Game Opportunity Realized in Reality Chapter 127
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Game Opportunity Realized in Reality Chapter 127
32. The Madman Appears (2)
Whether it was due to the connection formed at the Saintess contest or some personal relationship, the fact that Duke Adrian El Lawrence was supporting Princess Sia was revealed during the negotiations with the Prius Republic.
However, Grand Marquis Dal did not pay much attention to this.
He judged that even if Duke Lawrence helped the princess, it would all be financial or networking support at best.
And rightly so no matter how he looked at it, diving into the civil war of the Kingdom of Roberto made no sense whatsoever.
Of course, this was not the first time he had intervened in another nation's civil war.
It was a well-known fact that Duke Lawrence had aided the revolution of the Prius Republic.
But back then, the revolutionary army centered on the former royal family and the national army centered on Field Marshal Ansen had fought together the situation then was fundamentally different from now.
Unlike that time when he fought backed by a great force, Princess Sia Rin hadn't had a single trustworthy soldier, let alone a faction, until the Minister of Military Affairs betrayed her.
'Th-This is beyond absurd...'
That was why Grand Marquis Dal could not accept the situation before his eyes.
A duke with a bright future ahead in a powerful nation why on earth would he stick his neck into a battlefield with no guaranteed victory?
Grand Marquis Dal could never understand Adrian's actions.
"Looks like a villain's face at first glance. You're Grand Marquis Dal, right, old man?"
A vulgar tone.
No it would be more accurate to say he simply had no intention of showing any respect toward him.
Grand Marquis Dal, with a face mixing embarrassment and fury, dressed up his incomprehensible behavior as arrogance.
"There's a limit to arrogance. It seems you think the world is yours just because you became a duke at a young age. I am not a Grand Marquis I am the King of the Kingdom of Roberto."
At Grand Marquis Dal's reaction, Adrian glanced at Arcia beside him, shrugged, and let out a sneer.
"You only had three days, but did you enjoy your happy dream? Now step down from the throne."
"You're overconfident. No matter how impressive you two are, aren't you underestimating the forces here a little too much?"
"Is there any force here I should be especially nervous about?"
Adrian twirled the Magic Staff in his hand and scanned the power levels within the royal great hall.
One Aura Master and 50 Vanguards.
"Your Majesty!"
No just as the doors of the royal great hall opened, 50 more Vanguards arrived, making it one Aura Master and 100 Vanguards.
"No matter how I look at it, I see no sign of victory for you, young duke."
Indeed, against an ordinary Aura Master and a 7th Circle Grand Mage, that was a force that left one at a disadvantage.
But the problem was that Adrian and Arcia were anything but ordinary.
Adrian smirked and aimed his Magic Staff toward the area where the Vanguards were clustered.
And then.
"Flame Blast. Flame Blast. Flame Blast."
He unleashed the Memorized 7th Circle spells toward the enemies five times without hesitation.
"B-Block it!"
As the high-level magic flew in, the Vanguards hastily formed ranks and tried to counter the magic collectively, but...
That was only possible when it was one or two high-level magics no matter how elite the Vanguards were, blocking five high-level magics was simply impossible.
-KWAANG!
One side of the great hall's wall burst open, and the Vanguards there collapsed, scorched black like charcoal.
With a single Strike thrown like a greeting, 10 Vanguards vanished in an instant.
"You fool!"
However, seeing Adrian pour out his Memorized high-level magic without a thought, Grand Marquis Dal and Grand General Kii were convinced of their own victory.
"What are you all doing! Attack now! Press him without giving him a moment to breathe!"
At Grand Marquis Dal's shout, the frozen Vanguards charged furiously at Adrian and Arcia beside him.
"Stall for time against the female Aura Master! Take out the Grand Mage first!"
"Yes!"
Grand General Kii, who could not leave his post guarding the Grand Marquis, gave that order to his subordinates.
Then, the 90 Vanguards guarding the great hall split into 30 and 60 30 rushed at Arcia, and 60 rushed at Adrian.
Fight defensively to stall against the Aura Master, and pour everything into quickly eliminating the Grand Mage.
It was a textbook no, an utterly common-sense response.
"Reinforcements will be coming soon! Fight with confidence!"
"Yes!"
He also didn't forget to add words of encouragement.
Grand General Kii was quite skilled at handling people.
"The moment we set foot here, the fight was already over."
But unlike the Kingdom of Roberto's side, who had been reacting in common-sense ways all along, Adrian and Arcia produced results that defied common sense, just as they had before.
-Shhk! Slice! Slice!
-BOOM! Crash! Thud!
Arcia severed necks and pierced heads at speeds too fast to see.
And Adrian, unleashing power so immense it was hard to tell whether it was high-level magic or grand magic, broke through the Vanguards' defenses with 5th Circle and 6th Circle spells and burned the soldiers alive.
Like playing a defense game, the Vanguards were deleted the moment they approached the two.
"Crazy!"
"W-What? What is that?"
Not a single wasted movement.
Every attack extended only returned after taking an enemy's life.
Arcia being an Aura Master was one thing, but the Vanguards couldn't even cut the hem of Adrian's robes, though he was a Mage.
It was a sight straight out of a dream.
"Monsters...?"
As half of the 90 Vanguards vanished in an instant, the faces of Grand Marquis Dal, Grand General Kii, and the ministers of the new royal faction hardened.
"Not all Aura Masters are the same, and not all 7th Circle Grand Mages are the same. We misjudged their capabilities."
There was no need to say they misjudged their capabilities.
After all, they were a Grandmaster disguised as an Aura Master and an 8th Circle Grand Mage disguised as a 7th Circle from the very beginning.
-Slash!
A continued standoff and silence followed.
With half their comrades dead in an instant, the remaining Vanguards dared not charge and instead retreated step by step, their will to fight shattered.
"U-ugh! Aaaah!"
In the end, one terrified vanguard abandoned its master and attempted to flee.
-Shk!
But he didn't get far before his neck was severed.
Men clad in pitch-black martial robes and covered in blood blocked the exit.
They were clearly no ordinary figures at a glance.
Assassins gripping Force Daggers, their martial levels impossible to discern.
"Don't let anyone escape. All nobles here are targets."
[Orders received.]
[Orders received.]
Watching those two bow their heads at Adrian's command, the relationship wasn't hard to guess.
After all, Michael Gale, the Grand Marquis's right-hand man, had said there were four intruders.
Those who belatedly realized the enemy had more allies turned even paler, looking like corpses themselves.
"G-Grand General Kii! What are you doing! Why aren't you attacking them!"
Even Grand General Kii, an Aura Master, couldn't muster the courage to charge.
Because Adrian and Arcia simply didn't look like beings on the same level as himself.
He couldn't even be confident of victory against the two assassins blocking their escape.
Grand General Kii, seemingly choosing to buy time rather than throw himself at the enemy, asked a question.
"Surely the Kingdom of Rhinehearts isn't targeting the Kingdom of Roberto on a national level?"
"No, it's just us helping Princess Shia."
"Then who in the world are those formidable assassins?"
"They're my subordinates, who else?"
Grand General Kii bit his lip, insisting this was impossible.
After all, if he were a pure warrior full of loyalty, he wouldn't have betrayed the Shia royal family either.
The Grand General remained silent even under Grand Marquis Dal's urging.
No as Adrian and Arcia stepped forward, he too retreated backward, just like the other Vanguards.
The gap between them and their opponents was that deeply felt.
"Ugh! What are you all doing! What the hell are you doing! You should be protecting me and stalling until reinforcements arrive!"
"...."
"Fine! I'll reward whoever cuts those two down! I'll grant him the Grand Marquis's command!"
No answer or action came in response to Grand Marquis Dal's frantic shouts.
No matter how great the reward, death meant losing everything anyway.
"I'll reward you even if you die trying! Now attack!"
The frantic Grand Marquis Dal, the ministers rolling their eyes to survive, and Grand General Kii and the dozens of Guard Vanguards were all pressured by just the two of them Adrian and Arcia.
"Ignore that pig. If you want to live from now on, disarm. Otherwise, I'll cut your heads off right now."
At Adrian's threat, the Vanguards hesitated, then one by one dropped their Force Swords to the ground.
Even Grand General Kii.
Truly a beautiful show of loyalty, fitting for traitors.
"Good."
For the first time, satisfaction settled on Adrian's face, and Grand Marquis Dal, sensing his own fate, fell into despair.
"Ahhh."
And so, a great tragedy occurred in which the new dynasty of the Kingdom of Roberto was subdued by just four people.
Though it was true that they had been thrown into chaos by war preparations and distracted by Princess Shia's actions inciting the citizens, this was an event that would be recorded in history and mocked for ages to come.
"I understand. It's easier to think of it as just bad luck. If Princess Shia hadn't come to me covered in blood, you would have kept your seat as King."
For Grand Marquis Dal, beyond shock and fury, a sense of hollow emptiness could only wash over him.
Adrian looked around the people in the royal great hall with a confident air.
"Huh?"
But then, his gaze suddenly locked onto a man hiding among the crowd, pretending to be an ordinary minister.
"...."
And for the first time, the expression of the victor, Adrian, who had kept his composure to the very end, cracked.
"Wh-Who are you?"
A question tinged with bewilderment.
At that, everyone looked with curiosity toward where his gaze lingered.
There stood Michael Gale, the Mage Tower Master, Grand Marquis Dal's right-hand man and a genius who had displayed remarkable artifact-crafting abilities.
"What do you mean?"
Even at Michael Gale's question, Adrian showed no intent to converse and immediately unleashed high-level magic at the center of the captured hostages.
"Aaaaargh!"
Naturally, Empress Dowager Dal, who had set everything down, and the ministers were startled and prostrated themselves.
But what followed defied everyone's expectations.
"How did you know?"
Black smoke spread outward from Michael Gale, deflecting the 7th Circle high-level magic into the air.
* * *
I thought he was the boss, but it turns out he was a mid-boss.
That happens often in games.
But shouldn't there be a limit to that?
[Michael Gale / 7th Circle Black Mage]
Race: Human
Age: 45
Affiliation: Master of the Gale Mage Tower, Kingdom of Roberto / Staff Officer to the New King of Roberto
Talents: Intellect (Supreme), Mana (Supreme), Command (Average), Administration (Average), Physical Ability (Average)
Traits: Mad Engineer, Murderous Impulse, Slayer of All
Relation: Interested / Hostile
Status: Curious / Observing
A Black Mage, out of nowhere.
An existence I never even considered had appeared.
Seeing that information, I recalled a memory I had long forgotten.
[As the world's chaos never ceases, beware the fall of the black star.]
The goddess's words.
Could he possibly be connected to that?
Chester and I had thought that prophecy was related to Earth had we been wrong?
I couldn't be sure, but I also couldn't help but be shaken.
Because whenever a Black Mage appeared in history, calamity followed.
"How did you know?"
"If I couldn't sense that nauseating black mana, I'd be unworthy of being a Grand Mage."
"I've met many people in my time, but this is the first time someone sensed my energy."
The moment I saw him, I felt intense revulsion.
[Traits: Mad Engineer, Murderous Impulse, Slayer of All]
The deranged-looking trait information was one thing, but the black mana radiating from him made me want to vomit.
"A Black Mage?"
At the sight of Michael Gale blocking my attack, the people gasped and distanced themselves from him.
A Black Mage isn't simply a dark-attribute Mage.
He is, in every sense, a Mage of death.
Their very existence is poison, a blight that must not exist in this world.
So rather than trying to pry information out of him,
I decided to kill him on the spot.
"Arcia!"
I handed the rod at my waist to Arcia.
She swapped it with her Force Sword.
-Whoosh!
A brilliant white light illuminated the royal great hall, which had been stained with black mana.
"Well, that's game over."
The Black Mage Michael Gale shook his head and sighed as he faced the Holy Sword.