novelnext Chapter 192 : Rout (2)
Chapter 192 : Rout (2)
“......”“Huff... Huff...”
“Well done, Francia.”
“Of course... I had to... There's no way I could just stand by and let someone like her do whatever she wanted.”
After reassuring the exhausted Francia, I pointed toward the speechless enemies with a smirk.
“Well, this is awkward. You couldn't even execute your own traitors properly.”
“...There's nothing to worry about. We can simply execute them again starting now.”
Despite Francia's overwhelming display, the enemies showed little sign of panic.
Instead, the killing intent radiating from them intensified.
The situation had reached the point where the Chairwoman only needed to move a single finger for an all-out battle to begin.
I quickly assessed the situation as objectively as possible.
If they had at least kept the three restrained like before, it would have been one thing.
But allowing them to join our side while relying solely on the code had been a clear mistake.
Maximilian and Eric aside, Dale would undoubtedly become a reliable fighting force.
Of course, adding that much strength alone wasn't enough to overcome our current disadvantage.
Rubia and Meriel, who specialized in fighting large numbers, could somehow hold off the ordinary members behind us.
But asking the remaining seven of us to face the fifteen executives at the front—including Charlotte—was practically impossible.
We couldn't even guarantee victory against the Chairwoman alone.
Adding fourteen more opponents on top of that...
I didn't even want to imagine it.
'If there's any way out... it's over there.'
The passage whose entrance had been physically blocked by the enemy.
They hadn't collapsed the entire tunnel.
If we could just remove that pile of rubble sealing the entrance, we'd have a path to escape.
The passage itself was extremely narrow, so even one or two people could hold off the pursuers.
And once we reached the surface, the enemy would have no choice but to abandon the chase.
Of course, they might refuse to give up.
Even so, escaping outside would unquestionably give us a far better chance of surviving.
'The problem is... there's no way they'll just sit back and watch us do that.'
There weren't many large boulders mixed into the pile.
If I timed it correctly, a single slash from Lukezax would be enough to clear it away.
But whether I could actually create that opportunity...
Even I wasn't confident.
'I need to hold back at least six of them, including Charlotte.'
To do that...
I had no choice but to use every ounce of strength available to me.
Even if it cost me everything, I had to get them safely out of here.
Clenching my teeth, I spoke inwardly.
'So I'm asking you, Clina.'
— ...Is there truly no other option?
'No.'
— As you can feel yourself, this situation is completely different from when you fought the mercenaries. Every one of them is stronger than those soldiers, and one among them is powerful enough that even if you gave everything you had, you still couldn't defeat her.
'I know.'
— You will have to risk your life. Even then, at most two of them might die. And despite that, you're still willing to do it? Just to save them?
'You already know that's everything to me.'
— ......
'Besides, who knows? Maybe risking my life is exactly what will let me survive.'
— ...What kind of absurd logic is that?
'If you seek to live, you'll die. If you're willing to die, you'll live.'
After saying only that, I assumed my stance.
Taking a deep breath, I gathered every bit of mana circulating through my body and concentrated it at the tip of my sword.
Then—
Rumble...
The entire area suddenly began to shake violently, drawing everyone's attention toward one side.
“...What's this?”
“No way...”
The tremors grew stronger and stronger.
Then, with an earth-shattering roar, they reached their peak.
KWAAAAAANG!!
A massive explosion erupted from the direction of the passage.
Most of the enemy executives blocking the entrance were blasted backward.
“WAAAAAH!”
“W-What the hell?!”
Even through the thick cloud of dust, I could clearly make out the silhouettes of those three figures.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
“...Seriously. I couldn't ask for more reliable allies.”
As the dust settled, the three figures finally revealed themselves.
The strongest trio in the entire Ribenia Empire.
“Don't thank me, Eugene Carter. I didn't come here for your sake.”
“You're really not honest at all.”
“We'll rescue all of you now.”
The three Executors stood back-to-back, raising their weapons in perfect coordination.
Executor of Blood, Karen Rosefield.
Executor of Earth, Betty Scarletwood.
Executor of Light, Luke Honorlight.
Even if only two of them joined forces, they could overwhelm most elite units within the Empire.
In fact, despite the Imperial Special Task Force, Karbenna, and Duel—Mallet joining forces, the battle against Dellowell had ended with only a slight advantage.
No one could deny that the two Executors had been the greatest reason for that result.
If two of them were already that overwhelming...
Then the synergy created when all three fought together far exceeded anyone's imagination.
In truth, the only force within the Empire capable of matching the complete trio was the Imperial regular army.
...This battle proved that rumor true.
“AAAAARGH!”
“G-Gah...!”
Karen Rosefield—a living weapon whose physical abilities had reached the very limits of the human body.
Betty Scarletwood—an all-rounder who couldn't match Karen physically, but possessed an even greater variety of support abilities.
Luke Honorlight—the Empire's strongest holy mage, hailed as the ultimate anti-Beast weapon.
Six of those who boldly charged at them were instantly crushed.
Witnessing their overwhelming performance, even the pursuing forces in the rear gradually began to retreat.
Whether an army was large or small didn't matter.
Once its morale broke, the battle was already over.
The appearance of those three alone had been enough to completely crush the enemy's fighting spirit.
“That's enough.”
And so...
Charlotte Platina, the leader of the organization, had no choice but to accept the situation before her.
“Let's stop here and withdraw. Both of us.”
Karen gently lowered her halberd to the ground before asking,
“So the woman leading the Empire's greatest secret organization, the Platinum Dawn Society, is running away from a force like this?”
“...You're far too modest, Executor. With the strength gathered here, you could easily topple most nations.”
Charlotte forced a smile as she ordered her subordinates to withdraw.
Yet her eyes remained filled with hostility.
This time, Edel folded her arms and stepped forward.
“If we declared that we'd eliminate the Platinum Dawn Society by any means necessary because it seeks to destroy the Empire... what would you do?”
The answer came immediately.
“Then we'd fight.”
“......”
I stepped between the two as sparks practically flew from their gazes.
“Let's settle this properly soon.”
“...I'm surprised you're withdrawing so cleanly, Eugene Carter. You'll never have a better opportunity than this.”
“You're the one who should think carefully. Why do you suppose we let all of you leave despite having this much strength?”
Charlotte stared into my unwavering eyes for a moment.
Then she chuckled quietly before turning around.
As the pursuing forces and executives withdrew together, the hall that had been packed with people became empty once again.
Helping Eric, who had collapsed from relief, back to his feet, Francia asked,
“...What do we do now?”
My answer was simple.
“We change locations. This conversation is going to take a while.”
.
.
.
We decided to hold our meeting at Aparvel Cathedral, one of the cathedrals located between Parcel and the capital, Arpe.
The young bishop who shared the cathedral's name was briefly startled by the size of our group.
However, he quickly guided us to the VIP reception room.
While making our way there, I noticed that nearly every part of the cathedral—including the main sanctuary—was completely empty.
“It may not be famous, but it's still a cathedral... It's awfully quiet.”
At Rubia's comment, Luke answered indifferently.
“After the Joint War, the number of regular worshippers dropped dramatically.”
“Ah...”
“Well, today is a weekday too. On Sundays, far more people come.”
Including Edel, Michel, Rubia, Francia, Meriel, Dale, Eric, Maximilian, Karen, Betty, Luke, and myself...
There were twelve of us in total.
After everyone who had escorted us left the room, silence settled over us.
I remained lost in thought throughout that silence.
“Can you tell us why you let them go?”
It was Edel who finally broke the silence.
“With the strength we had back there, we could've wiped them out. So why...?”
“Because if we'd continued fighting without knowing the full extent of their forces, and even a single one of us had died, that single casualty could have led to the destruction of everyone.”
Our own strength was certainly trustworthy.
As Charlotte herself had said, our current force could probably destroy a small nation without much difficulty.
But that was only our side.
What exactly Charlotte was.
Where her strength came from.
How powerful her subordinates truly were.
None of it was certain.
And under those uncertain circumstances, all five main heroines just happened to be gathered in one place.
If the enemy had known my weakness, they might have sacrificed every executive they had just to kill one of them.
Charlotte, however, had chosen to prepare for the future rather than wage a battle of attrition.
That was likely because she, too, was confident of victory.
Thanks to that, we managed to gather a considerable amount of intelligence on our enemies without suffering any losses.
And...
“The other reason... was because I sensed signs of change among our enemies.”
“Change?”
I turned my gaze toward the Executor of Light.
“It's possible that we can turn some of their factions into allies.”
Seeing my signal, Luke slowly closed his eyes before continuing.
“I sensed hesitation and an innate goodness within some of them. That hesitation likely stems from beginning to question whether the Platinum Dawn Society they belong to truly pursues the ideals they once believed in.”
“The fact that Dale and I chose this side probably had an effect as well.”
At Maximilian's words, Dale nodded in agreement.
“The Resistance makes up a significant portion of the Dawn Society. Most of them are members of the Volunteer Army who united to change the Empire. They would never wish to see the Empire itself destroyed.”
“However...”
While everyone else seemed to accept the explanation, Michel spoke up.
“I don't think the enemy leadership would've overlooked something like that... Yet even the Chairwoman withdrew without much complaint. If they have a reason to be that confident, we need to prepare for it immediately.”
“Exactly.”
That was the concern weighing on my own mind.
Confidence and certainty were one thing.
But a woman who had lived for such an unimaginably long time was unlikely to fail at objectively assessing the current situation.
One could argue that the previous battle ended only because the enemy decided a battle of attrition wasn't worth it and accepted our proposal.
But the far more important question was...
Why had they considered a battle of attrition meaningless?
“...Are there still enemy forces we don't know about?”
At Edel's doubtful question, Rubia quietly offered an opinion.
“I don't have any evidence... but I think they might have some way of stopping the Imperial regular army.”
“The regular army?”
“Why bring up the regular army all of a sudden...?”
Before anyone else could continue, Dale quietly muttered to himself.
“...I see. So that's what it was.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch.
Inside was a tiny glass vial less than three centimeters long.
Pointing at the small amount of crimson liquid inside, Dale said,
“The enemy force we didn't know about... They're planning to create it with this.”
“...What's inside that, Dale?”
In response to Maximilian's question, Dale poured the contents onto the table and answered with a bitter expression.
“Beastification Drug... Flicker.”