Chapter 143: 142

The Day When the Sky Road Opens (1)

Some fortresses of Dotrin, starting with High Seabreeze, began to fall. First came the fortresses to the southwest, those adjacent to High Seabreeze Fortress. The forts in the west were gained next, and soon enough, all military bases near the border were destroyed or captured by the imperial forces.

This was about five months after the war began.

The imperial army had incurred great casualties and had lost its momentum to the intense resistance of the Dotrin Kingdom’s armies, so they ended up garrisoning themselves in the captured strongholds and fortresses.

Meanwhile, contingents of troops dispatched from the empire were approaching the front one after the other. After the imperial forces were reorganized with the influx of reinforcements, the legions caught their breaths and were preparing to march out once more. Yet, before they could leave the fortresses to advance into Dotrin’s territory and take their first step toward a greater victory, it happened… All the fortresses that they occupied collapsed in upon them, with the structures roaring as they came tumbling down.

The fortresses had endured the intensive attacks of wizards, yet they now crumbled like castles of sand. It was all too sudden for the imperial forces to respond to, and as the structures fell, so too did flames rage through all the strongholds.

In one fortress, legionnaires and knights were hosting a banquet to welcome the nobles and those troops who had arrived from the mainland. The commanders of another fortress were celebrating a hard-won victory. Then there was a fortress where the commanders had neglected to sleep, being in the midst of formulating tactics and strategies for the coming advance.

All of them were crushed as the fortresses collapsed in upon their heads. Those with broken bodies cried out, while those on the verge of death were sobbing and weeping.

A few principes and legionaries were protected by mighty wizards and paladins, and they then employed such magic to rescue soldiers.

It was a situation of utmost confusion, yet this was not the end of the disaster.

The troops of Dotrin assaulted the strongholds where the tragedies had occurred, launching a large-scale offensive across the entire front.

The imperials couldn’t even hope to respond as imperial knights and soldiers desperately fled from the ruined fortresses. The forces of Dotrin persisted in pursuing these fleeing imperial forces.

After a nightmarish week, the imperial forces that yet lived after fleeing beyond the borders of Dotrin numbered less than half of the total that were deployed.

The estimated casualties stood at 40,000.

Add to that number the missing nobles and knights, and the damage the empire suffered in a single week was of a tremendous magnitude. It was the equivalent of destroying a few lesser kingdoms.

The consumption of human resources was severe, and a great number of supplies were lost. Even as huge and mighty as the empire was, carnage on this great a level could not be ignored.

In the meantime, more news came.

The second and fourth principes, who had been organizing troops on the front line, returned to the empire as corpses. The surviving legion commanders and nobles trembled as they dreaded the anger of the emperor that they would soon face.

They all flocked to the third princeps’ banner to escape the emperor’s wrath. In a war plagued by setbacks and defeats, only the third princeps had managed to attain significant victories.

Surprisingly, the third princeps was the only person who noticed the signs of the impending terrible disaster, and at the same time, he was hailed as the hero who managed to return to the empire with the greatest number of troops.

It came to be known through the third princeps that the fortresses of Dotrin had been designed to collapse immediately once some manner of device was triggered.

The terrible catastrophe that occurred on the front was not a natural disaster but rather the ploy of the Kingdom of Dotrin.

As the facts became known, fear became anger.

The nobles of the empire proclaimed they would seek bloody vengeance, and the emperor condoned it instead of accepting the shame of defeat, the sin of failure.

Knights and legions from all over the empire gathered on the border with Dotrin.

The time has come for the Second Dotrin Offensive to be launched.

* * *

“Please, endless glory to the Burgundy Imperial Family!”

“Long live His Majesty!”

The knights shouted with fervor as they drew their swords and struck them to their heads. The holy war was heralded by the spilling of crimson blood.

The emperor observed the scene without much of an expression.

And then, he spoke.

“Remove them.”

His was a petulant, dismissive voice – As if ordering servants to remove spilled food from the floor after a feast. The knights had been awaiting his judgment and received the order with hard faces. Once, they had been glorious imperial knights, but they had now turned into penitents after failing to protect their masters. They were removed from the hall like garbage.

“Hmm.” The emperor’s eyes took it all in, and then he beat his fist upon the armrest of his throne.

‘Dok, Dok~’

There was a heavy silence in the hall.

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In that hall, the dukes and marquis of the empire, prim as peacocks, knelt upon the floor as they waited for the emperor to speak.

The first question the emperor asked was not about his flesh and blood, nor did it concern the tens of thousands of soldiers who had died.

“They call him Ian of the twin swords?”

It was a question about some lowly mercenary, and this was terribly strange.

This Ian wasn’t a person who was widely known, nor was he a person who had greatly influenced worldly affairs. He was merely a Sword Master who had briefly appeared in battle on the southwestern front. His was a trivial existence, and none would have known his name were it not for the report of the third princeps.

It wasn’t a name that the emperor, leader of the glorious empire, found worthy to speak of.

But the nobles didn’t dare speak up and ask about it. The emperor was not a man who explained his wants, his plans; no, he was the one who gave commands. The emperor’s decisions were always in the right; all were forced to believe this.

To question is to be disloyal, and the emperor held no mercy for the disloyal.

The same counted for the present scene as the nobles remained prostrated, waiting for the emperor’s command.

“Tell that name to the master of the Ivory Tower,” spake the emperor.

“If he doesn’t come out, I myself will awaken my purity to make it so.”

Some nobles inadvertently raised their heads, and as they met the emperor’s gaze, they hurriedly shut their eyes. The emperor’s eyes were shining with a strange light.

His gaze was too profound to be contained within a single human being – It was like staring into an abyss. The nobles felt terror as if their souls had been shattered and scattered by confronting that gaze for the briefest of moments.

However, they couldn’t stay trembling forever. They had to answer, for the emperor despised it if none answered his words.

“I will leave it as it is.”

The emperor gestured with his hand, and the nobles left the hall, breathless, almost running.

“Do you think he is the one you are looking for?” a voice asked from somewhere in the empty hall.

No one would dare to ask the emperor a question without being before him; to do so was beyond disrespectful. However, the emperor did not shout, demanding that the person reveal themself, nor was he upset by the question.

“It is unknown.” He even kindly answered the question. “I’ll just watch for now.”

The emperor buried himself deeper into his throne.

“If he is really the one Your Majesty is looking for, the high-ranking wizards of the tower will be a stepping stone for him to reach a higher place.”

“He’s not bad either.” The emperor laughed softly, and it was terribly dry laughter that sounded like the sands of the desert dunes being swept away by the wind.

“What do you find so mirthful?” asked the voice, and when the emperor replied, he was laughing still.

“Even if I step on it and step on it, the ancient traces that resound within my head are so pitiful and so lovely.”

“If you wish, I could go prune the bud right away. The young prince who has taken the fate of a kingdom on his shoulders, and the mercenary who has proclaimed himself to be a one-man legion. I will cut their throats and offer their heads to Your Majesty.”

“I don’t want that.”

The emperor did no allow such actions.

“Go to the front lines and observe.”

The emperor allowed only this.

“And finally return and tell me all, as if I had been there in person.”

The voice replied that the emperor’s orders were stern – And that they would be followed.

* * *

All of the fortresses of Dotrin had collapsed, and the strongholds were neutralized. Dotrin’s army had withdrawn deep into the kingdom’s borders. The imperial forces advanced further into Dotrin territory without hesitation. What hindered them were the endless forests of the land.

The roads through the dense forests were in a poor state and far too narrow for large forces to march along.

So the commanders decided that the army would be split into three corps. Some were concerned by such a division of forces, but they were in the minority. The first division had the least number of troops at 25,000. The main force was a large corps, 50,000 strong, while the troops in the final corps numbered 30,000.

The power that each corps held was enough to destroy an entire kingdom, and the defeat of each was an impossibility in the first place.

“Dotrin’s forests are like a maze. Entering a forest like this without trusting in your troops is like grabbing a spear and leaping into a fire.”

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Several members of the command staff continued to express their concern. The nobles’ hearts have been poisoned by the defeat of the First Offensive, so such prudence was unpleasant to them. All the commanders and officers urging caution were executed on the pretext of degrading military morale.

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The commanders ordered the march toward the forest after having dealt with the dissenters.

They decided that, in the case of unpleasant events and in preparation for the eventual reformation of the field army, the three forces would keep a certain distance between them and keep close contact all the while.

It was extremely common sense and was a solid strategy.

However, their common sense and prudent strategizing proved insignificant in the face of the primeval forests.

The movement of tens of thousands of troops along the narrow roads that wound through the dense forests was an operation that required terrible patience.

The impatient commanders soon became fed up with the slow movement, so much so that they eventually sent messengers to the vanguard to chide them and urge greater haste.

However, the soldiers at the fore had their own grievances.

Firstly, the roads were too narrow. Secondly, these narrow roads were in ill-repair and hard to traverse. And the third point was that they had to be on a constant lookout for the defending Dotrin forces who could attack at any time and from anywhere.

They said that it would be weirder if they moved fast and very unwise.

Special measures had to be implemented, so the imperial commanders decided that the solution lay in employing manpower. Many of the troops in the vanguard had their spears and swords replaced with axes and sickles. Nearly 10,000 soldiers were set to work to slash out the bushes that grabbed onto men’s ankles and to fell the giant trees that blocked the advance, and in so doing, broaden the road.

The march was still slow-going, but the pace had picked up.

Of course, that was how the commanders experienced it.

The experience was far different for the soldiers in the van. It was a struggle to endure the constant labor with ax and sickle in hot weather and in an environment where it was difficult to walk, much less work.

But it wasn’t just the heat that brought such tormenting pain to the soldiers that they wished for death.

In the shade of the forest, in spots that had not been exposed to direct sunlight for eons, there lived horrible worms. This unknown species followed the soldiers around by day, latching onto them and sucking their blood. Even though these worm-victims moved all day long as they labored, their entire bodies would be terribly swollen all over by the time their day’s work was done.

The soldiers couldn’t sleep properly, so great was the constant itching and pain.

However, the commanders didn’t care about the grievances of these soldiers at all.

Most of the commanders were knights skilled enough to prevent such parasites from feeding off of them by channeling their mana. And those commanders lacking such ability enjoyed the presence of the wizards, who ensured comfort even in the blazing heat of the forest.

So, these men could not sympathize with the pain that the soldiers were suffering through.

They only took note once the majority of the troops who had been clearing the forest fell into comatose states due to some unidentified disease carried by the worms.

Only then did the commanders mobilize wizards to perform large-scale extermination work.

These wizards used a form of newly-developed magic to control the worms, or they used birds and other insectivorous beasts, natural predators of the bugs, to drive out or kill the worms in the area.

Of course, these efforts weren’t enough to get rid of all the swarms of vampiric worms.

At least they had been able to stop the spread of the disease. Soon enough, more troops were suborned to the logging operations.

Soldiers constantly swung sickles and axes so that they could escape the hellish forest as soon as possible. The marching speed of the sluggish troops slightly increased, yet only for a while.

Not a peep had been heard from the troops of the Dotrin Kingdom. They now attacked the vanguard.

The troops in the van had removed their helms and armor to clear the forest, they were too tired to effectively use their weapons, and they were all wielding heavy axes and sickles – They were slaughtered without even being able to mount a proper resistance.

Knights and wizards managed to repel the enemy, yet not many soldiers of Dotrin had lost their lives as they retreated back into the forest.

That was the beginning.

Dotrin forces would appear from time to time and assault the vanguard. And once a proper melee battle broke out, they would quickly escape. Now those in the advance lines did not have only the terrible forest to contend with, but also the Royal Dotrin Army.

The faster marching speed had once more slowed down.

Now the soldiers in the logging teams had to work in their armor, and they had to be prepared for attacks from the Dotrin troops who could strike at any time and from anywhere.

One after the other, these men began to faint in the heat.

Those that did not faint exhausted quickly, their bodies battling against the heat, and their minds plunged into fear of an enemy that could strike at any moment.

The commanders of the vanguard sent daily messages to inform the central command of such difficulties. However, the central body of troops had been moving along the path cleared by the vanguard without much difficulty and was thus unable to comprehend the perils faced by the van.

The commanders of the vanguard cried out, urging their soldiers to bear on. Regardless of the heat, the primary objective was to get out of the forest.

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Seemingly noticing the renewed vigor of the logging teams, Dotrin’s ambushes and surprise attacks increased in pace.

Now those of Dotrin didn’t only conduct small-scale attacks; they would appear in legion formations and annihilate logging teams and logistic units.

It was at that time that knights and wizards from the central body and the rearguard appeared in the advanced ranks after repeated requests for aid.

Once they joined up with the van, it became difficult for the forces of Dotrin to use the element of surprise in their favor. Several of the Dotrin Mountain Infantry companies that attacked were wiped out. After that, Dotrin ceased all surprise attacks.

If the commanders had known this would be the case, they would have sent the knights and wizards to the fore from the start. The commanders of the vanguard were greatly relieved.

But it was an illusion: This brief peace they enjoyed was merely the eve before the storm.

Three legions of the domed kingdom of Dotrin attack the stretched-out lines of marching soldiers. The imperials rallied and managed to drive their attackers off, but the damage was considerable.

Valuable wagons bearing rations were burned, and precious weapons were plundered or destroyed.

But even more terrible was that the imperial legions that had faced intense assault were plunged into the forest, scattered into it.

If it had been a different, more conventional battlefield, they would have soon regrouped and reformed their lines. However, they were now in the middle of the forest, hemmed in from all sides. Very few of them returned. The vast majority of them never made it back from the woods: It was as if the forest itself had devoured them.

Only then did the commanders of the vanguard feel true terror.

With a great army of 100,000 soldiers, they could destroy the Dotrin Kingdom many times over; they had been confident of this. It proved to be a terrible misjudgment brought on by their arrogance and ignorance.

They now remembered those commanders who had expressed their concerns, emphasizing the dangers of the forest, yet these men had already been executed. So the commanders simply marched their troops on with little regret.

The attacks by the forces of Dotrin continued.

They always seemed to appear out of the woods, dragging the imperial soldiers deeper into the forest by launching concentrated attacks.

Once forced into the forest, it was over.

However, nothing in this world was endless, and the same adage held true for the forest.

The forest that seemed to be eternal finally cleared out.

“It’s over!” We’re out!” the soldiers of the Imperial army cheered as they ran out of the woods.

If things were done properly, according to the usual protocol, the commanders would have held these soldiers back. They would have sent out scouts to report on the situation outside the forest.

However, the forest has eroded the judgment and patience of soldier and commander alike, and it had eventually bred in them a blind hunger for a world outside the forest, so dense and overbearing.

“Open space! Oh god!”

Soldiers and commanders knelt down as they kissed the dry ground – And thousands of arrows rained into the joyous imperial army. Thousands of soldiers were pierced by these arrows and became cooling corpses.

“Shield wall! Heavy infantry!”

“Archers, form up! Counterfire!”

Commanders who realized their peril too late within that terrible baptism of arrows bellowed orders as they prepared their forces for a response.

Heavy infantry lifted their shields, and their lines advanced step by bloody step. The imperial archers formed up ranks behind the heavy infantry and fired their arrows at once.

“The most urgent need is to get all our troops into the open! Those who are ready for battle, go ahead and open the way!”

The commanders continued to shout out their orders.

While they responded to the enemy’s attack, they sent out messengers to inform the soldiers in the rear of the situation. The commanders decided that the moment the entire force showed up and became battle-ready, less than a handful of Dotrin’s soldiers would no longer be a problem.

However, the troops in the forest they were waiting for still had some way to march. They were not yet in a position to support them.

“It is the Knights of Dotrin!”

Dotrin’s knights and wizards, who had not revealed themselves until now, were stirring throughout the entire forest. Imperial knights and wizards rushed to respond quickly, but they were too widespread and drawn out. Without even able to mount a proper resistance, countless knights and wizards exchanged the temporal for the eternal as they met their deaths.

However, due to the imperial army having so many soldiers, a great majority survived these attacks. Those knights and wizards who yet lived gathered around the paladins.

“Show them the might of our great nation!” a paladin roared epically and then led the charge against Dotrin’s knights.

However, just before the paladin reached the front ranks of the knights he was aiming at, a man suddenly stepped from behind a tree and blocked him off.

The man, wielding twin swords that flashed golden, shouted, “Here is the Veil Mercenary Ian!”

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