Episode 423
Episode 137. Question (1)
A week has passed since Ariel returned to the imperial capital. And the party was able to hear another painful news besides the betrayal of Adol Povian.
In the meantime, Yuma couldn’t even see his face on the top of Puang and had to protect the imperial castle every day. It was because Yuma and Duran were the key to preparing for war.
Hella Rose gave the two of them full authority over the organization of the army, concentrating on domestic affairs.
Of course, the actual overall command fell to Duran. And it was Randell’s role to assist Duran’s command.
Yuma did not play a large role in the daily meeting and strategy formulation. Although he had served as commander-in-chief in the East, Yuma could not be said to have a superior commanding power compared to Duran or Landel.
Even so, the reason Yuma kept the castle for a week was no different.
It was for Duran to decide ‘where’ to place Yuma and ‘how’ to use it.
That was the most important thing in this great war. In the current situation, which is absolutely inferior, the only variable that can be used is Yuma’s power and speciality.
“The highest-level military personnel, including myself, are assigned to the key points of the Empire. The deployed personnel will only focus on defense, and only Yuma Drake and the Balaur will perform the breakthrough and destruction of enemy territory.”
That was the conclusion Duran came to after a week.
In short, it was a strategy in which all warriors in the empire, except for Yuma, fought in a defensive posture, and only Yuma, a small number of personnel designated by him, and some of the Balaur took charge of all attacks.
It was an extreme war situation that everyone except for one person had to concentrate on defense.
In fact, the war situation of the empire was so bleak that the element of ‘attack’ was unnecessary.
Rizol’s New World Alliance surrounded the empire at an unprecedented speed and even took part of the empire’s territory by borrowing the power of the demon army or the special ability given to him.
Only five areas were captured in four days until Yuma returned from Tejiz. Even among them was the Jacques’ estate, the ‘Jetton Country’.
He didn’t know about the other four regions, but Jetten had to be recaptured. As it is the territory of a great noble family, there are not one or two foundations of the empire held by Jetten.
Only one attack among humans.
Even if there was no person named Yuma, Duran would have had to take the place.
Because in any situation during the war, the minimum standard for ‘returning alive’ is the grandmaster.
In other words, it meant that unless you were a grandmaster, you couldn’t even launch an attack.
It would be a situation where many of the best soldiers could move at the same time, but at present, it was impossible to send a single force of top soldiers outside of the Balaur and the Grand Master.
“The defense posture is from now until the Balaur tribe secures a connection with the East, and also until a connection with the Ogre Slayer of Magic Tan is secured.”
Hugo of the East and Magic. Until they unite, defense was the only task given to the warriors of the empire.
Mattan had already suffered damage that was close to destruction, except for the Egon Mountains where Hugo was located, and the situation in the East had not yet been properly reported to the Empire.
The empire just hoped that they could unite before the Black Wolves were destroyed or before Hugo died, and that the East would be freer from Rizol’s influence than the West.
A decisive battle to defend the territory.
Even that could not defend the entire empire. Only some key points directly connected to the capital and areas for supply were included in the defense target.
Lands with no strategic advantage were quickly eliminated. Troops were formed to relocate the people living in the excluded lands, but they could not send more than the number of defenders.
It is a difficult choice to take out the already insufficient number of defenders while not even properly identifying the number of victims.
The Empire, so to speak, continued to be battered even after Yuma returned. The damage was increasing like a snowball, but it was not clearly visible, so the sense of fear was even stronger.
“The defense of the capital is carried out only by the dragon race, Randel Jacques, and the Imperial Guard.”
Only ordinary knights and officers remain, and all the best military personnel except for Duran and Randel are guarding the outside of the capital.
Never in the history of the Empire had so few left to defend the capital.
Garou Thorin, Juan Spaser Sinclair, Jacques Millina Spaser, and all other ‘One Man Legion’ class knights left for the provinces.
It was a possible choice because there were dragons.
Dragonlord Mahatrisha also designated the capital of the empire as the ‘last line of defense’ and left 30% of the dragons.
Therefore, only the number of the Capital Defense Forces was reduced, and in fact, it had the strongest defense force since the founding of the country.
The fact that 30% of the Balaur remained in the capital was a choice that Mahatrisa had no choice but to make. It was impossible to know when Risol or other transcendentalists would hit the capital by teleportation, so that kind of dragon had to be there.
The Balaur have lost their land with the start of slime activity, so they have no place to go other than the human world.
And if Hale, the capital of the empire, was captured or destroyed, the western region would end its path.
The remaining 70% was allocated to security by dispatching to the provinces along with the knights or linking with the Rochshire Reconstruction East, which was still in progress.
Neither Balaur nor humans were deployed to search for the current location of Magical Hugo and the Black Wolves.
If Hugo was alive, they would eventually come to the empire first, and if he died at all, it would be meaningless anyway.
And no one among the humans thought that Hugo would have been killed in action.
“Yuma Drake’s second appearance is two hours later. In addition, unmanned personnel leaving the capital must leave immediately and report the local situation as soon as possible. more!”
The warriors all saluted Duran and left the conference hall. And most of the soldiers did not report separately to Hela and immediately left with their troops.
Only Duran and Yuma were left in the conference hall.
“Huh, I’ve been through countless wars, but this is the first time I’ve experienced a war that doesn’t really feel like this…
Saying that, as if buried in a chair, Duran’s face showed signs of exhaustion. It wasn’t physically a problem, but it was the result of nerves that had become sharp like needlepoints over the past week.
I don’t feel it.
It was a feeling that not only Duran but everyone was feeling.
War usually has its harbingers and symptoms.
It took at least a year for someone to raise an army somewhere, start moving, and clash.
If the invisible process of generating war costs is included, ten times that amount will be needed.
And in the process, an essential requirement called ‘justice’ was needed. Even Kyle, who has the status of an ’empire’, has never invaded another country without any justification.
However, the great war caused by Rizol omitted all of that process.
All processes including the creation of war expenses, the recruitment of troops, and the actual movement of troops were omitted.
There were no signs or symptoms.
An individual with transcendental powers, through his special abilities, in an instant encroached on more than half of the West.
A few countries that did not follow were destroyed in one day as an example, and it was a shocking event that had never been recorded in any history book before.
As if all the wars waged by the human race for thousands of years were just a joke.
“You mean everything can change in an instant like this? Disciple… I doubt whether what I am hearing and seeing is really the world I lived in.”
Yuma could read ‘fear’ in his teacher’s voice.
The fear did not just arise from fear of losing the war or of losing the things they had sworn to protect for the rest of their lives. Duran still believed in his power and the infinity that came from it.
If so, where does the fear originate from?
It was a fear that started from ignorance.
He had never even imagined that the world he was ‘familiar with
‘ could flow so quickly due to a transcendental being called Resol and an unknown enemy called the underworld demons.
in one day.
Who could have imagined that the world could be destroyed so easily in fact that the world is going to collapse in just one morning?
Duran is vague. To the extent that even the vast military power he achieved seemed futile.
And Yuma, more than anyone else, sympathized with him.
Anyone who has experienced the Dragon Horse War will be able to understand Duran’s vagueness.
“Maybe this is a ‘real war’. I once heard a story from civilians on the battlefield. It felt like the world was ending in an instant. Everyone must be feeling that way now.”
“Master…
“Damn it. What am I talking about to a disciple who is about to leave?
The only person in the world who can say anything weak is you, so please understand.
It is difficult even for Duran Jacques to accept this situation.”
“I don’t think it sounds weak.
Like Master said, I too have thought that this was a real war. In an instant, daily life is destroyed and everything is at stake.”
“Disciple, you strangely feel like you’ve been through this situation.”
“Because I was a commoner. It is not uncommon for commoners in war zones to die without even screaming at the shelling that started without warning. If you blink once, the person next to you explodes and dies. The person who laughed and chatted until yesterday. There is no such thing as an opportunity to perceive a crisis.”
Even if you don’t compare the current situation to the dragon horse war, all wars to the common people were no different from sudden tragedies like now.
“For people like you and me now, magic bombardment is like mosquitoes, but for some people, it seems that they knew that it would erase the world in an instant, but pretended not to know it.”
“The times were like that, Master. And now… Because of Rizol and the underworld demons, the era has come when such death can come even to the strong. Death without warning.”
A disciple who answers calmly. Duran felt relieved and sad when he saw it.
The former was because the disciple was strong and bold, and the latter seemed to place too much burden on such a disciple.
“…okay. Just as the commoner who survived the unexpected bombardment became an outstanding soldier named Yuma Drake, and that soldier changed the world. I hope that such a miracle will happen again.”
“I will respond as always.
And Master, by any chance… do you have something to tell Damian?”
Yuma carefully said the name of Duran’s second son, Damien Zach.
As soon as they arrived in the Empire, Yuma and Duran heard the new painful news. It was Damian’s betrayal. It was because of his treachery that the province of Jetten fell into the hands of his enemies.
“does not exist.”
Duran answered in a pitiful voice.
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