Ever since she drove off that flat-chested pink-haired girl who called herself the Demon King, Sataxia had been feeling uneasy.

She’d already learned that this so-called current Demon King was weak, and that her forces were only just getting started. She was nowhere near as powerful as the Demon Kings recorded in the history books. Otherwise, the Dark Faction wouldn’t be so divided now.

But she was still worried.

“Ughhh! She looks so weak right now, but with that wicked ** monster backing her up, she’s definitely going to grow at a terrifying rate! This is a huge crisis—a huge crisis!”

She felt she had to deal with that so-called ** Demon King as soon as possible. While her opponent’s power was still in its early stages, Sataxia would save her from “Big-Gun-ism” and teach her the correct “proletarian” ideology.

More importantly, the Demon King clan had always possessed deep reserves. With the resources she seized, she’d surely be able to regain her strength soon.

Sataxia knew a plan like this needed to be carefully laid out, but there was nothing wrong with making things difficult for her opponent in the meantime.

“Take the gathering point nearby and capture the sprites, too.”

She gave the order to the red-eyed skeleton warrior, sending it to lead some of the monsters toward the dark-element gathering point.

Actually, this skeleton warrior wasn’t a boss that had been born, as Sia and I had suspected. It was simply under Sataxia’s mental control.

And the only reason Sataxia was so intent on capturing the sprites was that the dark elements they gathered could help restore her strength.

But before the skeleton warrior reached the gathering point, I’d already withdrawn almost all the sprites. I’d left only five behind—

That way, I could still gather some dark elements during this time. Even a little would be enough to replenish quite a few troops.

Sataxia wasn’t surprised by the result. On the contrary, capturing those sprites was already a pretty good outcome.

Eight sprites, along with the dark elements they could gather and the energy crystals she’d collected during this time, would be enough to create a formidable skeleton army.

So Sataxia wasn’t in a hurry. She decided to rest and regroup for now.

What Sataxia hadn’t expected was that before she could launch an attack, her opponent would strike first.

“The enemy’s attacking?”

When the skeleton warrior brought her the news, Sataxia’s first reaction was confusion.

But when she took control of the skeleton warriors at the open-pit mine and saw that only a few hundred dark bats were coming to attack, she finally understood what her opponent was up to.

“So, she’s trying to catch me off guard.”

Sataxia’s reasoning was simple. She figured her opponent was merely trying to make trouble while Sataxia had split her forces and sent some to the gathering point. So she took control of the skeleton warriors and issued her orders one by one.

In truth, she didn’t even need to direct them. The skeleton warriors had the advantage in both quality and numbers, and they easily repelled the enemy’s attack. She’d sent some of her forces away, but they made up less than a fifth of the total—not enough to affect the battle.

Perhaps seeing the dark bats driven back by the skeleton warriors, the Demon King—hidden somewhere nearby—ordered a retreat. The dark bats scattered at once and flew out of the open-pit mine.

“You think you can just leave? It’s not that easy.”

Angered by the ambush, Sataxia didn’t think twice before ordering every skeleton warrior in the mine to chase after them.

“Since it’s come to this, I might as well take the Demon King’s Castle in one fell swoop. It’ll only cost me a few more underlings, anyway.”

As the skeleton warriors pursued the enemy for about a kilometer from the mine, onto the plain, Sataxia spotted that ** Demon King waiting at the far end, hundreds of yards away, with her monster underlings.

There were several hundred dark bats, and nearly a thousand monsters altogether once they’d joined up: green-skinned monsters holding clubs and shovels, looking utterly blank, along with soft, squishy slimes that seemed to be there purely as mascots.

“Is she planning to settle this in one final battle?”

Seeing the enemy’s formation, Sataxia naturally assumed that was the plan. And the pink-haired **’s words only confirmed it.

“Damn it, damn it! You bullied my underlings again, you big meanie! I’m gonna fight you!”

What was that? A decision made out of childish spite. Nothing like Sataxia’s own far-sighted thinking. But that wasn’t surprising. When it came to experience—and, well, that department—Sataxia was still bigger~

“How childish. You’ve got so little strength, and you still dare to declare war? Don’t come crying later.”

Sataxia couldn’t help feeling smug. Full of confidence, she ordered all the skeleton warriors to attack. A rabble like that had no chance of beating her forces.

Though Sataxia couldn’t help wondering why the enemy had to choose this place to fight...

But the enemy charged at the oncoming skeleton warriors, taking up an attacking stance of their own. That put Sataxia’s doubts to rest.

Looks like they really are ready to fight to the death.

Meanwhile, as I watched hundreds of skeletons surge toward us like a wave, I hadn’t expected the plan to go so smoothly.

But either way, it was time to close the net.

The Vol Plain between the open-pit mine and the Demon King’s Castle was covered in fairly soft, gray meadow soil, easy to dig through with shovels and hoes. Especially after several consecutive days of rain, even small monsters like fluff rabbits left clear tracks in it.

What would happen if we dug out the soil from just beneath the surface—less than fifty centimeters down—and stuck the surface layer of turf together with slime? Then let an army march over it?

The charging skeleton warriors gave us a clear answer—

As soon as the sudden weight hit, the disguised turf collapsed without warning, opening up into a vast, terrifying pit.

The skeleton warriors were at a disadvantage in both reflexes and agility, so they couldn’t stop in time. Just as you’d expect, the ones in the first few ranks charged straight into the pit and got stuck.

The unlucky dozens in the very front were crushed beneath the rest and shattered outright, returning to the embrace of the Goddess of Darkness.

The ranks just behind the front managed to react and stop their charge, but the skeleton warriors behind them had no idea what was happening. They shoved the others forward, and all of them tumbled into the pit together—

Someone once described a charging army as a machine gone mad. Each part on its own can’t resist the momentum of the whole; only pressing the button can make it stop. Now I could see there was some truth to that.

In just a few dozen seconds, the number of charging skeleton warriors had been cut by nearly half.

“That’s so underhanded! You even set a trap!”

Only now did Sataxia, the one who acted as the button for this machine, realize what had happened. She hurriedly ordered all the remaining skeleton warriors to stop charging.

But she had no idea that her opponent’s even more underhanded tactics were still to come.