and nurtured that hope. The hope of truly gathering his own forces and returning to his territory in glory.

I said nothing as I watched his face.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that unless the player who had taken his territory was exceptionally stupid, by the time he returned, that player would have already become a powerful figure dominating the area.

“All of this is because I met you.”

Kruger these days cherished me as if I were some lucky charm, but I inwardly smiled bitterly at the sight.

I wonder what expression he will make when that time comes.

Will he crumble when he learns how enormous the being he has to face is, or will he try to win even if it means joining hands with the ‘devil’?