The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 239
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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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Chapter 239
The archers positioned densely along the ridge began to draw their bowstrings.
“Magic unit!”
The mages positioned at the front and rear of the unit deployed barriers. Clang, claaang─!! Sharp friction sounds continued without pause, but most of the arrows couldn’t break through the barriers.
Soon we moved quickly toward the front according to the commander’s orders.
The magic unit changed the barrier formula according to the unit leader’s command. Probably our appearance would gradually become blurry to the enemy forces, and eventually become completely invisible.
We entered the riverside. We had to cross the river to join the advance team that was already establishing a base.
Originally we planned to move through the mountain, but due to the ambush, we decided to cross through the river instead.
However, contrary to the plan, the river had swollen and there was no way to cross it with war horses.
“Cyclops (magic unit captain), can you create a path across the river with mana?”
“Currently impossible. Due to the ambush, we deployed high-level barriers without sufficient casting preparation. Rest is needed.”
“Damn it, the base is right in front of us…”
The captain of our unit, a second-year senior, looked around at the mages with a troubled expression.
The mages were clearly in a greatly exhausted state. Those with barely any mana left were holding onto their reins with pale blue faces.
The captain, who had assessed the situation, finally declared a rest.
“We’ll divide into groups. Mages rest, Group 1 guards the perimeter, Group 2 will explore the area with me.”
Most of the freshmen were assigned to the guard group, while the few second-year seniors in our unit became the exploration group.
After the captain left with the exploration group.
“As expected of Odis’s magic unit!”
Allen began chattering with an excited expression.
“Barriers of this level are rarely used even in wars between nations. Wow…! The level of Odis is something else.”
“Show some restraint, Allen. Combat isn’t a game.”
“Everyone’s too tense. Would we, who can deploy barriers of this level, really lose to mere barbarians? The school wouldn’t have sent us out if it wasn’t a battle with high odds of victory.”
Several freshmen began to agree with Allen’s words.
“Actually, the enemy forces were pretty pathetic. We didn’t expect the ambush, but their weapon quality… The barbarian arrowheads couldn’t even properly break through our barriers.”
“They probably don’t even know what Blue Spinel is. Those barbarians can’t even imagine that Blue Spinel infused with divine power is needed to break a mage’s barrier.”
“Right. We could just drop one meteor right into the enemy center and it would be over.”
“It’s anticlimactic, really. Hey, hey, Easton. Relax. Are you still that nervous after seeing the barbarians’ level?”
Giggles erupted among the freshmen.
Emeline, who had been listening to the students’ conversation, nudged my side.
“Leblaine.”
“…”
“Leblaine!”
“Huh?”
“What are you thinking about so deeply.”
“Well…”
I narrowed my eyes and looked around the surroundings.
‘Strange.’
The enemy forces were the Kuhelm tribe, a tribe adjacent to Audis Military Academy.
The land in this area was abandoned land where not even a blade of grass would grow.
Audis had formed a friendship with the Neriad Religion, and the Neriad Religion had purified the land within the gates of Audis Military Academy.
The Kuhelm tribe had attacked countless times, targeting the purified land.
“Emeline.”
“Yeah?”
“You said there were only two battles with Kuhelm last year, right?”
“Right. One battle where the graduating class was deployed, and most recently they got crushed by Eliciano.”
“Something seems strange.”
“What?”
“It was too easy, wasn’t it? These are people who’ve faced top-tier students like Eliciano, not just any other unit. They should know that ordinary strategies and weapons wouldn’t work against them, so why did they launch an attack with such weapons? And how did they know our route and set up an ambush?”
There wasn’t just one path. Kuhelm is a small tribe, so they don’t have enough forces to set ambushes on every road.
Emeline made a confused expression.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Our unit is mostly new students facing their first battle. They should know that leaving only rookies would make them unable to perform properly in combat during emergencies, so why did the Captain personally lead the reconnaissance team?”
“Well, there are seniors among the healing mages too─”
That’s when it happened.
Sandra approached a mage who was sitting with a blanket draped over his shoulders, his head deeply bowed.
“Senior, are you okay? Medical unit, please look at this senior. His condition seems serious…”
I was staring intently at the senior in the direction Sandra was approaching when I suddenly shouted.
“Sandra, run away!”
“What?”
Just as I ran over and surrounded the mage senior with a barrier.
Bang─!!
With a dull explosive sound, the mage’s body exploded.
“Kyaaaah─!”
“Uaaaah─!!”
Seeing a person die right before their eyes, the new students were startled out of their wits.
Some sat down on the ground and crawled backward with their palms, while others couldn’t even move.
“S-Senior. What should we do? Medical unit! Treat the senior right now!”
“Leave it!”
At my words, Sandra and the students looked at me with surprised expressions.
I said.
“That’s a ‘ball-jointed doll.'”
As someone who owns Rain, I know. That’s a crystallization of corrupted dark magic created by an alchemist, a ball-jointed doll.
“B-Ball-jointed doll, you mean that… But why is such a thing here…”
“Was it Kuhelm? Did Kuhelm switch it out? But how? There was no opportunity for that. Don’t tell me they planted a ball-jointed doll in our unit from the beginning?”
“That’s impossible! How could mere barbarians pull off such a trick on Audis!”
“Could the ambush have been a trap too?”
The atmosphere was greatly chaotic. Just as I was about to open my mouth.
Clap─!
The sound of clapping was heard. It was Mina.
“Calm down, everyone. First, we need to inform the Captain about this.”
Mina’s face was also pale from shock, but I could see her trying to regain her composure.
“Sandra, is there a way to contact the Captain?”
“There are Communication Stones that were distributed to each student for battle. Just a moment.”
Sandra connected the communication.
“It won’t work.”
At my words, Mina turned to look at me.
“What do you mean?”
“Give up. If my thinking is correct, the communication won’t connect.”
The Students urged Sandra on. But Sandra’s expression grew darker and darker, and the communication never connected.
‘As expected. The Captain is definitely the traitor.’
Mina asked with a trembling voice.
“Sandra, it’s not connecting?”
“No. Not just the Captain, but the Communication Stone is completely dead.”
It was the Captain who distributed the Communication Stones before departure. If he was the traitor, he would have tampered with the Communication Stones.
‘No, this isn’t the time for such thoughts.’
What’s important is that we’ve been betrayed, we’re all greenhorns in our first battle, and we’ve been abandoned without a single Communication Magic Tool.
“We need to leave This Place first.”
At my words, Mina replied.
“When the Captain returns and we’re not here, he’ll be confused.”
“Don’t you get it?”
“What?”
“All the valuable Mages are exhausted, and the Magic Corps supervisor and seniors with combat experience all followed the Captain as the search Team. What do you think this sounds like?”
“….”
“We’ve been betrayed. We’ve been abandoned by the Captain.”
The Students’ faces turned deathly pale.
And as if they had been waiting for this moment, Soldiers of Kuhelm appeared. The Man wrapped in Tiger Skin emerged from among the Soldiers.
He looked at me and Mina and said.
“Worth paying a fortune for. The false Daughters of God have finally fallen into my hands.”
When he grinned, raising the corner of his mouth, his blackened Rotten Canine Teeth were revealed.
Mina flinched and hunched her shoulders, while I let out a hollow laugh.
“I had a bad feeling, and it turns out I was being sold like a piece of meat at the Market.”
My first battle in life had gone wrong before it even began.
* * *
Isaac looked outside with an anxious expression, lifting the Entrance flap of the Barracks.
“You’ll wear out the entrance at this rate. What’s got you so worried?”
When Jin asked indifferently, Isaac muttered in a low voice.
“I have a bad feeling. All the other rear units have joined up, so why is the little one’s unit running this late?”
“That unit is coming through the mountain. Stop saying ominous things and sit down. You’re the commander of this battle. You can’t afford to be shaken by personal matters.”
Just then, a familiar face entered the base. It was the captain of Leblaine’s unit.
He came running frantically and reached Eliciano’s barracks, shouting.
“The new students have disappeared!”
“What did you say?”
Jin’s face hardened, Henri shot to his feet, and Isaac grabbed the captain by the collar.
“What are you talking about!”
“Th-that is…!”
“Speak properly. What exactly happened!”
“Kuhelm soldiers were lying in ambush on our unit’s route. We escaped safely, but the river had swollen and the mages weren’t in good condition, so we decided to rest briefly. I went out on reconnaissance, but when I returned…”
As the man mumbled, Henri strode over and pressed him.
“If you don’t want your tongue ripped out, speak clearly. So what happened to my younger sister?”
“Th-they all disappeared. It seems they must have fought with Kuhelm…”
Henri and Isaac froze solid as if rooted to the ground.
At this moment, there was only one face they thought of.
‘Leblaine.’
‘Little one…’
Their missing younger sister.
* * *
Mina and I were imprisoned in a different place from the students.
The Kuhelm tribe women stripped off our armor and dressed us in clothes made from animal hide similar to theirs.
During this, two people each, as large as strong men, clung to us and suppressed our movements.
“Let go of this! I said let go!”
It was when Mina shouted.
The door opened, and the man wrapped in beast fur we had seen by the riverside entered with what appeared to be his guards.
“Are the preparations going well?”
“Yes, Chief.”
The man looked us up and down and smiled with satisfaction.
Mina, who had been gritting her teeth, spoke.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
“I won’t harm you. One of you two will become my wife.”
“What?”
What did he say?
When our expressions twisted, the chief said.
“I’ll give you a chance. If one of you becomes my wife, I’ll spare your lives. The other Child of Fate and all the captured students too.”
“Ha…”
The chief asked.
“Who will become my wife?”
Mina, glaring at the chief, said.
“No one will become your wife!”
“Her!”
I quickly pointed at Mina with my chin, and the atmosphere around us turned cold for a moment.
The chief let out a hollow laugh and asked.
“Do you have no sense of loyalty?”
“I don’t have that, but I have something else.”
“Something else?”
“I have a lot of money, Chief.”
The chief made a strange expression when he saw me laughing with a hehe.
This is the social skills of someone living their 4th life, you fool.
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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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