I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

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Swoosh, first was the left foot, swoosh, the second was a spinning right foot in mid-air. The third strike came down with a longsword aiming for the top of the robe. The Lich Lord was already in a dead state, not a single drop of blood oozing out, but for an ordinary human, this series of slashes would have turned their body into a butcher’s pile of meat.

Margaret imbued each of her strikes with her own magical power, so even for the Lich, every deep wound felt intensely painful and bitter. As the enraged Lich charged forward, letting out a scream like a dying cat, Rose stepped in front and swung her sword to smash the demon’s skull.

A dull thud echoed as if a huge club had struck bone, sending the Lich’s body leaning heavily to one side.

The coordination between Rose and Margaret was as seamless as could be. The moment Rose crouched down, Margaret stepped onto her shoulder and jumped up, this time executing a heavy slash against the Lich’s body.

The Lich’s robe was torn vertically at the same moment a dagger’s blade deeply penetrated the shoulder, nearly shredding the muscle to bits.

The Lich screamed in agony, clutching its own arm, but Margaret, not wanting to hear that scream, swung her longsword horizontally, severing the enemy’s vocal cords.

Thanks to black magic and necromancy, the Lich’s life had been prolonged, but at this moment, it felt like a clear curse. Unable to scream properly, the staggering Lich displayed its will to survive by opening a black mana shield, desperately trying to endure.

At that moment, Walter, who had been tapping the Holy Sword, spoke cheerfully.

“Ah, the light has returned! But if I use it once, it’ll go out again.”

“Then save your divine power, Walter Hellhound. This one won’t be passed on to you while it’s barely alive.”

Margaret leapt towards the Lich’s mana shield, saying this. Moments before, Walter had taken off his glasses and tilted his head as if calculating the time, giving a signal that he would do so.

It felt like the Elven Princess was determined to fight properly against this Lich Lord.

Margaret’s attack, proactively utilizing kick strikes, became even more fluid and extravagant. First, she lightly lowered her body and used a low kick to rip the Lich’s robe, and as she sprung back like a spring, she stabbed the dagger she was holding into the enemy’s mana shield.

Though the dagger contained her own magical power, it was insufficient to break the Lich Lord’s shield. The dagger lodged into the black shield created in mid-air, appearing as if it was floating in space.

After jumping high into the air, Margaret used the handle of the dagger she had lodged into the mana shield as a springboard to perform a mid-air rotation and executed a double jump.

From a height far above the Lich Lord’s eyeline, Margaret’s threatening dual-kick struck down. Her right foot aimed precisely at the Lich’s right eye, exploiting the gap in the shield that had to move fluidly to deflect the dagger.

Thwack! With a disgusting sound, the blade that had been embedded in the Elf’s foot pierced into the enemy’s eye. Using her right foot as a pivot, Margaret spun like a compass, drawing a semicircle while turning 180 degrees towards the ground.

Just avoiding having her head smashed against the ground, Margaret surrendered herself to the momentum, letting her kinetic energy propel her up to a 90-degree angle, perpendicular to the Lich’s body. Naturally, her pivoting foot swirled around, mixing the Lich’s eye as if stirring soup.

Seeing the Lich’s shattered arm from earlier days in front of her, she grasped it and, with it, wielded her longsword to slice through.

“Grrr… grrrr…”

Only a hollow moan escaped from the Lich’s throat. As a black magician who should have died at this age, they were now facing the moment of reckoning, getting pounded by their own arm in a rare experience.

Holding the Lich’s arm in one hand, the Fairy Lord stomped on the Lich’s skull and lewdly tied that arm to her bow, aiming at the Lich’s head.

Rather than delivering an actual blow, it felt more like a humiliating attack. After finishing her move of mockery, Margaret landed on the black obsidian floor. Walter cast a concerned glance towards her.

“That was a bit brutal, wasn’t it?”

“I… might have gotten a little too excited. Sorry about that.”

“No, why should I apologize? Bernard, let’s wrap this up.”

Bernard, who had quietly watched Margaret butcher the rotten flesh, stood up and tossed a hooked rope towards the Lich Lord.

Given the Lich Lord’s strength, it would normally have been easy for them to catch or fend off the attack, but with one arm severed, reduced to half a cripple beneath the carcass, even the simple hook rope could not be resisted.

Bernard skillfully pulled the rope as if it were a conveyor belt, dragging the Lich’s neck right in front of the Hero. The Hero, wanting to conserve power for potential future combat, stood still with his blade waiting for the Lich Lord’s head to pass into view.

With Bernard’s movements becoming increasingly rapid, like a psycho killer caught in strange execution tools, the Lich slowly began to foresee its demise.

A moment later, swoosh, a beam of light burst from the Holy Sword, and the beheading that the Lich Lord had long awaited was executed.

The end was miserable, but during the last autumn offensive of the Demon King’s Army, the Lich was one of the fearsome commanders who led the evil spirit army, causing headaches for the Empire.

“I’ll take the head. We should hurry and get out of here,” Bernard said, picking up the Lich Lord’s head without a moment’s pause. Though its complexion had originally been ghostly, now stripped of its robe and dignity, the head was difficult to distinguish from that of a common zombie.

“Right. The Lich spoke as if it wasn’t anticipating the arrival of reinforcements, but if it really was, then there’d be no reason to resist. Perhaps it had some hope that reinforcements would arrive.”

Margaret lightly wiped away the sweat trickling down her body and nodded. Although she had been the most relaxed with her superior stamina during the march, having exerted herself the most in both magic and combat for her subtly weakened human friends, her own stamina was far from intact.

Still keeping the dagger stuck in her boot, Margaret grasped her swords with both hands and slowly began to walk towards the fortress’s exit. The blood from the goblins and orcs she had slain clung to her like the aftermath of just slaughtering pigs. Rose stuck out her tongue in disapproval.

“Margaret, are you okay?”

“I’m a bit tired. But I can’t complain since I’m not the only one.”

“No, I mean… it’s just the four of us. Are you okay? Do you think you can adjust?”

Hearing this, Margaret looked down at Rose with an extremely troubled expression. Rose shrugged, as if she were asking if she had said something wrong.

“I didn’t join this gathering for fun. You all did too. It would be nice if fun and romance followed, but if not, we have to endure as we are. Surviving is the priority. Calculating comes next.”

“That doesn’t mean everything is fine.”

“Alright, I concede. I feel a bit empty. Is it time yet?”

Margaret forced a smile at Rose, who was persistently following her. Among the four, it was no secret that Margaret felt the absence of Jeongjae the most. Even Margaret herself, all but giving up, had acknowledged that.

The four did not return to the mountains but began moving along the fastest route to the Empire’s border as originally planned. The Hero’s party had confidence that they could finish a battle against just the Lich Lord without much difficulty, like an assassination.

Though infiltration was difficult, they had made considerable progress defeating enemies encountered at that stage. The enemy forces they could quickly gather around were limited to the hundreds of monsters patrolling the area.

However, several hours had passed since their existence was noticed, and from this point on, if they were to encounter the enemy, both the quantity and quality would be entirely different from the foes they had previously faced on the rocky mountains.

The Lich Lord was dead. But of course, since their survival was also part of the mission, it was crucial to cross through the enemy’s lines without engaging in any encounters going forward.

According to the calculations of the Hero’s party, the enemy was expected to mobilize a large-scale reinforcements and would initially head towards the Lich Lord’s fortress, thus by moving swiftly, they could hope to avoid the enemy’s forces.

The initial kilometer appeared to go smoothly. The first kilometer was fine.

Unexpected events always occurred, even under the guidance of the wise Hero.

“Isn’t that the Shadow Knight Legion?” Rose pointed to a mass of black shadows ahead. Margaret nodded tiredly.

“There’s no doubt about it; they’re Shadow Knights. Damn it. I didn’t consider the possibility that they could move quickly as an advance force.”

Looking at the timing, it had been impossible for the main force of the Demon King’s army to reach this point. However, if the shadows were dense and the Shadow Knight Legion was as determined as those knights, it wasn’t impossible for them to arrive at the battlefield right now.

They simply had not anticipated such a rapid deployment of the elite Shadow Knights in the critical areas.

“How many do you think there are, Margaret?” Walter asked, maintaining his calm demeanor. Margaret squinted and looked at the mass of shadows flitting about 250 meters ahead.

“Looks like thirty to one hundred.”

“Three thousand, then. Crazy. That’s one legion.”

Rose stuck out her tongue and shook her head. Given the distance, it was clear that the enemy had also spotted them. In an extreme crisis where evasion was not an option, the four, including the Hero, were utterly exhausted.

“I’ve heard that a trained human can run about 40 kilometers without difficulty, even while armed,” Walter said. Bernard sighed deeply, understanding what Walter was hinting at.

“That’s only if they’re well-rested! We’ve already run more than 70 kilometers today!”

“Oh, we’re not humans, Bernard.”

Walter smiled like he had lost his mind. But even so, there was nothing to be done. To return everyone home, they’d have to endure pain and pressure that was dozens of times worse than that of an average human.

“It’s the Hero and his friends, after all. I think we’ve half ascended to a divine level.”

“Stop beating around the bush. What are the instructions?”

The Shadow Knight Legion approached slowly, cautiously. The distance between them was now merely about 200 meters. If the enemies decided to charge, that short distance would close to zero in mere seconds.

“Flanking is meaningless. If we get caught from behind, that could be even more dangerous. So, we charge straight in and hit them hard enough that they need time to regroup. And then, we’ll break their formation and run straight until we reach the border, moving as fast as we can. Is that possible?”

“This is insane. Seriously. Margaret, can you take off my armor?”

Realizing that this mission couldn’t be accomplished while armored, Rose asked for Margaret’s help to remove her heavy armor piece by piece.

After stripping off the fancy plate armor, what Rose was left in was a thin silver chainmail that wrapped around her whole body to protect the weak points of the armor joints.

It looked like she was wearing chainmail, making her body’s outline fully visible, which was somewhat comical, but nobody wanted to point that out as the Shadow Knights approached within 100 meters.

“That’s the princess’s armor! Leave it as loot, you bastards!”

Rose blurted out some foul words, perhaps in embarrassment. Walter, who had been watching the front while holding up the Holy Sword, suddenly gave the order.

“Charge!”

With Walter’s command, Margaret, Walter, Rose, and Bernard began to run towards the front. The Shadow Knights mounted and prepared to retaliate, and it wouldn’t take long for both sides’ charges to collide.

The first clash. Margaret jumped high with both legs spread, simultaneously slicing the necks of two Shadow Horses and eliminating them both, clearing a path forward. Walter unleashed his conserved divine power, annihilating two Shadow Knights with a single blow.

Instead of focusing on eliminating the enemies, Bernard concentrated on dodging and leaping over them. Of course, should an opening appear, he would attack a Shadow Knight, but he didn’t possess the means to inflict lethal damage on these elite troops with sturdy defenses.

However, using magically imbued chains to bind the legs of four knights and take them down at once was still a meaningful achievement.

Rose gradually cleared a path by targeting the horses rather than the knights one by one. Initially sticking by Walter’s side, she slowly made her way to Margaret and engaged in joint attacks to slice through the shadows together.

Breath heaving and legs trembling, Rose somehow endured, receiving Margaret’s help to absorb attacks and keep going.

The four somehow broke through the mass of knights, escaping towards the borders of the Empire without further incident.

However, when they reached the border, their appearance resembled that of defeated soldiers, and the garrison guarding the border could hardly believe that the Empire’s heroes had successfully completed their mission, instead bursting into tears, thinking the Empire was doomed after their heroes’ fall.