The Villain's Apocalypse-Chapter 32: Trial III

Chapter 32: Trial III

"I’m not underestimating you but, what can a single individual do against an entire kingdom, one filled with rich history and powerful weapons capable of annihilating an entire city?"

"What if I’ve something more powerful than them?" He countered, causing the king to assume the possibility.

"So? They will just fill the power gap with quantity."

"And what if even quantity can’t fill in the power gap?"

"Then they will change their tactics."

"And what if I leave them without a single viable tactic?"

"Stop." Gherald raised his hand, a puzzled expression marring his face. "I’m not good with the riddles, get to the point."

Uravis lifted his fingers and lightly tapped on the table, "I will break the will of the enemies." He smiled, continuing, "I will make them surrender so completely that the thought of retaliation won’t even cross their minds—not while I’m watching."

"Hmm..." King Gherald was lost in his thoughts, thinking about the words that escaped Uravis’s mouth.

"You know, sometimes I wonder how a man like you ended up with the title ’Roaming Sage."He muttered, looking at the smile on his face. That was the least friendly smile he had seen on his face.

"I was a genius before becoming a sage." He answered quite metaphorically.

"Forget it. How will you break their will?"

"I was planning on telling you before arriving here but,"

"But?"

"I will just show it to you rather than wasting time explaining it. " He extended his right hand, displaying the staff held in it to its full glory. The staff had a slick wooden handle with some carvings on it, and a shiny orb, attached perfectly to the wooden body, lay atop it.

"This is Astralis, the greatest creation of Bjorn." Uravis proudly introduced the staff as if it were a person.

"Bjorn? That petty artisan is still alive?" Gherald raised his brows, recalling a certain dwarven figure.

ahem

"This will help us." He answered, not explaining any further.

sigh

"I’ve had enough of your mind games." The king released a stressful sigh, massaging his head to alleviate the headache. "I will allow you to join the battle, just go and do your thing. If your plan worked, then you will be heralded as the Hero of the entire kingdom, if not, then let us meet in the afterlife."

Marking those words, the king shooed him away, taking a moment to rest and breathe.

Although his words were quite incomprehensible and confusing, Gherald had faith in him. ’All I can do is pray for you.’ He thought with a bitter smile on his face.

—

Cassian continued his march, sneaking around the enemies using his elemental skills. Most soldiers on the battlefield were mere mortals or, at best, star-rank warriors—none of whom posed a real threat to him.

The real challenge began when a captain entered the battlefield, his eyes burning with raw killing intent. Captains were mostly astral-rank individuals with an elementary mastery of their elements. They could mold their mana into various shapes and sizes, adding their element to increase its destrutivity further.

ting–!

A sword and a spear clashed with eachother sending a metallic noise echoing through the battlefield. The sword’s sharpness chipped away with each clash, fueled by the opponent’s mana-coated spear.

"A metal-element? Quite rare." Cassian commented, his eyes staring at the opponent warily. ’I better finish him fast.’ He thought, glancing at his sword.

Metal element users could reinforce their weapons, increasing both their strength and durability. Worse yet, their mana slowly corroded an opponent’s weapon, making prolonged combat a death sentence. Especially if the opponent had a metallic weapon, then they were in for a hell lot of trouble.

swish

He ducked down, narrowly dodging the incoming spear, and striked it with his shield, causing it to bounce back.

’Chance!’ Noticing the opponent’s lack of protection near his chest area, he swiftly spun his sword forward and launched a straight thrust.

The captain rotated his spear at a weird angle and managed to deflect his sword perfectly, instantly causing the sword to lose its sharpness.

’An astral rank human is quite different from a similar rank beast huh." He thought, recalling the countless monsters he’d slain along the way to reach this point.

"You leave me with no choice." Cassian immediately cast a light spell, illuminating the area with an intense blinding light.

The opponent’s vision got blinded as he struggled to cover his sight from the light. Cassian, not missing the chance, held the sword tightly and performed a sword art.

[Moonlight Radiance – First Form: Crescent Severance]

He spun his heels and swung the sword with all his might, casting a crescent-shaped light on the opponent’s neck.

crack–!

His sword broke apart after that slash but, it took the opponent’s head with it. A thud sound reached his ears, followed by the lifeless body dropping down on the floor.

haa

He took a moment to rest his body and drank some water from the bottle. That single attack demanded a lot more stamina, leaving him breathless for a few seconds.

"I guess handling an astral rank is my current limit, " he whispered, glancing at the headless corpse behind him. Although it might not have felt like much, had he approached him slowly, the result might have been different.

Cassian had given the opponent little time to react and ended the battle swiftly for one major reason–the mana reserve.

Astral rank individuals have much larger vessels to store their mana, compared to a star rank individual. They could also actively recover their mana by taking short breaks, unlike the latter, who need to be in complete rest position to recover.

"I’ve drawn too much attention with this little slaughter spree. I should try to be more lowkey now, especially since the main character of this arc hasn’t arrived yet." He slowed down his pace and took some cover near the piles of dead bodies, resting away from the enemies.

"I don’t even know which side I’m on." He shook his head, chuckling at the situation he found himself in.

His attire was vastly different from the soldiers running on the battlefield and he was quite lucky to spawn right here. If he were to enter some random cities or places with civilization, then he would be subjected to a lot of questions.

"Is this really an illusion or did I simply travel back in time?" He thought, confused by the sheer intensity behind the illusion. It was immaculate, almost unreal to imagine it as a mere illusion.

bang–!

A thunderous explosion ripped through the battlefield, jolting Cassian’s senses. An overwhelming pressure crashed down on him—pure, suffocating killing intent radiating from the heart of the battlefield.

"Crazy bastards." He muttered, sensing the thick killing intent that completely overwhelmed his mind, suffocating him from its sheer intensity. A nebula–no, a divine rank individual was just sent on the battlefield and he could guess where it was from.

"These Vrahans are truly lunatics."

Using a divine-rank individual on this battlefield was like suddenly using guns in a street fight. It was utterly vicious and downright unfair.

"Everything is fair in love and war they said–taking it quite personally." His eyes wandered around the Zherath soldiers, who had a despairing look all over their faces.

"It’s over." one soldier muttered, his voice carrying an immense weight on everyone’s heart. His sword slipped from numb fingers, dropping down on the ground with a silent thud.

The despair spread like wildfire–some soldiers collapsed to their knees, resignation in their eyes, Others stood rigid, fists clenched, burning with futile rage.

Meanwhile, Cassian hid behind a random tree trunk, watching it far away from the battlefield.

"The stage is set." He thought, recalling this particular scene from the novel.

Watching it live felt surreal—a completely new sensation than just reading through the lines.

"I guess my time has come too."