Chapter 172 - Battle (4)

Chapter 172 - Battle (4)

‘I hope he’s doing well.’

The highlands of Thern were located on the right side of the plain.

It had long been said that those who took control over the highland won the battle, meaning that the highland was a very important strategic location.

That was why Henry decided to look after the highland of Thern himself.

Henry had sent three thousand soldiers and Eisen to the plain, and on the left side, he had sent one thousand five hundred soldiers and Kamsadia.

Excluding the supply soldiers, there were only three hundred soldiers remaining. Because of this, several of the thousand-man commanders had expressed their concerns during the strategy meeting. They couldn't understand why there weren’t more troops assigned to a pivotal battle like the one in the highland, while one thousand five hundred soldiers were assigned to such a role in defending the gorge. These were reasonable and valid complaints.

In addition, Henry had concentrated a large number of troops in the gorge despite the fact that he had given Kamsadia the scroll with the Stinky Pit; although, the rest of the commanders didn’t know about the scroll.

However, Henry had carefully planned this in advance.

The reason he had given a lot of soldiers to Kamsadia was not to hold back the enemy in the gorge, but to slaughter his own troops without Eisen knowing.

‘I can’t do anything about the battle in the plain, but it’s a different story for the battle in the gorge and the highland, given that Eisen isn’t there.’

Henry would’ve actually liked to fight in the highland alone and concentrate the rest of the troops in the gorge. That way, he could’ve gotten rid of all the troops at once.

However, no matter how reliable Henry was, he couldn’t have convinced Eisen and the thousand-man commanders to let him do that. Therefore, Henry had sent all but one thousand-man commander and two hundred soldiers to the gorge.

Henry trusted Hector.

Hector had once made even Golden Jackson kneel on the ground with his great swordsmanship, and now he even had a great black armor. He was also capable of releasing so much Aura that it couldn't even be compared to that of the Imperial Ten Swords. This was why he had ordered Hector to slaughter everyone in the gorge.

‘Should I get going now too?’

Henry had gathered two hundred soldiers from the cavalry.

They arrived at the highlands before anyone else and Henry grabbed the attention of the thousand-man commander and the soldiers.

“Attention everyone.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The two hundred soldiers dismounted, and they were terribly anxious because the troops were stationed elsewhere. Their apprehension was justified, considering that Henry had brought them here in an absurdly low number solely due to their cavalry status. It was obvious that they were going to face a miserable end.

‘They all look scared.’

Of course, Henry was well aware of how nervous the soldiers felt, but once the battle ended, they would all realize how lucky they actually were.

“Starting now, our task is to stop enemies that outnumber us by more than five times.”

“...”

All of them were silent, including Nadasman, the thousand-man commander.

However, as a thousand-man commander, Nadasman also couldn't keep quiet, so he finally asked, “Do you have a plan in mind?”

“I do.”

“What?”

Nadasman hadn’t expected that answer.

The corners of Henry’s lips rose, and he said, “We’re going to use a monster.”

“A monster...?”

“Yes.”

- Khaaa!

Thud! Thud!

“Ahhhhh!”

“R-run away!”

The screams of the Etherwether army could be heard over the highland.

* * *

‘There are three places in total. I’m sure Eisen allocated most of his power to the close combat fight on the plain.’

During the strategy meeting of the Etherwether army, Alfred had assumed that Eisen, given his past as a knight, would focus all of his power on the close combat battle, which took place in an area where he was most confident in.

Therefore, out of his army of five thousand soldiers, Alfred had deployed three thousand to the battle in the plain, and had placed one thousand five hundred of the remaining two thousand soldiers in the highland.

The reason for this was simple. Spiritual skill was just as spectacular and grand as magic, so it was better to use it in a large area like the highland than in a narrow gorge.

Alfred intended to use the one thousand five hundred soldiers to quickly break through the highland and attack the Shonan army from their rear in the plain.

‘I will win this battle!’nOVE-lb)In

Alfred was confident that he would win this battle.

Even without acquiring the Egg of Evolution, his confidence remained unwavering. The Egg of Evolution was merely a tool that would have guaranteed his victory over Eisen by a significant margin.

Furthermore, he had also dispatched two thousand-man commanders, both high-level spiritualists, to the highlands. Among them was his eldest son, Waled, whose injured arm had been mended by Dracan.

“Y-yes?”

“I will give you a big reward once we get back to the mansion.”

“Thank you, Sir Waled!”

Waled’s heart was pounding. If what the scout said was true, he could become a Double just like his father.

Waled selected a handful of people for the search party and quickly followed the scout toward where the spirit egg was.

When they arrived, the spirit egg was actually embedded in the ground like a meteorite near the summit of the highland.

‘It’s real!’

As soon as the search party made up of spiritualists found the egg, they could all instinctively feel that it was a powerful spirit.

Waled’s smile grew even bigger.

“What are you guys waiting for? Lift the egg.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The spirit egg was as big as an adult pig, so one could tell it was a high-level spirit just by looking at its size.

Waled clenched his fist while drooling.

The moment the search party lifted the spirit egg...

Ping!

“Huh?”

As soon as they put their hands on it, the egg emitted a white flash of light and made a sound of something being deflated.

Boom!

A massive explosion took place.

“W-what the hell!”

Fortunately, Edward, a high-level water spiritualist, managed to protect everyone by releasing an aqua shield just in time.

However, having blocked the impact of the giant explosion, Edward couldn’t help but cough out blood due to the severe damage he had taken.

“Agh!”

“Edward!”

The explosion was so powerful that Edward had suffered internal injuries.

The egg hadn’t even hatched yet, so why did it cause such an explosion?

Waled tried his best to come up with an explanation, drawing upon every ounce of knowledge he possessed.

Crack, crack...

Crack!

A huge silhouette appeared from the foggy dust cloud caused by the explosion.

“Huh?”

The silhouette continued to grow bigger until it finally revealed its appearance over the scattered dust particles.

“A-a dragon?”

- Khaaaa!

The roar was loud enough to tear one's ear drums.

The dragon looked like the legendary black dragon, which was known to be vicious.

- Khaaa!

The dragon roared once more and scanned its surroundings.

It seemed angry.

- Kha!

The dragon saw Waled’s search party and the rest of the soldiers behind them, looking up at it with frightened eyes.

- Khaaa!

No sooner had the dragon roared again than all the spiritualists screamed in fear.

“Ahhhh!”

“R-run away!”

The spiritualists ran away at the dragon’s roar.

Henry could hear Elagon’s terrible roar, as he had just been awakened from his sweet slumber and felt irritable.

‘He’s awake.’