The Allendia forces, based in Fort Fieldrocks, immediately received additional troops and began to mount a defensive on the walls.
Five thousand people from the Fairy Kingdom and six Churches each had joined together, bringing the total power to 22,000.
Afterward, Fieldrocks formed a large-scale defense line linked to the Northern Alseed and Southern Poltaron.
The three fortresses assumed a so-called triangular defensive formation.
Pointing to the map, Sabine Asil spoke.
âThis strategy used to be impossible.â
Even during the Great Battle of Fieldrocks, where Han-binâs party had reduced the power gap, the combined power of the Kaldris-Mado Kingdom was four times that of Allendia.
For that reason, distributing power to each fort would only lead to an improvement. They had more troops than Allendiaâs main camp.
The gap was so wide that it was impossible to establish a defense line itself.
âBut now that we donât have much power differenceâŚâ
Instead of saying more, Sabine Asil clicked her tongue.
âThe power gap was intense, and we didnât have a solution. But we finally caught up to them.â
The Allendia army had been on a roll more than expected
It was all thanks to Han-Bin and his partyâs air superiority.
It was something to be pleased about, but Kibieâs expression wasnât so bright.
âInstead, many people died like dogs.â
For her, the Kaldris and the Mado Kingdom people were also believers of Latna, whom the Goddesses had to care for.
Although they were inevitably bleeding, she could not help but feel remorse as an incarnation.
âBecause of their greed, too many people had died when they didnât need to.â
Effir soothed her.
âBut we canât stop it, can we? If we do, more people will die.â
If the Thunder King and Archmage became god and goddess, and if all the remaining areas except the Three Continental Powers were abandoned, the damage would be incomparable.
âWell, anywayâŚâ
Leon Hart changed the subject.
âThe building of the triangular defense line is well underway. The commanders of each corps are fine-tuning at their posts.â
At present, the backbone of the Allendia army did not directly establish a defensive line.
It was a common military action so that the commanders could solve it without them.
Of course, if they stepped up, they would build it up more efficiently and quickly.
Nevertheless, he deliberately left it to his subordinates.
It was because there was a more important mission for them.
Leon Hart looked at the crowd at the barracks.
âNow, itâs time to do what only we can.â
* * *
The castles of Fieldrocks, Alseed, and Poltaron were built along the southern branch of the Rantea Mountains, which bordered Allendia and Kaldris.
There was a Deryu basin between Fieldrocks and Alseed.
It was a plateau with high peaks and large craters, and small lakes in the center.
It was not a geographically important place. It was just a small mountain village whose villagers had been evicted.
Instead, dozens of outsiders were swinging pickaxes hard throughout the basin.
âCome on!â
âAlright, this place is complete!â
âCan I bury this now?â
âWait, the parts are wrong.â
âEh? Wasnât it ER-135?â
âItâs 125. Look at the numbers carefully.â
They diligently dug, moved soil, measured location, and placed something while sweating a lot.
It was ordinary civil engineering work.
But the identity of the workers was not ordinary.
âOh, the ground is harder than I thought.â
âUse Aura, then. Itâs easy.â
âIâm a magic Swordsman.â
âThen use your force.â
All of them were high-ranking knights above level 70, among the best in the Fairy Kingdom and six Churches. They were by no means low-classed enough to do such simple work.
Nevertheless, no one was complaining.
The best swordsman on the ground was pickaxing hard right next to them.
âCome on!â
The ordinary pickaxe hit the ground, emitting red light. Every time, cloud columns soared, and the earth cracked.
Boom!
While wiping sweat, Ryu Han-bin grabbed his pickaxe as if he was in a good mood.
âPhew, itâs been a while since Iâve done this.â
Artis, who was magically digging the ground next to him, smiled.
âSure, you are the nova of the physical labor.â
Kibie blinked at their incomprehensible conversation.
âNova? What are you talking about?â
âOh, itâs just an old story.â
Ryu Han-bin and Artis smiled bitterly.
âAt that time, we were both busy making a living.â
âYouâre right. Han-Bin, you were pretty clumsy.â
Only the two of them understood.
After just shrugging her shoulders, Kibie pulled Aura again.
âHuh!â
The black Aura dug up the ground and drew a helix.
She murmured, holding her breath.
âIs this good enough?â
Leon Hart, who was measuring something next to her, glanced and replied.
âDig a little deeper. It should be at least a meter long.â
âBut it canât be too long, can it?â
âYes, itâs said that it wouldnât work if itâs over 2 meters.â
âThatâs tricky.â
âMagic is tricky.â
Two of the Top Four worked hard, and even the incarnation of darkness was sweating. Still, who could dare complain?
At first glance, there was a reason for the elite knights and Han-Binâs party, and the six Templar Lords had been mobilized for this seemingly simple work.
If things went according to plan, it would be the final battlefield against the Thunder King and the Archmage.
â⌠The info wonât leak out.â
Instead of moving the soil, Lord Frederick looked worried.
Lady Angelica shook her head.
âWe can trust only these people. Didnât Kibie check them with the shadow-reading skill several times?â
In addition, they had dome complex fake operations on several locations to hide their absence. Even their allies had no idea about the basin work.
âWeâve paralyzed the intelligence network of the Kaldris Kingdom and kept it as confidential as possible. If information is leaked by chance, then weâll have to blame the heavens.â
* * *
The sun went down again that day. Everyone finished their work and got ready to go to bed.
There was no need to set up separate barracks.
The natives were evicted, so there were empty houses everywhere. It was enough to pick up any house and lay down to recover from fatigue.
Knights might fall asleep, but the leaders couldnât.
They should discuss the future.
Han-binâs party, the Templar Lords, and three knights from the Fairy Kingdom gathered at the log house, the village chiefâs house.
Drinking wine, Lord Lacrell asked, âIn the meantime, things have changed quite a bit. So whatâs the main power over there now?â
The advent of Anti-polymorph Necklaces was a big
What if all the Upper Draconium Ancient Dragons were immune from the Polymorph Necklace?
âHonestly, it would be too disadvantageous. We might give up everything and run away thenâŚâ
Sabine Asil shook her head.
âFortunately, thatâs not going to happen. The incarnation of darkness figured out the production process with the shadow-reading skill.â
Kibie took a silver necklace out of her arms.
âOnly Genovia can make it. The formula involved is too complicated.â
It meant that the Mages of Sinkers couldnât mass-produce it.
âItâs not even made overnight.â
It took five days to make one.
Originally, it took more than a month, but it had been five days since the design was completed.
âThanks to that, I was able to infer the date roughly.â
About 20 days had passed since the Allendia troops captured the gate of Merent Karl.
They would have made about four more.
âBut the queen of a country who has a lot of work to do canât just focus on something like this.â
As far as she had confirmed with her shadow-reading skill, Genovia had been sick and tired of staying up all night. But Kibie didnât think Genovia had struggled for it for days.
âFive to seven because sheâs only going to make as many as she needs. I think thatâs about it.â
Lord Lacrell hardened his expression.
âI donât want to disagree with the incarnation, but isnât it a very complacent judgment? As the situation is, wouldnât the Archmage do her best?â
Kibie smirked.
âThough she does her best, itâs hard to make over twenty in time. Thatâs not tolerable, is it?â
The real fear was when all the dozens of Ancient Dragons had immunity to the Polymorph Necklace.
âEven if there are twenty, weâll move as planned.â
Lord Palmer, who was listening, also added.
âIf it doesnât go our way, weâll fail anyway, whether there are one or a hundred Ancient Dragons.â
âOh, I see. I get it.â
Only then did Lacrell shut up.
Afterward, Artis spoke up.
âSo, how many of Akhtarunâs Aliens do you think they have left?â
The Aliens would offer Latnaâs energy to the Devil Omphalos upon death. Therefore, it was desirable to suppress them as much as possible without killing them.
But they couldnât even take the Aliens as prisoners.
Because of the ban, even if they surrendered or were oppressed, they would lose their life immediately.
So far, Han-binâs group mainly cut off the Aliensâ limb to neutralize them.
Of course, they could only do that since they had time. When they didnât, they killed them instead.
Angelica opened her mouth, calculating the date.
âItâll take three months to fully regenerate the severed limbs. In the meantime, if we think about the numbers of Aliens weâve immobilized so farâŚâ
There were about 200 Aliens in Akhtarun who could join the war right away.
âBut not all of them are above level 100.â
Thanks to Hollienâs overindulgence during her fight against the Holy Punishers, the number of top-level Aliens had dropped significantly.
âIncluding the Aliens weâve dealt with, the remaining ones over level 100 are estimated to be around 20.â
Frederick grinned.
âItâs worth it. It was dark at the beginning of the war.â
The original plan was to endure as much as possible at the risk of countless sacrifices, but now they could gain a more advantageous position.
The Thunder King and the Archmage didnât have enough power to drive the incarnationâs party to the corner anymore.
Leon Hart looked at everyone.
âWith the current power difference, we can easily pull them into the trap. Itâs a big achievement.â
The problem was that the advantage of war didnât lead to the advantage of battle.
Once military-to-military confrontations became closely matched, they could attract the Thunder King and the Archmage to the place they had prepared.
But then what?
Could Han-Binâs party and the elites of the Allendia-Church win battles against the Thunder King, the Archmage, and their minions?
âThis is still ambiguous until we fight.â
For the time being, Ryu Han-bin would take charge of dealing with either the Thunder King or the Archmage.
What if Han-Bin lost?
âThatâs the end of the game.â
In the first place, they had planned based on the premise that Ryu Han-bin could win one-on-one, either against Garhan or Genovia.
The other would be kept occupied by Leon Hart, Kibie, Artis, and Effir in unison.
Now that they had also increased their levels enough, the odds were pretty good for them.
âThe problem is, besides those two, there will be another power to care about.â
Through the example of Nakterion, they had found that the Thunder King and the Archmage could raise Ancient Dragons of their choosing to level 140.
However, it was easy to guess that not all of them could level up that high.
âOnly one Dragon can be ruled over with the Draco Imperium staff.â
The Ancient Dragons themselves could solve the ban made out of mana bombs if their level became too high.
In other words, only one Dragon at a time could be given all the energy at once.
âThatâs why they rejected Nakterion as worthless.â
Ryu Han-bin nodded.
âThey can recreate a level 140 Ancient Dragon at any time, right?â
âAnd I received reports that the two are still not moving.â
Leon Hart sighed as he glanced across the sky.
âBy now, they might be stuck at the Four Prohibited Areas holding another Ancient Dragon and working hard to make it level up.â
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