Trick or Trap! (3)

The seventh day of the second Battle of Fieldrocks.

The Allendia troops were becoming increasingly impoverished.

After ordering troops to replace the exhausted wall guards, Lord Lacrell let out a deep sigh.

“As expected of Lord Leon Hart.”

The Kaldris-Rune coalition’s strategy had been reported to them.

First, they opened fire with the Breaths of the Ancient Dragons.

The magic spells of Genovia then bombarded the fort.

As soon as the chaos was over, the troops were sent to launch a siege, calmly hitting the Allendia army and retreating.

They didn’t stab at Allendia’s gap. Rather, they constantly pushed and pressured them.

As a result, more than a combined total of 8,000 casualties were reported on both sides. 5,000 of it came from Allendia and 3,000 from the enemy.

According to common war knowledge, it was normal for the sieging faction to suffer several times more damage than the defending faction. However, Allendia’s damage was greater.

Sabine Asil shook her head.

“With Poltaron badly damaged, we should have cut their numbers further in return. Unfortunately, they have an advantage.”

The problem was that the enemy had built a complete siege around Fieldrocks.

The terrain around Fort Fieldrocks was quite rough.

At least 20,000 troops were needed to lay siege to this area.

If the separate forces of the Thunder King and the Archmage, which attacked Poltaron, had been halved, the enemy’s power would’ve been suppressed to less than 20,000. There would’ve been a loophole in the siege network as a result.

If so, the Allendia troops would have been able to strike and fall for loopholes and disrupt the enemy.

Ten thousand troops would continue to sit in and counterattack against 20,000 troops under siege.

Instead, against 25,000 troops who had built a complete siege, 15,000 were stuck and sat in.

The latter was a much more unfavorable situation.

“It was an inevitable result…”

Leon Hart spoke in a tired voice.

“We’re losing more men because we haven’t lost the men we should’ve lost at Poltaron.”

* * *

The tenth day after the second Battle of Fieldrocks.

That day, the Kaldris army was attacking Fort Fieldrocks aggressively.

During the battle, sections of the walls were destroyed, and they concentrated their offensive on those points.

Naturally, the Allendia troops tried to defend their weaknesses with all their might.

They went after them.

“You don’t have to take control of the walls!”

“Go after the soldiers entering our land!

“Hit them and get out!

On other walls, the Mado Kingdom troops continued similar skirmishes.

While watching the scene from the main camp, Genovia suddenly asked a question.

“You’re going to beat them up a bit and order our troops to retreat again, aren’t you, Garhan?”

“Of course. We don’t need to hurry.”

The basic point of the war was to save as many allies and kill as many enemies as possible.

But things were a little different now.

“I don’t want too many of the Allendia troops to die at once.”

The worst situation for the two would be if the incarnation of the darkness hid again.

It was never easy to find a woman in the vastness of Latna.

But that was equally bad for Kibie.

When Hollien fell, some of his divinity had returned to her. However, her divine power had been sealed.

Kybriel still hadn’t retrieved her abilities, and the power of the remaining five Goddesses barely supporting the world was weakening day by day. The invasion of the devil was becoming stronger as time went by, and unexpected night events continued to occur all over the world.

No one knew how long their world would still be able to sustain.

Maybe it wouldn’t last more than two years.

What if, luckily, this world held out until Garhan or Genovia’s life was over?

Would the power of the darkness they had stolen return to Kybriel?

It was possible.

If Kibie sensed the moment and used her power to retrieve it, it would be possible.

However, it would never return on its own.

If she hid in the corner of the world and waited for those two to die, the only result was the collapse of Latna.

It was imperative for her to do her best to get rid of the Thunder King and the Archmage.

Allendia and the Six Churches had such a hope of victory for Kibie, too.

She wouldn’t even think of running away as long as they existed.

“In short, she’s a hostage. Hostage of a kidnapper named Hope.”

Hence, they shouldn’t defeat the Allendia army to the extent that they would feel wary.

“We need to slowly, little by little, push down the numbers.”

Like a frog in a pot, they made them swim around without feeling the water boiling up.

Then what?

“At some point, she’ll be boiled without being able to run away, right?”

Garhan casually replied to her.

“But the incarnation of darkness can’t be compared to a frog.”

As battles continued, the frequency of the incarnation’s appearance increased.

In the past, she used to get on the Wyvern and circle around at a safe distance, but these days, she often came close enough to make them think she was reckless.

She might be trying to lure the Thunder King and the Archmage somehow.

They had almost been tempted. There were quite a few situations where they had thought, ‘we can catch her for sure.’

Nevertheless, they persevered.

They had already established a factual premise.

-No matter what happens, do not confront the incarnation’s group without military escort.

There was no need to hurry.

There was still a lot of time left.

“I’m sure she’ll make a mistake before that.”

* * *

15th day after the second Battle of Fieldrocks.

The defeat of the Allendia troops was obvious.

There were more casualties than combatants. Fort Fieldrocks also had more parts of it destroyed than intact.

Ryu Han-bin and Leon Hart did their best, but once tilted, the balance couldn’t recover.

Since the situation had come that far, the Thunder King changed the tactics.

There was no more use for the Ancient Dragons’ bombing operations.

Instead, he moved the main camp further.

Based in the main camp, the Kaldris and Mado Kingdom frequently attacked.

Allendia was no longer protecting the fort.

The Thunder King and the Archmage held on at their base so that the Allendia troops couldn’t attack there recklessly.

It meant that the retreating enemy could not be chased.

The enemies beat around the fort as much as they could, then returned to the battlefield after getting enough rest.

It was a typical siege.

On the contrary, Fort Fieldrocks had already been destroyed.

The walls had collapsed, and there were no buildings left to lie down in, so even the leaders were forced to build temporary tents.

It was nothing short of staying in the field.

Rather, the Allendia army was in a situation where it had to engage in a ‘siege’ against the enemy.

Looking at the wretched Allendia army, Garhan scoffed.

“How do you feel? You feel exposed, aren’t you?”

A fort was a place where walls and buildings were built in a field to provide conditions for residence and defense.

In other words, it was no longer a fort if the walls and towers were destroyed and the conditions of residence and defense were taken away.

On the other hand, even in the middle of nowhere, once those requirements were met, it was already enough to be called a fort.

Upon receiving the war report, Ryu Han-bin’s expression solidified.

“How can our position be reversed so much?”

The leaders of the Allendia army gathered at the makeshift barracks had similar faces.

Just by coordinating the situation, the Thunder King and the Archmage quickly built a fort that didn’t exist before. It was a moving fortress.

“I have to admit it.”

Sabine Asil murmured somberly.

“We lost.”

Lord Lacrell tried to encourage the people.

“We haven’t lost yet. Don’t we still have Fort Alseed?”

It didn’t work.

They all had a good grasp of the war situation.

The enemy’s siege was still heavy. It was impossible to even retreat.

A situation in which a rat in a trap was bitten to death by a fierce cat.

“Well, then at least the incarnation…”

Kibie shook her head at Lacrell’s suggestion.

“What’s the point of abandoning the people and getting away alone?”

She wore a fierce look.

“There is still a way. I will serve as bait and lure the enemy away.”

Lacrell and Sabine Asil wondered.

To this day, she had been baiting the whole time.

“Didn’t you already confirm that it didn’t work?”

Leon Hart spoke up at Sabine’s question.

“The Thunder King and the Archmage have no intention of pursuing the incarnation alone. But what about their knights and soldiers?

If they caught the incarnation of darkness, they were promised a great position and a large sum of money to raise their family to a higher status.

What if such an opportunity came before them?

“Human greed is not that simple.”

* * *

That night.

Something unusual happened. The Allendia troops, who had been beaten time and time again, suddenly went on a night raid.

Taking advantage of the darkness, all the Allendia troops, which had shrunk to 8,000, rushed out of the fort.

It was a full offensive.

A lot of their strongest warriors were present.

Among them were the Sword King Felard Bean, the Spiritual Boxer Leon Hart, Effir of Thunderstorms, Artis the Mage of Incineration, and the incarnation of darkness, Kibie!

Supreme commander Tonitrus snorted as he saw them running ahead of anyone else.

“You’re finally delivering your final act!”

As long as the enemy all stormed out of Fieldrocks, there was no need to keep surrounding the fort.

Following the signal, 18,000 Kaldris-Mado forces began to form a new siege.

Inevitably, the existing siege was lifted in the process.

Lacrell did not miss the timing.

“Raise the detour signal!”

Of the 8,000 Allendia troops, 6,000 turned right.

The enemy commanders were briefly confused by it.

“Huh?”

“Did they split in two?”

The 2,000 led by the Han-bin’s group continued to rush west, and the 6,000 main battalions moved northward.

The coalition’s actions also changed.

Since the Allendia army was divided into two, they had to split their forces and handle both units.

In this urgent situation, there was no time to wait for the supreme commander’s order. The frontline commanders should judge the situation for themselves.

The problem was, all the commanders shared the same greed.

‘Is the incarnation over there?’

The military merit on the incarnation of darkness was far too tempting. Besides, there were too many of them anyway.

‘Another unit will handle the larger enemy forces.”

‘If so, then I should chase the smaller one!”

Most of the allied forces abandoned the 6,000 soldiers and chased the 2,000-man army!

“It worked!”

Lacrell was delighted.

A clear retreat opened in front of 6,000 Allendia troops.

“All troops, retreat!”

Garhan and Genovia, who were watching the war, clicked their tongues.

“Wow, they’re doing well?”

“Yeah, they are.”

The two had wondered why they suddenly carried out a night attack despite having no chance to win, but they understood if it was to open up an escape route.

The middle of the night would be better than the bright daylight for such an operation.

It wasn’t a big problem for them. Instead, the 2,000 detached troops, which the incarnation led, were put in an even deeper crisis.

Tonitrus made a quick decision.

“Now that we’ve done this, we must capture the incarnation!”

Ignoring the retreating main unit of Allendia troops, 18,000 Allied troops flocked to the 2,000 detached troops of the incarnation.

At that rate, 2,000 lives would be in an extremely precarious position.

Then, one more change occurred.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Light soared from the darkened battlefield, and a huge Wyvern appeared.

The Sword King, the Spiritual Boxer, the incarnation, and the Mage of Incineration all boarded the winged beast and flew over the battlefield.

“What’s that?”

“It’s the Pitch-Black Nightmare!”

The Wyvern, who carried all of Allendia’s absolute powerhouses, launched an offensive with the advantage of aerial superiority over the battlefield.

Red and black Blade Aura was rampant, spiritual spears poured out, and heatwaves and Breath raced through the ground.

Boom boom boom!

Thanks to that, one side of the siege was breached. Toward that place, 2,000 detached troops also began to retreat.

Genovia muttered.

“As expected of Kybriel’s incarnation. She looks after her followers first.”

Garhan also straightened his back.

“That’s a Goddess right there.”

The distance between the detached troops and the incarnation’s party was getting larger.

It meant that among tens of thousands of enemies, only the people aboard the Pitch-Black Nightmare remained.

Of course, they weren’t surrounded.

With the Wyvern’s mobility, they could fly over the siege.

“I’m sure you have that idea, but…”

It was as Garhan expected.

They eventually made a mistake.

With a smile of repentance, the strongest Mage on earth raised her staff.

“We finally got you, you rats!”