Chapter 35
Chapter 35 - First Try(1)
"Have you lost your mind?"
As soon as I explained my plan, Leila dismissed it with a cold voice.
She's harsh with her words. Even your master Lord Margrave said "Though difficult to achieve, there might be a possibility," in a more diplomatic way.
When I stared at her as if asking what the problem was, Leila snorted in disbelief and pressed on.
"Simply put. You're saying I should break through the undead army to create a path. Then after you and master reach the Eldritch, you'll use that 'special power' to locate the Eldritch's lifeforce vessel?"
"Good summary. That's exactly it. What do you think?"
"Insane talk."
Leila sneered with genuine contempt.
She held up three fingers and thrust them in front of me.
"First. I don't have the power to create a path through the undead army."
"It's fine. Lord Margrave will handle breaking through. You just need to create a diversion so he doesn't draw too much attention."
Leila seemed to have no rebuttal to this point.
Probably because she knows her master's power well. She reluctantly nodded and moved on.
"Second. I can't believe in this 'special power' you claim to have."
"I can't explain that either. Believe it if you want, don't if you don't."
"...Sigh."
She seemed at a loss for words at my confident response.
Of course. I raised my chin and told her.
"There's no risk for you all in this plan anyway. Lord Margrave himself said so. Though we can't kill the Eldritch, we can at least penetrate to the center of their formation and retreat."
To be precise, he said 'penetrating is possible but killing the Eldritch is impossible, we could take out a few liches' but it's basically the same thing.
When I spoke confidently, Leila pointed at me with her last remaining finger.
"Yes. The third point is exactly that."
"What?"
"You're taking on too much risk alone. That's suspicious."
At those words, I raised my eyebrows sharply.
Now she's being difficult even when I'm making concessions. I raised my voice slightly.
"Are you saying I'm lying? For whose benefit?"
"I don't know. But no matter how amazing this 'special power' you mentioned is, from my view, if this plan fails you will definitely die. Because there's nowhere to escape to."
"Well, it's the kind of thing you can't do unless you're prepared to die."
"...That may be true... but I know well that nothing is more dangerous than free favors in this world."
Leila shot me a clearly suspicious look.
Well, it's natural to be suspicious of a plan with so many questionable points. But I shrugged my shoulders and replied casually.
"Why is it free? In exchange, I bought Lord Margrave."
"I was curious about that earlier too. What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said - I bought Margrave Johan von Halcenberg's life. If this plan succeeds and we take the Eldritch's head, I plan to call on him later when I need him. Isn't that awesome?"
"......"
Leila stared at me with her mouth open in disbelief. Yeah, keep staring all you want. It won't change anything about my face.
After thinking deeply while biting her thumb for a while, she finally shook her head with a sigh.
"...No matter how I think about it, this makes no sense. I refuse."
"No, hey! Your master already agreed to do it! How can you say no?"
"Delusions at this level are an illness. You should get examined later."
"Hey, don't be like that. Please?"
I extended my hand toward Leila like that.
Snap. She snorted and forcefully pushed my hand aside..
"I'll convince master tonight. Please keep your sleep-talking for when you're actually sleeping."
Then she strode out of the kitchen toward the audience chamber where Lord Margrave was.
"...What a tsundere brat." [TL/N: Hot and Cold personality]
It can't be helped. Though not all the actors are here, we’ll have to move forward like this.
Let’s raise the curtain on this pitiful play that will keep repeating until we reach a happy ending.
* * *
Early morning.
On a hill rising from the corner of a plain of snow and ice.
Below, the undead army's swarming could be seen at a glance.
I spoke to Lord Margrave who was watching the undead with eyes caked in hatred.
"Uh... then I'll explain the plan one more time. You roughly know it, right?"
"Of course."
"Good."
Lord Margrave and I were preparing for the raid, just the two of us.
Right now, Seolbaek's body wasn't fully healed yet. And Leila refused my proposal.
In the end, Lord Margrave was the only warrior who could carry out this operation with me.
'...Actually, just Lord Margrave alone is a bit concerning but...'
Still, isn't it good that I recruited the most reliable Gukbap man(?) Leila said she would convince the Margrave not to come out either, but fortunately that failed. [1]
After sighing, I first said to Lord Margrave.
"Margrave, please focus only on breaking through the path at the front. After breaking through and reaching where the Eldritch is, escape back the way we came. Don't worry about me."
"...Sir Jeong-Yong. I still cannot do that. I should stay with you until the end–."
Lord Margrave began speaking with a hesitant look.
I cut him off before he could finish.
"You need to prepare for the possibility of the operation failing. You said if you die, Halcenberg is finished too, right?"
"But Sir Jeong-yong. Before becoming a wizard, I was a military officer and a soldier. The soldiers of Mittelland fight for justice, do not run away from injustice..."
After that, I had to listen to the 'Mittelland True Soldier's Service Creed' or whatever for a whole 10 minutes.
I finally couldn't take it anymore and persuaded him by saying “Shouldn't we protect the two ladies remaining in the castle?”
"... I understand. I'll do that."
Lord Margrave reluctantly nodded.
Damn. If I had known he would fall for just mentioning ladies, I would have persuaded him like this earlier. The conversation unnecessarily dragged on.
"Then let's get ready. When I count to three, we go out together."
"... Understood."
While waiting for the right timing to go out after finishing mental preparation.
Suddenly Lord Margrave asked.
"I have one question though."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Why did you specifically choose this time?"
"Ah. That's because..."
Speak of the devil.
The reason for choosing this time appeared before my eyes with a chilling sound of dun-dun-dun.
I smirked and muttered.
"It's because of insurance renewal."
[The immortal's checkpoint has been renewed.]
[Time - Mittelland Kingdom Calendar/Year 547, December 20th, Morning 7 o'clock]
[Location - Northern border of Halcenberg territory, Snow Plains]
[Notice - The Immortal Demon King is about to hatch.]
[Notice - Until the Immortal Demon King fully revives, the checkpoint will be renewed every 12 hours.]
The time has come.
I immediately began the final preparations.
'I hope I won't have to see this if possible...'
While saying that, I still rummaged through my backpack and took out the Box of the Dead.
I put in a pre-prepared note inside. When I closed the lid, the Box of the Dead flashed an ominous light once and then went quiet.
"Good."
Now all that's left is to charge.
I immediately drank the ether. Just in case for later, I decided to drink only one each of wind and earth ether.
After savoring the light sensation swirling around my body, I immediately gave a signal to Lord Margrave.
"Let's go, Lord Margrave!"
"Understood!"
We stood up simultaneously.
And without deciding who would go first, we kicked off hard from the edge of the hill.
"Uooooh!"
"Haaaaaap!"
Shouting battle cries and roars, we free-fell vertically down to the plains below and landed on the ground with a thud.
Swoosh! We drew our swords. We charged towards the numerous undead almost simultaneously.
"Let's gooooo!"
"Haaaaaap!"
Slash, crack, swish!
Like a wedge, we dug into the center of their formation. The sound of flesh being cut continuously announced our advance.
The undead horde, belatedly noticing our presence, rushed at us making sounds like scratching wood.
―Kueeaaak!
―Kiaaak!
True to being undead, it was a simple attack without any command structure. But these things also had no concept of fear or confusion.
Therefore, instead of being thrown into chaos by our surprise attack, they were all rushing in unison to bite into our flesh.
"Hmm! Indeed, what enormous numbers!"
Lord Margrave, who was cutting down undead like lightning while advancing forward, suddenly shouted. I too was continuously cutting down undead but could feel it.
'Damn... Already slowing down!'
The undead blocking our front were getting denser, and our advance speed was decreasing exponentially.
Finally, Lord Margrave clicked his tongue and drew out the staff at his waist. To think we'd have to use magic, our trump card, already.
"Avalanche! Ether Volcano!!"
Blue lightning and magical light burst forth from all directions. With a thunderous roar that made the ground dance and the sky split, undead were blown away.
"Hundred Sword Pierce!!"
Meanwhile, Lord Margrave moved like a beam of light, and I who was supporting from behind were struggling.
But already for several minutes, we had been stagnating in almost the same spot without advancing a single step.
"Huff... Whew."
"Haa. Haa...!"
Lord Margrave's breathing had become rough. Needless to say about me.
Before we knew it, forget advancing, we were busy just cutting down the undead blocking our path.
No. Rather... we were gradually being pushed back. Undead were pouring in from all directions. Even our retreat path was blocked.
I felt this must have been how UN forces felt when facing the Chinese army.
―Gyaooo....
―Kiek... Greeek!
This is bad. We haven't even seen an Eldritch, let alone high-ranking individuals. To be stagnating already like this. This was far beyond expectations.
I bit my lip at the mounting anxiety.
"Duck, Sir Jeong-yong!"
That's when it happened.
Suddenly Lord Margrave cut down five ghouls charging from the front simultaneously, then immediately sheathed his sword and drew out the staff at his waist.
The bright red jewel attached to the front of the staff began to flicker blue lightning.
"Lotus Relampago!"
Crackle!
With a flash of light that seemed like it would blind us, thick lightning bolts spread out in dozens of branches.
The lightning began to scorch the world as it burned through air and undead. Screams and the sound of flesh bursting rang out everywhere.
"My, my god..."
This was on a completely different level from the magic Lord Margrave had used until now.
If the magic we'd seen until now was area magic, should this be called ultra-wide-area magic?
Undead within about a 100-meter radius instantly became grilled squid. Looking at how all the surrounding ground had been burnt black, it was hard to believe this was the same ice plains from before.
"Wow sir! That's amazing!"
I gave Lord Margrave a thumbs up. Lord Margrave smiled painfully and put the staff back at his waist. Then he gasped for breath as if he might die.
"Whew... huff. An, ancient magic is indeed not to be underestimated."
It seems that was ancient magic just now.
Indeed. The saying that an old official is a good official(?) wasn't a lie - the effect was extraordinary. [TL/N: Experience is great!]
I barely gathered my wits and began running towards the now clear front. While continuously swinging Bestak, I shouted boldly.
"Still far to go! Stay focused and let's go!"
"......"
Only then did I notice something was wrong.
Lord Margrave was too quiet.
"... Lord Margrave?"
Only then did I stop running and turn around. And my eyes widened right there.
Lord Margrave was still sitting on the ground, still gasping for breath.
FOOTNOTE:
1] The term "Gukbapman (국밥맨)” could possibly describe someone who is reliable, steady, and dependable – much like the humble but filling nature of gukbap itself.