WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈
Chapter 63: Even If You Live, You'll Die by My Hand
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Brush, brush.
I shook the glass shards and medicine clinging to the crown of my head.
“...”
Selena cautiously approached and brushed away the glass fragments near my shoulders and my damp hair.
Even someone as shameless as her seemed to feel guilty.
Lucia happened to pass by and saw my condition. Her gaze moved between Selena and me.
“Commander, what happened to your head...?”
I snickered and replied.
“It seems my sister worries a great deal.”
Selena’s shoulders jumped. She pressed her lips together and sharply turned away.
Bzzzzt!
The communication stone in my pocket glowed blue.
It was the magical communication stone linked to Julian and the guard unit.
“C-Commander!”
Julian’s urgent voice came through the communication stone.
“The soldiers’ hallucinations are out of control! At this rate, the damage may spread to the supply unit!”
The antidote stimulants were not a cure-all. They were only a temporary measure.
I steadied my breathing and swallowed my tension.
There had been no notable transmissions from the main force or the skirmish unit yet.
That meant they were holding out under Hendrickson’s command, or the damage caused by the hallucinations was not too severe.
Not yet.
My gaze turned toward the commotion.
The truly serious problem was here, where I stood. The vanguard, thick with hallucinogens.
“Aaargh! A glorious battle!!”
The barbarian brothers had lost their reason and were rampaging through the vanguard, which needed to maintain its formation.
Their bodies might have been strong, but without resistance, they only multiplied the unit’s losses. Those two were perfect examples.
“Aim for their heads!”
Bagot shouted and swung a flask.
Crash!
The sharp sound of breaking glass rang out as the acrid medicine scattered, stinging the nose.
Even so, the brothers did not budge.
Thud!
I stepped on Bagot’s shield and leaped.
Then I struck the backs of both barbarians’ heads hard with the flat of my blade.
Thwack!
“Grrk!”
The beastlike giants rolled back their eyes and collapsed to the ground.
“Bind them immediately and throw them into the center of the formation.”
“Yes, sir!”
“U-Up there!”
The moment a soldier shouted, a massive shadow fell over our heads.
Human-sized moths flapped their broad wings between the branches blocking out the sky.
Whenever their wings beat harder, snowflake-like insect droppings scattered down from above.
“That’s them! Those moths are causing the hallucinations!”
“Shoot them dead!”
The soldiers saw the powder and assumed the swarm of moths was behind everything.
Without realizing it was a deception deliberately created by the true mastermind.
Whoosh!
I kicked off the ground and leaped at once.
Slice!
A red-gold blade of aura cut through the neck of a moth flying low.
The decapitated moth fell to the ground with a thud!
“Gah!”
The soldiers nearby staggered back in horror.
The instant I landed, I cut open the moth’s wound.
The soldiers’ expressions changed in real time as they frowned.
“W-What is that...?”
“Is that really a magical beast’s blood...?”
Blood and organs should have spilled from the severed cross-section.
Instead, it was packed with white, sticky filaments like tangled thread.
And where its brain should have been, parasitic mushroom tendrils filled its head.
I rubbed some of the drifting powder between my fingertips.
“This is not moth droppings. They are fungal spores.”
“Spores...?”
If it had been moth droppings, they would have been tiny fragments of wing scales. They should have felt resistant or clumped together when rubbed.
But this felt far too smooth.
Fine, even particles that seemed as though they could seep deep into the pores.
“They are not living magical beasts. They are undead being controlled to spread hallucinogenic spores.”
The real source was a cordyceps hidden elsewhere.
It exploited human psychology.
It controlled dead moths, using fungal spores and moth droppings to draw widespread attention.
It had lured us into wasting our strength on the moths.
“Stay alert. This is what the Ashen Forest is like.”
The soldiers’ faces turned pale.
The forest possessed intelligence and was hunting us.
There was bound to be a vast difference between hearing that and experiencing it firsthand.
“Commander!”
An urgent shout came from behind me.
It was the elven scouting party led by Priestess Ariel.
Rumble!
The ground trembled. The soldiers’ faces grew even paler.
The scouts had spotted a horde of approaching magical beasts and joined us.
There was no time. Leaving them behind, I turned toward Lucia and Selena.
“I need both of your help.”
Crash!
Selena struck a soldier in the head with a flask, then glanced at me.
“What do you need?”
“The magical beasts will be upon us soon.”
If everyone defended their own positions, we could hold off the magical beast horde.
But the real concern was internal strife caused by the hallucinations.
“The stimulants are holding them back for now, but they are limited. We need to wipe out the source of the hallucinations in one stroke.”
An endless stream of infected magical beasts would follow.
No matter how many soldiers we had, a battle of attrition would see us all wiped out in the swamp of hallucinations.
There was only one way to break through this situation.
A decapitation operation, where a small elite force swiftly removed the heart of the problem.
I tightly gripped the sword hilt at my waist.
“Among the vanguard, the only ones who can withstand the hallucinations are Lieutenant Lucia, my sister, and myself.”
“...Can’t we bring other knights?”
“No. Their resistance has not been verified. And we do not have time to select them.”
The closer we got to that place, the worse the hallucinations would become.
If we forcibly brought them along, there was a high risk of infighting.
“If the commander and lieutenant leave, what will happen to the vanguard?”
Selena asked flatly.
Rather than answer, I drew out the mana from my Core.
“Vanguard! Join the main force immediately!”
The soldiers raised their shields over their heads and tightened their formation.
Their retreat began as they deflected the attacking moth swarm raining down from above.
“Hold the hallucinating soldiers tightly! If the formation collapses, we all die!”
Even while dragging struggling soldiers and unconscious people like baggage, the soldiers stubbornly kept pace.
After a desperate maneuver, the vanguard and main force finally merged into one.
“All forces! Form a circular defensive formation where you stand!”
Clank! Clang!
The shield bearers surrounded the outer edge and raised a wall of shields.
Spearmen thrust their weapons through the gaps, forming a circle.
They lacked palisades, but they had secured a wide space.
“Do not take a single step outside this position! Kill only what approaches!”
“Maintain the formation! Do not break ranks under any circumstances!”
The entire force held their positions and assumed a solid defensive stance.
A purely defensive approach that required no complicated maneuvers, only holding their ground.
The confusion in the soldiers’ eyes gradually faded.
Only then could they fulfill their duties at their respective positions while we left for a while.
“Keep a close watch on the soldiers beside you! If a comrade tries to leave the formation, do not hesitate to smash their head in!”
“Commander! What do we do when we run out of medicine?”
“Knock them out! Throw them into the middle of the formation!”
It was extreme control, where everyone watched everyone else.
Hendrickson and the Holy Sword Keeper were with the main force and shield unit.
We could leave the safeguards against mishaps to them.
I turned back toward Lucia and Selena.
“All right. I’ll follow you, Commander.”
Lucia nodded.
I turned to Selena.
She still said nothing, but simply meeting her eyes conveyed what she meant.
I slowly closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.
There was only one way to find the mycelium no matter where it hid.
Trace the flow of spores backward.
The current of mana filling the space, and the trails of fine powder drifting through the air.
Before long, they caught in my energy sense.
Ordinary powder should have scattered in every direction on the wind.
But the spores filling the air were not scattering.
They were being drawn ever so slightly toward one direction in the forest.
The source was deeper in the forest.
“That way.”
I pointed my sword toward the direction the spores were flowing.
Tap!
I immediately kicked off the ground and began running.
Lucia and Selena followed behind me.
* * *
Within an ash-gray curtain thick with spores, three shadows swiftly pushed through the forest.
Watching Astin’s back as he led the way, Selena narrowed her silver eyes.
‘His judgment is quick.’
She remembered the underground merman’s attack.
Just as then, Astin’s improvisation was flawless now.
Even his decisiveness was astonishing.
Advancing without the slightest hesitation once he decided on a course of action was not easy for a commander.
A position makes the person.
Selena had long understood that saying deeply.
Even she had been responsible for a mere order of knights during the northern deployment.
The weight of responsibility could draw out a person’s potential to its utmost limit.
But at times, that position also made one painfully aware of their limits.
She had been certain Astin would be the latter.
She had been convinced that would make him hand command over to her.
“...”
Selena was lost in complicated thoughts when it happened.
Rustle!
Dense brush tore apart, and grotesque cries erupted from every direction.
Kieeek!
Shhhiiik!
What burst through the fog were bears and wild boars covered in ash. Corpses of predators that must once have ruled the forest’s ecosystem.
They looked far more vicious and grotesque than they had in life.
Mold and thick mushroom stalks tangled across their skin.
They looked as though they wore hideous living armor created by parasites. Fungal Armor.
Thud! Rumble!
The ash-gray bear flashed red eyes and swung its forepaw.
Selena immediately drew her sword and knocked the bear’s forepaw aside.
Slice! Crack!
Her sharp sword aura split the Fungal Armor and severed its arm.
Sizzle!
What burst from the magical beast’s severed limb was not blood.
Yellow, sticky spore fluid and poisonous gas sprayed out in every direction.
“Ugh...!”
Selena reflexively held her breath and retreated.
The instant the gas touched her skin, it raised burning welts.
The poisonous gas escaping from its wounds threatened their airways.
“Sister!”
That was when Astin’s voice rang out.
“Hold your breath! Aim for the joints in their armor!”
As he spoke, Astin swept down his red-gold sword.
Clang! Thwack!
Rather than aiming for the Fungal Armor, his sword strike precisely pierced the gaps in the joints and the thin weak points.
Thud!
The magical beast fell without releasing poisonous gas.
It was a killing strike without a wasted movement. Selena could not help being inwardly astonished.
To be able to do that after seeing it only once.
That could not be explained simply by saying his instincts were sharp.
Fwoosh!
Lucia’s fireball fell over the magical beasts’ heads.
Flames like an inferno quickly burned the magical beasts’ surfaces black.
Slice!
Lucia thoroughly finished off the fallen magical beasts.
The three of them broke through the horde and raced deeper into the forest.
After running for over ten more minutes, the dense ash-gray dead trees abruptly ended as if it were a lie. Even the terrain before them had changed completely.
Halt.
Astin, running at the front, came to a stop.
A basin appeared where the once-level forest floor had sunk deeply downward.
A hollow where the wind could not reach. The landscape inside the basin was grotesque beyond measure.
At its center, pulsing mycelium and masses of cordyceps were coiled together like veins.
‘A cordyceps colony.’
The spores could not scatter outside and had sunk to the bottom, forming a cloud of spores.
If they sparked even a small flame down there, an explosion would spread through it.
But that would not be enough.
Astin already knew the cordyceps’ durability and resistance to fire.
‘Resistance has its limits.’
Once the temperature exceeded a certain point, it would turn to ash. He already knew the method from the journal.
“Lieutenant, remain here on the high ground and wait. There is only one objective, a dust explosion.”
“What do you mean...?”
“I will provoke that thing and raise the spore concentration in the basin. When the time comes, wipe them out with a dust explosion.”
Lucia’s eyes widened.
“What if you get caught in it?”
“Do not worry. I will get out before then. And Sister.”
Astin’s gaze moved to Selena.
“Please remain here and safely guard the lieutenant.”
“...You are going down there alone.”
“Trust me just this once. I am the commander, after all.”
Astin drew the sword at his waist.
Tap!
Without hesitation, he threw himself forward.
Astin’s figure vanished into the basin in an instant.
Thump!
Astin managed to land and covered his nose and mouth with the back of his hand.
The air at the basin’s bottom was so thick it was difficult to breathe.
Even at the heart of it, he still showed no signs of hallucinating.
‘Compared to an inner demon, this is nothing.’
Astin suppressed the poisonous energy seeping into his lungs and charged toward the mass.
Slice! Crunch!
The silver sword’s trail cut through the air. The roots along the bottom were ruthlessly sliced apart.
Brrrgle!
Perhaps sensing a threat to its life, the colony released a grotesque bubbling sound.
At the same time, the mire at the basin’s bottom began boiling with foam.
Thud! Rumble!
Holes opened in the mire as though mouths were opening.
Dozens of magical beasts in Fungal Armor poured out all at once.
It had awakened every zombie magical beast it had hidden away.
Scratch.
The magical beasts raked their bodies with their claws, tearing open their wounds.
The spores condensed within their bodies were released all at once.
Slice!
Astin swung his sword diagonally without concern.
Breathing was difficult, but the hallucinations they wanted to inflict would never come.
“I told you that won’t work.”
Astin looked around with gleaming eyes.
The basin soon became so thick that he could not see an inch ahead.
The highly adhesive spores clung to his armor, slowing his movements.
‘The concentration is rising.’
It was as intended, but the situation was far from easy.
Magical beasts with glowing red eyes surged in like waves from every direction.
He could not create even a spark by mistake.
If his sword struck carelessly, he would be caught in the explosion before enough spores accumulated.
Those restrictions naturally meant he had to suppress Solar.
He needed clean cuts without further blunt impacts.
It was not a difficult technique for Astin.
“Grrraah!”
The ash-gray bear in Fungal Armor swung its forepaw and lunged at him.
Normally, it was a strike he would need to deflect with aura or block with a shield.
Astin twisted his body half a step and smoothly let it pass.
Shing.
His blade drew an elegant silver line through the air. The tip of his sword slid in like a snake.
Slice!
There was no loud scraping sound. The blade only cut briefly through the cartilage between the thick plates of Fungal Armor.
Crack!
The forepaw bent, and the blade pierced the thin gap beneath its jaw.
Without the blunt sound of bone or metal colliding, it carved through only soft flesh.
Whoosh!
A massive wild boar charged toward Astin’s back from his blind spot.
Astin swiftly turned and cut through the boar’s joint.
If there was any good news, it was that the magical beasts could no longer display the power they had in life.
The only troublesome things about them were the poisonous gas and spores they released.
Of course, neither worked on Astin.
Kieeek!
But there was no end to them. When he brought down one, two charged at him.
When he cut down two, three more leaped out.
“Tch.”
Only pure physical strength and swordsmanship.
There was a clear limit to handling dozens of them with only that.
Then, as he continued the desperate fight alone.
Shuaaaaa!
The true cordyceps body appeared, its countless tentacles and roots spilling out like disheveled hair.
It spewed out a thick, sticky spore cloud like a volcano.
When Astin inhaled, his lungs burned as though they were being torn apart.
‘It is here.’
Astin sheathed his sword. The concentration required for the dust explosion had already passed its critical point.
Just as he turned to head upward.
Kieeek!
Still more magical beasts surged from the bottom of the basin like a wave.
They blocked Astin’s escape route.
‘There are too many.’
The concentration for the dust explosion was already sufficient.
But there was far too little time to break through them and escape to the high ground.
If he delayed any longer, the spores would thin out.
With no other choice, Astin took out the communication stone.
“Lieutenant Lucia! Now!”
“C-Commander! You have not escaped yet!”
Lucia’s urgent voice came through the communication stone. Her hesitation came through clearly.
Astin took out a black-glowing pendant and gripped it.
“I have a shield artifact! If I coat my skin with Solar, I can withstand the blast pressure! Don’t worry. Set it off!”
“O-Okay...!”
With her trembling reply, the sound of chanting began.
There was little need to worry about burns from the heat. Every ring knight possessed resistance to fire.
The issue was whether he could withstand the explosion’s pressure.
He might suffer some internal injuries, but Astin had a shield-type artifact.
Hummm!
Astin gripped the artifact tightly and poured mana into it.
At that very moment.
Thump!
A fierce gust of wind crashed down from above.
A silhouette dropped at tremendous speed. It immediately grabbed Astin by the shoulder and pressed him toward the ground.
“Get down. Cover your ears and open your mouth unless you want your organs to rupture.”
Selena tightly wrapped Astin’s head against her chest.
Luna aura rose across her entire body like armor.
Astin looked up at her with blank eyes.
She clearly knew he had an artifact.
Yet she was still going this far because, as she had said before, it was just in case.
Astin’s lips curved upward.
‘If my sister had been alive back then.’
In his first life, Lucia had been the only comrade Astin could trust to watch his back.
If Selena had been alive, things would have been different.
“Even if you live through this, you will die by my hand.”
“...”
She was simply clumsy with words.
Why were you throwing away your life by getting involved in something this dangerous? That reproach was contained in her single sentence.
Afterward, Selena covered Astin with her body, blocked her ears, and opened her mouth wide.
The instant Astin copied her.
Booooooom!
After the explosive blast erupted, every sound in the world disappeared.
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