The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player 58

Chapter 58

“Summon the troops immediately! We need to capture those madmen and interrogate them directly.”

How and with what rationale they thought to build a fortress here was beyond comprehension.

“All of them, do you summon?”

“Can’t you see? Everything’s been blown wide open! Now that things have come to this, is there any other way than to pulverize that fortress? Huh?? Speak up if there is, you bastard!”

“Ah, understood.”

Feeling the threat to his life from Jack’s extreme irritation, a subordinate hurriedly ran to convey the orders.

“Damn it all.”

Bang!

In a fit of irritation, Jack swung his greatsword, shattering an innocent rock.

“But it won’t make any difference, rookie. You must be thinking of holding out until reinforcements arrive, but there won’t be any reinforcements, heh heh.”

There’s a limit to the number of people that can enter a gate.

If it’s full? Naturally, no one else can enter.

After Raul’s group entered the gate, the organization immediately dispatched additional troops to fill the gate’s capacity.

In other words, until someone died, no one else could enter the gate.

Reminded of this fact, Jack’s boiling anger subsided, and he looked up at the fortress with cold eyes.

“Let’s see in a bit. I’ll make you piss and shit yourselves, heh heh.”

He still seemed to be confident in his victory.

* * *

Whoosh.

“Urk…”

A faint death rattle emanated from the ground where the greatsword was planted.

As he withdrew the sword, droplets of red blood fell to the ground.

Shlick!

Raul shook off the blood from the sword and quietly moved forward, with Jake and Pierce following behind him.

“Next target is… stop!!”

At Raul’s gesture, the group agilely lowered their stances and hid behind the bushes.

Tweet-tweet.

Holding their breath, a sound resembling bird chirping, but thinner, reached their ears.

And then, the noise of someone moving through the bushes came from afar.

“Have we been spotted?”

Raul shook his head at Jake’s question.

“No. Judging by their movements, it seems they are heading to a rallying point.”

“It seems Young master is right. They seem to be hurrying rather than searching.”

As Pierce spoke, Jake casually lifted his sword and asked again,

“Shall we deal with them?”

The number of foes that had come into view was about ten, including one who seemed to be a knight, but the three of them could handle them in an instant.

However, Raul was cautious.

“Wait. It may not be just them moving. There’s no need to start a commotion in the middle of enemy territory.”

“Shame, it was quite fun.”

Raul felt the same disappointment.

If only they had more time, they could have significantly reduced their numbers.

Right then, a guild communication came in from Philip who was still at the fortress.

“Young master. It seems the enemies have noticed the fortress. A scout has reported that enemies are gathering near the fortress.”

“So they have. I’ll be returning now, so prepare for battle.”

Raul sheathed his greatsword into his inventory, shaking off his regret as he addressed the two knights.

“We’re heading back.”

At Raul’s words, Pierce leaped into the trees to scout their retreat path, while Jake simply licked his lips.

‘Did I take care of about a hundred…?’

Hours earlier, after completing the fortress, Raul had infiltrated the enemy lines accompanied only by Jake and Pierce.

Although the scout had not spotted any enemies, they couldn’t fool Raul’s eyes.

He saw two masked figures camouflaged within the bushes.

‘As I thought, it’s the Empire’s doing.’

Of course, it wasn’t just the sight of these masked individuals that confirmed their identity as the enemy.

The real threat wasn’t visible on the surface.

As Raul directed his gaze to the ground, his golden eyes shining, he detected the malevolent beings hidden below.

Imperial demon beasts.

The worst bioweapons created by the Empire were lurking underground.

Raul couldn’t help but smile subtly.

It was exactly as he had anticipated.

Hiding demon beasts underground for a surprise attack was a tactic often used in his past life.

True to their nature as bioweapons, demon beasts could enter a state of hibernation and stop breathing, rendering them indistinguishable from corpses.

Without breath or biological reactions, they were naturally hard to detect.

And should they burst forth from the ground when enemies passed overhead!

Despite the simplicity of this tactic, it had inflicted casualties on countless players and kingdom soldiers.

‘But it’s not without its flaws.’

Raul signaled to Jake and Pierce, then drew a bow from his inventory.

He notched an arrow, drew back the string, and held his breath before mentally shouting.

“Now!”

Whiz—Thud, thunk!!

The arrows released by Pierce and Raul pierced through the heads of the two masked individuals.

Thump.

After they fell, Raul waited briefly to ensure no other enemies were nearby before approaching the downed figures.

Searching their bodies, he found a ring that appeared to be an artifact and a small flute.

Upon inspection, the ring was imbued with a 2nd circle concealment spell, designed to hide one’s presence.

And the flute…

‘Was a tool to control the demon beasts.’

Regrettably, it required a unique magical essence to operate, so Raul couldn’t use it.

Nonetheless, it was still an artifact and thus valuable.

‘Now, then…’

After collecting the spoils of battle, Raul unsheathed his greatsword.

Whoosh—Thunk!

He mercilessly plunged his greatsword into the ground, accurately impaling the head of a demon beast hidden below.

Raul repeated this precise action 9 more times before sheathing his sword and catching his breath.

‘The flaw of the demon beasts is exactly this.’

They don’t move without orders.

While they can autonomously engage in combat, in a standby or storage state, they’re no different from corpses.

Holding their breath, they heard a thin, birdlike whistle.

And then, the sound of movement rustling the bushes from afar reached their ears.

“Have we been spotted?”

Jake asked, to which Raul shook his head.

“No. Judging by their movements, they seem to be heading to a gathering point.”

“Young master seems to be right. They appear to be rushing, rather than searching.”

As Pierce spoke, Jake lightly brandished his sword and asked again,

“Shall we deal with them?”

The number of foes now in sight was about a dozen.

A knight seemed to be among them, but the three of them could deal with them swiftly.

Yet, Raul was cautious.

“Let’s wait. There might be more of them moving. No need to stir up trouble in the middle of enemy territory needlessly.”

“Tch, just when it was getting interesting, too.”

Raul felt the same disappointment.

If they had just a bit more time, they could have significantly reduced their numbers.

Right on cue, Philip, who was still in the fortress, sent a guild communication. Thus, the key point in dealing with demon beasts was to first take care of the enemy controlling them. Those enemies were aware of this as well, carrying objects powerful enough to be considered artifacts, but such measures were ineffective against Raul, who already knew how to counter them.

“Shall we continue then?”

With that, Raul set off to hunt down the unsuspecting enemies alongside two knights.

***

“What the hell!? Why is this all there is?”

Jack’s voice boomed in anger.

The lieutenant standing before him bowed his head and said, “It seems we’ve been duped.”

“How is that possible? You’re telling me those carrying artifacts couldn’t even hide properly?”

After fuming for a while, Jack asked again, “What about the demon beasts? Even if those idiots got caught, the ones buried in the ground should still be there, right?”

“Well, about that…”

“What?”

“The demon beasts have been destroyed as well.”

“Damn it all!!!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

An innocent tree was shattered by Jack’s greatsword.

In a fit of rage, Jack threw his greatsword, grabbed the lieutenant by the collar, and demanded, “So? How many are left, huh!?”

“Sir. Th-there are still about 150 men left.”

“Oh, is that so? Luckily there’s still a lot left, right? You! Stupid! Idiot!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Jack beat the lieutenant.

“100 men! Died! And you! Didn’t even notice! You imbecile!”

“Ugh!”

The lieutenant didn’t even attempt an excuse, just crouched and took the beating.

After a moment, Jack, perhaps having vented his anger, stopped the beatings and wiped the sweat from his forehead beneath his mask.

“Ah, what a mess this has turned into. What am I going to tell the boss?”

He casually scratched the back of his head, picked up his thrown greatsword, and tapped the lieutenant.

“You’re not dead, get up quickly!”

“Yes, yes!”

As the lieutenant hurriedly got up, Jack pointed to the fortress.

“We need to deal with that first. How much time do you need?”

“About, thirty minutes should be enough!”

“What! Thirty minutes?”

“P-please give me just twenty minutes.”

“Fine. I’ll give you exactly twenty minutes. Get that sorry sight out of my sight and bring the men.”

“Leave it to me.”

Jack crossed his arms and sat down in a chair, while the lieutenant, Emil, quickly left the area.

‘Phew, how annoying.’

Jack felt a numbing pain where he had been hit, but as an expert with the ability to wrap his body in mana for protection, the actual damage was minimal.

Honestly, he wondered why the discovery of their ambush was somehow his fault. But any dissatisfaction had to be buried deep within his heart. Once the engraving was imprinted onto his body, control over his life and death lay with Jack, his superior.

“Well, not like I’d win even if I tried to fight back.”

As distasteful as Jack’s personality was, his skills were undeniable. Being a high-level expert swordsman with engravings, there was no match for him unless one was a master.

Regardless, the first order of business was to deal with that peculiar fortress. It was no joke; if he couldn’t resolve it in 20 minutes, Jack was certainly the type to literally take his head off.

However, his expression showed no sign of worry. With 130 imprinted demon beasts and roughly 20 knight-level agents at his command, a single fortress seemed trivial. Emil issued the order without a second thought.

“Begin the attack!”

* * *

“Yaaawn.” Dalton left his barracks, stretching and yawning.

The soldiers’ movements seemed unusually busy.

‘Hmm. Did someone actually decide to attack?’

A few hours earlier.

Before leaving, Raul had asked Dalton to protect the fortress along with Philip, a request Dalton had agreed to somewhat mechanically, doubting any real battle would occur.

In fact, he felt slightly betrayed, sensing that Raul had just wanted to leave him behind.

Indeed, there had been no sign of trouble for several hours after Raul’s departure.

‘I didn’t enter the gate for this…’

Unable to fully relax due to his frustration, Dalton had been lying on his makeshift bed in his personal tent, sorting out his gear. But suddenly, it seemed as though trouble had indeed found them.

Soldiers were checking their weapons and soon lined up along the fortress walls. Eyes sparkling, Dalton headed to the tower where Philip stood.

“Sir Philip, what’s happening?”

“Ah, Young master Dalton. It seems we have enemies approaching. Do you intend to join the battle?”

“Ha, what are you asking? I’m eager for a fight. I have no intention of avoiding combat, no matter who the enemy is.”

“Excellent! Then let’s prepare together.”

Philip turned toward his soldiers with a satisfied expression.

“Attention everyone!! Our fortress is under threat! Reconnaissance indicates that these aren’t ordinary monsters. They are…”

Philip went on to explain the nature and weaknesses of the imperial demon beasts, as well as strategies for combating them. The mercenaries, though perplexed, understood well that compliance was vital for survival.

“Mercenaries will focus on preventing the demon beasts from reaching the walls! Dismissed!!”

Whether by foresight or coincidence, the mercenaries had been provided with steel lances and crossbows. “Seems we’re ready.”

“You’ve arrived. It’s a relief to see you safe.” Raul appeared beside Philip just as the speech concluded.

“We’ve reduced their numbers, but we cannot afford to let our guard down. They’ll surely have some tricks up their sleeves.”

“Worry not. We’ll show them who they dared to bare their fangs against.”

And just then, shadowy figures began to emerge from the distant forests and underbrush. ‘It begins.’

“All units, prepare to fire!”

At Philip’s command, the mercenaries all took out their crossbows, loaded with special bolts, readying themselves for the start of a serious defensive battle. (To be continued)