WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈

Chapter 66: One Point, One Flash

──────

Rumble...!

A tremor that shook the earth spread through the soldiers' feet.

In the dead of night, when even the full moon had hidden behind the clouds, mutated magical beasts with exoskeletons emerged from beyond the fog.

Clack! Clack!

Resembling ants, they clicked their jaws together as red light flashed in their eyes.

Some soldiers' limbs trembled under the Fear the magical beasts gave off.

"They're coming! Hold your shields tight!"

Before the shout had even ended.

Boom!!

The horde of magical beasts rushing in from all directions slammed into the heavy wagons.

The ant-like beasts, each as large as a house, rammed their heads forward.

Clank!

The chains pulled taut with a metallic screech.

"Grrgh...!"

"Hold the line! If we give ground, we're finished!"

Thunk! Thunk!

Spears stabbed through the narrow gaps at the magical beasts forcing their heads inside.

Dark green blood and entrails mixed with ash, splattering wetly across the soldiers' faces.

Just as the wagon boards began to splinter and the soldiers' formation was pushed to its limit, a cry rang out.

"The right side is giving way!"

Bang!

"This one's mine! Move aside!"

The barbarian brothers shot out from the vanguard like arrows.

Crunch!

A double-bladed axe split the head of a giant ant that had been eyeing the wagon.

Sticky fluids burst everywhere. Even so, the vanguard did not stop suppressing the beasts.

"Covering you!"

Crack!

The pressure of Force magic pouring from Lucia's fingertips crushed the shells of the charging magical beasts.

Slice!

In the midst of the melee, a silver streak cut through the area without a drop of blood touching it.

Thud. Thud.

Whenever the silver flashed, exoskeletons were sliced apart like tofu. The magical beasts' heads and bodies rolled across the ground.

"Do not let the front line collapse! We'll seal every breach!"

At the moment the defensive line was about to fall apart, the vanguard's exceptional strength crushed the enemy's momentum.

Whenever a section seemed ready to break, the vanguard rushed in, cut the magical beasts down at the waist, then returned to the center.

Afterward, it was the vanguard's duty to keep a close watch on the battlefield.

That was when it happened.

"Forward shield unit! Open the formation and support both flanks! The vanguard will sweep away the front!"

Astin's voice thundered from behind them.

To the soldiers at the front, that voice was salvation itself.

"The Commander is stepping forward!"

"The vanguard is advancing! Clear a path!"

There was not a shred of doubt in the soldiers' eyes.

Just as he had single-handedly defeated the Cordyceps, they believed he would clear the way again.

Clank!

The soldiers personally undid the chains that had been firmly secured. They pushed the cargo wagons aside, throwing open the front.

"Clear the way!"

"The Commander is stepping in!"

Clank, clang!

The soldiers drew rough breaths as they waited for Astin to appear.

"Forward!"

Astin appeared with the sound of footsteps from behind.

The soldiers looked at Astin and the vanguard with expectant eyes.

But Astin's expression twisted like a crumpled sheet of paper.

"Answer me! Why is the front open?"

"Y-Yes? C-Commander, you just said you would sweep away the front..."

Astin's mind turned cold. Deep frustration crossed his face.

"I never said that."

"...What?"

Those idiots.

Astin swallowed the curse rising in his throat.

It was a distraction tactic by an intelligent magical beast.

Because he had left the battlefield and achieved a great victory when fighting the Cordyceps, the soldiers had fallen for it without question.

Roaaargh!

Magical beasts poured through the opened front.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A wave of magical beasts, thousands upon tens of thousands strong, surged toward them.

The faces of the soldiers, which had been bright with expectation, darkened.

The corners of their mouths, once lifted in joy, began to tremble.

"N-No..."

Clatter!

Unable to resist their fear, the soldiers dropped their weapons. They helplessly muttered the names of their mothers and wives.

Despair spread from mouth to mouth faster than any plague.

Clang!!

Astin struck a shield with the flat of his sword.

The deafening crash split the battlefield. The soldiers with empty expressions turned toward Astin as one.

"Don't hang your heads! Why do you already look like corpses?"

The soldiers' pupils shook.

A centurion shouted in a voice trembling like an aspen tree.

"C-Commander! But that order was from a magical beast! We foolishly fell for it and opened the formation..."

"Who said you were fooled? It used my voice to say it would sweep away the front. Then all we have to do is sweep it away for real."

Astin pointed his sword straight at the wide-open front and the magical beasts pouring through it.

There was no time to restore the collapsing formation. He had already made his decision without hesitation.

"Vanguard!"

Fwoooosh!!

Solar erupted from the base of his heart.

Three Sun Rings spun, raising reddish-gold flames.

"Don't be scared just because a few scrap-metal shields were moved aside! From now on, we are the shields, and we are the walls! Whether they come by the thousands or tens of thousands, do not retreat! Do not let a single one through!"

"Good! Just holding the line was never our style!"

"Now that's our Great Chieftain!"

Bellutak and Buraltak grinned, baring their gums.

Beside them, Jenkinson groaned and clutched his aching head.

"Haah... What glory and riches did I ever think I'd enjoy in a life like mine...?"

Pat, pat.

Bagot patted his shoulder as if to encourage him.

Astin glanced to either side.

Selena and Lucia exchanged looks, then lowered their swords.

"We'll break through the front! Vanguard, follow me!"

Boom!!

Sunlight erupted from Astin's charging sword, illuminating their field of vision.

As though it were a lantern, every member of the vanguard followed behind him.

Slice! Slaaash!

The impacts of blades cutting through flesh and blunt weapons crushing bodies hammered at their ears.

"T-They're insane..."

The Commander and the vanguard threw themselves into the jaws of death.

The soldiers watching them saw their despair vanish in an instant.

Joy and excitement filled the empty space, burning like fire.

"The Commander has charged into death itself! Shouldn't we do something too?!"

The soldiers let out defiant roars, gripping their shields and spears tightly.

* * *

Roaaargh!

The magical beasts' howls rang in my ears like tinnitus.

Whenever I sent a magical beast's head flying from the lead, the vanguard crushed the magical beasts in the blind spots to my left and right.

Slaaash!

A silver streak sliced through the air. Each time it did, a magical beast's head flew into the sky.

Selena's silver, unfeeling eyes gleamed as she continued to open a path without a hint of emotion.

Skreeee!

There was no time to look away.

The endlessly charging magical beasts clung stubbornly to me. Irritated by their troublesome weight, I readjusted my grip on my sword when a voice called from behind me.

"Young Lord, duck!"

A desperate voice rang beside my ear from behind.

Heat rushed toward me.

The moment I ducked on instinct, a crimson fireball grazed the top of my head and flew past.

Boom!

Skreee!

The magical beasts were directly struck by the fireball and burned to a crisp.

Amid the acrid smoke and drifting ash, accompanied by their dying screams, I turned my head in the other direction.

"I nearly got burned too."

"Oh my, in that case, you would've burned to death long ago, Young Lord."

She must have meant what happened with the Cordyceps.

She was not wrong. I was resistant to flames of this degree.

Slice!

Without looking, I swung my sword. The magical beast to my right was cut in half, spraying blood.

I immediately took out a communication mana stone and poured mana into it.

"Elder! Can you hear me?!"

"I hear you perfectly well, Commander!"

Hendrickson's hearty laughter came through.

"We've opened a path through the front! Move the main force's shield troops forward to block the flanks, and have the skirmishers follow through the front! Strike the enemy's middle through the path opened by the vanguard!"

"My body was already itching for a fight, so this works out well."

The moment communication ended, footsteps began shaking the ground from the rear.

But the reinforcements would arrive too late.

Thud! Thud!

The vanguard was desperately forcing open a path, but the situation was far from easy.

The number of enemies pouring in from beyond the fog showed no sign of decreasing.

Every time we took a single step forward, dozens of magical beasts surrounded us from all sides.

"Aaargh!"

"Damn it, tighten the formation! Don't leave any gaps!"

The magical beasts surged in like waves, using even the corpses of their own kind as stepping stones.

The chunks of flesh we had cut down piled up like mountains, becoming obstacles that blocked our advance.

There were only so many times we could tear through exoskeletons hard as steel.

After repeating it thousands of times, even a Swordmaster's muscle fibers would begin to scream.

My own arm was already growing stiff, as though a lump of lead had been tied to it.

If we insisted on breaking through the front like this, we would lose the battle of endurance before reaching it.

"Aaargh!"

Ear-splitting screams erupted from all over the battlefield.

At the edge of my vision, I saw a mercenary spilling entrails and the corpse of a centurion whose head had been completely torn off.

The stench of blood choked my throat.

"S-Save me! Please!"

"Captain! Captain! Where are you?!"

"Save me, my leg... Aaargh!!"

Even the steel-like vanguard was gradually breathing harder. Defeat was drawing closer.

We needed something to turn the battle around in one stroke.

Crackle!

I gathered reddish-gold flames and illuminated the surroundings.

In the brief moment my vision cleared, I aimed at the deepest edge beyond the fog.

The source of the pheromones that made the air thick and sticky.

Among countless mutant beasts, one particularly grotesque silhouette caught my eye.

It was a massive four-legged magical beast with an exoskeleton. Its body looked nothing like an ant.

Three pairs of eyes sat along either side of its body, while dozens of blood-red tentacles writhed along its spine. It was grotesque enough to make looking at it difficult.

Whenever its mouth opened, sticky pheromones spread outward.

"[... Vanguard, charge.]"

A voice identical to mine came from its throat.

I knew immediately.

That was the leader.

I measured the distance between us.

Roughly five hundred paces.

But thousands upon thousands of magical beasts stood in the way. Breaking through on the ground had reached its limit.

I raised my eyes.

The ground was a scene from hell, but the pitch-black night sky was empty.

...It was a ridiculous method.

But there was no other way.

Even now, while I hesitated, my people were dying.

"Lucia!"

"Yes!"

"Can you concentrate Force magic to its limit?"

Lucia's mouth opened slightly. Then, as though she understood what I meant, her eyes widened.

"Yes! I can!"

"Launch me as high as you can! Into that sky!"

"If the trajectory is wrong, you could be isolated in the middle of the enemy ranks!"

"I'll set the course myself! We don't have time!"

Lucia bit down hard on her lower lip.

Her hesitation lasted only an instant. She extended both hands toward the ground beneath my feet.

Vwooom!

With the sound of vibration, she drew up an enormous amount of mana.

"Sister! Cover me for three seconds!"

Slice!

Selena scattered silver slashes. The magical beasts rushing at us fell one after another.

But they kept coming without end. Every second mattered.

Whiiiiir!

The magic circle beneath my feet began spinning rapidly.

Mana condensed at its center with a massive repulsive force.

"Now!"

"Launching!"

At Lucia's shout.

Boom!!

The roar of an explosion, as though the earth itself had been torn away, ripped through my eardrums.

It felt as though I had stepped onto a giant spring.

Whoooosh!

My vision flipped in an instant.

My body became a streak of light and shot toward the night sky.

"...!"

Pressure that crushed my insides and burrowed into my bones flooded my nervous system.

A fierce wind pressure, sharp enough to cut my skin, lashed my entire body.

The magical beasts' howls and the metallic clashes of weapons faded into the distance.

At the peak, when acceleration died and gravity reversed.

Whoooosh...

The world fell silent in an instant. Only the cold night wind brushed my cheeks.

I looked down at the battlefield spread beneath me. The magical beast wave of tens of thousands looked like nothing more than a swarm of ants.

The leader stood at the center of that mass. Its crown came into focus.

My head grew cold as I judged the angle of descent and distance to the target.

I had confidently declared I would set my own course, but I did not even need to.

'Just what I would expect from a romance fantasy protagonist.'

Had she calculated it before launching me? Or was this also the world's favor, in other words, plot force?

Either way, it did not matter.

From the distant heights, my body plunged downward.

Whoosh!

I flipped myself upside down in midair.

Even at that height, my sword tip did not waver. It aimed precisely at the grotesquely writhing leader in the center of the magical beasts.

Whoosh!

As gravity took hold again, terrifying acceleration began to build.

Three Sun Rings spun at their limit, as though they would tear apart.

My heart pounded as though it would burst. Reddish-gold Solar ran along the blade and engulfed my entire body.

The flames condensed at my sword tip soon expanded into a massive pillar of fire, setting the night sky ablaze.

As the dizzying sensation of floating came to an end.

Fwoooosh!!

A single flash, with all mass and flame compressed into one point.

Swoooosh...!!

It split the night sky in two and plunged down like a meteor.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried