A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 243 : Berserk (2)

‘…He shouldn’t have any battlefield experience.’

Heart de Garcon had already been paying attention to U-jin ever since the battle to defeat the ‘Minotaur’.

While all those who were someone on the battlefield had experience coordinating with each other, it was the first time Heart de Garcon had seen the face of U-jin, who had lured the Minotaur alone.

Because of that, he had looked into U-jin a little afterward.

And if the information he found during that process wasn't wrong, this Northern Subjugation War was U-jin's first time participating in the War against Demons.

That made it even harder to understand.

‘…….’

How could someone who had never experienced a battlefield draw such a detailed topographical map of it?

It wasn't as if the quality was poor, either.

Although he had only glanced at it, he could tell without needing to get closer.

That what U-jin had grasped wasn't just a superficial scribble following the mountain's outline, but that it contained precisely the necessary information.

He had even, somehow, carved in the battlefield combat symbols used by the Order, making it easy to understand at a glance.

It was a perfect topographical map of the Orc Mountains, with its only flaw being the ‘slightly smudged marks’ U-jin had mentioned at the beginning.

However, even that was merely an introduction to the information U-jin had brought.

The truly surprising fact began from there.

Ssk-

U-jin, turning his head to Heart de Garcon, asked.

“So… you're Captain Heart, right?”

“…That’s right.”

“Is it correct that the vanguard’s route was to scout the area near the right mountain range, based on this map?”

It was an abrupt question, but U-jin had already seized control of the atmosphere inside the barracks, making it difficult to question his intentions.

Soon, the gazes of Ludwig, Louis, and even Kanna fell upon him simultaneously, and he had no choice but to answer U-jin’s question.

“…That’s right. We attempted to scout based on the mountain range to the right of the border region and found a group of Orcs near the cliffs beyond the mountains.”

“…And then you clashed with them.”

Nod-

In truth, it was hard to say that Heart's vanguard had failed its mission.

Grasping the topography of the Orc Mountains was U-jin's anomaly; as even Kanna Cartier, who had dispatched the vanguard, was somewhat resigned, it was a task nearly impossible to accomplish in one go, and the vanguard had certainly carried out its mission of initiating a clash with the Orcs.

U-jin was also well aware of this fact, so his tone wasn't particularly accusatory towards Heart.

His earlier shocking statement was merely a means to draw the attention of everyone in the barracks; he had no intention of belittling the vanguard, who had diligently carried out their mission in their own way.

But regardless of that.

The words U-jin uttered mercilessly shattered the report brought by the vanguard.

“I moved in the opposite direction of Captain Heart’s vanguard.”

Tap-

“From here.”

Tap-

“To here.”

The surroundings fell silent at U-jin's words.

The reason was simple.

The endpoint of the scouting route U-jin had pointed to second was none other than the center of the mountain range.

Heart de Garcon, frowning as if he couldn't believe it, asked U-jin.

“…You advanced to the central region of the mountain range? In that short time?”

In itself, it was a nonsensical story.

Just as the Orc Mountains were famous for their rugged terrain, moving through them was no easy task.

Perhaps because water flowing from the Black Sea ran through underground channels, a mana turbulence phenomenon affected the entire mountain range, and as a result, mana could not be used carelessly anywhere in the mountains.

Of course, if one had outstanding mana sensitivity, it wasn't impossible to seize control of the turbulent mana and use it somehow.

Unlike Divine Magic, which required external mana intervention, Heroes used their internal Mana Circuits to utilize mana, so they were relatively less affected by the mana turbulence phenomenon.

However, just as a person cannot stand on their tiptoes all day, maintaining constant focus amidst turbulent mana was something one couldn't even attempt with ordinary mana sensitivity.

And U-jin’s current statement was tantamount to declaring that he possessed such a level of mana sensitivity.

Nod-

“I have a bit of a talent for mana.”

“……”

If heard without any context, one might have just thought, ‘That could be possible,’ and moved on.

But for Heart de Garcon, it was impossible to accept those words.

It meant that on top of his formidable physical abilities and intuition that surpassed experience, he also possessed an inexplicable talent for mana.

At this point, it was no longer talent.

It was a miracle.

“…Of course, that alone probably doesn’t explain it.”

“……”

“After all, it is the Orc Mountains.”

As U-jin added, no matter how freely he could wield mana, his story of making a round trip through the Orc Mountains in such a short time had aspects that couldn't be explained.

It was smaller than the Black Sea, but that was only in comparison to a sea that crossed one side of the continent; the Orc Mountains boasted a vast territory nearly half the size of the Black Sea.

Even if one assumed there were no mana restrictions and considered only the physical distance, it still didn't make sense.

Navigating the rugged terrain of the Orc Mountains, moving stealthily to advance to the central region.

And not only that, but to cover the round-trip distance to return in such a short time was physically impossible.

It wasn't as if there were any roads laid out for him…….

“There was a tunnel.”

…or so it would have seemed.

***

“A tunnel?”

At U-jin's sudden statement, Kanna Cartier asked back without realizing it.

Nod-

“It wasn’t just a simple passage; it seemed to be a tunnel with a military purpose.”

“……!”

It was shocking news.

Although not full-scale, since it was the Anti-Demon Front in the border region, activities to understand the had been ongoing.

Despite the Order's efforts, they had never discovered anything like a tunnel before.

“I only moved in one direction, so I don't know the exact scale, but seeing as there were quite a few forks along the way, it seemed to be a network of tunnels connecting the entire Orc Mountains.”

“…How wide was it?”

“I didn't measure it precisely, but… it was wide enough for 100 adult men to walk shoulder-to-shoulder.”

At a minimum, that was a width of 50 meters.

It was a passage not just for wartime supply lines; at this size, it was capable of directly facilitating the movement of armed troops.

“…So this is what those green-headed bastards were up to.”

Ludwig muttered, appalled.

From his perspective, it was understandable.

This was the reason they hadn't found any traces in the Orc Mountains, which they had tried so desperately to scout.

In fact, a width of 50 meters was a massive cavern, far from the image one typically associates with the word ‘tunnel’.

Yes, rather than a tunnel, the term ‘underground cavern’ was a more fitting expression for its purpose.

Heo-

“They were digging in and fortifying.”

Fortification.

It was one of the methods frequently used by the Demon King's Army before the Order's Satellite Magic was fully established like a spiderweb across the entire Order Territory.

It was a method where they would mobilize military power far beyond normal levels on the Anti-Demon Front adjacent to the Order, build a fortress that was virtually impossible to break through, and then gradually expand their influence in the surrounding area, nibbling away at the territory.

A way of building a stronghold, so to speak.

After the Order's Satellite Magic was properly in place, the Order's headquarters would directly intervene whenever there was a hint of such activity to prevent the completion of the stronghold, so it was a classic method that hadn't appeared for a long time. But now, it had reappeared in the Orc Mountains.

Of course, normally, a question should have arisen in their minds here.

It didn't explain why the Order, which had successfully thwarted fortification strategies until now, had failed to notice the signs of a stronghold being built only here in the northern Orc Mountains.

“I suppose it’s because they overlooked the ‘mana turbulence phenomenon’.”

And that had a reason that was somewhat consistent with why the Church Alliance Subjugation Force was currently in a predicament.

The ‘mana turbulence phenomenon’ that shrouded the Orc Mountains, just like the Black Sea, had interfered with the Satellite Magic, preventing it from functioning properly.

Normally, the correct procedure would have been to see the possibility of fortification through Satellite Magic and then dispatch personnel to confirm it directly.

However, because the Satellite Magic itself didn't work properly in the Orc Mountains, the Order, on an organizational level, had failed to notice the fortification.

Moreover, they had been working underground in the mountains, a place physically difficult to check while maintaining the battles on the Anti-Demon Front, making it even harder to notice.

And on top of that, the fortification strategy hadn't appeared for so long that it was safe to say it had become obsolete.

Keung-

Ludwig muttered, clutching his head.

“We’ve been completely blindsided. They kept calling it a natural fortress, a natural fortress, and to think they went and built a real one…”

The power of the fortification strategy was immense.

Without need for a long explanation, the proof was that in the long history of the Order, the number of times they had directly breached a fortress built by the Demon King's Army could be counted on one hand.

As it was a stronghold constructed with the full attention of the massive organization known as the Demon King's Army, it took a long time to build, but once completed, a fortress of the Demon King's Army was considered virtually impossible to push back with an equal force.

Truly impregnable, so to speak.

Even if they poured in more forces to push it back by force, they had to endure massive losses in the process.

Considering that the War against Demons between the Church Allied Forces and the Demon King's Allied Forces wasn't composed of a single battle, such an unreasonable war of attrition was bound to work against the Order.

Ludwig’s sigh was for the same reason.

If they had discovered it during its construction, before the start of the Northern Subjugation War, they would have somehow poured all their resources into preventing the complete construction of the Orc Mountains fortress.

But from U-jin's report, it seemed it was already in the final stages of completion.

On top of that, direct communication with the Order's headquarters was difficult at the moment due to the presence of the ‘Black Sea’.

All in all, it was not a good situation for the Order.

However, the shocking news from U-jin did not end there.

Rather.

“And… the Orcs I clashed with near the central area of that tunnel, despite not being Named, possessed combat power more than twice that of a normal Orc.”

The truly shocking news began from there.