I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 70: Artois County (4)

[You have won the battle.]

[You have earned 200 commander points.]

[Your level has increased.]

[René’s level has increased.]

[Jillian’s level has increased.]

Pap-pat!

With a golden flash that felt more urgent than usual, Yoo Seong, René, and Jillian appeared.

As they appeared, collapsing as if overwhelmed by the urgency they felt when using the invitation, the three of them first gasped for breath.

“Hah, ha.”

“Hah…”

After panting for a while, Yoo Seong and René raised their heads and naturally locked eyes, bursting into laughter without either of them leading the way.

“We did it.”

“We did it.”

“Haha.”

“Hehe.”

“Hahaha.”

“Heheh.”

“Hahahaha.”

“Heheheh.”

As the two madmen laughed happily, the only normal person collapsed to the ground, raising a tear-filled prayer.

“Thank you, Lord Omphalos. Thank you so much. You know I love you, right?”

When dozens—no, hundreds—of attacks rained down from above, it really felt like the sky was falling.

“Sniff, sniff. But still, I’m glad. This kind of thing won’t happen again, right? Right, it won’t.”

As Jillian comforted herself, she heard a voice.

“Successor, I think this is a really good tactic. Can we use it again next time?”

Jillian was momentarily taken aback by Madman 2’s words, but fortunately, Madman 1 shook his head.

“Unfortunately, it’s a bit hard. We have to use the power stored in the temple and the points as well. This time it worked because the situation lined up, but next time it might not be possible.”

It was only possible because the situation right before the invitation appeared and the points accumulated from the previous battle coincided, allowing the plan to work.

In a world where you never know when and where a battle might happen, it was hard to imagine gathering points over the long term without using them.

“That’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. I guess we were lucky this time.”

“That’s right. It was fortunate we were able to defeat the Red Eye quickly.”

Unlike human armies, where there is no guarantee that commanders will be physically strong, monster armies often have incredibly powerful individuals occupying high positions.

Fortunately, even though the Red Eye was a high-level wizard, his body was quite weak, and because he was at the center of the legion, we could catch him off guard and eliminate him in one blow. But there’s no guarantee we can easily take down enemy commanders like this again in the future.

“Still, we did it.”

“Yeah, that’s the important part. René’s contribution was amazing. Especially when she instantly figured out the opponent’s magical setup and used the optimal spell to counter it, that was really incredible. As expected from René. The king’s magician. The pride of Lothian. The future Celestial Witch. Not only are you beautiful, but you’re also great at magic.”

When giving compliments, it’s best to be specific.

René’s face turned red from Yoo Seong’s pinpoint praise, and she didn’t know what to do, but she smiled awkwardly. Yoo Seong laughed out loud again.

And watching their conversation, Jillian shed tears of relief.

Because it seemed like they wouldn’t have to do such crazy things again.

Of course, these two had already done two crazy things in a row, so there was a high possibility of more bizarre actions in the future, but Jillian decided not to think about that as it hadn’t happened yet.

“Sniff, sniff.”

Meanwhile, those who had been watching the two people smiling affectionately and one person sobbing from a little distance looked at each other.

Now we can talk, right?

Let’s talk now.

Exchanging glances, they all focused on one place, and the woman—Kate—coughed lightly before approaching Yoo Seong and his group.

“Successor, you’ve arrived.”

“Oh, Kate. Hi.”

Yoo Seong, who had turned at her call, couldn’t help but admire.

Behind Kate stood a fully armed Camelot army, lined up.

“Since Diana and the Celestial Cavalry have been called, we were ready to depart at any time.”

Noticing Yoo Seong’s admiration, Kate spoke, and Yoo Seong nodded before asking.

“Is this how it usually is?”

When one unit is called, other units also prepare to depart, for instance?

“Yes, of course. We train regularly so we can fight at any time.”

While Kate spoke with a bright smile, the faces of Jimmy and the soldiers showed a momentary expression of distress.

“What kind of training is that?”

“It’s simple training where we arm ourselves and gather immediately when the bell rings.”

“When does the bell ring?”

“Twice a day, at set times. In fact, to make it real training, we shouldn’t know the exact time or frequency of the bell, but if that were the case, we’d always have to stay on edge, so we concluded that it would be mentally too difficult.”

“You’ve already concluded that?”

“Yes, I can’t remember exactly when, but I clearly remember we concluded that. In fact, this training was remembered when some of my memories returned from the last expedition.”

“Indeed.”

Yoo Seong nodded, recalling Hector’s words about Kate having been a military officer, and then looked at the soldiers lined up behind her.

Jimmy’s heavy gaze seemed to be desperately pleading for something, but Yoo Seong deliberately turned away.

If the bell were to ring randomly, he would have stopped it, but since it wasn’t, he had no choice but to leave it to Kate.

If it were really unreasonable, the other knights would have intervened.

“-But Bernard and Hector don’t look too pleased.”

Still, Yoo Seong turned his attention away and brought up another topic.

“I’m not sure if Diana has already received part of the message, but we were dealing with the ratmen’s army.”

As Yoo Seong explained the operation he had just completed, the soldiers and even the knights looked somewhat surprised for a moment, but it didn’t last long.

“If it’s successful, it’s a very effective tactic.”

“Hmm, we learned about it from the tunnels last time.”

“You’re quite bold, Successor. I was impressed.”

It was Bernard, Hector, and Roland, one after the other.

However, Kate’s face became slightly stern as she spoke.

“However, Successor, that operation was too dangerous. I understand that, as a lord and a knight, it’s inevitable for you to be on the battlefield, but I would ask that you avoid such reckless operations in the future.”

“Sorry, I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Although Yoo Seong said he would be more careful, he didn’t say he wouldn’t do it again, so Kate narrowed her eyes, but didn’t scold him further.

So, Yoo Seong smiled apologetically and then looked at René.

“René, can you see outside?”

At Yoo Seong’s question, René, who had been focusing with her eyes closed, nodded.

“Yes, fortunately, I can see. The connection is still maintained.”

The purpose of this operation had been to assassinate the enemy’s highest commander and halt their advance.

If the highest commander suddenly dies, they would have no choice but to stop for a while.

Especially with ratmen, whose ranks are rigidly structured, it was likely that their legion would be paralyzed if the commander fell.

But there was one more important thing: how long the ratman army would stop and when they would start advancing again.

Based on previous experiences, once the expedition was finished, they would return to the place where the invitation was used, so if they didn’t time it well, they might end up in the middle of the enemy’s forces again.

But if they delayed too long, the ratmen’s army might attack Baron Robert’s domain before they could return, so they needed to confirm whether the enemy had truly stopped and how long they would stay stopped.

That’s why they used one of René’s signature spells, the Light Bird.

“The ratmen have stopped at the location for now. I can see the ratmen with blue eyes arguing among themselves.”

Thanks to René’s increased magical power, the Light Bird could maintain the connection even from nearly 10 km away, but if they went any further, the connection would inevitably be cut off.

But what about Yoo Seong Castle?

If it were a place far away, the connection would surely break, but if it was a space like a void formed by magic, there was a chance the connection could be maintained.

Yoo Seong and René gambled on the latter, and fortunately, their gamble paid off.

“Lucky. If we can delay for more than a day, we can match the timing somehow.”

Due to the nature of the ratmen, they were highly likely to remain stationed until a new Red Eye arrived, rather than advancing.

Since the new Red Eye would probably be near Legion, even if news was rushed by magic, considering the time it would take for the Red Eye to rejoin, they could delay at least a day, maybe even two.

‘I can only hope Count Carian hurries up.’

The allied forces of the lords were delayed too much in coming after being fully assembled.

Even though it was somewhat insufficient, the soldiers from Lushen and the nearby territories should have come to support.

“So, are we postponing the expedition?”

At Bernard’s question, Yoo Seong nodded.

“I guess so. Let’s rest a bit. It seems like the Saintess is quite exhausted too.”

Yoo Seong glanced at Jillian, and seeing her desolate appearance, the knights and soldiers nodded.

“Understood. We will escort you.”

Just as Kate said that and approached Jillian, René, who had come closer without Yoo Seong noticing, looked up at him and asked.

“Excuse me, Successor. I have one question.”

“Hm?”

“Since we won the battle, we must have earned points, right?”

At René’s question, Yoo Seong immediately opened his status window.

“Oh, we got 200 points.”

He hadn’t noticed earlier because of the urgency, but considering that they hadn’t really defeated much except the Red Eye, this was quite a substantial amount.

Perhaps it was because the Red Eye was such a big target, or maybe due to the difficulty of the operation, but it was a very gratifying amount of points.

Upon hearing Yoo Seong’s response, René’s face lit up, and she excitedly asked again.

“Then, can we use the points to build facilities or develop something here?”

“Oh. I think that would work.”

Seeing that it was possible to build structures or change weapons using points in Yoo Seong Castle, Yoo Seong was intrigued at the thought of seeing it in real life.

He was also curious about the dwarves that appeared during lengthy developments.

“Then, should we take a look at the list of what’s new?”

“Yes, Successor.”

René answered brightly, her eyes sparkling, and as Yoo Seong smiled in return, he gestured toward the status window.

As expected by Yoo Seong, the Legion fell.

The reason was also as Yoo Seong had expected.

Count Artois could not stop the Rat Lord.

The Legion was the stronghold of Count Artois, one of the top three powerhouses in the West.

The castle walls were high and thick, and the soldiers were well-equipped and well-trained.

Although they had suffered a major defeat in the rotation, there were still over 5,000 soldiers in the Legion.

But even so, they could not hold out.

If only the Red Eyes had been among the Ratmen, they might have been able to hold on.

Count Artois had many mages and knights under his command.

But the Rat Lord was different.

Most of the mages who had cast spells on the Rat Lord met their death as their magical energy backfired.

The knights fared no better.

Even the strongest knight in Count Artois’ domain, Charles, could not handle the Rat Lord.

The knights were like moths diving into a fire, burning away.

The gates were smashed, and everything that rushed toward them was slaughtered.

That was all the Rat Lord did.

The Legion fell before the tide of Ratmen, following the path that the Rat Lord had carved.

The Rat Lord Balakai sat still, staring at the severed head of Count Artois.

Being so enormous, the head of Count Artois appeared like a mere bead in his hand.

As he rolled the head back and forth in his palm, Balakai shook his head.

Although the enemy leader, this head held no value.

It was not worthy of being added to his collection of prized heads.

Throwing the head aside, Balakai turned his gaze to his treasured weapon stuck in the ground.

The broad blade of his massive greatsword was decorated with various skulls.

All of them were the skulls of enemies fought outside the wall.

There were no new skulls added since crossing the wall.

He hadn’t faced worthy enemies yet.

Before crossing the wall, the high priest of the Ratmen, who had lived for over five hundred years, had warned Balakai.

Most humans are weak and powerless, but some are not.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were human monsters who shattered the gods of the Ratmen.

But they were gone.

When the final fortress fell, they too were destroyed.

No longer is there a King of the Castle.

The Knights of the Round Table are also gone.

There were rumors of someone inheriting the light of the King of the Castle, but he was not yet a true King.

He had not a single knight of the Round Table by his side.

The flame of civilization.

The flame of the species.

The light of humans.

Balakai instinctively turned his gaze far away towards the northeast, the direction where the imperial palace was located.