Chapter 379: The Second Continental War (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 379: The Second Continental War (2)
Viscount Maron, a battle-hardened commander of Valhalla and a veteran of a hundred wars, had received strict orders from his superiors.
"Do whatever it takes to slow Roman Dmitry down. It doesn't matter if you can't kill him. Just buy us at least a month to keep him trapped within Valhalla’s borders. Succeed, and you will be rewarded with unimaginable wealth and honor once this war ends. But mark my words: if Roman Dmitry crosses Valhalla's border before then, you will pay for it with your head."
The order had come like a bolt from the blue.
Having only recently earned the title of Viscount during a massive military restructuring, he had been thrust straight onto the battlefield instead of getting to enjoy the dreamlike life of a high-ranking noble. If his opponent had been an ordinary man, he would have brimmed with confidence. After all, he wielded the authority to command hundreds of thousands of troops in the south. Moreover, his mission wasn't even to secure a victory—it was merely to buy time.
The problem was...
His opponent was Roman Dmitry.
After mobilizing his forces to form a massive defensive perimeter, he issued orders to his subordinates with a grim, cautious expression.
"Maintain a strict distance. Do not charge him first. Our mere presence will inevitably force Roman Dmitry to slow down. There is only one scenario where you are authorized to attack: if he attempts to use a transportation device like a Warp Gate. In that event, your goal is not to kill him. Even if it costs every last one of our lives, destroying that device must be your absolute priority."
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
The officers' expressions were solemn.
Even so, they believed this was a highly feasible operation.
They truly thought they could keep Roman Dmitry at bay simply by maintaining a cautious distance.
Reality, however, was entirely different.
Boom!
Ruuuuumble!
"Aaargh!"
"Hold the line! Don't let him break the perimeter!"
There was no dialogue.
From the very beginning, there was no attempt at communication. Roman Dmitry simply charged, ruthlessly slaughtering the soldiers blocking his path without a second thought.
Maintaining distance? That had been impossible from the start. He was so fast that he appeared before them in the blink of an eye. Even as the vanguard screamed and collapsed, Roman Dmitry's figure was already vanishing into the distance.
He was like a ghost, flickering in and out of existence.
The human eye simply could not keep up.
The perimeter they believed to be meticulously constructed was being torn to shreds in an instant.
"Damn it! Retreat! The other units are forming the second and third defense lines! We will preserve our forces and regroup with them!"
Viscount Maron instantly changed his strategy.
One side of the perimeter had already collapsed.
Rather than allowing meaningless sacrifices in a futile attempt to catch Roman Dmitry's tail, he decided it was far more practical to fall back and reform the line. His forces were not limited to this single location. He was merely the first defense line. The second, third, and countless other battalions had formed a massive encirclement centered around the Southern Jungle, setting the stage to block Roman Dmitry no matter which direction he took.
A veteran of a hundred wars.
Viscount Maron's reputation was not just for show.
Drawing upon a lifetime of battlefield experience, he was determined to stop his target at all costs.
And that was...
"So, you are the commander."
"?!"
...the last thought Viscount Maron would ever have.
Slash.
* * *
The Hector Kingdom.
They, too, were in a state of absolute emergency.
Edwin Hector summoned the kingdom's leadership and immediately convened a war council.
Butler spoke first.
"Just moments ago, we received a report that the Valhalla Empire's army has begun to march. It is exactly as you predicted, Prince. Valhalla clearly intends to isolate Lord Roman Dmitry in the Southern Jungle and, alongside the Kronos Empire, crush the Kingdom Alliance."
Valhalla's northward march.
The reason they targeted the Hector Kingdom first was simple: Hector blocked the direct path leading to Dmitry.
Although Valhalla's military strength had been significantly weakened by their recent civil war and the grueling battles in the Southern Jungle, it was still not a force the Hector Kingdom could stop on its own. Hector had suffered a crushing defeat in its previous war with the Cairo Kingdom and had only recently begun to recover after finally resolving its national food shortage.
The disparity in military power was staggering.
The moment the imperial forces reached the border, Hector would be swept away in an instant—but they couldn't simply open their gates and let the empire pass.
Edwin Hector spoke.
"The enemy's intentions are blatant. They plan to exploit Lord Roman Dmitry's absence to trample us and launch a direct assault on Dmitry. We must stop Valhalla's advance by any means necessary. We will stake the very survival of this nation to buy enough time for Lord Roman Dmitry to escape Valhalla's territory."
Roman Dmitry's survival?
Edwin didn't doubt it for a single second.
Due to sheer physical distance, the journey would take some time, but he firmly believed that Roman Dmitry would cut down every single Valhalla soldier blocking his path and break free. The real problem was whether Hector could hold out until then. While the Kingdom Alliance had largely fought by blindly relying on Roman Dmitry, Edwin Hector had always known a moment like this would eventually come.
That was the nature of war.
As the battlefields multiplied, Roman Dmitry could not handle every single front alone.
Therefore, it was time for them to show results.
They had to prove that the Kingdom Alliance was no easy prey in order to shatter the coalition of the two empires.
"Assemble our forces at the southern border. Defeat will mean the downfall of Hector, and by extension, the collapse of the Kingdom Alliance. The Kronos Empire and the Valhalla Empire have joined forces. If the rumors are true and Valhalla is indeed Kronos's dog, then seizing victory in this war will determine the future of the entire continent."
"Understood!"
Their resolve burned bright.
As the officers left to carry out his orders, Edwin Hector also made his way elsewhere.
The Hector Kingdom cannot rely on the help of the Kingdom Alliance right now. Not the Southern Three Kingdoms, nor Dmitry, nor Cairo. They are all too busy putting out the fires right in front of them. In that case, there is only one force we can trust.
Recently, Hector had welcomed a formidable power into its territory.
It was none other than the Sky Magic Tower, hailed as the continent's greatest faction of mages.
* * *
The relationship between the kingdom and the magic tower was far from ordinary.
While Hector provided territory for the magic tower, the kingdom did not possess the absolute authority to command them.
Fortunately, however, the Master of the Sky Magic Tower nodded in agreement to Edwin Hector's request.
"Of course we must help. The Kronos Emperor is the mastermind behind the disappearances of the continent's mages. Countless mages have suffered because of him, which is exactly why the Sky Magic Tower chose to flee and relocate here to Hector. If the Kingdom Alliance falls, the Sky Magic Tower cannot guarantee its own future either. This means we, too, must stake our lives on helping Hector defeat the Valhalla Empire."
"Thank you."
"Save your thanks for when we win the war."
He was a deeply reassuring ally.
The Master of the Sky Magic Tower was a mage of the 7th Circle.
Furthermore, with the numerous mages belonging to his tower, their participation would exert a dominating presence in siege warfare. With this, Edwin had secured a solution to bridge the massive gap in military power with Valhalla. Had it not been for the Sky Magic Tower, Edwin Hector wouldn't have even dreamed of waging a total war against the empire.
It was then that the Master of the Sky Magic Tower spoke up again.
"By the way, Edwin."
"Please, speak."
"Have you been diligently practicing 'that' which I taught you?"
The identity of "that" was none other than the secret technique of the Sky Magic Tower.
Immediately after Edwin Hector had entered into a master-disciple relationship with him, the Master had passed down the very secret technique that had allowed him to reach the 7th Circle. Since then, Edwin Hector had trained diligently. Because he could genuinely feel his magical prowess progressing, he believed he could finally break through the wall of the 6th Circle using this technique.
The question was somewhat sudden.
However, since it was a natural inquiry for a master to make of his disciple, Edwin Hector nodded.
"Yes, I have trained hard. Thanks to your guidance, I have made clear progress."
"Is that so?"
It was strange.
The Master of the Sky Magic Tower chuckled softly.
It was a side of him Edwin had never seen before.
His usual benevolent demeanor vanished completely, replaced by a demonic sneer as his raw greed was laid bare.
"Then it must be fully ripe by now."
At that moment—
Flash!
Whoosh!
An aura of pitch-black darkness exploded outward.
Edwin Hector hastily channeled his mana, but before he could even formulate a response, he was completely engulfed by the dark energy.
* * *
Within the darkness.
A vile, unpleasant sensation washed over him.
His body felt restricted, as if trapped in a sticky swamp. Because everything was pitch black, he couldn't even be sure if his eyes were open. However, his hearing remained perfectly fine. He knew this because, even while engulfed in the void, the voice of the Master of the Sky Magic Tower echoed with absolute clarity.
"You must be wondering... What on earth is happening? What could the master you served so faithfully possibly be doing to you?"
He chuckled.
Even without seeing his face, the twisted tone of his voice painted a vivid picture of his expression.
"You foolish boy. If you had been just a little more careful, you would have realized the truth about the Sky Magic Tower. Think about it. While mages were disappearing one after another in the Kronos Empire, why was the Sky Magic Tower—the most mouthwatering prey of all—left completely untouched? And why did Kronos only make a half-hearted show of trying to stop us from relocating, ultimately letting us pass the border so easily?"
Edwin choked.
He wanted to clutch his throat, but he could see nothing, and his hands felt absolutely no sensation.
"From the very beginning, I have existed solely to serve His Majesty, the Emperor of Kronos. The only reason I took you in as my disciple was to nurture your talent so that I could devour it later. However, as I watched you grow into a key figure connected to Roman Dmitry, I bided my time. I wanted to rip out your heart and absorb your Circle's mana right then and there, but the political standing of 'Edwin Hector' was far more useful than your brilliant talent alone. I had no choice but to suppress my urge. Do you have any idea how badly I've wanted to devour you all this time? For your information, some of those mage disappearances were my doing. That is how I reached my current level—by devouring others."
It was a horrifying truth.
The Salamander Continent.
Just as Alexander was called the first pioneer, the insidious roots he had planted had spread to every corner of the continent.
The Kronos Emperor.
The Valhalla Emperor.
Duke Vieto, and the Master of the Sky Magic Tower.
They were all Alexander's loyal dogs.
They had been waiting for the "moment" when specific conditions were met, quietly hiding their presence upon the emergence of the formidable anomaly known as Roman Dmitry. Like crocodiles lurking beneath the water, they waited for the perfect moment to strike. No matter what chaos Roman Dmitry caused, they had remained hidden—until now. With the Valhalla incident as the catalyst, they had finally bared their fangs.
It was a simultaneous, continent-wide strike.
Alexander's confidence in victory was not born of groundless arrogance.
He had spent a long time preparing his ambition for continental conquest, ensuring with absolute thoroughness that no one—whoever they might be—could stop him.
"The grand plan has already begun. The Hector Kingdom will crumble without you anyway, so now, I will devour you and fulfill my purpose."
Gurgle.
Edwin sank deeper into the darkness.
It felt like plunging into the abyssal sea.
And so, Edwin Hector began to lose consciousness.
* * *
At that very moment, Edwin Hector recalled Roman Dmitry's words.
"The Kronos Empire utilizes mind-attribute magic. They break a person's mind, turning them into puppets that obey any command. We have witnessed countless atrocities committed by Kronos using black magic. We must not view these as mere isolated incidents. We must treat them as case studies of what could happen to us at any moment, so that we can respond decisively if such a situation ever arises."
It was something that had been said during their joint training.
Roman Dmitry had faced the people looking up to him and spoken in an unwavering, resolute voice.
"I will not spare anyone who has been reduced to a puppet, no matter who they are. Even if it is one of you, or even my own family. Anyone who is encroached upon by Kronos and poses a threat to Dmitry will have their head severed in front of everyone to uphold the laws of Dmitry."
Executing one's own to uphold the law.
It was not a mere warning.
In Roman Dmitry's past life, there had been actual instances of this, and he knew all too well that if he bent the rules out of personal affection, his entire faction would be shaken to its core. The fact that Roman Dmitry possessed such ruthless experience was, for those bound to him in his current life, nothing short of a blessing.
That day...
"I will teach you how to overcome mind control."
Roman Dmitry had imparted to everyone the Phantom Demon's defensive martial arts—a supreme technique that prevented any force in the world from breaking one's mind.
At that moment—
Flash!
Edwin Hector snapped his eyes open, his piercing gaze tearing straight through the darkness.