The Overlord of Blood and Iron (WN)
chapter-208

Chapter 208: The Counterattack (1)

Translator: Leyy3

“You bitch!” The Rothschilds got up while swearing at her.

“You dare interrupt me....”

However, they could not finish their sentences.

Chak!

Arshelly approached the Rothschilds at an incredible speed, and slapped their cheeks with full strength. The Rothschilds did not even see her coming.

“Argh!”

They vomited blood and tumbled about.

“It won’t be pretty.”

“...”

“As my Father once told me, clubs work well for mad dogs!” Arshelly shouted pithily.

“F-Father?” Rothschild sensed something peculiar from Arshelly’s words.

From what he knew, Kang Chul-In’s daughter was barely even a kid, not to mention a beautiful grown-up lady.

And yet, Father?

Did she just grow up exponentially in just a few months?

“I will kill you...!”

Well, it didn’t matter.

Whether the beautiful lady in front of him was or was not Kang Chul-In’s daughter, it changed nothing.

What mattered more was that he was now enraged, and wanted to shred the girl into pieces.

Oooohng!

Powerful mana was imbued into the long swords of the three Rothschilds.

“I will just make you explode then!”

Three massive balls of energy were fired at Arshelly. Even in one glance, it appeared to be a dangerous attack.

However,

Paaanggg!!!

Arshelly summoned a half-transparent barrier, negating all of Rothschilds’ attacks. The energy balls disintegrated completely.

“N-No way!” The Rothschilds were stunned.

“How can you even use such high-class magic without any casting...!?”

They were bound to be surprised.

Even the highest-level magician had to cast his/her spell before using magic.

“Your clones are no match for me!”

“...!”

“These dolls that are made from wicked sorcery... I will destroy all of them!” Arshelly exclaimed and charged towards the Rothschilds.

Flash!

A blinding beam of rainbow shone.

Flap!

A pair of white, angel-like wings emerged from Arshelly’s back, boosting her speed.

In an instant, Arshelly’s sword sliced through the Rothschilds’ waists diagonally!

“Keu-akkkk!!!”

The three Rothschilds screamed simultaneously and fell onto the ground.

***

In a deep secret chamber in Esmeralda,

“Kuhuk!” The real Rothschild vomited out a ton of blood.

“Huk... Huk... Huuuuk...!” After repeated rounds of vomiting blood, he could hardly breathe.

The damage was enormous.

He did expect to lose two or three clones but to end up losing four whole clones was something he failed to see coming. Hence, It wasn’t surprising for him to be heavily affected.

[A penalty of a 60% downgrade to all abilities is given due to the destruction of clones. (Remaining clones: 0)]

[500P are lost due to weakening of the Overlord.]

[Overall ranking dropped from 11th to 44th place.]

If anything, the penalty was small.

Rothschild recalled how he suffered from a 70% downgrade penalty when he lost his first clone. In comparison, a 60% penalty for four lost clones was definitely decent.

However... That wasn’t even the most significant penalty.

[Clone production is unavailable for some time due to the simultaneous loss of many clones. (Cool time: 8,760 hours)]

An excruciatingly long cool time was given.

“O-One year?” Rothschild freaked out at the status screen.

In fact, he despaired.

“T-This can’t be! O-One year?! This is bullshit! No, No!” His cry of despair reverberated in the secret chamber.

“N-No! S-Solution, I have to find a solution!!!” Rothschild, half-insane, mumbled to himself.

The Absolute Return Scroll had already been used, and no clones were left. Rothschild only had his own body.

He no longer had any safety net to ensure his survival.

Thus, he became anxious and started to shudder.

“F-First, I have to abandon this place. What’s the time right now...?”

Rothschild was currently facing Albrecht Vilhelm after taking over the Esmeralda territory.

Vilhem was bound to notice Rothschild’s drop in rank when it updates at midnight. He would definitely lead an army to attack Rothschild.

That was not all.

“Kang Chul-In... If that bastard comes to get me...?”

If he lost to Vilhelm, he could still run away after forfeiting the Esmeralda territory. However, that was not the case for Kang Chul-In. That man would definitely be eager to murder Rothschild after his war.

Rothschild shuddered at this fearful thought.

Since his plan to attack the empty Laputa had failed, all he could do was to conceal his body for at least a year to ensure safety from Kang Chul-In.

If Kang Chul-In killed his main body, it was game over.

***

Swishhhh!

A crimson flame swallowed the entire area.

Hwaleuk, Hwaleuk!!!

A pillar of fire shot up.

Like a snake’s tongue, the flames quickly wrapped around the undead monsters.

Tadak, Tadak!

The burning undead monsters could not feel pain, but they could not stop their bodies from turning into soot.

Good!

Kang Chul-In, who was observing from far, was greatly satisfied at the firepower of these Flame Atlases. He was confident of victory.

At this rate, the third peak would soon belong to him as well.

However,

“W-What!”

“My god...!”

“Unbelievable...!” The frontline soldiers could not hide their shocked expressions.

“N-No way!” Drakan’s soldiers who were breathing dragon fire next to the Flame Atlases were also astonished. Something incredible was happening.

“Kelkelkelkel...”

“Keuh...!”

“We are... the immortal soldiers...! Even the flames...cannot stop us...!”

“For his Majesty Aleister...”

Shockingly, the undead monsters appeared unaffected by the enormous flame, even though they were clearly on fire.

“T-They don’t burn?” Drakan wondered what was going on.

Even a kid knew that undead monsters were weak to fire, but the enemy troops steadfastly charged forward, as if they were proving that fact obsolete.

Hwaleuk, Hwaleuk!!!

Meanwhile, the flames became stronger, but the undead monsters continued to increase their movement speed. It appeared almost as if the fire was making them stronger instead of burning them into a crisp.

“Mortals... Come to the underworld...”

“We are the immortal soldiers...”

“Long live the dead!” Underworld monsters charged at the Laputan soldiers, with their whole body on fire.

“Arghh!”

“W-What even...!”

“It’s hot... Hot!”

The front line of the Laputan army was engulfed in chaos.

The undead monsters of Aleister were now walking flamethrowers. Instead of being burnt to crisp, they were attacking using their burning bodies.

“Ah!”

“S-So hot!”

“Argghh!”

Screams could be heard everywhere.

There was no doubt that Laputa’s army was an excellent one, but what could the soldiers do against charging bodies of fire?

Even the slightest touch could cause massive burns. The soldiers had no choice but to back off.

“Oh?” Kang Chun-In seemed interested. Despite his failed plan, he did not lose his composure.

“You created those things? Seems like you’ve gone all out, Aleister.”

To be honest, he was surprised to some extent.

“Rather than to simply be annihilated by fire, why don’t we compose an army with fire-resistant skeletons?”

Kang Chul-In recalled his past conversation with Aleister.

It was when the two of them first formed an alliance after the third Overlord meetings.

“Skeletons may be resistant to fire, but their defense is...”

“That’s true.”

“Just 15 levels more and I can make an undead army with full fire resistance.”

“Are you saying it’s possible?”

“Even making fire-type skeletons may not be impossible.”

“Hmm... Is mass production possible then?”

“Well it is, but the problem lies in the cost, not the levels. I need firestones to make these skeletons, but as you know they cost....”

“...”

“Beggars like us can’t be choosers. Forget about the high-class units, let’s just stick to the regular ones. If they burn, they burn. Yikes!”

‘Igniter’.

That was the name for these fire-type undead monsters that a level 100 Necromancer could create using firestones.

It was too extravagant a unit for Aleister, who was not even level 70, to make.

“Rothschild probably sponsored the firestones... What about the levels? Did he break through some limit?” Kang Chul-In smirked.

Out of desperation, Aleister probably spent much effort to make the Igniters, to negate the critical counter to the undead monsters. He apparently managed to break through his limit in the process.

“Overlord Kang Chul-In! Today is the day we roast you in our immortal army’s hellfire!”

A voice of an undead rang across the peaks.

“Quidor.”

Kang Chul-In immediately identified the origin of the voice.

Quidor was a faithful servant of Aleister who achieved great feats during the Ragnarok in the past.

“Your Majesty!” Kwak Jung exclaimed anxiously, pointing at the back of the Igniter troop.

“Enemy reinforcements! Rough estimates show at least 5000! At this rate our army may suffer extreme damage....”

“No.” Kang Chul-In shook his head.

“Tell the men to move back slowly, but there is no retreat.”

“Your Majesty?”

What Kang Chul-In said subsequently was even more shocking.

“Discard the Flame Atlases.”

“T-Those expensive units....”

“We can retrieve them back soon, so why are you so surprised?”

“But Your Majesty, there are so many enemy soldiers and those burning Undeads....”

“Hold it there.” Kang Chul-In raised his hand and stopped Kwak Jung.

“Do not be rash.”

“Your Majesty?”

“In a situation like this, a commander without composure will cause his entire army to collapse.”

“...”

“The best move is to take advantage of our army’s composition. Our soldiers are fully capable of fighting against them.”

“Y-Your Majesty...!” Kwak Jung shivered.

What composure...!? How can he be so calm in these circumstances?

Kwak Jung could never understand how this man, Kang Chul-In, appeared to be so calm even in the midst of a crisis.

“I will show you.” Kang Chul-In told Kwak Jung, grabbed the loudspeaker and started commanding the army.

“Arkellon, to the frontlines!”

“Ah!” Kwak Jung came to a sudden realization.

Arkellon were water-type monsters that could sufficiently counter the fire-type Igniters. Kwak Jung failed to take his own army’s composition into account.

“Nilus, unleash the water-type attacks! Blizzard, Ice Bolt, anything is fine! Just spam everything!”

“Yes, your Majesty!”

Upon hearing the command, Nilus instructed his magic troop to bombard the enemy with water-type attacks.

“I-It worked! But the enemy’s firepower is still...”

“It’s true that this is not enough.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Kang Chul-In turned around to look at Kwak Jung.

“You finish it up.”

“...Your Majesty?”

“Since the enemy troops are using fire as their weapon, doesn’t it make sense to just extinguish it? Summon the rain and tarnish their morale.”

“H-Ha ha, your Majesty~! That’s a nice joke. How can I summon rain in this clear sky?”

“That.”

Kang Chul-In pointed at the White Rain Fan, an epic item that Kwak Jung had been holding just for show.

“No point wasting that expensive item.”

“...”

“Hurry.”

“Y-Your Majesty....”

Kwak Jung looked almost as if he wanted to cry.