A Villain's Journey Begins in the Type-Moon World

A continuous barrage of bombardments erupted, shields turned to molten iron, and the heavily armored Ursus shield bearers were utterly blasted away by the powerful blasting wind. The barely erected shield line was completely destroyed in an instant.

"kill!"

At this moment, the sounds of fighting filled the air, the ground began to tremble, and thousands of people rushed towards this side.

"Damn it, how is this possible... Where did these thousands of enemies come from? How did they cross the battlefield and get here! Everyone, retreat! Quickly! The Fifth Regiment, move up!" Faced with the overwhelming enemy, the commander could only make the most conservative choice: retreat the battle line to concentrate forces to deal with the enemy's charge.

……

Meanwhile, Talulah stared in disbelief at Wang Chong, who was stomping his feet to make the ground tremble while simultaneously unleashing hundreds upon hundreds of furious roars of battle through his mouth.

"Ahem, it's time to retreat. Before they can react, let's pretend to escape from the north, then circle back to the south side of the camp. That way, we can get away." After saying that, Wang Chong grabbed Talulah and began to flee along the pre-planned route.

After being dragged along, Talulah finally came to her senses and quickly asked, "Chong, what were you doing just now?"

“Oh, I’m good at some ventriloquism. Would you like to learn? I can teach you,” Wang Chong replied.

"Really? Then I... no! That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking about your Originium Arts just now. Why... why are they exactly the same as mine? How do you know my Originium Arts?"

Talulah almost got sidetracked by Wang Chong's answer, but quickly recovered and asked a question. She was intimately familiar with the operation of her Originium Arts and the power within her. When Wang Chong wielded his Originium Arts to create a massive flame, not only were his movements strikingly similar to hers, but even the Originium fluctuations emanating from the flames were so familiar to her. Clearly, it was the exact same Originium Arts as hers.

"Do you remember the chains from before?" Wang Chong asked.

“Chains…you just said I’d soon see the effects of these chains…could it be…” Talulah immediately connected the two things, and her eyes lit up instantly.

“Yes, just as you thought, I can replicate your Originium Arts using chains,” Wang Chong said.

"Is this also the Demon King's ability? It is said that the Sarkaz clan brought Originium, and now all Originium Arts can be traced back to the Sarkaz race. And as the king of the Sarkaz clan, he can master all Originium Arts. At first, I thought it was just a myth, but now that I have witnessed it with my own eyes, I realize that the so-called mastery of all Originium Arts actually means this: directly copying other people's skills and experience for one's own use."

Talulah couldn't help but sigh.

"It really is true that a correct answer is derived from a flawed deduction process. The power of the Demon King does indeed have such methods, but my method of copying Originium Arts is not like this. Oh well, let the misunderstanding be a misunderstanding, it's not a big deal."

After thinking it over, Wang Chong immediately instructed, "Xiao Lu, we need to speed things up. We can discuss anything else when we get back; those people seem to have realized what's going on."

After hearing what Wang Chong said, Talulah didn't ask any more questions and followed Wang Chong to quicken her pace, circling the camp in the northwest battlefield.

……

"Why is there suddenly no movement? Is it trying to lure us into an attack? But that doesn't make sense. They've already unleashed those series of Flame Originium Arts, why would they need to do something like this?" At the camp, Ursus's commander, seeing that there was still no movement, immediately ordered several scouts, "You guys, go and see what's going on up ahead."

"..." The scouts looked ashen. They knew that there were likely a large number of enemies waiting outside. Sending them out to gather intelligence was practically suicide.

But military orders are absolute, and they had no choice but to obey. So, the group mustered their courage and went to investigate. But not long after, the scouts hurriedly returned.

"Why are you back so soon? Where is the enemy? What's going on?" The commander, seeing that the scouts had returned unharmed, felt no joy, but rather a bad premonition.

"Huff...huff...there's no enemy force at all! We only found two sets of footprints there, at most two people!" A leading scout was panting heavily, seemingly realizing the seriousness of the situation, which is why he quickly ran back!

"Damn it! We've fallen into a trap! There were no thousands of troops attacking our camp! No wonder they managed to sneak across the battlefield and get to our camp without us noticing! There were only two thieves!" The commander's bad premonition was confirmed, and he immediately ordered, "Quick! Go after them! There are only two enemies, and one of them sounds like the one in charge of the bandits. We can't let them get away!"

However, none of them acted immediately. They couldn't help it; the impact of those two giant pillars of fire was simply too strong, forcing them to refrain from pursuing them.

"Fools! We could overwhelm them with sheer numbers! And if they were truly confident they could wipe us out, why would they even bother running?! By my orders, the Third and Fourth Regiments are to immediately pursue them in the direction they fled north! The Fifth and Sixth Regiments are to begin searching the nearest location! Anyone who slacks off will be executed without mercy!" the commander roared.

Upon hearing the commander's words, all the soldiers immediately sprang into action, launching another massive search operation. Unfortunately, due to their slow reaction and fear, they were destined to fall short of Wang Chong and Talulah, who had already begun circling around.

Chapter 191 News from the Southwest Battlefield

While the Ursus troops began their extensive search of the forest, little did they know that Wang Chong and Talulah had already started climbing the ropes and ascending the mountain. Of course, Wang Chong retrieved each section of the rope, giving the Ursus soldiers no chance whatsoever.

The traces along the way had long been swept away by Wang Chong's power of the black mist. For those Ursus soldiers to find their escape route in the darkness of night was nothing short of a pipe dream.

“From now on, this will become a route for us to send people to harass the enemy camp. But to be honest, we are still not well prepared. If we could dig a secret passage from the top of the mountain directly to the foot of the mountain, then at least I wouldn’t have to shout there, and we could also take the opportunity to clear out these defenses surrounding the forest,” Wang Chong said.

“There’s simply not enough time. After all, this is an isolated mountain with no other way out. If we want to reach the depths of the mountains, we must open up a new passage. Our priorities dictate that we have to abandon this idea,” Talulah said. “In your opinion, how many more days will this operation need to continue?”

"Have you heard the story of the boy who cried wolf? They might fall for it once or twice. But after three or four times, they'll stop believing we'll really come to wipe them out. Even if someone on the other side sees through this and forces a military order to reprimand them, once people become lazy and rebellious, they won't be proactive... and often, even a slight delay can be fatal for them," Wang Chong said.

"Besides, didn't they ask for help? Then let them die full of hope before the reinforcements arrive," Wang Chong said coldly.

……

At night, on the steep mountain road in the southwest, Faust did not continue to stay on the original mountain road. Instead, he tied a rope around his waist and, with the help of his teammates, slowly descended from the steep mountain wall.

"It's here!" The next second, Faust saw a round, dark figure emerge in front of him and immediately made his move. A crossbow bolt shot out, followed by a terrible sound as something fell off the cliff.

In that instant, Faust immediately stepped onto the cliff face, using the rope tied around his waist for leverage, and began to walk quickly. Several crossbow bolts and spells struck the cliff face where he had just been standing.

Faust fired another crossbow bolt in the next instant, his gaze fixed on the nail that the enemy he had just shot through had driven in not long ago. After a flash of purple light, the purple crossbow bolt blasted a hole in the mountain, and the nail was destroyed along with it.

After that, several screams were heard. It seemed that the anchoring nails had been blown up, and the ropes attached to them had come loose as well. The Ursus soldiers tied to the ropes naturally fell down with them.

At this moment, Faust rhythmically pulled on the rope binding him. His teammates above also began to pull the rope quickly, helping Faust climb up. However, the enemies on the mountain path below seemed to have noticed that Faust, like them, was tied with a rope to climb the cliff, so they kept shooting arrows, trying to cut the rope binding Faust as well.

Seeing this, Faust fired several arrows, aiming at those crossbow bolts that would actually threaten his rope, and shot them down one by one. Then, he seized the opportunity and quickly climbed up himself.

"Cover Faust!"

Seeing the enemies below begin their spell and crossbow attacks, the phantom crossbowmen on the mountain also began firing, directly attacking the Ursus soldiers below. The shieldbearers and guards further pushed their lines forward, forcing the Ursus soldiers to shift their attacks towards them.

However, there were simply too many crossbow bolts. Finally, when Faust was still a few meters away from the edge of the cliff, an arrow successfully cut the rope. The rope had already begun to break and was not enough to pull Faust up before it completely snapped.

"Faust! Hold my hand!" Just then, a crossbowman jumped down from the cliff, his legs held by his teammate to prevent him from falling.

Seeing this, Faust decided to take a gamble. He leaped high into the air, stomping on the cliff face. Just as the last rope was cut by the arrows, he managed to grab the crossbowman's right hand and pull him back.

"Shhhh-"

"Well--!"

However, just as they were pulling back, Faust was struck in the right leg and the crossbowman in the vest by arrows. Both men let out a muffled groan, held their breath, and forced themselves to climb up, only managing to catch their breath after taking cover in the trench.

"Quick! Get the medical team over here and remove the crossbow bolts!" another phantom crossbowman shouted.

Soon, the medical team arrived, and unsurprisingly, it was Mephistopheles, Faust's closest friend, who came to treat him. However, Mephistopheles seemed to have become much stronger after the previous war. Without saying a word, he suppressed his emotions and calmly removed the crossbow bolt from his good brother Faust and began to treat him. The whole process was smooth and efficient.

“Sasha, bear with it. You can’t run so fast now,” Mephisto said.

“I know what I'm doing. I won't force myself,” Faust reassured Mephistopheles, urging him to treat his other teammate. He then looked at the Phantom Crossbowman and asked, “How is he?”

"We blocked them and retreated back to the pass without any casualties," the Phantom Crossbowman said directly. "Those guys are really cunning. Their slowing down of the attack during the day was just an act to show us. I didn't expect them to choose to secretly open up a path up the mountain at night to flank us from behind. Luckily, Faust, you discovered it in time."

“It’s not that I discovered it… After all, during the previous operational meeting, our intelligence officers intercepted information that these special forces units, skilled in mountain warfare, would do everything they could to climb up. So we kept an eye on them.” Faust finished speaking and continued, “Now that the enemy’s plot has been foiled, if we hold out a little longer, they will stop attacking.”

The phantom crossbowmen nodded and continued to work together with the guards to defend the pass, preventing these special forces from landing.

……

The night passed, and the atmosphere in Ursus's camp was heavy. Last night, they had been attacked twice. The first time, Talulah and Wangchong suddenly stormed into the camp, forcing them to withdraw their war sorcerers from the front lines. The entire camp was awakened by this attack, and everyone searched for the two. However, they couldn't find their location and lost them completely.

What was most infuriating was the second time. It was less of an attack and more of a complete deception. In the middle of the night, the sounds of the Reunion Movement charging and various explosions came from outside the camp again, waking everyone from their sleep. This time, suspecting it was another solo attack, they charged directly towards the source of the sound.

But as they got closer, they noticed something was wrong. The other side was just shouting slogans and making explosions, but there was no real attack. When they finally arrived at the scene, they were dumbfounded. They saw that many large trees had somehow been fitted with a bunch of loudspeakers, which explained the overwhelming sounds of fighting they were hearing.

"Damn these bandits from the Reunion Movement! They're treating us like fools!" At this moment, a commander with a bad temper finally broke the silence.

“General, judging from the raids yesterday and today, these bandits are feigning an attack on the camp; their real intention is to harass it. They're deliberately trying to prevent our soldiers from sleeping peacefully and reduce our combat effectiveness, so they've come up with this underhanded tactic,” another commander added.

“That’s right. They know they can’t break through with everyone, so they’re using this tactic to annoy us,” another commander echoed.

"Do you have a solution?" Ulrich suddenly asked.

"This..." Faced with Ulrich's question, some commanders were somewhat perplexed. After all, whether it was encirclement or setting up defensive lines, they had done everything they could after the first surprise attack last night, yet the enemy still managed to storm the camp tonight. Especially since the enemy's real purpose wasn't to raid the camp, but to harass it; as long as they made a big commotion, they would succeed, and there was simply no way to stop them.

"That's no big deal... if we hear that kind of shouting again, we can just ignore it, right?" one of the commanders said.

"Ignore it? Heh, do you dare ignore it? What if it turns into a real raiding camp one day? Are we going to be sleeping soundly and waiting to be slaughtered?" Ulrich glanced at the commander who spoke with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot.

Chapter 192 Overt Scheme

"Then... General, do you have a solution?" After Ulrich rejected the man's suggestion, the others asked.

“No solution…” However, Ulrich’s answer surprised everyone present.

“This strategy of exhausting our troops is precisely because it preys on our reluctance to gamble. As you all know, there are several powerful individuals among the bandits on the other side who are capable of killing us,” Ulrich said in a deep voice. “We cannot afford to gamble, and we certainly cannot gamble with our lives. Therefore, we must be on guard immediately at the first sign of any disturbance.”

"Just like the first attack tonight, with that kind of Originium Arts, I ask you, if you don't build a strong enough defense and hold on, I'm afraid those two would have already broken in and taken our heads from among the thousands of troops!"

"And this is also the most dangerous aspect of this strategy of exhausting the enemy. They could turn harassment into a real attack at any time! If our army relaxes its guard even slightly and gives the enemy an opportunity, they will not hesitate to change their plans! They can try countless times, and winning just once is enough. But we are different. If we relax our guard even once, we will lose everything!"

"..." Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

"This is a calculated move, blatantly revealing their objective to us, yet we have no way to counter it. We can only follow their lead, constantly strengthening our defenses and disrupting everyone's rest at night to prepare for battle. Ultimately, this has led to a decline in the combat effectiveness of our soldiers on the front lines, making it increasingly difficult to achieve an effective casualty ratio, and even more seriously, it could completely shake the morale of our army," Ulrich said.

"General, in that case, we can only seek a swift victory and cannot continue to drag this out. If we continue like this, our army will only become more and more exhausted, and then we will be no match for those people at all," the commander said.

"A quick victory? The more anxious you are, the more likely you are to fall into their trap. Don't forget that they haven't used all their tricks yet. It took us a whole night to barely advance to the second pass. But you should know perfectly well where those flanking and surprise attack troops came from."

Ulrich shook his head and finally said, "For now, we can only wait for reinforcements to arrive and then press forward with renewed vigor, taking advantage of the improved morale. Right now... right now we can only hope for a major breakthrough on the southwestern front and that we can catch a big fish tonight."

"On the southwestern battlefield, yesterday the special forces tried to open a climbing route, intending to go around the mountain and directly reach the enemy's position. However, our side was still discovered by those crossbowmen, which effectively blocked the route we were trying to open. Now those crossbowmen are on guard, and I'm afraid it will be very difficult for them to find another way up the mountain quietly." The commander in charge of liaison for the southwestern battlefield handed over the battle report from the night before to everyone, which was undoubtedly another piece of bad news.

"Keep going, and have people patrol the area near the foot of the mountain more closely," Ulrich said.

……

For the next three days and nights, the Reunion Movement and the Ursus army were locked in a stalemate on two fronts: the southwest and the northwest. On the northwest front, the Ursus army, at the cost of over 3200 deaths and 7000 wounded, finally succeeded in capturing most of the pass, covering seven-ninths of the gentle mountain path. They were now very close to reaching the third steep section.

The reason for such heavy casualties was that yesterday, the Reunion Movement's troops deployed on the cliff finally showed their fangs. A large number of crossbow bolts and magical attacks came out of the cliff caves, bombarding the Ursus troops continuously. Caught off guard, two regiments were almost completely annihilated.

As a result, it wasn't until the war sorcerers reacted in time and the five of them combined to create a defensive wall, managing to block the attacks from the cliff on the left and barely saving the two mixed regiments. However, in terms of numbers, the two mixed regiments were almost non-existent. Aside from the dead, the vast majority of the remaining members were too wounded by arrows to maintain effective combat capability, and the rest had to be scattered and reassigned to other mixed regiments.

On the other hand, the Reunion Movement only suffered 107 casualties over the past three days, especially those in the cliffside passage, who suffered almost no losses. Neither the enemy's magical attacks nor their crossbow bolts could penetrate the more than 10-meter-thick mountainside to reach the people behind the passage.

Therefore, according to the original schedule, even with Ursus's slow advance, they should have already taken the entire second section of the mountain road yesterday. But now, facing the Reunion Movement's high-firepower attack, they have not made an inch of progress. Moreover, with this level of firepower and limited manpower, sending more people would only result in them lining up to die.

Besides that, the most crucial point is that the Ursus soldiers haven't had a good night's sleep in the past three nights. They've been constantly disturbed by sudden attacks or various other noises that have kept them awake.

It's fair to say that this Ursus legion has long lost the high morale they had before they arrived. They're all listless and wish they could steal a moment to get some sleep.

"Damn it! Can't we go and harass them too?!" A commander hadn't slept properly for days, his eyes bloodshot and on the verge of being driven mad by the Reunion Movement's actions.

Everyone else in the camp looked at the commander with disbelief. Harassment? How could they harass him? Their main camp was behind the hill; they only needed a small number of men to guard the pass. They weren't worried about a surprise attack at all. And the men stationed there at night were supposed to stay on duty all night anyway; they had already rested and were in good condition during the day.

Upon closer reflection, it turns out that Ursus originally intended to leverage their numerical advantage and use this rotation method to wear down the Reunion Movement's energy. However, after these past few days of fighting, they are now the ones being worn down to the point of exhaustion or even madness.

"How is the situation on the southwestern front now?" Ulrich was too lazy to even mention the situation on the northwestern front. After learning yesterday that the enemy had actually dug through the mountain and was using the cliff face as an excellent firing point for their attack, he knew that it would be almost impossible to advance the front line any further.

"On the southwestern battlefield, we've already lost over 1000 men, with more than 400 dead and over 600 incapacitated. In terms of progress, they're temporarily stuck on the mountain road where they annihilated Colonel Nikolai's thousand-strong force. There are Originium crossbows everywhere there, which can be directly controlled using Originium Arts. What's most infuriating is that they can also turn invisible, so we can only guess their location by their trajectories," the commander in charge of the southwestern battlefield said through gritted teeth.

“No matter what, those are just crossbows that have been set up. They can't possibly have an endless supply of bullets, can they? They'll run out eventually, won't they?” Ulrich said in a deep voice. “Even if they dug a secret passage in that cliff and have a way to reload, it will still take time. During this gap, use spells to pinpoint and destroy the crossbows whose locations you've identified!”

"Yes, I will notify the troops at the front immediately." Without saying another word, the commander set off to send a telegram.

“Alas… setbacks everywhere… General, when will the reinforcements you mentioned arrive? Also, has His Majesty replied?” A commander sighed, then turned to Ulrich and asked.

“The troops won’t arrive until at least tomorrow. As for His Majesty the Emperor… He reprimanded us and ordered us to take down this band of bandits within ten days,” Ulrich said in a deep voice.

"Ten days? How is that possible? If we had the help of the Imperial Guards to hold off those powerful bandit leaders, it might be possible. But without the Imperial Guards..." the commander said in disbelief.

“General, His Majesty is forcing us to end the battle quickly. He doesn’t care about the casualties of our men at all… No, perhaps His Majesty no longer trusts our Fourth Army. Even with our battle reports, he thinks we are exaggerating and are trying to use our troops for personal gain.” Oleg, the commander of the Third Division, also seemed very desperate at this moment, feeling that he could not see any hope of victory.

"Why are you all panicking? We haven't been defeated yet, reinforcements haven't arrived, and it's far from the 10th day. Our strongest fighting force hasn't suffered any major losses. Everything is still uncertain."

Ulrich coldly rebuked, "Moreover, don't forget, even if His Majesty doesn't believe us, don't the officials we represent also believe the battle reports we send back? Our aid is still on the way. The absence of the Inner Guard doesn't mean we won't have powerful reinforcements coming to our aid."

Chapter 193 Resonance and the Amputated Arm

After hearing Ulrich's words, the commanders calmed down somewhat. Then, one commander said, "The general is right, we are far from the worst point. Instead of lamenting, we should think about how to resolve the predicament on the southwest and northwest battlefields."

"The battlefield in the southwest corner is relatively easy to handle. Although there have been over 1000 casualties, the total death toll is only around 400. They are only facing the already known automatic crossbow traps and the secret passages that could potentially encircle them. As long as they develop effective countermeasures, taking the hilltop shouldn't be difficult," said the commander in charge of the southwest battlefield.

"In addition, although the southwest mountain road is easy to defend and difficult to attack, we have roughly counted and estimated the number of people stationed there. At most, there are only a hundred or so people. It is impossible for them to have more than that. Although they have only lost about 10 people, the fewer people they have, the more difficult it will be to defend. If we take 10 days, the southwest mountain road is the easiest direction to break through. Of course, the premise is that no personnel will be sent from the northwest corner."

"Therefore, the pressure on the Northwest battlefield must be adequate, and the same applies to the Southwest battlefield. Only in this way can a situation of two-pronged containment be created, causing them to lose their composure. I don't believe that these mountain bandits have such discipline and organization that they can still maintain their composure and hold on to the bitter end at this point. If they really had such ability and will, why would they have become outlaws? They are just a group of self-degrading rioters. Do you really think they can risk their lives to resist indefinitely? It is only natural that when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter."

Hearing the commander from the southwestern battlefield analyze the current situation, everyone nodded in agreement. Yes, they had almost forgotten that no matter how strong these bandits were, they were still just a bunch of spineless, unprincipled thugs. Even if their leader was of noble character, could he guarantee that his men would follow suit? Frankly, they were all lowly people, uneducated lowly people before, uneducated lowly people now, and destined to be lowly people for life.

"Hmm... Pavel, it wasn't in vain that I entrusted you with the situation on the southwestern battlefield; you have a very clear understanding of it."

Even Ulrich shared this view. He could overestimate the patriots, the demons, and the hidden masters, but he would never overestimate the potential of the native, submissive commoners. In his opinion, the current uprising of these commoners was only temporary; once the enemy's deaths increased, their morale would naturally decline. Then, with a few waves of reinforcements, their morale would be restored, and the situation would be completely reversed.

"Thanks to the general's promotion, I guarantee that the southwestern battlefield will be completely conquered within 10 days," Pavel said, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

"So, regarding the Northwest battlefield, do any of you have any new ideas to try?" Ulrich continued to inquire.

“General… I have a risky strategy, I wonder if I can give it a try?” At this moment, the commander in charge of the artillery battalion came out and said with his fists clasped.

……

On the Northwest battlefield, Wang Chong counted the casualties. Including the dead, 270 people were now incapacitated. Only 1630 remained to fight. Half were open combatants, directly engaging the Ursus soldiers on the main battlefield; the other half were either firing from secret passages or lying in ambush, or the Yeti group positioned on the snowy mountainside, ready to charge down at any moment.

However, more men remained on the reverse slope of the third section of the hill, preparing for battle. In recent days, they had essentially rotated with the main combatants engaged in direct combat. This third section of the hill happened to have a hidden passage connecting the trenches on the front and reverse slopes, which was the source of the Reunion Movement's confidence in fighting the Ursus army day and night.

"Ah Chong, according to the latest intercepted information about the Fourth Army, another 10,000-strong corps is heading our way. If nothing unexpected happens, given their speed, they will arrive on the battlefield tomorrow. With such strong reinforcements, they will likely launch a general offensive immediately," Talulah said, handing the intelligence to Wang Chong.

"Hmm, I'm afraid it's far more than just this much aid. As Ulrich is a representative of the nobility, I'm afraid those noble forces will have to bleed a lot this time, and they'll probably try to control our high-combat personnel," Wang Chong said in a deep voice.