Volume 6 Chapter 8 Part 1
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Translator: Kell
A few minutes later, we arrived at the place where the Emperor Ogre was spotted, using our Skills to get there as fast as possible. Count Meigis’ troops were engaging the creature.
Count Meigis’ troops had only started proper training about a year ago, so unfortunately, their levels as adventurers weren’t all that high yet. I might have vastly improved their training regimen, but the amount of experience points one could realistically gain in a short period of time was limited. They still couldn’t rely on their level and powerful Skills for combat.
They would have to be push themselves to the limit in order to raise their levels quickly, but if I let someone who didn’t have much combat experience do that, a lot of people would die for sure.
The Emperor Ogre is a rank-A classified monster. Even though area D17 is near a large city that’s relatively well-equipped, a battle would still be quite the burden. But…
“Wow. They’re actually doing good.”
From a distance, they seemed to be struggling, but the frontlines still stood. There was no way they could take an Emperor Ogre’s attack upfront. But that was only if they were alone.
A man cried in pain as his shield caught the arm that the Emperor Ogre swung at him. His body could not match the strength of the shield and the power of the attack. His bones were still intact but his arm and shoulder probably received considerable damage. He wouldn’t be able to take another attack.
It would be tempting to go in and help him right away, but that would be a bad move. In a battle where 0.1 second could mean the difference between life and death, being distracted by someone other than the enemy in front of you could lead directly to death. If I interferred, the enemy would kill him before my attack could reach the Emperor Ogre.
There is a time to make a move, but it’s not now. Healing magic will be faster than the monster’s next attack.
“Divine Heal!”
The magic cast by a Saint from the Count’s army immediately healed the man’s wounds. The various support defensive spells cast on him limited the damage he received to the point where he could recover easily with some healing magic.
“Twelve seconds left on the buff!”
“I’m done casting mine! Need someone to switch!”
“Roger that! Get on it!”
Before the support magic expired, the vanguard took over. This is how they’re preventing the front lines from collapsing.
“Hmm… It looks like troops’ training is paying off.”
It is true that their physical abilities and skills—what games would refer to as levels—weren’t that high. But they have trained intensively in techniques of surviving and buying time against high-level monsters. After all, survival skills are the foundation of everything.
If you can survive, you can buy time and wait for the main force to arrive. If you have the skills to survive even in a somewhat dangerous situation, you can farm experience points easily.
Whether you can stick around for five minutes against an unwinnable opponent or get wiped out in thirty seconds can sometimes decide the fate of the whole troop. That’s why I drilled the art of survival into the Count’s fighters. And this squad held on.
“Running out of mana! Only a minute left!”
“Same here! Where’s the reinforcements?”
The troops looked around. It was the perfect time.
Saying they could last a minute means they’re confident they’ll make it through the next few seconds. This is the perfect timing for reinforcements to step in.
“Sachylis, if you will.”
“Eld is here!” Sachylis shouted through the loudspeaker magic. “Please withdraw immediately!”
The squad commander quickly turned around, and when he saw me, he shouted to the entire unit.
“Prepare to retreat! Cast binding spells in three seconds!”
“Dark Bind!”
“Move Bind!”
“Restraining Net!”
Following the commander’s instructions, perfectly timed binding spells were cast. While the spells restrained the Emperor Ogre’s movement for a few seconds, the vanguard distanced themselves from the enemy.
I used the opportunity to cast a magic to draw the enemy’s attention. It’s not a provocation spell, though.
“Deadly Pain.”
The Emperor Ogre screamed at the fierce pain that the spell inflicted. But as it was with Bosses, it endured the pain, and boldly closed in towards me.
“Magic Wing!”
I cast a mobility spell to keep my distance from the Count’s soldiers. I wouldn’t use magic that would cause a wildfire, but there was still a chance of other people getting involved.
“First, Blast Shield.”
Blast Shield is one of the defensive spells I’ve learned in the past year. It provides resitance against damage from explosions. Monsters rarely use explosive magic, so it’s basically used for PvP, but this defensive magic also works on my own spell’s effect. Actually, I almost exclusively use it for that purpose.
“Steam Explosion!”
After nearly a year of leveling up, this magic is still my go-to spell. However, unlike then, its level had gone up to five, the result of going around and defeating Area Bosses throughout the territory and collecting Wisdom Stones. For level two Steam Explosion, I could simply get down on the ground, but right now, it would be suicidal to not use Blast Shield. That’s just how powerful the spell is.
The Emperor sensed danger, then his roar was drowned out by the sound of the explosion. Flames blocked my vision, but the Blast Shield, a high-level Skill I learned just to specifically protect myself from Steam Explosion, completely nullified its power.
“Dual Cast.”
Without even looking at the enemy’s reaction, I unleashed a follow-up attack. Dual Cast is a spell that recasts the magic used just before. With this, Steam Explosion, which has a sixty second cooldown, can be fired twice in a row.
“That’s it, huh?”
When the blast cleared, the Emperor Ogre was lying on the ground, its neck bent in a weird direction. I didn’t even have to use Deadly Pain to confirm its death.
It took a lot of effort to kill an Emperor Ogre back then, but now, it only took seconds. That’s how crucial the year or so since we took back the royal palace was for us.
“Wow. The shockwave came all the way here,” said a soldier who was watching my battle from afar.
“S-So this is Eld’s spell.”
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