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Even when holding back their power, a golem still had the strength of a Six-stars. It only stood to reason that a Three-stars Warhorse would come out short in a direct clash with a golem.

The majority of the Warhorses only ended up with a bit of injuries, the worst off were two particular Three-star Warhorses who actually rammed head first into the fist of my golems. I won’t describe that scene in detail…gory, to say the least…

“Hellhounds, a little Lust Demon, and a Fallen Angel?! Putting aside those Devils, when did a Fallen Angel appear in Sable Radiance…”

Warwraith tumbled about on the ground for a good long while before finally springing back up. The moment he recovered, he smartly retreated a few paces, at the same time signalling to the other horses to follow his cue.

“Yo, Warwraith, it’s been a while.”

His decision was logical as I had expected. I knew that he wouldn’t be foolish enough to try and attack me simply because of appearances. From the first time I met, I knew that he was a horse who mostly put the interests of his race before anything else.

Yet just because he was calm now, didn’t mean he would be calm forever. The moment he laid eyes on those two Warhorses who had their brains turned into mush, his body burned with mana. Regardless of the reason, their charge just now had resulted in the death of two juniors.

As a horse who treasured those of the younger generation, the loss of these two Warhorses instantly turned his eyes red with fury. However, even in his angered state, he knew clearly how wide the strength disparity was between the two of us. Thus, he smartly chose to control his anger.

“Fallen Angel, I don’t remember us ever having met.”

His eyes still held a hint of vengeance within them, but my vast strength made it such that he had no choice but to hide that boiling desire.

“Oh? Don’t you find them all a little familiar?” I pointed towards Sinmosa and her family before unhooking Mo Na from my neck just as she was about to wrap her arms around me. I gave her a little tap on her forehead before turning back to the now visibly shocked Warwraith. “How about that Grand Elder Shade of yours, is he doing well? If I’m not mistaken, he should have mentioned not to mess with me.”

“You…it’s you… that Lust Demon?!” Warwraith wasn’t old enough to be suffering from dementia yet; the moment I said that, he immediately recalled who I was. It was just that I had undergone such a huge change that he momentarily forgot who I was. The fact that someone was able to completely change his bloodline was news to him. “How did you become a Fallen Angel? Weren’t you a Lust Demon?!”

“That’s a long story, if you wish to hear about it… Well, I won’t tell you.” I cracked a little joke; it wasn’t like his face could get any blacker. And I wouldn’t have cared either. “Have you guys seen a teleportation zone anywhere?”

“I have no reason to tell you that.”

“It’s fine, I still have someone else I can ask.”

Warwraith was quick to refuse me. Upon realising that I wasn’t going to kill them, he immediately said, “We’ll be off then. I will take it that this little argument never happened…”

Having said that, he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he eyed me uncertainly. He knew very well that I called the shots here, not him. While I might not be able to stop all of them, they definitely won’t be leaving here in one piece if I truly willed it.

The golems were slow, but they weren’t that slow that they couldn’t grab a Warhorse or two.

“If you want to leave, you may do so. But there’s something I wish to tell you…”

Warwraith’s ears twitched at that. He immediately took up a wary stance, ready for whatever I might have in mind.

“And what is that?”

“I want a horn from a Nightmare Steed.”

“…” Warwraith was merely stunned for a second before he burst out, “Impossible!”

“Whether it’s impossible or not isn’t decided by you. Tell that Grand Elder of yours, if it’s possible, I would prefer not to use force.”

“…” Warwraith glared daggers at me. If looks could kill, he would have chopped me into pieces a million times over.

This pointless glaring continued for over ten seconds. To me, his furious staring was nothing more than the griping of a sore loser. Still, that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying. As punishment, I broke into a grin and said so in a taunting voice, “3…2…”

If he still dared to glare at me once I counted to 0, I would teach him a lesson. However, before I got the chance to do so, he cleverly chose to retreat from my taunting gaze.

“We’re leaving…”

“Hold on.”

“What else do you want?” Warwraith whipped his head around, his eyes practically spewing fire as he yelled, “Can’t you just spit it all out in one sentence?!”

“Don’t get so worked up. I just wanted to remind you that you left something behind.” I pointed at the corpses of the two Warhorses before lightly smiling. “If you just leave them there, their souls will probably start crying.”

Because I still hadn’t had time to sweep up the battlefield, those two corpses still had their souls attached. If Warwraith didn’t bring them back, they would most likely end up as nourishment for my army.

Sometimes, pure hatred wasn’t all that was needed to forge a sharpened sword. Warwraith grinded his teeth mercilessly against each other. His chest heaved with each breath he took and the air he exhaled seemed to singe their very surroundings. Unfortunately, his display of anger meant nothing to me.

“Bring them along…we’re leaving…”

No matter how angry he was, Warwraith, as he was now, had no qualifications to stand up to me. He knew that better than anyone else. That was why retreat was his best option. His only option.

A bunch of Warhorses trotted up to the two dead Warhorses. One of them bit down on the corpse and heaved it up onto his comrade’s back. That’s a rather interesting way to carry a corpse…I wonder if it will drop when they start galloping…

Upon retrieving the last corpse, Warwraith turned around and eyed me one last time. I had to admit, those bloodshot eyes were rather scary. Still, I merely scoffed at him and mouthed the word sayonara.

Naturally, Warwraith had absolutely no clue as to what I just said, but I was sure he understood what I intended from my eyes.

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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There exist a large number of restrictions on the method by which Occultists summon Devils. Several examples include the amount of mana required, a sacrifice of some sort, and a medium, lacking which will result in a variance in the end result. Without the exact medium required for that particular Devil, it’s not possible to perform a named summoning -the end result will display a large degree of randomness. Under normal circumstances, the strength of the summoned Devil is connected to the Occultist’s own strength and the sacrifice offered. Simply put, the more powerful the Occultist is, and the more powerful the sacrifice is, the higher the level of the Devil summoned.

—-From Those Who Summon Demons

Our first encounter with the Warhorses came a lot earlier than I had expected. In fact, we found them not too far away from our doorstep, blocking the path forward with their large blackish red bodies. In that instant, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Warhorses somehow managed to get wind of my plans beforehand.

Naturally, that wasn’t possible…

The exact location we encountered them was 250 km south of the capital. There were basically no patrolling golems here, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that there was a large group of low level Devils huddling in fear between us and the Warhorses.

I doubt there was even any doubt at this point that there was a teleportation point nearby.

Noticing our army looming ominously over the horizon, not only were those cowering Devils stunned, the over hundred strong herd of Warhorses were at a loss as well. Not knowing our intentions, they galloped into a defensive formation right away.

Sandwiched between both our armies were roughly three hundred low level Devils. Roughly sweeping over their army, I found that the lowest level amongst them was a Large Imp, and the highest was just a Four-stars Flame Demon Child. Under the determined pursuit of the Warhorses, these low level Devils could only run. Unfortunately for them, there was no way their Devil legs could ever compare to that of a Warhorse…

Encountering more Devils along with the Warhorses wasn’t that much of a surprise to me -it was Warhorse territory after all. Besides, there were definitely more teleportation points in existence other than the ones I found in the capital. In all likelihood, there were a bunch of roving low level Devil bands roaming about Purgatory right now…

What truly surprised me was that the one leading these Warhorses was actually a familiar per…horse…

“Mama, isn’t that the Warsomething elder?”

Mo Na preferred soul perception in general, being a Necromancer and all. With her heightened sense, she quickly realised that the Warhorse in charge was our old friend, Warwraith.

It was with her reminder that I realised that their leader seemed rather familiar. To begin with, all Warhorses looked the same to me, why would I ever find one familiar looking?

“Honorable Lord Fallen Angel, please save us…”

Most likely because they sensed that I was a Devil like them, the low level Devils decided to take a gamble after a mere moment of hesitation. They unabashedly pleaded for help, and without even waiting for me to answer, came rushing to our side. Pushy though that was, I was planning to recruit them anyway.

Better that they just come over on their own, saves me the trouble of convincing them…

“Let them come over.”

Before the golems had the chance to flatten the incoming Devils, I gave the order for them to make way. The fastest amongst them swiftly dove into the protective zone created by the golems, ignoring the overwhelming aura the golems emitted. Based on how fast the first Devil came in, it wouldn’t be long before the rest were safe.

Thus from that moment on, they basically became my subordinates.

With the Devils taking shelter with us, the Warhorses naturally had no intention of keeping quiet either. Perhaps it was because of my evolution into a Fallen Angel, the elder, Warwraith, didn’t immediately recognize me as his “old friend”. He was the first of the Warhorses to come charging at me. As he galloped, he made sure to yell out orders simultaneously. “Catch them, don’t let them escape!”

By now, there was only about one hundred meters between us and the Warhorses. Yet such a distance was nothing to a Warhorse. If left to their devices, half of the escaping Devils would most likely end up dead. I had personally experienced their speed before so I knew that a mere hundred meters was nothing but a gallop away to these horses.

I immediately gave the order for ten Winged Abyssal Golems and one hundred Abyssal Golems to halt the Warhorse charge.

“Stop them, but don’t kill them.”

Though the golems weren’t the most agile of soldiers, they could still dash at a decent speed as long as they didn’t have to change direction. By the time the first Warhorse caught up to a Devil, my golems had arrived as well.

First of his herd to charge, Warwraith cloaked himself in a shroud of flames as he rammed into one of the Winged Abyssal Golems. Hard met with hard as the two elite warriors clashed headon in a battle of strength. The end result was, as I had fully expected, Warwraith being sent flying away…

Seeing a horse the size of a mini truck being knocked into the air was a rather amusing one. Yet as long as my order held true, the golems would never inflict lethal damage. Naturally, if the Warhorse in question was just too weak then that was really just his fault.

A mature Warhorse would at least reach the level of Four-stars. Under normal circumstances, Warhorses in their developmental Three-stars stage would follow a herd out on a practise hunt. And the herd led by Warwraith right now so happened to have a number of Three-stars. While these developing Warhorses still possessed an impressive level of physical strength, they were nothing before the might of my golems. Even their Six-starred elder was swatted away like a fly by my golem, let alone these Three-star babies.

On the other hand, my forces were at least at the level of Six-stars. However, it had to be said that my golems, being inanimate objects, weren’t too good at following orders. Even if I told them to go easy on the Warhorses, it wasn’t entirely possible for them to judge how much force could be used.

With such a huge disparity in strength, and a lack of control on one side, it was only a matter of time before an accident happened.

Thus in our first clash with the Warhorses, the golems pummelled every single Warhorse, Warwraith included. Unfortunately, there were a few unlucky horses who would never stand up ever again…

‘Oops… I think they went a little overboard…’

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.