The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

I strongly hit my trembling fist against my thigh, shouting at the roar emanating from the Red Eyes.

“All Zillian series! Cease operation!”

At my shout, the movement of the Zillian series that were automatically entering combat mode with a red light in their eyes stopped.

“Detecting hostile mana waves above threshold! Emergency pro… Executing Vice Master’s command to cease operation.”

I temporarily stopped the Zillian series’ operation because if they entered combat mode and emitted strong mana, it could conversely stimulate the Red Eyes.

But just what kind of presence is this?

Even though it’s just a roar, my whole body trembled uncontrollably. Is this reaction fear? Or survival instinct?

Either way, I can’t lose my reason.

“Gilbert and Silua, suppress your presence too.”

Gilbert and Silua, who were about to draw up mana due to their survival instincts, restrained themselves at my words.

Since it hasn’t reached close range yet, there’s no need to expose our location by responding to its killing intent.

“Young Master, this killing intent…”

“Yeah, it seems the Red Eyes was drawn here by the smell of blood.”

At my words, Gilbert and Silua looked at me with tense faces.

What did Demiway, who went east, do?

According to the operation, they should have identified the Red Eyes’ location and engaged it within 2 hours of climbing the mountain.

2 hours after entering the mountain range is when I had just reached the operation’s starting point.

“Things must have gone awry.”

There are two possibilities I can think of.

Either the guys tracking the Red Eyes made a mistake and lost its trail before the subjugation corps engaged it, or they engaged the Red Eyes but unexpectedly failed to injure it and let it escape.

The reason I thought the Red Eyes was uninjured was simple.

That roar didn’t seem like it could possibly be from an injured creature.

With Demiway and Precia there, the possibility of it escaping without a major injury is extremely low, unless others intefered.

Then, as expected, the tracking team must have made a mistake.

“It’s fine. Seeing that it hasn’t triggered the scouting dolls’ detection range yet, it’s quite a distance away from us. If we don’t foolishly draw up mana and respond, it won’t be able to find us.”

Monsters are also basically beasts.

Beasts tend to be sensitive in the order of smell, hearing, and sight, so as long as the area is filled with a strong smell of blood, unless stimulated by loud noises or mana, it won’t easily pinpoint our location.

More precisely, it won’t know of our existence.

“Then let’s run away right now. We need to move while it’s still far away.”

At Gilbert’s suggestion, I pondered for a moment.

“…No. This isn’t bad.”

“Pardon?”

Seeing Gilbert’s puzzled expression, I grinned.

“They often say opportunity is accompanied by crisis. Then flipping it around, crisis is also an opportunity.”

Seeing my smile, Gilbert made an ominous expression.

“Young Master, don’t tell me…”

“That’s right, we’re hunting the Red Eyes.”

“You can’t! It’s too dangerous!”

At Gilbert’s words, I took out a messenger doll.

“Who said we’re hunting it directly? Of course, the one to behead the Red Eyes should be Precia. We’ll just hold its ankles so it can’t move.”

Of course, if there’s a chance to hunt it, I’ll kill it on the spot.

The Red Eyes fell into a deep sleep for 20 whole years to recover from its wounds.

With that much time, it must have weakened from malnutrition and starvation, not just from the wounds inflicted by the previous Blantzberg Marquis.

It couldn’t have been more than a month since it awakened, so killing it now will make things easier later.

“But…”

“Gilbert, although unintentionally, we lured out the Red Eyes. That means we can guide the Red Eyes’ movements. And right now, over 3,000 dolls that will act as my hands and feet are scattered in the southwestern mountain range.”

I wrote instructions for Precia on a piece of paper and sent it with the messenger doll.

“Silua, prepare to fight with the named dolls.”

From now on, it’s a Red Eyes hunt.

*******

“Lady Precia, calm down. Although it’s unexpected for the Red Eyes to head west, the Bastille Mountain Range is vast. The probability of encountering Sir Yuan’s party, who are constantly moving while subjugating monster swarms one by one, is extremely low.”

The Special Forces Captain, leading the way, comforted the agitated Precia.

Although the other subjugation corps members were also experienced, the one who knew the mountain paths best was the Special Forces Captain, who collaborated with the rangers.

“No matter how wide it is, if the Young Master is hunting, it will give off the smell of blood, making it more dangerous!”

At Precia’s anxious shout, Demiway sighed.

“Do you know how difficult monster subjugation is in the Bastille Mountain Range? At this hour, it would be fortunate if they’ve subjugated about five swarm locations.”

At Demiway’s cold assessment, Precia looked at him with a puzzled gaze.

“Isn’t today’s subjugation target fifty locations? At this hour, they should have handled at least thirty locations.”

At Precia’s question, the Special Forces Captain smiled bitterly.

“I’m sorry to say this about Sir Yuan, but the Commander set an excessive target to break Sir Yuan’s spirit.”

“Excessive?”

Precia couldn’t understand.

The 6,000 magic dolls were no easy force to deal with.

It shouldn’t even take 10 minutes to subjugate monster swarms with only hundreds gathered.

“Finding monster swarms is harder than subjugating them. Monsters also make lairs to avoid other monsters, so unless you’re a skilled ranger, you usually can’t find them.”

The Special Forces Captain added that even if you can’t find a monster swarm, if you stimulate near it, it will come out on its own, so you can’t completely fail to find them. If done well, you could subjugate ten locations a day.

At the Special Forces Captain’s explanation, Precia became even more anxious.

The Yuan she knew was far removed from the concept of “usual”.

If it was Yuan, who valued efficiency, it wouldn’t be strange if he subjugated several times the target even using unimaginable methods.

Whether he knew or not, the Special Forces Captain continued.

“In fact, the full-scale start of the mountain range cleanup operation is scheduled to take place after we subjugate the Red Eyes. So we told Sir Yuan to be careful of monsters going down the mountain, even if subjugating monsters is good.”

Just blocking the monster waves caused by the Red Eyes, which affects the entire mountain range, and Demiway’s deathmatch would be enough to substitute for Demiway’s absence.

In fact, Demiway thought Yuan wouldn’t be able to block it properly, so he deployed 500 knights at the foot of the mountain range.

The part Demiway expected from Yuan was a sturdy barrier, nothing more, nothing less.

At that moment, a pigeon flew down to Precia as if falling from the sky.

She almost cut it instantly, but realizing it was a doll sent by Yuan, she reached out and grabbed the messenger.

As Precia received the messenger, a letter popped out of its chest.

“It’s a message from the Young Master. He says he has subjugated approximately 536 swarms so far.”

“…What?”

At the content of the letter Precia read, Demiway looked at her as if he heard something absurd.

“He subjugated that many swarms? No, even putting aside finding monster swarms, there’s no way he could subjugate that many monsters in such a short time with just 6,000 units while roaming the vast mountain range.”

It was an achievement that didn’t make sense when using common sense. Precia read the letter, ignoring Demiway’s words.

“However, at the point of sending the letter, the Red Eyes was drawn by the smell of blood and approached near Mount Gaher, so he temporarily stopped the subjugation. He says to confront you about why the Red Eyes is here when it should be engaging with the subjugation corps.”

At those words, Demiway and the Special Forces Captain shut their mouths as if they had nothing to say.

They were in a position to track the Red Eyes’ trail without even engaging it due to the tracking team’s mistake in identifying its location.

“If the Young Master gets hurt because of this, you’d better be prepared.”

As the worrisome situation actually occurred, a faint killing intent seeped into her voice, breaking through her patience.

At Precia’s angry voice, the knights of the subjugation corps narrowed their brows.

“Lady Precia! Your words are going too far…!”

Demiway raised his hand to stop the knight trying to confront Precia.

“I’m sorry, this is indeed our mistake.”

“Commander!”

As Demiway apologized and acknowledged the mistake, the subjugation corps members widened their eyes.

The subjugation corps members glared at Precia out of pride, but Demiway looked at Precia for a completely different reason.

The faint energy wave flowing from Precia’s entire body was enough to make even him, known as the Sword Demon, get goosebumps.

Through the training so far, he knew she had talent, but the glimpse of power revealed by her anger was close to “superhuman”.

“So that’s why…”

Demiway realized why Yuan dismissively ignored him when he said he would take Precia as his disciple.

She had already far surpassed the level of receiving someone’s teachings.

A superhuman at such a young age was the best thing for the country, but it was bittersweet that she seemed to have already decided her object of loyalty.

Precia handed the letter to Demiway.

“The Young Master says he will drive the Red Eyes into a terrain where it can’t escape, so bring the subjugation corps to the location on the map by 5 PM.”

At Precia’s words, Demiway examined the letter and map with interest.

The terrain Yuan marked was a steep gorge.

“It would be perfect if we could just drive it like this. But…”

How would he hunt the Red Eyes like hunting prey with dolls that are mere toys to it?

The dolls Yuan controls can at best only replace soldiers. Demiway couldn’t understand.

“What will you do? If we move according to Sir Yuan’s plan, we may lose the Red Eyes’ trail. If we deploy the rangers again to track it after it has fully awakened from hibernation, not only will there be damage, but we will also give the Red Eyes more time to recover.”

Common sense dictated that it was right to continue tracking the Red Eyes’ trail to locate its position.

Either track the Red Eyes’ trail like now or abandon the trail and move quickly, trusting Yuan’s plan.

At the Special Forces Captain’s words, Demiway made a decision at the crossroads.

*******

“Gyaaaaah!!”

The Red Eyes let out a roar filled with rage.

Although the area was filled with the smell of blood, stimulating its hunger, there was no food left in the places it moved to following the scent.

All that remained on the ground, which seemed to be where monsters had gathered to live, were puddles of blood thoroughly soaking the ground, very small pieces of flesh, and pieces of fur and scales.

“Gyaaaaah!!”

Even with a roar imbued with killing intent, there was no sign of prey moving nearby at all.

It was as if all the monsters in this area had vanished.

The Red Eyes couldn’t understand.

For the hunting grounds filled with all kinds of “food” to have their prey disappear.

It was the first time the centuries-old great demon beast faced such a situation, and it was perplexing.

No, rather, the maddening hunger was tormenting.

Rustle!

At the sound of something moving, the Red Eyes perked up its ears. Prey?

With its sense of smell half-paralyzed due to the smell of blood wafting from all directions, the Red Eyes moved, straining its hearing.

In the place it moved to, a dead orc was lying sprawled.

The Red Eyes didn’t care why there was only one lying alone.

Squish! Crunch!

The Red Eyes only needed to satisfy its hunger. But it wasn’t enough.

Rustle!

At the sound coming again, the Red Eyes moved.