by Michael Sisa
Arzen gritted his teeth. He knew that he should be glad that the battle on the Western Front had been favorable for the Kingdom thus far, but knowing that all these achievements would go to that bastard once the war ended made Arzen want to rip his hair out in utter frustration.
If that brat could do it, why couldn’t he? He was the top graduate of the military academy, after all.
Arzen looked at his little brother. Unlike him, Mokuva was unfazed by the news. His face held a curious look, as though wondering how Lark Marcus managed to achieve all those things within a short period of time.
“Listen,” said Arzen. “I want you to come up with a strategy to overcome the Man-Eater’s defenses. We need to take back the City of Yan as soon as possible!”
His frail-looking brother stared at the map spread on the table for several minutes. Like playing a game of Hayangji, the popular strategy game of the Kingdom, he started placing numerous wooden pieces on different parts of the map.
“Commander, how many soldiers has the Second Army lost since the start of the war?” said Mokuva, his gaze still fixated on the map.
“Almost two thousand.” Arzen scowled. “That damnable Man-Eater refused to leave the City of Yan. We’ve been forced to siege, but that’s to be expected of a territory previously governed by the House Marcus. Forget the gates. We can’t even climb past the walls without being shot by arrows.”
“Two thousand.” Mokuva clicked his tongue. “That’s a lot. You should have called for me sooner, Commander. Over here, look. It should be possible to launch a surprise attack from here.”
Arzen looked where Mokuva was pointing. He frowned. “A surprise attack? That’s next to the Silen River, idiot. Monsters come out of the river as though they’re birthed by the water. Our soldiers will be dead before they can even nock their arrows.”
Mokuva shook his head. “You’re not wrong, but the circumstances right now are different. Several months ago, Lui Marcus ordered his army to wipe out the monsters coming out of Silen River to secure the mines around the area and to open up a path between the City of Yan and City of Metesda. And how did he do it?”
“By exterminating the monsters in Louan Plains.” Arzen finally started grasping what his little brother was trying to say.
“That’s right,” said Mokuva. “It’s impossible to totally clear Silen River of monsters in less than a year. And the Empire knows this too. That’s probably why there are far fewer soldiers guarding this area near Silen than the others.”
Mokuva pointed at the area in the map where the entire Second Army was currently camped. “But Commander, what happens if a ten thousand-strong army is currently camped in Louan? The source of the monsters of Silen?”
Mokuva took out a short, wooden stick and placed it across the area on the map representing Silen River. “The route of the monsters is cut off. Right now, Silen is practically clear of monsters. And the Empire is unaware of this. We can use this chance to launch an all-out attack at the area least-guarded by our enemies.”
Arzen whistled. As expected of his brother, the same person who wrote the book: Fifty-Seven Assault Tactics. A book which was still being used in the military academy.
“Commander,” a soldier entered the tent. “We’ve received weapons from the capital. Judging by the seal, it seems to be from the royal family.”
“Weapons?” Arzen shot a quizzical look.
“Yes,” the soldier nodded. “They’ve been delivered to our camp just now.”
Arzen and Mokuva looked at each other.
Arzen donned his military coat and grabbed his sword. “Lead us there.”
The soldier saluted. “Yes, Commander!”
The brothers from House Boris were led toward a large clearing where several carts stood. A few knights from the royal family and several dozen soldiers were already there, protecting the cargo.
“Arzen, Commander of the Second Army.” Arzen politely greeted the man who seemed to be the leader of the knights. “I heard you’ve come to deliver weapons for the army?”
The leader of the knights glanced at the carts behind him, then at Arzen. “That’s right. This is a task personally entrusted to us by His Majesty. He told us to deliver these iron shells to the Second Army, no matter what.”
Arzen’s eyes glimmered upon hearing those words. “Iron shells?”
“Dwarven weapons purchased by the royal family,” said the knight. “His Majesty wishes for this deadlock with the Amubal Army to end soon. Please use these weapons to take back Yan City.”
Arzen’s eyes widened. Weapons from the dwarves were known to be incredibly potent during war. He did not know how the King managed to negotiate with them, since those arrogant bastards closed their borders centuries ago. But that did not matter now. What mattered was the weapons.
The knight opened the leather cloth covering one of the carts, revealing iron shells the size of a human head. He grabbed one of them. “I’ll demonstrate the might of these new weapons. Please watch carefully.”
With just brute force, the knight threw the iron shell into the sky. The shell shot up, then flew down at an angle, before striking the ground. A loud boom was heard. Arzen and his little brother walked to where the iron shell landed and saw a small crater on the ground, with numerous needles sticking in it.
“Those needles are poisonous,” said the knight, who’d calmly followed them. “It’s easy to imagine what would happen if we launched these things at Yan City.”
The might of the iron shell was definitely far inferior to the mana bombs, but the amount loaded in the carts could easily surpass the one thousand mark. With just these alone, it should be possible to lay waste to an Empire’s army or two.
“But brot—Commander,” Mokuva corrected himself midway. He was frowning. “What about our captured citizens in the city? If we use such dangerous weapons…”
Arzen was worried about this too. He looked at the expressionless knight.
“Regarding the captured citizens of Akash,” said the knight. “We’ve confirmed that most of them have been killed by the Amubal Army. His Majesty wouldn’t have allowed the usage of the dwarven weapons against the City of Yan, otherwise.”
The Man-Eater was infamous for killing and torturing all of his enemies regardless of gender or age. The Boris brothers could easily see him killing all of the captives just to lessen the number of mouths to feed in the city.
Either way, Amubal’s ruthlessness worked to their advantage this time. They could bombard the city with these weapons without care for friendly fire.
A chuckling sound escaped Arzen’s lips. He grinned.
“Gather the troops! Prepare to move out in an hour!” he roared.
Lark Marcus had been gathering achievements left and right in this war. Arzen did not have the slightest intention of letting the bastard hoard all the glory. With these weapons, even the Man-Eater’s army would not pose any risk to his Second Army.
Upon receiving their orders, the entire Second Army started marching toward the grassland next to Silen River. And just like Mokuva said, monsters did not come out in droves and attack the army. It seemed that camping in Louan Plains unexpectedly stoppered the source of these monsters. And this gave the army enough time to cross over.
The sentries of the Empire stationed there were startled upon seeing the sea of soldiers swarming toward the area. They’d never considered that the army of the Kingdom would choose to attack from the direction of the monster-infested river. They immediately rang the bell to alert everyone of the attack.
“T-The Kingdom! The Kingdom’s soldiers ar—”
Arrows rained down on the sentries and killed them on the spot. Without any hesitation, the Second Army continued moving toward the city of Yan.
“This should be far enough,” said Arzen, his eyes peering at the city from the distance.
By now, their enemies had been alerted to the attack. The nearly defenseless battlements started to be filled with archers. The gates we
re tightly shut and were barricaded with boulders from inside.
“Load the shells,” Arzen commanded.
After the five catapults they’d brought with them had been loaded with iron shells, he roared, “Fire!”
Five iron shells shot into the sky and flew over the walls, creating a loud boom upon striking the ground. Even from a distance, Arzen could hear the frantic shouts inside the city. The enemies were definitely caught off guard by the dwarven weapons. He could imagine dozens of soldiers falling prey to the poisonous needles.
Caught off guard, the magicians could not even erect a barrier to block the first strike. Most probably, their magicians were stationed on the opposite side of the city, at the gate where the Second Army had frequently attacked previously.
“Keep them coming,” said Arzen. “We’ll attack once we’ve killed more than half of those imperial bastards.”
Iron shells were loaded and fired one after another. Arzen had been granted hundreds of these things, and he decided not to spare firepower against the Amubal Army. Once he was done dealing with this city, he planned on heading straight to the Western Front and utterly destroying General Alvaren’s and General Rizel’s army.
He couldn’t let Lark Marcus hog all the glory, could he?
“Those fools at the walls,” he said pointing at the archers stationed on the battlements. “Kill them.”
The iron shells shot toward the battlements, destroying chunks of it with each strike, sending hundreds of iron needles to the archers stationed there. Arzen was ecstatic seeing the enemy line collapse with just a few strikes.
After firing over a hundred iron shells, Arzen ordered his men to use the battering rams to open the gates. With all the archers on the walls dead, they easily reached the gates. It took them less than half an hour to destroy the gates and push out the boulders blocking them.
Under Arzen’s command, his soldiers entered the city in droves. And after making sure that no traps were laid out for them, Arzen also entered the city and joined the fray.
“Haha! What’s this?” Arzen laughed in glee. “Look at the mighty Empire! Reduced to this state after firing just over a hundred of those things! I’ve really got to hand it to those dwarves!”
When Arzen and his men entered the city, they were greeted by a half-dead Amubal Army. It seemed that the iron needles contained inside the shells were more dangerous than they’d thought. Those things were actually capable of piercing through wood and leather armor. Even a simple graze was enough to paralyze an enemy soldier, if they were lucky enough not to kick the bucket immediately.
An arrow shot toward Arzen, but it was immediately blocked by the iron shield of his personal knights. He looked toward the source and saw several soldiers hiding on the rooftops. He also noticed the enemies hiding inside the houses, ready to pounce at the Second Army at a moment’s notice.
“This is how it should be,” Arzen said grinning. “Put up a fight! It’ll be too boring, otherwise!”
Arzen unsheathed his sword. He roared, “Slaughter the dogs of the Empire!”
“As you command!” his men replied in unison.
The Second Army and the Amubal Army broke into a melee. Sword clashed against sword, and arrows rained down from the sky. The smell of blood strongly permeated the air as bodies fell to the ground one after another.
Arzen scanned the entire battlefield for any sign of the Man-Eater.
Arzen frowned. “Strange.”
He couldn’t see the Man-Eater anywhere. Even Leorith, the Man-Eater’s adjutant was nowhere to be found. It did not make sense that the two strongest warriors of the Amubal Army were not joining the fight.
And after several hours, Arzen realized the reason why. After killing all the enemies—even those who surrendered—Arzen’s men found a secret passage underneath the Lord’s Castle. Upon investigation, it seemed that the secret passage led toward the South, just outside the walls.
Arzen led a small elite unit and followed the trail. To his surprise and amusement, they found the lifeless body of the Man-Eater lying on the ground. Next to him was Amubal’s adjutant, Leorith, wounded.
It seemed that the two of them were unlucky enough to be hit by the iron needles from the dwarven shells.
“Isn’t this amusing?” Arzen walked toward the half-dead Leorith and the dead Amubal. “The so-called Man-Eater died from poison! A pathetic death, isn’t it?”
Leorith hugged the dead body of his master. He glared at Arzen but did not say a single word.
“Those eyes,” Arzen said frowning, “I don’t like them.”
Arzen stabbed Leorith’s shoulder. The adjutant did not shout and simply endured the pain by gritting his teeth. He could hardly move due to the poison.
“Pathetic.” Arzen kicked the already dead body of the Man-Eater, making it roll on the ground twice before halting to a stop. “And I was looking forward to a one-on-one fight with you. To think that you’ll die a dog’s death. How disappointing.”
He kicked the dead body again. If glares could kill, Leorith would have massacred Arzen several times by now.
“How long will it take for us to reach the Western Front?” said Arzen.
“Probably three weeks at most,” replied one of his officers. “Two weeks if we’re lucky enough not to run into the garrisons of the Empire.”
The last statement was wishful thinking, everyone knew. There was simply no way for an army as large as the Second Army to go unnoticed by the Empire.
“Two to three weeks,” mumbled Arzen. “That brat might be dead by then. There’s no way he could resist those two monsters of the Empire for long.”
Arzen did not believe in the slightest that Lark Marcus could defeat the Empire. Even if the Marcus Army and the Yorkshaire Army were to help him, it’d be like sprinkling water into a dry well. Lui Marcus and the Sword Saint had been defeated by the Empire before. And they even ended up losing more than half their soldiers in the process.
“The damn brat and his soldiers better be still alive when I get there,” Arzen spat. “I’ll be needing those soldiers to defeat those monsters of the old era.”
Arzen looked at the lifeless body of the Man-Eater. He then turned his attention to the dying adjutant.
He had been looking forward to seeing the despair within the Man-Eater’s eyes, but that was impossible now. He could not believe that Amubal was unlucky enough to be hit by those poisonous needles. An unbefitting end for such an infamous warrior.
Arzen sighed, gripped his sword, and walked toward the adjutant.
“Such a shame,” he said.
He swung his sword and the head of the adjutant fell and rolled down the ground.
“Tell the army to clean up the entire city,” said Arzen. “Stock up on rations and gather the remaining shells sent from the capital. We’ll head toward the Western Front tomorrow morning.”
VOLUME 4: CHAPTER 16
[City of Akash]
The next day, after the feast, the officers of the army gathered once again in the Grand Hall. This time, to discuss strategies for the war.
Lui Marcus sat near the front of the long table, between the Sword Saint and the Baron. Unlike the other officers of the army who looked well-rested, he’d hardly slept last night. He still had several questions regarding the identity of his brother and the so-called Master. If the Master existed at all.
He simply could not accept that a non-combatant like his brother could become so proficient in magic and the sword in such a short period of time. And that Master of Lark’s. Who was he? Why did such a person remain anonymous until now? If the student was a mere reflection of the Master, then that person was surely someone at the peak of magic and the sword.
He still had a lot of questions, which would have to wait for now, probably until the end of this war.
“After the arrival of the First, Yorkshaire, and the Marcus Army yesterday,” said Lark with a large map hanging on the wall behind him, “we now have twenty-five thousand so
ldiers under our command.”
“It’s still nothing compared to the sixty thousand soldiers of the Empire,” said Argus, the Lord of Yorkshaire City. “And there’s also the elite unit led by General Alvaren. The Magic Knights. They alone are enough to crush the Baron’s army.”
Baron Zacharia turned grim but did not deny his defeat regardless. With his usual gruff voice, he said, “I agree. We’ll need to defeat that unit first, if we want to even step foot inside Yorkshaire. Each of them are capable of enhancing their bodies using mana. I’m afraid that the low-ranking knights of our Kingdom aren’t a match for them at all.”
Lark had heard that the reason the Sword Saint and Lui Marcus lost the battle was due to them. It seemed that even they weren’t able to win when surrounded by more than a dozen Magic Knights.
General Rizel alone was already a pain to deal with, but now he learned that there were hundreds of knights capable of body-enhancement magic under General Alvaren’s command. The Empire was really not sparing them any room to breathe by sending those two monsters of the old era.
“A defensive battle is the ideal with our difference in number,” said Lark. He raised one finger. “But with yesterday’s addition of eleven thousand soldiers, we only have a month left before we run out of rations.”
Some of the officers looked down in embarrassment after this remark. Their rations had been burned down by General Alvaren, and they’d no choice but to rely on the City of Akash to feed their soldiers.
“I’m not blaming anyone,” said Lark. “And I’m truly glad that more reinforcements have arrived. But we should throw the idea of a defensive battle to win this battle out of the window. Even if we manage to hold out to a siege for a more than a month, we’ll only die of starvation afterwards.”
“So you’re suggesting we attack the City of Yorkshaire?” Lord Argus surmised.