Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  Twirling his terrifying greataxe about, Ankh roared angrily, “Those who stand against me will die!”

  Ankh brandished his greataxe about like a tornado, but this ‘tornado’ was a visible one. Anything touched by this ‘tornado’ was instantly blasted to bits. At first, some soldiers of Tours City had attempted to attack, but afterwards, no one dared to get near this fiend.

  In but a few moments, the forces of Blackdirt City swept into the city through the gates.

  “We surrender! We surrender!”

  First, a single voice called out to surrender, but then, countless voies joined in. By the time Ankh and his bloody greataxe arrived at the city walls, the soldiers on the walls had all put down their weapons, while the city governor, Delai, was tied up in rope and placed on the floor. Several military officers were there, awaiting Ankh’s arrival.

  “Milord, my name is Ford [Fu’er’de].” One of the military officers said respectfully.

  “Oh, so you are Ford.”

  Ankh knew very well that Ford was one of the military officers who had surrendered to them even before the battle had began. Many had done so. Given that Blackdirt City had the five Barker brothers, how could they possibly lose?

  Battles were fought by men and won by men.

  When two forces were roughly on the same level of power, perhaps some stratagems and deceptions would be effective. But once the gap in power reached a sufficient level, such as now, where Ankh alone could demolish the forces of Tours City? A battle like this had no other possible outcomes at all. There wasn’t the slightest chance of defeat.

  Yulan calendar, Year 10010. January 5th. Blackdirt City began its conquests.

  By January 6th, Linley’s side already had five cities, and the number of people they controlled, including the various satellite towns and villages, was a grand total of nearly three million. Generally speaking, however, in the Anarchic Lands, only an entity which was in control of a prefectural city would be considered to be a Duchy.

  Linley’s side had five cities, but all of them were small cities, with only a few tens of thousands of people within the cities. But a prefectural city was capable of holding hundreds of thousands of citizens.

  After these lightning-fast battles concluded, Linley’s side temporarily stopped attacking. Instead, they quickly began to reorganize their armies. The original five battalions of Blackdirt City were now part of the ‘First Legion’, which was the core-most legion. The other four legions belonging to the other four cities all saw their military pay levels increased to roughly two thirds of the salary of the First Legion.

  The taxes on the common people were lowered by over half across the board.

  Each legion now had nine thousand people. In the Yulan continent, large legions could reach up to twenty thousand people. In the Anarchic Lands, however, since warfare was relatively scattered, Linley decided to lower the number of people per legion, forming five battalions into each legion.

  The five legions quickly began to train together and organize internally.

  The surrounding cities all sensed the threat, but they knew that Blackdirt City’s forces were simply too powerful. While Blackdirt City’s forces were still busy training and re-organizing, a nearby city voluntarily surrendered. The reason? The previous city governor had taken all of his enormous wealth and his guards and fled from that city.

  Barker and Zassler both arrived at Mt. Blackraven. They stared up at the mountain.

  “Barker.” Zassler suddenly spoke.

  Barker looked at Zassler. Zassler said, “Hazer has reached the ninth rank on the way to the Anarchic Lands. By now, all five of you brothers possess the power of a Saint. I will make my breakthrough in the next year or two as well. Think about it…with you five brothers making up the bulk of our military power, with me providing support, and of course, most important of all, with Linley and his two powerful magical beasts…with such a overpowering force, we can erect our own kingdom, or perhaps even an empire!

  “Mr. Zassler, what do you intend?” Barker’s eyes lit up.

  Zassler said seriously, “Barker, right now, the continent has six major powers. Aside from the O’Brien Empire and the Yulan Empire, the other forces, ie the Rohault Empire, Rhine Empire, Holy Union, and Dark Alliance, do not have a Deity amongst their ranks.”

  Barker nodded his head in agreement.

  “As for the Rohault Empire and the Rhine Empire, these two Empires don’t even have an expert on the same level as Haydson. But we not only have Linley, we also have Bebe.” Zassler was extremely confident. “The most important aspect of founding an empire is the strength of its highest level experts. The more powerful its highest tier members are, the better of a chance one has.”

  Barker was growing excited as well.

  “Mr. Zassler, are you saying that we should build an empire together?” Barker looked at Zassler.

  Zassler laughed. “That’s just one of the things I’ve been considering. Our current goal is destroying the Radiant Church’s influence in the Anarchic Lands. However, the Radiant Church currently occupies nearly a third of the territory of the Anarchic Lands. In order to eliminate them, we will need a great deal of land as well. After destroying them and taking over their territory…we would be in control of over half of the Anarchic Lands. At that time, we would then deal with the Cult of Shadows…and the Anarchic Lands would then be ours.”

  Barker felt his heart rate speed up.

  The Anarchic Lands was an area in constant turmoil and chaos. Although in size, it was smaller than the O’Brien Empire, it was still comparable to the Rhine Empire and the Rohault Empire.

  “Erecting an empire…” Barker’s eyes were shining.

  “Haha, no rush. One step at a time. Given our current power, with all of us working together, it shouldn’t be too hard for us to take over at least ten Duchies in the Anarchic Lands and found a kingdom at the very least.” Zassler said confidently.

  Barker nodded repeatedly.

  The Rohault Empire. The Rhine Empire. How many Saints did they have? The roots of these two Empires weren’t nearly as deep as the roots of the O’Brien Empire and the Yulan Empire, nor did they have the assistance of Descended Angels like the Radiant Church or the Cult of Shadows.

  For example, the Rohault Empire could at absolute most produce just over ten Saints.

  Linley’s side had five Undying Warriors. Once Barker and his brothers reached the Saint-level in human form, they would have the power of true Saint-level Undying Warriors. If the five of them worked together in concert with Linley and Bebe…a force like this wouldn’t be afraid of the Radiant Church at all.

  So why couldn’t they found an Empire, then?

  “Occupying the entire Anarchic Lands will be a bit difficult. After all, there are a lot of complicated aspects to this place.” Zassler smiled. “But I still feel very confident.” Zassler turned and stared up at Mt. Blackraven. Linley was there, in the mountain.

  Zassler slowly said, “In my mind, I have a goal. One day, we will create a powerful empire, and Linley…he will be to our empire what the War God is to the O’Brien Empire.”

  “The War God?” Barker was very shocked.

  Zassler smiled and nodded.

  An enormous, mighty empire could only be founded with a cadre of fear-inducing top-tier experts. For example, in reality, the Rhine Empire and the Rohault Empire were both reliant on the Yulan Empire, precisely because they didn’t have enough top-tier power.

  But in the empire which Zassler dreamed of, the top-tier power was Linley.

  Just like how the War God watched over the O’Brien Empire and the High Priest watched over the Yulan Empire…the future Linley would also watch over his future empire! But of course, Linley currently didn’t yet have that much power.

  “He’s only twenty eight years old, but he’s already reached such a terrifying level. Can you imagine what someone like him will be able to accomplish in the future?” Zassler laughed as he glanced at Barker. />
  Barker nodded.

  Barker and his brothers were truly awed by Linley’s prowess.

  “Let’s go. Let’s go see Linley.” Zassler laughed.

  Zassler, this old fox who had lived for over eight hundred years, now had a particular desire which excited him. He wanted to see the Yulan continent bring forth yet another Empire. How exciting that would be!

  Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 4, War Machine

  “Rumble…”

  Water rushed down from that tens of meters high waterfall, striking against the deep pool of water at the bottom, creating countless sprays of water. The water within this deep pool flowed out into a narrow creek, slowly winding its way downwards. Barker and Zassler followed this little creek deeper and deeper into Mt. Blackraven.

  At the end of this creek was a peaceful lake. In the center of the lake, there was a gracefully built wooden cabin.

  In front of the wooden cabin, there was a long-haired man wearing a loose robe who was wielding a violet longsword slowly. But in actuality, this ‘slowness’ was an illusion, a misperception of Zassler’s and Barker’s. Although it seemed slow, in truth, it was terrifyingly fast.

  This sensation of a visual misperception made Barker and Zassler have the urge to vomit blood.

  With each strike of the sword, it seemed as though the surrounding space itself was twisted.

  Barker and Zassler glanced at each other, their eyes filled with shock. It had only been a few months, but Linley had made yet another breakthrough! They had never before seen Linley use this sword technique before. Just now, from what they had seen, they were certain…that this sword technique definitely was astonishingly powerful.

  Barker and Zassler stood at the edges of the lake, quietly waiting.

  After a long time, Linley sheathed his sword.

  “Come over.” With a wave of Linley’s hands, a sudden gust of wind emerged, creating a ‘bridge of air’ between the wooden cabin and the lakeshore. “You can just walk over. Don’t be afraid. You won’t fall.”

  Baker and Zassler glanced at each other, and then they stepped onto this ‘bridge of air’, walking to the center where Linley’s wooden cabin was.

  Linley sat down next to the stone bench. With a flip of his hand, he withdrew a flask of wine and three cups. Laughing calmly, he said, “Zassler, if you had come a few days ago, I probably would’ve only been able to use the wind to bring you over directly. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I just did.”

  Zassler was an Arch Magus necromancer of the ninth rank. Although he was almost at the Saint-rank, he couldn’t fly. And given his body’s relative frailty, there was no way he could walk on water either.

  “Lord, what was that, just now?” Barker had yet to recover from his shock.

  Zassler looked at Linley as well. Laughing, Linley explained, “It is one way by which one can use the Laws of the Wind. Not too long ago, I gained some insights on the ‘Slow’ aspect, which allowed me to do what I just did. But I still am quite a ways off from the ‘Spatial Lock’ level.”

  “What is a ‘Spatial Lock’?” Zassler questioned.

  Linley didn’t explain further. Zassler and Barker weren’t practitioners of the Elemental Laws of the Wind. How could they possibly understand his explanations? When Linley had sparred against Miller, that expert from the mysterious mountain village, Linley had suddenly seen a clearer path to gaining a deeper understanding in the ‘Slow’ aspect of the wind. Naturally, that made training progress twice as fast for half the effort.

  If Miller were to have seen Linley training, he would’ve been shocked.

  In just a few short months, Linley had been able to advance this much. This sort of rate of improvement was simply terrifyingly fast.

  Pouring cups of wine for each man, Linley raised his own winecup in a toast. Smiling, he said, “Just tell me why you have come.”

  Barker said, “Lord, after spending some time on the management of our current territory, we have completed our military reorganization, and given them three months of training. It is about time to attack a few other cities.” As soon as he heard these words, a smile crept onto Linley’s face.

  He had been eagerly awaiting this day.

  “This time, we should be attacking that prefectural city, right?” Linley said.

  The nearby Zassler nodded. “Right. According to my plans, this time, we should attack three small cities and the prefectural city of Moat [Mo’te].” Linley’s side currently had six cities and six legions with fifty thousand soldiers. This sort of military power was on par with that of a prefectural city.

  However…

  Linley’s side had experts as well! This was a definite advantage.

  “After we take down the prefectural city, we will be able to announce publicly that we have founded a Duchy.” Barker chortled.

  Linley had been eagerly awaiting the founding of the Duchy. He still remembered Delia’s appointment with him in that letter. The day he founded his own Duchy was the day on which Delia would leave the Yulan Empire to come looking for him.

  “Linley.” Zassler asked, “After we take down the prefectural city, what should we do next? Should we continue taking over cities which belong to neither the Radiant Church nor the Cult of Shadows? Or should we begin to launch attacks against the cities which the Radiant Church controls?”

  Per their battle maps, after taking down the prefectural city, to the south of the territory which Linley controlled was the territory under the dominion of the Radiant Church.

  Of course, the Radiant Church’s control was in secret. On the surface, they were all Duchies. But in truth, it was quite easy to tell which were controlled by the Radiant Church and which were controlled by the Cult of Shadows! The way to do so was to simply look at the temples in those prefectural cities. If the city had a Radiant Temple, then that Duchy was secretly controlled by the Radiant Church.

  If it had a Shadow Temple, then it was controlled by the Cult of Shadows.

  “Begin attacking the Duchies controlled by the Radiant Church.” Linley’s eyes narrowed as he made his decision. “As our activities grow more and more pronounced, the intelligence network of the Radiant Church would definitely take note of the five Barker brothers. Knowing that you are here, it would be strange if they didn’t realize that I, Linley, was here as well.”

  Linley looked at Barker and Zassler, then chuckled. “After we take down the prefectural city, we’ll spend some time stabilizing it and do a wholesale reorganization of our armies. After reorganizing our armies, then we will begin attacking the territory controlled by the Radiant Church!”

  “But of course, let’s only launch some small attacks at first, and see how the Radiant Church responds.” Linley laughed calmly. “Let’s see if they immediately counterattack, or if they refrain from doing so, or if they send over experts to find me.”

  Zassler understood Linley’s intentions. Laughing, he said, “Right. If the Radiant Church decides to openly fight you, Linley, then…the name of the Duchy will be based off of your family name. Let us call it the ‘Baruch Duchy’!”

  “But if the Radiant Church refrains, then we can continue to pretend you are not here, and we can just choose a name for the Duchy at random.”

  Hearing Zassler’s words, Linley nodded in approval.

  Right now, what they needed to see was how the Radiant Church would react. If the experts of the Radiant Church did not appear, then Linley wouldn’t act. He would let Barker and his brothers stir up trouble, repeatedly attacking cities. If enemy experts appeared….then they would respond in this manner.

  “When will we attack the city of Moat?” Barker looked at Linley.

  “Hurry up and start.” Linley replied.

  Linley’s words caused all six cities to begin gearing up for war. One legion with nine thousand men, led by Boone, Ankh, and Hazer, went to attack three smaller cities, while the other four legions, under the leadership of Gates and Barker, went to attack the prefectural city of M
oat.

  Zassler watched over Blackdirt City.

  “Kill!” The grounds beneath the walls of the prefectural city of Moat were totally red with blood. At first, the prefectural city of Moat had sent their army of twenty thousand out, preparing to directly battle against the enemy. But when the troops led by Gates and Barker had charged into them, massive casualties had resulted.

  Gates and Barker were two terrible gods of battle.

  Wherever those massive greataxes whirled about, people died in vast numbers. Each army had its own elite squads, and Gates and Barker focused precisely on those people. Wherever there was a tough pocket of resistance, they went to snuff it out.

  Quickly, the twenty-thousand man army of the prefectural city of Moat was utterly shattered. Their morale totally gone, many people immediately surrendered, then and there.

  More than half had died. The lucky survivors…were all captured.

  They couldn’t flee even if they wanted to. The city gates to the prefectural city of Moat were firmly shut. The city governor of the prefectural city of Moat simply didn’t dare to open the gates. Once he did, those two fiends would charge inside and he would definitely die. Right now, the prefectural city of Moat only had twenty thousand soldiers.

  The soldiers of Blackdirt City were arranged in neat, orderly rows. Those ten thousand prisoners were utterly demoralized, with many wounded. Only two or three thousand were in battle-shape. Blood covered the ground, and the morale of the city guards of the prefectural city of Moat was at rock bottom.

  “What is going on? Why are they standing so far away?” The garrison troops were growing frantic. The range the enemy was at was far beyond bow range.

  Suddenly, those two godlike leaders suddenly charged forward at high speed, greataxes in hand. Their speed was so fast that everyone gaped as they watched. The garrison troops immediately shouted out, “Archers, prepare to attack those two men. Fire!”