The Conscript Wants to Be Discharged!

As Eliza’s magic erupted, a massive vortex of flames appeared in the center of the rebel forces.

The pillar of flame, rising with ferocious might and swallowing nearby humans, used them as fuel to grow even larger. The enemies dared not approach, but this was only true as long as Eliza herself continued to supply magical power.

‘Ugh, I’m at my limit now.’

The family’s secret magic, known as the Red Star Pillar, would continue to rise with the explosion and increase its power as long as the caster continuously supplied magical power. However, as it used surrounding objects as fuel to increase its own power, it demanded more and more magical power from the caster over time, making it impossible to maintain for long periods.

The rebel mages guarding the center were suppressing her magic with continuous dispels and defensive spells, and she was using more magic to escape the range of her own spell. Now, the bottom of her vessel containing magical power was becoming visible.

“Just a little, just a little more!”

The allies hadn’t completely escaped the enemy lines yet. The moment her magic ended, human weapons like the Aura Knight who had tormented Yujin would surely chase after them. So Eliza couldn’t stop the magic until the very limit of her capacity.

However, not everything goes as planned, and due to the flame pillar growing too large, her limit approached rapidly. As the flame pillar disappeared along with the magic that had allowed her to move quickly as if sliding on the ground, Eliza began to roll on the ground at the same speed she had been sliding.

“Kyaa!”

After rolling on the dirt ground several times and leaving a long mark, she finally stopped and raised her head with difficulty.

“The enemies… have started to move.”

The scene that met her red eyes, opened with effort, was of cavalry waiting on the left flank raising dust clouds as they charged towards her.

Although her magic hadn’t inflicted significant damage to the enemy center, it had created an empty space by burning many soldiers within its range, including the elite troops at the rear. The enemy cavalry was now charging through this gap. Realizing that the rebel leadership, judging them to be a significant threat, planned to completely eliminate them using cavalry before withdrawing their forces, Eliza crawled forward on shaking arms and legs.

She had flown quite far riding the storm created by the explosion. Calculating that although the enemy’s movement was fast, the support from allied mages would be faster, she continued crawling forward without stopping. Eventually, someone ran to her and picked her up, or more accurately, piggybacked her.

“Are you alright, Lady Eliza?”

“…Yujin.”

Amidst the noise of enemy cavalry hooves shaking the earth as they tried to catch up, and the sound of family mages’ incantations as they fired magic to hold off the cavalry and protect her, the voice of the man carrying her echoed clearly in her ears.

“Thank you, Yujin.”

He always came to her in difficult moments, always the man who saved her when she was struggling.

‘Yujin, I can trust and rely on you, can’t I?’

Eliza, at her limit due to magical power depletion, entrusted her body to the man she trusted most and let go of the consciousness she had been barely maintaining.

He would surely save her.

With the explosion of magic and the ensuing tremendous gust, soldiers retreating towards the 2nd Unit’s position were knocked down.

‘Insane, to think Lady Eliza’s single magic attack has this much power.’

For a moment, I forgot about retreating and watched the sight of the flame pillar growing by using surrounding soldiers as fuel.

Even modern explosive weapons would require enormous capital to produce such power. I was once again reminded of how tactically threatening mages are as beings who store unknown energy from the air in their biological fuel tanks and use it when needed.

“To think us muggles fight among such monsters.”

The Aura Knight who had toyed with me earlier, Eliza’s magic—in a battlefield teeming with walking fantasy-version tactical nukes, we muggle soldiers are driven for the price of 60 loaves of bread a month. I seriously wondered if our salary was too low, but quickly discarded such unhelpful thoughts and tended to my fallen subordinates.

“Hey! Get up quickly and run! If you don’t want to die, run like your life depends on it!”

As a commander leading the Hundred-man Unit, I struggled to save as many subordinates as possible.

‘My limbs are in tatters, but it’s not impossible to move.’

The terrible impact had shocked and torn muscles, but not to the point of immobility. My abdomen, hit by the Aura Knight, made breathing a bit difficult, but I could walk. Judging by the fact that I wasn’t coughing up blood, my ribs weren’t broken or fractured.

As I was urging my subordinates to get up and retreat quickly, I saw the mages suddenly running in one direction. I turned my head to where they were heading and saw Eliza, who had been sliding along the ground using wind magic, collapse as the flame pillar disappeared.

“Miss!”

“Damn it! Protect the young lady!”

Behind Eliza, who had stopped leaving a long mark on the ground, I could see the rebel cavalry raising dust clouds as they approached. On the flank, I saw the frontline infantry moving to surround our retreating 1st and 2nd Units.

“Shit! Those bastards are trying to surround us!”

Seeing the sluggish mages running forward while chanting attack spells, I shouted as I ran towards Eliza.

“I’ll take care of Lady Eliza! Please stop the cavalry!!”

“Hu-Hundred-man Captain!”

“Alright! Hurry and save the young lady!”

We desperately needed the mages’ help to retreat safely. Before we were surrounded on both sides by the cavalry waiting on the left flank and the infantry turning back from the front line, we needed to save Eliza, stop the approaching cavalry, and enter the forest. The mages were moving too slowly, so I pushed past them to save Eliza myself.

“Are you alright, Lady Eliza?”

“…Yujin.”

As I approached Eliza breathlessly, she called my name in a voice that seemed about to fade, having crawled forward despite her physical limits in order to survive.

“Don’t worry, Lady Eliza! I’ll definitely save you.”

As I lifted her limp body onto my shoulder and wrapped my arms around her limbs to stand up, I heard Eliza’s voice whispering thanks in my ear.

Amidst the roar of explosions as various magic spells flew over my head and hit the pursuing cavalry, I ran and ran with the sole thought of saving her.

Brought to the battlefield at the young age of just sixteen, she was too young to die here. I had called her a monster when I saw the magic she used, but in the end, the woman using that magic was still just an eighteen-year-old girl in her prime.

She cried in hiding for those who followed her, separated from family who could support her in difficult times, relying on a commoner like me—she was a delicate girl. No matter how cruel and heartless the battlefield was, I wasn’t broken enough to watch this flower-like woman die coldly on the dirt ground after seeing her cry and laugh for two years.

“Damn it! Yujin, hurry up!!”

“Hundred-man Captain, please hurry!”

“Run! Faster!”

I could hear the voices of Samuel from the 2nd Unit and my subordinates as they faced off against the rebel infantry trying to surround us.

My breath was coming in gasps, my limbs were screaming, and I felt blood flowing back in my injured insides. Magic was exploding in the sky and arrows were flying, but with the help of the mages trying to protect Eliza, she and I were able to safely join up with the 2nd Unit. We quickly hid in the forest, evading the pursuing rebel infantry.

“Huff! Huff! Cough cough!”

After handing Eliza over to another soldier, I collapsed on the ground and coughed up blood.

It was a minor internal injury, but running so intensely seemed to have reopened the internal wound, causing bleeding. I took out the potion I had hidden in my chest.

‘Th-thankfully it didn’t break.’

The potion that miraculously hadn’t broken even during the Aura Knight’s attack—I quickly unsealed the opening and poured it into my mouth. I judged that I had to consume it orally since the most significant injury was internal bleeding.

As the shimmering red potion flowed down my throat and began to be absorbed by my body, the change was truly dramatic.

After feeling an itch in my chest for a moment, pain that felt like it was twisting my organs began to overwhelm me. I could feel the internal wounds regenerating in real-time, and I twisted my body and let out a suppressed scream from the indescribable pain and agony.

“Ugh, uuuugh!!”

The surrounding soldiers and mages were startled by the sight of me suddenly pouring something into my mouth and writhing in pain. After a while, as the pain subsided, I staggered to my feet.

“Yujin, are you alright?”

“Yeah… I think I’m okay now.”

Having painfully understood why Eliza had said not to consume it orally unless absolutely necessary, I answered Samuel’s worried question while staggering and looking for a weapon.

“Someone, give me a usable weapon if you have one.”

If I had left the internal injury as it was, I might have died from internal bleeding, so I drank the potion in the urgent situation. But even though we had escaped into the forest, we had only stopped the cavalry’s pursuit; we weren’t completely safe yet.

I tightly gripped the mace handed to me by a soldier and glared at the enemies pushing through the dense forest.

Whether the potion had an effect proportional to its painfulness, although I hadn’t recovered physically, I had recovered enough to move without hindrance. I raised the mace, watching the rebel infantry that continued to pursue us.

“Damn them, shouldn’t they retreat after taking this much damage?”

“The main force is probably retreating. They see us as conscripted soldiers, so we’re probably being used as disposable pawns.”

The cavalry had taken damage, and most of the elite troops guarding the rear had been killed. The leadership commanding the troops had been attacked. If they had any brains, they would know that our main force stationed at Sordan Fortress would be moving in response to our attack. To secure their safe retreat, they were using several infantry units as bait to prevent our scout unit from interfering with their withdrawal.

And the enemies, unaware that they had been abandoned as bait, charged at us. I crushed the heads of enemies coming around trees with my mace.

Swish!

Thud! Thud!

Dodging a spear thrust aimed at my face, I swung the mace and smashed in the head of the enemy who had thrust the spear. Leaping over the falling, bleeding enemy, I fed a large, thick iron bar to the face of another enemy about to swing his sword at an ally.

“Gack!”

The enemy’s face crumpled as it was hit directly by the mace, his teeth scattering. I grabbed an incoming spear thrust from the front, pulled it, and kicked the rebel’s abdomen as he came along with the spear, knocking him down. He met his end, stabbed by a subordinate’s sword nearby.

Swinging, dodging, hitting, crushing.

Just as I was truly reaching my physical limit in this endless melee, a trumpet sound rang out from outside the forest.

Buuuu, buuuuung!

Traitors following the rebel Baudouin, throw down your weapons and surrender!

You are surrounded, and if you surrender, you will live. If you continue meaningless resistance, you will not escape death!

It was the voice of the main force led by Defense Captain Franz Beringer, having defeated the rebel forces and surrounded the forest, now urging surrender.

“…I-I surrender.”

“We’ll throw down our weapons, so don’t attack.”

The rebel infantry, abandoned as bait, began throwing their weapons to the ground one by one and raising their hands high.

“Phew~ It’s finally over.”

“Hey! Don’t slack off, disarm the surrendered ones and take their weapons!”

“Any bastards faking surrender will have their heads cracked by my mace! Everyone, put your weapons down!”

Only after our allies entered the forest and completely bound the surrendered enemies could we finally sit down on the ground for a moment’s rest.

‘I’m really about to die.’

It truly was an exhausting and difficult battle.