Chapter 213
Chapter 213
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 213
Chapter Title: Coup d'état (1)
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“Phew, damn it!”
Rokan, who had immediately chosen to resurrect, spat curses as he rose to his feet.
Defeat.
He had glimpsed hope for a moment, but that was all.
The reason Etherealization was such a powerful master skill was that it allowed the user to continue their attacks even while taking damage, without any stiffness or hit effects.
In other words, while Rokan's Whirlwind Slash was unleashing its fury, Kyarus had casually lopped off his head without a care.
Even with Etherealization, the damage Rokan dealt was truly immense. No matter how strong Kyarus was, it was only natural for him to feel fear and tension at the thought of dying first.
Yet the bastard had overcome it with extreme composure and confidence.
“That’s why he’s called the strongest. Damn it.”
Thanks to that, Rokan had met his end, but it wasn’t a bad outcome. When he checked the squad management window, it seemed just barely possible to hold on.
Of course, “just barely” meant there was still a chance they might lose, but Rokan planned to intervene again depending on the situation.
He couldn’t use Whirlwind Incarnation again, but he could fire off Berserk one more time.
If he could just buy some time like that, he figured he could somehow stop Kyarus.
The Soul Legion and the users who had taken the pursuit blockade quest were, naturally, completely wiped out.
“Huh?”
Thanks to resurrecting inside the inner castle, Rokan could now examine the magic screen. He sensed something off about the enemies’ movements. By now, they should have regrouped their forces and started chasing, but there was still no sign of movement.
Had Kyarus died alongside him? No, that couldn’t be. There were no system notifications.
Then had he taken a fatal wound? Possible, but with a troll’s regenerative power, healing spells, and potions, he could recover in no time.
Perplexed by their suspicious movements, Rokan halted his own actions as well. He could decide what to do after observing their path.
The human-occupied areas were fragmented, but teleportation magic circles were operational, so riding those would let him move faster than the enemy no matter what.
A user’s privilege, one might say.
“What the hell are they thinking?”
He stayed put for quite a while like that. Then, Kyarus and the Black Dragon Legion forces began to withdraw.
The direction was similar, but they weren’t pursuing the human army. They were retreating exactly the way they had come.
It was confusing enough to baffle any observer.
Even Rokan couldn’t figure out their intentions when the territory management window lit up.
[Lilotogo Territory is under attack.]
[Hasterquo Territory is under attack.]
[Hasaniga Territory is under...]
The Black Dragon Legion’s all-out assault!
Seizing the opening created by the chaos in the rear from the elite intrusion by Kyarus and the Black Dragon Legion, their large-scale offensive had begun.
It was something he had anticipated, but the ferocity of the assault exceeded expectations.
Not individual recapture battles, but simultaneous strikes across multiple fronts!
Evidently, they had some serious heavy hitters on that side. The outposts, which had been decently fortified with defenses, fell in an instant, and attacks continued to rain down on the next line of outposts.
“Caught between a rock and a hard place.”
At this rate, he couldn’t just keep pulling back his forces. Doing so would mean losing all the outposts they had seized so far.
But if he withdrew to rebuild the defensive line and Kyarus and his guerrilla unit struck again...
In the midst of dizzying hypotheticals, Rokan picked up his communication orb.
He connected with the Golden Lion Camp commanders, each handling their own responses.
***
No matter how fierce the enemy offensive, they couldn’t push forward recklessly or endlessly.
Users had it a bit easier, but NPCs were heavily affected by fatigue, and factors like supplies and physical distance limited how many outposts they could move to and capture in a day.
Rokan exploited that.
Instead of holding the foremost outposts, he tracked Kyarus and the Black Dragon Legion guerrilla unit’s movements to the end.
The moment he confirmed they had vanished into the outpost where they had first broken through, he ordered the forces he had slowed down to turn back.
Their destination was that very spot.
“They’ve retreated.”
If Kyarus had been lying in wait there, it could have resulted in heavy losses or even total annihilation in the worst case, but thanks to Rokan deploying the Antman strategy again, they seized the outpost more easily than expected.
“Install defensive facilities.”
Afterward, Rokan used it as a anchor to build a defensive line.
Troop dispersion was unavoidable, but this spot minimized the routes the enemy could attack from.
Once he informed the other allied forces of this, they aligned their lines to form a defensive front as well.
Reinforcements from each race were already streaming up from the rear, and they knew that endless retreats would lead to being pushed back forever, so they understood the need to hold out as long as possible.
They expanded defensive facilities and conscripted additional troops.
They also triggered quests tailored to each race’s strengths, using guerrilla tactics to slow the enemy advance and bolster defenses.
The true all-out war had begun.
“Avoid head-on clashes! Hit and run, no exceptions!”
“Hold the line! Keep them in combat state so they can’t escape! We’ll get them for sure!”
The war was brutal.
It was as if the Golden Lion Camp’s relentless push was a lie—now the Black Dragon Legion was surging forward wildly.
As the war heated up, quest rewards grew larger, and users who had been biding their time along with top guilds began joining in earnest. Large and small battles erupted dozens of times a day.
The defenders invested heavily in defensive facilities to hold their lines, so outposts rarely fell, but localized skirmishes broke out endlessly.
Both sides actively utilized users who had grown rapidly through the war, vastly expanding what users could and should do.
Of course, the most standout performance came from none other than Rokan.
“Wheel Wind!”
No matter how much their levels had risen, among users who hadn’t even reached master level, Rokan was a walking disaster.
Activating Whirlwind Incarnation and spinning Wheel Wind mowed down dozens of users at once. Dropping into enemy lines with Crimson Meteor or Leaf Attack for a quick rampage netted hundreds of kills effortlessly.
“Rokan’s here! Scatter!”
“That bastard’s back again—does he think we’re scraps or something? Drives me nuts!”
“I’ve already died to him ten times!”
At first, Black Dragon Legion users, whose levels had climbed and confidence boosted from fighting master-level NPCs on the enemy side, tried to gang up on Rokan. But repeated battles left them with nothing but deep despair.
Untouchable, at least until a master-level user emerged.
Among Black Dragon Legion users, Rokan was classified as worse than a raid boss.
“Troublesome.”
But Rokan’s own expression wasn’t great. Despite his best efforts, the overall war effort was still being outmatched by the Black Dragon Legion.
If he could reach high master realm, maybe. Then he’d have the power to stand against Kyarus and the top high masters rampaging in the Black Dragon Legion. But that was far too distant.
At present, the open master-level hunting grounds were just high-difficulty with abysmal experience gains. By the time he grinded enough to hit high master, the Golden Lion Camp would likely be reduced to rubble.
All their hard-earned merits and territories would go down the drain.
Thanks to the steady stream of reinforcements from the capital and high-level NPCs at master rank or above, they were barely holding on, but the Golden Lion Camp’s defensive line was in tatters, liable to collapse at any moment.
“We’ve been pushed back several times already.”
Holding now was only possible because they had fallen back the defensive line multiple times.
The front line had been pushed all the way back to Hushkan Castle from the war’s early days, and even that had nearly fallen—only held thanks to Rokan’s Soul Legion, periodically harvesting souls from level 290 hunting grounds.
Kyarus had gone quiet again at some point, but at this rate, outposts could fall any moment.
The same went for the dwarves, gnomes, and half-elves.
They fought hard too, but a few local victories aside, the front line wasn’t improving.
[The Emperor has summoned you. Proceed to the imperial palace within 1 hour.]
“One hour?”
Then, an utterly unexpected notification appeared. A summons from the Emperor. He had received them before, but this one felt different.
Proceed to the palace within one hour—it had to be urgent.
“What the...?”
With the latest skirmish just ended and no immediate battles in sight, Rokan didn’t hesitate. He used the teleportation magic circle to head straight to the capital where the Emperor was, to the imperial palace.
“Marquis Rokan, come in!”
As if arrangements had been made in advance, his audience with the Emperor was immediate upon arrival.
The Emperor’s face was grave. He looked extremely tense.
“Just what...?”
Something serious was afoot, but even Rokan couldn’t gauge it this time.
“Your Majesty, what troubles you?”
“Ahem, well...”
At Rokan’s question, the Emperor wore a mournful expression.
With an anxious look and eyes unlike any seen even during the ancient Emperor’s rampage, he slowly spoke.
“A coup has broken out.”
“...Pardon?”
A coup at this timing? Were they insane? Trying to doom the entire race? Just who...
Disbelief colored Rokan’s face. Who would do such a thing, and why?
As he stared expectantly for an answer, the Emperor spoke again.
“...Duke Kilamanta. He’s raised his soldiers. I thought he was on my side. I thought we shared the same dream...”
“Kilamanta...”
The first name that came to mind upon hearing “coup” was Duke Hustape.
With his faction-building, expanding influence, and wielding power, he seemed like someone who could eye the throne amid the chaos.
But reality differed. The culprit was Duke Kilamanta, known as pro-emperor.
Whether Duke Hustape was involved was unclear, but unlikely. They were bitter enemies.
Just look at how he had planted Count Luberon as a spy.
“I see.”
But Rokan could nod soon after. He recalled what he had heard from Luberon: Duke Kilamanta was a “Corrupt Collaborator.”
One who sought to conquer the world using the power of corruption.
For them, baring their fangs at this juncture made sense.
‘The power of corruption stems from destruction, fear, and despair.’
The source of corruption’s power was the negative energy born from destruction, fear, and despair.
Rokan knew this from memories of his past life.
And the easiest way to generate that energy was war.
During a racial war like this, negative energy was undoubtedly accumulating at a rapid pace.