The incident took place during a battle that erupted when barbaric tribes infected by the Demon King invaded the central part of the Empire.
“Oh no!”
It was the Rock Tribe that won the raid event and was fighting fiercely in the city square of a town.
As I rolled to avoid the mindless axe strikes, I accidentally stumbled into a clothing store.
Woooah!!
A barbarian, perhaps finding me delicious-looking, relentlessly chased after me.
With an injury in my leg, my escape became increasingly difficult, and I thought this challenge would end in the [Barbarian Invasion] ending.
Thud, clang!
But this fool ignored me rolling on the floor and started breaking the mirrors around.
The Rock Tribe couldn’t tell the reflection from reality.
That was the moment I realized they had even lower intelligence than I thought.
“Lars!”
Thanks to that, I bought some time, and the hero who came to rescue me defeated the barbarians, saving my life.
“Thank you. I’m always in your debt, Hero.”
“I owe you nothing. Let’s push a little harder!”
The hero moved cheerfully, his face smeared with soot.
Well, in that round, he had ended up dead for disrespecting Acella after all.
It was a time when I didn’t know much about Acella yet since I hadn’t attempted the challenge that many times before.
The Barbarian Invasion event also occurred in the early stages.
I don’t remember it all that well.
“Lars?”
That Acella was now tilting her head right in front of me, which seemed to imply I had a long life ahead.
“We can deceive the Rock Tribe’s eyes using mirrors.”
I told Acella and the knights.
“The Rock Tribe cannot distinguish between the reflection in the mirrors and reality.”
“Mirrors, huh? Are you suggesting we hide all our troops behind mirrors? I’m not sure we can transport that much right away,” the second-in-command scratched his chin.
Only Acella in this gathering immediately understood what I meant and smiled.
“Indeed. It’s simple.”
*
“Woooah!”
“Uwoooah!”
Two barbarians on the outskirts of the Central Fortress shouted at each other.
They were arguing over who would eat the corpse of a nobleman’s knight they had just found.
Not reaching a conclusion, they suddenly bumped their foreheads together in a loud thud.
Taking advantage of that opportunity, a quick-witted one buried his head in the corpse.
“Hahaha.”
The traditional walls that had long defended the Empire’s borders were already polluted by their filth.
They acted purely by instinct: eat when hungry, sleep when tired, behaving like pure savages.
They really were a tribe that suited the word “barbarian.”
The ones left in the Central Fortress were the elite of the Rock Tribe, yet they behaved at this level even with the chieftain directly commanding them.
Blah!
A large barbarian approached the noisy duo and smashed his fist into one of their faces.
He was adorned with a large demon’s bone on his head and wore thick fur—he was the chieftain’s right-hand man.
“Shut it! The chieftain is sleeping. You guard here.”
The two who got scolded finally looked around, but the quick one had already devoured the corpse.
With nothing to show for their efforts, they grumbled and gazed vacantly at the bridge leading to the Western Fortress.
“Grrr…”
The end of the bridge was covered in fog, so they couldn’t see the Western Fortress.
“Grrrr?”
On the way, a shimmering feeling like steam rising off the bridge washed over them.
But the sentry merely scratched his head and tilted it, perplexed.
Flash!
Suddenly, a strong light shot out from the bridge, striking the sentry’s eyes.
“Gaaah! Crack!”
The sentry yelled as the bright light stung his eyes, then hit the wall with a thud in frustration.
After a short while, the shimmering movement began to approach the fortress.
At times, they caught glimpses of mountains or the sky from the bridge. Not knowing what it was, the sentry shook his head repeatedly.
Not much time passed.
Boom!!
With a loud explosion, brilliant flames erupted into the sky.
“Gaaah!!”
“Grag!”
The barbarians, now aware of the raid, began to thrash around, clashing their massive teeth together.
Both the northern and eastern bridges were crumbling with smoke rising.
As the sentry jumped from the wall to check the situation, he shouted toward the bridges.
“Graaah—kaaaak!!”
Soon, swords and spears were embedded in his body.
“All units, storm the fortress!!”
With a loud shout, the roar echoed through the mountains.
The barbarians could only be astonished.
For they saw the knights literally rising from the ground as if they had sprung up from nowhere.
“Charge, charge!!”
With the sound of countless armored boots stomping on the stone floor, the battle began.
*
“We’ve started our entry into the Central Fortress,” the Commander of the Knights reported to Acella.
“Casting mirror enchantments on all the shields of the shield knights was a brilliant idea.”
Following Acella’s words, we turned the shields into mirrors and raised them high above as we advanced.
The plan was to reflect the patterns of the brick walls on both sides of the bridge, making it look like the ground.
Though a few knights might have been taken aback by the sight of the sky or mountains due to hasty arrangements, the Rock Tribe failed to notice.
The ones who swiftly moved to the other side set bombs, destroying the bridge.
“From here on, it’s crucial. We’ve managed to minimize injuries up until now. Considering the remaining barbarians in the Central Fortress, we’ll start taking some losses as well.”
I expressed my opinion to Acella.
“Your Majesty, our healers need to get into action now, but could you allow me to step away for a moment?”
Acella gazed at me seriously, took a deep breath, and replied.
“Don’t go too deep.”
“Understood. Chloe, please take care of the Princess.”
“L-Leave it to me…!”
Bruno brought a few knights and firmly stood by my side.
“Teacher, I’ve organized the escort unit. Don’t worry about the safety of the healers.”
“Good. Let’s move.”
With the healers, including Hugo, I moved toward the main gate of the Central Fortress.
In front of the main gate, knights and barbarians were engaged in a fierce melee as they clashed.
“Injured over here!”
“Over here too!”
As expected, knights wounded inside began to be brought to me in droves.
“Holy knights, escort any injured here immediately! Report the situation of the area to share it right away!”
The battalion commander systematically commanded the details of the battlefield—a display fitting of a royal knight order.
Thanks to this, knights with severe injuries were hurriedly brought to me.
“Diagnosis. Fracture. Wald and Ada, you take this. First, partial anesthesia and align the bones. Diagnosis. Laceration. This one needs suturing ASAP.”
For the severely injured knights, I rolled up my sleeves and decided to go hands-on.
[Operation C activated.]
With the help of the healer assistants, I disinfected and anesthetized the patient before picking up the needle.
“Watch your step on the stairs! Be careful!”
Crack!
“Second unit, advance!”
The sounds of battle reverberated all around, ringing in my ears. It was just the right noise for me to focus.
With familiarity, I stitched up the wounds.
Given the environmental hygiene issues, complications could arise, but it’s unavoidable in the battlefield.
I would only perform emergency suturing and mark them for further observation later.
“Ugh, th-thank you….”
“If it hurts, don’t hold back. Retreat and take a rest,” I replied to the knight who greeted me and asked the healers for healing spells.
I diagnosed the next patient next. Using my diagnosis skill allowed me to assess the state of their injuries quickly and efficiently.
During that time.
Whoosh, clang!
Bruno swiftly and accurately deflected a flying stone axe heading toward me.
It seemed like it had been redirected from somewhere.
Once again, Bruno remained silently guarding me.
Thanks to him, I could concentrate on the next patient.
“We’ve secured the second floor!”
“We’ve taken the northern watchtower!”
As we held out, good news gradually arrived.
This meant the knights that had entered were performing excellently.
“Have we found any prisoners?!”
“Not yet!”
Has the noble been located yet?
As the battle neared its conclusion and the number of injured began to dwindle, I heard a massive sound from within the fortress.
Boom!!
“What just collapsed?”
Bruno checked the situation and relayed it to me.
“Tanya is fighting inside.”
“The Commander?”
“Yes, but she’s been slightly injured.”
“What?”
Tanya wouldn’t be struggling against the barbarians that easily.
…Wait.
If her opponent is the chieftain of the Rock Tribe, then it might be tough even for the Sword Expert Tanya.
Although they had been empowered through demonic corruption, chieftains were still powerful adversaries, often giving even heroes a hard time.
“Bruno, is the barbarian Tanya is facing huge in size?”
“Yes. At least three meters tall.”
“Is he wearing two dragon skulls on his head? Does he wield a huge stone sword that’s taller than himself?”
“Please wait a moment. I’ll double-check swiftly.”
Bruno dashed into the fortress.
After a moment, he came back, a serious expression on his face.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t know what a dragon skull looks like.”
“Bruno.”
“The sword was massive.”
Such Rock Tribe warriors were rare.
I judged it was indeed likely to be the chieftain.
“Goodness.”
I immediately rose from my seat.
“Healers, take care of the remaining patients. Hugo, come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“We need to help our escort knight for a moment.”
I wasted no time and dashed with Hugo and Bruno into the fortress.
The heat of battle surrounded us.
Boom!!
With a loud bang, a boulder flew through the air, marking evidence of destruction in the central hall of the fortress.
“Phew.”
Tanya was catching her breath, holding her ground against that creature.
But with blood dripping down her forehead, obscuring one of her eyes, it was clear she was in a bad situation.
“It’s definitely the chieftain of the Rock Tribe.”
The interior was in complete disarray. It looked like Tanya and the chieftain had fought their way through from different areas, leaving a massive hole in the wall, with not a single decoration left standing.
The chieftain swung his huge stone sword, creating tension with the air. He closed the distance at once, and Tanya countered with a strike.
Clang!!
The sound of their weapons clashing resonated heavily, like two worlds colliding.
Tanya was struggling to hold her ground.
But it wouldn’t last much longer; eventually, she got pushed back and flew through the air, crashing through the second-floor wall and outside.
Whoosh!
The chieftain charged after her, his enormous form sailing through the air.
“Hugo, we have to chase after him.”
“Yes.”
It would be tough for her to win alone.
I followed Hugo, climbing the stairs and leaping through the breach made in the wall.
Whooosh!
A fierce wind met us as we emerged outside.
We found ourselves in the open air—on the outer stairs of the upper level of the fortress’ outer wall.
It wasn’t too narrow, but a careless step could send us tumbling over the edge.
“Chase that big guy!”
“Surround and subdue him!”
Other knights rushed at the chieftain in unison.
A tense battle broke out, swords and spears clashing as they moved up and down the staircase.
While they bought time, I immediately ran to support Tanya.
“You look hurt, Commander.”
“I’m sorry for letting you see this disgrace.”
“It’s not your fault.”
I wiped the blood from her face and injected adrenaline to alleviate her pain.
“I didn’t expect such a strong foe.”
“He certainly is strong. After all, it’s amazing that you’re facing him with your bare hands right now.”
If the chieftain were to dominate all the barbarians, it would lead to a bad ending.
He possesses dangerously potent abilities.
“I’ll help you win. There’s a way.”
“What method?”
“That guy isn’t just a warrior; he’s a sorcerer. He’s enhanced his body with forbidden sorcery.”
“A sorcerer, you say?”
“Yeah.”
I turned to Hugo and asked.
“Are you ready for status support?”
Hugo immediately took off his gloves at my question.
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