He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 65

The Greatest Crazy Emperor – Episode 65 (65/300)

The Greatest Crazy Emperor 65

Some time passed after the Rangers had dealt with the traitor.

Sadly, the traitor’s dying words were true.

“The Greenskins are coming!”

“Aaaaaah! Save me!”

“Get the people out of here, quick!”

With the internal spy who had been undermining the Rangers gone, the Greenskins no longer waited.

We couldn’t know their internal affairs in detail, but it seemed that they had started using force because they could no longer swallow the Rangers little by little using the spy.

Thus, the Greenskin forces began to cross the border of the Western Territory in earnest.

“We must hurry. They’re sure to be chasing us.”

“Where should we go, Chief?”

“Rangers. We have no choice but to go to them. The lords won’t help us…”

The Greenskins poured in endlessly.

The force was nearly 100,000 strong, but fortunately and unfortunately, they had no systematic supply system.

It was an army divided from each tribe, or even within the tribe itself.

So they gathered separately, and they had to take care of their own supplies.

Because of this, even though a huge army had gathered, they were too busy looting.

The slow pace of their march was a good thing, but the looting of nearby villages to near devastation was not good for the refugees.

“T-they’re coming!”

“Oh no! Is this it…?”

They had escaped with only their clothes on their backs in their haste to flee.

Crossing the barren drylands without even a donkey was not an easy task, but thanks to their reckless haste, they were able to buy some time.

But even that was not enough to stop the Orc and Goblin riders on wolves.

They had been raising dust in the distance, but before they knew it, they were right in front of them.

“Oh, God…”

“W-we’re all dead.”

“I’m scared, Mommy.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay…”

The Greenskins, who had easily caught up with them, deliberately surrounded them to enjoy the sadistic pleasure of scaring them.

The Goblins and Orcs, with saliva dripping greedily, approached the group huddled in the center with nowhere to run.

“Heh heh, there are so many humans, we won’t have to worry about food shortages. Heh heh.”

“Boss! We need to take the useful ones as slaves!”

“Yeah, we’re going to conquer this land now, so we need a lot of human slaves, heh heh.”

The Orc cavalry captain readily agreed with the Goblin lieutenant, then scanned the people and said.

“But there are a lot of kids and old folks. Grrr… They won’t last long even if we take them, so thin them out appropriately.”

“Understood, Boss!”

The Orc captain decided to divide those of lesser value among his men here.

For the Greenskins, a tribal warrior society, looting was both a means of supply and a way to control the warriors.

However, for those who were being victimized, it was nothing more than slaughter and humiliation.

“Hehehe! You’re mine-”

Whoosh, thwack!

“Kuhek?!”

But an arrow flew from somewhere towards the Greenskins who were in the middle of looting.

They had been so engrossed in looting that they had neglected their guard, and they had not noticed the dust cloud and the sound of hooves coming from the opposite direction.

“Humans! It’s the Rangers!”

“Kruk! Get into battle formation, quickly!”

Those who had even gotten off their wolves hurriedly climbed back on, but arrows and bolts continued to fly.

“Keep firing!”

“The vanguard straight ahead, the rest spread out to both sides!”

The Rangers fired bows and crossbows from horseback.

Shooting a bow or crossbow while riding a running horse was not an easy task, but it was not difficult for the Rangers, who honed their combat skills more than knights.

They were accurate enough to hit a Goblin or Orc from a considerable distance.

“Grrrr! Chase them!”

“I’ll tear them apart alive!”

The Greenskins, who had been ambushed, had to take arrows one-sidedly for a while.

But they were not easy to deal with.

The Orcs endured with their strong vitality, and the Goblins tried to counterattack with their large numbers.

Moreover, they had a clear advantage in close combat, and they ran wildly on their wolves.

“Die, human!”

“You’re the one who’s going to die.”

Thwack!

I swung my silver holy sword against the Greenskins who were charging so confidently, shattering their expectations.

“Over here, you green monsters.”

Patzzzz- Kaboom!

The holy sword, filled with Aura [a magical energy], unleashed a wave of explosive sword energy.

“Kaaaaaak!”

“A human knight! Kill that bastard first!”

The Orcs caught in the explosion were killed or seriously injured.

However, surprisingly, even if they were only slightly out of the center of the explosion, they could not be fatally wounded.

Instead, the explosion certainly drew their attention.

“Yeah, I’m your opponent. You won’t have time to worry about anything else, will you?”

Clang! Thwack!

-Grrr, woof woof!

Swish!

-Keheng!

The more they aimed at me, the more I plunged into their midst, wielding my sword and scattering shadow blades in all directions.

The Orcs often had their necks cut off as they tried to chop down with their axes, and even if the Goblins thrust their spears, they were pierced by shadow blades before they could even reach me.

Rather, the threatening thing was the giant wolves trying to bite the horses, but now, with my mastered horsemanship, I could protect my horse and split the heads of any that dared to approach.

“Support fire!”

“Sweep away the Goblins with volley fire!”

“Sharpshooters, aim for the Orcs first!”

In addition, the Rangers had already dealt with the enemies clinging to them and began to provide support fire.

Their accurate and deadly fire was a disaster for the Greenskins, who couldn’t even handle me alone.

“Kruruk! Retreat! Retreat-”

Thwack!

“Don’t let a single one of them get away alive!”

Realizing that there was no hope, they immediately tried to retreat, but I had no intention of letting them live.

Even if it was troublesome to chase and kill those who were fleeing, we had to kill even one more to prevent looting in the surrounding area, even if only a little.

Whoosh!

Thud!

“Kueeek!”

“That’s the last one.”

I annihilated one Greenskin raiding party without leaving a single Goblin alive.

Of course, even though it was a raiding party, it was a small detachment targeting the refugees, but our squad had already dealt with more than ten groups.

“You’re safe now, everyone. There won’t be any pursuit for a while, so hurry to the Ranger Headquarters.”

“Th-thank you, Ranger.”

“Give your thanks to that man. It would have been difficult for us to rescue you so easily without him.”

Squad Leader Herman, who was receiving thanks from the rescued refugees, turned their gratitude to me.

Regardless, I was setting the next movement target.

“It seems that most of the raiding parties in this area have been eliminated.”

“It seems so, Lord Shadow. Unfortunately, we couldn’t save everyone, but those who have already escaped will be safe now. However…”

Although we had already saved many refugees, Herman’s expression was not bright.

“The problem is that even more refugees are flocking to us.”

“…Unfortunately, that’s the problem.”

To escape the looting, all the refugees flocked to the Ranger Headquarters.

Originally, there were lords who should have been protecting them, as they were their taxpaying citizens, but in the Western Territory, which had already reached its end, such a concept had long collapsed.

Moreover, there was no way that the lords, who had made a semi-secret deal with the Greenskins, would protect them.

Rather, they would welcome it with open arms if this increased the burden on the Rangers.

“It’s about time we returned to headquarters. The Rangers need to make a decision.”

The war was approaching.

* * *

“Think carefully, Vice-Commander. No, Commander now.”

Van Horn, who had become the commander of the Western Ranger Patrol after dealing with the traitor, looked at the noble with tired eyes.

If he were normally, he would not even want to associate with the fellow whose personality was revealed from his impression, with his plump flesh and greasy face.

“So, you’re asking us to join the rebellion?”

“Oh, rebellion? This is strictly a righteous uprising against a tyrant.”

“I don’t know when giving way to the Greenskins and destroying the Empire became a righteous uprising.”

Van Horn said with a bitter sneer, but the man sent by the lords to ‘negotiate’ gave a brazen smile even at such sarcasm.

“They are all minor things for the sake of a great cause.”

“I’m not very interested in your shabby cause.”

“Even if you are not interested, the great cause will be interested in you.”

Van Horn could not find any pleasure in this conversation, so he remained silent, but the noble, who took his silence as affirmation, smiled and said.

“Join the great cause without being late. You are quite useful, so you can demand a high price from anyone.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’ll decline. It’s not very appealing.”

“Offer? Don’t be mistaken, do I look like I’m making an offer?”

“Is that a threat? Are you going to attack us?”

“Oh, there’s no need for that. The Greenskins will be coming before that.”

“…”

Disgusting bastards.

Van Horn was swearing inwardly, but he couldn’t bring himself to curse.

As this man said, the Greenskins would be coming before long.

Moreover, with the refugees flocking in, they would not be able to hold out for long.

He couldn’t allow the lords to attack them as well.

“Decide, there is only death if you do not surrender.”

“…If we surrender, what will happen to them?”

Those Van Horn pointed to were not the Rangers.

They were the refugees who had come to trust the Rangers.

Originally, if the Empire was normal, they were the insignificant people that the nobles in front of them should have been protecting.

But the ones who were trying to protect them were the Rangers, not the nobles, and the noble just scoffed at the words.

“Why are you worrying about such things? Don’t worry too much about those ignorant people dying. The Rangers are too stubborn in unnecessary places.”

“…”

Seeing the noble speaking without the slightest remorse or hesitation, Van Horn and the Rangers were bitterly disappointed, but the noble said even more proudly.

“Now, choose. It’s just one of two, live or die.”

“Yes, it’s just one of two.”

“…Huh?”

Just then, I arrived, grabbed the noble’s head, and slammed it straight into the desk.

Bang!

“Kuaaaak!”

“Live or die, that is the question. It’s a simple but truthful saying about life. Life is always a series of choices.”

“Who, who are you…”

Thud!

When I slammed the noble’s head into the table again, he fainted helplessly.

I threw the fainted man to his guards as if throwing away trash, and asked Van Horn.

“Now, Commander Van Horn. Which side will the Rangers choose?”