C10: Rogue Lords (10)

***

With Randall in front of me, I equipped [Daitouren]. Effect duration: 30 minutes!

[Ryuichi Hasegawa / Aintorian Erhin]

[Age: 25 years old]

[Martial Force: 58+30 (88)]

[Intelligence: ?]

[Command: ?]

My martial force numbers jumped up, and my 58 low-grade martial force instantly turned into a top-tier B-grade martial force! I pushed Bente away and executed the [Attack] command, my hand, holding Daitouren, moved by itself and swept away all the enemy spears.

The slight numbness in my fingertips was more of a pleasant sensation. It was great to be able to block the attack of a B-grade enemy with such ease.

“What?”

Randall tilted his head in disbelief. Then, in a half-crazed frenzy, he came running towards me, blindly slaughtering my soldiers. There is no soldier in Aintorian who can match the 85-marial force warlord’s indignation.

“Aaaaah! Monster! Help me!”

The soldiers were so scared and started running away, some of them even wetted their pants.

“My lord! Please run! He is Randall, the Tenth Warlord of Narja!“

At that moment, I heard the centurion under Haddin’s command shouting at me from behind the trap. It seemed that Haddin had noticed Randall’s presence; after all he was a famous warlord. Then it was even more convenient. Now was the time to imprint the lord’s majesty on the minds of my fleeing troops.

“Tenth warlord or not, I’ll deal with you!”

Shouting vigorously, I rode my horse to Randall. At that moment, everyone who had witnessed Randall’s power thought I was reckless. I finally collided with him.

“How dare you use such a dastardly trick. Cheeky bastard! Instant kill!　Kuh-ha-ha-ha!”

Randall sneered at me and swung his spear as hard as he could. He wielded the iron spear, which seemed to be quite heavy, without a care in the world, that’s a lot of confidence. While he certainly had the right amount of confidence, there was no way he could compete with the current me.

I grabbed my Daitouren and executed the [Attack] command, as Randall’s tremendous spear and my sword collided.

In hand-to-hand combat, the longer the weapon, the better, but I have a higher martial force than him and my weapon is a super special class. As a result, Randall gradually began to be overwhelmed by my attacks. His face showed confusion and he swung his spear down from the top with all his might.

“Die, die, die! How dare you, a mere lord, resist me!”

I blocked him with the [Attack] command as well. I was sure that I had the upper hand, but for now, we were on parallel tracks. He was being pushed by me, but I couldn’t stop him either. In the meantime, if the 30-minute time limit passed, I would be dead.

[Crush]

[Cuts through everything it touches]

[Can only apply one-hit kill or stun to enemies up to +5 to your martial force]

[Can be used once every 30 minutes]

Then I have to use skills, luckily Daitouren has a unique weapon skill. It’s a skill that allows me to kill enemies with up to +5 to my martial force value in a single shot. It even has a function that allows me to choose whether to kill or stun the enemy.

The reason the stun function was added is because the ultimate goal of this game it’s world domination. Therefore, gamers demanded that the management allow them to capture their favorite enemies alive so that they could recruit them, and this [Stun] function is exactly what was added.

What was terrifying about [Crush] was that it could kill an enemy with a martial force value of +5 higher than me with a single strike. Of course, it could only be used once in 30 minutes, so if there were two stronger enemies, it would be useless. But thanks to this skill, I was able to parade around the battlefield. It’s a great protective shield that keeps me safe.

Since I didn’t have Randall’s recruitment in mind, I used [Crush] with the thought to kill.

“Swoosh!”

At that moment, I threw Daitouren at Randall. With a white flash, the flying Daitouren shattered the enemy’s spear and went straight into Randall.

”What the…?”

Carelessness and pride are a liability on the battlefield.

Daitouren was so powerful that it went straight through Randall’s head, and then blood sprayed like a fountain.

Randall’s body immediately tumbled off the horse. The moment his body hit the ground, silence fell over the area. My army and even the enemy army stopped fighting and looked at us with open mouths. No one would have expected Randall to die this way.

Now is the time! The time to break the enemy’s spirit.

Now that the enemy’s morale was completely down, I have the chance to win this battle.

“What the hell are you doing? The commander is dead! Clear the enemy forces!”

I shouted loudly to my troops, who blinked repeatedly in dismay.

“Ooooohhhh!”

With a battle cry the morale of my army went up.

[Morale is now at 90]

My troops, whose morale had reached 90, rushed toward the enemy soldiers while maintaining a loud battle cry. Shocked by the death of their commander the enemy troops began to retreat left and right, not knowing what to do.

“Bente, activate the signal. Ambush attack, round two!”

“It’s finally happening! Hahahahahaha!”

With a satisfied look on his face, Bente ran off to activate the signal. Soon, Bente’s smoke could be seen rising high into the sky. The moment Haddin saw this smoke, the fleeing enemy army would be even more confused.

With the help of the system, I had a definite chance to win a real war! The most valuable trophy of all was my life. I survived by changing the fate of a man who was supposed to die today.

I began to get excited by this fact. The tension was incomparable to a game consisting of mere graphics. I was filled with a sense of elation that with the perks and the system, world domination was not a dream.

* * *

The enemy troops, whose morale and line of battle had collapsed, began to retreat in the mountains, and were taking rather heavy casualties. I let my army pursue them to the end. It was morning by the time the enemy army had completely fled across the border.

I gave the order to withdraw to the barracks. It was noon by the time I came back to the lord’s castle after ordering the soldiers to rest. I ordered the maids and the chamberlain not to wake me up, then went into the bedroom and quickly checked my level.

[Victory in battle]

[You have gained combat victory experience]

[Earned Experience List]

[Strategic grade Cx1]

[Victory over 3x enemy forces x3].

[Victory over an opponent of class B with class E power x4].

The strategic grade refers to how efficient a strategy was executed in battle. I only got a C? Were there better strategies than this?

I know that gamers who want an S grade will not stand for it, but this is reality, there’s no way to start over, so I’m satisfied.

The fact that I defeated an enemy army that was three times the size of my own, and that I killed Randall, was a positive factor in my experience this time.

When calculating the experience needed to level up, it would be calculated using my original 58 martial force, not the +30 one gained by using Daitouren. The basic rule of the game is that I can only earn more experience by beating opponents who are stronger than me and thanks to the perks, I was able to gain a lot of experience.

[You are now level two]

………

[You are now] level eight]

My level went up to 8.

* * *