Chapter 249

No matter how thoroughly trained, an ordinary person has clear physical limits. Unless it’s Diemonica, no human can engage in battle for half a day and attempt a night battle without rest.

In that regard, Fernandez was an exceptionally understanding commander. He readily accepted the exhaustion of his cavalry.

And for good reason. A typical ‘cavalry charge’ on flat ground, even just once, is back-breaking labor. Yet, the Beastman Cavalry had fought in the ‘hills,’ overcoming an ‘overwhelming numerical disadvantage,’ with ‘pursuers’ on their tail, and had charged ‘three times.’

But that didn’t mean they had to give up the advantage of a night raid.

“Uh… so… you’re saying we should go down to the base of the mountain?”

“Exactly.”

“Just leave them on the mountainside? By tomorrow, at least the vanguard will have set up camp on the plains. You… surely don’t mean to fight fifteen thousand troops on the plains, do you?”

“Well, if you look at the result, it’s similar.”

“Damn it. I don’t want a suicide charge. I have the right to refuse that.”

Fernandez chuckled at the Cavalry Captain’s grumbling. He shook his head and said, “I promise. You’ll never face more than double your numbers.”

With that, Fernandez ordered the Beastman Warriors to descend the mountain. However, he split the three hundred cavalry into six groups of fifty, each descending in different directions.

“I don’t know if you know about cavalry tactics, but Duke Sephor. Cavalry can’t perform tactical maneuvers when scattered.”

“First, don’t call me Sephor again. Only one person can call me that, and it’s not you.”

Fernandez stared at the Cavalry Captain’s sweaty face and continued, “And second, the cavalry doesn’t need to perform tactical maneuvers. Just stick to the area I mentioned and pick off the enemy as they come down.”

“…What if more than double the enemy shows up?”

“Then retreat and go wherever you want. Oh, in that case, try to stop by the Chieftain’s main camp. Your severance pay and penalties will be well taken care of.”

“I like you.”

The Cavalry Captain grinned mischievously. Fernandez nodded with a shameless expression. Wild beasts need to be handled fiercely, especially Beastmen. They’re the type who are drawn to the label of ‘bad guys.’

-Well, at least I’ve never been beaten in the ‘bad guy’ department.

‘Could the things I did in my past life even be described as ‘bad’ with such a cute adjective?’

-Then what? Rough?

‘Damn it.’

Faijashi and Fernandez laughed heartily.

* * *

Considering what had happened during the day, it was only natural that Duke Sephor had set up a textbook-perfect encampment. It took some time, but it was nearly impervious to night raids.

A bold field commander with just a handful of cavalry to ambush fifteen thousand troops would surely not miss this opportunity. The deep mountain night was lethally suitable for a night raid.

“The soldiers are overly tense.”

“They think they’re in a pursuit after a defeat.”

“We’ve never been defeated once!”

Duke Sephor growled at his knights. As a regional duke and great lord, he was a capable commander who had complete control over his vassals. His authority wasn’t so fragile as to be damaged without an actual defeat.

In fact, he and his forces had never been defeated. It was just that the situation had taken a strange turn. The only problem was that it remained a thought in the command’s mind.

The morale of the command directly affects the soldiers’ morale, but conversely, the soldiers’ morale often flows differently from the command’s intentions. The soldiers thought they had been defeated and were being pursued.

This isn’t a matter of persuasion. No matter how loudly the deputies shout about the eventual victory and the enemy’s schemes, ordering troops who have marched a long distance to march back home without visible results is no different from defeat.

“I’d feel less wronged if we’d at least been ambushed.”

Sephor sighed, clutching a wine cup. The silence of the mountains seemed to press down on the camp. Whose idea was it? Whose scheme was it?

-Fire! Fire!!!

-Water!! Pour water!!!

Then, shouts erupted from all directions. The knights and Duke Sephor inside the command tent almost simultaneously jumped up and hurriedly lifted the tent flaps.

And before their eyes.

The entire mountain was on fire.

* * *

The fire demon runs. Early summer, right after the rain. It’s not a natural wildfire. Even if you pour oil and gunpowder, it’s nearly impossible to start such a massive fire in this season and climate.

“It’s magic!! Where are the mages? Extinguish it! Now!!”

Duke Sephor shouted as he crossed the chaotic camp. His Palace Mages were seen preparing spells in the distance. Before his command, the mages were already attempting to extinguish the fire.

“Explain! What’s happening?”

“F-fire has broken out!”

“I have eyes, man! This is the first time your salary feels so wasted.”

The non-mage cowered in fear under Duke Sephor’s anger. Despite being much younger, the Duke was a natural leader. His eyes burned as if he could tear the mage’s throat out right then.

“Explain!”

“It’s magical fire. But there was no flow of magic. Normally, to wield magic of this scale, a wide detection of magical flow should have been detected beforehand. The duty mage, even now, there’s no flow of magic…”

“Speak in a way I can understand!”

“…So, it’s not that a mage cast a spell. They used a relic or potion!”

The mage blurted out with a red face. Duke Sephor clutched his forehead, paused for a moment, then shouted as if he could devour him.

“Why not. How?”








Damn it, Felperin! Aren’t you ashamed of your position as a Palace Mage? I’m not asking why this happened, but how you plan to resolve this mess and when it will be settled. That’s what I pay you for, give you territory, fund your experiments, and even provide you with women!”

“W-well, the relic situation is a bit more complicated. But relics of this level always leave records. There’s no relic capable of wielding this level of flame magic in the eastern part of the Empire…”

“Next explanation!”

“I-if it’s not a relic, there are two reagents that could produce this effect!!”

Duke Sephor, who was about to demand a solution, suddenly paused. Every strategy, every scheme has a certain ‘rhythm.’ It’s a specific ‘habit’ that the strategists and decision-makers have.

It’s like a chess game. The direction and purpose of the moves share a sense of uniformity. And Duke Sephor, a great noble who served in Erbe’s command during the 50-year war, knows this well.

‘Karbelier, that stubborn man, wouldn’t pull off a scheme like this.’

‘Beastmen? No, they lack the foundation to execute such a delicate plan to incite the Empire. Their strategies focus on open plains. This kind of tactic isn’t their style…’

‘Someone. Someone incited Karbelier and the Beastmen.’

As his thoughts reached that point, Duke Sephor’s eyes lit up. Someone. Trying to divide the Empire? Why? For what purpose?

Every scheme has a purpose. There’s no such thing as an intricate, delicate plan executed simply because ‘it can be done.’

“Who? Where?”

“T-the ‘Liquid Flame’ from the Temple of the Gods, the ‘Flowing Fire’ from the High Council of Aseas, and the ‘Flame Cannon’ from the Apotazar Dynasty. These three can produce similar effects, Your Grace!”

“The Church, Aseas, the Wraith Sovereign.”

Duke Sephor stopped speaking and clutched his head for a moment. The scope is too broad. And those three groups have no reason, motive, or purpose to destroy the Empire. I thought it was one of the Elector Dukes…

“Your Grace! E-evolution is impossible!”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“The f-flames won’t go out. No… the magic won’t activate!!”

“What?”

“Someone… a Grand Magician is nearby.”

A mage, pale-faced and preparing a spell, rushed over and prostrated himself as he spoke.

“A Grand Magician, you say?”

“We can’t tell where they’re attempting it from, but yes, Your Grace. Every time we try to cast magic, a mana spike flies in and disrupts us.”

“…The work of a single person?”

“This isn’t a legion-scale magic battle. In fact, we’ve successfully claimed this entire area as our mages’ domain. There’s no opposing force directly interfering with our actions.”

“Then how is the magic failing?”

Duke Sephor is a master of military science. The Empire’s doctrine places the highest importance not on cavalry or infantry formations, but on the analysis and understanding of magical forces.

As a graduate of the Empire’s military academy, Duke Sephor was well-versed in the concept of legion-scale magic battles. It’s the act of seizing the flow of mana in a region based on the battlefield.

If you can grasp the flow of mana crossing the sky, you can unleash large-scale military magic across the entire battlefield. Magic battles are essentially battles over that flow.

To the untrained eye, it’s called the ‘Battle of Silence.’ A war fought on a metaphysical level where a single mistake or defeat can influence the entire battlefield.

So, the mage’s words don’t add up. If we’ve fully controlled the region’s mana, enemy mages shouldn’t even be able to attempt magic. That’s common sense.

“So it’s an individual! It’s not large-scale combat magic, but an individual’s magic manifestation that can’t be stopped. However, we’re attempting large-scale magic from a fixed location… They’re using that to trace back and sever our flow.”

“Skip the technical jargon, summarize it.”

“Yes, Your Grace. The enemy is a single person. A seasoned Combat Mage who surpasses all our magical forces, and they’re cutting off our flow with pinpoint accuracy, using almost no mana… We can’t even locate them.”

The mage bit his lip in despair as he spoke. Sephor could only let out a hollow laugh. He chuckled incredulously and said,

“So your conclusion is this? We don’t know who it is, where they are, we can’t use magic, and we’re stranded in the middle of a mountain with fifteen thousand men surrounded by flames?”

“…Yes, Your Grace.”

“Damn it, haha. Hahaha! Damn it! I want to fire all of you and give your entire salaries to that mage. Why not? That single mage surpasses all of Bülrang’s Combat Mages!”

“This is just technique, and in the scope of war, magic battles are always about the total amount…”

“Damn it, cut the nonsense! What I need is a way to save my soldiers and a sword to shove down your throats!”

Sephor shouted as he turned his horse. He barked at the officers surrounding him.

“Forget these incompetent fools! We’ll break through ourselves!”

“Your Grace! The soldiers will scatter! We can’t manage their retreat paths in the middle of the night amidst the flames!”

“My soldiers are all!! The people of Bülrang! Damn it. Do you think they’ll settle down just because they’re lost in the Empire? Listen up, all of you!”

Sephor immediately spurred his horse and charged. Even the soldiers, caught in chaos, were momentarily stunned by his momentum and turned to look at him. Under the gaze of his men, Sephor shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Sons of Bülrang! Just survive! Survive and descend, survive and regroup. Your parents, your wives, and your children are waiting for you in Bülrang! Strive to survive, to protect your families now groaning under the beasts’ plunder! Take up your spears and gather in Bülrang!”

He looked around with fiery eyes, his voice rising. The faces of the soldiers showed confusion, fear, exhaustion, and pain.

“This is not defeat. This is not desertion or fleeing! This is survival! Your survival? Mine? No!! It’s the survival of your families!! Sons of Bülrang. Just survive!!”

He drew his sword and pointed it at the knights of the command.

“You, the lord of Bülrang and the head of the great House of Sephor, Antoine de Sephor, commands you. Open the path and save your men! Charge!!”

“Yes, Your Grace!!”

The knights shouted with determination. Soon, the camp gates opened, and the soldiers began to charge out. Into the flames. Towards the boundary between the earth, bright as day, and the sky, dark as night.

The mountain path ablaze with fire. The treacherous terrain without a single path. Through all of it, they charged downward.