Chapter 552
Chapter 552: You’ve Brought Quite the Hairy Situation. (1)
The Ruthania Army that appeared was around a thousand strong.
In these times of chaos, a military force so small could only be a reconnaissance team.
“Penris… Mobile Army, huh.”
Lerner quickly identified their true nature with his sharp instincts.
Every single one of them was decked out in full plate armor. Embossed on it was the emblem of a wolf.
It was undoubtedly the Penris Mobile Army.
They didn’t approach the village but instead surrounded it from a considerable distance.
With such an arrangement, it was clear that tightly encircling the village would be difficult. The siege lines looked thin and scattered.
“Hmm…”
As Lerner observed quietly, a follower beside him spoke up.
“What should we do? We have far more troops. We’d have the advantage in a fight.”
Though only half had arrived, they still had a whopping five thousand troops, which was enough to break through if they decided to flee.
“If the commander leads, we could wipe them out.”
If Lerner participated and took command, they could unleash a stronger force.
He despised revealing himself, but once Lerner stepped up, the enemy had never defeated him.
Even so, Lerner remained cautious.
“Let’s watch a bit longer.”
Not stepping forward was similar to Helgenik, but the reasons were slightly different.
Helgenik had no fear. He had full confidence in his abilities. It was just that, due to his unique necromancer combat style, he didn’t feel the need to exert himself.
But Lerner was different. He wasn’t deliberately trying to drain the enemy’s strength like Aiden.
He would only move when he was certain he could undoubtedly cut off the enemy’s lifeline. He was, quite literally, a wolf of a man.
It was thanks to this cunning and caution that the revolutionary group had been able to sustain itself so far.
“But why aren’t they moving?”
Lerner tilted his head in confusion.
The Mobile Army was merely surrounding the village without making any moves. The villagers had already noticed them and were in a state of panic.
They were likely pondering what to do themselves. The arrival of such a military force must have signaled that they had been discovered.
Lerner clenched and unclenched his hand, deep in thought.
‘Assuming the Duke of Penris is there…’
Gathros had warned him multiple times about how dangerous the Duke of Penris was. He was notoriously strong in the public eye.
But Lerner himself was also a superhuman. A superhuman who always kept a third of his abilities hidden.
‘If I unleash my full power… Could I win?’
Opinions about Lerner’s abilities were mixed even in Ghislaine’s past life. He had always fled instead of facing opponents head-on.
Yet, many who reached the top seven on the continent couldn’t catch him. It was joked that perhaps Lerner was even among the top eight.
He was that much of an enigma.
‘The odds are fifty-fifty… No, if I join, our chances of winning rise slightly.’
This side had five times the troops. If the villagers joined in, there would be even more.
If he could sneak up on part of the Mobile Army and pin down the Duke of Penris…
‘It’s worth a shot.’
Even if the Mobile Army was strong, not all were knights. There were quite a few with knightly backgrounds on their side as well. Their combat experience was plentiful.
Usually, Lerner wouldn’t act if the odds were below eighty percent, but the temptation of such delicious prey was too strong to ignore.
After confirming a potential escape route just in case, Lerner slowly stood up.
“I need to see the abilities of those guys I’ve only heard rumors about… Let’s strike from the back.”
His follower gave a bright smile. It looked like a feasible plan even to him.
“Understood. If the commander strikes from behind, everyone will move right away.”
Even now, the members hidden around the village were crawling out. They were no fools and must have sensed that they had been discovered.
As the revolutionary members gathered to form ranks, the Mobile Army continued to hold their position without movement.
Clearly, they seemed intimidated by the superior enemy numbers.
In this state, the revolutionary group would likely aim to annihilate the Mobile Army instead of fleeing.
Tension hung thick in the air on both sides.
Lerner stood up but halted as he felt a tremor in the ground.
“Wait a second.”
Thud thud thud thud!
More troops were on the way. This time, it looked to be about a thousand as well. They brought along a ton of wagons.
“The odds just dropped further.”
Two thousand Mobile troops could take on five thousand revolutionaries.
Lerner fell back into contemplation. His principle was never to engage in a gamble if the odds were fifty-fifty.
Still, he couldn’t shake off the regret.
While he was thinking, the enemy began acting strangely.
“Huh? What are they doing?”
The surrounding Mobile Army was gathering in clusters to create something. It seemed they were diligently connecting the spears they held.
The revolutionary group in the village watched in confusion. They were curious about what was happening.
In the blink of an eye, the Mobile Army had connected the spears into a bizarre contraption.
Those who brought the wagons dumped massive stones beside it.
Seeing this, Lerner tilted his head, then his eyes widened.
“Could it be…?”
The siege weapon he had only heard rumors about? That was real?
Before he could regain his senses, stones began flying towards the village.
Crash! Crash! Crasssshh!
“What the heck! What’s that?!”
The revolutionary forces, neatly gathered in the center of the village, were suddenly bombarded by a hail of stones.
Being clustered together made them easy targets for a stoning.
The Mobile Army didn’t utter a single word. No proposals of surrender, no declarations of war—nothing.
They just bombarded the village with stones as soon as they were ready.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Stonebrook Village was being completely decimated, affecting both people and buildings indiscriminately.
While those attacking must have felt great, the ones being attacked were far from pleased.
“Scatter, everyone!”
“Run away!”
“Get out fast!”
You couldn’t withstand a catapult attack in a place like this.
There was nowhere to hide. That strange catapult had such destructive power that it was smashing through buildings indiscriminately.
The Mobile Army hadn’t remained distant for nothing. They had widened the gap to launch their attacks.
If they stayed still, they’d be crushed by the stones. The revolutionary group began to scatter and flee.
But there was nowhere to escape. The village was completely surrounded.
Those who tried to run fell victim to the Mobile Army one after another.
“Ugh!”
“Save me!”
“I surrender! I’ll surrender!”
The Mobile Army showed no mercy. Even those who surrendered were not spared.
They simply killed every last one that came their way.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Despite that, the catapult attack didn’t cease. It seemed they intended to completely annihilate the place.
Lerner was left speechless at the absurdity.
“…….”
Where in the world was there an army that just started flinging stones around, destroying everything in sight?
But there truly was one. The Duke of Penris was even more extreme than the rumors suggested.
He bent down again. The thick trees and shrubs concealed his form well.
His follower, looking bewildered, asked,
“Uh, what should we do?”
“…….”
The battle was as good as over. If they wanted to break through, they had to strike before the wagons arrived.
Everyone had just been lingering, losing their timing as they hesitated to form ranks.
Of course, no one could have imagined an attack this reckless.
Lerner bit his lip multiple times before finally declaring,
“We retreat.”
There was no chance of victory. He wasn’t a fool to pride himself foolishly.
The two slowly backed away.
They were far enough up the mountain that they shouldn’t be caught. Even so, they moved cautiously as they evaded.
Once they had moved a significant distance to the opposite side of the village…
“There they are!”
A crow appeared, shouting. Looking around, there were several crows that didn’t seem to belong to this mountain at all.
Lerner muttered with a blank expression.
“The crow can… talk?”
One of the Darks, number three, who had been watching closely, shouted,
“Do you think you can escape me…?”
Boom!
As Lerner drew his sword and zipped past, the body of Dark exploded.
It was a surprise, but the thought process was quick.
He could sense it—a strong energy rapidly approaching from afar.
“Run! If you get caught, you’ll die!”
“What?”
His follower looked baffled, but Lerner ignored him and dashed forward. His speed was so fast that the follower struggled to keep up.
“C-Commander! What’s happening right now…?”
The follower gasped in surprise as he chased after Lerner, who had already disappeared from view.
It was difficult to jump in such mountainous terrain. There were too many obstacles. Something felt off, but he couldn’t decipher why Lerner was acting this way.
They were looking down on the Penris Army. Even if they spotted them, it would be hard for them to pursue.
The follower ran desperately. He believed they could definitely escape.
Crack, crack, crack!
Before he discovered the presence barreling towards them, smashing through trees and rocks like a lunatic…
“EEEK!”
He turned around in shock. Something was chasing him at an incredible speed.
Though he bit down, trying to muster some strength, he couldn’t shake it off.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Lerner’s follower fell as he was caught by the throat.
Ghislaine laughed seeing the fallen man.
“Look at this guy! He already fled?”
“S-Save me!”
“And you are?”
“I-I’m Lerner’s aide!”
“Really?”
Ghislaine pulled out a hand axe and directly struck the aide’s shoulder.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
“Where did that guy go?”
“I don’t know! I really don’t know!”
Thud!
“Aah! I swear it’s true!”
Watching the screaming aide, Ghislaine licked his lips.
It probably wasn’t a lie. Lerner had always acted this way in his past life.
He was someone who would stealthily observe every battle. With this many troops gathered, he was surely somewhere nearby.
Even though Dark had been sent initially to scout the surroundings, they couldn’t find him. He was so careful that they only discovered him after he tried to show himself to flee.
“Have you set a rendezvous point if we retreat?”
When he asked Tarim, they said there wasn’t one. They planned to decide whether to join the Army of Atrode or retreat after striking at the Allied Forces.
Still, since he was an aide, he wondered if he might know something more.
“Uh, no! But…”
“But what?”
“In case of defeat, we were ordered to retreat to the Kingdom of Grimwell.”
“Hmm…”
That was something Tarim had mentioned too. Those trained in raiding would surely have no trouble regrouping.
“Okay, if you have nothing more to say, just die.”
“S-Save me!”
Thud!
Ghislaine didn’t waste any words and swung his hand axe.
There was nothing new he could gain from this guy.
Though he felt a bit regretful about missing out on catching Lerner, he was content with annihilating the revolutionary group’s ambush unit.
“Well, I didn’t expect to catch him all at once anyway.”
That was the problem when dealing with Lerner. He never stepped forward to engage directly. If only he showed himself, they could catch him somehow.
At least Amelia had faced the enemy head-on, not just sneaking around like a coward and then fleeing.
“I guess I’ll have to set traps soon.”
If they pushed through the Kingdom of Atrode, they’d inevitably have a rematch with him. This time, he would find a way to catch him while he just watched from afar like before.
With a click of his tongue, Ghislaine descended the mountain. Dark was chattering noisily beside him.
“Damn it! My number three got blown up! That guy was super fast! A definite superhuman!”
Dark had fought plenty of superhumans. So, he could at least gauge his opponent’s abilities.
Ghislaine asked with a grin.
“So, how does it feel to get hit?”
“I think he’s stronger than the Salvation Society priests. The priests were more like whoosh! but he was bam!”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Since he hadn’t directly clashed, Ghislaine didn’t know his abilities in detail. He just knew he was extremely strong.
As Ghislaine continued talking with Dark while they descended, the knights brought in a man whom they had tied up.
The knights were in quite a stir as they ran in.
“Lord! Look at this guy!”
“A big shot! A big shot!”
“He fights pretty well too!”
It seemed the knights had really taken some hits, their bodies reflecting their hard-fought battle.
Of course, the opponent wasn’t unscathed either. The enemy was a complete bloody mess. The Penris Knights never fought one-on-one, after all.
The man, bleeding and covered in wounds, looked too battered to even stand upright.
Ghislaine lifted the man’s face to confirm and was taken aback.
“This guy is…”
His face was so swollen he couldn’t recognize him.
It truly seemed he had received a serious beating.
