The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (106)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

36 Leonhardt’s Territory (2)

The first thing that Iron heard after arriving on Leonhardt’s warp gate were loud explosions. 

Bang! Bang!

“They’re in the middle of a battle?”

Iron’s sight was still blocked by the lights that surrounded him in the warp gate so he could only confirm what was happening right away with his ears. 

Leonhardt territory’s warp gate was located deep inside the Lion Castle Fortress. However, he could hear the sound of the artillery firing nearby. This meant that the battle was happening somewhere near. In other words, the situation was far worse than what he initially thought. 

“Are you Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter?” 

“Yes.” 

 A knight approached Iron as soon as the light disappeared. 

“I’m sorry but I think we need to move right away… Will that be alright?” 

“It doesn’t matter. Where are the Northeast’s troops?” 

The knight immediately answered Iron’s question. 

“The entire Northeastern troops are currently located at the Lion’s Castle’s northern gate.” 

“Is there a battle going on in the northern gate too?” 

“That’s right.” 

The knight thought that Iron would immediately go straight to the northern gate but he did not do so. This was because the place that was in the most urgent situation right now was not  the northern gate. In fact, when he looked over the entirety of the Lion Castle Fortress from the warp gate located at the top of the fortress, he could see that the most intense battle was happening at the eastern gate. 

“Aren’t you going to focus on that area?” 

“Unfortunately, we can’t. The Leonhardt’s main forces are currently guarding the western gate. The Northeastern troops are guarding the northern gate. And the Northern troops are guarding the southern gate…” 

“That place must be being protected by the troops from the surrounding territory.” 

Iron frowned. He immediately grasped the situation. 

Although the forces of the Northern territories were superior to other territories’ forces, they could not be compared to the elite troops of the North and the Northeast or the Leonhardt’s troops. In addition, their numbers were only taken from place to place as they quickly conscripted soldiers to increase their numbers. 

“Are you going to support the eastern gate?” 

“Yes.” 

The knight nodded lightly at Iron’s question. Then, Iron spoke to the knight.  

“Let’s go together. We need to defend the eastern gate first and foremost.” 

Iron moved immediately after saying so while the knight followed behind him. 

“Where are the knight orders?” 

“They went to the Northern Forest with the family head.” 

“All three of the knight orders?” 

“That’s right. They heard a tip that the dark elves had appeared so he led all of the knight orders there.” 

Iron frowned when he heard the knight’s words. 

If that was the case, then the troops remaining in the Lion Castle Fortress were the Leonhardt’s general knights and the support troops as well as the troops stationed to guard the Lion Castle Fortress. 

“Crazy.” 

Iron’s frown deepened as he quickened his pace.

The knight also rushed after Iron. However, the difference between their stages was large so he had no choice but to get left behind.

Iron headed straight for the eastern gate after leaving the lagging knight behind.

He was quite surprised to see some familiar faces when he arrived there. It seemed like the main reason why the eastern gate was still able to hold out despite having a lot of holes was because of these young boys who were fighting fiercely against the monsters trying to invade the fortress.

“So, it’s the twins. Huh?” 

Iron grinned when he saw this scene from a distance. 

They might be crazy but the mana on their sword was fierce and strong. It was as if it was proving that they were skilled at this one thing. 

However, he saw someone more ferocious and rabid than the twins.

“Kaiden…” 

Kaiden, Leonhardt’s second child and the wildest of Family Head Lioner’s kids, was killing monsters by the wall.

He also saw a psychopath running straight ahead. And knowing the character of this boy, he was most likely going to break through these monsters. And as if it wanted to prove that he was a psychopath, the boy only stabbed straight through the monsters’ eyes. The boy was none other than Saeriden, Leonhardt’s third son.

“I don’t see Faulden and Aiden.” 

The sixth child, Faulden, and the youngest, Aiden, were nowhere to be seen. However, that wasn’t important.

He could see why the Lion Family Head decided that he could take the main force, the knight orders, of the Lion Castle Fortress and go to the Northern Forest. After all, these kids, who were just 16 and 17 years old and still young, were showing greater performances than the ordinary knights. 

Kaiden was killing the monsters with his ferocious claws. Saeriden was leaving sword marks that looked like someone mawed the monsters. And the twins were leaving deep scars in their opponents. This meant that each of them had reached the 4th Stage. In the twins’ case, they were still a bit wet behind the ears but the two of them were still definitely at the 4th Stage. These bastards kept on killing and leaving brutal scars on the monsters despite being on that stage.

“They’re all still crazy.” 

Iron pulled out his sword as he made that remark. The sword that accompanied him in his every battle and was completely tamed and suited to him glowed and gave off cold energy. 

The second and the third child were both at the beginning of the 4th Stage while the twins already climbed the 4th Stage. They were completely strong fighters but the amount of monsters were just too much that they still struggled.

In addition, the soldiers did not know how to properly support them. They were only conscripted soldiers so all they could do was stab meaninglessly and watch the flow of the battle. If that was the case then, it would have been better if they weren’t there.

As if to prove this, the twins kicked a conscripted soldier away as if they were annoyed. Although it was a bit radical, the act in and of itself was tantamount to saving the conscript’s life. 

The problem was that, even if the twins were strong, they still ran out of physical strength and stamina. After all, they lack experience in fighting against monsters that rushed in from all directions. Because of the gradually decreasing speed of the twins, a crisis was forced to come their way. 

“Fuck! This is because of you, bastards!” 

One of the twins spat out curses as he suffered some minor injuries from one of the orcs’ axes. Since the twin, who suffered from minor injuries, stepped back as he rained down abuse and curses, the other twin next to him was also affected and was forced to step back. Then, the monsters, who came in through the broken gate, were given leeway. They even began to press the twins’ camp.

On the battlefield, momentum matters. Once you got pushed back, you would be bound to be continuously pushed back. In this state, the twins had no choice but to be pushed back. 

At that moment, a ray of black light flashed and sliced off the neck of the orcs in front of the twins.

“Huh?” 

“Who?” 

Someone passed by the twins as they exclaimed in surprise. 

The person’s movements were just the basics of the basics. However, his movements were neater and sharper than anybody else and he was able to cut off the necks of the orcs in just a single blow. The man protected and defended the broken gate by swiftly blowing off the heads of the monsters with his simple and quick sword. 

They felt that this person’s back was familiar. However, his hair color and appearance while wearing a military combat uniform was very unfamiliar. Despite this strange feeling resonating deep within the twins’ heads, the person in front of them still continued to cut off the monsters with his ghostly skills as if he did not care about them at all. 

“He’s really good?” 

“Yeah.” 

That level of skill was quite rare even in the Lion Family. However, unlike the ferocious swordsmanship of the Lion Family, his swordsmanship was clean and neat and focused on the basics. Nevertheless, they still felt a momentum that no one could ignore.

Then, a huge creature approached from far. 

―Grooooowl!

The walls of the fortress began to shake from the loud roar. 

“O… ogre?” 

Kaiden laughed crazily when he heard the mumbles of one of the soldiers. 

“An ogre… interesting.” 

Saeriden grinned and followed Kaiden down the wall. 

“That’s mine.” 

That was the monster that was hailed as the Lord of the Mountains. 

These crazy bastards were so crazy about fighting that they felt no fear when they heard the word ogre as they rushed forward instead.

“What are you doing?! Follow me and act like some kind of tank.” 

Kaiden called out to the twins as he jumped down the wall. 

The twins quickly passed by the stranger and went beyond the broken gate. 

That monster was so large that it would be difficult to deal with only those who had just entered the 4th Stage or those still lingering in the 4th Stage. However, as the descendants of the Lion Family, they showed their eagerness and willingness to kill the monster at all cost instead of being afraid. They were so hungry for a fight that they would have fought against each other just to kill the monster if the difference between theirs and their opponent’s power was not that large. 

“They must be struggling but they’re still trying to act tough.” 

Iron said those words as he continued to advance forward by cutting down and killing the monsters that entered the gate. 

No matter how much of a genius they were, or how high their combat senses were at the 4th Stage, it would still be difficult for them to kill and fight against an ogre of that level. An ogre was a very powerful monster that could not be blocked at the 4th Stage. Even buying time for the others was a difficult feat against such an opponent for them.

The twins were having a hard time avoiding and dodging the ogre’s bat while Kaiden and Saeriden could only leave slight scratches on the ogre’s skin. If they continued at this rate, then, the direct descendants of the Lion Family would be reduced from seven to three. No, their eldest son had run away from home so there would only be two left if something happened to them here. 

“I don’t like those bastards but…” 

Even though Iron spoke of his dislike of them, he still cut down the monsters in front of him and came out of the castle fortress through the broken gate. There, he saw clearly the battle between the ogre and the direct descendants.

Even for Iron, who was at the 5th Stage, it would still be difficult for him to face it head on, what more for the direct descendants who were still at  the 4th Stage. The battle slowly leaned towards the ogre as the direct descendants started to get overwhelmed. They were also reaching the limit of the Lion Family Steps, the steps that they used to dodge the attacks of the ogre. If this continued on, the direct descendants would definitely die one by one.

“Even if you wanted to die, you should die by my hands.” 

Iron dug through the ground with his foot as he said so.

Iron jumped forward and tried to stab the ogre through its neck. But the ogre, with its tremendous reflexes, stepped back and avoided his attack. The ogre immediately stepped back when it realized Iron’s unusual attack. 

“What a pity.” 

Iron clicked his tongue in disappointment. 

The direct descendants all looked at Iron with a grimace but Iron just stared at them. They were truly crazy bastards who were willing to spill their blood just to have a wild battle. 

“If you know that you can’t do it, step back.” 

Kaiden choked up at Iron’s words.

“What did you say? You bastard, who the hell are you?” 

“Iron Carter.” 

“What?” 

Kaiden’s eyes widened when he heard Iron’s name. This was because his older brother, who ran away from home, was now standing in front of him. He couldn’t recognize him at first since his hair and eye color had changed and he matured but he knew that it was him because he heard his name from the family head. 

“You…” 

Iron frowned the moment Kaiden tried to speak informally to him. 

“If you know now then go back. You’re a disturbance.” 

“You bas…” 

“Kaiden.” 

Saeriden grabbed Kaiden’s shoulders. The psychopath Saeriden shook his head at him. He was admitting that they weren’t good enough to deal with the ogre. 

When Saeriden, someone who was crazier than him, stopped him, Kaiden had no choice but to step down while clicking his tongue and looking at the ogre.

He dealt with the ogre just now so he knew that the bastard wasn’t ordinary. 4th Stage knights could fight together and hunt young and inexperienced ogres but they would face obvious defeat against this ogre. No matter how wild they were in the Leonhardt’s family, they had to step back and retreat unless they wanted to become ghosts.

They were aware that they couldn’t handle the ogre but stepping back meant bruising the Leonhardt’s family’s honor. However, in the end, Kaiden and the rest of the direct descendants had to swallow their pride and step down. 

“You thought well.”

Iron immediately let his mana flow to his sword as soon as they stepped back. His sword turned into a dark blue color as it became a mana sword that carried the steel attribute. There was also a subtle yet freezing air surrounding his sword.

Crack! Crack!

The frost on Iron’s sword cracked as Iron focused on dealing with the ogre.

Was it because he had only been fighting at sea? Or was it because it was hard to find an ogre after the monster wave? Or maybe it was because this was his first time dealing with an ogre alone in this life? Anyway, there was a strange feeling hanging in the air. 

He thought of ways to cook the smart ogre that was trying to explore and probe his strength. 

“Hoo… ogre… it’s been a while so I feel a bit nervous.”

If he were still in the state he was in before he left for the East, he would have definitely felt burdened dealing with the ogre at his 5th Stage strength. However, Iron’s level had changed again in the East so the strange trembling in his body might not be because of fear or nervousness. 

“Shall we start with some beam of light?”

Iron made the first strike. He focused his mana on his eyes as he fired two beams of light towards the ogre. But the ogre reacted instantly. It crossed its arms and blocked off the beams of light. The ogre had characteristically thick skin so it was able to block Iron’s attack. However, deep wounds were still left on its forearms proving the fact that his attacks weren’t useless.

Feeling the stinging pain on its arms, the ogre felt a deep sense of crisis. The ogre roared as it brandished its club and rushed towards Iron.

“So, shall I hit you there?”

Iron dodged the ogre’s attacks as he targeted its weaknesses.

“Achilles’ tendon.”

Slash!

―Roaaaar!

“Next is the bones of the ankle.”

Slash!

“Then, the calf muscle, 30 cm to the left.”

Slash! 

Iron attacked the ogre’s legs while reciting the ogre’s weaknesses one by one.

The ogre roared in pain as it flailed wildly to try and attack Iron. However, Iron just dodged its club as he recited its weaknesses while slashing it with his black mana sword, a sword that could cut through the ogre’s thick skin.

―Groooowl!

Iron was smiling strangely as he watched the ogre screaming with tears in its voice. His smile made him look like a boy who had found an interesting toy.

‘This is fun.’

He did not expect that there would come a time when he would have fun fighting against an ogre. But it was currently happening in this life.

He did not pay attention to this before but when the battle began, every corner of the ogre’s body was shining green. The green light was revealing the ogre’s weaknesses to him in real time. And thanks to Iron’s achievement ‘Monster Scholar’, the ogre suffered and screamed with his every attack. Even his achievement ‘Jjambap doesn’t go anywhere’ was working in this fight. So, he dealt a fatal blow whenever he stabbed through the ogre’s weakness, making green blood spurt from its legs. 

“You’re not going to fall down this fast, right? You should play with me a bit more. Okay?”

Iron grinned as he said that to the ogre. His smile was so pure and innocent like a child whining for someone to play with him more. 

“Keep up and work a bit harder, ogre.”

***

QUIZ!

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A bag contains six (6) white and four (4) black balls. Two (2) balls are drawn at random. Find the probability that they are of the same color.

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