The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#079. I Am Human

 

“What are you doing right now, Ryusei!!”

 

Father Michele’s eyes filled with shock as he saw Ryusei.

 

“Why on earth did you come rushing out! Go back inside immediately! This is not the place you should be protecting!”

 

Ryusei also agreed with Father Michele’s words that this was not the place he should be protecting.

 

If the fact that there was a portal leading to the surface inside the camp were to be revealed to the adventurers in this desperate situation, the battlefield would clearly transform from a struggle against monsters into a slaughterhouse between humans.

 

At that point, madness that even Michele couldn’t control would obviously consume the adventurers, so the priest hoped that Ryusei would hold that ‘secret’ until the very last moment and endure to the end within the fortress walls.

 

However, even knowing the priest’s feelings, Ryusei swung his spear shaft with a calm expression, taking down the monsters before his eyes one by one.

 

And just as the priest was about to shout at Ryusei’s back once more while watching this scene, Ryusei shook off the monster’s black blood from his spear blade and muttered quietly.

 

“That portal is gone now.”

 

“…What did you say?”

 

“The portal you’re thinking of was certainly in the middle of the base camp until just a moment ago. But it’s not there now. Before I came outside, I sent back 10 injured people who were receiving treatment at the camp through the portal.”

 

“…Are you serious?”

 

“If it’s an object that would make the remaining 1,000 people kill each other just to save 10 people, then in the current situation, it would be better not to have it.”

 

Michele felt his heart sink.

 

Ryusei was speaking calmly as if he had simply cleared away a passing stone, but the weight contained in his voice was by no means light.

 

Human psychology is fragile.

 

How many humans could calmly accept death with an escape route behind them that could save themselves and their precious loved ones with just a reach of their hand?

 

The moment self-rationalization like ‘it was an unavoidable situation’ or ‘anyone would make the same choice in that situation’ was completed, being able to stab a sword into someone’s back with a heart more venomous than a viper was also one aspect of human nature.

 

Conversely, Ryusei’s choice to cut the only lifeline that could save his own life or his comrades’ lives with his own hands and drive everyone’s lives into a deadly situation was also one of the natures humans could display.

 

Michele felt a thrill.

 

“That’s amazing… Even I wouldn’t have been able to decide so easily.”

 

“No, you would have made the same choice, Father. We are… people who must do so.”

 

Ryusei gripped his spear anew. And he shouted with all his might, declaring to all the adventurers on the battlefield.

 

“Listen carefully, everyone! The portal that appeared today was used to transport the injured! The next portal won’t appear until tomorrow! Listen carefully! There is no way to escape from this place before tomorrow morning!”

 

It was a desperate declaration, but Ryusei’s eyes that followed shone more sharply than ever.

 

“So if you want to live, fight! If you want to reduce casualties, pierce the hearts of those damn monsters! The only way for us to survive today is to stand on the corpses of our enemies!”

 

A desperate last stand.

 

Ryusei’s speech telling them to find a way to live by killing enemies since there was nowhere to run swept away fear from the adventurers’ hearts.

 

Those who had been wandering around looking for portals like rats finally began to trust the swords in their hands.

 

To buy time to regroup, no, to breathe for even one more minute, the adventurers began to drive back the monster army with frenzied momentum.

 

It was the beginning of a terrible survival game filled with endless screams and fountains of blood that no one could guarantee when it would end.

 

***

 

“Huff, huff… The enemy… the enemy is retreating.”

 

Groans stained with pain began to gradually push out the space that had been filled with human screams and the roars of monsters.

 

Finally watching the retreating backs of the monsters flowing out like a tide, Ryusei roughly wiped away the layers of bloody dust on his face.

 

The foreign sensation transmitted through his palm was chilling, but he didn’t stop.

 

What entered his sight as he looked around were piles of monster corpses like mountains and the remains of comrades covering those corpses like blankets.

 

During the battle, there was no time to pay attention.

 

Swinging his spear one more time, deflecting incoming claws by a paper-thin margin, twisting and wringing out all his body’s muscles to concentrate on these things was all he could do.

 

Because he had to keep his senses extremely sharp just to survive, Ryusei’s world was limited only to the range his spear tip could reach.

 

Observing who was dying outside that range was a luxury not permitted to him.

 

‘Still, this much… isn’t too bad…’

 

Ryusei caught his rough breathing and surveyed the battle situation.

 

Several Black Spear clan members and core forces of the outlaw camp had become cold corpses, but it wasn’t as devastating a blow as he had expected.

 

Whether due to the fierce resistance from the human side or some flaw in the monsters’ command structure, the enemies had retreated at an earlier timing than usual.

 

The surviving adventurers were looking at Ryusei and Michele, covered in blood.

 

Not with resentful glares, but with gazes filled with gratitude.

 

It was a gaze of deep trust and gratitude toward Ryusei, who had charged into the monsters’ jaws ahead of everyone else, and Michele, who had squeezed out miracles to their limit to care for the injured.

 

The two groups that had been opposing each other just yesterday, trapped in the factional logic of raid clans and outlaw camps, were now united as one, fighting at death’s threshold.

 

And Ryusei judged that now was the timing to elevate this strange unity.

 

“Gengo. Open the warehouse doors. Release all remaining supplies. So that everyone can eat their fill, at least for tonight.”

 

Ryusei called the name of his most trusted adjutant, but no answer came back.

 

Instead of Gengo’s figure that should have approached from afar with the sound of heavy armor, what came to Ryusei was a young clan member holding a blood-soaked helmet to his chest.

 

“…Master.”

 

Ryusei’s pupils trembled.

 

That helmet with the wild boar emblem that Gengo always wore.

 

Ryusei stared blankly at the helmet.

 

The side of the helmet was torn away by something sharp, and through that gap, hardened drops of blood were embedded here and there.

 

“I see… Gengo is…”

 

Dead.

 

Reality came rushing in like a wave, belatedly.

 

If he had accepted Gengo’s advice and used the outlaw camp personnel as shields, perhaps the guy would still be alive.

 

No, he would have been alive.

 

With the level of monster army that had just retreated, they could have somehow held them off with just the outlaw camp personnel.

 

Of course, in that case, casualties would have increased incomparably to now, but at least the sacrifice of Black Spear clan members like Gengo wouldn’t have occurred.

 

‘So I should think that my decision killed him.’

 

Seeing Ryusei’s shoulders trembling slightly, Father Michele placed his large hand on Ryusei’s shoulder.

 

“If it’s the person I know… he probably accepted his final moment with a smile, without regret.”

 

“I… know too. Because Gengo was that kind of guy.”

 

He recalled Gengo’s eyes as he locked the meeting room door and stood in his way.

 

The guy hadn’t rebelled because he wanted to live.

 

He had taken on the role of villain himself to protect the portal that would become a seed of conflict, and to prevent his master from making a dirty decision.

 

Ryusei took Gengo’s helmet.

 

And feeling the cold metal texture of the helmet, he instructed his subordinate.

 

“Open the warehouse doors. Prepare meals. As generously as possible, don’t spare the remaining meat and vegetables, put everything in the pot.”

 

“Master… but if we use all the remaining food at once, we won’t last even two days. Distributing it little by little would be…”

 

“No, now is the time.”

 

Ryusei was resolute.

 

If they couldn’t raise morale right now, they would have to face the enemy with an even more gloomy heart in tomorrow’s battle.

 

“Open the bathhouse too. Heat warm water so everyone can wash. Organize the guard duty in three shifts, and let those who need rest immediately go in first.”

 

After finishing all his instructions, Ryusei took Father Michele and entered the office inside the base camp.

 

When they closed the door and were left alone, the dignity of the clan master who had just commanded the battlefield vanished like smoke.

 

Ryusei sat down heavily on the desk and muttered to the priest in a voice that seemed to have abandoned all hope.

 

“Probably… we’re all going to be annihilated.”

 

It was a shocking confession, but Michele wasn’t surprised.

 

He smiled gently and quietly nodded his head.

 

“Probably so.”

 

“If I have any mission left, it would be to help the people remaining here fight as humans until the very last moment. Father, that portal that appeared today… it was truly terrible. It was a crystallization of malice. It felt like bait thrown by a devil who knew human hearts all too well, saying ‘Now, kill each other.'”

 

Ryusei’s voice became wet.

 

“I could almost hear that voice whispering to abandon conscience for one’s own life, for the life of precious comrades. Why wouldn’t I want to run away too? To close my eyes tight and throw myself into the portal. Why wouldn’t I want to take my comrades and flee to the upper layers?”

 

“But didn’t you ultimately overcome that temptation, Ryusei?”

 

“I don’t know how long I can keep overcoming it.”

 

Ryusei looked up at Michele.

 

Deep fatigue and self-loathing lingered in his eyes.

 

It was a gaze containing his human inner side that he could never show on the battlefield where everyone was watching.

 

“Today I could be resolute with the justification of saving the injured, but what about tomorrow? What about the day after? When precious comrades who have been watching my back start grabbing my trouser legs and begging me to save them… will I be able to make the same decision then?”

 

It was a confession.

 

The confession of a weak human lurking within the leader who was thought to have an iron will.

 

Humans become most cruel when they have hope.

 

Maintaining nobility until the end in a situation where things drag on and comrades die one by one is something only a saint could achieve.

 

Ryusei trembled with fear that he might swing his sword to monopolize the portal even tomorrow.

 

Who to save and who to kill.

 

The fact that this decision rested with him felt more terrifying to Ryusei than exposing himself to a monster’s claws.

 

“I’d rather… I wanted to give up first. Father, I’m… not a noble hero. I’m just a coward who’s afraid of dying.”

 

Michele warmly clasped Ryusei’s trembling hands.

 

The priest’s hands were rough and calloused, but their warmth was real.

 

“I will be with you, Ryusei.”

 

Ryusei’s eyes widened as he looked at the priest’s hands holding his own.

 

The faint trembling he felt from those hands.

 

He knew the emotion contained within was the same emotion that stirred his own heart.

 

Yet despite feeling the same emotion as Ryusei, the priest was desperately trying to hide it in order to be a source of strength for him.

 

“Before being a servant of the Lord, I will stand by your side as one human being who wants to remain noble until the end. I will share the weight of those heavy decisions you must make. So please don’t try to bear that hell alone.”

 

“You’re a strong person, Father.”

 

“I’m just someone with the will to be strong. At least in that regard, I’d say my heart is the same as yours, Ryusei.”

 

Deep in the hellish dungeon, the two men relied on each other’s body heat as they prepared for tomorrow’s despair.

 

Praying that at least for tonight, they could sleep as humans rather than monsters.

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