A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 275 : Triumphant Return (4)

The Undying Baron.

The Orc Lord, ‘Nedkul.’

In truth, the keyword ‘Baron’ itself was not something the Northern Subjugation Force—which possessed a legion-level military strength—needed to fear.

And for good reason.

They had already conquered four or five Demon King’s Territories belonging to titled demons during this Northern Subjugation War.

Among those were even ‘Counts’ and ‘Minotaurs,’ who could be considered higher-ranking demons than a Baron.

Among the titled demons that composed the Demon King’s Army, a Baron held the lowest level of status.

While it varied depending on the case, naturally, they tended to possess the smallest number of troops when looking at the average.

However, the point to note was that he was not simply a demon with the rank of Baron, but that he carried the keyword ‘Orc Lord.’

Nedkul was a very exceptional existence who could not be confined simply by the keyword ‘Baron.’

To understand this, one first needed knowledge regarding the ‘Five-Rank Peerage,’ the status system of the Demon King’s Army.

“…….”

Originally, a status system for the ‘demon race’ did not exist within the Demon King’s Army.

The beginning of the Demon King’s Army was a single force composed of its leader, the Demon King, and his subordinate kin, the ‘Demonic Species,’ who shared his bloodline.

At that time, it was merely a small-scale group that no one on the continent paid attention to, and most were not even aware of its existence.

It was a sort of ‘clan alliance,’ so to speak.

Though he used the title of ‘King,’ it began as a cluster so small that no one residing in the Upper Plane recognized him as a king.

However, the Demon King’s Army steadily and gradually grew its power amidst the world’s indifference.

Soon, moving beyond simply increasing the number of his own ‘Demonic Species,’ the Demon King began to seek out and unify the massive groups of demons existing nearby.

The growth of the Demonic Species was also incredibly fast compared to its size, but the Demon King at the time felt a certain limit to that method.

For that era, it was a fairly revolutionary approach.

Even if ‘alliances’ were a common occurrence among humans since ancient times, it was a difficult concept to apply to the world of Magical Beasts.

Magical Beasts had existed since the distant ancient times, but regardless of their roots or nature, their default state was to be in conflict with one another.

That was precisely why, before the Demon King’s Alliance, there had never been a massive Magical Beast force significant enough to threaten humanity.

Not even in the ancient times when Primordial Demons ran wild.

Nor when the continent was torn into numerous small groups and fell into chaos after the Messiah defeated the Primordial Demons.

The law of the jungle and survival of the fittest.

Those two were the only laws of the Magical Beast world.

To put it simply, the concept of ‘forming an alliance’ did not exist in the minds of Magical Beasts.

Groups connected by blood merely repeated battles over who would live or die; not a single soul thought of or practiced the idea of joining forces.

The Demon King was the first to break that unspoken rule and began using human methods.

Of course, at first, most people laughed.

Humans watched and thought it was a useless endeavor that didn't suit them, and the Magical Beasts also mocked them, saying it wasn't their way.

In the first place, if such a thing were possible, a massive Magical Beast force threatening humanity should have appeared long ago.

It wasn't easy to believe that something that had never happened before would occur in one's own generation.

The fact that a massive force of Magical Beasts had never been created served as quite convincing evidence for them that it would be impossible.

However, surprisingly.

The Demon King’s strategy began to work successfully.

Starting with the unification of the region where the Demon King’s Army had established its base, they expanded their influence across the continent, beginning to form the first Magical Beast collective known as the ‘Demon King’s Alliance.’

Of course, it wasn't exactly the same form as the alliances used by humans.

No matter how much they imitated human methods, it was difficult to completely escape the laws of Magical Beasts that had shaped their society for a long time.

A normal alliance was predicated on two equal groups having equal status under mutual interests, but the Demon King’s method was a bit more domineering and rough.

Though it bore the name ‘Alliance,’ it involved establishing a clear hierarchy between the two leaders.

The Demon King created a slightly modified ‘alliance’ by seeking out the leaders of neighboring Magical Beasts and subjugating them.

Neither completely annihilating them nor treating them as complete equals.

He adopted a method of ‘hierarchical ranking’ that was a half-and-half mix of the ways of Magical Beasts and humans.

It goes without saying, but it was a method with a fatal risk: if the Demon King himself were to lose, he would have to become the other’s subordinate.

While he was now the leader of the ‘Demon King’s Alliance’ that ruled half the continent, back then, he was an ordinary being no different from the leaders of other Magical Beast races.

Nevertheless, the Demon King, having overcome those hardships and tribulations, began to form alliances with Magical Beast races one by one.

In that way, the ‘Demon King’s Alliance’ gradually increased its power and began to grow into the largest coalition on the continent.

And in the process of forming a massive Magical Beast collective that had never existed before, the Demon King realized that a new form of system was needed to bind and maintain this alliance.

Of course, from a Magical Beast's perspective, it was an advanced form of power structure, but since it was close to a makeshift method at the time, there were aspects where it fell short compared to human solidarity.

While there was no disagreement regarding the loyalty and ranking of each Magical Beast race toward the Demon King—given that he had created a massive collective never before seen in the world—the conflicts between different Magical Beast races and the conflicts between the Demonic Species and non-demonic species were the core problems the Demon King’s Alliance had to solve at the time.

Initially, it was possible for the Demon King to mediate personally, but as the force grew massive over time, he reached a point where he couldn't possibly handle the conflicts occurring simultaneously.

Thus, what was adopted for stronger solidarity and efficient mediation within the Demon King’s Alliance was the ‘Titled Demon’ status system of the Demon King’s Army.

Common Monster, Named, Knight-class, Baron-class, Count-class, Duke-class.

By establishing a total of six social statuses, the hierarchy among Magical Beasts was determined in advance.

Among common monsters, individuals with powerful martial strength were granted names and called ‘Named.’

Among those, those whose individual power was exceptionally outstanding and caught the Demon King’s eye were granted knighthood and called ‘Knight-class.’

Leader-type individuals who possessed not just individual martial prowess but also enough leadership to rule a sufficiently powerful Magical Beast race were ‘Baron-class.’

Leader-type individuals with the leadership to rule two Magical Beast races beyond just one were ‘Count-class.’

And leader-types of massive collectives ruling three or more Magical Beast races were ‘Duke-class.’

This titled demon system devised by the Demon King successfully bound the Demon King’s Alliance, and the ‘Demon King’s Alliance’ that currently occupies half the continent grew upon that foundation.

In other words.

Up to the ‘Knight-class,’ the absolute factor determining the height of one's status was clearly ‘individual martial prowess,’ but from the ‘Titled Demon-class’ onwards, the status system was divided according to leadership over a group rather than individual strength.

This meant that no matter how powerful an individual's abilities were, as long as they only ruled a single Magical Beast race, they could not obtain a higher title.

…The Orc Lord Nedkul, who was the leader of the Orc race and received the title of ‘Mad Baron,’ was a representative example of this.

His individual martial prowess was certainly exceptional enough to be unrivaled by other Barons, but because his leadership was limited to the ‘Orc race,’ he could not obtain a higher status.

Furthermore, not just the Orc Lord, but the martial power possessed by the ‘Orc race’ itself was far superior to that of other typical single races.

Considering the fact that they had entered a ‘Berserk state’ after eating the improved black olives from Isaac Einstein, their fortification, and their astronomical numbers, the Orc race possessed a combat power that exceeded the average of other single demon races by threefold.

So, in reality, the power held by the ‘Orc Mountains.’

And the power held by the leader ‘Nedkul’ was indeed equivalent to a ‘legion-level,’ just as the Suicide Squad had evaluated pre-regression.

Well.

The fact that the Order, which knew nothing about the Berserk effect and ‘fortification’ in the first place, made the judgment to postpone the conquest of the land-connected Orc Mountains and cross the Black Sea instead was, to some extent, proof of that exceptional strength.

So, at this point, a question was bound to arise.

『…I’ll do the hunting. Commander, just take his head when I give the signal later.』

When facing the powerful ‘Nedkul,’ was it really possible for me to face him alone without any other support?

In fact, thinking common-sensically, it was an absurd idea.

Not only was his individual martial prowess far beyond being ranked among the top Barons—having strength even greater than a weak Count-class demon—but he was also the Orc Lord ‘Nedkul.’

『Bloodshot eyes, paroxysmal rage, excessive saliva and foaming at the mouth, labored breathing, and symptoms of fearing blood.』

『…To be precise, it’s not that he fears blood, but rather that he extremely dislikes touching it. Once he does touch it, he enters an uncontrollable state of madness where he can’t distinguish between friend and foe.』

『…Berserk.』

The Berserk effect currently being applied to the common Orcs was increasing their combat power by as much as twofold.

Of course, combat power was a difficult thing to evaluate quantitatively, but it was an undeniable fact that their martial prowess had risen significantly more than before due to the Berserk effect.

Even as the Orc Lord, he could not be an exception to that Berserk effect.

While it was difficult to gauge exactly how much his martial prowess had been enhanced.

Even without knowing his exact reinforced power, for a single Hero to face him alone was no different from a suicide mission.

To the point where even Louis and Ludwig, who had agreed to everything I did without a word until now, cautiously expressed their concern regarding that choice.

That was how difficult it was.

The task of facing the Orc Lord, Nedkul.

…However.

To state the conclusion first, I could do it.

How do I know?

【Cough…】

Because, obviously.

‘…I’ve done it before.’