Chapter 795

The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Release schedule: 3 chapters per week

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Nakturah was currently in an extremely excited state.

He was, by nature, a Black Mage who relished destruction. War was the very essence of a Black Mage’s existence and the reason they lived.

However, having been trapped in a dragon’s lair for ages, he had been forced to suppress that desire.

And now, to be thrust into such a massive battle the moment he was freed!

‘This is too much fun!’

He savored the thrill inwardly, reaffirming that following the Julien Mercenary Corps had been the right decision.

But of course, one could not outwardly reveal such joy recklessly.

Extending his staff, he unleashed a voice brimming with majesty.

“Pitiful mortals. Today, your souls shall forget even how to scream in my flames!”

Fwoooosh!

A massive fireball crashed into the midst of the bewildered Imperial army.

It was such a sudden assault that no one could respond in time.

KABOOOM!

“Aaaaargh!”

A pillar of fire erupted, and a tremendous blaze devoured the Imperial army.

The fire did not merely burn—it surged like a living beast, stretching out in all directions and melting everything in its path.

Count Ferington shouted while attacking Ghislain.

“Magicians! Deploy mana shields! Block the magic!”

The Imperial army was well aware that Astion was a 7th-Circle Mage.

That was why they had brought a considerable number of magicians with them.

Although half of them had already moved toward the sea, the remaining ones frantically began to raise mana shields.

Faced with overwhelming pressure, blue ghostly flames rose from Nakturah’s eye sockets.

“And you dare think you can stop me with this level of power?”

A mana shield, quite formidable, was deployed—likely due to the presence of a 7th-Circle Mage on the opposing side.

But an 8th-Circle Mage knew how to pierce even such formidable defenses.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

As Nakturah drew upon more mana, holes began to appear in the mana shields.

Through those gaps, he fired off spells indiscriminately.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!

Though their potency was significantly reduced, they were still more than enough to deal with ordinary soldiers.

Explosions of fire and lightning relentlessly tore through the Imperial army’s formation.

Ghislain had summoned not only Nakturah.

THUUUUM!

Black mana surged as knights clad in dark armor began crawling out of it.

One hundred Death Knights.

The moment they were summoned, they scattered and began massacring the Imperial army.

Shouts from Imperial commanders echoed all around.

“Have the knights move to the front! Now! Priests, begin the attack!”

The knights at the forefront of the Imperial army engaged the Death Knights.

Behind them, radiant light spread outward.

Fwoooosh!

“Oh Goddess! Banish these vile beings!”

With the priests’ prayers, Divine Power blanketed the battlefield.

The Imperial army also knew that Astion was a Black Mage.

That’s why they had brought priests with them—to deploy Divine Power.

And it was indeed effective.

Nakturah, who had been firing spells from the air, faltered in surprise.

‘Huh? What the? Why are there so many priests?’

Nakturah was growing extremely irritated. The Divine Power was focusing more on him than on the Death Knights.

Already struggling with the mana shields, he now had to divert his attention to protect himself. The Death Knights, although receiving less Divine Power than Nakturah, also began to move more sluggishly.

But Ghislain wasn’t the only one in the Julien Mercenary Corps.

“Spirits of Earth! Unleash your fury!”

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

Earth Spirits summoned by Ereneth tore through the ground and surged upward.

Each time their massive arms swept out, the earth crumbled and soldiers were sucked into the underground.

As this happened simultaneously at dozens of locations, the Imperial army couldn’t regain their composure.

“There’s a Spirit-wielder! A Spirit-wielder is among them!”

“Mages! Seal the spirits!”

“She’s a Transcendent Spirit-wielder!”

Ereneth brushed back her hair with a haughty expression.

“Hmph. Trying to take our Blessing Stone? That was given to Deneb.”

The training she underwent in the Land of Extreme Cold had been immensely effective.

Unlike other elves who leisurely gained experience in the forest, Ereneth had grown rapidly thanks to tremendous support.

Having reached Transcendence, she had returned as a powerful force the Imperial army could never have anticipated.

BOOM! BOOOM! BOOM!

The spirits Ereneth had summoned were now targeting the magicians stationed at the rear of the Imperial army.

“Restrain the spirits! Hurry!”

The magicians frantically adjusted their mana shields and focused on restraining the spirits. Thanks to the Divine Power, the Lich’s mana had weakened.

However, not all attacks could be blocked. The Imperial army’s formation was crumbling more and more.

It was then that Julien and Kyle leapt into the gap.

Following behind them were Osval and the other mercenaries.

FWOOSH!

The moment they plunged into the battlefield, the knights who had been fighting the Death Knights collapsed in vain.

The Death Knights once again surged into those openings and brought down the Imperial troops.

SIZZLE!

Due to the Divine Power blanketing the battlefield, black smoke began to rise from various parts of the Death Knights’ bodies.

Yet they were still upper-to-peak class knights. Even weakened by Divine Power, they were not opponents that regular knights or soldiers could handle.

CRASH! BOOM! BOOOOM!

“Uaargh!”

Shattered shields, broken spears, and screams mixed into a cacophony.

The Imperial army’s formation, already in shambles, could no longer capitalize on the advantage of their numbers.

The commanders’ shouts were dispersed before reaching the soldiers.

Even the few orders that were audible were so jumbled that they were nearly incomprehensible.

At this point, the army was no longer fighting with strategy but merely enduring with numbers.

Then, the commanders stationed on the Imperial army’s flanks made their move.

“That one must be Julien.”

“And that one’s Kyle, huh?”

Julien and Kyle’s movements were unmistakable.

Their slaughter of Imperial troops while emitting Aura Blades made them impossible to miss.

The commanders on both flanks were also Transcendents sent by the Holy Empire. They charged straight at Julien and Kyle.

BOOOOOM!

As the Transcendents collided, an enormous shockwave exploded outward, sending all surrounding troops flying.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!

Both members of the Julien Mercenary Corps and Imperial soldiers instinctively backed away. Getting caught in a Transcendent clash meant not even a corpse would remain.

Thanks to that, the Death Knights found it easier to move.

They targeted the scattered Imperial soldiers, while the mercenaries now followed behind the Death Knights.

“I, Osval the Man, shall revolutionarily crush our enemies!”

Osval shouted boldly—while secretly calculating when would be the best time to run away.

And around that moment, Darents, who had only been watching, made his move.

“Go. Kill the Saintess.”

At his gesture, the assassins of Crips slipped in under the cover of chaos.

Surrounding Deneb were only Marika, wearing her mask, and six other assassins who followed her.

The Crips assassins ignored the Imperial troops and focused solely on closing the distance to Deneb by any means necessary.

Eventually, they succeeded in narrowing the gap by sacrificing many of their allies.

Even amidst that, Deneb kept her eyes closed, hands clasped in prayer.

SWISH!

The assassins leapt forward, about to hurl their daggers at Deneb.

But Marika, standing by Deneb’s side, moved faster.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

As her robe fluttered, dozens of daggers connected to her body shot outward, piercing the assassins clean through.

The daggers moved like snakes, skewering even the ones charging from behind.

Though she had just slain dozens in an instant, Marika’s expression didn’t even twitch.

Sweeping her sharp gaze across the surroundings, she quickly locked onto one direction.

At that moment, Deneb spoke softly.

“Oh Goddess, grant your blessing upon the swords and shields of those who fight in your name—wash away their wounds, quell their fear, and fill them with undying courage.”

FWOOSH!

Divine Power erupted from Deneb’s body. But unlike the light unleashed by the Holy Empire’s priests, hers was different.

Her light seeped precisely into the members of the Julien Mercenary Corps.

As the silvery brilliance enveloped their bodies, wounds vanished in the blink of an eye.

Attacks from regular soldiers failed to leave the slightest scratch. And should a powerful strike land, their wounds healed almost immediately.

Right now, the Julien Mercenary Corps had become absurdly powerful in both recovery and defense.

Marika, noticing the light emanating from her own body, spoke.

“Protect Deneb.”

At her words, the remaining six members nodded.

Marika then turned to Lionel, who stood frozen in a daze.

“Get it together. If you don’t want to fight, then at least make sure Deneb is safe. Otherwise, you’ll never get to meet the Pope.”

Lionel still hadn’t entered the fight.

After all, he had originally been a knight of the Holy Empire.

At Marika’s words, Lionel gave a slight nod.

He couldn’t allow Deneb to die here.

He raised his shield and stood in front of her.

Though he wasn’t ready to rush ahead and kill Imperial soldiers like the others, he was determined to protect Deneb no matter what.

Marika exhaled deeply and scanned the area once more.

‘There’s no immediate threat to Deneb.’

Thanks to Ereneth, the Imperial army was in total disarray from the middle ranks onward.

In that chaos, the Julien Mercenary Corps continued pushing forward, tightening their grip on the enemy.

Marika’s eyes locked onto a single point.

The moment she chose her target, her body shot forward like an arrow.

CLANG!

Darents, who had been hiding among the Imperial troops, baring his teeth as he saw her.

“You wretch… You really came looking for me without a shred of fear.”

“……”

“Well, I was planning to kill you here anyway, so this works out. I’ll make sure you regret challenging me.”

ZAAANG!

Darents lashed out with a dagger at lightning speed.

Marika dodged to the side and counterattacked, but Darents easily avoided it.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Each time the two passed by each other, nearby Imperial soldiers collapsed, unaware of what even struck them.

Marika and Darents had killed anyone who interfered with their movements.

This only threw the Imperial army into further confusion.

Count Ferington was sweating profusely at the disastrous state of the Imperial forces.

‘This is a mistake. I should have considered more possibilities.’

He never imagined they would throw the Sacred Stone—humanity’s treasure—into the sea.

He had only planned to persuade them and take it by negotiation. That was his biggest mistake.

They needed to reorganize immediately.

But the magician standing before him was the problem.

CLASH! CLASH! CLAAAANG!

No matter how hard he swung his sword, he couldn’t even scratch Astion.

He had received intel that Astion was skilled in close combat. But he never imagined he’d be stronger than himself—someone who had reached the peak of swordsmanship.

No matter how good the magician was at fighting, at the core, he was still a mage.

But this—this was no mage.

He had never seen a mage fight like this anywhere in the world.

“Damn it! You’re not even a mage, are you?!”

How could a mage be more skilled than a Sword Master like him?!

He had long since dismounted—this was not an opponent who could be faced on horseback.

But even before they clashed a few times, he found himself being overwhelmed.

And it didn’t even seem like the other was going all out.

CLANG!

Ghislain knocked aside Count Ferington’s sword and smirked.

“I am a mage. But can you handle it if I actually cast magic?”

“What?”

“You know I’m a mage, and yet you still haven’t managed to kill me. What are you going to do about that?”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually—”

Count Ferington’s face turned pale.

He had a good idea what his opponent meant by those words.

WHOOM!

In an instant, Ghislain’s body lifted into the air. A massive surge of mana exploded outward from him.

“You can’t leave a mage to act freely.”

FWOOSH!

Hundreds of fireballs formed instantly around Ghislain.

This eruption spell he had conjured—each fireball now carried immense power.

That was because Ghislain had reached the 8th Circle.

Count Ferington turned back and shouted as loud as he could.

“Magicians! Reinforce the mana shields!”

“It’s already too late.”

With Ghislain’s cold words, the fireballs shot out in every direction toward the Imperial army.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOOM!

The sky above the battlefield turned crimson as Imperial soldiers were wiped out in droves.

The mana shields of the Imperial mages had already weakened considerably—they had diverted their power to block Ereneth’s spirits.

They assumed the Lich wouldn’t be able to move because of the Divine Power and thus wouldn’t be a threat.

But they had overlooked Ghislain.

While dueling Count Ferington, Ghislain had waited for the moment the mana shields would weaken.

And now, he had successfully unleashed a massive area-of-effect spell.

Count Ferington’s face contorted.

“This… this can’t be…”

This was the terrifying power of mages.

Given the chance, they could kill hundreds—thousands—on their own.

It was clear now, that everything leading up to this point had been a calculated setup for this moment.

And just from this one move, more than half the Imperial army had been wiped out.

“You bastard!!!”

Count Ferington lost all reason in his rage. He leapt high into the air, swinging his sword at Ghislain.

A massive Aura Blade sliced down from the sky.

CRRRRAAAACK!

But Count Ferington’s Aura Blade didn’t cut through Ghislain’s body.

It merely split apart the shield condensed with 8th-Circle mana.

Had he been in a calm state of mind, he would have followed up or dodged immediately.

But in his fury, he had lost all composure.

When his all-out attack failed, he froze, unable to grasp the situation.

At that moment—

Ghislain’s staff swung like lightning and struck Count Ferington square on the head.

BOOOOOM!

His body slammed into the ground, sending dirt and rocks flying.

Landing on the earth, Ghislain immediately climbed onto the horse Count Ferington had abandoned.

NEIGH!

The horse thrashed as a new rider climbed on, but calmed instantly when Ghislain punched it square in the face.

Seated atop the horse, Ghislain stretched out his hand to the side.

VMMM—

Space tore open, and a black spear slowly emerged.

Cardnach.

The spear that brings death to the enemy.

THUD.

Gripping it tightly, Ghislain turned toward the disoriented Imperial army with a cruel smile.

“Now the persuasion begins.”

NEIIIGH!

With a sharp cry—

The horse carrying Ghislain kicked off the ground and began to charge forward.