Two weeks passed uneventfully. It seemed that defeating the Empire's Trump card—the Magic Knights—had a far greater impact than Lark initially thought. The scouts sent several reports of movements from the Empire, but it was apparent from the way they positioned their armies at the major paths to the southeast that they were simply trying to block all form of supplies from reaching the Kingdom's army stationed in Akash City.
Even the small villages and towns within the region were burned to the ground, making it impossible to gather food supplies unless they travelled to the nearest unconquered city of the Kingdom.
It was apparent that the Empire was planning a long drawn-out battle, at least until Akash City—a territory currently isolated from the rest of the Kingdom's forces—ran out of food to eat. This simple plan would have been the most effective under normal circumstances, but little did the Empire know that such a situation was ideal for Lark Marcus. For the past few days, he was often seen grinning, especially when looking at the almost complete magic towers.
"It's almost time," said Lark.
Inside a room, all of the officers of the army gathered. Just like before, a large map was spread over the table. ?umerous stone pieces, representing cities, armies, and garrisons were placed strategically on top of it.
"The towers are almost complete. Two days earliest, four days at most," said Lark. "Lord Argus, I'll be needing the help of your soldiers this time."
Lord Argus and everyone in the room had been briefed of the plan beforehand. The Lord of Yorkshaire City nodded easily. "Of course. Leave it to me. My soldiers are ready to move out at any time. Just give us the signal."
"Thank you," said Lark. "I'm sure all of you are aware of this already. We'll be attacking the garrisons of the Empire stationed in these places in the mountain." Lark pointed at the small wooden pieces spread all over Yorkshaire Mountain Range.
"There are eight of them, but we'll need to attack only three for the entire supply line to collapse. The Yorkshaire soldiers are perfect for this task."
Back then, Lord Argus was against the idea of attacking the garrisons of the Empire located in the mountain range. But after seeing the prowess of the Blackstone Knights, who turned out to be capable of fighting on par with the Magic Knights of the Empire, he felt confident of accomplishing this task.
"But it'll be impossible for the Yorkshaire soldiers to reach the mountain by themselves," said Lark. "That's why I hope the First Army can act as a decoy. The Empire believes we'll run out of food within the next few weeks. They won't initiate a battle. They'll force us into sieging that fortress," said Lark.
Lark pointed at an area near Yorkshaire City on the map. "The Yorkshaire soldiers will temporarily join the First Army and split into numerous smaller units when they reach here. It'll be ideal to avoid any confrontation during this time, but if fighting breaks out, I want the First Army to do its best to preserve the forces of Lord Argus' army."
Lark was basically asking the First Army, the second largest in the Coalition Army, to be the decoy and shield of the Yorkshaire soldiers.
The Baron didn't question Lark's judgment. He, too, believed this was the proper course of action. Destroying the garrisons located in the mountains held grave importance in this war. ?ot only did the garrisons serve as a supply route for General Rizel's army, they also served as an information relay to the Empire. The last thing they wanted was for their enemy to call for more reinforcements and drag this war even further. The Black Famine had just recently struck this Kingdom. If this war didn't end soon, the Kingdom's economy would surely collapse.
Two days later, just like Lark stated, the magic towers had been completed. The gates of Akash City opened and over ten thousand soldiers moved out toward Yorkshaire Fortress.
Six hours after the First Army moved out, Lark received reports from the scouts.
"Commander!" A scout saluted. "An army from the Empire intercepted the First Army right before reaching Yorkshaire Plains! We believe they're from a nearby captured city of the Empire."
"Their number?"
"They're around fifteen thousand, Sir!"
The number of First Army soldiers hardly differed from the intercepting Imperial Army. This was good news. Although the Baron lost against General Alvaren, he was still a veteran who'd been to innumerable battlefields. He would surely be able to hold his ground, and once given the opportunity, create an opening for the Yorkshaire soldiers to move out.
"I see," said Lark. "Disseminate my orders to all units. We'll be moving out in two hours!"
"Yes, Commander!"
?pon receiving Lark's orders, all of the soldiers in the city moved about. Supplies were moved to carts, cavalries mounted their horses, and infantries moved to each of their designated squads.
At the same time, George and Austen nervously pranced around.
They frequently looked at the talismans embedded on the walls, their faces drained of all color.
"M-Master," said Austen. "Are you sure about this? You said it yourself! If we activate dozens of those talismans at once, we'll be blowing up a portion of the walls! Gates and all!"
Lark tapped Austen's shoulder. "You've seen the massive size of the towers, right? They'll be able to move once activated, but how do you expect them to move out of this city with these walls blocking the way?"
"But if we destroy the gates!" Austen protested. "What will happen if the Empire suddenly attacks us?!"
"The walls are no longer necessary now that we've completed the towers. You haven't seen the magic towers in their active form," Lark patiently explained to his disciples. "One of them is enough to wipe out a tribe of trolls. What can mere humans do when faced against seven of these cheat-like weapons?"
Lark looked both of his disciples in the eyes. "Listen, once war breaks out, the safest place in the entire battlefield is next to these towers.
They'll be strong enough to protect you, even if General Alvaren personally comes to wreak havoc in the battlefield."
Austen and George looked at each other after hearing the bold claim of their master. They remembered the old man capable of cleaving the meteors in half. Honestly, they would probably run with all their might if that monster suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Yzelle's busy managing the supplies right now, and Anandra's mana pool's too low to activate even half of those talismans," said Lark.
"So it'll be up to you guys to activate them."
Lark chuckled. "Make use of those absurdly large mana pools and blow up the wall and gates!"
The disciples noticed the devilish smirk of their master. They were sure that Lark was enjoying this. Left with no other choice, the two disciples started pouring their mana into the talismans. The runes engraved on them slowly came to life.
After making sure that everyone had retreated to a safe place, Lark activated the spell fueled by his disciples' mana. A deafening sound reverberated as the talismans exploded. Chunks of stone flew about. The ground rumbled as a portion of the walls, along with the gates, crumbled down. Clouds of dusts flew about.
"Soldiers," roared Lark. "Move out!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Thousands of soldiers started moving out of the city. Behind them, seven stone towers slowly moved forward, resembling moving mountains at the army's rear. Most of the soldiers would occasionally look back and stare at the seven colossuses moving behind them, afraid that they would suddenly fall or move to trample them.
Although the towers sucked in ambient mana and used this to fuel their movement, their sheer size made it impossible to move at a speed comparable to horses. The army had no choice but to move at a slow pace, around the speed of walking infantry.
It took them a day and a half to finally arrive at Yorkshaire. The fortress that served to stopper the advance of the Empire for centuries. The city they had to reclaim at all costs in this war.
By the time they'd arrived, the First Army led by the Baron had already made its camp. It seemed that although they'd lost more than two thousand soldiers, they'd managed to fend off the attacks from the Empire and dealt some damage to their enemy. The imperial soldiers eventually decided to retreat into Yorkshaire City. A practical and smart move, since the city walls and the deep ravine would easily mitigate any attacks by the Kingdom.
Lark ordered his men to pitch tents and make camp.
"Commander Lark." The Baron greeted Lark when they arrived.
The Baron had several cuts on his armor; he probably dove headfirst into the battlefield on the very first day and led his entire army at the front.
The Baron looked at the towers located at the rear of the army. Truth be told, he hadn't expected Lark and his men to arrive this early. ?o matter how he thought of it, he just couldn't see how those colossuses would move on their own. He had expected the soldiers to tie ropes to them or move them on a movable platform.
"It's floating?" said the Baron.
Lark also looked at the towers which continued to hover half a meter from the ground.
Lark grinned. "A self-sustaining tower's a sight to behold, don't you agree?"
The Baron continued staring at the towers. He slowly nodded.
"Impressive, these things."
Lark looked around and studied the numerous soldiers from the First Army moving around. He noticed that most of them were wounded and the very few priests the Baron brought with him were frantically trying to heal the critically-injured ones.
?oticing Lark's gaze, the Baron said, "we've lost a lot of soldiers, but we managed to kill a high-ranking officer of the Imperial Army. A commander of the army previously stationed in ?uasan City. After his death, his soldiers immediately fled to Yorkshaire. We had no choice but to stop any attempt at pursuit. It's impossible for us to take over that city with our numbers alone."
The Baron remained stoic as he said these words, but Lark knew that this was a great accomplishment. Especially considering the fact that it happened on the first day.
"They retreated to the fortress, huh?" Lark looked at the walled city covered by fog. "It'll make things easier then."
The Baron shot Lark a quizzical gaze.
"What about Lord Argus' soldiers?" said Lark.
"They've successfully reached the mountains, along with the Blackstone Knights."
Perfect. ?ow all that was left was the attack at the Yorkshaire Fortress.
Lark shouted at his men, "Rest for the night! We'll be moving out first thing in the morning!"
"Yes, Commander!"
*** Morning came. In accordance to Lark's orders, the soldiers organized themselves into several smaller units. The cavalry alone was split into three units, and the infantry was split into four armies. Similar to traditional warfare, each unit had archers supporting them from the rear.
The army marched and halted right outside the shooting range of archers. Lark stepped forward and amplified his voice with magic. "Brave soldiers of the Kingdom!" His voice reverberated throughout the entire army. Even the soldiers of the Empire stationed on the walls heard it. "The time has come!" said Lark. "To reclaim the land stolen from us by the Empire!"
Speeches like these weren't Lark's forte, but he deemed that he needed to at least raise the morale of his soldiers before the start of this battle which would decide the fate of the Kingdom.
"They killed our men! Enslaved the women! Killed the children!
And they did all these barbaric acts just to expand their land!"
The soldiers of the Kingdom tightened their grips on their weapons.
To most of them, the Empire was their sworn enemy. The majority of them had lost a loved one due to the wars with the Empire, even back when King Alvis was still just the crown prince of Lukas. Some of them lost a brother, a father, a son.
Lark started casting his spell. He slowly floated up, thick threads of mana visible to even non-magicians oozed out of his body and latched themselves to the seven towers located at the rear of the army. The moment he activated the spell, all seven towers started absorbing ambient mana. The runes engraved on their bodies started glowing. The amount of mana being concurrently absorbed by each tower was so colossal that Lark could probably cast several Grand Scale Magic spells without expending his own mana reserves.
Refreshing.
Lark grinned, still hovering in the air as he continued controlling all seven towers at the same time using the visible threads of mana.
It's like I've recovered a fourth of my previous strength.
Lark looked at the mist still covering the entire city. Based on the reports of Anandra, he had an idea of what the fog could do. His familiars would immediately drop dead if they made contact with that fog, and it would be impossible for Lark to look at the battlefield as a whole without those familiars.
"That fog," said Lark. "Let's remove it."
Lark activated one of the towers and mana started flowing through his body like a raging river. A magic formation started forming above the sky of Yorkshaire Fortress. Layer upon layer of runes started manifesting themselves as Lark continued supplying the spell with the mana provided by the first tower.
Tenth-tier magic. Wings of Aeolus.
A raging wind started roaring inside the fortress, sweeping away the fog and several unsuspecting soldiers. The soldiers started holding on to the houses and the walls for dear life, otherwise they would have been swept away by the wind into the sky.
Several dozen of the magicians of the Empire immediately erected barriers and eventually blocked the wind from destroying anymore of the city.
But sweeping away the annoying fog was simply the start.
Lark activated the second tower and mana continued flowing into his body, replenishing his reserves in an instant. With the fog out of the way, the entire fortress was laid naked before their very eyes. They could now clearly see the high walls, the ballistae and other weapons installed on the battlements, the deep ravine which served as a natural barrier, and the three-layered portcullis.
With a seemingly endless supply of mana at his disposal, Lark started casting Grand Scale Magic. A colossal magic circle, similar to the one which appeared above the sky of Yorkshaire manifested itself on top of the Kingdom's army. Soon, particles of golden light which reminded Lark of fairy dust started falling through the sky. All of the soldiers touched by these lights felt an indescribable surge of strength within them.
"W-What's happening?"
"It feels like I can tear a dire wolf into pieces with my bare hands!"
And Lark didn't stop with just body-strengthening magic. He activated another tower and cast another Grand Scale Magic, granting the bodies of each soldiers a translucent shield capable of blocking an arrow or two. Although it would shatter after a single sword strike, this would be enough to grant his soldiers that split-second moment to counterattack.
"For the Kingdom! For our loved ones!" roared Lark, "Soldiers of Lukas! Charge!"
Led by each of their respective military officers, the soldiers charged toward the fortress. Volleys of arrows started raining down and the infantry immediately moved their shields up to block the attack. The Empire loaded large rocks coated with castrel oil into the trebuchets and lit them. The moment the soldiers of the Kingdom were within range, the imperial soldiers fired.
Dozens of soldiers started dropping dead like flies as the Empire continued releasing attacks one after another. Some were squashed like paste by the burning boulders falling from the sky. But this wasn't enough to deter the Kingdom's soldiers. They continued charging toward the fortress, despite the deep ravine separating the walls from outside forces.
They'd been briefed beforehand that a bridge would appear and lead them to the walls. At first, this declaration felt preposterous, but after experiencing the body-strengthening magic firsthand, they felt that such spell might be feasible after all.
And Lark delivered on his promise.
Seeing that his soldiers were almost near the ravine, Lark activated the fourth tower and immediately cast his spell. The ground rumbled and rose, before latching itself onto the walls, forming a bridge made with earth magic.
"A path has opened!" roared Lui Marcus. He was currently leading the soldiers at the very front. "Do not falter! Kill all the archers on the walls!"
This was the first time Lark had seen his older brother fight, and he had to admit that the man was far better swordsman than him. His skill with the sword was almost comparable to the Sword Saint. With each swing, several enemies were beheaded by his brother.
The fortress immediately turned into a battlefield. With Lui Marcus at the lead, several soldiers managed to find the gate winch. Soon, the bridge was moved over the ravine and the three-layered portcullis opened.
The other units—the ones led by the Baron and the Sword Saint—did not miss this opening. They immediately charged into the city and broke into a melee with the imperial soldiers.
Everything had been proceeding favorably for the Kingdom so far.
Lark had activated only half of the towers and the war was already tilting to the Kingdom's side.
At first, Lark planned on bombarding the fortress with offensive magic, but he realized that this would be counterproductive in the long run.
If he destroyed the fortress, the Kingdom would be forced to allot more soldiers to guard the border between the Empire and the Kingdom. There was also the issue with the captives—the families of the Yorkshaire soldiers currently locked away in the dungeons of the city. If Lark used Grand Scale Magic like the Roar of the Fire God, he knew that even they would not be spared from the spell's wrath. Thus, he decided to resort on using this simple tactic, hoping it would be enough to defeat the Kingdom while at the same time preserving the fortress which had served as a stopper against the advance of the Empire for centuries now.
"Kill them!"
"Kill the dogs of the Empire!"
The Kingdom's soldiers had never felt so invincible in their lives.
With their bodies enhanced with body-strengthening magic and a magic shield, they fearlessly clashed with the imperial soldiers.
?sing the vision crystal and the familiars hovering above the fortress, Lark oversaw the entire battlefield. He activated the fifth tower, cast his spell, and hundreds of arrows made of lightning magic manifest themselves before him. ?sing the vision crystal as guide, the arrows shot toward the imperial soldiers, killing them one after another. Those who managed to survive the lightning arrow were immediately killed by the Kingdom's soldiers.
The lightning spell greatly lifted the burden off the Kingdom's soldiers as they continued to push deeper into the city, with Lui Marcus, the Baron, and the Sword Saint at the lead.
When the Kingdom's soldiers finally reached the middle of the city, the monster of the old era finally appeared. General Alvaren, clad in plate armor and holding his glaive, started bisecting the Kingdom's soldiers one after another. Although he seemed slower and weaker than before, probably due to the wounds inflicted by Lark in their previous fight, he was still a monster befitting the name of Magic Slayer.
The Magic Knights started appearing from inside the stonehouses, slaughtering unsuspecting soldiers. Magicians and archers also showed themselves and started firing arrows and spells one after another.
With the appearance of the Empire's Trump card, the Empire slowly turned the tide of battle. Lark tried killing the Magic Knights with his spells, but General Alvaren immediately moved and nullified Lark's magic into oblivion.
Lui Marcus, after finding out General Alvaren's location, immediately moved to intercept the General. The two broke into a melee.
The Baron led his soldiers deeper into the city, all the while the Sword Saint fought against several Magic Knights at the same time. The Blackstone Knights mixed with the infantry also moved to kill the Alvaren Army.
It was total chaos. Soldiers from both sides were dropping dead one after another. The scent of blood strongly permeated the air.
Where is General Rizel?
Lark had been trying to find the Ghost of the Empire for quite some time now, but even with the help of his familiars, he could not find him.
Where was he? Why wasn't he attempting to cast his fog magic again?
Lark continued monitoring the battlefield from afar, all the while casting spells here and there to support the Kingdom's soldiers. With the towers activated, it felt like he'd gained back a portion of his former prowess. The amount of mana he could gather—without the risk of collapsing his mana pool—felt seemingly endless.
Lark felt a presence coming his way. It was faint; the caster was probably adept at controlling his magic. Lark amplified his senses with magic and finally saw a cloud of smoke shooting his direction. It came from the city, and judging by the killing intent oozing out of it, it was aiming to take his life in a single strike. The cloud of smoke was moving at such a tremendous speed that it would soon reach Lark in a few seconds.
Lark immediately realized who it was.
General Rizel. The Ghost of the Empire.
"Impressive." Lark started casting defensive spells all around him.
"To immediately realize the source of the abnormal strength of the soldiers of the Kingdom. But you've been too arrogant, General."
With seven towers under his command, Lark was confident of surviving a fight even against a dragon. Lark activated the sixth tower and it cast a dome-shaped shield around himself. This shield was capable of blocking an instance of Grand Scale Magic, leaving the caster unscathed. It felt like overkill to use such defensive spell against a mere human, but Lark did not want to take his chances nor underestimate the Ghost of the Empire.
Lark pointed his finger toward the cloud of smoke approaching him at tremendous speed. A ray of light shot forth and struck the smoke, immediately halting it in its tracks. Lark heard a groan and the smoke slowly turned into the figure of an old man. Lark hadn't expected a simple disintegration spell to work this easily. At first, he expected the smoke to easily evade the spell, and Lark had prepared several contingency spells the moment this happened.
But reality was a different picture.
The old man slowly stood up. Lark noticed that his spell had struck its target right in the abdomen. A hole the size of a thumb could be seen in the General's abdomen. Blood oozed out of it profusely.
The General tried turning into smoke again but failed.
"Y-You!" The General glared at Lark. "How! What did you do?"
Lark knew that it was only a matter of time before the old man died.
Even healing spells would have a hard time working on wounds caused by a disintegration spell. After facing General Alvaren, he'd expected General Rizel to be as strong as that Magic Slayer. Lark didn't expect his first encounter with the General to end anticlimactically.
Lark stared at the now pallid, wobbling old man.
"Disappointing," Lark said flatly. "But with this, maybe we could end this siege easily."
Without another word, another ray of light shot toward General Rizel. The old man couldn't even dodge as the spell struck him right at the head, killing him in an instant. The old man's body fell on its knees then kissed the ground.
Lark instructed the soldiers assigned to guard the supplies below.
"Cut off the General's head and parade it inside the city. Make sure the imperial soldiers see it."
It took the soldiers some time to respond. They still couldn't believe that the old man lying dead on the ground was the Ghost of the Empire.
"Y-Yes! As you command!"