Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading

Chapter 189 : Chapter 189

The new alliance, having received the Certator Kingdom's request for help, immediately raised an army and set out.Of course, Roden was also together here.

The fact that a ghoul unit appeared meant there was a very high possibility that Yusupa was in the Certator Kingdom.

Furthermore,

‘Now he doesn't even bother to hide his location. Does that mean he has recovered his strength to some extent?’

Even a guess like this was possible.

For that reason, Roden's footsteps heading toward the Certator Kingdom had to be heavy.

“He probably hasn't fully recovered his strength. If it's a 10th-circle mage, unleashing a ghoul unit on the entire continent wouldn't be very difficult.”

Lucien Moreau, the 9th-circle mage moving with Roden, spoke.

It was a persuasive opinion.

If Yusupa had fully recovered his strength, he wouldn't have stopped at just unleashing a ghoul unit on the Certator Kingdom.

In the first place, the fact that he unleashed a ghoul unit itself meant there was still much vitality to suck.

‘Since there were several more powerful magics with which a 10th-circle mage could seize control of the continent.’

However, even after realizing this fact, Roden's expression could not brighten.

Because he felt pity for those who couldn't rest even after death.

‘As expected, for the peace of the continent, that guy must be eliminated.’

It was when Roden was thinking and steeling his will.

Lucien opened his mouth once again.

“By the way, was it called an imprinted weapon? You make very interesting items, Main Battalion Commander.”

“…Was it interesting?”

“Yes. Even though it's clearly an item operating with aura, I strangely thought its principle was similar to enchantment magic. From my perspective, that fact was extremely unconventional.”

Certainly, perhaps because he was a 9th-circle mage, Lucien's eye was extraordinary.

Because although other mages also saw imprinted weapons, there were almost no cases thinking like Lucien.

‘Maybe they grasped it but only thought it inside, not bringing those words out of their mouth like Lucien.’

Anyway, now that Lucien noticed, people thinking similarly would increase.

Because of that, Roden explained simply about this part.

“In fact, that is the philosophy of martial arts I pursue. That magic and aura are fundamentally not different.”

And Roden's explanation seemed to give a great realization to Lucien.

The fact that Lucien's eyes widened roundly and he was muttering the following repeatedly was the evidence.

“Magic and aura are fundamentally not different…. Magic and aura are….”

Leaving such Lucien alone, Roden continued to advance toward the Certator Kingdom.

The decisive battle was just around the corner.

***

The situation of the Certator Kingdom, arrived at like that, was worse than thought.

Because villages, cities, castles, etc., looked as if nothing remained intact.

Furthermore, the ghoul unit, distinguishing the smell of humans like ghosts, didn't leave even a single survivor.

For that reason, the wretchedness felt in the places the ghoul unit passed through transcended imagination.

“Furthermore… no corpses are seen.”

Alexis looked around with a devastated face and muttered.

It was as he said.

Corpses were not seen anywhere.

That meant Yusupa had collected these corpses once again.

And as many as the number of these corpses, ghoul units would be born.

Roden, who was looking at the same thing with a hardened expression, stood by Alexis's side and spoke.

“For now, it would be good to move quickly toward the capital of the Certator Kingdom, which is the ghoul unit's movement path.”

“Right. Only then can we prevent the number of victims from increasing further. Let's do as you say.”

Since they had witnessed several territories turned into a mess until now, grasping the movement path wasn't a very difficult task.

Like that, the new alliance advanced toward the capital.

For reference, in the case of the new alliance, they maintained the same organization as existing as much as possible.

It was natural since this side was the most familiar method to control troops.

And the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Corps were currently moving together without separating.

However, among the three corps, the one with the biggest voice was undoubtedly the 3rd Corps.

Since Roden, a 9-star knight, and Lucien, a 9th-circle mage, were together in the 3rd Corps, there was no need to say more.

For that reason, when Alexis grasped the movement path and shared it, other corps naturally followed the 3rd Corps.

It was fortunate that the command system was integrated somehow on the battlefield where the probability of victory increased only when becoming one.

A while later.

The new alliance, having advanced near the capital of the Certator Kingdom, could finally encounter the ghoul unit.

The ghoul unit was attacking one of the major cities of the Certator Kingdom called Dellers.

The Certator Kingdom army locked the gates and staged a sit-in, but the situation wasn't very good.

Because corpses piled up high enough to reach the top of the castle wall, it seemed ghouls could enter the city soon.

“…Attacking the castle with an ignorant method. Does it mean even if he does that, he can revive them all as ghouls again?”

“Probably so. Anyway, we must hurry. Since I will step forward myself, please entrust the vanguard to me.”

“I ask of you well.”

Roden, having received Alexis's permission, immediately raised his sword above his head.

Then issued a charge order.

“Main Battalion and New Recruit Unit, listen! Let's deal with the ghoul unit and save Dellers! All troops charge!”

As usual, Roden took the lead.

And behind him, the Cavalry Company, Cavalry Platoon, and New Recruit Cavalry followed.

However, what attacked the ghoul unit faster than this were the arrows of the Archery Company, Archery Platoon, and New Recruit Archers.

With aura imbued.

Shushushuk! Shushushuk! Shushushuk!

A barrage of arrows boasting tremendous range fell above the heads of the ghoul unit.

In fact, Roden had recently improved the imprinted weapons distributed to the Main Battalion and New Recruit Unit once.

Because he could use 9th-circle magic as he reached the stage of 9-stars, he could finish the work faster than thought.

Furthermore, magic that allowed objects to act alone.

Using ‘Motifex’, it was efficient as he could conduct research while enchanting.

The reason the range of arrows could increase several times compared to the past was also due to this.

Like that, the ghoul unit was hit by arrows imbued with aura and became hedgehogs.

However, the vitality of ghouls was tougher than thought.

In the case of ghouls hit by only one or two arrows, they were moving as if nothing happened.

Not feeling pain.

In fact, this was the scariest part of the ghoul unit.

This part felt even trickier than the fact that their strength became stronger and speed faster.

However, the arrow barrage was not entirely ineffective.

Therefore, arrows continued to fall on the heads of ghouls until the cavalry unit led by Roden encountered the ghouls.

As a result, they succeeded in suppressing about 15% of the ghoul unit attacking Dellers.

Now the rest was the share of the cavalry unit and infantry unit.

And naturally, the cavalry unit began to attack the ghoul unit first.

Dudududududu! Ku-u-u-u-u-ung!

With a single impact, the number of the ghoul unit decreased at a tremendous speed.

It was a part where one could know anew how tremendous the power of cavalry charge was.

That many ghouls became incapable of combat by being trampled by warhorses.

But what was more powerful than this were the magical spears the cavalry unit wielded on horseback.

The moment the magical spear touched a ghoul's body,

Hwaruruk!

Because flames rose and burned the ghoul's body.

Actually, it was the second function Roden paid attention to while improving imprinted weapons this time.

Roden, expecting Yusupa would utilize ghoul units, agonized over a method to cope with this.

So what he prepared was flame.

Precisely, it was engraving flame on weapons like magical spears.

With this, magical spears could quickly burn the attacked opponent if the caster put their will into it.

It wasn't even just engraving this effect on magical spears.

He engraved the same on swords used by the Infantry Company, Infantry Platoon, and New Recruit Infantry.

For that reason, the Main Battalion and New Recruit Unit were able to deal with the ghoul unit more effectively than anyone.

‘It's a shame I couldn't engrave this effect on arrows.’

No matter how comfortable enchanting became, it was unreasonable to engrave flames on all those many arrows.

So the enchantment of flame was limited only to melee weapons capable of repeated use.

But even with just this, the effect was sufficient.

The fact that the infantry unit arriving on the opposite side before anyone knew it was burning the ghoul unit at a rapid speed was the evidence.

Like this, thanks to the Main Battalion and New Recruit Battalion acting as the vanguard and performing brilliantly, the number of surviving ghouls dropped sharply below half.

And the remaining units of the new alliance began to deal with these remnants of the ghoul unit.

Since the new alliance was also armed with imprinted weapons sold by Roden, they could deal with the ghoul unit relatively easily.

Especially the small number of mage units moving with the new alliance became a big help.

Because they were existences capable of finishing off ghouls struggling even after limbs were cut off with fire magic.

Decisively, in Lucien's case, just as Roden enchanted flames on melee weapons, he could cast flame auxiliary magic on allies within a certain range.

Although this wasn't magic capable of burning ghouls quickly like flames, it was quite effective and helped greatly in enhancing the new alliance's strength.

In fact, it was magic Roden could also use, but he was deliberately refraining from using it.

It was unavoidable to hide that he could use magic as much as possible.

In the sense that he could continue to hide his trump card, Lucien's joining was inevitably fortunate for Roden anew.

Because if Lucien hadn't joined, Roden also wouldn't have been able to postpone using magic.

Like that, the new alliance succeeded in saving Dellers within one hour of the start of the battle.

It was the first victory obtained by fighting the ghoul unit.