NOVEL NEXT Chapter 292
“Honestly, I don’t even need my powers, but they just won’t leave me alone.”
Complaining aside, Bernard Silverpoint was doing his job well. With his unique intuition and the help of magical tools, he successfully pinpointed the exact location where the Succubus Queen had landed and set up camp. This time, he genuinely considered refusing the task.
He was exhausted. This war had been waged solely for Walter, and with Walter’s death still fresh in his mind, continuously taking on difficult missions without even a moment to process the shock was unbearably harsh for Bernard, a mere street brawler who had seen some fame.
Yet, Bernard couldn’t openly voice such dissatisfaction. Rose, who had lost the love she was willing to dedicate her life to, remained unshaken, while their former comrades bravely endured Walter’s loss and pressed on with the war.
He had to accept that being strong in such a situation was expected. However, from Bernard’s perspective, it felt shameful to be the only one who had lost all motivation to fight, making him feel like a lesser man. He genuinely meant to write a book, but saying he wanted to escape the fight was a mere excuse.
When Jenis completely exposed his inner feelings and pleaded for him to take on the final mission, Bernard had no rebuttal and ultimately accepted the Great Sage’s words to embark on the perilous negotiation operation with the Dragon Lord.
After completing what was by far the scariest and most nerve-wracking mission, the hunter finally decided to retire. However, just then, a new hero called him, insisting it was ‘the real last one.’ Just as he was about to firmly decline and suggest they handle it themselves, the scene of Jenis Harker’s funeral flashed in his mind.
“Did she die because of me?”
Bernard murmured to himself as he recalled her.
In reality, Bernard and Walter had very different personalities. If it had been Walter, he would have been tormented nightly by the guilt of allowing Jenis’s death due to his carelessness. Fortunately, Bernard wasn’t that sensitive. He was already a seasoned pro who had been stained with blood long before. In an environment where he couldn’t afford to worry about such things, he grew up without a need for it.
Bernard understood that Jenis had brought her death upon herself. In fact, he had been performing a mission where being discovered was inevitable, and the Great Sage acknowledged that. The remarkable thing was that he hadn’t been caught until the very end; that itself was a significant achievement. In essence, the operation had been a business that Jenis had dived into, fully aware of potential death. Bernard’s mistake was minimal; the Succubus Queen had simply been too thorough.
Objectively, Bernard had no reason to feel guilty about her death. Nevertheless, being fundamentally a good person, he felt a slight debt towards the Great Sage for failing in everything they had planned.
Even though nobody blamed him, he felt a faint sense of responsibility.
Responding to Jeongjae’s contact, the hunter hesitated briefly before undertaking one last operation. He surrounded himself with concealment magic and pinpointed the Succubus Queen’s location to relay it to the Grand Mage.
“Seriously. Just as we expected, Elios himself has arrived.”
“In that case, we better deal with this as quickly as possible.”
Jeongjae and Margaret exchanged glances. Jeongjae pulled out Harriet’s Glasses from his arms and handed them to Margaret.
“Wearing these helps you see better, right?”
“You can easily see several kilometers away.”
“Then use this. It’s the only tool you have to assist your aim right now.”
Margaret accepted Jeongjae’s offer and placed the golden-framed glasses on her face. Jeongjae then spread out a rough map of the nearby area and took some time to consolidate Bernard’s reports with his own information.
The information from the map was vague. It had been created before the Audrich Empire lost most of its territory in the war, so there were no indications of military bases or demon races’ strongholds.
Bernard had sent in some scouting information, but since the premise of the mission was “must never be discovered by the enemy,” he couldn’t actively gather detailed intel. Even the carrier pigeon Jeongjae had sent along was utilized in a very cautious and reserved manner.
“If we go in person, the overwhelming energy might provoke the Succubus Queen.”
Jeongjae sighed and shook his head. Margaret licked her lips and replied.
“Exactly. That’s why we brought Bernard along.”
“That guy has really struggled. I wanted to let him rest for real this time.”
“Anyway, he won’t truly get to rest. Until everything is finished, he can’t just relax and lay back.”
It’s already been three days since Bernard reported from the front. The hunter had been sleepless for three days, doing his utmost to avoid being discovered by the enemy.
In fact, after learning that he had been spotted by the Succubus Queen at the last moment, the hunter developed a bit of an obsessive-compulsive disorder as well. Deep into the night, despite his fatigue, he often found himself dozing off for a quick nap; yet, realizing he had fallen asleep would pull him back to panic.
Then he would cautiously check the surroundings, confirming multiple times that there were no signs of nearby monsters having detected his presence before he could finally relax and keep watch. Although he told himself that his mistakes were unrelated to Jenis’s death, he was still the type of person whose heart and mind didn’t always agree.
“By the way, they’re approaching so cautiously. It’s as if they are aware of our presence.”
“They are incredibly suspicious. Both the Demon King and his mother. We need to exploit the flaws of the most suspicious beings in the world.”
“Where shall we ambush?”
“Let’s go here.”
Margaret pointed at the highest hill on the map. Jeongjae briefly confirmed the point Margaret suggested and nodded.
“Looks good. If the enemy advances from the west, that part will be rough. What’s our method of sniping? Bow? Or gun?”
“Considering precision, a gun would be stable, but I don’t want to make too much noise.”
“In that case, considering the power, let’s use arrows. Eramenia bows have a longer range and stronger power than Eramenia’s firearms.”
“But still…”
Margaret hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and slapping her cheeks.
“I can do this. I can’t continue living as someone with shaky hands.”
“I’ll cast magic on the arrows first.”
Jeongjae took an arrow from the quiver on Margaret’s thigh and cast a powerful reinforcement spell on the arrowhead.
“I won’t cast multiple spells. The more magic power you use, the less effective the ambush can be, and if one shot fails, there’s no point in hoping for multiple shots anyway. Is this okay?”
“That’s more than enough.”
“Great.”
There were indeed a lot of restrictions. They couldn’t just charge in recklessly like usual, and they couldn’t even lay down magic circles without worrying about the suspicious enemy scout possibly picking up on them and retreating. If time allowed, they could have set up large-scale concealment magic circles like those laid out by the Demon King in the Eramenia Gorge, but such magic circles required meticulous and perfect execution lest they leave traces and raise suspicion.
Margaret covered herself with the green robe that Jeongjae personally enchanted and slipped into the designated hiding spot. The Succubus Queen, who was unaware that the hero party was targeting her life, cautiously advanced toward the west at a snail’s pace.
“Report. How’s the central army moving?”
Even while on the move, the Succubus Queen continuously sent out spies to collect related information, keeping a close eye on the movements of the central forces.
If the central army noticed any unusual activity and made a move to hunt her down, her objective was to swiftly retreat to the port and cancel the operation.
The newly received information was no different from before.
“The enemy has mobilized about one hundred thousand infantry in the center and deployed cavalry on both flanks, getting ready to advance northward. The enemy legion cannot recklessly break formation. If they break formation at their current state of readiness, it would take months to recover.”
“Even so, it may not be difficult to mobilize cavalry. Keep monitoring and don’t let your guard down.”
“Yes, your highness.”
The Shadow Knight Order was inherently a legion skilled in concealment. Even the Succubus Queen, moving under such a knight order’s protection, was in a location that was very difficult to spot.
From atop the hill, Margaret quietly observed her target through Harriet’s Glasses. She instinctively sensed that the opportunity given for this mission was limited.
The squad surrounded the enemy commander tightly. While militarily not particularly competent, the cautious and thorough Succubus Queen repeatedly used her subordinates as shields to preserve her own life, escaping from overwhelming threats. Though she had her detestable side, this also meant she was skilled at self-preservation.
“If just a few of the fallen officers were still alive, I wouldn’t have to go through such a mission…”
Though she volunteered for the task, the Succubus Queen wasn’t at ease with this perilous ambush mission. Her paranoid mother pointed at one hill.
“I don’t like that hill.”
“What do you mean?”
One of the Shadow Knights asked, his head tilting in confusion as the Succubus Queen furrowed her brow.
“It’s the highest around here. Typically, ambushes hide in such locations. Our lord has often hidden ambushes on high ground to drive back the enemies. It’s fortunate we don’t sense any traces of concealment magic around there…”
Margaret perked her ears, watching as the Succubus Queen pointed in her direction. For a moment, she felt her heart drop, thinking that she had been discovered, but seeing that no troops were dispatched or that she wasn’t hiding herself suggested her presence had not been revealed.
“Still, it feels off. Surround me more closely. It’s high. Just perfectly high. I won’t be at ease until we’ve passed that hill.”
At that order, the black knights began surrounding the Succubus Queen tightly, providing thorough protection. Margaret quietly reached for her quiver, retrieving the enchanted arrow that Jeongjae had given her.
The enemy was cautious of that hill. Surely they wouldn’t be able to detect anything, right? They wouldn’t notice at all.
“I think I can see how you subdued that brat.”
Margaret once again felt the paranoia of the Succubus Queen and smacked her lips. Carefully, she nocked the arrow to her bowstring and pulled it back.
“But you will die here.”
A tiny gap opened up. Just a sliver. That small opening was enough. I could shoot the arrow through that tiny gap. My aim was precisely at Elios’s neck.
This was something Margaret could have achieved under normal circumstances. But at that moment, her hands started trembling more than ever.
“Calm down, calm down, calm down!”
The fairy lord whispered to herself in frustration.
“The opponent isn’t Violet. They’re much weaker, much more foolish, and much more careless. Why am I so scared? No, I’m not scared at all. There aren’t even soldiers to lose if I fail here!”
However, it merely revealed that even the wisest fairy lord was misinterpreting her own state.
Psychological trauma isn’t merely a matter of mental strength. It’s, quite literally, akin to physical trauma. Her brain, having sustained too great a shock, instinctively refused to grasp the bow. The trauma deeply etched in her mind couldn’t be simply overcome by consciously acknowledging the enemy’s weakness.
Margaret bit her tongue until tears welled up, focusing her entire mind. But the more she bit down, the more her hands shook.
If she didn’t shoot soon, the enemy would slip out of sight. If she missed this position, this chance would never come again.
If this assassination failed and she had to face the enemy head-on, things would become much more complicated and troublesome.
She couldn’t shoot, nor could she not shoot. If she did, one of those shadow knights would surely take the arrow and vanish, and the plan would go to waste. Not shooting would also not improve the situation. She considered switching to the rifle she had brought just in case, but unfortunately, the rifle had a much shorter range compared to a bow, and the Succubus Queen was moving at a distance beyond its effective range.
“How, how, just how…”