A Dragonslayer’s Peerless Regression

Chapter 60

"What do you mean by the mission is destined to fail?"

Sieg looked puzzled at Feynon's abrupt statement.

"It's difficult to go into details. If you find yourself forced to go on the mission, make sure to stay as part of the rear support unit."

Feynon delivered this cryptic warning and quickly vanished.

'A subjugation mission that's bound to fail.'

The whole thing smelled fishy.

Returning to the barracks, Sieg pondered over Feynon's warning.

In his experience, there were usually two scenarios fitting this situation.

'Either there's corruption at the top of the subjugation team, or there's some deal with the target.'

In the former case, it often involved corruption like military supply scandals tied to the upper echelons' vested interests.

The plan might be to deliberately fail the mission, estimating the losses based on the budget siphoned off in advance.

Various other tactics might be employed to embezzle military funds through failure.

The latter scenario implied a collusion between the subjugation team and their target. If a team stayed in a region long enough to maintain power, they would have to return to the central command if the target vanished.

Therefore, they might leak information deliberately to prolong their stay.

'While Delfoa is known for the mages' power abuse, I don't recall there being much military corruption.'

Thus, it seemed more likely to be the second scenario.

Sieg decided to observe the situation for the time being.

* * *

The next day, Sieg's group moved with the Delfoa Subjugation Force to the area where the Black Yaksha were located.

The Black Yaksha had established a fortress in a remote part of the Giant Mountain Range, making the area difficult to access due to rough terrain and frequent monster appearances.

They had been committing various crimes from there over the past three years, absorbing other mercenary groups and bandits to grow in strength.

Upon arrival, the mage commander gave orders to the knights.

"Units 1 to 3, ascend along the mountain's flank, units 4 to 6, proceed from the front."

The dangerous zones were left to the knights and soldiers to handle, while the mages, advancing slowly from the rear, focused on long-range attacks.

The tactics seemed designed exclusively for the benefit of the mages, yet Delfoa's knights remained silent.

At that moment, Sieg, who had been quietly observing, raised his hand.

The mage commander's eyebrow twitched.

"What is it?"

Sieg addressed the commander.

"What should we do?"

The way Sieg asked, it rubbed the commander the wrong way with its strangely challenging tone.

The commander snapped irritably.

"Didn't you hear my order yesterday to stay in the rear?"

Sieg addressed the commander again.

"I'm a Blue Knight, while Diego and Aster here are Purple Knights. Since we are here to assist, I'm merely asking if there's anything we can help with."

The mention of Sieg being a Blue Knight surprised the mage commander momentarily due to his youthful appearance.

The mages and knights around them murmured in surprise as well.

Retreating a step back, the commander opted to reconsider his stance due to the shifting atmosphere.

"...... Jorge, assign them a scouting mission."

Saying this, the commander swiftly turned and returned to his carriage. The knight commander, Jorge, approached Sieg hesitantly.

"Would, would you be okay with a scouting mission?"

Sieg nodded in agreement.

Jorge informed them of an alternate path opposite to the one they were ascending. Though challenging terrain, it was a faster route to the mountain top.

It was then that Andre approached Sieg and whispered.

"Why did you do that suddenly? I doubt you provoked the commander for no reason."

Sieg replied to Andre.

"There are some suspicious elements in this mission."

"In what regard?"

"I'm suspecting collusion between the subjugation team and the Black Yaksha."

Andre, alarmed by Sieg's words, quickly masked his surprise and nodded.

He then addressed Sieg and the group.

"From now, we'll scout up to the Black Yaksha' camp. We'll proceed single file, with Sieg leading, and I'll bring up the rear. Sieg will direct the unit."

With Andre's instructions, Sieg, Diego, and Aster promptly formed a formation and disappeared into the mountains along the designated route.

The seamless maneuver left the Delfoa knights gaping as they watched them vanish.

In the lead, Sieg projected the map Jorge pointed out, documenting their route while they navigated the mountain paths.

After running along the mountain paths for quite some time, they noticed something up ahead.

Sieg signaled a halt to those behind him.

'A troll.'

A group of trolls, monstrous beasts, was feasting on wild animals.

Deciding to bypass the trolls, Sieg noticed something suspicious in the distance.

He halted, focusing his gaze.

It seemed to be a patrol unit of the Black Yaksha.

Sieg immediately threw daggers in the direction of the figures.

Swish!

The three daggers, carried by the power of the wind, flew swiftly and precisely hit the Black Yaksha patrol unit's legs.

"Aaaargh!"

The scream of the patrol unit attracted the attention of the trolls, who were feasting on wild animals.

"Uuurrrrr!"

Smelling the blood, the trolls bounded toward the patrol unit.

"Craaaw!"

At that moment, Sieg and his group, hidden in the bushes, leaped out.

Whoosh!

Sieg beheaded the foremost troll, while Diego and Aster attacked the other trolls.

Simultaneously, Andre slashed through the trolls that lunged at them.

Thud!

In an instant, Sieg and his group eliminated all the trolls and swiftly erased their tracks.

They then dragged the patrol unit, pierced with the daggers, into a nearby cave.

Sieg, holding a dagger, began interrogating the Black Yaksha patrol unit.

"Are the Black Yaksha currently inside the fortress?"

"Bastards! Go to hell!"

Their harsh language suggested a background as mercenaries or bandits.

But Sieg was well-versed in dealing with such scum.

He deliberately separated the three and began gently working on their fingers.

It wasn't long before they started screaming and spilling information.

After piecing together the responses from the three, Sieg filtered out the false information.

Watching Sieg's adept interrogation technique, Andre's mouth fell open in astonishment.

"From the Shadow Corps's perspective, they'd want to recruit you right away."

"I'm not interested, so please keep quiet about it."

Recalling his past troubles with the Draker Shadow Corps, Sieg had no desire to get involved with them.

Having gathered sufficient intel and discreetly dispatching the patrol unit, the group headed toward the fortress again.

As they neared the fortress, the number of patrol personnel increased significantly.

Additionally, the fortress was constructed from solid natural stone in rough terrain, making it seem impenetrable.

'This situation can't be resolved with a knights' assault and long-range attacks.'

They needed either a siege unit to break through, or they could attempt infiltration with a special operations unit for a solution.

Sieg could easily infiltrate and eliminate the Black Yaksha leader without a trace, but maintaining protocol for the official mission was important.

Sieg and his group refrained from advancing further and moved down to the rendezvous point to meet with the Delfoa knights.

Yet no matter how long they waited, they saw no sign of the Delfoa knights.

After a while, the knights finally arrived at their meeting point.

"Pant, pant, have you already arrived?"

Jorge, the knight commander, was showing signs of exhaustion even before the battle had begun. The state of the other knights was no better.

Sieg asked Jorge.

"Where is the mage unit?"

Wiping his sweat, Jorge replied.

"Once we clear the area around the fortress, they will initiate support fire from the rear."

Sieg was thoroughly surprised by this and asked.

"What do you mean by clearing the fortress with this number? It's effectively a death sentence!"

"That, uh...."

Without command authority, Jorge was in a difficult position.

Andre spoke to Sieg.

"The situation is more unbalanced than anticipated. The fortress seems too solid."

Sieg nodded in agreement.

"We'll have to wait until the mage unit arrives. We'll need a new strategy."

At that moment, Diego pointed toward the back.

"Something's coming at us!"

Diego's words elicited the fastest response from Sieg.

Increasing his perceptual vision, Sieg identified what was approaching from the sky.

Sieg cried out in urgency.

"Scatter!"

He wrapped his arms around Jorge and rolled sideways.

From the sky, a massive iron sphere landed with a heavy thud on the spot where Sieg's team had been.

And it exploded immediately.

BOOM!

The surrounding area was devastated by the enormous explosion.

Having barely survived the blast, Jorge turned pale.

"Oh, my God."

Sieg quickly got up and shouted to him.

"Jorge! Get a grip! Check for survivors and retreat to the rear! More attacks are coming!"

Despite Sieg's instructions, Jorge looked stunned.

Sieg slapped him across the face.

"Gasp!"

"Get your act together! Do you want all your subordinates to die?"

"N-no!"

Jorge hurriedly got up, mustering the dazed knights affected by the explosive sounds, and retreated to the rear.

As Sieg predicted, more iron spheres came hurtling down.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

With overwhelming explosions and the surrounding blanketed in intense heat, the team was under critical threat.

Sieg deployed Golyn's Shield to fend off the shrapnel impact.

"Diego! Aster! Over here!"

They regrouped behind Sieg and moved sideways.

It was then that the Black Yaksha group appeared from above, wielding their weapons and charging down.

"Kill them!"

Sieg's party engaged the oncoming Black Yaksha group holding their ground.

Swish!

With every swing of Sieg's Bahamut, two or three enemies fell simultaneously.

"There are too many of them! Diego! Aster! Conserve your aura!"

The experience from leading troops in his previous life came rushing back to Sieg.

Despite the chaotic battle, Diego and Aster followed Sieg's charismatic orders.

"Die!"

With bloodshot eyes, the Black Yaksha blindly rushed Sieg's group in a frenzy.

Sieg steadily cleared the surroundings.

'These guys seem off in every way.'

He grabbed one of the attackers and slammed them to the ground.

"Yaaaaa!"

From a glance, it was apparent that the guy was not in a sane state.

Upon closer observation, the situation became clearer.

It was something Sieg had encountered often in his past life.

'These bastards are all Soma addicts.'

Soma, distributed from the Southern Cartel across the central continent, had spread far and wide.

The biggest consumers of Soma were, without a doubt, mercenaries.

While mages might occasionally use it for temporary magical boosts with discipline, mercenaries held no such restraint.

Living for the moment, some ingested doses beyond prescribed limits or ingested concentrated extracts of Soma after processing.

Sieg ground his teeth, gazing at the messed-up mercenary.

'Considering their state, subduing them with just a knight order will be challenging.'

Ordinarily, mercenaries would quail before properly formed knight forces.

Yet drug-addled individuals, without regard for themselves, would charge rabidly like maniacs.

Severed arms, severed legs—they'd attack indiscriminately like zombies, be it ally or enemy, killing as they pleased.

A brutal tactic of using subordinates purely as expendables.

As Sieg gritted his teeth, glaring at the fortress.

'Should I just sweep this place clean of everyone, mission be damned?'

And then, it happened.

BOOM!

From behind, a gigantic fireball headed toward the Black Yaksha group.

"Argh!"

The battlefield was swept by fireballs and ice chunks, missile spells piercing through.

Sieg shouted to Diego and Aster.

"The mage unit has arrived! Fall back!"

Avoiding getting caught in the spells, Sieg retreated with his group.

The Delfoa battle mage unit was an imposing force.

Lined up in sequence, the mages unleashed memorized battle spells, and as they finished, others came forward, casting spells without ceasing, bombarding the battlefield.

Even the drugged-up mercenaries stood no chance against the spells from the mage unit.

"Hold!"

At the commander's order, the mage unit halted their advance and fell back.

Sieg was perplexed by the sudden halt.

'What's all this?'

If they acted more forcefully when the mercenaries poured out of the fortress, it would be empty inside.

It was an opportunity to avoid a siege, yet halting their assault seemed inexplicable.

At that moment, the mage commander approached Sieg.

Then he yelled at Sieg.

"You ruined this mission because of you! Do you even know what you've done?"