Chapter 149
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 149
Forget talent—the mana consumption alone was absurd. Casting two spells at once naturally used far more mana than casting them in succession. Three at once? The cost multiplied exponentially.
So what was with that ridiculous number of simultaneous castings? Could the mana in his body even handle it? Sturman had heard that overusing mana could drain a caster’s very life force. Was it really wise to push himself that hard?
“...of light... burning.”
While Sturman was still reeling in shock, and as the screams of the Orcs showed no signs of fading, Sian was already muttering something else.
The sound of the sky splitting apart echoed across the land.
High-tier magic: <Meteor>.
* * *
An ashen shroud fell over the battlefield.
Sturman blinked, his mind going numb. He looked up at the dark clouds gathering thickly in the sky and could only gasp at the deafening roars that followed.
These were phenomena that seemed to herald the end of the world.
Everything that was completely altering the atmosphere of the area was merely a precursor to the magic about to be unleashed. Yet the change alone was so jarring that voices filled with panic rose from both the Imperial and Orc camps.
Sturman tore his gaze from the sky and looked back at Sian. Blue energy surged wildly around him—proof of mana in violent motion. If his calculations faltered for even a moment, the mana would detonate, swallowing Sian and annihilating everything around him.
“...”
It was the spell with the greatest destructive power among all high-tier magic. Although an official casting method existed, allowing anyone to attempt it, it was a taboo that knowledgeable mages never even tried. It was a self-destructive spell that killed the caster.
The reason it was considered taboo was simple. Just causing a weather change of this magnitude as a precursor consumed as much mana as a typical high-tier spell. If one cast <Meteor> incorrectly, they were highly likely to have all the mana in their body sucked dry, turning them into a desiccated corpse.
And Sian Tsukikrup was performing such magic all by himself.
The casting was complete.
“All forces! Retreat twenty paces!” the 2nd Imperial Prince bellowed.
At the sudden, thunderous command, the Imperial soldiers on the front lines scrambled backward.
The Orcs, on the other hand, could not retreat so easily. Their command was split.
While the common Orc soldiers tried to flee, the Orc shamans chose to face <Meteor> head-on.
“Hiss, hisssss!”
All the Orc shamans at the front deployed protective magic. Every veil spell they had planned to use in their initial clash with the Imperial army was now being cast to block the incoming meteor. Among them was <Aegis>, the strongest barrier, capable of withstanding most high-tier spells.
“Oho.”
Standing beside Sturman, the Prince stroked his chin with interest. The fact that there was an Orc shaman capable of using high-tier magic was certainly a surprise to Sturman as well. It seemed their attempt to block the meteor was not mere bluffing.
However…
“Fools.”
Sturman shared the Prince’s sentiment.
Slowly, a massive meteor tore through the darkened sky and revealed itself.
Its descent was slow at first. As if boasting of the flames that wreathed it, the meteor drifted like a cloud, gradually revealing its massive bulk.
Then, like a ship turning its bow, the sharp tip of the meteor slowly pivoted toward the Orc camp. Just as everyone was staring blankly at this slow-motion spectacle, it happened.
In the span of a single blink, the meteor plummeted.
Ninety-nine percent of the barriers the Orcs had erected were useless. The meteor didn’t slow in the slightest, even after piercing through dozens of veils. Only <Aegis> managed to stand against its impact.
“Block it! Block it! Block it! Block it!” the Orc centurions screamed in desperation, unable to think of any other command. The Orc shamans layered countless more veil spells over <Aegis>.
The barriers shattered as soon as they were formed, over and over again. The air shimmered with the dust of wasted mana.
Despite their desperate defense, <Aegis> crumbled within seconds.
A flash of light erupted from the point of impact.
For a moment, all sound ceased to exist.
Since even Sturman, who was a considerable distance away, experienced this, the soldiers closer to the blast must have all been deafened.
“Ha,” Sturman let out a hollow laugh.
The smoke was so thick that it was impossible to tell how much damage <Meteor> had caused. But looking at it another way, it meant that every single soldier within that smoke-filled space was dead. Estimating the number of casualties by the sheer area of effect, it had to be at least several thousand.
“...”
He wanted to say something but was utterly speechless. Sturman swallowed hard and shifted his gaze back to the site of the explosion.
The crater didn't look particularly deep. However, this was the power that remained after destroying over a hundred barrier spells. Had it struck without any interference, the collateral damage would have undoubtedly reached their own allies.
Both the Prince and Sian were out of their minds.
“What are you daydreaming about?”
The Prince’s voice snapped Sturman back to reality. When he came to his senses, he saw Orcs charging from every direction except the spot where the meteor had landed.
Although their morale had taken a severe hit from Sian’s opening magical barrage, the Orcs’ numbers were still overwhelming. Furthermore, while their morale had dropped, it hadn’t hit rock bottom.
When the Prince raised his hand, the flagbearers hoisted the Imperial standard. Seeing the flag rise, all the generals shouted in unison.
“All forces, charge!”
The melee began in earnest.
As if he still had mana to spare, Sian scattered fire magic across the front lines. The fierce winds whipping across the plains caused the flames to spread with ease, forcing the Orcs to fight while dodging the encroaching inferno.
The Orcs, who relied on tight formations, were forced to scatter. Unable to group up, they were cut down even more easily by the Imperial soldiers.
Orc shamans poured magical water on the battlefield to extinguish the flames. But because they were focused on firefighting, the Orc infantry received no magical support. Despite the Orcs’ overwhelming numbers, the front line was slowly being pushed back toward their camp.
People often said a Hero was a strategic weapon unto themselves. After witnessing one man single-handedly turn the tide of battle, how could anyone possibly deny it?
“A Hero is not invincible. You belong to the same order as Lady Uin, so you must know this,” the Prince said to Sturman, noticing him staring blankly at the battlefield.
Just as the Prince said, a Hero was not invincible. It meant that such a barrage of magic could not continue indefinitely. Since casting <Meteor>, the frequency of Sian’s spellcasting had noticeably decreased.
“The more our allies rely on the Hero, and the more the Orcs fear him, the greater the impact of his absence will be.”
Sian would soon have to retreat to the rear to recover his mana.
“Observe the battlefield with your own eyes and make your judgment.”
Even though they held the upper hand for now, it was highly questionable how long they could hold out against such a massive difference in numbers. The Orcs’ reckless charge suggested they had an ace up their sleeve.
“I will prepare to take the field.”
He had to lead the subjugation squad members waiting for orders in the rear. Leaving behind the screams and battle cries echoing from the front, Sturman gave a brief bow to the Prince and immediately departed.
* * *
The sounds of battle gradually grew distant.
He rode his horse back toward the rear, moving to a spot out of the Prince’s line of sight.
“...Do you have the situation, Garot?” Sturman muttered, lightly pressing his lips to his necklace. The mana stone embedded in it glowed faintly.
A voice answered from within.
[Loud and clear. I even saw the meteor impact from here… More importantly, did you secure delegation of authority?]
“Yes, I have it,” Sturman confirmed.
She had been eavesdropping on his entire conversation with the Prince. Although things had gone smoothly thanks to the Prince’s favorable treatment, the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights always prepared for the worst. They had no desire to engage in a power struggle with the Prince on the battlefield.
[We got lucky,] Garot said. It was a comment on both their current situation and the Prince himself.
“He is not an incompetent man… More importantly, how are things on your end? I heard there was movement at the rear of the Orc forces.”
[We’re tracking them separately. For now, the teams are organized. As soon as the advance scouting squad returns, most of our forces will join the battle. The defense team assisting the front lines has already deployed, and we’ve split the rest into an operation team and a breakthrough team.]
“Who’s in charge of the defense team?”
[Sir Barisik.]
“I see.”
His warhorse came to a halt. Having ridden while they talked, he had arrived at the rear camp. Since Garot was now standing right in front of him, there was no longer a need to speak into the necklace.
Facing the subjugation squads awaiting his command, Sturman made a brief declaration.
“I will take charge of the operation team.”
* * *
The Annun Plains, the front-line battlefield.
The 2nd Imperial Prince, Kazimir Joachim Logphellus, was holding his ground well.
Hero Sian’s assistance had been immense.
To overcome the numerical disadvantage in close combat, they had to secure two things first: air superiority and dominance in magical warfare. Honestly, Kazimir hadn’t been confident. He had never expected Sian’s magic to turn the tide of battle to this extent.
It was an unexpected success.
We’re winning.
He had thought it was impossible to use the terrain to their advantage on the flat Annun Plains, but Sian had made it happen. Since the Orc shamans’ mana had been heavily depleted at the start, the Imperial mages, now with breathing room, used crustal movement magic to create makeshift terrain features. No matter how much one could warp the ground on a vast plain, even such minor changes threw the Orcs into confusion.
The Imperial forces induced small-scale skirmishes in each sector, steadily piling up Orc corpses.
Soon, the Orcs at the front began to retreat.
Do not be greedy on the battlefield.
Wasn’t that what the art of war taught?
“Push them back! Keep pushing!”
He knew the rule, yet he ordered the attack anyway. The art of war warned commanders to be wary of a retreating enemy, lest they fall into a prepared trap.
But this was a plain, was it not? If they had set a trap, it would be in plain sight. There was no way the enemy had a trap. They were retreating now simply because they were at a disadvantage. Yes, in this situation, one must pursue. But without getting greedy.
Pursue them just enough, then withdraw.
Just two hundred more meters. No, even just one hundred.
We must reduce the enemy's numbers as much as possible while we have the chance…
The Imperial soldiers eagerly gave chase. Their battle cries were full of vigor; their morale was at its peak as their swords and spears tore through the fleeing enemy.
“Your Highness!”
As he sat on his horse, surveying the battlefield and the retreating Orcs, an adjutant galloped back from the front lines, gasping for breath.
“Pant… evacuate… pant… please order an evacuation! We must flee immediately!”
How urgent must it be for him to have run back without even using acceleration magic? He was panting so hard he could barely speak. It took him several more seconds to catch his breath.
“Adjutant, if it is urgent, speak quickly.”
“Phantom beasts—several phantom beasts are rushing toward the battlefield!”
“…Do you mean those things floating in the sky? The mages at the front should be more than capable of handling them.”
“Pant… they are… pant… different.”
“…A different species?”
“O-Over there!”
The adjutant’s finger pointed toward the horizon. At the rude gesture, the Prince frowned slightly and turned his head.
“W-What on earth is that…”
From the direction where the Orcs were fleeing and the Imperial army was pursuing, monsters dozens of times larger than Orcs were charging toward them.
*
Although the Empire and the various kingdoms were human territories, the entire continent did not belong to them. Throughout the land, countless enemies that humanity had failed to defeat claimed dominion over their respective regions.
Just as the several ‘Suns’ did.
And though not as powerful as them, the nine phantom beasts that ran rampant across the continent, notorious for their infamy, were no different.
Two on land, four in the sea, three in the sky.
“A Manticore…” one of the Imperial soldiers muttered.
One of the rushing monsters was unmistakably the Manticore—one of the nine worst phantom beasts, which ruled the land alongside the Behemoth.
*
The Annun Plains, Orc army pursuit route.
Imperial Defense Force Volunteer, Jacob.
The blare of horns signaling the Orcs’ retreat echoed noisily from all directions. Jacob, an Imperial soldier who had been fighting on the front lines, was chasing the Orcs in accordance with the Prince’s order to push forward.
To be honest, he had been quite excited just a moment ago. Even though he was covered in Orc blood from head to toe and reeked of it, his steps were as light as a feather. Perhaps the light steps were due to a mage’s spell, but still.
We won. We won. We won!
What did it matter? A sense of elation boiled in his chest.
If asked for the reason, there were quite a few. First, the pride of protecting the Empire from the wicked Orcs. The sweet taste of victory. The primal instinct of a warrior that had been hidden deep within him… well, there were various reasons, but none of them were the primary one.
I survived.
Jacob had survived the front lines.
And with all his limbs intact.
Without a single major injury.
Of course, patriotism was part of the reason he joined this war. In terms of proportion, however, patriotism accounted for slightly less than half of his motivation. As for the other half… wasn't it obvious?
Money.