The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 325 – Part 1
Battlefield of fierce battle.
‘How long has it been since I fought directly…!’
Although I had fought directly when clearing dungeons, it had been a really long time since I personally stepped into a battlefield.
“Watch out!”
“…!”
Swish! A crossbow bolt grazing past my head.
If it weren’t for Eo’s warning, I might have gone straight to the afterlife.
“How dare you target Lord Ars…!”
Eo drew her bow and shot an arrow at the enemy soldier who fired the crossbow. The soldier loading the crossbow died instantly with an arrow piercing his forehead.
‘Not good….’
The enemy had too many elite forces.
More than anything, the mother goddess’s own martial skills were incredibly strong beyond my expectations.
Moreover, with Rancia and Todolam’s main troops mixing with our forces, the pressure on my side was increasing.
‘We don’t have much time….’
The situation I was worried about happened immediately.
While our officers were desperately blocking the mother goddess and her vassals, a small unit led by Rancia Galeron struck from behind.
“This is the decisive point! Strike down the enemy commander!”
Rancia charged straight towards me.
Even Alaga, one of the mother goddess’s vassals, broke through the defensive line and rushed towards me.
A critical moment where one must be prepared for death.
Fortunately, Sophia’s response was not delayed.
“Hah!”
Clang! A merciless spear pushing back Alaga who was charging. A slight chill was flowing at the spear’s tip.
“Lucretia!”
She shouted at me while catching her breath.
“Elaine! Why haven’t you escaped?”
“If I hide, it’ll become difficult to coordinate with Sophia. But you arrived just in time!”
“What do you mean ‘just in time’!”
Though Luc’s timely arrival was encouraging, the situation wasn’t improved.
Luc had only managed to bind Alaga, one of the mother goddess’s vassals. The mother goddess still had nine or more vassals remaining.
Their overall level was around Lucretia’s standard, but even that was overwhelming.
‘We need one more crucial force!’
Elena wouldn’t be enough. We would need someone with overwhelming martial skills like Mirabel or Anton.
“Lord Ars! Please be careful!”
Eo, who was dealing with two of the enemy’s vassals, was more concerned about me. Three vassals were charging towards me.
“Die!”
“Tch!”
I entered a defensive stance to buy time, but then—
Swish! A fierce strike that cut one of the three in half.
Cassius Lloyd, appearing while fluttering his cloak, momentarily overwhelmed the situation.
“I’m glad I’m not late. Lord Elaine, stand behind me.”
The fake protagonist Cassius. As a spy meticulously cultivated by Juras, his martial prowess was considerable.
Though not quite at Anton’s level, his power was comparable to Ilya.
With such power, he could easily handle the Alliance’s executives.
‘This gives us some breathing room.’
The military strength was balanced. In fact, our side, with Sophia pushing forward, was slightly better.
“Protect His Highness! Do not spare your lives for the safety of your family and future!”
A resounding voice from the rear.
Ash, who had been swept by the enemy cavalry and covered in blood, was gathering troops to support me.
“Ash…!”
This was significant.
The cavalry the mother goddess brought had reached where I was through their momentum. Instead of maintaining speed and breaking through the side, they stopped to capture me, thus losing their greatest advantage of mobility.
Ash was systematically destroying the cavalry from its rear, approaching me.
Additionally, an unidentified cavalry that seemed to be sent by Calvern had also joined the forces in time.
“Hraaa!”
A burly man rampaging while eliminating Svenner’s soldiers.
‘Why is Landis here…?’
Next to him was Anduha, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time.
‘Whatever is happening, it’s checkmate!’
With this, the battle situation clearly became our advantage.
At that moment, Olaf, who had been directing other troops, approached with escort officers.
“Ars! The sun will set soon! We must prepare for night warfare!”
“Tch!”
As the battle situation deteriorated, the enemy would try to retreat.
The mother goddess, seeing Ash and Landis approaching, seemed ready to abandon this battlefield.
Then, their escape route was clear. The mountainous regions on both sides.
While the sun was up, they couldn’t easily escape through the mountains, but once it set, they would flee without hesitation.
‘I can’t let them escape.’
Capturing the mother goddess would end not just this battle, but the entire war.
The mother goddess had taken the risk of revealing herself to capture me. Now it was my turn to take a risk.
‘I don’t like adventures….’
But I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to end everything at once.
“Olaf! Prepare for night warfare! I will pursue the enemy escaping into the mountains!”
Olaf understood my intention and nodded heavily.
***
Meanwhile, things were settling down in the north.
“Hueoht!”
Kang! Cuthbert was reduced to a rag, unable to withstand Anton’s fierce attack.
Though the black magicians were helping him regenerate his wounds, even that wouldn’t last long.
“Damn…!”
Cuthbert was confident he could match up against anyone. He thought there weren’t many who knew his secret of immortality.
In fact, Nolak, the second general of Crossing whom he had killed, had surpassed Cuthbert in martial skills.
Nevertheless, because of his immortality secret, he had been able to kill him.
Anton was trying to handle things similarly, but he not only had information but was also not letting his guard down in the slightest.
Calmly dissecting Cuthbert’s body, he was gaining the upper hand.
Although other skilled fighters joined to attack Anton, he remained unfazed even under the combined assault of three.
Kang! With a single strike, Anton swept away all three, and with sunken eyes, he declared,
“So you three are the ones from the Alliance who gave Lady Elena a hard time.”
“Ugh! What kind of monster is this…!”
“Consider it an honor. You will be the stepping stones for my Lord’s Royal Road!”
Aggert quickly brushed past Anton’s side.
Swish! Aggert struck down the neck of one of the three who couldn’t adjust their stance.
“Don’t strut around and finish quickly! For some reason, Svenner’s troops are losing discipline and moving irregularly! That influence might reach us!”
“…Is this Juras’ doing?”
Anton nodded and maximized his Aura to the extreme.
The opponent completely lost their fighting spirit at that sight.
Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield, dragons were rolling on the ground.
Vandalin, still biting the neck of his opponent, cried out with a bitter voice,
“Brother! Can you not come to your senses?”
Kuooooo!
“All brothers except you have united. Do you still hate humans that much?”
But Mepatra’s mind did not return.
“Then I have no choice. Farewell, brother.”
Wondering if he should have ended it earlier for his brother’s peace, Vandalin suppressed Mepatra with regretful eyes and drove him into the ground.
Beato finished off the dragon pinned to the ground.
She stabbed a special sword created with the help of dragons into Mepatra’s forehead.
Then the spot where the sword was embedded began to shine, and the dragon’s body started to dissolve into magical powder.
The magical dust momentarily brightened the battlefield as the sun was setting, then disappeared.
Juras, watching from a distance, smiled faintly.
“All that remains is the southern battlefield….”
He did not think Ars would fail. So instead of going to help Ars, he began to gather troops and march westward towards Svenner’s homeland.
The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 325 – Part 2
As Ars expected, as the sun set, the Svenner army began to retreat into the mountainous regions.
Ars led the pursuit team organized by Olaf and directly chased the troops. A fierce battle broke out in the mountains.
Meanwhile, Sophia was dealing with the remaining troops that did not escape to the mountains.
She concentrated all her forces near Rancia Galeron and destroyed the enemy’s command structure.
Thus, Rancia Galeron was captured by the units led by Cassius Lloyd and Rutger, leaving only Todolam, who was engaged in a blood battle with Mirabel, as the one Svenner army believed in.
However, Todolam was more focused on his own fight than commanding the troops.
“Hahaha! How enjoyable! I never knew there was a woman of this caliber!”
“You, how can a human possess such martial skills…!”
Todolam showcased supreme martial prowess, as if to prove he didn’t kill Guderian for nothing.
Mirabel was carefully watching for an opportunity. Now, with the sun having set and the troops in confusion,
Those soldiers began indiscriminately entering the area of their duel, creating a chaotic situation.
With the possibility that a single move could decide victory or defeat, Mirabel deflected Todolam’s sword with a Kang! and stepped back two paces.
Then she lowered her spear point and took her stance.
“Good… Very good. This is what I wanted. Such a death…! Not a trivial death by poison, but death on the battlefield!”
“Then I’ll grant your wish.”
Ttat! Both of them moved simultaneously.
At the moment they crossed paths, Mirabel’s spear point had pierced Todolam’s heart.
Todolam’s sword had also stabbed Mirabel’s body, but only punctured her lung.
“A mutual destruction…!”
Todolam twisted his sword with all his might.
But Mirabel merely frowned.
“My body is made of magic. Unless you pierce the Magic Stone that serves as my core, I won’t suffer a fatal wound.”
“What is that? That’s cheating. Kuhek…!?”
Todolam let out a bitter smile and collapsed, coughing blood.
Yet he seemed happy to have fought with a strong opponent and breathed his last without regrets.
Rancia’s situation was slightly different.
He could not accept this defeat.
He had been against this entire advance from the beginning. So he couldn’t help but feel resentful.
Sophia coldly sneered at him.
“Wasn’t it in your own words that war is all about results? Why don’t you try keeping your own words?”
Sophia did not immediately execute him.
Seeing that Rancia still had attachment to life, she decided to use that to quickly settle the situation.
***
A gloomy silence flows through the mountain ridge.
I was feeling doomed.
A woman standing alone before me.
There were no people around me either. Because Eonia had been attacked and had fallen down the mountain slope with the enemy.
I was worried about Eo’s condition, but the opponent in front of me came first.
The surroundings were noisy, but strangely, this place was quiet.
The mother goddess spoke while pointing her sword at me.
“Ars Elaine, do you know about the destiny you were originally supposed to have?”
“My destiny…?”
“You were destined to become a war-crazed king. Not satisfied with the unification of the Central Continent, waging a brutal war with the magical world.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“That was the history that was already predetermined.”
The mother goddess spoke about my story calmly.
After the incident with the fake protagonist Cassius Lloyd, Ars Elaine succeeds in unifying the continent with Crossing’s help.
Up to this point, he could be considered a true protagonist.
But there was a problem.
Ars, who became the founding emperor, had become corrupted by the terrible war and no longer possessed his previous purity.
It was inevitable. Yumir, the pillar of his heart, was dead, and his family had long been killed after terrible torture.
Moreover, he was deeply wounded by the betrayal of the Saint, whom he had loved and trusted.
In this situation, Ars, learning the truth of his birth, harbors deep hatred towards Juras, who was his helper, and tries to kill him, leading to a civil war.
Afterwards, he even destroyed the division boundary, spreading the flames of war externally.
‘What is this.’
According to the mother goddess’ words, Ars was not a protagonist at all.
He was just a device opening a new act.
‘Was it like this?’
A game story to perpetually continue the story.
Act 1 is Cassius Lloyd.
Act 2 is Ars Elaine. And Act 3 will be someone else.
Thus, the story, the war, continues endlessly.
On one hand, I thought this was truly a realistic story.
Because the world actually works this way.
‘Prophecies are like that too.’
It had always been strange. Even though I was the protagonist, the prophecy I received on the elves’ island spoke of one of my children resolving chaos and achieving integration.
I thought it was related to Mirabel’s bloodline, but if I consider that Ars was not the real protagonist from the beginning, it all makes sense.
“Hahaha….”
“…?”
Now I knew why I had come to this world.
Dragon Olkin had said that a being called Adjutant sacrificed its own existence to turn back the world once.
The world he turned back would have been the world of the game ‘Athena War Tales’. A world where war occurs infinitely to maintain the game’s story.
The Adjutant turned back the world and inserted me as a variable. A new piece suitable for the character Ars.
‘Like making a backup…. This world might really be a world inside a game.’
Well, that didn’t matter much now. Thinking about it would be useless.
“Thanks for the monologue, thanks to you, I now know more about myself.”
I pointed my spear at her.
“Sorry, but I don’t intend to talk as much as you did. The situation won’t change anyway. You will die here. And the world will become peaceful.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Conflicts of humanity will continue! Until that selfishness and fighting spirit eat away at the very foundation of the world, forever!”
This is why the mother goddess tried to exterminate the intelligent beings. At least to protect the world she created.
“I understand what you’re trying to say. But it’s unnecessary meddling. Please do such busybodying only right before the world is about to perish.”
“You…!”
The mother goddess charges.
I crossed my spear and sword to block her sword.
Flickering Aura.
Our martial arts skills were on par, but this was a deep mountain at night.
It was a situation where mistakes were inevitable. A long battle would have many variables.
Therefore, I decided to end it with one move.
“Keuht…!”
“Whew…! Whew…!”
The military equipment confronts each other, making a bizarre metallic sound.
I drew the sword from my left hand and tilted my spear.
Then the opponent’s sword slid along my spear with a ‘gigi-gik!’ sound and brushed past my head.
“Such a cheap trick…!”
The mother goddess tried to strike my neck again while swinging her sword, but I was one step faster.
With a ‘seok!’ I twisted my body and swung the sword in my left hand, striking the opponent’s right arm holding the weapon.
The mother goddess, who lost her weapon along with her arm, tripped on a tree root and stumbled.
After readjusting my posture, I thrust my spear at her neck.
“It’s over.”
The mother goddess still smiled even in her final moment.
“Killing me is useless. I am an immortal being. Someday, I will return and repay this humiliation to your descendants.”
“Well, I heard that sealing the existence is the most certain method, right?”
However, the sealing method was still unclear. The dragons had researched it, but no suitable results emerged.
I thought about capturing her alive but decided it was better to just kill her rather than leaving potential complications.
“I will somehow find a way to permanently seal you and pass this knowledge to my descendants. So, just leave for now.”
“Wait and see, I will make you suffer in terrible despair! Definitely…!”
With a ‘puk!’, the mother goddess fell silent after being stabbed in the head.
Her lips still maintained a smile until the end.
For a moment, I felt uneasy, but this was over for now.
“Lord Ars!”
Eo was also safe and was quickly climbing towards me.
Only after she stood beside me did my tension release.
“Whew! Inform the entire army that this war is our victory.”
Sophia had already taken action, and victory cheers were erupting everywhere.
Exhausted, I leaned against a rock and blankly listened to the cheers.
* * *
The central war between the Svenner and Liande Allied Forces.
The Allied Forces, having won the northern and southern battlefields, rapidly advanced and threatened Svenner’s homeland.
With Calvern, the only remaining force, surrendering due to lack of supplies, the war concluded in a massive victory for the Allied Forces.
The war, which seemed to be about to devour the continent, ended unexpectedly quickly.
The subsequent war settlement proceeded smoothly.
The Allied Forces, having received Svenner’s surrender, further subdued Europe and Tunkai without war, merely through national power, achieving a temporary alliance unification.
The Central Continent was to be divided among Alvard, Liande, and Crossing, and post-war arrangements began. Here, the kings of Alvard and Crossing proposed Ars as the first emperor, enabling swift national merger.
In Liande, which fundamentally rejected the nobility system, there was significant noble resistance. However, due to Ars’ overwhelming military power and the generals’ capabilities, no rebellions emerged.
Ars, who achieved centralization in an instant, judged that this power structure would not continue and began preparing for continental openness through various reforms.
The division boundaries naturally disappeared, and exchanges between the external and Central Continent began through the sea.
While there was certainly chaos, the benefits were greater.
The external continent aided the Central Continent, which lacked food, through extensive lands and crop cultivation via magic. The Central Continent, in turn, helped clear remaining dungeons in the external continent with its large population.
After these processes concluded, the engagement between the first emperor Ars and Queen Rosa proceeded.
This was a choice to smoothly merge the Ellan Kingdom.
Though a political marriage, it is said that Queen Rosa inwardly rejoiced.
After merging the Ellan Kingdom, Ars began addressing inter-species issues.
For those with deep hatred towards humans, he decided to relocate them to the eastern continent, creating a special zone and gradually facilitating exchanges.
For species friendly to humans, he actively engaged in interactions, taking the first steps towards human and inter-species integration.
At the center of this were the elves’ island and Calvern.
Calvern took the lead in managing inter-species relations and strived to interact with humans.
Afterward, Ars employed many civil servants to stabilize his reign and prepared for the next emperor.
He well understood that the current peace existed only because he was alive, and would vanish like a bubble after his death.
Therefore, three years after his ascension, Ars began cultivating a successor for throne abdication.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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