Chapter 122: The Legend of 600 vs 1 (3)

KABOOM!

The explosion was so loud that even Pablo, who had been fleeing, turned back to look.

“What… what was that?”

Pablo stopped in his tracks, his eyes as wide as saucers.

“Ugh…”

“Gah!”

Enemies scattered everywhere, groaning as they lay collapsed on the ground.

They were just as surprised as everyone else.

“What happened?!”

“T-trap!”

As the enemies flinched and retreated, a light flickered in Pablo’s eyes.

Could it be?!

He knew very well about Louis visiting the palace over the past few days. At the time, he’d wondered why Louis had been coming and going from the palace so often…

So this is why!

Everything happening now was part of Louis’s plan.

Pablo’s ears suddenly picked up Louis’s voice again.

“Ah…!”

Pablo snapped out of it and twisted his body once more.

He leaped into action as soon as he heard Louis’s command.

The soldiers watching him were torn.

“What do we do?”

“What can we do?! After him!”

“Don’t bunch up together! Spread out! Block the path he’s taking!”

Their confusion was brief.

Once again, their forces began moving after Pablo. But this time, instead of chasing him blindly, they split up and moved in different directions.

And that’s when things started getting really intense.

Crash!

Boom!

Bam!

“Aargh!”

“Where is all this stuff coming from?!”

Every time Pablo followed Louis’s instructions, there were explosions and all sorts of strange things happening. Invisible walls would suddenly appear, knocking back enemies. Pillars of fire or water would burst out.

Krrrk-krrrk.

“Gaaaah!”

Lightning even struck sometimes.

All these effects came from one-time-use talismans that Louis had set up. He’d hidden traps all over the palace for just this situation.

Thanks to this, Pablo was steadily cutting down his enemies’ numbers. Seeing them falter, the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

”…This might actually work.”

His twisted smile looked a lot like someone else’s.

Meanwhile, at the wedding venue—a space Louis had created—the king was hidden away.

Boom!

The deafening explosion made the palace tremble, and the king’s face paled.

What in the world is happening?

Rumble.

With each blast, the palace shook as if it might crumble, and the king grew more and more anxious.

Louis had made his way to the roof of the palace. A hologram-like cross-section of the building appeared in front of him. On this tangled diagram of the vast palace, a blue dot was making its way through while hundreds of red dots chased after it. There were also yellow dots scattered throughout the diagram.

As the blue dot approached a dead-end alley, Louis shouted:

“Turn left!”

The blue dot turned left at his command. Just as the red dots were about to catch up…

“Front flip one meter ahead!”

At that moment, both the blue and yellow dots overlapped.

And then…

KABOOM!

With the sound of an explosion from within the palace, most of the red dots chasing the blue one disappeared. Louis smiled at the sight.

“I made it myself, but this is actually pretty good.”

A cross-section of the palace shimmered in front of Louis like a hologram. He called it his “map.” By projecting the palace into space and linking it to spatial energy in real time, Louis could read every movement within the palace through this map—more precisely than relying on his senses alone.

This is working out well.

When planning how to stop the attack on the Frenche Kingdom, Louis had one idea: I’ll lay waste to their palace all by myself.

In his previous life on Earth, there was a kid cruel kid who spent every Christmas home alone, inflicting pain on burglars who broke into empty houses.

Of course, this was no ordinary house—it was a massive palace—and it was summer, not Christmas. But there was one thing in common: That was the fact that thieves had come to rob the house.

True, Kevin only had two thieves to deal with, while Louis faced six hundred. But when you looked at it in terms of difficulty…

I’ve got it easier, right?

After all, he possessed abilities Kevin didn’t have, and he had excellent helpers who could chase away the thieves for him.

As Louis watched red dots moving blue ones around on his screen, the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile.

“Drive those rats here, Pablo.”

“Ha ha! Come after me if you can!”

Pablo was out of his mind with rage.

“You think you can catch Pablo? Not a chance!”

The defeated man who had first faced six hundred enemies was nowhere to be seen now. Instead, he taunted his pursuers as he ran wild through the palace.

Seeing this infuriated those chasing him even more.

“I’ll get that bastard… I swear I will.”

“No, I’m getting him first—argh!”

In no time at all, dozens of their comrades had fallen to Pablo. The guards were driven mad by how close they came to catching him only for him to slip away each time.

“How is he still getting away?!”

“That rat!”

But the enemy wasn’t just blindly chasing after Pablo.

They split their forces to block Pablo’s path and devised plans to corner him, but he slipped through their encirclement as if mocking them.

“Get him no matter what!”

“If you catch him, chop off his legs first!”

The enemy soldiers gnashed their teeth at the sight of Pablo moving away from them.

As Pablo continued with the enemy hot on his heels, Louis gave another order:

Yes!

Pablo didn’t hesitate for a moment before smashing the stone statue.

Krrrk.

Stone shards scattered everywhere. This time, Pablo had high hopes. He wondered what would happen now.

Meanwhile, the pursuing warriors flinched and stopped in their tracks. So many of their comrades had already fallen into traps like this one. Fearful of what might occur next, they squeezed their eyes shut tightly.

And then…

”…”

”…”

Silence hung in the air.

The stone statue had crumbled into a messy heap, but nothing else happened.

That was when Louis’s voice rang out:

Do as I say.

Huh?

It’s fake, you idiots!

Pablo blinked in confusion.

He didn’t know what “fake” meant, but he shouted it anyway.

“F-Fake! You fools!”

With that, Pablo made a run for it, leaving his enemies staring blankly at his retreating figure.

Soon, their faces hardened, and angry curses erupted from their mouths.

“That… that little bastard.”

“We’ll kill him… we swear we will. We’ll kill him twice over!”

They didn’t know what “fake” meant.

But one thing was certain: they’d been tricked, and the guy had mocked them before making his escape.

Their faces flushed red as they chased after Pablo again.

Enter the room on your right!

Got it!

Crash!

Pablo smashed through the window and climbed out. He found himself in a huge open space.

“Here? But where am I?”

Startled, Pablo looked around. The area was round, with four pillars supporting the roof scattered around it.

“B-but this is…”

Flustered, Pablo couldn’t stand still. After all, he was right in the middle of the palace—the hub where all the corridors met. In other words, it meant that the guys who were crazy to catch him would soon swarm here.

Sure enough…

“That rat bastard… We finally got him.”

“Heh-heh-heh, we’re gonna kill him—definitely!”

Enemies started emerging from each corridor one after another.

The enemies approached with fierce determination, their swords at the ready. Their numbers grew steadily over time. They gathered so quickly that within moments there were already more than two hundred of them. Worried Pablo might try to escape again, they swiftly formed a cordon around him.

“P-Pablo?”

This was when Louis had been enjoying himself, messing with the enemy. Now faced with this sudden change in circumstances, Pablo desperately called out to Louis. He figured since Louis had orchestrated this situation, he must have a way out.

As if reading his mind, Louis spoke just then:

“Hmm… Not as many have shown up as I expected.”

“What?”

“Just wait a bit longer.”

Pablo watched anxiously as the encirclement tightened.

“How long do we wait?” he asked.

“Until every last rat has arrived.”

”…But I’ll be dead before that happens.”

“Nah, people aren’t that easy to kill. Just take a couple of hits and buy some time.”

“If I get hit even once by those guys, I’ll end up as mincemeat…” Pablo looked like he was about to cry.

“Hey, you all ran away just now?”

“Why don’t we try what we did earlier again?”

“You won’t die so easily today.”

The enemies who had been tricked by Pablo were laughing at him.

Meanwhile, their numbers quickly swelled to around 400.

“Mm… Is everyone here now? You’ve reduced their numbers perfectly—very good!” Louis muttered.

As he spoke, something changed.

Zzzt.

One of the four pillars supporting the palace began emitting blue light.

“W-What’s going on?”

“No way!”

“Get out of here, right now!”

Caught off guard by this sudden change, their enemies hesitated before trying to retreat. But it was too late—even for them.

Meanwhile, Pablo looked on with delight.

I knew I could count on you!

As if in response to his faith, a miracle occurred.

Boom!

A blue light burst forth from the pillar, spreading a heavy energy throughout the area.

“Ugh! Wh-what is this?!”

“My body… feels so heavy.”

It was as if gravity had suddenly increased, making it hard for the enemy soldiers to move. Even breathing became difficult.

Fortunately, most of them were magic users who could counteract the effect by manipulating their own elemental powers.

The squad leaders among them shouted orders.

“The pillars! Destroy the pillars!”

Anyone could see that the pillars emitting light were creating gravity. Realizing this, some tried to destroy them, but their bodies felt several times heavier than normal, making movement difficult.

While they struggled, the second pillar began glowing red.

Zzzt…

“Huh?”

“What’s happening?!”

The enemies started stumbling. Louis had imbued the second pillar with a psychic attribute, which messed up their senses—balance and direction alike.

As their bodies swayed, commanders berated their teams.

“Get out of here, now!”

“Retreat!”

No sooner had the cry ended than a black energy burst from the third pillar.

This time it was space attribute magic.

The space attribute from the third pillar engulfed the area, creating a barrier that simultaneously halted the enemies trying desperately to escape.

”…What is this?”

“The path is blocked!”

Then, from the last pillar, white light erupted.

“Build a defense! Defend—what?” The face of the warrior shouting to hold out filled with confusion.

“W-Why isn’t my sword moving?!” His blade seemed stuck in mid-air—it wasn’t moving at all.

Or rather, it was moving so slowly he couldn’t see it.

And Pablo watched all this unfold.

I’m… perfectly fine.

In a sea of chaos, Pablo was the only one unscathed.

As he casually watched four hundred people struggle under the sacred scripture’s effects, Louis’s message arrived:

Pablo’s face lit up at Louis’s question.

He quietly raised his war hammer.

The fatigue from the pursuit had taken its toll, but for an earth attribute warrior with steel-like stamina, it wasn’t much trouble.

Thud-thud-thud.

Pablo burst out laughing as he strode towards the scattered enemies.

“Ha-ha-ha! Thirty minutes? I’ll end this in fifteen!”