Chapter 129. Wasteland and Mountain (8)

[Deploying [Wind Spirit's Aid].]

‘You want me to save them?’

‘You mean those guys?’

With the unique laughter of a mischievous child, the spirits flew.

The invisible spiritual beings grabbed the arms and legs of the soldiers who were falling into the cracked earth and pulled them up.

‘Aigoo, why are you so heavy?’

‘You smell of iron. Hmph!’

"Heo, heok, thank you...!"

The soldiers, gasping for breath, retreated.

Despite having almost died just now, they gripped their weapons as they were trained and ran back to their comrades.

I wanted to turn my head and say a word of encouragement, but unfortunately, there was no time for that.

My gaze was fixed forward.

What we were facing was a superhuman who could fight on par with a high-level mage with his body alone.

Chiiik- Kwang!

He casually knocked away an axe swung with the power of a steam engine suit with one hand, using his iron club.

Shwiiik-Kwak!

He even deflected a sniper arrow fired by Karen with the back of his hand without even looking.

Parak-

The only thing he reacted to was Randal's attack.

The Great Chieftain, who had dodged the thrown axe by bending his back, stomped his foot.

Kuuung--

The bastard ran.

The direction was this way.

The moment I thought that, a shadow fell.

A giant fist swallowed my vision.

I made a decision.

Right?

Left?

Left.

Teong!

I deflected the fist with my sword and ducked at the same time.

Like a boxer dodging a punch with a ducking posture.

In the meantime, numerous martial arts skills and traits had drawn a picture in my head.

A picture of deflecting the Great Chieftain's fist with my sword as if sliding it, digging into the bastard's side in a low stance, and delivering a blow with the staff's spell.

However, that picture did not become a reality.

Kwadeudeuk!

The sword that was deflecting the bastard's fist shattered along with its aura.

[Deploying [Barrier].]

"Heup...!"

The brutish force that shattered even the aura half-broke the barrier and sent me flying far to the side.

"Viscount!"

Randal, who had jumped in by a hair's breadth, engaged the Great Chieftain.

A sword and an iron club drew dazzling trajectories.

A series of roars like bombs exploding echoed.

A large open space had been created on the battlefield.

A ring, so to speak, centered on me, Randal, Balkan, and the Great Chieftain Ulruk.

[Deploying [Medium Subspace].]

While Randal was buying time, I reached into the subspace in my bosom.

The abilities of the clone body, created by the power of an Outer God that defied common sense, were identical to the main body's.

Skills, including martial arts and spells, as well.

Cheat traits like the [Lord's Unyielding Mind] and [Warrior] series, too.

Even the subspace was the same.

It meant that although it was a clone body and couldn't interfere with the Outer Gods' sacred relics, everything else could be shared with the main body.

For reference, the dwarves' Steamforge was filled with top-grade armaments.

I had packed a few of them appropriately.

A reward, so to speak, for retaking the Steamforge.

[Deploying [Swordsmanship of the Red Bud].]

I coated the sword I took out from the subspace with a red aura.

[Deploying [Phantom Step].]

[Deploying [Sprinter].]

While concealing my presence, I moved behind the Great Chieftain and swung my sword, aiming for the nape of his neck.

The bastard reacted.

As if he had eyes on his back.

He blocked Randal's sword with his iron club and at the same time deflected the flat of my sword with his elbow and swung a fist like a boulder.

Similar to before, I deflected it with an aura-coated sword.

Kkagagak-

An ominous sound was heard, but it didn't break.

The aura wavered precariously, but that was all.

There was no damage to the sword blade itself.

It wasn't for nothing that mithril was called a legendary metal.

I dug into his side, fed him a series of lightning magic, and then retreated.

Randal once again blocked the path of the Great Chieftain who was trying to chase me in a rage.

In the meantime, the dwarf in the steam engine suit's axe swing aimed for his thigh, and an arrow flying from somewhere on the battlefield sharply aimed for his eye.

"Cowards! You are dishonorable!"

The Great Chieftain shouted.

"Not even warriors! You're not even worth goblin shit!"

I dropped a single [Lightning Strike] on the head of the bastard who was lavishing us with praise.

The battlefield, which had become precarious with the Great Chieftain's intervention, regained its balance.

Randal and Balkan held the Great Chieftain at bay from the front, while Karen's sniping and my spells confused him.

The main force was holding back the wave of orcs under the command of Damas, old man Brol, and the newly appointed 4th Battalion Commander, with a defensive tactic centered on spearmen.

When a place seemed about to be breached, Olif's Nameless Knights and Alina's Church Army joined to defend it, and when it seemed they had pushed back enough, they secured the space with close-range artillery fire.

Viscount Pewin's army was in a precarious situation, but on that side was the witch of mad fire.

A high-level mage from the fire school, specialized in firepower, who could block one front of the battle line by herself.

Of course, it was a precarious balance.

Like walking on a tightrope, not knowing when we might slip.

But it was okay.

It was about time.

"Randal! Balkan!"

I shot forward and gave the pre-arranged signal.

Confirming that the two immediately retreated, I swung my sword, aiming for the Great Ch chieftan's wrist.

The bastard snorted and brought his iron club to clash with mine.

That's what I was aiming for.

The moment the weapons clashed, I relaxed my legs and threw my body backwards.

The Great Chieftain, who was about to chase me immediately, flinched for a moment.

The bastard turned his head.

Towards the distant dwarf hold.

"Dwar...!!"

There was a story that veterans who had been dispatched to war zones all said.

That there were two things that arrived before the sound.

One was a sniper's bullet.

The other was a cannonball.

Only after a comrade next to you fell or you felt the tingling impact of a bullet somewhere on your body did the sniper's gunshot reach your ears.

The sound of artillery came only after you saw a building collapse, a pile of dirt overturned on your trench, or an allied tank hit by a shell and explode.

Occasionally, the unique sound of a cannonball tearing through the air came a half-step ahead, but that was usually in the case of a howitzer.

More than half of the dwarf hold's siege weapons were flat-trajectory cannons.

That meant the cannonball arrived before the sound.

The Great Chieftain Ulruk swung his iron club in the air.

For a moment, a blurry afterimage touched the end of the bastard's club.

An explosion and flames erupted.

Kwaaaaang!

A cloud of dust covered all sides.

Vision was limited.

I immediately grasped the surroundings with [Battlefield-Overlooking Gaze].

It was borrowing the vision of those with superior senses than me, like Randal or Karen.

With a planar view looking down from above, I could faintly see the Great Chieftain standing tall in the dust cloud.

The bastard was standing with his club extended, as if a baseball player had pressed pause during a hitting scene.

About a third of the iron club was gone.

His arm was also not clearly visible, but it was definitely injured.

A single dwarf-made cannonball had the power of a 7th-circle spell.

Having been hit squarely by that, even a legendary hero couldn't withstand it.

As far as I knew, the Orc Great Chieftain at this point would be in a near-death state after one cannonball....

"......"

No.

He was moving.

The bastard's hand twitched.

The bastard, who had turned his head to look in the direction of the hold, dropped his iron club with a thud.

It wasn't clearly visible, but it seemed his tattered arm was also recovering.

The broken blue tattoo began to shimmer, connecting lines and drawing shapes.

I knew that he had a [Recovery] trait.

However, this was not on that level.

[Recovery] did speed up the recovery of injuries, including the rate of stamina replenishment, by several times, but it wasn't to the extent of reattaching wounds in real time.

Making bones attach and muscles and flesh sprout before one's eyes was something that couldn't be done without a cheat trait like [Super Regeneration].

"Randal, take Balkan and retreat."

There was a way.

I held my sword and staff and walked into the dust cloud.

With the strategic map in my head, I confirmed that Randal had heard my command and was moving away from the dust cloud.

As his excellent senses moved away, it became difficult to secure a view inside the dust cloud, but it didn't matter since I had entered deep enough.

"Olif, move the soldiers back. Slowly, so the formation doesn't break. Get them as far away from where I am as possible."

I gave the command through the communication crystal and continued to walk into the dust cloud.

I sharpened my senses and scanned my surroundings.

Fortunately, there were no uninvited guests breaking in here.

According to the map in my head, the orcs also showed no signs of approaching this area.

I guess they didn't want to be turned to pulp by the Great Chieftain's clubbing or dwarf-made cannonballs when there were other targets to fight right in front of them.

Of course, that didn't mean they could avoid the artillery fire.

‘Please bombard from around the middle of the orc formation.’

‘The middle?’

The Everlasting Mountains Hold had over several hundred siege weapons, and as a result of the main body disguised as William successfully restoring the hold's heart, they were coming online one by one.

‘Yes. So that the horde's back is broken. Please avoid the area where the Great Chieftain is... and please spare the flat-trajectory cannons, just in case.’

‘That makes sense. Understood. Alright, confirm the coordinates! Begin bombardment, focusing on the howitzers!’

At the request of the main body, the dwarves' operations officer gave the command.

The hold's siege weapons spewed fire towards the sky all at once.

The thunderous roar soon became a real thunderbolt and fell on the orcs' heads.

The ground shook.

I couldn't see, but screams and monstrous cries could be heard from all directions.

With the entire expeditionary force acting as an anvil to hold the orc horde, the hold's mighty weapons acted as a hammer to strike from behind.

This was the gist of the anvil and hammer strategy spread across the two battlefields of the wasteland and the mountain.

[Deploying [Tapiya’s Far-Seeing Eye].]

I replaced my limited senses due to the widespread bombardment with a spell.

A one-eyed shape made of mana was created in the sky, providing visual information to the map in my head.

I was getting close to the Great Chieftain's attack range.

The battle was close to victory, but there was one variable left.

The Orc Great Chieftain Ulruk.

The enemy general who, according to the original plan, should have been in a near-death state after the first hit.

The bastard had endured, regenerating his wounds.

I had to find out the source of that ability.

[Deploying [Burning Wind].]

I drove away the dust cloud with a hot wind.

The Orc Great Chieftain revealed himself.

Not only had he completely regenerated his arm, but his body seemed to have grown half a size larger.

"Co-cowardly rat... Alone?"

Slurred pronunciation.

Black veins writhing beneath the blue tattoo.

It was the church's secret art.

I had expected it.

In the first place, there were only a few abilities that allowed for such rapid regeneration of the body.

The number was quite large if you included items, but on the body of the bastard wearing only a leather garment, there was not a single accessory to be found.

It wasn't [Super Regeneration].

Randal's sword and axe had made numerous scratches on the bastard's body earlier.

Until then, there was not even a sign of recovery.

Furthermore, miracle skills like [Great Heal] were also ruled out.

Orcs and faith were as far apart as the Lumer Legion and the Northern Archduchy, and if it had been a skill by any chance, I would have acquired it right away.

Then there was only one candidate left.

The church's secret art.

"When did they find you?"

"W-what?"

"The church. The people who made your body like that."

The Great Chieftain did not answer.

The bastard reached out his hand.

With a speed that couldn't even be seen.

"Caught you. Rat."

My upper body was caught in a brutish hand, unable to move.

A brutish grip that felt like my whole body would be crushed at any moment.

It was okay.

That was why I came here in the first place.

‘Please bombard the coordinates I'm calling out. With all your firepower.’

‘All firepower?’

‘It's Viscount Wolfskrig's request.’

It probably wouldn't be a very pleasant sensation.

But it couldn't be helped.

I closed my eyes and slowly exhaled.

‘Commence suppressive fire!’

Through the main body, the dwarf operations officer's command was heard, and not long after.

Hot fire and cold fragments, the roar of explosions and pressure shook my five senses.

* * *

That day, the orc horde of nearly a hundred thousand that had followed the Great Chieftain Ulruk was annihilated.

Staining the red wilderness with the blood of orcs, the Imperial expeditionary force and the dwarves of the Everlasting Mountains Hold blew the trumpets of a dramatic victory.

There was an accident where an artillery strike fell on the head of the Wolfskrig Viscount leading the expedition, but it did not escalate into a major problem as the Viscount was safely rescued from a deep pit.

Although the Viscount's condition was unbelievably clean for someone who had taken a direct hit from an artillery strike, it was explained in one sentence.

"The moment the artillery strike fell on my head, Luark protected me."

That night, a deep sigh echoed in the Viscount's subspace.

‘Shit, I finally got away from a rat bastard, and my new master is a con artist I can talk to. He teleported with my ability and calls it Luark's blessing? Hah, for goodness sake.’

‘You'll get used to it soon. Yes, you will. Right, Tick-Tocky?’

‘Tick-tock!’