I Become a Rogue Lord in a World Where Only I Level Up

Chapter 88: The Road to King (28)

However, no matter how many came rushing in, there was no one to fight. Thinking that the enemy was waiting for the last minute ambush, Lamp ordered the other gates to be opened once, but even though the soldiers walked all over the place, there was no sign of Aintorian’s troops.

“Report to the General right now!”

Lamp was suspicious and sent a message to Fran.

A small force of soldiers rushed out from the castle gate.

“Captain, we have hostiles ahead!”

“I knew it. They’re hiding.”

Lamp nodded and tried to stop the enemy but the one in front of him was Erhin, and soon Lamp’s head was in the air.

At the same time the message sent by Lamp arrived at Fran’s camp, which was at the back of the army.

“General!”

“What’s wrong?”

There’s no one in Aintorian. It’s just like Castle Voltaire, an empty shell. It’s like there’s not a single person inside!”

“What do you mean? Do you think they’ve abandoned their own home base?”

Fran felt as if he had been hit over the head with a hammer.

He thought that Erhin was going to use other troops in Aintorian to distract him but didn’t expect that he would abandon his home base.

“Tell them to come out of Castle Aintorian right now!”

Fran exclaimed, having a rather ominous feeling in the face of a completely incomprehensible action.

* * *

The great army of Narja entered Aintorian. The number of troops that came in at once exceeded 60,000, almost all the troops were gathered around the castle. It was a large army of 160,000.

What was my strategy for this 160,000-strong army?

The answer lay in the basement of Aintorian Castle. The secret space was filled with swearing about the betrayal of the twelve families.

The ancestor of Aintorians retreated from the original royal capital of the Ancient Kingdom to what is now Aintorian due to the betrayal of the Twelve Families.

This ancestor is the one who developed the Mana Formation and created secret passages throughout the continent, and then, feeling torn apart by the betrayal, probably completed the last mana formation of his life.

It was truly a mana formation for self-destruction, however, Aintorian’s ancestors had been unable to use it. The reason for this was unknown.

“Yurasia, we’re going underground!”

“Okay!”

After killing the enemy captain, I entered the basement of Aintorian Castle because the time was right. When Yurasia entered it, the mana formation was activated. The white mana formation emitted a flash of light. At the same time, the earth began to shake loudly underground. The self-destruct formation was activated.

“All right, Yurasia, let’s get out of here!”

We had to move quickly to the horses.

I explained that it would take quite a while for the activation to complete, but I was in a hurry because I couldn’t pinpoint the exact time. The reason this was possible was that I could use [Invincibility for 30 seconds] a couple of times after the activation was complete.

Yurasia nodded and the two of us tried to get out of the mana formation, but at that moment the light disappeared from the formation and it stopped working.

“……”

Yurasia and I looked at each other.

“It looks like it won’t work if the user leaves the mana formation.”

What kind of trick was that?

At that moment, Yurasia bit her lip.

“Go alone. I’ll stay here.”

“Absolutely not! I’d rather not run away than sacrifice you! Even if I’m defeated by Narja, as long as I’m alive, I can rise again. Let’s just give up and get out of here.”

The mana formation in the previous secret passages had no particular restrictions as long as it was activated. But this one, perhaps because it was a mana formation for self-destruction, seemed to have something extra.

That’s why I couldn’t use it myself! It’s like a ring that once you put it on, you can’t take it off until you die.

“……The ring is the key, so why don’t we just use the ring?”

Yurasia said…….

“Wait, Yurasia!”

In an instant, without any hesitation, she cut her own finger with Rossade. Blood spurted out and her finger fell into the mana formation.

Yurasia frowned in pain but the mana formation was activated again. She left the formation again but this time it remained active.

I didn’t have time to think any further, so I grabbed Yurasia’s arm and ran away. As I rode away on my horse, the mana formation gradually emitted a strong light, which soon scattered outside Aintorian castle.

It seems that Aintorian ancestors couldn’t make up their minds to cut off their hands, so they created this thing. How much did they care about their own bodies?

When I went outside, I saw the pattern of the mana formation in the basement projected on the sky. By this time, I had already killed Lamp, and then slipped out of the castle gate!

A huge flash of light soon spread out, enveloping the Castle Aintorian. I continued to use [Invincibility for 30 seconds] and rode my horse like a madman.

* * *

“My God……that’s impossible!”

A huge mana formation projected in the sky.

As the huge mana formation began to glow white, the ground shook. The ground where the mana formation was carved began to crack at that moment. It was an earthquake with a magnitude of over 9. The catastrophe began to occur in Castle Aintorian, outside of it, and in smaller areas.

The ground crumbled like melted chocolate. The crumbling earth swallowed the soldiers, and the strong earthquake continued to expand its reach and before Fran knew it, it was right in front of him. The ground cracked and the lava swallowed the soldiers.

Castle Aintorian and its surroundings completely collapsed.

“General! Please run!”

The vassals of the Valdesca family immediately grabbed Fran. The ground, which had drifted down, no longer served the purpose of ground, but continued to produce a spectacular sight of fire columns extending from all sides like a tornado into the earth.

“Run! Run! Run! Run now!”

The soldiers outside the range lost their color and fled crazily in the opposite direction, it was the same for the ten warlords. As a result, the Narja army fell into a situation where it was divided and cut off in four directions.

“What is this……impossible, such a mana formation! What the hell is this power……”

Fran, who had been looking at the mana formation with a vacant face, stood up with a clatter as if he had realized something.

“Don’t tell me you’ve used the Ancient Kingdom’s mana formation……its heritage!”

The technique of the mana formation that appeared was very similar to that of the Ancient Kingdom.

After a lifetime of research, Fran was convinced that it was the remains of the Ancient Kingdom. It was the best that Fran’s common sense could come up with.

No, he had already lost. Fran blinked vacantly as he watched the earthquake hit.

“My lord, we have to get out of here immediately!”

The vassals of the Valdesca family forcibly grabbed Fran and activated their treasures.

* * *

Narja’s large army had only 30,000 men left, this was a great victory.

A message appeared repeatedly in front of me, informing me that my level had increased.

My level, which was 25, had risen to 35 and I gained 4,000 points! However, I was more worried about Yurasia’s finger than the rewards. Her finger could not be put back.

“Yurasia, are you okay?” I

“I’m fine. Did you get rid of the Narja army?”

“Yeah. But…you idiot! There had to be another way…….”

I couldn’t think of any words at all.

Yurasia was nonchalant. I thought of something she had said to me one day. When I asked her to lend me her ring, she tried to cut off her finger on the spot, right?

“I will make you pay for this, even if it costs me my head.”

“Don’t be silly. You saved Roserun and me, who was like an empty can that was being eroded by the darkness. So, you don’t have to feel so bad about one finger.”