Chapter 533
Chapter 533: There Was a Monster. (2)
“Ah, yes, yes.”
The knight nodded half-heartedly and sent Jerome away.
“Honestly, wizards are just a pain in the neck.”
He didn’t bother questioning the nonsensical remarks. If he started arguing, it could lead to trouble.
Wizards are just that eccentric. Too many of them seemed intent on making life difficult for others.
Anyway, other wizards would keep things in check. If things got even slightly suspicious, heads would roll.
Jerome shrugged at the knight’s lukewarm attitude.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
It made sense considering his appearance. After all, he was only in his twenties physically.
But Jerome had been using a special art passed down in the Tower of Dawn, dedicating much more time to magic training than his physical age suggested.
Because he had to live in a warped dimension, his training tower could only maintain a solitary inheritance.
Thanks to that, he possessed immense power, but he had to endure being underestimated due to his looks.
*
Having safely joined the magical troops, Jerome spent his time lounging around.
In the Parsali Kingdom, the rebels were on the back foot. The Kingdom Army was steadily expanding its territory.
So, there was no need for Jerome to step in.
“Hmm, did I come to the wrong place?”
It would be more effective to help where the rebels were equal or outnumbered. There was no point in exerting effort in a winning territory.
“Ugh, I should stick around a bit longer before moving.”
Jerome sank back down, having gotten lazy from spending too long in the imagined world.
Or maybe he was just naturally a bit lazy.
While he idled away, news of victories filtered through from various places. There were even rumors that the power of the rebels and the Salvation Society was declining.
The morale of the Parsali Kingdom troops was sky-high.
They were successfully holding back rifts. It was widely believed they would soon finish the civil war and join the Allied Forces.
“Ugh, I guess I’ll just leave.”
After several days of lazing about, Jerome decided to go.
He felt too uneasy lounging around. It would be better to seek out a slightly tougher location.
Just as Jerome made up his mind to leave, messengers arrived with new news.
“The rebels have been reinforced!”
“The interception squad was wiped out!”
“The rebel forces are marching this way!”
The Kingdom troops remaining in the fortress were a bit shaken, but they quickly regained their composure. After all, they had successfully repelled countless attacks from this fortress.
However, that confidence was shattered by the urgent report that followed.
“The rebel army now numbers over 200,000!”
Hearing the messenger’s report, the fortress commander stammered a question.
“W-what did you say? 200,000? Are you sure?”
“Yes! It seems rebels from other kingdoms have joined them!”
The commander of the fortress felt dizzy. Rebels forming an alliance? It was a ridiculous situation.
What were the other kingdoms doing, that they would come all the way here? Was it true that the Salvation Society was controlling them?
Gathros had gathered forces spread across the continent. Part of that gathered army had launched a surprise attack on the Parsali Kingdom.
“Hmm… We can’t possibly hold off a force that size.”
The fortress commander fell into deep thought.
This fortress held 10,000 troops. It was indeed a substantial number stationed at the front.
But it was nothing compared to 200,000. No matter how strong the fortress, it would fall within a day with a disparity that large.
But retreating wasn’t an option either. If this fortress fell, the enemy could march straight to the capital.
As the commander found himself at an impasse, a messenger sent by the supreme commander of the Kingdom Army arrived urgently.
“All Kingdom troops near the capital are gathering to create a new defensive line.”
“What should we do?”
“They’ve ordered us to stall for as long as possible…”
In other words, they were expected to face death here.
“I see.”
The fortress commander nodded stoically. He had suspected something like this might happen.
“If it’s for the Kingdom, then I must comply.”
And so, the 10,000 troops stationed at the fortress prepared to face the enemy with death on their minds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sight of 200,000 troops was overwhelming. Seeing the enemy fill the plains, the fortress soldiers tensed up, frozen in fear.
The fortress commander repeatedly urged his soldiers.
“Don’t be afraid! We can hold our ground! We’ve continued to win, haven’t we?”
But the faces of the soldiers were filled with fear.
They had successfully held back the enemy thus far mainly because both sides had balanced forces. They had never fought against such a massive army.
“It’s over.”
“I’m going to die here.”
“How long can we hold out?”
All they could do was pray to survive just one more day.
In contrast to the terrified Parsali troops, the rebels were brimming with confidence.
Although they were from different kingdoms, they were on the same side for now. The overwhelming number of allies naturally boosted their morale.
An interesting point was that their overall commander was Helgenik, the necromancer dispatched by the Salvation Society.
A staff officer asked Helgenik.
“What’s our plan?”
Helgenik replied without hesitation.
“Everyone, charge!”
Helgenik commanded an assault without any strategy or tactics. The staff officer, bewildered, had to ask.
“Even though we have the numbers, we would incur heavy losses. We should surround them first, let them exhaust their supplies before…”
“Charge.”
“……”
The staff officer looked at Helgenik. His hooded robe made it hard to see his expression. Even when trying to gaze beneath it, the darkness danced and concealed his face.
Yet somehow, it felt like the corners of his mouth were turned up.
With no other choice, the staff officer conveyed orders to the commanders of each unit.
“Waaah!”
In the pretext of needing to speed up their movement, they didn’t even bring siege equipment. All they had were ladders.
Still, the sight of 200,000 troops charging together was a terrifying spectacle. The fortress soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, filled with fear.
At that moment, Jerome stepped forward.
Seeing him, the wizards shouted.
“What are you doing right now!”
“Get back to your positions!”
“Form ranks! Quickly deploy the mana barrier to block the enemy’s magic!”
Even wizards had to follow the commander’s orders in an emergency so they could use magic where it was needed.
The most important thing was to block the enemy’s magic.
But Jerome shook his head.
“I’ll sweep the front line first.”
“Don’t act reckless, step back!”
The head of the magical unit shouted angrily. They had been accommodating even with one hand short, but now he was taking such an unexpected action.
Outside of testing situations, they had never felt his mana. It meant he was barely at the level of a 2nd circle.
It was infuriating how this braggart was now taking the lead, and everyone was on edge given the enemy’s massive army.
Seeing this, knights approached Jerome, trying to pull him back.
“Huh?”
But something strange happened. No matter how much they walked, they couldn’t approach Jerome. They couldn’t get closer than a certain distance.
People were shocked by the sight. Especially the wizards were astounded.
“Spatial distortion?”
“W-what is happening…?”
“Could it be true…?”
In the meantime, the enemy drew closer. The fortress commander decided it was better to leave Jerome be than to engage in a tug-of-war.
He shouted loudly.
“Everyone, get ready!”
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The soldiers huddled together, raising their shields. They were ready to douse stones and oil at a moment’s notice.
“Waaah!”
The enemies charged forward with a mighty roar. Watching that, Jerome muttered,
“I found throwing stones to be quite effective before.”
Of course, the stones he was about to throw weren’t the ones he’d hurled at bandits.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground in front of the fortress began to churn and clumps of dirt started rising.
“Huh? Huh?”
The approaching enemies were thrown into confusion as dozens of clumps of dirt rose into the air.
Jerome stretched out his hand and said, “Go.”
Boom!
The enormous clumps of dirt flew towards the enemy.
Crash!
Dozens of clumps of dirt swept past the enemy, leaving a horrifying scene of corpses in their wake.
“Ugh!”
“He’s a wizard!”
“Why isn’t the magic block working!”
There were quite a few wizards among the rebels. Since there was a massive rebel force, their number must have exceeded that of the castle’s wizards.
Naturally, these wizards also tried to cast magic barriers. But Jerome’s magic pierced through.
“What is everyone doing! Block it! Block it!”
The rebel wizards, flustered, tried to summon more mana. They had to create mana barriers to thwart the enemy’s magic.
Jerome narrowed his eyes slightly.
“It seems there are quite a few wizards here.”
Their defenses were weaker than he’d imagined. The mana barriers spread throughout were hindering the concentration of mana.
But he was an 8th-circle wizard. He would break through their mana barriers and cast his spell.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Although its power was diminished due to the mana barriers, it wasn’t a problem to sweep away the enemies.
Powerful spells erupted relentlessly. Jerome wasn’t called an “individual legion” for nothing in Ghislaine’s past life.
The people in the fortress stared agape at Jerome’s performance.
He was casting spells that pierced through the mana barriers set up by numerous wizards!
“Is he really 8th-circle?”
It should be possible to perform such miracles only if one was at least an 8th circle. The fortress wizards were trembling, caught in a mix of shock and awe.
A smile spread across the face of the fortress commander. Whoever he was, an incredible strong ally was aiding them.
“All allied wizards focus on blocking the enemy’s magic! Knights, protect that wizard! Hurry!”
In an instant, knights rushed to surround Jerome. Jerome saw this and gave an awkward smile.
“You really don’t need to go this far.”
If someone got to the point of needing such protection, then the average knight wouldn’t last anyway. He didn’t intend to dismiss their goodwill, but frankly, it was a bit embarrassing.
Thanks to Jerome, the morale of the fortress troops shot up drastically. In contrast, the commanders and staff of the rebel army were flustered.
“There appears to be an incredibly strong force on the enemy’s side.”
“If we push forward like this, the damage will be too great.”
“We need to find another way.”
Countless corpses piled up due to the magic. The arrows shot from within the fortress were also gradually inflicting casualties.
Helgenik, sitting idly, began to chuckle.
“There was a monster on the other side. Why did it take so long to show up? The intelligence of the Salvation Society is pathetic after all.”
It was true that the quality of the wizards gathered here was low, but still, a considerable number had assembled.
To cast such spells while breaking through the mana barriers meant that the opponent was a formidable force equal to him.
The staff officer spoke cautiously.
“Let’s retreat for now and find another method…”
“Why should we do that?”
“The… the damage is becoming too great…”
“Keep pushing. Why would we stop this fun?”
“……”
“Given the numbers, we will succeed in capturing the fortress in the end. Don’t stop; just charge ahead.”
That point wasn’t incorrect. No matter how strong the opponent, they had an overwhelming force of 200,000. They’d likely cover the fortress before being wiped out.
Indeed, many soldiers had already begun to swarm over the fortress like ants.
However, if they proceeded like this, even if they captured the fortress, more than half would die. Losing 100,000 men to take on just 10,000 meant absolute victory was questionable.
Could this even be called a win? At this rate, they would be exterminated after just two fights.
“……”
The staff officers swallowed hard. They couldn’t tell if they were waging war or just throwing themselves in to die.
In the heavy air, Helgenik surveyed his surroundings and asked.
“Is this no longer any fun?”
“N-no, it’s not.”
Knowing their commander was a necromancer, they quickly lowered their heads.
They had no desire to be captured and turned into corpses for no reason.
Helgenik clicked his tongue and continued speaking.
“Right, then let’s spice things up. You two need to step forward.”
Helgenik pointed out two high priests. They didn’t hide their displeasure.
Though they knew what the operation was, they didn’t like the idea of wasting troops in this manner. Plus, Helgenik’s arrogant demeanor grated on their nerves.
But there was Gathros’s orders. It was also for the sake of the Society, so they had no choice but to comply.
“Understood.”
“We’ll block the enemy wizards.”
The two priests confidently headed towards the fortress. As they vanished from view, Helgenik grinned.
Just a glimpse was enough to tell. The opponent was a monster among monsters. Those two priests would die.
And that was part of Helgenik’s plan.
