NOVEL WEB Chapter 210
210. Brute Strength Solves Everything, Isn’t It?
When an imperial army of over ten thousand moves fiercely across a vast square, with siege weapons coming and going, Craft’s special adhesive begins to seep out from the gaps in the cobblestones.
While the amount is small, it mixes with the sand from boots and the swirling dust, failing to exert its original effect. Therefore, the soldiers initially thought it was just mud seeping out.
While the soldiers remain unaware, the ground becomes covered with dirty, ineffective adhesive, spreading like mire. This, of course, is part of Alphard’s plan.
Once the mud, dust, and adhesive reach a state of saturation, the imperial army’s movements slow significantly.
An imperial soldier shouts.
“Wh-what is this!? I can’t move my legs!”
“What’s going on!?”
“It’s mud! The mud is clinging to my legs!”
“It’s like some kind of slimy goo!”
The movements of the soldiers attacking near the city walls, where the fighting is most intense, are gradually being restricted. General Zett Overahl, commanding the royal castle assault force from the rear, finally notices the abnormality, but it’s already too late.
Zett checks his own feet.
The area around him, unlike the front lines, hasn’t seen heavy traffic, so the adhesive has only begun to seep out, not yet enough to entangle his movements.
“Tch! They’ve laid some kind of viscous liquid beneath the cobblestones! But to produce enough to cover such a vast area…!?”
Shuddering, Zett reanalyzes the situation.
Despite the golden opportunity presented by the front-line soldiers being immobilized, the kingdom’s forces aren’t sending out their troops, only shooting arrows.
“I see. They’re afraid of getting caught up in it too. Then we can still recover. All forces, retreat to the bridge! Regroup!”
He issues orders, hoping that scattering sand might help, but his hopes are dashed.
The kingdom’s archers have all switched to fire arrows.
“N-no way…”
General Zett imagines the worst, and he’s right.
As the fire arrows hit the ground, pillars of flame shoot up, spreading rapidly.
Craft’s adhesive had been mixed with a large amount of combustible material. The same material that once burned a cockatrice’s corpse to the bone.
From atop the city walls, Alphard coldly watches the flames spread.
As the flames engulf the imperial soldiers trying to flee, he mutters a quiet “Sorry,” then issues a ruthless command.
“Magic unit! Use wind magic to mix the flames and air!”
At Alphard’s command, the mages gather and send a massive amount of air (oxygen) into the area, further intensifying the flames.
The vast square, surrounded on three sides by high city walls, now resembles a furnace. The imperial soldiers are turned to ash in an instant, without even time to scream.
“…This is no sight for children. But I’ve shown mercy many times. Some of these soldiers may have been loyal warriors of the empire, but curse the rulers who made an enemy of Kyle-sama. Curse me, who devised and executed this plan.”
As Alphard glares at the scene below, muttering to himself, Raidoc taps his shoulder.
“Don’t act all cool by yourself. The empire started this war, and it wasn’t just you who decided to protect our city by any means necessary.”
“…You’re right. I merely did what I had to as a soldier. That doesn’t erase the regret, but it does ease the burden a little.”
“There’s no way to save everyone. In fact, you’ve saved many imperial citizens.”
“I hope so.”
“I guarantee it. …Well, I’ve got my own job to do.”
“Are you sure you don’t need regular soldiers?”
“Putting it bluntly, they’d just get in the way. I’d like you to join me, but a general shouldn’t be on the front lines.”
“…I leave it to you.”
“Count on me.”
With that, Raidoc leaps off the city wall. Despite the height equivalent to a ten-story building, he lands without a single injury. For Raidoc, who bears the Sword Saint’s Crest, it’s child’s play.
Following Raidoc, Camille also leaps down from somewhere, but true to her ninja crest, no one notices when she landed.
The vast square that had become a battlefield is now nothing but ash. The imperial soldiers likely perished instantly in the high-temperature vortex, without suffering.
In this gray wasteland, a few imperial soldiers stand with expressions of fury.
This is a world of swords and magic. It’s only natural that some would survive, having honed their skills beyond human limits, wielding magical tools and spells.
All the survivors shine with colored crests.
Raidoc approaches them cautiously and speaks.
“Your defeat is certain. Will you surrender?”
One of the surviving imperial soldiers, the general in charge of the royal castle assault, shouts in response.
“Never! We are warriors who have sworn loyalty to the empire! We cannot die until we’ve struck back at least once!”
“I see…”
Raidoc lowers his eyes, slightly saddened.
The imperial survivors are all powerful enough to take on a thousand enemies each. It’s clear at a glance that they could annihilate an ordinary army on their own.
If they were to go all out, they could kill tens of thousands of the kingdom’s soldiers. Of course, they would be wiped out, but the upper echelons of this world possess such power.
The imperial general glares at Raidoc and Camille.
“Do you two, understanding our strength, dare to stand in our way alone?”
“At this point, numbers are meaningless, right?”
“We who remain are the empire’s sword’s edge! While we may no longer be able to take Golden Dawn, we can still leave a deep scar!”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here.”
The imperial general, who had thought Raidoc came to demand their surrender, realizes he’s here to defeat them and boils over in an instant.
“You must be a formidable one! And the woman too! But do you think you can take on all of us alone!?”
To them, this is the ultimate insult. The survivors have transcended human limits.
Of course, the young man before them is undoubtedly one of them. Yet, to think that just two of them could stop over a dozen of the empire’s top warriors is a shredding of their pride.
“My name is Zett Overahl! Second in command of the Imperial Knights and general of the royal castle assault force!”
General Zett points his massive crimson Flamberge at Raidoc.
“I’m Raidoc. I’ve been tasked with leading the volunteers this time.”
“…Camille Casper.”
The two give their names lightly, and Zett nods slightly in response.
“No more words are needed! Let’s go!”
Zett’s left hand glows visibly through his gauntlet, and his body bursts into flames, his Flamberge wreathed in infernal fire.
He shouts to a woman approaching.
“Karina!”
“Leave it to me! Serpent Spiral Crushing Fang!”
One of the survivors, a beautiful woman clad in expensive light armor, draws an ornate mithril bow and fires dozens of arrows in an instant.
They twist like serpents, flying towards Raidoc in unpredictable trajectories, but suddenly, they all explode mid-air.
“What!?”
The female archer, Karina, looks towards the city walls. There stands a sharp-eyed woman, having just finished shooting her bow.
Unbelievably, it seems she shot down all of Karina’s arrows from that distance.
“No way…”
“Tch! We don’t need support!”
Zett had planned to bisect Raidoc, who was off-balance from the arrows, but abandons that idea and swings his Flamberge with all his might.
The power of his Crest of the Flame Knight is fire. Wreathed in flames that could turn anything to ash, he intends to obliterate the swordsman before him, but the blue swordsman deflects Zett’s mighty strike with a casual swing of his sword.
“Tch! Not enough!”
Zett forcibly changes the trajectory of his undulating Flamberge, aiming to blow off Raidoc’s head, but the strike is blocked head-on.
A two-handed greatsword strike, wreathed in scorching heat. Yet Raidoc stops it easily with a one-handed sword.
Moreover, the Flamberge’s blade, which could melt an ordinary sword with its heat, is chipped.
“Wh-what!?”
“A bit hot, old man.”
“Don’t mess with me!”
Zett increases the heat and puts more power into his strike, but the cool-faced youth doesn’t budge. Finally, he realizes the gap in their arms, strength, and swords.
“Th-that sword… is it the legendary Orichalcum!?”
“Correct. Though the result would be the same with an iron sword. Sleep for a while. [Infinity Blizzard]!”
The technique Raidoc casually unleashes is a sword skill he learned in the Mizuho Divine Kingdom. The cold materializes, instantly extinguishing Zett’s flames and knocking him out with a powerful strike.
“Don’t worry, it’s the flat of the blade.”
For political reasons, Alphard had asked Raidoc to capture them alive if possible.
“Quite the unreasonable request.”
Despite his tone, he accomplishes it effortlessly, which is terrifying.
“Well, let’s take care of the rest.”
Raidoc says casually, resting his sword on his shoulder.