While Karina was glaring at Emily.
Natalie suddenly reached out and patted her head, forcibly interrupting her glare at Emily.
“Demon King, what are you doing, meow!”
Although she said that, her tail, which was standing straight up, proved that she actually enjoyed being petted by Natalie.
Natalie’s view of Karina leaned more towards “pet” than subordinate.
And it was because Karina was both shorter and had a smaller chest than Natalie!
This was truly rare among the Demon King’s officers.
After all, the other female Demon King officers were either curvy or taller than Natalie.
Only Karina was smaller than Natalie.
Although Natalie also felt that comparing height and chest size with someone like a child was beneath her dignity.
But for now, it was indeed a fact that Karina was smaller than her!
Therefore, Natalie’s fondness and level of doting on Karina could be considered the highest among all her officers.
The reason for sending the cute and adorable Karina to this most dangerous front line was also Karina’s own request.
Originally, Natalie had planned to keep her by her side as a “little pet.”
“Demon King, stop petting me, meow! I’m not a child anymore!”
Seeing Natalie suddenly engrossed in petting Karina’s head, Daphiel hurriedly spoke up to remind her, “Demon King, right now, there are more important matters to attend to than doing these things.”
After all, the war with humanity was not over yet.
They still didn’t know what the humans’ next move would be; they had to race against time to prepare for battle.
Daphiel had no intention of letting Natalie waste time here.
“Tch, I know. Karina, take me to the command room first.”
“No problem, meow!”
Although Karina was still very curious about why Emily, that annoying Saintess, was following Natalie.
But now, the war had to take priority, so she could only temporarily suppress her curiosity and disgust.
*
As Natalie took Emily to the command room to plan a counterattack.
The Imperial army responsible for the offensive also returned to the main camp under Hadia’s unauthorized orders.
Of course, because the Imperial soldiers were all startled by the firepower of the suddenly appearing wyvern troops, their morale was now very low.
After all, the first wave of attacks from the wyvern troops had directly wiped out several thousand men.
This was a loss completely unimaginable on past battlefields.
Although Hadia’s immediate act of slaying a wyvern was quite inspiring.
The fact that Hadia, having just landed, immediately forced the troops to retreat also made the soldiers begin to suspect that their own great Hero might be scared too.
Various rumors were now spreading uncontrollably within the army, causing a collapse of military discipline.
Of course, regarding this, Hadia actually welcomed it.
In a sense, Hadia had deliberately provoked this crisis.
Originally, Hadia had been threatened into joining the army to work for the Empire.
A collapse of military discipline could actually increase the possibility of the Empire’s forces withdrawing.
Moreover, the Demon King had now appeared.
In Hadia’s current view, continuing to fight would be nothing more than a pointless death.
Although Hadia also wanted to rescue Emily from Natalie’s hands, lacking the ability was simply lacking the ability.
The Imperial Marshal, realizing this crisis, immediately summoned Hadia and all the generals back to the conference room.
Naturally, the generals gathered once again in the conference room appeared very dejected.
It was the complete opposite of their excitement when they first learned the Hero was joining the army.
“Tch, are you still soldiers of the Empire! It’s just the Demon Race pulling some petty tricks! Why are you all so scared!”
Seeing his subordinates in such a state, the Marshal directly roared loudly.
He attempted to use this method to shake the generals out of their low spirits.
But if morale could be raised so easily, low morale wouldn’t exist in the world.
What’s more, several of those generals had personally witnessed their own troops being swallowed by the sea of fire.
If those generals didn’t always keep several mages by their side for protection, their fate would have been the same as those soldiers.
Just thinking about how they had almost died.
How could those generals not be afraid?
For these generals, they were just on the battlefield to gain prestige, not to actually risk their lives.
“…Hero, is it true that you easily slew a wyvern?”
Although the Marshal was quite dissatisfied with Hadia’s unauthorized order to retreat.
After all, under normal circumstances, the person with the authority to order a retreat should only be him, the Marshal!
He truly hadn’t expected that, originally just intending for Hadia to be the Empire’s enforcer.
He completely hadn’t expected Hadia to turn the tables and become someone with command authority rivaling his own.
If Hadia weren’t the Hero, facing someone who threatened his position like this, the Marshal would have long since found a way to deal with her in secret.
And now the situation was that the frightened generals also supported retreat.
This meant the Marshal couldn’t even complain to Hadia a few words.
Complaining about Hadia’s retreat order now would be equivalent to opposing all the generals.
However, the Marshal still intended to use Hadia’s feat of instantly killing a wyvern to boost his own side’s courage.
“It’s true.”
The moment Hadia said this, the previously dejected generals all looked at her.
“But… there’s something even more important than those wyverns right now.”
“What is it…”
Hearing Hadia’s tone suddenly become serious, the Marshal understood that what Hadia was about to say next must be very dangerous.
But he couldn’t stop Hadia from continuing, after all, he was the one who had asked her to speak.
“The Demon King has come! It was the Demon King who brought those wyvern troops for support!”
“In other words! Those wyverns are the Demon King’s secret weapon?!”
“Most likely!”
“What do we do… That Demon King is someone even the Hero’s party couldn’t defeat!”
“So many wyverns plus a Demon King! How can we win!”
“Maybe we should just retreat.”
“Right, even if we’ll be punished by His Majesty the King, it’s better than losing our lives.”
Along with Hadia’s words, the death-fearing generals also began to discuss animatedly.
Gradually, the decision to retreat seemed about to be finalized in the generals’ discussion.
Faced with this situation, the Marshal directly drew his sword and, without hesitation, heavily chopped it into the corner of the table in front of him!
“Anyone who says retreat again will end up like this table!”
Since all the generals were startled by the Marshal, the discussion naturally stopped.
“Soldiers must have backbone! If you think of running away because of a little setback! How can you face His Majesty the King! Don’t forget! Even the armor and swords on your bodies were bestowed by His Majesty the King! Running away would be bringing shame upon His Majesty the King!”
Of course, the Marshal’s words did not inspire the generals.
Instead, they made the generals feel the Marshal was talking without feeling the pressure.
After all, this Marshal, during the recent offensive, had been staying safely in the main camp the whole time.
He hadn’t seen the wyverns’ assault or the Demon King’s appearance at all.
The loss of several thousand men was just a string of numbers to the Marshal.
He would only think that the loss of several thousand compared to the hundred-thousand-strong main force was completely negligible.
What’s more, his view of the Demon King remained the same as before.
As long as the Hero took a few of their stronger generals or experts, they could easily defeat her!
Those measly wyverns could also be dealt with by the griffin troops!
After all, for this expedition, he had brought over a thousand griffins.
One thousand against one hundred is clearly an advantage for us!
In the Marshal’s view, there were clear solutions for both the Demon King and the wyverns.
He truly couldn’t understand why the generals were so timid!