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Chapter 50: Three Paths
This place is a remote temple in the middle of the southern desert.
“Master, a level S assassination order has been issued.”
“Hmm?”
Jamir, a man dressed in black, looked at the report with interest.
“They are just low-ranking members of Samarqand, but they are quite competent. Did they fail?”
“Judging by the fact that we haven’t heard from them for over a year, it seems likely…”
“So they raised the level to S?”
In fact, the group called the Assassination Sect was only a small part of them.
The fact that this report came to him meant that they needed not only the power of the Assassination Branch, but also the power of [the Guild].
“S level…”
In fact, even among S level orders, there was a huge difference in difficulty.
Assassinate the first prince of the empire! This absurd request would also be classified as S level if they had to.
Jamir pondered.
‘They said three teams didn’t come back, right? I should tell the Guild’s Intelligence Department to raise the average level of the northern knights a bit.’
Of course, he didn’t even think that Eurius had single-handedly wiped out the first-class assassination teams.
‘Well, he’s a prince with decent martial skills, and he must have had some superhuman by his side.’
No matter how large the secret forces that the Sect had spread out were, Scharnos Empire was the undisputed number one country on the continent.
It would be ridiculous to not expect any failure when they designated a prince as an assassination target.
‘And judging by the fact that there was no rumor, that Wallace guy must be worth using too.’
If there was an attempted assassination of a royal family member, it should have caused a huge shock on the continent. But in this case, the news was cut off so quietly that it was obvious that the first prince had covered it up.
‘That itself is a weakness for him, since he entrusted the assassination request to the Guild.’
He handled various information as he was in charge of managing the assassination orders of the Guild.
The power struggle between the imperial faction and the Grand duke faction was not something he needed to explain to him.
‘Maybe this is not all bad news. The plan to shake up the empire might be moved up.’
Jamir smiled brightly, which did not suit the gloomy space. But that was only for a moment.
“Oh right! I have to do what I have to do.”
He hesitated for a moment here.
‘If the north is in a fierce war right now, I don’t need to report it to the archbishop.’
Jamir thought about it by combining the information he had gathered about Eurius and the knightly forces of the north, and soon came to a conclusion.
‘He’s a prince who likes to fight without protecting himself. It would be easier to assassinate him during a battle, right? Let’s finish it on my own.’
If it was an S-class assassin sent by him, not by the lower organization of the Sect, it would be no big deal to assassinate one person during a melee.
‘Even with a superhuman-level warrior protecting him, this time it will be difficult, right?’
He knew that the assassins sent by his sect were not the common ones who relied on numbers and rushed in blindly. They were at least at the level of special-class, the standard set by his sect.
‘This time, I should leave out the mediocre ones and send only a few elites.’
That would be better if he wanted to discreetly eliminate the target during the battle.
…
Meanwhile, the situation in the north remained unchanged.
‘It will take about a week until the reinforcements arrive…’
Count Andersen felt tired for the first time since he became a superhuman. He had to deal with many things that required his attention.
“There is no significant change in the front line.”
“Is there any news from His highness the first prince?”
“That is also the same.”
“Sigh…”
No wonder he was worried sick.
The count had tried several other tactics, but none of them worked.
He was outnumbered and outmatched by the enemy who had set up their camp right in front of the mountain range. It was impossible to force a bloody battle with his troops.
A frontal breakthrough with his knight corps was blocked by those mysterious barbarians in strange outfits.
Count Andersen had spent half of his life in the north. He had clashed with them a few times, but he was sure that they were not the same as the northern barbarians who were called warriors.
‘Where did such a force come from?’
The count thought about the front line where the conflict with the empire was happening.
‘It feels a bit like the southern desert kingdom, but I’m not sure.’
The swordsmanship of those so-called ‘shadows’ was not the orthodox imperial sword style that the knights learned.
The sword saint, who was called a knight among knights and had earned his title with his own swordsmanship, had mixed his style with the unconventional sword style of the southern desert kingdom. It was hard to guess their background just by crossing swords with them.
Besides, Count Andersen was a loyal knight.
He knew that the sword saint, who was a candidate for succession, had some friction with the emperor, but he never thought that he would nurture a secret force and do something like a rebellion.
‘Then is it the western alliance?’
In the west of the empire, there were several kingdoms that formed a large force together. They might also feel threatened by the empire’s development and expansion in the north.
The count weighed various possibilities and shook his head.
‘Anyway, I’m losing both in knight power and troop strength. Maybe even the first batch of reinforcements from the capital won’t be enough.’
The count had been reluctant to touch the mountain tribes because of cost-benefit calculations, but he had no choice given the situation.
‘I’ll have to consult with my staff tomorrow.’
In the end, he decided to request for a second batch of reinforcements, just as the sword saint intended.
He couldn’t sleep until dawn because of his worries. He headed to the operation room before sunrise.
“Huh?”
The count was tired, but he was still a superhuman. He sensed a faint presence before he opened the door.
He prepared to draw his sword in case of an attack and flung open the door.
“Who are you!”
“It’s been a while.”
For a moment, the count felt like he saw a ghost.
“Your Highness Eurius!”
The presence he felt inside the operation room at dawn was surprisingly Eurius, who had been missing for a long time.
“How did you come back? And what are you doing here…?”
Eurius waved his hand with a tired tone.
“I’d love to explain everything, but I don’t have time for that. Just do as I say for now.”
“Sigh…”
The duke could only stare at him with a stunned expression after hearing his request. His appearance was too abrupt.
“I know it’s a hard favor to ask, but please trust me.”
But before he could even process his thoughts, Eurius’s presence disappeared like a ghost again.
‘I have no idea what’s going on.’
The count still felt like he was haunted by a phantom as he looked at the table in the operation room where Eurius had shown up.
‘This is a headache. How am I supposed to explain this to my staff?’
The count felt his head throbbing again. What kind of situation was this?
…
Meanwhile, Eurius was also annoyed in his own way.
Whoosh!
‘I can’t believe I have to play messenger in this life. This is the most unimperial life I’ve ever lived.’
He grumbled inwardly as he ran through the night mountains with his teleportation ability.
There were some mountain tribes who kept watch, but it was impossible for them to notice his movement. Eurius easily avoided their surveillance and returned to his allies.
‘But no one else can do this job but me.’
Without his ability, it would take too much time to cross the mountains and ask for the duke’s cooperation.
‘I’m almost there.’
He finally arrived at the foothills where his allies were.
“Phew…”
“You’re back?”
Nuada greeted him as he entered the barracks with a tired look.
“Did it go well?”
“If he believes me, it should be possible.”
Nuarda marveled at him.
“Wow, you really went back and forth without being detected. Your ability is amazing no matter how many times I see it.”
Even with his senses as a great warrior, he could barely sense Eurius’s movement. It was like seeing a ghost.
“That’s why I’m suffering like this.”
Eurius smiled wryly and joked.
He had run for two days straight with only rations in his mouth, even with his superhuman physical abilities. He was exhausted.
“Let’s rest a bit and discuss our plan tomorrow. Nothing happened here, right?”
Nuada shrugged his shoulders.
“Two more tribes joined us. We should have no problem attacking Gundar.”
For the past week, Eurius’s alliance had been gathering neutral tribes in the mountains.
Thud!
“Cough!”
“Stop! We admit our defeat.”
The chief of the tribe with an old wrinkled face looked at him with a bitter expression as his warrior fell down from Nuada’s light punch.
He didn’t like the idea of bringing in a foreigner, but Gundar was no different. He thought it might be better to trust him instead.
“I don’t trust the foreigner. I trust you, Nuada. You have to keep your promise!”
“Of course, I can’t let that bastard Gundar think he’s on the same level as me!”
Nuada snorted and bumped fists with the chief with a confident expression.
His reputation and overwhelming power that he had built up in the mountains made the Eurius & Nuada alliance grow rapidly.
In fact, they could attack Gundar on their own and inflict considerable damage. But Eurius wanted to strike a more decisive blow.
“We need to coordinate with the command base at the foot of the mountain. I’ll go there.”
And he had achieved his goal and came back.
‘If I know Count Andersen personality, he might be skeptical but he’ll follow my words.’
He had set up everything.
The only problem was how to hit the enemy’s back of the head!
The next day.
“There are three paths from here to attack Gundar’s troops.”
“Hmm…”
The mountain tribes didn’t use maps, but that didn’t stop Eurius from ordering his subordinate to draw a rough sketch. There were people who knew the geography of the mountains well, so the sketch was completed in no time.
‘There are three paths, but we don’t have to attack all of them.’
Eurius explained his plan that he had thought of beforehand.
“First of all, you should take care of the first path that leads to Gundar’s main camp, Nuada.”
“What about you?”
“This is your first step to take over the north. It won’t mean anything if I’m the main actor on the surface.”
“…….”
That was true.
To drive out Gundar and make Nuada recognized as the master of the mountains, he had to subdue the main camp where the great chief was at least.
“If you can just take out that great chief, it won’t be hard to subjugate the remaining tribes. That’s the way with the least sacrifice.”
“I’ll make sure to catch that bastard Gundar.”
And then Nuada asked him.
“What about you? Which path will you take?”
“I have to join the Count’s main camp first because of my identity. I’ll take care of the path that leads to the side of the enemy camp. And…”
Eurius paused for a moment and grinned.
“I have something else to do there.”
Everyone had question marks in their heads.
A surprise attack was a surprise attack, what else did he have to do there?
“Something else to do?”
Linfield asked curiously.
“When I went to the enemy’s main camp earlier, I saw someone had let loose some vicious hunting dogs without even putting leashes on them.”
‘Hunting dogs?’
Ignoring everyone’s questions, Eurius showed a rare aggressive expression and finished his words.
“I plan to beat them all up this time.”