Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Countering the Forerunners
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“Haa… What a hassle…….”
The moment he stepped out of the drawing room, a wave of annoyance crashed over him.
He just wanted to get swept away by it and head straight home….
Thinking about how much the original story must have twisted while thwarting the poisoning attempt made his vision go dark already.
“No, this was still the best option….”
In the original, the poisoning attempt was an incredibly dull and drawn-out plotline.
It ended with endless suspicions but no culprit identified, after Kuhn slowly cornered Leon by fabricating all sorts of evidence.
Then, while everyone was distracted, the Forerunners kidnapped Kuhn and raided the ducal territory.
What made it dangerous was purely the Forerunners’ martial prowess and the fact that the raid caught them completely off guard with no preparations.
In other words, the most important thing was to give the ducal territory time to prepare.
Yeah, it wasn’t like he’d gotten pissed and just screwed over Kuhn.
He’d painted the big picture and, as a bonus, screwed over Kuhn too.
“Anyway, if you know it’s coming, it’s not a surprise anymore.”
On the contrary, knowing the enemy planned a raid made counterattacking all the more effective.
The moment they struck, hit back swiftly and decisively to resolve it.
What a satisfying ring to that.
Of course, to do that, he first needed to track the Forerunners’ movements.
Since things had diverged from the original long ago, there were bound to be changes.
Alright, let’s think this through.
Some of the Forerunners were probably already infiltrated inside the ducal estate.
Forerunners could hide anywhere, anytime.
Like cockroaches….
In the original, they’d started disruptions from within first, then pressed from outside.
There were likely plenty of infiltrators embedded like Bake Breads.
He didn’t know who, where, or how they’d snuck in….
It might be impossible to uncover them all, but spotting a couple by face was plenty feasible.
He’d seen so many while playing Broken World….
“Oh, Theo. You’re still here?”
From down the hallway, red hair tied in a single ponytail swayed.
Cain, dressed not in her uniform but in formal attire like Leon’s, waved cheerfully.
“I heard about your exploits yesterday. Too bad I didn’t see it myself!”
“…Come to think of it, Senior Cain wasn’t at the banquet, were you?”
“Getting forced into a dress pissed me off, so I just skipped it!”
Man, Cain was something else.
That free spirit had to come from Lucius.
Which was why she didn’t get along great with Kuhn.
“If you’re planning more fun stuff like that, call me ahead next time. Got it?”
“How could I call you ahead, Senior?”
“Fair point. What a shame~!”
Looking at Cain laughing so brightly, who would ever guess she was the ducal family’s eldest daughter?
But she really was.
If she wanted, she could mobilize at least thirty percent of the Hilfenberg knights.
That would be more than enough to counter the Forerunners’ movements.
“Hmm… Senior, does ‘fun stuff’ mean anything goes?”
“Not anything. I hate causing trouble for others. It’s not fun anyway.”
“Good to hear. It’s not exactly fun—it’s actually asking for your help.”
“Help?”
“Explaining in detail would get complicated… but simply put, it’s something that could put Leon in danger.”
In an instant, Cain’s expression turned fierce, like a lion glaring at an intruder.
“Tell me, Theo.”
“Yawn…… How many days has it been already……!”
Cain stretched languidly.
The knights on standby around her didn’t twitch.
She looked half-asleep at a glance, but she was vigilantly guarding the surroundings like a royal guard.
“Four days still.”
“Four days already! Four whole days stuck on top of this clock tower!”
Cain flopped onto the makeshift sofa.
To overlook the city at a glance, they’d set up a watchpost atop Riverflow’s central clock tower.
The knights had handled pretty much everything, from building the post to the overall surveillance.
Ah, this was too convenient.
It’d be nice if the knights just solved everything from now on.
Of course, that would stunt Leon’s growth and leave him unable to take down the final boss.
Anyway, Leon was Broken World’s protagonist.
There was a reason for that—he was the only one who could defeat the ultimate black curtain.
He couldn’t sacrifice the future for short-term ease, so he shelved any thoughts of relying on official forces.
“You’re sure our territory’s getting raided?”
“Dead certain. I’d stake Grandpa’s name on it.”
“That confident? I’ll believe you then… but I convinced Father to bring as many knights as possible. It’d suck if nothing happens~.”
“Nothing happening would be even better, no?”
“Sure, if I weren’t catching so much flak for it.”
“Well, Senior won’t have to catch any flak.”
So far, events had either gained new twists or uncovered hidden side stories from the main plot, but nothing that was supposed to happen had ever failed to.
“I believe it.”
Leon, sitting ramrod straight, added quietly.
The guy had been sitting silently for three days straight without complaint—it was almost creepy.
“If you say so….”
Cain pouted, propping her chin up.
This side was fine left alone.
He picked up the binoculars and scanned below the clock tower.
Riverflow brimmed with vitality as always.
People coming and going in the neatly maintained city.
After watching for a while, a few familiar faces caught his eye.
First was the tall man with long, disheveled blond hair swept back by an arm scarred and pitted with wounds.
Beside the man, who radiated a savage aura, were a quiet black-haired man with a cloth over his eyes and a petite woman in a black dress with her white hair neatly tied with a red ribbon.
At a glance… ordinary?
Honestly, not really.
The man with the scarred arm was Glaken of Raw Strength, the eyepatched one Garmut of Insight, and the ribboned dress-wearer Radiana the Bloodied—all Forerunners.
They weren’t the ones who originally appeared in Hilfenberg territory.
His memory differed from reality… but he knew all three faces.
That meant he could handle it somehow.
“Found them.”
“Where?”
Cain snatched the binoculars, her boredom vanished as her eyes gleamed.
She pinpointed the villains with ghostly precision and nodded in satisfaction.
“They look super suspicious. Reeking of danger. Nice—let’s go!”
She grabbed her spear and leaped off the clock tower.
He instinctively poked his head out in shock, but Cain had acrobatically gripped the tower wall, descended, and landed on a nearby rooftop.
Was that even human…?
At least he couldn’t, so he obediently descended the stairs with Leon.
“Who are you guys?”
Radiana twirled the ribbon on her head with her fingertip.
Cain, blocking the villains’ path at the vanguard, stroked her spear shaft and declared cheerfully.
“I’m Cain of House Hilfenberg. Same question back at you.”
“You want us to say who we are? Fun.”
Radiana smirked, tugging her lip.
Her sharp canines glinted through the slight parting.
Sure enough, despite her youthful looks, she was an ancient vampire.
“Looks like our intel leaked. They predicted we’d come.”
“Ha! Doesn’t matter—smash ’em all, done.”
Garmut pressed his forehead as Glaken cracked his fists together.
He’d love to resolve this without fighting… but Cain gripping her spear and Leon who’d drawn Exwise long ago weren’t leaving it to the belated knights.
Siblings through and through, huh.
-Hey, you handle the white-hair one.
What the hell out of nowhere.
He was used to the demon sword popping out, but nominations?
-I sense a fragment of the devil in her. Your abilities have grown enough that you can absorb it without bursting like a balloon. Got it? You handle her personally!
A devil fragment in Radiana….
That was a setting that never came up in the game.
Well, better than absorbing new devil powers—he wished it would hurry up and digest the energy transferred from the Void Dagger.
-…….
Silence when it suited it—sneaky bastard.
Anyway… no choice.
Three on their side, three on his—numbers even.
“I’ll take the white-hair. Senior and Leon, handle the other two.”
“Got it. I’ll take the scarface. The knights’ll control the perimeter, so go wild!”
Cain dashed at Glaken, gripping her spear tightly.
Leon sighed faintly at her back and approached Garmut.
It diverged from the original… but better this way.
Neither was a bad matchup for the current Leon and Cain.
They’d learn plenty.
“My opponent… is you?”
Radiana tilted her head slightly, her dress hem fluttering.
A blood-red rapier materialized in her hand with the motion.
He drew Deathwise too.
Sucks it wasn’t night… but he’d manage.
“Make it fun for me?”
A chilling whisper raised goosebumps on his neck as Radiana vanished in place.
She closed in at speed that allowed no blinking, thrusting her rapier.
Minimal motion for maximum velocity.
One hit, and he’d be swiss cheese.
But that speed was familiar long ago.
He visualized the rapier’s strike zone, shifted his center of gravity, and barely dodged.
The wind from the blade tore at his cheek and hair, but he ignored it.
Instead, he wedged Deathwise into the rapier’s path.
“Eut…!”
Radiana, attack interrupted, stepped back.
He closed the gap with repeated swings.
Outmatched in momentum, Radiana focused on defense.
The moment victory seemed clear to anyone watching.
Just one more step to clinch it—he pulled back.
Simultaneously, Radiana’s red rapier sliced through where his throat had been.
“Oh? You noticed?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Pretending to be pushed then striking an opening—that was Radiana’s main pattern.
It even tricked players eventually.
He’d cursed up a storm his first playthrough.
But it toughened him up….
“No need to hide now that you caught me.”
Radiana smiled purely, viciously, and closed the distance in a flash.
He’d hoped to suppress her while she concealed her power… but no dice.
No time to click his tongue—he swung Deathwise to parry the rapier.
“Ahaha,” Radiana laughed delightedly.
Laughing while crossing blades.
She was insane.
He rolled his eyes rapidly.
Parry, dodge, repel—every nerve on defense.
Amid the flurry of strikes, Radiana twisted her lips.
Slash! Her blood-red rapier warped form.
Radiana’s rapier was made of her blood.
Her ability: freely manipulating her own blood.
Meaning no need to stick to rapier shape.
Cheating even with weapons eventually.
Well, he knew already, so countering wasn’t hard.
The blood-red rapier split into dozens of sharp needles lunging at him.
He swapped spatial coordinates in timing.
“Kuh…!?”
Radiana’s attack halted in midair.
She swiftly retreated, yanking Deathwise from her shoulder blade and tossing it to the ground.
“How…!”
Dimensional magic, obviously.
Simply tossed Deathwise while teleporting it behind her.
Simple, but perfect for catching off guard.
“Ahaha, so fun…! More, make it more fun!”
Clutching her gushing shoulder, Radiana shuddered.
Her sharp fangs elongated past her lips.
Her pupils and jeweled necklace pulsed red.
Phase two from here.
Now ranged patterns dominated, unlike before….
But he wasn’t helpless at range.
He twisted coordinates to recall Deathwise to hand.
Reverse grip on hilt, hurled it spear-like with full force.
Radiana fired blood bullets to shoot it down, but he warped space repeatedly.
Deathwise chaining teleports was a nightmare for the opponent.
No telling when or where it’d strike—preemptive options severely limited.
Best counter: omnidirectional barrage, which Radiana tried by exploding her blood everywhere.
What she overlooked: dimensional magic’s range spanned wherever his mana reached.
In mana-dominated space, omnidirectional barrages meant nothing.
Clang!
Deathwise pierced her red necklace dead-on, bypassing the explosion via teleport.
Black energy leaked from shattered gems, absorbed into Deathwise.
“Cough,” Radiana vomited blood and collapsed.
She twitched her fingers, unable to move as he approached and reclaimed Deathwise.
“How… did you know……?”
Game’s signature pointless overkill of obscure lore details.
The setting book said her blood control came from that ever-present red necklace.
No obligation to answer honestly, so he ignored her.
More importantly, dropping even Radiana meant he was pretty damn usable daytime now, right?
-Hmm, a devil of true talent indeed. Regardless of what this body said, you’re still beyond saving. Without knowing the weakness, you wouldn’t have won so easily.
What, after ordering him to.
Info advantage was his strength, though?
Never just praises him.
He sheathed Deathwise and looked around.
Leon and Cain had won too in the interim.
Some surrounding damage, but neither injured.
Geniuses as expected—fighting well without knowing weaknesses like he did.
If they just kept growing and took out all the devils too, how great.
Something flashed in his mind.
…Not a hope.
He could make it reality.