The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 93
The high ground on the left.
Fischer Partin, having read through Calliper army’s scheme, immediately tried to leave the battlefield.
‘I must hurry and save Barret!’
He was about to leave it to his aides and depart, but Delbadova, who noticed this intention, shouted.
“Catch him! We must not let him escape!”
Delbadova knew. If Fischer escaped at too early a time, the chances of the plan failing would be high, and even if the plan had already succeeded, Ars would be in danger.
‘I can’t let that guy die!’
Delbadova gritted his teeth.
He recklessly tried to approach to capture Fischer somehow.
“Uraaah!”
“You worm-like bastard!”
Fischer was furious to the tip of his hair at that persistent tenacity. He judged that at this rate, his feet would be caught. He decides to deal with this place quickly instead.
“All you arrogant bastards, die──!”
Fischer swings his spear with a demonic face. He focused only on taking the lives of his opponents, regardless of whether he was injured or not.
As a result, although his thigh was cut and his forearm was wounded, he succeeded in killing many of Delbadova’s aides and stabbing his spear into the right chest of Delbadova.
“Cough!?”
Delbadova collapses, spitting blood.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet at this show of force by Fischer.
“Haa…! Haa…! If anyone else wants to die, come out! I’ll kill you with my short spear!”
He shifted his murderous gaze to the cadets as well.
“Eek!?”
Joshua and Denian sat down, overwhelmed. Casper’s legs were trembling too.
They had now realized.
That the opponent before them was someone they couldn’t even dream of facing. That if Delbadova and his aides hadn’t fought risking their lives, they would have already been dead.
“It, it, it can’t be….”
Especially for Ruan Chase, the shock was even greater. He had thought his martial arts skills had already reached a high level.
He thought that with his martial arts talent and innate qualities of a victor, even someone like Fischer would eventually be just an obstacle to kneel before him.
When he realized that was a huge misunderstanding, his definition of strength that he believed in shattered.
Then, the fear of death came rushing like a tidal wave.
“Ah!”
Ruan despaired at the fact that he had suddenly fallen on his buttocks. When Fischer looked down at him like a bug, his mind couldn’t endure anymore.
“Uwaaaaah──!”
He fled disgracefully in a hurry.
Casper’s group was no different. The only difference was that they couldn’t even properly think of running away.
“Wa, Wade! Do something! Please!”
“Wade! What are you doing!”
Joshua and Denian urged.
Casper’s mind was also pushed to the limit.
“Wade? Are you Wade?”
As Fischer turned his gaze after catching those words, Casper couldn’t move like a frog facing a snake.
As the killing intent was directed at him, he started trembling uncontrollably.
He barely managed to move his lips.
“Ah, ah, ah, no! I’m not Wa, Wade or anything! I, I’m just imitating him…!”
“Hmph.”
Fischer snorted. He thought the opponent wasn’t even worth dealing with.
He declared coldly. “You were mistaken if you thought you could reach me. I am the best spearman in the West. Bugs from the continent are no match for me!”
At his thunderous shout, all of Calliper’s soldiers, including the cadets, lost their will to fight.
The soldiers were already terrified as the commander-in-chief Delbadova had fallen, and Joshua and Denian were about to wet themselves.
“Hmph.”
Fischer smiled with satisfaction.
Even if he left now, this battlefield wouldn’t collapse. Rather, the Calliper army might retreat.
‘There’s no more time to waste. I must hurry to save Barret…!’
But then.
Thud! A stinging pain in his calf.
Delbadova, who had been lying down, had picked up a broken sword fragment with his bare hands and stabbed Fischer’s calf.
“Don’t… Let him go…!”
Delbadova spat out a cry mixed with blood.
“Everyone, don’t be afraid and fight…!”
“You…!”
Thwack! Fischer’s expression was all scrunched up as he struck down with the bottom of his spear, crushing Delbadova’s head.
“Sob…! I’ll follow the general! Attack!”
“Don’t forgive the barbarians of the West!”
The Calliper army rekindled their fighting spirit with tears in their eyes.
Fischer was so irritated that he wanted to kill all the Calliper soldiers present, but he had no time.
“Aide, hold on. I’ll return right after saving Barret!”
“Yes sir!”
And so, Fischer heads alone towards where Ars is located.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the Saleon family mansion in Alphensard.
It was a grand mansion, but its purpose was merely a temporary residence purchased to make it easier for Erina to attend the academy.
Erina was welcoming Estelle in this mansion.
“It’s been a while, Estelle.”
“Yes…”
Estelle couldn’t relax her expression. It had been since she heard the news that the Calliper army had started engaging with the Western army.
She needed someone to consult with to calm her uncontrollable anxiety.
Her father Rutger was too busy dealing with internal affairs due to Olaf’s sudden disappearance, so she couldn’t take his time.
So she visited Alphensard by asking her friend Beryl to meet Erina.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything besides the fact that they’ve entered into battle.”
This was because the supply routes were cut off, and at the same time, the intelligence network was instantly severed.
Estelle’s expression clouded.
“Will Ars be safe?”
“For cadets, according to the Continental Treaty, if they are captured as prisoners, they are to be released without ransom. So…”
“But the opponents are barbarians from the West. I don’t think they’ll obey the treaty willingly…”
“Strengthen your resolve. Ars won’t lose his life in a place like this. He’ll return with an unperturbed expression as he always does.”
“Sob…!” Estelle choked up.
Erina sighed softly and sat next to Estelle, gently embracing her. “Are you that anxious?”
“…”
“Don’t worry too much. He came back during the Chimera War, didn’t he? I heard this war isn’t as dangerous as that one.”
The war situation itself was certainly better compared to the Chimera War.
However, Estelle is feeling an instinctive anxiety. It is a fear of a different dimension compared to then.
“I don’t know why I’m like this either. My heart is pounding so much…!”
“It’s probably because you haven’t been able to sleep. Stay here tonight. We have plenty of rooms. Joan! Please show her to a room.”
Estelle left the reception room looking gloomy.
Although she had encouraged her to strengthen her resolve, Erina was just as troubled.
She tried to calm her mind by fiddling with her fan, but with a sharp snap!, the fan ribs broke.
“Perhaps I’ve used it for too long…”
Even so, she had no intention of throwing it away.
This was the fan Ars had given her back then.
The fact that this fan broke at this particular timing brought a wave of anxiety, but she forced herself to correct her expression, telling herself it was just a superstition.
* * *
After eliminating the enemy commander, I immediately planned to retreat. The risk of being isolated was too high if the opponent noticed and came here.
However, the problem was that it took longer than expected due to the unexpectedly large number of enemy guards.
It was just a short while after I had barely managed to escape.
A chill ran up my entire body.
“You bastard…”
A giant had appeared out of nowhere and was glaring at me.
He looked at me, and then at Barret’s neck, the enemy commander that Dilas had secured, and exuded killing intent.
“You’ve really done it now. Barret was Lord Hanneman’s most favored strategist. The price for taking his life cannot be paid even with all of your lives.”
Even the battle-hardened mercenaries were terrified by his intimidating presence.
“C-captain, that guy is the one from before…!”
“That’s right. According to what the prisoner we captured earlier confessed, he seems to be Fischer Partin. The Azure Dragon or Golden Dragon of Hanneman. His skills seem to be the real deal.”
Dilas said while gripping his weapon tightly.
“Captain, if we don’t deal with them, I don’t think we’ll be able to escape.”
“It looks that way.”
The man had called for reinforcements on his way here, with about 70 troops following behind him.
I tried to look for other variables, but he had no intention of giving me time for that.
“Kill them all!”
Fischer, enraged, charged at me alone.
With that, the chaotic battle began.
If Fischer went on a rampage, the other soldiers would die too quickly, so I had no choice but to keep him occupied one-on-one.
“Hah!”
Whish whish whish whish! The spear tip aimed only for vital points. I focused on defending using both sword and spear.
‘Compared to before, his sharpness has clearly decreased!’
He must have struggled against General Delbadova, as there were wounds all over his body, and his movements seemed uncomfortable.
‘Moreover, the spear technique this guy is using is indeed…’
There was no doubt about it.
It was the Garland-style spear technique.
This reminds me of when I was looking for a spear technique master as a child.
My father tried to find a famous Garland-style spear technique master from the continent, but the Garland style was known for its strict formalities and etiquette, and their unnecessary pride made it impossible to find a master.
Thanks to that, I met Master Ilya, which turned out to be a better outcome, but I still had an interest in the Garland style even after that.
It was likely that Ars from the game, who only wielded a single spear, used the Garland-style spear technique.
When I was young, I vaguely wanted to follow the game’s story, so I wanted to know about the Garland style as well.
When I asked about it, my master said,
[Well, let me show you then.]
And with that, my master demonstrated the Garland-style spear technique to me directly.
The level was by no means light. Although the depth wasn’t great, she seemed to know everything about the movements.
When I asked her about it, she told me it was a secret between just the two of us.
[Actually, the Garland-style spear technique branched off from our Chester style 50 years ago. Now, both the Chester and the Garland style have gone in very different directions.]
[Why did that happen?]
[There are some complicated circumstances. I’ll tell you about it someday when the opportunity arises.]
Anyway, I was able to learn about the Garland style to some extent through my master.
The guy in front of me was a master of that Garland-style spear technique, so I didn’t know how far it would work, but I had to try as much as I could.
Whoosh! Fischer swung the spear shaft. I knew what this movement was.
‘Pretending to swing the spear, but actually thrusting!’
Whish! I narrowly avoided the attack and closed the distance, swinging the sword in my left hand.
The moment Fischer pulled his body back to avoid this attack.
‘Got him!’
I crossed my sword and spear to grab Fischer’s spear shaft that hadn’t yet been withdrawn.
‘Chester-style secret technique. Sun and Moon Fusion!’
It was the opposite technique of Dark Moon, which catches the opponent’s weapon while receiving their attack.
This technique directly grabs the opponent’s weapon to disarm them.
‘Once I take away his spear…!’
But whish! Fischer, who was backing away, pulled out a dagger from his waist and threw it at me.
The dagger flew towards my heart. I had to abandon the technique and deflect it.
Looking at me in shock, Fischer spoke quietly. “How did I know? It’s the same as how you know about our Garland style. Did you think we wouldn’t know about the Chester style?”
“Kuk…!”
“Too bad, but your little tricks won’t work, rookie!”
His attacks became even more intense.
I was barely able to defend.
‘Damn, I have a trump card, but there’s no time to use it!’
At most, I could hold out for another 30 exchanges. Wounds were starting to appear on my body as well.
Unable to bear watching this, Dilas shouted, “Aggert! Help the captain!”
“Haa! Haa! Got it!”
Aggert, who had been holding off the enemy soldiers, immediately rushed towards Fischer.
“Get lost, you small fry!”
Whish whish whish! Fischer seemed to try to deal with him lightly, but Aggert dodged the spear nimbly and then gripped his sword tightly with both hands. Clang!! He pushed Fischer back with a sword imbued with aura.
Screech! Fischer was pushed back. Although he blocked it, blood droplets flowed down as the wound on his cheek burst open from the impact.
“Hehe! How does that taste!”
“…!”
Fischer’s expression hardened. And for good reason – although Aggert’s combat ability was below mine, it was about on par with Ruan Chase.
For an opponent with diminished stamina, this was enough of a burden.
It seemed like I could see a glimmer of hope.
“Good, Aggert! Coordinate with me!”
“Got it, pretty boy captain!”
With Aggert taking on some of the opponent’s attacks, allowing me to catch my breath, I gauged the timing to unleash my trump card.
‘We don’t have much time.’
Right now, our troops were fighting well, allowing me to focus solely on Fischer, but we didn’t know when more enemy soldiers might arrive.
It seemed they weren’t paying attention due to the lack of a command structure, but that wouldn’t last long.
The only encouraging part was that the opponent wasn’t thinking of using time to his advantage. He seemed intent on finishing this now, not paying attention to his surroundings.
Then, finally, an opening appeared.
The trigger was one of our soldiers shooting a crossbow at the back of Fischer’s head.
“Hmph!”
Detecting the killing intent, Fischer lowered his head to avoid the bolt.
The bolt headed towards my face, who was in front of Fischer.
“Whoa!?”
Suddenly faced with a bolt right in front of me, I barely managed to dodge by moving my head to the side. The bolt grazed my temple as it passed by.
In that moment when both Fischer and I slowed down, Aggert seized the opportunity.
“Uraaah!”
His sword swung towards Fischer’s neck, which was lowered.
Fischer pulled out another dagger from his waist to block, but the dagger couldn’t withstand Aggert’s strength. The dagger broke, and slash! It cut Fischer’s chest area.
Originally aimed at the neck, it cut the chest area instead thanks to the dagger block.
Blood spurted up.
“Grooooah!”
Fischer, seemingly overcome with rage, swung the spear shaft widely towards Aggert.
“Kuhak!?”
Thud! Hit in the side, Aggert tumbled wildly and crashed into a tree. He coughed up blood, likely from a broken rib piercing his lung.
‘Now’s the time!’
I dove into his opening created by swinging the spear shaft.
I aimed for his neck, but his recovery speed was too fast. He gripped the spear and aimed for my head.
‘Tch!’
If this continued, there was a high chance of mutual destruction, so I changed my plan.
Clang! After blocking his attack by raising my spear shaft, I used the recoil to escape to the right.
During this, I rotated my body and strongly pulled the sword in my left hand.
Then, with a ripping sound! The opponent’s left arm was severed just above the elbow, caught in the path of the sword blade.
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