Chapter 66
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: No Man's Land
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No Man's Land.
During a war, it’s the word for the frontline between allied and enemy trenches.
In the world I came from, the concept of trench warfare was a relatively modern development. Around World War I, maybe?
But in this age, where dragons fill the sky and demons crawl from the ground, that concept has unfortunately taken root far earlier than it did in my previous world.
A world where the art of war is far more developed than human rights or labor laws.
The Middle Ages were shitty enough, but this place is especially shitty because it’s a fantasy world.
“Three two-meter mutants spotted ahead!”
“What are the mages doing? Fire, now!”
“Wait, they have the silhouette of an orc! Could be friendlies, hold your fire—”
“It’s obviously a trick! They have two heads, just blast them with magic!”
Right.
Fucking shitty.
The soldiers’ near-screaming shouts filled the battlefield. They reported their individual situations and the ever-changing state of the war to their officers, who in turn bellowed orders back at them until their throats were raw.
“Honey, I need honey! If not honey, then sugar…”
An occasional dazed voice could be heard, but most soldiers silently stomped through the muddy water, dutifully carrying out their roles.
“Mazoku spotted up front!”
“Shit, get down!”
*Fwoosh!*
A hot, damp wind grazed my cheek. A red orb, flying from beyond the mist, landed just in front of the trench where the soldiers were taking cover.
Upon hitting the ground, the red orb erupted in a massive explosion, gouging a large crater in the earth. Venom-laced muck splattered in all directions, and the mist grew thicker, but thankfully, most of the soldiers hidden in the trench were unharmed.
While modern trench warfare developed with the advent of firearms, it seemed medieval fantasy trench warfare had rapidly advanced thanks to mages who could freely shoot fire and lightning from their hands and skilled archers who could accurately hit targets from a thousand meters away.
“…Dammit.”
They dug trenches, and mages exchanged blind magic volleys. Snipers rained arrows down on any enemies who popped out from their trenches.
How was this a medieval war in any sense?
Gone were the honorable duels between knights in shining armor; only this vulgar, horrifying ‘reality’ remained.
“…”
Alter and Rex looked as if they were hardened veterans of such battlefields. They merely watched the惨혹한 trench warfare in the distance, gripped their weapons with grim expressions, and said nothing.
Rireu, however, showed a hint of hesitation. This was likely her first real war, so her reaction was to be expected.
“…You don’t seem very scared, Sir Bin?”
Rireu watched me with a look of admiration as I silently followed the officer’s lead toward the front line.
“I am scared.”
Did she think I’d been in a war before? This was my first time setting foot in such a brutal place. How could anyone not be scared when people were getting hurt left and right and screams filled the air?
“For a boy seeing a battlefield for the first time, you are quite composed, General.”
Rex, too, seemed to find my reaction unusual, agreeing with Rireu’s sentiment.
“It’s not so strange if you consider my background.”
I was a street urchin.
My body was born with the cheat-like passive skill [Composure]. Of course I felt fear and unease, but not to the point where I couldn’t do what needed to be done.
“…Right, you did say you entered high-difficulty dungeons that yielded artifacts since you were a child. I guess that makes sense.”
Rireu interpreted my words in her own way and nodded as if she understood.
…Whatever, think what you want. I have neither the reason nor the energy to correct you.
“General Bel has given you one mission!”
As we stepped into the long, deep trench that stretched from the rear to the very front, the officer leading us finally shouted. He had to raise his voice like that, or it would be drowned out by the sounds of magic and screams.
“He said to leave a deep impression on the Mazoku! To firmly implant the fact that ‘Bin is here, and the being known as Bin is extremely dangerous’ into their minds!”
“How, exactly?”
*BOOM!*
A massive explosion filled the air, and thin mud rained down from above. Rireu pulled her hat down low and stuck close behind me, while Rex carefully maneuvered his large frame through the deep trench.
“Sir?!”
The officer yelled back at me, my voice having been lost in the sound of the shelling.
“How! Exactly! Do I do that!”
I shouted back as loud as I could. My thin, weak throat couldn’t handle shouting many words, so I had to enunciate each one clearly.
“Uh… to repeat his exact words, he said, ‘Summon the spirit’!”
The officer hesitated for a moment before shouting. He clearly didn’t understand the meaning behind the words ‘Summon the spirit.’
…Summon the spirit?
“Anyway, he said you would understand if I told you that…!”
“…”
Bel’s proposed method was a rather effective strategy.
How would they react if they saw a young mage, who had only been missing for a month or two, manipulating a spirit at will?
From the Mazoku’s perspective, it would be so infuriating they’d cry tears of blood, their insides twisting into knots.
If they saw me commanding a spirit, it was obvious they would conclude that they had to kill me, no matter the cost.
Since they’d decided to use me as bait, overinflating my value like this was the most efficient and logical approach.
“…Sir?!”
But there was one problem…
“He said to summon the spirit!”
“…Sir? I can’t hear you well!”
I didn’t want to bring that bastard Dajin out.
I didn’t even want to see his face. Or hear his voice.
That Dajin guy was just plain unlikable. No, that spirit was unlikable.
“The spirit!”
Just then, Rireu, who was stuck to my back, shouted into my ear on the officer’s behalf.
“…”
“General! He’s asking you to summon the spirit!”
Rex, with his massive orcish chest, boomed the same message. His voice was louder than most explosions, making it impossible to ignore.
“…”
Ugh, I don’t want to…
“…Ah, ah! The spirit.”
I replied with an awkward smile, pretending I had just now understood.
“Do you know what that means?”
“…Well, it’s just as it sounds.”
“Sir? What was that?”
“You’ll see.”
I replied to the questioning officer and walked deeper into the trench.
As we neared the front line, the screams grew clearer and the smell of blood thickened.
Occasionally, we could see soldiers resting against the trench walls, their bodies covered in mud and wounds.
“…You can draw their attention from around here!”
We stopped a short distance from the front line, where magic was flying back and forth.
“Be careful! If General Bin gets even a scratch from a stray spell… General Bel will kill me!”
“I can’t tell if you’re worried about me or yourself…”
“Sir?!”
“Nothing! Please step aside for a moment!”
I took a breath, quietly closed my eyes, and focused all sensation into my right hand.
Tiny, molecular-sized black particles began to push through the skin of my hand, gathering in my palm.
The particles, which had clumped into a dot, soon began to weave together like thin threads, eventually taking the shape of a long staff in my hand.
‘Ah, it's been a while. Two days? You hadn't called, so I was just thinking of reaching out myself.’
As I gripped the staff, that insufferable voice echoed in my head.
‘So, you must need something, right? Or what, did you just want to talk? Girl talk? I love girl talk. How are things with Rireu? Not going well? Don't be too disappointed. Elves tend to stick with other elves. Something about how thinking of a partner who will eventually disappear due to lifespan differences just makes them sad... Anyway, if you want to meet a new woman... right, what about a dwarf? They're cute, feisty, and have great personalities. They're affectionate, too, and when you watch them waddle…’
What the hell is this bastard rambling about the moment our minds connect?
I looked at the staff in my hand, let out a genuine sigh, and furrowed my brow.
“…Just shut up, please. You're giving me a headache.”
‘I was so bored with no one to talk to for two days. Is it so much to ask for a little conversation?’
“…How is every single thing you do so unlikable? Can't you see what's going on around us?!”
As if in response to my outburst, a warm bolt of lightning erupted from the staff I was holding. The lightning filled the trench before gathering above it.
The coalesced lightning soon took the form of a deer. Its massive antlers spread out in all directions like the branches of a great, beautiful tree, and its hooves had the elegant curve of a master sculptor’s work.
“Unlikable?”
The damn deer asked me, radiating a pure white light.
“…”
I didn’t bother to answer its question.
Of course you’re unlikable, you bastard. What else would you be?
“…Huu.”
Rireu let out a soft sigh behind me. Even she, who had once revered Dajin as a god, now seemed reluctant to face him after realizing what kind of being he was.
“Ooh…!”
In contrast to her, Alter let out a great gasp of admiration upon seeing Dajin’s form. To him, a man who had lived his entire life as a mage of the lightning school, Dajin was a mysterious and beautiful being no matter how many times he saw him.
“Huh.”
The orc warriors and the soldiers in the trench, ignorant of magic, didn’t seem to understand what they were seeing. They just stared blankly at the beautiful, giant deer.
“The request is simple. Draw their attention. Make it obvious enough to be seen from two thousand meters away.”
“A peculiar strategy, volunteering to be a target on the battlefield. Have all the mortal books on warfare been burned?”
Dajin taunted me with a sickening laugh.
“Well, not that I care. It should be amusing. I get to watch how you survive the countless bombardments.”
Without asking about the circumstances, the transcendent being began to gather electricity between its massive antlers.
To him, the flow of the war or the objective of the mission was of little importance. All that mattered was that it seemed entertaining.
“…Wait, lightning is too cliché.”
Just before the mass of white light gathered between the deer’s antlers could explode, Dajin spoke with a cryptic tone and dispersed the collected electricity into the air.
It seemed he’d had an interesting idea, but his smile only made me feel uneasy…
“Uh.”
Uh.
Uh oh?
“…Sir Bin?”
I could feel my white hair standing on end, as if I’d been struck by lightning. Sparks flew from my robe, and then my body began to slowly rise into the air, like a piece of scrap metal drawn to a giant magnet.
Everyone, including Rireu, warned me it was dangerous to stick my body out of the trench, but it wasn’t my choice. My body refused to listen, floating loftily into the sky.
I want to come down too. Pull me down, you idiots. Why are you just standing there watching?
“Isn’t it hilarious? A mortal riding on the back of a spirit!”
“…What?”
What the hell has this guy been thinking?
“Aren’t you curious how many spells will fly our way if we fly through the sky like this? Hmm?”
“I’m not curious, you crazy bastard.”
What nonsense is he spouting? Let me down.
“I’ll make sure you draw their attention properly. Hmm? Befitting your title as the Ruler of Spirits!”
So this bastard was secretly annoyed by the nickname the dwarves gave me.
You should have told me earlier. I would have cleared up the misunderstanding and told the dwarves not to call me that—aaargh!
Dajin pulled me close to his body and leaped high into the sky. Rireu, Alter, and even the giant Rex instantly shrank to the size of beans.
The sudden altitude change nearly made me black out.
…A single, massive bolt of lightning would have been enough.