Chapter 200

Chapter 200

I launched a night attack against the Druhm Fortress, which monitored the Drak Kingdom’s border. As of now, it had collapsed and there were a great many casualties on their side. I finished with a smoke grenade, dying the fortress white.

“Oy, what’s with this white smoke?!?”

It was the frustrated voice of the Division Commander from beyond the smoke. His frustration could be felt. The fortress he was entrusted with collapsed, the majority of his men were dead, and Koti had fled. I was sure that the Drak Kingdom would not let this go unpunished.

However, the same went with me.

Falling into this world – into the land of Kurtmerga, I met many people. Ashley, the General Guild’s staff, Malta and his family, and others. There was not much I could do right now aside from using this power to dispel the danger that fell upon the kingdom.

I didn’t have time to carefully return the items to my inventory. I dropped the MGL and MG34 to the ground and pulled the grenade ax from my waist. Even if I left a weapon here, it’d turn to light particles the moment someone else tried to hold it. They also dispelled after a certain distance from me, returning to my inventory.

The smoke would disperse in a few seconds, but before that…

“It was I who spread the smoke.”

“Who is it?!”

I walked through the smoke with thermal and sound to find my way. I approached my target from behind. The commander turned around upon hearing me, and found that one of his two lieutenants had already been decapitated. Meanwhile, a lone undead stood before him as the white smoke began to disperse into light particles.

“A-An undead that speaks human?!”

“This fortress is done for.”

Calcium gave his lieutenant one last look before he jumped away. I thought he was just a desk-type who could only talk big, but apparently, he was definitely the warrior type. At a distance, he immediately pulled out his longsword from his waist and went for a stab.

“… I’m still here. It was a miscalculation that caused me to lose the fortress and Cortine… A high-ranking undead who could speak human tongue. If I bring you back, all these mistakes will definitely be pardoned.”

“Even livestock would go home on their own initiative once they’re done grazing. However — I suppose there will always be one or two who continue earring without knowing the limit of their belly.”

“Wha… Are you implying that I’m lower than livestock! Damn undead!”

I could clearly see that the tip of Casium’s longsword trembled with anger. Well, I did just taunt him. He actually got it and taunted me back. I suppose he’s not stupid, but still an idiot for sure.

“Argyrus!”

Casium angrily shouted. At the same time, the map and sound sensor captured heavy movement from behind. I didn’t need to turn my head. I simply distanced myself with a slide-jump to the side to avoid it. As I jumped, something heavy landed where I was. I turned my eyes to check mid-air.

A huge hiryu.

Perhaps this huge one was Argyrus. It was the same mount he used when I saw him leaving the Labyrinth.

Many footsteps could be heard afterward. The sounds of metal rubbing against metal and clothes. Looking for the source – beyond the burning fortress, infantry in heavy armor and infantry in vestment-like robes. All of which were coming towards us. Their total number was 20. One half carried a large shield and halberd while the robed ones with wands stayed behind them.

Argyrus stopped next to Casium, who promptly climbed onto its back. With this, I was pinched between the two. However, the expressions on the infantry were dark. In front of them was an undead who’d smashed their fortress and killed many of their comrades. Their formation was filled with fear and anxiety.

“Don’t kill it right away. It’s a high-ranking undead and it can also speak human. Incapacitate and capture it! Capture this guy so we can get information on the monster world. Otherwise, all of you will be held as accountable for losing the fortress as I am!”

Their expression changed.

Honestly, I don’t think they’d be held responsible for the fortress, but the infantry didn’t know that. Whatever they felt before was blown away as recklessness took over.

“Deploy the magic barrier! Heavy infantry corps, ready the <Vajra’s shield>!”

Behind the formation, I could see the adjutant commanding. One of the lieutenants I saw inside the labyrinth. Now the location of all the targets was known. One of them was already dead at my feet. The one commanding the troops and Casium were aware of Koti’s existence here. There also may be others who knew. However, judging from how much time elapsed and how greedy the commander seemed, it was unlikely he’d share the intel to someone other than his direct subordinates.

The spaces in front of the shield infantry distorted. A magic barrier. Something like a shell began to shine white around the infantry and disappeared. Most likely the effect of this Vajra’s shield. I didn’t know it’s effect though it most likely raised their defense. If I didn’t start the battle, they’d probably have time to apply another buff on themselves…

I took out two flashbangs from my waist pouch, tossed one at Casium and another at the troops behind me.

“It threw something, careful!”

Two consecutive explosions rang out along with bright flashes that overpowered the light of the fires.

“Uwoo!”

“Guaah!”

I saw one of the dots on the map move a lot just before the bang. It was Casium’s mount. While the infantry braced themselves, the lone rider chose to stay away… Lucky bastard. But trying to stay away might be the right answer. The infantry who chose to brace themselves had to suffer from visual and hearing impairment.

I drew the UMP45 hidden under my cloak and fired as I moved forward.

The front liners were unable to maintain their defensive posture, collapsing to their knees. In addition to their plates, the skill must’ve been good. But they still had an exposed section – their faces. Some of them vomited. I aligned my crosshairs on their exposed faces and fired.

The moment the round connected, a white-shell-like effect was seen… did it catch it? At the same time, there was a crushing sound that was different from a gunshot hitting metal, similar to shooting through class and the projectile disappeared. The helmet had no scratch on it. I wasn’t the only one who heard it be nullified.

“Physical attack!”

Casium called out.

Spells were chanted as the mages seemed to have suffered little damage from the M84, and quickly regained their bearings. The lieutenant also seemed to be monitoring quietly behind as quell.

“~~~,~~~, Stonewall!”

The last lieutenant chanted the spell himself as a thick stonewall rose between me and the infantry, providing a physical barrier between me and them.

“Mage corps, remove the magic barrier. Let the troops take it down -. It seems that there is no need to reorganize the formation. Physical defense is all we need!”

The lieutenant spewed out instructions.

“Kukuk – even if one animal has the power to destroy the fortress, it can be dealt with if the species is known. After all, it is only the undead that we will subdue. That’s it!”

I heard Casium’s sinister voice but if that’s all –

“What was that? Thinking you won just from being able to block a few attacks?”

Protection of this level wouldn’t stop me.

Reloading the UMP, I reached out to another pouch at my waist. This time, instead of flashbangs, I threw fragmentation grenades.

“All is fair, undead! The last one standing is the winner!”

As Casium glared, the grenades went over the wall and I pulled the grenade ax with my left hand. Now I wielded both the UMP and grenade ax.

“Argyrus, <Demi-Dragon Breath>!”

It was only too a moment, unlike spell casting. It was a torrent of concentrated magic power. The breath attack ended up hitting the wall, and probably because it sustained damage from the grenades, it broke down.

“Eh—”

Ignoring the startled voices of the soldiers, I shifted my crosshairs to Argyrus with the intention to shoot it mid-air.

It wasn’t there.

“Dieee!”

Apparently, Casium had also jumped into the sky the moment I avoided the attack. His position on the map signified that he was higher than me. I swung the grenade ax to meet his attack. His sword and the ax collided.

As it turned out, the commander was better at fighting than I thought. The crosshairs followed the man as he was repelled. Raising the UMP, I was about to pull the trigger when I saw his mount charging toward me. It let out a growl from its own maw.

I quickly switched to it, aiming for its mouth. I didn’t use burst fire but auto fire.  Despite it having tough skin, the meat beneath was not. A single shot smashed through its throat, ruptured its neck muscles inside, and smashed out the cervical spine.

“Argyrus!”

Casium squealed as his mount fell beside me. It gave no response and neither did I. I reloaded the whole I operated the TSS to summon a sentry gun. This time, installing it in the direction of the confused infantry. The muzzle turned according to my will and its 12.7 heavy machine gun started shooting in earnest.

“Wha-What the hell is that—”

“Whe-where is the stone wall—”

When the heavy infantry saw the object appear, they knew they were dead. It was too late to deploy another wall and the protection of Vajra’s shield would not be enough to stop them from the unstoppable violence as I operated it with my thoughts.

After several shots, Casium seemed to grasp the way firearms worked. It was an atrociously simple means of attack. Point and shoot. An attack neither magic nor skill, released with just two actions. However, the sword was theoretically faster as it required one less action to execute. He reacted firmly, didn’t force himself to attack, and kept the weapon in check by swinging the sword while moving to prevent standing in the line of fire.

Meanwhile, my melee attack was mainly a VMB auto action. A close-quarters move that made the opponent incapable of fighting in such an instant. But it required the opponent to enter my reach first. Perhaps it’s disadvantageous for me to continue this type of fight. The sentry had a remaining 209 rounds. The infantry now laid facing the night sky and I was slowly moving Casium into the sentry’s range.

“Undead, just what rank are you? Dark knight? Dullahan? Berserker? Or are you an even higher rank?!!”

“Here I thought you would ask something more… All you should know is that I am Jonah, and nothing else.”

“Jonah? I’ve never heard of that…”

Casium was clearly agitated with how the fighting had ended yet. However, that was just him. The moment I managed to line up the sentry gun’s attack radius with Casium, the gun spewed bullets at his back. He looked back at the thunderclap – and a bloody hole formed between his eyebrows, followed by one, two, three… A storm of fire rained over his upper body. Without a doubt, he was now dead.

I endured the storm of projectiles with the CBS. As long as there was energy, it’d prevent all VMB-based attacks. While this happened, I operated it so as not to deviate from CBS’s boundaries… Shooting at yourself and catching it all…. Haha, you can do it..

Killing Casium and his lieutenants, destroying the fortress. Now it would be impossible for the Drak kingdom to maintain a foothold in this area. Furthermore, it would be reported by the non-combatants that escaped that an unusual undead was wandering the mountains. It was not possible for them to deploy their forces immediately after losing the fortress, which was their front base.

Up until that… It was all according to plan.

Illuminated by the embers of the collapsed fortress, the sun began to rise and dyed what remained of the fortress in orange. I was fascinated by the view as six new dots appeared on the map opposite of the Drak Kingdom, from the mountains. Maybe I made too much noise. Six adventurers I never intended to summon appeared.