Chapter 75
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The Two-Week Gambit
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Bel, a mage with jet-black hair clad in a wine-colored robe, lightly tapped the map on the wall with his palm, redirecting everyone's attention from me back to the front.
“Bin is out of the question. His current skill level might not be that different from ours… but his potential for growth is far greater. If he were to clash with an Overlord and get injured, it would be a great loss for the continent.”
“But you said the situation is dire, didn't you? Aren't we desperate enough to need every hand we can get?”
Grisha asked, seemingly unable to comprehend Bel's explanation. She appeared to be hoping I would play an active role as a general.
Given how unfavorable the war was, it was a natural wish.
And just as naturally, I silently prayed for the Saintess to keep her mouth shut.
…How in the world am I supposed to fight an Overlord on equal footing? I’d die for sure.
“I’ll explain that part, so have some patience and listen. There is a way to annihilate all four Overlords without using Bin.”
“…Annihilation? Are you saying you don’t intend to stop at just defending the lands of Vellaland?”
Alter threw Bel a question, his tone one of surprise.
“Under these circumstances, the annihilation of four Overlords sounds a bit too much like a fantasy. I thought we were here today to discuss a retreat.”
“It seems you’ve forgotten how to dream over the long years.”
Bel responded to Alter’s question with a light taunt.
Alter merely shrugged, as if the provocation had no effect on him, but Rireu, sitting beside him, glared sharply at Bel, clearly displeased.
“What is it?”
Bel looked down at Rireu with his characteristically cold, icy eyes.
Unsurprisingly, the moment their eyes met, Rireu couldn't utter a single word and dropped her gaze.
…Well, the attempt alone was admirable. Considering her personality, she deserves to be praised a hundred times over.
I patted Rireu on the back and refocused on Bel’s explanation.
“Then I shall continue my explanation.”
Bel cleared his throat, quickly retracting his frigid gaze from Rireu.
As soon as Bel looked away, Rireu began to timidly shoot glances at him.
“The Overlords will begin an aggressive offensive starting today. It’s the exact opposite of their usual strategy, as they prefer to slowly and methodically wear down their opponents once they have the upper hand.”
A thick hand rose from behind me. It seemed Rex had a question.
“Yes, what is it?”
“How do you know the enemy will launch an offensive?”
“Because they saw Bin.”
Bel said, pointing the tip of his pen at me.
“They’ve seen what Bin did when he appeared on this battlefield. Riding a spirit, flying through the sky, he raised all sorts of hell. According to the officers’ reports, seven high-ranking Mazoku were killed, and he wiped out six mutant squads created by the Overlords themselves.”
Strictly speaking, it was Dajin, not me, who handled it… but I felt no need to correct him.
“…Yes, I saw it on the field myself.”
“That kid was reading ‘Understanding Intermediate Magic’ in our barracks. A book I read when I was nine.”
“What?”
“He’s been learning magic for less than three months. And a kid like that suddenly starts riding a spirit and completely devastates the battlefield. What do you think the Overlords are thinking?”
“…Are you saying that even if it ruins the war, they will try to kill General Bin?”
“They will launch their offensive starting today. The Overlords themselves will also actively appear on the battlefield.”
Bel lifted his quill pen once more, this time starting to mark dots on the map. Soon, about nine dots were marked at regular intervals on the Mazoku formation.
“The marked locations on the map are where I’ve planted parchments through a discreet operation.
And inscribed on those parchments is a type of barrier magic. When I judge that they have pushed the front line far enough, I will activate the magic contained in these parchments to ensure the four Overlords cannot leave this land of Vellaland.”
Bel marked the same nine dots on our formation. When he connected the dots, a massive shape encompassing both the enemy and our formations was completed.
“…Are you saying you intend to trap that entire vast area?”
Alter asked Bel, his eyes filled with skepticism.
Even to me and Rireu, who weren't well-versed in magic, it sounded absurd.
The size of the shape marked on the map looked to be at least thirty square kilometers. A barrier encompassing such a wide area…
“I understand that you’ve greatly expanded the barrier’s range using the parchments as a medium. But its strength… is a bit concerning. The wider the barrier, the weaker its strength.”
“A sharp point, but you needn't worry. I have prepared a special method.”
Bel said with a confident expression.
Alter demanded to know what this ‘special method’ was, and it looked like Rireu would have backed him up if she had the courage.
“I’ll trust you.”
As the atmosphere seemed to be heading towards a noisy argument, I had no choice but to speak up.
“…Lord Bin?”
Alter stared at me with a look of disbelief.
“The fact that he isn't explaining his method must mean it's better that we don't know. Lord Alter, let’s just fall for it this one time. He’s not a foolish man, so I’m sure he has a decent plan prepared.”
“…”
Alter looked at Bel one last time, his expression still anxious. But he only looked; he didn't press the matter any further.
“Alright, let’s say we’ve trapped all four Overlords inside an ‘unbreakable barrier.’ What do we do then?”
What then.
That was the question that remained unanswered even when I first arrived at this battlefield and heard about this plan.
Even if we lure and trap the four Overlords, if there’s no way to safely deal with them, it’s all for naught, isn't it?
Unless we bring in someone like the Sword Saint, fighting four Overlords would be no easy feat…
“In two weeks, the Sword Saint will arrive.”
“…”
The assembly, which had been stirring with worry and anxiety, fell silent at his words.
“Is… Is the northern front okay? If the Sword Saint leaves his post, the Demon King will make a move…”
Rex, the only one among our comrades who could see the bigger picture of the war, spoke up, cautiously raising his hand.
While the four Overlords were running rampant in Vellaland, the Sword Saint was currently in a standoff with the Demon King on the northern front.
If word got out that he had arrived in Vellaland, every soldier holding the northern front would be slaughtered by the Demon King in an instant.
“The plan for him to slip away from the northern front is all set. He’s finished cleaning up the area around his garrisoned castle, and he says that if he can just take down one or two more high-ranking Mazoku, the enemy won't notice him coming here for support.”
Bel paused for a moment, his eyes gleaming as he spoke.
“He should be able to fight for about fifteen minutes.”
Fifteen minutes.
For a man like the Sword Saint, that was more than enough time to turn the tide of battle and take the heads of four enemy commanders.
A sense of hope, anticipation for the future, and a thirst for victory shimmered within the hut.
“Any questions?”
“…”
After hearing this, no one raised any further questions about the plan.
That was the kind of existence the Sword Saint was.
The kind of person who could turn even a suicidal mission that seemed utterly absurd into a surefire plan for victory.
The true hope of the continent.
“I’ll say it again. What was discussed today must absolutely not leave this hut. The moment this information gets out, they’ll invest more high-ranking lords for reconnaissance on the northern front. And the Overlords on this land will flee.”
Bel took a pipe from within his robe, put it to his lips, and spoke.
“Don’t smile. Always look dejected. Never hold your heads high. The more we despair, the more confidently they will press their attack.”
Soon, a flame sparked at the tip of Bel’s pipe.
The familiar, acrid smell of burnt tobacco began to snake through the air.
“Dismissed.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Bel was the first to leave the hut with Grisha. Her face showed a mixture of emotions: ‘This war is finally ending,’ and ‘I have to do this for two more weeks.’
Rex took a deep breath and rose from his seat, followed by Alter.
Rireu and I exchanged a brief glance before being the last to stand up.
The things I had just heard didn't feel real.
If they could just confine the Sword Saint and the four Overlords to one ‘area,’ he would undoubtedly finish all four of them within fifteen minutes.
If things went according to plan, the current nine Overlords would be reduced to five, nearly half their number.
A reduction in Overlords by half meant the Mazoku’s military strength itself would be halved.
This operation would be a major turning point not just for the war in Vellaland, but for all future wars between the Mazoku and the allied forces.
…Perhaps we were standing at the very center of history.
The thought sent a shiver down my spine.
* * *
Just as Bel predicted, the day after I tore through the battlefield on Dajin’s back, the Mazoku army began to aggressively push the front line.
“Eyes front! Shields up high!”
“Fire! Unload everything you’ve got!”
The mages and archers did their best to hold back the enemies crossing the no-man’s-land without any cover or shields, unleashing everything in their arsenal.
But the mages’ mana ran dry, as did the archers’ arrows. If there was one infinite resource on this battlefield, it was the Mazoku and the mutants created from their hands.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
The front line began to be pushed back day by day. The continental army defended against the Mazoku’s advance by falling back to the trenches behind them while minimizing casualties. In their reckless push, the Mazoku lost three high-ranking members and even a powerful mutant created from a dragon.
“…This is meaningless.”
Then, from the fourth day onward, the Overlords began to appear on the battlefield in earnest. With a single gesture, they twisted the terrain of no-man’s-land and gathered the corpses on the battlefield to mold them into giant mutants.
Each time an Overlord appeared, Bel also showed himself on the front lines. With a cold, mechanical expression, Bel incinerated the bodies of soldiers who had been turned into mutants. Under his touch, the battlefield floor, once filled with thick mud, hardened like the surface of pottery.
The battles between Bel and the Overlords never reached a proper conclusion. In a simple one-on-one comparison, Bel had a slight edge, but he couldn't launch an all-out offensive because he didn't know if other Overlords were lurking somewhere on the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity.
The Overlords, as if well aware of this fact, thoroughly guided the battle into a war of attrition. It seemed they were waiting for Bel's mana to run out.
After all, even Bel Artois would eventually run out of mana if he continued a war of attrition against an Overlord every single day.
Waiting for a mage’s mana to be depleted through attrition before hunting them down was the most typical and surefire strategy the Mazoku used against mages.
While aggressively pushing their offensive, they never let up their check on Bel, one of the most dangerous assets on this battlefield.
A delicate and suffocating pressure continued, and ten days were enough for Bel’s mana to hit rock bottom.
On the night of the thirteenth day, Bel complained of dizziness and hyperventilation. Seeing that machine-like man crumble like this made a corner of my heart uncomfortable.
And so, the fourteenth day. The morning of the day marking exactly two weeks since I first rode Dajin across the battlefield arrived.
The bright light, as if oblivious, pierced through the clouds and illuminated the battlefield.
“…Haa, damn it.”
I let out a low sigh at the sun breaking through the dark clouds and walked out of the barracks early in the morning.
“We’re ready.”
An orc, an elf, and an old man, who had finished their preparations long ago, greeted me.
I swallowed silently and slowly followed the officer’s guidance toward the very front line.
It was time to collect on the trap we’d laid for two weeks.