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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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Yuma walked slowly.
The mere 10 Pineon warriors who survived Yuma’s [Absolute Counter] fled in panic.
They ran away like an arrow to inform others that some kind of monster had appeared.
The three imperial soldiers who had been standing at the edge of the cliff quickly made their way down through the forest and stood before Yuma.
Seeing the epaulette shining on the right shoulder of the black coat, they bowed without hesitation.
One soldier shouted loudly.
“Thank you for saving us!”
The knight bent his right knee and bowed.
“Are you really the Supreme Commander?”
Yuma replied nonchalantly.
“I’m Yuma, appointed as the Supreme Commander for this battlefield. Guide me to Marquis Tornel.”
“Understood, Supreme Commander Yuma!”
As Yuma walked, he had to face the corpses of soldiers and knights strewn on the ground.
‘Many have died.’
The Astes Empire’s forces had already suffered quite heavy losses.
Yuma walked on, taking in the scenery of the battlefield.
Clid, the 3rd Commander who was the core strength of the barbarian country Pineon occupying the ridge, had died.
Because of this, the imperial forces that had retreated were able to reoccupy the ridge.
‘There’s no meaning in further killing.’
It wasn’t a thought befitting someone who had caused mass slaughter from the start, but Yuma sincerely thought so.
‘The head.’
If he took out the head leading the troops, there would be no need to kill others.
Yuma’s thoughts became firm.
‘The Conqueror King, was it?’
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Marquis Tornel stepped forcefully on the ground.
Whoosh!
The axe fiercely split the air.
The target of that axe was the Conqueror King Kament.
Kament swung a sword as massive as Tornel’s axe.
Clang!
As the two weapons clashed, a heavy sound of air being torn reverberated throughout the area.
The bodies of the two large men slid back.
“Haaaaaah!”
Unlike Tornel, who was letting out a battle cry with his face crumpled, Kament’s face clearly showed a smile.
“Hahahahahahaha!!”
It was a laugh of joy, as if he was enjoying this situation, this battle immensely.
Contrary to his huge body, Kament moved very swiftly.
A battle tribe.
Tornel, directly facing Kament’s sword, felt he understood painfully well why the people of Pineon were called that.
Bang! Bang!
Over a dozen exchanges.
And the exchanges continued.
Tornel’s subordinates and Kament’s subordinates kept swallowing as they watched the battle of the two beast-like leaders.
Everything was decided in a moment’s judgment.
In battles between warriors who had reached the Master level, split-second decisions were incredibly important.
Kament’s lion’s mane-like brown hair flew wildly as he blocked Tornel’s axe that had struck like a windmill caught in a typhoon.
“You’re strong, you bastard.”
At Tornel’s words, Kament raised the corner of his mouth.
“You’re strong too, Tornel.”
Today, they had recognized each other’s strength.
A difference in skill is just a hair’s breadth.
They realized that if they continued fighting, one of them would die.
Next to Kament, who stood over 2 meters tall, another man equally huge approached.
As the man began to speak and continued, Kament’s face subtly hardened.
“I see, understood.”
Kament sent his subordinate back and faced Marquis Tornel again.
“I don’t know what kind of reinforcements you’ve called, but it seems I’ve lost today.”
Ironically, Marquis Tornel, who didn’t know the detailed news Kament had just heard, remained silent without any reaction.
“We’ll have to settle this soon.”
Kament slowly moved his huge body.
A massive hand gesture containing the retreat order moved thousands of subordinates.
Boom boom boom!!
The Pineon army retreated like the ebb tide.
“…”
After staring intently until they disappeared into a dot, Tornel moved to the tent with his subordinates.
Creak!
He opened the tent door.
At the far end of the conference table, there was a man facing him directly.
Ash-gray hair.
And blue eyes.
Tornel’s eyes moved to the clothes the man was wearing.
A black coat. And on the right shoulder was a golden epaulette.
He stared closely at the epaulette.
Six stars adorning the epaulette.
It was the epaulette signifying the Supreme Commander of the battlefield.
The Supreme Commander, Yuma, opened his mouth.
“Marquis Tornel, you’ve endured well.”
Yuma stood up.
“Let’s protect the empire together.”
He stretched out his right hand.
“I’m Yuma, the Supreme Commander.”
Tornel grasped that hand.
“…I’m Marquis Tornel, Supreme Commander Yuma.”
Tornel observed the courtesy due to rank.
It was currently a wartime situation, and the frontlines in wartime followed military law.
Under military law, the position of Supreme Commander held the highest power except for the Emperor.
He had no choice but to be courteous.
There were things he had heard from his subordinates who had been in charge of the ridge on the way to the tent.
Unbelievable words about how he had erased over 30 strong warriors from this world in the blink of an eye, alone.
However, it wasn’t just one person saying this, but three.
And the name of that person was Yuma.
Someone with the title of Warrior God.
It lent credibility.
“I didn’t know that the special forces support coming would be you, Warrior God Yuma.”
Yuma spoke.
“I heard one more person is coming. The Second Seat is said to be coming down with his own troops. They said he’d be later than me.”
“The Second Seat… Since he owns a mercenary group, it will be a significant force once he arrives.”
Marquis Tornel sat opposite Yuma.
The two men faced each other.
“As you know, the position of Supreme Commander is the Commander-in-Chief of the battlefield. Do you have any orders to give?”
Yuma slowly shook his head.
“Giving orders is your job. Think of me as moving independently. I just accepted the position of Supreme Commander because I didn’t want to listen to anyone’s orders.”
Tornel, the Marquis with a neatly trimmed yellow beard, showed his teeth and chuckled.
“You’re very honest. If you have any wishes, feel free to speak anytime.”
Yuma decided to bring up the one thing he wanted now.
“If it’s an order, then this will be one. What I want is to face the enemy commander, Conqueror King Kament. If we take down the enemy commander, the enemy will lose morale.”
Yuma picked up the water glass in front of him and took a sip.
Though the water was lukewarm, it was enough to wet his throat.
Yuma continued.
“There’s no need for further killing beyond that.”
Tornel’s eyes widened.
Yuma’s words sounded ordinary, but they contained one terrifying point.
‘Is he saying that if he can just bring that Conqueror King before him, he can definitely kill him…!’
Tornel held Conqueror King Kament in very high regard.
The recent battle was certainly evenly matched, but he felt that Kament’s martial prowess was ever so slightly superior.
And Kament must have felt that sentiment too.
Of course, unlike himself, Kament would have felt that his own strength was slightly superior.
“He is likely stronger than me. Every time we fought, it felt like he was always hiding one more move.”
“Is that so?”
Yuma gazed at Tornel.
He was certainly strong.
He was weaker than the former Second Seat Sword God Chronos, whom Yuma had killed with his own hands, but excluding him who was at the Grand Master level surpassing [Lv.150], Tornel was the strongest human Yuma had met so far.
‘If someone like this senses defeat, that Conqueror King must indeed be strong.’
Even so, Yuma didn’t feel afraid.
He always felt like he was walking on thin ice anyway.
“It doesn’t matter. Make sure to set up a situation where I can face him.”
Tornel sensed confidence in Supreme Commander Yuma’s words.
A confidence that seemed unshakable by anything.
“…Understood. It won’t be difficult to face the Conqueror King himself. He’s obsessed with settling things with me. He’ll come out to face our main force tomorrow too. If you follow me, you can meet him.”
“Alright, is there anything else you need to brief me on regarding the rest of the battlefield situation?”
A moment of silence fell.
Tornel opened his mouth again with a hardened face.
“We’ve lost too many troops. As the commander defending the front lines, I’ve committed a grave sin. Yesterday and today… we’ve lost close to a thousand troops. And that’s even with today’s losses being greatly reduced thanks to you, Supreme Commander, and the other reinforcements.”
Yuma stared intently at that aged face.
It might have been true that he was incompetent as a Commander-in-Chief.
But it didn’t seem like the situation would have been better if it had been someone other than Tornel.
Yuma looked at Tornel, who seemed weighed down by frustration.
“We can’t change what’s passed. From tomorrow on, we just need to minimize the sacrifices of our troops.”
Even if Yuma knew about war, Tornel knew it several times better.
And he probably knew the pain of war several times better too.
Yuma thought he could only offer words of comfort in his own way.
‘…These are the words of someone who has lost much.’
Marquis Tornel began to misinterpret and misunderstand Yuma’s words on his own.
‘Though his appearance is still that of an extremely young man… With that level of martial prowess, he can’t possibly be young.’
He thought that as one’s martial arts reached the extreme, it made one appear younger.
Unaware of the misconceptions running through Marquis Tornel’s mind, Yuma had noticed there was one thing he needed to ask about from what the Marquis had just said.
“You just mentioned there were other reinforcements besides me. Who are they?”
Tornel slowly opened his mouth.
“The Revolutionary Group.”
Revolutionary Group?
“The Revolutionary Group, Dawn. They clearly introduced themselves as such.”
That sounded very familiar.
Suddenly, a woman’s voice was heard from outside the tent.
“This is Casiella, leader of the Dawn Revolutionary Group. May I enter, Lord Marquis Tornel?”
Tornel looked at Yuma, who was undoubtedly his superior in this current frontline.
Yuma nodded, signaling that it was okay to let her in.
“Enter.”
The tent door opened.
The woman with long red hair opened her eyes wide upon seeing Yuma.
“Lord Yuma.”
And then, she suddenly knelt.
“I have followed in your footsteps.”
It was Casiella, the leader of the Revolutionary Group
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