The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression

After I returned to the royal capital, I immediately teleported back to the Forest of Yggdrasil with the Demon Lord's Army.

The place I transferred to was in the middle of the forest.

In order to prevent unnecessary confusion, I'm a bit far from the elves' village.

There was no need to go out of my way to greet the elves.

What was needed now was for me to devote myself to the battle.

The Demon Lord's Army will attack the imperial army like this.

I knew exactly where they were with my perception magic.

I also knew exactly what formation they were in.

I checked the troops behind me.

A total of about a thousand of the Demon Lord's troops were clamoring, lined up in between the trees.

Two hundred of them were demons, and the remaining eight hundred were ghouls and skeletons.

It seemed like a lacking number to take on an imperial army numbering in the tens of thousands.

However, if there were too many undead, miasma would build up in the surrounding environment.

If that happened, the Forest of Yggdrasil was at risk of being negatively impacted.

I don't want to pollute the Forest of Yggdrasil.

Ever since the elves became my slaves, the Forest of Yggdrasil that they protected became my property.

I didn't want to recklessly destroy it.

In addition, this scale would be enough to destroy the imperial army.

It's only a few tens of thousands of troops.

In the worst case scenario, I could reduce them to dust on my own.

The reason why I didn't want to do that is so the threat of the Demon Lord's Army as a whole would be known.

In the long run, it would still be beneficial to strengthen the power of the group rather than the individual.

It would also serve as combat training for the Demon Lord's Army.

The soldiers of the empire will be sacrificed for that purpose.

“Oh, so this is the Forest of Yggdrasil, huh? It doesn't feel all that mysterious.”

Henry, who placed his hands on his hips, looked all around the place curiously.

This time, he was the only one I brought from amongst the upper echelons.

Grom and Luciana have been given another set of orders.

On top of him having more than enough strength, I planned to have him do the things that only he could do.

“It's the first time I've ever fought for the elves. I suddenly feel motivation in my blood.”

Henry was in high spirits, with a bow in one hand.

He had a fierce smile, reminiscent of a predator.

There hadn't been any large-scale battles happening recently.

The battle-crazed Henry may have been frustrated.

He was an oddball who, from the very beginning, joined the Demon Lord's army just because he liked to battle.

I'm sure he'll play an active role this time as well.

“So, what will you do first?”

“This.”

I had most of the undead I brought along begin to take action.

They walked silently, and proceeded to spread out through the forest.

The undead were given protective magic, so they could act without hindrance even in the holy atmosphere.

In addition, I gave them various strengthening magics so that, even if they were exposed to magic and fire, they would be able to withstand some of it.

It had defensive capabilities dozens of times greater than usual.

Even barely eight hundred undead should be able to pose a certain amount of threat.

At worst, they could at least stall for time.

I will direct the undead to attack the imperial army from within the forest.

It won't take much time, since they are advancing in a straight line.

Since this is a diversion, I am acting under the assumption that they will be defeated.

It would be lucky if they could cause even a little damage to the imperial army.

“General, do we lie in wait here?”

“That's right. The moment the undead ahead of you make contact with the imperial army, I will transfer you.”

“I see. It's a surprise attack, isn't it? That sounds like fun.”

While I was talking with Henry, a man approached us from the direction of the elven village.

It was Logan, walking with a staff in one hand.

The demons who saw him were alarmed.

I held them back with my hand and stepped in front of Logan.

Consciously trying to keep my voice flat, I asked him.

“What do you want?”

“I would like to join your army. It is a battle for the fate of our clan. I would like to take part in it as chief.”

“…That’s fine.”

I returned words of acknowledgement to the kneeling Logan.

Granting his request would not cause any problems for us.

I had no reason to disagree.

“Hahaha, that's a good point. You're not just going to accompany us, of course you're going to fight with us too, aren't you? I’ll be in your care then.”

Henry asked Logan to shake his hand in a friendly tone.

It didn’t matter to him if the other party was an intimidating Chief.

Logan paused for a moment, frowning, and reluctantly responded.

“……”

As Logan shook hands, he gave me a look.

It was only for a few moments, but his eyes were asking, “Who the hell is this?”

I feigned ignorance and turned away.

I can't appear too friendly right now, because my subordinates have their eyes on me.

It's definitely not because I'm at a loss for an answer.

Then we continued to wait in place for a while.

I used perception magic to check on the undead’s movement.

They were advancing in a straight line, steadily approaching the imperial army.

At long last, the imperial army began to take action.

They must have sensed the undead and began attacking them.

The undead might be an unexpected enemy, but the imperial army was quite quick to deal with them.

The number of undead gradually decreased.

“It's about time.”

“Understood. Hey, you all, let's go!”

Henry shouted as he raised his bow.

The demons under his command roared in response.

Morale was high.

They were not the slightest bit worried.

The only thing that bothered me was that Logan seemed to be a bit irritated.

He looked annoyed and pressed his hand over his pointed ears.

I knew what he was feeling, but he'll have to bear with it.

I used transfer magic to move the Demon Lord's Army out of the forest to a grassland area with rolling hills.

It was an easy place to fight, as there was no obstruction.

Numerous tents were set up in front of us.

A familiar flag was propped up beside it.

This place was the makeshift base set up by the imperial army.

Beyond that, there were soldiers.

Wearing matching armor, they were fighting the undead that emerged from the forest.

From our position, we could see the back of the imperial army.

Using the undead we sent before as a diversion, we intend to catch them in a pincer attack.

I held up my hand and sent a black bolt of lightning flying.

Just before it hit the imperial army, the lightning was blocked by a defensive magic barrier.

As expected, they had prepared that much of a contingency plan.

The bolt of lightning disappeared after penetrating multiple barriers.

Perhaps because they had received the backlash from it, I could see several mages vomiting blood and collapsing.

“Fweet, as expected of the General. You’re as merciless as ever”

Henry whistled, poking fun.

He twirled and toyed with the bow.

After the noise and lightning, the imperial army had noticed us.

A section of them were about to move in to deal with us, but it was already too late.

Our preparations were already complete.

It's our turn to trample them from here on out.

“General, are we ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’ll leave it to you.”

"Okay, here I go!”

Henry, who looked delighted, raised one arm.

Then he uttered a commanding voice.

“Aim!”

At his command, about a hundred demons lined up side by side.

Then they nocked their bows with arrows and stood still.

The series of actions was perfectly in sync, without a single bit of hesitation.

It was frighteningly precise.

The demons holding bows were the elite under Henry's tutelage.

This must be the result of blood, sweat, and tear-filled special training.

“—Release!”

As soon as Henry lowered his arm, the arrows were fired in unison.

With an arched trajectory, they rained down on the imperial army.