chapter_0022

22 – Suppression of the Dreihart Rebellion

22 – Suppression of the Dreihart Rebellion

The day had come.

The rebels and the suppression forces met on the plains in front of the Dreyhart castle.

In fact, such suppression battles often turned into sieges.

The rebels, being in a defensive position, would naturally find it advantageous to hold out inside the castle.

The fact that they had come out to face the suppression forces head-on meant that the rebels were confident they could win in a direct confrontation.

Hadem seemed rather excited by the challenge posed against him.

“Those rebel scum may lack in many things, but I like their spirit. To challenge me head-on like this.”

Hadem laughed joyfully as he looked at the rebels.

Zeras sighed, seemingly incredulous, and said, “In my opinion, we should be angry that they underestimated us. It’s infuriating to think about who made us so disregarded. Hohoho!”

“There is indeed a weak little fly among them, hahaha!”

It was all too obvious, but Hadem’s Lion Family and Zeras’s Sila Family were rivals.

During the war, they were so at odds that they had to worry about team kills from each other rather than the rebels, and although they were forced to fight together due to orders from above, they could stab each other in the back at any opportunity.

Naturally, the council was aware of this and had dispatched monitors.

The battlefield commander, Raq, sighed and said to the two, “My lords, as you already know, this battle is being recorded. Please do not forget that.”

“All this fuss because of a weak slave rebellion. Understood!”

“Understood, Raq!”

The battlefield commander was a kind of judge sent by the Platinum Council to manage the war.

At his warning not to stab each other in the back or do anything strange that would tarnish the royal family, the two returned to their positions and prepared for the suppression battle.

I was watching it all from a hill with everyone, and Noah asked, “Do you think the rebels will lose, my lord?”

“Logically, if the opponent is those two, they should lose… but Dreyhart has ‘him.'”

“‘Him’?”

Probably, I was the only one who knew who ‘he’ was in Dreyhart right now.

He had not officially appeared in the world until the rebellion event occurred.

But I had experienced that rebellion event, and although it was a game, I had once been utterly defeated by him.

Because of that, I couldn’t easily predict the outcome of the war.

“The lion always leads the charge!! Let’s go! Lions!! It’s war!!!”

[ “Woooooaaaaaa!!!!!!” ]

With Hadem’s roar, the war began.

Following Hadem, who charged madly on horseback, his knights also rushed forward in a frenzy.

How did the rebels perceive that sight?

It must have looked like hundreds or thousands of lions charging, and it would be normal to feel fear at such a sight.

However, the slave soldiers did not seem frightened.

Because they had ‘him.’

“Brothers!! Let’s fight for freedom!!!!”

[ “For freedom!!!!!!” ]

『Jarha Regon』

The champion of the slave arena in Dreyhart and a descendant of the Dragonkin, he was a top-tier SSR warrior character that could only be obtained through the Dreyhart rebellion event.

In short, he was the Spartacus of the World Archive.

Having been a slave and then leading a rebellion like Spartacus, he shattered countless suppression forces sent by users according to the story, delivering shock and terror.

Of course, I was one of those who received that gift.

Trusting in such a Jarha, the slave soldiers were not paralyzed by fear, and the one at the forefront, 『Jarha Regon』, drew two massive swords.

And he shouted so everyone could hear.

“Brothers!!! Let’s charge!!!!!”

[ “Woooooaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!” ]

As Jarha charged, the slave soldiers began their assault behind him.

The war-thirsty lions and the furious slave warriors clashed right in the middle of the Dreyhart plains.

Bang-!! Crack-!!!! Crackle-!!!

Flesh splattered, bones shattered, and blood poured as the two forces collided.

In that chaos, he shone the brightest.

“Come at me!!! You slave scum!!! Prove that you are worth living!!!!”

Crack-!! Smash-! Crackle-!!!

Hadem swung his axe wildly, slaughtering the slave soldiers.

The sight of him reaping the muscular slave soldiers was truly that of a locust of horror, a true embodiment of Lu Bu.

Just as it seemed he would single-handedly massacre all the slave soldiers, an obstacle intervened in front of Hadem.

Clang-!!

“No!?”

“This is where your boasting ends!”

Hadem’s axe was blocked by Jarha’s sword.

Surprised, Hadem thought it was a coincidence and swung his axe countless times at Jarha.

However, every attack was blocked by Jarha’s twin swords, astonishing everyone.

As Hadem was halted, the charge of the Lion Knights weakened significantly, and the slave soldiers began to regroup and fight properly again.

With a worthy opponent appearing before him, Hadem asked with a look of surprise, “You… are strong. What is your name?”

“I am Jarha Regon.”

“Ah, warrior Jarha. I’ll ask you this once, but do you have any intention of surrendering and becoming my subordinate?”

“I have no intention of surrendering to those who seek to take away our freedom!!”

“Yes, I thought so.”

Hadem dismounted and threw off his helmet.

The knights of the Lion Family changed their expressions upon seeing that.

“Blood!!! Get back!!! The lord is going to fight seriously!!!”

“Everyone, stay away from the lord!!!”

At that moment, hair began to rise from Hadem’s shining head.

And his already bulging muscles and body began to grow even larger.

This was the reason Hadem was called the ‘Lion of Hell,’ his Blessing .

The effect was simple.

It was the ability to become a lion beastman and become incredibly strong.

The only problem was that in this state, Hadem…

“Grroooar… Kraaahhhh!!!!!”

His sanity was gone.

Now a lion warrior, Hadem charged straight at Jarha.

The axe he swung as a warrior was several times more powerful than when he was human.

And Jarha… blocked Hadem’s axe with his bare hands.

Clang-!!!

“Grroooar!?”

“Is that all you think being a beast means? Let me show you what a real beast is!!!”

Blue scales began to sprout from Jarha’s body.

As the blue horns grew and blue scales covered his face, the true form of the Dragonkin was revealed.

This was Jarha’s power, a special ability unique to the Dragonkin known as 『Dragon Transformation』.

“Grroooar!!!!”

“Woooooaaaaaa!!!”

The red lion and the blue dragon clashed.

In the midst of the war, the monsters began to fight.

* * *

At that moment, I and my retainers were watching the war in real-time through the sky’s eye set up by Sharen.

I shouldn’t say this, but… honestly, it was incredibly entertaining.

A person turning into a monster and fighting in the middle of a war could not be boring.

I found myself cheering for Jarha, silently wishing for him to defeat Hadem.

And while I may not find it amusing, all my retainers were glued to the spectacle, and Lana was munching on some crackers while enjoying the sky’s eye.

“That’s amazing. There really is someone who can transform into an animal.”

“This is my first time seeing it in person.”

“Me too.”

“Me too.”

At Lana’s words, Noah and Sharen also said they had never seen such a power.

I knew from the game that Hadem’s ability was to transform into a lion, but this was my first time seeing it in person since coming here.

With such abilities, it made sense that he could do something reckless like come alone without guards.

Once again, I felt sad about the fact that I had no Blessing at all.

“What will happen to the war now?”

I pondered over Noah’s words.

While it was impressive that Jarha had stopped Hadem, it was still insufficient to win the war.

Because Lord Zelas was still around.

He might just use magic to wipe out both Hadem and Jarha at once.

“Simply put, won’t Lord Zelas just stab them in the back and win?”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t see Lord Zelas anywhere.”

“Oh! Speaking of which…”

Now that I thought about it, Lord Zelas was nowhere to be seen.

Where on earth was he?

I manipulated the sky’s eye using the method Sharen had taught me to adjust my view.

And there…

“What’s that!?”

There was Lord Zelas surrounded by black-clad assassins, looking like he was in a crisis.

Lord Zelas appeared to have sustained significant injuries, with wounds all over his body, and it seemed that his surrounding guards were nearly dead.

What on earth was happening?

* * *

For Lord Zelas, everything felt like a nightmare.

Just moments ago, it seemed like everything was going according to his plans.

Seeing the appearance of the slave soldiers to block Hadem and the intensifying fight between the two, he thought that after using his magic to clean up Hadem and the slave soldiers, he would send in his knights, and everything would be over.

“Alright everyone, let’s go reap the fruits of victory together! Hohoho!”

“Yes! My lord!!”

Just as he declared victory and was about to advance…

Suddenly, they appeared.

Whoosh-!

“Huh?”

The beginning was the heads of the guards in front of him being severed with black smoke.

In the face of this sudden turn of events, Zelas reflexively cast a protective magic.

“A… Aegis!!!!”

The moment Zelas deployed the protective magic, the guards outside the shield began to have their heads severed in an instant.

Their bodies fell like leaves, and Zelas doubted his own eyes.

And he felt a chill at the thought that if the protective magic had been even a moment late, he would have ended up like that.

Not willing to just sit back and take it, Zelas unleashed his magic.

“Lamina Unda!!”

As Zelas chanted, blades of water began to form and ravage the surroundings.

As blood splattered into the air, the attackers who had ambushed Zelas revealed themselves.

There were five assassins wearing black masks.

They were dressed exactly like the assassins who had invaded Crone.

Zelas was furious at those who had so easily slaughtered his precious guards.

“How dare you do this to my precious guards… who are you!!”

In response to his words, the assassin who appeared to be the leader among them spoke as if bestowing mercy.

“There’s no need for the one who is about to die to know.”

“You bastards!!!”

After that, the fight was one-sided.

The moment the assassins allowed close proximity, the magician weakened rapidly.

Of course, Zelas was not a fool who didn’t know that, so he traveled with guards, but these were experts who could cut down Zelas’s guards in an instant.

Dodging Zelas’s magic, they spread out and quickly attacked the gaps, and in less than a minute, Zelas was reduced to rags.

And Zelas felt the last strike of the assassins aimed at his neck as they targeted his openings.

Is this how I die?

If I die like this, Ain will scold me…

As the shadow of death brushed past Zelas… a savior appeared.

Clang-!

A knight who suddenly appeared blocked the last strike of the assassin aimed at him with a shield.

“Are you alright? Lord Zelas!”

“You… who are you?”

“I am Ricain! I have come to save you on the orders of Lord Calix!!”

Indeed, the Silver Dragon of Crone!

He was someone worthy of receiving a gift from the same princess as me!!

In that moment, Zelas sincerely expressed his gratitude to Calix.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

???: The protagonist always appears at a crucial moment.

??: But he’s not the protagonist?

???: He may not be the protagonist, but since he is acting on the protagonist’s orders, let’s call him the protagonist.