Chapter 431: The Start of the War (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 431: The Start of the War (2)
One-Man Army.
A term for monsters who alone are equivalent to an entire legion. Some S-rank hunters and villains fell into this category.
Among them were also several mages from the Magic Towers.
If knights were the victors of battles, mages were the flowers of the battlefield.
“Hoo…”
On a field swept by a cool night breeze, Kang Hyun-woo hid himself in the darkness, silently gazing at the smoke rising in the distance.
That was the direction of the rebel army’s camp.
Of course, it wasn't the main headquarters where the commander was located. It was merely a company-sized outpost.
Even so, Kang Hyun-woo calmly completed his map.
Thanks to nearly an hour of tirelessly scouring the fields, he had managed to grasp the approximate location, structure, and troop composition of the rebel camp.
The rebel army consisted of four legions, with five divisions assigned under each.
Of course, there were also independent units that didn't belong to any of them, such as the knight orders and mage units.
A total of two hundred thousand troops.
It was a truly staggering number.
‘Though most of them are just conscripts.’
Normally, he would have used Mana Detection and Detection to quickly map the area, but the rebel army had over a hundred mages.
Furthermore, it seemed there was a 6th Circle mage in the main camp, so using magic recklessly would surely get him tracked immediately.
Bzzz, bzzz-
Kang Hyun-woo turned off his phone's alarm.
His eyes, fixed on the rebel outpost, were cold and sunken.
“…Is it about time?”
Thwip-
He took out the ‘Corrupted Starlight Staff’ from his inventory.
The staff, bathed in the moonlight filtering through the clouds, scattered a gloomy aura in all directions.
It was as if the Archlich's resentment was trying to invade his soul.
Ting-
[You have resisted the Curse of Erosion.]
[You have resisted the Curse of Twilight.]
[You have resisted the Curse of the Mad Soul.]
[A new curse has been recorded in ‘Lelia’s Little Key’.]
Leaving behind the Archlich's resentment, which was generous even in death, Kang Hyun-woo raised the staff high.
When the curses failed, the staff began to greedily suck his magic power.
He lost half his magic in an instant, but Kang Hyun-woo remained unshaken, closing his eyes and heightening his focus.
As a 5th Circle mage, it was nearly impossible for him to use 6th Circle magic.
Of course, Kang Hyun-woo had used 2nd Circle magic as a 1st Circle mage, and 3rd Circle magic as a 2nd Circle mage.
The same had been true ever since.
However, that was merely a feat made possible by his talent for magic and by overworking his magic circuits. Such tricks didn't work for 6th Circle magic, which was strictly classified as high-level magic.
Nevertheless, Kang Hyun-woo had used 6th Circle magic once before, during his battle with Belmoras.
What made it possible was his ‘Multitasking Thought’ skill, which substituted for a Circle's computational assistance, a mana pool comparable to a 6th Circle mage, and his absurdly sturdy magic circuits.
Fwoosh-
Black flames rose around Kang Hyun-woo.
His half-opened eyes had turned as white as snow.
The light shining from his eyes in the darkness held a sacred divinity, exuding a strange sense of pressure.
Unintentionally, the divine power amplified by his connection with the World Tree began to automatically repair his magic circuits, which were being damaged by calculations far beyond his limits.
Even so, his brain, already pushed to its limit, cried out in pain.
Capillaries burst, and his nose began to bleed. Dark red blood threatened to spill from between his lips again and again.
But Kang Hyun-woo paid it no mind.
Blocking out all external information and focusing solely on the magic's calculations, he looked almost eerie.
However, there was one thing holding him back: the guilt of killing.
Until now, Kang Hyun-woo had never felt much resistance to taking another's life, but this time was different.
By his judgment, hundreds, thousands of humans would die.
No, perhaps even tens of thousands.
But he didn't stop the spell's calculations. These people, too, had reached this point by taking the lives of others.
Above all, it was foolish to debate good and evil in war.
Because history always defines the victor as good and the vanquished as evil.
Rumble, rumble-
As Kang Hyun-woo cast aside even the last shred of hesitation in his heart, an immense amount of magic power began to swirl around him.
““?!””
The powerful individuals within the rebel army sensed the energy and shot to their feet.
Birellion, the commander of the Magic Special Task Force and the staff officer for this mission in the Orsia Duchy, felt dizzy from the remnants of magic power spreading through the air.
‘Is this the precursor to a large-scale 6th Circle spell…?’
He broke into a cold sweat, ordered his subordinates to activate the barrier, and rushed out of the barracks. His eyes met with Dermier, who was already running out of the camp.
In that fleeting moment, not a word was exchanged between the two, but Birellion instantly understood his intention and began to track the magic power.
He firmly believed that if he could just pinpoint the caster's exact location, Sir Dermier would take care of the rest.
‘It’s fine. A spell of this scale would take at least ten minutes to activate, even with dozens of mages calculating simultaneously.’
Birellion gripped his staff and opened his astral senses, chasing the chaotic traces of magic power.
The mages of the Magic Special Task Force deployed for this mission also formed a circle around him as if to protect him, focusing on activating the main camp's barrier.
“…Found him.”
Like the veteran 6th Circle battle mage he was, he located the caster in just a few minutes.
The time it took to transmit the coordinates to Dermier was a mere 4 minutes, 17.55 seconds.
Considering that Kang Hyun-woo had complicated the flow of magic to avoid being tracked, it was an abnormally fast speed.
Thump-
“Hah… what a pain in the middle of the night. I should have expected this when we lost contact with the nobles we planted in the capital.”
Although there was no clear evidence, Birellion was half-convinced that the Grand Duke had regained consciousness.
Otherwise, there was no way they would employ such a bold strategy of leading mages on a surprise attack in the dead of night.
After breaking out in a sweat, he collapsed on the ground and immediately chugged the water a subordinate handed him.
“…Huh?”
But he soon let out a dazed sound and scrambled to his feet, his face pale.
At the same time, the sentries at the rebel camp were all looking up at the sky.
“…What is that?”
“Is it a meteor shower?”
“You idiot. How is that a meteor shower? Anyone can see it’s a shooting star… huh?”
The faces of the soldiers staring at the night sky instantly turned ashen.
Because the mass of light they had mistaken for a meteor shower was now plummeting straight toward them.
Watching the scene from afar, Kang Hyun-woo muttered softly.
“…Inferno Nova.”
-!!!!!!
In that instant, the heavens and the earth shook, and a colossal pillar of fire erupted from the rebel camp.
Like a dawn breaking the dark night.
*
“…Ptui.”
Kang Hyun-woo spat out a mouthful of black blood.
He put the staff back into his inventory and immediately drank some holy water. However, perhaps because of the World Tree's divine power, the effect wasn't very significant.
The two divine powers were clashing and repelling each other.
He had no choice but to take out a potion.
Kang Hyun-woo frowned at the memory of the potion's horrible taste, but he was in no condition to be picky.
He didn't show it, but the large-scale 6th Circle spell had left his magic circuits a twisted mess.
So much so that he wouldn't be able to use magic for a while.
‘…It consumed more power than I expected.’
A 6th Circle tactical spell.
Inferno Nova.
He never thought he would use the spell he had secretly glanced at when he entered the Seongbuk Choi family's vault in this way.
In truth, tactical magic wasn't designed to be used by a single person.
Even 6th Circle mages needed at least three, and for 5th Circle mages, a good ten were required.
For him to have calculated such a spell alone, let alone successfully cast it, was nothing short of a miracle.
All of this was possible thanks to Iris's help. If she hadn't simplified the spell formula, Kang Hyun-woo would never have been able to use a tactical-grade spell on his own.
Of course, the spell's power was weakened as a result, but even so, most of the rebel camp, which lacked a proper barrier, was obliterated without a trace.
From the rebel army's perspective, it was utterly baffling.
The strongest person in the Orsia Duchy, the Grand Duke, had been hovering between life and death in a sickbed for nearly a year, and the duchy didn't even have a 7th Circle mage.
That was why they had boldly chosen to advance.
Who could have possibly predicted that a high-level mage capable of wielding a 6th Circle tactical spell would launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night?
Even if such a thing were to happen, they thought the Magic Special Task Force and the mages from each territory could hold the line to some extent.
However, the black flames imbued in the magic compensated for its lack of power, and as a result, the rebel army was only barely able to protect its key positions.
Even then, the mages maintaining the barrier all collapsed with internal injuries.
The casualties exceeded twenty thousand, including many knights.
Including the wounded, a single spell had effectively rendered an entire legion combat-ineffective.
Kang Hyun-woo looked at the rebel camp burning in the distance.
There was no guilt.
The only thought that crossed his mind was how many of the commanders he had targeted were dead.
‘As expected, for wide-area destructive power, fire magic is superior to lightning magic.’
It was a truly mage-like sentiment, one that made him feel a sense of self-loathing.
The original plan was to retreat immediately after judging that the spell had landed an effective blow. Seeing that tens of thousands had died from a distance, it was safe to say the surprise attack was a success.
There was no need to push his luck. He could just return and focus on the war tomorrow.
But it seemed his opponent had no intention of letting the one who caused a ruckus in the middle of the night leave so easily.
Kaaang!!
Kang Hyun-woo hastily raised his sword to block a red slash that flew through the dense forest and darkness.
“Keuk…!”
But the force behind the blow was beyond imagination.
Kang Hyun-woo was thrown back nearly ten meters before he could barely regain his balance. He looked down at his faintly trembling hand and calmly caught his breath.
‘…An incredible killing intent and pressure.’
It felt like facing the boss of an A-rank gate.
No, perhaps even stronger.
“…Impressive.”
Soon, a man emerged from beyond the forest that had been split in two by the slash.
Jet-black armor, a massive sword, and a sharply honed, demonic aura.
Kang Hyun-woo realized.
“To think that a mage who can cast a tactical-grade spell single-handedly is also an outstanding knight.”
He realized that the man before him was Dermier von Edramond, the vice-commander of the Eustaff Empire's strongest military force, the Dragonia Knights, and the one who sat on the second throne of Malefis.
It was true that he had come to aim for his neck from the start, but faced with an aura far stronger than expected, Kang Hyun-woo swallowed dryly.
Amidst the taut tension, Dermier slowly approached, his eyes scattering a red glow.
