SMH 146

Chapter 47 – On the Battlefield (1)

TL: Boko

Editors: Frost, StellarRain

“Restoring the building should take some time as Mr. Zelos gave the assassins quite a welcome,” Jung Chul reported. That welcome was referring to Zelo’s explosion magic circle. The explosion had made a mess of the surroundings, as if it had been bombarded.

“To be honest, the damage isn’t due to the explosion magic. Because the assassins were so skilled, the automatic turrets were destroyed within three minutes,” Jung Chul said, as he passed over the damage report. Because there were so many things he had to worry about, Sung Joon naturally shook his head.

He had decided to follow Sung Joon, but he didn’t welcome the amount of work that overlapped with his own work in the auction house.

Jung Chul tried his best so that he wouldn’t let it show, but he couldn’t fool Sung Joon due to his experiences in his past life.

‘I suppose I should give him a bonus.’

It was a skill to properly manage good people. And just like in his past life, Sung Joon was popular. There were several people who followed him, but most of them were likely gone. He felt pained when he thought about that.

‘I’ll get my revenge on the Empire no matter what.’

Sung Joon pledged that he’d get revenge on the Empire once more. Eventually, he turned his attention towards Jung Chul and spoke.

“Money isn’t an issue. Please begin the restoration as soon as possible.”

“As expected of you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. There’s nothing that can’t be done by paying a lot of money for it.”

Jung Chul smiled in satisfaction. It seemed like he was happy that his workload had decreased.

“Then I’ll get going to check on how the restoration is proceeding.”

As soon as Sung Joon nodded his head, Jung Chul walked over to the one in charge of the mansion’s restoration. Then, Sung Joon went looking for Zelos.

“Are you planning on attacking the Empire today?”

Zelos was talking about the Awakening Dungeon. As soon as he mentioned the Empire, Sung Joon felt his thirst for vengeance rise up, yet he spoke with a calm expression.

“Yeah. I don’t know where the Awakening Dungeon will open up, but I’ll come back after destroying it all.”

Sung Joon would destroy all of the Empire’s forces, as well as their facilities.

“When is your appointment?”

“In four hours. I’m counting on you to look after this place while I’m gone.”

“Nothing will happen. Since there aren’t that many otherworlders active on Earth.”

Zelos had already become Sung Joon’s confidant. He had pledged his loyalty to Sung Joon because he had followed and trusted Roukel in the past, and Sung Joon was Roukel’s ‘disciple’.

Sung Joon observed the restoration, and went to the A-rank dungeon where his solo play was scheduled. A-rank dungeons were much too easy for him at this point. He hadn’t achieved a new record, but he was able to clear them instantly.

“I’ll open the Awakening Dungeon now,” Rishubalt said. As soon as Sung Joon nodded, Rishubalt raised his mana. Their surroundings melted away and the landscape changed.

There were thousands gathered and fighting in the open plain. Before he had even figured out what was going on, a giant fireball exploded at his side. He wasn’t close enough for him to be in any sort of danger, so he hadn’t dodged it.

“They’re the flags of the Imperial Army and the Kingdom Alliance’s army. It seems like we’ve landed in the middle of a battlefield,” Rishubalt said. Fireballs descended from the sky like rain, and he heard shouts from nearby.

“It seems like the Kingdom Alliance is losing,” Rishubalt said.

Sung Joon surveyed the battlefield once more. The Kingdom Alliance’s war flags were broken, and their army was gradually being pushed back.

The Imperial Army was on the offensive.

“I think I know what the Awakening Dungeon’s clear conditions are,” Sung Joon said. Perhaps this was the first step in informing the Empire, the Species Alliance, and the Kingdom Alliance of Roukel’s return.

“Charge!”

He heard the sound of horns, and dozens of cavalry charged to completely break through the Kingdom Alliance’s weakened formation. Sung Joon silently stood in front of them and blocked them.

“Sir!”

“It doesn’t matter! Push through!”

The cavalry pointed their lances at Sung Joon. Then, they closed the distance and had expected that their lances to pierce through Sung Joon…

“Gale Sword.”

Sung Joon calmly used his Gale Sword. Once he lunged and spoke the activation, sword winds were unleashed upon the cavalry.

“Ugh!”

“AH!”

The cavalry was defeated. There were knights at the vanguard as well, but they hadn’t been able to survive against the seventy sword winds, and helplessly fell.

“Holy…”

“The Cold Wind Cavalry has been defeated!”

The Kingdom Alliance forces cried out. Sung Joon had defeated the Cold Wind Cavalry, which were renowned as an elite force within the Empire. It was only after he’d slaughtered them did he realize who they were, as he looked at their war flags.

“The Kingdom Alliance’s morale is improving,” Rishubalt said.

“Well, the Cold Wind Cavalry is famous within the Empire,” Sung Joon replied, and raised a broken flag. It was one of the Kingdom Alliance’s flags.

“Counterattack!”

He hadn’t used magic, but by waving the flag and using mana to amplify his voice, that single, weighty word had lit a fire within the Kingdom Alliance’s forces.

“All forces, counterattack! We can’t just retreat like this!” A knight wearing plate armor raised his sword and yelled. Considering the fact that he was wearing a green cape, he was definitely a high rank knight under the Elite Knights. His words began to reinvigorate the Kingdom Alliance’s forces.

“Healing Spray.”

Aside from the mana he needed to do battle with, Sung Joon drew as much mana as he could to utilize ‘Healing Spray’ on the largest area of the battlefield as possible.

Sung Joon focused on the Kingdom Alliance’s rear, so that his Healing Spray wouldn’t affect the Empire’s forces.

The soldiers that had fallen from the initial magic bombardment got up unscathed.

With their renewed vigor, as well as being reinforced by their once fallen comrades, the Kingdom Alliance began their counterattack. The armies collided into one another and thus began the fierce battle.

“You should keep that flag raised,” Rishubalt said. Because Sung Joon was still holding the Kingdom Alliance’s flag, the Kingdom Alliance’s forces didn’t attack him. Since he was wearing the Empire’s Battle Priest Vestments, if he didn’t wave the flag, then they might think that he is part of the Empire.

“Overall, the Empire is at an advantage. You should find their military command first.”

Though the Kingdom Alliance had been reinvigorated, the Kingdom Alliance still had less forces than the Empire, and there weren’t even enough elites to make up for it.

He could tell based on their movements. With his ample experience, Sung Joon could see it.

As Rishubalt had said, they needed to strike at their military high command if they wanted to turn this battle around.

“I’m a messenger from high command! Thank you for your assistance!”

A mounted messenger rushed towards him and relayed high command’s thanks. Sung Joon just nodded his head and surveyed the battlefield.

He found where the Empire’s military command was. But because they had set up a perimeter around it, he would need to use up a lot of mana to break through.

“Messenger!”

Sung Joon called for the messenger before he departed.

“Please, go ahead!”

“Tell them that if they can take on the left and right flanks of the Imperial Army, then I can take care of their military command.”

“I’ll tell them immediately!”

The messenger turned the head of his horse to relay Sung Joon’s words to command. It was up to them to decide whether they could trust Sung Joon or not, as he had suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

Sung Joon kept the flag raised, and with his free hand, cut down the Empire’s forces with his sword. In the meantime, the messenger had arrived at command, and relayed Sung Joon’s intent to them.

“What should we do?”

“He doesn’t seem like an enemy, as he healed our rear soldiers and attacked the Imperial Army.”

“Perhaps this unknown barrier around the battlefield was made by him to box the Imperial Army in.”

“We don’t know how powerful that ‘priest’ is, but it is true that if we attack both the left and right flanks, then the it’ll provide him an opening to their military command. I feel like we should accept his offer. If we keep going like this, we’ll lose anyway.”

The discussion amongst the advisers ended. The Kingdom Alliance’s commander toiled over the information, but ultimately decided to trust Sung Joon.

“The Kingdom Alliance has started to move. It seems like they’re going to attack the Imperial Army’s left and right flanks,” Rishubalt said. The messenger hadn’t told him that, but just looking at their movements was enough to confirm it. In order to respond to this attack, the Imperial Army also changed its formation around.

The center opened up as they concentrated their forces on their left and right flanks, but because the Kingdom Alliance had almost no troops left, it was impossible for them to strike at the Empire’s military command.

The Imperial Army was well aware of that fact. However…

‘I am here.’

Sung Joon’s eyes gleamed. He raised his sword and spoke.

“Blink.”

Sung Joon didn’t even leave an afterimage as he used the short range Dimensional Leap magic. He was teleported inside of the perimeter of spearman.

“It’s the enemy!”

“Where did he come from?”

“It doesn’t matter! Take care of him!”

The knights, who were late to notice Sung Joon, pointed their swords at him. Sung Joon quickly scanned them. None of them were even a part of the Knight Brigade.

‘Then is there anyone strong in their military command…?’

He felt a strong mana reaction from their command. Sung Joon was sure that that individual was powerful. Although he thought about sending Rishubalt off to scout, he decided against it quickly and shook his head. He needed Rishubalt to focus to see if the Kingdom Alliance’s forces had backed off or not.

“Ha!”

Sung Joon let out a battle cry and quickly swung his sword. Once they had assumed their positions, the six knights attacked, but they helpless before Sung Joon’s swordsmanship.

“Knights, assemble! Stop him… Ugh!”

“Return.”

Sung Joon’s dagger burrowed into the commander’s neck, who had been relaying orders to the knights. He weakly fell and once Sung Joon uttered the activation words, the dagger returned to him. Sung Joon then turned towards command once more and used ‘Blink’.

He closed the distance once again. Now, their command was right in front of him. Their guards blocked his way. They unleashed ten sword winds in his direction.

‘Gale Sword!’

Unlike the Illusionary Sword, the Gale Sword wasn’t Roukel’s technique alone. However, he knew more about the Gale Sword than anyone, so he was able to protect himself against the ten sword winds.

“It seems like it wasn’t just because of ‘luck’ that you were able to get this far, seeing as how you were able to block the Gale Sword,” the knight said with a cool-headed expression and a cold voice. The knight revealed himself, and the once faint presence became clear to Sung Joon, so he must’ve been using stealth until just a little bit ago.

“It’s Sir Dante!”

“He’s rank 278 in the Knight Brigade!”

Their morale, which had hit rock bottom because of the deaths of the knights, was restored by the appearance of Dante.

Dante was carrying a curved sword unlike a normal long sword. It was a ‘scimitar’. His sword, as well his armor were clad in aura.

“We’ll help!”

They weren’t part of the Brigade, but three skillful-looking knights came running over. However, Dante raised his left hand and stopped them.

“You’ll get in my way.”

In a fight between the strong, one strike could determine the winner and the loser. Attacking together could become perilous for him.

“Good luck!”

The knights seem to understand as they took a few steps back.

“C’mon. I’ll strike you down in the name of the Knight Brigade,” Dante said. Seeing that, Rishubalt just shook his head.