Chapter 259
Chapter 259
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 259
Chapter Title: 100. Collapse (1)
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The first battle had been a success, but as the grueling war of attrition dragged on, the Anti-Imperial Alliance's forces grew exhausted.
In stark contrast, the Empire's army maintained a constant state, as if utterly unaffected by any mental strain.
Facing an enemy that never faltered was enough to instill despair in anyone.
Countless lives were lost on the front lines.
"Ace, you okay?"
"Huh?"
"You dropped a card."
"Oh..."
Ace chuckled softly.
"Guess I'm done for too."
Brioll's army was holding the central sector of the Anti-Imperial Alliance's front line.
The smaller kingdoms' coalition had joined them, but their troops weren't up to par and offered little real help.
As a result, Brioll's elite soldiers had been dispatched to steady the coalition's core.
Veterans from the Allied Forces were especially taking on that role.
"These small fry from the coalition thinking they can bluff against big brother Brioll with cards? I oughta teach 'em a lesson. Hand over your house deeds first. What's the real estate trend like in the coalition lands? Any loans on 'em?"
"Obviously, it dropped."
"Huh, why?"
"You think asset prices go up during a war, buddy?"
"Oh, right. There is a war on."
The men gathered around the table burst into laughter. They were easing the tension with the kind of black humor only possible on the front lines.
Raymond, who had been tending to his weapons nearby, spoke up.
"Rest is good, but the sentry spotted movement on the Empire side, so we should prepare. Ease up on the cards."
"Oh, really?"
Ace began gathering his cards as he listened.
"Hey, small fry. We'll pick up the game later."
"What? Running away?"
"We can continue later. Assuming we're still alive, that is."
"You won't be around by then, I bet."
"Then we'll start from where we left off in the afterlife."
They all burst into laughter.
Raymond let out a low chuckle with them before picking up his weapon and heading off somewhere.
One of the coalition soldiers, who had been watching cautiously, spoke up.
"By the way, Ace, why do you listen to that guy so intently? He just seems like some old veteran. Way too stuffy."
Ace, having gathered his cards, smirked.
"Think like that, and you'll waste one of your spare lives. Better change your tune."
"Huh?"
"Get on that stuffy guy's good side, and he'll save your hide once on the battlefield."
"That impressive?"
"He might look like just some middle-aged uncle rolling in the dirt with us here, but that man..."
"What kind of guy is he? Some big shot?"
"Well..."
Ace trailed off. Raymond himself never revealed that he was originally a knight.
So he just grinned and said,
"He's just an incredible guy."
The coalition soldiers shook their heads.
"See, he's brushing it off 'cause there's nothing to it."
"Brioll guys do love their bravado."
"He's gone now, so let's play one more round. What do you say?"
The coalition soldiers hadn't fought alongside Raymond yet, so they had no idea of his skill.
"You guys..."
"Then tell us what makes him so great."
"Fine."
Ace snapped, irritated.
"Sir Raymond is a knight. A knight. He's enlisted as a common soldier just for us. So show some respect. He's an absolute powerhouse."
The coalition soldiers exchanged glances.
Then they burst out laughing.
"A knight? Puhahaha!"
"This guy's got a knack for jokes."
"If he's a knight, then I'm the knight captain."
"Why would a knight be here anyway?!"
No one believed him.
Ace looked at them pitifully one by one and muttered,
"You really do only see as much as you know. If they knew Sir Raymond was more than just a knight—that he's extremely close to His Highness—they'd flip."
"His Highness?"
"Back in the Allied Forces, Sir Raymond was the knight who served Prince Yuri closest."
"Whoa!"
The laughter grew even louder.
Truth be told, if it had been another Brioll soldier saying it, they might have believed him. But Ace bluffed outrageously every time they played cards, so no one took his word seriously even off the table.
"Ace really is the king of lies."
"No, I only lie during cards!"
"Yeah, sure..."
"Just you wait."
Ace ground his teeth.
"Fine. Let's bet on it. When we meet Prince Yuri later, if I'm right, what'll you all give me?"
"And you?"
"I'll pay up too."
"Ooh, deal."
And so they even made a wager.
Of course, no one believed Ace; they just saw it as a joke. Rank-and-file soldiers like them had no chance of meeting nobility like Yuri Brioll anyway.
As Ace was taking their fingerprints on a makeshift contract, the alarm bell began tolling.
"What the—?"
Everyone turned around.
"Incoming attack!"
The soldiers grabbed their weapons and started running.
Once outside the tent, they could see the Empire's forces approaching from afar.
But something was different this time.
Amid the charging Empire troops, dark shapes flickered.
Ace rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
"What the hell is that?"
At a glance, they looked like beasts. They crawled spider-like on multiple legs, flattened low to the ground, their tentacles whipping wildly atop their backs as they sought prey.
Monsters, plain and simple.
Ace felt a chill run down his spine at the sight.
"What is that thing..."
"It's a monster."
"The Empire really..."
"How do we even fight that?"
The soldiers already knew the Empire had fallen to black magic.
Not from rumors, but from fighting their inhuman troops firsthand.
But no one expected abominations like these.
The Anti-Imperial Alliance was truly up against a monstrous Empire now. Those witnessing it felt the reality sink in anew.
"How do we stop those things?"
"The knights..."
The creatures advanced interspersed one per Empire formation, not in great numbers but utterly demoralizing.
Even the knights hesitated, frozen in place.
"Everyone, stay calm!"
Someone shouted then.
"Infantry, form ranks and hold the line! Knights, engage those monsters directly!"
It was Raymond. He bellowed at the momentarily panicked knights.
"Loose arrows first and gauge their reaction! This is knights' work!"
"B-but we've never faced anything like that..."
"Who here has?!"
Raymond's voice boomed.
Brioll's dispatched knights stepped forward next.
"Sir Raymond's right. Knights must step up."
"Then who handles the Empire knights?"
"Who cares? We take them all."
The knight who knew Raymond addressed him as "Sir," but in the urgency, no one noticed.
One Brioll knight declared,
"Are you knights afraid to fight?"
"What?!"
"Then quit whining. Let's go!"
Brioll's dispatched knights and soldiers moved first.
"For Brioll!"
The coalition troops vaguely grasped how Brioll had earned its war fame.
They followed belatedly, shouting in unison.
"Man the barricades!"
The Empire army was already nearing the alliance's defensive line.
Arrows rained down like a storm, coalition archers firing back. Shafts whistled everywhere.
Clashes erupted amid the volley.
"Die!"
"Raaagh!"
"Diiiie!"
The battlefield screams were horrific amid life-and-death struggles. Everyone howled like beasts. The dead slumped under barricades with deflating gasps, becoming footing for allies.
Then the monster arrived.
Its tentacles lashed out in an instant.
"Argh!"
"Block it!"
Soldiers hastily raised shields. They held, but the impact staggered them.
Ace gritted his teeth, clutching his shield.
Up close, the monster was even more grotesque than imagined.
He couldn't fathom defeating such a thing.
But retreat wasn't an option.
If even one point in the alliance line crumbled, the collapse would cascade.
The next battlefield would be the entire continent.
"Kiiiill it!"
Ace squeezed out a roar and thrust his shield forward, stabbing his sword beyond the split tentacles into the beast's body.
Blood sprayed.
It didn't penetrate deep. The flesh was tough.
"Damn it!"
The tentacles thrashed wildly, sweeping everywhere. Nearby soldiers on both sides were shoved back too.
"This is insane..."
"We can't hold!"
Meanwhile, a soldier was impaled by a tentacle slipping under his shield.
"Ahh..."
The tentacle pulsed greedily, sucking something out, vitality draining from the man's body with each throb.
It was spine-chilling.
"Goddamn it!"
Ace yelled. But there were no choices. He gripped his shield and swung.
"How do we..."
The tentacles rampaged fiercer. Ace couldn't hold and was pushed back. They stretched long, stabbing all around.
As one aimed for his throat—
Clang!
Someone intervened, saving him.
"You alright?"
"Sir Raymond!"
It was Raymond. Sword in hand, he advanced, engaging the tentacles.
Empire soldiers nearby thrust spears to interfere. Raymond dodged them all, unleashing sword aura at the incoming tentacles.
Several severed.
"Whoa!"
The soldiers gaped at the commoner-clad Raymond's prowess.
He didn't stop, activating his Mana Circulation Method and charging the monster.
Sensing danger, it swelled all its tentacles.
"Ngh!"
Raymond halted, unable to press on.
Empire troops counterattacked immediately.
A spear tip grazed his thigh.
"What are you doing?! Help Sir Raymond!"
Ace shouted. The stunned coalition soldiers swung their weapons frantically.
But Raymond ultimately fell back without success.
More knights arrived to challenge the monster.
No results.
The things were agile: retreating instantly at threat, striking from afar with tentacles, then closing to whip and claim victims when resistance waned.
Ace watched comrades left and right pierced and slain by tentacles.
"Damn it all!"
Ace roared.
"Sir Raymond! Can we hold?!"
"Who knows. We give our all."
Raymond's face was grim as he swung.
The line began to give ground.
Monsters lashed tentacles everywhere, killing. Absorbing life from victims made them stronger.
This was unwinnable.
"If only reinforcements..."
Ace glanced up suddenly.
The endless Empire waves crushed morale. Numbers alone overwhelmed, let alone these unknown horrors.
Then his view brightened.
"Huh?"
The light intensified.
He first thought clouds parted, sun shining on the field. But heat bloomed behind him.
Ace turned instinctively.
And froze in shock.
"Wha—?"
A massive fireball blazed in the sky.
Ace murmured,
"Magic?"
Impossible.
Magic on battlefields was near-forbidden.
One enemy mage could dispel any spell in range.
So what was that?
As he stood dazed, the flaming mass tilted.
An enormous inferno poured toward the Empire.