Chapter 287: Part 2


    The entire castle is covered in traps dueEvesting Traps ability, making me the only one capable of freely moving through it, thanks toTrap Ring  Automatically Disarms Traps. Thats why I turned it into gueri warfare, but even so, middle-aged bombers remain a nuisance preventing me from getting close to the target. Getting surrounded in the castle will be the end. Being indoorses with a perk of having many obstacles to cover from explosions, but because it is indoors, explosions be directional, travelling far and with quite a destructive power.


    If I use Magic Wrap to the full extent its not an issue at all, but self-inflicted damage will make prolongedbat impossible. And if I dont use it, theyll immediately catch up to me because of the difference in stats. I keep fighting while carefully controlling and then making instant escape, but at this rate I will be the one to copse first.


    Its not even evening yet, but if I keep doing nothing but stalling for time I will get cornered eventually. Even so, I cant start yet, the setup is not yetplete. The Kingdoms First Division is said to be defending the border, so they cant move, the Second Division is protecting the Capital. The Third Division has fully copsed with troops deserted and the chain ofmand dissolved. And the Royal Guard is most likely following Royal Girl and Meripapa-san and is heading towards the Frontier. If a stampede were to happen inside the Kingdom in such conditions, it would be overrun without a chance to provide any resistance. Thats why I want to bait it to the Frontier and defeat it here, but suddenly being forced inside the castle, Im now too busy getting chased around for any of that.


    It wouldnt been that bad if it were cute girls we are talking about, but Im not happy about getting chased around by middle-aged men. Having said that, I also dont want to get caught, hugged, or exploded by middle-aged men! Killing them will make an explosion, so Im running around while warding them off with Cane Arts, avoiding them blowing up in my face.


    However, those guys shouldvee from the Theocracy. If so, it might be a problem. The Frontier is basically the sticks. With few contacts with the outside it had no information exchange going. Thats why so far I received noints from Shint Mus-ry school of this world, but if the Theocracy has Shint Mus-ry branch, they might get angry at me?! I mean, I kept calling it Shint Mus-ry, but I havent even seen it, much less, taught in it? And while feeling it might be a limit of what can be imed to be cane arts, I shoot a group of mercenaries with cane arts and jump down to a terrace. If I knew it would be like this I wouldnt have given away all of the magic stone hand grenades.


    Its just like back then, when I was living in the Evil Forest, running around from monsters, hiding, and ambushing them, the equipment remains the same, and Im still running around, clubbing enemies. The only difference to speak of is that the enemies changed from goblins to middle-aged men. Since I dont get how are they really different, everything remains the same.


    Taking a low start I instantly close the distance, taking a swing with Staff of the World Treethat I extended to the length of a long club, knock the nearby middle-aged bomberman off his feet, and using that chance to get past him, cut down two mercenaries, then knocking away another one, jump around the corner on my right! Immediately, a shock wave sweeps over Good grief, I have low HP and ViT, so if caught in a chain of explosions Ill instantly die! Even one might be dangerous at point-nk range. I feel like I might survive one or two thanks to my gear, but I dont want to actually test that.


    I think that I got rid of about one or two thousand of them with traps and ambushes, but middle-aged men are still swarming around. Are they perhaps spawning somewhere? Dont tell me that the Churchs trump card is artificial middle-aged man overflow? If so then this world is doomed. I dont think there is any saving from that. Alright, lets destroy them all along with this world itself!


    Finally, the night has fallen. re signals are still two white ones. No overflow, but also no Frontiers army in sight. It probably will take them another day, but such a prolonged fight is too risky for me.


    With them switching from trying to explode from the inside to long-range barrage, Im pinned here. Im causing havoc with slotted in the clothesMagic Beast Hide Armor  SpE 50% Up, ViT 30% Up, sh Immunity, Spell Evasion, Physical Evasion, Skill: ClonesCloneskill, which had no use until now, but since its my first time using it the effectiveness iscking. I mean, until now it was way faster to just rush in than doing whatever with Clone? Theres even a rumor that I actually forgot that there is even such a skill, but I remembered about it when I was reviewing candidates for mithril upgrade, is howpletely unused it went until now? I mean, if I usually had time to use Clone, Id use it to first get out of morning stars range!


    And this Cloneis merely an illusion, so I cant use it for anything beside running around. There is no time for cloning when Im trying to escape the sermon. In the first ce, I never had to deal with the problem of receiving long-ranged attacks from an ambush or getting shot at by arge number of opponents, so I dont have any specific countermeasures prepared. Yeah, school boys usually take part in evacuation drills at most, and nothing like running around while repeatedly being shot from a bow? If this was part of daily life, school boys wouldve been on the verge of extinction by now.


    But this is worrying They can spot me even if I erase my presence, and keep tracking even if I move at high speed. The problemes from the Churchs knights takingmand. Im slowly but steadily getting cornered. And then escape through a secret passage. And then after bludgeoning a few people, I once again get locked on and gradually cornered. And then get away through a hidden passage. Then beating up a few people and then a few more I get surrounded again And escape though a hidden door. Yeah, its very hectic! Well, I was the one who made this ce, so Im super familiar with theyout?


    While conserving mana, I still continue remodeling the ce as Im running around, so they cant rely on a map. So they cant corner or surround me. However, the other party is probably also waiting for their preparations toplete. No idea what they are preparing for, but if they are trying to do something, Id like to somehow hinder them, even so, its too hectic for me to get near them. A war of attrition in a deadlock. They are losing troops, and Im losing highschool boy energy from being surrounded by middle-aged men. Even if I wanted to recharge, Armored Pres-san isnt around, and even if she was with me, shed probably scold me for trying to do it at such a ce! Yeah, if at least I had t Gazium I wouldve been able to withstand this middle-aged mans concentration, but even that is absent, only mana is gradually restored in vain through Magic Power Absorption.


    Hm, I wonder if it would be alright to quickly go back to the Carnage Town, and drop by the guild to restore on t Gaze Pres-san t Gaze? I mean, Im pretty sure they havent changed the quests on that bulletin board?