Chapter 34
“Wow…”
Squad 3 Captain, Charles, let out an exclamation as he took in the scene before him.
“Did we really need to come here for this?”
“Hmm. If I had known they were such idiots, we should have just handled this ourselves.”
If the Expert-class knights had taken command but instead charged in on horseback, cutting through the Magic Corps, it would have been far more effective.
To prepare for that scenario, they had requested knights as escorts—only to realize how utterly incompetent their opponents were.
“There are still some knights alive, Sir Charles?”
“Yes. We’ll take care of the remaining ones.”
Just then, the portable communicator attached to Charles‘s ear lit up.
“…Yes? Understood.”
“Sir Charles, what is it?”
“Lord Kraol, the Tamiel forces have appeared. Squad 2 is currently engaged in battle.”
“So those bastards decided to interfere after all. You go assist Squad 2. I’ll finish off the stragglers and catch up.”
“Understood. Then we leave it to you.”
“Where are the Tamiel troops? I’ll teleport over myself.”
“Then we’ll count on you. They’ve invaded from the southern border. The precise coordinates are…”
“Got it.”
Kraol activated his magic circle, once again enveloping the knights. Moments later, they vanished from the battlefield.
As he watched them disappear, Kraol turned his gaze to the devastation they had left behind.
What was once an open plain had been torn apart by relentless lightning strikes, leaving the earth scarred and cratered. Scattered among the countless corpses, a few wounded knights struggled to get back on their feet.
Kraol extended his hand toward the distant knights, and his brooch glowed red.
As the Grand Magic Corps Commander of the Arhan Empire —the second most powerful magician in the Empire—crippling a mere hundred weakened knights was hardly a challenge.
Boom!
The blade of Shen, Captain of the Imperial Knights’ 2nd Division, collided with the axe of the man who appeared to be the leader of the Tamiel forces, sending a deafening crash through the battlefield.
All around them, Imperial knights clashed violently with Tamiel warriors, their weapons ringing in a deadly symphony.
‘Tough bastards.’
They weren’t Masters, but they had fortified themselves with various enchantments, receiving continuous support from their fellow sorcerers. Even for Shen , they were proving to be a troublesome foe.
‘Where’s their king?’
As he methodically cut down his enemies, his mind remained sharp, analyzing the situation.
‘The King of Tamiel isn’t the type to send his subordinates to battle while he sits back. If anything, he should be leading the charge himself.’
If their king wasn’t here, then these warriors were likely just a diversion, not the main force.
The only reason Shen wasn’t entirely convinced was that every single elite warrior of Tamiel was currently in front of him.
If he were to slaughter them all, wouldn’t that mean Tamiel as a nation would cease to exist?
“How dare you lose focus in front of me?!”
As Shen momentarily sank into thought, his movements dulled.
Seeing this as an insult, the enraged Tamiel warrior swung his axe with even greater force.
The tattoos carved into his body flared with light, enhancing his already formidable strength. The unexpected surge of power sent Shen hurtling backward, his sword flying from his grip.
‘Ah, damn it.’
Getting thrown like this in front of his subordinates—what a disgrace.
As Shen soared backward, he took a quick survey of the battlefield. The Imperial knights were all either grinning outright or desperately suppressing their laughter.
‘Bastards.’
He could already tell they were going to mock him mercilessly at the next gathering.
Letting out a sigh, Shen opened a subspace rift and retrieved a stunning bow that glowed with a mystical blue hue.
“A bow?”
A relic from the age when spirits still roamed this land—a bow blessed by the King of Wind Spirits himself.
Even as the head of a long-standing archer family, Shen had never known of its existence. His Majesty had somehow procured it from somewhere and bestowed it upon him.
A legendary weapon that loosed wind instead of arrows—Astra—now rested in Shen ’s hands.
“Shen senior!”
Before he knew it, Squad 3 had arrived to reinforce them.
“Charles, hold them off. Squad 2, you as well.”
“Yes, senior.”
“Understood!”
Shen slowly pulled back the bowstring, and the enemy commander, sensing impending danger, charged toward him with his axe raised.
Charles intercepted him before he could reach Shen , and Squad 3 scattered to engage their own foes.
The enemy shamans, desperate to maintain the battlefield’s balance, poured every ounce of their reserved energy into weakening the Imperial knights and strengthening their own warriors.
Suddenly, the Imperial knights weakened, while the Tamiel warriors surged with newfound strength.
However, with Squad 3’s reinforcements, the Imperial knights held firm. Seeing that Shen was preparing something, the Tamiel warriors and shamans grew anxious.
Among them, Grom—the Tamiel Assault Captain and their second-in-command, the very warrior who had sent Shen flying—felt the most urgency.
It didn’t matter if the attacker was a mage, a shaman, or an archer.
Everyone knew the rule: Never give a ranged attacker too much time.
He had to stop Shen immediately.
Since no one but a Master-class knight could cut him down, he ignored the other Imperial knights and charged straight for Shen —but unfortunately, another Master had arrived to reinforce the enemy lines.
‘Damn incompetent Daman bastards. Couldn’t even stall for time properly?’
The reinforcements had arrived far too quickly, ruining the original strategy to pin down the Imperial forces.
Grom cursed Daman under his breath, but there was no changing reality now.
‘Damn it all.’
If the Imperial Master had focused solely on him, that would be one thing. But the debuff cast across the entire battlefield had barely affected the newly arrived Master.
As a result, Grom was completely blocked, unable to advance.
The enemy Master was weaker than expected, perhaps exhausted from fighting Daman’s forces or simply not as skilled.
However, his defensive swordsmanship was airtight, making it impossible to break through.
“You coward! You call yourself a warrior?!”
Grom, unable to contain his frustration, roared.
But Charles, utterly unfazed, responded calmly.
“I’m a knight who follows orders, savage.”
Charles was well aware that he couldn’t overpower his opponent in a direct clash.
If his mission had been to kill the enemy at any cost, he might have considered a suicidal counterattack.
But there was no need for that.
He only needed to buy time.
Luckily, he could withstand the savage’s attacks well enough.
All he had to do was stall—until Shen was ready.
“Well done.”
Amidst the chaos, Shen ’s voice rang out in a low murmur.
Hearing that, Grom instinctively snapped his gaze toward Shen —and there it was.
A formless arrow, shimmering in his grasp.
‘I can’t let that be fired.’
Making a split-second decision, Grom braced himself for injury and forced his way past Charles, lunging straight at Shen .
“Too late.”
The moment Shen released the arrow, it whizzed past him—not toward him, but toward the cluster of shamans in the backline.
“Huh…?”
Then, with a deafening boom, the air itself seemed to rip apart as the arrow detonated.
As Grom, dazed, turned his head toward where the shamans had once stood, he saw only heaps of mangled flesh—the remnants of what had once been Tamiel‘s finest shamans.
Plop.
With the shamans’ magic gone, their weakening and strengthening spells faded, and the heads of Tamiel’s warriors began to fall, one by one.
Stunned, Grom stood motionless. But neither Shen nor Charles bothered to strike him down.
The battle was over.
All that remained was slaughter—and there was no need to rush.
As the two Imperial Masters leisurely strode toward him, the Tamiel warriors continued to be cut down around them.
By the time Grom finally regained his senses, he was the only one left standing, surrounded by Imperial knights.
“Ha… Haha… Hahaha.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
He had just lost every single comrade he had ever fought alongside.
“Hah… Hahaha… HAHAHAHAHA!”
His laughter soon turned into mad cackling, and his grip on his axe tightened.
Yes, we lost.
But this won’t end here.
Summoning every ounce of power left within him, Grom charged at the two Masters.
At the very least, I’ll take you down with me.
As he pushed his strength past its limit, the tattoos covering his body began to burn from overload, and the blood vessels in his eyes burst, leaving a trail of crimson tears down his face.
The price for this final gambit—a devastating last strike.
Yet, even with the shamans’ support, he had failed to cut down Charles before.
And now, with his body at its breaking point, he stood no chance.
The moment Charles’s sword halted his charge, Shen ’s arrow pierced his throat.
“Yes. Well done.”
The Imperial War Department—a rarely active institution in times of peace, as both the Emperor and the Imperial Knight Commander held its top positions.
But when war broke out, it became the Empire’s command center, and now, the room was filled with the Empire’s highest officials, including the Emperor himself.
“Your Majesty, the Tamiel forces have been completely annihilated. However, until the very end, Tamiel’s king never appeared.”
Feltz reported as he knocked over the Tamiel piece on the map, which had been marked by their flag.
At this, I snapped my fingers, and the Tamiel region on the map ignited in flames.
Daman had already been erased as well.
“Minister Dia, inform the nobles. Tell them that My knights have repelled the enemy invasion without suffering a single casualty.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“With Daman and Tamiel effectively destroyed, their annexation into the Empire is only a matter of time. We’ll need extensive administrative resources to handle this. Tell the nobles to prepare accordingly.”
“Understood.”
The true enemy had yet to reveal themselves.
But the beginning had been a resounding success.