Chapter – 102
Normally, when large forces clash, defense is easier than offense.
The attacking side must break through the enemy’s defensive line and sentries; it is only natural to take heavy damage the moment the assault begins.
But that only applies to full-scale engagements between large armies.
In ambushes—especially in a place like blood-soaked Kuverin, dense with forests and rugged mountains—the attacker actually has the advantage.
There are plenty of places to hide and take cover, making it easier to neutralize enemy surveillance and ideal for launching surprise attacks.
For this reason, not only barbarians, but even the Dekaron army would deploy elite troops to launch surprise strikes on barbarian forces.
Such operations were usually called “hunts.”
So it was common for soldiers heading out to be told, “Have a good hunt.”
Perhaps that’s why the scouts, packing up their gear and preparing for the mission, looked more cheerful than usual.
“Don’t go doing anything stupid—just follow orders. Do that and nothing’ll happen. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
As the reconnaissance captain, Begman offered Adrian—who would be seeing his first action—some advice and paid special attention to him.
“Heh.”
Carlisle couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Feeling nostalgic, sir?” Kudo asked, as if he had read Carlisle’s mind.
“Nostalgic? It was only a few months ago. Three months at most.”
“That’s true, sir.”
“There’s always a first time for everyone.”
“Heheheh.”
Kudo snickered at Carlisle’s response.
“Why are you laughing?”
“If anyone heard you, they’d think you were a veteran with years of service. Hehe.”
“……”
“Well, you have served longer than him, so I suppose it’s not wrong. Haha.”
“But aren’t barbarian engineers pretty strong too?”
“They’re a lot stronger than our engineers.”
Kudo answered Carlisle’s question.
“Among barbarians, it doesn’t matter if you’re an engineer or a warrior—everyone learns combat skills. They won’t be easy to deal with.”
Barbarians revered strength and viewed battle as sacred, so even those who weren’t of the warrior caste were stronger than most continentals.
Which meant that even engineers who mined mana stones would likely possess considerable combat ability.
“And we’re attacking them with just our recon squad?”
“What’s there to worry about? We have a mage.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Carlisle recall Second Lieutenant Melvin’s presence—and understood why the mission had been approved.
No matter how strong barbarian engineers were, one offensive spell from a mage could wipe them out.
‘Good thing the Archduke kept his promise.’
Carlisle thought, stuffing the supplies he needed for the operation into his pack.
The recon unit departed the fort and moved swiftly toward the operation zone.
“First offensive mission in a while, yet there’s barely any tension. Tsk,” Wilson grumbled with a smirk.
Ordinarily, recon squads moved slowly and cautiously—treating every step like crossing thin ice—just in case they ran into the enemy or got ambushed themselves.
But the 3rd Company’s recon team had Carlisle and Marder—two excellent detection assets—so they could advance boldly and quickly.
Marder provided aerial reconnaissance through Hugin, and Carlisle used Gramrund’s killing-intent sense to detect nearby threats. Thanks to them, the difficulty of operations dropped significantly.
Of course, that was true only for those who knew about Carlisle’s and Marder’s abilities.
Rookie Adrian and newly commissioned officer Second Lieutenant Melvin seemed ready to snap with nerves.
Sha-sha-sha!
Adrian, terrified, clutched his sword like it was his mother and kept darting his eyes around.
Flinch!
Melvin, being an officer, wasn’t quite as bad—but he reacted to every little sound, visibly on edge.
“You don’t have to be that scared—”
“Leave them.”
Begman cut Wilson off, whispering into his ear.
“Tell them and it’ll go in one ear and out the other. Just let them be tense. They’re a rookie and a fresh lieutenant—can’t have them relaxing already.”
“Yes, captain.”
Wilson understood and nodded.
The only reason they could move so easily outside the fort was thanks to Carlisle and Marder—so if they got used to this, it would be dangerous.
If they ever operated without Carlisle and Marder but moved around carelessly, they’d be perfect prey for a barbarian ambush.
About 100 meters from the target zone—
“Anything unusual?”
“None.”
“Nope.”
Carlisle and Marder replied.
Marder’s aerial scout reported nothing, and Gramrund was quiet—no threats detected.
“Alright…”
Begman’s eyes swept over the recon squad.
“Kudo, Marder, Carlisle. You three, with me. We’ll take out the sentries first.”
“Yes, sir.”
Begman led the three to eliminate the barbarian guards.
The process went very smoothly—thanks to Carlisle.
Using Gramrund, he could sense enemy positions, making it easy to locate barbarians hidden throughout the area.
There, there, and there.
Confirmed.
At Carlisle’s hand signals, Begman, Kudo, and Marder split up, silently approaching the hidden barbarian warriors from behind.
Shk! Shk!
“……”
The barbarians whose positions had been revealed by Carlisle died without a single scream—killed before they even knew what happened.
They truly “died without a rat or bird noticing.”
With the sentries gone, a gap opened in the defenses of the miners below, and Begman guided the recon team through it.
Move quietly.
Roger.
Following Begman’s hand signals, the squad slipped closer—silent, careful, concealed.
They reached a small hill overlooking the barbarian engineer camp below.
Clang! Clang!
“Hurry up and dig, you lazy curs!”
“Damn it! I’d rather be fighting! Mining mana stones is hell!”
The barbarian engineers worked, oblivious to the enemy closing in.
Normally, archers would be used to rain arrows down from such a vantage point, and recon doctrine supported this tactic.
Recon soldiers always carried short bows in addition to their melee weapons—for situations just like this.
But instead of ordering bows drawn, Begman turned to Melvin.
“Second Lieutenant Melvin.”
“Y-yes?”
“Shh.”
Begman warned him.
“Keep your voice down. If we’re heard, we lose the advantage of surprise.”
“S-sorry.”
“As you can see, we currently hold a tactically advantageous position.”
“Ah, yes…”
“If you strike them with magic from here, Lieutenant, you could inflict enormous casualties.”
“I-I see.”
Melvin was sweating profusely—clearly extremely nervous.
“We’ll count on you, Lieutenant.”
“A-alright.”
Melvin gripped his staff.
It was a standard mage’s staff issued by the Dekaron army, topped with a mana-amplifying crystal. It was said to be durable enough to serve as a melee weapon if needed.
“Well, then—huh?”
Thud!
Melvin tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face.
“S-sorry, there was a rock… I didn’t see it.”
“……”
“Oww…”
He rubbed his knee and stood again.
Ooooh…
Maaagic…!
The recon soldiers watched Melvin with eyes full of expectation.
No need for arrows or close combat today.
They could annihilate the enemy with a single, mass-destruction spell and then simply clean up survivors. A perfect operation.
“Ahem. A-hem-hem.”
Melvin cleared his throat softly, gripped his staff, and began chanting.
“O-oh primal flame, scarlet breath born of chaos’s heart… weave… pierce the darkness and… b-burn the winds…”
His voice trembled; he was clearly overwhelmed by nerves.
Watching silently, Carlisle suddenly muttered:
“He’s going to fail, isn’t he? This looks bad. We should stop him now. If he messes up, we’re all dead.”
“Shh.”
Begman hissed.
“Don’t jinx it.”
“Jinx it? What is this, fortune-telling?”
“Hey.”
Begman glared.
“He’s already nervous—it won’t help if you say things like that.”
“Tch.”
Carlisle pouted.
“Looks bad though…”
It was Carlisle’s first time seeing real combat-grade magic, but even so, everything about this felt wrong.
But contrary to Carlisle’s expectation, Melvin successfully conjured a decently sized fireball.
Fwooooosh!
A bright red ball of flame—about the size of a playground ball—hovered, crackling with heat.
“Ohhh.”
“That’s fireball magic, right?”
“I heard exploding fireballs are stronger.”
The squad whispered excitedly, careful not to be heard by the barbarians.
“Huh. He actually did it.”
“Told you.”
Begman shot Carlisle a look.
“Quit jinxing things and enjoy the show.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Carlisle replied flatly.
Then Melvin made a strange noise—as if realizing something was wrong.
“Uh? Uh-uh-uh?!”
FwooooooOOOOSH!!
The fireball suddenly flared wildly, growing larger and more violent.
“Lieutenant Melvin! Throw it! Now!”
Begman whispered urgently.
“I—It…! I can’t control it—! Ugh!”
“……!”
Even Begman, who knew little about magic, could instantly tell something had gone terribly wrong.
“If this keeps up… it’ll… explode—!”
“I said THROW IT!”
“I-I CAN’T—!”
“Oh, ****!”
Begman swore loudly.
At this point, there was only one possible order to give:
“RUN! RUUUUUUUUUN!!!”
The moment Begman screamed—
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The fireball exploded, red flames swallowing the area with Melvin at the center.
Fwoooooooooooosh!
Carlisle, who had jumped first and hidden behind a boulder, narrowly avoided the wave of fire.
“Ah, damn it.”
Carlisle cursed in frustration.
“That guy is the worst of the worst excuse for a mage. Hah.”
