The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 246
Suddenly, hundreds of Griffons attacked Baien.
The monstrous birds randomly pounced on citizens.
Like birds snatching prey, they grabbed people with their talons, lifted them into the sky, then CRUNCH! – crushed their heads like cherry tomatoes, before carrying the limp bodies back somewhere.
Blood sprayed through the sky from their actions.
“AHHHHH!”
“Run away!”
The citizens scattered in panic.
The guard’s response was swift.
This Baien was not only the largest among the shelters but also the most powerful in terms of military strength.
The defense force immediately began intercepting the Griffons.
“Shoot down those monsters!”
During this process, the mages played a major role.
This was also why mages were needed for dungeon subjugation. Warriors were often helpless against flying monsters like these.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Eonia was on our mansion’s roof.
Eo was vigilantly scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes while carrying a bow.
When a Griffin flew toward the mansion, she drew her bow without hesitation.
The arrow shot with a whooshing sound, piercing through the massive griffin’s body and tearing its insides apart.
The griffin, having lost its life, returned to where it came from as particles of magic.
“Miss Eonia! Let us help too!”
Erina and Estelle were also on the roof.
They whispered something and prepared their magic.
Estelle moved first. She shot streams of dark magic at the flying Griffons.
-Kreek!?
The Griffin touched by Estelle’s magic shrieked and struggled before becoming docile as if it had lost its mind.
This was Estelle’s innate Banshee attribute power.
Estelle, who had corrupted the target with her magic and made it her puppet, sent that Griffin flying around to catch other Griffons.
The caught Griffons also lost control as they became infected with Estelle’s magic.
When the number reached 20, Estelle seemed to struggle and shouted, “Erina! Now!”
Receiving the signal, Erina cast the lightning spell she had been preparing, turning the 20 Griffons Estelle had gathered into charcoal.
“Perfect!”
“Well done, Estelle!”
The two high-fived while celebrating.
Leitin, who was beside me, quietly admired, “Amazing. I heard they’ve been learning magic for less than a year…”
“Talent can be frightening. Though it seems inefficient compared to the magic spent.”
“Inefficient? They took down 20 of them!”
“That’s not enough to break their momentum. Leitin, lend me that crystal ball.”
I snatched the magic crystal ball she always carried.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Just watch.”
I cast light magic into the crystal ball and injected magic.
Then I formed an arcane sphere using aura to trap that light magic.
“Hup!”
Swish! I threw it with all my might into the air.
The arcane sphere that flew into the midst of about 200 Griffons exhibited my arcane aura’s characteristics and strongly attracted surrounding objects.
-Kiek!?
The Griffons, puzzled by what was pulling them, unwittingly stared at the sphere.
At that moment, with a pop! The arcane sphere exploded and the intense light inside scattered. [1]
-Kueeek!?
The Griffons caught in this flash were writhing and plummeting to the ground, helplessly dying to the guards waiting below.
This number alone reached about a hundred.
“See?”
“…”
Leitin was speechless.
“As, as expected, Lord Wade is amazing. Not just martial arts, but administrative abilities, and even magic…”
“I’m still a beginner at magic. Just getting by with know-how.”
“Th-that’s not true! It’s miraculous! At least I admire you!”
Leitin grabbed my hands and strongly insisted.
Just then, ping! Arrows flew around me.
Then Eo’s voice was heard from the roof.
“Lord Ars, please be careful. It seems the enemy isn’t just those monstrous birds.”
What Eonia had shot and killed were rats who were surprised by the Griffons appearance. No doubt she didn’t like how I was sticking close to Leitin.
Before I knew it, the three on the roof were giving me sharp looks.
I removed Leitin’s hand and said to the roof.
“Ahaha… Everyone keep guarding the house! I’ll quickly visit the palace!”
The palace I went to was also in chaos.
Information was already coming in from intelligence agents deployed throughout the area about the dungeon.
Rosa was receiving these reports with a pale expression.
* * *
Although we had prepared for the worst regarding this Great Chaos, the situation was far exceeding even our worst assumptions.
“We’ve completely lost contact with the Nila shelter after a dungeon appeared nearby!”
“Your Majesty! Insect-type monster swarms are attacking the grain storages in eastern Baien!”
As expected, the problem came from small and medium dungeons that weren’t marked on the dungeon map.
Though their individual power wasn’t high, their sheer numbers caused widespread damage.
The estimated casualties had already exceeded 10,000.
“Ah! Wade!”
Rosa spotted me and gestured for me to come closer.
Even while other interior ministers were reporting, she had me approach the closest spot to the throne.
I thought this was an intentional political move, but it wasn’t.
It was something Rosa did unconsciously.
“Wade, please organize a subjugation team and eliminate the Griffons right away. At this rate, the citizens of Baien will be trembling in fear.”
“Don’t be hasty. Rather than being swayed by each dungeon right now, it’s better to establish a solid communication network.”
“O-okay. Yes, that makes sense…”
“Thanks to the elves’ island acting as a relay point, we can currently communicate with the Southern Continent. We need to actively utilize this to share information.”
“I understand, I’ll give those orders.”
“And… Prime minister Sophia!”
I asked Sophia to organize the subjugation personnel once the investigation of nearby dungeons was complete.
Sophia nodded and headed to her office with the intelligence agents.
The interior ministers watching this swallowed hard.
‘Was I too harsh?’
I had deliberately displayed my influence since I needed to actively participate in political affairs to smoothly overcome this Great Chaos, but it seems I overdid it.
That’s understandable. Giving advice next to the queen and freely commanding the prime minister – it wouldn’t be strange if people called me a shadow power.
To remedy this, I said to Rosa, “Everything else will proceed according to Your Majesty’s wise judgment.”
“Y-yes! Do so!”
“Then I’ll go meet with Lord Juras.”
Rosa corrected her expression to be solemn and began busily giving orders to other ministers.
Leaving that behind, I left the audience chamber and headed to Juras’s office.
He was calmly reading a book even in this chaotic situation.
It felt like his office was in a different world.
“What are you reading?”
To my question, Juras closed his book and answered.
“I was checking information about the most vicious dungeons. It’s terrifying – a single dungeon taking as many as 2 million lives.”
He was talking about one of the 10 great dungeons currently existing in the Eastern Continent called ‘Ruler of the Lake.’
“I can’t think of any way to subjugate this dungeon. The leader with the magic stone is at the bottom of a deep lake. If we try to pump out the water to get to it, the nearby river floods and refills the lake, but if we leave it alone, it continues to take lives…”
“That’s why the Eastern Continent became a world of monsters and still hasn’t been recovered. Rather than that, shouldn’t we worry about our current situation?”
“My worrying won’t change anything. Well, if you’re asking for cooperation in dungeon subjugation, I could help? I’ve become a bit curious about dungeons too.”
“…That won’t be necessary. What I want to ask you about is teleportation magic. I heard from Leitin that you recklessly transferred court mages?”
“That was the fastest method. As other mages said, if we tried to find suitable land, it would have taken at least 2 more years. In contrast, the method I took can finish the job in as little as 3 months. The slight risk is worth taking.”
“That may be true… But what do you plan to do if those mages are captured by another kingdom? For instance, if they’re caught by Svenner or the Western peoples and they learn about the outside world and teleportation magic?”
“That would be quite an interesting situation.”
“…What did you say?”
“Don’t worry too much. If anything happens, I’ll handle it.”
“I hope it doesn’t cause any trouble for me. So? Where is that magic circle?”
“Deep underground in the palace. It took quite some effort to make it.”
“May I go and see it?”
“There won’t be anything interesting to see. Instead, I’d like you to read this.”
What Juras handed over was a book about special dungeons.
“Ars, you already know that there are sentient beings in the dungeons, right?”
“Yes…. I’ve heard there are monsters with intelligence.”
“Yet communication isn’t possible. That’s how it’s been.”
“That’s right. Because we can’t understand each other’s language.”
“But this book tells a different story. Though it seems to have been buried as heretical knowledge, I found this book by chance.”
This book contained ways to communicate with dungeon monsters. Simply put, it was a book that recorded ancient languages that have now disappeared.
Goblin, Ogre, Troll, Lizardman, and even Griffons.
Though not detailed language systems, it recorded basic greetings and conversations in their languages.
“The monsters’ languages…!?”
“Your reaction is probably typical. People thought they were monsters who couldn’t communicate, so they only tried to subjugate dungeons without attempting dialogue.”
“Well….”
“How you interpret this is up to you. You must have received the truth from the Queen Mother, who is the real power behind the elves. Your interpretation might be different.”
Juras was right.
The dungeons were manifestations of the history of different races who resisted human invasion in the past.
In other words, the dungeon monsters weren’t fantasy creatures but races that historically existed.
It wouldn’t be strange at all if they had their own languages.
‘If we could communicate with dungeon monsters through these languages’
It might be possible to turn the situation around.
Of course, it wasn’t hopeful.
The fact that these intelligent races and their languages no longer exist in this world meant that they were ultimately extinct by humans. It was doubtful they would listen to human words.
‘Should I consult with Altron?’
That dragon, who had existed almost since the beginning, might know something.
* * *
The continent was in chaos with the occurrence of the Great Chaos.
We were handling it as best we could according to our preparations.
We quickly subjugated small dungeons by deploying the adventurers we had trained in advance, and veteran forces were successively dealing with medium-sized dungeons to secure the safety of major cities.
Countless people died in the process.
Although there was Teleportation Skills, because teleportation scrolls were limited in quantity, most had to subjugate dungeons without the benefit of teleportation scrolls.
As such, forces that received the benefit of teleportation scrolls had to show results and set an example. Otherwise, lower-ranking forces who were dying would become discontented.
If that discontent grew, they might build their own forces and abandon the kingdom, just as the Alliance had become independent in the past.
While preparing for an expedition to subjugate the Life and Death Match, I gathered my vassals and said, “But you don’t need to feel too burdened. We’re not the only elite group that received teleportation scrolls.”
There were 23 elite subjugation groups.
We were just one of them, and our priority wasn’t particularly high. The fact that we were excluded from the subjugation of the Seven Deadly Sins, one of the top 10 dungeons, was proof of that.
While our warriors’ skills were excellent, our magic user forces were generally weak.
“That’s why we were ordered to subjugate the Life and Death Match. They say warrior skills are important there. …Well then, let’s depart. The rest of you please protect the mansion with safety as the top priority.”
I led six selected people toward the mountainous region where the Life and Death Match was located.
It was a major route connecting the capital Baien with the northwest territory.
Meeting with Sophia’s informant at the midpoint, I could hear detailed information about the dungeon’s location.
“The Life and Death Match is located here.”
“This is….”
I couldn’t help but frown.
The location marked on the map was a terrain all too familiar to me.
A strategic point that would only be used in war. The Life and Death Match was sitting right there.
‘Surely not….’
That suspicion was proven right.
Our party couldn’t help but be speechless at the dungeon’s appearance.
A majestic fortress. Tens of thousands of Orc soldiers densely guarding the walls.
That was the true identity of the Life and Death Match.
Footnotes:
1] Zitpop
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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