Chapter 581 – The True Identity of the Mysterious Army

With their general dead, the monster army and the mysterious elite unit controlling it lost any remaining chance of victory. The rear guard was scattered by the ten surviving Rock-series puppets and Black-Gold Wings.

Their purpose had been to cover the human army’s retreat. Once that became impossible, the survivors lost the will to continue fighting and fled into the darkness.

The battle had effectively been decided, so it might have been reasonable to let them escape.

Tauro didn’t stop the Rock series from pursuing them.

A force centered on Olog-Hai and Bloodsucking Wolves would remain a serious threat if allowed to withdraw intact. He wanted to eliminate as many as possible while he still had the chance.

Tauro entrusted the pursuit to Seth, the boy-shaped autonomous-thinking puppet.

Meanwhile, [Random Steal (Weak)] had activated after Tauro killed the general, and he was examining the ability he had obtained.

“…Is this the technique he used?”

It appeared to be the sword technique the general had used to destroy one of the Rock-series puppets with a single blow.

According to the Voice of the World that had sounded in Tauro’s mind immediately after the general’s death, the technique was called [Holy Light Wave Sword], a special technique exclusive to the rare [Holy Knight] class.

In other words, the defeated general had possessed an exceptional class comparable in rarity to [Hero] or [Saint]. Because [Holy Light Wave Sword] was an exclusive technique, however, Tauro didn’t yet know whether he could use it without being a [Holy Knight].

“What’s wrong? Are you and Pella alright?”

After using magic to clear away the monsters nearby, Aeris hurried over to Tauro.

“Oh, Aeris. I’m fine. Pella saved me again.”

Tauro praised Pella, which bounced energetically on his shoulder as though proudly showing how healthy it was.

“I wonder how many we actually defeated. It feels like an enormous number…”

Tauro looked across the mountain path, the surrounding forest, and the open ground, all of which were littered with corpses.

There weren’t merely hundreds of bodies.

Well over a thousand monsters, mainly Olog-Hai and Bloodsucking Wolves, lay dead around them.

They couldn’t simply leave all of those corpses where they were, so Tauro began storing the ones nearby in [Magic Storage].

Seth was still directing the Rock series through the mountains in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, which meant many more corpses would be scattered over a vast area. Tauro couldn’t possibly recover every one.

Even so, Seth’s arrival had been a tremendous help.

After collecting the Rainbow Grass for the herb-gathering quest, Seth had sensed through his link with Tauro that something was wrong and hurried toward the battlefield.

Because Seth and Tauro could share thoughts and information, the autonomous puppet had been able to judge the situation quickly.

Thanks to Seth, the losses among the Rock series had stopped at four destroyed units, and the pursuit was proceeding efficiently.

The mysterious army was almost certainly connected to the Northern Empire.

Tauro hoped that after being defeated this badly, the enemy would hesitate before attempting anything similar again.

The scale and secrecy of the operation also suggested a larger objective. Tauro suspected that the monster army might have been intended to enter the Kingdom of Sart and cause widespread chaos.

If that happened, the Empire’s regular forces could perhaps cross the border afterward under some convenient pretext—claiming, for example, that they had come to help subjugate the monsters.

Tauro didn’t know the full scope of the Imperial plan, and this remained only his speculation.

Even so, assembling and moving more than three thousand monsters was no minor undertaking. If this force had been an important part of a broader operation, destroying it here might have disrupted the entire plan.

“This was really dangerous…” Aeris murmured, gently taking Tauro’s hand.

“Yeah. They were strong enough to destroy four of the Rock series. Just imagining what would have happened if a force like this had entered the kingdom is terrifying.”

Tauro squeezed her hand in return.

“But I’m really glad you’re safe. That commander you fought… he wasn’t normal, was he?”

Aeris had clearly understood how powerful Tauro’s opponent had been.

“Yeah. Everyone called him ‘General,’ so he may have been someone important in the Empire. There’s nothing on his equipment that identifies him, though… Wait. Maybe [True Eye] can tell me something from the body.”

Tauro took the general’s corpse out of [Magic Storage] and activated [True Eye].

At that exact moment—

As though the appraisal itself had triggered something, the corpse burst into flames.

This was no ordinary fire.

Bluish-white flames of extraordinary heat consumed the body so quickly that Aeris barely had time to react. By the time she tried to extinguish them with water magic, almost nothing remained but ash.

“…So he was someone whose identity absolutely couldn’t be allowed to become known. But I saw part of the appraisal for an instant. His name was General Barbatos, one of the Four Heavenly Generals of the Empire. With the body gone, though, we have no physical proof.”

Tauro told Aeris the fragment of information [True Eye] had managed to reveal.

“…What!? General Barbatos!?”

Aeris clearly recognized the name.

“You know him?”

“Of course! General Barbatos is said to be one of the strongest swordsmen in the Empire, and his ability as a commander is first-rate too. He’s a veteran general famous for making excellent use of terrain in battle. Even I’ve heard of him, so people in this northern region, right beside the Imperial border, would know much more!”

Aeris spoke rapidly in astonishment.

“…That explains why he was so strong. Not many people could destroy one of the Rock series.”

Tauro nodded, finally understanding just how exceptional his opponent had been.

“What are you talking about? You’re one of the people who can do exactly that,” Aeris replied in exasperation.

She stared at Tauro—the person who had just defeated General Barbatos in single combat and who had previously destroyed two of the original Guardian Stone Golems on which the Rock series was based.