Chapter 796

The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Release schedule: 3 chapters per week

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Dududududu!

With a spear in hand, Ghislain charged through the battlefield engulfed in flames like a raging storm.

Kwaaang!

Every time Ghislain passed, soldiers’ bodies exploded and scattered in all directions.

The Imperial Army could only rely on the healing effect of the widespread divine power.

But since it wasn’t a concentrated blessing, their defense wasn’t all that strong.

Before their bodies could even regenerate, he tore them apart completely—making the divine power useless.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaaang!

Flames trailed behind Ghislain’s path, and his shadow devoured the soldiers’ field of vision.

He was a storm, driving enemies before him to death. Though it was a charge made by a single man, no one who stood in his way survived.

Ghislain quickly scanned his surroundings.

Everyone was fighting well, but there were simply too many enemies.

“Should I push a little harder?”

Ghislain released his mana in every direction.

Ziiing—!

Hundreds of weapons scattered across the battlefield shot up into the air.

Creating weapons with mana would’ve been easier, but that consumed too much energy.

So instead, he ‘recycled’ the weapons already abandoned on the ground.

Whoooosh!

The weapons fired out in all directions like lightning.

They ruthlessly shredded armor, shattered bones, and burst through flesh.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaaang!

“Aaaaagh!”

“B-Block him! Hurry, block him!”

“Throw your bodies at him if you must!”

Knights and soldiers tried desperately to stop Ghislain.

But they were slain by weapons moving on their own, never even getting close.

There was no way to stop him.

The Imperial Army, increasingly terrified, scattered to the sides whenever Ghislain moved.

“H-He’s a monster!”

“Run! He’s not someone we can handle!”

“Only a Transcendent can stop him!”

Terror consumed the battlefield in an instant.

Even elite troops trained to fight against the Demonic Abyss were nothing but scarecrows before Ghislain’s overwhelming might.

Ghislain slaughtered the frightened Imperial soldiers.

With even Marquis Ferington already defeated, the army was in complete disarray, not knowing what to do.

As the rampaging Ghislain tore through their ranks, commanders in the rear screamed in panic.

“M-Mages! Focus all attacks on that man!”

“If we just kill him, we can regroup!”

“Pour all your mana into it!”

The rear commanders shouted frantically at the mages.

But even the mages couldn’t attack Ghislain easily.

“We can’t! We’re currently suppressing the spirits!”

“If we withdraw now, the spirits will rampage again! We have to kill the spirit-wielders first!”

At that, one of the commanders in the rear shouted in frustration.

“Not all of you are holding the spirits back!”

“The remaining mages are maintaining the mana shield!”

The mages could no longer move.

They were stuck—unable to do anything either way.

Ereneth was handling the spirits far too cleverly to allow them to be released.

Since the mages maintaining the mana shield had already fallen victim to Ghislain’s magic, the remaining mages had to cast the shield again.

But from Ghislain’s perspective, their efforts looked terribly clumsy.

“If you’re going to do it, do it right.”

With a smirk, Ghislain drew upon his mana.

“Frozen Tempest.”

KWAaaaaaaang!

With the incantation, a storm of frost burst outward from Ghislain.

The surrounding Imperial soldiers froze solid without even managing to resist.

Some of the Imperial mages hastily reinforced the mana shield, but it was nowhere near enough to block an 8th-circle spell completely.

At least the power and range of the spell had been significantly reduced.

But Ghislain hadn’t even used his full strength in the first place.

This much was more than enough to freeze the soldiers.

Ghislain twirled his spear once and then slammed it hard into the ground.

CLANG—!

A deafening sonic boom erupted, and the hundreds of frozen Imperial soldiers shattered into pieces.

The sheer, awe-inspiring force of it left the Imperial Army completely stunned.

Ghislain wreaking havoc in the middle of their formation wasn’t the only problem.

The Imperial troops fighting on the front lines were just as overwhelmed.

“T-These bastards won’t die!”

“Their wounds are healing too fast!”

“It’s the divine power!”

The ones wildly swinging their weapons—Julien Mercenary Corps members—were the culprits.

While the Death Knights were weakened by divine power, the Julien mercenaries were not.

Thanks to Deneb’s divine power, the mercenaries had immense regeneration and defense.

Moreover, divine power had been widely spread by the Imperial Army itself.

Because of the overlapping divine power, even when knights struck with mana-infused blades, the Julien mercenaries suffered at most a few scratches—scratches that healed in moments.

However, the Imperial Army’s regenerative ability wasn’t strong enough to withstand the mercenaries’ assault.

No matter how much divine power they had, once their necks were sliced or their heads and bodies pierced, there was no recovery.

In the end, the Imperial soldiers, unable to withstand the mercenaries’ attacks, fell quickly.

“Wahahaha! These guys are weak!”

“Hang in there a little longer! We can kill them all! It’s just a matter of time!”

“Osval the man! Today, I shall write a new chapter in revolutionary history!”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The Imperial soldiers couldn’t kill the mercenaries, but the mercenaries could kill the soldiers.

With this absurd difference in combat efficiency, the Imperial Army began to lose its will to fight.

The knights tried desperately to kill the mercenaries, but each time, the Death Knights blocked their way.

The undead Death Knights, who couldn’t be killed, simply served as shields.

The Julien Mercenary Corps simply swung their weapons from behind them.

Even the remaining Transcendents of the Imperial Army were held back by Julien and Kyle, leaving them unable to support their allies.

The Imperial Army, nearly ten thousand strong, was steadily losing ground.

They were now facing an unprecedented catastrophe in history—on the verge of being defeated by a mere thirty or so mercenaries.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaang!

As time passed, the Imperial Army continued to crumble.

They realized they had completely underestimated the Julien Mercenary Corps.

Those men were monsters—not only prepared with countermeasures for every possible situation but also possessing the overwhelming strength to execute them.

And at the center of it all was Ghislain, who wielded both 8th-circle magic and power surpassing even Transcendents.

“A demon…”

Someone muttered as they looked at Ghislain.

Who was this army?

They were the Pope’s forces, tasked with a sacred mission.

And yet, this sacred army… was being ravaged by a demon.

A demon who had charged alone into the heart of their formation, drenched in blood and laughing!

KWAaaang!

After blasting away dozens of soldiers at once, Ghislain suddenly turned and raised his spear.

CLANG!

He blocked someone’s strike and gave a wicked grin.

“Still got some fight in you?”

“You bastard…”

The one who had appeared was Marquis Ferington, half his face collapsed.

Ssszzzt…

Although divine power surged around him, his face hadn’t recovered.

The wound was too deep, and traces of Ghislain’s mana still lingered.

But he hadn’t died.

Thanks to his Transcendent vitality and the divine power constantly pouring into him, he had survived.

Marquis Ferington ground his teeth as he glared at Ghislain.

‘I’ve failed completely.’

To face enemies like these, he should’ve brought more Transcendents, mages, and priests.

If they had at least maintained formation while pushing forward, they wouldn’t have been defeated so one-sidedly.

Even if they’d been annihilated, they could’ve at least taken down the Julien Mercenary Corps.

‘If it weren’t for this damned bastard…’

Getting flustered by their absurd antics was the biggest mistake.

He should’ve sent only a small group to retrieve the Sacred Stone, and instead focused the entire army on crushing them.

Now there was only one option left.

‘At the very least… I’ll kill him…’

Before he could finish the thought, Ghislain spoke.

“You think this’ll all end if you just take me down?”

“……”

“People always think that when it gets to this point.”

“…You arrogant bastard. I’ll kill you for sure.”

“They all say that.”

Ghislain poured mana into his spear and smiled savagely.

“And I’ve never let anyone who said that live.”

“Shut up!”

KWAaaang!

Marquis Ferington’s sword swung first, aiming for Ghislain’s horse’s neck—intending to kill the mount and throw Ghislain off balance.

But Ghislain’s spear lightly deflected the blade, then ran along its edge—

Skeek!

Just as Marquis Ferington barely dodged the spearhead and tried to swing his sword again—

Thwack!

Ghislain’s spear pierced through his shoulder.

Suppressing a groan, the marquis tried to close in, but Ghislain had already retreated with his horse, widening the distance.

As his spear flashed again, a red line appeared across Marquis Ferington’s neck.

“Gghk!”

Ferington barely pulled back in time to avoid having his throat cut.

He was utterly stunned.

‘H-How can he move like that while on horseback…?’

A horse couldn’t keep up with the movements of a Transcendent.

No matter how much it was reinforced with aura, there were limits.

But his opponent moved as one with the horse, as if they were a single being.

It was horsemanship of an astonishing level.

What made it even more infuriating was the fact that it was his own horse.

To pull off those moves on a horse he wasn’t even familiar with—only stoked his rage further.

‘I have to close the distance no matter what!’

Marquis Ferington drew on his mana without restraint.

Even in battles between Transcendents where weapons were often meaningless, his opponent’s skill made a massive difference.

And because of the spear’s reach, he was at a disadvantage.

Clang! Clang! Claaang!

Marquis Ferington launched a reckless assault to close the gap.

But Ghislain, atop his horse, deflected every attack with ease.

“Hm, is this all? Not bad… but not satisfying either.

Still, you’re a little better than Kyle.”

“UAAAAAH!”

Ferington roared in fury and wildly swung his sword.

He was one of the top five swordsmen in the Empire.

And yet, he couldn’t even graze his opponent’s clothes.

Humiliation and despair wrapped around him like chains.

Clang! Clang! Claaaang!

Even while Ghislain dueled Ferington, the weapons under his control continued butchering the Imperial Army mercilessly.

‘N-No. I have to kill this bastard quickly…!’

The urgency in Marquis Ferington’s heart only grew stronger.

Unless he killed Ghislain now, there was no way to fix this disaster.

In contrast, Ghislain calmly pressed the attack.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Holes began to appear all over Marquis Ferington’s body.

The divine power around him tried to heal his wounds, but the injuries multiplied faster than they could close.

Ssszzzt…

Before long, even the healing couldn’t keep up.

Ghislain’s lingering mana seeped deeper and more tenaciously into the marquis’s flesh.

Marquis Ferington was undeniably a powerful warrior.

Even with the aid of divine power and pouring all his strength into the battle, Ghislain couldn’t kill him in a single blow.

But an opponent like that simply needed to be hunted down—step by step.

Crack!

Ghislain was slowly killing Marquis Ferington.

Each time Ghislain inflicted a wound, his mana seeped into the spot.

Marquis Ferington’s injuries wouldn’t heal—they instead rotted from within.

As Ghislain drove Ferington back, he muttered,

“If we’d met before I completed my training, it might’ve been fun.”

And it was true.

If they had fought when he was physically weaker than now, it might’ve been a refreshing, hard-earned fight.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case anymore.

Having ascended to the 8th circle, Ghislain had come to understand the higher laws of the world.

Now that his Power of Will had grown stronger, Marquis Ferington was no longer a match for him.

Ghislain’s calm voice continued.

“You should’ve at least considered the possibility that we’d grow stronger.”

“Gghk…!”

Marquis Ferington exhaled harshly.

Even though they’d anticipated facing Transcendents and prepared accordingly, they had still failed.

In truth, the Julien Mercenary Corps was stronger and bolder—than expected.

Worse yet, they had been dragged along by the enemy at every turn.

There was nothing more to say.

It was their complete and utter defeat.

But Ferington still had one thing he couldn’t let go of.

He glared at Ghislain and said,

“If you… if you hadn’t done something as insane as throwing away the Sacred Stone…”

Had they fought properly, it wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Ferington truly believed that.

To that, Ghislain nodded slightly.

“Yeah, we probably would’ve taken a fair bit of damage too.”

And judging by their current strength in battle, Ferington’s thinking wasn’t wrong.

If both sides had revealed all their forces and clashed head-on, it wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.

But there was one thing Ferington didn’t know.

Ghislain smiled and suddenly lowered his spear.

“But we never threw away the Sacred Stone.”

Ferington froze at the sudden words.

“…What?”

“Just like I said. We didn’t throw it away.”

“T-Then that was…”

“Obviously a fake. Pretty convincing, wasn’t it? The Dragon Lord made it for us. I asked him to craft it so we could use it in emergencies.

And that divine power? Deneb just flared it up for show.”

“Y-You bastard…”

Marquis Ferington’s face went pale.

It had been too important an item, and the situation too urgent—he hadn’t taken the time to think it through.

In fact, from the perspective of the Julien Mercenary Corps, it really wouldn’t have mattered if they’d discarded the Sacred Stone.

And yet—it had all been fake. All an act.

‘These bastards, could it be…’

From the beginning, the Julien Mercenary Corps had been prepared to fight the Holy Empire.

Even the moment they had believed they had the mercenaries completely surrounded…

was something their enemy had anticipated from the start.

“You bastard!”

Overcome with rage, Marquis Ferington raised his sword high.

His mind was filled with nothing but the humiliation of being toyed with by Ghislain.

He swung his sword.

But having already lost his composure and with his body riddled with wounds, his stance was completely broken.

And in that moment—

Thwack!

The tip of Ghislain’s spear pierced straight through Marquis Ferington’s heart.