The Greatest Extra in History – Chapter 26

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The veil of fire enveloped the campsite along the barricade.

Though they thought they were besieged, it was actually the Ghost agents who were trapped.

As the flames drove away the darkness, the limited stealth of the lower-ranked agents was the first to be lifted.

“We’re, we’re surrounded!”

“The squad leader has fallen! Please give us orders!”

“Everyone, calm down! We are the ghosts of the battlefield! What are ghosts afraid of?”

The squad leader’s aide tried to soothe the troops, but it was useless. Their escape route was blocked, and sharp ice spikes were pouring down from the sky like rain.

“If we can just hold on a little longer, the mountain mercenaries will come to our aid!”

The aide held onto hope. It was only after a third of the troops had lost their lives that the sound of the mountain mercenaries’ horn was heard,but even they could not break through the powerful wall of fire created by the Tower Master of Flames, Berenus Kyle.

“What are you doing? There are allies inside!”

“This is at least high-level magic! Even if I and all the accompanying mages combine our powers, we cannot destroy it!”

The captain of the White Unit pressed the mercenary mage, but no solution emerged.

His rank was high for a mercenary mage, but that alone was not enough to break the fire wall completed with the power of a unique-grade magical artifact by a high-level mage.

While they were pacing anxiously outside the wall of flames, the Ghost Unit was being overwhelmingly pushed back by the elite guards of the Fifth Prince.

“We’re going to be annihilated like this!”

“Quickly, give us orders!”

Before they knew it, the number of remaining Ghost agents had dwindled to about ten. If they were to take action, it had to be now. If their numbers decreased further, there would be no hope left. For now, having around ten left still offered a glimmer of hope.

It was time to make a decision, and the aide’s gaze turned toward the Fifth Prince. He was watching the fallen Ghost agents from a dangerously close distance.

“We’re going to strike the Fifth Prince!”

The kidnapping plan had fallen apart. With things turned out this way, they had no choice but to target the Fifth Prince. Even if the squad was annihilated, if they could kill a member of the Philios Empire’s royal family!

“Ghosts, all of you, sacrifice your lives to take the Fifth Prince’s head!”

Two high-level mages and the elite guards were protecting him. However, the aide did not think it was impossible. They had been trained from the beginning to penetrate chaotic battlefields and assassinate enemy commanders.

“Charge!”

“For the Free Isiria Kingdom!”

It was too noisy to be called a ghostly infiltration.

There was no other way. The surroundings were too bright for them to utilize their specialty of silent death, and the elite guards’ defensive formation was solid, not to mention that the Ghost agents were too exhausted.

“Protect His Highness!”

Gestain drew his sword, and the elite guards stepped forward.

“We’ll handle this!”

“Graaah!”

While the Ghost agents faced off against the elite guards, the aide plunged deep into the formation to break through.

But instead of blocking his path, the elite guards were stepping aside?

Were the elite guards giving way to an enemy threatening their lord? It was a situation that raised suspicions of other intentions, but the aide had no time to spare for such thoughts.

‘I will definitely kill him!’

Before he knew it, he was right in front of the Fifth Prince. Despite the fierce killing intent radiating from the Ghost agent, the Fifth Prince, Raymond, appeared calm.

“I will handle this.”

“As Your Highness commands.”

With a brief response, Gestain stepped back. Only then did the aide realize something was wrong, but it was too late to retreat.

“I will remember you.”

A white aura gathered in Raymond’s right hand, forming the shape of a sword.

“A mana sword?”

‘Is it true that the Fifth Prince, known as a rogue, can use a technique that only a minimum of a high-level knight or a high-ranking knight can achieve?’

Before the unexpected shock could settle in the aide’s mind, Raymond swung the Soul Sword first.

It seemed aimed at the front, but the peculiar swordsmanship cleverly targeted the side, causing the aide to panic and draw back to defend.

Clang!

As the Soul Sword clashed with the aide’s sword, metal fragments flew. Unable to withstand the mana sword, part of the aide’s longsword shattered.

“Damn it!”

The aide cursed. Raymond continued to swing the Soul Sword, and the aide gradually found himself on the defensive.

‘Was he this skilled with a sword? Were the rumors of him being a rogue all wrong?’

He gritted his teeth. The longsword was already in two pieces, and he drew the dagger he had strapped to his waist to resist.

Even without the mana sword, the swordsmanship Raymond displayed was at a level that could not be achieved without years of practical experience.

“Was I this good?”

While pressing the aide, Raymond was surprised by his own skill and muttered to himself.

[The souls of the thousand knights that make up the sword cried out. At first, it was confusing, but the more he used the Soul Sword, the more the experiences of the knights from their lives melded into Richard’s memory, forming a single ‘swordsmanship.’]

From the text of the novel and the author’s setting book, one could understand the meaning of the phrase “we are together” that the soul knights spoke of.

Since the Soul Sword was forged with the resentment of the thousand knights’ souls, their spirits were with it.

As the fairy tale began, the more one trained, the more the practical experiences of the thousand knights gradually imprinted on the user’s soul. It was bound to become stronger; it was truly a setting made for the protagonist.

‘And I brought that with me.’

A smile spread across Raymond’s lips. The moment his eyes sparkled, the Soul Sword swung once more. Blood splattered, and finally, the aide’s left arm fell off with a thud!

“Ugh!”

As he cried out in pain and tried to retreat, Gestain charged fiercely and struck his neck with his sword.

The swordsmanship of a high-ranking knight was beyond what the aide could handle after losing his left arm.

“Gestain, what’s going on all of a sudden?”

Raymond casually asked as he looked at the corpse bleeding out on the ground.

He had thought he could handle it alone until the end, so he felt a bit disappointed that he couldn’t trust himself.

“There is an intruder.”

The one who answered instead of Gestain was the imperial army commander, Cassias, who had insisted on accompanying them under the pretext of protecting the royal family.

“An intruder?”

Raymond’s murmuring scattered into the air. Two Tower Masters, Desia, Gestain, and the elite guards all drew closer to protect him.

Though Raymond did not sense it, those accompanying him, including the two Tower Masters, a high-tier mage, and an advanced knight, all felt the presence of a powerful killing intent.

“They’re coming.”

Gestain warned.

Desia swung her staff and moved closely beside Raymond. A mysterious magic circle unfolded before her. It was a magic circle meant to protect the Fifth Prince, in case even the two Tower Masters, the final line of defense, were breached.

She silently vowed to protect Raymond, who had shown her the way.

Amidst the tension, the darkness split, revealing a man dressed in black. Although no one else was visible beside him, Raymond couldn’t tell if he was truly alone.

As Gestain and the two Tower Masters revealed their sharp hostility, the man in black raised his hands to indicate he had no intention of fighting.

“Calm down. I have no intention of fighting you ‘right now.'”

‘Right now’ huh… His words were not entirely unbelievable. The two Tower Masters beside him shook their heads, denying the presence of any other hidden figures.

He had merely followed reports of a Ghost squad moving unexpectedly and had come to confirm the situation, only to witness this chaos.

Since the elite guards’ strength was greater than expected, he chose not to intervene actively, but he did what he could to the best of his ability.

What was that, you ask?

“I belong to the High Assassins. First of all, congratulations. You have just been recorded in the ‘Black Book.'”

That ‘best effort’ was to write the Fifth Prince’s name in the ‘Black Book,’ which records the assassination targets of the High Assassins.

They took pleasure in recording names in the ‘Black Book’ and warning the targets of this fact.

“From today, true darkness will watch over you.”

With the gaze of the Assassins, the best assassins of the Edryger Kingdom now upon him, it was a warning to tremble in fear every night.

Indeed, one could not tell which master assassin from the previous generation established such a tradition, but it was a rather morbid taste.

“Shall I kill him?”

Gestain cautiously asked, but Raymond shook his head and spoke.

“Carrying the Black Book means he’s at least a squad leader-level High Assassin. And even if we could kill him, the fact that he’s showing himself now means the synchronization process of the Black Book is complete. It won’t change anything.”

As he finished speaking, he bit his lip slightly. An assassin in the Black Mountains? This was somewhat different from the existing content of the novel “Empire of the Dead.”

Originally, only the forces of the Free Isiria Kingdom were stationed in the Black Mountains among the Tri-Nation Alliance. But now, the Edryger Kingdom had sent not just any regular army, but the special forces known as the High Assassins?

‘There’s a high possibility that the High Assassins were involved in the kidnapping of Marquess Crayer.’

Things had become a bit complicated. The High Assassins were more skilled than the Ghost agents. It was even more frightening that it was still unknown how many had entered the Black Mountains.

While Raymond was trying to piece together his shattered thoughts, the assassin before him was already fully prepared to escape.

He slowly retreated into the split darkness, slightly bowing his head.

“I will take my leave now. So, there are two ‘living corpses’ in the Philios Empire.”

Living corpses.

It was a term used by the High Assassins to describe targets whose names were written in the ‘Black Book’ but had not yet been assassinated, indicating they were still alive. With those words, the assassin vanished from sight.

“Haha…”

The Blue Tower Master, Lysfield Dior, let out a hollow laugh, while the red commander, Berenus Kyle, bit his lip with a serious expression. Both Tower Masters understood the meanings of the ‘Black Book’ and ‘living corpses.’

“I’ve heard of the ‘Black Book,’ but what exactly is a living corpse?”

The imperial army commander, Cassias, asked. While many were aware of the ‘Black Book’ carried by commander-level High Assassins, few knew their slang.

The Red Tower Master, who had been silent, calmly explained the concept of living corpses, and soon Cassias’s expression turned grim. He took it as an insult to the royal family.

“Who is the other one?”

This time, it was Desia, unable to contain her curiosity.

While everyone recorded in the ‘Black Book’ of the Philios Empire became corpses through assassination, there was only one person who had steadfastly survived.

Raymond, who had seen the author’s setting book, knew who that person was.

“It is His Majesty the Emperor.”

Even the Assassins could not assassinate the Emperor. In other words, it meant that they had succeeded in assassinating everyone else except for the Emperor.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Names are rarely written in the ‘Black Book.’ Only truly significant assassination targets are recorded, and the commander-level assassin who witnessed all of Raymond’s power deemed it worthwhile to use the ‘Black Book’ and wrote down Raymond’s name.

Despite being under the gaze of true darkness, Raymond acted as if nothing had changed. He had no intention of trembling as they wished.

After finishing the battle with the mountain mercenaries, Raymond led the elite guards into a stronghold.

There, infantry led by Cron and the imperial army under Cassias’s command were waiting.

Now, all that remained was to torture the Ghost agents to extract information. Raymond already knew where Marquess Crayer was to be executed.

However, without any evidence, it was clear that he could not easily gain trust, so a kind of ‘theater’ was necessary.

“Are you ready?”

“Not yet. It will take about another hour.”

The Imperial Army commander, Cassias, replied.

“I see.”

Raymond nodded and was about to head to the training ground with Gestain when Cassias cautiously spoke up.

“Your Highness, may I ask you something?”

He stopped and turned his head toward Cassias.

“Go ahead.”

“I’ve heard that Your Highness has learned magic. But how did you come to possess a mana sword…?”

“There are ways.”

Raymond replied with a slight smile. However, Cassias’s expression remained serious.

“If so, may I ask how long you have been learning swordsmanship?”

“It seems like it’s been about two months?”

“Oh my…”

Cassias was astonished by Raymond’s answer.

‘He mastered the mana sword, which can only be used by those who have reached at least the level of a high-ranking knight, in just two months? What kind of absurd talent is this!’

Cassias, who had spent ten years training to reach the level of a high-ranking knight symbolized by the mana sword, felt a relative sense of deprivation.

Unable to hide his trembling eyes, Cassias watched as Raymond headed toward the training ground with his attendants.

“Your Highness, I have many questions I want to ask as well. You know that, right?”

The Blue Tower Master, Lysfield, said, and Raymond could only smile in response.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇