6. Talos> Talos Fortress.
The final gateway to the Lagrang region, and Talan’s mightiest fortress.
Defensive magic arrays were plastered across every wall, and the latest cannons were installed atop the many spires.
In particular, the
This mounted turret, designed to strike even a Vander with automatic targeting, flaunted its barrel from the spires behind the walls, aiming beyond them.
Though this place had not been invaded for nearly two hundred years, it still maintained equipment this cutting-edge.
That alone showed just how important Taran considered the Lagrang region to be.
“And now we stand before that very Talos Fortress……”
Sword Duke Kirain muttered as he gazed at Talos Fortress in the distance.
Behind Sword Duke Kirain, the armed forces Tian took pride in stood in long ranks, and beyond them, soldiers equipped with all manner of armaments glared at Talos Fortress.
Perhaps because the excitement of having smashed through the border of the Taran region had yet to fade, their faces were flushed with heat, and they looked ready to rush forward at any moment.
“Heh heh… Sword Duke, my body is already itching for this.”
Roman Baek’s body was already trembling, as if excited at the thought of battle.
In his youth, Roman Baek’s nickname had been the “Mad Brown Bear.”
After marrying, having children, and growing older, he had become far more dignified, but his original nature had not gone anywhere.
Because Roman Baek loved battle, his father had always worried that the boy might die fighting somewhere before he could even leave descendants behind.
But now Roman Baek had no such burden. He had already seen two descendants of his own. ‘And both of them have grown up splendidly, too… heh heh.’ Rian had been a little worrisome, but as if His Majesty the King had somehow read his mind, he had stationed the boy in the capital.
With this, he could devote himself to battle without worry.
Of course, he had no intention of dying. He had to return alive and see Celine’s face. ‘Revadan… this time, I’ll smash you to pieces for sure… heh heh…….’ Roman Baek thought of Revadan, his rival who would be somewhere beyond them in Talos, and broke into a fierce smile. ‘By the way… where in the world did His Majesty bring people like that from……?’ Roman Baek tilted his head as he looked at the mysterious group standing behind the Royal Guards.
Those who had introduced themselves as the
Their appearances were similar, but the air they exuded was different.
And they were unbelievably strong. When they had broken through the border, watching them fight had stirred his fighting spirit on its own.
In particular, among the four who were called elders and had yet to step forward even once, not one seemed weaker than himself.
“This truly seems worth trying, Sword Duke.”
“Mm… indeed… if we have that much……”
Sword Duke Kirain, too, seemed to have been thinking the same thing, and expressed agreement with Roman Baek’s words.
Until now, Taran had been a wall that could not be crossed. But with this level of force, they had a chance.
It would have been good if that man called Kalagul had come as well, but he and Dragona had apparently been deployed to the border with Karan. It was not a bad choice.
Karan had been quiet lately, but they were people who could not be trusted not to do something.
Someone of Kalagul’s caliber should be able to buy time. Until they occupied Lagrang.
And once they occupied only the Lagrang region and placed it perfectly beneath their feet… Tian would become a great nation that needed fear no one.
Until now, they had been walking a tightrope between Karan and Taran, but from then on, it would be Karan and Taran who had to watch their moods. ‘Heh heh heh…….’ However, there was one thing His Majesty the King had said that he did not understand. ‘If everything goes according to my plan… there will be no need for even Roman Baek to step forward… heh heh.’
Surely he did not mean they would flee in fear because of the difference in numbers.
Even if there were six on their side, the other side’s four Great Warriors were each considerably superior to them in level. If they clashed, it would be a close fight.
But that was not important. His Majesty was not the sort to spout nonsense, so there must be some method.
Thinking that, Roman Baek stood on the hill and carefully observed the enemy formation.☆ ☆ ☆
It had been a long time. They had left their homeland, participated in the empire’s war, and returned only after four hundred years.
With nothing but the single-minded determination to return home, they had fought their way through that forest of death.
And now the end of that long journey was in sight.
If they only passed the fortress before their eyes, their sacred territory would lie just beyond it.
Now was the time to reclaim the land of their race, the Granain.
This place was truly—
The presences of those called Gran-Vanders could be felt beyond the walls. Four presences, to be exact.
Moreover, from the look of the surrounding facilities, they were no ordinary defenses. Had they relied on their strength alone, the sacrifices would have been great.
The same as always. They are still refining their strength in preparation for “that time.”>
They only had to break through that fortress. Then their mission would be over.
And… once that happened, they would be able to settle in their homeland for the first time in four hundred years.☆ ☆ ☆Sian had left the capital and was heading toward the place where his father, Count Roman Baek, was.
He had been feeling something strange for some time now.
As he drew closer to a place called Talos Fortress, he kept sensing the scent of his own kind.
Sian kept fiddling with the necklace hanging around his neck.
He had made this thing, but he had never thought there would actually come a day when he would use it… yet he could feel it.
The feeling that he would have to go on one grand rampage……
And unfortunately, this sort of premonition of his had rarely been wrong.
“Phew… fine, this is the last time……”
Sian steeled himself and quickened his steps.
Once this was over… he would be free.
Sian thought that once this matter ended, he would leave on a journey.
If the war was brought to a close and his family was safe, there would be nothing left to bind him.☆ ☆ ☆The war began when, among those who had identified themselves as “Granain,” the Sixth Elder formed a strange hand seal. [LA
-AKUM
-SAOW
-SHE…….]
The sight of the Sixth Elder chanting an eerie incantation while controlling the flow of Exar this way and that was mystery itself.
Zeraph, a first-class law mage belonging to Tian’s Royal Grand Lawcraft Assembly, watched him with fascination.
“That man… is unusual.”
“Mm? Master? What do you mean?”
Beside him, Zeraph’s disciple, the fourth-class law mage Katrin, wore an expression as if she did not quite understand.
Perhaps finding Katrin cute, Zeraph answered with a smile even though the war was about to begin.
“That man… is an Exer, yet he is also handling Lawcraft.”
“Mm… is that possible?”
“It is rare… but not unheard of. They say even the grand law mage belonging to the Broshan Empire’s royal court handles both at once. That man does not seem to be at that level… but he is still impressive.” Having witnessed something so astonishing seventeen years ago that his tolerance for the extraordinary had become high, Zeraph was only mildly surprised, thinking, So such things do happen… But for the twenty-year-old Katrin, for whom much of the world was still fascinating, her master’s words made her study the Sixth Elder even more closely.
Enveloped in a rapturous light, the Sixth Elder chanted the activation words and rearranged the magic array. At length, as if all preparations were complete, he focused power into the indigo Talic Stone in his hand. […
ASCA… RAU… SHWO…
For an instant, the Talic Stone, already a deep indigo, seemed to grow even darker, and then a brilliant red beam of light poured out from within it. The second-grade miracle, “Path of Agrang,” had no special additional functions whatsoever.
It was simply a spell faithful to the basics of war-use destructive magic, one that maximized the fundamental elements of destruction magic.
Overwhelming destructive power and long range.
On top of that, the Sixth Elder added his authority as an Exer, giving it a special additional function.
The Path of Agrang shot straight out in an instant, extending to strike precisely one of the watchtowers that rose high within Talos Fortress. Since one of Taran’s turrets had been deployed on that spire, it had to be destroyed for a smooth approach.
Piiing!
At that moment, a figure ran up the spire as though treading flat ground, drew his sword, kicked off the spire, and leapt into the air. Then, as a light even more dazzling than the Path of Agrang burst from his blade, he split the beam of light flying toward the spire into two.
Light could not be cut in two, and yet the man who had leapt into the air seemed to care nothing for such common sense as he chopped the light apart. With a satisfied smile, he slowly sank toward the ground in accordance with the law of gravity.
It was one of Taran’s Great Warriors, the
But the Sixth Elder, looking at the smiling Jagron, also grinned broadly.
Then, in time with his heartbeat, he strongly activated his ability.
At once, the two divided beams of light curved as they were and flew toward the watchtower section of the very spire Jagron had climbed.……!
There was no particular sound.
Where the watchtower had been, only the melted traces left behind by the crossing Path of Agrang remained.
Even then, power still remained, and the two beams of light bent once more under the Sixth Elder’s will, plunged into the ground, and at last caused an explosion.
Kugung……!
When the dust cleared from the site of the explosion, one armed warrior stood there holding a shield, grinding his teeth.
It was the Great Warrior whom Count Roman Baek regarded as his rival, the
When he saw the incoming beams of light aiming for his armed corps, who were like his own children, he had been unable to endure it and rushed over to block them.
It was not yet time for them to step forward.
No sooner had the Sixth Elder’s greeting ended than miracles manifested fiercely on both sides, twisting reality itself.
Kra-boom! Zuuung! Crack!
And cutting through the artillery fire and miracles scattering to either side, the armed warriors wrapped their entire bodies in Vander and began charging toward the enemy.☆ ☆ ☆Sian carefully watched the battlefield thundering in the distance.
Having arrived before the war began, Sian had climbed a nearby mountain and was looking down at the battlefield.
When he had first arrived here, he had intended to simply end it quickly.
There was something he had realized this time: even if he only intended to protect his family, if his family had one foot in the war, then in the end it was no different from him fighting in it as well.
Getting dragged into a war that had nothing to do with him was irritating, but since they had said it would be over once they took only the Lagrang region, he had wondered on the way here whether it would be better to just finish everything quickly.
But something felt… unpleasant. That feeling that made it awkward to step in.
He had definitely thought he would have to go on one great rampage, but it seemed this was not the place.
Of course, the most ideal situation he hoped for was that nothing of the sort would happen……
Since this feeling was a first for him, he planned to hold back a little and watch.
If his father seemed to be in danger, he would leap in without hesitation, but for now, there did not seem to be any enemy capable of threatening him.
The ones who might threaten his father numbered about four on the other side… and among them, two were certainly dangerous. But they were only glaring at Tian’s formation and had not joined in.
They were probably keeping watch.
Some of the artillery fire that occasionally flew by held threatening power, but at the level of a Gran-Vander, being hit by such things was difficult.
Because the flow of Exar was so immense that it could wake him even from sleep.
And in any case, this was only the opening skirmish. The main players had not even stepped forward yet. ‘Still, Father… honestly… He told me the best thing I could do was not fight…….’ Roman Baek was still standing at the rear of the battlefield, not having joined the fray. Seeing that the enemy’s great warlords remained still, he was keeping them in check together with Sword Duke Kirain.
Watching him fidget as if he wanted nothing more than to leap in, Sian could hardly believe this was the same man who had educated him alongside his mother.
But since he agreed with the substance of his father’s teachings, he had no particular complaints.
If not for his parents, he would have acted exactly like that Kuntarian fellow.
The thought that he might have become such an eyesore sent chills crawling over his entire body.
As Sian surveyed the battlefield here and there, he eventually seemed to spot some familiar people and narrowed his eyes. ‘Narasha, that man… did he start this war trusting those people…? If so, I can understand it.’ A mysterious group was tearing through the battlefield, charging fiercely toward the walls.
Their level and momentum were anything but ordinary.
Among the reasons he was not worried about his father were those beings as well. Their level was far from ordinary.
In particular, the four who were watching without taking part in the battlefield were truly considerable. Each one of them seemed to be on the level of that man Kalagul, or perhaps just below him.
He did feel a faint sense of familiarity from somewhere, but… since there was no way he could have ever been involved with beings like that, Sian decided it must be his imagination.
What business could he possibly have had with beings who were not human?
They looked similar to humans, but they were not human.
The fact that he could not immediately read their essence was proof enough. Their presence and energy changed from moment to moment, to the point where it was hard to tell whether the person from five seconds ago and the person now were the same individual.
And yet something was a little strange. The completion of their inner selves was exceedingly high, but… it felt as if some corner was empty… as if something had been severed.
He himself could not tell what it was, but one thing seemed certain: living like that would be rather inconvenient.
In the midst of that, a change occurred on the battlefield.☆ ☆ ☆“…
Where in the world did they bring people like that from?”
Jagron, one of Taran’s great warlords, stared in disbelief at the opponents gazing at them from beyond.
To be precise, at the four people standing on the hill and looking at them, and at Roman Baek and Sword Duke Kirain.
He had received reports on Roman Baek and Sword Duke Kirain, but he had received no report whatsoever about the four behind them.
That was because the border had been breached before those people even had the chance to join the war.
Moreover, the ones sweeping across the battlefield below, judging by their movements and their presence, were not the sort of people who had been hidden away somewhere, spending all their time in closed-door training before suddenly popping out.
No, if anything, they gave off a fiercer aura than warriors who had rolled through countless battlefields. They were people who had lived in close proximity to death.
For them to have grown to that extent, rumors should have spread from somewhere. Each of them must have killed hundreds, even thousands.
And yet they had kept people like that hidden……
“Heh heh… Jagron, don’t tell me you’re scared?”
“Kollan, you bastard. Read the situation. I’m telling you, this is no easy matter.”
When Kollan, his old friend and a fellow great warlord of Taran, jeered beside him, Jagron looked at him with an exasperated expression.
When he had first come here, he had done so with an extremely light heart.
Even if Tian and Taran were enemies, objectively speaking, they were not even in the same league.
Their kingdom of Taran had six Gran-Banders, including Stantal IV.
Although, due to the atmosphere of favoring warriors, the power of the Order of Law and the priests was somewhat weaker compared to their armed forces, they were not inferior to anyone.
If only those snake-like bastards of Usharan had not been wagging their tails and calling themselves allies while constantly aiming for an opportunity to stab them in the back, Tian would have become their meal long ago.
The current balance was maintained because Usharan and Tian were both keeping them in check, and because the advantage of defense could not be ignored.
And yet these bastards had arrogantly invaded first!
When Jagron heard this news near the Usharan border, he snorted.
He thought the newly crowned king, Narasha, was so overzealous that he needed to have his nose broken once before he came to his senses.
At the same time, he thought it had worked out well. Since Usharan had also entered into war, he figured this would be a good opportunity to slaughter all of those bastards and push on as far as the fertile Sellaine territory.
But when he arrived and lifted the lid, the situation was completely different.
Where in the world had people with that much power been hiding before suddenly appearing?
“Hoo hoo… Jagron. You think too much.”
“…….”
“Honestly, we could beat them, couldn’t we? What you’re worried about right now isn’t those bastards. You’re worried that Narasha, that raccoon, might have some other hidden card.”
At Kollan’s words, Jagron flinched as if he had been struck right on target.
But it was true.
Because Gran-Banders were not beings one saw often, and because the gap between a Master and a Gran-Bander was so enormous, people unconsciously tended to think that the difference in skill among Gran-Banders was not great.
But that was a grave mistake.
Just as the difference in skill among Masters was severe, the difference in skill among Gran-Banders was even more severe.
One needed only look at the warrior hunter Kel-Duin, who was said to have held the advantage even against three Gran-Banders at once, to find the answer.
That was why he was not afraid.
Each of the suspicious people on the other side was also at a level where they could face a Gran-Bander head-on, so numerically they were at a disadvantage of six to four, but if they fought, they would absolutely not be pushed back.
The problem was that Narasha must know that clearly as well.
He must know that if they clashed, both sides would suffer damage close to mutual destruction. And yet he had invaded like this?
Why else would the four of them have gathered here? Kollan and he alone would have been enough to take down Roman Baek and Kirain.
They had gathered like this in order to kill them all without taking any damage.
But when they arrived, the situation was different. If they collided as they were, the damage would be too great.
If they destroyed one another in this way, Usharan would swallow Taran and Tian whole and become an empire. If they lost all their Gran-Banders here, they would no longer have the strength to deal with Usharan or Karan.
Even if they protected Lagrang, what would be the point? It would be no different from serving it up to another kingdom on a platter.
The bigger problem came after that.
Even if they broke through them, what in the world did they intend to do upon reaching Lagrang?
In any case, they would be unable to advance farther and would be stopped there.
Compared to the problem that would block those bastards there, four Gran-Banders like them were truly nothing more than a trivial issue.
In other words, it meant Narasha had some method to drive them off or suppress them without taking damage, and some method to resolve the problem of Lagrang.
And that was what left Jagron so uneasy, making him hesitate like this.
He could not read that young upstart Narasha’s true intentions at all.
If they were going to pull out, now was the time. If they continued to let their strength be shaved away like this, they would eventually have no power left to hold down Usharan.
They had to settle things before the great warlords ran rampant.
And they had to gather and preserve their main forces, then leave the rest to Lagrang.
As Jagron agonized, Kollan said,
“Hoo hoo… I’ll solve my old comrade’s problem for him.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s gather everyone and pull back to Lagrang. Then we can dump the whole thing on them.”
“Huh… You do know what you’re saying right now, don’t you?”
“Of course. Narasha, that young upstart, can’t possibly be unaware of it. Which means he’s prepared a solution to match… In that case, he will actually be pleased.”
“……!”
“It doesn’t matter who wins anyway. It’s not something we can decide.”
Kollan answered in a listless voice, unlike his usual self.
Only then did Jagron’s mind snap clear, and he realized what the voice had been inside his heart—the voice he had been ignoring even as it shouted.
His pride had been wounded.
By the fact that he and those bastards on the other side were not the protagonists.
For the first time in a long while, he had encountered worthy opponents against whom he could fight with all his strength. Such a thing would be hard to find even once in a lifetime.
He had wanted a picture in which they fought to the death here, and whoever survived became the final victor, seizing everything.
But reality would not be like that.
Once he acknowledged this, Jagron felt his heart become astonishingly calm.
“Yes… you’re right. Thank you, Kollan.”
“Hoo hoo…….”
With those words, the four great warlords, including Jagron, formally entered the battlefield and began pushing the enemy back.
Then, taking advantage of the brief lull, they gathered all their troops and began withdrawing through La-Shar-Roa.
Tian’s forces wanted to pursue them, but they themselves were far too exhausted, and after witnessing the majesty of the great warlords, their spirits had been cowed. They could not pursue any further and simply let them go.
Thus, the second battle following the border battle—the Siege of Talos—ended anticlimactically without a battle between the great warlords ever taking place. With neither side having suffered major damage, Tian began advancing straight toward Lagrang.