A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War!

[It’s so horrifying.]

“….”

As they descended from the rocky mountain and arrived in front of the burning city, countless screams echoed from all directions, so numerous that one couldn’t discern the owners.

“Help us, please.”

“Someone, please! Help our father!”

“Priest! Our child isn’t breathing! Please, help!”

Among the people emerging from the city, few appeared unscathed. Most were either burnt or bleeding from injuries caused by collapsing buildings.

What was somewhat fortunate was that there were a few individuals who seemed like priests attending to the injured.

‘But with just those numbers, they won’t be able to save half of them.’

Unless the priests had infinite divine power, they couldn’t rescue everyone. The probability was high that the screams, heard from all around, would end as soon as the priest’s divine power diminished.

‘At least hundreds, maybe even thousands could die.’

The exact number of people within the city was unknown, but even now, people continued to pour out of the city, and just the ones who had already escaped the city gate numbered over a few hundred.

‘I’d like to support them with potions from the store or something…’

Currently, he could afford only a few dozen potions with the G he had. Moreover, giving a small quantity of potions to them would likely cause chaos. In places overflowing with patients like makeshift hospitals, potions could be a source of greed.

[Kaiyan, what will you do?]

“First… let’s go inside. We need to find out what’s happening.”

Stumbling over people coming out from outside, Kaiyan entered the city through the now burning-down gate.

As he passed through the gate and entered the city’s interior, he was welcomed by an intense heat that made his skin burn, despite the cold weather.

Moreover, the city’s interior was in much worse condition than what he had seen from the rocky mountain. Or perhaps, everything had collapsed and burned down while he was descending.

The only intact structure seemed to be the inner wall in the far distance. No, even that inner wall was leaning and partially destroyed. It didn’t seem like a simple fire could have caused all this.

“Buildings may have collapsed due to the fire… but the flames spread to the inner city? How?”

[It feels like monsters might have caused a commotion within the city!]

Upon hearing Rieka’s words, it seemed plausible that this was indeed the case.

The situation was eerily similar to when his hometown had burned down.

“I should have asked people outside if I knew it was going to be like this… But it can’t be helped. Rieka, hold on tight. We need to go inside the inner city.”

[Shall I go in?]

“It’s fine. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just break through. Here we go!”

Under normal circumstances, there would be soldiers and knights guarding the inner city. However, amidst this chaos, there was no guarantee they were still protecting the inner city. Even if they were, they wouldn’t have known what had happened in Lumbanium. Kaiyan had to find out.

As Kaiyan held Rieka tightly, they crossed the burning city. They noticed people who hadn’t managed to escape the city yet.

“Who… Who could have done this?”

It was truly horrifying, even more gruesome than the battlefield. This devastation felt different from the intensity of war. Observing the burning city made Kaiyan feel it was crueler and horrifying than when soldiers were mercilessly slaughtered by large monsters on the battlefield.

Kaiyan quickly ascended through the city, and upon reaching the inner wall, he noticed that it too had been destroyed, or perhaps set ablaze.

There was no one guarding the entrance.

“Come out…”

The moment Kaiyan tried to step into the barrier, his heightened senses picked up three foreign energies.

[Kaiyan, there’s a dense energy inside! And it’s quite powerful too!]

It seemed like Rieka had sensed it too, her eyes filled with unease.

“It feels somewhat similar to when I encountered that dark mage in Babelin Castle.”

It reminded him of the ominous and foreign energy he had sensed from those three individuals back then.

“Rieka, don’t hesitate to use the scrolls when the battle begins.”

[Of course! I’ll use them according to the situation!]

Kaiyan gently placed Rieka on the ground and drew his sword as he stepped further into the barrier, where the oppressive energy became even more palpable. He also noticed soldiers lying around, wounded and bleeding.

As he cautiously passed by them and moved deeper inside, he sensed a faint presence of someone with weak energy.

“…Could it be a survivor? I should ask what happened.”

Changing his direction toward where the survivor’s energy was coming from, Kaiyan approached a large man who was holding onto his bleeding abdomen, sitting on the ground.

When Kaiyan got closer and checked his face, the man’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Banson…?”

“K-Kaiyan?”

The massive figure before him was Banson, the leader of the Banson Mercenary Corps, with whom Kaiyan had collaborated a few months ago.

Why was he here, covered in blood?

“What in the world… No, that’s not important right now…”

Kaiyan quickly retrieved a potion from his pouch and applied it to Banson’s wounds.

*Squish*

“Ugh! Th-Thank you.”

“No, more importantly, what’s going on? Why are you here?”

Amidst Kaiyan’s rapid-fire questions, Banson’s face turned bitter.

“…It’s all my fault. I got greedy for money and brought these guys here when I shouldn’t have.”

“What do you mean… Oh, Banson, where are the others?”

“The others… Bisel, Verium, Ka… Damn! The Banson Mercenary Corps… they all died because of me.”

“They… died?”

Kaiyan vividly remembered Bisel’s hearty laughter, and the fact that he was now dead, along with the other mercenaries, was hard to accept.

“Kaiyan, I never expected to meet you in a place like this… Get out of here quickly. There are monsters here.”

“What are you talking about? Please explain so I can understand. Why did the other mercenaries die?”

As Kaiyan grabbed Banson by the collar and shouted, Banson looked embarrassed but finally opened his mouth.

“…When we parted ways and passed through the Louis Plains, we encountered three strange guys there. But when they heard we were mercenaries, they requested a mission. They said they would pay 3,000 gold.”

“…”

“So, we accepted the mission. It was incredibly easy compared to the 3,000 gold they were offering. We were blinded by money.”

“What kind of mission was it…”

Meeting someone other than the upper class in the Louis Plains was strange enough, but a 3,000-gold mission?

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!