Chapter 713
I Told You, Didn’t I? (1)
“Stop them!”
At the same moment the wall commander shouted, arrows blanketed the sky in black.
Most of them flew toward Ghislain, but some rained down just below the wall. They had to prevent others from climbing up.
“Uwaaaah!”
Count Valesant screamed and dropped to a crouch, clutching his head in panic. But what he feared didn’t happen.
Bang! Tatatatatang!
The mercenaries huddled together tightly, raising their shields to block the arrows. Thanks to enduring Ghislain’s hellish training, they now moved with discipline rivaling that of regular troops.
“Let’s go.”
As soon as the barrage ended, Julien spoke in a low voice and dashed forward. Without even using a hook, he leapt and climbed the wall with his bare hands.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Kyle and Tyran followed after him, and the other mercenaries shouted loudly as they surged up as well.
“Osval the Man! I’ll stay here and protect our allies!”
Osval stood proudly beside Count Valesant, not moving a step. Since their numbers were far fewer, charging into the fight was a bit too terrifying.
Count Valesant looked at Osval. Osval looked back at Count Valesant.
The moment their eyes met, both instinctively sensed that the other was the same kind of man. An awkward smile bloomed between them.
Boom! Boom! Booooom!
Meanwhile, Ghislain ran rampant atop the wall without hesitation. The defenders, caught off guard, couldn’t help but panic.
“Stop him! Hurry, stop him!”
The commander shrieked. Knights and soldiers rushed toward Ghislain en masse, but every single one was knocked down.
The elite troops had followed the main force. Those left behind here were naturally of a lower caliber.
Of course, even if capable warriors had remained, the result wouldn’t have been much different once Ghislain got close.
As Julien’s mercenaries also climbed up the wall, the defenders couldn’t even form proper ranks and scrambled just to defend.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Against Ghislain’s overwhelming might, the defending troops quickly diminished. Even the knights, all of whom rushed him, were no match.
Whoooosh!
Ghislain didn’t hold back on magic either. As fireballs flew in all directions, the defenders lost all sense of order.
The wall commander screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Stop him! I said stop him! What are the mages doing!”
Only two 4th-circle mages remained here. They were powerless against Ghislain, who had reached the 6th circle.
Soon, even the defending knights had all fallen with shattered heads. Only then did the wall commander realize who Ghislain truly was.
“The mad Transcendent, Astion!”
There weren’t many who could fight like that alone. Especially not someone who could also use magic.
“Why… why is he here…?”
The wall commander muttered in a daze.
If a Transcendent had arrived, there was no way they could withstand him with the forces they had here.
“Aaaaargh!”
“It’s a Transcendent! It’s definitely a Transcendent!”
“Gather up! Regroup!”
Screams and frantic cries from the defenders echoed from all directions.
The wall commander blankly looked around. Now that he thought about it, even without the Transcendent, they would have struggled to hold out.
“I am Kyle!”
“I am Tyran!”
“I am Dark, the one from the shadows!”
Those wreaking havoc with loud voices were clearly no ordinary fighters either.
On top of that, one particularly handsome man stood out as he cut through the defenders in a picturesque manner.
That was probably Julien, the commander of the mercenary corps. His good looks were quite well known, after all.
“It’s over…”
The wall commander muttered without realizing it. They had fallen victim to the enemy’s bold strategy.
To think they had abandoned a force of a hundred thousand to attack here instead. It had worked, but it couldn’t have been an easy decision.
If they’d been discovered halfway through, the Suppression Army would’ve been completely wiped out.
The wall commander’s fury turned toward someone else.
“Count Valesant! That treacherous bastard! He deliberately drew our attention! We should’ve attacked before he got close!”
Had they done that, things might have turned out slightly better. It wouldn’t have prevented defeat, but at least the damage could’ve been minimized.
The very fact that Julien’s mercenaries reached here without any issues was proof enough that Count Valesant had cooperated with them. Otherwise, word would have reached them long ago.
The wall commander pointed and shouted toward Count Valesant.
“Shoot that bastard! Kill him, at least!”
This place was finished anyway. Killing Count Valesant would at least ease some of the bitterness.
Fwoooosh!
The remaining soldiers grit their teeth and let their arrows fly. But Count Valesant remained crouched, protected by the mercenaries.
The wall commander strained his neck veins as he shouted.
“Fire! Keep firing! Just kill that bastard!”
As he screamed, he suddenly noticed a force approaching from afar. His expression brightened with hope.
“Could it be…?”
It might be reinforcements. Perhaps a force that sensed something was wrong and had come after them.
But as the wall commander saw the approaching troops more clearly, his face filled with disappointment.
It was Count Valesant’s men. Only about 400 in number, but all of them were mounted.
Whether they were many or few, they were still enemies. In the current situation, it just meant more enemy troops to deal with.
The wall commander slumped his shoulders in defeat. He had simply given up on everything.
Meanwhile, Count Valesant turned around and was taken aback.
“No, what the hell? Why is he coming here?”
His adjutant was leading the charge. Judging by the numbers, he had scraped together all the knights and cavalry available.
Count Valesant blinked in disbelief, completely dumbfounded, when his adjutant’s voice rang out loudly.
“Lord Valesaaaaaant! I’m hereeeeee! Hurry, rescue the Lord! Strike those bastards down!”
About fifty mercenaries were guarding Count Valesant. With 400 troops, they had more than enough to overpower them.
The adjutant had followed behind slowly, but the moment the battle broke out, he immediately moved to rescue Count Valesant.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Valesant’s troops roared as they spurred their horses forward. Their earnest desire to save their good-hearted albeit foolish lord could be felt plainly.
Of course, the mercenaries weren’t about to just stand by and watch. Osval raised his hammer with a fierce expression.
“Osval the Man! A traitor will not be forgiven! Die!”
“N-no! That’s not it! It’s not like that!”
Count Valesant panicked and shouted toward his adjutant.
“Hey! Stop! Stop right now! Stoooop!”
The adjutant and Valesant’s troops, who had charged boldly, had no choice but to halt.
While both sides stood awkwardly at a standoff, Count Valesant pointed at his adjutant and shouted.
“What the hell?! Why did you suddenly come here?!”
“My lord… you definitely looked like you wanted me to come save you…”
At those words, Osval raised his hammer again. Count Valesant jumped up in a fright.
“When did I?! When did I say that?!”
“I clearly saw it in your eyes…”
“Are you my lover or something?! You read my eyes and think you know everything?! I was telling you to stay put!”
“Ah… but it didn’t feel that way to me… I really felt it.”
“Oh my god, he’s completely insane! What do you mean you felt something?! Don’t just go around feeling things without permission!”
“…”
“Thanks to you, now they think I’m a traitor!”
Looking flustered, the adjutant asked,
“Traitor… to which side?”
Given that Count Valesant was the type to switch allegiances on a whim if it meant survival, he genuinely didn’t know. But Count Valesant clutched his chest in frustration and yelled,
“Which side do you think?! We’re with Julien’s mercenary corps now! With the royal faction! So—”
“So?”
Count Valesant turned around urgently and pointed.
“Attack! Strike the Marquis’s forces! Those damn rebels!”
“…”
“Hurry! Now that you’re here, make yourselves useful! At least then you’ll have something to brag about later!”
“Ah, understood.”
With that, Valesant’s troops charged toward the wall once again. Thanks to the mercenaries already having set the hooks, climbing up wasn’t too difficult.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Valesant’s forces shouted as they scaled the wall. With everyone wearing the same uniforms, they really looked like one united group.
The wall’s defenders were already on the brink of annihilation.
With the addition of 400 more troops aiding Julien’s mercenaries, the fight was wrapped up even faster.
The last to die, the wall commander, muttered with a bitter expression,
“These… insane bastards…”
Once the defenders were annihilated, Ghislain, soaked in blood, let out a loud laugh as he looked down from the wall.
“Count, aren’t you overdoing it a little?”
“W-We’re on the same side, after all. This much is nothing. Heh.”
Count Valesant forced a smile. They had been forced into becoming allies, but at this point, he had to see it through to the end.
He’d tried to avoid war and slack off, and yet somehow ended up fighting on the front lines. Still, with a Transcendent by his side, maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.
Julien’s mercenary corps and Count Valesant’s forces, now joined with the troops that had remained outside the wall, marched confidently into the city.
When people saw an army soaked in blood approaching, they screamed and scattered in all directions.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Julien’s mercenaries charged straight toward the lord’s castle at the city center, with Valesant’s troops following close behind, raising their banners high.
The sight was quite convincing, there was a palpable sense of authority, fitting for an army sent to punish traitors.
Count Valesant, walking beside Ghislain, was flushed with a mix of nervousness and excitement.
‘What is this? Is this really okay? Why am I doing this? Why did I come here?’
Marquis Falkenheim had once wielded immense power, manipulating the kingdom. The grand army he’d dispatched still remained at the front lines.
Yet Julien’s mercenary corps had exploited a weakness and stormed all the way here in one swift move.
With a Transcendent on their side, perhaps they could have reached this far on their own, but if Valesant hadn’t helped, they wouldn’t have gotten here this easily or this quickly.
Though he’d been swept along without a clue, he now stood on the verge of achieving a historic feat.
Count Valesant puffed out his chest.
‘Ah, whatever. When else will I get to feel like this? I’m just going with it. Once the war ends, I’ll claim this was my plan from the beginning. Maybe say I was waiting for Julien’s mercenary corps? Either way, I’ll be hailed as a royal savior. Oh, how wonderful.’
Count Valesant giggled as he daydreamed about his rosy future.
With a Transcendent around, the remaining troops in the lord’s castle had no chance of stopping them. If they could capture the Marquis, this war would end in victory for the Suppression Army.
Just as Count Valesant expected, there weren’t many knights or soldiers left in the lord’s castle.
They were all tense and on edge from the sudden situation.
“Stop them!”
The commander shouted, but if even the wall defenders couldn’t hold them off, there was no way these troops could.
Boom!
Ghislain was the first to spring forward, blasting away everyone in his path. He dashed ahead without stopping.
He left the remaining stragglers to the mercenaries following behind.
Boom! Boom! Booooom!
Ghislain smashed through anything blocking his way including the gates and pushed inward. Covered in blood, he struck terror into the castle’s staff, who screamed and fled.
Ignoring them, Ghislain moved swiftly toward the audience chamber.
Boom!
The massive doors of the audience chamber shattered completely.
As Ghislain stepped inside, he saw Marquis Falkenheim’s back as he attempted to enter a hidden passage with two knights.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Ghislain hurled his staff with incredible force.
One knight swung his sword to block it, but the difference in skill was too great.
Crack!
The staff pierced through the knight’s body and embedded itself in the wall.
Marquis Falkenheim, who had been running, froze at the sight.
“Marquis Falkenheim!”
At Ghislain’s voice, the Marquis slowly turned around.
For the first time since the war began, the two locked eyes.
They had both seen each other’s faces in portraits many times, so there was no difficulty in recognizing one another.
Even if they hadn’t, they would have known. Both men exuded the intense aura that only those with real power could emit.
Staring at the Marquis, Ghislain spoke.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
“……”
“I said if you messed with me, I’d make you regret being born.”
“You bastard…”
“Today is that day.”
Boom.
Wearing a fierce smile, Ghislain slowly advanced.
With every step he took, the ground beneath him cracked and split apart.
