Chapter 25 – Surprise, Betrayal, Stasis

Episode 25: Surprise, Betrayal, Stasis

The second fireball didn’t come flying at me.
He aimed at Marianne and Rebekah.

Kwaaang!

“Kukssok! Rebekah, Marie!”

There is a riot. Dirt obscured the view.
The first fireball is full of smoke, and the dust obscures the view… No way?

“Marie! Physical barrier!
They rush!”

I took out a dagger from my clothes that had fallen nearby and charged into the dust.

Damn it
With the first fireball, Marianne’s divine shield is changed to a magic defense type, and Zach attempts to charge with her sword.
It’s extremely difficult to spread both types of defenses alone.

“Aww!”

Caang!

“Hold on Liv a little longer!”

“Sir, freckles!”

Marianne’s urgent voice.
Hearing my voice, Rebekah seems to have prayed for her physical shield instead of Marianne, but it won’t last long.

I find the profile of Zach knocking through the shield in the dust.

Paper weave…

Rebekah’s physical defense quickly went gold.

“Bout!”

Scott!

My thrust aimed at Zach deflected, and instead a red line was drawn on the skin of my naked forearm.
Damn, that’s the method I just used on Zach!
Zach cleverly thrust the blade of the dagger and cut my arm with minimal movement.

“Huh, boss.
You are impatient.
Do you use it only after attacking naked?”

Don’t fall for such a provocation.
Even if you raise your defense with stone armor magic, it’s hard to regain initiative.

If so, it’s an attack!

Casts a memorized spell when charging.

“Slow”

Tsutsutsu!

Zach’s body movements suddenly slow down like a person drowning.
I approach quickly and try to throw a dagger,

Shuqack!

“Cheet!”

This time, Ludvik swings his hatchet to make him back.
Ludvik swung a hatchet at Rebekah’s shield as soon as he evaded with a backstep.

Quaang!

“Kyaaaaagh!”

Stay calm.
Don’t be impatient with the screams.
Think…
It should last for about two rooms.

I hear the sound of armor crashing behind me.

“Yes! He’s coming!”

They are mind control prisoners called by magic signal.
We’ve got dozens of reinforcements here!
At that moment, Ludvik falls behind Jacques and casts a spell.

“Memories of hot star fragments hidden behind the black sun…”

“All scattered!
It’s a Phoenix Storm!”

Dispersing the rushing reinforcements, I rush to disrupt Ludvik’s spell.

“Where!”

“Seokgap!”

Visor! Kagagak!

Zach blocking my way.
I strengthen my body with stone armor magic and push forward.
Zach’s sword that touched me was blocked by the stone-hardened skin, and my sword was blocked by the armor Zach hid under his clothes.
Shit, I expected you to hit me, right?

“Whoops, fighting hard, captain.
How long can you last?”

Rattle.

At that moment, the right board holding the dagger began to tingle.
Blood lines on my right arm that come into my eyes.
No way…

“Welcome, is this your first time using an anesthetic dagger?”

You put an instant-acting anesthetic on your dagger!
I wasn’t just defensive to buy Phoenix Storm casting time.

My simple plan of holding out with the help of reinforcements was so easily thwarted.

Phoenix Storm is a wide-area skill that uses the target’s life force as fuel to create a burning bird of flame.
Those two who are behind in numbers are a draw that will turn the situation around at once.

“Wheeik!”

I pour magic into my whistles and call on three of the most powerful of the mind-controlling prisoners.
Paladin escort captain, traitor Chris, bandit underboss.

While I block the Phoenix Storm with spells and keep Zak in check, if they subdue Ludwig…

Instant chill down the spine.
Something is strange.
No, that’s wrong.

I can’t hear the sound I should hear

For example, the sound of Ludvik’s chanting while reciting the Phoenix Storm’s incantation…

“How are you, chief?
Haven’t you ever seen a guy who uses two fireballs?
This is very difficult.”

“… !”

Instead of a phoenix, Ludvik was holding a fireball the size of a man in each hand.

Double spell.
No, it’s ‘Delayed Fireball’.
After delaying the activation of the first fireball, I made a second fireball.

… I canceled the spell before the Phoenix Storm reacted, and switched to that while Zach drew attention with the tranquilizer dagger…

Crazy.
Got hit

“Bye!”

Huong, Huong!
Fireballs fly
One to Rebekah, and the other to me.

The world seems slow.

Marianne, Rebekah, and I gave up on my words to scatter and ran in the opposite direction.
The three are separated by a triangle.
The reinforcements were told to disperse, and the three who approached again were far from blocking the fireball.

Rebekah didn’t have time to pray, and I didn’t have time to recite the incantation because I was calling reinforcements.
The kaleidoscope flashes.

Marianne’s expression wavered.

As if making up her mind, Marianne’s foot kicked the ground.

“Shield of the Sun!”

Wow!

A plosive sound like a hammer hitting the side of her ear against her steel plate is heard.
So much that my ears tingle.
I can see the back of Marianne with her arms outstretched to protect me through her dust and her smoke.

I am so grateful for her…
And my ugly self… Hate it like crazy

Was it because he told me to protect me with magical power proportional suggestion?
Was it because he became loyal to me through mental control?

… Marianne chose me.
She is not her best friend who stood by her side…

[Lol… Master, I love you.]

[The owner is also Cha-am,
If you look at Marie too much, I get jealous too… !]

She was just using it to approach her saint, but she is a nun who blended her body and relied on me to live.
She was not the object of revenge,
Never intervened in war,
I just lived a good life every day…
But why… This happened to her…

I don’t have the courage to look there through the dust and smoke.

As much as his right arm was numb, his chest ached as if it had been stabbed with a knife…

Regardless of my feelings, my left hand moves nonchalantly, and armed mind control prisoners surround the smoke.

“Come out. I’ll make a bag alive.”

“…”

“I can’t forgive.
Traitors.
Rebekah’s blood is not enough for your screams.
Grind it with a handful of blood…”

“Oh, you talk a lot.”

Two people walking in front of me through the smoke.
No, two and one.

“… Rebekah!”

Rebekah passes out in Jacques’ arms and gets stuck in her eyes.

“Hey, that’s why they say don’t settle for women too much…
Anyway, big breasts girl, you passed. It’s fine.”

Jacques winks at Marianne.

“What trick?”

“What trick is it?
Test paper.
How do you believe in those twins with big breasts and work together?
We won’t believe it until we see it with our own eyes.
Is not it?”

“That’s right.
And honestly, it’s too noisy at night.
Aren’t you off guard, naked, and sleeping naked with women on?
Only two people are struggling with an ambush.
You’ve grown weak, Captain.”

Ludvik walking forward.

“…I don’t understand what you mean.
Pass Rebekah to the soldier on your left, and raise his hands above his head.”

“No, so I understand that the big breasts girl has become the boss’s subordinate, but I have to be able to trust her.
So I tried it.”

“Okay, Liv hand it over. Hurry up!”

“For now, let’s talk about us.
They won’t listen if you don’t have hostages.”

“That’s right.
If he had intended to kill him, he would have coated the dagger with biotoxin instead of an anesthetic.
Ludwig must have thrown a real fireball at the end, not a goblin fire.”

Dokkaebi fire only once at the end.
The only thing I threw at Rebekah was the wisp of fire.
So what did you throw at me?
If Marie hadn’t stopped it, I would have been hit?

“Did you really throw it at me?
Twice?”

“Since the captain is the captain, I wanted to know how to stop him.
Well, if you can’t block that much and get beaten, then you’re not a commander worth following.
Have you ever seen a demon following a weaker commander?”

As the demons grow older, their combat power does not decrease significantly.
If you want to lower your combat power, honorably
You may even decide to retire.

“Ah, so you tested whether you can make a big deal out of it?”

“I heard you lost the magic duel with Nene-sama?
I heard that he lost even after using his ultimate skill, Mind Control.
Shouldn’t you also check how many years you’ve been out of touch with humans?
I’ve seen him having sex with human women the past few days.”

“You’re right.
Do you know how the demons work?
You have to see it with your own eyes to believe it.”

“Ah. So you tried it by destroying the entire tent to be realistic?”

“If you want to fool your enemies, you have to fool your allies first.
Shouldn’t you realize the true meaning of those big breasts?
I’ll see if I have the skills to entrust to you, such as double duty and double duty.”

… I really think it might have worked because I thought that way, I want to.

“Yeah… I know.
I’ll make up for it, Liv, come here.”

“It’s not extenuating circumstances, it’s because it’s normal.”

“Camyu-nim…!”

Jacques grumbles, but steps forward and hands Rebekah.

Marianne held me back, but I went past her and took her Rebekah.
The sight of an ordinary young lady fainting naked without a blanket was not so welcome.

When I received Rebekah, I immediately snapped my fingers.

Cheeky!

My men drew spears at Zach and Ludwig, closing the encirclement.

“No, what’s wrong?!
Didn’t you hear us?! “

“Yeah, that’s right.
I heard
I also learned not to trust others blindly.”

Fuck!

Let’s snap our fingers one more time,

“Ugh!
Oh my head…”

“Leader!?”

“It’s up to you to find out if what you’re saying is true or if you’re just talking about it because you’re about to lose.”

When he had time to spare, he interfered with the minds of Zach and Ludvik with mental interference and subdued them.

It’s probably a matter of hypnosis and asking if what they say is true.
If true…
What can I do to relieve the heat?

“Tie up. I will interrogate you.”

“Keu. Keuuk! Captain!”

The night seems to be getting longer.

* * *

“Ah, my dear~~
You hypnotized me and checked everything, right? .
Stop being angry and let go…”

“That’s right, Captain…
Hanging upside down for so long now
I’m dying of blood rushing to my head…”

“…”

“Captain, we made a mistake…
I won’t do that again… “

“…”

I tie up Jacques and Ludwig to the side of the carriage and hang them upside down.

I was hypnotized and as they said, it was confirmed that this was done simply to confirm Marianne’s reliability and loyalty.

However, apart from that, the anger over the incident is not resolved at all.

“Leader…”

“I know, so be quiet.
It’s all here.”

I gained enlightenment through the deception rebellion of the two demon foot soldiers.
Thanks to this, I rode a horse and came with light armor and a talisman, as well as an appropriate amount of orders, and thoroughly guarded against the fortune teller.

Certainly you are correct in pointing out that I am indolent and careless.
After that, he did not even sleep with Rebekah and Marianne unless it was necessary to enhance hypnosis.
Instead, just hold a meeting.

“Captain, the great and genius hypnotist Kamyu…
Don’t do that, take good care of us…”

Leaving behind Jacques and Ludwig’s whining, he got off the horse.

“You guard the area near this hut, and you fetch firewood.
You guys should take turns on the night guard duty.
Number of animals. Rebekah.
Wait in the carriage for a while.”

I take a deep breath, and enter the outdoor warehouse/cabin used by the 3rd shop of my herbalist, Grande Army.

Sigh.

“Oh, master!
How are you?!?
He urgently called me through a pigeon letter and came running with one step.”

Eva, whom she hadn’t seen in a while, was sitting in her chair, and she jumped up to greet me.

“You’ve worked hard, Eva.”

“What else could there be for the old maid to suffer?
If the master calls, it will come in a month.”

My faithful human maid, Eva.
Thanks to you, many things worked out well.
Even when I was drunk, even when I emptied the herbalist.

“No, I’m grateful.
… Long time no see.”

“It’s been so long since I haven’t seen you, such an embarrassing statement…”

“No.
I haven’t seen you in years.”

“…Yes?
When we departed for the refugee camp a few days ago, we greeted…”

I bowed down to her and greeted her.

“It’s been a while, Master…”