The ice trolls’ ambush, which they had feared so greatly, never came. Perhaps because they had filled their bellies with orc meat, the ice trolls had no interest whatsoever in the heroes. But just as the heroes were crossing the steep mountainside, an ambush far more terrifying than the ice trolls struck.
Rumble.
Daemon’s face turned deathly pale at the sudden roar. He already knew exactly what the sound was.
“An avalanche has started. Everyone, press yourselves against the cliff.”
The heroes followed his instructions without a word. Since they had no experience whatsoever with Northwood, they had no choice but to obey Daemon’s orders. Yet Daemon himself, the one who had given the command, did not press against the cliff. Instead, he used a levitation spell to rise into the air. He had realized that the avalanche had been deliberately triggered.
Rumble.
A moment later, an enormous avalanche slammed into the place where they had been standing.
“Aaaaah!”
Several heroes who had been unable to escape in time were swept away by the avalanche. After taking a brief look at the hundreds of tons of snow surging across the mountainside, Daemon immediately shot toward the summit. His eyes blazed with fury.
“So that’s why they brought the orcs here—to trigger avalanches. Damn it…”
Daemon’s body shot upward at a terrifying speed. To prevent further avalanches, the orcs causing them at the summit had to be dealt with first. When he arrived at the mountaintop, he saw more than a hundred orc warriors busily packing snow into balls and rolling them down the mountain. The moment they spotted Daemon, the orc warriors were startled and gripped their weapons.
“Chwiik. It’s a human. Kill him.”
A group of warriors hurled themselves at Daemon. But Daemon was not one to be defeated so easily.
“You pathetic fools…”
Without delay, Daemon rearranged the mana he had gathered. A high-level spell could cause another avalanche through the shock it created, so he deliberately chose to cast Magic Missile. Even so, it was more than enough to annihilate a hundred orc warriors.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
It took less than a minute for all one hundred orc warriors to collapse in the snow. Every last one of them had been incapacitated by having their pressure points struck. Daemon swept his angry gaze over them.
“I’d like to show mercy and put you out of your misery, but it can’t be helped. The ice trolls will be coming soon to end your lives, so wait just a little longer.”
Leaving the orc warriors behind, their eyes rolling helplessly, Daemon cast Levitation once more. There was no reason to hesitate, since the ice trolls would finish them off neatly.
When he descended to the mountainside, he saw the heroes frantically rescuing their companions. Even the mages had been mobilized to dig their buried comrades out of the snow. Unable to stand by and watch, Daemon joined them, but the sheer volume of snow made rescuing the buried knights far from easy. Only after nearly half a day had passed were the heroes finally able to bring the situation under control.
“Ten dead and eighteen missing. The knights we haven’t found have probably suffocated to death.”
After receiving the report, Krovitz became furious. They had lost knights pointlessly to an avalanche, so there was no way he could remain calm. They had not even fought the enemy yet. But this was no time to simply vent his anger. The mountain peaks leading to Northwood would surely be filled with orc warriors lying in ambush.
“Judging by the circumstances, it seems attacks using avalanches will continue. Shouldn’t we come up with some sort of solution?”
Daemon quietly nodded.
“I’ll take care of it. You needn’t worry about the avalanches any longer, Captain Krovitz. In exchange, select ten mages who are skilled at summoning Phantom Steeds.”
“That won’t be difficult. But what do you intend to do?”
“Leave it to me.”
After saying this, Daemon opened Increcia. Ten Death Knights emerged. Immediately afterward, Russellent, whose restoration was now complete, revealed his enormous body as though proudly displaying his majesty.
Rumble.
Krovitz’s face brightened at the sight.
“You’ve completed the restoration of the bone dragon. In that case, we should be able to eliminate the orcs lying in ambush on the summit effectively.”
“We can’t attack them directly. Avalanches can be triggered by even the slightest impact… Therefore, we’ll leave the ambushing orcs to the Death Knights, while the mages support them.”
“Understood. I’ll select the mages immediately.”
Excited, Krovitz ran toward the mages. In the meantime, Daemon began gathering mana. He, too, had to support the Death Knights.
Daemon boarded Russellent with the selected mages. The wind was strong, but Russellent rose into the sky without difficulty. The mages were somewhat frightened at riding a dragon for the first time in their lives, but they managed to carry out their assigned duties reasonably well.
Since every one of them was a high-ranking mage who had surpassed the sixth circle, it was not particularly difficult to locate the orcs with detection magic and then summon Phantom Steeds to send the Death Knights down.
Thanks to their efforts, the orc warriors lying in ambush throughout the area were eliminated one group at a time. Only one unit of orcs that had concealed themselves exceptionally well managed to cause the loss of several dozen more knights. After that, however, there were no further casualties. Once he had finished searching the area, Daemon returned with the mages to where the heroes were.
“You’ve worked hard.”
After praising Daemon for his efforts, Krovitz once again ordered the march to resume. The delay caused by the orc ambushes could not be helped.
After crossing the mountain ridge through countless hardships, the hero army was met by a sea of fog. It was a deadly fog imbued with illusion magic, one that caused those who entered it to turn on one another. Since Daemon already knew the secret of the fog, he instructed the heroes to steel themselves.
“Stay extremely alert. That fog is imbued with powerful illusion magic. Within it, your comrades will appear as enemies without exception. Depending on the circumstances, they may even take the form of undead or orcs, so do not recklessly strike to kill simply because you spot an enemy.”
At that moment, Shrekheimer interrupted him.
“But several thousand orc warriors crossed the ridge ahead of us. We must also consider the possibility that they are lying in ambush within the fog.”
“That is possible.”
After thinking it over repeatedly, Daemon decided to place Shrekheimer and the Death Knights at the head of the formation. He intended to make the most of the fact that undead were not easily deceived by ordinary illusion magic. The heroes were warned in no uncertain terms. They were ordered not to strike to kill unless their targets were clearly confirmed to be enemies.
The hero army, numbering nearly four hundred, cautiously entered the sea of fog with the Death Knights leading the way.
The heroes advanced through the sea of fog, tense to the utmost. But the ambush they had feared never came. Instead, corpses in all sorts of forms lay strewn chaotically across the ground to greet them. Some corpses had taken the form of orcs, while others occasionally appeared as ghouls or wights. Daemon realized that the corpses were the orc warriors who had entered the fog ahead of them.
“The orcs were caught by the illusion magic as well.”
“They’re simple-minded creatures, so they probably fought without distinguishing friend from foe. They never realized that the others were their comrades.”
Daemon nodded as if agreeing with Krovitz’s words.
“We must be especially careful from here on. A companion’s appearance can change while you look away for even a moment. Five hundred years ago, Truvenia’s hero army suffered a near-annihilating blow because of this illusion magic.”
“Understood. I’ll give the knights strict instructions.”
Just as Daemon feared, the heroes were gradually caught by the illusion magic. While they turned their heads for only a moment, a companion walking beside them would subtly transform into an orc warrior. It happened before the heroes even realized it. Perhaps because the magic read their minds and made their companions appear as enemies, the transformed knights usually took the forms of medium-sized monsters or orc warriors.
However, because Daemon had issued strict warnings, the heroes did not turn on one another. They distinguished friend from foe by first speaking to the orc warriors that appeared out of nowhere.
“Hey. Who are you?”
“Chwiik. I’m Steve, formerly of the Penslet Royal Guard Knights. Who are you? Chwiik. You’re not an orc, are you?”
Though the illusion magic was extremely powerful, even the voices they heard carried the nasal quality peculiar to orcs. But because they spoke first, no one ended up crossing blades. The deeper they went into the heart of the fog, the more frequently such incidents occurred, until eventually every single hero had transformed. Daemon turned his head and let out a bitter laugh.
“Damn it…”
The entire area was filled with orcs and medium-sized monsters with glistening green skin. It had gotten to the point where Daemon wondered whether he had polymorphed himself and blended into a horde of orcs. Unable to tell who was who, Daemon quietly called for Krovitz.
“Captain Krovitz. This is Daemon. Where are you now?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a hulking Twin-Head Ogre approached Daemon. Its rugged face was covered with bulging muscles, and it carried a massive great axe suited to its enormous frame.
“This is Krovitz. Are you perhaps Daemon?”
“That’s right.”
The Twin-Head Ogre politely bowed its head.
“I apologize for failing to recognize you.”
“No, it’s all right. But do I look like an orc to you, Captain?”
“No. You currently appear to be a lich.”
Daemon’s eyes widened at those words. It must have been an illusion caused by Krovitz’s consciousness recognizing a lich as an enemy. Daemon muttered under his breath.
“I look like a lich… Then what about Shrekheimer?”
At that, the Twin-Head Ogre scratched the back of its head.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t quite tell where Shrekheimer is…”
“I am here.”
When Shrekheimer stepped forward, Daemon narrowed his eyes.
“At least your form hasn’t changed. Though it’s a problem that you’re dressed as Berkhis’s guardian…”
The members of the Kasim Mercenary Band had all taken on the forms of monsters without exception. Like Krovitz, the Death Knights appeared as Twin-Head Ogres. Mitchell, the Sword Master, was the same, except that he had only one head.
Kasim and Gerald had taken the forms of trolls, while the rest of the members looked exactly like orc warriors. An amused expression appeared on Daemon’s face.
“Their forms change completely according to their abilities. Then I wonder what Yuliana looks like?”
Feeling mischievous, Daemon shouted for Yuliana.
“I’m here.”
When Yuliana approached, Daemon burst into laughter.
“There’s one rather incongruous goblin here. You’re quite cute for a goblin, aren’t you?”
Unexpectedly, Yuliana did not lose her temper. She merely stared at Daemon with suspicious eyes. Only Yuliana knew what Daemon looked like to her. After looking over the members one by one, Daemon ordered them to resume their march.
“Let’s hurry and set out. We must leave this place as quickly as possible.”
“Understood.”
The Twin-Head Ogre politely bowed its head and ordered the advance. The army, composed of all manner of monsters, began crossing the deadly fog according to his command. Even afterward, there were no orc ambushes. That was only natural—the orcs who had entered the fog had all become corpses and been left sprawled across the ground.
Judging by the forms in which they lay, most of them seemed to have fallen after turning on one another. The heroes continued their march, counting each orc corpse they discovered. Shrekheimer, walking ahead, tilted his head in puzzlement.
“Something is strange.”
“What is it?”
“It seems that most of the orcs who crossed the ridge ahead of us died here. That means they must have entered without knowing the secret of the fog.”
At Shrekheimer’s words, Daemon also sensed that something did not sit right.
“That’s true. The one who tampered with and modified the magic formation here deliberately did so, yet I can’t understand why he would leave the orcs to slaughter one another. I have no idea what he’s plotting.”
“Regardless, I think we’ll find out once we pass through this place…”
“Won’t we?”
Daemon shook his head and began walking again. The vast region of deadly fog was gradually drawing to an end.