Chapter 204
Chapter 204
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 204
Chapter Title: Chapter 5-1. These People Here Are Gifts Prepared for You.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The duke took a deep breath.
"My head hurts. It hurts."
He had thought that entering the forest would allow him to capture elves like harvesting wheat, but that was a vain hope. Somehow they had known, and the elves had all abandoned their homes and fled, leaving behind only burned castles and villages good for nothing. As originally planned, by this point he should have captured a fair number of elves and sent them to the nobles of other kingdoms who had provided massive funding. But things had gone utterly awry.
'Is this the fork in the road?'
No, no. The duke shook his head, dismissing the doubt that had immediately surfaced in his mind.
They had entered the elves' forest and pushed them all the way to the inner side of the World Tree, but this hadn't been the intention from the start. The elves were using retreat as their strategy. That's why they had burned their castles and abandoned their homes to fall back.
Even if they had occupied part of the forest, the enemy's forces remained intact, and once spring came and the trees' leaves grew thick again, they would counterattack.
'They'll begin a long struggle to drive the humans out of the forest.'
Elves, who lived several times longer than humans, would proceed with patience, so stopping here would leave them neither fish nor fowl. Instead, a prolonged war would lead Silan down the path to ruin. They couldn't stop here; they had to push toward the World Tree as originally intended. The elves had no way to stop them there, which was why they had retreated.
They believed there was a way at the World Tree.
'Yes, the Lord's Fragment.'
The elves had abandoned and burned their homes, trusting in it. The treasure among treasures that had fallen from the sky a century ago, possessing world-shaking power. The object that had halted the Silan Kingdom's leap to empire in the past. They undoubtedly believed in it.
But he already had a countermeasure for it. No matter how impressive the Fragment was, he had only heard tales, and back then they hadn't been properly prepared.
Neither Sword Saint Biaden nor the Lord's Fragment that the elves believed to be their guardian would be a problem.
Unlike back then, this time he had brought Spear Saint Changseong along with numerous spirit sword owners, siege weapons, and even the combat clan from the Ranggritsa Magic Tower. Fifteen legions of well-trained soldiers, plus six legions of mercenaries and adventurers.
It was enough.
There was no need to be disappointed that the castles had burned. They hadn't even known those castles existed in the first place. He had no lingering attachment to them. Nor was there worry about supplies being cut off in the cold winter. Unlike in the past, magic and technology had advanced, allowing fresh food to be procured in winter or summer alike.
Even if the elves' archery was threatening.
Even if the enemy's scattered forces gathering in one place to form a systematic defense was irritating.
Even with major variables like the Lord's Fragment and Sword Saint Biaden, and even if the harsh winter journey was grueling, they couldn't retreat from here.
The game, with its massive bet already placed, had begun the moment they marched out.
Now it was truly a matter of victory or defeat—nothing else.
The duke ignored the castles and announced to all units the advance toward the World Tree.
+ + +
Roengrim was the name of the city built on the hillside leading to the World Tree. The elves' forest was mostly flatland, with almost no mountains or hills, but uniquely around where the World Tree had taken root, a hilly region had formed. This hilly area featured higher ground than elsewhere, with sudden steep cliffs—low areas like 3-4 stories of an apartment building, high areas 5-6 stories—creating dramatic elevation changes.
Yet somehow, there was one wide, gentle road, the only path allowing large numbers to enter the World Tree at once.
Atop this road sat the city of Roengrim, where, due to the war a century ago, the tallest walls in the elves' forest had been built.
The evenly stacked brick walls were covered in magical thorny vines resistant to fire and blades. That was one reason Biaden and the elves were so confident.
"What do you think? Your first impression of Roengrim?"
A natural fortress.
It made sense why, in the game, the elves had held out so well centered around this castle.
'When I made it, it wasn't a fortress like this.'
Climbing the hillside, arrows would rain from the cliffs on either side, and rolling boulders would turn ascending soldiers into rat porridge. The sheer cliffs themselves served as walls.
It was an absurd terrain, as if part of the earth had risen into the sky. If this world lacked magic, spirits, and mana, he wouldn't have had a clue how to capture that Roengrim castle.
Brick Castle, which he had seen before, seemed like it could be taken with part of his forces if Judah assigned them properly, but Roengrim was just daunting.
"It's splendid. Really. If they defend well, it seems sufficient to hold out."
Biaden nodded, satisfied with Judah's response.
As they advanced toward Roengrim afterward, elf groups approached from the east and west, naturally merging. They appeared to be elves who had guarded the eastern and western castles, successfully setting them ablaze before retreating. With a considerable number joining fully armed, it was fewer than the enemy but still a decent force gathered.
Judah sighed at the grim future approaching.
'Things have gone as I thought up to here, but what now?'
Roengrim looked like a perfect defensive fortress at a glance, but with superhuman physical abilities from mana and the power of magic, assaulting it wasn't entirely impossible.
The enemy had siege weapons to breach the castle, Spear Saint Changseong to tie down Sword Saint Biaden, multiple spirit sword owners, the combat clans Ibiren and Cheriu to destroy and neutralize Lusen Ardahan, and even Jeung's leader, the Thunder Lord.
Among them, the most worrisome was the Thunder Lord, one of Jeung's leaders. In the game, he could be optionally dealt with as a boss monster, but here, no such choice existed. Rather than withdrawing injured from battle with Lusen Ardahan to watch from the sidelines, the Thunder Lord would rage and keep attacking the elves.
'If only there were no Thunder Lord, it might be manageable…'
He didn't know who had set it up this way, but it seemed designed so Silan couldn't lose. And that was probably right. It was a war prepared over a decade, with hands extended to nobles from various kingdoms, even the Empire. In the game, they could barely hold it off, but in this world, nearly reality, Judah's heart burned with anxiety over how to stop it.
No. Thinking about it, even in the game, the elves hadn't successfully repelled them. They had barely endured.
Silan had given up midway partly because they had already captured many elves. But not now. Elves from three castles and dozens of villages had all fled to Roengrim. Silan wouldn't retreat empty-handed. Capturing was harder than killing. With no leisure to take prisoners mid-war, they would sack the castle afterward and sell the elves inside.
Everything hinged on how efficiently and brilliantly the elves blocked the enemy.
'How many times will I die in this war? Reviving and progressing this far again seems tough.'
Judah sighed. Deep down, he wanted to grab the Fragment, take Arhil, and run. The elves' fate didn't really matter.
But he had made a promise.
To help.
Promises held great meaning for Judah.
Coming to this world, killing people had become nonchalant, and death numbed. Knowing he revived regardless of times, his actions and personality grew bolder.
Everything was changing. Personality, behavior, mindset, even his heart.
It might be far in the future, or perhaps soon, everything could change.
That made him anxious.
He didn't know how many more times he'd loop this world or live long, but once he stopped counting loops, he'd surely change so much the old him was hard to remember.
Judah wasn't even a good name to begin with, taken from one of the apostles in scripture meaning betrayer, traitor, apostate.
Not to hint at betrayal by comrades, but to signify betraying humanity while gathering fragments.
True to the name of betrayer and apostate, he'd lie without qualms ahead, and might discard ethics depending on circumstances. No one knew what would happen. Just like no one knew how he'd change.
Yet through promises, he wanted to remember and keep the memories, heart, and resolve of that moment. Recall what he promised and with what heart, and return to it.
A promise would be a lifeline, a light guiding through unknowable darkness.
His soul might be the Creator, but without absolute power or strength like First Lord Sian, he couldn't keep it absolutely.
But if possible, he wanted to strive to keep promises as far as he could.
'So, I have to do what I can.'
Even if someone mocked him as foolish, pointing fingers that people change naturally so why cling, it didn't matter. He could afford such folly because death meant restart. Judah steeled his heart, gazing at the massive World Tree and Roengrim's walls in the distance.
But the path to keeping his promise to the elves seemed perilous.