Chapter 99: A World Never Experienced Before (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 99: A World Never Experienced Before (3)
The pursuit continued.
Yet, the Hector Kingdom was always one step behind.
By the time they arrived at the scene, only cooling corpses remained; Roman had already vanished.
The casualties were severe. Fear began to creep into the minds of the soldiers. At least, until the captain of the Ranger Unit appeared.
Jackson.
"This is as far as you go!"
He had finally caught his tail.
Seeing Roman slaughtering Hector's soldiers, Jackson didn't hesitate to unleash his Aura and charge.
Rumble!
His Aura erupted like an explosion. In that instant, Roman instinctively knew. The man named Jackson was a 4-Star Swordsman.
Clang!
Crash!
Their swords clashed, generating a violent shockwave. The Aura rising from Roman's blade did not yield an inch to Jackson's assault. Seeing Roman effortlessly block his strikes multiple times, Jackson's face contorted in bewilderment. Roman Dmitry was supposedly a 3-Star Swordsman. Yet, to parry his attacks like this, it was safe to assume they were at least of equal caliber.
'Roman Dmitry has been grossly underestimated.'
Goosebumps broke out across his skin. Looking back at Roman's recent actions, Jackson finally understood why Hector's soldiers had been unilaterally slaughtered.
A swordsman in the 4-Star Realm was a walking disaster. There was no way ordinary soldiers could stop him.
Just like right now.
"Help Captain Jackson!"
"Attack!"
Hector's soldiers seized the opportunity and rushed in. While Roman and Jackson were locked in combat, they intended to target Roman's rear and inflict a fatal wound. Their attacks aimed precisely at his blind spots. They assumed Roman wouldn't have the leeway to look back during such a fierce clash, but Roman simply deflected Jackson's strike and, without even glancing over his shoulder, swung his sword backward.
Slash!
With a single strike, the soldiers fell in heaps.
Having neutralized the threat as if swatting flies, Roman kicked off the ground and immediately pressed Jackson.
'This guy!'
Jackson's expression hardened. To have the composure to slaughter other soldiers while fighting him...
While he was flustered by the fact that Roman was far stronger than expected, his instincts—honed through countless battles—sounded an alarm for an entirely different reason. Jackson was a 4-Star Swordsman. To the outside world, he was only known as the leader of the Ranger Unit; his exact strength as an Aura Swordsman was a closely guarded secret.
Because of that, Jackson's name was absent from the Hector Kingdom's rankings. He had chosen practical utility over fame. Therefore, Roman Dmitry should have reacted to his ambush with sheer panic.
Contrary to expectations, Roman was perfectly calm.
It wasn't the reaction of someone who had anticipated Jackson's strength; rather, it seemed as though Roman simply didn't care that his opponent was a 4-Star Swordsman. Even as Jackson pressed his offense hard, a strange sense of anxiety welled up inside him. Roman Dmitry was definitely caught in a trap. As long as Jackson pinned him down, there was no way he could escape alive.
And yet, how could he be so calm?
'It doesn't matter what trick you have up your sleeve. The moment you met me, your fate was sealed.'
He suppressed his doubts. The battle was already decided. Jackson had bought them a crucial minute.
Screeech—
"Over there!"
"Surround Roman Dmitry!"
Behind Jackson, numerous lights were rapidly multiplying. It was a perfect encirclement. A sea of enemies.
The foes quickly swarmed the surrounding area. Though he had only been delayed for a few minutes, the Hector Kingdom's dragnet had tightly choked off Roman Dmitry's escape routes.
"Surrender now," Jackson demanded, glaring with fierce eyes.
If Roman resisted to the end, they would have to kill him, even if it meant taking heavy casualties. Since a voluntary surrender was the ideal outcome for the Hector Kingdom, he gave his opponent time to choose.
"Surrender? What an amusing thing to say."
Roman laughed.
Just as Jackson had realized, Roman wasn't particularly surprised by the appearance of a 4-Star Swordsman. From the beginning, it was obvious Hector would bring powerful experts to attack the Cairo Kingdom. Jackson being one of them was not a variable worth noting. That was why Roman could face him without a shred of panic. He was certainly not an easy opponent, but he fell well within expected parameters.
Jackson was confident of his victory. The smugness filling his face showed he was absolutely certain he had cornered his prey.
At that sight, Roman sneered.
"Even if I surrendered, you would immediately kill me for being a dangerous element. But tell me, didn't you find something strange while pursuing me? Why did I walk right into the trap you set? Why did I roam the mountain, intentionally drawing your attention? There are three reasons. First, the fragments attached to my body cannot bind me."
Whoosh.
He channeled his Mana. As the Mana from his Dantian circulated through his body, the fragments of light clinging to him fell away with absurd ease.
It was a shocking sight. Jackson's pupils trembled.
The only reason Roman had been caught was because his ability to hide in the dark had been neutralized by those fragments of light. If he could solve that problem so easily, this entire situation made no sense.
An ominous feeling began to take root. Dread preceded whatever Roman was about to say next.
"Second, I am confident that I can escape any encirclement under any circumstances. You will see that soon enough. No matter how tightly you surround me, you will never catch me."
And finally, the last.
Roman looked straight into Jackson's eyes.
"Lastly, I wanted you all to be so captivated by me that you forgot what was truly important. Jackson. Captain of the Ranger Unit. The fact that an expert like you is here means that Edwin Hector's guard has become very lax."
In that instant, Jackson's eyes widened. His heart plummeted.
As the horrifying realization exploded in his mind, Jackson frantically kicked off the ground, desperate to stop Roman.
But it was too late.
The moment Roman finished speaking, he kicked off a tree with movements unimaginable for a human and soared into the air.
The peak of Lightness Skill.
It made absolute fools of everyone who had formed the encirclement. As Roman rapidly vanished, leaping through the dense canopy, Jackson screamed in desperation.
"Damn it! Go to the Prince immediately! The Prince is in danger!"
A reverse approach. Roman had made his winning move.
*
Guerrilla warfare.
There was a limit to a strategy of simply wearing down the enemy.
At first, he had enjoyed great success because the enemy hadn't anticipated his strength, but he knew that once experts like Jackson intervened, things would become difficult. Roman was no longer the Heavenly Demon. While the Heavenly Demon Baek Joong-hyuk was a transcendent being who could defeat all of the Ten Great Masters of the World even if they attacked him at once, Roman Dmitry in his current life would inevitably find himself in mortal danger the moment multiple individuals of Jackson's caliber appeared.
Therefore, a plan was needed. A plan that would actively utilize his abilities while completely ruining the Hector Kingdom's designs.
'There is only one way to end a war with a small number of people. The enemy leader. If I kill Edwin Hector, the architect of this operation, the Hector Kingdom will lose its justification to continue the war.'
He shifted his gaze.
Edwin Hector. He was truly everything to Hector.
It had started back then. While Roman had intentionally initiated communication to instill fear in the enemy, he had also been analyzing the flow of Mana through the device.
'A magic communication device is a tool that transmits voices through a connection of Mana. If I can trace where the flow originating from the device leads, I can pinpoint Edwin Hector's location. Once a connection is successfully established even once, there is no need to connect again. If I memorize the unique Mana flow of his specific device, I can easily track him down with my abilities.'
He had sketched out the blueprint of the operation right then and there.
From beginning to end, Roman's actions were thoroughly calculated. He had made contact with a specific purpose, and after grasping the flow of Mana, he intentionally walked right into the opponent's trap.
Then, he dragged them around by the nose.
He dangled himself as bait to make the enemies, certain they had cornered him, let down their guard. He enticed the experts protecting Edwin Hector to break formation just to capture him. Even though he had the ability to shake off the pursuit and escape from the very start, Roman willingly took the risk to face the enemies head-on.
It was a reckless plan. But it was worth a try.
High risk, high return.
On the battlefield, the sheer boldness to decisively seize victory was the ultimate weapon of the Heavenly Demon Baek Joong-hyuk.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The surrounding scenery flashed past.
Lightness Skill.
His body, infused with Mana, moved like a wild mountain beast, swiftly traversing the treacherous terrain toward his target.
The flow of Mana. He felt it nearby.
Edwin Hector was definitely there. And just as expected...
"Gasp!"
"It's Roman Dmitry!"
Edwin Hector. He spotted him.
The panicked guards hurriedly blocked the path in front of their prince, but in a split second, their heads flew off.
Slash!
The human wall crumbled. Now, it was time to deal with Edwin Hector.
Just as Roman was about to slice off Edwin Hector's head—
"..."
Edwin Hector's coldly settled eyes stared straight back at Roman.
*
After making the decision to pursue Roman, Edwin Hector had said:
"Roman Dmitry might have anticipated our pursuit and set a trap in advance. At first glance, it seems like he is dealing with us on a whim, but from what I've gathered, Roman Dmitry is absolutely not a man who would reveal himself without a plan. In this operation, sacrifices are inevitable. Many soldiers will die in his traps, but even so, we will pursue him. We need to set a precedent. We need a clear result showing that we are not fools who were defeated by a mere two hundred troops, but an army that slaughtered every single enemy who dared to resist."
A chill had run down Jackson's spine.
The moment they set foot on the mountain, the true war had begun. No matter who the opponent was or what plans they had prepared, Edwin Hector intended to win.
Moreover, if the opponent was a monster like Roman Dmitry, he had to choke the life out of him here and now. He was certain that if left alone, Roman would surely return as an even greater threat to the kingdom.
"Roman Dmitry is like an unbridled colt. He certainly moves with a plan, but we cannot easily predict how he will act. Therefore, we must focus on one undeniable fact: the opponent's objective. If I were Roman Dmitry, what would be my primary goal? They intend to prevent us from taking the Southern Front within three days. But actually, there is a much simpler way to end the war at once rather than setting traps to slowly reduce our numbers."
"...No way."
Jackson's eyes had widened. Their thoughts aligned. Edwin Hector and Jackson had arrived at the exact same conclusion.
"Yes. It is to kill me, the commander of the Hector Kingdom. In the chaotic process of our pursuit, he might decide that assassinating me is the easiest path to victory. It is a reckless plan that no one in their right mind would choose. But seeing him show such blatant hostility toward me through the communication device... I realized that if it's Roman Dmitry, he might actually carry out such an absurd plan."
It was a mere possibility. It might not happen at all. But if he did attempt it, Edwin Hector decided he would use it as an opportunity.
"Hector's soldiers have risked their lives for the kingdom. Therefore, I, too, will become bait for the kingdom. If you pursue Roman, leaving me seemingly defenseless, Roman Dmitry will seize the only possibility to end this war quickly."
He, too, was a reckless man. Knowing the danger, he boldly made his move.
"The moment Roman Dmitry appears before me, we will have a definitive opportunity to eliminate him."
And now, Roman Dmitry had appeared.
Just as expected. An absurdly bold decision.
Seeing Roman charge after slaughtering the guards even faster than anticipated, Edwin Hector unleashed the move he had prepared.
Whoosh.
Mana surged. But it was completely different from the way an Aura Swordsman wielded it.
"Inferno!"
Whoosh!
Roar!
Intense flames erupted!
Edwin Hector. The official heir to the Hector royal family, and a being blessed by the heavens.
He was a mage.
Boom!
Blaze!