Chapter 238

“Gotcha!!!!”

When you’re focused on survival, you lose track of time.

For soldiers on the battlefield, it’s even more extreme. They move in a strange time where everything happens faster than expected, yet every battle feels slower.

The arrows and spears flying at you seem painfully slow. Meanwhile, the siege tower, approaching leisurely, somehow gets close to the city wall in the blink of an eye, already hooking its grappling hooks.

Imperial soldiers climb up the Sacred Vessel, screaming, shouting, and bursting with the desire to survive.

Like a tidal wave. As if the dam that had been holding back finally gave way all at once.

“Take control of the wall!! Open the gates! The battering ram! Is it ready yet?”

“The battering ram has reached the gate! Starting the impact!”

Crossing the narrow path over the moat, the battering ram, surrounded by soldiers in ironclad defense, approached the massive wooden gate.

The ram, carved with a sheep’s head, was pushed back tightly, then, with a spring-like force, slammed into the gate.

-BOOOOOM!

“Break it! Break iiiit!”

“Pull! Pull! Now, release!”

Even as their throats tore and they spat blood, the soldiers didn’t stop shouting at the top of their lungs.

Impact, another impact. Like a wave, the battering ram struck the gate. Cracks began to spread from the impact point of the ram.

“Surprisingly fast and easy.”

Everard laughed as he watched the frontline cling to the city wall.

Duke Erbe had taken the gallery a bit earlier, but his legion wouldn’t be able to march straight to the royal castle after securing the wall.

In the first place, this difference was nothing. His front was the farthest from Lavirata’s palace, and due to the narrow contact area, the number of troops he could deploy at once was limited.

“Well, it’s not that surprising. Just think about how those idiots have been fighting so far.”

A knight chuckled as he spoke. Everard, feeling relieved as his worries vanished, laughed heartily.

Yeah, the war had been that easy so far. The reason they hadn’t lost a single battle on any front—

‘It’s not because the Duke is exceptional. It’s because the enemies are weak.’

If you think about it that way, it makes sense.

The Imperial Army isn’t incompetent. And neither are the tactical meetings of himself and the war nobles. That, more than anything, filled Everard with pride.

“The first soldier to enter the city wall will be rewarded with gold!”

Everard, caught up in the excitement, swung his sword and shouted.

All the bastions on the Sacred Vessel had been occupied, and no more cannonballs were raining down. The arrow rain that had once darkened the sky was now silent.

In terms of individual prowess, those skeletons from the Legion of Wraiths could never be a match for humans. They’re weak, light, and stiff. The skeletons made clattering noises as they desperately swung their spears and swords, but the elite soldiers, seasoned in battle, easily deflected their blows and shattered their skulls.

The moment they lost the advantage of terrain and weaponry, the moment the Sacred Vessel was taken, their defeat was all but certain. As more siege towers hooked onto the gallery, Everard’s smile grew wider.

-KWAAAAAAANG!

“The gate!! It’s breached!”

Amid a cloud of dust, the massive gate crumbled. Now. Everard roared.

“Imperial Cavalry!”

“Yes!”

“For the glory of His Majesty the Emperor!!”

“May the Divine Leviathan Empire live forever!”

-THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!

With Everard’s shout, the cavalry, mounted and waiting for this very moment, began their charge. The knights directly under the Imperial Central Command. The elite cavalry of the center, who had trained their martial skills solely for promotion and greater honor, charged as one, like a wedge driving into the enemy’s heart.

Toward the wide-open, dust-filled interior of the city!

* * *

“That’s enough pushing.”

Fernandez spoke as he watched the hawk floating in the sky. Though it couldn’t be heard, somehow, the hawk’s movements seemed to be speaking to him.

The hawk flapped its wings, flying around.

At first glance, its movements seemed meaningless, but the intricate flow of magic created by its wings suggested that this hawk was no ordinary creature.

“Are you going to wait longer, Lavirata?”

All the outer walls had been occupied, and even Duke Erbe, who had climbed the wall first, was approaching the city area with his troops.

Imperial flags, symbolizing the Imperial Army, were rising all over the city walls.

The cannons drooped powerlessly, and the wraiths who had been drawing arrows on the walls became lifeless corpses, swept down to the ground.

The battle for the outer walls was coming to an end.

Too easily. Far more easily than anyone had expected.

-SCREEECH!

The hawk cried out from beyond the sky. And at the same time, the heads of the mages preparing the Great Magic Circle toward the palace exploded one after another.

* * *

Without any warning, without any screams. Human heads exploded like watermelons.

The Imperial Combat Mages all fell simultaneously.

The headless corpses collapsed one by one on the magical formation that was supposed to enhance their magic circuits.

The scene was so surreal that the knights and soldiers guarding the mages could only stare in shock, unable to even think of raising an alarm.

“What… what is this…?”

Even the bravest veteran soldier…








It was to the point where I was whispering while holding my breath. Thinking about what it meant for combat mages to be incapacitated in the middle of a battlefield was a secondary issue.

And when the soldier, startled by the belated rush of reality, raised his head, it was already too late.

-Kugugugugung……!!!

“Ah…… ahhh…….”

The soldier should have been grateful that he was stationed in the rear, in a relatively safe position, tasked with protecting the mages. The city walls were crumbling into dust, collapsing all at once.

* * *

-Kugugugugung!!!

This wasn’t just a vibration. It was already an earthquake.

Horses collapsed as their legs gave out, and soldiers tangled and fell in the midst of their running, screaming in chaos. No one could see through the massive cloud of dust that swept in from the city walls.

The walls were collapsing. Screams and despair scattered like dust. The walls of this era were, in short, still lifes. Like mountains, fields, or the ocean. They were part of the scenery, a still life.

And for such a still life, part of ‘nature,’ to collapse…… could it be compared to a landslide or a tsunami?

The fact that most of the soldiers were near the walls, and even the greatsword nobles and field commanders who were supposed to lead them were on top of the walls, only made the situation worse.

“Lavirata…… impressive.”

At this moment, there were two types of people who kept their composure.

Those who were in the complete rear, able to witness this overwhelming natural disaster from a distance, trembling not in shock but in awe.

-Kugugugugung!!

And those who could see the dense, net-like streams of light cascading from the sky to the ground.

Those who had magic circuits embedded in their bodies and could feel the flow of magic.

The mages.

Fernandez marveled at the beautiful flow of magic, cascading like a waterfall, swirling like a storm.

Each fragment was an extremely intricate spell, and despite all the spells forming a flow and swirling, there was almost no misuse or leakage of magic.

Just as a swordsman, upon reaching the pinnacle, can channel magic through their body, a mage, upon reaching a certain level, can command magic itself. When discussing the realm of mastery, the divine feat Lavirata had just displayed was mythical-level magic.

However…….

-There’s no way she could use magic of that scale without paying a price.

‘Right. The backlash must be enormous.’

If Lavirata could easily wield such large-scale magic at any time, she would have already unified civilized society. That couldn’t be the case.

To command magic of this magnitude, one would need to be on par with Mumto in his prime.

The fact that Lavirata was part of Mumto’s conclave meant she was one of the greatest heroes of the Empire of Ashit. But conversely, it also proved that she was clearly inferior to Mumto.

-Now’s the chance.

‘Good.’

All the military forces were buried in the chaos. Thinking that a single spell like that would annihilate all the forces below was extreme optimism. That wouldn’t be the case. It was more about disrupting the frontlines and forcing damage.

It was a spell that focused more on mental and visual impact than physical shock. Even if soldiers survived below, they would have already lost all morale and would be focused solely on retreat.

Fernandez tapped Kirhas on the shoulder as she stared blankly ahead.

“Uh, Your Excellency. R-right now. Right now……”

“Why are you so shocked over something as trivial as a collapsing wall?”

“Huh…… huh?”

“We’ve seen the World Tree burn. We were even on top of it. We’ve faced a Great Demon. After all that, isn’t it a bit much to be impressed by something like this?”

At his words, Kirhas quickly regained her composure. She chuckled and nodded.

“You’re right. So, what’s the plan now? Are you thinking of retreating?”

“I need your help, Kirhas. We’re planning to break through the front.”

“Into…… inside?”

“To be precise, into Lavirata’s royal palace. Lavirata can no longer be allowed to live.”

The Federation of Beastmen Nobles and Duke Erbe needed to stabilize the southern regions of the wilderness. Lavirata was a variable that didn’t exist in their previous lives, and it was impossible to predict how she would affect the upcoming war with Karadskar.

On the other hand, it was a rational choice to focus their strength on Kirhas, who had successfully stopped Karadskar. Fernandez tightened his reins and spurred forward.

“Follow me. From now on, we’ll be assassins.”

“Well, that’s just business as usual.”

Penetrating deep into enemy territory, killing their leader, and returning alive. Seen in this light, it wasn’t much different from the missions Fernandez and Kirhas had been carrying out for the Inquisition Office.

Hearing that, Fernandez chuckled, and Kirhas quickly moved ahead, shouting.

“I’ll clear the path!”

“I’m counting on you!”

Kirhas’ eyes instinctively moved toward victory.

It wasn’t due to any magical effect, but rather the peculiarity of her soul.

Kirhas from a previous life—more precisely, Kirhas from Mumto’s parallel world—had accumulated numerous karmic debts and boundaries. When she merged with Kadán during the transition, a rift formed within her soul.

Somewhere in her instincts, the ‘completed’ version of Kirhas from another world was shouting, ‘This is the answer,’ but the current Kirhas couldn’t understand the process.

That spiritual rift manifested in her eyes.

Perhaps, someday, when she had accumulated enough boundaries, this ability would naturally disappear. After that, it wouldn’t be a special ability but a cold, calculated decision.

That’s what the boundary of a hero is. Fernandez followed her with a self-deprecating smile. It was a destined ability he could never possess. All he had gained from a lifetime of opposing and chasing such people was a fierce survival instinct and underhanded schemes.

Still. Having witnessed the birth of such a hero up close and watched her grow, he couldn’t help but feel proud of Kirhas’ cheerful shouts and actions.

Fernandez laughed as he ran after her. Into the dust, into the swirling magic and the fog of war that filled the battlefield.