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 28

Chapter 28: Felix’s Mercenary Band Charges In as Reinforcements

Right when the enemy army faltered, Valeria summoned even more undead.

“Come on, fight to your heart’s content, you guys!”

“…I won’t let them slaughter my family!”

Answering Valeria’s call, the undead swung their rusted swords with wild abandon.

The sheer determination these guys showed—still trying to protect their families even after death—made the enemy soldiers shrink back in fear.

“H-hyaah…!?”

The biggest advantage of using undead as soldiers is that they plunge living humans into primal terror. Nothing feels more like a nightmare than having the people you just killed come back as corpses to attack you.

“I’ll send you bastards straight back to hell…!”

General Baldo swung his sword furiously all by himself as Gawain led the Schwarz Ritter straight toward him in a ferocious charge.

If they could take down the world-famous General Baldo right here, it would be an achievement on the same level as capturing Dalham Castle itself.

“I am Baldo Granvel, wielder of the [Rigid Demon Sword]! Even if you’re the dead, facing the Schwarz Ritter of the Asphodel ducal house is more than worthy!”

“Protect the General—aaaahhh!”

The imperial soldiers desperately fought back, but aside from General Baldo, every single one of them had their courage faltering.

“Let me teach you something nice. Anyone killed by an undead becomes an undead too! And then they’re tormented by endless pain forever!”

Valeria hammered the words in like a finishing blow.

“Wh-what did you say…!?”

It was just a baseless old superstition about undead.

But on a battlefield pushed to the absolute limit, terror crushes reason and spreads like wildfire.

Right after that, something happened that seemed to prove Valeria’s words.

One of the fallen imperial soldiers rose with a creepy creaking sound—gigii—and sank his teeth into the throat of his former comrade.

“Gyaaaaah!? S-stop it, Thomas! It’s me—!?”

“He’s lost his mind!? N-no, wait—he turned into an undead!?”

Valeria was actually using her necromancer skill magic to temporarily puppet the enemy corpses, but the effect was instant and devastating.

The imperial troops who got attacked by their own battle buddies plunged straight into full-blown panic.

“N-nooooooo!”

“I don’t wanna become an undead!”

“I can’t take this anymore—!”

Finally their morale completely collapsed. One after another, soldiers threw down their weapons and ran.

“We did it, Valeria!”

“Yeah—exactly like Zenon’s plan!”

Valeria and I slapped high-fives and grinned at each other.

To win a battle, you have to attack the enemy’s heart.

In games, when you drop an enemy army’s morale all the way to zero, they scatter and flee in every direction.

Just like we’d aimed for, the exact same thing happened here.

Once an army starts routing, no commander—no matter how legendary—can rally them again. Not even the heroic General Baldo.

“Wait, you idiots! Don’t open the castle gates on your own!”

General Baldo shouted to stop them while still clashing with Gawain and the others, but the fleeing soldiers weren’t listening to anyone.

They shoved and pushed toward the gate in a frantic rush, yanked the crossbar off, and threw the gates wide open—committing the absolute worst possible blunder by opening the very walls that were supposed to protect them.

“Now we can escape—huh!?”

The ones who’d opened the gates froze in stunned silence.

“Men, advance! We’re here to rescue young Master Zenon!”

Right then, Felix’s mercenary band came charging in like they’d just been waiting for this moment.

“Gyaaaaah!?”

The fleeing soldiers got skewered on the neat rows of mercenary spear tips.

These were the roughly 2,500 mercenaries we’d hired using the money from selling Father’s treasured jar and Valeria’s accessories.

Sorry to Father, but I think we got our money’s worth and then some.

“Felix, you came just in time!”

I let out a cheer.

The plan was simple: once we successfully took out Prince Lucian, we would set fire to the piles of enemy provisions and military supplies in the courtyard.

The moment the flames rose, Felix and his mercenaries would charge in—that was the arrangement.

We’d also destroyed the watchtower earlier so the approaching mercenaries wouldn’t be spotted.

The mercenaries didn’t want to die pointlessly either, so the contract was clear: no fire in Dalham Castle, no charge.

“Hah! For young Master Zenon’s sake, this Felix would ride to the ends of the earth and wipe out every last enemy!”

Felix mowed down imperial soldiers while shouting encouragement.

“Listen up, lads! Once we take the castle, young Master Zenon will give us a fat bonus! Get fired up!”

“Uooooooohhh!”

The mercenaries let out bloodthirsty roars. For mercenaries, gold beats honor every time.

“That man… don’t tell me that’s the Sword Demon Felix!?”

General Baldo’s eyes widened in shock.

“The Sword Demon!? The legendary swordsman who repelled the imperial army over and over again…!?”

“Hahahahaha, that’s right! I was away from the battlefield because of an injury, but thanks to young Master Zenon’s [Miracle of Healing], I’m back in action!”

Every time Felix’s sword flashed, more imperial soldiers fell. The sheer momentum of his rampage sent the mercenaries’ excitement through the roof.

“Amazing!”

“Fighting alongside a legendary swordsman—hell yeah, this is an honor!”

Apparently Felix was a legend even among the mercenaries.

Lately he’d just seemed like a friendly, good-natured old man… but this was what he looked like on the battlefield. Damn, he was reliable.

“Come on then, imperial dogs! If you’re not afraid of my blade, step up!”

Felix raised his sword to the sky and bellowed.

“Hiii!?”

The imperial army was completely swallowed by terror.

Alright—now we just had to mop up the few stragglers still barely resisting.

“I never imagined he’d even have the Sword Demon Felix under his command…!”

Fending off Gawain’s fierce attacks, General Baldo glared straight at me.

What burned in those eyes was the last stubborn pride of a true warrior.

“Impressive, Zenon Greivan! But you alone—I will cut you down myself! I, Baldo Granvel, vice-general of the Balzark Empire army, challenge you to a fair duel!”

“That’s General Baldo!? The famous commander known across the world is challenging young Master Zenon to a one-on-one battle…!?”

Felix’s eyes widened in surprise.