Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Mike Hoare (1)
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“The battle is over.”
Mike Hoare brushed back his disheveled hair and pulled out the sword that had pierced the enemy’s head, flicking the blood off.
He had lost track of how much time had passed since the first ambush. The depths of the dense mountain range were not a good place to gauge the passing of a day, and the enemy attacks had been relentless.
“*Pant… pant…*”
“Ugh. I’m dead tired.”
“Let’s clean up later. We need to rest first.”
He figured at least three months must have passed since the mission began.
A truly long, long time. But for all the time they had spent, they had gained very little.
They had first set foot in the southern mountain range after receiving intelligence that the Empire was up to some shady business here.
The place where the bastards were supposedly up to no good turned out to be ruins with nothing inside. Even they were still in the process of researching the ruins’ purpose.
The greatest crisis that followed was the monster wave. Countless monsters had swarmed out from the depths of the southern mountains.
A horde of a size that even Mike Hoare had never seen before in his life.
At that point, survival took precedence over hunting monsters. If he had been alone, he would have naturally fought his way through them, but he hadn't come to these mountains by himself.
To make matters worse, the entire southern mountain range was gradually being corrupted by demonic energy. The foul energy was spreading its reach, as if it were a living creature.
“Whew. The demonic energy has crept this close. If it’s reached here from the summit… there aren’t many normal places left.”
“Mark it well. We can’t worry about the demonic energy while fighting the Imperial bastards swarming up from below. When the time comes for a choice, we’ll have to break through those Imperial forces.”
“Understood.”
He was also responsible for the lives of the unit members on this mission. He had to ensure they returned to headquarters safely.
“Khahaha… That aside, it seems the Imperial bastards are dying to get their hands on me. They keep sending more and more troops.”
“I know, right? They’re going to great lengths to catch you, Captain. Guess that just shows what a bad guy you are to them.”
At his subordinate’s words, Mike Hoare let out a loud, rough laugh.
“That’s right. If I’m going to be the bad guy, I might as well be the best bad guy there is.”
“And take as many of them with us as we can. So we can be remembered as the greatest villains.”
Though they were laughing, the condition of his men was still poor. About two hundred of them had been fighting relentlessly against a force several times their size with no proper rest.
They had already lost dozens of comrades. It was only a matter of time before dozens turned into a hundred.
The number of wounded was also increasing. As the battles grew fiercer, it was inevitable that some would lose their lives.
They could feel it too. The premonition that someone here might soon be gone.
“I wonder what it’s like down below…”
“I’d kill for a cold beer right now. *Gulp— Ahh—!*”
“The flat beer back at HQ would be even better.”
“Wonder how the other guys are doing. If they knew how much we’re suffering, they’d at least let us off guard duty at HQ, as fellow human beings.”
The mercenaries joked and laughed atop the pile of enemy corpses. In a desperate situation, one had to laugh even harder to forget the harsh reality.
“Go search the bodies. They’ve been carrying less food lately.”
“Yessir~”
There was no way out. The entrance to the mountain range was blocked by the enemy, who had set up a blockade to prevent their descent, and there was hardly any food to be found here.
They were getting by on rations plundered from the enemies they killed, along with edible roots and animals from the mountains, but they couldn’t help but suddenly crave the proper meals they used to have back at headquarters.
“Whoa, damn—”
“We hit the motherlode today! The farther we go, the more food they bring with them, huh?”
As a few mercenaries began to search the bodies of the soldiers and knights who had come to kill them and collect their emergency rations, Mike Hoare finally slumped down and looked at the mage who was trying to establish communication.
“Any contact?”
“Still nothing. It seems they’ve set up a wide-range communication jammer. We’ve come quite a way, but still…”
Mike Hoare frowned. They had already killed Imperial soldiers by the thousands. To jam communications and push them this deep meant they were determined to finish them off for good.
Breaking through the entrance to the southern mountain range wouldn't be easy either. It was plastered with all sorts of defensive magic, and the enemy had practically built a fortress there.
Inside were scores of knights, soldiers, and test subjects tainted by demonic energy.
Moreover, their skills were all at the level of intermediate or high-level Experts, or even Sword Masters.
“Since when did Sword Masters become so common?”
With Sword Masters being a dime a dozen, just fending off the enemy attacks was no easy task.
No matter how powerful Mike Hoare was as a top-tier Sword Master, his strength had its limits.
“This is the worst.”
“Sir?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Keep trying to make contact. They must be worried at headquarters.”
“Won’t headquarters send reinforcements?”
At someone’s murmur, a flicker of hope appeared on the unit members’ faces, but they soon sighed and focused on the present situation.
The one leading them was none other than the captain of the mercenary corps, Mike Hoare.
Two weeks had already passed since they set out on the mission with the captain, yet there was no support from headquarters.
They were undoubtedly preoccupied with the monster wave.
“Let’s get a move on. Time to move again.”
“Alright—let’s move! Grab your weapons!”
Perhaps because the battle was over, the men got to their feet with bright expressions, tending to their weapons.
The smell of blood from the corpses was bound to attract monsters. Even if they were to rest, it had to be somewhere else.
*Tap-tap-tap—*
At the sound of urgent footsteps and a voice calling for him from a distance, Mike Hoare stopped and waited for the approaching unit member.
“Captain—! Enemies are coming. At least three hundred. A few dozen knights are mixed in as well.”
At the report from the scout, the other members sighed, their faces etched with fatigue.
“Is that all? Where are they coming from?”
“…From three directions.”
“Which way is clear?”
“The only way is up the mountain.”
Mike Hoare drew his sword and looked at his men. The only path was up the mountain.
In other words, the enemy was trying to herd them in one direction to isolate them.
As if tightening the noose on their prey.
“*Haa…*”
“They don’t give us a moment’s rest.”
It was as if they were engaged in a war of attrition, slowly chipping away at their stamina. Moreover, the quality of the advancing enemies was by no means low.
Each one was a formidable foe that required their full concentration. It was only natural that they were getting exhausted.
“We’ll lure them elsewhere and fight.”
Mike Hoare led his men, trying his best not to show his concern.
He couldn't shake the feeling that they were caught in a continuous spiral of worst-case scenarios.
He hadn’t said it to his men, but he had a premonition that the time was coming. The time when they would have to break through that encirclement, no matter the sacrifice.
Or the time when a battle that would demand a great sacrifice would unfold.
***
Ruben Whittle gazed at the dark forest spread out before him.
He liked this forest. He felt that its endless, encompassing darkness was just like him.
“We must drive them into a corner. So they can no longer escape.”
Ruben Whittle, who was in charge of the mission in the southern mountain range, was satisfied with having pushed his prey to the very edge.
“And when their rage, frustration, and despair reach their peak.”
Ruben Whittle licked his lips.
“I’ll kill them all.”
Just the thought of it was sweet, wasn’t it?
“Troop status?”
“They are sufficient.”
“Prepare the test subjects as well. We’ll finish this by tearing out their throats in one go.”
Mad Mike Hoare, the captain of the White Mercenary Corps. A top-tier Sword Master.
And the Empire’s most dangerous enemy.
If they could just capture that bastard holed up in the southern mountain range, the Empire would gain a significant advantage in the upcoming war with the Holy Kingdom.
Because one of the three major pillars would be properly shattered.
That was why the Director of Central Intelligence had sent him here.
“Understood.”
For over a month, he had sent out pursuit teams every few hours to wear down the enemy's stamina.
Of course, it would have been nice to take as many of their lives as possible, but they had only managed to kill a few dozen mercenaries.
More than once, he had felt the urge to send in all his forces at once and wipe them out, but he had restrained himself well.
The longer he let it ripen, the sweeter the fruit would be.
“I’m moving out as well.”
Ruben Whittle picked up his gear. He couldn't be absent at the most crucial moment.
And if possible, taking Mike Hoare’s head with his own hands would make for a fine picture.
The base would be empty, but they had already achieved their initial objective of preventing Mike Hoare from escaping the mountain range.
“All forces, prepare for battle—!”
With a long horn blast, every section of the fortress bustled with activity.
The firmly shut iron gates opened, and the caged test subjects crawled out. Soldiers and knights formed ranks before them.
A total force of over three thousand. It had started with over five thousand, but they had sacrificed more than two thousand in the war of attrition.
That was how tenacious the bastards were. He had never expected to expend over two thousand soldiers.
But it was enough. Their opponents were a small group of less than two hundred, were they not?
“Their location?”
“They’ve taken position in those ruins, blocking the entrance and holding out.”
“The ruins, you say…”
The secret of the ruins, said to be essential for the Empire’s grand plan, remained unsolved.
“Uncovering the secret of the ruins would surely help with my promotion. Hmph.”
“All forces are ready.”
There had been a report that a gate had opened in the Lagaris Ruins, but the team was wiped out.
The ruins themselves had vanished without a trace. Just like the ones in the Ashar Desert.
“Advance.”
“All forces, advance—!”
Ruben Whittle rode at the very front, slowly guiding his horse towards the ruins deep in the southern mountain range, where his prey awaited.
To savor the final taste of the sweet fruit.
And he had no doubt that this fruit would be the beginning of his string of successes.
***
“Watch out—!”
*Boom—!*
The entrance to the ruins was barely wide enough for four or five men to pass through shoulder to shoulder.
“Aargh—!”
“Fall back! I said fall back—!”
“Retreat to the back of the ruins—!”
A mercenary, his face covered in bone fragments from a suddenly exploding corpse, screamed and collapsed.
“Dammit! You persistent bastards!”
As if they had planned it, they had driven them into the ruins and were now shoving test subjects through the entrance.
The test subjects, tainted by demonic energy, charged forward as if to bite with their mouths even if their bodies were torn to pieces. All around them, corpses exploded, spreading a foul demonic energy.
Mike Hoare was at the forefront, blocking the passage so they couldn't get through, but it was inevitable that one or two would slip by.
The problem was that as time went on, the number of enemies increased, and Mike Hoare, growing more exhausted, was letting more of them through.
Even for a superhuman, top-tier Sword Master, the weeks of relentless attrition and exposure to demonic energy were taking their toll.
Hadn't he taken on all the watch duties himself during the lulls in the attacks, just to let his other men rest?
On top of that, the deaths of their comrades were slowly, but surely, wearing him and all of them down.
“Dammit—! Dammit! Dammit!”
“Block them—! Throw something, anything!”
A grim sense of defeat, of being unable to do anything in this situation, was etched on the mercenaries' faces.
As the demonic energy saturated the ground, just getting close caused their bodies to contort. A whirlwind of emotions raged within them, making them feel as if they could turn their swords on their comrades at any moment.
They were somehow holding the line by striking once and retreating, repeating the process, but the enemy had now pushed right up to their doorstep.
*Thud—! Thud—!*
And from the distance.
From the entrance.
A thunderous noise began to echo. A roar loud enough to shake the entire cavern.