Chapter 92

"Be careful, 'Crimson Poison'."

"Don't make me say it again. I understand."

The magic intensified, filling the headquarters tent with a blood-red mist.

If Shu were in a spirit form, able to pass through matter, Guroa's magical armor would be ineffective. However, Guroa did not stop using the armor, thinking it might provide some restraint.

(Damn... I knew this weakness, but it's still troublesome.)

Guroa silently clicked her tongue. If the opponent were a material being, the poison would have worked. Of course, it was also effective against monsters materialized by magic. However, there was no effective counter against a spirit-type monster that could switch between spirit and material forms. Guroa, as a general, was well aware of this fact.

Of course, there was a countermeasure.

Increase the density of the poison.

Magic gathered in Guroa's right hand, forming a deep crimson sword, a weapon condensed with crimson poison.

"Then let's do it, 'Crimson Poison'. Follow me."

"Hmph... Who are you talking to!"

As a general and an awakened magical armor user, Guroa was indeed strong.

Shu had assassinated General Schmidt Aliur of the 'Inferno Flame' before. However, that time, the general was relaxing at home, making the situation different from this one. It was both surprising and understandable that Guroa, who was on high alert on the battlefield, noticed Shu's attack and dodged the first strike.

Observing the approaching golden giant and reading its movements,

(There are more openings than I thought.)

The distance between Shu and the Invincible Gold was not long. However, for the King of the Underworld, Shu Arclight, it was enough time to think.

Human thoughts are executed by physical signals in the brain, which inevitably have a speed limit. However, there is no limit to thinking with magic, as it transcends physical constraints and even time. Monsters constructed by magic have higher cognitive abilities. That's why Shu can activate forbidden spells and divine-level magic alone.

After thorough thinking, Shu devised a method to kill the Invincible Gold.

(Straightforward is fine.)

No extra magic was necessary.

Face the Invincible Gold head-on and kill it with minimal movement. There was no need to consider the Invincible Gold's ability to absorb and reflect attacks. It absorbs and reflects all attacks, even those of the Invincible Gold's magic, by taking on the attacks of both enemies and allies on the battlefield and absorbing them with its golden armor.

Attacks are ineffective against the Invincible Gold.

Hence, invincible.

At least, it would never lose.

However, there was a force capable of killing the Invincible Gold, which interfered with concepts. It was a new magic that rewrote the world itself.

"Dangerous element, monster of the 'King'! You will die here!"

Probably using the invincible armor to capture Shu and finish him off with Guroa's Crimson Poison Sword. However, an attack intended only to capture was meaningless to Shu.

The Invincible Gold tried to cover Shu with its massive body.

But Shu pulled back his right hand and pierced the heart with a magical acceleration.

A large hole opened in the center of the Invincible Gold's chest due to its overconfidence.

"Wh-What...!"

"I won't let your death be in vain, Invincible Gold!"

Without hesitation, Guroa thrust the Crimson Poison Sword into the Invincible Gold's heart, a bold move considering it was already beyond saving.

As befitting someone called an empress, she was ruthless but efficient.

However, it still didn't reach Shu.

(Death)

Simultaneously pulling his right hand out of the Invincible Gold's heart and casting a death spell with his left hand, his target was Guroa behind the golden giant.

Guroa, being just a human, could not withstand the power of death and died instantly.

At the same time, the magic disappeared, and the red mist dissipated.

"It's over. More challenging than I thought."

The assassination targets were all killed.

The golden armor, a symbol of the Invincible Gold, disappeared, revealing a large man with white skin. He was always clad in magical armor, so he never tanned. He looked even paler from blood loss, somewhat eerie.

On the other hand, Guroa, still running, pushed the Invincible Gold down and died.

(Well then.)

Shu, now materialized, grabbed the fallen Guroa, rolled her over, and laid her on her back. Then, using a death magic hand, he gouged out her heart. This unified the assassination targets with the same method of death.

With the objective achieved, there was no reason to stay.

He deployed an acceleration magic array, re-materialized, and headed towards the meeting point with 'Hawk Eye'. Passing through all matter, he returned in a straight line. Ignoring air resistance, Shu accelerated so quickly it seemed like an instant teleport.

"I'm back."

"You're indeed fast, Mr. 'Death'."

"You too..."

Shu was an assassin.

'Hawk Eye' was an information gatherer.

Both were professionals in the dark organization and were monsters of the 'King' and awakened magical armor users. This level of performance was expected.

"I've completed the assassination of five S-rank magical armor users and a golden awakened magical armor user."

"I've also captured the coordinates of the Third and Fourth Regiments. I can show you the exact direction and distance on the map."

"Show me immediately."

"Here you go."

'Hawk Eye' quickly spread out the map and pointed to two locations. They were quite far to the south. With 'Hawk Eye's' teleportation, they could have gone there immediately, but Shu did not intend to do so.

"What about the nearby positions of the revolutionary army?"

"Here, here, and here."

From the map, it was clear that the revolutionary army was being pushed back. The Great Empire had set up several supply bases in the rear and was steadily advancing. However, the revolutionary army had apparently failed in their attempt to encircle and annihilate the Great Empire's legions.

Using encirclement tactics without the advantage of terrain was a poor strategy. However, with inferior quality, they needed to exploit numerical superiority. Focusing on tactics and failing in a half-hearted encirclement led to this result.

"The distance is considerable. Did they retreat?"

"They were thoroughly beaten by the Third and Fourth Regiments."

"But it's convenient for us."

"The revolutionary army has retreated and is planning to regroup. They will first strike the Third Regiment and then join forces with another detachment to strike the Fourth Regiment."

"They should have done that from the beginning."

The revolutionary army could only achieve a perfect encirclement with overwhelming numbers to win. They should have retreated and annihilated the Third Regiment while suppressing the Fourth Regiment with a wall force. The Great Empire's regiments each had fewer than a thousand soldiers. The Third Regiment had no awakened magical armor users and numbered around seven hundred. The regrouped revolutionary army could gather ten to twenty thousand soldiers. They could easily encircle and annihilate the Third Regiment.

Then, by advancing and retreating, they could sandwich the Fourth Regiment.

However, this strategy was never chosen from the beginning. Greed led them to try to annihilate each regiment simultaneously, which failed.

They had no choice but to retreat and switch to a strategy of taking them one by one.

"Well, that plan will be useless."

"Are you talking about that?"

"Yes."

Shu faced south.

He activated a vibration magic to manipulate light and see far away. By creating a lens with water and manipulating light, he could see clearly even hundreds of kilometers away.

He found the Third Regiment's camp at the coordinates indicated by 'Hawk Eye'. The longitude was almost the same, so the time difference was minimal. The camp was asleep, with only minimal guards remaining.

"Let's start."

While maintaining the far-seeing magic, Shu picked up a pebble.

He then activated a three-dimensional magic array at his hand.

The array expanded, enveloping Shu.

(Generate antimatter, protect with high-density magic, promote reaction, magic element barrier, complete thermal conversion of energy.)

He layered magic arrays and connected them in three dimensions. In the center of the spherical magic array, the pebble was enveloped in magic, forming a small, pitch-black sphere.

Despite being a long time since its last activation, there was no hesitation.

Preparations were complete.

He floated the pitch-black sphere on his left hand. Black lightning flashed.

"What is that?"

"Yes. My trump card, the 'Gluttonous Black Crystal'."

He extended his left hand diagonally upward and his right hand backward, taking a stance like drawing a bow.

He then layered five acceleration magic arrays and corrected the landing position by calculation. Of course, the target was the Great Empire's Third Regiment camp.

"First one."

Shu said and released it.

The pitch-black destruction blended into the darkness and disappeared into the sky.

He further manipulated the far-seeing magic to face further south and captured the position of the Fourth Regiment. He picked up another pebble and formed a three-dimensional magic array.

By generating antimatter, he converted the pebble into antimatter and protected it with high-density magic to prevent it from reacting with the air. The extremely high density of magic made it appear black. He then corrected the reaction to cause an immediate annihilation reaction by antimatter and ensured that all the energy was converted into heat with magic. Using the high-density magic that enveloped the antimatter, he activated a magic element barrier upon impact to completely contain the energy from the annihilation reaction.

Finally, he used death magic to consume the energy from the destruction.

It was a divine spell that simultaneously caused terrain destruction, environmental destruction, and climate change.

"Second one."

Again, five layers of acceleration magic arrays were deployed, and this time it was aimed at the Fourth Regiment's camp.

The pitch-black strike, the 'Gluttonous Black Crystal', disappeared into the night.

"It's over. Now only the First Regiment remains of the Great Empire's army."

"That's right. The Second Regiment will likely collapse by tomorrow. The capital is in chaos due to the moving corpse incident, making the situation favorable for the revolutionary army."

"About the reward?"

"According to the plan, in items like gold and jewels. The Great Empire's currency will become unusable, so I've secured a good amount from the revolutionary army. How would you like to receive it?"

*

"Let's go now. I'll use an illusion to disguise myself... Oh, magic power is coming in."

Shu felt a large amount of magic power flowing in. His magic capacity as a primordial spirit was still far from full, and evolution was still a long way off.

"Shall we go?"

The two black cat executives, 'Death' and 'Hawk Eye', disappeared from the spot.

◆◆◆

A few days later, the emperor shouted in the castle of the capital.

"What nonsense! The Second, Third, and Fourth Regiments are all annihilated!?"

"No, to be precise, the Second Regiment is in disarray..."

"I don't care! What does that mean? What's going on? What happened!"

Even the emperor, Gias, could not remain calm.

The Second Regiment was destroyed by the revolutionary army after the assassination of the S-rank magical armor user and the Invincible Gold. Without a commander, the army could barely function, let alone fight or retreat.

The Third and Fourth Regiments were completely annihilated, leaving behind massive craters.

Fifteen legions in total were gone.

The messenger explained everything.

"---And from the bodies found in the Second Regiment and the conditions of the Third and Fourth Regiments, it is believed to be the work of a monster."

"A monster?"

"In the small kingdom of Ramza, a 'King' called the King of the Underworld wreaked havoc. The traces left by the King of the Underworld match the sites of the Third and Fourth Regiments."

Gias's eyes widened.

He never expected to be hit by a natural disaster in the form of a monster of the 'King'.

However, the remaining Second Regiment was inexplicable. The assassination of the S-rank magical armor users could only mean the work of 'Death'.

(But, 'Death' is too strong. Even if it's an assassination, the Invincible Gold...?)

He suspected 'Death' was an awakened magical armor user. This was a mistake, but Gias and the dukes believed it.

Even if 'Death' were an awakened magical armor user, it was strange that the assassination was so easy.

Gias revised his assumptions.

The records of 'Death's' achievements, the times and places of appearance, and the inferred abilities. When integrated, a single truth emerged.

(No, that's impossible...)

Gias denied the answer himself.

But the circumstantial evidence was too perfect.

"Could it be... 'Death' and the King of the Underworld are...?"

He muttered and fell silent.

Shaking his head, he spoke to the messenger to gather more information.

"---What about the revolutionary army's progress?"

"The northern mining road is secured. Several food-producing areas in the south..."

Gias exhaled, trying to calm his anger.

Yelling would do no good.

The messenger was not at fault.

"What about the First Regiment?"

"It's going smoothly. They are avoiding direct conflict and maintaining the front line with long-range attacks. They plan to gradually wear down the rebel army's supply lines and then annihilate them when they are exhausted."

The Great Empire's army did not need to take unnecessary risks.

They just needed to gradually wear down and annihilate the enemy. But that was no longer possible.

(With the secret sword saint left for the capital's defense... but...)

There were other trump cards, awakened magical armor users like Ten Thousand Truths and Yama Black Blade, who had been sent to harass the Holy Grinia.

First, ensure national defense without unnecessary tasks.

Thinking about Ten Thousand Truths and Yama Black Blade, Gias remembered the tasks he had given them.

(Right. Have they gathered information on the moving corpses...?)

If there was no progress, he could no longer afford to let them idle.

Gias returned to his desk to clear the accumulated documents, realizing he wouldn't get much sleep tonight. Unfortunately, the dukes were all busy in separate rooms. He couldn't slack off alone.

The Great Empire was gradually showing signs of strain.