Chapter 53 : Chapter 53

Chapter 53. I Will Show You the True Terror of Black Magic (3)

The Viscount’s expression clearly showed the sentiment, ‘What did this crazy bastard just say?’

In his eyes, each and every one of the soldiers from the Schneider fiefdom showed skills comparable to a first-class knight.

And he was using such men as mere soldiers?

It made no sense.

Everyone wishes to be treated according to their abilities.

Even Viscount Preis himself knew that if he treated his knights like soldiers, they would break their oaths and leave for somewhere else.

Yet this crazy bastard was calling these men who seemed to be at least 3-star level soldiers and spouting nonsense about it being economical.

‘Wait, if that’s the case, then perhaps…’

“Why? Are you tempted?”

Viscount Preis, who had been lost in thought for a moment, was startled.

Seeing his expression, which showed he had been hit right on the mark, Patrick smirked and said.

“Well, if you can poach them, go ahead and try.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Yes. I won’t stop them if they say they’re leaving.”

“……”

At Patrick’s words, Viscount Preis looked at Patrick with a puzzled expression.

Patrick’s demeanor was one of complete confidence that his soldiers would not betray him and would follow him to the end.

As if to say that his men would not be swayed by things like money and power, even though those things could tempt a great many people.

“Do you trust them that much?”

“Well, there is some trust, but more than that, it doesn't really matter to me if they leave.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s their life, so they should make their own choices.”

“……”

Patrick spoke magnanimously, and Viscount Preis, looking at him, was genuinely impressed.

‘He is of a different caliber. If only my son were even half like this young man…’

Poaching such a force would be a problem significant enough to warrant a duel or a territorial war.

Yet Patrick spoke as if to say, ‘take them if you can.’

In this moment, Viscount Preis felt overwhelmed by Patrick, who was not even half his age.

He could see a fragment of a hero in Patrick, who was still just the young son of a noble house without even a title.

And Patrick glanced up at the sky and said.

“The arrows are gone. It seems the archers have been dealt with as well.”

“Huh? Hmm, it seems so.”

Indeed, now that he thought about it, the arrows had stopped flying.

It seemed the soldiers who had been instructed by Patrick had swiftly navigated the rough mountain and dealt with all the archers.

During that process, no commotion or noise was heard.

It meant they had been dealt with one-sidedly.

‘The skills of those who moved to deal with the archers must be on a similar level to these men. That means there are at least 100 aura-wielding soldiers. …This is insane.’

Viscount Preis trembled.

He had only known the Schneider fiefdom as a barren region that governed the most dangerous land in the east.

But he had no idea that such monsters were lying in wait in that barren land.

“Hmm, is that about it?”

Patrick, who was assessing the battle situation, said to Viscount Preis.

“Viscount. You may now advance with your shields spread wide.”

“Now?”

“Yes. Please secure our allies and block the zombies.”

“I understand.”

Viscount Preis obediently followed Patrick’s instructions.

“All troops, crescent formation. Surround the enemy.”

“Yes, sir!”

Under the Viscount’s command, his army changed formation from a semicircle to a concave crescent moon shape and began to envelop the zombies.

With the arrows from the sky gone, the soldiers cornered the zombies with even greater stability.

There were no more soldiers falling into confusion.

The zombies were herded by the shield soldiers’ formation and concentrated in one area.

And after the zombies were gathered in one place….

“You have done well, Viscount Preis.”

“Count Parmas.”

Finally, the Count’s main force, which had been following from behind, arrived.

What the Count saw upon his arrival was the near-annihilated forces of the Haspir and Baison families.

And amidst that, the army of Viscount Preis, maintaining a perfectly sharp formation and cornering the zombies.

“Excellent. As expected of you, Viscount.”

“Not at all, my Lord Count. This achievement is not mine…”

“Hahaha. There is no need for modesty.”

The soldiers of the Schneider fiefdom, who had been active under Patrick’s command, had already safely rescued their allies and returned to their formation.

Therefore, Count Parmas had not properly witnessed the remarkable exploits of the Schneider army's soldiers.

For a moment, Viscount Preis looked at Patrick with an uneasy gaze.

Although it was unintentional, it had become a situation where he had effectively stolen the other's merit. But Patrick said with a nonchalant expression.

“Thank you for indulging my whim of wanting to observe your tactics from a close distance, Viscount.”

“Young… Patrick?”

“Thanks to you, I have learned a great deal. I have realized that there is no falsehood in the great fame of Viscount Preis, the veteran general of the east with abundant practical experience.”

“……”

Leaving the dumbfounded Viscount Preis, the Count Parmas next to him said.

“Hahaha. The young man has a great passion for learning. Yes, that is how it should be in one’s youth.”

“Thank you. Then I will now withdraw.”

And Patrick took a step back, giving a small signal to Viscount Preis with his eyes.

‘Just let it go.’

‘…If that is what you wish.’

Although he felt uncomfortable, as if he were stealing the credit, Viscount Preis realized this was what Patrick wanted and decided to cooperate.

And Count Parmas said.

“Zombies. It seems the black mage had a trap prepared after all.”

“Yes. He gathered a large number of corpses, including the bandits and the previous punitive force, and raised them as zombies.”

“We could have been in big trouble. But thanks to the Viscount, things became easy. Isn't that right, Condor?”

“Yes. That is correct, my Lord Count.”

The one who answered Count Parmas' words was a middle-aged magician who was on standby behind him to his right.

The only noble family in the east that had a magician was the Parmas family.

Maintaining a single magician required almost as much money as operating an entire knightly order.

This was because it wasn't just about paying a high salary; one also had to support their research and training.

The only noble in the east who could afford that was Count Parmas.

But at times like this, the money-guzzling magician more than earned his keep.

“I will blow them away in one shot.”

And the magician raised his staff and began to cast a spell.

A magic circle appeared at his feet, and unintelligible runic words flowed from his mouth in a mystical voice.

‘Hoh… so that’s magic. Should I watch before I go?’

Patrick, who was about to leave as he had things to do, decided to at least watch the magician’s spell before leaving.

He knew of the existence of magic since he was born into this world. He had actually seen some scrolls and magical tools.

But this was the first time he was seeing a magician actually use magic.

‘I wonder what it will look like?’

Patrick watched the magician chanting the spell with a fluttering heart. However….

“It’s taking quite a while.”

“Shh, Young Master.”

“Ah, why?”

“You must not disturb the magician while he is concentrating. If the magic backfires, there could be an accident.”

“Is that so?”

“You didn't know?”

“Of course, I didn't know. It’s my first time seeing a magician.”

“Kuuuh…”

Sanson sighed.

Right. What can I expect from you.

Leaving Sanson, who had an expression that said just that, Patrick continued to watch the magician.

‘It’s like he’s manipulating and weaving ki from the outside. Wow… it actually works. But isn’t that really dangerous?’

Patrick, who had an extraordinary sense of ki, was watching the flow of magic.

The complex flow of ki that was swirling around the magician.

“Hmm…”

He was arranging and manipulating the flow of ki externally into a certain form, concentrating ki, no, mana, in a specific area.

And the properties of that concentrated mana changed, and finally….

Fwoooosh!

“Ooooh!”

“The magician is letting one fly!”

“Everyone, be careful!”

A large fireball the size of a boulder appeared above the magician’s head.

And the magician thrust his staff forward and shouted.

“Fire Bomber!”

Then the large, boulder-like flame shot forward and exploded on the clumped-up zombies.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

A tremendous explosion occurred, so powerful that the ground shook slightly.

And the zombies engulfed in that explosion were literally burned to black ash, without even their bones left to be collected.

The effect was further amplified because the zombies were clumped together in one place due to the crescent formation of Viscount Preis' army.

“As expected of the magician.”

“Hahaha. How do you like that, you zombie bastards!”

About 90 percent of the swarming zombies were blown away by a single spell.

At that sight, the morale of the allied forces reached its peak, and Count Parmas said.

“Deal with the remaining zombies!”

“Yes, sir!”

And the knightly order of the Count’s family, having received his instructions, advanced with their soldiers to subjugate the remaining zombies. And….

“Hmmm… hmm… hmmm….”

Patrick, who had been watching everything from behind, seemed to be deep in thought with his arms crossed.

“Young Master. What is wrong?”

“Hold on. Let me think.”

“……”

You, thinking? You?

You knew how to do that?

Sanson looked at Patrick with a dubious expression, but Patrick was lost in serious contemplation for the first time in a long while.

“Magic, magic, huh…”

At first, it seemed like nothing much.

It was a dangerous way of arranging ki to do strange things, and it took a long time.

It seemed to take about a minute, and in that time, Patrick could cut off the opponent’s neck, bury them in the ground, and engrave ‘An idiot who died because he was slow’ on their tombstone. However….

‘The destructive power was decent.’

The destructive power of the single spell created with such effort was considerable.

There were guys called sorcerers and whatnots in the Jianghu, but 99 percent of them were scammers, and the things the real sorcerers did were limited to creating jiangshi or deceiving with strange illusions.

He had never heard of or seen anything like creating a fireball and blasting it away so spectacularly.

‘I want it. Is there a way to get one?’

He had thought about it before, but it seemed it would be really nice to have a magician. However….

“Well, that’s for later. For now, I should finish what I have to do.”

“Young Master? What are you talking about?”

Patrick looked at Sanson and said.

“Sanson, take the men and go to Father.”

“What about you, Young Master.”

“I’ll be back after taking care of some business.”

“Yes? Here?”

And Patrick ran off somewhere before Sanson had a chance to stop him.

“You… Young Master. Hey, you brat!”

It goes without saying, but if Patrick decided to run, no one could catch him.

“Huk… hukhuk….”

The face of the black mage, running through the rough mountain path with the hem of his robe fluttering, was pale.

‘What is that? What are those monsters?’

He thought even as he fled.

Originally, it should have been an easy job.

He had taken over the bandit group, used them to annihilate one punitive force already, and was perfectly breaking the enemy’s spearhead this time as well.

He was steadily annihilating the enemy's vanguard, and if he had reanimated their newly created corpses into zombies to face the army coming up from behind, it would have been an easy victory.

He thought it was a surefire strategy, as the more the number of zombies increased, the stronger they became, and the enemy army would be weakened.

No, it didn't have to be a surefire victory.

In fact, his mission was to cause as much bloodshed here as possible, so it wasn't a loss even if all the zombies died and the bandits were subjugated.

It would be enough if the battle just escalated greatly.

But some strange guys appeared out of nowhere, and things went wrong.

Swordsmen with swords in both hands appeared and showed unbelievable skill, wiping out all the zombies.

Since they were all individuals who had entered the state of wielding aura, curses didn't work on them either.

On top of that, they penetrated into the forest and wiped out the bandits who were shooting arrows.

Because of those guys, the tide of battle was quickly settled.

The black mage’s original plan had been completely ruined.

He quickly fled when things went wrong. Now that it had come to this, he had to retreat for now.

Retreating now was not a complete failure.

“If I just retrieve the item now and go, the cult won’t abandon me.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Of course. As long as I retrieve the item… huh?”

The black mage, who had been talking, was startled.

When he came to his senses, he heard an unfamiliar voice right behind him.

When he turned his head, there was…

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.