The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 247
The majestic fortress sat squarely in the middle of the ravine, completely blocking passage.
To ignore it and cross to the other side, one would have to traverse the treacherous ravine.
Of course, you could go that way if you wanted to. Though difficult, it wasn’t impossible.
But it’s a different story when it comes to an army.
With large numbers, it’s virtually impossible to pass through the treacherous ravine without casualties. If attacked while passing through, they would suffer massive losses.
So for an army to cross to the other side, they would have to destroy the fortress first.
That meant one thing.
‘So that’s what it was….’
This fortress called the Life and Death Match was a military stronghold that Orcs had built to prevent human invasion.
It had materialized here through the dungeon.
“It looks like an extremely sturdy fortress.”
Master Ilya spoke with a stern expression.
“The soldiers seem well-trained too, so it would take at least tens of thousands of troops to break through.”
“…!”
Suddenly, I recalled the general information about the Life and Death Match. That it required a minimum of seven people to a maximum of 30,000 to subjugate it.
‘So that meant it would take 30,000 troops to push through by force!’
On the other hand, I wondered how subjugation was possible with just seven people.
‘If you’re going to leave records, leave them properly!’
The heroes who subjugated this place must have been optimistic, thinking that once sealed, the Life and Death Match would never return to the world.
Well, who would have thought humans would press this nuclear button that brings such danger themselves.
“Ars, what do you plan to do?”
“For now, we have no choice but to try. Everyone, use teleportation scroll here.”
At my instruction, everyone tore their teleportation scrolls they had packed in their backpacks.
After those preparations were complete, we carefully approached the fortress.
The Orc soldiers guarding the gate began watching us warily with glaring eyes.
They shouted at us in an incomprehensible language. Their spirit was so intense that my vassals took combat stances.
That’s when I remembered the book about different races that Juras gave me.
I took out that book from my backpack and looked up the Orc language.
The book only contained very basic conversations, so all I could do was greetings.
“Ule na kuntu?”
It means ‘Hello?’ in Orc language.
At my words, the Orcs fell silent for a moment before speaking to me in a much gentler manner.
Of course, since I couldn’t understand them, I could only say what I knew.
“Raksha on di! (The weather is nice!)”
The Orcs nodded in agreement.
My vassals looked at me incredulously as I communicated with the monsters.
“Guram di kuntu? (Have you eaten?)”
The Orcs showed thumbs up and showed the bread they were holding. They meant they would give it to me if I wanted it.
These guys might be unexpectedly kind.
But since this wasn’t getting us anywhere, I decided to try the most threatening phrase written in the book.
“Prida onta! (Unforgivable!)”
The Orcs’ expressions showed bewilderment.
The Orc who had been offering me bread held out a water canteen instead, wondering if I wanted water rather than bread, but when I said ‘unforgivable’ again, he awkwardly put away the canteen.
At that moment, an Orc who looked like the captain of the gatekeepers appeared and asked something in a strong tone.
When I nodded without understanding, he roughly grabbed the horn that was near the gate.
Buuuuuu-! The horn sound echoed through the mountains. With that, the fortress began to stir.
“Narudi a onda!”
“A onda! A onda!”
They began shouting these words like a chorus. The sound made the mountains vibrate.
Ash seemed to guess the meaning from their spirit and whispered to me.
“It seems to mean they won’t forgive intruders?”
“Seems so. But there seems to be a set procedure for it. If they really weren’t going to forgive us, the soldiers would have attacked right away.”
The gatekeeper Orcs didn’t seem interested in attacking. Rather, they began guiding us somewhere.
According to that, the vibration of numerous Orcs moving could be felt.
“This is…!”
The place we were guided to was the training grounds inside the fortress.
On the other side of the training grounds, which was structured like a Colosseum, six sturdy Orcs with ominous energy stood in a line.
And at the highest point of the opposite spectator seats, an Orc who appeared to be the leader was sitting in a huge chair, looking down at us.
I felt it instinctively.
‘No doubt about it, that one has the magic stone!’
That meant if we defeat that one and retrieve the magic stone, we could eliminate this Life and Death Match.
“Lord Ars, should we try a surprise attack?”
As Eonia said while gripping her bow, Master Ilya held her back.
“Eonia, this isn’t that kind of atmosphere. If we do that, all the Orcs will attack us. Unless we can kill them in one shot, we shouldn’t do that. What they want now is a noble warrior’s duel.”
“A warrior’s duel…?”
“That’s how it feels to me.”
The spectator seats began to fill with Orcs who were guarding the fortress. Their numbers seemed to reach 20,000.
“Ah coming! Ah coming!”
They kept shouting cheers, heightening the atmosphere.
Then the leader Orc raised his hand and shouted.
“Na Kunta!”
I knew this phrase because it was written in the book. It meant something like ‘Be quiet!’
When the crowd became quiet, the leader spoke in a heavy voice.
“Kula!”
Then one of the six Orcs standing in line came up to the center of the training grounds and roared.
The crowd cheered ‘Kula! Kula!’
The Orc called Kula swung his huge axe, slammed it into the ground with a bang, and made a provocative gesture toward us.
“Seems like they want one person to come out?”
“So this is why it’s called Life and Death.”
Now I understood why it was possible to subjugate with seven people.
A 7 vs 7 match.
From what I could tell, after facing the six Orcs and achieving at least a 3-3 score, the leader Orc would likely come down himself.
If we defeat the leader there, we wouldn’t have to deal with the tens of thousands of other Orcs.
That’s why it required a minimum of 7 people to a maximum of 30,000 for subjugation.
“Time out! Ola nar o kuntu?”
I calmed the opponent using the phrase ‘Would you please wait a moment?’ written in the book.
After that, we decided to put our heads together with the vassals to form our lineup.
* * *
A one-on-one duel betting on life and death.
Normally it would have been very pressuring, but since we were using teleportation scrolls, none of us felt much tension.
Rather, more people showed interest.
“I’ll take on the leader.”
When Master Ilya said that, Elena objected.
“What are you saying! I’ll take on the leader!”
“Ms. Elena, in times like this, we should decide based on ability.”
“Kuk…!”
So it was decided that Master Ilya would take on the leader. The rest would be decided based on the opponents, but first, we needed to decide who would face the one called Kula who was already up on the training platform.
To this, Ash said, “The weakest force usually comes up first. Now, go for it, Luc!”
“What did you say!?”
Lucretia, who was treated as the weakest, got angry, but that was also reality.
“Kuh…! Fine! I’ll go! Me!”
Swish! Lucretia went up to the training platform while readying her spear. With this, the cheers from the audience grew louder.
The Orc called Kula smiled sinisterly and lifted the axe that had been stuck in the ground.
“Igora!”
When the leader Orc gave the signal, Kula charged forward recklessly.
“Haaat!”
Whoosh whoosh! Luc tried to check the charge with quick spear strikes, but the opponent was tougher than expected.
He strongly deflected the spear with the iron guard on his forearm while approaching, and then swung his axe.
Kuwang! An incredible force that shattered the stone floor.
“Tch!”
Luc, annoyed by the opponent’s charging power, tried to use magic to freeze the opponent’s legs.
“Wuut!?”
The opponent was also surprised at this. Although he erased the ice using aura, Luc used that momentary gap to finish preparing and went on the offensive.
However, that’s when it happened.
Wooooo-! Jeers poured down.
Apparently, using magic seemed to be considered bad manners.
“Uh…?”
Luc hesitated at the pressure from those jeers.
“That idiot, losing the momentum we just gained…”
Ash held his forehead.
As Ash worried, because Luc hesitated, the momentum shifted back to the opponent.
Although using magic was bad manners, it wasn’t against the rules – the Orcs only jeered without trying to intervene.
‘They’re using magic too.’
It was clear that the one called Kula was also using body strengthening magic through aura. That meant only flashy, visible magic besides body strengthening was considered bad manners.
So in the end, whether it was bad manners or not, magic itself was allowed to be used, but Luc, shaken by the jeers, hesitated to use magic and became mentally unstable.
The opponent didn’t miss that opening.
“Khat!”
He smiled sinisterly and grabbed Luc’s spear shaft with a thud, swinging it widely.
Luc, who was holding tight to not lose the spear, was slammed to the ground as if being thrown.
“Kuhuck!?”
The breath she had held in her lungs burst out from the impact.
The opponent didn’t give Luc time to recover and brought down his axe toward her heart.
Swoosh! Bang! After the teleportation scroll activated and Luc’s body disappeared, the axe struck the ground.
“…!?”
When Luc’s body suddenly disappeared, the opponent looked around, but thinking she had run away since she couldn’t be seen on the training ground, he let out a victory roar.
“Buaster-!”
“Ah coming! Ah coming!”
The Orcs went wild along with him.
Ash shouted loudly, saying they couldn’t lose in terms of momentum.
“That one was our weakest! If you’re happy about beating someone like that, you’re in for a big surprise!”
Anyway, the first battle was the opponent’s victory.
Kula made a gesture as if dedicating the victory to the leader Orc and came down from the training ground.
I had secretly thought it might be a team battle where the winner continues fighting, but it seems that wasn’t the case.
“Rakshasha!”
The next one the leader called was the largest Orc.
A big shot over 2.2m in height. Uniquely, he wasn’t holding any weapons.
He came out to the training ground and clenched his fist tightly before striking the ground.
Bang! The stone floor crumbled as if struck by a hammer.
“He’s a tough one, who wants to go this time?”
To this, Ash huffed about taking revenge for Luc, but Gunther held back Ash by grabbing his shoulder.
“Ars, I’ll take this one.”
“Good. Gunther, you go. Since we lost the first battle, you must win.”
“That goes without saying.”
Gunther went up to the training ground while making chilling bone-cracking sounds.
Gunther’s height was also well over 2m, around 2.1m, so he was roughly at eye level with the opponent.
Plus, they were the same, in that neither used weapons.
“To think there would be a human I have to look up to… No, not human.”
Gunther glared at the opponent and held out both palms. The Orc called Rakshasha seemed to understand his intention and laughed loudly.
Then, without avoiding it, he interlocked fingers with Gunther.
Crunch! Crackle! Even though the match hadn’t started, both their muscles were writhing and veins were bulging.
The leader Orc found this sight very entertaining and after drawing a response from the crowd, gave the signal amid tremendous cheers.
“Igora!”
As soon as that signal dropped, both their muscles expanded frighteningly.
Crunch! Such great force that their feet dug into the ground where they stood.
While the opponent was supplementing his strength with aura and body strengthening through that aura, Gunther was only using body strengthening through magic.
It couldn’t be helped.
For some reason, Gunther naturally couldn’t handle aura. That’s why even though his martial arts level was high, he wasn’t that strong.
That situation reversed when he came to this world and his aptitude for magic was discovered.
‘Maybe he couldn’t use aura because he was too loved by magic.’
The magic emanating from Gunther’s body rippled. His strength enhanced by it far surpassed the limits of his race.
Crack! Crunch! The Orc opponent’s wrist twisted greatly, unable to handle Gunther’s strength.
“Kuaaaak!”
Only after completely breaking the opponent’s wrist with a crack did Gunther let go of his hand.
The Orc called Rakshasha let out a scream that was no different from a beast’s cry. Gunther, who had no intention of killing him, lifted his huge body and threw him at the Orcs in the audience seats.
Clang! Rakshasha tumbling ungracefully and the Orcs panicking, unable to properly catch him.
“……”
Due to Gunther’s overwhelming show of force, the training grounds became as quiet as a library.
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