Chapter 10 - A Lord’s First Battle
A Lord’s First Battle
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Translator: Dusky90
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: A Lord’s First Battle
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Otto linked up with Lota Territory’s forces right before the assault on Nazrak’s base.
“I greet you, my lord.”
Camille dropped to one knee before Otto and gave a knight’s formal salute to his lord.
It was a deliberate act to show the soldiers of Lota Territory that he still remained loyal to Otto.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Otto helped Camille to his feet.
“So it really is genuine, huh?”
“That damned troublemaker actually risked his life to bring back intel...”
“Well then, I guess tomorrow the sun’s rising in the west.”
The soldiers of Lota Territory were visibly shocked at what they saw.
Because the way Otto was acting was completely different from the lord they had known until now.
‘A battlefield.. damn it.’
Meanwhile, Otto was silently boiling on the inside.
*Shake* Shake
His legs were shaking.
*Thump* *Thump* Thump
It felt like his heart was about to explode.
‘Ughhh.’
Kim Do-jin was just a long-time veteran who had passionately played the game [Territory War].
There was no way someone like him had ever experienced real war, so it was only natural for him to fall into panic.
‘Gotta keep it together.’
The reason he joined the battle despite his fear was because of public sentiment.
Right now, the soldiers of Lota Territory had little loyalty left for Otto.
Also, they couldn’t trust Otto.
However, if he joins the battle and fights alongside them, the story changes.
If a lord puts his life on the line and fights with his troops, their loyalty and trust in him rise dramatically.
For that reason, Otto mustered his courage and personally stepped into battle.
“Are you all right?”
Camille whispered to Otto.
“This is your first real battle, isn’t it?”
“I-I'm fine."
“Your voice is trembling, you know.”
“R-Really? Haha... hahahaha..”
“If it’s too much, you can just lead from the rear. A lord doesn’t need to fight on the front lines. Just being here on the battlefield is more than enough…”
“Father fought alongside the soldiers, didn’t he?”
“Well, that’s true, but..”
“I have to show them I’m willing to fight myself. Only then will the soldiers believe in me and follow me.”
With those words, Otto unsheathed a sword, despite never having wielded one in his life.
Then he raised the sword high into the sky and shouted with all his might.
“For Lota!”
However.
"......"
"......"
"......"
Not a single soldier answered Otto’s rallying cry.
Because Otto was acting so out of character, the soldiers just stood there blinking, unsure how to respond and glancing around awkwardly.
“Come on, you punks! Say something! LOTAAAAAA!!!”
Otto shouted at the top of his lungs.
“L-Lota!”
One knight shouted out in confusion.
"Lota!”
"Lota!”
"Lota!”
Soon after, the voices of the soldiers rang out high into the sky.
“All units, charge! Wipe out those vile undead!”
With that shout, Otto charged toward Nazrak’s stronghold, leading the way ahead of everyone else.
The problem was that his enthusiasm was far ahead of everything else.
Thud
Charging ahead on his own, Otto caught his foot on a rock and went sprawling in the most ungraceful way possible.
"......"
"......"
"......"
The soldiers of Lota Territory were left speechless at the sight of Otto.
“...All units, charge.”
Camille said, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Waaahhhhhhh!”
With a thunderous cry, the soldiers of Lota Territory surged forward toward Nazrak’s stronghold.
Though it started off a bit awkwardly, the battle had begun.
And Otto..
“D-Don’t step on me! Agh! I said stop stepping on me, damn it!”
He had no choice but to roll around frantically to keep from being trampled by his own troops.
* * *
A perfect case of robbing an empty house.
Since Nazrak’s main force was fighting against the troops of Orth Territory, there weren’t many undead monsters left to defend the sanctuary.
So the battle unfolded as a sweeping victory for Lota Territory.
But that didn’t mean the battle was smooth sailing.
“Waaahhh!”
“H-Help me! Aahh! S-Somebody, over here!”
“Graaah!”
Screams erupted from all directions as soldiers were killed one after another.
‘So... this is what real combat feels like.’
Having witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, Otto froze in place.
With scenes of arms and legs being severed and heads flying right before his eyes, his body simply couldn’t move.
That was something he couldn’t help.
He had no combat experience, and on top of that, his character’s stats were far too low.
Honestly, just being able to stand on the battlefield at all was already an achievement in itself.
However, the enemy has no interest in his circumstances.
- KelKelKel!
A skeleton soldier charged at Otto.
“Watch out!!!”
Camille shouted and sliced the skeleton soldier attacking Otto clean in half at the waist.
“Stay sharp! Let your guard down and you're dead! You have to push through this!”
“I-I know that!”
“Didn’t your father teach you swordsmanship? Try to remember! Your body will remember it!”
“R-Right!”
Otto clenched his teeth.
‘This isn’t the world I used to live in. Here, people dying is a daily occurrence, and bloody battles break out every day. If I lose my head in a fight this small... I won’t survive what’s coming.’
He snapped himself out of it.
Clench!
His grip on the sword tightened with renewed resolve.
- Clack-clack!
Yet another skeleton soldier lunged at Otto.
‘To hell with it!’
Otto swung his sword as hard as he could at the skeleton charging toward him.
Crack!
With a heavy crack, the skeleton soldier’s spine was cleaved in two.
'I did it!'
Otto felt a surge of pride at what he’d just done.
Realizing he could at least take down one charging skeleton soldier gave him a much-needed boost of confidence.
‘Yeah! I can do this!’
With his fear suddenly gone, the chaos around him finally started to come into focus.
‘I can take down skeleton soldiers!’
Fueled by momentum, Otto went after a nearby one and swung his sword down at the back of its skull.
Ting!
[Alert: Miss!]
Because the character’s accuracy was so low, the attack missed.
“Huh..?”
Otto froze in confusion.
- .....?
The skeleton soldier turned its head with a creak and locked eyes on Otto.
Shiver!
The moment their eyes met, chills ran all over his body.
Swish!
The skeleton’s halberd came slicing through the air straight for Otto’s face.
Clang!
Otto instinctively raised his sword to block the attack, but he was helpless against the skeleton soldier’s follow-up strike.
Snap!
As if things weren’t bad enough, his sword shattered in his hands.
Thud!
Otto toppled over once again.
- Why you..!
A familiar voice flowed from the skeleton soldier’s mouth.
Nazrak’s soul had possessed the skeleton soldier and was now speaking to Otto.
- You dare betray me… and bring an army to my sanctuary..?
“Huh?”
- Even if I’m destroyed here... I’ll make damn sure you go down with me!
At that moment.
'T-This is bad.'
Otto realized he was truly in deep trouble.
*Creak* *Snap* *Swish* *Swiish* Snap
All at once, every undead monster around turned their heads and locked their sights squarely on him.
[Alert: Warning! Warning!]
[Alert: Nazrak is watching you!]
[Alert: All of Nazrak’s minions are now targeting only you!]
[Alert: Escape immediately!]
[Alert: They won’t stop until you’re dead!]
He’d pulled all the aggro.
Every undead monster in the sanctuary began swarming toward Otto.
And Otto...
“S-Somebody save meeeeee!!!”
He had no choice but to run for his life.
* * *
- My minions! That one must die... no exceptions! Hunt him down and finish him!
Hundreds of undead monsters charged at Otto all at once.
“Aaaaahhhhhhh!”
Otto ducked and weaved through the hail of attacks coming at him from all sides, running for his life without looking back.
“The lord’s in danger!”
“All units, defend the lord!”
At that, the soldiers of Lota Territory rushed in and began battling the undead closing in on Otto.
“Not so fast!”
Camille cut down a skeleton soldier targeting Otto and rushed to his defense.
“Camille!”
Otto called out to him.
“Go! Get out of here!”
“What are you talking about?!”
“There’s a portrait deep in the sanctuary! That’s where the undead lord’s soul is sealed! So go! Find it and destroy it!”
“But...”
“I’ll be fine.. just go! Don’t worry about me!”
The reason Otto shouted that was because destroying Nazrak’s soul was the only way to overcome this crisis.
If Nazrak isn’t taken out, the undead will just keep spawning without end.
It was obvious the respawned undead would keep going after Otto.
That’s why taking down Nazrak was more important than anything, and to do that, Camille had to be the one to go.
Because Camille was the only one capable of defeating the high-ranking undead monsters guarding Nazrak’s portrait.
“Understood.. I will carry out your command. Please stay safe.”
In the end, Camille chose to head deep into the sanctuary to destroy Nazrak’s portrait, rather than stay by Otto’s side.
Beep!
At that moment, a quest window popped up.
[Alert: A new quest has begun!]
The contents were as follows.
[Survive! Otto de Scuderia!]
Objective: Stay alive until Camille destroys Nazrak’s portrait.
Type: Timed Quest
Progress: 0% (0/1)
Reward: Orb of Destruction
Time Limit: 600 seconds
‘All I have to do now is hold out. Then it’s over.’
Gritting his teeth, Otto sprinted with everything he had.
This type of quest was something he had gone through countless times while playing the game <Territory War>.
So there was no need to panic.
‘Just do it like I always did.’
Drawing on his experience, Otto weaved through the terrain, ducking and dodging as he fled.
And Otto’s movements proved to be a great help to the Lota Territory forces.
“Block them!”
“Back off! The lord is under our protection!”
Otto’s clever use of the terrain made it much easier for the Iota soldiers to hold the undead at bay.
And with all the aggro locked onto Otto alone, not a single soldier took any damage.
It was just like when a tank draws aggro so the damage dealers can take out the monsters.
The problem was, Otto wasn’t a tank.
“Aaaaaahhhh!”
Otto pushed himself to the absolute limit, desperate not to get hit even once.
He ran, rolled, and dodged like a madman, drawing on every bit of strength he had.
But even that could only take him so far.
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
His body simply couldn’t keep going anymore.
The character named Otto had long been worn down by drinking and smoking, and hadn’t exercised in years.
With such poor stamina, even running away was a struggle.
“I-I can’t... Hahh... Hahh... I c-can’t run... anymore... Ngh!”
He swallowed back the rising nausea and pushed his legs to keep going.
- Running somewhere? Not so fast!
Just then, Nazrak, now possessing a skeletal knight, stepped in and blocked Otto’s escape.
“Heeik?!”
- If nothing else… I’ll drag you down with me…
“W-wait! Let’s not do anything crazy… We can talk this through!”
- Die! You wretched coward!
Just then, two knights and three soldiers from Lota Territory appeared and confronted Nazrak.
“Think again!”
“Die!”
But then..
- Buzz off, you worthless gnats!
Unfortunately, they were no match for Nazrak.
A skeletal knight was already far stronger than an ordinary skeleton soldier, and with Nazrak possessing it, its combat power was overwhelming.
“Aaagh!”
“Urgh!”
The knights and soldiers shielding Otto were all struck down.
- There’s no one left to protect you now. You wretched coward... For a traitor like you.. only merciless punishment awaits!
“Waaahhh!”
Screaming, Otto rolled right between Nazrak’s legs.
Then he scrambled into a pile of debris from the crumbling castle wall.
- You filthy little rat. You’re trapped now, there’s nowhere left to run.
Nazrak thrust his sword into the pile of rubble.
And in the very next second.
“Guh… Haahhh…”
Otto let out a gasp, on the verge of passing out.
He could see the tip of the sword.
Nazrak’s blade had stopped just a centimeter from his face.