Everyone agreed with Sungjin. He was not thinking about the one battle in front of them but looking ahead for upcoming battles. He had the bigger picture in mind.
“But you said there were two reasons; what’s the second one?”
“For fun.”
“What?”
“We’re fighting an enemy with equal force. I want to defeat them with a different method.” Sungjin smiled with his legs spread.
Everyone was silent.
“For… fun?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you being a little careless?”
At Eustasia’s question, Sunjin answered with his interpretation.
“No, it’s a levelheaded approach.”
“When you corner a rat, it will attack even a cat.”
History was full of leaders who had only focused on the big picture and had failed to see the battle in front of them. Not to mention the fight was against the four priests, each ruling a parish the size of the ally of the four kingdoms.
“But what cat doesn’t chase a scared rat?” Sungjin was referring to the priests as rats.
“They aren’t rats.”
“And my dream isn’t a cat.” When Sungjin answered, Eustasia stepped back.
“Huh, well…your first reason was good enough.”
“That sounds more like Sungjin. I like your way of thinking.” Ereka smiled because she knew Sungjin enjoyed his games.
I’m sure you miss the fun of it, Sungjin.
She thought it was okay for him to take advantage of the chance before him. Besides, if needed, he would raise up and fight.
“Let’s start training accordingly. The schedule is tight, so keep up.”
“Sure!” Rachel, silent until then, raised her hand and answered first.
Ugh. Another cute reaction.
Jenna was vexed and shook her tail knife.
This was the way Sungjin wanted to achieve his victory. Not just to defeat them in the usual way but to use his strongest weapon to win. While his opponents were thoroughly preparing for battle, Sungjin was able to calculate what was going on in the enemy camp. It was clear he made this battle much more difficult to fight, but he laughed.
We can have fun with this.
He wanted to outrage them. They had a slightly stronger force, and they would fight hard; but, in the end, they would be defeated by Sungjin. He wanted them to feel the pain the people felt when they were abused by the cult. He wanted them to feel a drop of the pain the mother who had begged to be killed with her baby in her arms had felt.
But next to him, Eustasia was worried.
Would it be okay?
She felt like the difference in force was perhaps bigger than they imagined. But she had no way to stop Sungjin; she would follow his command just like everyone else on the team.
Chapter 6
After a few days of arduous training, the time for battle finally arrived. It would be a four-on-four fight. This time, Sungjin didn’t join the combat zone but stayed behind as a commander. It was Jenna, Rachel, Ereka, and Eustasia who walked onto the battlefield. Sungjin stretched his legs in the waiting room and smiled.
“Go and get them.”
His final command revealed his arrogant-like confidence. People didn’t call him the brash lion king of the south for nothing. While looking at him, self-acclaimed historian, Sir Todam, worked on his manuscript.
He looked like a young lion king of the jungle who had sent four lionesses for hunting. And his opponents were…
The people looked at the field with mixed feelings.
“Do you think Sungjin will win this time?”
“Don’t you think so?”
Their belief in him had been built on past victories, but now the opponents were the strongest priests of Rupellion, a country much bigger than the ally of the four kingdoms. They were not sure if they should be relaxed or worried.
“Master Sungjin has to win.”
“I heard Rupellion is a living hell…”
It was a country of blind faith, where they massacre whole families if anyone is caught making the tiniest of mistakes, accusing them all of heresy. People were killed without making mistakes as well.
Before, people didn’t care about the battles of the ally of the four kingdoms. But now it was different. If Sungjin lost, it wouldn’t just change the name of the ruler but would change the way they lived their lives, for the worse.
Please let him win.
They prayed to their gods, ones Rupellion disapproved of.
In the meantime, the four priests of Rupellion were praying to their one and only god.
“Thy will be done as it is in heaven.”
They had a brief meeting before starting the battle.
“The most important thing on this battlefield is the wolf of twilight that is placed in the middle.”
“This will guarantee our victory.”
They were higher in levels and had more artifacts. But they were sure Sungjin had a plan, so they couldn’t rely on only this. Fearing they would be tricked, they avoided a frontal attack.
“But… the wolf of twilight would give us enough crystals to win this battle.”
They agreed.
For regular soldiers, placing the wolf of twilight in the middle would have been a dangerous distraction, one they couldn’t catch even with all their force. While trying to hunt it, their enemy would attack them; it would be useless to hunt it after defeating their opponent. So the wolf of twilight was nothing more than practice in a mock battle…
But we are not regular soldiers.
More specifically, the great black priest was not a regular soldier. He had his secret skill enabling him to kill the wolf of twilight in a heartbeat, and they were sure this skill secured their victory against Sungjin.
The battle started. Ereka and the great blue priest, Dahama, clashed. Dahama was a warrior with two fast weapons, one longsword and a short-sword.
He used his longsword to attack Ereka while covering close range with his short-sword to defend. But that wasn’t all he could do with his weapons; he was able to adapt them to the fight, making them look like an endless whirlwind that could pierce any enemy.
Ereka remained composed against him.
Using her spear to attack and her shield to defend, everything was by the book; that also gave her opponent no opportunity to attack. Resembling an impenetrable rock, she didn’t try to stop his advances and was not disturbed by the endless attack of his two swords.
Neither of them was dominating; all they could do was collect crystals while checking each other. This plan worked as long as it stayed a one-on-one fight. The great black priest, Pangnilin, appeared behind Ereka; like death, he snuck up silently, hiding behind the shadows.
Invisible Death Angel.
That was his skill; the wolf of twilight never saw it coming. It was a skill to move in the shadows and remain invisible until attacking. All assassins had skills to quietly approach the target, but his skill was next level.
Should I attack her now?
Pangnilin hesitated for a second but soon shook his head.
Ereka didn’t see him, but it was possible that Sungjin had anticipated he would appear. With Ereka being a knight with high defense power and his secret attack having low success rate, he decided to proceed with his original plan. Although he wanted to attack Ereka right away, he moved away to hunt neutral monsters.
His first target was a man-eating plant with poisonous stingers. He held his two daggers, usually reserved for cutting throats’ of the sacrifices, and as he approached the plant, he started to slice. The plant fought back with its poisonous stings, but it struggled against him. A sword finally cut off the head of the plant, and the owner of the sword got the crystal. The owner of the weapon was Eustasia.
“Huh?” Pangnilin looked at the dead plant in confusion before it became ashes.
He almost killed the monster, and he fought back the poisonous stings from it. But before he was able to take his final blow, Eustasia cut in. The crystal was given to the one who ultimately killed it.
She stole it.
Pangnilin was a stoic priest; he didn’t swear or become angry, but still, he fumed internally.
The great general of the ally, Eustasia, is an archer with wide-range and vision using her secret sword freely in her range.
But he didn’t expect her to steal his monster like this.
I should be careful not to let her get the final blow.
Pangnilin moved to find another monster while carefully looking around him.
So there’s no enemy in this area.
There was no flying sword either; he was sure this time he would take the crystal from the monster.
He attacked the vindictive spirit, and…
“Judgement.”
Eustasia activated her skill to maximize the attack power of her sword to take the final blow again. Pangnilin’s calm face lost its calm.
Is this…your plan?
It was his specialty to approach without notice to kill a target. He had planned to hide from the path and hunt neutral monsters in the forest, but Eustasia was using his skill against him.
Far away from Pangnilin, Eustasia was smiling.
I haven’t even gotten started yet.
She activated her skill to maximize her senses.
Heaven’s Net.
Heaven’s Net was the skill that prevented any evil from slipping away. So whenever Pangnilin was hunting a monster, it helped her to find his position; the super wide range of it made it impossible for Pangnilin to spot her. She was hiding from the assassin and when he exposed his position, she stole the monster.
It was a nightmare for the black priest.
“Therefore, a wise general strives to feed off the enemy. Each pound of food taken from the enemy is equivalent to twenty pounds you provide by yourself.” It was a quote from The Art of War, by Sun Tzu that Sungjin had referred to.
He explained this was a tactic in games on Earth called stealing. On this battlefield, it was not food but crystals they were stealing; and the principle worked just the same.
When Sungjin explained the tactic, he ordered her to do something unique but complicated.
He always makes me do difficult things. But I must do it. He is counting on me.
“Since we are not using geography, we need to do the trail of strength from the beginning, and you are the core of that fight.”
“Huh. Me?”
“Yes. The end goal on the battlefield is to kill the enemy, but we can start off with blocking their supply by stealing their crystals.”
“You can’t steal the crystals. You can’t even share it with your team.”
“Yes, in principle, but you can snatch it.”
This was Sungjin’s solution: taking the final blow and stealing the crystals.
The amount of crystals awarded depended on the level and speed of the attacker. But when one is targeting another’s monster, their crystal rewards could be increased.
“So you’re telling me to stalk the great black priest to steal his monsters?”
“Correct. It won’t be easy, though. If you cut in too early, you would be helping him; if you miss the timing, your skills could be wasted. Plan carefully; I’m counting on you.”
“Hmm. Okay, if that’s your order, I’ll do it.”
“I know you’re capable of this.”
Her special training was to learn the perfect timing to hit each monster on this battlefield. She knew every monster by heart, and now it was time to carry out the plan.
She wasn’t going to let the great black priest kill even one.