I Was Reincarnated as a Mob Noble, and I Swear I'll Protect the Villainess Who Got Married Off to Me No Matter What ~To Dodge Our Total Downfall, I Went All Out Training My Trash Skill [Super Recovery] Through Crazy Hard Work, and Before I Knew It, I Could Totally Wreck the Game Protagonist Who Condemned My Wife Easily - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Dalham Castle in Flames. Zenon’s Plan Takes Shape

“W-What the… no way, that’s impossible…!?”

The imperial soldiers just couldn’t wrap their heads around what was happening right in front of them.

“Drop your weapons and surrender right now! Otherwise the Schwarz Ritter—the kingdom’s proud elite knight order—is gonna slaughter every last one of you!”

The second I shouted that, Valeria’s Schwarz Ritter charged straight into the enemy’s royal guard.

According to our scouts, close to five thousand troops were stationed in this castle. But they’d relied way too heavily on those golem soldiers as their main defense, so outside of the royal guard, the rest of their troops were pretty low quality.
Take out the royal guard and there’d be no real threat left.

“A human… getting tossed around like a rag doll…!?”

Every time the Death Knights swung their swords, armored royal guards went flying.
Only about fifteen royal guards remained. We had eighty Schwarz Ritter. In this localized fight, we had the clear advantage in numbers. If we pressed them hard and fast, we could overwhelm them.

To keep the other soldiers from jumping in, the undead sorcerers—the Demi Liches—unleashed waves of fire magic all around, burning the imperial troops alive.

“Aaaah! It’s hot—fire on my body—aaaaaaah!?”

Soldiers whose clothes caught fire thrashed around wildly and rolled on the ground in agony.
The flames didn’t only target the troops. To ramp up the chaos even more, we also set fire to the huge piles of provisions stacked in the courtyard.

“Damn it! Put it out! Hurry—extinguish the fire!”

“It’s no use! The flames are too strong…!”

The fire even reached the stables, and the warhorses started screaming and rearing up in panic.

“You bastards…! This is for His Highness the Prince!”

One of the royal guards came charging at me, eyes blazing with rage.

They cast buff magic on themselves, massively boosting their strength and speed, then unleashed blindingly fast slashes.

This was the famous buff-magic combat style the imperial royal guard prided itself on.

They were probably thinking, “This guy’s not a combat-skill holder, so his physical stats are trash. If we crush him with super-enhanced bodies, we win.”

Totally wrong assumption.
Didn’t they get it after I punched them earlier?

I cut them down one after another with the very sword I’d taken from their master.

“Gah!?”

“No way—this brat… he’s stronger than us!?”

“His swordsmanship is insane!”

The royal guards who’d failed to protect the prince were doomed to execution anyway. They were way too rattled to coordinate properly.

Above all, thanks to repeatedly using 【Super Recovery】—to amp up my physical abilities over and over, I’d gotten dramatically stronger in a short time. So honestly? I didn’t feel like I could lose at all.

“Of course. Zenon’s the son of the Sword Saint. The man who even beat Gawain! Gawain—mow them down!”

At Valeria’s command, Gawain and the other Death Knights turned into blurs of wind and sliced through the royal guards one by one.

“The royal guard’s getting wiped out!? W-We can’t win anymore—!?”

The imperial soldiers started panicking hard.

“Don’t lose your heads—!!”

But right before they fell into total chaos, a man who looked like a high-ranking officer bellowed.

“Look at the enemy! No necromancer can keep that many undead going forever—the caster’s life force would run out! They’ll stop moving any second now!”

As expected from the Balzark Empire, where magic research thrives. Even their generals knew the weaknesses of 【Necromancer】 types.
Hope flickered back onto the faces of the imperial troops.

“Oh! Is that true, General Baldo!?”

W-Wait… General Baldo…?

I stared in shock at the man.
He was a rugged, huge guy who looked to be in his late thirties.
No mistake.

This was the powerful enemy from the game—General Baldo. One of the empire’s top five most celebrated generals, and one of their absolute strongest magic swordsmen.

He was the right-hand man and longtime guardian of the enemy’s supreme commander, First Imperial Princess Leticia. In the game he was supposed to be a late-game boss we fought much later.

I’d figured he’d be glued to Leticia’s side, but apparently he’d come to this key stronghold too…
We’d planned for unexpected developments, but this guy’s a real pain.

“I’ve already sent word through communication magic! Princess Leticia’s main force will be here soon!”

General Baldo’s voice rang out loud and clear.
The imperial main army had pushed deep into the frontier count territory and was locked in a standoff with Father’s forces.

But if they got urgent news that their vital supply base—Dalham Castle—was about to fall, they’d rush back in a panic.

If we didn’t finish this before they arrived, we’d lose.

“Listen up, brave soldiers! We are the lifeline of the imperial army! The empire’s victory and glory rest on our shoulders! Everyone—rise up!”

“U-Uoooooooh! General Baldo!”

“E-Empire—banzai!”

Thanks to General Baldo’s rousing speech, the imperial troops—who’d been on the verge of collapse—regained their discipline.
Impressive as hell.

Guess it’s time for us to play our trump card too.

“Valeria—can you do it!?”

“Of course. As long as you’re right here with me, I’m fine!”

Valeria gave a firm nod.
While I finished off the last of the royal guards, I shouted.

“Valeria can use 【Necromancer】 skills and magic without any limit! Because I keep restoring her life force with 【Miracle of Healing】!”

“…【Miracle of Healing】!?”

General Baldo sucked in a sharp breath.

“That’s right! The miracle power of a saintess! No matter how huge their army is, they can never kill me and Valeria! We have God’s blessing on our side!”

“No way…!”

General Baldo couldn’t just laugh that off as nonsense.

Because he’d just seen my injury—from getting pierced straight through by a golem soldier’s giant bolt—heal completely in an instant.
The other soldiers had witnessed the same thing, and just like I’d planned, a ripple of shock spread through the enemy ranks.

“Exactly! As long as Zenon and I are together, the Albion Kingdom will never lose!”

Valeria raised both hands high, and a massive magic circle spread out across the ground.

What crawled out of it were the undead versions of the frontier count army’s fallen soldiers. Easily more than two thousand of them.

“Th-These guys are…!?”

“The frontier count’s troops came back as monsters—!”

The imperial soldiers froze in terror.

The undead legion let out eerie, vengeful roars and charged straight at them.

“Don’t panic! Archers, mages—target the necromancer! The undead will stop once the caster’s down!”

General Baldo’s roar cut through the air.

“…!”

“Valeria!”

Valeria clutched her chest in pain and crumpled down. I supported her shoulder and quickly cast Heal on her.

I’d heard she was born with a weak heart. Having so many undead constantly draining her life force must be brutal.
But her eyes burned with a fierce, defiant fire that refused to bow to fate.

“Thanks, Zenon. We’re definitely winning this…!”

“Yeah!”

A storm of arrows and magic came flying, but I scooped Valeria up in one arm and dodged through it all.

“What the—how’s he moving like that!?”

“He’s not even using buff magic and we can’t even track him!?”

This was the real make-or-break moment.
I darted around freely to avoid getting surrounded, swinging my sword nonstop.

“So this is the son of Sword Saint Baldo…!”

“What do you mean ‘failed skill holder’!? This is nothing like what we heard—aaaaaaah!?”

My full-power strike toppled a watchtower, crushing a bunch of imperial soldiers underneath.
The sheer unnatural strength sent another wave of panic through the enemy.

“This power… it’s not even human!”

“And on top of that—he can use 【Miracle of Healing】 too!?”