Tower of Karma Chapter 25

“Ah, Willian-san. Come over here.”

Frank signaled with his hand for Willian, who had been following after him, to come.

“Right on the mark”

Just like Willian had planned, they had reached at the rear of the enemy. The enemy was ten men strong and were spread out in a square formation. There were pretty much no numeric differences, and for their attack, it was the ideal circ.u.mstances.

“……”

If this was the normal situation, they would have attacked them without hesitations. However, Willian was being silent.

“”…The enemy is probably a centurion. His armor is different from the others.””

At the center of the enemy formation, there was a man that was using a different armor. Willian narrowed his eyes.

“”My mind says that I can win. However…””

The place ahead Willian was looking at. Ahead was the figure of a man filled with confidence that waited for his enemy. By looking at the slight coldness being emitted by him…

“…We are pulling back.”

….he decided to pull back. Although Willian had been putting everything in order for this favorable situation, he had given the order of retreat. This was something Willian would argue against if he didn´t care about Karl´s ten-man squad. However…

“Uーsu, then, is it fine for me to be in the front next time?”(TL note: Uーsu= yes)

Ignahts immediately accepted and recognized the order. The other people didn´t show any surprises in particular. When Willian says to pull back, it was because they were pulling back. This was the ironclad rule.

“Yes, we are going to wait for another opportunity at our next location. I will once again be at the rear.”

The reason why Karl´s ten-man squad was undefeatable; Willian abandoning fights. Because of his insights, he had consistency in when to attack and retreat. He would take won battles with carefulness so he would not lose for nothing, and he would pull back from battles he couldn´t win.

“Then, everyone, let´s go.”

With Karl´s orders, they started to retreat and moving to another location. Their well-organized and without hesitations movement was so orderly to the point of it being scary. They had no hesitation in retreating; having soldiers not l.u.s.ting over battles was actually something unexpectedly difficult. It was difficult for one to get his intentions across over a whole squad.

“Alright, let´s go fast, but silently.”

“Captain, if you keep talking, Willian-san will get angry.”

“Mugu!?”(むぐっ！？)

It was difficult, but with Willian´s military experience and Karl´s personality, they were able to get their commands accepted. Because of the persuasive power of Willian´s experience and achievements and Karl´s likeable character, they were accepted without any objections. The atmosphere of their squad was considerably good. Their fighting power was also increasing.

“”It is fine like that for now. This is the best possible.””

Willian was doing his best. Him being thorough with everything was him doing his best.

“….”

But even so, the person himself…

“s.h.i.+t.”

…couldn´t accept it.

—–

“Hm?”

The man at the center of the formation.

On the man´s eyes, a presence that was slightly surging up reflected.

“Oh, white mask, is it? Kuku, he is a coward just like the rumors.”

The white mask´s squad had pretty much already finished retreating. It was commendable how the white mask was using the terrain so well and had made a situation which was difficult for them to be pursued. However, this was all. To the man, there wasn´t anything to [fear].

“Heeey white mask! How about we fight each other without you running away!?

While there was that, this was a war that had been making the man very stressed. In terms of strategy, everything he tried to do would be neutralized, and expect for the man himself, most were being led around by their nose really well. Because the man had confidence that he would be able to win if he was attacked head-on, he was filled with frustration.

“Hey, hey! Is it running all you can do!? The undefeatable white mask!”

If he couldn´t get very good trades, it wouldn´t be enough to make up for all they had lost. Actually, by looking at the whole battlefield, it could be seen it was their complete defeat. The equilibrium had already been broken. All the man´s main troops were doing was to pick up victories around and somehow mending the situation of the war. It was painful how he couldn´t even pick up those little victories.

“…Tch, he is really pulling back all the through.”

He was irritated, but he was also feeling admiration. The white mask had battle tactics that could perfectly read through the structure of his army and cut him from advantageous points, and his intuition that could see the opponent´s strength and judge whether to attack or retreat. Both of those were at a high level. And if one was to ask how badly the man was suffering because of that… (TL note: Not sure about the translation… I changed the words so that it would make sense. ->男にそれが出来るかといわれれば――<>

“…I need to hold out somehow until reinforcements come.”

His plan of making himself a bait in order to attract enemies misfired. The Taiyar side´s situation was definitely not good.

——–

“This… s.h.i.+t.”

Thinking that it was good there was n.o.body around, Willian hit a tree with his fist with all his strength.

He couldn´t hear voices behind him anymore. They weren´t coming after him either. That´s why Willian didn´t hide his irritation.

“Even though I was supposed to be the one [superior]. Even though I was supposed to be stronger than a small fry like that, than a simple underling! Why am I!?

The fist he used to hit the tree was bleeding. Under the mask was a horrendous expression.

“For how long am I supposed to keep up like that! Strakules, Kail, those guys can understand it. They can even accept it. But… Why can´t I win even against a small fry like that!?”

Small fry. That was how that man reflected in Willian´s eyes. Because of the same reasons for others, he had kept retreating. His instincts were telling him that he couldn´t win against the man, but by its side, his reason was screaming, saying from the depths of his heart that Willian was the one superior.

“Until when will I keep… I… Even though I was supposed to be more capable than that.”

Willian had hit a bottleneck.