Chapter 112: On the Brink (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: On the Brink (6)
It was a death trap, no matter where one looked.
Soldiers of the Hector Kingdom rushed forward, their faces twisted in venomous rage.
"Kill him!"
"If we don't kill that bastard, the castle gate will fall!"
"Everyone, attack!"
Hector was in a desperate race against time. Because of just one man, they couldn't raise the gate.
If Cairo's forces arrived while they were delayed like this, it would truly be the end. Thus, Hector's soldiers charged, throwing their lives away. It was a dizzying sight. Seeing a crowd that filled his entire field of vision rushing forward with absolute murderous intent was an overwhelming spectacle, yet Roman's eyes remained incredibly calm.
He was used to this kind of sight.
In the process of conquering Murim, the Heavenly Demon Baek Joong-hyuk had experienced countless things far beyond the realm of ordinary mortals.
Slash!
"Argh!"
First, he sliced through the torso of the soldier leading the charge.
Showered in the droplets of blood spraying from his blade, countless more soldiers rushed in behind the vanguard. From that moment on, he wasn't allowed a single second to catch his breath. When he cut down an enemy charging from the front, others struck from both sides. When he dodged to counterattack, another enemy plunged down from above.
Enemies were everywhere.
Roman moved without rest. His senses expanded explosively, capturing even the attacks coming from his blind spots.
Thuck!
"Urgh."
His sword pierced the jaw of a soldier aiming for his back.
Roman pulled his blade free, flicking the blood away, and simultaneously severed the head of an Aura Swordsman manifesting Aura right in front of him. A 2-Star Aura. The swordsman had spent decades training to reach that realm, yet he met a futile death like a carelessly crushed ant.
It was an overwhelming sight. Roman slaughtered every enemy rushing at him like a black hole. But for the soldiers of the Hector Kingdom, cornered at the edge of a cliff, retreat was impossible even if it meant certain death.
This was the final battle.
Since defeat meant the downfall of Hector anyway, they threw their lives away just to stop Roman. In a short amount of time, blood pooled heavily beneath Roman's feet.
Even as the flowing blood dyed the moat crimson, neither Roman nor the Hector Kingdom backed down. Roman Dmitry was, after all, human. They believed his duel with Butler must have drained a significant amount of his stamina, and that facing a multitude of enemies would eventually exhaust him.
Human wave tactics. They threw away their lives just to wear him down. With every breath Roman took, a soldier of Hector died a miserable death.
However...
'Time is not on your side.'
Just as they suspected, Roman was indeed experiencing immense physical exhaustion.
Butler had been no easy opponent, and Roman had been forced to use his full strength to bring him down. The key difference, however, was that Roman knew how to fight a prolonged battle. In the process of conquering Murim, fighting for three days and nights straight was a common occurrence, and death came to whoever exhausted their stamina first.
His Dantian throbbed with pain. As his mana gradually depleted, Roman utilized the Star Absorption Art.
"Die!"
A knight of Hector charged, manifesting his Aura.
Roman intentionally met his attack head-on, absorbing the knight's mana through the point where their swords clashed.
Whoosh.
It was an invisible force. As the knight's face warped in shock, Roman immediately severed his head.
'This is merely a temporary measure.'
The Star Absorption Art. A demonic martial art that had once plunged Murim into terror, it was a technique where a master forcibly stole another's Qi. If used frequently, the practitioner would lose their reason, and their Dantian—polluted with conflicting energies—would begin to rot.
Therefore, Roman did not channel the stolen energy into his Dantian. Instead, he used the freshly absorbed energy immediately, conserving his own mana while utilizing external power.
The enemies had no way of knowing how Roman was fighting. Seeing him remain unshaken no matter how much they attacked, their expressions gradually filled with shock and horror as the seconds ticked by.
With the corpses piling up like mountains, an ominous dread crept into the enemies' hearts.
They couldn't help but think...
'Because of this monster, Roman Dmitry, the castle gate might actually fall.'
It was an ending they had never once imagined. The soldiers of Hector could not accept the fact that their kingdom could fall to a single human being.
Therefore, even knowing they would die, Hector's soldiers kept throwing themselves at Roman, wave after wave.
* * *
Atop the castle wall, Edwin Hector beheld the reality before his eyes.
Watching Cairo's forces flood in like a rising tide, he realized just how massive a mistake he had made.
'...No, I knew from the very beginning that it would turn out like this.'
He had been foolish. Pathetic.
As a commander, he should have maintained his reason until the very end, but seeing Butler collapse in a spray of blood had made him lose his judgment. Roman had been close to the wall. Edwin had made the utterly absurd judgment that if they quickly rescued Butler, there wouldn't be a major issue, and the soldiers had followed his lead.
They all felt the same. Butler was an object of immense respect. Everyone wished for his survival, and like people possessed, they had opened the castle gate.
This was the price.
The screams of soldiers echoed from below the wall, and it felt as though Cairo's forces would storm the castle at any moment.
"Whew."
He caught his breath. Today, he realized that he was not a good commander. He loathed himself for driving his soldiers into a death trap, but even so, he had no intention of giving up just yet.
'The war is not over yet. If we can hold out against just one attack, we still have a chance.'
Whoosh!
He channeled his mana. The four circles surrounding his heart spun furiously, unleashing a powerful force at Edwin Hector's command.
"Rune Flare."
Boom!
Roar!
Flames erupted. The enemies approaching the wall screamed as they were engulfed in the blaze. In an instant, over a dozen people were charred black and collapsed to the ground dead. The forces that retreated with severe burns numbered in the hundreds. That single attack alone proved the sheer, devastating power of a mage.
Mages. People called them the emperors of siege defense.
Edwin Hector unleashed an explosive power that perfectly illustrated the old saying: avoid any battlefield where a mage stands their ground.
"Rune Flare."
"Fire Ball."
Boom!
Whoosh!
Beside Edwin Hector, the mages of the Hector Kingdom also stepped forward.
They cast their spells in unison, conjuring powerful blazes. Under the bombardment of fire magic erupting from all directions, the Cairo Kingdom's advance ground to a halt.
Seeing this, the commander of Cairo, Count Fabius, shouted, the veins in his neck bulging. He knew that if they delayed any longer, Roman Dmitry's life would be in danger.
"Spread out and charge! The enemy's gate is open! If we miss this opportunity, we will lose even more lives!"
"Charge!"
"Attack!"
The orders spread rapidly. Cairo's soldiers pushed through the flames. They threw already charred corpses into the fire to smother it, and the moment the heat subsided even slightly, they pressed forward, fully prepared to suffer burns.
Some forces bypassed the flames entirely. To counter the enemies trying to reach the wall at all costs, Edwin Hector prepared a special gift for them.
"Fire Wall."
Whoosh!
Roar!
Flames surged upward. The inferno rose too high to cross, and the fiercely burning fire swallowed the approaching enemies whole. Perhaps inspired by Edwin Hector's efforts, Hector's archers also stepped up, raining down arrows through the magical bombardment. They attacked the enemy, risking their lives to reduce Cairo's numbers even by a fraction.
For a brief moment, a glimmer of hope sparked.
If we can just keep this up. If we can just deal with Roman Dmitry and close the gate, we might still have a chance.
But at that exact moment...
Crash!
Rumble!
A tremendous roar echoed across the battlefield. Simultaneously, a voice rang out.
"The gate is open!"
It was Roman. For the Hector Kingdom, those words were a death sentence that plunged them into absolute despair.
* * *
The battle had raged on.
Roman knew he couldn't keep fighting like this forever. Ultimately, to win the war, he had to ensure the gate remained open so Cairo's forces could flood in.
Therefore...
Tap.
Step!
Instantly utilizing his Lightness Skill, he darted up the wall.
It was a movement Hector's soldiers couldn't possibly react to. At first, they followed Roman's blur of motion with shocked eyes, but upon realizing his destination, they cried out in panic.
"No!"
"Stop him, quickly!"
Roman's target was the lever that operated the castle gate. He instantly slit the throat of the soldier guarding it, manifested his Aura, and smashed the lever.
Thud!
Crunch!
The gate lost its support. As it shook and rattled violently, Roman swung his sword, severing the thick iron chains holding it up.
Crash!
Rumble!
The gate collapsed. It slammed down over the moat with a deafening roar. The moment Roman confirmed its fall, he shouted with a voice infused with mana.
"The gate is open!"
A single man's voice pierced through the chaos of the battlefield. Cairo's soldiers, who had been hesitating to advance through the flames, let out a thunderous cheer at Roman's declaration.
"Waaaaah!"
"Charge!"
"Wipe out the remnants of Hector!"
It was over. The castle wall had lost its purpose. With Cairo's forces pouring through the gate, the Hector Kingdom had no way to stop them.
'My role is finished.'
Now, he could easily retreat. But he did not. Even after rendering the gate useless, Roman continued up the stairs, effortlessly cutting down the enemies blocking his path.
The enemies looked at him with sheer incomprehension.
Why? Why wasn't this monster retreating?
When he finally reached the top of the wall, Roman's gaze locked onto one person.
'Edwin Hector.'
The commander of Hector. He was Roman's next target.
* * *
The gate had collapsed. The war was practically over. Facing certain defeat, Edwin Hector was overcome with a complex mix of emotions.
'Where on earth did it go wrong?'
The plan had been perfect. Capturing the rear base with a surprise attack alone had proven that his judgment was correct.
It was then.
"Edwin Hector!"
Roman Dmitry had appeared.
The soldiers who had tried to block his path were already strewn about as corpses, and the blood of men who had been alive just moments ago dripped heavily from his sword. Edwin Hector's eyes turned bloodshot as he stared at the monster before him.
'Yes, Roman Dmitry. It's all because of that bastard.'
There was no other reason. The 5th Defense Line, which should have fallen according to plan, had successfully held out because of Roman Dmitry. He had then led those forces to harass the Hector Kingdom through brutal guerrilla tactics. Because of that alone, nearly a thousand of Hector's soldiers had died.
When the plan began to go awry, they had belatedly captured the frontline defense posts of the Southern Front. Yet Roman Dmitry, who had hidden like a ghost back then, had now shattered their gate and appeared right before his eyes.
If there was a God, he wanted to ask Him a single question: Why did You allow me, the Star of Hector, to be born, only to send Roman Dmitry to the Cairo Kingdom?
It was a complete defeat. In both strategy and martial prowess, Edwin Hector had never once bested Roman Dmitry.
"This war was flawed from the start," Edwin said, his voice trembling with suppressed emotion. "The moment I realized a variable like you existed, I should have killed you by any means necessary."
Whoosh.
He channeled his mana. The enemies were already storming into the castle. Hearing the screams of his dying soldiers echoing from all directions, Edwin Hector knew that he, too, was unlikely to make it out alive.
But even so, he had absolutely no intention of dying helplessly.
"Even if it costs me my life, Roman Dmitry... I will drag you to the underworld with me."
Roar!
Unleashing his circles, Edwin Hector staked his very life on one final strike.