Chapter 244 – Gaiden – Part 0, Chapter 18
The royal family does not hold any responsibility for what happens during the Battle of Yeongji.
While the eldest son left the family for a while, the ‘new head’ of the Daybreak Marquis family, who committed immorality and inherited the family, revealed that he would confront Baron Armageddon head-on, and in case things went wrong, they found a suitable place to stone them on their behalf. When people came forward, the forces that were dissatisfied with Baron Armageddon added strength to the forces of the Marquis of Daybreak.
Although the number of the immortal army advancing towards the Marquis was only half of the number during the siege against the Duke of Gracas, the undying soldiers led by a female warrior who was directly endowed with ominous power by Baron Armageddon could not be dealt with with normal forces. It was an incredible power.
The Battle of Yeongji didn’t end overnight, it continued forever.
The Undead Legion began to be called the Black Army.
Like a swarm of locusts devouring everything across the desert, the troops that collided with Baron Armageddon’s army always fell out one by one after an endless long battle and were absorbed by the enemy’s forces, and the undead army increased in number at the beginning. Compared to that, the forces opposing him lost their lives senselessly.
Beneficial and courageous heroes who could no longer see the brutal fight began to fight in order to finally end this bloody battle. From the point of view of an ordinary soldier, they were just immortal monsters that came back to life even after dying. The strength of the heroes, who were no different than a hundred per day, repulsed the soldiers with only bones as if they were breaking into pieces. It seemed that all of Baron Armageddon’s forces would disappear.
“Keep aaaaa!!!”
If it weren’t for the existence of the red ghost of the battlefield, Mars.
*
Chow ah!
“Ahhhhh…! Ah, ah… Ahh…”
Heilang Bandit Blacky.
She is currently the most famous woman in the mercenary community due to her outstanding beauty, her excellent fighting skills, and her wide-ranging connections.
She regretted accepting her request this time.
“A monster, a monster…”
As if she wasn’t worth caring about herself, Blacky muttered devastatedly as she looked at the back of the red-haired female warrior passing by indifferently.
This is a nightmare. It can only be a nightmare. It must be a nightmare.
But the terrible burning pain she felt in her right arm only let her know that this was a nightmarish reality, even worse than her nightmares.
Even if they were to come back to life after dying, it would take some time for them to resurrect, and the undead soldiers, whose combat abilities were not particularly outstanding compared to regular soldiers, were not that difficult from the perspective of veteran mercenaries who had been around for several years. Especially for a resourceful mercenary like Blacky.
However, if there was one misfortune that befell her and her allies, it was that the commander of the battle was Mars the Warmonger, a slayer who would later become infamous as the Red Ghost of the Battlefield and one of Baron Armageddon’s henchmen.
Abandoning her shield as her protector, she wielded her massive greatsword and literally ‘slashed’ any foe that stood in her way.
The sight of a human body being crushed and crumbling with a single blow of a knife was more than enough to bring out the fear hidden in the hearts of those who risked their lives to participate in the battle.
Moreover, the sight of those killed by her sword rising again soon after, pointing their weapons at those who were once her allies, was literally hell for those fighting the Black Army.
Even if you kill, even if you kill, it doesn’t end. When a dead person comes back to life, they attack as an enemy, and even if they kill it by cutting it, they immediately come back to life. The moment she stopped swinging her hand holding her sword at the skeleton soldier in front of her, or stood in front of the red-haired woman, she could never escape death.
Colleagues who have been together are brutally slaughtered in front of their eyes, the employer’s estate falls into the hands of reanimated corpse soldiers, and fierce flames soar beyond the wall.
In the middle of that nightmare, Blacky lost the will to fight and sat down, praying and praying that this terrible nightmare would soon end.
Her intuition was very sharp, and she threw her body aside as soon as Mars’ sword struck, barely saving her life, but instead she lost one of her arms and her comrades.
There was no way that a half-penny mercenary who had lost her arm and connections would ever be able to live a proper mercenary life again. The only consolation was that the employer would not survive, so there was no need to pay compensation for failing to fulfill the request.
Time passed like a fairy tale. At least that much time had passed for Blacky.
When she opened her eyes, everything was already over.
No body was left. They would all come to life and become loyal soldiers to serve their new masters.
Blakey, who was trembling with fear outside the standard that he could not dare to face, hurriedly ran away from the battlefield, struggling to lead his injured and tired body. Whether her client was dead or alive was no longer important to her. With the determination that she did not want to die, she left the Hermon Kingdom, her main place of activity.
With her firm resolve that she will never again get involved in anything involving Baron Armageddon.
*
“Welcome, Viola.”
“Don’t worry about me! I’m now a full-fledged Mage Tower elite!”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
“Again, in a childish tone… Anyway, I’ll be back. Manika.”
Manica.
Among the current Mage Tower apprentices of the 37th generation, she has never missed the top spot with excellent grades, and even though she still has a youthful look, she captured the hearts of her peers at once with her beautiful beauty like sunlight, and even with that, she is from a high-ranking family in the kingdom of Hermon. The perfect mother daughter herself.
After leaving her long-term mission, she briefly said goodbye to Viola, her second-in-command and best friend in her later years, and soon returned to her own room. There, the high-ranking officials of her magic tower were waiting for her.
“Manika. I read the magic experiment plan proposal you posted with any interest.”
The old wizard placed a piece of paper in her hand on her table. There were detailed plans and explanations for inhumane magic experiments that were hard to put into words.
“Baron Ragnar Armageddon. If we can successfully subdue him, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to put your proposed plan into action.”
“Yes. Just by sacrificing that one person who is the most troublesome problem in the Hermon Kingdom and has no one to mourn even if he disappears, a beautiful world will come where there is nothing to be bound by the limits of wizards’ magical power.”
A huge confinement facility prepared in the underground facility of the Mage Tower. A plan to detain Baron Armageddon there, continuously extracting mana from him and storing it in the magic tower, and raising and using the stored mana whenever there is a shortage of mana, thereby overcoming the ‘limit of magic amount’, an eternal challenge of wizards.
The name is Project Infinite.
“If this plan succeeds, the Mage Tower will go to a higher place. No one will be able to put pressure on the Mage Tower.”
Manika, the creator of the project and a potential candidate for the Mage Tower State, bowed her head in a humble greeting.
“It’s an honor to rate you highly.”
“Okay, then you, the initiator of the project, should prepare soon.”
One of the elders of the Mage Tower said with her eyes shining.
“In two days, Baron Armageddon is going to visit the Mage Tower.”
*
The sacrifice of the few for the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
Manica proposed the ‘Infinite Project’ to the upper level, which vastly increases the possibilities of wizards by sacrificing a man named Ragnar Armageddon, who brings only tragedy, to the upper level. The elder positively accepted her offer.
As a result, the Mage Tower was concentrating on the plan to capture Ragnar Armageddon. If this thing succeeds, it will literally change the fate of the Mage Tower.
You will no longer struggle with the limitations of your magic power, and you will be able to develop more magic formulas and magic items through more experiments.
However, when Baron Armageddon entered the tower as planned, the wizards who were preparing offensive magic to subdue him had a premonition that ‘something was seriously wrong’.
“Can you feel it? The reverberation of this magic floating in the air.”
Only the man’s voice echoed in the vast and silent tower.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice what you guys were about to do? You thought I’d fallen for your trap, but you guys were already inside my mouth.”
No one was allowed to interrupt while he was talking.
He felt with his whole body that if he opened his mouth fearlessly and offended him, he would lose his life.
The ominous and dangerous magic had already engulfed the inside of the Mage Tower, but it had dominated the outside as well.
“What’s wrong? Is there anything you want to say?”
When Baron Ragnar Armageddon specially gave the right to speak, the elder of the Mage Tower who faced him before asked, sweating profusely.
“Uh, how could you, who didn’t go through a proper magic training course, do such high-level magic…”
“Ah, this magic? I didn’t make it. It’s the work of the wizard you expelled.”
Baron Armageddon giggled and laughed at the frightened wizards.
“They meet their end due to the magic created by the wizard they banished. It can’t be a bitter ending, right?”
“…”
Manika tightened her hand on her staff. She had no intention of dying in a place like this. Even for the sake of the great future of wizards, she did not intend to die so meaninglessly and meaninglessly.
“All, you…”
“Yes?”
The moment she opened her mouth without permission, the black magic power floating in her air sharply bristled and directed at the nape of her neck. However, Manika steadfastly continued her words.
“Why are you… So selfish?”
“…What?”
“If one of you gives up that magic, hundreds of wizards can raise the level of magic even higher. But why don’t you? Aren’t you giving up?”
“…”
At Manika’s words, he looked at her for a moment, and then she let out a laugh.
The laugh gradually grew, and soon became a frightening madness.
Haha… The happiness of the many at the sacrifice of the few? Does that mean that you kicked them out because of their lack of magical powers as an act for the sake of the many?”
“…”
“If you really think so, I’ll ask you one too.”
Her eyes, far removed from her human, turned to her.
“If you wizards of the tower make sacrifices, this world can be saved. The happiness of the majority through the sacrifice of the few you just mentioned. But why don’t you guys accept the result?”
“What? Why are we dying to save the world…!”
At that moment, the sound of laughter resounded.
Manika heard her laugh and turned her head in the direction they came from, only to find her frightened fellow wizard there.
Kiddukkiduk, Kiddukkiduk.
As if laughing at them, the sound of laughter gradually increased and filled her surroundings.
“This…”
“Do you know what the source of this power I use is? It is the immortal dragon. Do you think the power of the dragon that tried to destroy the world can be used for the better? No, not at all. It’s just Ragnar Armageddon with more than a hundred people.”
Immortal dragon.
When I mentioned an ancient monster that only appeared in legends, Manika’s face twisted.
“If it’s an immortal dragon, it’s just a fictional existence! There can’t be such a thing…”
“A thing with infinite magical power is real, and a monster in a legend is a fiction? That’s a really biased idea.”
As if not feeling the need to talk any longer, he clenched his fist with his right hand raised above his head. Manika screamed in agony and vomited black blood from her mouth. She wasn’t the only one. None of the wizards in the Mage Tower could dispel the magic that engulfed their bodies, and they were slowly dying from being poisoned by the ominous magic.
“It is the sacrifice of a few for the happiness of the majority. If that minority chooses the path with their own thoughts, it is a beautiful sacrifice, but if the majority who will be happy force it, it is no longer a sacrifice. It’s just an ugly excuse. And I’ve yet to meet anyone in the position of the minority who insists on the sacrifice of the minority for the majority. Like you guys, it’s always the majority that says it.”
The ominous darkness began to erode not only the bodies of the wizards, but also the mage tower itself. The evil young power of the immortal monster engulfed the tower, and everything slowly began to rot and corrode.
“Keep, turn off…”
“This magic is a magic completed by the person you sacrificed as a minority. It is a magic she created only to avenge you. There is no better way to get rid of you maggots who take the sacrifice of a minority for granted. Don’t you think there’s nothing suitable?”
“Shut up…”
Leaving the dying people behind, Baron Ragnar Armageddon leisurely left the mage tower.
Before long, the Mage Tower completely collapsed, and it eventually led a sorceress named Viola to become an ally of the warrior chosen by the goddess to avenge her.
*
“Well then…”
I reached out to Lady Mia Nor, a woman sitting alone on a bed in a deserted mansion with a blank face.
“You haven’t forgotten what I said then, have you? The word that we said we’d meet again.”
“…You, why…”
Half of my troops marched to the Marquis of Daybreak for the territory battle, and during the time when I, the owner of the territory, visited the Mage Tower, the three princes gathered their troops and aimed for the Armageddon territory. And among them, Lady Mianor’s family also contributed considerably.
As a result of the failure of the expedition, all forces that cooperated with the three princes were destroyed.
The king who lost his prince executed all members of the family for conspiracy, saying that he would punish the nobles who did not stop the prince’s actions, not me who took his son.
And Miss Mianor was the last surviving member of her family.
“…You are, you are the devil…”
She, with her pretty smile, glared at me hatefully with her tears in her eyes.
“You evil scoundrel…! Devil…! Monstrous man…!”
I shrugged.
“Yes. I must be a villain. So… Will you come with me? Or will you be purged by the royal family?”
“…”
I took her Mia Nord, her daughter’s hand, and brought her to my estate.
And she put on a maid outfit.
“A humiliation… An enemy…”
As expected, she looked very good in the maid outfit.
Now, it would be nice if I could just do moe moe kyung, but unfortunately, that was rejected. Regret.
