Chapter 48: War

Chapter 48: War

“It’s good that we have reinforcements. We owe Tian Kingdom.”

Grandal spoke as he read through the report. The Grand Bander was very powerful. He sliced down Kanuans as if they were paper. He also knew where the crucial location was and defended it single-handedly.

It allowed Grandal to spread out his forces and send <Black Star> to the other important areas, which made the battle much better for them. The lieutenants also seemed to be wise. They lacked experience, but they knew how to lead the group and fight. Rian especially looked very promising as he was already at the level of a lieutenant of the <Black Star>.

“Roman and Kiraine. No wonder. But who are those fools who came with them?”

If those three were amazing, the others were questionable. They were all fools who knew nothing about war. Also, the captain’s assistant who was at the spire did nothing but flick his fingers.

Grandal didn’t have any problems with their skills. It was their attitude. These experts acted as if they were legendary Ra-Banders. They didn’t care about staying in formation and were easily baited by those machines.

However, what was more amazing was that no one died.

‘Is there something that I’m not seeing? I will see it soon.’

He expected at least a third of them to die, but none did. He didn’t have any complaints though. The captain and his lieutenants were already doing enough.

Nazgal, a second-tier warrior of Usharan who was in charge of the Con-Tian invasion, frowned at the Grand Bander.

“Dammit. So we finally have a Grand Bander fighting against us. What are the other commanders doing? Weren’t all the Grand Banders busy?”

The following were the four strategic war locations against Con.

Con-Tian Region

Arsharan Region

Kerbel Region

Cordova Region

All four regions were equally important, and thus the Con Kingdom resisted heavily. It made the Kingdom send all three of its Grand Banders to the warfront. All three fronts, other than the Con-Tian Region, had Grand Banders stationed already. Thus, Usharan sent their Grand Banders and Kel-Rufens to fight against them there.

“We have a report that all the other Grand Banders are still in the other regions.”

“What? Then who is he?”

He pointed at the warrior spreading his bright sword light while slicing the Kanuans down as if they were paper.

“Intelligence reports show that he is a reinforcement from Tian.”

“What? They sent a Grand Bander as reinforcement? And Taran allowed that?”

It was apparent that the Taran Kingdom would strike if Tian sent out one of its Grand Banders from the border. Even the Usharan Kingdom couldn’t pull their Grand Bander from the border against Taran despite the fact that they were allies with the Taran Kingdom.

“Count Roman and Swordmeister Kiraine are still at the Taran Border. This Grand Bander that came... is reported to be a hidden Grand Bander that they had. His name is Kalagul.”

The lieutenant handed the report over to him. It had been only a month since Kalagul appeared, but there was already enough information.

“So the King Narasha has no other use for him?”

Nazgal let out a laugh, but he knew the King of Tian. Only the greediest could become the king of the country, so he probably had some other motive with such a plan.

“Anyway... report it and ask for reinforcements. We’ll kill him once we have the Kel-Rufens on our side.”

“Yes, Commander.”

After thorough testing, they found that it took twenty Kel-Rufens to fight against a Grand Bander. They had fifteen Kel-Rufens right now, but if they added some more, it would be enough to kill him.

“Any other reports?”

“The reinforcements have two lieutenants. They are from Kiraine and Roman.”

“What? So that Rian boy is here?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Wow, that is unbelievable. Why would Tian send one of the Romans out onto a foreign battlefield? This doesn’t make sense. Do we look weak to them?”

Nazgal began to feel irritated. As a Roman, Rian would definitely become a Grand Bander in the future. To send such a man out on a battlefield before maturity... it did not make sense. It would only take them two Kel-Rufens to kill Rian.

“Well, I guess it’s our chance. Tian is next after we conquer Con. Let’s kill him.”

It was better to kill a lion when it was young.

“I was going to get some rest, but it’s not time. Send Kanuans to the Grand Bander to buy some time and send a few Kel-Rufens to Rian so we can kill him. We will kill him before our reinforcements come.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“We will start now. Bring back the Kanuans and keep firing for today. Give them no time to rest.”

-

Sian was still acting as a sniper from the top of the spire.

‘I am being selective, but the supply is getting lower now.’

Sian had been shooting his marbles with a very specific flowchart.

Is Rian or Celine going to die? If yes, go to 5.

Is the man going to die? If yes, go to 5.

Is the man fighting against the machine? If yes, go to 5.

Is he still charging like a boar? If yes, go to 5.

Shoot.

Although he was following these rules, he had already used half of the marbles he brought. Additionally, Gronn and Panolan didn’t seem to get number 3 at all. They kept on charging in and it became worse once they realized that someone was protecting them.

As Sian glanced down at the battlefield, he noticed something strange. Kanuans were holding Kalagul in one spot and he couldn’t move to another place.

‘Why are they doing that?’

Kalagul had the same idea as Sian. He did not gravitate toward danger. He would’ve stayed in his spot even if Kanuans did not force him to. He was standing at a spot where he could run or ask for help if needed.

Sian realized they were up to something and began examining the battlefield more closely. Then he found the reason. Flow chart rule number 1 was about to be breached. There were a few Kel-Rufens advancing toward the area where Rian was fighting.

“It’s good that I tagged along.”

A Kel-Rufen itself wasn’t stronger than Rian. One was about as strong as Celine. Rian had the power to fight against two Celines but not two Kel-Rufens. They were stronger together.

A total of four Kel-Rufens were approaching. Celine and the other Dragonas were fighting by his side, but they were no match.

‘I can’t take care of them with the marbles.’

The Kanuans had no way to avoid the marbles, but the Kel-Rufens looked like they could defend themselves. These machines were also smart: once they sensed that Sian was distracted while firing a marble, they started moving toward Rian and Celine.

‘I will get them before they can get any closer.’