Translator: CinderTL
"Run!"
Confirming the enemy's hostile intent, Roland roared and shoved the trembling Mason beside him, turning to face Reggie, whose expression was grim.
"All troops, heed my command! Muster and retreat!"
Reggie didn't need Roland's reminder. The moment he realized this colossal magitech construct was utterly beyond human strength, he decisively issued the order.
His booming voice pierced the ruins, a jarring sound in the deathly silence.
These reinforcements, sent by Derek, were the elite troops of the River Domain Nations.
Thus, after a moment of panic, the soldiers' bodies instinctively obeyed Reggie's command, though fear still lingered on their faces.
In mere moments, the scattered troops had regrouped. Under Reggie's leadership, they rapidly withdrew in the opposite direction of the magitech construct.
Roland and his group followed closely behind.
Theresa, Avril, and Galvis had already bolted the instant Roland spoke.
Perhaps due to their recent camaraderie, Freddy the orc saw Mason stumbling and without a word, hoisted him onto his shoulder and strode away.
As for Vanessa...
Seeing the Purple-Haired Witch still standing motionless, with even a faint inclination to approach and closely examine the magitech constructs, Roland abandoned all pretense of etiquette.
He lightly tapped her on the back of the head, ignoring her startled expression as she turned. His burly arm immediately wrapped around her slender waist, and with a low growl to warn Tracy in his pouch, he turned and sprinted away at full speed without looking back.
In an instant, a deafening roar erupted behind them.
Roland glanced back through the corner of his eye and saw the previously stationary giant constructs now swinging their massive arms and smashing them into the ground.
However, their targets were not Roland's group, but the swarms of demonic beasts drawn by the earlier noise and the concentrated magic elements.
It was clear that even these low-level demonic beasts, driven to greater ferocity by the magic-rich fog, were no match for the giants.
In the blink of an eye, the surging horde of demonic beasts had been reduced to bloody, mangled remains.
Multi-colored blood gushed from their shattered bodies, spreading across the fractured rocks and soil, leaving only a pungent stench of gore hanging in the air.
After running for an unknown duration, until the roar behind them gradually faded to nearly nothing, Roland and the others finally slowed to a halt.
The ordinary soldiers, whose physical stamina was far inferior to Roland's, collapsed to the ground the moment they confirmed the immediate danger had passed.
For a moment, the once-silent forest was filled only with the ragged, gasping breaths of the soldiers.
Damn it!
As Roland gazed at the increasingly clear High Tower and the dilapidated cluster of buildings ahead, he couldn't suppress a silent curse.
Lord Graham and Jashu already led the army to suppress that Lich. How could that bastard manage to restart the Demon Capital under the siege of two transcendent professionals and thousands of soldiers?
Just as he fell into thought, a soft voice, tinged with complex emotion, sounded beside his ear.
"Mr. Roland..."
Witch Vanessa turned her head to look at the young man's solemn face, her cheeks flushing slightly.
This wasn't entirely due to shyness.
It was just that...
Her current posture was rather undignified.
Her slender body was firmly held in Roland's arm around her waist, leaving her unable to move.
This made her feel both annoyed and...
Shaking her head slightly, Vanessa called out again.
"Now... can you finally put me down?"
"My apologies, Miss Vanessa," Roland murmured, carefully setting the witch down. He then turned to approach Reggie, who was currently organizing the soldiers into defensive positions.
"Instructor Reggie!"
Hearing the call, Reggie turned, his gaze complex as he looked at the young man before him.
When Roland had previously reported on the Demon Capital Gilles, Reggie hadn't dismissed it outright as others might have. However, the information had been too vague to take seriously.
He had merely made a mental note to have someone report it to Derek beyond the mountains.
But now...
Recalling the terrifying spectacle they had just witnessed, the Knight Academy instructor sighed deeply.
"How are you, Roland? Unhurt?"
Roland shook his head slightly before speaking decisively.
"What are your plans now? Our connection to the outside world..."
He glanced into the distance, where, even at this distance, the towering figures along the city walls were clearly visible.
"...has been completely severed. If I may be blunt, though we haven't yet clashed with those colossi,..."
Roland wasn't entirely certain of his mentor's true capabilities.
However, since Derek had sent him to the Mistland to command this elite reinforcement force, it was clear that even if Reggie's strength didn't match Graham's, he was undoubtedly a transcendent professional.
Even so, Roland didn't believe Reggie could single-handedly destroy those magitech constructs.
The sheer number was one factor, but the critical issue was their complete lack of intelligence regarding these colossal automatons.
Who knew what deadly offensive capabilities lay hidden beneath those massive metal shells?
Roland didn't finish his thought, but Reggie clearly understood his concerns.
After a brief silence, the mentor, with his ordinary appearance, spoke slowly.
"We're not far from Jade Rock Forest. Dean Graham established a barracks there before we left, and the soldiers transported via the Teleportation Platform are stationed there. Perhaps we should..."
Though the young man before him was merely a student of the Knight Academy, his previous interactions and the information Reggie had learned from Graham had already convinced him of Roland's wisdom, strength, and potential for growth.
In this chaotic situation, he unconsciously adopted a tone of consultation.
"Perhaps we should retreat there to regroup and make a decision after we've assessed the situation?"
"No, Instructor Reggie," Roland said, slowly shaking his head to reject the predictable, conservative suggestion.
Compared to the academy mentors, who had limited knowledge of the Mistland, he possessed far more information.
Their retreat routes were now blocked by the magitech constructs. Waiting for Derek outside the mountains to react and organize reinforcements could take days, even weeks.
Roland knew that the Lich who had revived the Demon Capital was a far greater threat than those colossal constructs.
Without understanding its intentions, who could say that the revival of Demon Capital Gilles was merely the beginning?
What if its next move triggered even more terrifying anomalies in this region?
Therefore, remaining inactive in the face of these looming potential crises would be foolhardy.
With that thought, Roland took a deep breath and said clearly, word by word:
"Instructor Reggie, I believe... we should immediately proceed to the barracks, rally the garrisoned soldiers, and then..."
He raised his gaze toward the direction shrouded in a turbulent vortex of magic, the suspected center of the Demon Capital.
He remembered that direction clearly—it was the location he had previously confirmed with Graham on the map.
"Head to Crushed Stone Canyon and support Dean Graham!"
(End of the Chapter)
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