Ch.106Temporary Water Battle (2)

I could see the commander who wasn’t wearing a ring, as if his life was precious, as if he wanted to save at least himself.

Looking at him, I thought this commander was both despicable and foolish.

“Even if you survive so disgracefully now, do you really think you’ll survive next time? I don’t see any difference between you and the other dark mages.”

“Keuugh… You… I’ll never let you get away with this…! I’ll turn you into an undead and subject you to suffering for as long as the future holy sword exists!!”

The commander, perhaps because I had exposed his fear, exploded with rage, shouting until his throat nearly burst.

Of course, he wasn’t very threatening since the recent explosion had wiped out most of the dark mages’ undead.

“Can you really do that with your tattered body? There aren’t many undead left. Or do you perhaps think you can just raise them again?”

“Kuugh…! Do you truly believe I cannot raise the undead again?!”

“I’m sure you could raise them again. But the others don’t seem capable. Or… are you planning to step up yourself? Really?”

The commander seemed to be trying to act tough to avoid being looked down upon, but in my eyes, he just looked pathetic.

Clearly, the rings worn by the dark mages allowed them to operate beyond the laws of this immaterial world by consuming their lifespan.

If one didn’t care about the future, there was nothing more useful and reliable than these rings.

Thanks to them, this battle that normally couldn’t and shouldn’t have happened occurred due to the difference of a single ring.

But the ring’s help ended there; it couldn’t do anything more.

‘That ring doesn’t have any convenient ability to restore already consumed magic power.’

In the end, one had to fight with their own strength, but I couldn’t see any dark mage strong enough to raise the undead again.

The commander might be capable, but he valued his lifespan too much to wear the ring.

Ultimately, there was no dark mage in sight who could continue the siege.

“If you keep stalling in this situation, you’ll just get hit by bombs.”

“Fire!!”

When I gave the signal with a hand gesture, the earth mages who had already finished their preparations threw bombs.

Although they lacked the ability to make cannons, the throwing power of those who had learned aura and started body strengthening was beyond that of most athletes.

Kwang-!!

Kwaang-!!!

Kwang-!

“Kyaaak!!”

“Commander, please do something!!”

“Save me!!”

As the bomb shower began to fall, the dark mages screamed and scattered in panic.

Some managed to deploy shields to protect themselves, while others were caught in the explosions.

In this situation, the commander glared at me resentfully before making his decision.

“Damn it…! Everyone maintain your shields and retreat!!”

As soon as the retreat order was given, the dark mages turned around and began to flee.

It was a disgraceful sight, but also the wisest decision they could make in the current situation.

“Hmm, unfortunately… it seems you’re not completely foolish. If you had continued fighting, I could have finished you off.”

“It seems like Lady Luna could win now, but aren’t we going to pursue them?”

“They may not be able to summon as many undead as when they first came here, but they still have magic power left.”

Right now, we could overwhelm them because we were fighting with our backs to the wall, but if we abandoned this advantage, the outcome would be uncertain.

Above all, the problem was that if the commander felt he would die without using the ring, he might decide to use it.

“With luck, we might win… but we’re still comfortable enough that we don’t need to take such a gamble.”

“I understand. Then what should we do now?”

“It’s a bit awkward to set up mines again… so just rest for now. They’ll come back to attack once their magic power recovers.”

After sending Luca and his group down to rest, I turned my gaze in the direction the enemies had fled.

I spread my sensing ability as widely as possible, carefully checking for any enemies who might be hiding or lying in ambush.

“Well, it seems they’ve all fled for now.”

[They were completely scattered by the unexpected bomb shower.]

“Then I should take care of the aftermath.”

After confirming there were no potential ambushes, I jumped down from the castle wall.

Then I slowly drew my nameless sword and walked to the place where the dark mages had been standing until just moments ago.

The area had been destroyed by the successive explosions, with the ground torn up.

If we continued the defensive battle, it would probably be destroyed several more times.

But what I was concerned about now wasn’t the destroyed ground, but the people crawling on it.

“Keu… keu… sa… save…”

“I’ll send you off at once, so at least you won’t feel pain.”

When dealing with dark mages, one must never leave corpses behind.

The stronger the person was in life, the stronger they would be as undead, and the more intact the corpse, the less magic power was needed to raise them as undead.

So, as a final courtesy, I cut off their breathing one by one before disposing of their bodies.

Puk-

Puk-

Puk-

And the sound of cutting off their breath was not a pleasant one.

“How should I put it… I miss Lilly and Kitsune…”

It was a sound different from just fighting and cutting people down—a sound that explained why executioners go mad.

[If it’s too hard, we can share the burden.]

“I’m still okay. Besides, Lumia, you’re not exactly mentally strong either.”

[I won’t deny that.]

[There’s a saying that even a sheet of paper is lighter when carried together.]

[You don’t have to rely on me specifically, but try depending on others a bit more.]

“I understand what you’re saying. I’ll think about it.”

Hwaleuleuk-

I sprinkled volatile potions on the corpses and burned them all, hoping they wouldn’t be used by anyone.

* * *

I thought how convenient it would be if good and evil were clearly defined in this world.

How nice it would be if those who stood in my way were absolutely evil and all those who helped me were absolutely good.

If that were the case, swinging my sword would be a righteous act, something to be praised without hesitation.

But unfortunately, there were too many complex things in this world that couldn’t be divided into the simple dichotomy of good and evil.

Even the apostles, who could be called evil in this world, were mostly just victims.

“Is it right to blame those who were forced to become evil? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.”

I will continue to cut down the apostles who stand in my way.

It was something I only realized after coming to this world, but I am stronger than I thought.

If there is a need to cut them down, I can cut down apostles as much as needed.

“But being able to do something and being okay with doing it are different stories. I can’t help getting tired.”

“Haa… Haa… Damn monster, why are you telling me this?”

“Well… because you seem to be someone who can clearly be called evil. So I feel like I can talk freely and beat you up without feeling bad.”

I was rambling on in front of the dark mages’ commander.

Some might consider it a waste of time, but this was my own way of relieving stress.

If people only keep their emotions bottled up inside, they’ll fester, so it’s necessary to have time to release them like this.

[You should do this with people around you rather than enemies.]

[Lilly and Kitsune are worried about you too, you know?]

‘Well, everyone has shameful emotions they want to hide.’

Kwaang-!!

“Chubbu chubbu!!!”

“Kyaaaak!!”

While the commander and I were engaged in our psychological warfare, Luna was tearing apart the tattered dark mages with her enormous body.

It was a scene announcing that the defensive battle we had started earlier had ended in our victory.

[By the way… the defensive battle ended more quickly and easily than expected.]

[I imagined myself holding out desperately until Lilly came to rescue me dramatically.]

‘I guess it was half-decided from the first day when the dark mages suffered heavy losses.’

The pattern of this defensive battle was quite simple.

When the dark mages raised undead to attack, we would throw prepared bombs or otherwise prevent them from approaching.

When they ran out of magic power, the dark mages would retreat, and we would rest.

But in this defensive battle, it wasn’t just us who had to endure—the dark mages were in the same situation.

This was originally a remote area, and the reason they were attacking us was presumably to defeat us for blocking their way back from this remote location.

‘We were able to eat and rest thanks to being holed up in the fortress…’

The dark mages, who had to keep moving, would have been constantly attacked and suffered significant losses.

If they had plenty of magic power, they could have countered the attacks, but they had probably consumed most of it during their offensive, making that difficult.

[So the dark mages were depleted before our bombs ran out.]

“So they made one final charge before it got any later, but as you can see, they failed.”

“Kuugh… Damn it…”

I thought that if they hadn’t been caught in the mines on the first day, a more desperate battle might have awaited us.

“I cannot die here…! I must rise higher and put everything beneath my feet…!!”

“Then for your final, desperate act, use that ring in your pocket and come at me. I’d like to swing my sword after such a long time.”