Chapter 189
If one were to target Lord Rage, now was the perfect time to do so.
According to what Suiroti had said, Bedir—the Evil God—had not foreseen the involvement of the other races at all.
Which meant that Rage, too, could not have anticipated this situation.
By now, he must have been flustered, unable to think straight.
‘If not now, there will be no other chance. If I’m going to corner him, it has to be now.’
I quickly began to think.
The Rage I had seen in the game, and the Rage I had seen in reality.
If I were Rage, then my next move would be…
‘I’d try to buy as much time as possible with whatever forces I have left.’
The Rage I knew relied heavily on Bedir.
He always prioritized Bedir’s commands and placed absolute trust in his plans.
But now, those plans had gone awry.
Surely, Rage would be desperate to hear what to do next from Bedir.
And so, to speak with Bedir, he would try to stall for as long as possible.
‘I won’t let that happen.’
I had no intention of giving Rage even a moment to breathe.
From this moment on, I had to push him relentlessly—give him no chance to think.
And so, for the first step…
“Lord Roy, have you finished analyzing that Mental Manipulation Spell?”
“Almost. A few of the elves came by earlier to help… they looked through our research notes on the spell and even created a formula for dispelling it. The only problem is that the spell was originally made with elven power, so… it’s taking a bit of time to convert it into something humans can use…”
“Don’t worry, disciple. This genius magician has nearly wrapped it up.”
Kara, who was beside Roy, was working diligently on something.
With strange characters floating in the air, she was swiftly drawing a magic circle.
She was then arranging those letters within the circle, aligning their order, and completing the configuration.
A short while later—
“Alright! Hey, disciple! It’s done! I’ve completed the formula to dispel that dragon’s magic!”
“Thank you for your hard work. Lord Roy, you too.”
I examined the paper Kara handed to me.
On it were the mana formation diagram, the magical sequence, and several notes of caution for when using the spell.
Honestly, no matter how much I stared at it, I couldn’t understand a thing.
That’s how complex and difficult this magic was.
But seeing Kara speak with such confidence, I decided to trust her.
Then, I immediately set my plan into motion.
“Lord Andrew, there are some among the Hawkbat Family who mainly specialize in magic, correct?”
“There are.”
“Have we identified which commanders have fallen under Rage’s control and where they currently are?”
“Yes, all of them. We even have assassination squads ready, though I’ve kept that as a last resort.”
I nodded at Andrew’s words.
Just as I expected, Andrew had already prepared everything.
“Then, please send your magic users to those commanders in secret, and have them cast this spell on them.”
“This spell will release their brainwashing, won’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right. If the spell cast on them is lifted, they’ll definitely order their troops to stand down. That way, we can neutralize most of Rage’s key forces.”
“That makes sense.”
Andrew nodded.
“Of course, there’s still the army from Muktaba, but Kafka should be able to handle that one way or another. So yes… let’s go with your plan. I’ll make sure this spell is delivered to our people immediately.”
Andrew nodded again, taking the paper from me.
I smiled faintly and continued.
“And… do you happen to know where Rage is right now?”
“We’ve tracked his location. But the area is heavily guarded—our men couldn’t get close.”
“But that tight guard will soon loosen. So please, Lord Andrew, could you tell me Rage’s location?”
“O Great One… please, grant me an answer… I beg you…”
Inside a hotel near Benetic Stadium.
Just a few hours ago, Rage had been confident of his victory here.
The plan had gone slightly off course midway, but that was no major issue.
In fact, he’d even managed to move the schedule forward, which in some ways had worked to his advantage.
But now, from Rage’s point of view, there was no way out of this.
“Please… give me… an answer…”
Rage knelt on one knee, muttering as he stared at the floor.
As always, he sought an answer from Bedir.
But this time, Bedir’s response was greatly delayed.
And the voice that finally came was not Bedir’s.
“…You know something, brother?”
In the corner of the room, still bound by chains, was Eisen.
He let out a hollow laugh, looking at Rage with disbelief.
“You’re good at making plans, and your execution’s sharp. But whenever you come up with a plan on your own, it’s always a little sloppy. That’s why you’ve always needed someone to complement your plans.”
“…What exactly are you trying to say?”
“But whenever the person who used to supplement your plans made a mistake, your whole plan fell apart. This time’s the same, if you think about it. You made your plan according to that god’s advice, but that god made a ridiculous blunder, and now things are like this… ugh?!”
“Shut your mouth.”
Rage rose from his seat and kicked Eisen across the face.
“Don’t insult Him. It’s not over yet. He will surely find a way. There’s still a chance to turn things around.”
“Argh… ha, brother, you’re just… ugh… refusing to accept reality. Please, just think rationally for once. You saw it yourself—the power of the other races. The moment they intervened, you already lost.”
“Silence.”
After kicking Eisen even harder, Rage drew his rapier.
“Come to think of it, everything turned out this way because of you. If you hadn’t leaked information to that bastard, Kyrgram… things wouldn’t have gone this far. Because of you… because of you, Kyrgram found Suiroti, and our entire plan…”
Rage slowly lifted his rapier, clearly intending to kill him.
Eisen closed his eyes, as though resigned to his fate.
Just as Rage was about to thrust the blade at Eisen’s neck—
—Did you call for me, my faithful child?
“G–Great One!”
A deep voice resonated through the room.
At the sound of that voice, Rage lowered his rapier and immediately fell to his knees.
“Yes, I called because things have taken a turn for the worse. You may already know, but the situation has changed from what we planned—the other races have…”
—I know. I just saved Suiroti from being killed by them and was on my way here. I heard everything about your situation from him in detail.
With those words, Bedir let out a sigh.
—I don’t know where things went wrong. I’ve checked and rechecked this plan countless times over the years. I was certain the current Emperor would never break the Treaty with the other races. I even accounted for his daughter trying to persuade him… Yet despite all my calculations, the Emperor didn’t yield to his daughter and didn’t break the treaty. But why…
It seemed Bedir truly hadn’t foreseen this outcome—his voice was full of confusion.
But soon, he steadied himself and continued speaking to Rage.
—It seems this plan has failed. We’ll have to devise an entirely new one.
“What would you have me do, Great One?”
—In the land of the nomads, there are still a few who follow me. They live in hiding, but I plan to expand my influence among the nomads through them… slowly eating away at the continent.
“T–The nomads, you say?”
Rage looked startled, as if he hadn’t expected that.
But Bedir continued without pause.
—Go to the land of the nomads, and find the followers I mentioned. You will become their leader, grow their power, and ultimately unite all the nomads under your command. From there, seize the Empire—and eventually, the entire continent itself.
“B–But… forming an alliance with them was already difficult enough. I doubt the nomads will recognize me as their leader…”
—There is a way. For now, return to Muktaba. Do you know the location where my fragment fell in Muktaba?
“Yes, I remember. I couldn’t retrieve it because a mutated Lava Golem was guarding it, but recently I used soldiers to unearth a massive fragment buried there…”
—Then come to me there first.
“Ah, understood.”
Rage bowed his head in response, though a sudden question flickered through his mind.
“But, Great One… most nomads despise the people of the Empire. I could understand if they were followers of Yours, but how am I supposed to unite all of them…”
—There is a way, so come to Muktaba quickly. I’ll explain once you arrive.
“Understood.”
Faced with such resolute words, Rage could do nothing but bow deeply.
And with that, Bedir’s voice faded away.
“Muktaba, huh… Then that’s where I’ll go.”
“Brother. I’m telling you this seriously—surrender while you still can. Crossing the border and trying to lead the nomads? That’s insane. Stop wasting your time and just…”
“I’m only going to borrow the nomads’ strength for a while. You’ll see. Once I seize the Empire… I’ll make Muktaba and the Isrinbloom Family the center of the continent…”
“You’re still depending entirely on that fallen god? Brother, please—try thinking for yourself, just once…”
“Don’t you dare insult Him. And come to think of it, there’s no reason to let you live any longer.”
Rage lifted his rapier once more.
“Because of you, all my plans have collapsed… You’ll pay with your life for that…”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Lord Rage.”
“…Hm?”
A voice came from behind.
When Rage turned, Gideon had entered the room through the window.
“Lord Eisen only did the right thing. The one who must pay with his life… is you.”
“Ha, me?”
“Yes. Considering the damage you’ve done to the Empire… I’d say even your life wouldn’t be enough to make up for it.”