The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War

「—Next! Keep them coming!!」

「Gotcha! More incoming!」

Even for Raphael, those two were most dependable. Eris and Ripple alone had killed dozens of magic stone beasts in an instant, but it was still a small amount compared to the huge cloud of enemies.

It would be ideal if they could keep up such a tactic, but it would be impossible to exert that much power forever. Once their stamina dropped, they would be swarmed. So, before that happens, Raphael would join and cut down the enemies in batches at once, dispersing them.

After that, the troops behind them could destroy the scattered enemies one by one. Even if some of them reached the Venefique’s side, it should be easier for the Venefian army to deal with scattered and scarce enemies.

「—I shall help! UUOOOooohhhhh!!」

As Raphael shouted, a roar of some gigantic creature thundered in tandem. It was the roar of a dragon, emitted by the Dragon Fang. Right away, Raphael’s body was wrapped in red-colored armor that matched his artifact. Hard, crimson colored wings appeared on the back of his armor.

This was a form change that had developed as he had grown accustomed to handling the Dragon Fang and deepened his bond with the sword. It was proof that the dragon’s power that resided in the artifact was lending Raphael its strength. 1

「Go all out, Raphael!!」

「YES!! DEYAAAAaaaahhhh!!!」

With intent, Raphael kicked the deck of the flygear and leaped upwards. The wings were no decoration; they allowed him to fly and soar like he was a dragon himself. With his sword held in front of his body, he charged through the swarm of magic stone beasts.

Anything in his path was cut into two without so much as a twitch, before burning up and evaporating by the immense heat the sword had provided. Raphael looked down, and he saw nothing but the clean trajectory of his jump, and he could even make out the small figures of Eris and Ripple on the flygear.

But, it was only for a moment. Countless magic stone beasts instantly filled the space, and those girls were out of sight.

「MORE!!」

Raphael continued with his charge, this time cutting through the enemy from above, diagonally down. He was, once again, met with no resistance, and every single beast behind him burned to nothingness.

「I’m still not done!」

Again, he shot through, cutting the swarm in a single horizontal line. This was a tactic he couldn’t adapt in a melee in which friend and foe were intermingled, as he would surely kill his friends too.

He could only use it when he was assaulting a large group all alone. It wasn’t Raphael’s preferred fighting style, but if he had to do it, he would give it all!

「UUOOOOOGHHHHHH!!!」

In a flash of red, Raphael repeatedly charged and cleaved the enemy swarm.

Nevertheless, too many of the magic stones remained, but…

「……good, they’re dispersing!」

Their movement as a group changed. The cloud of magic stone beasts that was heading eastward towards the Venefique all at once was overwhelmed by Raphael alone and began to disperse.

If they were to be compared to an army of humans, it would appear as though they had lost morale and started to scatter in defeat. Raphael had no idea if magic stone beasts were capable of such thoughts, but if they followed their instincts to flee, then it would be the same.

「We just need to sweep up the scattered enemies!」

This was probably time to round them up. Raphael had already used a lot of energy, and fatigue was weighing heavily on him. He couldn’t allow himself to collapse, not now.

He should join up with Eris and Ripple, return to his troops, and take command. Thinking so, Raphael returned to Eris and Ripple’s flygear and ceremonially sheathed the Dragon Fang.

As if on cue, the crimson armor and wings that had enveloped him disappeared, and Raphael was back to his original form.

「Lady Eris, Lady Ripple! The enemy group has collapsed! We’ve done enough, let’s rejoin the main group!」

「Yeah, we should!」

「You two, look at that!」

In the direction Ripple was pointing; in the eastern sky, a squadron of flygears and flygear carriers appeared.

「Are those?!」

「They’re not ours! That’s the Venefian—」

The emblem on the equipment worn by their Knights wasn’t that of Charalia or the Holy Knight Order, but that of the Venefique Kingdom. They must have been set out to intercept the oncoming magic stone beasts.

「They’ll be a huge help in this situation! There are still a lot of magic stone beasts!」2

Although the trio had disrupted a number of them, there were still a lot of the magic stone beasts. If those beasts scattered over a wide area, the possibility of widespread casualties couldn’t be avoided.

This area was far from human settlements, but they would eventually reach a village or a town after a while. There was a necessity to reduce their numbers and destroy them here as much as possible. A help from the Venefian forces would be valuable.

1. Mab: Please don't tell me I'm not the only one who pictures this sequence like future Trunks first appearance.
2. Silva: Too naive, the Venefique army will attack you, not the magic stone beast!

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