AN: It’s fun to write about the development of the suckers!
「……What is this place?」
I was brought to a place that looked like an arena.
Surrounded by seating, there was no ceiling, and the moonlight illuminated the interior.
14 people around me were looking around, seemingly not grasping the situation as I was. In other words, there are 15 knights in this place, including me.
Yes, we are knights. We were captured in the war against the demons and taken prisoner.
It is humiliating just to be captured by the demons, a lowly race that does not receive love from Misery-sama, but to be ordered to do this and that is just too bad.
Fortunately, the exchange of prisoners of war with the demons captured by the home country will take place soon.
After we return to our country, we are going to kill all the captured demons and let ourselves enjoy the sorrow.
There is no need for us to keep our pact with the demon tribe.
「Hey, demon tribe, come out! What the hell do you think you’re doing bringing me here, you piece of shit?」
The man next to me said those words.
I agree with him, but honestly, it’s not a problem that can be managed by yelling.
I was brought to what looked like an arena. I don’t know what their intentions were, but as prisoners of war, we are not going to be killed.
Rather, it was more natural to assume that I would be released.
That is what I thought,
「…That’s a lot of noise. Let’s not have them chirp every time.」
I could not suppress a gasp at the sight of the man who came out with that voice.
The figure of a man…No, is it a man? At least the voice was, but it was hard to tell from the appearance.
For he was a moving skeleton.
He wore a thick robe and held a long stick in his hand. Above all, the bones, which should have been white, were somehow black.
「W-What an evil figure…」
「You evil people, you show me something that makes me sick…」
Such voices could be heard in every mouth.
But the black bones didn’t seem to care and walked toward us.
He stopped just a few meters away from us and said his name.
「First of all, it is nice to meet you, humans. My name is Zedd.」
「I don’t want to know your name! Now stop showing us your hideous appearance and let us go, you lowly demon tribe!」
The person who said this was the most senior among these people and was the platoon leader.
He must have been terrified, but he was probably bracing himself for the possibility of not being killed.
―――But then the skeleton spoke, and everyone in the room was stunned.
「……Didn’t they teach you to hear me out? Shut up for a while……I am Zedd. Zedd, the Rich, the Eighth in the Demon King Army executives, and the『Marching General』.」
What did he just say?
A top executive of the Demon King?
The top ten members of the demon army are the top ten foolish demon tribe members who are avenging us human beings.
I hate to admit it, but their strength is certain, and they are no match for us at the very least.
「First, I have two things to tell you. I have good news and bad news. First, the good news for you is that your trump card, the heart of the『hero』has collapsed. You are one step closer to being used as weapons, killing demons like me without a care in the world.」
Hearing this, I was more astonished than pleased.
The hero is the trump card, a symbol of absolute power.
The current generation of heroes are particularly talented, but to maximize their performance, their hearts were to be broken and they were to be used as living weapons.
This matter was only communicated to the upper echelons of the military and a few knights, in other words, us, so that it would not be conveyed to the demon tribe.
And yet…how did the demons know about the heroes?
I thought about this and that, but then I heard the next guy say
「And the bad news is, it seems that the human higher-ups have abandoned you. Our brothers and sisters who were captured and held captive by the humans have been killed. All of them. Therefore, negotiations have broken down. There is no longer any reason to keep you alive.」
「……………huh?」
Everything I had been thinking about was blown away.
Negotiations broke down and there was no reason to keep us alive. Does that mean the home country has betrayed us?
We are supposed to be comrades who have risked our lives to fight together for the sake of Misery?
「You can’t say that! How could they abandon us, our country of origin…………」
「Unfortunately, it’s the truth. Or would it be more convincing to say this? You and a thousand other humans, and a hero who killed a hundred of my people and improved her level. They weighed which of them would be more useful on the battlefield.」
「!?」
Ridiculous.
No way, really …….?
「I’ll tell you what, gentlemen. You will now die and join the ranks of my undead army.」
「Hii!!」
Become undead?
Just the thought of it is horrifying. Even though I am a corpse, I absolutely cannot bear the thought of trying to challenge Misery-sama…
「Our Lord the Demon King, unlike your master, is a man of mercy. She has given you a chance to live.」
Zedd’s expression was too bony to make out what he was saying, but for some reason, I thought he was gloating.
◆◇◆◇◆
「You have your weapons now, humans? Now let’s go over the rules.」
The place is filled with tension.
Even now, with weapons returned, armor on, and fully armed, I can’t shake the uneasiness.
I cannot predict what is going to happen at all.
「From now on, one… Yes, just one new soldier of the Demon King’s army will enter the arena. You will win if you can disable her or escape for five minutes. I will get all the survivors out of here and send them to the Holy Land of Mercurius with transfer magic.」
The conditions are too easy.
Even though the basic stats of the demon tribe are higher than ours, one newcomer soldier against fifteen of us? There is something behind this.
「On the other hand, if you are all killed, you lose. Well, not if you are killed, but if you lose the battle… She hates humans. First of all, she won’t let you live. Good luck with that, humans.」
I don’t want the demons to like me, but I also don’t feel good that they don’t like me.
We are giving them a chance to be reborn as human beings by killing them.
「Let’s get started. Lean-sama, you may come in.」
「Yes, thank you, Zedd-san.」
Then it jumped down from above…
………………A girl?
「……Pft. Bwahahaha! Oh, come on, the demon tribe is shorthanded! It’s reckless of you to let these kids deal with us!」
「I had suspected there was something wrong with them, but apparently, demons are just too smart for their good. Come on, let’s get rid of this guy and go back to the mainland.」
「Oh, I’m so anxious, I lost it… But what kind is this guy? Well, whatever.」
……What the hell?
It certainly looks like a little girl, no doubt about it.
She carries no weapons, wears no armor, and wears just a black one-piece dress. If it weren’t for her red eyes, she could easily be mistaken for a human infant.
However, no matter how lowly a demon tribe she may be, would you let a mere young child fight fifteen knights?
I have a bad feeling about this. It’s like I’m missing something serious…
「Well then, you have five minutes now. You may begin.」
But even though I was still in a state of anxiety, the game was on.
―――And at the same time, the game began.
◆◇◆◇◆
「……aa, aaa…aaaaaa…」
「Hm~mm, I still can’t get used to the power of the full moon. I thought it would be over in ten seconds, but there’s an extra person.」
About 10.5 seconds into the game.
I was surrounded by a sea of blood.
In front of me… All of them were killed by the hands of a monster in the skin of a little girl.
It was rare to find a corpse that still had its original form, and some of them had been blown up and blown away without a trace.
In the first second of the game, the knight who went headfirst toward the monster in front of him was blown off from the neck up and died.
The knight was then closed in and his neck was twisted off before he could even swing his arm, and that is when we finally realized the difference in strength.
But it was already too late, and the platoon leader who tried to escape first was kicked in the side by the monster and exploded.
After that, each one of us was killed in less than a second, and I was the only one left.
Those who tried to escape and those who tried to fight were killed equally as if it didn’t matter.
「Well well, it was quite a show, Lean-sama. I see that the princess of the vampire tribe is invincible on a night with a full moon.」
「Really? …wait, no-no. Invincible? Even I can’t beat the executives like Zedd-san and Tiana-san! I’m still not used to this speed and power at all… Oops. There is one more person left. Let’s kill, let’s kill♪」
「Hi…!?」
I don’t like it. I’m scared.
I was uneasy. I felt uncomfortable.
But I was somewhat optimistic. With that many people, it would be no problem.
But…I never heard that she was this strong!
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had licked this girl, and now she is more terrifying than anyone else!
「S-Spare me! I’ll do anything! I’ll even tell you information, so please…please……!」
At this moment, I forgot even my faith in the Misery-sama and I just prayed to the nightmare in front of me.
After a few seconds, I realized that I had not yet died and found a faint glimmer of hope.
Then, slowly, I looked up and for some reason, my eyes met the nightmare with a big smile on its face and,
「Hey, don’t you want to die?」
「O-Of course! Of course not!」
「Ah, yeah. Then die♡」
「eh? ……a”」
The next thing I knew, her leg was thrust into my neck and I was knocked winded.
AN: The next story will be from the point of view of Leanne, the overrun play.