Chapter 35: This Place is Insane. (3)
Choosing a battlefield in your favor instead of being dragged around is the basic principle of combat.
“I’ll tell you how to fight.”
As Ghislaine’s explanation continued, the mercenaries’ expressions changed every moment.
Some still looked uneasy, but most had expressions of admiration.
This young employer had already prepared for a situation like this.
“Wow, amazing!”
“How did you know to prepare in advance?”
“I will only trust you, my lord!”
The mercenaries’ fighting spirit reignited.
As long as they followed his words, there was certainly hope of winning the combat.
“Rest enough during the day. When the battle starts, it will be a long night.”
Following Ghislaine’s orders, the mercenaries quietly rested and replenished their stamina during the day.
When night fell, the Palors returned and began taking away the lamps.
The mercenaries no longer reacted, merely bowing their heads as if scared.
Soon, only a few lamps remained. The people’s visibility was drastically reduced.
Creeeak…
The Palors vanished, leaving only laughter behind.
And the next night.
Whoosh!
The last lamp disappeared, and the surrounding area was plunged into complete darkness.
Even after chopping down the trees, there were so many that the faint moonlight couldn’t properly illuminate even the person next to you.
Creeeak…
Everyone held their breath, not moving from their spots.
A heavy silence fell, so thick that not a single breath could be heard.
Rustle, rustle.
Finally, the Palors began to approach.
In a space where all light had vanished, the Palors had nothing to fear.
Surrounded by hundreds of Palors, the mercenaries began to sweat coldly.
An instinctive fear rose as they felt something invisible standing before them.
Creeeak…
They could feel the Palors moving slowly in front of them.
Now, they would either kill the mercenaries or drag them away as food.
At that moment, Ghislaine shouted.
“Now!”
At those words, everyone ripped apart what they were holding.
WHOOSH!
A white sphere the size of a child’s head shot up into the sky, illuminating everything.
When over a hundred spheres floated in the air, the surroundings lit up as bright as day.
What they ripped apart were 1st Circle magic scrolls of ‘Light.’
Ghislaine had brought these packed in a box as his secret weapon against the Palors.
KAAAHHHH!
The Palors, blinded by the light, shrieked in pain.
Screams of pain echoed through the air.
Seeing the revealed Palors, the mercenaries dropped their jaws in surprise.
“What the heck, they look like this…?”
They had human-like forms, but were towering and incredibly thin.
Next to their four vertically split eyes were pointed ears. Their mouths were also split down to their chins, revealing sharp teeth.
There were no noses, just two nostrils perched awkwardly on their faces, with grotesque tendons protruding from their cheeks.
Where hands should have been, only long, sharp, sickle-like horns were attached.
Their arms were squirming with long tentacles.
They must have used those tentacles to swipe the lamp.
“Attack already!”
Ghislaine shouted at the hesitant mercenaries upon seeing the Palors’ appearance.
“Yaaah! Hit them!”
Kaor and the Cerberus Mercenary Group were already joyfully stabbing weapons into the Palors’ bodies.
The rest of the mercenaries began their attacks, each drawing their weapons.
The Palors’ bodies were now riddled with weapons, making last night’s arrows seem like a mere whisper.
“Ugh! My hands were itching for this! You bastards!”
Kaor cackled maniacally, grabbing the Palors’ faces and stabbing their necks one by one.
Gillian also swung his axe mercilessly, smashing the heads of the Palors.
They unleashed the mana they had held back, slaughtering the Palors with glee.
Kaaah!
The surprised Palors quickly regained their composure and began to fight back.
The sickles of the Palors were strong enough to penetrate human armor and skin.
They specialized in hunting while lurking in the darkness, but those living in the Forest of Monsters were not weak just because it was not dark.
Pwoooosh!
“Grrrr!”
Mercenaries hit by the Palors’ attacks started falling one by one.
There were nearly three hundred of them. Even without the darkness, they were a formidable enemy.
The scattered Palors quickly regrouped and charged at the people, including Ghislaine.
At that moment, Belinda stepped in front of Ghislaine, shouting.
“Young Master! Get back!”
Whoosh!
As her robe fluttered, dozens of daggers shot out and pierced the Palors.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Clang clang clang!
The daggers attached to Belinda’s outfit slithered like living snakes, targeting the enemies’ heads.
With dozens of daggers attacking from all sides, the Palors quickly shifted their focus to Belinda.
“Hmph!”
While dodging the monster’s attack, Belinda bent down and brushed her hand against the heel of her shoe.
Clack!
With the sound of gears clicking into place, a sharp blade sprung from the heel.
Slash!
With a single swing of her foot, the Palor’s jaw was sliced clean off.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Thanks to Belinda’s impressive dodging and counterattacks, a momentary gap opened up.
Ghislaine entrusted the enemies in front of her to Belinda and quickly surveyed the battlefield, shouting.
“You stupid idiots! Maintain formation! Don’t just rush in and fight recklessly!”
Before the battle began, Ghislaine had organized the mercenaries into formation.
But now, in their excitement, these fools had all rushed in, breaking the formation.
“Fight while maintaining your formation! Use your shields to block and let the others go in! Deal with them!”
“Get inside and engage the enemy!”
It was no surprise that such problems arose, given they weren’t even a proper mercenary group and hadn’t trained like soldiers.
However, Ghislaine was a mercenary king who had ruled the battlefield with countless mercenaries.
He had experienced situations like this countless times.
“Gillian, Kaor, buy us some time to reorganize the Mad Hounds!”
Having quickly grasped the battlefield, he moved the mercenaries and swung his sword.
Hearing Ghislaine’s shout, the Cerberus Mercenary Group stepped forward while the other mercenaries began to retreat.
Kaor, looking a bit disappointed, licked his lips as he moved to assist the mercenaries on the crumbling front.
Gillian also actively helped the mercenaries reestablish their formation.
The Cerberus Mercenary Group was composed of highly skilled individuals who worked well together, making them capable enough to withstand the Palor’s attacks.
“Move faster!”
Ghislaine, Gillian, and Kaor poured out their mana, darting between the Palors.
Only Belinda was focused solely on smashing the Palors in front of her, oblivious to the mercenaries.
Kraaaahhhh!
As the three and the Cerberus Mercenary Group interfered, the Palors became even more ferocious in their attacks on the mercenaries.
However, the mercenaries themselves had their share of combat experience with monsters.
With the Palors’ attention divided, they could gradually maneuver out of urgent situations.
“Hurry up!”
“Shields! Raise the shields!”
“Got it! Come in! Come in!”
The shield-bearing mercenaries stepped forward to block the Palors’ attacks.
As the remaining mercenaries moved in behind them, those with shields formed a circle, protecting all sides.
As several formations were created, the damage to the mercenaries began to decrease rapidly.
Seeing this, Ghislaine shouted loudly.
“Mercenaries, hold your ground! Mad Hounds, Gillian, Kaor, fill in the gaps!”
After giving the orders, Ghislaine let out a deep breath.
Having allowed the mercenaries to move on their own, it was now his turn to sweep through.
Ghislaine detonated two cores, releasing waves of mana.
Soon, his eyes glowed red, and mana began to swirl around him like crimson mist.
Ska-gak!
Ghislaine moved at astonishing speed, cutting down the Palors.
In the dark space, every time he moved, red lines seemed to flash like lightning.
With each red line that passed, a Palor’s head fell.
Mercenaries watching this momentarily forgot they were in combat and murmured to each other.
“W-what’s going on? He’s stronger than usual!”
“I thought he was impressive already, but he’s actually even stronger?”
Until now, Ghislaine had only used one core in battles against monsters.
Detonating two cores was physically demanding, reserved only for truly dire situations.
But now, he had to exert himself, as the overwhelming number of Palors threatened to wipe out the mercenaries.
Kaga-gak-gak!
With each flash of the red lines, the Palors began to dwindle rapidly.
Seeing this, the Cerberus Mercenary Group appeared energized, aggressively pressing the monsters.
“What are you doing? Are you just going to watch? We need to fight too!”
One mercenary shouted, prompting the formation of mercenaries to begin moving toward the enemies.
With those blocking the Palors’ attacks with shields creating openings, other mercenaries thrust their spears and swords into the gaps.
The mercenaries jabbed at each other with their spears and swords.
Of course, they weren’t professionally trained military, so their formations were less than perfect.
At times their timing was off, causing shields to shift, and many attacks went awry.
However, with Gillian and Kaor assisting them, they were able to maintain their positions and attack, albeit clumsily.
“Push forward! Push forward!”
As the mercenaries grew more accustomed to their coordination, they pressed the Palors back while forming a shield wall.
As time passed, the number of enemies had noticeably dwindled.
Kraaaah!
The Palors realized they had fallen into a trap.
Though they had had no opponents in the darkness, if this situation continued, their race could be wiped out.
Kraaaah!
The Palor leader, hiding in the back and secretly attacking the mercenaries, signaled to his kin to flee.
He looked smaller than the other Palors and didn’t seem like a leader at all, but he was, in fact, the strongest among them.
After signaling while looking back and forth, the leader retreated.
If he remained safe, their race could still thrive again.
Just as he sought to escape, he spotted a human charging in, demolishing everything in his path.
The human was approaching like lightning, his scary red eyes glowing.
It was too late to evade.
With the intent to strike down the human and then escape, the leader roared and swung his scythe.
But the scythe simply passed through empty space.
The leader looked up, sensing an ominous presence in the air.
The human, with glowing red eyes and a cruel smile, was bringing his sword down.
“So you’re the chief.”
Ghislaine was certain this was the one who commanded the hunt against the Palors.
Even while fighting, his eyes scanned the battlefield, capturing the image of the leader as if issuing orders.
Kagakagakak!
Without mercy, Ghislaine’s sword cleaved the leader’s body in half from head to toe.
No ordinary monster could withstand the two cores’ mana that exploded.
Kraaaah!
With the leader’s death, the Palors fell into chaos, screaming and scattering in all directions.
“All together!”
“Waaaaah!”
“Kill them all!”
At Ghislaine’s command, the mercenaries threw down their shields and charged at the Palors.
A few mercenaries got injured by the glowing movements of the Palors, but enraged, they pressed on, stabbing their weapons furiously.
Kraaaaaak!
In the end, the Palors were left battered, most collapsing like rags.
Only a handful managed to escape into the darkness, evading the light’s realm.
“Stop! Don’t chase after them!”
Though only a few remained, the mercenaries had no way to win in the dark.
Excited, the mercenaries came to a halt as Ghislaine stopped them just in time.
“Phew…”
Ghislaine took a deep breath.
In that moment, his body swayed—it was the aftershock of exploding two cores.
The battle had ended, yet everyone stared at Ghislaine in silence.
But soon, the mercenaries erupted into cheers around him, not waiting for a signal.
“We won! We did it!”
“Wahaha! We’re alive! We survived!”
The mercenaries cheered with excitement.
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