Chapter 47: Who’s Surrounding Who?

Since he couldn’t dodge, Vladir had no choice but to take the attacks from Evelyn and Elysia head-on, which ended with him suffering internal injuries. He coughed up blood, but with a small burst of energy, he managed to push both girls back.

*Cough!

Before he could even catch his breath, Vladir was slashed from behind by Elias, but it turned out he was wearing armor under his clothes, so the blade couldn’t reach his skin.

*Clang!

Realizing this, Elias immediately jumped back a few steps to keep his distance from Vladir.

’Damn it... If my sword had cut him even a little, this fight wouldn’t have taken long. I never thought he’d be wearing armor under his clothes.’

Then, without Elias noticing, Evelyn and Elysia had already appeared at his side, their energy raging.

"Answer me. Who the hell are you?"

Vladir turned around to face Elias and the two girls, panting a little as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Why should I answer your question?"

"Because you have to. You’ve got no way of escaping from here anymore."

Suddenly, Vladir sensed that something was off, which was that there were no Nocturne soldiers on patrol. When he’d been walking to Elias’s tent earlier, he hadn’t seen a single soldier. And when the explosion went off, an explosion that loud should have drawn a lot of attention.

The Nocturne soldiers should have come running to see what happened.

Vladir looked back at Elias, who was readying an attack with his sword.

"You’re surrounded, Vladir."

All of the Nocturne troops hiding in the darkness began to reveal themselves. They had the camp surrounded, and all of it had been carefully planned by Elias. Realizing he was surrounded, Vladir didn’t panic or look confused. Instead, he gave a small smirk and snorted.

"Let me add one more thing about your mistake."

Elias raised an eyebrow in confusion. He quickly went back over what he might have missed, but in the end he still felt like everything had been arranged carefully.

With the paths and conditions in the middle of a forest like this, there was no way Vladir could break out of a siege of fifty troops.

On top of that, with Evelyn and Elysia here, the two of them were enough to fight him, or even beat him. So why was he suddenly saying there was one more mistake?

"Who’s surrounding who."

Vladir suddenly blew a whistle he’d pulled from his pocket. The whistle let out a sound that could be heard from several kilometers away.

Realizing Vladir seemed to be calling for something, Elias immediately launched his sword with the mana he’d prepared beforehand.

*Whoosh!

The sword shot forward fast, packed with mana compressed as tightly as Elias could manage. But the moment the sword hit Vladir,

*Boom!

An explosion went off right away. It was strong enough to send a shockwave through the air in every direction.

"Not bad, Elias."

Evelyn said while still staring straight at Vladir, not bothered at all by the shockwave. Then Elysia added:

"But that’s not enough."

"What?..."

But what Elias hadn’t expected was that Vladir could catch his sword so easily with his bare hand. This let Elias tell that the man’s strength was far above Grade C.

He quickly pulled his sword back using the mana thread he’d attached to it beforehand.

"Let’s see... Whether these fifty troops of yours can beat the hundred troops I brought with me."

"What are you talking about—"

"Sir Elias!"

Before Elias could work out what Vladir’s words meant, even though they were already pretty clear, one of the soldiers suddenly ran up to him, gasping for breath.

"An unknown force just appeared out of nowhere. We’re surrounded!"

Elias was stunned for a moment before turning toward Vladir, his jaw tightening.

"You want an explanation? Fine, I’ll explain. Since your death is close anyway, I’ll be a little generous."

Vladir then sheathed his sword again before tearing open his clothes, revealing a rare metal armor underneath with a crest of a Rose and a sword on the chest.

"Let me introduce myself more properly. I am Vladir, an adventurer and also the commander of the Everhart Family’s army, which serves under Count Reneth Rosaline of the Skardor Empire."

Elias was shocked again as Vladir introduced himself more clearly. And not without reason, because there was another empire that had never existed in the game.

’If he’s talking about the noble Everhart family, now I remember. The cloth Team Five found had a rose on it. But what the hell is up with that empire?

Did someone change the name of an empire before?

Screw that! Right now our position is seriously bad. There are at least a hundred troops surrounding us.’

Still, why were there so many things that were new and different from what he knew about the game? This left Elias confused, frustrated, and panicked about the situation.

He hadn’t anticipated a trap from enemy troops. Because as far as he’d investigated the area around the forest, he hadn’t found any signs of an army.

’Wait... Don’t tell me...’

"So the signs of battle and the hidden camp were your army’s place?!"

"Bingo! I had my whole army set up camp in four directions.

"I figured you’d probably investigate deeper into Blackwood Forest. So I had my troops camp a bit deeper and more hidden, so your troops couldn’t find them.

"And the camp Team Two found was also my army’s. The signs of battle are the same."

Elias could only stay silent with a crease in his forehead, sweat still running down his face as he kept his eyes on Vladir.

Unlike Elias, who was sweating buckets with a bewildered look on his face, the two girls kept their expressions flat, as if they weren’t worried about the siege at all.

Then Elysia stepped forward a few paces before saying:

"Alright, enough with the yapping. My ears are starting to hurt."

Evelyn glanced at Elias before walking a few steps forward and stopping right beside Elysia.

"We’ll deal with him. You help hold off the enemy troops, even though the numbers aren’t too far apart. Usually the side with more people has the advantage over the side with fewer. Besides, they ambushed us~"

There was no way a subordinate could let his superiors risk their lives. Elias, as the subordinate, the Caretaker of those two girls, should have been the one protecting them and making sure they stayed safe without a scratch.

But with Elias’s strength right now, fighting Vladir wasn’t impossible, but it would definitely be very hard. He could end up permanently crippled! Better to die than live without being able to do anything.

But of course, staying alive was better than both of those.

Even though it felt heavy, Elias finally followed Evelyn’s words. After all, if the two of them fought Vladir together, their chances of winning would be higher.

Besides, those two girls had a nickname that went:

"Twin Beauty Demon."

Elias nodded and immediately leaped up onto a tree, vanishing into the darkness of Blackwood Forest.

"I can’t believe he’s actually a coward. Is he really a man?"

*Boom!

A pitch-black ball of energy suddenly shot right past Vladir’s head and exploded behind him.

"Ah, what a shame, it missed..."

"It’s okay. Elysia, if you train harder, you’ll definitely hit him!"

"Okay."

Elysia raised her right hand toward Vladir, and a pitch-black energy began to appear from her palm. The energy started to condense into a black ball about the size of an almond, and then with a flick of her finger,

*Snap!

"One more time."

The ball of energy shot toward Vladir so fast that he had to block it with his sword because he couldn’t dodge it.

*Clang!

When Vladir blocked the ball of energy, he was pushed back a few steps, and then, channeling mana into his sword, he managed to fling the energy ball in another direction, where it exploded the moment it hit a large tree and shattered it. The energy was so powerful that even several trees behind it were destroyed along with it.

*Boom!

Evelyn looked at her little sister with a smile and clapped her hands.

"Even though you didn’t hit the person, at least it still hit something. Great job, Elysia!"

*Clap, clap!

"Tsk... I know you’re being sarcastic. Now it’s your turn, Big Sis."

"Eh? Was it too obvious? Oh well, can’t be helped~"

Evelyn raised her left hand toward Vladir, and a thick white energy began to flow from her palm and condense into a small ball.

Seeing this, Vladir clearly felt insulted that he was being used as a guinea pig for their techniques, but on the other hand, he couldn’t deny that the strength of the two girls was formidable.

With a wide smile and eyes wide open and fixed on Vladir, Evelyn then snapped her fingers,

*Snap!

"Please don’t move, mister."

* * *