The Main Protagonist

Clark was leading an army that his majesty the king ordered him to the demon king’s territory. The military he commanded was a large standing force from the surrounding kingdoms. Aiming to save the humanity from the demon king's invasion, they rallied together and sent a subjugation army to defeat him.

Next to Clark's side, was Elena. She was Clark’s childhood friend as well as one of the guild leader of the S-rank adventurer guild from the Kingdom of Heoryn. Followed by the guild members who accepted to go with her, she assisted Clark in his subjugation.

Entering the demon king’s territory, the army who saw the devasted lands that were once fertile began to become pessimistic. ‘Do we, humans even stand a chance to win against the demon races?’ Such a question haunted the soldiers during travel.

After all, the demons were a race that existed in this world even before the birth of the first human. They were one of the most powerful race who dared to compete with the Gods themselves thousands of years ago. Even now, defeated and supposed to be suppressed by the Gods, they still existed and were still as strong as they were in the past.

The thought of them fighting against those mighty demon beings frightened the soldiers. They started to believe that they’ll eventually fail the mission of defeating the demon king. Even worse, they began to worry about their own life and started to fear death. Their morale was below zero.

But even so, the soldiers didn’t escape the brigade and kept advancing. One of the reasons was the fate of those who run away from the army, they’ll become traitors, and only death awaited them. The second reason was that of the chosen ones leading them, Clark.

Clark was only a commoner until the day that he awakened the class [Hero].

After defeating a demon at the young age of 6, Clark became a knight serving the king’s daughter. Obtaining wondrous deeds by protecting the princess more than once, the king promoted him to a knight commander. He then trained his troop and, with them, became one of the most influential forces in the country.

Later on, Clark even surpassed the king’s expectations by awakening the class [Paladin] after discovering his talents for light magic at the age of 16. Being one of the youngest [Paladin], he was assigned to defeat the demons that threatened his country until that the order of the demon’s king subjugation came.

He was a real source of courage for the soldiers who followed him.

*****

In the blink of an eye, one month passed since the army entered the demon king's territory.

During that month, Clark and his army defeated all the demons on their way to the demon king's capital. They conquered one by one the destroyed cities that were once human cities and overthrow the generals defending it. Thanks to that, Clark’s army was now high-spirited and more trained than before. They were now confident enough to defeat the demon king.

Located in the centre of the demon king’s territory, the city where the demon king lived was once a human city.

Ten years ago, the demon king revealed himself from the humans and invaded an empire. Bringing 2000 demons and 12 demon generals with him, they crushed the 500'000 soldiers from that same empire. He conquered the capital of that empire in a single day without any casualty on his side.

It was an unbelievable achievement that frightened the surrounding kingdoms.

Watching the city from afar, Clark was standing on the top of a hill 500 meters away from the city. Him, Elena, and his army have finally reached the destination and were preparing for the incoming assault. They already planned the strategy to conquer the town several months ago and didn't need supplies preparation. They were only adjusting themselves psychologically for the unknown amount of day that they'll fight in this town.

Because today was the much awaited day, the final fight between the humans and the demons.

*****

On the top of the city walls, the demon generals of the demon king were observing the army of humans approaching them. They were already aware of the invasion by the scouts, and they already prepared the defence. They were only waiting for the right opportunity to attack.

Behind the generals, one thousand and two hundred demon sorcerers were waiting for the signal of their general. As for the main army, two thousand and three hundred demon soldiers were outside the city, in front of the walls and ready to defend the city.

‘One meter more and you are dead!’ One of the general thought. He was the one who led the sorcerers' corp. One more meter was the distance they required to reach them with their magic spells. With a smirk, the general was impatiently waiting for that moment.

But unfortunately for him, that moment never came.

The man who was commanding the humans suddenly raised his arm, stopping the soldiers to proceed further. For whatever the reason implied, it allowed the humans to prevent the surprise attack from the demons.

Curious about their sudden halt, the general couldn’t help but mutters. “What is wrong? Why don’t they move forward?” But his answer was left unanswered.

They weren’t aware of the fact that the human side already prepared a strategy to demolish the city walls. It was only after that Clark waved his arm downwards that the response came by itself.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The moment Clark waved his arm, countless of four-wheeled wooden machine suddenly appeared. Hidden by large magic cloaks making them invisible to the naked eye, the engines emerged right after he ordered the surprise attack to start. Carrying a rock on a wooden spoon-shaped object, two humans operated one machine. The cadence was extremely fast, and since the demons didn’t expect a surprise attack all of sudden, they didn’t have the time to retreat.

In less than 15 seconds, the city walls were destroyed entirely by the catapults. The smoke was hiding the walls; thus, Clark didn’t know if the attack worked. But after hearing a shout from one of the general, he concluded that the surprise attack failed.

“Destroy these machines! Hurry up! Charge!!!”

Hearing the shout of their general, the demon soldiers reacted to the orders. It was easy for them to dodge the collapsing pieces of rocks, allowing them to be perfectly fine. They charged towards the humans with an angry expression as if they were ready to eat them on the spot. This view from the demon soldiers frightened the humans who saw them.

Although Clark didn’t know if the casualties on the other side were severe or not, he still needed to order the attack. They couldn’t retreat anymore anyways due to the large-scale magic spells the demon sorcerers could use. It was a battle that was going to decide their survival, and if they were to run, more humans lives were going to die during the time they were going to prepare for another subjugation.

Clenching his weapon firmly, Clark resolved himself and ordered the assault. “For the humanity!”

Watching Clark who charged towards the demon soldiers, Elena followed him. Clark inspired his army, but alone it won’t help much. But she believed that with her and her party members, they could somehow give them more courage than a single man charging alone.

And as she has expected, her thought was right on the spot. The soldiers motived themselves after seeing Elena and her guild members departing. They followed them from behind right after that Elena, and her party members left.

The battle was a veritable bloodbath.

There were as many casualties on both side, and it was only the start of the fight. The humans were more numerous than the demons; they fought in a 5-man group against a single one. But the veteran demon soldiers were physically far stronger than human; a 5-man group couldn’t defeat a veteran demon soldier.

Noticing that the battle could no longer continue like that, Clark ordered to Elena. “Elena! I need you and your guild members to cover me!” Acknowledging his order, she nodded her head and followed him.

Sneaking through the demons, Clark, Elena, and her guild members arrived in front of the castle’s gates. They were concealing their presence with the help of a magician from Elena’s guild members and were using invisibility cloaks to hide their group. Of course, the generals detected them and chased after them, but they didn’t anticipate the group to split into two groups.

Continuing his run, Clark turned his head towards Elena and shouted, “I leave the rest to you! Please stay alive, Elena.”

The group has already organised to separate and let Clark challenge the demon king alone. Elena trusted Clark’s decision and didn’t protest about such dangerous idea. Seeing Clark’s back fading away to the castle, she turned her head towards the demon generals and engaged her battle with her guild members.

Without stopping, Clark keeps advancing. Thanks to the back-up of Elena and her guild members, he could safely invade the castle. But he was short on time because he understood that Elena and her guild members couldn’t hold the demon generals for too long.

On his way to the throne room, he killed all the demons he faced. They were elite demons, but he was on a different level compared to them. It was a child’s play for Clark to wipe the whole castle in the blink of an eye.

When Clark arrived in front of the throne room, the demon king was already waiting for him. He was relaxing on the throne, smiling with an excited expression as if he expected that someone was coming to challenge him. Gripping his sword firmly, Clark clenched his teeth and rushed towards the demon king, determined.

That was the final battle against the demon races that was about to end.

Not only did Clark must to hurry due to Elena holding back the demon generals for him, but he also wanted to decrease the number of losses from his side as well. The more time he takes to defeat the demon king, the more soldiers outside are diminishing.

The fight was close.

Both sides were using their full strength to overpower the opposite party without holding back. Both of them have suffered light wounds during the infinite exchanges they had. None of each other undervalued the other individual.

Fortunately for him, Clark was faster than the demon king, hence inflicted more damages to him. But the demon king’s strength was overtaking him by far; it was a fight between speed and brute force.

The battle already last for thirty minutes, and both of them sweated profusely. They were exhausted from the fight and take an opportunity to rest their shaking body.

But at that moment, the generals of the demon king came back at the worse timing possible with Elena’s group in hostage. The demon king then proposed to Clark, a duel between him and his generals to settle this fight.

It was only a plot to reduce Clark’s strength and weaken him further, allowing the demon king to restore his injured arm. But knowing that fact, Clark still accepted the proposal without hesitating.

He couldn’t allow himself to let Elena die here. Because not only she was his childhood friend, but it was also a promise that he made with one of his deceased best friends. That promise was similarly crucial than saving the world. Moreover, Clark didn’t intend to lose either.

Crushing one by one of the generals of the demon king, only Clark outlasted in the end. The demon king didn’t interrupt the fight and valued his promise. But Clark’s moves became heavier and heavier due to the continuous battles he had. He was gradually entering a weakened state.

During the last match, the demon king discerned that he might lose to the duel that he arranged. Such thinking entered the demon king’s mind as he watched the final fight between his most trusted general and Clark.

And without the demon king realising it himself, he leaked a killing intent from his body which Clark noticed during his fight.

Once the match between the last general of the demon king and Clark was about to end, the demon king released his entire strength and immediately rushed at Clark. He wanted to finish this fight as quick as possible as long as Clark was still weak and without any magical power left.

But Clark already suspected such outcome, and with his strong determination, he prepared to end the combat between them.

*****

“Phew, I finally managed to end this game. The last boss was unexpectedly hard to defeat.”

After having heaved a sigh of relief, Hiro Miyagawa watched the ending of the game in the giant TV screen in front of him. On the screen, the main protagonist Clark was holding Elena unconscious on his arm.

《The Invasion Of The Demon King》, it was an RPG game that Hiro bought three days ago. Not only did the game was the best among the solo-RPG games within the market, but the game contents were also even more spectacular. The anime-like RPG in addition to the realism of the game on top of the multiples functions available brought the players many charms that one couldn’t found in any other game. Although the price was a little high, costing 10,900 yen¹, it was definitely worth the price.

Looking at the ending of the game, Hiro smiled, totally satisfied.

Without a single break and during three straight days, he cleared the game without any of his party members dying in the extreme mode. It was a fantastic feat that none of the players has yet to achieve since his release.

Saving the data, Hiro was about to switch off the game and go to bed, but an announcement appeared on the TV screen.

You unlocked a new difficulty mode.

Do you wish to play the game on the 《Hardcore Mode》?

Even though he was exhausted from the lack of sleep, Hiro still pressed on his controller the “Yes” button. A sudden white light flashed on the screen of the giant TV, blinding him who was in a dark chamber without any light.

Closing both of his eyes, Hiro’s brain who didn't rest for three days in a row, forcing him to fall into a sleep-like state.

Without him realising what was currently happening, the 《Hardcore Mode》of, the game 《The Invasion Of The Demon King》, has started.

¹10,900 yen is around 98 dollars.