Chapter 104 – The Unfinished War (1)

The basis of Baron Vasily’s judgment came from the report of the scout who went around.

“The enemies are advancing rapidly towards the Third Defense Line. The Advance Unit is likely to arrive in the next two hours, and the latter group that is following the Advance Unit is moving with war supplies. According to what we confirmed, the number of troops in the Advance Unit is about 2500, and the latter group contains 500 troops as well.”

That meant there were 3000 troops in total. That was quite a lot of people. Baron Vasily judged that if the Hector Kingdom was steady and they used Flares, the Third Defense Line would be destroyed. Thus, he came up with the method of organizing a Guerilla Unit and attacking the enemy with that.

‘The Southern Front doesn’t need to win against the Hector Kingdom. The main troops will arrive in just 10 days, and the situation will be reversed then onward. Therefore, the operation using a Guerilla Unit is a very good way to annoy the enemy. We will interfere as much as possible with their target, and if the rear side has Flare, then we will aim to make it useless.’

It was a dangerous plan. There were 500 troops in words, but if they got caught by them, the situation would become worse than they imagined.

However, Baron Vasily thought differently.

Didn’t Roman Dmitry do it? It wasn’t enough to defeat the enemies with 200 men, but he slaughtered around 1000 troops, right?

The spirit of a hero was trembling in the chest of Baron Vasily. Although he was relegated to the Southern Front, he was a 3-Star Aura Swordsman who once served on the Western Front.

‘There is no way I cannot do what Roman Dmitry did. After all, it is a battle of merit from now on. The person who gets as many merits as possible within the next ten days will be able to enter the Central Government once the war is over.’

He made the decision and gathered 300 soldiers. After sneaking out of the walls to not get noticed by the enemy, he evaded the Advance Unit and took the lead on the path.

“Stop.”

He raised the hand and signaled the soldiers to take cover, and they hid in the grass. Baron Vasily exerted his full abilities as an Aura Swordsman to make sure that the rear troops were approaching. There was no sign of the latter group being near them. However, since this was the Southern Front, he knew very clearly that there was no way back, and he was sure they would show up soon enough. And as expected, he saw a group following the troops from afar. Although the battle hadn’t even started yet, Baron Vasily couldn’t hide his desire.

“A wise man once said that a crisis is an opportunity. Today, because of this opportunity, I will be freed from this disgusting reality.”

He thought the difference in power was insignificant. He believed that if they were slaughtered by just 200 of Roman’s troops, then 300 of his troops were more than enough to deal with them.

Speed was the key to the operation, and if the enemies’ supplies were set to fire, then the Hector Kingdom would surely face difficulties in the future.

He held his breath and continued to wait.

Finally, as the enemies came in range, Baron Vasily slammed the ground and shouted with a voice full of mana, “Attack!”

“Slaughter all the troops!”

It was a surprise attack. And Cairo’s troops rushed crazily, thinking they would win this battle.

Rumble.

An Aura rose high. Baron Vasily manifested Aura on his sword and swung it at the knight guarding the enemy’s front.

‘I will subdue them with the first hit.’

He had a strong conviction. He believed the attack would work, and in his head, he had already cut down the knight.

However,

Kwang!

Rumble!

“…!”

The knight of Hector, too, manifested an Aura on his sword. Despite the surprise attack, the troops of Hector were prepared and blocked the enemy’s attack easily.

When their Auras clashed fiercely, Baron Vasily felt dizzy. Even though he hadn’t exchanged many attacks, he, at once, understood that the opponent had a stronger Aura than him.

‘The enemy is also a 3-Star Aura Swordsman…’

His complexion turned pale. It was strange. Contrary to what he expected, the soldiers who were running behind him also screamed and fell one after another.

“Enemy!”

“The remnants of Cairo have appeared!

The Hector Kingdom’s response was consistent. The arrows from the sky made Cairo’s men raise their shields to block them, and Hector’s men slaughtered them while they couldn’t focus on the front. That was the start of a massacre. Obviously, Baron Vasily’s troops had thought they had an advantage, but as soon as they collided with Hector, they were all swept away.

“This is the revenge for my comrades!”

Hector’s soldiers’ eyes were furious. As they carried out the funeral of their comrades with tired faces, they grunted to get revenge against Cairo. The surprise attack of the enemy? They had expected it. After all, they had dealt with Roman Dmitry, who was a monster and had slaughtered innumerable comrades in the mountains filled with darkness, so they took it for granted that they could be attacked in any situation. The latter group was set up as a trap. They intended to wag their tail and pull in the enemy, just like they had suffered.

FWEEEEET!!!

Bang!

A signal was shot, and the troops instantaneously blocked Cairo’s escape route. The troops of the Advance Unit, which they thought were far away, had returned back in an instant, and while the soldiers of Cairo were panicking, they blocked the way out.

Wherever they went, Hector’s soldiers were blocking the way. They tried to make a way, but as expected, not a single one of Cairo’s men could make them move.

“T-This is absurd.”

Baron Vasily’s eyes began to twitch. He couldn’t believe the situation. According to his common sense, the Hector Kingdom should have been in a mess, but their quick response was stifling.

It didn’t happen simply because they prepared. Hector Kingdom’s troops had been trained sufficiently in preparation for this war, and the soldiers of Cairo, who were intoxicated with the comfort on the Southern Front, were not at a level that could deal with them. Baron Vasily also didn’t think of this. It was an achievement that was only made possible by Roman Dmitry. The miraculous victory of Roman Dmitry gave birth to his overconfidence, and he, who was consistently being pushed back by Hector’s Knights, eventually lost all his strength.

Kwang!

As his arm flew back, his expression turned pale. An Aura seemed to fill his vision.

‘Fuck!’

Slash!

That was the last thing he remembered.

The Royal Family of Cairo was enjoying leisure because they thought they had secured the upper hand against the Hector Kingdom after a single victory. Nevertheless, that lasted for only a moment. After a day, they received a series of shocking reports that made them embarrassed.

“It is said that Baron Vasily, the captain of the Third Defense Line, was killed in the battle with the enemy!”

“Your Majesty! The Third and Fourth Defense Lines were captured by the enemy’s attacks! The Second Defense Line is the only one left. If that collapses as well, the Southern Front will fall into the hands of the Hector Kingdom.”

“We have just received a call from the Second Defense Line! They have reported that they cannot withstand the enemy’s attacks for long!”

It was just one day. It had been only 24 hours since they had received the report that the Hector Kingdom had begun their attack. The difference in power was now obvious. It was true that they were at a disadvantage from the start, but as Roman Dmitry gained momentum, they believed they could do something.

However, what did this mean?

Daniel Cairo couldn’t accept how quickly the situation had deteriorated.

‘Did something we didn’t expect happen?’

There was no way to explain this other than that. Still, that wasn’t it, either. The remnant who barely survived the attack of the Hector Kingdom had said this in his last contact with the Royal Family of Cairo.

[The Flare possessed by the Hector Kingdom was finally exposed. Still, we couldn’t stop them. Even if they weren’t attacking by breaking down the wall, the Hector Kingdom’s slaughter cannot be stopped! Please! Save us! We cannot last ten days here! It is just a matter of time before the Southern Front falls into the hands of the enemies!]

That was shocking news. Due to the aging facilities on the Southern Front, the Magic Defense Artifacts didn’t work properly. Actually, they had thought the initial defeat was because of the loss of walls due to Flare. The Hector Kingdom could not secure more supplies due to the ongoing war and their nation’s financial condition, and the Flare would also fall down fast. However, things changed. The troops began to show more cruelty to Cairo. The difference in power and the collapsing Southern Front were obvious, and Daniel Cairo only then understood what a single victory meant.

‘It isn’t that Cairo is strong nor his Hector weak. A variable named Roman Dmitry produced an amazing victory, and we should have acknowledged the difference in power with the enemies and ordered the captains to avoid any head-on confrontations against the enemy.’

Maybe they should have expected this. With the miracle Roman created, everyone thought that there was hope for such miracles to exist everywhere. Nevertheless, the reality was clearly sour and dire.

“Where is Roman Dmitry now?”

Daniel Cairo naturally had no other choice but to find Roman.

The Cairo Royal family found Roman Dmitry. They had contacted Henry Albert, and he instantly went to Chris and asked, “Chris! Didn’t Sir Roman say when he will be out? The Southern Front is on the verge of collapse. It isn’t known when it will fall into the hands of the enemies, and I need to pass on the message of the Royal Family to Sir Roman.”

He was frustrated. The Defense Lines down the mountain were being captured one by one. This was a golden chance to gain something more, but Roman had disappeared right after the overnight battle.

Chris said, “This was already expected.”

“…What?”

“The liege said that the victory against the Hector Kingdom was thanks to a lot of luck. If they hadn’t followed us up the mountain and held down here until the end, they would have captured the entire Southern Front even sooner than now.”

Roman Dmitry wasn’t the kind to be drunk on victory. Faced with the reality, he knew what it would be like to go down the mountain and prevent the attack of Hector. Thus, he ordered everyone to take a break. He anticipated that Cairo would be defeated and decided to conserve the power of his troops.

“…How.”

Henry Albert was speechless as he couldn’t understand Roman’s actions. Everyone had expected they would be defeated in the guerrilla battle. When he had heard of the plan, he himself gave up hope, but Roman Dmitry brought them a victory, and when they thought about the chance of victory, they all realized that Roman Dmitry was someone who was out of this realm. No matter how unfavorable the situation was, no one dared to guess what Roman was doing after cutting off contact with the outside world.

Henry had to show the Royal Family that Roman was still there, but he could not do anything about the attitude Chris was showing.

He gazed far away, where Roman was.

‘What is he doing there all by himself?’

He didn’t know that even at this moment, Roman Dmitry was a step ahead in the unknown.