Chapter 384: The Second Continental War (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 384: The Second Continental War (7)
One day ago.
At the exact moment the Salamander Continent plunged into chaos, Valhalla's leadership received a bewildering report.
[Viscount Maron is dead! We established a containment line to hold back Roman Dmitry, but thousands of soldiers have already perished. At this rate, it is only a matter of time before the Southern Jungle's defensive line is breached. No matter how many troops we mobilize, we lack a master capable of dealing with him!]
It was absurd.
Only a few hours ago, they had granted Viscount Maron full authority, ordering him to stop Roman Dmitry by any means necessary. Count Snodin, Valhalla's new power player, hadn't fully trusted Maron. He knew it was impossible for a man of that caliber to defeat Roman Dmitry. Still, with hundreds of thousands of troops mobilized for the operation, he believed they could easily hold out for at least a few days.
And yet...
It hadn't even taken a few hours.
Count Snodin reacted with irritation to the adjutant, who spat out this despairing reality alongside the news of Maron's death.
"Useless fools! Our goal isn't to defeat Roman Dmitry. Even if you have to grind down every last soldier, hold him back by any means necessary! The more time passes, the longer we keep him tied down in Valhalla, the more of his limbs will be severed. In the end, even he won't be able to resist the tide of the times."
[...Understood.]
There was no other way.
With even Valhalla's strongest swordsman having knelt before Ares, trying to force a victory over Roman Dmitry was a fool's errand. A war of attrition was their best option. They believed that if they chipped away at his stamina, even the Monster of Dmitry would eventually reach his limits.
It was a judgment within the bounds of common sense.
No, even this defied common sense. Sacrificing hundreds of thousands of troops just to stall a single man was utterly absurd.
But as time passed...
The rapid succession of incoming reports only bred terror.
[The second line of defense has been breached!]
[We—we cannot stop Roman Dmitry! He's so fast we can't even track his movements! Even when we form ranks, he slaughters us in an instant and breaks right through! He's moving faster than we can establish our containment lines!]
[Aaargh!]
A scream rang out from the communication device. That blood-soaked cry proved the third line of defense had already fallen.
What a monster.
Roman Dmitry. He was alone. Dmitry's private soldiers had intentionally cleared a path for him, and now he was traversing the vast territory of Valhalla entirely on his own. Yet, his pace was abnormally fast. It would have been considered fast even if he were traveling an empty road—but in reality, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were desperately throwing their lives away just to slow his steps.
It was dizzying.
A day passed.
Just as Count Snodin's mouth went dry with anxiety, another report came in.
[...W-we were mistaken. Roman Dmitry isn't fleeing. He is making no effort to hide his tracks, and every time he encounters our containment lines, he commits an absolute slaughter. We only thought he was fleeing because he was so fast, but he has never once run away from Valhalla. Count Snodin, at this rate, it is practically impossible to keep Roman Dmitry tied down for a month.]
Around that time, Roman Dmitry passed through Eltar.
It became a certainty. If he could pass through Eltar this quickly with pursuers on his tail, he would easily cross the Frank border in about a week. A week was far too short. Even with Kronos and Valhalla declaring war with all their might, wrapping up the entire situation in just seven days was impossible.
Therefore, Valhalla needed to make a decision.
"Send all the troops we assembled to attack the Southern Three Kingdoms to Roman Dmitry. The Southern Three Kingdoms are of no importance in a situation like this. Roman Dmitry—preventing his intervention is the absolute key to this war. Only by setting the stage so that he cannot intervene can we crush Dmitry and isolate him."
His mouth was bone dry.
A mere week. This war would be decided the moment Roman Dmitry crossed the Frank border.
* * *
Meanwhile, in Dmitry.
Watching the Kronos Imperial Army charge fiercely toward them, Flora Lawrence, who was in command of the left wall, raised her voice.
"Group 2, prepare magic!"
"Group 1, fire magic!"
Whoosh!
Roar!
Flames erupted. The Phoenix Mages unleashed their magic at Flora's command.
"Inferno."
"Inferno."
Boom!
Whoosh!
Horrific screams echoed from beyond the wall. Engulfed in flames, imperial soldiers collapsed to the ground as their flesh melted away. Others clutched their throats, their airways scorched by the searing heat. Hundreds of soldiers were wiped out in a single blow, but the defenders couldn't even rejoice. The fallen were instantly replaced by the living.
The imperial army trampled over the corpses of their comrades. With faces resolved to die, they swarmed the wall, hooking ladders one after another and beginning their ascent.
"Pour the oil!"
"Group 3, prepare magic! Archers, do not aim for distant enemies; focus your fire on those climbing the ladders!"
It was absolute chaos. Just moments ago, the castle gate had been breached. Flora Lawrence knew this, but she didn't panic. She held her position.
Ares was a variable. He was a fatal problem that couldn't be countered even if anticipated, and perhaps Dmitry would fall just like this due to the variable he had introduced. But she couldn't let herself be consumed by it. The art of war didn't always demand brilliant strategies. In a situation like this, where retreat was absolutely not an option, the most crucial thing was for the commander to maintain composure and not be swept away by unexpected variables.
Sticking to the basics. That was the core of warfare.
Since Rodwell Dmitry had stepped forward to resolve the crisis at the castle gate, Flora forced herself to focus entirely on her own battlefield.
"Group 1, prepare magic! Group 2, fire!"
Boom!
Whoosh!
Magic exploded across the siege lines. Keeping her heart ice-cold, Flora swiftly made the necessary judgments to hold the left wall.
The variable had already occurred. To turn the tide, she didn't need to overturn the entire battle with some grand strategy; she just needed to prevent any new variables from arising on the left wall. That was the role of leadership. That was her duty. As a strategist and commander, she personally fired arrows while issuing orders, ruthlessly shooting down enemies trying to scale the wall.
Over the years, the greenhouse flower had grown into a resilient wildflower. After surviving the Barco family incident, the Cairo civil war, and the ongoing war with Kronos, she had become a completely different person.
Thwack!
An arrow pierced an imperial soldier's head. As if the gruesome sight were nothing, Flora calmly nocked another arrow and aimed at her next target.
The battle was fierce, and she remained completely faithful to her role. Yet, she couldn't stop her gaze from repeatedly drifting toward Rodwell Dmitry.
Glance.
Please... hold out until the end.
The passage at the castle gate was a literal hell. Amidst the blood and flames, Flora gritted her teeth.
"Concentrate! The war is not over yet!"
For now, doing her part was the only priority.
* * *
A short distance from Dmitry's walls, Mystic looked out over the battlefield.
"What troublesome pests. Has anyone ever held out this long against the Kronos Empire?"
He searched his memory. Without a doubt, there wasn't a single one. Those who raised rebellions against Alexander had all vanished into the shadows of history. The Kronos Empire had never once experienced a true crisis. But this time was different. Dmitry, which had grown rapidly under Roman Dmitry's leadership, had a history of blocking Kronos's attacks despite originating as a mere weak nation.
That day, Sven had died. The fact that a 6-Star swordsman had been defeated even in Roman Dmitry's absence had caused Mystic considerable bewilderment.
"But the game ends now."
Alexander had made his decision for this war. Just thinking about conquering the continent and achieving that grand dream sent a thrill coursing through Mystic's body. He, too, had once been an Archmage who commanded the continent. Swearing loyalty to another was no easy task, but after seeing the future Alexander envisioned, he had no choice but to bow his head.
There was an irresistible destiny in this world. And Mystic had knelt before that massive destiny.
Whoosh—
He stirred his mana. Behind Mystic, the Shadows rose.
In the previous war, Mystic had attacked Dmitry using spatial teleportation magic. As a precaution, Dmitry had since established a magic defense formation to prevent any internal infiltration. Even for an Archmage like Mystic, bypassing that formation to teleport inside was impossible. However, by tapping into a forbidden power, he could teleport a small group of people just once—at the cost of being unable to use his magic for a while.
This was another unexpected variable, following Ares. In preparing for this war, Dmitry wasn't the only side that had learned and reinforced their tactics from the previous conflict.
"Dmitry. No matter how desperately you struggle, you won't be able to hold out until Roman Dmitry arrives."
Rumble!
His magic power exploded. The swirling mana tore space apart, and the Shadows were sucked one by one into the violet rift. In this war, just as he had submitted to destiny, Dmitry's destruction would proceed exactly as scheduled.
* * *
Rip!
Space tore open. Dmitry's sky distorted, and hundreds of Shadows rained down simultaneously upon the city.
"Kill everyone you see."
"Hehehehe."
Their sole purpose was slaughter.
The forces Mystic could infiltrate past the magic defense formation were small in number; it was impossible for them to annihilate Dmitry on their own. Fernando, who guarded the inner castle, along with the reserve forces not actively participating in the outer city's defense, had proven in the previous battle that they were strong enough to hold off the Shadows.
Therefore, the Shadows dropped directly onto the boundary between the outer city and the inner castle. Since Fernando couldn't lead his troops out of the inner castle, they intended to cause maximum chaos in the vulnerable space between the walls.
"Ah!"
"Aaargh!"
A one-sided slaughter ensued.
Because the inner castle couldn't accommodate all the civilians, many were hiding in this boundary zone or helping to transport supplies. They became the immediate targets of the Shadows. No matter how many civilians they killed, it wouldn't directly affect the military tide of the war. Mystic was well aware of this. But unless the defenders were heartless villains who held human life in utter contempt, this massacre was bound to cause severe psychological and tactical disruptions.
Sure enough, the crisis was immediately reported to Knight Commander Jonathan.
"Knight Commander Jonathan! The Shadows are attacking the city right now!"
Slash!
Jonathan cut down an enemy soldier. Not only was he in charge of the castle's defense, but he was also actively fighting on the front lines, striking down any enemies who managed to scale the walls.
"Damn it. Kronos finally bypassed our magic defense."
Kronos's strategy was far from ordinary. Normally, spatial teleportation magic required a medium like a Warp Gate, but the Kronos Empire had defied common sense in the previous war. It was the same this time. Without any medium, they had transported hundreds of thousands of troops to Dmitry's borders. Having experienced it once before, the defenders avoided outright panic, but how such a feat was even possible remained a mystery that defied all logic.
During the previous war, in a meeting held by Dmitry's leadership, Flora Lawrence had brought up this exact variable.
"What if... just what if the Kronos Empire can bypass our magic defense formation and infiltrate troops inside? It would cause a fatal problem. We must prepare for the worst-case scenario. For the sake of victory, we need to establish a contingency plan right now for when unexpected variables occur."
It was a cruel reality. But that day, the leadership had made their decision.
Knight Commander Jonathan stepped back from the ledge and spoke to the messenger.
"Right now, we cannot afford to divide our forces. If we divert troops to resolve the situation in the city, the breached castle gate will completely collapse, and we'll face the worst-case scenario. Leave that area to McBurney's Special Unit."
"...Do you believe they can stop them on their own?" The soldier's voice trailed off.
McBurney's Special Unit. They were a unique group. It wasn't to disregard their efforts, but this crisis didn't seem like something they could handle alone.
The unit was comprised of people with stories similar to McBurney's—veterans who had lost limbs in war or had given up on their lives as soldiers due to severe mental trauma. They had chosen a new path by following McBurney, forming a Special Unit tasked with guarding the city in times of emergency. Though it was said they received the same grueling training as regular soldiers, their opponents right now weren't ordinary beings. They were the Shadows of the Kronos Empire.
Worry naturally preceded all else.
Seeing the soldier's reaction, Knight Commander Jonathan spoke firmly.
"We only do what we can. Even if they are wiped out, if we win this war, their deaths will have had meaning. So focus on our objective. The best we can do is fulfill our assigned roles to the bitter end at our respective positions."
He turned his gaze back to the battlefield. There wasn't a shred of hesitation in his eyes.
He was a knight commander of the frontier. Jonathan—who had once been asked if he was truly satisfied with such a minor position—had built his own world amidst the hardships of time, just like the others. To become a man worthy of Dmitry, past experiences had taught him that he needed to think and judge differently than he had in the past.
Right then—
Boom!
Rumble!
An explosion echoed from afar. It meant McBurney's Special Unit had begun their own desperate struggle.
Gritting his teeth, Knight Commander Jonathan roared, his voice loud enough to shake the chaotic battlefield.
"Kill them all! Show those who dare covet Dmitry the price they must pay!"
Rumble!
Aura exploded around him. Knight Commander Jonathan unleashed his 4-Star Aura. He, too, had taken another step forward as a swordsman.