Chapter 71 — Danger inside the danger (2)

The soldiers of the 7th corps were hiding behind a low mountain slope.

Their numbers amounted to 4,000.

They had moved in small troops until now, but half of them had gathered to attack the supply storage.

“This is their supply storage, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

At Aaron’s question, Richard nodded with a confident face.

“While we were patrolling, we discovered five wagons moving in the middle of the night. We followed them because it was a bit weird, and we ended up in this place.”

The empty lot they were peering down at was surrounded by mountains.

The empty lot was quite wide and flat, taking into account that it was located in the middle of the mountains.

The lot, that had the shape of a gourd, only had one entrance.

Only, they couldn’t see the insides of the lot clearly because it was covered by trees.

Wooden fences were surrounding the entrance, and a coarse watchtower was placed on the grounds.

Right inside of it, there were huge tents and houses built.

There were a lot of heavy sacks placed below the tents.

When they vaguely guessed the number of wagons, adding the ones they couldn’t see, it amounted to at least 1,000.

‘There’s some left over even after providing for two corps.’

A smile appeared on Aaron’s mouth.

Then, Richard pointed the pile of sacks.

“Those are the provisions of Istel kingdom.”

Mendel, who was next to them, mumbled with a surprised expression.

“Even so, I didn’t know at all that there was a place like this.”

At those words, Roan, Aaron and Richard who were next to him, nodded.

‘It’s a place I hadn’t expected at all. It’s the best place to save provisions without getting caught. But………’

It certainly was one of the best places because of the many advantages it had.

But storage facility only had one entrance, and the wide road that followed below the mountain was suitable for an army to cross on it.

And there was one bigger problem.

‘It’s too far with the front line.’

Istel kingdom had advanced quite a ways into the west.

‘Although it’s to protect the provisions safely………’

There was nothing good in making the supply line longer.

Roan glared at the entrance.

At that instant, the entrance was zoomed in on.

He was looking at the soldier that protected the entrance.

Traces that wagons had come and go were seen.

There were no weird things going on.

‘Am I worrying too much?’

Then, Aaron’s voice was heard.

“What’s the number of soldiers guarding the supply storage?”

Richard and Mendel looked at the entrance and replied.

“It’s difficult to say the exact number as we can only see the entrance and the fences. But from what we can see, it seems like they are 500.”

Aaron frowned.

“500………”

500 only at the entrance.

When he also guessed from the size of the interior, there may be three or four times more soldiers.

“They are at least 1500-2000.”

At Aaron’s guess, everyone nodded.

2000 enemy soldiers.

On the other hand, Aaron’s force was 4,000.

“You’ve done well, Richard.”

At Aaron’s compliment, Richard brightly smiled and bowed.

“I was just lucky.”

His humbleness was not too excessive.

However, Richard’s merit was quite big.

Also, Istel kingdom had hid themselves because of the repeated blows they had suffered.

They seriously lowered the amount of soldiers protecting the storage even after knowing that the advancing speed of the main troop would lessen.

They used a method to quickly spread small provisions in the middle of the night.

Thanks to that, the 7th corps was taking quite a lot of time to find the supply storage the more time passed.

But Richard, of the special troops, had found the supply facility.

It was a merit that was complementable enough.

Aaron turned to look at the troop commanders and said in a low voice.

“We hit at the fastest speed possible and fall back.”

“Yes. Understood.”

It was impossible to seize that amount of provisions, as it was the enemy’s territory.

Rather, it was more suitable to burn it all and retreat quickly.

Aaron faced everyone and then stood up and shook his right hand.

The flagman who was waiting, shook his flag.

At the same time, the archers fired off arrows.

Sweeeeee!

Thousands of arrows split the air alongside a sharp sound.

Pubububuk!

A rain of arrows poured over the tents and the entrance.

“Kek!”

“Kugh!”

The soldiers who were guarding, became porcupines and fell down.

The 7th corps fired two more rounds of arrows and then charged forward.

“Take over the supply storage!”

“Kill them!”

4,000 soldiers poured out from the forest.

They ran towards the confused soldiers.

“Uo!”

“Kok!”

The soldiers of Istel kingdom couldn’t properly fight back and fell by becoming cold corpses on the ground.

Puuuuu!

The only thing they did was blow a horn trumpet to let their troops know of the infiltration of the enemy.

The battle flowed quite one sidedly however.

“Don’t let even one alive!”

“Don’t let them go!”

The soldiers of the 7th corps charged through the entrance and were able to get into a deep part of the storage with a violent intent.

However, they couldn’t see any more enemies.

Roan, who caught up late, frowned.

‘The number of soldiers protecting it is too low.’

The number they had expected was 2,000.

However, the only ones guarding it were the 500, the ones from the entrance.

The situation in Istel kingdom wasn’t good.

To the point that it was difficult to stay in war for long.

‘But they are maintaining the supply this sloppily?’

There was no way.

‘Something’s not right……’

A feeling that uneasiness took over his heart.

“Roan, why is your expression like that? This battle is also a complete victory, a complete victory.”

Aaron approached while brightly smiling.

Then, one sack moved into Roan’s sight.

‘That!’

This was the reason of the uneasiness.

He hurriedly tore up the sak.

Riip.

What fell outside of the sack were weeds covered in oil.

Roan looked at Aaron and yelled.

“It’s a trap! We have to get out immedi……”

When he talked up to that moment.

Something moved inside his sight.

One arrow that split the blue sky.

Roan concentrated on the tip of the arrow.

Because of Kalian’s tear, every movement in the world became slow.

Sweeeeee!

The arrow flewwhile cutting through the air really slowly.

There was a flame at the tip of the arrow.

Sweeeeeeeeeee!

Below the first arrow, hundreds more could be seen.

Roan’s face stiffened.

He yelled with all his strength.

“Dodge!”

His voice was heard slowly.

The soldiers had confused expressions and looked at the surroundings at Roan’s yell, and then kicked the ground.

Roan also grabbed Aaron’s neck and threw him.

At the same time, the slow world’s movement turned to the original speed.

Pubububuk!

Arrows poured over the heads of the 7th corps.

The tents and the sacks got caught in the arrow rain and caught on fire.

Whooooosh!

An amazing heat flew out.

The fire surged up to the sky and gulped down the sacks.

“Uhh. What is this………”

Aaron was thrown by Roan.

He couldn’t finish his sentence and shut his mouth.

And it was the same for Roan.

He looked at the path of fire burning fiercely and ground his teeth.

‘For it to be a trap.’

It was the first time since he had returned to the past.

He had achieved consecutive victories because he knew the future until now.

Roan’s eyes sunk calmly.

‘For me to fall in a trap……’

This was really, a really unexpected thing.

*****

“Hahaha!”

A magnanimous laughter rang out.

The one who was looking at the scene while standing at the top was a big builded middle aged man with quite a pretty face.

“We finally caught those rats.”

He looked at the place where his sight reached.

That was none other than the 2nd supply storage which the 7th corps of Istel had broken through.

‘As the big and small supply lines got cut off, the front troops fell in chaos.’

It was a troublesome and angering situation for the one in charge of the provisions.

He tried making a separate troop to annihilate the ones attacking the supply lines, but it was fruitless.

‘The scale of the troop was really small, and on top of that, their movements were quite swift.’

But even so, they couldn’t just stand still.

In the end, the middle aged man decided to set up a trap.

And there was even a suitable place.

An empty ground they used as the saving point of supplies at the start of the war.

It was a place they didn’t use anymore because of the advancing speed of the main troop.

They filled the sacks with weeds and oil.

And then set up soldiers and purposely spilled the location of the fake storage.

‘And they took the bait.’

The middle aged man was waiting at the cliff surrounding the storage and fired off arrows the moment the 7th corps broke in.

The fake storage, that was filled with weed and oil, was caught up in an amazing fire.

On top of that, they threw strong trees to block the entrance.

‘Although it’s regrettable that it isn’t rocks……’

It wasn’t easy to find rocks big and strong enough to block the entrance.

Instead, they blocked the entrance with trees and set it on fire.

“The entrance has been blocked!”

“Damn! Look for an escape route!”

“Put out the fire!”

The 7th corps yelled while looking at the spreading fire.

“Hahaha! How good to see!”

The middle aged man saw that and burst out of laughter.

Then, a thick voice was heard.

“Troop commander Martin. Won’t it be better to pour more arrows?”

He had a huge body and a thick lined face.

The left eye that was covered with a clean cloth.

He was Vernon Pollet, who had lost his left eye because of Harrison’s arrow while he was chasing Roan’s back.

The middle aged man, Teise Martin shook his head.

“Even if we don’t do that, we are lacking goods. And that’s the same for the arrows. They will die by getting caught in the fire, so there’s no need to waste any more arrows.”

“Mmm.”

Vernon smacked his lips and stepped down.

‘You have to end it when you can.’

Actually, he didn’t quite like Teise.

If Vernon was a normal military officer, Teise was closer to being a civil officer.

Because of that, he liked to use his head to win battles rather than using force.

He was the polar opposite to Vernon, who liked to charge to the front without looking back.

‘If only it wasn’t for the wound……’

He wouldn’t have fallen back to the rear like this.

He remembered the greenhorn spearman that made his eye like this.

‘I have to catch that bastard and kill him.’

Ududuk.

The sound of teeth grinding was clearly heard.

Then, a familiar guy was heard among the soldiers of Rinse kingdom.

‘Mmm?’

Vernon frowned and inserted mana in his right eye.

The guy who was leading the soldiers with a really calm attitude.

“That guy?”

Vernon opened his eyes widely.

His face burned in an instant.

“Kuhahahaa!”

The laughter that explodes.

“Wh, why are you suddenly like this?”

Teise shrinked down with a surprised expression.

A sharp and chilly bloodthirst was felt in Vernon’s eye.

“The bastard that made me like this is over there.”

*****

Chaos.

The storage resembled a chaotic place.

Whooooooosh!

The flame gulped down the tents and the sacks.

Below that, the soldiers of the 7th corps had become porcupines.

The red fire gulped down the corpses.

“Get away!”

“Fall back!”

“Don’t push!”

The soldiers stepped back while dodging the fire.

They were pushing their comrades in order to survive.

“U,uak!”

“F,F,fire!”

“Save me!”

The soldiers that couldn’t dodge, got caught up in the fire.

“Uuk.”

The disgusting smell of skin getting burnt spread out.

The roasted skin slowly started to melt.

The burnt corpses increased bit by bit.

‘Damn. There’s no escape.’

Roan ground his teeth.

He searched his back and his sides but there was no escape.

‘And we can’t climb the hill.’

In the end, they had to get out through the entrance they came in.

The problem.

‘That place is blocked by trees.’

On top of that, there was an amazing fire.

“The, there’s no way……… For, for it to be a trap………”

Richard, who brought this information, was half absent minded.

And Aaron also didn’t have any solutions.

“Don’t run about in confusion!”

He calmed the soldiers and fell back to a place that still hadn’t caught fire.

“Uooo.”

“Kuhuk.”

Cries filled with pain.

It was the groan of the wounded that couldn’t dodge the fire.

“It’s too hot! Too hot!”

“I, I don’t want to die.”

The ones that received disgusting wounds had their hearts crumble.

“Damn! Move the wounded to the inner part!”

“Take care of them so the wound doesn’t worsen!”

The troop commanders stepped out and commanded the soldiers.

But they were also in a rush.

‘Damn! To get caught in a trap!’

They had lowered their guard at the consecutive victories.

Aaron looked at the huge fire and shook his head.

‘Is this hell……’

It was even painful to breathe because of the hot heat.

Aaron blamed his impatience.

The supply storage of Istel kingdom.

He had plentily expected the enemy to be prepared.

And because of that, he led half of his force.

However, as it was enemy territory, it was more suitable to attack quickly and retreat.

‘I have to check it more carefully……’

Strength was put in his hand.

Then, he saw Roan’s back.

He had a kind of pondering look.

‘He’s calm even in this situation.’

He thought that it was really Roan like.

Then, Roan started to move.

And surprisingly enough, the place he was moving to was the burning entrance.

‘I can’t keep hiding my strength in this situation.’

Roan took in a breath.

The lives of the soldiers and his life was in danger.

This wasn’t the moment to be hiding his strength.

‘Let’s do it.’

He became determined.

For him, and for his comrades.

Roan moved towards the entrance.

‘If I pull all of my mana, I might be able to crush the trees.’

You wouldn’t know if it were other people, but if it was Roan, he had plenty of possibilities.

For now, he used Brent’s ring to not feel any heat.

If it was for a short moment, it was possible to approach the fire.

‘On top of that, the mana i’m learning is Flamdor. It was the mana technique of the fire monarch Reid.’

He could say that fire was the source of his strength.

Grip.

Roan gripped his spear tightly.

“Roan!”

“Roan! Where are you going!”

Aaron , Gale, and etc. called out to Roan to stop him.

Roan just turned his head to look at them.

A smile was on his face.

“Don’t be too surprised.”

They were words you couldn’t understand.

Roan started to move again.

An amazing path of fire surged up in his surroundings.

‘Kuk. Even Brent’s ring has a limit.’

It was weak, but he could feel the heat.

‘If I waste more time, my skin will get burnt.’

Brent’s ring only made you not to feel any heat, it didn’t make the energy itself powerless.

If he slipped up, he could get a wound when he wasn’t paying attention.

Then.

Sweeee!

A sharp sound was heard in his ears.

Roan instinctively threw his body even before he saw it.

Puk!

An arrow was stuck in the place where he was standing.

Roan looked at the place where the arrow was fired with a calm expression.

Because of Kalian’s tear, he could see the face of the man on the cliff clearly.

‘He’s the bastard that chased me back then.’

Vernon, who was on the cliff, was pointing his bow towards Roan.

‘I’m sorry, but I have no time to play with you.’

Roan was calm even while looking at the arrow pointing at him.

“Harrison!”

A loud yell.

“Yes!”

Harrison, who was at the back of the soldiers, replied in a loud voice.

Roan made a sign with his left hand and pointed to the hill.

“Ah……”

Harrison, who followed the cliff with his eyes, let out a low exclamation.

Although he couldn’t see it as clearly as Roan, he recognized Vernon at one glance.

‘That bastard dares to!’

Harrison shut his mouth and grabbed his bow.

He moved between the fire and knocked an arrow.

Jiiiiiiiiiiiing.

The bowstring became tense.

‘Hoo. Hoo. Hup.’

His breath stopped.

At the same time, he let go of the fingers that were pulling the string.

Ting!

A clear sound.

Sweeeeee!

A sharp sound rang out.

One arrow pierced the fire and surged to the skies.

Roan looked at that and moved with a composed expression.

He didn’t look at the arrow anymore.

Because he trusted in Harrison’s ability.

‘Damn!’

Vernon, who was about to fire an arrow at Roan, fortunately didn’t miss Harrison inside the fire. He hurriedly pulled Teise’s arm and got on the floor.

When Vernon lowered half of his body.

Pat!

One arrow grazed his armour.

If he was a bit slower, he would have had his head pierced.

‘Damn! He’s the bastard that fired the arrow last time!’

His face reddened.

They were the bastards that made him have only one eye.

Those bastards were inside the fire.

‘I have to kill them with my own hands.’

Vernon stepped back.

“Where are you going?”

Teise frowned.

Vernon replied shortly after turning back.

“Even in this situation, I will have to receive indemnization for my eye.”

He started to climb down the hill following the back road.

Meanwhile, Roan stood in front of the trees.

“Whew.”

He let out a long sigh and gripped his spear.

The spear shined by receiving bright light.

‘Hph.’

One thread of mana surged up from his mana hole.

In that instant.

Flaaaaaaaame!

The fire that was burning the trees moved towards Roan.

It was a situation that may eat him at any moment.

“Roan!”

“It’s dangerous!”

Aaron and the soldiers, who were looking, yelled.

However Roan was rather calm.

No, he was actually a bit surprised.

‘This……’

His respiratory tract had heated up.

And it was also the same for his internal organs.

‘Ah……’

Vitality surged up.

Every time he breathed, an amazing amount of fire essence was sucked into his body.

The mana that was just a thread, that was like a raging billow, stirred in his body.

An amazing amount of strength was sent to the tip of his hands and feet.

‘I can do it.’

It was a strength he hadn’t felt until now.

He gained confidence from this.

He looked at the pile of trees in front of him and lowered his stance.

The spear was gripped with both of his hands.

Mana spouted out through his two palms.

Spat.

The colour of Roan’s mana was usually close to a transparent white light.

But it was different now.

This time, it had a red color.

Although it was difficult to recognize as it was dim, a red color was certainly seen in the blade of the spear.

Roan stepped up with his left leg and twisted both of his wrists.

Pat!

The spear split the air and crossed over the fire.

‘Kuk!’

An amazing heat was felt.

However Roan didn’t stop.

He executed the Flamdor mana technique and put strength into his spear.

Finally, the spear landed on the tree.

Baaaaaaang!

An amazing explosion rang out everywhere.

At the same time, the flames that were surging up to the skies, covered Roan.

“No!!!”

“Roan!!!”

A sound close to a scream came out.

The screams of Aaron, Gale and the soldiers rang throughout the empty lot.

End

Translator: Subak

Proofreader: st8_lupe.