The Great Demon War — Melazofis's Case
Melazofis is an ordinary man.
His demon servants would scoff at this if they heard it.
Who could call a man who holds the power to shift the tide of battle single-handedly an ordinary man?
Yet he is undeniably ordinary.
Still, his life as an ordinary man is not unremarkable.
He possesses no exceptional talent.
No matter what he does, he performs at average level.
This also means, conversely, that he can manage any task at an average level.
Put positively, he is capable of anything.
Put negatively, he is a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Such a versatile man, capable of handling any task at an average standard, acquired a wide range of skills.
The reason for this lies in his upbringing.
His family has served a particular noble lineage for generations.
Naturally, he was destined to serve that noble family.
There, he experienced a fateful encounter.
The noblewoman.
She and Melazophis did not begin as servant and master, but grew up as childhood companions.
During that time, he developed a quiet affection for her.
It was an unattainable love.
From childhood, she had been betrothed, and her betrothed was deeply in love with her in return.
There was no room for him to intrude.
He did not wish to intrude.
If she was happy, that was enough for him.
Melazophis honed himself as a servant to support her.
He trained in whatever skills seemed useful, pursued studies diligently.
His efforts were recognized. He earned the trust of her betrothed.
When she married, he accompanied her.
Her betrothed knew of Melazophis’s feelings.
She trusted Melazophis precisely because she knew.
She was certain that Melazophis would never cause her pain.
Two men who loved the same woman—something must have connected them.
That was why she entrusted her most beloved daughter to him.
There was no other option.
Melazophis and the woman he loved, along with her husband, could not escape.
Physically. Politically. No refuge remained.
Only the daughter was entrusted—to Melazophis, the one she trusted most.
Melazophis accepted the burden.
He vowed, clenched in the grip of his own helplessness, that he would protect her daughter, even as he failed to protect the woman he loved.
That vow was crushed without warning.
He was powerless.
Unable to act, forced to rely on the strength of someone he was meant to protect.
He abandoned his humanity, yet still fell under the weight of his own helplessness.
After being defeated without resistance by thieves once, Melazofis performed sword drills every morning without fail.
It would not make him dramatically stronger.
Yet, driven by a desire to change even slightly the helplessness he felt, determined to protect this time, he poured his soul into each swing.
That effort, too, yielded no result.
No matter how he struggled, Melazofis remained an ordinary man.
He had never made combat his livelihood. A man without talent, wielding a sword offered no real defense.
Still, he did not die.
He was saved twice by a certain spider.
Or perhaps he had died once, then.
After losing the woman he loved and cherished.
His life afterward was spent protecting her memento.
He watched her growth. Stayed by her side.
Yet, Melazofis’s lady was not merely human.
Reincarnated, and not human—rather, the progenitor of vampires.
Melazofis himself had become a vampire through the hands of the lady.
The rate at which Reincarnated individuals grow in status and skill exceeds that of ordinary humans in this world.
Additionally, the lady had been subjected to grueling journeys from infancy, her stats forcibly enhanced.
Stat growth is highest in early childhood.
As development progresses, the rate diminishes gradually.
Under conditions so extreme they could be described as abuse, the lady’s stats grew to surpass even those of other Reincarnated individuals.
Melazofis, despite sharing the same environment, exhibited lower stat growth than the lady.
This was due to his status as a native of this world, and because he had already reached adulthood, having passed his developmental phase.
Reincarnated as a vampire, his status had improved compared to when he was human, yet to an outlier noblewoman, this difference was negligible.
Melazofis had become weaker than the lady he was sworn to protect.
Yet his actions remained unchanged.
Only the lady thought to separate him from the demon king, wary of their mutual dependence.
To protect the lady. That was all.
Thus, strength was required.
The lady already possessed power beyond his reach.
That did not mean he could lack strength himself.
He must grow strong—enough not to hinder her, at minimum.
Melazofis trained daily without fail.
To an ordinary observer, the regimen would have seemed unbelievable—excruciating in its severity.
An ordinary person would have broken their body or gone mad from it.
What made it possible was the grueling journey to the Demon Lord’s territory—experience forged in extremity.
A reckoning beyond convention, imposed by a spider of unnatural design.
Fully utilizing the skills honed during that journey, Melazofis continued her self-discipline, akin to hell.
Unaware, she had stepped beyond the bounds of normality.
Through the skill Status Effect Immunity, she no longer required sleep.
With HP and MP automatically recovering, she showed no aversion to physical breakdown.
When her body broke, she rejoiced—each failure offered a chance to level up healing magic.
Even during work, she devoted time to strengthening obscure skills invisible to onlookers—magic manipulation, mental combat techniques, and the like.
As a result, Melazofis’s average stat total reached five thousand.
It was power sufficient to match a lower-tier dragon species—more than adequate in this world.
Yet he was not satisfied.
The young lady possessed roughly three times that strength.
"Report to Lord Balt."
"Yes!"
Melazofis had his subordinate deliver the report of defeat.
Individually and as a whole force, Melazofis’s side had lost.
The circumstances had been unfavorable.
Two combat-ready reincarnates, supported by a human mage of the highest class.
A three-on-one engagement under the bright sun.
Reincarnates could not be killed.
They had to fight without killing, while weakened by sunlight.
A demanding condition for ordinary individuals lacking combat talent.
Thus, despite superior stats, they had endured prolonged combat against an opponent they should have outmatched, and failed to correct the battlefield disadvantage.
The fact that the two reincarnates were strong was, of course, a factor.
Melazofis retained the鉴定 skill as well.
It was a spider's strategy, and he had gradually increased its level over many years due to its utility.
The鉴定 revealed the reincarnates' status to be upper dragon class.
Given the skill's nature, it suggested they might even rival lower-class dragon species.
The boy had average stats around 2,500, focused on physical attributes.
The girl had average stats around 2,500 as well, focused on magic, identical to the boy.
While stats could not be measured by simple addition, combined, their values matched Melazofis's.
Additionally, supporting magic attacks.
That aspect could not be鉴定 due to distance, but Melazofis estimated their magic attack power to be no less than 2,000.
The upper tier of human stats hovered around the 1,000 threshold.
To face three individuals who far exceeded that benchmark explained Melazofis’s struggle.
Indeed, prior to Melazofis’s engagement, the two reincarnates had dispersed the demon army, while the mage had inflicted heavy damage with a great spell.
The inability to recover from those losses could reasonably be called a defeat.
"Commander, are you injured?"
"Just a grazing wound."
A hole pierced Melazofis’s chest.
A lapse in vigilance at the final moment—targeted and struck.
Yet, as the man stated, though the armor had been penetrated, only a superficial wound had reached the flesh.
Melazofis’s magical defense stood at approximately 5,000.
Even under direct magical impact, penetration through skin to the heart was impossible.
Even if it had reached the heart, it would not have been enough to defeat Melazofis.
I’m still not there yet.
His muttering passed unheeded by his subordinates, their gazes distant.
The man known as Melazofis is ordinary.
No notable talent exists.
If he possesses any talent, it is the talent of endurance.
Effort alone is insufficient.
He exists at the farthest edge of hell, beyond even the concept of effort.
Who would willingly torment themselves to the brink of death every day?
The talent of the man who accomplishes such things falls slightly short of being called a talent for effort.
As demonstrated, he had recently acquired a skill.
The skill of endurance.
The man known as Melazofis is an ordinary person.
That is all. Not every ordinary person is ordinary.
Reference Material
Elven Village: War Time
Shun: Average stats 3000
Kathia: Average stats 1800
Teacher: Magic stats 1500, physical stats 500
Without the Hero title, Kunihiko and Asaka would be stronger than Shun.
The teacher prioritized searching for students over combat—unbeknownst to others, he had been overtaken by Shun and Kathia.