Chapter 259: Night of Slaughter (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 259: Night of Slaughter (2)
Alarms blared from all directions.
Amidst the deafening din, soldiers frantically scoured the area for Roman Dmitry, their eyes burning with desperation.
"It's Roman Dmitry!"
"He's over there!"
In an instant, the soldiers swarmed him.
With ten thousand troops stationed in Rascal, hundreds of soldiers surrounded Roman Dmitry in the blink of an eye. It was a menacing sight. On the surface, it looked as though they were cornering a rabbit, but the reality of the clash was entirely different.
Crunch!
"Argh!"
The soldier at the front was instantly torn apart.
As the front soldier's eyes widened in shock from the immense impact, Roman Dmitry drew back his sword and cleaved through the soldiers rushing in behind him. Thick, dark blood trailed the arc of his blade. Before the first body could even hit the ground, Roman's sword had already sent three more heads flying into the air.
At the same time...
Rumble!
Aura boiled over.
He plunged into the crowd, cutting down every enemy he encountered. The soldiers' counterattacks were utterly meaningless. Those close enough to react were too busy screaming from the agonizing pain tearing through their bodies. Then, Roman Dmitry unleashed an explosion of mana toward the encirclement.
'Blood Stream.'
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
Droplets of blood, transformed into jagged thorns, pierced through the enemies' bodies.
Horrific screams erupted.
As dozens of soldiers collapsed simultaneously, those charging from behind froze, their faces draining of color.
This was no rabbit hunt.
Roman Dmitry showed absolutely no intention of fleeing; instead, he was actively hunting down and slaughtering them. For the commanding officers, it was a deeply terrifying realization. Having received strict orders from Count Pablo, they could not retreat. Yet, at this rate, their entire force would be wiped out.
Beep.
"This is Zone 1! This is Zone 1! We cannot stop Roman Dmitry! We need immediate reinforcements!" an officer shouted urgently into his communicator.
But the moment he looked up—
Flash.
His head flew off.
Accompanied by a wave of searing heat, Roman Dmitry's sword had severed his neck before he could even react. The chain of command immediately collapsed. Even in the heart of enemy territory, Roman systematically eliminated anyone who appeared to be an officer. It didn't matter if they had ten thousand troops—if the commanders were dead and unable to issue real-time orders, numbers lost all meaning.
Just five minutes.
That was all the time Roman Dmitry spent on this slaughter.
As a massive reinforcement force converged on Zone 1, Roman threw himself into the blazing flames without a moment's hesitation.
Whoosh.
Roar!
"Pursue him!"
"We can't! The flames are too intense!"
The fury of the Kronos Empire's troops reached a boiling point.
Although the empire's swordsmen had arrived hoping to turn the tide, the raging inferno crushed their will to pursue. They had no idea how Roman Dmitry remained unaffected by the fire. But one thing was certain: even getting slightly close caused their skin to blister. Chasing him through the flames was impossible.
A few minutes later...
"Argh!"
"I-It's Roman Dmitry!"
He appeared again in a completely different location.
Emerging from the inferno, Roman Dmitry cut through the ranks of the soldiers, resuming his slaughter.
It was a perfect guerrilla operation.
It was a feat only possible for Roman Dmitry. Even while conducting a one-sided massacre, the moment his sharp senses detected a specific group approaching, he would immediately vanish back into the fire. That group was none other than the Kronos 7th Knights Division. As they rushed toward him in a furious rage, he clashed with them briefly before retreating into the flames once more.
Whoosh.
Crackle.
Not yet. The time is not yet ripe.
Roman Dmitry looked back at his furious enemies as he was swallowed by the flames.
* * *
Knight Commander Bento, commander of the 7th Knights Division, was absolutely livid at the unfolding situation.
[This is Zone 1! This is Zone 1! We cannot stop Roman Dmitry! We need immediate reinforcements!]
The distress signal.
The moment he pinpointed Roman Dmitry's location, Bento rushed toward Zone 1.
The target was a rat in a trap.
Bento was confident they could finish him the moment they caught his tail. The Aura Swordsmen of the 7th Knights Division followed closely behind him at breakneck speed. It didn't take long to reach Zone 1 from their current position. It took just over five minutes—an incredibly fast response time—yet Roman Dmitry was nowhere to be seen.
Mountains of corpses.
Soldiers groaning in agony.
The scene resembled the remnants of a defeated army.
Bento gritted his teeth and scanned the surroundings, but there was no way to track Roman Dmitry.
It was then.
[Roman Dmitry has appeared in Zone 2! Zone 2— Argh!]
Through the magic communicator, the agonizing screams of the soldiers echoed.
Bento hurriedly spun around and sprinted at full speed toward Zone 2, which wasn't far away. He ignored the flames rising around him. To minimize travel time, he enveloped his body in Aura and charged straight through the smaller fires.
However, the result was the same.
There were only bloody traces of the devastation left by Roman Dmitry; the perpetrator of the slaughter was nowhere to be found.
[Roman Dmitry has appeared in Zone 3!]
[This is Zone 4! Help us!]
[Aaaargh!]
Reports flooded in from all directions.
The enemy's movements were elusive and unpredictable. The moment they thought they had cornered him, he would appear in another zone entirely. It was utterly baffling. If Roman Dmitry truly was completely immune to fire, pursuing him while all of Rascal burned would be an exercise in futility.
Bento's rage boiled over.
His bloodshot eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
Grit.
"Roman Dmitry, you son of a bitch! Come out and fight me like a man!"
But screaming in frustration changed nothing.
Bento grabbed a wounded soldier sprawled on the ground by the collar, venting his fury.
"Tell me everything you saw and heard! Where did Roman Dmitry go? And were there any other soldiers with him? Speak! Tell me!" he barked.
Trembling in sheer terror, the soldier struggled to squeeze out the words.
"...I-I don't know where he went. But... but one thing is certain. Roman Dmitry was alone."
Alone.
It was a consistent testimony.
Every time they arrived at a scene, the survivors only ever spoke of a single person: Roman Dmitry.
'Wait.'
Something was wrong.
As Rascal was Kronos's outpost, Roman Dmitry must have known that a massive force was stationed here. Yet, did he really launch a guerrilla operation against this stronghold entirely on his own? No matter how Bento thought about it, it made no sense. It was an incredibly reckless plan, and there was no reason for him to go to such extremes.
According to rumors, Roman Dmitry was a highly combative and aggressive man.
Meaning, he was not the type to wag his tail and run away just to act as bait.
'Could it be?'
His heart sank.
A sinister possibility crossed his mind.
Bento sprang to his feet.
Urgent voices continued to crackle through the magic communicator, but that was no longer his primary concern.
"We are heading to the gates right now! Move!"
* * *
At that moment, the mages of Blue Island were not participating in the pursuit of Roman Dmitry. Instead, they were entirely focused on extinguishing the fire.
Whoosh.
Roar.
"Whew. It's hot, really hot," muttered Mage Yale, a member of Blue Island.
As a 5-Circle Mage, he showed no fear even when facing the 'Flame Demon' that terrified the regular soldiers. Blue Island was a school that specialized in the water element. Roman Dmitry might have devised a clever plan, but having Yale here of all places was a fatal stroke of bad luck for him.
The Flame Demon.
Yale was confident he could suppress it in an instant.
As Yale and the other mages channeled their mana, a moisture-laden wind whipped around them, dyeing the air a brilliant blue.
"Aqua Field."
Whoosh.
Mana surged.
Like a sudden tsunami, water erupted out of thin air, sweeping over the surrounding area. Even if the fire had been fueled by oil, it wouldn't matter. Magic-infused water possessed immense suppressing power. Even if the fire triggered a massive explosion, the water would swallow it whole in an instant.
At the same time, the other mages of Blue Island lent their strength.
"Aqua Shield."
"Aqua Shield."
"Aqua Shield."
They formed barriers of water around the area where the Flame Demon raged.
Since fire required oxygen to burn, they used the Aqua Shields to perfectly cut off the air supply. It was a highly efficient method. Because the Aqua Shields also possessed a powerful cooling effect, the mages were confident that the Flame Demon would be extinguished in one fell swoop alongside the Aqua Field.
However...
Boom!
Rumble!
A massive explosion erupted.
The Flame Demon blazed violently, fighting back against the water trying to smother it.
It was a shocking sight.
In a situation where any ordinary fire would have surely been snuffed out, the Flame Demon completely devoured all the moisture from the Aqua Field. This was no ordinary magic—it was a 5-Circle spell. Though Yale had experienced countless infernos as a mage of Blue Island, the scene before his eyes defied all common sense.
"...How on earth?" Yale was utterly dazed.
Staring at the Flame Demon erupting like an active volcano, Yale snapped out of his stupor and cast his magic once more.
But the result was exactly the same.
The 5-Circle magic evaporated in an instant.
Sizzle.
"I'm sure of it. This is no ordinary fire."
Count Pablo had said that an oil fire had broken out.
At first, Yale had thought the same, but watching the Flame Demon resist his water magic changed his mind. It might have started with oil, just as Count Pablo claimed. However, the source of this colossal inferno they were facing now undoubtedly originated from a special power, much like magic.
Therefore, this was a fire that could not be extinguished by his power alone.
* * *
Bento ran like a madman.
Just moments ago, he had received an urgent report from Yale.
What the mage said only confirmed his ominous suspicions.
[Something is wrong. We cannot extinguish the fire even with water magic. This means there is definitely a source sustaining this Flame Demon, and unless we subdue that entity, there is no way to put out the fire.]
There were two options.
Either unleash a power strong enough to completely suppress the Flame Demon, or kill the source of the fire.
Since the former was impossible, the only way to resolve the crisis was to deal with Roman Dmitry. He might not be the direct source of the fire, but considering his immense resistance to the flames, there was a very high probability that the Flame Demon originated from him.
But first, there was something he had to confirm.
Arriving at the South Gate of Rascal, Bento stared at the sight before him, his face draining of blood.
Whoosh.
Roar.
The gate was burning.
Parts of it had already collapsed, completely blocking the escape route, and the raging flames spreading along the walls left absolutely no way out. His worst fears had become reality. He had felt that Roman Dmitry's actions were meant to draw their attention and buy time, and now Bento had confirmed the absolute worst-case scenario.
Just then, reports flooded in from his subordinates.
[The North Gate is blocked!]
[The West Gate is the same! The fire is too intense; we cannot pass through here!]
[The East Gate has been engulfed by the Flame Demon! It seems someone intentionally set it ablaze. The guards defending the East Gate are all dead, and the lever to operate the gate has been destroyed!]
"...Could this bastard really..."
Whoosh.
Roar.
Before his eyes, the flames danced mockingly.
Staring at the inferno devouring the South Gate, Bento felt a deep sense of despair.
"Ten thousand troops are trapped in Rascal. We have no way out of here now."
It was absurd.
Though his mind tried to deny reality, he ultimately had no choice but to accept it.
Roman Dmitry...
...intended to hunt down all ten thousand troops, entirely on his own.
