Campfire
I had already chosen my first target in the Empire. The Nervel Industrial Complex. It was the core hub supplying magitech weapons to the entire Empire. Most of the weapons, armor, and magitech cores were produced right here in Nervel. It was the heart of their military-industrial complex, a place revered like a temple by magitech engineers.
Taking the plains would have carried too high a risk of being spotted. Thus, the moment we left Elium, we charted our course through the mountains. It was a brutal march, one that tested the absolute limits of human endurance. For days on end, we marched without rest, save for a single minute to take a quick sip of water. No ordinary soldier could have survived even a single day of this. Even the imperial army would have buckled.
But my forces were different. They were lightly equipped, organized specifically with highly mobile warfare in mind. More importantly, we possessed two things the enemy lacked: skills and Holy Water.
The true strength of the 4th Circle skill, Berserk, did not lie in the boost to strength or agility. It was the complete negation of pain. Pain is humanity's most fundamental shackle. Even the slightest ache can slash an ordinary person's capabilities in half. But right now, we suffered no such limitations. On top of that, we didn't even need to eat. Energy replenishment? I could easily handle that myself.
During a brief pause in our march, I activated the skill.
4th Circle Skill: Berserk
Immediately after, the soldiers began drinking from their canteens. The Holy Water regenerated their torn muscles and cleared their minds. Pain was suppressed by the Berserk skill, while healing and energy were supplied by the Holy Water.
Naturally, I couldn't undertake this grueling mountain march on my own two feet. Instead, one of either Pax, Blue, or Justice took turns carrying me as they ran. Each of them was at least of the 6th Tier. Slinging a single person over their shoulders and sprinting was child's play to them.
In this manner, we successfully reached our destination, the Nervel Industrial Complex. Just as I had anticipated, not a single enemy soul suspected a thing. No one in their right mind would have imagined we would march all the way from Elium through the treacherous mountains. We hadn't stopped at a single civilian settlement along the way. If the enemy had actually predicted this, I would have ordered a retreat immediately, as it would mean we were facing some legendary tactical genius.
The Nervel Industrial Complex was peaceful. White smoke billowed lazily from the factory chimneys, indicating they were still in full operation. Atop the ramparts, only a handful of guards patrolled at sparse intervals. Even though an army of ten thousand was closing in on Nervel, they remained completely oblivious, casually keeping watch over the walls.
When a force of this scale moves, it inevitably leaves tracks. However, since no reports of our approach had been sent from any of the outposts along the way, it was only natural for them to mistake us for allies.
The moment the distance closed and they realized our uniforms differed from those of the imperial army, panic rippled through the soldiers on the walls. But it was already too late. Moving with blinding speed, Blue and Justice had already seized the gates. Right behind them, the apprentice priests surged forward, infiltrating the interior.
The siege of the Nervel Industrial Complex began. The siege of the Nervel Industrial Complex ended.
It took less than an hour. Once I confirmed that all enemy forces had been neutralized, I proceeded with my original objective. We entered the heart of the complex and began our sabotage of the core facilities.
"Pax, Blue, Justice."
"Yes, my Lord?"
"You three will move separately. Two of you will destroy everything that looks remotely valuable. The remaining one will secure the blueprints for the magitech weapons. The Empire can always rebuild the factories. But blueprints aren't something you can just acquire with money. They require time."
When the eyes of the other two naturally drifted toward Pax, her lips curled into a smirk.
"Prophet, this is my specialty. Back in the day, they used to call me the 'Queen' of honey traps, espionage, and information theft."
The operation proceeded smoothly. Our goal was not plunder. We had only one objective: utter destruction. An ordinary army would have dissolved into chaos, looting and burning indiscriminately in the aftermath of battle, but we were different. The soldiers of the Ifrit Church were composed entirely of apprentice priests. Armed with absolute faith, they harbored no greed or self-indulgence. Once the mission was accomplished and the blueprints were safely in my hands, we immediately evacuated Nervel. Not long after, the imperial army, having finally received the belated report of Nervel's fall, came swarming in.
Commander Gasan Deval. The moment he arrived at Nervel, he sensed something was terribly wrong. There was no enemy in sight. Only scattered materials and trampled ground remained in the plaza. The hostile forces had vanished as if they had evaporated into thin air, leaving the site shrouded in a heavy silence.
Under normal circumstances, he would have assessed the situation calmly, but Deval had no time to hesitate. This was the strategic heart of the Empire. It was the repository for magitech weapons, core armaments, and the blueprints and research data that formed the foundation of their large-scale military operations. If those were stolen, the Empire would suffer a fatal blow.
Deval immediately pushed into the center of the city. He had received a single, absolute command from his superiors: "At all costs, prevent the theft of our intelligence."
In the very center of the city stood a massive, imposing stone building. The City Hall. Its exterior was perfectly intact. There were no signs of bombardment, nor any traces of fire. Deval let out a brief sigh of relief. It seems they couldn't lay a hand on this place.
He quickly made his way inside, heading straight for the chief administrator's office. Pushing past the hidden wall in the study, he found a massive safe sitting in the center of the room. Though its surface was marred by messy scratches, the thick steel door remained firmly shut.
"We secured it..." Deval muttered with a faint sense of relief, placing his hand on the keypad. He knew the passcode. Once he retrieved the internal documents, his mission would be complete. Beep—beep—beep— click. The door swung open smoothly.
Just then, an anomalous sound struck his ears. Tick.
"...?"
Tick. Tick.
Inside the safe, the walls were flashing a menacing red. A meticulously concealed mechanism. A detonation timer, steadily ticking down.
Deval recognized it instantly. It was the self-destruct device that the magitech engineers had recently been experimenting with. The sheer destructive power he had witnessed during its demonstration flashed through his mind. A single one of those devices could easily obliterate a ten-square-meter area.
"...Fuck."
A blinding white light erupted from inside the safe. A flash so intense it stole his sight. And then—
"Pax, what on earth took you so long?"
"Ah~ giggles. I stopped by somewhere for a moment and found something rather amusing."
"Something amusing?"
The two of them turned their gazes toward Pax. Wearing a deep smirk, Pax lightly raised a finger.
"The imperial magitech engineers made something quite adorable. They called it a time bomb."
"A time bomb?"
"Yep, yep. You set it, and after some time passes—boom! It explodes."
The expressions of the other two shifted subtly. Just hearing about it, they could tell it was no ordinary weapon.
"...You didn't just leave it behind, did you?"
"Oh, I left it exactly where it was."
"...What?"
"Ah, don't misunderstand. It's not what you think, giggles. I did leave it behind, but—" Pax said, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "I tinkered with it a bit. We couldn't carry it out anyway, right? If we just left it, the enemy would recover it, and I didn't want that."
"...So?"
"I rigged them all inside the safe. Did a bit of... decorating, you could say. I set them to activate the moment the safe door opens. With a five-second timer."
"..."
Pax chuckled slyly. "When I told everyone not to touch the City Hall earlier, that was all intentional."
"By now, they probably saw the City Hall was intact, felt relieved, and walked right in—"
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!
A colossal explosion shook the entire city. Pax tilted her head, giving a playful wave of her finger. "And that's what happens."
The faces of the two men turned pale in an instant. Blue asked cautiously, "You... didn't take anything else, did you?"
Justice chimed in, "Pax, about that time you were interrogated... you know that wasn't an attempt to betray us, but just an information war, right...?"
Both of them failed to hide their underlying anxiety.
They really don't have much trust in her, do they?
More importantly, my gaze shifted to Pax. When our eyes met, Pax winked and whistled innocently.
...That is absolutely brilliant.
Taking advantage of the window before the Empire could salvage the situation, we pushed our mobility to its absolute limit. While the size of the force that raided Nervel had undoubtedly been discovered, they still wouldn't have the faintest clue how we had penetrated so deep into the heart of the Empire. It was only natural. They knew nothing of the Berserk skill, nor did they know of the existence of Holy Water.
...Well, perhaps they had a vague inkling about the Holy Water. However, the price of a single bottle, and the sheer absurdity of ten thousand soldiers chugging it all day long, was far beyond the scope of any imperial calculation. Burning tens of thousands of gold coins just to pull off a surprise raid was nothing short of madness.
But for me, it wasn't an issue at all. I just had to scoop up water from a nearby stream. The moment I bestowed a blessing upon it, it became Holy Water. All I needed was a single water bottle.
By the time the enemy began tightening their dragnet, we had already slipped through their fingers and arrived at our next destination. Before our eyes, a golden field stretched out endlessly. Grains of wheat, bathed in sunlight, bowed their heads, swaying like waves in the wind.
Santia. The largest granary region of the Empire. The central lifeline responsible for feeding dozens of cities. The most prosperous, well-maintained heart of production. Of course, it would soon be reduced to ashes.
Upon reaching the outskirts, the ten thousand apprentice priests scattered in all directions. At the designated hour, midnight, flames erupted from every corner. Not a single trace of hesitation could be found on the faces of the apprentice priests. To them, this was a holy war. They gazed upon the blazing red fields, smiling with solemn reverence. Some of them even made wishes. All while enjoying a cozy campfire built on someone else's property.
"May my prayers reach Lord Ifrit."
"Please let my children grow up healthy."
"May a bountiful harvest come to the Elium Kingdom."
On that day, 65% of the Empire's largest grain-producing region was destroyed.