Chapter 222 - The Beginning (4)
The flames grew larger and larger, and soon became as big as the forearms of a giant.
"Shit! Out of all times...! Why now?!”
Looking at where the fire was, Rockefeller could tell that it was the supply barracks that had caught fire. As he saw the fire escalate, he thought about what to do. He couldn’t decide on whether to stop the battle right away and secure the remaining supplies or give up on the supplies to take down the castle.
Regardless of what choice he made, Rockefeller knew that both options had ups and downs.
“Commander!”
As the smoke got thicker, his aides-de-camp also became more anxious, which was why they pressed Rockefeller to quickly make a decision.
‘Fuck...!’
Each passing second felt like a year. The sight of black smoke billowing from the burning barracks and soldiers fighting ceaselessly pressed down on Rockefeller.
In the end, he was forced to stop pondering and make a decision.
“Retreat...!”
“Retreat! Orders to retreat!”
“All troops retreat!”
Huuummm!
The retreat signal from the horn echoed throughout the battlefield. Some of the soldiers looked dumbfounded as they heard the sound, while others were glad to hear it. However, Rockefeller was bitter.
‘Damn bastards...!’
He was furious. It seemed like if they had pushed the enemies a bit more, they could’ve taken them down in no time, but he himself hadn’t been completely certain that they could manage that. At any rate, Rockefeller decided not to go back on his choice.
Nobody could foresee the outcome of a war, and because of that, it was only right that Rockefeller had made the safest and most certain decision.
‘It’s only the first day, and we’ve already pushed them this much. If we secure the rear guard and launch an all-out attack the next day, we’ll most certainly win!’
That was why Rockefeller had ordered the retreat.
Soon, the imperial troops pulled back, and the city troops of Vivaldi cheered as they watched the soldiers retreat like an ebbing tide.
“They’re retreating!”
“We’ve defeated the imperial army!”
“Haha! Those imperial bastards, they’re no biggie, huh?”
Although Rockefeller’s retreat had been beneficial for his army from a strategic standpoint, it was a huge success for the city troops of Vivaldi. After all, the city troops were essentially a ragtag group, and they had managed to fend off an attack from the empire’s well-trained elite army.
“I-I did it...?”
Vant was also overjoyed. He had never once held a sword like everyone else; he had only ever fought on the chess board, the chess pieces being his only weapons. Therefore, to someone like him, winning his first real battle against a formidable enemy like the imperial army felt extremely satisfying and special.
“What are you doing?”
“Sir Henry!”
Henry appeared next to Vant, who was savoring the victory at the highest point of the castle wall. Vant welcomed Henry with a big smile on his face. Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience
“Did you see what just happened? I did exactly as you told me and we’ve won the battle!”
“What, did you think we were going to lose? I told you we’d win as long as you listen to me.”
"Yes, of course! Please continue to guide me, Almighty Archmage! I have the utmost respect for you!”
“Enough with the fuss. I just stole half of their military supplies. I even set some of their barracks ablaze, so it’ll take them a couple of days to fully retreat.”
“Do you really think so, Sir Henry?”
“Of course. I’m also going to deploy the engineers and wizards to repair the damage of the castle walls as soon as the sun sets. In the meantime, you just keep an eye out for any attacks over the next few days. I’ll make sure to instruct the wizards on what they have to do
"What? Regardless of how many wizards are here, if you, Sir Henry, are not here, then...”
“This isn’t the only place going through a war. I came here first because it was the closest location and because it seemed like war would break out here. But that doesn’t mean I can just hang around here over the entire duration of the war, right? Don’t worry too much, I’ll leave someone behind who’ll replace me.”
“Someone to replace you, Almighty Archmage?”
“Yeah. At the very least, we need someone who can fend off that arrogant Rockefeller and his pesky sword strikes in my place, right?”
"Ah! I knew it! You were the one who blocked his attacks earlier, right?”
“Duh, who else could’ve done it? However, the problem is that if I continue to repel his sword attacks, the enemies will most likely think that there are high-ranking wizards gathered here. If they keep suspecting that, they’ll most certainly bring more imperial troops here, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want that to happen, or do you?”
Vant already thought that it was difficult to deal with the imperial troops, so the possibility of having to defend Vivaldi against the entire imperial army terrified him. Just picturing all of them here gave him goosebumps.
Henry then snapped his fingers. With that, a rotating circle of light appeared out of thin air and slowly descended on the floor.
“Alright, let me introduce the wizard that will replace me here. He’s Maker Swarth, the 6th-Circle Archmage who currently serves as the head of the alchemy school at the Snow Spire.”
Soon, Maker Swarth emerged from the magic circle.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Archmage.”
The Chowan tribe was a group of dark-skinned bandits. Although they were born to fight, they lacked honor; they had no clear foundation and betrayed others every so often.
Thus, in order to properly control them, it was absolutely necessary to appoint someone who could firmly impose strict policies and who couldn’t care less about making logical decisions like their king.
As he had just told Terion, Henry had already sent someone who was a good fit, an appropriate messenger for this specific role.
Terion cocked his head, unable to guess who Henry was talking about.
“Let’s get going. Things should be sorted out by now. You also need to know exactly what’s going on so you can falsely report to Arthus.”
“Yes, Archmage.”
Henry cast Teleportation to Deucekain to check on the messenger he had sent.
* * *
Rumble!
With one swing, the ground shook tremendously. It seemed as if there were an earthquake powerful enough to split Mount Meeca in half.
“Now catch it! Hurry up!”
“There’s only one enemy! What are you doing!”
"Look out!"
Rumble, rumble!
Mount Meeca shook again.
Deucekain had dozens of tribes besides the Chowan tribe, and all of them were currently working together to stop one intruder.
However, the intruder was too powerful for them. Every time he swung his weapon, he knocked down dozens of warriors, causing an earthquake that seemed like it would split the earth in half.
“Where’s the leader?”
The intruder was none other than Balak.
Balak, who had been on the brink of death after using the Giant God Warrior’s Condemnation against Valhald, currently wore a larger and better armor than his previous one and was swinging the Black Punisher at the warriors from the tribes.
It was a devastating massacre.
Balak didn’t avoid any of the Deucekains that challenged him. In response to their offensive, Balak deliberately increased his range of attack and destroyed their imperial palace. He had already been damaging the palace for the last two hours.
More than half of the Chowan warriors were already dead, and the weaker warriors from other tribes had already surrendered.
Jusagang, the king of Deucekain and the leader of the Chowan tribe, eventually dropped his great spear, which was the symbol of the king, on the ground and bowed to Balak.
“I, king of Deucekain, officially surrender. Tell me what you want...!”
The Deucekains were natural-born fighters, but they also knew where they belonged. They knew that they had to live to fight another day in order to exact their revenge.
Balak looked down at Jusagang and firmly asked, “So you’re the leader, right?”
“Yes.”
“You stubborn idiot.”
“Excuse me?”
“You were a Central Power, so why didn’t you join the Allied Powers?”
“W-what? What do you mean by the Allied Powers?”
“You’re pretending not to know. You know the price of lying, right?”
“No, no, wait a minute! I’ve never heard of the Allied Powers! I swear!”
“It’s too late.”
“Shriek!”
Jusagang was actually telling the truth. Deucekain hadn’t received offers from Henry to join the Allied Powers. Just when Henry was about to propose an alliance to Deucekain, he came across Terion, changing his plan to kidnapping Terion and making him his spy.
That moment, Balak raised the Black Punisher again.
"Enough!" shouted someone from behind.
A familiar voice stopped Balak.
It was Henry.
Seeing Henry, Balak lowered his head slightly and apologized.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t manage to get an answer from them regarding the alliance.”
“No, you’re good. I’ll take care of the situation from now on. You just wait a moment.”
Henry went past Balak and approached Jusagang, who had his head sagged.
Seeing how this man got Balak to stop with just a single word, Jusagang instinctively knew that he had to be an incredible adversary, someone who was infinitely more powerful than Balak himself.
“You’re Jusagang, right? Shall we talk for a moment?” proposed Henry.
With that, the devil latched onto Jusagang’s shoulders.