The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 204.
As we approached the dragon’s location, the influence of the illusion grew stronger.
Eventually, the surrounding people began to look like monsters, and communication became impossible.
Each commander frantically used hand signals to minimize confusion.
Just as the march was progressing smoothly…
“Graaaah!”
Crash! Suddenly, an intruder burst in swinging a halberd. I immediately recognized him.
‘It’s that zombie-like guy from before!’
He attacked alone and began indiscriminate slaughter.
Concentrated attacks were immediately directed at him, but he essentially nullified them with his special regenerative ability.
“Gahahahaha!”
His appearance – laughing maniacally while covered in wounds – was the very embodiment of the terrifying knight mentioned in ghost stories.
People hesitated in the face of his madness.
Several warriors stepped forward to surround him, but he quickly escaped the encirclement and reappeared at unexpected points to inflict damage.
He was exploiting the fact that precise pursuit was impossible due to the illusion’s influence.
Invincible. There was no way to defeat him.
It was the same for me. How could I beat someone who could fight indefinitely?
But letting him be wasn’t an option given his immense destructive power.
The only means of control was one thing.
The presence of someone skilled enough to firmly bind his feet.
‘So that’s what it was.’
Only then did I become certain. His current actions were meant to draw me out.
‘To think he’d engage in psychological warfare with me.’
Surely, I could control his elusive movements. But if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to go look for Master Ilya.
I was trying to ignore it, but then a woman with a spear blocked his path. From her stance, I could tell who she was.
‘That idiot!’
It was Lucretia.
She, along with the royal guards, rushed in to stop the opponent who was wreaking havoc in our ranks.
But it was too much for them.
The guy focused solely on attack, exposing all parts of his body except his head as he slaughtered the royal guards.
Still, Luc wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Hah!”
Crack! She froze the wounded parts to prevent them from healing. The judgment was that if she could stop the regeneration of wounds even for a moment, an opening would appear.
But it was too fleeting a moment. The opponent, perhaps able to use infinite aura through the support of dark mages, instantly removed the ice and in turn tried to split Luc’s head.
I was already running before that happened.
Clang! I deflected the blade just before it could shatter Luc’s head.
“Stay back.”
Luc looked at me and shouted something. Probably asking why I came. She knew that my mission was to find Ilya.
“I couldn’t just watch you die! Sigh, things have gotten complicated… But you go find my master.”
I signaled for a mission change. Reading the signal, Luc’s eyes widened, then she nodded and headed off somewhere.
‘I can only hope Luc handles it well.’
I composed myself and faced the opponent. He grinned as if he had been waiting for this.
Now, with his appearance more distorted than before, he looked like a demon risen from hell.
“How frightening… Do you want to kill me that badly?”
“Gahaha!”
No other words were necessary.
The halberd flew menacingly.
‘His speed is even faster than yesterday…!’
Does this mean there are more dark mages supporting him than yesterday?
‘I don’t want to drag this out.’
A war of attrition would ultimately be disadvantageous for me.
‘I need to take him down with a coordinated attack.’
Yesterday, I had to handle him alone because communication between comrades was difficult, but today is different.
Communication is still challenging today, but at least we have hand signals.
He’s been branded as an enemy due to his grotesque form. They’ll try to help me as I face him.
‘There will probably be only one chance.’
I entered into a brief period of probing to look for that opening.
* * *
Meanwhile, Lucretia, who understood Ars’ signal, continued moving towards the dragon’s location.
‘Where is Ilya Anfei?’
She found Ilya quickly.
Ilya was guarding a narrow path leading to the dragon’s side. This was a crucial strategic point as passing through it would allow one to circle behind the dragon.
As such, the kingdom’s army had deployed elite troops to this area.
‘That rapier… Is that Lord Hart?’
He was one of the kingdom’s top knights, a master of the rapier.
He was trying to keep Ilya in check by thrusting his rapier like jabs, but it was futile.
As if to say his movements were wasteful, Ilya dove in with minimal movement, struck his solar plexus to incapacitate him, and then knocked him unconscious.
Several people who had been knocked out in this manner were already sprawled near Ilya.
Some mages, driven by frustration, shot spells at Ilya, but she judged them to be no significant threat and simply took them with her body.
With her aura activated and under a stone skin spell, her durability rivaled that of steel.
Losing their will to fight, the mages began to flee, judging that breaking through here was impossible.
As the surroundings quieted, Ilya shrugged and began the task of binding those she had knocked unconscious.
Lucretia, who had been observing this, felt a deep competitive spirit.
‘I want to fight!’
A battle against a strong opponent on the battlefield. Lucretia succumbed to this temptation, which was like a romantic ideal to her.
She approached Ilya with her spear aimed.
“Another visitor, is it…”
Ilya met Luc with a look of boredom.
Luc rushed in, intending to give her all in an instant. A blizzard of ice spikes whirled around her, engulfing Ilya.
While she could have taken this with her body without much concern, Ilya chose not to and jumped back to avoid it.
Seizing this moment, Luc dashed in with a light step and thrust a three-hit combo targeting Ilya’s head, neck, and heart.
As Ilya parried these attacks with her sword, there was a crackling sound as the contacting blade began to freeze rapidly, increasing its weight.
Ilya used her aura to erase the ice while aiming for Luc’s temple with the shaft of the spear in her right hand. Her intention was to strike her temple with the shaft to knock her out.
‘Now!’
Lucretia bent her upper body extremely low to dodge the shaft.
From this lowered position, she stepped forward with all her might.
Then, using the momentum of raising her upper body, she extended her spear towards Ilya’s head.
“Hyaaah!”
A swift strike utilizing her body’s elasticity to the fullest. It was a counter-technique she had devised based on Ars’ teachings to maximize movement efficiency.
Ilya’s eyes flashed at this attack.
“…!”
Ilya’s hair fluttered. She had twisted her head to avoid the spear tip, but some of her hair was cut.
Luc gritted her teeth.
‘So it didn’t work after all…!’
Then with a thud, Luc was sent rolling on the ground by Ilya’s kick.
“Kuhak…!”
As she rolled on the ground, Luc was in pain but inwardly satisfied. She knew that her former self would have been subdued without being able to do anything. She was happy with her growth.
Thump! Thump! Ilya approached to knock Luc unconscious.
It was then that Lucretia, prioritizing her mission with Ars, frantically made hand signals.
“…?”
While Ilya tilted her head, not understanding these clumsy signals, Lucretia seized the moment to grab a sword that had fallen nearby.
Holding both the sword and spear, she awkwardly attempted the movements Ars had once demonstrated.
Ilya’s eyes widened at this sight.
When Ilya made professional hand signals asking about Ars, Luc nodded like a chick, despite not understanding the meaning.
“That’s right! Yes! Wade! My friend! Your friend! Comrade! That’s right!”
While she looked quite foolish for a high-ranking member of the royal guard, her desperation touched Ilya’s heart.
Ilya nodded and gestured for her to lead the way.
Luc sighed in relief and took the lead.
‘I’m glad it worked out, but…’
She became newly curious about Ars’ identity, who had such a level of vassal.
With Ilya joining Ars’ forces, it would be a level that could easily attack the royal palace.
* * *
The battle between Ars and Cuthbert intensified.
Cuthbert felt pressed for time.
‘This guy, he must have sent some kind of message to Ilya Anfei. Could it be that woman from earlier?’
If Ilya came here, it would all be for naught.
‘Moreover, it seems the other side has started moving too…’
Cuthbert decided to make his decisive move quickly.
“Hyaah!”
Clang! After swinging his halberd widely to block Ars’ movements, he gave a signal.
“Now!”
At that, 20 dark mages who had been hiding appeared and simultaneously cast attack spells towards Ars and Cuthbert. Estelle was among them.
“Fall into the abyss!”
Boom! Cuthbert applied force to their clashing weapons to prevent Ars from escaping.
Ars grimaced at the black magical energy covering the sky, then lightly gritted his teeth.
Then, with a whoosh! He transformed into light magic and teleported 5 meters back.
It was the blink spell, an intermediate light magic known for its poor efficiency in combat, but considered one of the more useful light magic spells.
“Oh no…!”
Cuthbert couldn’t help but be flustered. He had never seen Ars use light magic before.
He knew Ars used arcane magic from the testimonies of mages who had been defeated by him, but he didn’t know Ars could handle the light attribute.
Only Estelle had seen Ars use light magic, but she hadn’t told Cuthbert. It wasn’t that she deliberately withheld the information, but rather she had been too overwhelmed by her fear of Ars at the time.
“Now!”
Ars, who had evaded the attack, gave a tactical hand signal to his allies in return.
Immediately, those around him used binding magic to seal Cuthbert’s movements.
Cuthbert tried to break free using aura, but in that moment, Ars made his decisive move.
“Hnngh…!”
Crackle! Magic power gathered in the spear. Ars poured all his aura and magic into creating an explosive arcane spear.
Then, thump! thump! He kicked off nearby trees, jumping about 5m and launching it at Cuthbert.
Shweeee! The spear tore through the air as it rushed forward.
Sensing instinctive danger, Cuthbert shouted.
“Deploy defensive magic! Hurry!”
As if the command wasn’t understood, only 9 dark mages carried out the order.
They spread magical barriers in the direction the spear was coming from.
Titititing! The barriers shattered in an instant.
Still, being nine layers thick, they were able to dampen the spear’s momentum.
The last layer. It became a situation of push and pull with Estelle’s barrier.
‘What tremendous pressure…!’
Estelle maintained her barrier with utmost concentration, not yielding to the spear’s pressure.
Not stopping there, she began to corrupt the arcane magic surrounding Ars’ spear.
‘I did it!’
Estelle rejoiced momentarily after corrupting all of Ars’ arcane magic, but it was short-lived.
Seeing the light magic densely packed within that arcane magic, Estelle couldn’t react at all.
Kwagwagwang! The spear caused a massive explosion. Since it contained most of Ars’ aura, its explosive power was tremendous.
As the aftermath of the explosion that devastated a 10m radius cleared, Cuthbert appeared, reduced to tatters.
He barely protected his head, but his body was in rags.
“I don’t know what kind of vitality you have, but…!”
Ars stabbed Cuthbert’s head before he could regenerate. Even Cuthbert was helpless against this.
Shruk! Cuthbert disappeared as the teleportation scroll activated.
“Cu-Cuthbert has been defeated!”
“Hieek-!”
“What a monster…!”
With Cuthbert’s defeat, the dark mages fell into panic. Due to quantity issues, they hadn’t used teleportation scroll, so once scared, they were busy fleeing in disarray.
However, Estelle couldn’t do so.
“Wait, keh! Take me too…! Kuh…!”
She had been affected by the explosion.
The magic corruption she used requires maintaining a connection with that magic to cast.
Because of this, when the connected barrier was mercilessly shattered, her magic became disrupted, affecting her body.
Estelle collapsed, unable to control her body.
Ars approached her.
“Ah, aah…!”
Estelle tasted a thrilling yet despairing fear.
She was so terrified that she unknowingly wet herself.
Ars felt no emotion seeing this sight. After all, he was used to this level of occurrence. He had seen worse things than urination while experiencing various wars.
Therefore, he felt no aversion to taking the life of a frightened opponent. Besides, he thought they would be using teleportation scroll anyway.
Ars pointed his spear at Estelle.
Then he paused for a moment. He was considering whether to capture her alive or not.
He needed someone to provide information to recover Eonia’s memories and to find the blood mage.
This hesitation gave Estelle a glimmer of hope, but Ars shook his head.
He could always ask such information from Polarian, the old mage in the Forest of Lament, and it was difficult to manage prisoners immediately when the battle situation wasn’t over yet.
Ars thrust his spear towards her heart.
But then.
-Kuooo–!
With the dragon’s rough roar, all the power of illusion disappeared.
Along with it, everything returned to normal.
The sky that had been dyed red, even the power that made others’ appearances look distorted.
Only then could Ars see Estelle’s face, looking up at him with tear-stained eyes.
“…!?”
Ars tried to withdraw his spear hurriedly, but it was too late.
At the last moment, he controlled the spearhead to avoid the heart, but he couldn’t stop the thrust itself.
The spearhead pierced the solar plexus.
“Sir Ars…?”
Estelle lost consciousness with an expression of disbelief.
“What in the world…!?”
Ars dropped his spear, his hands trembling.
Ilya and Lucretia ran towards him.
“Ars!”
“Master…! I, I… I did to Estelle…”
“What!?”
Ilya seemed to grasp the situation immediately upon seeing the two, and started emergency treatment with bandages from her military pack.
Ars, who had fallen into panic, couldn’t take any action.
“Damn it, the wound is severe…!”
Ilya was focusing on stopping the immediate bleeding.
The bleeding had increased exponentially because the panicked Ars had pulled out the spear.
Unlike Ars, Ilya and Lucretia were calmly assessing the situation.
“Lord Anfei, it will be difficult to receive treatment from our side in the current situation. For safe and continuous treatment, we should go to their medical facilities.”
Luc quickly spread out a terrain map and explained the gaps to escape to the enemy’s main camp.
“If we break through this way, there shouldn’t be anyone to interfere.”
“I don’t know who you are, but thank you.”
Ilya, who had hastily stopped the bleeding, picked up Estelle.
“Ars.”
With those words, she sent a gaze filled with many meanings before hurriedly starting to run.
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