I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 30 : Stampede (2)

Stampede (2)

As soon as he sensed the threat, Louis ducked to dodge it.

Ultimately, Rejir's slashing attack struck nothing but air, and he was immediately hit by a kick from Louis.

"Gahk!"

Rejir crashed into a tree and rolled on the ground, groaning in pain.

The impact was so severe that he couldn't properly steady himself.

Taking advantage of that gap, Louis spoke to the squad members who were coughing from the poisonous smoke.

"Quickly, take out the antidote from your rucksack!"

"Ah, that's right!"

Now that he thought about it, the emergency supplies contained an antidote.

Victor, recalling this, rummaged through his rucksack immediately.

The other squad members, following Victor's lead, tried to ignore the coughing as they retrieved the antidote.

They thought it was a good call to have divided the emergency supplies and kept them in their rucksacks.

"Young master, take yours out quickly too!"

"If you don't, you'll die!"

Dimo and Rio urged him in a panic, but Louis shook his head and replied.

"I don't think I'll have the chance."

He wasn't wrong. Eike, who'd released the poisonous smoke, was now charging at Louis.

In the blink of an eye, Eike closed the gap with Louis.

The moment Eike drew his sword, Louis had to draw his own blade to block him.

"Young master!"

The squad members cried out anxiously to Louis.

Unlike them, Louis hadn't taken the antidote yet.

Continuing to fight like this put him at a severe disadvantage.

To make matters worse, their opponent was an officer.

From their perspective, the idea that Louis would come out unscathed was impossible.

After all, they still didn't know Louis's true strength.

'Yeah, be more afraid, you punks.'

While locking swords, Louis glanced stealthily at his squad members.

Seeing the fear in their faces, he was satisfied.

He needed to instill in them the terror that death could come for them at any time in this place.

And there was one more thing he intended to make them experience.

"You guys, deal with that guy for a while!"

Louis shouted to his squad mates.

That guy?

For a moment, they wondered who he was referring to.

"You bastards!!"

Rejir, who had been knocked down, regained consciousness. Getting up again, Rejir charged toward the squad with a murderous glare.

"Hurry up and die already!!"

He rushed in and swung his sword; Rio was the first to draw her blade and block him.

Her quick reaction was good, but Rio's hands were shaking.

This mission itself had been an object of terror for her.

The same held true for the rest of the squad.

"You pathetic fledglings—Die before the monsters get here!"

Time was running out.

Even as the soldiers were falling into internal chaos, the monsters were rapidly approaching.

The fear of the terrifying monsters rushing towards them, combined with the terror of soldiers killing each other in this chaos,

intensified Rio's panic.

To make matters worse, Rejir's sword was wreathed with aura.

It wasn't as strong as the officers', but Rejir was still a sword user, able to use magic power.

Perhaps because of their difference in skill, Rio was slowly being pushed back.

Klang!—

Just then, Dimo intervened with a surprise attack and knocked aside Rejir's sword.

Thanks to him, Rio managed to escape the crisis.

"Stay focused, Rio. If you don't, we'll die."

"... Yeah."

There was no time for fear. Thanks to Dimo, Rio realized this, steadied her sword grip, and lunged forward.

Looking at Rejir as he tried to swing his sword again, she remembered once more—

In her mind, she pictured her domain burning. In that moment, Rio quickly closed in and aimed for Rejir's throat.

"Kh!"

Rejir barely managed to block Rio's sword. He then deflected Dimo's follow-up attack with ease.

Even with just one hand, Rejir showed no sign of being overpowered by the two of them.

The difference between a sword with aura and an ordinary blade was significant.

As Rejir knocked both their swords away and attempted to cut them both down at once—

"......!!"

Suddenly, something shot toward Rejir like an arrow. Reacting instantly, Rejir managed to deflect it with his sword.

"That bastard!"

"Eek!"

It was a blade thrown by Simon. Simon, who had failed in his sneak attack, instantly panicked.

In that brief moment when Rejir's attention flickered toward Simon—

Klang!—

Dimo and Rio swung their swords in unison, and Rejir barely blocked the attack in time.

Even together, breaking through a sword imbued with aura was impossible.

"Just give up and die!"

As Rejir pressed the attack again, Dimo and Rio put every ounce of strength into their arms.

Perhaps because he only had one hand, Rejir started being pushed back almost unconsciously.

"Huh?"

At that moment, Rejir saw it. Both their swords began to shimmer with light.

He doubted his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things.

Crackle!—

Suddenly overwhelmed, Rejir was flung back again and crashed into a tree.

At the same moment, he was shocked to discover his sword had been destroyed.

"This can't be...."

But there was no time to be astonished.

The cries of monsters rang out nearby.

"Damn...! This isn't the time for this! Eike, squad leader!"

He needed to escape quickly, so he called for Eike.

Now, Eike was the only one he could trust.

As an officer, he was certainly overwhelming Louis—or so Rejir believed.

"Graaaagh!!"

Just then, someone screamed and came flying to land beside Rejir.

Seeing it was Eike made Rejir freeze in shock.

"Eike... Squad leader?"

"Keheuk!"

Eike hadn't overpowered Louis—he'd been defeated instead.

Eike coughed up blood and seemed half-unconscious.

Louis, who had fought him, looked completely unscathed.

"Y-young master...!"

"You're safe."

The squad members, too, were shocked at Louis's strength.

No one would have guessed that he'd even take down an officer.

"By the way, what about your antidote, young master?"

"I just took it now."

This was a lie. Since Louis was resistant to poison, taking the antidote would have been a waste.

Hearing this, however, the squad members looked visibly relieved.

"Damn it!"

Rejir, watching this scene, gritted his teeth and pounded the ground in frustration.

In his current state, there was no way he could fight, and monsters were now right upon them.

Moreover, Eike, whom he'd relied on, had collapsed. At this point...

Shhk!—

Rejir snatched the sword Eike was still gripping and beheaded him.

Louis gaped at this scene in surprise.

He'd intended to interrogate whoever orchestrated this mess later.

"It's unfortunate I couldn't kill you with my own hands, but..."

Rejir pulled an 'R-Type Guide' out from Eike's corpse.

As someone versed in magitech, he was able to operate it to a certain extent.

"Without this, you lot won't be able to find your way out of this forest!"

Grinning arrogantly, Rejir then took a pill-like object out of his pocket.

"And I... at least for a while, won't be noticed by the monsters!"

Swallowing the pill, Rejir activated the R-Type Guide and began to run away.

"Go become food for the monsters... Kugh!"

He was sprinting to save himself alone, but suddenly collapsed.

He spat blood from his mouth, as if he'd just swallowed poison.

In fact, that's exactly what had happened.

"Not noticed by the monsters? There's no such pill in this world."

The pill Rejir just swallowed reeked of poison.

Louis quickly deduced the cause of his collapse.

"S-save me..."

Retching blood, Rejir's vision began to blur. Louis stared intently at his abdomen.

All his senses focused on his eyes now, allowing him to see even what he couldn't before.

With those eyes, he spotted the poison in Rejir's stomach and struck that spot with his palm.

"Keuk!"

At that, Rejir coughed up the half-dissolved poison with a groan.

His life saved, he nonetheless lost consciousness from the shock.

"Young master, why're you saving this guy?"

"He tried to kill us!"

Victor and Simon demanded an explanation. Of course, Louis hadn't saved him for no reason.

"I've got a grudge against this bastard too. But if he dies, we can't find out who ordered all this."

There was no way Rejir had orchestrated this alone. Without a doubt, someone was manipulating things from behind.

Louis had no intention of letting that person off lightly.

"But what do we do now? The monsters will be here any second!!"

Just as Pram said, they were almost upon them.

Louis could actually hear monsters crawling from the left side path with his own ears.

Judging by their heavy steps, they were probably much larger monsters but, fortunately, slower than humans.

If they ran at full speed from now, they could avoid being caught.

"Hey! Compass! Please, just work!!"

Pram shouted, clutching the R-Type Guide taken from Rejir's hand.

"We can't survive unless you work!"

Naturally, begging wasn't going to fix anything.

But the other squad members looked just as desperate as Pram.

'Let's see now.'

Now that he thought about it, he remembered that monsters supposedly never got lost in this Forest of Death.

Apparently, it was because these creatures were adapted to this demon realm.

So Louis pondered. If he, with the Chaos Dragon's senses, were to—

"You damned compass! Move! Start working!!"

Pram was still wrestling with the magitech device.

Honestly, that shouldn't be working but—

"Huh?"

Louis suddenly widened his eyes.

****

Inside the fortress, there weren't only sword-wielding soldiers.

There were also soldiers wielding staves and casting magic, as well as those using relics to channel holy power.

If mages or devout members of the church had committed crimes, they were conscripted into the 7th Legion just like anyone else.

Amongst the magic troops, Klein was the strongest.

Without him, this bait operation might have failed from the start.

"Every time I see it, magic really is convenient."

Kadim commented as he looked at the huge magic array engraved on the ground.

Klein, maintaining the array, frowned at this remark.

"On what basis do you say that?"

"Didn't you see how easily we blocked the monsters that were lured here?"

The magic array was carved just near the Forest of Death.

When bait soldiers escaped the forest, the spell built into the magic array would activate.

A massive barrier formed, incinerating anything it touched.

Blocked from advancing further, the monsters would then turn on each other.

After all, the monsters weren't allies.

"Don't misunderstand me. What I mean is... that Klein's magic is so impressive it makes our suffering as bait worth it."

"..."

"By the way, it looks like they should be coming soon."

The cries of monsters began to ring out. At the same time, the bait troops started emerging from the forest.

"Speak of the devil..."

"I wonder how many survived?"

"Who knows?"

Klein intended to raise the barrier as soon as the monster horde was close.

Even if not all bait troops got clear of the forest, that didn't matter.

"In the end, not everyone's getting out."

'Especially those ones.'

Kadim sneered internally.

By now, the soldier named Louis and his squad should have been deceived by Eike under his command, and ended up as monster food.

"Come to think of it, didn't that new recruit who used to be a noble get assigned there?"

"You mean Rejir?"

"Yes. I wonder if he survived."

Rejir had joined in Eike's machinations. He had personally borne a grudge against Louis.

But Kadim had no intention of letting Rejir live, either.

Kadim had received two letters: one ordering him to execute Louis and Silia,

and the other stating,

― Kill Rejir, that good-for-nothing, too.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd he found it.

So he purposely didn't show Rejir the second letter.

If Rejir found out, how would he react? Kadim was genuinely curious, but unfortunately, that was impossible now.

By now, he surely was monster food in the forest.

"It's about time to close it."

Klein raised his staff and focused, making the magic array shine brightly.

The monsters' cries grew ever nearer, and the barrier was about to spring up from the magic array.

"Wait!!"

At that moment, a voice rang out from beyond the magic array. Seeing the soldiers running from there, Kadim's face stiffened.

Behind them, massive monsters were advancing with heavy steps, and at the front, Louis and his squad—who were supposed to be dead—were running.

Even Rejir was being carried on Louis's shoulder. Seeing these people, who should have been dead, alive, Kadim bit his lip.

"Please let us in!!"

What especially made no sense was that one of the squad members—a girl—was operating the R-Type Guide.