Chapter 331: Variable (3)
So I finished correcting the top-ranking demonic humans that got incorrectly translated as high-ranking. So far, the only top-ranking demonic humans that were mentioned are:
A huge battle literally took place in the Cilates Plains.
The kingdom’s army had 57,000 men while the Chancellor’s army had 62,000 men.
While the main forces of both sides were engaged in a neck-to-neck battle in the center, battles occurred in the sides and rear as well.
The battlefront changed due to the detour move of the cavalry and the participation of the reserve forces.
It was not easy to gauge who was superior or inferior as neither side was significantly behind in terms of tactics, and both sides were equal in power.
‘It’s rather dangerous at times like this.’
Marshal Bartolein who led the Chancellor’s army stared at the battlefield with narrowed eyes. The time when the most deaths occurred in a war was not during close combat. It was the time when one side would show their backs and begin running away.
They were in a tight situation now.
So it could lean to one side if the other side collapsed.
And Marshal Bartolein had one variable to make it happen.
‘The demonic human army.’
The demon army led by Karavan, a top-ranking demonic human of the Devil’s Eye.
If those who captured Fortress Karatum joined this battlefield using the unique physical strength and mobility of demonic humans and demons, they could instantly turn this tense battle into a massacre if they destroyed the rear of the kingdom’s army.
Half an hour had already passed since the battle started.
Finally, the news came.
“U-Urgent news!”
At the call of the communication wizard nearby, Marshal Bartolein reflexively turned his head. The adjutants around him also looked at the wizard with impatience.
Where is it?
Where is it from?
The existence of communication magic made it possible to rapidly exchange information that was not even imaginable on the battlefield in the past, bringing about a revolution in tactics. Because units that were located far away from each other could communicate and connect in real time.
“Go ahead and say it!”
An impatient adjutant shouted like a scream, but no one thought of stopping him. Because everyone felt the same way.
“T-that is!”
The communication wizard was in tears as he profusely sweated and squeezed out his voice.
“W-we lost.”
“What?”
“Karavan’s army has been defeated!”
Marshal Bartolein blinked his eyes. And it was the same for his adjutants.
A news that they could not have imagined.
A development that they did not expect at all.
“W-what? What did you just say! Huh?!”
An adjutant grabbed the communication wizard’s collar and threatened him, but no one stopped him again.
Because they were all in a daze from such a confusing situation.
“T-they lost! They collapsed! They say that they are now scattered and retreating!”
The communication wizard was innocent.
He was just reading the full message that had been passed to him.
“How…”
Despite the noisy battlefield, Bartolein’s small mutter to himself reached everyone in the vicinity.
“Who on earth?”
All of the kingdom’s troops were here.
They could not have hidden demonic humans and demons like Bartolein did.
Or rather, even if that was the case, how could they defeat a 7,000-strong army commanded by a top-ranking demonic human in half an hour?
A squad of that size suddenly appeared?
The situation there was different.
Karavan’s army captured Fortress Karatum, exposing their location.
In other words, the moment they stepped on the battlefield, they revealed their strength.
Marshal Bartolein blinked again. Instead of thinking about the incomprehensible situation, he looked at the communication wizard.
“How did it happen?”
The communication wizard gasped for breath as he barely let out a sentence. He answered again in a squeezed voice.
Because he himself could not believe the contents of the message.
“T-two people… they said that they were attacked by two people.”
There was silence among the adjutants. None of them could even open their mouths to such a ridiculous story.
Two people?
Two people defeated in half an hour a 7,000-strong army made up of demonic humans and demons and was led by a top-ranking demonic human?
That was impossible.
It was clear that there was a problem with the communication magic.
But shortly after, two words spoken by the communication wizard made the ridiculous story a bit convincing.
“Demon… Slayers.”
The two who defeated Karavan’s army.
A title that was all too familiar for the demon followers.
Marshal Bartolein viewed the battlefield again. He let out swear words at the flash of light in the distance.
***
“Haa… haa… haa…”
“Huu… huu… huu…”
Near the Cilates Plains.
To be exact, on a low hill that was barely visible to the kingdom’s army and the Chancellor’s army that were in the midst of battle.
Both Jude and Cordelia were exhausted as they profusely sweated.
“Huua… haa… t-this… w-would have…an effect, right?”
“A-absolutely.”
Cordelia who was on Jude’s back was creating a series of magic lights in the sky.
It was colored red so that it could be seen from a distance, and it appeared like it was running towards the battlefield at any moment.
Jude and Cordelia were victorious.
The two of them had accomplished a great feat of defeating an army of 7,000. Obviously, the two did not annihilate the army of 7,000.
They had knocked down a thousand.
That was clearly a huge number, but it was a somewhat insufficient number to say that they had defeated the entire army of Karavan.
‘It would be easy to think if that was the case.’
In the first place, ‘annihilation’ in the military did not really mean that all the soldiers died.
It just meant that they could not continue fighting.
(T/N: The word ‘annihilation’ here is a bit special. The Chinese characters used for the word literally mean ‘complete destruction’, but in military terms, it means ‘combat-ineffective’ or ‘unit destruction.’)
The moment their supreme commander, Karavan, and the two high-ranking demonic humans below her had died, the demon follower army lost their leaders.
A golden storm followed afterwards.
It was only natural for the demon follower army who lost their commanders to flee recklessly.
“Haa… haa… I’m… I’m going to die…”
Cordelia eventually become so exhausted that she let her body droop.
She had absorbed a lot of Jude’s stamina through , but she had consumed so much mana that her physical condition was not good.
The golden storm required an immense amount of mana equivalent to its strength and range, and even Cordelia with her archwizard-level mana reserves found it hard to maintain it for more than 5 minutes on her own.
But she had used such a magic for more than 15 minutes, so it was natural for her to drop down.
“Haa… haa…”
In fact, it was the same for Jude as he felt like he was going to die too. Because had devoured his stamina.
[You wouldn’t be tired from… something like that, right?]
It was natural for Valencia to question it.
He had stopped sweating before he knew it, and his breathing which had become as rough as Cordelia’s was also slowly stabilizing.
“I can recover fast.”
The reason for Jude’s infinite stamina was because his so-called life energy vessel was large, but his tremendously fast recovery speed also played a part.
He could recover soon if he just took a little rest.
He was the kind of character that had low HP but became full HP after a few minutes.
“Jude is… Garen.”
(T/N: This is a reference to Garen of League of Legends. Garen has a passive skill called Perseverance that allows him to regenerate his health at a fast rate.)
Jude awkwardly laughed at the remarks of the person who sounded like she was about to die and was extremely bitter of his fast recovery.
“Anyway… the effects are showing.”
Although subtle, small changes were gradually taking place on the battlefield.
The quick-witted Marshal Bartolein made a decision.
‘Retreat before we get caught.’
It was a situation wherein the demon follower army led by a top-ranking demonic human and had 7,000 troops were defeated and fled.
No matter how advanced their communication magic was, they would not exactly know the situation of the war, so the existences of Jude and Cordelia who were heading their way was incredibly taxing for Marshal Bartolein.
‘And these two are sending signals that they are heading there now.’
It was obviously impossible to tell from the red lights if it were Jude and Cordelia or just a light created by a wizard.
However, the light narrowing the distance from the direction in which Caravan’s army should have appeared was enough to intensify the anxiety of Marshal Bartolein.
“They will try to retreat after getting into a defensive formation.”
Suddenly retreating out of a battlefield where the battle had already started was impossible.
But such a move was possible for the Chancellor’s army because they had originally deployed their troops in the form of waiting for Karavan’s army to join them.
‘In short, they were in the defensive from the beginning.’
And the same was true for the kingdom’s army who would be on the defensive.
The existence of Karavan’s army would have been greatly troubling for the kingdom’s army.
“Well, it’s something to be proud of.”
“Haa… haa… What?”
“I mean, the fact that such a huge army is moving is because of us.”
At Jude’s words, Cordelia blinked her eyes before she began to laugh.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, I guess we’ve gotten seriously strong.”
A Sword Saint that could change the battlefield.
An Archwizard that could fight alone against a huge army.
“Ayee, my scammer Sword Saint.”
“Yes, my beast Archwizard.”
Melissa sighed as Cordelia and Jude looked at each other and exchanged warm words.
[Haa… seriously, ah, aaah, haa, haa, so good! Don’t tell me you’re going to say and do that again?]
This was not something that would happen normally, but these two were alone now.
Cordelia’s face blushed and pouted her lips at the anxious voice of Melissa who had seen many precedents of that eventually happening.
“D-do you think I’m a beast?”
[Excuse me, aren’t you the person with the nickname of beast…]
I’ve seen almost everything at this point, okay?
At Melissa’s fact bombing, Cordelia pouted again and pinched the cheek of Jude who was the culprit behind everything.
[Anyway, my successor, what’s your plan now? Will you be joining the kingdom’s army?]
“That’s what we should do for now.”
Jude briefly answered before taking a deep breath. After fixing the position of Cordelia who was still grumbling on his back, he sprinted on the ground.
***
The events of the battle went as Jude had expected.
The Chancellor’s army that had maintained a defensive formation used the demons as sacrifices for their retreat as they began to flee, and the kingdom’s army did not force themselves to pursue such a Chancellor’s army.
“Defeat the demons! That alone is a great achievement!”
Once the battle had begun, it was impossible for either side to completely withdraw.
In fact, the Chancellor’s army lost more than 10,000 demons in this battle, and also lost a considerable number of troops in the course of their retreat.
Nevertheless, Marshal Bartolein chose to retreat.
Because of the fear that the entire army might be completely defeated if the unknown force that defeated 7,000 troops led by a top-ranking demonic human would begin to seriously sweep the battlefield.
‘They must have calculated that they could somehow supplement the demons they lost.’
In any case, it was fortunate for Jude.
Even though he had managed to recover, it was unreasonable for the exhausted Cordelia and Jude, who were not in their top condition, to play such a decisive role that Marshal Bartolein had imagined.
‘Anyway, a win is a win.’
The kingdom’s army won and the Chancellor’s army lost.
And there was one more good news.
“Cordelia!”
“Unnie!”
Whether it was coincidence or inevitability, Ga?l and Adelia were at the place where Jude and Cordelia had joined the army.
She had not seen them since their wedding, so it was a reunion after a few months.
“Aww, my younger sister. My baby.”
“Hehe, my unnie.”
Adelia was worried about her younger sister who had left and headed towards enemy territory.
Her emotions flooded and she welcomed Cordelia more intensely than usual, and Cordelia liked it as she buried her face in Adelia’s chest.
How long had it been since they shared each other’s body temperature and scent?
Adelia suddenly narrowed her eyes and said.
“Wait.”
“Huh?”
“No, something seems to have changed.”
“C-changed?”
“Yes, something. It feels like… you’ve become an adult?”
At Adelia’s words, Cordelia immediately turned red and began to profusely sweat.
As expected of unnie.
Unnie is also a beast.
It doesn’t make sense otherwise.
Even so, how could she tell by just looking at my face?
Adelia narrowed her brows even further in response to Cordelia’s suspicious reaction. And at some point, she widened her squinted eyes and said.
“Hey, Cordelia. Did you…for real?”
Instead of answering, Cordelia closed her lips and avoided her gaze, so Adelia let out a long sigh.
She turned her head towards the man who dragged her kind, gentle, and innocent younger sister into the abyss of corruption.
As for the culprit.
The deceiver and beast focused only on his front while ignoring the glare coming from behind him.
“I’m glad that you’re okay.”
“Yes, I’m glad that you’re okay too. My sister-in-law looks healthy too.”
Jude smiled at Ga?l’s usual relaxed answer.
He was less playful and more mature than before, perhaps because he was now married.
‘It could also be because of the battlefield.’
Anyway, it was really nice to meet Ga?l here.
“Older brother, father and father-in-law are…”
“They are somewhere else. Thanks to the pouch you left behind, they had a lot of things to prepare.”
“It looks like it was delivered well. How is Maja?”
“Well, she is fine.”
“Huu…”
Jude unconsciously sighed in relief after hearing about Maja’s well-being.
Because of the memories of the other Jude who had reached the sword horizon.
‘Maja…’
He had heard that she was fine, but he also wanted to meet her.
This time, he really wanted to protect her.
“Jude?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. Rather, older brother. I want you to tell me what had happened.”
They were still in the battlefield, and the battle had just ended.
But thinking about what could have happened in the past month or perhaps two months, Jude got impatient.
“I understand. But let’s talk together.”
Having said that, Ga?l called Adelia and Cordelia before he began talking.
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