Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Chapter 80: In the Name of Honor (14)

Ba-du-dump, ba-du-dump!

Clunk. Clunk.

It sure is a mess.

Mmm. From what I know, Sungha Village wasnt this big.

Gwur. Many dead humans. Many humans near death too.

Thats only natural since what we just went past is more of a slum made by the refugees than the actual Sungha Village.

When they arrived at Tobrunes castle gates, it only took them a moment to deal with the guards who made a commotion trying to capture Professor as an escapee, because when he took out the relic, he was instead able to ask for a carriage and horse, and then proceeded to leave the city. Even after they left, the guards were still stunned.

As soon as they left the city, their atmosphere changed completely.

The inside of the castle walls felt normal aside from the fuss with the flooding, but the outside was a completely different story.

Like the rich city they are, the security forces they have are larger and higher quality than most. They completely banned the entry of the refugees.

Professor had a vague idea of why they would do that. It is because a mute that thinks and speaks like a human destroyed their mage tower. They probably did this in the hopes that another talking mute could infiltrate at any other time.

They took quick and precise action. Militarily speaking, it was the correct decision.

Thanks to that, they were able to stop the chaos outside from spreading into Tobrune, but the problem was that the people that were planning to pass through Tobrune to get to the capital were also stuck there.

As may be observed, a shantytown has sprung up in the Tobrune region as a result.

That many people gathered here in such a short amount of time?

These are basically all of the people that survived the attack from the mutes in the three cities and nearby villages. Its an unbelievably small number in that perspective.

The battle against the mutes was different from the ones people experienced until now.

Their objective was not to rule, and killing and collecting normal civilians were also part of their military objective. Because they needed more ingredients to expand their troops.

So the mutes did not take over the cities they destroyed but actively hunted the refugees that had escaped from the cities. As a result, the refugees that had come from what was 10% of Rodricks territory were barely enough to fill up one shantytown.

Its brutal

Thats how war always is. And this isnt some sort of situation in a nation far away. Were going to go meet the ones that made it to this situation soon.

After leaving Tobrunes territory, Professor was sitting next to Borka in the drivers seat and scanned their path ahead. Seeing that there was a significant number of signs that horses passed through, they were still within the territory that the Tobrune troops patrol, but they were soon going to be in the territory that will be completely controlled by the enemies.

Anyway, Professor, was it? From what I heard, our objective is to assassinate the mute Queen. Is it okay for us to be on the path like this, with a carriage and everything?

Its fine for now. As Mage Ottoman said, its ideal for us to travel more discreetly, but if we do that, the mages are going to faint from exhaustion with what little stamina they have.

Do you think Im doing this because I want to? It wouldnt have even come to this if they were able to ride horses like Mage Ottoman.

Because everyone else aside from Mage Ottoman didnt know how to ride horses, he needed to intentionally get beat up by the guards and then use the churchs name to steal a horse and carriage.

No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible to take everyone into the permafrost lands where the Queen was located. They didnt have the stamina to endure such harsh conditions, and level 2 and 3 mages wouldnt be much help once they got that far.

Professor was actually skeptical about going that far.

The church did send us saying it was a mission, but we dont necessarily need to accomplish it. In reality, all I and the other death squad members need is the churchs approval.

Even if they didnt bring the head of the Queen, if they made some sort of achievement that made the church approve them, then thats their objective complete. It would be ideal if he could kill them, but its realistically impossible at the moment.

And since I have a title as a warrior, if I gain enough respect with my name, then the church wont be able to treat me as they please. Since we cant confirm the current situation at the enemys base, well need to check on the way and then build a plan based on that.

And so, for another half day, they continued to travel peacefully by carriage, and just when Professor was trying to fight off the sweet lull of sleepiness, Borka quietly slipped next to him and whispered in his ear.

Captain, I think we need to stop.

Hm? Did you find something?

I smell blood. A combination of a pretty fresh one and a stale one. Theres something fishy here.

Borkas report made Professor wake right up as if lightning struck him.

Whooosh!

Once the drowsiness was gone, he could sense the information that [Sensitive Observation] collected. It was nice that the pain was gone, but it feels like a disadvantage at times like this. Its like the ear-piercing alarm was put on vibration mode.

Deeper horse footprints without any set direction. Its a cavalry battle. The patrol from Tobrune met a hostile opponent somewhere near here. Thinking about it, the sounds of birds and insects stopped at some point. And the smell of blood

Just as Professor turned around to warn his party, he could feel the air suddenly become dry. When he looked into the carriage, he could see that Mage Ottoman was waking his disciples while quietly collecting water in his hand.

There was soiled water nearby. Its nothing to brag about, but Ive seen my share of things throughout the years Ive lived. Since there isnt any vein of water nearby, the pool of water isnt rotten, and probably fluid from a humans or beasts corpse nearby. Theres no harm in preparing for danger.

Youre dependable, Ottoman.

Things like that must be possible when youre a Level 5 mage. Seeing that Notum was also huffing out of her nose, she must have also sensed something, and the dark mage

Im not giving it.

I didnt say it, but Im strong myself. Shouldnt I have some sort of power to protect myself? If you just give me that

Youre going to run away if I do.

Mm

He was looking at the necklace with a small socket that was hanging next to the relic. Before we headed out of the church, Senadis had handed him the dark mages soul jar.

Here, with this, it should be easier to handle that man.

Why are you isnt it safer for the church to hold onto this?

Im not sure of the reason, but dark mages are unable to use mana without their soul jars nearby. If you want to use that dark mage to his full potential, it will be wise to hold onto this.

And so he obtained the dark mages soul jar.

He wasnt able to check the inside of the socket because it was sealed with magic, but the name Nell was engraved crudely on the outside.

Mmm Mister dark mage?

Old man?

Clink clink

Nell

Spt!

The dark mage, who turned around, pretending to be uninterested, turned his body and reached for the soul jar the moment Professor took out the object. Of course, since an old mages movement cant be faster than Professor, the effort was futile.

Do not look at others possessions!

Then you could have just told me your name beforehand. Nell?

Thats not my name! My name is Aldrich! Nell is the original owner of that object!

Oh, a backstory.

Well, there cant be a dark mage without a tragic backstory. But thats not my problem.

After hanging the soul jar back on his neck, Professor tapped on it, as if showing it to Aldrich.

Ive done my own research, you know. Of course, its less than when youre actually holding it, but I heard its possible to use magic if its just near you.

Just help out until this operation is over. I will make sure that even if they change their mind, Ill give it back to you.

Those damned people.

With that last remark, darkness started to rise around Dark Mage Aldrich. It meant he was making his own sort of preparations for battle.

After confirming that all of the death squad members were prepared for battle, Professor slowly started back up the carriage.

Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.

The more they continued on the path, the forestry became thicker. And through the shadows, the scent of blood that even Professor could smell enveloped them.

[Welcome to Dangltere!]

The sign splattered with blood made a creaking sound as it swung side to side precariously on a tree branch.

Wood nest. Up ahead.

Yeah, I see it too. Seeing that theres a fence, there must be a village up ahead. And it looks like we have a guide waiting for us too.

Stagger, stagger

In front of the barrier, far ahead, was a man in a guard outfit that was slowly limping towards the group.

Does that look like a guide to you, Captain?

Village guides dont do much. They tell you what type of village it is, whats there to see, and where we can rest.

Uuuuuuhhh, gwuuuuhhh

The man staggering towards them seemed to be missing a lot of things. He didnt have a weapon to go along with the guard outfit, without a light in their eyes. And more than anything, he was missing the organs that should have been where a big gaping hole was.

Its in plain sight. This is a village taken over by a dark mage, and all were going to see in the village are corpses like that guy or dark magic creatures, and theres no place to rest. A zombie is a pretty good guide.

Craaack!

Hydroball.

In that instant, he heard a chant come from behind him, followed by a head-sized ball of water that tore off the zombies head and crashed it into the tree trunk behind it.

When he looked back, he saw Ottoman with his hand extended and the other water mages hunched over, puking.

Mmm. Apologies if it had to be kept alive. This is the first time my disciples left Tobruneno, the mage tower. They seemed to be having a hard time watching

No, good job. Since zombies have bad eyesight, they might not have noticed our presence yet at this distance. And its a loss of stamina if they puke too much.

_Besides, that was a clean hit. They said that Ottoman had the awakenings of flow, change, resistance, purification, and fluidity. I heard they usually increase the power of a Hydroball by using the awakening of pressure and crushing whatever it touches, but this._

Resistance? Did you push it back?

Hm? Ohh, that reminds me, you said you were a water mage yourself! Thats correct. When the opponent enters the Hydroball, I use sudden resistance to push away only whats inside the water.

Oho. So its possible to arrange it in a way like that.

Although if I did have the awakening of pressure, there wouldnt be a need to complicate the spell like that but I cant feel pressure from water no matter how much time flows.

Ottoman brightened up at the sudden mage talk, and as Borka watched the two, he approached them with an expression of disbelief and opened his mouth.

Uh Captain? Is this really the time to chat like that? If that really was a lackey from the enemy, then they might have noticed us.

Yeah, yeah. They dont know the reason why because we killed it before we got in sight, but they probably sensed that the zombie died. And theyre going to send a few more this way in order to check on the opponent. Its not a bad situation for us. The most dangerous mage is one that stays inside their laboratory. Our opponent is a dark mage thats using an entire village as a weapon. If they come out, its better for us.

Grrrrrr

Ughhhhh

As if proving what he just said, the dozens of zombies and other advanced undead, such as ghouls, that had been roaming around the entrance started to run along the path, and he could also see a few ghost-type monsters like banshees flying in the air.

Thump, thump

Seeing that the ground is shaking, theres probably an undead made from a giant monsters corpse as well.

Does that look like a few more to you, Captain?

Uh, hm. Theyre careful ones. Or, theyre strong enough that these many monsters dont affect much of their supply.

Professor got down from the carriage and stretched out, swinging his arms.

Oi, Borka.

Hm? What?

Go deal with them. Dont transform though.

Whats that supposed to do?

What do you mean what? Its just the right number of enemies to check. I roughly know for you, but we havent confirmed how good the other people are at fighting yet.

There was no need to check Mage Ottoman since he was Level 5, but it was still a mystery whether the dark mage and other water mages were able to fight properly yet.

Lets test them. See how useful they are.

Checking the allys power level is as important as knowing the enemys power level. Looking at the hoard of undead that started to rush towards them, Professor made a grin.

So, just pretend youre fighting them, and pass them to the people in the back.

Mmmmmm, I thought just your actions were those of a monster, but you have already lost your humanity as well

I dont know what youre talking about. I dont know anyone thats as kind and humane as me.

With Borkas deep groan, the undead rushed towards them, leaving them no chance to hesitate.