Chapter 5: The Wizard of the Wetlands
Ered played his sword in rapid succession.
A state of total imrsion.
“Aaargh!”
Every ti the blade drew a line, soone inevitably scread.
The Black Hound did not just take the beating quietly.
Guns and swords flew at him from all directions.
However, none of it could reach Ered.
“Die!”
Taking advantage of the chaos, one hunting dog who caught Ered's back delivered a decisive strike.
Clang!
The hunting dog looked back and forth between the dagger in his hand and Ered.
“Huh?”
Why did his hand feel numb as if he had struck tal?
He had definitely plunged it properly into the back.
Furthermore, Ered was only wearing a uniform.
He wasn't wearing any armor at all.
The attempt was good, but the ambush was a failure as a result.
The price was heavy.
“Aaah, aaaaaagh!!”
The hunting dog wailed as he stared at his missing left arm.
A face overco with panic.
“Hmm.”
Ered reviewed the situation from a mont ago.
A 50-to-1 fight.
Because it was such a lee, his reaction to the surprise attack from behind was late.
In the end, he had no choice but to take the attack by rotating his mana circuits to partially reinforce a section of his body.
‘Still a long way to go.’
Mistakes are not tolerated in battle.
Because they are directly linked to one's life.
To avoid repeating the sa mistake, review is the only answer.
“Do that again just now.”
Ered grabbed the guy's shoulder so he couldn't collapse.
“Ugh-huhu! What kind of bullshit is that, you son of a bitch!”
“You stabbed my back with a dagger. Do it again.”
After finishing those words, he turned his back to the hunting dog.
“Stab . I cut off only your left arm on purpose for that. You're right-handed.”
“You crazy bastard!”
In the anti, another hunting dog rushed at Ered.
Thud.
He was thrown back faster than the speed he had co at.
“Can't you see I'm talking?”
Ah.
You won't be able to see now.
The face of the guy hit by Ered's fist was crushed like a broken waterlon.
“Aaaaaaah!!”
The one-ard hunting dog let out a shout close to a shriek and plunged the dagger.
Ered, who had been facing away from the guy, flashed a light in his eyes.
A chilling sensation.
This ti, he felt it clearly.
“Guh-hk—”
The rushing hunting dog sank to the ground on the spot.
Blood flowed down from his deeply cut thigh.
“Thanks. It helped.”
Right before the dagger touched his back.
Using his right foot as an axis, he rotated his body and parried the attack with his Arcane Sword.
Imdiately after, he sliced a long wound into the guy's thigh.
The result was successful.
“Huuuuu....”
The hunting dog could not sit down this ti either.
Because Ered forcibly pulled him upright.
“Don't die yet and hold on a little longer. I think I'll know for sure if we repeat it just one more ti.”
The hunting dog, who was convulsing in pain, soon went limp.
“Dear . He's dead.”
Ered clicked his tongue.
It didn't matter, though.
Because there were still plenty of practice partners.
Slash!
He cuts and cuts again.
‘Is it the end? Already?’
He realized it belatedly.
That there was nothing left to cut.
With a look of regret, he flicked the blood off the blade.
The dead hunting dogs were sprawled all over the place.
‘2 minutes.’
He checked his watch.
It was the ti it took to slaughter the Black Hound.
Only one hunting dog remained.
A yellow liquid was flowing down the crotch of the guy who had slumped down.
‘I should leave this one alive.’
He originally intended to kill them all, but he changed his mind midway.
Because soone would have things they want to hear from the Black Hound.
‘Besides, it’s not fun to cut down a guy who has lost his fighting spirit.’
He tidied up his disheveled appearance.
“What are you doing?”
He sees Vardi and the soldiers standing dazed.
“P-Pardon?”
Vardi blinked his eyes, as if finally coming to his senses.
Ered thumped the hood of the vehicle that had beco a lump of scrap tal.
“Shouldn't we fix the car so we can depart?”
***
Agard Division, 1st Regint, 1st Company, 1st Platoon.
The so-called 111th Platoon.
It was Ered's unit.
“I owe you one.”
The 1st Company Commander held Ered's hand with both of his.
His rank was Captain.
He is strictly Ered's superior.
Nevertheless, his actions were cautious.
He spoke informally, but his attitude was that of treating a VIP.
It is a wise action.
He was an ordinary soldier.
aning he wasn't a Prominence.
The Prominence cadet in front of him would overtake a Captain's rank in an instant.
“Ah. The introduction is late. I am Sailo Wiga.”
“I am Ered Young.”
Upon hearing his na, Company Commander Sailo's eyes sparkled.
“You must have walked a rough path.”
Ered's surna is ‘Young.’
It is a word far from nobility.
Rather, it is the opposite.
It is evidence of being from an orphanage.
Orphanages are places where orphans with all sorts of unfortunate circumstances naturally drift into.
Among them, children abandoned even without nas were common.
In such cases, the orphanage would give them nas arbitrarily.
As a result, they had no choice but to be given roughly made surnas.
If the body was weak, ‘Weak,’ if the stature was small, ‘Little.’
Like that.
Sailo had guessed Ered's background imdiately after hearing his surna.
‘Changing such a surna wouldn't be difficult. Especially now that he has beco a Prominence.’
Nevertheless, Ered stuck to his original surna.
Since he has ascended to a Prominence, no one dares to ignore him.
‘What’s wrong with being from an orphanage?’
It isn't a particularly embarrassing thing.
Rather, I am proud.
I don't an I am proud of my origin.
I an I feel pride in myself for having pushed through that mire successfully.
In other words, the surna Young was a scar of glory.
“It wasn't easy.”
“I feel you are even more incredible, truly.”
I don't know if it's sincerity or flattery.
At least it didn't sound bad.
“Anyway, I thought Vardi was joking at first.”
Sailo muttered as if it still didn't feel real.
“To think you annihilated the Black Hound by yourself.”
There were too many witnesses for it to be a lie.
Especially the soldiers under Vardi were busy praising Ered's exploits.
As if they were treating a hero from a myth.
Besides that, evidence for the achievents Ered built was overflowing.
First, he brought a Black Hound prisoner.
That isn't the only evidence.
If one goes back the way Ered ca, they will be able to find the pack of hunting dogs who had beco cold corpses.
“I have high expectations for you going forward.”
Sailo smiled, showing his teeth.
Prominence is an elite group deployed to important battlegrounds.
They are rare beings on an outlying front like Senev.
Even though he is a cadet, a Prominence has arrived, so he felt reassured.
‘It was a reasonably satisfying debut match.’
Ered was satisfied with himself.
Except for being stabbed in the back with a dagger, it was mostly not bad.
It ans he started on the right foot.
“By the way. Did you find out through what route the Black Hound broke through the Empire's front line?”
Ered asked.
By now, the interrogation of the Black Hound prisoner he had brought must have ended.
“There was no particular gain.”
Sailo shook his head.
“Those hunting dogs were indeed difficult opponents to handle. But the Empire's front line wasn't breached because those guys were exceptional. I think the story will be long. Co this way.”
I followed behind Sailo.
As we left the military camp, long-stretched trenches were visible.
The figures of the Imperial Army watching the front from various parts of the trenches were seen.
Beyond the trenches, a soggy wetland was spread out.
‘The ground is a ss.’
Deeply recessed marks were seen throughout the wetland.
They were traces where a bombardnt had swept through.
It is evidence that the war ongoing here is quite fierce.
A shaded and damp wetland.
It is land with no nutritional value.
It was also the reason why Senev was not the center of the war.
Let alone farming, it is an undeveloped land where it is even hard for people to live.
Even so, we cannot just give the land away for free.
Especially not to the Republic bastards.
“That over there is the Republic's main encampnt.”
Sailo's finger pointed to the high ground across the river.
“You've lost the advantageous high ground.”
Ered furrowed his brows.
It is a composition where the Imperial Army's camp can be looked down upon clearly.
“Until a month ago, that was the Empire's base. It was a trend of pushing the Republic bastards out using that high ground as a starting point.”
What happened in the span of a month?
Ered's curiosity was soon resolved.
A large fire rose from the direction of the high ground.
At first, I thought the Republic bastards were having a campfire.
“Damn it. Starting again.”
Sailo's face crumpled.
It was imdiately after that that the flas were emitted in a straight line.
A beam of light rushing forward with a long tail trailing behind.
“Incoming! Watch out!”
At Sailo's shout, the Imperial Army hid deep within the trenches.
Everyone's movents are agile.
As if this isn't the first ti.
Perhaps because of that, most soldiers succeeded in protecting themselves from the beam.
But not everyone was safe.
“Aaaaagh!”
Soldiers flailing about while engulfed in flas.
Other soldiers hurriedly sprayed fire extinguishers, but the flas did not go out easily.
Ered stared at the flas clinging tenaciously to the soldier's body.
The skin of the entire body lted like candle wax.
It's a horrific sight.
Fortunately, he survived, but at that point, being alive isn't really living.
‘I see why the tide of battle was turned.’
There is a wizard in the enemy camp.
“dic!”
Sailo, checking the condition of his subordinate soldiers suffering from burns.
In the anti, Ered stared at the high ground occupied by the Republic.
Originally, magic was a blessing that only a few people born with talent could enjoy.
However, as the era of magic engineering erged, it beca a world where all citizens of the Empire could enjoy magic.
To be precise, they use devices integrated with magic engineering.
Wizards no longer exist in the Empire.
Magic engineers took their place.
On the other hand, the Republic is different.
Unlike the Empire's magic engineers who study the harmony of mana circuits and machinery, the Republic still focused only on pure magic.
From thousands of years ago when magic existed until today.
If the Empire has Prominence, the Republic has Wizards.
Between the two, there was a commonality of being a very small number of elite personnel that each country boasts of.
‘The Republic sent a Wizard to Senev. To conclude the sluggish local war.’
Ered was the wildcard to counter this.
‘Then I should live up to expectations.’
The Wizard's bombardnt continued after that.
Poof!
Fire arrows flew and burned the granary.
Dark clouds rose in the clear sky and dropped lightning bolts as well.
Ered watched the scene where magic was pouring down without a word.
“Please stop this pain!”
“Mom, mom....”
Soldiers clamoring in the magic bombardnt.
If Ered had stepped in midway, he could have blocked a significant portion of the pouring magic baptism, even if not perfectly.
Those soldiers wouldn't have had to suffer, either.
‘...Now is not the ti to step in.’
Information should not be given to the enemy.
If they realize that a Prominence of the Empire has arrived, the Republic's defenses will beco more thorough.
Sacrifice is forced in war.
The soldiers injured just now are part of the sacrifice.
‘If you are weak, you die.’
Being a Prominence doesn't an you can save everyone.
The image of the dead driver briefly appeared in his head and then vanished.
In the anti, the frequency of the flying magic gradually decreased.
Boom!
With a fireball falling at the edge of the trench as the last, the Wizard's bombardnt signaled its end.
“God damn it.”
Sailo, having finished managing the situation, broke into a cold sweat.
His expression as he looked at his dead company mbers appeared complex.
“It's always like this. We're in a position of being bombed unilaterally. Today the damage is on the small side, at least.”
The Wizard poured magic onto the Imperial Army's position almost every day.
The ti of day and the strike locations were all arbitrary, making it a situation difficult to prepare for.
‘Three sides of the high ground are surrounded by the river.’
Even if one sohow crossed the river, the high ground, which was close to a cliff, was standing firm.
A level no different from a natural fortress.
“Because the ground is high, our artillery fire doesn't reach. It's a situation with no answer.”
“I see why the front line was breached by those Black Hound guys or whatever.”
Ered nodded his head.
Since it's a situation where soldiers are dying day by day, it's natural for the guard to beco loose.
‘In the end, there is only one way.’
The Republic's Wizard must be eliminated.
That will decide the direction of the war taking place on the Eastern Outskirts Front.
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