Became the Queen of the Legion

“The eastern wall has fallen! They’ve broken through!”

“What?! That’s impossible!”

Despite fighting desperately, news began to spread that the eastern wall, opposite to where we were, had collapsed.

Panic began to spread immediately. If one side falls, the other sides are bound to crumble like being swept away by a wave.

But something was strange. My soldiers hadn’t yet broken through the eastern wall.

“We need to retreat! If we stay like this, we’ll all die!”

“It’s already too late. We have to abandon the castle!”

In reality, those around us began to waver drastically. Fear spread, and an atmosphere quickly formed that staying here would mean certain death.

‘What is that mayor doing?’

At times like this, those in command should correct misinformation, but the commanders here failed to do so.

When I looked through the eyes of my scout troops, I saw that the mayor had long since fled, and the barely maintained chain of command was crumbling.

Unless the troops are connected by a hive mind sharing all situations, there’s no way to correct misinformation and maintain the frontline in such a situation.

“The east hasn’t fallen yet. The mayor has fled, but there’s still a chance to survive. As long as we don’t self-destruct.”

“Are you sure?!”

Kruger’s eyes wavered when he heard my words saying I had confirmed it. When I answered affirmatively, he nodded as if he had made some decision.

“Everyone, hold your positions! We haven’t fallen yet!”

He raised his voice to at least stabilize those around him. Thanks to his outstanding combat prowess, the nearby troops were already consciously or unconsciously paying attention to him.

“Difficult enemies to deal with didn’t appear from the start. Their numbers are large, but we can hold out sufficiently. Do you intend to die while fleeing?!”

He naturally began to lead the group. The crowd, fallen into confusion and fear, wanted a strong leader more than ever, and he, having proven himself on the frontlines of the battlefield, seized control of them.

“Who is that guy?”

“I don’t know either. But what he’s saying is right! Even if we flee from here, we’ll just die while being chased. Fight!”

As easily as they could crumble, they could also unite. The demon races, rallying around Kruger, fought desperately, struggling to surpass their physical and magical limits.

If he hadn’t been driven out by the player’s forces, he would have become quite a strong lord.

If he had been a lord, there’s a high chance that even the player would have had a hard time.

‘Indeed, he has sufficient talent.’

What if someone like him joined us? As Seira is proving even at this moment, having capable talent can’t hurt.

The only thing to consider is how to reveal the truth to him and make him join us voluntarily.

It seemed this was something that needed to be pondered slowly over time and decided based on the situation.

“The intensity is gradually weakening. Their numbers have decreased a lot too.”

I heard a Hobgoblin mercenary mutter while panting. Those words weren’t wrong. Nearly half of the troops I had deployed were falling now.

Of course, the defenders’ losses were also considerable, but they were still holding out. Unlike usual, they fought desperately as if they had nowhere to run.

“Look over there! The other side has already overcome the crisis!”

Kruger pointed to the southern wall. Compared to where we were, there were fewer Doom Devils clinging to the walls or waiting below.

This was because I had gradually pulled troops from unstable areas and deployed them elsewhere.

As a result, while this side where forces were concentrated was still precarious, Kruger, whom I had acknowledged, was here instead.

Possessing not only combat prowess but also leadership, he steadily carried out defensive duties, leading the mercenaries and soldiers who had come to follow his words.

“Which group do you belong to? If we survive, I’d like to recruit you into our mercenary group…”

“Recruitment is nonsense. We should be joining him down there!”

It’s natural for heroes to emerge in times of chaos. As I expected, the more Kruger demonstrated his abilities, the more people recognized them.

All that’s left now is to win the war. There’s no need to annihilate the enemies. It was a moment when we could win just by surviving and holding out.

“Th-They’re retreating! We’ve won!”

And finally, that moment came. When half of the deployed troops had died or been injured.

I reluctantly pulled back all the troops at once. What remained in the place where my troops had retreated was just a pile of corpses.

Including those who survived here now, all of this is a resource and nutrient for us to use. This was possible because I personally judged it to be worth giving up.

“You’ve achieved a great feat. You’ve won by fighting them head-on.”

“It’s what everyone here accomplished. Including you.”

When I spoke as if congratulating him, Kruger, looking somewhat tired, finally lowered his greatsword and sighed.

Even though he himself knew he had made a great contribution, the exhaustion from the intense battle seemed greater at the moment. However, he won’t be able to rest easy. Even now, those around him were casting strange glances at him.

* * *

“It was close, but we should at least be able to succeed in holding out. Since the loss rate has reached 50%, I’ll withdraw the troops without attacking further.”

“I understand your intention for such a plan, but I’m not sure if it will be worth more than the lost troops.”

“I think it’s profitable, but the actual losses incurred are clearly losses. So… Seira, you’ll have to fill in those losses a bit.”

Watching the fierce battle in the small town where my avatar and Kruger were, I smirked as I looked at Seira moving elsewhere.

It’s on a different level from small groups raiding and attacking mere small towns or villages.

The destination of the massive army mixing various troop types was the lord’s castle where Lamia Baron Rosalyn lived.

Already, a considerable army was turning their land into a wasteland. If the lord’s castle falls in this situation, the residents here will lose their center of gravity and be unable to mount a proper counterattack. In effect, this land becomes ours as well.

And there was another reason why we needed to capture that lord’s castle now.

It was because the army gathered in that lord’s castle was clearly being commanded by a player.

As a result of observing as high as possible without being detected by scout troops, Lamias with black scales and unusually large Lamia warriors were being discovered among the gathered soldiers.

These were all special individuals that could be born through a player’s authority.

Special individuals often have various special abilities that can reduce the gap between inherently different races, so they’re clearly much stronger than ordinary Lamia soldiers.

‘I wonder if they’ll chat this time? I’m curious about what kind of person they are and what attitude they’ll take.’

Last time, when I cut down a player commanding Goblins. Clearly, the opposing player, just before being annihilated and dying, sent me chat messages begging for their life or cursing me.

Considering that case, I could assume that the opponent I’m meeting now also knows that I’m a player like them. But contrary to my expectations, the opponent didn’t contact me first.

[You cannot know the information of the opposing user unless you directly encounter each other]

“Oh, is that so?”

The system message resolved my question. Unless they think that an anomaly like me, who shouldn’t exist in the original game, could possibly be in the game, it would be difficult for them to consider me as a kind of player. I didn’t bother asking why the system doesn’t inform me then.

After all, I, who directly incarnated into that unit in the game, was in a slightly different situation from other players, except for the fact that I bet my life.

In other words, the opposing player doesn’t even know that I’m the same kind of being as them. If so, they would likely try to contact me first only when the results of the battle become clear, just like last time.

“Well then, let’s see. Let’s see how well they’ve raised their soldiers. I wonder what they’ll say to me just before they die.”

Of course, I have no personal grudge against this person I don’t even know. However, the opposing players participating in this game now are clearly the biggest threat to me. In a competition game where we have to kill each other anyway, I can’t spare them for my own sake. I’m not living as a queen, giving up everything, just to spare them for such trivial reasons.

“Attack.”

I smirked and gave the attack order to my troops.

It was a large-scale full-frontal battle with everyone mobilized, from Seira at the forefront to alpha types and the most recently born flying combat troops.