How to Survive Against Villains Chapter 171

Chapter 171 – Struggle for Dominance (10)

As soon as the signal flare exploded, Lochter erged.

His sword hung loosely at his side as he approached, his expression heavy.

His mind must have been in turmoil.

A place he once sought to protect, now a site he had to destroy—one filled with both love and hatred.

And the blood he had spilled here… had been in none other than Blyer.

"How’s the situation?"

"It was a success. The others are leading the people toward the mines."

There was no real concern; the plan had almost no chance of failure.

"You don’t look well. Did sothing happen?"

"Fewer people moved than I expected."

Lochter had shouted himself hoarse as he ran throughout the territory, pleading for salvation. Yet, few of the residents had responded.

Only those who had followed the forr lord or those who had lost loved ones to Kal took action. The rest simply shut their doors, watching in hesitation.

I had expected as much, so I simply shrugged.

"They’ve adapted to Kal’s rule of terror. This is still their ho, after all."

"But they’ll always be sacrificed like tools."

"They believe they won’t be the ones. And the burden of action must have weighed on them."

Leaving this place to start anew sowhere else?

For so, the fear of change was greater than the fear of Kal. They would rather keep their heads down and wait for the storm to pass.

"We don’t have ti to convince them one by one. Let’s move on."

Lochter nodded.

And yet, he was surprised by how easily he accepted it.

Perhaps he, too, had begun to let go of Blyer and grow accustod to his new ho in Hunt.

Lochter glanced around.

Karl and five others were busy moving corpses. From a distance, they dragged bodies and dumped them in what seed like marked areas, forming what Lochter perceived as a designated boundary.

Lily was leaning against a rock nearby, inspecting a necklace. Unlike usual, she looked quite serious.

Beside her, a small dog had buried its head into the ground, whimpering as if deep in thought.

"I saw the witch in the castle."

"I entrusted her with an important task, and it seems she handled it well."

The elimination of Kal’s spies—his eyes and ears.

Not only that, but it appeared she had also taken care of the Black Market contacts that relayed ssages to Kal.

If Lily had severed all communication within the castle, then by now, Kal must have been growing anxious.

When desperation sets in, mistakes follow.

And I planned to exploit those mistakes.

"I don’t see any enemies nearby. Why did you fire the signal early?"

"We’re setting a trap."

"A trap?"

"Yes. I need your help, Lochter."

"Speak."

"Lyon Martrein."

The mont I ntioned that na, Lochter’s brows furrowed slightly.

Lyon Martrein—the deputy commander who had played a crucial role in helping Kal wipe out his bloodline and seize the family.

A man tied to Lochter by a bitter and inescapable fate.

"Can you defeat him?"

Lochter let out a hollow chuckle at my question.

It was a blow to a knight’s pride. But Lochter himself must have known the truth.

For nearly a year, he had been on the run. anwhile, Lyon, under the full support of the regressor Kal, had been growing stronger at an incredible rate.

There was no telling how powerful he had beco.

"If he were the sa as before, I could say yes with confidence, but…"

"A five-star Blooming Trait user who wields ice, equipped with at least two ancient artifacts."

At this point in the story, Lyon should possess Nesis’s Ice Shield and Frost Blade. But given Kal’s rapid and unrestrained growth, that was likely the bare minimum.

He undoubtedly had more.

Rengua had beco the master of a Divine Spirit.

To balance the scales, Kal would have given Lyon equivalent artifacts.

"If only I knew what they were…"

I would soon find out in battle.

An unknown ancient artifact.

It could be a major variable, so minimizing that risk made Lochter’s role all the more important.

Lochter looked down at his equipnt.

Four swords.

Ordinary weapons forged from steel.

How many strikes could they endure against Lyon’s artifacts?

Lyon was fully ard with ancient artifacts.

Until now, Lochter had dismissed artifacts as hindrances to true growth, avoiding them whenever possible.

But as I continued explaining, he finally realized—so level of equipnt was necessary.

For the first ti, he felt a desperate need for better weapons.

[Can you defeat him?]

Lochter smirked bitterly and t my gaze.

At that mont, he seed to grasp the true aning behind my question.

That’s right.

I never expected Lochter to win. I knew that was too much to ask.

"As long as I hold out, that’s enough. The real one to watch is… you, isn’t it?"

The mont I nodded, Lochter stiffened and hurriedly drew his sword.

His body had reacted instinctively to the suffocating bloodlust.

He glanced at with montary confusion before sighing, lowering his weapon.

And then, right before his eyes, sothing familiar began to unfold.

Woooom—!

A golden aura began to envelop my body.

Divine Hunter – Target: Lochter Felice

At my choice, Reto voiced his concern.

[This could be a foolish decision. The choice you make today may one day beco a blade at your throat.]

"Enough. Just tell how many Burst Strikes I can use."

[Eight shots. But with more uses cos twice the recoil. Use them wisely.]

I nodded slightly, focusing on the transformation.

Burst Strike: Eight shots.

With my vessel expanded, I could now handle more than the previous five shots.

Energy amplification.

Eyes Opened.

Divine Spirit effects enhanced.

With my awakening, my overall abilities surged.

If Lyon had awakened a Divine Spirit, he would have been the ideal target. But he had yet to achieve that.

By awakening my power through Lochter, I would be revealing so of my Divine Spirit abilities, but if it ant eliminating Lyon, that risk was worth it.

"Lyon is Kal’s sword."

As ti passed, it wasn’t Kal himself who grew stronger—it was his blade, Lyon.

If I could remove the top executioner here, I wouldn’t just gain the advantage; I’d seize victory itself.

I had placed my bet on a massive gamble.

"He’s here?"

Lochter turned his gaze.

The others followed suit.

Though thick ash blurred the view, the ground trembled with the rough pounding of hooves.

Dudududududu—!

Lyon Martrein.

He had arrived.

At my signal, the group moved into action.

The trap was set. Now, it was ti to lure the prey into it.

Summoning the Ring of Blood, I looked at Lochter.

"You have five minutes. We will end this within that ti."

"And my role?"

"Be the bait."

The hunt had begun.

***

"...Damn it."

When Lyon reached the outskirts of Blyer, he muttered a curse under his breath at the sight before him.

Thick smoke billowed from both sides.

The lord’s castle and Wailing Hill—both engulfed in flas. It was an unbelievable sight.

He had expected the place to be ransacked, but this was far worse than he had anticipated.

“Any contact with the secret stronghold?”

At Lyon’s question, the shaman following him put away the communication orb and shook his head.

By now, they should have received a transmission from the secret stronghold confirming their rendezvous with the Blyer cavalry, but the line had gone completely silent.

Staring at the burning hill, where only ashes swirled in the air, Lyon felt certain—

Sothing had happened to the stronghold.

And to the Blyer cavalry as well.

“...What is going on here?”

A commander leading the Etor cavalry approached with a troubled expression.

This man, a noble vassal of a viscount, commanded three thousand cavalryn. Since Etor lacked proper knights, soone of his influence had been entrusted with leadership, though in truth, he simply followed Lyon’s lead.

“This is Lochter’s doing.”

“What? How could he possibly—”

“Sa way it happened in Etor. He used the madn.”

With Etor having already suffered greatly, the noble had no choice but to believe Lyon’s words.

From that mont on, Lochter was firmly etched into the noble’s mind as an enemy who must be punished.

Lochter—the sworn enemy of both Blyer and Etor.

“We need to track him down.”

Lyon ordered the cavalry to search the surroundings and report any findings imdiately. The information was promptly relayed to Kal via the communication orb.

[Beneta’s flag on the walls?]

“Yes. Could it be a surprise attack from Beneta…?”

[No. It’s likely a ruse. There’s no sign of troop movent from either within Beneta or along their borders.]

“I’ll check inside the territory.”

[Contact with our inside informants has been cut off. It could be a trap. Send part of Etor’s forces as scouts first, but keep the elite troops on standby.]

“Understood.”

[Start by finding traces of the shamans from the secret stronghold and our cavalry. There’s no way the enemy could have wiped them all out. If any have survived, regroup with them.]

It had been Lyon himself who ordered his n to rendezvous with the Blyer cavalry at the secret stronghold.

If any traces remained, they would be at Wailing Hill, where the stronghold had been.

Lyon dispatched a hundred cavalryn toward the castle as scouts and led the rest toward the hill.

Beyond the thick haze, a massive, charred hill ca into view.

The smoke from the night-long blaze still lingered, turning the midday sky into a murky gray.

Clicking his tongue, Lyon split his cavalry into ten squads of fifty and ordered them to scout the hill’s surroundings.

A total of five hundred cavalryn scattered into the dense haze.

Monts later—

“What? Vanished?”

“One of the squads hasn’t returned.”

“Where did they disappear?”

The noble pointed toward a section of the hill, and Lyon imdiately sent another two hundred cavalryn in that direction.

This ti, there was a response.

A desperate shout pierced through the foggy air.

“E-Enemy attack!”

“…Aura Sword!”

And then—

A na was shouted.

“L-Lochter Felice!!!”

Lochter.

Muttering that na, Lyon spurred his horse forward.

Ignoring the limited visibility, he charged at full speed. Behind him, his officers, the shaman division, and thousands of cavalryn followed.

They galloped for what felt like an eternity—

Until corpses began to appear, strewn across the ground alongside fallen horses.

Etor cavalryn.

Their throats were cleanly severed, their deaths so swift they likely never even realized they had been struck down.

Among them were other unfamiliar bodies.

Soldiers who had perished on the hill?

Looking around, Lyon spotted surviving cavalryn encircling a lone figure, clashing against him.

A flickering blade.

A silhouette he knew all too well.

Lochter Felice.

One by one, the cavalryn fell under a single stroke.

It was an expected outco—

But even for soone of Lochter’s skill, it was impossible to cut down fifty cavalryn without a single scream.

‘The number of dead cavalryn…’

The mont a new scream rang out, Lyon reached the battle.

Yet, of the two hundred cavalryn he had sent in, nearly half were already either incapacitated or dead.

Lochter couldn’t have done this alone.

Just as Lyon beca certain that there were reinforcents, five arrows shot through the fog, aiming directly for the shamans.

The arrows carried an ominous aura—

A chilling golden hue.

“A-Alex is here!”

Recognizing the aura, the shamans’ faces turned pale with fear.

The officers drew their swords and slashed at the incoming arrows.

The arrows shattered into dust upon impact.

At the sa ti, a suffocating killing intent flooded toward Lyon.

“LYOOOON!!!!”

“Ugh…!”

The sheer intensity of the presence made the officers falter for a mont.

During that brief hesitation, Lyon dismounted, the corners of his mouth lifting in a fierce grin as he charged forward.

From the opposite direction—

A lone man dashed toward him.

A man who had instilled a lifeti of inferiority in him.

“Lochter Felice!!!”

Lyon’s sword flashed like lightning as he unsheathed it.

Ssssss—

The mont his blade cut through the air, a bone-chilling frost spread outward.

Ancient Artifact – Frost Blade.

At the sa ti, the bracelet on Lyon’s forearm flared with brilliant light, summoning a transparent square shield.

Nesis Ice Shield.

A frigid aura, so intense it could freeze even its wielder’s breath, poured forth.

And upon that shield—

“GRAAAAHHH!!!”

Lochter’s Aura Sword ca crashing down.