I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 77: Anyway, Assassination (2)

As the battle came to an end, Yoo Seong sent the entire army of light back and rode his horse toward the northeast for the time being.

Although the ratmen in front of him had been wiped out, there was still the possibility of a sudden situation arising, so he decided to move away from the spot for now.

After running for about ten minutes, Yoo Seong stopped his horse and looked back.

He saw the excited face of Rene, who had closely followed him, and the pale face of Jillian, who was trailing a bit behind.

“Haah, haah.”

“Whoo, whoo.”

As Yoo Seong exhaled heavily, Rene, too, gasped for breath, her chest heaving.

Her face was covered in sweat, and her hair clung to it, having just fought magical battles against the Blue Eyes after the Red Eyes. Both her body and mind appeared exhausted, but there was still a smile on her face.

They had won.

They had achieved victory.

Yoo Seong smiled and extended his fist.

It was an impulsive action, but Rene tilted her head and, despite that, extended her fist, lightly bumping it against Yoo Seong’s.

“Well done, Rene. You were really the best.”

“You too, Successor.”

As they smiled at each other, Jillian, who had arrived late, looked at the two with a pale face.

If one were to put it nicely, they made a good pair, and if one were to put it less nicely—

‘Are they…crazy? A crazy couple?’

Due to her upbringing, Jillian couldn’t find a more suitable word, and in the end, she gave up and sighed, to which Yoo Seong and Rene looked at her.

“You’ve worked hard too, Saintess.”

“You’re amazing today, Sister. You seem to have gotten much more accustomed to fighting.”

“Ahaha….”

Jillian, now in “just smile” mode, gave a somewhat pitiful smile, and Rene looked at Yoo Seong and asked.

“Successor, shall we head back to Baron Robert’s territory now?”

Having taken down two Red Eyes in a row, the initial goal had already been accomplished.

However, Yoo Seong didn’t nod immediately. Instead, he wore a contemplative expression, and Jillian looked at him with anxious eyes.

From past experiences, it was highly likely that something crazy—no, that would be too harsh, but anyway, an abnormal statement was coming.

“Normally, we would go back like this, but…”

At that, Rene’s eyes began to shine, and Jillian, on the other hand, lost color in her eyes.

Then, Yoo Seong spoke.

“I have a thought.”

A thought.

That thought.

Jillian gave up everything and slumped her shoulders, while Rene perked up her ears.

“First, take a look at this. Status window.”

When Yoo Seong opened the status window, Rene quickly skimmed through it, then nodded as if she understood.

She had learned Yoo Seong’s thought patterns after being with him this long.

“Do you think it will work?”

“If it doesn’t work, we can just retreat immediately.”

“That’s true. The risk seems relatively low.”

What on earth were they talking about?

Jillian sent a look asking them to explain in a way she could understand, and Rene smiled as she spoke.

“So, Sister, it’s like this. This plan might actually be something you’ll like…”

As Rene continued explaining, Jillian’s expression turned into one of ‘these two are talking crazy again,’ but soon, as if she had warmed up to the plan, she nodded with a slightly brighter expression.

“I think I understand what you’re saying.”

Yoo Seong had come up with yet another plan.

“Then let’s take a little rest before starting.”

With those words, Yoo Seong urged his horse toward the shade in the distance.

Even if they were to rest briefly, it had to be a proper rest.

And about an hour later, Yoo Seong began the operation.

Gellion, the Blue Eye, looked toward the south with anxious eyes.

The new commander, who had left the Legion, should be arriving soon, but there had been no word from them.

What had happened?

Why were they not here yet?

Ratman society was divided into various factions based on clans, and Red Eye Morrow belonged to a different faction from Gellion.

As a result, he had been openly discriminated against compared to the other Blue Eyes—specifically, the Blue Eyes belonging to Morrow’s faction. However, the new Red Eye, Korof, who was about to arrive, belonged to the same faction as Gellion.

In other words, as soon as he arrived, the hierarchy among the Blue Eyes would be reversed.

Of course, in the situation where the commander had been killed by an intruder in the middle of the army, it might not have been the right time to worry about factional struggles and treatment, but it was unavoidable.

For the ratmen, factional rivalry was something like destiny.

‘Why is it so late…?’

Could something have happened on the way?

The answer was correct.

Korof and his escort had been annihilated by Yoo Seong.

However, Gellion, who was unaware of this fact, merely looked south with a nervous face.

“Ugh, this is not good. I should send someone to greet them. Is anyone—”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of loud explosions interrupted Gellion’s words.

Startled, Gellion turned his head toward the direction of the sound.

“Ugh!”

“Ahhh!”

Kwahk!

“Attack! It’s an attack!”

“Fire arrows! Fire arrows!”

The screams of the ratman soldiers rang out one after another.

At that moment, Gellion wanted to flee, but since the sounds were coming from a somewhat distant location, he stepped outside of the camp to take a look.

Just as the soldiers had said, arrows were raining down from the sky.

There weren’t many of them—only dozens—but the problem was that they were all fire arrows.

Tschwack!

Whoosh!

The camp was set on fire.

Ratmen who had rushed out from various spots frantically tried to put out the flames while looking toward the direction the arrows had come from, and, just like Gellion, Blue Eyes who had come out of their tents activated their magic and began issuing orders to try and control the situation.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Then, once again, there was a huge sound.

Massive arrows, the size of tree trunks, flew through the air with terrifying force and struck, exploding on impact.

Kwahk!

The sound of the explosion swallowed everything.

This time, there were no screams.

What remained where the explosions had gone off were only the broken corpses of the ratmen, unable to even scream.

“There! It’s a long-range attack! Send a unit out!”

Shouting loudly, Blue Eye Baten ordered ratmen riding on wolf-rats to charge out of the camp.

It was the right decision.

Though they had been startled for a moment, the number of arrows was small.

It was clear that a small group had launched the attack from a distance.

‘Moreover, it must be ballistas.’

Judging by the size of the arrows, it was highly likely that they were using much larger devices than the ballistas from the Legion’s fortifications.

‘It’s not easy to move.’

Ballistas were too large and heavy.

If they had deployed them and fired, it would have been difficult to move them, so sending out the fast-moving wolf-rat unit would likely be able to wipe them out.

Gellion’s reasoning was sound.

But the situation did not unfold as he expected.

“Damn it! Where are they?!”

Rakuan, the leader of the wolf-rat unit, cursed.

Despite advancing a fair distance, the wolf-rat unit had yet to spot any human ballista or archer unit.

It was truly strange.

Had the ballista unit suddenly sunk into the ground or soared into the sky?

He was very close to the right answer, but even if he had known the truth, there was nothing he could have done.

In the end, Rakuan had no choice but to circle around a few more times before heading back to the camp.

And as the wolf-rat unit returned, Yoo Seong and Rene, who had been watching from a distant thicket, smiled contentedly, and even Jillian, this time, wore a rather relaxed smile.

Yoo Seong’s plan was simple.

Shoot from afar, and if it seems they’ll come, retreat.

The main problem with the ballista unit’s mobility was no issue for Yoo Seong.

He could just call them back.

“Rene, how much damage do you think we caused?”

“It looks like we took out a few dozens or so.”

Rene answered immediately to Yoo Seong’s question.

Considering the enemy’s army numbered 5,000, it was a negligible loss.

But Yoo Seong was neither disappointed nor discouraged.

Instead, he smiled broadly.

“Good, this should work.”

He hadn’t intended to only do this once.

With a black smile exchanged between Yoo Seong and Rene, Yoo Seong lay down, closed his eyes, and rested.

And an hour later, Yoo Seong launched the attack again.

Gellion felt like he was going insane.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Ugh!”

“Again! It’s here again! Again!”

Papapap!

Fire arrows and large arrows for the ballista flew toward the military camp.

They set the camp on fire.

Little by little, they were whittling down the forces.

“Dammit! Not again! Again! It’s gone again!”

Rakuan, the leader of the wolf-rat unit, collapsed, clutching the back of his neck after returning from the fifth sortie.

And when the seventh attack ended the Blue Eyes silently came to a consensus and decided to withdraw the camp.

Though they could no longer ignore the accumulated damage from the continuous assaults, it was also because the survivor of the Korof unit had spread the news.

Korof had died, and the soldiers guarding him were effectively annihilated.

In that case, there was no choice but to retreat to the Legion.

“Withdraw the camp! Retreat to the Legion!”

The ratmen, exhausted from the ongoing attacks, hurriedly began preparing to retreat under the orders of the Blue Eyes.

‘They probably won’t come again, right?’

Gellion thought to himself silently, worried that saying it out loud might jinx them. He looked around in all directions.

And fortunately, no arrows flew from any of the directions this time.

The only thing that rained down was javelins from above.

“Ugh!”

The Blue Eyes screamed and unleashed magic toward the sky as the Celestial Cavalry turned and fled.

After all, the javelins had been thrown simply to irritate them.

“Retreat! Retreat! Hurry up!”

In the end, catching those who clearly had the intent to escape was impossible.

The Blue Eyes, looking as though they’d aged ten years overnight, led their forces toward the Legion.

Meanwhile, Yoo Seong, watching all of this from a distance, smiled despite his tired expression.

Although he had taken breaks in between, such continuous summoning was extremely taxing even for Yoo Seong.

It seemed like he was reaching his limit, but fortunately, the enemy had retreated first.

‘Considering the time to return to the Legion and head north again, I’ve delayed long enough.’

It was enough time for the first reinforcements from the Lords Alliance to arrive.

“Rene.”

“Yes, Successor.”

“I’m counting on you.”

At Yoo Seong’s words, Rene nodded and naturally supported him.

This was similar to the conversation they had in Lothian right after Yoo Seong fought the Kobold Prince.

Yoo Seong leaned against Rene’s body, collapsing as if he had fainted, and Rene firmly supported him while summoning her warhorse.

“Sister, please help just a little.”

“Uh-huh.”

As Jillian awkwardly responded and helped support, Rene tied both their waists front and back, then cast magic to mount the warhorse.

“Mm, good. It’s well secured.”

After checking the stability by moving her body slightly in all directions, Rene nodded with a satisfied expression and then glanced back.

Yoo Seong’s face resting on Rene’s shoulder.

‘He looks cool but cute.’

If Robin had heard that, she would have probably made a very complicated face, Rene thought, smiling gently, before turning back to face forward and starting to ride.

Two days later in the afternoon, when Yoo Seong’s group arrived at Baron Robert’s territory, the first reinforcements from the Western Lords Alliance also reached the vicinity of Baron Robert’s territory.