Arzen Boris watched with cold eyes as dwarven iron shells rained down on the enemy camp. The Imperial Army located on the hills was bombarded with iron shells one after another, not giving the enemies a chance to even retaliate. The luckier ones who managed to escape the camp found themselves surrounded by the Second Army, only to be killed on sight, no questions asked.
"Great work as usual, Commander," his adjutant said, handing him a water flask.
"How many have we killed so far?" said Arzen, sipping some water.
"This is the third one. If we add the previous two camps, we've killed around five thousand soldiers from the Empire so far."
Arzen smirked. "Five thousand. ?ot a bad number."
The enemy camps they'd encountered along their way to Yorkshaire were untouched. Although Arzen didn't know how Lark did it, his army probably managed to avoid these smaller camps as they made their way to Yorkshaire.
Arzen had to admit that circumventing these smaller camps was an ingenious move, but he didn't like the feeling that he was cleaning up after Lark Marcus' trail. It felt as though all the small fries were left to him, leaving only the main army in Yorkshaire as Lark's target.
"Tell the soldiers to clean up," said Arzen. "It's been two weeks already since we left the City of Yan. That Marcus brat is probably dead by now. Let's just hope his army's still intact."
"As you wish, Commander."
The Second Army led by the heir of House Boris continued their march. Eventually, they arrived at Akash City.
"Commander, the walls…" "I know."
Arzen frowned.
A portion of the walls, along with the gates had been blown off.
Judging by the scorch marks, it was probably done through fire magic, or maybe by a weapon similar to the infamous mana bomb.
Arzen immediately sent out scouts to check the city. After some time, the scouts returned and reported to him.
"The entire city's empty!" said the scouts. "But we've found a dungeon in the Lord's Castle. Around five hundred imperial soldiers have been imprisoned there!"
"Prisoners," repeated Arzen.
"Yes. And a dozen soldiers from the Third Army, left behind to feed the prisoners." The scout looked at his rear, at the soldier they brought with them from the dungeon.
"Commander Arzen." The soldier tasked in guarding the dungeon saluted. "Commander Lark foresaw that such a thing might happen. And he asked us to assist you in any way we can."
The soldier started explaining to them what happened in this city during the past several weeks. How Lark captured this walled city in just a single day, how he fortified its defenses, and how he defeated the Alvaren Army that followed the Baron's army all the way to this city.
When the story came to the part where Lark blew up the walls to launch an all-out attack to Yorkshaire City, Arzen finally lost it.
"That stupid brat!" he snarled. "What was he thinking? Destroying the walls of this city? For what? For those stupid towers that may not even end up working!"
Arzen clenched his fists. He quickly made up his mind.
He decided. "Change of plans. We're heading straight to Yorkshaire City."
His adjutant was stunned upon hearing this. Although they'd been on a winning streak since coming here, their target this time was on an entirely different league. There were literally tens of thousands of imperial soldiers guarding that fortress, outnumbering them several times.
Furthermore, unlike the small camps they encountered on their way here, that city was protected by walls, mages, and the two monstrous generals.
"B-But Commander!"
Arzen glared at his adjutant. "Listen, it's been several days since that Marcus brat left to attack Yorkshaire. I don't care if he's dead, but we can't let his men die if we want to win this war. With just my Second Army alone, it'll be impossible for us to defeat the Empire."
Arzen roared, "Soldiers of the Second Army! We're heading straight to Yorkshaire City! Move out!"
"Yes, Commander!"
With a hastened march, it took them just a single day to reach Yorkshaire City. Just like the rumors, just one look was enough to know that the fortress was impregnable. The high walls, the deep ravines. You would need to sacrifice thousands of lives to conquer this fortress.
A picture—straight from a nightmare—greeted Arzen and his soldiers.
"W-What the hell happened here?"
Arzen's eyes widened as he gazed at the scattered corpses around him. Imperial soldiers. Thousands of them.
As someone who graduated with top scores at the military academy, Arzen immediately realized that the dead imperial soldiers were killed while fleeing from something. That the battle during that time was a one-sided massacre.
"C-Commander! The flags! Look over there! At the walls!"
Arzen looked at the direction where his adjutant was pointing at. He saw several flags fluttering on top of the walls, their crest belonging to the Kingdom.
"Yorkshaire City's been captured?" Arzen couldn't believe it. "And in such a short amount of time?"
The portcullis of the city opened, and a messenger from the Third Army came out and politely invited the Second Army to enter the city. At first, Arzen was worried that this might be a trap, but he'd seen the thousands of corpses with his own eyes. Even for the Empire, it'd be impossible to fabricate something of such massive scale.
With Arzen at the lead, the Second Army entered Yorkshaire City.
The inside of the city was a sight to behold. Thousands of soldiers moved about, repairing the broken houses, treating the injured, cleaning up the scattered corpses, and some had even started repairing the roads.
?umerous soldiers were wounded, but it was apparent in their faces that the entire army's morale was high.
"Commander Arzen," an annoyingly familiar voice was heard.
Arzen looked to his left and saw Lark, smiling at him. The damn brat must have been feeling proud after defeating the Empire and taking this fortress back. But how did he do it? Arzen wanted to ask, but his pride made him decide to keep his mouth shut.
"I heard from my men," said Lark, both his hands behind his back.
"You've slain the Man-Eater and liberated Yan City from the Empire. Well done."
Well done, my ass.
All of the praises Lark spouted felt superficial, especially after Arzen learned that they'd successfully captured Yorkshaire. Killing the Man-Eater was a great feat, but compared to what Lark had achieved in this war, it felt insignificant.
Arzen clenched his fists. It was frustrating. What was the point of rushing here then? Had he known, he would have gone to Rock Castle instead and liberated the first son of Duke Kelvin.
"It seems you've brought quite a number of supplies too, enough for us to last another half a month." Lark looked at the barrels upon barrels of rations piled on top of the carts that Arzen brought with him.
"Of course," said Arzen. He tried his best to remain stoic and undaunted. "We passed by several villages on the way here. All of them burned down to the ground, definitely the work of the Empire."
Lark nodded. "They'd been planning on starving us out. We had no choice but to launch an all-out attack."
Arzen was sure that wasn't the only reason they decided to attack this fortress.
This shrewd fox was probably confident of winning the battle.
Attacking a fortress defended by sixty thousand soldiers wouldn't make sense otherwise. But what made this brat so confident of winning the siege?
Arzen decided to send several scouts later and pry information out of the soldiers who witnessed the battle.
Arzen noticed the large glaive resting on Lark's shoulder. It was taller than Lark himself and for some strange reason, Lark seemed quite fond of this weapon.
"I didn't know you use a glaive as a weapon."
Lark glanced at his glaive, then at Arzen. "Ah, this one?" Lark shook his head, "?o, I use a sword. But this one's my spoil of war.
Honestly, I'd love to keep this thing to myself, but I'm pretty sure that once they start discussing the post-war treaty, the Empire will demand we return this weapon to them."
Lark grabbed the glaive's shaft and swung it in the air. Arzen was surprised that despite its size, Lark easily used the glaive. "Twenty-five, no… thirty thousand gold coins. The Empire will probably be willing to pay that much just to take back this weapon. There're also the captives in Akash. five hundred soldiers. Two of them are High ?obles. I'm pretty sure their families will be willing to part with a hefty sum in exchange of their lives."
It took some time before Arzen processed the words spouted by Lark. It seemed that despite having just captured Yorkshaire, he was already thinking of the post-war reparations.
But what the hell was this brat talking about? Thirty thousand gold coins for a single glaive?
Seeing Arzen's quizzical gaze, Lark added, "This thing's a maginus.
The anti-magic weapon used by General Alvaren, the Magic Slayer."
Hearing this, Arzen's eyes widened, almost popping out. General Alvaren's glaive was a legendary weapon written even in history books.
Even back in the military academy, he'd read about it several times. They said it was the first and only replica of the glaive of ?urvesk, the founder of the Great Empire. The master blacksmith who created it had died decades ago and the method of creating the replica had been lost along with him.
"C-Can I see it?" breathed Arzen.
Lark readily handed the glaive over.
Arzen touched the maginus and he immediately felt a resonance with his mana. This was definitely the real thing. He was sure of it.
But if the maginus was here, then… "The General," said Arzen, trembling, "if you're holding his glaive.
What happened to General Alvaren?"
"He's dead," said Lark. "The Sword Saint killed him in a duel."
Arzen couldn't believe it. At first, he thought that the Imperial Army had simply retreated, and that General Alvaren would soon rally his troops and retaliate.
"He's dead?"
Lark nodded. He pointed. "Keep going straight from here and you'll arrive at the central square. ?ext to the fountain, the heads of General Alvaren and General Rizel are currently displayed."
Although cruel, the upper echelons in the army came to the consensus of displaying the heads of the two generals in public. They'd lost thousands of lives—soldiers and innocent civilians—in this war. This was the least they could do to appease the souls of those who died.
Arzen couldn't believe what he'd heard. Even the Ghost of the Empire was dead?
Without another word, Arzen went toward the central square. He noticed a large crowd around the fountain. And true to Lark's words, two severed heads were displayed next to the fountain. Several soldiers were guarding it, preventing the onlookers from coming too close to the displays.
"I heard Commander Lark killed the Ghost of the Empire in an instant," murmured one of the onlookers.
"Yeah, I heard it too. See that wound on the General's head? My brother was there when the Commander shot General Rizel in the head with magic."
Arzen couldn't believe what he was hearing. It sounded preposterous, but there was no reason for these onlookers to lie.
"Hey, isn't this dangerous? We killed two famous Generals of the Empire. What if in his anger, the Emperor suddenly commands the entire Imperial Army to raze our country to the ground?"
"Stupid. Do you have no idea how large the land of the Empire is?
The Empire's four times larger than our Kingdom. They already have their hands full in keeping their neighboring countries at bay. I heard that the Mullgray Pirates even started invading some of their ports this year. If they send any more soldiers here, they'll be forced to part with some of their lands just to conquer our Kingdom."
"I guess you're right."
"Of course, I am!"
Arzen continued listening to the conversations of the onlookers. As time went by, he realized that those two heads on display were indeed General Rizel's and General Alvaren's.
He could accept the fact that the Magic Slayer lost his life in a duel with the Sword Saint.
But how did that brat, who was several years younger than him, kill the Ghost of the Empire? Even Arzen's instructors in the military academy said that Rizel was an immortal demon capable of laying waste to an entire army on his own. Arrows couldn't kill him, and swords would simply pass through his body, just like a ghost.
"Damn it," mumbled Arzen.
He gnashed his teeth. With the death of the two Generals of the Empire, the Imperial Army was as good as defeated. There was no role for him to play here, he realized.
*** After Arzen suddenly left on his own to look at the displayed heads of the generals, Lark went toward the northern district, where the magic towers were currently located.
He hadn't told anyone about his plan of destroying these things once war ended, since he knew that most people would be vehemently against it.
"Leave. Make sure no one comes near this area until I come out," he said to the soldiers guarding the towers.
"Yes, Commander!"
After the soldiers left, Lark stared at the towers. He would find it hard to find the same amount of manpower and resources to recreate these things.
"It's such a waste," he said, looking at the towers. "But it's too dangerous to leave you guys in this fortress."
The Empire was a strong nation capable of recreating a maginus.
Lark was sure that given the chance, they could probably recreate these magic towers too.
With the death of two of their generals, Lark doubted that the Empire would continue waging war with the Kingdom anytime soon. A peace treaty was inevitable, and so were war reparations. This was truly the Kingdom's victory.
But there was no harm in being cautious. In the slim chance that the Empire attacked the Kingdom once again, it'd be too dangerous to have these towers lying around in this fortress. Bringing it back home would take too much time and may attract unwanted attention from other magicians.
Lark steeled his resolve. He poured mana into the glaive and activated the runes.
As expected of a maginus. Lark felt like he could cut anything as long as he held this weapon. Even the sword he personally created back at Blackstone Town was far inferior to this one.
With one last look at the towers, Lark started cutting each of them.
The magic towers resisted at first, and it took Lark several strikes despite using a maginus before he finally managed to destroy them. Lark made sure to thoroughly destroy the magic formations and the runes engraved on the towers' walls.
After the towers collapsed, Lark deactivated the glaive and started pulverizing what was left of the towers using wind magic.