Book 8, Chapter 61

Power

Once their leader was attacked, the rest of the knights and warriors fell into chaos. They drew their weapons and started swearing at Senma, but not one of them had the guts to actually fight her.

“Still blocking me?” Senma smiled flirtatiously, but the bloodlust was clear in her eyes as she licked her lips and waved her spear, “Crush them!”

Every knight behind the Blood Paladin was level 12 or higher, and as they surged forward the formation of swordsmen was broken apart instantly. The mounts alone did all the work, with not one of the cavaliers ever lifting their weapons in a charge that wounded half the enemies. The officers paled and ran away immediately, followed by the rest of the soldiers.

Only once the charge was completed did the injured leader actually manage to stand up, seeing only a handful of soldiers even left behind. He almost forgot about the pain in his mangled face, just watching dumbly as his men continued to flee.

Fortunately for him, Senma’s mood had improved considerably in this time. “Why are you still here?” she joked, “Shouldn’t you be running away?”

The knight immediately moved to flee, but then Senma shouted behind him, “Wait! Clear up the road before moving!”

The swordsmen who were still around dragged the dead and wounded to the side of the road, while three low-level mages cast some water magic to clean off the bloodstains. The warriors then showed surprising strength as they broke the checkpoint apart, opening up the road for Richard’s army. By the time Richard had his horse walk over, the place was almost as good as new.

“Good job,” he nodded to Senma, “Now let’s go, we don’t have much time.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” Senma answered gently, her horse falling back into step. Nobody could imagine someone with such a subservient voice had caused all the violence only minutes prior.

……

“DAMN THIS RICHARD! WHAT DOES HE THINK I AM? HOW CAN I LIVE THIS DOWN?!” Brahms’s roars resounded through Dragonwing Castle, a brand new desk that had been brought out already smashed to pieces. Everyone in his study was completely silent, not one of those present daring to even console him.

Brahms cursed for a full ten minutes before stopping, already heaving from the exertion, “Which… Which way did he go?”

One mage hesitated, replying slowly, “He… followed the Autumn Road, my Lord, heading towards Sunset City.”

Everyone in the room was visibly shaken at the mention of that name. Dragonwing City was the capital of the marquessate, but that was mostly because of the scenery and defensibility of the location. The city allowed Brahms to guard himself from the independent nobles in the north of the Sacred Tree Empire. On the other hand, Sunset City was the most prosperous city in the territory, containing portals to four of the seven private planes the Brahms Family owned. Richard was a legendary mage who studied under Sharon, one of the most powerful masters of space in all of history. If he was allowed to even glance at those teleportation gates, he would likely get access to all of those planes.

A middle-aged general stepped forward, “My Lord, this is war! We have 200,000 soldiers and a powerful backer, why should we be scared of Richard? Let me go see if Richard can actually afford to fight the entire Sacred Tree Empire!”

The man was called Calor, and he was Brahms’s best general and a close friend. Although only a sky saint, he was particularly suited to battles against mages and would hopefully be able to last against Richard long enough for help to arrive. He patted the man on the shoulder, “I’ll give you 70,000 troops. Make sure he pays the price, but be careful. He’s known for his prowess in battle.”

Calor grinned, “No need to worry. He might be good at command, but I’m aiming to whittle away his troops. He might or might not beat me, but I’ll make sure his army will be too weak to leave the Empire alive! My Lord… What do you want me to do if I win?”

“Hmm… We must teach him a good lesson, but we cannot kill him. Sharon is just too powerful, even my uncle wouldn’t dare provoke her easily.”

“We’re letting him off so easily!” Calor grunted. His saint ability was extremely powerful against mages, and he planned to catch the enemy off guard. How strong could the defences of a new legend even be?

……

The day after he entered the Brahms territory, Richard was blocked by a troop of 70,000 soldiers. The sky saint leading them galloped forward and bellowed, “Richard, this is the Sacred Tree Empire, not a place for boors like you to act insane! Leave our lands now, and I’ll let things be. If not—”

“If not?” Richard interrupted with mild interest. The sky saint had just moved too close, having arrived within a hundred metres of him. Even when facing a normal mage this would be a problem, but he was someone who specialised in one-hit kills. Even a normal legend would find it difficult to survive an offense from him at this range, and a sky saint would certainly die within moments.

Calor felt uncomfortable under Richard’s toying gaze, a gaze he knew all too well. It was the same gaze he levelled at weaklings who wouldn’t even be worth a fight. He grunted and suppressed the humiliation, saying coldly, “Then there’ll be war!”

“War?” Richard laughed and waved his hand: “Senma, go try him out.”

“Me again…” The Blood Paladin answered reluctantly, but she still put on a sensual display as she walked towards Calor awkwardly. The man lifted his enormous warhammer and leaped down from his horse, meeting her in battle.

Senma turned into a red shadow that attacked Calor from all directions, but the man managed to deflect everything with a thick yellow barrier of energy. She didn’t dare to take him on directly, and within moments Richard frowned as he realised she would lose. This opponent seemed stupid, but he at least had power.

A few minutes into the fight, Calor roared and swung his hammer around repeatedly, unleashing a flurry of blows which Senma tried to dodge. She was eventually forced to block one strike with a sword, but the blade immediately shattered and some blood formed on the corners of her lips.

“Come back,” Richard’s voice rang out, prompting her to retreat towards him immediately. The Blood Paladin was already pale from the exertion, clearly unable to match up. Thankfully, there wasn’t any lasting damage done; she still managed to mutter something about Calor being older as she returned.

Calor shouted loudly, aura flaring up and increasing the temperature of his surroundings. Having warmed up, he struck the ground hard enough to make a pit that was half a metre deep, “Having the women go first, are all of you such cowards? Come, show me your strength!”

“Strength?” Richard smiled with the same toying gaze. Calor suddenly saw the mount collapse, looking almost like a sack of flesh as it just spread out in all directions. He tensed up immediately, his three hearts stopping as he realised that Richard had disappeared from his vision. Before he could regain focus, Richard was right before him and had a hand on his chest, taking a single step forward to shove him into the ground.

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