Trick or Trap! (2)
Genovia was genuinely impressed.
“Wow, he blocked them all.”
She then questioned his actions.
“It’s good that he stopped it, but… What is he
going to do next?”
The Sword King raced through the air at a truly
tremendous pace, catching up with the Magic Arrows that were ahead of him.
However, he might crash to the ground that way.
No matter how high his level was, Aura users didn’t have
the skills to move in the air.
‘Or, by any chance, does he have one?’
‘Maybe he has another unexpected way to do it?’
Garhan and Genovia shone in anticipation.
Whoosh!
There was no such thing.
The giant, engulfed in red Aura, crashed into the fort.
“… I was expecting too much.”
“Well, it’s usually like that.”
It wasn’t a big deal.
They thought they probably survived. The Sword King was strong enough to survive a crash from a high altitude.
As expected, Ryu Han-bin walked out safely, shaking himself off.
Knights and soldiers looked at him in contemplation.
“Sword King!”
“Oh, my God, are you sure you’re all right?”
Han-bin relieved the people by shaking his hands.
“I’m okay. I’m okay.”
Of course, there was no way he could be okay.
He created a huge crater and flung shrapnel all over the
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Feeling the awe-inspiring gaze around him, he smiled
bitterly.
‘I think Kibie said something similar when I first met
her.’
It was half a joke at the time, but considering he
survived such a crash, he felt how far his body had gone beyond that of humans’.
Jumping back onto the wall, Han-bin asked Leon Hart,
“How’s the situation?”
“There’s not much damage so far, but…”
They prevented the bombing of the Ancient Dragons and the
magic of the Archmage.
The only damage was the building that Ryu Han-bin broke
down with his body.
“The problem is what will happen from here on out.”
Allendia’s magic and spiritual units had consumed a lot of Mana and Prana to prevent the Breaths of the Ancient Dragons.
On the other hand, the enemy was waiting in a formation, so they were still fresh.
“As a result, we’ll get damaged.
* * *
Holding her staff again, Genovia asked, “Shall we finish breaking the walls?”
Looking at Fort Fieldrocks, Garhan replied, “There’s no need to rush. Let’s back off a little for now.”
With a nod, Genovia put her weapon down. She then pointed at something, and a horn rang out for a long duration in return.
Tootle-tootle!
That was the signal to advance.
* * *
Second siege of Fieldrocks, the third day.
The Allendia troops were exhausted.
That day, Mages and Spiritists prevented the relay-type Breath of the Ancient Dragons with dark expressions.
“Gasp… Gasp…”
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“Well, the dragons’ Breath gets replenished after a good night’s rest. Their four major powers, too.”
Even if they managed to stop the current attacks, they would do it again the following day and the day after that.
The long-range magic spells of the Archmage weren’t helping either.
She no longer attacked the fort with super-large Magic Arrows.
“I knew it. Familiar magic spells are the best.”
She shook the ground, delivered beams of light, and filled the sky with a meteor shower.
The spells’ power was relatively small, but it was extensive, consistently reducing the fort’s durability.
Even if Han-bin and his party were together, they couldn’t defend the entirety of Fieldrocks.
More and more sections were drilled as the walls were damaged.
Soldiers roared, and commanders tried to give orders.
“The Western Wall is on the verge of collapse!”
“Take the scattered stones and fill the walls back up!”
“We don’t have any more clutter!”
“Then destroy the houses and use their materials! There’s a lot of empty houses anyway!”
There were so many with no owners because so many people had been killed in the past three days.
After that, a full-fledged siege began.
Enemy troops rushed towards the fort at all sides at the same time.
“Charge! Charge!”
“The Queen is watching us! Don’t back off!”
Sporadic attacks continued, and they would only be at a disadvantage if they remained in the fort.
Hence, the Allendia troops took the most effective countermeasures.
“Open the gates!”
“The Sword King Legion, charge!”
Sword King Felard, the incarnation of darkness, and the detached force led by Kibie began to retaliate against the enemy.
That was the only way to slow down the offensive against the wall.
It was dangerous to reveal the incarnation directly on the battlefield, but they had no choice.
Aura users specialized in offense more than defense. Though those two defended the wall, it wasn’t that effective. The Spiritist Leon Hart and the Mage Artis were much more fit for those positions.
The silver-haired Magic Swordswoman was fighting alongside Kibie as a precaution.
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“Fake incarnation!”
“Take her! Catching her earns you 100 thousand gold coins!”
Twin swords soon flashed and released lightning.
“Huh! Who dares–”
-Magic Swordsmanship: Beads of Thunder!
Twelve electrical beads flew in and attacked the knights aiming for Kibie, and flames soon devoured them.
“Gosh!”
“Urgh!”
Leaving the ashes behind, Effir threw herself right into the enemy ranks.
With a sharp cry, fountains of blood soared.
“Haaagh!”
There was a reason why she, who had been active in aerial operations, returned to her human form.
Her Wyvern form’s full potential was utilized most efficiently in aerial bombardments, the deterrence of the Ancient Dragons, and attacking the rear of enemy lines through swift movements.
However, due to Garhan’s magic swordsmanship techniques and his lightning, attacks from the air were greatly restricted, and no one could
fight the Ancient Dragons as they only used them as cannons. Since the Thunder King and the Archmage stood firmly at the back, she couldn’t move quickly and attack their headquarters either.
At that point, all she could do was fight against the general army on the ground. Effir of Thunderstorms was much better at that than the Pitch-Black Nightmare.
The Thunder King and the Archmage did not directly block Effir’s flight with magic spells or magic swordsmanship techniques. Instead, they had coordinated the situation and eliminated the advantage of Allendia over the skies.
Due to that, it was impossible to seize the entire war situation as before, and she was forced to fight a grounded battle.
In the melee, Effir burst into a roar.
“Charge to the left!”
* * *
Genovia grinned as she watched the war.
“Allendia forces fight pretty well.”
Garhan also smiled pleasingly.
“Our troops are fighting amazingly too.”
They removed it from sight because it was nerve-wracking, but the Guidelines for the two were still constantly sending them messages.
[Lv.42 swordsman cleared. You have earned 153,810XP.]
[Lv.56 mana swordsman cleared. You have earned
2,981,700XP.]
[Lv. 64 Mage cleared. You have earned 4,643,300XP.]
Garhan laughed.
“This is a very profitable trade. No matter who dies, I get experience points.”
Currently, the Kaldris and Mado armies had been given some of the regular marking capabilities of Garhan and Genovia.
Every time they killed an enemy, some of their experience continued to flow into the two.
And the same was true in the opposite case.
Without distinguishing between ally and foe, one could
absorb the experience of the dead for as long as they died fighting.
“How the hell did you do this, Genovia?”
“It’s simple. Think of it as someone who had a runny nose and hoarse throat.”
However, there was no medicine to cure the illnesses. There was only one medicine for each.
What should the person do?
“He can take both.”
It was to transfer both marking ability and imprinting to allies.
“It doesn’t last long if we transfer the imprint, but if we continue with the ability to mark, we still have imprints on each enemy we cut, and we’ll have imprints on our allies.”
Garhan clicked his tongue.
“That’s so vicious.”
“Energy would disappear when they die anyway. What’s wrong
with recycling? We’re not killing them ourselves.”
Genovia shook her head, looking at the remaining experience points required to level up.
“Well, it doesn’t get any better than this.”
Also, the number of experience points needed had increased too much.
Garhan felt cold-hearted.
“Then we’ll just have to kill more.”
“Well, that’ll be the case either way.”
Their conversations continued secretly, making sure no words leaked out. That was why the deputies who were assisting them could not hear anything at all.
Nevertheless, people trembled.
The eyes of the two absolute powerhouses looking at the battlefield were so cold.
They looked very casual.
They hadn’t been like that before.
Although they often accepted the sacrifice of their allies coldly, they weren’t calm about it back then.
‘Since when…’
‘They’ve changed, haven’t they?’
* * *
It was a frantic fight. Ryu Han-bin and Kibie’s detached troops approached the enemy’s main camp.
They maintained a distance that wasn’t too close yet also not too far.
At that moment, Effir’s eyes shone.
‘Now’s the time!’
Thick black smoke rose through her body.
In an instant, it covered dozens of meters of land.
After a while, the silver-maned Wyvern flew through the darkness.
“Grrr!”
It was a measure to avoid being caught.
By doing that, she wouldn’t have to show her transformation to others.
Of course, if anyone looked calmly, they could infer enough to deduce her true identity, but it worked in a murky battlefield.
Effir, who flew up, immediately carried Ryu Han-bin and Kibie on her back. She then began to fly high into the sky.
Sure enough, Garhan reacted right away.
-Magic Swordsmanship: The Way of Thunder and Lightning!
Rumble!
A net of lightning spread out in the sky. It was a barrier that was always deployed whenever the Pitch-Black Nightmare flew up.
However, the response was different this time.
She didn’t run away!
“Grrr!”
Rather, Effir jumped into the Way of Thunder and Lightning, then spewed out Breath at the enemy’s base camp.
The soldiers, who were caught off guard, began to run frantically in fright.
“Attack, attack!”
“Eek! Aren’t you going to run away this time?”
Genovia was also surprised by it.
“You’re bold this time.”
“Who is?”
With a snort, Garhan stepped on the lightning.
“It’s obvious that she’s doing an experiment.”
At first glance, she appeared to have jumped into the realm of Thunder and Lightning, but she was flying along the edge.
She was ready to run away and was only pretending to be bold.
“I’ll be right back.”
Garhan quickly flew near Effir.
As expected, the Sword King and the Wyvern quickly turned
around and began to flee.
Garhan smirked at the incarnation of darkness on
the Wyvern’s back.
“Oh, that’s a very tempting bait.”
Nevertheless, Garhan gave up his pursuit without hesitation.
“I don’t know what trap you’ve set or what snare you’ve dug.”
He was standing on the way of the Thunder and Lightning with
a meaningful smile.
“I know it doesn’t matter if I don’t know.”
Hollien had already been beaten.
Whatever they had done, Garhan had confirmed they could overpower the Top Three.
“But why would I commit to a pursuit alone?”
* * *
Returning to Fort Fieldrocks, Kibie murmured.
“It’s clear now.”
The Thunder King and the Archmage were wary of traps, and they had a solution in place.
All snares, traps, and seals had something in common.
No matter how hard they tried, they wouldn’t be able to get out of it after getting trapped. But if one of them weren’t caught, they could help the other get out of it.
“They don’t have the slightest intention of moving without an army.”
