Chapter 55 : Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Back to the Main Story (2)

“I’m bored.”

Right in front of the firmly shut castle gate, Artier was letting out a long yawn.

Why was he doing this?

Boom!

A cannonball from the castle wall was fired with an intense sound.

The mana cannon, which scattered with a blue light, looked like a beautiful meteor shower from afar, but to the Hellmorphs who had to face it, it was nothing short of a disaster.

“Keep firing! Don't let them get to the walls!”

The archers shot their arrows, and the magic troopers unleashed all their mana.

Thanks to them, the empty field in front of Kelta Castle was quickly turning into a ruin filled with grotesque pits.

“Wow, that’s spectacular.”

“I know, right?”

However, to Jeina and Artier, who could only see the sky from inside the castle walls, it looked like a mere fireworks display.

The explanation for why the situation had become like this was surprisingly simple.

‘There's nothing to do in the early stages of the battle.’

All the soldiers gathered here were assault troopers.

The only ranged attack they had was a flimsy Mana Bullet.

Except for the few deployed on the walls, they all had to wait in front of the castle gate.

‘It can't be helped. If all the assault troopers went up on the walls, the walls would be packed.’

[You have acquired Experience Points.]

If there was a silver lining, it was that thanks to being in a party, experience points were being distributed evenly to everyone.

Every time Gerard, Bow, and Collie exerted themselves, a small arrow would appear above Artier's head and then disappear.

“Little brother, when can we go out?”

“It'll probably take a while.”

When the archers had to restock their arrows or when the mages' mana ran out.

The assault troopers were deployed to buy time.

The reason they were resting now was to conserve their strength for that time.

I knew that, but…….

“Ugh, I'm so bored.”

The fact that I was doing nothing right now hadn't changed.

“Just be patient for a little longer.”

While trying to soothe Jeina, who looked like she was about to dash out at any moment, Artier felt a prickling sensation on the back of his head.

But when I checked, there was nothing there.

The resting assault troopers were just chatting among themselves.

‘Was it just my imagination?’

Thump.

“Oh, sorry about that.”

Just as I was about to turn my head back, a mercenary who was approaching accidentally bumped into Artier.

He immediately bowed his head and asked for my understanding.

“It's okay.”

It was a polite apology, so Artier wasn't particularly offended.

After the mercenary passed by and I was looking at the situation behind him again, I felt a sense of unease.

‘Huh?’

At first, I thought I might be mistaken.

It was impossible to remember every detail of a scene that had just flashed by.

But despite that, the sense of unease wouldn't go away. It felt like I was facing a changed landscape from what I had seen before.

“What's wrong with me?”

It was a ridiculous thought.

How long had he been in this city to think of it as ‘before’?

Even during his time playing the game, he didn't have many memories of this city. It was just a place he passed through and then forgot.

‘……Game?’

Artier, who was thinking absentmindedly, suddenly lifted his head.

That's right. If he felt a sense of unease in a place he had come to for the first time, it must be because of the difference from what he had seen in the game.

Screech.

Artier stepped back from the castle gate and turned his steps towards the interior of the castle.

Although not exactly the same, there was a clear difference from the image of the castle he remembered.

“Where are you going?”

“To the restroom.”

“Are you nervous or something? Hurry back!”

Leaving Jeina's joke behind, Artier wandered around, searching for the source of the strong sense of unease.

“Huh?”

While doing so, Artier discovered a piece of graffiti, as if scratched with a knife, right next to a closed tavern.

It was a drawing of a bear's face with one eye gouged out.

‘Right, this was it. It wasn't here just a moment ago.’

Artier looked around.

On the walls of the alley, on the signboards, and even on the trees planted along the road.

Graffiti like the one he had just discovered was carved into various wooden structures.

It was enough to get on Artier's nerves.

‘Who drew this?’

Artier followed the graffiti that continued beyond the wall.

The graffiti led to an outlying area to the west, quite far from the castle gate.

Thump, thump.

Artier, who was moving forward while surveying his surroundings, held his breath when he heard footsteps coming from an alley that turned to the side.

Quietly peeking his head out, he saw a sturdy young man using a dagger to carve the same graffiti he had seen so far on a nearby wall.

‘So that's the person who made the graffiti.’

Just in case, Artier checked his appearance. But he wasn't wearing any suspicious clothing, nor did he have a face that Artier remembered.

Moreover, after finishing the graffiti, he looked around with an anxious expression and hurriedly moved to another location, looking clumsy like a novice.

‘What is this? What is he doing?’

Artier tried to rack his brain, but he had no memory of an NPC who behaved like this.

There was no way Artier would have forgotten an NPC who was so openly exuding a suspicious aura.

‘Could he be a remnant of the bandit group?’

Bandits were not a group that wore uniforms like a knightly order.

If they took off their masks and changed their clothes a little, it would be a simple matter to shake off the pursuit of the soldiers.

‘Let's follow him.’

Artier muffled his footsteps and followed the man.

“Ugh, this is hard.”

The man really did seem to be a novice.

No matter how many soldiers were gathered at the walls and the gate, he didn't even look behind him and was even muttering to himself while panting.

Before long, the man entered a dark hut.

In the place he arrived, about ten people of various ages were gathered.

“Village chief, I've finished marking all the buildings that man talked about.”

“Well done, Kai.”

‘That man?’

It seemed they were moving under someone's orders.

The old man, called the village chief, patted the man's shoulder and then signaled to the people beside him.

“Go and plant them all near the marked spots. Be careful not to be seen.”

“Yes.”

Artier looked closely at the box in front of them and was startled.

[Siege Magic Bomb (Common)]

Attack Power: 25

Option: (Siege) Applies 1,000% of attack power during a siege attack

A metallic sphere with a sparkling blue line drawn on it.

A box was filled to the brim with bombs, each one capable of half-destroying the hut they were gathered in.

‘You're going to plant all of those at the graffiti locations?’

Artier recalled the buildings where the graffiti was.

There were a few buildings on the outskirts of the walls, but most of them were located on the route leading to the center of the castle.

At this point, when everyone was preparing for battle, no personnel were deployed on the path leading to the center of the castle. It seemed they planned to take advantage of that gap to plant the bombs.

‘This is insane. What's the benefit of blowing this place up?’

It seemed I needed more information.

As Artier listened more closely, Kai, as if he had been waiting, sighed and began to complain to the village chief.

“But is this really the right thing to do? Even if no one gets hurt, blowing up someone else's building……”

The man called the village chief remained silent for a moment at Kai's words.

It seemed the old man's heart was not at ease either.

“It can't be helped.”

“Village chief……”

“Don't be so soft-hearted. Are you going to say that in front of your fiancée? That this isn't right, so let's starve to death together?”

“……”

“I was the one who agreed to this. So if anyone is to take responsibility, it will be me.”

“I understand……”

Kai lowered his head.

Having heard that much, Artier stopped listening and was lost in thought.

It seemed they didn't know the exact reason for blowing the place up either.

‘It seems they have their reasons……. They don't know what they're doing at all.’

Even if there were no casualties, what they were trying to do was a clear act of terrorism.

Besides, they were mistaken about one thing.

If they were doing it knowingly, it would be one thing, but if they were doing it unknowingly, I felt I had to stop them.

“……”

Artier placed his hand on his sword and stepped out from his hiding place.

“Who's there!”

As soon as Artier appeared, the people became extremely wary and glared at him.

In their hands were farming tools such as rakes, shovels, and scythes.

“I heard you were planning to bring down the castle with those.”

Artier looked around.

He was surrounded without a single gap, but he felt no sense of crisis.

And for good reason, as they were all level 3.

‘What's with this confidence?’

At this point, being level 3 meant they were weaker than a neighborhood thug.

At that level, they wouldn't be able to properly handle not only Artier, but even a single nearby soldier.

“How on earth did you get here?!”

Artier glanced at Kai, who was sweating profusely.

“K-kill him!”

At that moment, with the village chief's shout, everyone there rushed towards Artier.

‘What a pain.’

Crack! Thwack! Thud!

“Guk!”

“Kaaak!”

“Ugh!”

But they were no match for him.

In the first place, the level difference was too great.

No one could even properly block a single punch thrown lightly by Artier.

After knocking down all who had rushed at him, Artier approached the trembling village chief and Kai.

“D-don't come any closer!”

“Give up now. You're being deceived.”

“What did you say?”

Artier pointed to a map hanging on the wall.

The map they had put up for their own planning showed all the locations where the bombs were to be planted.

“The underground of Kelta Castle is intricately intertwined with a mana circuit using Mana Stones.”

Thanks to this mana circuit, there was a setting where players could receive buffs in the town and find it very easy to use magic.

Above all, thanks to this circuit, the maintenance magic applied to various buildings could continuously receive mana.

“The enhancement effects obtained from registering for a trooper type are also all maintained through that mana circuit.”

“What does that have to do with demolishing these buildings?”

“It's related. The Mana Stones that maintain that mana circuit are buried right under the buildings you're trying to demolish.”

“What?”

Mana Stones to maintain the mana circuit are buried here and there under Kelta Castle.

Since they were used in the castle's construction, they must be of a fairly high grade, but they wouldn't be able to hold up after a barrage of siege bombs exploded.

‘The location of the Mana Stones is usually a top-secret matter……. How did these people know?’

Artier, who had been sidetracked for a moment, immediately continued his story.

“If the mana circuit in this area is destroyed, the sluice gate system to the west will immediately break down. The closed sluice gates will be forced open.”

“So, will there be a flood?”

The village chief asked back with a hardened expression.

But Artier shook his head.

“In the long run, maybe. But for now, something more terrible will happen.”

In the first place, this was not a time when a flood would occur just by opening the sluice gates.

The fundamental reason for keeping the sluice gates closed was elsewhere.

“The monsters will be able to enter through the opened sluice gates.”

That's right.

What they were trying to do now was to create an infiltration route for the Hellmorphs.

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