Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Pingru remained silent, momentarily at a loss for a rebuttal to Yang Yu’s words.

As she prepared to launch the Super Large Magic, all she thought about was annihilating all the Beastmen who had entered the Luo Ze Empire and making the Beastmen who dared to slaughter civilians pay the price. So much so that she entirely ignored the close relations between the two countries a decade ago.

If the Beastmen were so brutal from the start, why were the two countries able to maintain amicable relations for so long?

When did it begin, in her eyes, that the Beastmen became savage and bloodthirsty, and when did she start to indiscriminately lump all Beastmen into one category?

Yang Yu gazed intently at Pingru, his expression indifferent,

”After all, as a Human, you’re merely standing from the perspective of your own race.

To you, any other race doesn’t really matter,

Even if they are nearly identical to you.

You weren’t even willing to confirm their purpose for coming here and rushed to judgement about our intentions. That’s quite arrogant.

Thinking they are base and despicable, that interacting or conversing with them is beneath you, you look down upon them with scorn.

Are our Subhuman lives really so inconsequential?”

Facing Yang Yu’s questioning, Pingru bit her lower lip, wanting to argue back but unsure where to even start, becoming hesitant and stammering.

Yang Yu placed a hand over his chest and offered Pingru a bow,

”Miss, if you didn’t hear me clearly just now, let me repeat myself.

We entered the Luo Ze Empire in an attempt to prevent a tragedy from happening.

I deeply apologize for failing to prevent the tragedy.

Those Beastman Soldiers have received the punishment they deserved, and our Task is complete; there is no need for us to stay here any longer.

If you have any grievances, complain to the King of Wansheng Country after this war is over.

I am merely an ordinary Grand General, and that unit wasn’t under my command. To take on responsibility indiscriminately would be overstepping.

Therefore, I cannot say things like issuing an apology on behalf of Wansheng Country to the Civilians of the Empire.”

After finishing his bow, Yang Yu straightened his posture and locked eyes with Pingru, his face remaining expressionless as he continued to speak,

”I can admit my mistakes and sincerely apologize for them.

But what about you?

Can you apologize for almost killing us?

If you believe apologizing to a Beastman is shameful, or if the apology doesn’t come from the heart, then there’s no need to bother.

We will retreat to our borders.

If you plan to follow us and fight to the death, then feel free to come at us.”

If this were a year ago, Yang Yu wouldn’t have dared to speak such words.

Without Equipment, without Level, without attributes, he had to be extremely cautious everywhere he went, and engaging in a direct confrontation after being Taunted would likely result in an embarrassingly painful defeat.

It’s like a MOBA game; you pick a late-stage Hero and must skirt around an early-stage aggressive hero, bearing the humiliation, carrying the weight until the late stage, and only then can you step forward to turn the tide.

Now, Yang Yu’s attribute is higher, and with four good generals at his side, if Pingru were to attack heedlessly, he was confident that within this range, he could take her down.

Besides, those words he had just spoken were not only for Pingru but also for the Beastmen present.

Getting a face full of Super Large Magic without a second word, even if one had a good mentality, it would leave some scars.

Taking a stand from the perspective of the Beastmen and speaking for them could also garner a lot of goodwill from them—why wouldn’t he?

After uttering those words, Yang Yu continued to watch Pingru’s expression to decide on his next move.

To his surprise, Pingru’s reaction was beyond his expectations.

Pingru clenched the eye mask in her hands, looking completely flustered, as if she were a server who had just started working and accidentally spilled cake all over a customer. With her head lowered and her mouth fumbling for words, it took a long time before she managed to squeeze out an apology,

”I... am... sorry...”

Originally, Pingru had revealed her heterochromatic eyes to intimidate Yang Yu.

But little did she know that upon seeing her unusual eyes, Yang Yu was not intimidated in the slightest. Instead, he became even more aggressive.

Since she had taken on the role of Deputy Leader for the ”Sky-breaking Stone” adventure group, it had been a long time since anyone had dared to speak to her in this manner.

Although she had learned strategies to handle such situations before, she couldn’t remember how to respond under the continuous barrage from Yang Yu, ultimately only managing to apologize in a low voice.

Seeing his advantage, Yang Yu pretended to sigh,

”Since you have chosen to apologize, I will, on behalf of my group, temporarily forgive you.

To avoid similar incidents from happening again, my group and I plan to depart immediately.

Before we do, I want your assurance that you won’t make a move against us before we leave the Luo Ze Empire.”

”I assure you. As long as you are indeed harmless, I will not take action; it would affect our adventure group’s reputation.”

Even though it was her own mistake, Pingru tried hard to appear magnanimous, as to not betray the prestige of the ”Sky-breaking Stone” Deputy Leader.

Unfortunately, the effect was far from satisfactory, as a hint of helplessness and grievance still shone through her brows.

That complex look vanished only when she put the eye mask back on.

Yang Yu walked confidently toward Lotcar.

Iyas, sitting on Lotcar’s back, was worried that Yang Yu hadn’t heard her make the urgent statement, ”Grand General, the one using magic just now is the person who attacked Luoyu City!”, and kept making emphatic gestures to him.

Yang Yu shot back a look that said ”No need to inquire for now,” climbed onto Lotcar’s back, and turned to lead his group away.

Iyas really wanted to question Pingru about why she had attacked the elf village, but seeing that Yang Yu had no intention of doing so, she had to let it go.

Iyas intended to wait for an opportunity to talk to Yang Yu alone in the future to ask why he didn’t question the matter regarding Luoyu City.

...

...

With his group in tow, Yang Yu hurried back along the same route. It didn’t take long for them to see the mountain range that separated the two countries, as well as the boundary markers of the two nations.

They hadn’t noticed it on the way to the Luo Ze Empire, but on their return, Iyas and Bai Jin discovered humanoid statues erected at regular intervals near the boundary between the two countries.

These were statues of the first Emperor of the Luo Ze Empire.

The border statues were covered in moss and entwined with vines, without any signs of maintenance.

The cause of the war was Xin Mang’s act of saving two human children by cutting down statue number 7.

Anyone looking at these ancient statues could tell that the Luo Ze Empire’s intentions reached beyond mere decoration.

Just a few steps away from crossing that mountain, suddenly, the marching beastman army picked up the sound of someone flying overhead and swiftly went on the alert.

Yang Yu turned his head to look.

Pingru, who had just parted from them not long ago, flew low toward them, landed unguardedly behind Yang Yu’s group, and gasping for breath, called out to Yang Yu:

”Grand General ahead, please wait a moment. There’s something I need you to do, can you spare me a bit of your time?”