Chapter 86 – The Second Variable (2)

Supporting himself with his back on the wall of a building at the Southern Training Center, there was McBurney, who was exhaling harshly.

“Huff… Huff…”

His condition looked dire. The armor made of chains that had been tightly woven had already torn off his body. With his bare skin revealing, blood continued to flow down from the slash on his abdomen. Fortunately, his intestines hadn’t fallen out yet.

Ordinary people would have covered the abdomen with one hand, but McBurney couldn’t do it as his sole arm was aiming a sword at his enemies.

“He will die if we leave him alone.”

“Why don’t you give up? We will give you a painless death.”

Hector’s soldiers were asking such questions while giggling. There were three of them. They steadily advanced, encircling McBurney, and pointed their weapons at him.

Naturally, the situation turned McBurney’s throat dry. His vision was already turning blurry, and he even had to bite off his own flesh in his mouth to stay focused.

Tch.

“Fuck it, you bastards.”

He could taste the bitterness in his mouth. The situation was so bad that his blood was acting like water as it quenched his thirst.

“I will risk my life to kill whichever bastard dares to attack first. So, step forward if you are ready to sacrifice your life for your comrades. Dare to risk your life and attack. Even if I have to bite your neck to take you down, I will do it,” growled McBurney. His eyes looked like those full of poison.

Naturally, when they saw McBurney’s unflinching appearance, Hector’s soldiers couldn’t even attack. This wasn’t just a baseless threat. The soldier who had earlier tried to attack McBurney, thinking he was easy to deal with, was now a cold corpse on the floor.

‘Damn it.’

McBurney cursed inwardly. He had tried to not show it as much as possible, but now, he was in the worst physical condition he had ever been. It was so bad that it wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed down at any given moment. He was only holding his body up by leaning on the wall behind him, and as Hector’s soldiers seemed to have noticed that, they were just passing the time safely.

‘If only my right arm was still there, I could have killed them.’

When he was forced to face the harsh reality of having lost an arm once again, he contemplated his own helplessness. Back when he was fighting on the Western Front, he could easily deal with 2 to 3 enemies at once. It wasn’t because he had learned a systematic and amazing technique previously. He had created his own sword technique based on his countless fights on the battlefield, and dozens of Kronos’ soldiers had died due to his aggressive sword technique, which exceeded their expectations.

However, it was different now. His left arm wasn’t moving all that well, and he couldn’t even kill a few people now. He truly was in a mess.

This was the end. This was going to be where he would die. McBurney accepted he was going to die soon, so he wanted to take down at least one more person down with him.

‘What happened to Roman Dmitry?’

Suddenly, the face of a person who had impressed him came to his mind. Roman Dmitry was the first person he had met at the Southern Training Center who was truly a noble, and unlike the others, he had prepared for war. He could be said to be the only person who hadn’t let go of his tension and attention even though he had come to the Southern Front. Although he heard that he was assigned to the Fifth Defense Line, he thought maybe Roman Dmitry would have done something. And he wondered what he was doing now. Roman wasn’t his family and wasn’t even his friend, but oddly enough, McBurney was thinking of him during his final moments.

‘That means that I still feel regrets about the battlefield.’

Clench.

He gripped the sword tightly, lowered his body, and ran forward. Even though blood was dripping down from his stomach, his eyes were only searching for the weakness of his opponent.

Just then,

Kwang!

“Kuak!”

“Attack!”

He heard a loud noise from outside the building.

Roman was one step late. The Southern Training Center was already in ruins when he and his soldiers arrived, and the bodies of soldiers were scattered everywhere. It was a gruesome sight. However, he could still hear some noises around him. As soon as he judged that not all of the enemies had escaped, he ordered his men, “Clear out the remaining enemies right now and rescue the survivors.”

“We understand.”

The soldiers, including Chris, spread around.

Roman looked around carefully. As the soldier had said, the Southern Training Center was attacked. Among the corpses lying all around, there were soldiers of the Hector Kingdom who were only wearing light leather armor. That was for fast movements. Nevertheless, that was only a small portion. Most of the corpses were of the soldiers of Cairo. Just by looking at the corpses, he could tell that their surprise attack had paid off well.

Roman expanded his senses and listened to the sounds around him.

’…McBurney?’

Among the many sounds, he heard a familiar one. It was the sound of McBurney fighting with someone, and from the sound of his panting voice, it looked like he was in a dangerous situation.

Roman immediately moved to the building that was not too far away. And as he opened the door of the expected place, he saw it.

“W-What?”

“Did Cairo already send in reinforcements?”

Hector’s soldiers were bewildered. According to their calculations, no reinforcements should have been able to arrive here in such a short time. As the Defense Lines were attacked, it made no sense for Cairo to send reinforcements to a place like this so quickly. Then who the hell was this person in front of them?

As Hector’s soldiers pointed their weapons with hostility toward him, Roman took turns looking at them and McBurney to understand the current situation.

‘He is still alive.’

McBurney was a survivor.

Although his face looked like he would die at any given moment, he was still standing on his two legs.

Naturally, in such a situation, McBurney was shocked.

Roman went forward and approached the enemies soon enough.

‘Capturing them will be the best course of action.’

He made his judgment. And although Hector’s soldiers shouted not to get any closer, Roman arrived in front of them in an instant. Then,

Smash!

His fist struck the soldier in the face. His eyes lost focus as blood splattered, and Roman wiped the blood off his hand. He didn’t care about the other soldiers’ reactions as they wouldn’t be able to do much anyway. One of Hector’s soldiers was furious and tried to attack, but Roman let his attack come forward and subdued him similarly after dodging it.

Puak!

With the punch came blood, again. It was a situation that had happened too quickly. They were obviously veteran soldiers, but in such a short time, two of them were already unconscious. The last one tried to run away. While his two colleagues confronted Roman, but only to get hit and drop down, he ran away in the opposite direction. However, that was when an unexpected person grabbed his throat.

Clench!

“Kuak!”

“I did warn you that I would take one of you down with me.”

It was McBurney. He was quick-witted. As soon as he understood that Roman was trying to capture him, he went ahead and strangled his opponent instead of slashing him and ending his life. Since he had only one arm, the resistance from the other person was quite strong. Yet, McBurney clenched his teeth and strangled the opponent till the end, and Hector’s soldier passed out.

Thud!

“Huff… Huff…”

McBurney, too, lay down flat on the floor. He was at his limit. His mind was already hazy, and he felt an unknown feeling rise up to his throat.

Soon, Roman came into his vision.

“Good job. From now on, you can rest and leave the other things to me.”

Drip.

Roman sprinkled the healing potion onto the body of McBurney, who didn’t even have the energy to utter thank you left. When he sensed the energy of the potion spreading throughout his body, McBurney let go of his consciousness.

Things were finally sorted out. After checking the entire Training Center, Chris reported to Roman.

“There weren’t many soldiers of the Hector Kingdom left. There were 12 who were found and dealt with, and 5 survivors of our side were saved along with that. Also, according to their testimony, Viscount Bale was wounded while fighting the soldiers of the Hector Kingdom and fled to the mountains.”

It was surprising. Viscount Bale, like Baron Bruce, would have thought of running away immediately, but he displayed to others that he fought for a while. Still, that was all. The result didn’t change. Most of the soldiers who died here met that result because of their negligence of not training, and that was why less than 10 soldiers survived.

‘The main force of Hector Kingdom attacked the Training Center and then left. According to the survivors, the number of enemies was around one hundred. There must be a reason why they are using this “Hit West and Win East” strategy.’

With this, he became more sure of that one possibility. The purpose of the enemy was exposed to some extent, but he still couldn’t make any hasty judgments. That was because many lives depended on each one of his judgments. And as he knew the weight of words, Roman decided not to say it.

“What about the soldiers of Hector?”

“All locked up in one building.”

There was only one way to find out the truth.

Roman stepped forward.

“Chirs, from now on, do not let anyone enter the building until I give an order.”

“Yes.”

And like that,

Creak.

Thud!

The door to the building which Roman had gone into closed.

Inside the building, there were the captured soldiers.

And as soon as Roman went in, one of the men with distorted faces yelled, “Do not let me live! Kill me! I have no intention of saying anything to the cowards of Cairo.”

He was salivating hard, but Roman didn’t care. He neither responded nor cared for his words.

Nevertheless, he told them his plans with a cold voice, “From now on, I will give 3 minutes per person. I don’t have much time, so I cannot allow more than that. The rules will be simple. Answer what I ask, and if I get the answer that I am looking for within those 3 minutes, I will give you a painless death. However, excruciating pain will be the only thing awaiting you in the other case.”

“You bastard!”

“K-Kill me! Kill me!”

The soldiers yelled, but Roman only went toward one of them and said, “The first question. What is the purpose of the Hector Kingdom?”

“Fuck you!”

He stayed tightlipped. The troops that Hector had used for this war were those who had loyalty to the nation. Naturally, they showed their resolve to never speak, even in the face of death.

Time passed quickly. And once the given time was over, Roman sentenced him to death.

“3 minutes are over.”

Tuk!

He pressed a blood point. The soldier didn’t understand what it meant back then, but soon, his eyes opened so wide that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they would burst out as he felt the muscles twist within his body.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

“I warned you clearly. The muscles and bones in your body will twist and cause pain, and you will only die slowly. You are the ones who have attacked the Cairo Kingdom, and I have no intention of showing mercy to my enemies. The only exception will be shown to those who will cooperate with me.”

All the soldiers became stiff when they saw the incident in front of them. The one who was screaming was one of the strongest colleagues here. Yet, he was screaming as if someone was tearing the skin away from his body.

“The second question. Why are you guys here at the Southern Training Center?”

All the soldiers gulped at the question that came from one who seemed to be the God of Death in their eyes right now. In their heart, they all wanted to cry out that they would surrender. However, that was no longer an option when they remembered the oath they had taken.

Finally,

“3 minutes are over.”

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

The other one fell into despair as well.

Now, only one was left. As Roman approached, the third one groaned despite not being asked anything.

“Do you think this will change the outcome? Cairo is already finished. Even if you hear the plan from my mouth, it isn’t something that you can stop anymore! So, do what you want! The Cairo Kingdom will pay the price for their negligence, and this will leave a shameful name in your nation’s history! Hahaha!”

He laughed maniacally. It was mainly to hide his fear. However, Roman only looked at him and smiled at that moment.

“I was waiting for that answer.”

“…What?”

“I knew the truth right from the start. I just needed to see how you would react. Seeing that you are so confident, then I can come to one sure possibility.”

The soldier was utterly confused. Nevertheless, Roman dropped a bomb on him.

“The rear of the Southern Front. Your true purpose lies there.”

Seeing the soldier lose his composure as soon as he heard those words was all Roman needed. He wasn’t sure of the answer, but the reaction made him sure.

“You can die now.”

Tuk!

He pressed his blood point.

Leaving behind even the last one screaming in pain, Roman left the building.

“The attacks on the Defense Lines of the Southern Front were nothing more than diversions. Their true purpose lies elsewhere. If Hector succeeds in that, they will capture the entire Southern Front.”

His blood went cold. He was now sure that the Southern Front was in far more danger than he had originally thought.

The plan that the Hector Kingdom had thought to be almost perfect was only perfect until before the second variable they had never thought of had emerged.