Chapter 228 - Chapter 227: Reunion on the Battlefield
"What did you say!?"
The defeat of the Domain Army and the Kingdom Army, as reported by Mustajif.
Cleiria let out a cry, stood up with a clatter of her chair, and pressed Mustajif, who had delivered the report.
"What does this mean! F-Father and Big Brother!? What has become of Sarbengeal!?"
Mika also stood up and drew close to the distraught Cleiria.
It seemed the Marquis himself had taken the field, and Haiden had also deployed.
Urbano should have been stationed in the Leventein domain as part of the Kingdom Army.
And in Sarbengeal, Cleiria’s mother, Soinlage, was present.
Cleiria must have been beside herself with worry for her family’s safety.
"My apologies. The details are not yet..."
"No...!?"
Mustajif twisted his face in frustration.
Surely, Mustajif also wished to rush back to Sarbengeal immediately.
In a situation where no details were known, Cleiria was left speechless.
She covered her mouth with her hand, trembling violently.
At that sorrowful sight, Mika’s chest tightened.
(To think the Marquis would lose...)
Honestly, Mika was also greatly shocked.
The battlefield was unpredictable.
It was not strange for either side to win or lose.
Even so...
(Was I, too, colored by optimism...?)
No one could know who would win.
Both sides simply aimed for their own victory.
And yet, somewhere in his heart, he had thought it.
That the Kingdom would surely win.
Even though that was nothing more than a wish...
Mika felt anger at his own naivety.
If the Leventein domain fell, the Limpēre domain would not remain unscathed either.
His family, everyone, was in Rish Village!
He could have forced them to come to the Royal Capital, overriding their objections.
Even so, he had not done so.
Because somewhere in his heart, he had thought the Kingdom would win.
As Mika regretted the error of his judgment, Cleiria, standing beside him, suddenly swayed.
"Cleiria!?"
"Lady Cleiria!"
Mika instinctively supported Cleiria, and her body trembled slightly.
"I... I... what should I do..."
Cleiria’s lips trembled, and she hugged her own hands to her chest, whispering.
Her mind must have been in chaos, unable to form any thoughts.
Seeing her like that, Mika made up his mind.
(...Either way, I cannot just stand by and watch!)
He honestly disliked the Marquis.
But even so, he was precious family to Cleiria.
Millions of people lived in Sarbengeal, and Mika’s precious people were in Rish Village.
If that was the case, now was not the time to think.
It was time to act.
Before it became too late—!
"...Cleiria."
When Mika whispered, Cleiria looked at him with a pale face.
"...N-No... Mika... that is not allowed..."
Perhaps sensing something from Mika’s expression, Cleiria shook her head slightly and tried to stop him.
Mika forced a gentle smile and entrusted Cleiria to Mustajif.
Then, he stepped back, one step, then another.
"No! Mika! Don't...!"
Cleiria, supported by Mustajif, reached out her hand, but it did not reach Mika.
"Please, take care of Cleiria."
Though Mika said this, Mustajif, not understanding the situation, could only support the distraught Cleiria.
"[Skill: Absorb Wing]."
Beautiful wings of light appeared on Mika’s back, and everyone present held their breath in astonishment.
Amidst this, only Cleiria desperately called out Mika’s name.
"Mika! Don't!"
"I’m going, Cleiria."
"Mika!"
Cleiria shed tears and desperately reached out, but she was held back by Mustajif.
Mika activated [Skill: Low Gravity] and lightly stepped onto the railing.
He looked back once at Cleiria.
Then, he looked up at the sky.
"[Skill: Blast]!"
As he shouted, Mika soared into the sky above the Royal Capital.
Aiming for the Leventein domain.
"Mikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Cleiria’s scream-like call for Mika faintly reached his ears.
■■■■■■
Two days had already passed since the Domain Army and Kingdom Army were defeated.
Unable to predict the current situation at all, only his feelings rushed ahead.
When he had seen it before, the army had deployed in front of the barrier wall.
Was the barrier wall intact?
Had they already invaded the Leventein domain?
(...Please, let me make it in time...!)
Mika suppressed his impatient feelings and aimed for the Leventein domain.
On the highway, he could see long, long lines of people.
Near the Royal Capital, it was not much different from usual, but as he approached the Leventein domain, the volume of the flow of people increased.
There was a difference in the transmission of information; those closer to the Royal Capital likely did not know the situation on the battlefield.
Upon arriving above Sarbengeal, he could see people exiting from the West Gate and the South Gate.
It seemed the Imperial Army had not yet surrounded Sarbengeal.
Mika breathed a sigh of relief that the worst-case scenario had not yet come to pass.
"What is the state of the barrier wall?"
As expected, the situation fifty kilometers away was not clearly visible from here.
Mika used [Skill: Telescope] to check the direction of the barrier wall.
Ten-odd kilometers away, an army that seemed to be the Kingdom Army was deployed.
That was likely the absolute defense line in the Leventein domain.
If that line were breached, Sarbengeal and the neighboring domains would be ravaged at will.
"Where is the battlefield now?"
Muttering this, Mika headed toward the barrier wall.
Crossing the absolute defense line, he checked ahead while using [Skill: Telescope].
Continuing to fly, he found the battlefield far ahead.
"It’s there!"
The barrier wall seemed to have already been breached, and the battlefield appeared to be a few kilometers before it.
It had become a melee, and the Domain Army and Kingdom Army were no longer resisting in an organized manner.
They seemed divided into units retreating to the rear and units holding the enemy back.
The Imperial Army scattered the Domain Army and Kingdom Army, advancing steadily.
And on the other side of the barrier wall, the main force of the Imperial Army waited, lined up in orderly fashion.
(...Should I strike the main force first?)
That would be the best and shortest procedure to seize victory.
But...
(In that time, the holding units will be annihilated...!)
There were people fighting right now, shedding blood and throwing away their lives.
Mika could not abandon those people and choose the optimal path.
"Stoooooop!!!"
He plunged into the very center of the soldiers who were being ravaged by overwhelming numbers, slashed to death, and stabbed to death.
Thuuuuuuum!!!
In the midst of the chaotic battle, both enemy and ally were momentarily dumbfounded by Mika, who descended from the sky with a roar.
"W-What is it!?"
"What happened! What occurred!?"
"What is that?"
"Wings...?"
In the dust cloud, Mika slowly stood up and looked at the knights and soldiers around him.
(That is... Kingdom Army armor. Those with the Kingdom Army knights are Kingdom Army soldiers. ...Which means, that equipment over there is the Imperial Army.)
He had seen the knights and soldiers of the Domain Army and Kingdom Army in the Royal Capital and Sarbengeal.
The allies’ knights had equipment, such as armor and shields, that was slightly whitish.
The equipment that was slightly grayer than that seemed to belong to the Imperial Army knights.
As for the soldiers, both armies wore leather armor, but they were divided into those with familiar shapes and those with unfamiliar shapes.
Mika took out a blunt short sword made of pure [Item: Orichalcum] from his [Item: Magic Bag].
In such a chaotic melee, there was a high possibility of hitting allies with magic.
First, he would strike the front-line Imperial Army and allow his allies to regroup.
"Hah!"
With forty times [Skill: Physical Enhancement], Mika struck the helmet of an Imperial Army knight sideways with all his might.
Just that sent the knight’s head flying far away.
"Haa!"
Mika ran through the battlefield where enemies and allies were mixed, beating the Imperial Army knights and soldiers with his blunted short sword.
The Imperial Army knights and soldiers who were beaten had their heads crushed or blown away, somersaulting, their torsos snapped, spinning as they fell one after another.
Blowing away two or three people with a single swing, Mika chose places with many enemies and ran through them.
"W-What...! What is this!?"
The Kingdom Army soldiers, having the Imperial Army soldiers they were fighting blown away, were confused.
They did not understand what was happening.
Only the Imperial Army knights and soldiers were being blown away one after another.
"An... ally?"
It was too fast to understand well, but something was definitely there.
That something ran through the battlefield, striking down only the Imperial Army with tremendous force.
In no time, Mika had suppressed this entire area.
It took only a few minutes to annihilate hundreds of enemies.
Then, among the Kingdom Army knights who stood stunned, he went to the person wearing armor that seemed to indicate a captain rank.
"You are from the Kingdom Army, correct?"
When Mika spoke, the knight, though confused, pointed his sword at Mika.
"A-A child!? Why is a child in a place like this! A-And, what exactly did you do?"
The knight was wary of Mika’s mysterious appearance.
There was no point in debating here.
So, he conveyed only what needed to be conveyed.
"Please regroup. I would like you to retreat if possible, but you cannot, can you?"
"O-Of course not! We are buying time for our allies to retreat!"
The Knight Captain shouted his reply to Mika’s question.
His spirits were so riled that his voice naturally became loud.
And their duty was to remain here and halt the enemy’s advance.
They had long since thrown away their lives.
Mika nodded at the Knight Captain’s reply.
"Understood. Then, I will leave this to you."
Since this area was largely cleared, Mika decided to go to the next battlefield.
He soared into the sky at once and searched from above for the place with the most enemies, where his allies seemed to be struggling.
Having determined the next battlefield, he once again threw himself into the melee.
Crossing several battlefields, he suppressed most of the front lines.
If he suppressed the battlefield he was currently fighting in, it would finally come to a pause.
"Hah!"
Mika crushed the helmet of an Imperial Army knight and moved to the next prey.
However, the Domain Army knight he moved toward had already cut down two soldiers on his own.
Mika inadvertently stopped at the sight of the knight’s back.
And he stared intently at that back.
As Mika walked toward the knight, the knight turned around sharply.
The female knight showed strong signs of fatigue, but she was still brimming with killing intent.
"...It has been a while."
When Mika said this, the female knight with pink hair made a suspicious face.
"Perfect timing. There is something I want to ask. Will you tell me? Virone."
"Y-You bastard!? Mika Noisheim!!!"
Realizing it was Mika, Virone readied her sword again and brimmed with even more killing intent than before.
"Hey. Why are you so eager to kill me? I’m not the enemy, am I?"
"If you are not the enemy, then who is! H-How dare you, with Lady Cleiria... e-engagement...!"
It’s about the engagement!
Besides, this is not the time for that!
Virone’s hands and voice trembled with anger.
"Regarding the engagement, you’re complaining to the wrong person, aren’t you? Tell the Marquis. I’m a victim too."
"You bastard! What dissatisfaction do you have with Lady Cleiria!!!"
Which is it!
For some reason, Virone was furious at Mika for complaining about the engagement.
(Really, this guy Virone is such a pain!)
Mika gave up on verbal persuasion and decided to take drastic measures.
In an instant, he took the sword from Virone’s hands and sheathed it.
Then, he picked up Virone and flew into the sky as he was.
"Y-You bastard!? W-What! Let go!!!"
"If I let go now, you’ll die? Look down."
Even though Mika said this, Virone struggled and strangled Mika’s neck.
Ghk, gurgh...!
"W-Wait, eh...! Cut it out!"
Mika grabbed Virone’s hands and somehow made her release his neck.
Then, he cut [Skill: Blast] and shifted to natural fall.
"Kiiiiiyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy......!!!"
As they began to fall at high speed, Virone let out a scream.
After confirming that, Mika resumed [Skill: Blast].
From natural fall, he shifted to ascent again.
"You have quite a nice voice."
He spoke like a villain, but Virone was not listening.
She clung desperately to Mika, looked around, and finally began to understand the situation.
"W-Why...!? Flying!?"
"That doesn’t matter. Which is the enemy’s main camp?"
He tapped the cheeks of the confused Virone and asked.
"W-What!?"
"I’m asking where the enemy’s main camp is. Tell me now."
Threatening her with "I’ll drop you" would be cruel, so he merely repeated his question.
When Mika pointed to the ground where the enemy’s main force was lined up, Virone also looked in that direction.
Virone was confused, but she seemed to have managed to grasp the situation despite her confusion.
"I want to strike the enemy’s main camp first. I intend to annihilate them in the end, but I do not want to miss the enemy commander. I will crush them first. Cooperate with me."
"Annihilate..."
Virone was only bewildered, but even so, she pointed to one spot with a trembling hand.
She likely did not believe Mika’s words, but it seemed her intent to attack the enemy was conveyed.
"...That one, huh."
Mika glared at the spot Virone pointed to and raised the corner of his mouth.
The enemies lined up on the ground were largely divided into three groups.
Perhaps called a square formation, two large squares were lined up vertically beyond the barrier wall, and one slightly horizontal formation was before the barrier wall.
The horizontal formation in front was likely deploying part of its forces to the front line.
In other words, the entire enemy had invaded the Leventein domain.
(It’s not like they are completely unscathed, but why has it become so one-sided?)
He had questions, but he put them aside for now.
Having identified the enemy’s main camp, which he had previously been unable to distinguish, Mika’s thoughts shifted to how to strike them.
(Use [Skill: Laser Cannon] on the ground and sweep horizontally? I’m anxious about how much armor and shields it can penetrate...)
As expected, he had no idea if he could mow down thousands or tens of thousands of people.
(If I scatter volleyball-sized [Spell: Stone Bullet] from the sky, would that kill more?)
While considering his method of attack, Mika moved to the sky above the rearmost part of the formation deployed furthest to the rear.
"If I want to annihilate them without letting them escape, it’s better to push them from back to front, right?"
They would likely scatter and flee, but first, he would strike broadly.
As Mika considered his method of annihilation, Virone suddenly stared intently at Mika’s wings.
"............Why do you have wings?"
"Now you ask! You should have questioned me when we first met!"
Had she lost herself so much that she didn’t even notice such conspicuous wings?
Had this guy Virone truly reformed properly?
Thinking such things, Mika decided on his method of attack.
"Alright, stones it is."
"...Stones?"
At Mika’s mutter, Virone made a dubious face.
Mika slowly extended his hand forward.
"[Spell: Stone Bullet]."
"What!?"
As Mika muttered, countless volleyball-sized [Spell: Stone Bullet] appeared.
Thousands upon thousands of [Spell: Stone Bullet] spread out before his eyes.
"I have come to destroy. You are prepared to be destroyed, aren’t you?"
Muttering this, Mika imparted kinetic energy to the [Spell: Stone Bullet] and let them fall in a fan shape.
Then, he created [Spell: Stone Bullet] one after another and let them fall in the same manner.
A curtain of [Spell: Stone Bullet] reaching a total of hundreds of thousands.
No, it should be called a shower of stones.
The [Spell: Stone Bullet] covered the Imperial Army’s formation from end to end, raining down from the sky as they advanced from the rearguard to the front line.
(As expected, this is tough...!)
Although each [Spell: Stone Bullet] did not consume much mana, this number was tremendous.
Once released, they left Mika’s control, but creating them ceaselessly was still a considerable burden.
(Besides, my heart is pounding severely. What is this...?)
His heart was beating rapidly on its own.
How many years had it been since he last had palpitations?
(Even when I was Kuhashi Ritsu, it hardly ever happened.)
He recalled being truly surprised the first time he experienced palpitations.
Mika crushed one of the Imperial Army’s formations and immediately moved on to the second.
There seemed to be soldiers fleeing, as expected, but from the sky, the distance was negligible.
Unconcerned, he continued to create [Spell: Stone Bullet] and rain them down on the ground.
"T-This is.... Are you doing this...!?"
Virone, who had been speechless at the overwhelming sight, asked as if groaning.
But Mika did not answer.
Or rather, he did not have the leisure to answer.
Thanks to the magic tool for mana stabilization, his mana was very stable.
However, that was because Mika was concentrating.
With this amount of mana, as expected, he had no leisure to think about unnecessary things.
Turning the two formations into mountains of rubble and crushed Imperial Army soldiers, Mika exhaled deeply.
His head spun from concentrating too much.
The last remaining, slightly horizontal formation had already fled and collapsed.
The main force waiting in the rear had been crushed by the raining stones and had fled upon noticing the approaching stone shower.
"How many people were in that one formation?"
"That one held about thirty to forty thousand."
"...So, the Imperial Army’s total number is one hundred thousand?"
When Mika asked, Virone nodded.
If that was the case, the remaining Imperial Army was probably around twenty thousand?
It could be said he had largely whittled them down, but they were still a threat in number.
If such forces remained within the Kingdom, the people of the towns would not be able to live in peace.
"Virone, is the Marquis safe? And Haiden?"
"Yes. They retreated once to regroup. Until just now, we were buying time for that."
"I see."
Mika asked Virone for the Marquis’s location and flew nearby.
Then, descending to the ground, he released Virone.
"I request you to act as a messenger. I will go hunt the remnants of the Imperial Army as is. Please tell the Marquis that I would like him to push up the front line if possible and drive the Imperial Army toward the barrier wall."
"Why must I be your messenger!"
Virone returned to the ground and regained her composure by stepping on the earth with her own feet.
Reflexively, she resisted Mika.
But...
"............I will convey the message. However, I do not know if it can be executed. Whether our forces are organized enough to push forward..."
"That cannot be helped. ‘If possible’ is sufficient. Just, please stop them from fleeing toward the town at all costs."
"That goes without saying. Understood."
Seeing Virone nod, Mika turned his back.
Then, just as he was about to fly into the sky again.
"Hey."
He was called out to.
When Mika looked back, Virone clicked her tongue and turned her face away.
What was it?
"............Good luck in battle."
Virone muttered while keeping her face turned away.
As Mika looked at Virone’s face in blank surprise, she clicked her tongue again.
"Tch...! Hurry up and die!"
Seeing Virone make such a rude remark with a red face, Mika inadvertently burst out laughing.
"Sorry to disappoint Virone, but I won’t die."
"............I-Is that so."
Virone looked at Mika while looking awkward.
Seeing Virone like that, Mika raised the corner of his mouth in a grin.
"If anything happens to me, Cleiria will be sad, you know?"
"W-What...!?"
Laughing off Virone’s shout, Mika returned to the sky.