Chapter 406: Let the Hunt Begin (2)
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The soldiers of Roderick halted as they watched the Fenris knights fall, clutching the ropes of the hot air balloons.
It was understandable for them to be bewildered as people suddenly rained down from the sky.
Gillian clenched his axe tightly, his arms bulging with strength as he roared.
“Kill them all!”
For a brief moment, Roderick’s forces hesitated in their movements, and disaster struck them.
Kwaaang!
Gillian wildly swung his axe, slaughtering Roderick’s soldiers before him.
The Fenris knights who had landed quickly followed his lead.
“Aaaargh! What is this?!”
“Knights! Knights are falling from the sky!”
“Move aside!”
Until now, Roderick’s forces had the advantage in numbers, as the Fenris army lacked knights. However, with Gillian and the knights stepping forward, the situation completely reversed.
Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
They had all grown stronger than before, empowered by the Dragon Heart Shards. Roderick’s soldiers were pushed back in an instant, falling from the walls.
The knights of Roderick, who rushed up in urgency, shouted as they saw the scene.
“Reinforce them now!”
“Kill that one first!”
The Roderick knights charged straight at Gillian. It was obvious he had been the one killing the most soldiers.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
However, the knights’ attacks were effortlessly blocked.
Gillian had already reached the highest level, even glimpsing the realm of a master. The Roderick knights stood no chance against his axe.
Kwaaang!
With each swing of his axe, their armor shredded like paper. The knights who dared face him were torn apart and collapsed instantly.
“This…this madman…”
A surviving knight trembled, backing away at the sight of Gillian’s overwhelming strength.
Gillian stepped forward, but the knight could not even think of retreating. He froze, like an animal petrified before a superior predator.
Grab!
Gillian seized the knight’s throat with a savage grin.
“You dare climb this wall?”
“W-Wait, please”
Crack!
Without giving the knight a chance to resist, Gillian snapped his neck.
Tossing the corpse aside, Gillian bellowed in a furious voice.
“What are you all waiting for? Push the enemy out of the castle already!”
A former mercenary, Gillian commanded the knights and soldiers as roughly as Ghislain himself.
Startled by his roar, the Fenris knights drew on even more mana. They knew that slacking off would mean facing hellish training later.
While pushing back Roderick’s soldiers, Gordon spoke to Lucas beside him.
“Hey, the old man’s pissed.”
“Sigh, I swear I’ll take his position one day.”
“You’ll break your back trying.”
“I’m younger than him, you know?”
Having become close friends, Gordon and Lucas grumbled as they unleashed more mana. They were both now beyond intermediate knights, nearing the ranks of senior knights.
Their rapid growth was thanks to the incredible mana cultivation technique they had learned. But it also meant they faced extreme danger and endured hellish training every day.
The lazy soldiers and knights of Roderick stood no chance against them.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
“Aaaaargh!”
Before long, the castle walls were completely reclaimed by the Fenris forces. Roderick’s troops had relied on their numbers, but those who climbed the walls were slaughtered as quickly as they appeared, making it impossible to seize the fortress.
They had to capture the fortress without siege engines. The ladders were limited, rendering their numerical advantage meaningless.
Roderick’s archers couldn’t even fire toward the walls. Their own infantry was poorly armored, and arrows would only kill their allies instead.
As for the hot air balloons, the mages onboard had long since brought them safely down to the ground.
“Hey! Marquis Roderick! You lunatic bastard!”
The voice of Ascon, who had landed within the fortress and hidden somewhere, echoed loudly.
In the end, Roderick’s archers received a new order.
“Send them all up the walls! Now!”
Roderick, his eyes bloodshot, barked a command. Even the archers were sent up the ladders, only to be slaughtered like the rest.
“Just a little more! Push a little harder! We can take it!”
They had been so close to seizing the walls. Just a bit more effort would have been enough.
If they could push just a little further, victory would have been theirs. Unable to accept the near-success slipping away, Roderick refused to retreat.
“Aaaaaargh!”
Though the battlefield was fierce, the only ones screaming were Roderick’s soldiers. On Fenris’ side, only the commanding officers’ voices echoed there were no cries of pain.
At some point, both Roderick’s command staff and his soldiers noticed this eerie silence, sending chills down their spines.
Tennant swallowed hard.
“Just…how much training have they done…?”
They had no fear. They showed no panic. They fought like a precise, mechanical war machine.
Now, there was no sign of any of Roderick’s knights on the wall. Over a hundred knights had died atop the battlements.
Those knights had been the only reason the defense had lasted this long. Now, the soldiers of Roderick could no longer climb the walls or form a proper formation.
Kwaaang! Kwaang! Kwaaang!
A white-haired man rampaged across the wall, his presence standing out vividly. Tennant recognized him immediately.
“That must be… the White Lion of Fenris, Gillian.”
His skills were indeed as rumored. No knight or soldier could even scratch him.
Tennant’s hand repeatedly brushed the hilt of his sword. As a knight, he felt the urge to fight him in single combat.
But he could not. Taking the fortress was already impossible. If he recklessly joined the fray and fell, there would be no one left to protect Marquis Roderick.
“Aaaaargh!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ladders Roderick’s troops had placed against the walls were either shattered or pushed back.
Even if they set the ladders again, it would be meaningless. The tide had already turned, and the soldiers’ morale was completely shattered.
Only Marquis Roderick continued to shout in frustration.
“Mages! What are the mages doing?! Sweep them all away! I don’t care if our own men get caught in the blast! Use magic to wipe them all out now!”
The mages only stood there sweating, unable to give a proper response.
A massive force of mana was already pressing over the battlefield. The mages were struggling just to hold it back with all their might.
Fenris’ side had dozens of mages, including Vanessa and those who had piloted the hot air balloons earlier.
It was more than enough to suppress Roderick’s mages.
With every plan failing and the situation growing worse, Marquis Roderick screamed in desperation.
“Aaaargh! How?! How is this even possible?! A force of 100,000 men and this many mages, and yet, we can’t do anything?!”
Tennant surveyed the battlefield before closing his eyes.
‘It’s over.’
The soldiers were paralyzed with fear, barely able to move. More than half of the men who had come to conquer this fortress were already dead.
They should have come here from the beginning. If they had, they could have taken the fortress.
Losing 30,000 soldiers and all the siege weapons in the first battle had been a critical mistake.
Now, it was too late. Taking this fortress was no longer possible.
“Order the retreat.”
Nearly 20,000 soldiers lay dead. Barely over 10,000 remained. They had to save the remaining troops if they wanted any chance of returning from the north alive.
As Tennant issued the order, the soldiers began to fall back. But seeing this, Marquis Roderick erupted in fury.
“Why?! Why are they retreating?! Send them back! Send them back up there and take that fortress!”
“It’s no use! We need to regroup”
Boooooo!
Before Tennant could finish speaking, a thunderous horn echoed from afar.
Marquis Roderick’s aides paled when they saw the force approaching.
“The banner of Ferdium!”
“It’s the army of Marquis Ferdium!”
“The Count of Fenris must have called for reinforcements!”
A cavalry force from Ferdium, known for fighting the northern barbarians, lined up in formation. Thousands of them.
Even a standard cavalry charge from them would completely shatter Roderick’s troops, who had already lost all will to fight.
If the knights and soldiers of Fenris atop the walls charged out to join them, it would be impossible to hold their ground.
Tennant bit his lip as he watched.
‘They knew we were coming and prepared for this.’
There was no other explanation for this perfect timing. From the start, they had been dancing in the palm of their enemy’s hand.
Whether it was Count Fenris or the commander of Fortress Silverlight who orchestrated it, he wasn’t sure.
Taking a deep breath, Tennant bowed his head toward Marquis Roderick.
“You must retreat.”
“What? Retreat? You’re telling me to retreat now?! I, the ruler of the west, unable to even capture this small northern fortress?! Retreat from these reinforcements when we still outnumber them?!”
Tennant clenched his teeth and spoke firmly.
“You must flee.”
It wasn’t a retreat. It was a rout. That was the reality. Marquis Roderick had lost this war.
Marquis Roderick’s face twisted with grief, bloodshot eyes brimming with rage.
“Flee where?! Where would you have me run to?!”
“You must head for the capital. With the remaining forces, you must join the Royal Faction and seek their mediation and support.”
“You…! You’re telling me to endure such humiliation?!”
Marquis Roderick had already rejected the Royal Faction’s offers of mediation multiple times. And now, after this crushing defeat, he was supposed to crawl back with remnants of his shattered army and beg for help?
His lands were lost. His only hope was to seize weaker territories with what little force he had left.
He had commanded an army of 100,000 and accomplished nothing. Fenris had outmaneuvered him at every turn.
“Aaaargh! Fight! Keep fighting! We can win! We can still win!”
Marquis Roderick refused to accept the truth. He still had an army of 10,000. That was enough to be called a great lord.
If they fought, they could still win. He believed that.
But Tennant shook his head and turned to the knights guarding the marquis.
“Take him away. I will cover the retreat.”
“Let me go! I said let me go!”
Tenant forced Count Roderick into the hands of his escort knights and mounted his horse. Looking around, he shouted loudly.
“Gather the troops immediately! We’re leaving the north without a fight! Our goal is to reach the capital as quickly as possible!”
The soldiers, who had just returned in a hurry from their unsuccessful siege of the castle walls, wore expressions of despair.
‘We barely have the strength to walk, and now we have to run away?’
It was dreadful, but there was no other choice.
“Waaaaah!”
From a distance, the Ferdium forces were charging towards them.
Rumble!
The castle gates opened, and the Fenris cavalry bursted out on horseback.
“Move! Move quickly!”
Tenant had no intention of engaging in battle. The soldiers were far too exhausted to stand a chance in a fight.
The mages who had remained in the command post hesitated. Dranesh, struggling to speak, looked at Tenant. He was still expending his strength to block the enemy’s invading mana.
“W-What should we do?”
Tenant met Dranesh’s gaze with cold eyes.
“Hold back the enemy mages until the Count escapes. You’ve done nothing so far anyway.”
“What? Are you abandoning us now?!”
Furious, Dranesh withdrew his mana and glared at Tenant.
The moment his formidable magic was withdrawn
Flash!
KABOOM!
A bolt of lightning struck the heart of Roderick’s formation.
“Arghhhh!”
Hundreds of soldiers, too stunned to react, were instantly killed.
“Urgh!”
Dranesh had no choice but to pour his mana out once more.
That spell had slipped through during a momentary lapse. If the mages all withdrew their magic now, the next devastating spell would strike them first to clear them out for easier elimination.
While the mages were caught in indecision, Tenant and the remaining forces moved swiftly with the escort knights.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
About 5,000 of Roderick’s cavalry remained to protect the command. They were capable of retreating quickly.
The infantry, however, who had just returned from battle, were too exhausted to flee effectively.
BOOM!
“Arghhh!”
The dying soldiers had only one choice left.
“We surrender!”
“We’re dropping our weapons!”
“Please, spare us!”
Roderick’s soldiers were infamous for their cowardice and lack of loyalty. With the command fleeing, they had no reason to keep fighting.
Apparently, an agreement had already been made. The Fenris and Ferdium forces ignored the surrendering soldiers.
Only a few remained behind to round up the prisoners while the rest continued chasing Roderick’s retreating forces.
Meanwhile, the Fenris knights charged towards Dranesh and the other mages.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Seeing the knights charging, the mages’ faces turned pale. Without their magic, they were weaker than ordinary soldiers.
If they took the brunt of that charge head-on, they would be torn apart instantly. But they had no time to prepare defensive spells.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Dranesh, drenched in cold sweat, rolled his eyes wildly. They had been abandoned. Whether they fought or surrendered, they would die either way.
He had always lived a life of luxury. He couldn’t bear to die like this.
As a true mage, selfish to the core, he made his decision immediately.
“I surrender! Please spare me!”
He withdrew his mana and fell to the ground. The other mages followed suit, all lowering their heads as they released their magic.
“I surrender as well!”
“I’m a 5th-circle mage! I could be useful!”
“I’m just a researcher!”
They all thought the same way.
Flash!
A light flickered in the sky, and the mages shut their eyes. But the lightning never struck.
Their opponent had also ceased using mana at that moment.
Neigh!
The charging Fenris knights halted their horses.
‘Phew, I’m alive!’
Dranesh bowed his head, chuckling. He was a rare 6th-circle mage. There was no way they would kill someone as valuable as him.
Step. Step. Step.
A man approached as Dranesh knelt. It was Gillian, the man known as the White Lion.
“Who is the leader of the mages here?”
At Gillian’s question, Dranesh cautiously rose and cleared his throat.
“Ahem. I am a 6th-circle mage. If you take me as a prisoner, I will fetch a substantial ransom…”
Crack!
Dranesh couldn’t finish his sentence. Gillian’s axe had already severed his neck.
“Gah… Guh…”
‘Why?’
Even as a 6th-circle mage, he couldn’t react to Gillian’s sudden strike at such close range. Dying with disbelief in his eyes, Dranesh collapsed.
The other Roderick mages trembled in terror, pressing their faces even lower to the ground.
Gillian gazed down at them and spoke.
“You are now slaves of Fenris. Don’t even mention ransom or anything of the sort.”
“……”
The mages were appalled. No kingdom allowed such treatment of mages. Who dared to make them slaves?
But none of them dared resist out of fear for their lives.
And if they learned that even Fenris’ own mages were treated as slaves, they would have been even more horrified.
Gillian continued, scanning the group.
“This will be your new leader.”
The mages hesitantly lifted their heads. Standing where Gillian pointed was a woman.
It was Vanessa, the head of the Fenris Magic Research Institute.
* * *
“Master, it has begun.”
At Dark’s words, Ghislain nodded. He had already arrived in the north with the 10,000 Fenris Mobile Corps soldiers.
However, following Claude’s request, he had not yet engaged the main Roderick force, instead waiting in reserve.
Hearing Dark’s words, Ghislain smiled.
“Alright, let the hunt begin.”