The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 185
The corpse soldiers began to appear everywhere.
It wasn’t difficult to confirm that they were those who had gone missing in the Forest of Lament until now. Lucretia confirms this by looking at their clothing.
“These are the kingdom’s uniforms. There are also uniforms of the Savior Alliance!”
“…”
Ten, twenty, thirty. The number of corpses kept increasing. As I observed them, I was able to catch one strange detail.
‘There are no wounds on the corpses…?’
If they died, there should be a reason. However, there were no external injuries that could be assumed to be the cause. As if they had been offered as living sacrifices.
“Lucretia. Do you know anything about black magic?”
“I don’t know. I never wanted to know, so I never tried to learn it separately.”
“This is troublesome…”
Gaspar was also ignorant about magical knowledge.
I observed the opponent while recalling the knowledge of black magic I had learned. Lucretia shouts at me as if urging me.
“No time for distractions! They’re charging!”
An undead soldier charging with clumsy movements. Lucretia countered by stabbing its heart, but the opponent seemed unaffected.
“Kihihihi! It doesn’t even tickle!”
The corpse laughs maniacally.
“Tch!”
Lucretia, annoyed, immediately cast a spell to shoot an ice spike at the opponent’s head, but with a spark! Black sparks flew and the magic was canceled out.
At this, Lucretia’s expression turned pale.
“A defense spell…!? Kuk!”
Lucretia had no choice but to draw her sword and cut off the opponent’s neck.
“Be careful! Mediocre magic won’t work!”
Each enemy had a high-level defense spell cast on them.
The fact that such effort was put into this means they were created with the assumption of a war of attrition.
‘Corpse soldiers created with plans for a large-scale war of attrition… There must be something behind this.’
Whatever it was, it was inefficient to deal with these guys using magic.
As the number of enemies increased to the hundreds, Lucretia seemed to be thinking about retreat, but Gaspar and I had different ideas.
Kwadeuk! Gaspar, who crushed the head of an approaching enemy soldier, snorts and says, “It seems they stop moving once you smash their heads.”
“That’s simple. You said the number of missing people was about 100,000, right?”
“That’s right.”
“We can’t handle them all, but let’s reduce their numbers as much as we can.”
“That’s more like it.”
I took a stance along with Gaspar.
They had no tactical movements.
The number we had to deal with simultaneously was at most two or three.
Above all, the enemy had no ranged weapons. In a fight of few against many, the most threatening thing is ranged weapons like bows.
No matter how strong an individual is, they can’t withstand concentrated fire.
With no sign of those ranged weapons now, there was nothing to fear.
In terms of warfare, they were nothing more than a disorganized mob with just large numbers.
“Lucretia, please check for the enemy’s ranged weapons. If you spot any, tell us immediately.”
“Understood!”
The formation was set with Lucretia supporting between me and Gaspar.
We reduced the number of approaching corpse soldiers while protecting each other’s backs.
At first, they were arrogant.
“Kihihihihi! It’s a big mistake if you think you can hold out! Despair and kneel down!”
However, as their losses exceeded 100 and approached 300, the opponent began to panic.
We kept changing our position to avoid being surrounded by mountains of corpses while dealing with the corpse soldiers.
Finally, when the number of casualties exceeded 500, the opponent’s movements changed.
As if saying they didn’t want any more losses than this. They started to keep their distance.
We also put down our weapons for a moment, wiped our faces, and drank water.
“Kuhahah! Looks like they’re scared?”
Gaspar says while replenishing fluids. From the smell, it seems to be alcohol, not water.
“I guess they don’t want meaningless losses either.”
The assumption of a war of attrition ironically becomes a reason to avoid a war of attrition.
From their perspective, they probably don’t want losses due to physical reasons like now, rather than magic-induced attrition.
As if negotiating, the opponent brought forward one corpse soldier to deliver a message.
“It seems some annoying ones have gotten involved.”
The voice was dry, but an unprecedented caution could be felt in its undertone.
“Who are you affiliated with?”
That question sounded as if they might let us go depending on the answer.
Based on those words, I could tell that humans were deeply involved in these corpse soldiers.
“We’re from the kingdom!”
Lucretia, the representative, shouted while puffing out her chest.
“I am Lucretia Akasha, 3rd rank of the Kingdom’s Royal Guard! Reveal your identity!”
“…”
There was a reaction from the other side at the mention of the Kingdom’s Royal Guard.
A reaction that they absolutely cannot let us go.
The corpse soldiers moved again. This time, both the scale and the seriousness were on a different level.
Ranged weapons also started to appear sporadically.
“It seems we hit the jackpot in the wrong way. Ars, I think we should get out of here.”
Gaspar urgently tells me.
I wanted to observe the situation a bit more, but a scream from afar made that impossible.
“Kyaaaa──!”
A woman’s scream echoing.
‘Oh no, is it Rinoa? She still hasn’t escaped.’
Not sending her away earlier might have been a mistake.
“We have no choice. Gaspar, you open an escape route.”
The corpse soldiers pursued us, but we were able to escape without much difficulty.
We quickly headed towards where Rinoa was.
* * *
Fortunately, we were able to find Rinoa’s group quickly.
Rinoa, Erina, and Anduha were engaged in combat with the corpse soldiers.
Since their combat ability was limited to magic, they were struggling to easily dispatch the enemies.
They were able to manage because the number of corpse soldiers was small, but if they had been surrounded by many like us, they might have been in big trouble.
“Are you alright?”
“Wade! What on earth are these things!?”
“That’s what I want to ask. For now, calm down.”
I checked to see if there were any injuries among the group.
“Erina, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Good. That’s a relief.”
“Are you alright too, Ars?”
“I’m fine.”
Cold sweat trickled down my temple as if the tension had been released.
“Why didn’t you return immediately?”
Rinoa bowed her head, looking ashamed at my protest.
“We were on our way back… But suddenly we heard a voice that seemed to be calling us.”
“A calling voice…? Was this before the surroundings became strange? Or was it after?”
“It was before things became strange.”
It might be a clue to something.
I decided to share the situation with them.
“That’s right! The same happened to us. Suddenly, a red energy enveloped us and the surroundings became strange.” Rinoa chattered excitedly.
“Anything else unusual?”
“Well, that is… Suddenly, a person appeared asking for help and we listened…”
“What about the person who asked for help?”
“It’s that. That corpse! It suddenly turned violent and attacked us, so Anduha dealt with it.”
“What did it say before that? Did it mention any information about this place?”
On our side, Gaspar had dealt with it without question, so we couldn’t extract any information, but it was different for Rinoa’s group.
“Now that you mention it, it asked about our affiliation. When I said I was a noble from the Southern Continent, it seemed to say something…”
“So there was no hostility?”
“It seems there was no hostility until then. But after we mentioned the Royal Academy, it suddenly turned violent and tried to stab us.”
“I see…”
The information seemed to be piecing together in my head.
‘It doesn’t seem to be a simple matter.’
Even so, it wasn’t something that had much to do with me. My primary goal was to find Gunther and Meissen after all.
“For now, let’s create an escape route. Gaspar, can you read the defensive positions?”
“Well, the terrain itself hasn’t changed, so it might not be impossible to retrace our steps. However, I don’t think we can really return that way. My intuition is whispering that to me.”
Well, the enemy must have taken some measures too. If we could just go back, there wouldn’t have been so many missing people.
“Even if we put the escape route aside, we need to create a safe space. I’ll carefully scout the surroundings.”
We started to look around, expanding our reconnaissance range.
And through that, we could notice that the enemy was gradually closing in on us.
Gaspar gritted his teeth and said to me.
“Ars, if we continue like this, we won’t be able to avoid a fight. And if we get caught up there, you and I might be fine, but the safety of these women will be uncertain.”
We’re gradually being cornered.
Before we could fully grasp the terrain, the enemy was already tightening its grip on us.
At this point, there was no other way but to break through with force.
Swish! The undead soldiers revealed themselves one by one, surrounding us. Along with that, chilling laughter could be heard from here and there.
‘There’s no choice.’
I said to Gaspar.
“Gaspar, I want to ask your intuition. Have we been going around the same point until now?”
“Logically, we haven’t been circling the same point. We’ve been leaving marks everywhere we move, right? The fact that they haven’t been discovered means we weren’t going around the same point. However, it’s clear that we’re in the palm of the enemy’s hand. The fact that we’re surrounded by those sluggish things proves that.”
The problem was that neither Gaspar nor I were well-versed in magical knowledge.
Rinoa and Erina weren’t proficient in this type of magic either, so they couldn’t understand what the problem was.
“Ars, now we have no choice but to break through with force.”
“Yes, it seems so. So… Step back for a moment.”
“What?”
I took out the spear I had been carrying on my back, gripped it with both hands, and drew out all my aura.
The aura transformed into arcane magic power, enveloping the spear.
Sensing the ominous energy, the group hesitantly stepped back.
Crack! Crack! The arcane aura flickered and started to draw in surrounding objects.
“Wade… This is…!”
“I’m concentrating, so be quiet!”
“Ah, understood.”
It was the first time since breaking the magic stone that I was using full power, so I was on edge too.
I converted the remaining aura into light magic power with explosive force and absorbed it into the spear.
After that, I used all of my pure magic to amplify its scale and complete the magic spear.
A spear brimming with ferocious magic power.
Lucretia was overwhelmed by this sight and lost for words, while Erina and Rinoa were staring blankly.
“Huff…!”
After taking a deep breath, I threw the spear towards where the undead soldiers were approaching in lines with a swoosh!
The arcane magic power that formed the base contracted, pulling in everything around it, and then exploded with a thunderous roar, taking away all the sounds of the forest.
About a 20m radius from where the spear exploded was completely devastated. Pieces of the undead soldiers were scattered wildly around it.
“Tremendous destructive power…!”
“W-what is this?!”
The companions are surprised.
That wasn’t the important part.
What mattered was whether this magical explosion caused changes in the surrounding environment.
I looked around for changes but couldn’t catch any notable ones.
‘Is this level not enough…!’
If so, it means we’ve just uselessly consumed aura.
“Tch! For now, let’s somehow move to an area with fewer enemies!”
I wasn’t sure if a strategic retreat was possible in this lost situation, but we had no other options now.
The enemies were also hesitating after that recent attack, so we decided to use this opportunity.
The other companions seemed to have the same idea and prepared to flee, but just before that…
Sniff! Sniff sniff! Gaspar starts smelling frantically. He soon turns his gaze to one spot.
“Ars, it’s the scent of a human.”
“A human…?”
Soon, the sounds of battle begin to be heard from the direction Gaspar is staring at. Are they fighting the undead soldiers?
That sound grows louder as it approaches us.
Eventually, the human presence reveals itself.
“Grooooar!”
A large figure clubbing undead soldiers while roaring monstrously.
The figure was wearing bizarre armor, and its skin was roughly cracked, covered in hideous wounds. Black, deathlike blood flowed from wounds all over its body.
It didn’t look human at all. Yet, it was somehow still alive.
In a sense, it looked even more like an undead soldier than the actual undead soldiers.
“No way….”
I could recognize that face.
“Gunther…!?”
The large figure breathed heavily and then stared at me.
In those half-crazed eyes, I couldn’t see any trace of the previous Gunther. He didn’t seem to recognize me either.
He just roared as if telling us to follow and started leading the way.
‘What on earth is happening here!’
Putting that question aside, I followed behind Gunther, breaking through the encirclement of undead soldiers.
* * *
An ominous aura overflowed from Gunther.
There wasn’t even a trace left of his previously innocent impression.
When we had a bit of breathing room, I spoke to him.
“Gunther, what happened? Why have you become like this?”
“Huff…! Huff…!”
But Gunther didn’t answer. Or rather, he seemed to lack any reason.
At this, Rinoa says while clicking her tongue:
“Wade, this looks like he’s being controlled.”
“Controlled…!”
Magicians often use special powers to control various animals as familiars, but only black magicians control people.
This is called a Death Knight, but there’s a proper term – Fear Knight – for controlling a living person.
“Gunther….”
Seeing him in such a state didn’t feel good. I had worried about sending him to the Southern Continent, thinking it might be dangerous, but I never imagined we’d reunite like this.
‘Though Gunther isn’t officially my vassal….’
I had no intention of letting whoever did this to my acquaintance go unpunished.
The place Gunther led us to was a village established in one part of the forest.
Judging by its size, the population might be around 500. It was quite a large village.
Such a village was hidden perfectly inside the Forest of Lament.
“Huff! Huff…”
Upon arriving at the village, Gunther sat down and started gasping for breath. He looked like he might stop breathing at any moment.
“Gunther, are you alright! Damn it!”
As I stood there not knowing what to do, people rushed out from the village.
Meissen was among them.
“Sir Elaine!? And Miss Erina!”
Meissen’s eyes widened upon seeing us, but she quickly shook her head to regain composure and approached Gunther. She then started using healing magic to tend to Gunther’s wounds.
Soon, more villagers appeared and surrounded us. They looked at us with strange eyes mixing wariness and expectation.
‘Mostly women…. Only elderly men.’
It was hard to guess what circumstances led to this.
“Senior Meissen. Please tell me what happened, even as you treat Gunther.”
“Well….”
Meissen looked at me nervously, then suddenly flinched and turned around.
At the end of her gaze was a hunched old man.
The old man speaks with a creepy smile, “Kekeke, welcome. It’s never boring with fools like you who dare to set foot in the Forest of Lament. Now, that’s enough treatment!”
At the old man’s gesture, Gunther reflexively stood up and took his place by the old man’s side.
“You must have questions for me, right?”
“…Before that.”
“Hm?”
“Is it you? The one controlling Gunther?”
“And what if I am?”
The old man chuckles as if testing me.
“…If you don’t want to die painfully, you’d better release Gunther right now.”
“Oh my, what a scary fellow. You’re dead serious. And it seems you have the ability to back it up! Such a dense light attribute, I might melt. But what to do? I’m not afraid of death, so such threats don’t work on me.”
“…”
“Don’t you think it’s time for a conversation now?”
As the atmosphere turns hostile, Meissen intervenes,
“Junior, please calm down for now. This old man isn’t simply an evil person. There were circumstances regarding Sir Gunther’s situation too.”
“…Yes. I got a bit excited.”
It was almost my first time seeing my acquaintances in such a terrible state, so I got worked up without realizing it.
As Meissen said, hearing the circumstances should come first.
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