The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 66

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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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The Natural Enemy of Mages Has Been Reincarnated – Episode 66
A territorial war.
A conflict waged when lords covet each other’s lands.
That was the usual reason, though sometimes wars erupted from personal grudges.
This territorial war was one such case.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Hamilton’s vanguard, composed of one hundred cavalry, invaded Agos territory.
A sentinel who witnessed this immediately sounded the horn alarm.
Whooooosh!
Hundreds of soldiers soon gathered before the Lord’s Castle of Agos.
“Hmph, they’re doing exactly as I predicted.”
The Lord of Agos, who had just left his banquet, snorted dismissively as he watched the approaching cavalry.
“They mean to provoke us with these hundred cavalry and draw us out.”
The Lord’s prediction was correct.
The cavalry advanced no further, instead moving about provocatively.
As if daring them to try capturing them, they swished their tails mockingly.
“A pathetic lord going to such lengths—there’s no reason not to humor him.”
The Lord of Agos smiled wickedly and issued his command to the commander.
“Divide the forces and execute the plan!”
“Yes, my Lord!”
The Lord of Agos’s strategy was simple.
In response to the provocation, only a small detachment would pursue the cavalry.
The main force would circle around and strike Hamilton’s Rear Gate.
‘They’ve left the Main Gate open and concentrated their forces there. We’ll slip around and breach the Rear Gate—that’s all there is to it.’
A strategy impossible to execute without seeing through the enemy’s plans and troop deployment.
The reason this was possible was simple.
Barton, Hamilton’s commander, was on his side.
This was why the Lord of Agos was so confident of victory.
How could he lose when the enemy commander was feeding him real-time intelligence through secret channels?
‘Surely Barton wouldn’t give me false information to trap me. He’s been embedded as a spy in enemy territory for years for this very moment.’
It was also Barton who had lured the Lord of Hamilton’s daughter into a convenient position for seduction.
There was no possibility of betrayal.
The Lord of Agos surveyed his soldiers, now prepared for deployment.
“Two hundred cavalry will pursue the enemy cavalry, the rest will circle around to strike from behind!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Agos’s two hundred cavalry thundered forward on horseback.
As the enemy approached in the distance, raising clouds of dust, Hamilton’s cavalry quickly wheeled their horses around.
A faint smile playing at their lips.
‘Just as planned, the enemy took the bait.’
‘I was worried they might not follow, but fortunately they did.’
‘I’ll lure them to Hamilton Castle and devour them all.’
Watching Agos’s cavalry follow as intended, I felt reassured—but they didn’t know.
It wasn’t they who had fallen into the trap. It was themselves.

* * *
Hamilton’s sentinel’s eyes widened.
In the distance, cavalry were returning to the main castle.
With a tail behind them.
“The vanguard is returning!”
“They’ve lured the enemy back. Good—how many?”
“Approximately 200 cavalry!”
“The Count of Agos moved exactly as predicted.”
Barton, the commander, smiled.
But the meaning behind it differed from what the soldiers understood.
It was a smile brimming with sinister intent.
‘Those cavalry are just for drawing attention. The real main force will emerge from the Rear Gate.’
As expected.
Agos’s cavalry hesitated without advancing further, drawing the soldiers’ gaze.
Even with the castle gate half-open, they showed no intention of entering.
“Why aren’t those bastards coming in?”
“We’ve opened the gate and stationed only minimal forces on the walls?”
“Did they see through our plan? Aren’t they being overly cautious?”
The waiting soldiers murmured anxiously, but Barton remained composed.
“No need to worry! It’s natural they’d be suspicious with the gate open! And with only 200 cavalry, it’s too risky to charge in.”
As commander, he reassured his soldiers.
Of course, it was all an act to keep them pinned here.
“Wait a bit longer, and they’ll call for their main force. They won’t want to miss such a tempting prize right before their eyes! So hold your positions and wait! Until the enemy takes the bait!”
Barton spoke thus and casually turned away.
It was nearly time for Agos’s main force to arrive at the Rear Gate.
Soon after.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
The bell rang as a soldier came rushing over with an urgent expression.
“C-Commander! E-Enemies are pouring in from the Rear Gate!”
“What? How many?”
“S-So many we can’t even count them!”
At the report of massive enemy forces gathering at the Rear Gate, the soldiers’ eyes went wide.
Barton likewise feigned a shocked expression, as if his eyes might pop from his head.
“E-Everyone! Move to the Rear Gate! We must defend the castle!”
At his urgent cry, soldiers mounted their horses and rushed to reposition.
Since most had been gathered at the Main Gate, they had to move with utmost speed.
One mistake and the Rear Gate would be destroyed—and that would be the end of everything.
But by the time the soldiers reached the Rear Gate, it was already on the verge of collapse.
The enemy was slicing through the gate doors like firewood with swords infused with aura.
Crack! Crack—!
No matter how sturdy a gate might be, dozens of aura users attacking it relentlessly would reduce it to tatters.
The cutting power of aura-infused weapons was sharp enough to sever steel itself.
Crackle—!
“No…!”
“The Rear Gate is destroyed!”
“T-they’re pouring in!”
Hamilton’s soldiers panicked as the enemy surged in like a tidal wave.
‘If we’d distributed forces to the Rear Gate, this never would have happened…!’
A single moment of poor judgment had allowed the enemy to breach the castle.
But the soldiers had no say in the matter.
All authority rested with the commander, Barton.
‘It’s over. Once they’re inside the castle, there’s no stopping them.’
Barton laughed silently as he watched his demoralized allies.
The outcome had been decided the moment he took command.
He had infiltrated the territory and lived as a spy for years, feeding information to the Lord of Agos for exactly this moment.
‘Hamilton’s soldiers will now die like rats trapped in a jar.’
No further strategy was needed.
Victory would come easily—simply overwhelming them with brute force and slaughter.
Victory for the Agos territory.
“H-hold the line!”
“Aaaahhh!”
“S-summon the Mage Tower! Call the Mage Tower!”
Chaos erupted across the battlefield.
Agos’s regular forces swept through the Lord’s Castle as if it were their own home, wielding aura-infused blades with devastating effect.
Slash! Slash!
“Gaaahhh!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Hamilton’s soldiers could only suffer helplessly.
Most were ordinary soldiers who couldn’t even manifest aura, so there was no way they could mount a defense.
Of course, Hamilton wasn’t without aura users.
Whoooosh—
A regular soldier wreathed in blue aura charged at Agos’s forces.
But.
“Ugh!”
“Gack!”
Despite their initial momentum, Hamilton’s soldiers were brutally cut down after only a few exchanges.
Even aura had qualitative differences depending on its source.
‘Good. I don’t need to worry about Agos’s victory.’
Barton, who had been observing the situation, smiled and casually turned his body.
He was planning to slip away in the chaos of the melee.
That’s when I encountered an unexpected figure.
“What’s so funny that you’re grinning like that?”
At the sudden voice, Barton’s smile vanished as quickly as a crab hiding its eyes.
“You find this situation amusing?”
Watching the approaching figure, Barton forced himself to maintain composure.
‘Damn it! I got caught smiling by that brat!’
The one approaching was none other than Zeke McLafflin.
A sixteen-year-old mage mercenary of the Golden Eagle Mercenary Corps.
Though he looked like a child, he was known to be 6th Circle, so I couldn’t let my guard down.
“W-what are you talking about? When did I smile?”
“Don’t play dumb. You orchestrated this situation, didn’t you?”
“Ha! There’s no time for this! I need to get to the command post and prepare countermeasures—”
“You sure like preparing countermeasures.”
Zeke chuckled and immediately cast a spell.
“Paralyse.”
Barton’s body convulsed once before crashing to the ground with a thud.
His body was paralyzed.
Zeke approached and bound him with rope before the spell could wear off.
“Now you won’t be able to escape.”
Having captured the traitor, Zeke surveyed the scene—a hellscape of chaos and carnage.
There was no time to waste.
People were dying by the moment.
“I’ll search for the mage later. First, I need to resolve this situation.”
Zeke drew a feather blade from his subspace and rushed forward.
Straight into the heart of the enemy formation.

* * *
“Aaaaargh!”
Clang! Clang!
“Kill them!”
“Argh!”
Thud!
The clash of weapons, screams of agony, the wet sound of flesh tearing, battle cries—every conceivable noise of combat filled the air.
It was the cacophony of war itself.
Naturally, such sounds were inevitable in battle.
Yet the weight of the noise tilted decidedly in one direction.
“They’re retreating!”
“Chase them down! Don’t leave a single one of those Hamilton dogs alive—slaughter them all!”
The soldiers of Agos roared with overwhelming confidence.
Though they possessed numerical superiority, the qualitative difference between the two territories was stark.
In fact, the blades of most Agos soldiers gleamed with an azure radiance.
Aura infusion.
The technique of channeling aura into a blade to amplify its cutting power—a method only Aura Experts and beyond could employ—and most of Agos’s soldiers wielded it with proficiency.
It was a sight that contrasted sharply with Hamilton’s forces.
“Damn it. How are we supposed to overcome that?”
“Hell, run!”
“Noooo!”
The soldiers abandoned their pride and fled for this very reason.
Who would dare cross blades with those wielding a technique that mercilessly cleaved through both steel and armor?
Only aura users employing the same technique could stand against aura users.
Thus, the only remaining forces were Hamilton’s aura users, yet they too found themselves in dire straits.
I knew from the few exchanges we’d already witnessed.
The enemy’s aura was denser and far more refined.
Clang! Clang!
“Ugh!”
Hamilton’s aura users fought desperately, holding their ground against the onslaught.
Despite wielding aura themselves, with each clash of blades they were repelled by the recoil, driven backward.
“Damn it, I can’t hold much longer!”
“Me neither!”
As despair settled across the faces of soldiers who had glimpsed death after only a few exchanges.
A brilliant flash erupted across the sky!
Hope emerged.
“Mage at three o’clock!”
“Scatter!”
Agos’s regular forces shouted the warning and hastily retreated.
Yet escape proved futile as a fireball descended and detonated in their midst.
Kwaaaaaang!
Five soldiers from Agos crumbled to ash in an instant.
Magical energy gathered once more at the tip of Captain Chris’s staff.
“Prepare to fire!”
Whoooosh!
Flames erupted simultaneously from the staffs of the Golden Eagle Mercenary Corps mages.
“Fire!”
Fuuuuuung!
Fuuuung!
Dozens of fireballs engulfed Agos’s regular forces.
“Gaaaah!”
“Aaaaagh!”
No matter how skilled an aura user was, there was no way to block magic.
Who could possibly withstand flames that melted steel?
The best an enhanced body could do was dodge the inferno.
But did closing the distance guarantee victory?
It did not.
Ting—!
A blade aimed at the mage struck the barrier and trembled violently.
Though the aura could cleave steel, against a mage it was nothing more than child’s play.
Boom!
“Grraaaagh!”
Chris hurled the aura user who had closed in with a fireball, then gathered magical energy once more.
“Explosion!”
A single detonation sent three more aura users flying.
Each missing a limb or two.
Displaying overwhelming power, Chris rallied his unit members.
“We’ve been put at a disadvantage by the enemy’s invasion, but don’t worry! Aura users are no match for us anyway! If we eliminate them methodically, we can lead this war to victory!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let’s all do our best!”
Even in this dire situation, the unit members calmly landed their spells and methodically eliminated enemies one by one.
All those seemingly pointless drills back at the Mercenary Company had not been in vain.
Yet the situation was far from ideal.
“Captain! There are too many enemies!”
“They’re mixed in with our soldiers—it’s hard to land hits!”
Mages were indeed stronger than aura users, but in this chaotic melee, it was difficult to shine.
Their movements were far too swift, and one careless spell could harm our own forces.
“We have no choice! Don’t use area magic—eliminate them one by one, calmly!”
“Yes, sir!”
“But where is Zeke?”
“I have no idea!”
“He was there when the battle started, but at some point he just vanished!?”
“Damn it!”
Captain bit down hard on his lower lip.
With every soldier’s strength precious, the Mercenary Company’s finest—a 6th-tier mage—had simply disappeared.
‘Did he lose his nerve and run? Blast it. I should have seen it coming when he was so young from the start…!’
Chris assumed Zeke had abandoned them out of fear of war.
When enemies suddenly poured in, he must have panicked early and fled.
But that thought was swept away in an instant by a mercenary’s shout from beside him.
“C-Captain! Look over there! Zeke is there!”
“What?”
Following the pointing finger, I could indeed see Zeke there.
Right in the heart of enemy territory.
“That insane bastard! What the hell is he doing?”
Chris thought Zeke had lost his mind.
A mage not maintaining distance—instead charging straight into the enemy’s embrace?
Beyond arrogance, it was sheer stupidity.
That’s what I thought.
Until I saw Zeke’s next move.
Slash! Slash—!
Chris couldn’t close his gaping mouth.
The mage I thought Zeke was cut through enemies with fluid, graceful movements.
‘Where did that sword come from? No, more importantly—what’s happening? Those movements? It’s like watching an aura user.’
Yet there wasn’t a trace of blue light on the blade.
And still, he evaded attacks while cleanly slicing through the aura users opposing him.
A display of swordsmanship too stunning to look away from.
When I turned my head, the other members wore the same expression of disbelief, witnessing this impossible sight.
“W-what’s going on?”
“Zeke… wasn’t he a mage?”
Someone’s question hung in silence for a long moment.
No one could answer.

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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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