The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations (light Novel)

Slash!

Julien’s blade struck Helgenique again, carving through his body.
BOOOM!
Ghislain’s sword tore through space itself, piercing Helgenique.

Though Helgenique conjured a shield, it was futile. Julien’s blade ignored the shield entirely, while Ghislain’s shattered it outright.
Whoosh!
Black smoke erupted violently from Helgenique’s wounded body.

“Urgh…”
Staggering backward, Helgenique summoned a new wave of Death Knights.
Their glowing eyes radiated with the malevolent mana Helgenique had imbued into them, and they charged at the two attackers.

“Julien!”
Hearing Ghislain’s shout, Julien moved without hesitation. Ghislain unleashed threads of mana that coiled around the Death Knights.
Snap!

The Death Knights froze, bound by the mana threads. Taking advantage of the moment, Julien shot forward and swung his sword toward Helgenique.
Slash!
“Urgh!”

Julien’s precise attack exploited the brief gap while Helgenique was casting his spell. Unable to avoid the strike entirely, Helgenique was wounded again.
Crash!
Ghislain spun, ripping through the restrained Death Knights. Though the knights reassembled quickly, restored by Helgenique’s magic, Ghislain paid them no mind and pressed his assault on Helgenique.

BOOOM!
Helgenique, struggling under Julien’s relentless strikes, managed to create some distance and summoned a wall of bones.
Rumble!
An enormous wall of bone erupted from the ground, larger and thicker than any he had summoned before. Simultaneously, Helgenique raised his hand toward the sky.

Hummm!
A dark sphere formed high in the air, radiating overwhelming energy. It aimed a devastating death ray directly at Ghislain.
BOOOM!

The energy surged with such immense force that even a superhuman could not hope to escape unscathed.
“Ghislain,” Julien muttered, his voice calm but charged with resolve. For the first time, he drew on his power to its utmost extent.
Taking a step forward, Julien slashed through the air.

Slash!
The wall of bones fell apart, cleanly sliced. The death ray, on its path toward Ghislain, briefly flickered and dissipated.
In that fleeting moment, Ghislain launched his attack.

BOOOOM!
Trusting Julien entirely, Ghislain disregarded any thought of defense. He streaked forward like a crimson blur, gripping his sword tightly, and swung.
Slash!

“Arghhh!”
Helgenique’s left arm was severed at the shoulder, falling to the ground. In a desperate counter, he thrust his remaining hand forward, unleashing a blast of energy.
BOOM!

The attack struck Ghislain squarely in the abdomen, sending him tumbling backward. Julien, however, closed the gap immediately and swung his blade.
Slash!
“Urgh!”

This time, Julien’s strike slashed halfway through Helgenique’s neck. Gasping in pain, Helgenique retaliated with all his remaining strength.
BOOM!
The energy blast struck Julien’s side, forcing him to stagger back. Digging his sword into the ground to stabilize himself, Julien refused to fall.

Ghislain, who had rolled back to his feet, grinned as he watched.
“Wow, Julien. You're doing all the dramatic moves again.”
“…”

Ignoring Ghislain’s quip, Julien straightened his posture and readied his blade.
Ghislain rolled his shoulder, testing his range of motion. “Man, that one actually hurt a little.”
Though both had sustained injuries, neither seemed fazed. The blows they had taken were far from debilitating.

Helgenique, on the other hand, was in shambles. He had endured multiple direct hits, and his body was barely holding together. Black smoke poured from his wounds, making him appear as though he were burning from the inside out.
“Urgh… You bastards…”
Even individually, Julien and Ghislain were formidable enough to give him pause. Together, they were relentless, leaving him no opening to counter.

Despite losing an arm and suffering a severe neck wound, Helgenique had managed only a few glancing blows on his opponents—and none had been fatal.
Whoosh!
Ghislain and Julien charged at Helgenique once again. They knew better than to let up against someone as cunning as him.

Groooar…
The Death Knights leaped into the air, surrounding the combatants. But even they were powerless to intervene.
The battle between these three moved far too quickly for the Death Knights to keep up.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Helgenique found himself being pushed further and further back by the duo’s coordinated assault. Before long, the fight had moved far from the corpse-littered battlefield.
Nothing remained to aid him. No reinforcements, no undead army—just his own desperate strength.

‘To think I’d be pushed this far!’
Helgenique was a master of necromancy, and yet he hadn’t been able to utilize his craft properly in this fight. Every spell requiring preparation was interrupted before it could be cast. All he could do was dodge and parry.
‘If this keeps up, I’ll really die.’

The injuries he had sustained were fatal by any normal standard. Yet, his opponents showed no surprise. They clearly understood the nature of his body.
‘How do they know?’
This knowledge was baffling. Even the Salvation Order, his supposed allies, didn’t know the full extent of his secrets.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Helgenique’s thoughts were cut short as more wounds opened across his body. His mana was draining rapidly, and he couldn’t sustain this pace.
‘I can’t escape.’

And victory was beyond his reach.
The horde of 200,000 undead would be meaningless if he fell. He had underestimated the allied forces—more specifically, the Duke of Fenris and the Prince of Turian. Their strength far exceeded his expectations.
In the end, only one option remained.

‘I’m not one to rely on luck… but this time, I have no choice.’
With grim resolve, Helgenique unleashed all his remaining mana in one final, desperate move.
BOOOOOM!

An explosive storm of mana erupted around him, hurling Julien and Ghislain backward.
Ghislain landed deftly, rolling to dissipate the force, but Julien, for once, lost his footing and tumbled.
As Ghislain rose, he smirked. “Well, well, Julien. Even you hit the dirt sometimes. You’re starting to seem human.”

“…”
Julien ignored him, regaining his stance with his usual poise. Ghislain spat a bloodied glob onto the ground and fixed his gaze ahead.
Helgenique’s condition was strange. His body, already tattered, trembled uncontrollably.

Floating before him were four glowing orbs, which began to crack and disintegrate.
“Life Orbs?” Ghislain murmured, recognizing them instantly.
These miraculous artifacts had the power to create superhumans.

He had suspected Helgenique was using them to control his massive undead army, but…
‘He still had four left?’
And now, they weren’t being used to raise the dead.

BOOOOOM!
The immense energy released from the four orbs surged into Helgenique’s body.
Ghislain cursed under his breath. “He’s gone mad.”

Ghislain couldn't help but show disbelief on his face.
Helgenique was already at the level of a transcendent. To absorb even one Life Orb would push the limits of what his body could handle, potentially leading to his demise.
But now, he had absorbed four.

It was sheer madness. Such overwhelming power couldn't possibly be contained.
Still, Ghislain understood why. Faced with inevitable death, Helgenique was gambling on a slim chance. If he managed to wield this newfound power, he could crush his enemies in one decisive blow.
"Aaaaahhhh!"

Helgenique’s scream pierced the air as the immense energy from the orbs coursed through his body. Where his severed shoulder once was, a new arm of pure mana formed.
The power of the orbs didn’t integrate seamlessly with his own mana—Helgenique knew that. Yet he had absorbed them all. He had no intention of surviving this; he was pouring everything into this fight.
‘I will kill them all!’

Absorbing even one orb would have pushed him to his limit. But Helgenique chose to harness the full power of all four, aiming to swiftly annihilate Ghislain and Julien.
The Death Knights surrounding Helgenique began to dissolve into smoke. Their mana was drawn into Helgenique, fueling his transformation.
Snap! Crack! Crunch!

His body twisted grotesquely. Bones dislocated, muscles swelled unnaturally, and his flesh bulged as it strained to contain the overwhelming energy.
Like the fanatical Holy Warriors of the Salvation Order, his form began to grow, bloating to inhuman proportions. If he continued like this, his body would soon rupture.
“Urgh…”

Realizing his body was on the verge of destruction, Helgenique instinctively released some of the energy. With an enraged howl, he lashed out wildly, his mana tearing through the air.
BOOOOM!
Ghislain raised his sword to block but was sent flying backward from the sheer force.

It was unlike anything he had encountered, even in his previous life. Such raw power was something he could count on one hand.
As Ghislain tumbled away, Julien moved. In an instant, he closed the distance to Helgenique and swung his sword.
Clang!

The blade struck Helgenique’s neck, aiming for a clean decapitation, but it didn’t cut through. The excessive mana flowing through Helgenique’s body had formed an impenetrable barrier.
Helgenique counterattacked, his massive fist crashing into Julien.
BOOOOM!

Like Ghislain, Julien was hurled through the air. The raw power was overwhelming.
"Hahaha… such overwhelming power…"
Helgenique laughed darkly, reveling in his newfound strength. Unlike the berserk Holy Warriors, he had retained his consciousness—a testament to his higher level of mastery.

But even he was struggling. The power of the orbs was too great, and his control over it was slipping. His vision blurred, his consciousness flickered, and his body felt moments away from exploding.
“I must release more power!” he growled.
With a wave of his hand, dozens of Dark Spears materialized in the air. Each one carried the destructive force of a transcendent’s attack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The spears launched toward Ghislain and Julien. Both were forced into a defensive stance, dodging and deflecting the relentless onslaught.
Helgenique continued to unleash magic in a frenzy, his body glowing with unstable energy. From the ground, jagged spires of bone erupted, filling the battlefield and leaving the two warriors with no room to maneuver.

"Bone Explosion."
BOOOOOM!
The bone spires detonated in unison, filling the area with shockwaves. Ghislain and Julien couldn’t fully evade the blasts and were thrown backward by the force.

“Cough…”
Ghislain coughed up blood, his insides shaken by the blast. Julien, though silent, was similarly battered, with wounds opening across his body.
In an instant, the tide of the battle had turned.

Helgenique had become a complete monster, wielding the power of a god. And unlike the mindless Holy Warriors, he retained enough of his wits to use that power strategically.
Yet, despite his overwhelming might, Helgenique’s body wouldn’t last. It was a race against time—his power would destroy him long before his enemies could.
‘I have to kill them before that happens,’ Helgenique thought grimly.

Whirrrr!
In the air, black spheres began to form—dozens of them. They pulsed ominously, radiating dark energy.
In his prime, Helgenique could summon one or two of these Death Rays. Now, with the power of the orbs, he conjured dozens.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The beams fired in all directions, raining destruction across the battlefield. Julien and Ghislain were forced to focus solely on dodging the relentless attacks.
“This isn’t looking good,” Ghislain muttered, narrowly avoiding a blast.

“We have no choice but to hold out,” Julien replied.
Running wasn’t an option. Though they had moved far from their allies, retreating would leave their forces exposed to Helgenique’s wrath.
Their only choice was to endure until Helgenique burned himself out.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Both warriors were experts at the pinnacle of their craft, dodging and deflecting attacks with precision. They managed to minimize the damage, but their injuries were accumulating.
“Phew…”

“…”
Even they couldn’t keep this up forever. If the battle continued like this, they would fall before Helgenique did.
“Change of plans,” Ghislain said, his tone grim. “We can’t handle him alone.”

“…Agreed.”
Their original plan had been to end Helgenique here and now. If he hadn’t used the Life Orbs, they would have succeeded.
But with the current situation, they needed reinforcements.

‘Dark, bring them now.’
High above, the massive crow Dark, who had been watching the battle, finally moved.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Helgenique’s attacks grew more ferocious, each strike a desperate attempt to expend the power threatening to destroy him. The battlefield was becoming a wasteland, and Ghislain and Julien’s injuries were mounting.
Just as the situation seemed dire, Dark’s voice rang out.
“Agh! So heavy!”

From the sky, a radiant figure descended like a beam of light. The brilliance parted the darkness of Helgenique’s magic as the figure plummeted to the ground.
Helgenique scowled, sensing a new presence. He looked up to see the figure wielding a massive, glowing mace.
BOOOOOM!

The mace crashed down onto Helgenique’s head with unimaginable force, slamming him into the ground.
THUD!
As the figure landed, an intense wave of holy energy erupted outward, driving back the darkness. Ghislain and Julien felt their wounds begin to heal.

The new arrival stood tall, her presence undeniable—a beacon of divine strength and righteous fury.
The Princess of Destruction, Elena, had joined the battle.