Necromancer Of The Black Bible (159)

A long, mournful horn sounded.

The horn’s note continued for a long time.

In the once-quiet forest, a flurry of activity began.

Valbern picked up his helmet and prepared himself, and Hyro, who had been watching, spoke.

“It could be a ruse.”

“A ruse….”

Valbern smoothed his silver helmet, put it on, and continued speaking.

“That may be. But I will not retreat because of it.”

“It is a commander’s duty to avoid battles that are clearly doomed to defeat.”

Hyro tried to dissuade him again, but Valbern’s gaze was resolute.

“I understand the Deputy Towermaster’s words. But if I had avoided battles merely because defeat seemed likely, I would not have preserved my domain until now. And….”

Valbern looked toward Graneum Castle and continued.

“Waiting like this in a battle for the entire domain torments me. I feel guilty for placing such a heavy burden on my knights. My father’s teaching was to never retreat at any moment. Under that command our house has come this far. Even if I die today, I will have no regrets.”

Valbern’s gaze was firm.

Hyro, seeing this, judged that he had already lost the argument.

Valbern looked at him and spoke.

“I’d like to ask you to lend your strength, but the Deputy Towermaster sees the situation differently from me.”

Hyro hesitated to answer for a moment.

He expected this to be a ruse that would lead Valbern’s forces to suffer a great defeat, but he judged there was no need to voice it.

Hyro smiled faintly and spoke.

“There are countless cases in war history where a commander with firm conviction overturned the tide. We will watch the situation and provide support.”

“Thank you. Then that will be all.”

Valbern nodded lightly and mounted his horse.

He looked left and right and shouted.

“Sir Horun’s signal has come. Advance as soon as your ranks are formed!”

Perhaps because of his desperate heart.

The soldiers, who had been shivering in the cold until now, moved in unison, formed their ranks, and began to advance immediately.

They ran toward the wide-open castle gate.

Estella, the mage reconnaissance leader watching them, approached and asked.

“Shall we provide support as well?”

“No.”

Hyro’s expression was firm. He slowly shook his head and spoke.

“We must leave this place as quickly as possible.”

“Still, is there not a chance of victory?”

“Is that really so?”

Hyro looked at the snowstorm raging across the sullen sky and continued.

“This weather isn’t natural. Do you think it’s reasonable for a snowstorm to continue nonstop for more than half a month?”

Estella could not answer.

Because Hyro’s observation was correct.

She closed her eyes quietly to sense the mana and soon spoke.

“I can feel mana, but it’s not strong. It doesn’t seem to be the work of a mage.”

“That’s exactly it.”

Hyro gazed all the more intently at the sky and replied.

“This wasn’t done by a mage. Mages leave much clearer traces. They use concentrated mana and powerful spells. They don’t use such small amounts of mana continuously and efficiently like this. So this must be the work of some other entity, not a mage.”

“Then… Do you have any idea whose doing this is?”

Hyro’s brows knitted at Estella’s question.

He opened his palm and watched the snow fall onto it.

The fierce flurries became whole snowflakes when they reached his hand, and the flakes that landed on his palm melted away.

He examined the melted snow quietly and then spoke.

“This is… the power of Spirits. So this weather can be attributed to an Elementalist. And the fact that this weather continues means the situation hasn’t changed at all. So….”

Hyro’s eyes turned to Graneum Castle. Valbern’s army was already nearing the castle.

The gate open toward them felt like the gaping maw of a demon.

Hyro looked at that gate and continued.

“That’s a lure. The plan is to draw in the remaining soldiers and slaughter them.”

A strange hue passed through Hyro’s gaze.

He’d fought in countless battles, but he’d never seen, heard, or read of anything like this.

“Detect the ambush and thwart it, then send a signal to call the rest of the soldiers in. And to use an Elementalist to even control the weather. If a Necromancy practitioner employs strategy of this level, I wonder whether we can win.”

Estella, hearing Hyro’s mutter, asked with a worried look.

“Did they detect us?”

“They probably did. When I detected the Elementalist, they must have recognized me.”

“Then… we need to get out quickly.”

“Go quickly.”

Hyro softly uttered a spell.

His body became a white eagle, and Estella and the other mages also took the form of birds.

They pierced the fierce snowstorm and soared high into the sky.

Then they headed north toward the capital, Edelmund. Their appearance was like a flock of migratory birds seeking a new nest.

Laerin, who had been observing the enemy’s movements from above, reported to me.

-The enemy leader is on the move. They had troops hidden in the eastern forest.

Laerin had been riding the clouds, manipulating the weather while observing the situation.

-Numbers?

-Around… 20,000? No, about 30,000 men.

-Are there any mages among them?

-…There is one. And…. one moment.

Laerin hesitated for a long while and finally spoke.

-There are mages in the forest. The count is one, two, three… four. The mana I feel is not ordinary. One of them… is extraordinary.

-Is that so?

I closed my eyes and expanded my senses.

‘East of the castle. A pulse of mana….’

As Laerin said, finding them was not so difficult.

A powerful ring of mana waves was perceptible, and among them one gave off a massive wave that reached the level of a 6th circle.

“A 6th-circle is a rare level even in the Empire….”

Considering that the Towermaster Leopold we recently defeated was 7th circle, this one is the next tier down.

Mages of this caliber must always be treated with caution.

They can overturn the balance of a battlefield.

“Shall I observe how he acts for now?”

In any case, it would take time for the main force led by Margrave Valbern to arrive.

Taking them out wouldn’t be a big problem. They’re moving as I expected, and my orders are already in place.

What I must do now is eliminate the ‘potential threats’ that could block an easy victory.

If there’s going to be a variable in this fight, it’s likely that 6th-circle mage at the center of it.

I watched how that mage acted.

To my surprise, he was gauging our side.

A faint wave of mana radiated from him, reaching the castle and the sky.

He might not detect my presence, but Laerin was caught by his wave.

He seemed to have sensed Laerin and the Spirits she commanded.

After sensing the situation through multiple layers of waves, he soon changed form and flew into the sky.

‘Impressive.’

It was brief, but a very striking move.

He didn’t directly identify me, but inferred from the waves connected to Laerin.

And at the same time, he immediately retreated.

This happened while Margrave Valbern was leading roughly 30,000 troops in advance toward this place.

This meant one thing.

‘He predicted Valbern would be crushed. He was certain no anomaly would occur.’

The ability to accurately judge a situation is useful everywhere.

If he safely reached Edelmund, he could become a major nuisance.

I wanted to prevent that in advance.

-Laerin. Can you see the mages now?

-Yes. They’ve transformed into birds and are moving.

-Can you intercept them with lightning magic?

-I’ll try.

Laerin answered boldly and immediately cast a lightning spell.

Kuruh-rung zzeok!

A murderous bolt of lightning split the sky and struck them.

At that moment the mage who had become a white eagle raised a defensive spell and blocked it, but the others could not.

Two struck directly burned black and turned to ash in an instant, while the remaining one began to fall with one wing aflame.

Laerin did not miss this.

Once more, thunder roared and lightning struck it.

But that attack was thwarted. The white eagle enveloped it and then deployed a barrier.

Laerin attacked the eagle several more times, but each attempt was in vain.

-I can’t do any more. They’ll soon be moving out of my effective range.

-Well done.

The target was still safe, but the enemy’s numbers were halved. And the skill of the one we wounded is no small matter.

He must have been seriously wounded by this attack, so the gains are not trivial.

‘And Laerin’s skill is quite decent.’

She could fight one-on-one with a 6th-circle mage and be roughly even or slightly superior.

Granted, she fought from an advantageous position and could attack unilaterally, but judging by the precision and power of her strikes, most mages couldn’t withstand them.

While pondering this, a report came from Kael, who was manning the gate.

-All the enemy have entered the castle.

-Good. Proceed according to plan.

As the order was given, the drums sounded.

The gate slowly closed, and the enemies who had rushed inside were quickly surrounded.

After that, it became all too easy.

We only had to shoot arrows from the walls.

I rose from my chair and approached the balcony.

The voices of those still alive echoed in a chaotic chorus.

Although 30,000 was by no means a small number, the realization that they were encircled and that their plan had failed instilled terror.

Margrave Valbern, wearing a silver helmet, raised his voice to command, but that was all.

When he was felled by an arrow shot by Kael, what followed was simply slaughter.

Countless soldiers died.

Those deaths no longer moved me.

Death was not the end but a beginning,

for it was the moment of transformation before they became my allies.

I watched them until the very last one met death.

Screams and wails steeped in terror echoed throughout the castle for some time.

I remember once feeling those sounds horrifying.

But now they mean nothing to me.

Have I become a monster?

Are gods by nature numb to emotions?

Many new thoughts steadily filled my chest.

When the screams ceased, I looked up and dawn was breaking.

The sun’s intense light was merely faintly visible, obscured by the thick clouds Laerin had created.