The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 227
Erina shouted urgently.
“Be careful! The man can recover from any injury! To subdue him, you must take out the black mages who are supplying him with magic power!”
“…!”
Even Elena had participated in the war at the time, but she had never faced Cuthbert before.
‘I see, that’s the immortal monster that tormented Elaine!’
When Ars had said it was difficult, she had thought he was just being weak, but after facing it directly, her view had changed. Even a pierced heart could recover, something she had not expected.
“Huh? Since you know me, there must have been someone from the previous war.”
Cuthbert did not recognize Erina’s face. At the time, his appearance and voice had been distorted by the power of the dragon.
“Hmph, whether it’s Wade or not, if it’s not him, I have no business. Die!”
The injured Elena had taken an extreme defensive stance.
Rinoa had to make a choice. Whether to force a breakthrough or temporarily retreat.
However, forcing a breakthrough with three of them in the room would be difficult, as there was not enough time to search all of them.
‘It would be better to retreat and observe the situation for a moment here…’
But then,
“Has someone come!? If anyone is there, please come this way! I beg you! Lord Railand is dying!”
It was a familiar voice from the innermost room. Hearing this, Erina’s eyes widened.
“Ms. Rinoa, that’s Princess Rosa’s voice!”
“Ugh…!”
Since Princess Rosa was definitely there, they had to break through here no matter what.
Elena shouted to them. “Leave the rest to me and go into the room!”
“But…!”
“It’s fine!”
Following Elena’s instructions, the group rushed into the room.
One of the opponents tried to target Rinoa’s neck with a sword, but Anduha barely managed to block it.
“Ugh!”
Boom! Rinoa fired a precise air cannon created by magic to destroy the lock on the door and entered the room.
“Princess, are you safe?”
“Rinoa!? Erina too!”
Rosa and Lord Railand were tied up in chairs side by side. The difference was that Railand was covered in blood, while Rosa was unharmed.
“Look at the lord! He took the torture in my place!”
Rinoa checked Railand’s pulse and shook her head.
“He’s gone.”
“That can’t be…!”
“This is no time to despair. We have to escape quickly.”
But even if they escaped, where would they go?
The entrance they came from was blocked. Even more reinforcements had arrived and surrounded the area.
The only escape route left was the window.
Through the window, the palace garden could be seen.
‘But it’s too high to jump out!’
That’s when something happened on Elena’s side.
“Aaaargh!”
“Damn! This cursed woman! She can control heat!”
Thanks to the group entering the room, Elena was able to unleash her full power.
In the confined corridor, as she released the heat, even the skilled Cuthbert and the others could not withstand it and had to keep their distance.
“Shoot magic! Drive out the heat and sweep that woman away!”
When the reinforcements that had just arrived bombarded Elena with a concentrated barrage of magic, she was unable to withstand it and rolled into the room, covered in wounds.
“Urgh…!”
Elena got up, covered in blood. To prevent the enemies from chasing in, she concentrated the heat towards the door, but they were preparing to unleash another magical onslaught.
Rinoa had no choice but to make a decision.
“I’ll jump out the window! Don’t hesitate!”
Rinoa opened the window and jumped out first.
The height was about six stories, and it looked difficult to jump and come out unharmed.
However, she was a wind mage, even if only an academy student.
She used the power of the wind to minimize the impact of the fall.
After that, she caught her comrades one by one as they jumped out.
“Ugh! Ugh! That’s enough! Hurry, Elena too…”
Suddenly, Kugung! Elena was struck by the enemy’s magic attack and fell out the window like a broken puppet. If she fell like that, she would surely die.
Rinoa focused all her energy to safely catch Elena, but this time gap allowed the enemy to give chase.
Kwadak! Cuthbert jumped off the ground without any safety device.
This caused him to suffer a twisted injury in both legs, but the injury was soon healed.
He rose like a zombie and blocked the retreat route of Rinoa’s group.
Two more of his comrades followed, using their own skills to jump out and surround them again.
Cuthbert sneered with a raised corner of his mouth. “Your methods are cheap. To force a breakthrough and then jump out the window, how cliché.”
Swooosh! A strong shower of rain poured down on the group, as if there was no more hope.
“The heat magic was fun, but in this environment, even that won’t function properly. It’s over now. Your strategy has failed. Obediently become prisoners or die resisting.”
“…No, it hasn’t failed at all.”
It was Erina.
She stood in front of the group, as if protecting them, and said. “It’s all according to his plan.”
“His…?” Cuthbert tilted his head curiously. But that was the only time he could be at ease.
Crack!
“Huh…!?”
Cuthbert jumped back with an animal-like movement. Right where he was standing, lightning struck down.
“A lightning mage!? Could it be you’re the one from back then!”
Erina cast the spell without further ado.
The lightning a lightning mage could normally cast was at most three times. But in this weather, the story was different.
The magic consumption was reduced by about 1/10, and the casting speed soared.
It’s no wonder lightning mages are considered invincible in bad weather.
Cuthbert had to rush back into the building to get out of the lightning’s range.
He could somehow protect himself with defensive magic a few times, but any more than that was impossible.
“Damn it!”
No matter how great his healing ability was, if he was properly struck by lightning, he would just die. Without the concept of protecting the head, his entire body would turn into charcoal.
“Retreat! Since there’s a lightning mage, if you don’t want to die, don’t go outside!”
Seeing the enemy hastily fleeing, Rinoa watched blankly.
“Incredible…”
“It’s thanks to Ms. Rinoa. If we couldn’t jump out the window safely, it would have been meaningless.”
“Could it be that this entire situation was designed by Wade?”
“Actually, it’s not quite like that.”
Ars had simply advised Erina to come out and fight if it became dangerous. That way, they could fight more advantageously, and they could also call for support after seeing the lightning.
“More importantly, we’ve retrieved Princess Rosa, so let’s retreat for now!”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
After leaving the area, Erina struck a gigantic thunderbolt for Ars to see.
It wasn’t just Ars who saw this thunderbolt.
The people in the palace noticed this lightning and began to leave with serious expressions, as if this thunderbolt was signaling the final stage of the royal succession battle.
* * *
The forces outside the palace, entangled in a battle of nerves, were trying to somehow penetrate the palace. But due to the nature of urban warfare, they couldn’t move easily.
Urban warfare with abundant opportunities for ambush meant that reckless movement could result in heavy casualties, so both sides were cautious.
This was a godsend for the third force.
While Joseph and Landis’ forces were engaged in a battle of nerves, a force of nearly 2,000 suddenly appeared and began moving towards the palace gate.
How could such a large force suddenly appear? The same reason – urban warfare.
The soldiers had been quietly hiding in the building, waiting for the right moment. When the time was right, they emerged and fled.
The commander leading them was grinning sinisterly.
“Foolish fools. Stay there while we make our way to the palace first.”
Once they entered the palace and closed the doors, the game would be over. The palace was built in the form of a fortress, making it easy to defend. As long as the main gate was guarded properly, there would be no opportunity for a large number of soldiers to invade. Unless Joseph and Landis’ forces joined together, there was no way they could break through.
“Let’s go in!”
However, at that moment, there were troops attacking their flanks.
“Now!”
Boom! Ash’s troops came charging in like spearheads.
This sudden ambush threw the forces of the three factions into confusion.
“What? What force is that…!”
“Commander! They’re advancing into the palace!”
“What!? No, can’t let them in!”
Following Ars’ orders, Ash decisively cut off their rear, then surged into the palace. He then closed the palace gates.
Seeing this, Joseph and Landis’ troops found themselves in a dire situation – caught between the ambush and the palace gate. They had no choice but to desperately rush towards the palace.
“Commander! The troops from behind…”
With Ash having entered the palace and shut the gates, the forces of the three factions were now trapped like ducks in a shooting range.
The front gate was blocked, and from behind, Landis’ forces were rushing in breathlessly.
They were now surrounded on both sides.
“This is a meticulously planned operation! Someone else… Someone else must be intervening! I must inform the people inside the palace about this!”
However, they had no such luxury. They had to engage in fierce battle with Landis’ incoming forces.
Inside the palace, it was difficult to grasp the situation outside. The situation was progressing rapidly by the minute, leaving no time to get detailed reports and act accordingly.
Initially, Joseph and Landis had mistakenly thought that each other’s forces had already infiltrated the palace due to Ash’s morning attack.
“What… What do we do?”
Joseph was restless. If Landis’ forces were already inside the palace, they would be at an immediate disadvantage.
He naturally turned his gaze to one of his close aides, a nobleman with connections to the Alliance.
“Hey, you. I don’t recognize you. Who are you?”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I’m Pale, dispatched urgently from Broken Horn.”
“Oh, oh! From Broken Horn!”
Broken Horn was one of the upper Alliances that were supporting Joseph. Hearing that someone had come urgently from there made Joseph feel reassured.
“That means you must have a countermeasure for the current situation!”
“That’s right.”
“Hurry and tell me!”
However, the noble aide held Joseph back.
“Please wait a moment, Your Highness. We have not yet confirmed for certain whether he truly is from Broken Horn. It would be best to have that verified first before discussing anything…”
“In this situation, what are you saying so calmly for! Just a rough outline is enough!”
In the cursory interrogation, no problems were found. The man smoothly spoke not only about Broken Horn’s internal affairs, but even some of their confidential information.
Because of this, even the Broken Horn’s underlings who had infiltrated the group didn’t suspect him, thinking he was some kind of high-level informant attached to the leadership.
If there had been real leaders here, they would have exposed him as a fake. But the leaders couldn’t come here themselves, as their faces were well-known, lest they get caught colluding with the Alliance.
“Your Highness, now is the time to seize the throne.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“According to the reports, Landis’ forces and our forces are in a stalemate outside the palace. That means neither side will be able to enter for now. So it would be better to advance quickly, rather than waiting for the outcome outside.”
“But this morning, Landis did manage to get some of his forces into the palace. They must be hiding somewhere inside, waiting.”
“The number can’t be too large. The lack of eyewitness accounts from the palace people is the evidence for that.”
“Even so, there must be around a hundred or so. That still can’t be overlooked.”
“That much can be overcome, if we can co-opt the Royal Guard.”
“The Royal Guard?”
“Yes. If we can quickly seize the throne and place the Royal Guard under your command, we can drive out Landis’ forces! Then, combined with the troops outside, you can occupy the palace and become the king!”
At the mention of becoming king, Joseph felt a floating sensation.
“But will the Royal Guard follow me?”
“They will. Just think about what Landis did this morning. He attacked the prime minister and kidnapped Princess Rosa! In the process, he even attacked Lucretia, the Royal Guard captain, and other guardsmen! So the Royal Guard will have no reason to side with Landis!”
“Indeed! Indeed, that’s right!”
It was all a story fabricated by Ars, but the sequence of events fitted together so neatly that Joseph was trapped and fell for it completely.
He hastily moved to occupy the audience chamber where the throne was located. Landis had fallen for the same scheme.
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