How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 181

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Replace Father
Chapter 181
‘They’ve come…!’
My face lit up instantly.
I’d anticipated the Irregulars would arrive.
The Portal was damaged beyond use, after all.
They would have begun reconstruction immediately.
Since the route was compromised, only a handful could utilize the Portal.
And they’d select only those trained to withstand the shock of transit.
‘The Emperor couldn’t afford to choose just anyone.’
He wouldn’t want to lose the Imperial Army he’d invested in and cultivated.
He couldn’t draw from both the Imperial Army and the noble families separately—they’d trained apart and wouldn’t coordinate well. Impossible.
So the conditions narrowed down to this.
One: soldiers expendable without great loss.
Two: a cohesive unit with proven coordination.
Three: composed of elite fighters capable of decimating enemies in small numbers.
That left only one answer.
‘The Irregulars.’
Above, a magical device appeared—something like a drone.
It had to be Ros’s device.
“Here, here!”
I leaped up and down, and the devices converged directly overhead.
We’d signaled our location to the Irregulars, but there was a problem.
Ssshhhhh—.
Black mist descended around us like a curtain.
And what emerged was the woman who’d served as the captain of Andres’s unit in the Family Tournament finals—Leira.
‘So our location wasn’t discovered only by the Irregulars.’
The Reconstruction Council had found us too.
The beast-folk who came with Leira lunged at us with a growl.
“Uahhh…!”
Radel, of the Claren Marquis House that ran the Claren Guild, let out a scream.
Then it happened.
“We meet again.”
Someone landed among our group.
From his hand, a String Attack burst forth instantly.
The whip-like cord lashed the beast-folk, binding them and slamming them to the ground in one motion.
“Yuise!”
I called out, and Yuise moved to my side.
Leira’s crimson lips twisted.
“Happy to see me?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Yuise’s String Attack shot forward like an arrow, aimed straight at Leira.
Leira quickly retreated.
But she wasn’t alone.
The Black Clouds of the Reconstruction Council were appearing one after another.
There was one who’d torn into Romeban’s abdomen before.
His neck split open with a crack, and countless hands wove together like rope, bursting outward.
“Shall we shake hands?”
“Antonio!”
This time, Antonio blocked him.
With a sharp crack of breaking bones, he pounced like a predator and hurled the Black Cloud away.
Bang—!
The moment the man with hands sprouting from his neck hit the wall, two other Black Clouds came rushing in.
Antonio’s grip slipped as they turned to mist and escaped.
The mist surged straight at me.
“The body cannot move. Breath ceases. No breath exists within the mist.”
It was Miliano’s Speech Magic.
Those hiding in the mist revealed themselves at once.
Cesar bound them with threads of mana and subdued them.
“Activate the Nullification Field.”
At his words, my eyes snapped open.
“What?”
“They’re coming.”
“Who?”
“Who else.”
The moment he smirked, I instantly deployed the Nullification Field.
Crack-boom.
The ground tore upward as if ripped away.
The Black Clouds, the Reconstruction Council soldiers—all of them.
And then….
Kaboom—!!
A tremendous explosion erupted.
Enemies caught in the blast scattered in all directions.
Wind roared, and dust rose in clouds.
When the wind finally settled, what appeared was….
“The Marquis of Cuaron!”
“The Holy Maiden’s foster father has come to save us!”
“Wahhhhh—!”
At the arrival of Clan Leader Aslan, our group erupted in cheers.
Only the enemies had been caught in the explosion.
‘How did our group emerge unscathed?’
My Nullification Field only heals injuries instantly; it doesn’t immobilize people in place.
I quickly scanned the surroundings.
A solid barrier enveloped me and our group.
I hurriedly looked up.
Suspended in the air, maintaining the barrier with steady composure, was Abel.
Abel’s barrier had protected our group.
Soon the barrier dissolved.
I rushed to Father.
“Father!”
Father caught me lightly with one arm and surveyed the area.
“What’s the situation.”
“We haven’t found all the envoys and courtiers yet.”
“Leave it to Ros.”
Looking back up, Ros’s magical device was moving rapidly.
Those drone-like contraptions were indeed for tracking.
And they had another function as well….
[Lorenzo’s Unit, successful entry into the Town Square.]
[Combat initiated.]
They could relay situation updates.
Looking around, I spotted Ros in the distance, manipulating a mirror-like object the size of a palm—a controller.
Supporting the frail Ros were his younger sister Roslin and Charlie from Antonio’s Unit.
‘The Clan Leader brought an elite contingent. They all came.’
That’s what I thought.
“Aaahhh—!”
A scream came from somewhere.
I looked urgently toward the source.
It was Narvan, whom Roji had been carrying.
He must have regained consciousness and was attempting something secretly.
Someone noticed and subdued him.
‘There’s only one person who can read mana currents at a glance like that.’
I turned my head sharply.
A figure’s collar barely visible beyond the alley’s edge.
Oscar had slipped out of our group and hidden himself.
“We’re really all here now.”
I muttered, and Miliano chuckled softly, Cesar let out a dry laugh, and Yuise shrugged.
Antonio, though….
“But you said you hadn’t found all the envoys and courtiers yet!”
His face was confused.
It didn’t matter.
Now it would be the Reconstruction Council who became the hunted rabbit before the predator.
* * *
Extraordinary.
There was no other way to describe what was happening.
Terriars let out a hollow laugh.
“Is the Irregulars really such an overwhelming force?”
“That title ‘Continental Foremost’ didn’t attach itself for nothing.”
Luciano replied casually.
The Irregulars swept through the Reconstruction Council like a hurricane.
Even with massive reinforcements, the Council couldn’t stop them.
Four of the Black Clouds—the Reconstruction Council’s elite—had already been subdued.
The Irregular Elite were roughly on par with the Black Clouds one-on-one, or perhaps slightly weaker.
But when all the Irregular Elite gathered, it was different.
Yuise and Cesar, particularly skilled at restraint, bound the enemies’ movements.
Then Antonio, with his nearly monstrous physical strength, felled them in an instant.
Escape was impossible. Miliano would not permit it.
In dangerous moments, Abel’s barriers protected them.
Commanding the regular Unit Members was Clan Leader Lorenzo, whose orders sent common soldiers crumbling away.
‘At the center of it all….’
Terriars and Luciano’s gazes turned to ‘him.’
The Irregulars’ strongest.
His mere existence dominated the situation.
Clan Leader Lorenzo, who had subjugated the Town Square, approached.
“Something troubles me.”
“What.”
When Aslan asked, the Clan Leader swept his gaze across the surroundings and spoke.
“Excluding the Black Clouds and the small unit they command, the Reconstruction Council’s soldiers are substandard. Common folk who’ve never properly held a blade.”
“They’ve mobilized civilians to inflate their numbers?”
“Yes. Perhaps to parade the masses under the Reconstruction Council’s banner.”
“If they wanted to parade, they would have broadcast this. They’d have dazzled the populace with the dramatic moment of capturing the Imperial Princes, the Holy Maiden, and the Prince of Ilfarm.”
But the Reconstruction Council had not only failed to broadcast—they’d even blocked communications.
The Clan Leader nodded.
Then Terriars asked.
“Could they have mobilized maximum personnel to track down the envoys and courtiers?”
“They wouldn’t purchase weapons and distribute them simply for that reason. Such expenditure wouldn’t be made so casually.”
“Then what could the reason be….”
While everyone pondered, Antonio, sitting on the ground to rest, spoke.
“There was one guy who suddenly got stronger.”
“What?”
The Clan Leader furrowed his brow, as if questioning what he’d just heard.
“When I caught him, he was ordinary. But when I tried to subdue him, his body suddenly turned hard as rebar.”
“What do you mean….”
“And though he clearly couldn’t use magic before, when I got close, he suddenly spat out a fireball.”
Antonio tilted his head in confusion.
“He didn’t look like he’d been trained. Then suddenly some kind of mark appeared on his collar….”
The moment he trailed off like that.
Yustea, who’d been listening, rushed over to him urgently.
“What kind of mark was it? Do you remember?”
“Well, um….”
While Antonio blinked, trying to recall, Yustea suddenly lifted Miliano’s shirt.
Miliano’s eyes widened.
Luciano furrowed his brow.
Regardless, Yustea pointed to Miliano’s ribs.
“Was it this mark?”
“Oh, right. It was like two swords crossing.”
“…!”
“…!!”
“…?!”
Yustea, Miliano, and Luciano all shuddered.
The mark of crossed swords.
That was the Divine Mark.
In other words, a divine power had awakened.
Luciano had been awakened by Yustea and gained the power of the Destroyer of Causality.
Miliano too had obtained Speech Magic through some circumstance.
Yustea’s face hardened.
* * *
Someone was granting Divine Marks to the soldiers.
As a player, one could grant Divine Marks to characters whose affinity was raised sufficiently.
But not just any character could receive one.
‘The character had to be recognized by the game itself.’
To create such a narrative, they’d place them in life-threatening situations.
I looked at Miliano, another Divine Mark holder.
Miliano nodded.
“It seems time hasn’t been only on our side.”
“Yes….”
Until now, time had been our ally.
As time passed, reinforcements would arrive from the Imperial Palace.
But if the Reconstruction Council possessed a Granter….
Those who received Divine Marks gain tremendous power.
They would only grow stronger.
I checked the Black Clouds Luciano had captured.
“They all have Divine Marks.”
“So the Reconstruction Council’s elite means holders of Divine Marks.”
I told Father.
“We need to disengage. Break through their barrier and escape.”
We couldn’t allow the enemy to build more narrative.
‘At least we have Father.’
Father would be able to shatter their barrier.
After that, we found the remaining courtiers and envoys using Ros’s magical device.
As soon as everyone gathered, we moved to escape.
We couldn’t use the Portal.
We entered the path closest to the Imperial Palace.
Soon a barrier blocked our way.
The Clan Leader handed Father a sword.
Father poured mana into the blade.
Bang—!
The barrier shook violently from the single strike.
“Incredible strength.”
Cesar whistled low.
It was remarkable that a barrier could withstand Father’s blow.
But it was definitely taking impact.
Father raised the sword for another strike.
[Would you not find it regrettable to leave like this?]
A telepathic voice came through.
And behind us, an enormous number of Reconstruction Council soldiers arrived in a rush.
Seeing soldiers armed with weapons, Yuise clicked her tongue.
“They’re dying to throw their lives away.”
Cesar nodded in agreement.
“It’s almost like a religion.”
At that, a soldier with trembling hands gripping a blade shouted.
“It is a noble sacrifice for the future!”
He licked his lips.
His mouth was dry with tension.
“You… you don’t understand. Born into good families, indulged in every comfort, you could never know our suffering….”
His eyes flashed with fervent conviction.
“My father d-died because we couldn’t afford medicine. Just two gold for a cure….”
Other soldiers cried out with emotion.
“My mother was beaten to death by a noble. For stepping on her hem!”
“My sister will soon be sold as a second wife to some old noble. You’ve trampled us like this!”
“Never again will we be trampled. We will seize tomorrow with our own hands!”
Our Unit Members, moved by the words, began nodding. “Yes, yes.”
Most of them were from Antonio’s Unit.
‘Ominous.’
They’d all developed narratives.
The moment I thought that.
Glow….
Light spread.
And across the bodies of the young soldiers who’d been shouting, the mark of crossed swords appeared.
“Die—!”
The path of his advance was engulfed in flames.
‘This can’t happen!’
I was about to step forward.
“It’s my turn….”
His voice came.
“Abel!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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