I Got Reincarnated Into a Game I Was a Top-Ranker in and I Became the Leader of a Villain Group That Will Destroy This Shitty Country - 103

Chapter 103: A Meteorite

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“…”

“Kai-sama, what should we do now?’

“…Well…”

Nia hadn’t returned yet. Neither Chloe, Brien, or Alwyn. If things were proceeding according to our original plan, the four of them should’ve arrived here by now. We were deep in the forest, quite far from the bustling streets of the capital. A head-on fight would put us at a numerical disadvantage, and more importantly, we need to safe our strength to face the Guide. And yet, all four of them hadn’t returned yet. It could only mean two things. Either they had encountered Kaltz or they came across the Guide. I knew there was no way Nia and the others could be defeated by common soldiers, but I couldn’t help but to feel worried about them since they were getting late.

“…You all stay here. I will go to check on the situation.”

“But, Kai-sama…!”

“I will fire an explosion spell into the sky if I see a troublesome enemy. When you see my signal, run away immediately. That means the enemy is not something you guys can defeat. I don’t want people to die in vain.”

“…Yes, Sir!”

I nodded at the leader of the Resistance before I stood up to leave the forest. But then…

“Huh?”

I could see the telltale figure of the soldiers who had been stationed with Nia and the others. The soldiers entered the forest and took up their positions. Kiriel, the leader of the group, came to me. She knelt before me. 

“Kai-sama! The hero, Kaltz, has appeared! All four of them, including Nia-sama, are currently engaged in battle against the hero!”

“I see… Kaltz, huh… Even with Nia in the fray, it’d be difficult for them to finish him off quickly. How annoying.”

“We’ve returned with our lives under the orders of Alwyn-sama and Brien-sama, but at this rate…!”

“Oh, no. They should be fine.”

“Huh…?”

Raising my index finger, I pointed towards the distance. Kiriel turned around to see at the direction I was pointing at and she widened her eyes in surprise. There was a girl floating in the air, accompanied by the former members of the hero’s party coming our way. Behind them, there was a large number of soldiers chasing after them. The sheer amount of the soldiers created a huge cloud of dust. The ground seemed to be trembling under their march. 

“That’s…!”

“They’re a bit behind schedule, but everything is going according to our plan. Kiriel, get into position.”

“Yes, Sir!”

With the sound of leaves crunching beneath her feet, Kiriel moved to her predesignated spot. I stood at the entrance of the forest, spreading my arms wide.

“Welcome back, everyone~”

“How can you be so carefree?! Look! Look behind us!”

The moment Brien saw me greeting them nonchalantly, she immediately cursed at me. Even Alwyn sighed deeply. She seemed to be so exhausted. Contrary to them, Chloe and Nia looked relatively calm as they gave me their report.

“Kaltz is dead. Nia made sure of it. The holy sword has turned to dust too.”

“…I see. By the way, did my curse activate properly?”

“Yes. The necromancy worked perfectly.”

Hearing Nia’s confirmation, I let out a sigh of relief. I had thought the holy sword to be suspicious when the holy sword abandoned Kaltz, so I infused it with a necromancy curse just to be safe. Fortunately, the curse worked perfectly in our favor. 

“So all that’s left is that army and.. The Guide, huh?”

I could see arrays of soldiers with glowing red eyes from the distance. The Crown Prince’s mind control was still in effect. Licking my lips, I ordered everyone to enter the forest. Their movements were far too predictable, which made it easy for us to push them into a trap. More importantly, to reach the city where the citizens lived, the soldiers needed to get through the forest first. One of our strategies was to cast long-range magic from within the forest to reduce the enemy’s numbers before engaging in close distance fight with them. 

“From here on out, all of you are free to go wild, but please do it as efficiently as possible.”

“Okay.”

After giving out my order, I gathered my magic power in my palm. Now that Kaltz had died, we didn’t need to worry about any strong enemy except the Crown Prince and the Guide. Ideally speaking, I wanted to slaughter the imperial soldiers as quickly as possible so we could get on with our final battle against the Guide. At least, that was the perfect scenario I had in mind.

The enemy commander, Goering, was chasing after us fiercely on horseback. The moment he entered our range, Brien readied her arrow. But then, something unexpected happened.

“Charge! Charge!! Chaaa—!”

Goering, who was shouting vigorously, like he wanted to devour everything in his path, suddenly lost consciousness and fell from his horse. 

“Wha-?!”

And it wasn’t just Goering. The other nobles on the horseback and the hundreds… No. The thousands of soldiers following behind also fell to the ground at the same time. It was as if they had been struck by some sort of mass hypnosis. All of them fell in unison without uttering any word.

“…Huh?”

“Wha-What’s going on?! Wai-?!”

“…”

Naturally, everyone on our side was confused at the sudden turn of events. Everyone had been expecting to engage in a fierce battle, but the enemy suddenly fell to the ground on their own just before they reached us. I quickly activated magic vision to check the flow of magic among the enemy soldiers. There was no sign of that dark purple energy… Which meant… The mind manipulation had been undone?

“…Kai, this is…”

“Yeah.”

There was only reason why the mental manipulation suddenly came undone. The death of the caster. In other words, the Crown Prince had died. But why…? Why all of a sudden…? Maybe his magic went berserk? Or maybe he had gotten so weak to the point he couldn’t maintain the mind manipulation anymore? But why now?

“Ugh… Uuugh… Wha—?! Where am I!?”

“Wha—What is this!? I was supposed to be sound asleep in the dorm…!”

“This is… A-Adolf-sama!! Where are you, Adolf-sama!?”

Now that their consciousness had returned, the imperial soldiers descended into chaos of confusion. Even their commander, Goering, had no idea why they were here either. 

“Kai-sama, what should we do…?”

Kiriel, the leader of the Resistance’s army, asked me. I simply stared at the enemy. The most plausible answer would be to kill the imperial soldiers. Most of them had their fair share of horrendous deeds. They had contributed greatly to the royal family’s vile plans. Killing them wouldn’t do us any harm.

“Let’s stick to the plan. But, there’s a chance they might leave this area, so everyone should be ready to get out of the forest at any moment—”

“Kai-san!!”

I was giving out instructions when a startled cry came from Alwyn. Her eyes were wide open as she pointed upwards. I looked in the direction she indicated—above. In contrast to the bloody battlefield, there should be the clear blue sky above, but… The blue sky was nowhere to be seen.

“…Huh?”

Instead, there was a meteor. A massive meteor. A dark purple mass, hurling toward the enemy at an incredible speed. The imperial soldiers, who had just regained their consciousness, could only stare in shock at the sight. Instinctively, I immediately threw my arms wide and rushed forward.

“Alwyn, Nia, shield!!!!!!”

“Huh…? Y-yes!!”

“Got it!!”

The meteor showed no sign of slowing down. We quickly cast defensive magic enveloping the entire forest, where our comrades were. Dome-shaped shield covered our comrades. 

“Huh…? A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!!”

Right after that, a series of agonizing screams echoed through the air. An unbelievable earthquake and deafening roar shook the entire world.

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