Chapter 534
Chapter 534: So There Was One Monster. (3)
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
As Jerome cast his spell, piercing through the mana barrier that controlled the space, he frowned.
‘It’s not as easy as I thought.’
The resistance from the enemy wizards was fiercer than expected. It seemed quite a number of them were pouring their full magical power into the fight.
Even though Jerome was breaking through with overwhelming strength, the power of his spells weakened, and the area of effect decreased.
Moreover, there were too many enemies. While Jerome had gained the upper hand with magic, a significant number were already climbing up the fortress.
“Stop them!”
“Hurry, get over!”
“Knights, make a path!”
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
The enemy knights swiftly leaped onto the fortress. Our troops struggled hard to hold them back.
As the skirmish began, the combat intensified further. Screams echoed from all directions, and bodies collapsed to the ground.
Jerome spread his arms wide.
“Hah!”
As he took a deep breath, something astonishing happened.
Paaah!
“Uh? Uh? Uh?”
The knights, who had leaped high into the air, seemed to be pulled backward and flew away.
Not just the knights, but all the troops clinging to the fortress were thrown off.
It looked as if a giant tree was shaken, and all the bugs clinging to it were brushed off in an instant.
“Uwaaaa! What the hell is this!”
Everyone screamed and flailed in mid-air. Soon, the enemies crashed to the ground, suffering severe injuries.
“M-Mad…”
“Is that… magic?”
“Is this for real?”
Both the attackers and defenders were stunned, momentarily halting the fight.
After all, only those clinging to the castle walls had been thrown back, so it looked quite odd.
The fortress’s wizards were so shocked, they almost lost their mana.
Still, seeing the miracle before their eyes, the fortress troops began to regain their confidence. With that wizard, they felt they could win.
However, Jerome didn’t view the situation so optimistically.
‘Ugh, this is tough.’
He secretly made a grim face. It felt like he was fighting alone against 200,000 troops.
Honestly, our side was of little help. They were actually more of a hindrance.
But he couldn’t pull back. If he did, this place would be conquered in no time.
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
Flames and storms, which Jerome had cast, burst out everywhere.
Due to the mana barrier, the power was only at the level of a 6th Circle spell, but even that was enough to sweep through the careless enemies.
Still, there were just too many enemies. Before long, they began to cling to the fortress again.
‘Ugh…’
Jerome inwardly groaned.
Mana consumption was increasing steadily. Fighting alone to defend while battling was truly unbearable.
The delicate balance was shattered by newly appearing superhumans.
Paaah!
Two priests unleashed black energy like a rainstorm. They seemed to have poured all their energy from the start to inflict heavy damage.
“Oh no!”
Thousands of strands of black energy shot down. Our wizards couldn’t block it because they were busy maintaining their mana fields. In fact, they didn’t even have the ability to stop it.
Eventually, Jerome withdrew from the offensive and deployed a large-scale shield.
Pachak!
Kwakwakwakwakwakwaang!
The black energy collided with Jerome’s shield and dissipated. Despite the mana restrictions, Jerome had successfully defended against the attacks of the two superhumans.
The two priests also displayed astonishment.
“What on earth is that?”
“A wizard unaffected by the mana barrier!”
It was so powerful that it simply broke through the barrier with brute force, yet the priests couldn’t understand this because they didn’t know Jerome’s true strength.
Of course, the rebel wizards who came here were somewhat lacking in skills. A 7th Circle wizard should be able to use some level of magic.
However, even a 7th Circle wizard couldn’t fight at Jerome’s level.
While they were stunned, Jerome reached out his hand.
“Ice Spear.”
Dududududu!
Moisture in the air rapidly froze, creating two ice spears.
The two ice spears shot forward like beams of light before the priests could regain their senses.
The two priests exuded energy and tried to block it. There was no time to escape; they were just thinking of blocking and countering.
Kwah bang!
“Kuhk!”
Barely managing to block Jerome’s attack, the priests immediately tried to counter.
Since they hadn’t trained to become superhumans on their own, they had no thought of attacking and defending simultaneously.
The priests aiming at Jerome widened their eyes.
“No?”
“Where is he…?”
The enemy was nowhere to be seen.
Feeling a presence behind them, the two priests hurriedly turned around.
Skratch!
A massive mana blade that extended from Jerome’s hand slashed through both of their necks simultaneously. The two priests died just like that, in a pitiful manner.
Yet, Jerome’s complexion remained dark.
The fact that the superhumans of the Salvation Society were half-baked was now widely known. He had exploited that gap to easily kill them.
His battle skills honed over a long period in the normal world far surpassed those priests.
However, no matter how half-baked they were, they were still superhumans. To break through their gaps required a massive amount of mana.
Otherwise, the battle would have dragged on.
‘Mana… I only have half left.’
After killing the priests, Jerome looked down at the fortress, biting his lip.
‘So many.’
While he was dealing with the priests, the enemies began to flood onto the fortress like ants. As the skirmish continued, our side began to face increasing casualties.
“Hah!”
Jerome once again unleashed his mana, pulling the troops on the fortress towards him. It was to minimize damage to his allies.
Kwah ah ah ah ah!
Simultaneously, he extended his other hand and created several large pits in front of the fortress. The enemies began to fall in and flounder around.
Even while fighting, Jerome couldn’t understand the enemies’ actions.
‘Why…’
In a normal showdown, they should have retreated to regroup their remaining troops and formulate a more efficient plan.
As long as he was there, even if they captured the fortress, they would suffer tremendous losses.
But the enemies didn’t do that. They rushed in blindly, paralyzed with fear.
‘Is the commander insane?’
He clearly didn’t give a thought to the overall battle strategy. At this point, one could say he was not just incompetent but downright deranged.
Waaaah!
To shake off their fear, the enemies yelled loudly and continued to charge. It was practically madness.
At this rate, our side would eventually suffer great losses. Even in a battle around the fortress, damages were steadily accumulating.
So Jerome made a resolution. He decided to take on greater risks to minimize damage.
‘I’ll kill the commander first.’
He stopped helping his allies and slowly lifted his body into the air.
Zing―!
A golden magic circle appeared before Jerome’s eyes. His gaze, focused straight ahead, began to expand.
As if seeing through a telescope, distant things came into view.
Inside the enemy lines, someone was lounging casually with their chin resting on their hand. They wore a tattered gray robe, and darkness flickered across their face.
Jerome realized that several people were lined up around him.
That must be the author. The author must be the commander orchestrating this insane operation.
At that moment, the figure in the gray robe lifted his head and looked into the air. Jerome, who locked eyes with him, smirked.
‘Can he sense my mana?’
He had thought they were a madman, but they seemed to be quite capable.
“Let’s see you try.”
Jerome locked onto that location and cast a teleportation spell. It would require a massive amount of mana, but he planned to capture the enemy as quickly as possible.
Space distorted behind him, instantly sucking him in.
Paaah!
At the same time, Jerome appeared in front of Helgenik. He had traversed that great distance instantly.
With this spell, he could also fulfill the role of an excellent assassin during Ghislaine’s past life.
Kwah bang!
As Jerome traveled through the space, he unleashed his mana to create a shockwave. The enemy staff members nearby didn’t even get a chance to scream before they were killed.
But only one person.
Helgenik had somehow already dodged backward.
“Oh dear, oh dear… I didn’t expect it to be this impressive. Which mage tower did you come from?”
The spell Jerome cast was completely different from the Blink spell, which covers short distances.
Using wide-area vision magic to pinpoint coordinates and move through space was not a skill anyone could showcase. In fact, very few even knew such spell formulas.
One could say this was magic used by legendary dragons of lore.
Jerome didn’t respond and extended his hand. His mana was considerably low. He needed to dispose of the enemy quickly.
Pah!
A simple energy bolt, but when he cast it, it was different. A powerful bolt of magic shot toward Helgenik.
Kwah ah ah ah ah!
Helgenik deployed a shield to block it. Simultaneously, dozens of dark holes filled with thick darkness appeared around him.
And from those holes emerged knights in black armor riding spectral steeds, all swarming with dark energy.
“Death Knights?”
Jerome was taken aback and stepped back. Dozens of Death Knights swung their swords at him.
Kwah ah ah ah ah!
As Jerome poured out his mana, the Death Knights and phantom steeds were torn apart and pushed back.
But…
Dududududu!
With a single wave of Helgenik’s hand, their bodies instantly healed.
“Wow… They were stronger than I thought.”
Jerome forced a wry smile.
Each Death Knight exhibited strength comparable to high-ranking knights. Even using area-of-effect magic wouldn’t easily take them out.
Even if he were to destroy them, that necromancer would surely revive them.
Indeed, it was clear that the opponent was not an ordinary superhuman. Even fighting with all his strength seemed like it would take a considerable amount of time to win.
Now that he had expended significant mana, he couldn’t deal with the enemy in a single blow.
Even if he aimed to fight to the end, the opponent wouldn’t willingly engage. A necromancer wouldn’t be foolish enough to fight this way.
Gahrg—!
The torn corpses around him began to pick themselves up and stand again.
“Kill the enemy!”
The knights and soldiers in the rear surged forward.
Even with Jerome’s abilities, he could not face all these enemies single-handedly.
‘This is a failure.’
Killing the enemy commander right now was impossible.
However, he had learned the enemy’s intent. The author clearly didn’t care if all his troops died.
They would rise again as an immortal army.
In truth, no matter how much mana he wielded, as a human, he couldn’t resurrect an entire army of 200,000.
‘Still, using such tactics means he must have prepared some method.’
In war, this was the most troublesome type of enemy.
Before pulling back, Jerome looked at Helgenik and asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Helgenik. And you?”
“Jerome. Let’s meet again later. It’s annoying, but I’ll have to kill you.”
“Looking forward to it.”
Both understood perfectly well that they couldn’t kill each other right then and there. Therefore, neither pushed the conflict further.
Originally, it was Parniel who stood against Helgenik during Ghislaine’s reincarnation. However, due to Ghislaine changing the future, the two had met first.
Pah!
Jerome’s body was sucked back into the space and disappeared.
Helgenik laughed as he watched.
“There are really many interesting folks in the world.”
Jerome felt a similar sentiment. He hadn’t expected to encounter such a strong opponent right after coming into this world.
Of course, his feelings weren’t as joyous as Helgenik’s.
Unlike necromancers who lived by consuming death, he was in the business of saving people.
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
While Jerome was gone, the fortress had already plunged into a fierce battle. He went straight to the fortress commander and said.
“Retreat.”
“What do you mean! We must defend this place!”
“We can’t hold. There’s a crazy monster on their side. We won’t last half a day now.”
“P-perhaps if the wizard helps us, we could hold out for days? If you cast magic like before, we might win…”
Before the fortress commander could finish his sentence, Jerome pointed outside the fortress with his finger.
Gahrg—
The corpses began to rise. The enemies who had died on the fortress were staggering back to their feet.
Soon, the soldiers shouted in terrified voices.
“Th-the corpses are standing up!”
“It’s dark magic! It’s dark magic!”
“The ones who died are coming back to life!”
Gahrg!
As Helgenik began to exert his power in earnest, countless corpses began to rise and attack the soldiers once more.
The soldiers were gripped by fear. This was no longer a fight against the living.
No matter how much they cut off heads or stabbed hearts, the corpses kept moving.
Jerome said once more to the now pale fortress commander.
“Run away! You can’t hold with this manpower. You need many more soldiers and priests.”
“We need to buy time until the Kingdom army arrives…”
“That’s meaningless! It’s better to run and join the Kingdom army sooner with at least one person.”
The fortress commander still couldn’t make a decision. No, it would be more accurate to say that he was at a loss in this ridiculous situation.
Jerome urged him loudly.
“Hurry! I’ll buy as much time as I can, so just run!”
Finally, the fortress commander nodded.
“A-Alright. Please, I beg you.”
Woosh!
The retreat trumpet sounded, and the soldiers began to hurriedly withdraw from the fortress.
Gahrg!
The corpses surged forth to kill the living, spreading out in all directions.
Jerome, left alone, took a deep breath.
“Ugh, I shouldn’t have come out. The outside world is indeed dangerous.”
The world was truly exhausting. He already missed the days spent at home… no, in the mage tower, eating delicious food, reading fun books, and lounging around.
But what could he do?
Those with power must bear responsibility as well. He had learned and grown to understand that.
“Okay, I’ll run too… but I won’t go quietly, so let’s have a little fun first.”
With gritted teeth, golden light burst from Jerome’s eyes.
At the same time, an immense amount of mana erupted from his body, crashing down upon the corpses.
Kwah ah ah ah ah!
