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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The training grounds, after the duel had ended, were in a festive mood for quite a while. People clinked glasses, and laughter filled the air.
Some commoners even approached Victoria, offering her gifts. Victoria accepted them as if it were nothing special, but a faint smile definitely played on her lips. She was a rare, beloved noble.
The residents looked at Kerry with the same adoration they would a celebrity. So this was what it felt like to be successful.
However, perhaps because the peace had been so profound, the panic that ensued when it shattered was equally immense.
“A horde of hundreds of ghouls has appeared in front of the castle!”
“Kyaaa!”
“Mommy! I’m scared!”
“Is it safe inside the castle?”
The residents, who had been enjoying the festivities, were instantly thrown into a panic. Not just one ghoul, but hundreds were approaching. It was understandable.
Victoria’s escort knights also seemed to feel a sense of crisis.
“My lady, let’s take refuge in the inner castle. We’ll handle the ghouls…”
But Victoria only smiled faintly.
“Ridiculous. They’ve come to kill me. How presumptuous. To think they’d try to kill me with mere ghouls. I’ll go myself. Bring me my armor and sword!”
“No! My lady, it’s dangerous!”
“That’s an order. Hurry!”
Even the escort knights couldn’t stop Victoria. Seeing Lina just shake her head, it seemed Victoria’s personality was always like this.
Lina approached Victoria.
“Lady Victoria, we will also assist in the subjugation of the ghouls.”
“Oh, that’s good. You’ll be a great help. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t steal my share of the action. Hehehe. My hands are itching for a fight after so long.”
As expected, in this other world, there were no normal people among the skilled ones. If I stayed put, Lina and the others would handle it.
I could just watch from a safe distance and enjoy the show.
After waiting a bit, knights appeared, riding magnificent horses.
Victoria’s white steed was also visible.
Victoria, clad in shining armor and mounted on her white horse, looked truly impressive.
“If you need horses, I’ll provide them.”
“Running is faster.”
“Me too. I’m used to running.”
Lina and Natasha were mana users. They didn’t seem to feel the need to ride horses.
Victoria, seeing me standing still, looked at me expectantly. I wasn’t going, so why was she looking at me like that?
“…I don’t know how to ride a horse.”
This was the truth. Horses were very expensive animals. As an F-rank adventurer, I’d never ridden one.
‘Good. I can naturally avoid the battle.’
It was a battlefield where a dangerously large ghoul force was advancing. There was no way I wanted to go. Then, Victoria extended her hand towards me. What was this, suddenly?
Victoria lifted me up with one hand and placed me behind her.
“Haha. Consider it an honor. You’re the first man to ride behind me.”
“No, wait, wait, I wasn’t planning on going…”
“Giddy up! Let’s go!”
‘Damn it! I said I wasn’t going!’
My words were drowned out by the sound of the cavalry charging. It wasn’t a good look, but should I ask to be let down now?
It was a troubling moment.
Then Lina gave me a thumbs-up. It was hard to betray that face full of trust.
“I’ll protect my husband!”
‘Alright, Natasha! You’re my only hope. Please protect me!’
In the end, Kerry was taken to the front lines, seated behind Victoria.
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Kerry thought calmly as the horse galloped. There was a question that kept lingering in his mind.
‘Why did the ghouls appear in front of the castle? Weren’t the ghouls supposed to be preparing inside the castle? Could it be a diversion?’
He’d had Natasha prepare a large amount of holy water because of the voodoo. That bothered him, so he explained it to Victoria.
“What? You’re saying ghouls might appear inside the castle too?”
“They probably won’t be fully formed ghouls. If we have holy water, we should be able to restore them to their original state.”
“But…there can’t be that much precious holy water.”
“It’s alright. I’ve already had the holy water prepared at the temple. If you give the order to the temple, Lady Victoria, we can avoid the worst.”
“….Did you predict all of this? As expected, you’re no ordinary man.”
Somehow, I felt like I was being increasingly overestimated. Victoria relayed what I had said to a knight riding beside her.
Then, one of the knights broke away from the formation and rode towards the temple.
Lona also seemed to have something to say, as she approached while running. Wow, she was just running, but it made the horses seem slow.
“Lady Victoria, to minimize casualties, we need an elite force to defeat the ghouls outside.”
“I know that much. That’s why I’m planning to sortie directly with my escort!”
“Understood. Then I’ll go ahead!”
“Leave some for me!”
‘No need, Lina! Just wipe them all out yourself!’
As we rode with the escort unit, the castle gates began to open as if the soldiers on the walls had seen us.
“Are you scared?”
Victoria asked me this before we sortied outside the castle. A man has his pride. I couldn’t ask to be let down now, after coming this far.
“Of course not. Charge! Let’s sweep them all away!”
‘I have Natasha! And Lina will come running if I’m in danger!’
“Huhu. That’s the man I had my eye on! Giddy up! Advance at full speed!”
The knights let out boisterous shouts as they passed through the castle gates. The soldiers on the castle walls also cheered.
Looking straight ahead, I could see hundreds of decaying ghouls coming towards us.
Lina, as if she had arrived there ages ago, was already fighting the ghouls alone.
Then it happened. Loud noises started coming from inside the castle.
Black smoke rising into the sky didn’t look good.
‘It was a diversion after all? They’re targeting the villagers while we’re away…no, they might be targeting Victoria. They probably didn’t expect a noble like Victoria to openly appear on the battlefield.’
Lina gritted her teeth as she saw the rising black smoke. Why did these guys treat human lives so lightly?
Memories of the horrific wars she had witnessed in her past life filled Lina’s mind. She had to save them.
If Nasen or Huruuku had infiltrated the castle, the damage would be immeasurable.
She had to save everyone. That sense of mission weighed heavily on Lina.
“Lady Natasha! I entrust Kerry to you!”
“Leave it to me!”
Lina started running towards the castle at full speed. She was incredibly fast.
For now, I thought it was the right decision. It was certain that Lina, who was faster than a horse, would go to provide support first. We would be enough here on our own. I was sure of it. The unexpected happened after Lina had run so far that she was out of sight.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and ghouls began to rise from the earth, one by one.
I could see Huruuku rising from the ground as well.
“Buhiiik! Being hidden underground was tough!”
‘I was wondering where you were. You were hiding underground. These guys seem determined this time.’
Kerry didn’t know, but for Nasen and Huruuku, this was their last chance, with their lives on the line. Since their lives were at stake, a meticulous plan was a given.
“You look delicious! Let me have a bite! Buhiiik!”
Huruuku started reaching for the nearest knight. The horse, startled by the ferocious momentum, went wild. Because of this, the knight was helplessly thrown to the ground.
“That wretched creature dares to touch my subordinate!”
Victoria, enraged, charged towards Huruuku on her horse. Why not put me down first before charging?!
“You bastard!”
“Don’t bother me while I’m eating!”
As Victoria lunged at Huruuku, Huruuku’s eyes gleamed with hunger.
Huruuku’s iron club slammed down. Struck by the iron club, Victoria and Kerry fell from the horse and tumbled to the ground.
It was because Victoria’s desire to save her subordinate had gotten ahead of her. If she had blocked properly, Victoria, the tank, wouldn’t have been so severely injured.
“Cough!”
Fortunately, Victoria was alive. I had also tumbled, but I wasn’t seriously injured.
“Whew. The real problem starts now…”
The ghouls that had risen with Huruuku began to surround us.
But I had something to rely on.
“Husband!”
Natasha was running towards me, killing all the ghouls in her path. You’re all dead once Natasha gets here.
The sight of the ghouls shambling towards us was utterly horrifying.
“Red-haired bitch! This is revenge for last time!”
Huruuku, who had somehow devoured the knight, armor and all, charged towards Natasha. Damn it. This way, I had no one to protect me.
“Step back. Cough! I’ll hold them off here.”
Victoria staggered to her feet. What was she planning to do while coughing up blood?
“Just protect yourself. It’ll be troublesome if you get bitten.”
‘I can’t turn Lina’s former comrade into a ghoul.’
I had to hold on with my own strength here. Until Natasha arrived.
‘Should I use Wind Blade? No. I can only use Wind Blade once…I have to be careful.’
If my life was in danger, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Wind Blade, but since I could only use it once, I had to be cautious.
Just then, I saw two of Victoria’s escort knights breaking through the ghoul encirclement and running towards us.
“My Lady!”
“We’ve come to rescue you!”
They were indeed knights. They were skilled knights, charging through the ghoul encirclement on horseback.
The two knights who broke through the encirclement placed me and Victoria behind them on their horses.
“We’ll return to the castle immediately, my lady!”
“I, I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have come here. Cough!”
“Don’t speak now.”
“Hey, mister! This isn’t the time for a drama! The ghouls are swarming!”
“Drama? What do you mean by drama? Anyway…let’s escape! Giddy up!”
Finally, the horses started to run. The knights cut down all the ghouls blocking the front.
Kerry called out Natasha’s name loudly. Natasha was confronting Huruuku.
“Natasha!”
“I’m alright, husband! Go to the castle first. I’ll take care of these guys and come back soon.”
As expected, Natasha was dependable.
“Oh, and don’t cheat on me with that woman while I’m gone!”
It would have been really cool if she hadn’t said that last part.
Just as the knights had broken through the ghoul encirclement, Huruuku’s roar echoed.
“Buhiiik! Don’t let them escape! Chase them, ghouls!”
But there was no way ghouls could catch up to galloping horses.
Just as Kerry was about to flip off the stupid Huruuku, the ghouls suddenly started running towards each other and merging. The merged ghoul took the form of a giant four-legged beast.
A horrific form stitched together from corpses.
Guooooooooo-
The merged ghoul roared loudly. Then it started running towards us with heavy thuds.
It was considerably fast. Fast enough to slowly catch up to the horses that had created some distance.
“We’ll be caught on flat ground. To the forest! Let’s escape to the forest!”
In the forest, that large size would hinder its running.
“It’s still chasing us!”
“Don’t look back, just run!”
We were getting further and further away from the castle, but there was no other choice. The path to the castle was flat. If we had fled to the castle, we might have been caught and trampled by it.
The trees and rocks of the forest reduced the merged ghoul’s running speed, allowing us to escape so far.
How long had we been running?
It felt like we had been running for over an hour. The horses were also exhausted, gasping for breath.
“Put…put me down. I’ll buy you some time. Everyone, escape while you can.”
Victoria, her body battered, rambled deliriously.
“What are you going to do in that condition?”
“Are you looking down on me? I am Victoria Bellarus! The eldest daughter of the Bellarus family. That monster…cough.”
While we were having a useless conversation with Victoria, the forest ended. The large merged ghoul was still chasing us, knocking down trees.
“Whoa- whoa!”
“Is this the end…?”
The knights suddenly stopped their horses. Looking around, I could see why.
Where we thought the forest ended was a cliff. There was nowhere left to run.
“Fuck. We’re screwed.”
No. Kerry still had a trump card. The merged ghoul approached, knocking down trees.
It growled, seeing our situation. That growl sounded like it was forcing a laugh with its non-existent vocal cords.
“Damn it. We can’t give up here. I have to protect my lady.”
“We have to protect my lady, no matter what…”
‘I’m, like, seriously…’
Right, they weren’t my loyal subjects, but Victoria’s. I understood. A river flowed below the cliff. The cliff was high enough that we might die if we fell.
Guoooo-!
As the merged ghoul roared and charged at us, seemingly intending to finish us off, Kerry held out the magic orb.
Now was the time to show the results of the magic training he had been doing.
A magnificent stage, more than enough to showcase a man’s romantic ideals!
Holding out the orb, Kerry muttered softly.
“Wind Blade.”
Wind surged around Kerry. His clothes fluttered in the wind, then began to emit a tearing, ripping sound.
Simultaneously, the Wind Blade took shape and rushed towards the merged ghoul.
The moment the merged ghoul was hit by the Wind Blade, it began to shatter into pieces.
Disgusting corpses fell apart, and black blood and flesh splattered on the ground.
Thud-
The merged ghoul collapsed from a single Wind Blade. It wasn’t completely destroyed, but it couldn’t maintain its form.
“Holy shit. That’s awesome.”
Even though I was the one who did it, the way the Wind Blade sliced the merged ghoul into pieces like a high-pressure cutter was truly amazing. Magic was the best after all!
“Were…were you a mage?”
“I thought you were a swordsman after seeing you fight the captain of the guard.”
The knights murmured in surprise. Victoria was also looking at me with surprised eyes. I felt a little shy.
Then it happened.
“That…that…monster!”
“The ghoul is regenerating!”
The merged ghoul was regenerating itself and glaring at us.
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