Chapter 142 - The Day the Sky Path Opens (1)

Starting with Nopsaebaram Citadel, Dotrin's fortresses that had been holding out firmly began to collapse one by one.

First, the fortresses in the southwest adjacent to Nopsaebaram Citadel fell, followed by the fortresses in the west. Right after that, all military strongholds were destroyed or occupied by the Imperial Army.

It was around the time when nearly five months had passed since the outbreak of the war.

The Imperial Army, which had accumulated casualties and fatigue from clashing against the fierce resistance of the Dotrin Kingdom's army, took a rest at the occupied fortresses and strongholds.

Even during that time, troops that had departed from the imperial mainland were arriving at the front lines one after another.

The Imperial Army finished their reorganization and began catching their breath for another advance.

However, before they could even advance deep into Dotrin's territory, before they could step out of the fortresses and take their first step toward a greater victory.

An incident occurred.

All the fortresses and strongholds they were occupying collapsed with a deafening roar.

The fortresses that had firmly withstood the concentrated attacks of the Mages crumbled like sandcastles. The main facilities and buildings within the fortresses burst into flames all at once.

It was too sudden for the Imperial Army to respond, a terrible disaster that was hard to handle.

In one fortress, the Legion Commander and knights were enjoying a banquet welcoming the nobles and troops who had arrived from the mainland. In another fortress, the commanders were celebrating their hard-won victory. And in yet another fortress, the commanders were repeatedly holding meetings late into the night to establish future strategies and tactics.

All of them were crushed to death along with the collapse of the fortresses.

Those who had lost body parts wailed from everywhere, and those on the verge of death let out weak sobs. A small number of Imperial Princes and Legion Commanders, protected by powerful Mages and Paladins, screamed desperately to rescue the soldiers.

It was a situation where the chaos had truly reached its peak, but the disaster did not end there.

The Dotrin Kingdom's army attacked the fortresses where the nightmarish tragedy had unfolded.

It was a large-scale offensive spread across the entire front line.

They couldn't even dare to fight back.

The imperial knights and soldiers desperately escaped the collapsed fortresses.

The Dotrin Kingdom's army relentlessly pursued that Imperial Army.

When a nightmarish week had passed, the Imperial Army that made it out of Dotrin's borders alive was less than half of their total forces.

The estimated casualties alone were at least 40,000.

Adding the number of missing nobles and knights, the damage the empire suffered in one week was so massive that it was more than enough to destroy an ordinary kingdom.

The consumption of human resources was severe, and even more supplies were lost.

It was a massive amount of damage that even a massive and powerful empire could never ignore.

In the midst of that, tragic news arrived.

The Second Imperial Prince and Fourth Imperial Prince of the empire, who had been touring the front lines to console the soldiers, returned as corpses.

The surviving Legion Commanders and nobles trembled as they thought of the Emperor's wrath they would soon face.

They sought the banner of the Third Imperial Prince to avoid the Emperor's wrath.

In a war marred by devastating defeats, only the Third Imperial Prince had achieved a meaningful victory.

Surprisingly, the Third Imperial Prince was the only person who had realized the signs of the terrible disaster early on, and at the same time, he was the hero who returned having saved the most troops.

Through the Third Imperial Prince, it became known that the Dotrin Kingdom's fortresses had been designed from the beginning to collapse immediately once a certain device was activated.

The terrible disaster that occurred on the front lines was not a natural catastrophe but a sabotage by Dotrin.

When that fact became known, the fear turned into anger.

The empire's nobles declared a blood revenge, and the Emperor tacitly approved of this instead of holding them accountable for the defeat.

Knights and armies from all over the empire gathered at the border with Dotrin.

It was the very moment the second Dotrin subjugation campaign began.

* * *

"May eternal glory follow the Imperial House of Bourgogne!"

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!"

The knights, who shouted desperately as if vomiting blood, drew their swords all at once and slit their own throats.

The sacred Great Hall was dyed with red blood.

The Emperor watched the sight expressionlessly.

Then he casually spat out a single word.

"Clean it up."

It was a callous voice, as if telling someone to clean up spilled food.

The waiting knights carried out the order with stiffened faces.

They were once glorious imperial knights, but the knights who committed suicide for failing to protect their masters were cleared away like trash.

"Hmm."

The Emperor, who had been watching this with clear eyes, tapped the armrest of his throne.

Tap, tap.

A heavy silence hung over the Great Hall.

The empire's dukes and marquises, who boasted king-like authority in their own domains, lay flat on their faces and waited for the Emperor to speak.

After a long while, the Emperor opened his mouth.

The very first question the Emperor brought up was not about his flesh and blood who had died in battle, nor was it about the tens of thousands of casualties.

"Did they say it was Ian of the Twin Swords?"

It was a question about a lowly mercenary.

It was a very strange thing.

He was not someone whose name was widely known, nor was he someone who had greatly influenced the tide of the war. He was just a mere Sword Master who briefly appeared in a battle on the southwestern front.

An insignificant being whose name they wouldn't have even known if not for the Third Imperial Prince's report.

It was not a name worthy of being spoken by the Emperor leading a massive empire.

But the nobles did not dare to open their mouths to ask about this.

The Emperor was not someone who explained things one by one. He was merely a ruler who commanded.

And the Emperor's decisions were always right. They had to believe that.

Doubt was disloyalty, and the Emperor never left disloyal people alone.

It was the same this time.

The nobles just lay prostrate, waiting for the Emperor's command to fall.

"Deliver a message to the Master of the Ivory Tower."

The Emperor spoke.

"Tell him that if he doesn't step forward, I will personally shatter his tranquility."

The nobles jerked their heads up without realizing it.

Then, meeting the Emperor's eyes, they hurriedly lowered their gazes.

The Emperor's eyes were shining bizarrely.

A gaze too profound to be considered that of a mere human; it was like the abyss.

The nobles felt a terror as if their souls were scattering just by meeting that gaze for a fleeting moment.

But they couldn't just keep trembling forever.

They had to answer.

Because the Emperor deeply hated those who did not answer his words.

"We shall deliver it as such."

The Emperor waved his hand dismissively.

The nobles rushed out of the Great Hall as if fleeing, unable to even breathe.

"Do you perhaps think that person is the one Your Majesty has been looking for?"

In the empty Great Hall, a voice drifted in from somewhere.

To dare ask a question without even revealing themselves before the Emperor—it was beyond disrespectful.

However, the Emperor neither shouted at the other party to show themselves nor took offense at the question.

"It is unknown."

He even kindly answered the question.

"I am merely watching."

The Emperor sank deeply into his throne.

"If that person is truly the one Your Majesty has been looking for, the high-ranking Mages of the Magic Tower will instead become a stepping stone for him to reach an even higher place."

"That isn't bad either."

The Emperor chuckled lowly.

It was a terribly dry laughter, like the sound of desert sand being swept by the wind.

"... What is so amusing?"

When the voice asked, the Emperor replied in a voice still tinged with laughter.

"The old traces that keep raising their heads no matter how much they are trampled on are so pitiful, and so lovable."

"If you wish, this subordinate will go and immediately nip that bud. The young prince born with the destiny of a Supreme Ruler, and that mercenary who arrogantly calls himself a One-Man Legion. I will cut off both their heads and offer them to Your Majesty."

"I do not wish for that."

The Emperor did not permit it.

"Go to the front lines right now and observe."

He merely permitted observation.

"And finally, return and let me know everything as if I had been there myself."

The Emperor's command was absolute, and the voice replied that it would obey.

* * *

Already, all of Dotrin's fortresses had collapsed, and their strongholds were neutralized. Dotrin's army had also retreated deep inside their borders. The Imperial Army marched relentlessly toward Dotrin's territory.

What blocked them was the endlessly vast sea of trees of Dotrin.

The path through the dense forest was too poor and narrow for a large army to traverse.

So they divided the army into three.

There were those who worried about their forces being dispersed, but they were in the minority.

The vanguard, which had the fewest troops deployed, still numbered a whopping 25,000. The main body was a large army of 50,000, and the rearguard approached 30,000.

Each force alone was more than enough to destroy a kingdom.

Defeating them individually was impossible in the first place.

"Dotrin's sea of trees is like a maze. Entering the forest just trusting in our numbers like this is like jumping into a fire while carrying firewood."

A few staff officers continually expressed their concerns.

To the nobles, who were thoroughly agitated by the painful defeat in the first subjugation campaign, their caution was highly displeasing.

The nobles executed them all under the pretext that they were lowering the army's morale.

The commanders, having disposed of the obstructers in such a manner, ordered the march toward the sea of trees.

They erased any lingering unease by ensuring the three forces maintained a set distance and kept in close communication to prepare for any unlikely situation.

It was an extremely sensible and solid strategy.

However, their common sense and strategy were merely insignificant before the primeval sea of trees.

Moving tens of thousands of troops along the narrow path through the dense forest was a journey that demanded a terrifying amount of patience.

Impatient commanders became sick of the slow movement. They eventually even sent messengers to press the soldiers at the front of the line.

But the soldiers at the front had their own difficulties.

First, the path was too narrow; second, even that narrow path was in terrible condition. And third, they had to be on guard against the Dotrin Kingdom's army that could appear from anywhere at any time.

It would have been stranger if their movement speed had been fast.

A special measure was needed.

And the empire's command staff tried to solve that special measure by investing manpower.

A significant number of the vanguard's soldiers put down their swords and spears and picked up axes and sickles.

Nearly 10,000 soldiers expanded the path by cutting down the bushes snagging at their ankles and the massive trees blocking their way.

It was still a slow movement speed, but it was much better than before.

Of course, that was only how it seemed from the commanders' perspective.

For the soldiers in the vanguard, it was absolute hell.

It was hard to endure swinging sickles and chopping axes in sweltering weather where just walking still was unbearable.

But what truly made the soldiers suffer enough to want to die wasn't the heat.

In the shadows of the forest that had not seen sunlight for a long time lived a terrifying number of insects, and those unidentified bugs followed the soldiers around all day, sucking their blood.

Despite moving their bodies constantly, their entire bodies would be swollen red by the time they finished their work.

The soldiers couldn't even sleep properly as they suffered from itching and pain.

But the commanders didn't care about the soldiers' plight in the slightest.

Most of them were knights who possessed enough skill to block pests from approaching using mana, and even if they lacked such ability, they enjoyed comfort in the sweltering weather with the help of the Mages.

Because of that, they couldn't relate at all to how much the soldiers were suffering.

It was only after more than half the troops who went logging began suffering from an unidentified mysterious disease spread by the bugs that the commanders grasped the severity of the problem.

Only then did the commanders hurriedly mobilize the Mages to carry out a large-scale pest control operation.

The Mages used mysterious magic to control the bugs or drove away the insects in the area by commanding birds and beasts, their natural predators.

Of course, that wasn't enough to drive out all the swarming insect swarms.

Still, they managed to somehow prevent the rampant spread of the mysterious disease.

More troops were deployed for the logging work.

The soldiers swung their sickles and axes without resting to escape this terrible forest even a moment sooner.

The sluggish movement speed of the troops became a little faster.

But that, too, was only for a moment.

The Dotrin Kingdom's forces, which hadn't shown a single hair until now, ambushed the vanguard.

Having taken off their armor and helmets for the logging work and holding heavy sickles and axes that were wholly inconvenient to use as weapons, the soldiers of the vanguard were slaughtered en masse without even putting up a proper resistance.

The knights and Mages belatedly repelled the enemy, but the loss of life that occurred in that brief moment was not small.

That was the beginning.

The Dotrin Kingdom's army constantly appeared and attacked the vanguard. Then, when a full-blown melee was about to break out, they quickly fled.

Now the vanguard had to fight not only the terrible sea of trees but also the Dotrin Kingdom.

The movement speed that had gotten faster slowed down again.

Preparing for a battle with the Dotrin army that could appear at any time and any place, the soldiers on logging duty couldn't even take off their armor.

People kept fainting from the sweltering heat one after another.

Those remaining quickly exhausted their minds and bodies as they fought the heat and the fear of enemies that could appear at any moment.

The commanders of the vanguard dispatched messengers every day to report these difficulties to the main body.

However, the main body, which only had to move along the path expanded by the vanguard without much trouble, did not understand the vanguard's grievances.

The commanders of the vanguard forced themselves to press the soldiers, biting the bullet.

They thought that no matter how many died from the heat, getting out of the sea of trees was the priority.

As if they had noticed their plan, the frequency of the Dotrin army's surprise attacks increased.

Now they didn't just launch small-scale ambushes; they occasionally appeared in legion-sized units and even annihilated logistics units.

At that time, the knights and Mages of the main body and rearguard, who had received the vanguard's request, appeared at the front lines.

With them joining, it became difficult for the Dotrin army to see the effects of their surprise attacks anymore.

Several of Dotrin's mountain infantry companies that had launched ambushes were wiped out. After that, Dotrin's surprise attacks no longer occurred.

Saying they should have received the support of the knights and Mages earlier if they knew this would happen, the vanguard commanders felt relieved.

But it was a delusion.

The brief peace they faced was nothing more than the calm before the storm.

Three legions of the Dotrin Kingdom ambushed the long drawn-out formation of the vanguard.

They managed to drive them away by fighting back, but the damage was significant.

Precious rations were burned, and valuable weapons were rendered useless.

But what was even more terrible was the fact that the legions that had taken the brunt of the enemy's concentrated attacks were scattered and chased into the forest.

If it had been any other battlefield, they would have regrouped shortly after.

But this was the middle of a sea of trees surrounded by forest on all sides.

Only a tiny fraction returned.

The vast majority of the troops vanished into the forest like that and never returned.

It was as if the forest had devoured them.

Only then did the commanders of the vanguard feel fear.

They were confident that a large army of 100,000 could destroy the Dotrin Kingdom several times over.

It was a terrible misjudgment born of arrogance and ignorance.

They belatedly recalled the staff officers who had expressed concern by emphasizing the dangers of the sea of trees. But since they had already all been executed, the commanders could only chew on their regrets as they moved forward.

The Dotrin Kingdom's army continued their attacks.

They moved through the forest as easily as stepping into their own living rooms, and they dragged the imperial soldiers into the forest by any means necessary.

Once dragged into the forest like that, it was the end.

But nothing in the world was without an end.

The sea of trees was the same.

The forest that seemed eternal finally came to an end.

"We're out!"

The soldiers of the Imperial Army cheered and rushed out of the forest.

Normally, the commanders would have stepped forward to stop them. They would have dispatched scouts to check outside the forest in preparation for the worst-case scenario.

But the sea of trees had eaten away at their patience and judgment, eventually turning them into beasts that blindly craved only the world outside the forest.

"Oh! God."

Soldiers and commanders fell to their knees and kissed the dry earth.

And over the rejoicing Imperial Army, a rain of thousands of arrows fell.

Countless people were struck by the arrows and became cold corpses.

"Shieldbearers! Heavy infantry!"

"Archers, return fire!"

Belatedly coming to their senses amidst the terrible barrage of arrows, the commanders screamed at the top of their lungs to establish a defensive posture.

As if their desperate efforts had paid off, the panicking soldiers formed up one after another and finished preparing to fight back.

The heavy infantry formed a solid square and slowly moved to the front. The archers who had formed up right behind them let loose their arrows all at once.

"The priority is getting the troops out! Those who are ready to fight, step forward and open a path!"

The commanders continued to shout.

While returning fire against the enemy's attack like that, they dispatched messengers to inform the soldiers in the rear of the situation.

They judged that the moment they finished preparing to fight perfectly and showed themselves here, a mere handful of Dotrin's grunts would no longer be a problem.

However, the troops inside the sea of trees they were waiting for so eagerly were in no situation to support them.

"It's Dotrin's knights!"

Dotrin's knights and Mages, who hadn't shown themselves until now, were stirring up the entire sea of trees.

The empire's knights and Mages quickly tried to fight back, but they were spread out too widely.

Countless knights and Mages became ghosts of the departed without even putting up a proper resistance.

But because the Imperial Army was so inherently numerous, there were quite a few who survived amidst the fierce attacks.

The knights and Mages who survived like that gathered around the Paladins.

"Show them the power of a great empire!"

Along with the grand roar of a certain Paladin, they led the knights and charged toward Dotrin's knights.

But right before they reached the front of the knights they had targeted, a certain man suddenly appeared from the forest and blocked their path.

The man, gripping twin swords flashing with golden light, shouted.

"Ian of the Vale Mercenaries is here!"