Starting the Strategy from Frieren

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The sunset, like an aging painter, gradually dyed the horizon with a blend of orange and violet. The lazy afterglow scattered across the winding and undulating mountains.

Evan found a relatively comfortable spot atop the mountain, which was filled with rough rocks and sparse bushes. He lay down, set up his sniper rifle, Ganjiang, and aimed through the scope at the convoy of carriages moving in the distance.

There were about 100 infantry city defense soldiers following both at the front and rear. Within the convoy was an exceptionally luxurious and exquisite carriage surrounded by more than thirty knights clad in full steel armor. This was likely the carriage of Baron Hicks. Just as Evan was contemplating what kind of death to give him, the entire convoy suddenly came to a halt. The knights also drew their long spears and entered combat mode.

Discovered?

That shouldn't be possible; at such a distance, it was far beyond the range of human sensory perception.

Evan quickly moved his scope slightly to the side and finally saw what had caused the convoy to stop—two tall male demons, one wielding a giant axe and the other holding scales.

Wait... scales?

Evan immediately recalled what Flamme had once told him about powerful demons. Among them, only one used scales: Marth of the great demons. As for someone who could stand beside him as an equal, that must also be another great demon.

Goodness, what could a mere baron have done to warrant two great demons taking action? Did Hicks violate some divine law?

Evan temporarily set aside his doubts, adjusted his aim, and fired two shots directly at the two great demons.

The bullets crafted by demons sliced through the air toward them...

"Marth, it seems we've come to the wrong place, and we're also a bit early. This doesn't appear to be the king's convoy," Marth, known for his absolute obedience magic, didn't even spare a glance at the army before him as he casually chatted with Rivale, who stood beside him and was known as the Bloodstained God of War.

"Well, this isn't so bad either, Marth. Before the main course begins, we can warm up with some appetizers. There's probably a human noble inside that carriage. If we capture him alive, there might even be some unexpected surprises."

"You're quick-witted. I originally thought you were just a muscle-headed battle maniac."

"Haha! Look at you saying that. Someone who doesn't think wouldn't have survived as long as I have. Consider it advice from an old man to young folks: never underestimate—!!"

The moment Rivale heard the sound of bullets piercing through the air, he instinctively raised his giant axe to block in front of him.

The bullet struck the axe and caused a massive explosion but managed to block most of the damage. Marth's reaction was slightly slower; he hadn't fully deployed his magic shield yet. Even though he tried to dodge, one bullet grazed his shoulder, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.

That piece of flesh began disintegrating into magical particles almost immediately—it was like a signal for battle to commence. The archers who had been holding back began firing their arrows, while knights charged forward with their spears.

If these were ordinary demons, they would have been crushed under such an onslaught. But their opponents were two great demons capable of single-handedly destroying small nations—one of whom possessed obedience magic!

Marth pulled out his scales and began weighing his own magical power against that of all the warhorses charging toward him. Unsurprisingly, his magical power overwhelmingly outweighed theirs.

Evan fired several more shots at Marth, but now that both great demons were on guard, Rivale used his giant axe to block most of them while any stray bullets were stopped by fully formed magic shields.

After gaining control over all the warhorses with his obedience magic, Marth commanded them to turn around and charge into the infantry ranks instead. Chaos erupted among the city defense soldiers; they were thrown into disarray.

Inside his luxurious carriage, Baron Hicks was terrified beyond belief. He scrambled out in panic and mounted an unclaimed spare horse before fleeing in the direction of Sword Village.

"Cover me! All of you stay behind and hold them off! Buy me some time!!!"

Demons couldn't enter the cave where the Holy Sword was kept. As long as he reached that place, he would be safe.

But seeing their noble lord fleeing for his life destroyed any remaining morale among the soldiers. They were just ordinary city defense troops who had rarely fought demons in their lives. Now they were being asked to fight against top-tier great demons—who would willingly do that?

The city defense army threw down their weapons and scattered in all directions. Seeing this scene as he fled on horseback made Baron Hicks curse loudly: "Cowards! Useless cowards! When I get back—"

Bang!

Another bullet pierced through the air—but this time it wasn't wasted on axes or magic shields. It struck down Baron Hicks himself in his desperate flight and blew him apart into pieces.

Hicks had been fleeing toward Sword Village. If those two great demons followed him there, who knew how many people would die? Even if Hicks didn't make it far before being controlled by Marth's obedience magic, things wouldn't end well either.

So Evan decided to sacrifice some precious time for his own escape just to take Hicks out with one shot.

After confirming that Hicks was dead beyond doubt, Evan packed up his sniper rifle Ganjiang and soared into the sky toward where the king was located. The messenger had mentioned that the newly formed court mage unit was also by the king's side—which meant Flamme would definitely be there too.

With Flamme around, not only could Evan ensure his own survival but perhaps even turn things around and kill one or two great demons!

"How surprising—I never expected humans to master flight magic at this level," Rivale said casually while clearing away some knights who still resisted stubbornly. He gazed in amusement at Evan's fleeing figure in the distance.

"Stop wasting time, Rivale! Go after him! I sensed traces of our subordinates' magical energy in those strange spells he used against us earlier—this human may be hiding a huge secret! We absolutely cannot let him escape!" Marth commanded urgently.

"Oh dear... Young people these days are always so impatient," Rivale sighed dramatically as if reminiscing about centuries past when he was younger himself.

Both Marth and Rivale took flight in pursuit of Evan. However, after several minutes of chasing without closing any distance between them, Marth frowned slightly.

"This human is abnormal—he can maintain flight for such a long time. I'll need to summon some help."

Unable to use obedience magic on Evan due to their distance and Evan's full-speed flight state, Marth resorted to commanding several corpse-luring bird monsters passing through midair to intercept Evan instead.

He didn't aim to kill—just slow him down.

Evan felt his magical energy rapidly depleting from maintaining high-speed flight. He had planned on using some rare bullets he'd crafted to replenish his energy but found himself unexpectedly gifted with several flying monsters approaching instead.

With a soul impact spell that instantly killed them, Evan grabbed one corpse midair and immediately refined it into magical energy!