Chapter 10

Otto stood at the entrance of the classroom, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter given to him by his mother.

"I will see the lord."

Camille knelt on one knee in front of Otto, demonstrating the etiquette a knight shows to his ruler, to show the soldiers of Iota that he was still loyal to Otto.

"You've worked hard."

Otto helped Camille up.

"Is it really true?"

"That scoundrel risking his life to bring back information…."

"The sun will rise in the west tomorrow."

The soldiers of Iota were greatly surprised by this scene, as Otto's actions were so different from what they knew of their lord.

'Damn, it's a battlefield.'

Meanwhile, Otto's insides were burning with anxiety.

Thud, thud!

His legs were trembling.

Thump, thump!

His heart felt like it would burst at any moment.

'Ugh.'

Kim Dojin was merely a veteran player of the game <Lord's War>, enthusiastically playing it.

Since he had never experienced real war, it was natural for him to panic.

'I need to pull myself together.'

He had joined the battle out of fear for the people's hearts.

Currently, the soldiers of Iota had very low loyalty to Otto.

Moreover, they did not trust him.

But if he joined the battle and fought alongside them, things would be different.

If the lord went to the battlefield and fought with his life on the line, loyalty and trust would greatly increase.

For this reason, Otto mustered his courage and personally joined the battle.

"Are you alright?"

Camille whispered to Otto.

"It's your first time in real combat, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

"Your voice is trembling."

"R-Really? Haha… Hahaha…."

"If it's too difficult, you can just command from the back. You don't need to fight directly. Just being on the battlefield…."

"My father fought alongside the soldiers."

"Yes, but…."

"I need to show them that I will fight. That way, they will trust and follow me."

With that, Otto drew a sword he had never held before.

He raised the sword high into the sky and shouted with all his might.

"Iota!"

However,

"……"

"……"

"……"

None of the soldiers responded to Otto's cry.

They were unsure how to react to this unfamiliar behavior, so they just blinked and looked at each other.

"Hey! Answer me! You guys! Iotaaaaaa!!!"

Otto shouted loudly.

"I-Iota!"

One of the knights shouted out of surprise.

"Iota!"

"Iota!"

"Iota!"

The soldiers' voices echoed into the sky.

"All troops! Charge! Annihilate the evil undead!"

Otto shouted and ran towards Nazrak's stronghold, leading the charge.

The problem was that his enthusiasm was too much.

Thud!

Otto tripped over a stone and fell flat on his face.

"……"

"……"

"……"

The soldiers of Iota were speechless at this sight.

"…All troops. Charge."

Camille closed his eyes tightly and said.

"Yaaaaaah!"

The soldiers of Iota roared and began to charge towards Nazrak's stronghold.

Though the start was a bit rocky, the battle began.

And Otto….

"Stay off! Ow! Don't step on me, you guys!"

He had to roll around to avoid being trampled by his own troops.

* * *

A perfect raid.

Since Nazrak's main force was fighting the Ort army, there weren't many undead monsters defending the sanctuary.

Thus, the battle was a decisive victory for Iota.

However, the battle wasn't entirely easy.

"Aaaah!"

"Save me! Ow! Look at me here!"

"Kaaaah!"

Screams erupted everywhere, and soldiers died.

'This… is real combat.'

Witnessing the horrors of war, Otto froze.

Seeing limbs and heads fly off in front of him, his body wouldn't move.

It was inevitable.

He had no combat experience, and his character's stats were too low.

Just standing on the battlefield was a feat in itself.

But the enemy doesn't care about such things.

- Grrr!

A skeleton soldier lunged at Otto.

"Watch out!!!"

Camille roared and cut the skeleton soldier in half.

"Pull yourself together! If you let your guard down, you'll die! You must overcome this!"

"I know!"

"Didn't your father teach you swordsmanship? Remember it! Your body will remember!"

"R-Right!"

Otto gritted his teeth.

'This isn't the world I lived in. Here, people die every day, and bloody battles happen daily. If I can't pull myself together in a small battle like this… I won't survive.'

He regained his composure.

Grip!

He tightened his grip on the sword.

- Grrr!

Another skeleton soldier lunged at him.

'Forget it!'

Otto swung his sword with all his might at the skeleton soldier.

Crack!

With a dull sound, the skeleton soldier's spine split in two.

'I did it!'

Otto was satisfied with his success.

Feeling confident that he could at least defeat one skeleton soldier, his fear began to dissipate, and he started to notice his surroundings.

'I can defeat skeleton soldiers!'

Encouraged, Otto targeted a nearby skeleton soldier and swung his sword at its head.

Tick!

[Notice: Miss!]

Due to his low accuracy, the attack missed.

"Huh?"

Confused, Otto.

- ……?

The skeleton soldier turned its head to glare at Otto.

Shiver!

Their eyes met, and a chill ran down his spine.

Swoosh!

The skeleton soldier's scythe flew towards Otto's nose.

Clang!

Otto instinctively raised his sword to block the attack, but he was helpless against the skeleton soldier's follow-up attacks.

Snap!

To make matters worse, his sword broke.

Thud!

Otto fell again.

- You traitor….

A familiar voice came from the skeleton soldier's mouth.

It was Nazrak's soul, possessing the skeleton soldier, speaking to Otto.

- How dare you betray me and bring an army to this sanctuary…?

"Huh?"

- I will finish you off, even if it means my own destruction!

At that moment,

'F… F*ck.'

Otto realized he was in big trouble.

Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish.

All the undead monsters in the sanctuary turned their heads to glare at Otto.

[Notice: Warning, warning!]

[Notice: Nazrak is watching you!]

[Notice: Nazrak's minions are targeting you!]

[Notice: Run!]

[Notice: They won't stop until you die!]

He had aggro.

All the undead monsters in the sanctuary began to converge on Otto.

And Otto….

"Help! Help meeeeee!!!"

He had to run to survive.

* * *

- My minions! You must capture and kill him! Kill him! You must!

Hundreds of undead monsters charged at Otto.

"Aaaah!"

Otto dodged attacks from all directions and ran, and ran.

"The lord is in danger!"

"Everyone, protect the lord!"

The soldiers of Iota stepped forward to fight the undead monsters attacking Otto.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Camille killed the skeleton soldier targeting Otto and began to protect him.

"Camille!"

Otto shouted to Camille.

"Go! Hurry!"

"What are you talking about!"

"There's a portrait deep in the sanctuary! The soul of the undead lord is contained in it! Go and tear it apart!"

"But…."

"I'll survive somehow, so don't worry and go! Hurry!"

Otto shouted this because the only way to overcome this crisis was to destroy Nazrak's soul.

If Nazrak wasn't killed, the undead monsters would keep respawning.

It was a given that the respawning undead monsters would target Otto.

Therefore, it was crucial to kill Nazrak, and for that, Camille had to go.

Camille was the only one who could defeat the high-level undead monsters guarding Nazrak's portrait.

"I will follow your orders. Please stay safe."

In the end, Camille decided to destroy Nazrak's portrait deep in the sanctuary instead of protecting Otto.

Ding!

A quest window appeared.

[Notice: A quest has been triggered!]

The content was as follows:

[Survive! Otto de Scuderi!]

Objective: Survive until Camille destroys Nazrak's portrait.

Type: Time attack quest

Progress: 0% (0/1)

Reward: Jewel of Destruction

Time limit: 600 seconds