"How? There werenʼt even any traces of movement?"
Anastasia hurriedly scanned the fortress that Zeke had occupied.
Woooong!
Surprisingly, troops were transported directly from the citadel to the fortress via portal travel devices.
She gaped at the sight of portal travel devices used by humans.
"Did the human species have something like that?"
She had always considered humans weak and never bothered to properly investigate their abilities or equipment.
While she was flustered, the troops that had arrived through the dozen or so portal travel devices in the citadel set up camp right in front of her citadel and formed neat ranks.
Zeke's side had already seized the key high ground crucial for a siege.
Anastasia admired Zeke's strategy in the tournament even as she felt confused by the incomprehensible situation.
"A human new to proxy battles running the match like this? I can't believe it." But that wasn't important right now.
If Zeke's forces attacked the citadel with siege weapons at the forefront, it was obvious they would breach the gates soon.
Anastasia quickly returned to her citadel and checked her own camp.
Because she had lost her main forces on the plains, gaps riddled her defensive line.
As she bit her thumbnail, staring at the unfavorable battlefield, Anastasia realized that defeat was inevitable at this rate.
Crunch!
She ground her teeth and glared murderously at Zeke's camp.
'There's only one way.ʼ
With a reluctant expression, she removed the bracelet from her arm.
"To think I'd have to use even this against a human."
Muttering to herself, Anastasia infused mana into the bracelet, causing it to glow and float into the air.
A light flashed from the bracelet's gem, and Demon Realm script appeared before her eyes.
[Enter Configuration Code]
Anastasia entered a complex code into the configuration input window.
Changes began to occur in her camp.
Horses moved twice as fast, production buildings constructed themselves in an instant, and production speeds increased.
She had swallowed her pride for the sake of victory.
*
"Hmm?"
Zeke glanced at the message that appeared in his system window.
[An anomalous configuration code has been detected.]
[The contents of the configuration code are as follows.]
[Increased production speed, increased construction speed, increased resource holdings....]
Zeke realized Anastasia was up to some trick during the match.
'I didn't expect her to play fair, but this is too much against a beginner.ʼ
Of course, Zeke himself used the system in ways that bordered on cheating to run the match.
Even so, he knew that dragging this out would put him at a disadvantage in the current state.
Zeke issued orders to the commanders leading his troops in the camp.
"Everyone, advance." Woooong!
Zeke had summoned three heroes from the summoning hall in total.
Excluding the first summoned Sir Saint George, the other two were a mage and an archer.
Sir Saint George, as the overall commander, led the holy knights at the forefront, followed by siege weapons, infantry units, and archer units on mobile watchtowers.
Rumble rumble rumble—
As the mages dispatched hawk familiars into the sky to secure aerial visibility, the situation inside Anastasia's citadel became clearly visible.
While Zeke devised a strategy based on that view, something appeared in the sky.
Caaaaw—
A wyvern, one of the late-game units from the monster camp, devoured the familiar hawk in a single gulp.
Seeing the wyvern appear, Zeke truly felt the power of the illicit configuration code Anastasia had input.
'The longer this drags on, the worse it gets for me. I need to end it quickly.ʼ Zeke positioned siege weapons in front of the citadel and ordered the attack.
Immediately, soldiers loaded rocks onto the siege weapons and launched them.
Whoosh!
A massive boulder struck Anastasia's orc citadel directly.
Boom!
The citadel shook from the impact of the rock, but it was built so sturdy that it didn't budge.
Zeke checked the citadel's defense via the system and pondered.
'With just basic siege tactics, it'll take too long to breach.ʼ
In a normal situation, he could take his time, but Anastasia's camp movements were unusual, so he couldn't afford to delay.
Zeke ordered the summoned commander-level mage.
"Summon a golem!"
The mage nodded and created a massive magic circle in front of the citadel.
Rumble rumble rumble!
A gigantic golem made entirely of rock rose from magic circle.
Grind grind grind—
The massive golem lumbered toward Anastasia's citadel.
The ground shook with every step the golem took.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The golem arrived at the citadel and reached out to demolish it.
But at that moment, something suddenly rose from the citadel.
Thud!
It was a wooden giant about the same size as the golem.
The wooden giant that had risen atop the citadel grabbed the arm extending toward it.
At the same time, countless branches grew from the wooden giant's arm, wrapping around the golem's body.
Grind grind—
The golem tried to pull back to escape the wooden tendrils, but it was firmly held and couldn't move.
Rather than the golem demolishing the citadel, an additional tower blocking the view had been created.
Zeke, watching the golem get restrained from afar, had no choice but to withdraw the siege weapons.
Anastasia wouldn't miss that opening.
Suddenly, the ground in front of the citadel split open, and araknes and giant spiders began crawling out.
Rustle rustle—
The araknes, leading the giant spiders, targeted the siege weapons specifically.
Shooo—
The spiderwebs spewed by the giant spiders ensnared the siege weapons, quickly hardening and immobilizing their wheels.
In that gap, the araknes pushed the siege weapons back and toppled them.
The archers on the mobile watchtowers fired arrows at the giant spiders and araknes, but their fast movements and numbers made counterfire difficult.
As Zeke's legion faltered, the orc unit on dire wolves charged out from the opening citadel gates—judging it was time to press the advantage—and rushed toward the disorganized knights.
Graaaar!
The orc unit bellowed war cries as they charged.
Sir Saint George raised his sword and led the knights into a clash with the orc unit.
Boom boom boom!
The knights and orc warriors collided head-on and held evenly, neither side yielding.
Anastasia, watching the battle from afar, wore a satisfied expression.
'Good, the immediate threat is handled. If the araknes block the paths to prevent followup siege weapons, I can isolate and wipe out the vanguard.ʼ
Once the vanguard was eliminated, Anastasia would have the advantage in subsequent attacks, having boosted production speed with the code.
As she prepared to send newly produced monsters toward Zeke's fortress, an odd reaction came from the golem bound by the wooden giant.
At first, she thought it was simply expiring due to summon time limit.
But what happened was completely different from what Anastasia expected.
Woooong!
The commander mage who had summoned the golem swung his staff, and the rock golem's form began to change.
The mage had leveled up in the meantime and now wore a robe of a different color.
Fwoosh!
Flames soon erupted from the golem's body.
It had evolved from a regular golem into a flame golem.
Seeing this, Anastasia panicked.
"Ah, no!"
The wooden giant holding the golem was engulfed in the flame golem's blaze, screaming as it burned.
In that state, the flame golem spewed fire in all directions while pushing forward.
The solidly built orc citadel couldn't withstand the force and collapsed.
Rumble rumble—
As the outer walls crumbled, Anastasia grew anxious.
She tried summoning other monsters to block the flame golem.
"Hurry and stop it! Don't let it reach the inner citadel!"
All remaining forces in the citadel swarmed toward the golem.
But then, the golem suddenly changed direction.
It veered not toward the combat facilities, but toward the production buildings where workers were, spewing flames.
Fwoosh!
In an instant, the production buildings burned, and the workers were incinerated.
The mage controlling the golem, realizing the summon time was nearly up, chanted one final spell.
Woooong!
This time, the flame golem curled into a ball and crouched.
Monsters, including wyverns, swarmed the crouched golem, bombarding it with spears and mana cannons.
Then, moments later, the golem's body glowed white and unleashed a massive vibration.
Sensing something ominous, Anastasia shouted.
"Back, fall back! Retreat!"
The instant she gave the order, the flame golem's body exploded in a massive inferno.
Boom boom boom boom!
The burning rocks scattered everywhere, laying waste to the interior of Anastasia's citadel.
Her camp, devastated to near-disaster levels by a single flame golem, lost over half its forces.
Even with the code boosting speed, destroyed base facilities meant she couldn't sustain it.
Moreover, the remaining troops gathered to stop golem vaporized in the explosion.
Anastasia ground her teeth at Zeke's strike exploiting her vulnerability. "Damn you!"
She turned to recall the unit attacking the knights back into the citadel.
But by then, not only the orc unit but the entire arakne unit had been wiped out.
'H-How?ʼ
While she focused on controlling the wooden giant to restrain the golem, Sir Saint George had swiftly led the holy knights to eliminate all the monsters.
But that wasn't the biggest problem now.
Rumble rumble rumble—
A massive ship appeared in the sky in front of Anastasia's citadel.
Knights on pegasi emerged from the flying ship, covering the entire citadel.
Anastasia hadn't known humans possessed such capabilities.
No one in the Demon Realm chose humans for proxy battles, and none had lasted this far into a match.
The valkyries on pegasi swept away the wyverns in the air and stormed the inner citadel.
Sir Saint George led the holy knights charging through the breach in the collapsed citadel created by the flame giant.
Anastasia tried desperately to hold them off, but it was futile.
Soon, one of the valkyries brought a blue flag and handed it to Sir Saint George.
Sir Saint George, holding the holy sword Ascalon and the blue flag, struck a victorious pose atop the mountain of monster corpses.
Bwaaam bwaaam bwaaam!
With the trumpet fanfare, the words "Defeat!" in Demon Realm script appeared before Anastasia's eyes.
As she stared blankly, the match ended completely, the virtual screen vanished, and they returned to the original arena.
The demonkind watching the match in the arena were shocked by Anastasia's defeat and remained silent.
Anastasia, seated on the stage, was the same.
She had never imagined losing a Demon Realm chess match to a human.
Zeke approached her on the stage and spoke.
"I win."
Anastasia couldn't compose her stiff expression.
"Y-You... how dare you deceive me!"
"Deceive? What are you talking about? You were the one who suggested settling it with Demon Realm chess."
Strictly speaking, Anastasia was the one who had cheated.
Zeke had merely fought the proxy battle with Demon Realm chess according to her wishes.
Though thoughts of being tricked dominated her mind, she couldn't find any loophole to exploit, so Anastasia couldn't continue.
Zeke glanced at Nigel, who was asleep in her dress, and said.
"Unlike humans, demonkind keep their promises well. Hand over my master and withdraw from here."
Anastasia bit her lip hard, then stood from her seat.
Suddenly, she started laughing.
Not just laughing, but cackling madly.
After laughing for a while, she regained her composure and looked at Zeke.
"Ah, that was fun. Zeke Draker. You must have enjoyed the new experience too, right?"
"Don't try any tricks and hand over my master quickly."
At Zeke's emotionless words, Anastasia laughed and replied.
"I'll give her. I'm a princess of the Demon Realm, so I keep my promises well. If I said I'd give, I have to. But you know." She smirked at Zeke.
"When did I ever say I'd give her?"