Chapter 92: Ghostly Shadow (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92: Ghostly Shadow (2)
The sight unfolding before his eyes was utterly unbelievable.
It wasn't just the fact that a Hector knight had been slain in a single strike. What truly left Brandt bewildered was the sight of a lone man leaping headfirst into the enemy ranks.
"It's an enemy!"
"Kill him!"
Hector's soldiers surged forward. At a glance, there were dozens of them. Yet, there was only one man standing in their way.
Roman Dmitry clashed head-on with the enemy, completely indifferent to the overwhelming numerical disadvantage.
Slash!
Thud!
"Aaargh!"
It was a one-sided slaughter.
The soldiers who charged with fierce momentum collapsed with single screams. Those who froze in shock were sliced apart before they could even process what was happening. There was no trace of Aura being used. Relying purely on physical prowess, Roman Dmitry butchered the enemy with absolute ease.
One strike, one life. Death followed every flash of his sword.
Weapons lunged from all directions, desperately aiming for Roman's life, but in the blink of an eye, he was already severing the neck of another soldier.
He was a monster. Yet, even more terrifying than his overwhelming martial prowess was the sheer absurdity of the situation: Roman Dmitry was entirely alone.
"This is insane!"
"He's just one man! Calm down and coordinate your attacks!"
"Surround him!"
One against many. It was a completely absurd scenario.
It was hard enough to comprehend him showing up to the battlefield alone, but for him to be unilaterally slaughtering them was beyond belief.
Hector's soldiers fought desperately. Common sense dictated that a coordinated attack by a large group should easily bring down a single man. But as the battle raged on, the mountain of corpses only grew. It was a hopeless struggle from the very beginning. Far from landing a single scratch on Roman, the soldiers had their heads severed the moment they stepped into his range.
From start to finish, it didn't take long.
Mere moments after Brandt first recognized Roman's presence, a living hell had been painted across the battlefield.
Thud.
It was over. The last soldier of Hector collapsed.
Brandt stared up at Roman, his face deathly pale.
"...Who on earth are you?"
According to Brandt's common sense, no such monster existed within the Cairo Kingdom.
* * *
Their introductions were brief.
At the name 'Roman Dmitry,' Brandt's heart pounded wildly.
So it was true. He really is carrying out a guerrilla operation.
Brandt recalled his last contact with Count Donald. He had interpreted the order to abandon the 1st Defense Line as a complete surrender of the Southern Front. It was the only logical conclusion.
With the Warp Gate in enemy hands, holding the Southern Front against the Hector Kingdom's main force was impossible. The geographical advantage of the mountains? That was just empty talk. While Hector would certainly struggle to root out remnants hiding in the rough terrain, there wasn't a single place in the southern mountain range suitable for a proper fortress.
Thus, a guerrilla operation was a terrible strategy. Blindly relying on the mountains could easily backfire, blocking their retreat and leading to total annihilation.
But Roman Dmitry stayed. Even though he had plenty of time to escape, he didn't abandon the Southern Front.
Come to think of it, things had been unusual ever since Roman first contacted Count Donald. He had deduced that the rear base's Warp Gate was captured and warned them to run.
Foresight. Roman's judgment had been absolutely flawless.
Of course, Brandt still believed a guerrilla operation was suicidal. Yet, he couldn't help but look at Roman with profound respect. He knew he was only drawing breath right now because this man had willingly walked into danger.
"You were right, Lord Roman Dmitry," Brandt said, bowing his head. "Despite your sound advice, Count Donald chose to remain in that death trap. The 1st Defense Line has fallen to the Hector Kingdom. The war is already over. The enemy has moved on to attack the 2nd Defense Line, and they won't be able to hold out for long either."
He didn't know why Roman was traveling alone. But one thing was certain: the tide of war had turned so drastically that a guerrilla operation was now meaningless. Knowing what kind of man Roman Dmitry was, Brandt raised his voice, urging him to leave.
"Are you telling me to give up?" Roman asked.
"Yes," Brandt replied firmly. "There are things in this world that are physically impossible. I have just witnessed firsthand what a powerful swordsman you are, Lord Roman, but the Hector Kingdom has invaded the Southern Front with an immense army. There is no way to handle them all alone. Why not retreat over the mountains? No one will blame you. I saw how hard you fought, and I will gladly testify to your valor before the kingdom. So please, make the wise decision."
Brandt assumed Roman had stayed behind for revenge. Logically, there was no other reason for a commander to be moving alone. The hypothesis that Roman had lost all his subordinates and was seeking vengeance seemed the most plausible.
It was sound advice. Brandt wasn't wrong. In fact, even if Roman withdrew right now, he wouldn't face any military reprimand.
However...
I don't like it.
This wasn't some noble expression of patriotism. True, Roman Dmitry was a noble of Cairo, and the Southern Front where he was stationed had fallen to the Hector Kingdom. But to him, this was purely a matter of pride. The fact that a man named Roman Dmitry was present on the battlefield yet accomplished absolutely nothing—he refused to let such a pathetic stain remain on his record.
It was a seemingly trivial reason to risk his life. The potential gains were small, and the risks were immense.
But in his past life as Baek Joong-hyuk, born into a dog-eat-dog world where the strong preyed on the weak, he had risen to the absolute peak by adhering to one absolute truth:
Never, not even once, leave a precedent that allows others to look down on you.
That was all. That was why he stayed. That was why he didn't run.
Meeting Brandt's desperate, pleading gaze, Roman spoke.
"No. The war is not over yet."
* * *
Roman mentally retraced the situation from the outbreak of the war until now.
The Hector Kingdom is in a dire state due to an unprecedented famine. If they don't even have enough food to feed their common citizens, there's no way they could have properly secured military rations. Yet, they still launched this invasion. That means their situation is just that desperate.
It was a simple deduction. Hector's true intention was to resolve their domestic crisis through this war.
Under that premise, all of the Hector Kingdom's actions make perfect sense. The Southern Front is a barren wasteland compared to other regions; there is no strategic reason for a foreign nation to invade it so aggressively. Yet, Hector is trying to bring the entire front under their absolute control. Instead of a simple border skirmish, they used the strategy of Making a Feint to the East and Attacking in the West to deceive us and capture the Warp Gate. Complete isolation. By holding the Southern Front hostage, they gain the upper hand in any negotiations with Cairo.
Looking beyond the immediate battlefield, Roman had completely read the opponent's intentions. If Hector needed to end the war quickly, their weakness was already glaringly obvious.
"This war is a very unique case," Roman explained. "The Hector Kingdom's attempt to capture the Southern Front in one fell swoop is partly to minimize their own casualties, but primarily because they lack the resources to sustain a long-term campaign. Every war has a purpose. Hector's purpose is to resolve their nation's internal crisis. To do that, they must completely occupy the Southern Front to force smooth negotiations with the Cairo royal family."
"...What do you mean by that?" Brandt's eyes widened.
Roman's words sounded like nonsense to him. Starting a massive war just to solve domestic difficulties? How was he supposed to accept that logic?
"It's simple. Despite their unfavorable circumstances, the Hector Kingdom attacked the Southern Front—a region that offers little practical benefit. Do you really think Hector, whose people are starving as we speak, can afford to occupy and hold the Southern Front indefinitely? Far from it. They are gambling the entire fate of their nation on a quick resolution."
Pushed to the edge of a cliff, Hector had drawn their sword simply to survive. Doing nothing meant withering away and dying, so this invasion was their final, desperate struggle to secure a lifeline before starving to death.
Understanding this, Roman had made his decision.
"We don't need to face the entire Hector army head-on. If the enemy numbers ten thousand, we only need to take out a hundred. A mere one percent casualty rate will significantly alter the course of this war. The Hector Kingdom's plans will unravel just by having us operating behind their lines. Meanwhile, the Cairo royal family will realize there is still resistance and won't readily capitulate to Hector's demands. That is more than enough. Just by introducing a single variable into this war, we can completely thwart the Hector Kingdom's grand design."
Brandt couldn't hide his admiration. His initial instincts hadn't been wrong—Roman was no ordinary man. Just as he had shown incredible foresight before, he was now viewing the entire battlefield from a completely different dimension.
The problem was that Roman's plan was much easier said than done.
"...Is that really possible?"
"It is."
Brandt couldn't even voice his doubts. Before the seeds of skepticism could fully take root, Roman Dmitry threw him into utter shock once more.
"Because we have already achieved our initial objective."
* * *
Meanwhile, at the 2nd Defense Line of the Southern Front.
The Hector Kingdom had already begun its siege.
"Fire!"
Thud! Rumble!
Artillery flares exploded violently against the castle walls. Sections of the ramparts had already collapsed from the relentless bombardment, and Cairo's soldiers screamed amidst the raging flames.
However, Edwin Hector did not hastily order an all-out assault. Now that contact with the Cairo royal family had been established, time was on Hector's side. From this point onward, minimizing their own casualties was of the utmost importance.
The plan is perfect.
A full year of meticulous preparation. They had taken a scenario they had simulated countless times and turned it into reality. By crossing the border to distract the enemy, they successfully captured the Warp Gate—the absolute most critical choke point.
With that single maneuver, the war was effectively over.
Back at the drawing board, they had concluded there was zero possibility of failure once the Warp Gate was secured. They had already crossed the final hurdle. Now, they only needed to systematically wipe out the remaining remnants and extract appropriate compensation from Cairo.
And yet, despite holding such an overwhelming advantage, Edwin felt a strange, lingering unease.
Baron McCleary's death was not factored into my calculations. The 5th Defense Line is the absolute weakest on the Southern Front. Yet, Baron McCleary died at the hands of such weaklings. Roman Dmitry... Does this mean he is a variable capable of overturning a numerical disadvantage?
Edwin Hector was a man who constantly doubted himself. Even when operations went flawlessly, he would re-examine his decisions to ensure there were no hidden flaws, ruthlessly shutting down any potential variables.
But no matter how much he analyzed it, the scale of this particular variable seemed minuscule. He had heard much of Roman Dmitry's reputation, but a mere 3-Star Swordsman was not significant enough to overturn the entire tide of a war.
Unlike our initial plan, we failed to capture the 5th Defense Line. What ripple effects could stem from this? I can confidently say there is no scenario that puts us in actual danger. Even if Roman Dmitry leads his surviving troops against us, that meager level of force cannot withstand Hector's main army. What if his martial prowess is far greater than expected, just as the defeated soldiers claimed? It might cause a minor headache, but it won't be fatal. The Hector Kingdom's army is not so fragile as to be swayed by a single individual.
Before laying siege to the 2nd Defense Line, Edwin Hector had issued a specific command: an order to hunt down and eliminate the scattered remnants of Cairo. It was a preemptive measure to crush any lingering variables, fearing those stragglers might be absorbed into Roman's forces.
He used cold, hard facts to suppress his doubts. Though his highly sensitive nerves kept urging him to review the plan, his logical mind reached the clear conclusion that everything was perfectly fine.
It was then that a communications soldier hurriedly approached.
"Prince Edwin. We have lost contact with the 1st Company, which was dispatched to eliminate the remnants."
A single piece of news.
A chilling sense of foreboding washed over Edwin. Sure enough, more shouts followed.
"We have also lost contact with the 2nd Company!"
"The 3rd Company is not responding either!"
As the frantic reports piled up one after another, Edwin Hector's expression turned ice-cold.
The variable.
His ominous foreboding had finally become reality.