Chapter 512
Chapter 512: Let’s Settle This Here. (3)
Darkness enveloped everyone. That energy devoured all the particles of light that had been spreading.
The eyes of the people staring into the void regained their focus. The horses tossed their heads and shook them wildly.
In an instant, everyone snapped back to reality. The illusion vanished completely.
Whoosh!
Ghislaine’s body was surrounded by black energy. Hundreds of magical spears materialized around him.
As Ghislaine dashed forward alone, the defenders charged at him.
“Waaaaah!”
They were coming with loud shouts. The reputation of Count Penris, the strongest in the North, was long forgotten.
This was because they believed that the 7th circle master, Elois, would capture him.
That delusion shattered as Ghislaine’s spear moved.
Bang!
“Uaaaargh!”
The bodies of the soldiers at the forefront were torn apart by Ghislaine’s swing. The magical spears scattering in every direction disrupted the formation of those rushing in.
Like a wolf among a flock of sheep, Ghislaine moved freely and knocked the soldiers aside.
The numbers were too great for him to handle alone, so many passed by him. But what mattered was that there was no one currently blocking Ghislaine.
Elois, who should have been the one to stop him, was merely trembling with his hand.
“What, what the… What the hell is that?”
The soldiers charged in, clueless, but Elois realized that his illusion had been broken.
A great and ominous energy erupted from Count Penris, covering the battlefield and shattering magic spells.
Even Elois, the kingdom’s greatest mage, could not comprehend its nature. Faced with an unexpected situation and an incomprehensible entity, his mind froze.
Ghislaine’s voice echoed over the battlefield once more.
“Charge!”
Hee-yaw!
The cavalry of the mobile army let out a mighty cry in response to the intense shout. Knights and soldiers gripped their spears tightly once again.
“Let’s go!”
With the senior knight, Lucas, shouting, the mobile army began to move once more. Although their momentum had faltered for a moment, it posed no issue for them.
Thud!
From the front lines, the horses leaped high and stomped fiercely on the ground.
Bang!
Using that force, they launched forward again. Now, the title of mounted nation belonged more to the Penris Army than the Northerners.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Seeing them rush again with such speed, the defenders were taken aback.
“W-we’re moving!”
“What’s going on!”
“Wasn’t it an illusion?”
They could no longer advance and stopped dead in their tracks. A fierce grin hung at the corners of the cavalrymen’s mouths, instilling fear.
If they clashed, they would die. Their bodies would be ripped apart in an instant. Even without being caught in the illusion magic, the soldiers in front of the Penris Army were paralyzed by fear.
Raoul, witnessing the scene, shouted in horror.
“Master Elois!”
Elois still could not regain his senses. True to a mage, he focused intently on understanding the current situation.
‘How could beings that are not superhumans break this?’
He had anticipated that Count Penris would not fall under the influence of magic. Superhumans, after all, establish their own worlds. Mental domination hardly works on superhumans.
However, the others were not superhumans.
It was a trap he had worked on for decades. Countless runestones and huge magic circles had been laid out.
The amplified illusion magic could completely dominate this area. In this place, he was a being close to a god.
Yet that magic shattered in an instant, due to a power he could not grasp.
‘This is insane!’
He was neither a military commander nor someone with war experience, so he continued to fixate on the questions he held. His demeanor was ill-suited for a battlefield requiring swift judgment.
Taking advantage of the moment he hesitated, the Penris Mobile Army quickly charged at the defenders.
Bang!
“Uaaaargh!”
The entirely infantry defenders were swept away with ease. The shattering of the illusion magic they relied upon impacted their morale heavily.
Above all, there was no one to block the rampaging Ghislaine.
Ghislaine laughed as he decapitated the enemy soldiers.
‘Of course, you wouldn’t understand.’
In his previous life, Dark had instantly shattered Elois’s illusion magic while healing Edwin. Since he dominated the space itself, their magic was neutralized.
Ghislaine too had to thwart Elois’s illusion magic. Most of their forces would be rendered ineffective in an instant. That was why he sought to acquire Dark.
Just as Ghislaine had predicted, he was able to break the illusion magic using Dark. He had to expend half his energy in the process, though.
Bang!
In an instant, half of the defenders were annihilated. Only then did Elois regain his senses and swoop towards Ghislaine.
“You scoundrel! Stop!”
Mental domination might not work well on superhumans, but that didn’t mean magic itself was ineffective. Even if it wasn’t to the level of mental control, strong magic could still project illusions.
Zing!
The tremendous magical power of the 7th circle master shot toward Ghislaine. It dulled his perception and twisted his awareness.
Crack!
The environment around Ghislaine began to warp. It was filled with shapes resembling shattered mirrors. His sense of balance and direction crumbled, and an unknowable entity surrounded him.
Before long, both the Penris cavalry and the Delphine defenders had vanished. Only Ghislaine and those entities remained on the battlefield.
‘Truly worthy of a 7th circle master.’
Being a 7th circle master indicated that one was on the brink of the 8th circle. The amount of magic and the quality of enlightenment placed him above any mage in the kingdom.
Grrrr…
The black masses that had appeared began to emit strange sounds and gradually morphed into human forms.
They were those who lingered painfully in Ghislaine’s memories.
“O King…”
“Why did you abandon us?”
“Please spare us…”
Ghislaine gazed at them. The ones approaching him were his subordinates who had died in his past life. They were those who had fought against the duke’s army and the priests of the Salvation Society.
They were not the only ones.
“Uooh…”
Those who had died in Perdium also appeared. His father, his retainers, Belinda, and old Fergus.
All of them drew near, wailing sorrowfully as they approached him.
Elois’s magic forced the subjects to confront their own abyss. It presented them with their most painful and sorrowful memories, disrupting their hearts.
And so, it created chaos, beguilement, and led them to frenzy. Ultimately, they would either fight the illusions or be consumed by those memories, taking their own lives.
If it were someone of a lower realm, they would be helplessly overwhelmed. This was the terror of illusion magic, which differed from elemental magic.
Seeing the figures approaching him like zombies, Dark spoke up.
― Master, should I eliminate them?
As a 7th circle master, an incredible amount of magic was concentrated around Ghislaine. Even Dark had to consume quite a bit of energy, so he had to ask.
However, Ghislaine shook his head.
“No, that’s enough.”
Ghislaine did not resist intentionally. He wanted to see for himself how Elois’s magic worked, and he was confident he could counter it.
There was another reason too.
A hint of longing flickered in his eyes.
“It seems I can see you all like this.”
He had recovered many of his subordinates from his past life. They had become knights, joined the mobile army, and worked as mercenaries in other regions.
But there were still many he had not yet met or recovered. Their situations had changed because the future had altered.
Ghislaine gazed at them with a nostalgic look. He wished to meet them again when the opportunity arose.
“Surely, you’re all doing well?”
They likely were. Those he had recovered were living well now, were they not?
Thus, Ghislaine was able to smile.
“Uooh…”
“Lucas, what are you doing here?”
Seeing Lucas approach like a zombie, Ghislaine finally burst into laughter. Lucas was there, fighting hard beside him.
The same went for Belinda. Perhaps to prepare for an ambush by the Salvation Society, she was now beside her father.
The others were no different. They were all alive and well. Therefore, Elois’s illusion had no effect on Ghislaine.
His memories and reality had completely diverged.
Yes, wasn’t it to protect them that he had returned like this?
With a smile, Ghislaine closed his eyes. Despite the illusions clinging around him, his expression remained serene.
Crash!
The mirrors filled around him shattered. The shards of glass began to swirl grotesquely, mixing with the surrounding environment.
It was a scene as if time had stopped.
And then, from a crack in the broken space, Elois burst forth. He was the only one moving in this illusion space.
“You’ve fallen into my trap.”
Unlike the composure he had just moments ago, Elois’s face was now twisted in rage.
The kingdom’s greatest mage had committed an incomprehensible act. He had rendered useless a trap he had prepared for decades. For Elois, this was an incredibly humiliating affair.
So, he poured all his magic power into one stroke. No matter how superhuman one might be, there was a moment they would not be able to move properly.
He had to kill that dangerous scoundrel right now.
Reaching out toward Ghislaine, who was surrounded by illusions and with his eyes closed, Elois declared.
“Die!”
His hand glowed with a purple aura. That hand would pierce through the heart of that scoundrel in an instant.
Just then, Ghislaine opened his eyes.
Flash!
A brilliant light flashed through his gaze. Elois felt a chill run down his spine.
‘He didn’t fall into my trap…?’
His eyes shone with clarity. There was no tremor to be seen.
This was absurd. He had poured all his magic into this—it was impossible for him to show such a gaze!
Just how strong of a mental fortitude did he possess?!
Swoosh!
Before Elois could even react, Ghislaine’s spear moved with fluid grace.
Fwoosh!
The environment began to change again. The shards were sucked into the openings of the space as they vanished.
The sky and ground found their places back, and the scene visible before Elois attacked spread before Ghislaine’s eyes.
“Waaaaah!”
The Penris Mobile Army was slaughtering the defenders. No one even glanced Ghislaine’s way.
The time Ghislaine spent in the illusion was just the blink of an eye. No one realized he had been caught in an illusion spell.
This, too, was the terrifying aspect of illusion magic. One had to fight infinitely within a completely different timeline.
And the one who was the architect of that dreadful magic was……
“Hmph, not bad. But your method was flawed.”
Ghislaine looked down from atop the Black King. The head of Elois, now decapitated, rolled across the ground.
If Elois had used a different approach, he might have had to fight for quite a long time.
However, he unleashed his most powerful magic. Unfortunately for him, that was the easiest kind of magic for Ghislaine to counter.
“E-Eloise is dead!”
One of the defenders cried out upon spotting Elois’s severed head.
None of them even knew when Elois had died. They couldn’t feel any phenomena or see any struggle.
It was as if they blinked, and when they opened their eyes, Elois was dead in front of the Count.
“It’s over.”
“We’ve lost.”
“There’s no stopping it now.”
The morale of the defenders plummeted. Their reliance on the 7th circle master had come to naught, and they could no longer halt the enemy’s advance.
Raoul had already fled to the castle. There was now no one to lead them.
Though low-level commanders desperately encouraged them, they could not reverse the tide of battle.
Yet none of them surrendered. Even in a state of sheer terror, they fought to the bitter end like the elite of the duke’s faction.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Once more, Ghislaine charged toward the enemy. With his presence, the defenders fell even more quickly.
The last remaining strength defending Eclipse was obliterated just like that.
“Waaaaah!”
The Mobile Army cheered. The castle was now right at their doorstep. There was no force left to stop them.
“Let’s go right in! Let’s catch that bastard Duke and slit his throat immediately!”
Lucas shouted with his face flushed.
On the southern front, allies and the Delphine army were battling fiercely. If they could just capture Duke Delphine, everything would be over. They had to do it before he escaped.
That was right. Ghislaine intended to do just that.
Until Dark came to relay new information.
Hovering in the sky and keeping watch over the surroundings, Dark said.
― Master, they’re nearly here. It seems they’ll arrive soon.
“Everyone, for now, rest on your horses while preparing for battle. It seems we will have to fight again.”
At Ghislaine’s command, the Penris Mobile Army formed ranks. Seizing the brief moment, they ate their combat rations and drank some water.
They didn’t even ask what was happening. Ghislaine gathering them for combat preparation meant that enemies were truly looming.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
After a moment, the sound of pounding hooves echoed fiercely.
“It’s truly the Kingdom’s Greatest Sword. I never expected them to come so quickly.”
Even though they took a detour, it was still faster than anticipated for the Delphine army to rush in.
The news had reached, and without hesitation, they had come running. His judgment and resolve were commendable.
As Ghislaine had predicted, it was Kaien and 40,000 cavalry. They all appeared to be covered in dust as they gasped for breath, apparently having taken no breaks.
It was a coincidence that they met when both sides were exhausted.
Kaien gritted his teeth at the sight before him.
“That bastard really caused a ruckus.”
The area was filled with corpses. The defenders had been annihilated, and the Penris Mobile Army was now prepared for battle.
This meant that somewhere out there was the body of Elois.
He never expected to lose one of the duke faction’s top soldiers so easily—especially in a place filled with traps.
Kaien felt the heat rise in his head. He had never been this furious in his life.
With a roar like a lion, he bellowed.
“Ghislaine Perdium—!”
That cry was filled with endless rage. It was also packed with the intent to kill his opponent.
Ghislaine smirked coldly as he leveled his spear.
“Let’s settle who the Kingdom’s Greatest Sword is right here.”
Now, it was time to once again push beyond the limits.
