What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

Page 5

Upon opening his eyes, he saw Aula, who was already eighteen years old but hadn't changed much from before.

She looked down at Ash, her brows furrowed: "Don't sleep, something seems wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"The dire wolf that cooperated with the hunter was killed."

"....Yeah?"

As he sat up from the ground, pondering whether it was the work of a human, a demon, or the demon race... amidst the wind carrying the scents of wheat and flowers, a pungent smell of blood seemed to waft through the air.

His ears quickly picked up on the distant sound of horses' hooves and panicked shouts, causing him to stand up abruptly and look in the direction of the sound.

A troop of cavalrymen, their weapons stained with blood, rode from the fields not far away.

Judging from the flag, it was the military insignia of the Kingdom of Telton, an enemy of the Kingdom of Tad they were currently in.

To defend against attacks from wild animals in the surrounding forests, the cavalrymen who launched the surprise attack entered the vicinity of the border in a guerrilla-style manner, but were fully armed.

On the spear of the leading cavalryman hung the familiar young hunter Julius, a war orphan who had fled to this place to escape the chaos of war and had only recently completed his apprenticeship.

"You always wanted to escape the war, but even after coming here... you still couldn't escape it in the end? How pathetic."

Ash narrowed his eyes slightly, calmly sighing, and casually took the longsword that the village chief tremblingly handed over.

Unlike the others, the village chief was completely unable to remain calm, and said anxiously, "Lord Ash... please, please protect us!"

"...I can only do my best."

In medieval warfare, there were basically no bottom lines. Of course, in reality, it's hard to find any bottom lines in war, but it was more obvious in this era... The victors' acts of rape, plunder, and massacre were all too commonplace.

Massacring enemy border villages and towns can create panic, damage the enemy's economic foundation and social order, thereby weakening the enemy's fighting will and strength. It is a very common method and can also make soldiers feel happy, as the name suggests.

None of this is surprising, but... their appearance in the village as a different race adds to the contrast and drama.

"Why are there demons in this village, and so many monsters..." The officer, who was leading more than thirty cavalrymen to sweep through the area, noticed the demonic beasts and wild animals near the village, as well as Aura right next to Ash, and his expression turned rather grim.

Meanwhile, the mage beside him was observing the villagers who clearly possessed magical abilities but whose reactions weren't very strong, and couldn't help but smugly remark:

“It’s alright, Lord Maynard. That demon and the mage beside him look like greenhorns. These monsters are also of average strength, just common species around here, and can only win by sheer numbers.”

"...Are the demons raising humans, or are the humans raising demons?" The cavalry commander, known as Maynard, muttered, not bothering to care about such matters, and swung his sword down: "—Kill them all!!"

"Eat them."

Having experienced many battles in the forest, Aura remained fearless, coldly issuing orders to the puppets.

The iron hooves trampled across the fields, raising a cloud of dust, and the herds of beasts surrounding the village swarmed out.

The Burial of Frilian: A Thousand Years Later: Chapter Seven - The First Bloodbath

As the cavalry and the beasts charged toward each other.

The villagers were in complete disarray, some searching for weapons to help, others frantically trying to escape.

However, Aura ignored them. After all, regardless of victory or defeat, she couldn't stay here any longer. So she just looked at the puppets rushing forward and frowned, saying:

"Hey Ash, why should I fight humans to protect them? Shouldn't I just run away?"

"Don't bother me, Aura, I'm thinking about this too."

Ash only wanted to develop steadily, but he accidentally got caught up in a human war... This strange situation left Ash helpless, and he could only sigh with one hand on his forehead, lamenting that life is always full of surprises.

Even if Aura is right, he can't just pack up and leave... after all, they've lived here for several years.

Even during their conversation, the village, which reeked of blood, was filled with wails, screams, and battle cries, echoing around it like a real battlefield.

He silently raised one hand, and the air seemed to freeze for a moment. The blood that had been splattering in mid-air suddenly changed its parabolic trajectory and began to fall linearly.

The knights, who had gained the upper hand in the battle against the beast horde thanks to their enchanted armor that rivaled heavy armor, had their warhorses collapse almost simultaneously, unable to bear their weight, and falling to the ground in a cloud of dust.

Gravity was altered over a considerable range, though the actual change was not significant, but it unexpectedly had a remarkable effect on horses carrying people in a charge.

The villagers, who were not wearing any armor, seized the opportunity, and with somewhat heavy steps, rushed forward, grabbed makeshift weapons, and stabbed at the gaps in their armor. The smaller horde of beasts, also affected, attacked their helmets.

In an instant, screams of agony filled the air.

But compared to his men, the cavalry leader of this group who infiltrated enemy territory was the elite of the elite. When his horse fell to the ground, the cavalry captain Maynard rolled over and steadied himself in a half-kneeling position.

"Waaaaah!!" the villagers shouted in fear, and swung their hoes at his head.

But Maynard simply raised his hand and snapped the hoe in half, then with a backhand slash, easily cut the villager who had run ahead in half at the waist.

"That's impressive, but... we still have to get rid of him." Despite the fact that an acquaintance was dying right in front of him, Ash remained unmoved. He simply drew the best sword in the village and strode forward.

Maynard then assumed a fighting stance, preparing for close combat.

He was also wearing armor while riding a warhorse to protect himself from stray arrows. The mage, who was unable to get up due to the weight, noticed this and struggled to remove his helmet and try to remove his gauntlets under the pressure.

At that very moment, Ash suddenly stopped, twisted his waist slightly to gather strength, then canceled the spell and threw the longsword out.

Under the influence of the repulsive force, the blade moved faster than expected. Maynard stared intently at the longsword, instinctively raising his hand to block, but suddenly froze.

The longsword, which kept spinning, swept past him with a "whoosh!" and pierced straight into the forehead of the army mage who had just removed his helmet.

With a splatter of blood, the mage, who had instinctively looked up, stared blankly, not even understanding how he had died, before collapsing with his head tilted back.

Maynard, who was stunned and turned around, found his mask stained with his companion's blood, and his face began to contort in pain.

"—You bastard!!"

"You're fighting me while wearing armor, and yours is extra heavy armor, which means... I have the advantage this time." Ash pressed down with one hand, concentrating his magic to maximize the effect of gravity.

"Well--?!"

Maynard's feet suddenly sank, and his body gradually bent under the weight. He was clearly unable to withstand the pressure and was forced to plant the blade in the ground, barely managing to keep himself from falling.

Ash nodded in satisfaction and pulled out a long, sharp armor-piercing spike from his waist.

In this world, many human soldiers are heavily armored, so this thing is surprisingly useful... We hadn't had a chance to use it before, but it's come in handy now.

"Don't worry, I'll end your life soon." He gestured, intending to stab the man directly in the neck.

He knew the routine of using magic to suppress his opponent and then finishing them off with a fatal blow perfectly. However, just as he reached out to stab them, his hand suddenly went empty.

The armor-piercing cone was snatched away in an instant and, in the blink of an eye, accurately pierced his neck.

The speed was so fast that he didn't have time to react, and Aura, who was not far away, also stared in astonishment.

"A lie? This isn't a normal human being at all...!" — Wearing heavy armor and affected by abnormal gravity, yet still possessing such speed? Ash, who lacked experience in combat, realized at this moment that he had been tricked.

Of course, it was unwise for him, as a mage, to engage in close combat, but compared to other demons, his accumulated power was far too little. Occasionally, he could only make up for it with weapons, or resort to trickery to kill other mages, as he had done before.

Unfortunately, with his neck pierced, he couldn't make a sound. He could only spit out blood bubbles and stagger to the ground, making a sound similar to a broken blower.

His eyes widened in bewilderment as he watched the man pull the longsword from the ground, a smug smile spreading across his face as he coldly watched him through his helmet, and then simply raised the sword.

"You're so young, you think you can control me with this much?"

This scene, clearly meant to send him to his death, froze Ash's movements as he struggled to get up.

As a demon, he was still just an infant, not yet grown up, and hadn't even developed. This was the first time he had come so close to death, because this time... it might be the most helpless time yet.

At that decisive moment, just as the blade was about to fall—a demonic bull suddenly leaped forward and slammed into Maynard, sending him flying with a loud thud.

Caught off guard, Maynard was sent flying into the air before crashing heavily into a house not far away.

"Gugah!!...A mere low-level monster! How dare...attack me, the great one!!"

The attack, which he should have been able to react to, was instead met with a direct hit due to the change in gravity and the hindrance of his armor. Enraged, Maynard assumed a fighting stance and stretched out his hands to grab the car-sized demon bull that was charging at him once again.

But at that very moment, the gravity on his body vanished, catching him completely off guard as the demonic bull rammed him against the wall again, even smashing a large hole in the stone wall. He was thrown off to who knows where.

On this battlefield, now devoid of Ash's gravity assist, the heavily damaged cavalry seized the opportunity to engage in fierce battles with the beast horde and the villagers who rose up in resistance.

The shouts of battle echoed through the sky, but... it didn't last long before the usual calm gradually returned.

The Burial of Frilian: A Thousand Years Later: Chapter Eight - Departure After a Pyrrhic Victory

Under that sky dyed blood red by the setting sun.

Despite Ash's gravity magic, the beast horde was slaughtered when the gravity disappeared, and the young and strong villagers lay scattered on the ground.

However, the elite light cavalry that should have been able to easily massacre the village was reduced to only three men in the blink of an eye.

The three cavalrymen, covered in blood, did not look well; their armor was also badly damaged.

“Just a village… and it’s turned out like this…” The cavalry captain, Maynard, an elite among elites, shook his head and then fixed his gaze on Aura, who looked troubled among the old, weak, sick, and disabled. He could tell that she was probably not very strong in combat. He gripped his sword and stepped forward: “You damned demons!! Die!”

"Huff..." An untimely, yet easily overlooked, panting sound mingled with the suffocating noise of the battlefield.

Ash, who should have died from a wound pierced through the neck by the armor-piercing spike, silently rose again at this moment.