So, actually, only Calca, Pabel, and Neia among the people here didn't know that Evileye was a vampire. My angel Calca didn't harbour any hatred towards half-humans anyway. Neia had embraced my ideas with devotion, and Pabel was experienced enough to understand the non-threatening atmosphere.
"Evileye-san is a... vampire?"
Calca looked at me in surprise, then at Evileye. But there was neither fear nor disgust on her face.
"So... you weren't afraid of me?"
This time Evileye turned to Calca in surprise.
"Or did you hate me?"
Calca paused for a moment, then spoke with a sincere expression:
"Evileye-san, why should I be afraid of you or hate you?"
She spread her hand slightly to the side.
"There's a demon in front of me," she said, pointing at Albedo,
"and the love of my life is a being who is capable of destroying the world. Frankly, Pandoras Actor-sama seems far more frightening to me than you. Someone who can make exact copies of people..."
"Doppelganger," Albedo interjected calmly.
"Yes, that was it," Calca said, nodding.
"Thank you, Albedo-san."
These words visibly reassured Evileye. It would have been pointless to expect any other reaction from an angel like Calca.
"Ashfall-sama, we wish to participate directly in the battle." The other members agreed with Lakyus's resolute words.
"But if your absence is noticed by the other adventurers, it could lead to undesirable consequences." Pabel pointed to the adventurers helping the people within the city.
"Don't worry about that. We'll deceive them with Doppelgangers transformed into you. Meanwhile, Calca, after summoning the angel of the [Dominion of Peace], lead the priestly troop with Beta. Your mission will be to keep the soldiers alive." The Blue Rose members' request pleased me.
After our conversation ended, everyone went to their respective duty stations. I came to the side of Pe Riyuro, the king of Quagoa. I entered the tent specially prepared for him. He was holding a war council with the other clan chiefs around him. The moment they saw me, they all stood up and showed their respect.
"May victory be with you, Emperor Ashfall-sama. I presume you have come here to discuss the battle strategy. All preparations for Demiurge-sama's plan have been made. Do you have any other orders?" Pe Riyuro said as he knelt.
"Pe Riyuro, as far as I know, as the Quagoa's power increases, the fur on their backs takes on different colours. I have an important task for you: select the weakest fifty thousand Quagoa. They will be in the second line of the army, with the undead advancing behind them. As you might expect, they will draw the enemy's attacks upon themselves during the battle. I will also provide potions for you and the clan leaders. I do not wish to see someone as powerful as you perish."
When Pe Riyuro heard the cruel task I gave him, he froze for a moment. But he knew my orders were absolute.
"As you command, Ashfall-sama, I will select the soldiers for the task." After Pe Riyuro finished his words, he signalled to the clan leaders.
I left the tent and returned to headquarters. According to our agreed plan, Cocytus, Pandoras Actor, Shalltear, Sebas, Flora, Hiryu, Harmoniya, and Seraphine were ready to fight the four dragons. Two people would fight each dragon, quickly defeat them, and then attack the remaining armies. I would fight the Platinum Dragon Lord alone.
*************
As soon as news arrived from Nigredo that the enemy army was an hour away, I ordered the troops to advance. The battlefield consisted of a wide plain. This terrain was favourable for cavalry units, but it made tactics such as ambushes and sudden raids nearly impossible. Therefore, we had to reshape the terrain to our advantage.
"Mare," I said, looking at the map,
"create hills along the edges of the terrain. Flora, cover these hills with tall grass and trees."
Then I relayed my orders to the others:
"Place {Drifting Mine} and {Mine} spells as traps along the lines the enemy will pass. When the clash begins, turn the ground beneath the enemy army into a swamp."
"As you command, Ashfall-sama."
My orders were accepted without hesitation.
I went to the goblin general for the next preparation. He was examining the map, waving his fan, calculating the deployment of the troops.
"Send your troops to the hills that will be formed. Surprise the enemy at the critical moment and ambush them. We will strike from the direction the enemy does not expect. Take these." I handed him a pouch of scrolls and several talismans.
"Use them just before the battle begins. They will conceal your troops from the enemy."
The goblin general closed his fan and immediately began to carry out the orders.
At that very moment, the sky darkened.
Five giant dragons appeared on the horizon. The enemy army following behind them was a clear indication of how bloody the approaching battle would be. The enemy forces were divided into four separate regiments, and a dragon lord flew above each regiment. It was clear they would personally command their armies. They possessed centuries of battle experience and could see the entire battlefield from the air. The Platinum Dragon Lord remained at the rear.
It was evident he was waiting for the right moment to strike.
We made the first move before the battle began. A barrage of debuff spells was unleashed upon the enemy army:
{Mana Curse} – increased the enemy's mana consumption tenfold.
{Dimensional Lock} – completely blocked teleportation and escape spells.
Confusion, Blindness, Disease, Soften Steel, Mass Slow, Mass Silence, Fear…
At the same time, Victim sacrificed himself. The World Item {Longinus} was also kept on standby for a potential disaster scenario.
We then began casting buff spells on our own army:
Magic Caster's Blessing, Magic Boost, Magic Weapon, Discern Enemy, Greater Full Potential, Greater Resistance, Greater Magic Shield, Harden Steel, Lion's Heart, Energy Protection: All kinds…
Of course, it was impossible for me alone to enchant two armies of this scale. Therefore, the Nazarick guards, palace mages, and priests initiated rituals to activate area-of-effect spells.
Calca activated the spell in her sacred crown and used {Last Holy War}. This granted significant enhancements to the soldiers belonging to the holy classes in the army (priests, paladins, etc).
Such intense spell usage caused an astronomical amount of mana to spread throughout the area. The colour of the air changed, and even the sky reacted to this pressure.
But I had not yet cast the spell that would truly decide the battle.
I raised my staff; this was my trump card.
{Overwish}
My wish was clear: the prohibition of {Wild Magic} usage.
In return, two hundred thousand souls and ten million Yggdrasil coins were used. However, despite this spell, {Wild Magic} was not completely banned. It only restricted the use of {Wild Magic} in a 10×5×5 km area. The restriction was as follows: within that area, Wild Magic could not be cast up to a limit of one million souls.
If someone had cast a spell using 1.1 million souls, that spell would only have been effective within a volume of one hundred thousand. And again, the area of effect would have been limited to 5×5×5 km. Because of this spell, I have now spent almost all the souls I had collected.
††††††††††††††
The battle commenced with a spell bombardment initiated by all the mages in Fulmenreich's army. The enemy was unable to mount a strong counterattack due to the debuffs they had received and were sidelined from the battle due to the excessive mana expenditure of the spells they used.
Realising the gravity of the situation, the Dragon Lords ordered the knights to attack. However, the ground beneath the knights suddenly shifted, transforming into a vast and deep swamp. At that moment, thanks to the spells cast by Flora and Mare, slime and tree-like creatures emerged from the swamp and began attacking the enemy soldiers.
A large amount of methane gas was being released from the swamp, spreading a foul odour throughout the area. I changed the weather conditions, turning it stormy. The current difference caused by the methane gas led to constant lightning strikes on the swamp area. Every time lightning struck, the swamp was engulfed in flames, and the trapped enemy soldiers were reduced to ashes by the lightning and fire.
Knights who managed to cross the swamp were struck by mine spells and perished. I cast the {Apocalypse} spell in the middle of the enemy army. The black hole that formed above the army drew all the energy around it towards itself, grew, and finally caused a huge explosion.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Demiurge cast {Meteor Fall}; Seraphine cast {Uriel}; Amber cast {Burning Garden}; Flora cast {Elden Ring}; Harmonia cast {Steel Rain}; Nepthyhs cast {Sand of Death}; and Nekomi cast {Yukikaze}, nearly annihilating the enemy army.
Meanwhile, the souls of the fallen soldiers gathered around the Platinum Dragon Lord. It was certain he would use Wild Magic. The other dragon lords were excited by the casting of this spell and attacked us with their final assault. But the activated spell suddenly shattered and became ineffective. Before they could fully comprehend what had happened, the Nazarik guardians attacked them.
The Platinum Dragon Lord tried to cast another spell, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I played one of my best trump cards: I cast the {Grand Catastrophe} spell, spending 60% of my mana. Even though the Platinum Dragon Lord cast a defensive spell, my spell shattered the shield and dealt him heavy damage.
The Platinum Dragon Lord, its wings shattered, crashed to the ground with a heavy blow. But it was still alive. The other dragon lords had already been defeated and captured. Now it was the Platinum Dragon Lord's turn.
{Ashfall-sama, I sense an extremely high level of negative magical energy behind the mountains, please be careful} With Nigredo's warning, a pillar of black light suddenly appeared behind the mountains.
That part of my mini-map filled with bright red dots advancing towards us, and one of them was radiating extreme power.
"Player, the time of death has come for you and your companions. Even if the outcome of this battle results in a great destruction like centuries ago, I still won't hand this world over to tyrants like you." PDL spoke as if certain of victory, as if I were beneath his feet.
"For now, I must shut your big mouth. Don't worry, after my victory, I will proudly show you MY WORLD." I chained PDL and teleported him to the Nazarik dungeons. I hope they have a good time with Neurolist Painkill.
The Argland Council State army had now been almost single-handedly annihilated by the imperial army. I turned my attention to the distant mountains.
{Ashfall-sama, a 1.5 million undead army is approaching from the mountains, led by a dragon. The strange thing is this: 400k undead are gathered around this dragon.} Nigredo satisfied our curiosity by sharing important information again.
It was impossible not to notice the wave after wave of black cloaks coming from the mountains, like an ant colony. It was certain that PDL was collaborating with Cure Elim, which is why he could speak so proudly despite being captured.
I was confident I could defeat him, but my concern was for my country. Cure Elim was a monster who had destroyed four countries with a single spell in the past. I absolutely had to prevent him from coming here. If I had known he was coming, I would have saved the {Overwish} spell for him.
{All Nazarik Guardians, beam towards the undead army immediately and halt their advance. Pleiades is strictly forbidden from participating in this battle.}
I transformed myself into the Platinum Dragon Lord and flew towards the undead army. After a short flight, I saw that grotesque dragon, 150 metres long and covered in corpses.
"Tsaindorcus Vaision (PDL's real name), I've come to help the players as we agreed. I hope you keep your word and leave most of their remaining items to me. I hope you realise what will happen if you break the agreement."
As Cure Elim spoke, the mouth made of corpses twitched strangely. The corpses were erratic, as if trying to copy the movements of Raskele's lips. His failure to notice me yet was a good opportunity for me.
I took the World Item {Depiction of Nature and Society} from my inventory and activated it, transforming the area around me into a sea of lava. I made the Nazarik guardians immune to fire damage and gave the enemy a weakness debuff against fire.
This way, I both imprisoned all the undead and prevented Cure Elim from using Wild Magic in the real world.
After a brief moment of surprise, Cure Elim attacked, declaring, "You are not Vaision."
His mouth opened, and he fired a thick, black beam of light at me. {Soulbreaker Breath} was his most important trump card, and he could only use it three times before his soul power was depleted. But since my companions and I carried World Items, it was actually useless against us.
His attack hit me and scattered, becoming ineffective. Watching his bewildered expression was rather amusing. Now it was my turn to attack.
Transforming into my dragon form, I surpassed even Cure Elim in size. The greatest weaknesses of the undead are fire and holy magic. However, I first had to eliminate the undead surrounding Cure Elim to create an opening. Activating the magic in my ring, I used the {God's Punishment: Gugnir} attack.
Cure Elim noticed the attack and tried to protect himself with the [Wall of Skeleton] spell, but it was impossible to stop him with such a weak spell. The energy-filled metal rod falling from the sky struck Cure Elim's huge body and vaporised most of the immortals. Thanks to the {Full Magazine} feature, I didn't spend 500k on the attack.
However, despite this attack, Cure Elim's true body had not yet been revealed. First, I cast the {Grasp Heart} spell to immobilise him. Of course, the spell didn't kill him, but it stunned him. The surrounding undead continued to surround him, using all their strength to protect him. I launched my second attack with the {Celestial Palm} spell. A huge hand, like a starry sky, crushed Cure Elim and revealed its true body.
With my huge body, I crushed the undead and lunged towards Cure Elim, melting it by breathing fire. But I didn't kill it. When it had just a little life left, I shackled it with a magical chain that inflicted various negative effects. I drained all its {Soul} reserves.
Meanwhile, the Nazarik guardians had nearly wiped out all the undead. All their exp was stored in the {Avarice and Generosity} gloves, and their negative energy was consumed by the {Orb of Death}.
"Congratulations, Ashfall-sama. Nazarik has once again emerged from battle with a glorious victory. Now that there are no obstacles left before us, we can direct the army towards the Argland Council State and invade it." The Nazarik guards, lined up in order, offered their congratulations.
"Since all their armies have been destroyed, they don't have much power left to defend it. Demiurge, lead the army and take advantage of this opportunity. Take this with you."
I gave him the PDL's severed wing. This way, he could prove to the people that their dragon leaders had been defeated.
We beamed back to E-Asenaru City. The moment the army spotted us, triumphant cheers erupted. Knights clashed their weapons against their shields, while mages stamped their feet to make noise.
It was good that their morale was so high. Demiurge immediately gave the necessary orders and teleported the army to the Argland Council State. Upon hearing the news of victory, the people returned to their abandoned homes.
A few days later, news of the collapse of the Argland Council State arrived. People across the country began to celebrate. The dragon lords' magnificent treasures had been looted and seized. Among the Platinum Dragon Lord's treasures, in particular, were powerful items inherited from the Eight Greed Kings. The dragon lords themselves were imprisoned in a "dragon farm".
The small states that had not yet been invaded were aware that their turn would come. These states prevented bloodshed by pledging their allegiance to us. Furthermore, according to the latest news from Draudillon, the Dragon Kingdom had not only defended itself but also conquered the demi-human countries that were fighting amongst themselves.
In this way, I had now conquered the entire New World and eliminated all powers that could pose a threat to me.
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I think it's best to end the story here.