21st Century Archmage

Chapter 69: The Battle of Haiton Village

“What is their current location?”

“They have almost reached Haiton Village. The battle will soon begin!”

“Haah…”

The situation of Haiton Village was relayed via the magic communication channel.

As the northernmost fort, Haiton Village was the residence of courageous Nerman citizens. The constant attacks of the monsters and Temir left them no time to make repairs, so the village outer walls were in critical condition.

Shailt, the person responsible for Orakk Castle, let out a long sigh.

In order to fulfill the Lord’s command, they had done their best to patrol and track the movements of the Temir, but the bastards abandoned their previous attack route and launched an ambush from a new route.

‘How in the world are we supposed to fight 50 wyverns?’

They were better off than in the past, but there were only eight wyverns stationed at Orakk Castle. And that was counting the wyverns stolen from the Temir.

‘Even if the wyvern armor is activated, a direct hit from a Blessed Spear will result in severe injury. But if we hesitate here, Haiton Village will be wiped out!’

The defending soldiers were less than 1,000 because their forces were spread out so thinly. There were barely a thousand citizens living in the village and mercenaries. If 50 wyverns assisted in the land attack while Temir infantry charged, it would be difficult for Haiton Village to endure the onslaught for even one hour.

‘Since when did we become so afraid of death? Even though our liege must be fighting even now under this scorching sun!’

His fellow knights were waiting for his order. There was no more time to hesitate.

“Prepare to sortie. We fly out at once !”

“As you command!”

The waiting Skyknights vigorously accepted the order with blazing eyes.

Though they were outrageously outnumbered, everyone here was someone who had suffered the bone-wrenching pain of losing their wyvern to the Temir.

The hot rage sleeping inside their hearts awakened.

“Until there’s another order, Sir Fairmont will keep the soldiers on standby!”

“As you command!”

Everyone wanted to go, but this battle could only be resolved by Skyknights.

The young knights in the conference room pressed down the surging heat in their chests, deciding that they too would become Skyknights one day.

* * *

Swooooooooooosh.

As if understanding my feelings, Bebeto flew at his maximum speed.

However, there was a limit.

Orakk Castle and the cement factory were around 5 hours away by flight. No matter how strong a hybrid wyvern Bebeto was, he would definitely tire soon at this pace.

‘You bastards!’

The Temir always stealthily appeared like thieves and wreaked havoc. If they were hungry, they could ask to trade, but they saw stealing as something to take pride in.

They could never be forgiven.

The blood of my knights and citizens on my land was like my own blood. There could be no mercy for those who spilled it.

‘Please, please be safe!’

I had hurriedly tried to reach Sir Shailt through the communication line, but they had already departed.

The knights’ unwillingness to give up on the northernmost village/fort, Haiton… It was understandable.

Because I would have done the same in their position.

‘Hold on a little, just a little! Your liege is coming!’

My chest was tight.

The people putting their lives on the line for my sake…

The only reward sufficient for their loyalty was my own life.

* * *

“Fire!”

Fwip fwip fwip fwip fwip fwip.

Nerman’s northernmost fort, Haiton Village, was located only several dozens of kilometers from the united Temir tribes.

Because of that, Haiton had endured countless invasions since the beginning and had even been captured a few times over the years.

However, the former commander of Nerman, Count Yaix, reclaimed it every time.

He resisted so desperately because he knew that if the Temir gained even one foothold in Nerman, they would keep going until they swallowed all of Nerman.

Kioooooooooooooo!

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

“Aerial attack incoming!”

The flock of 50 wyverns hurled stones and logs from the sky at the fort.

Almost 100 people had already died or were injured from such attacks.

There was no place to run.

As if the Temir were truly determined this time, they didn’t just bring the wyverns, but 3,000 soldiers as well.

The archers sticking their heads out and firing arrows hastily sought cover and ducked their heads.

Swooooooooosh.

Their ears first registered the whistling of falling objects.

BOOOM!

“GAAAAGHHHHH!”

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Then came the screams of several soldiers who were crushed under the castle walls destroyed by a boulder.

However, not a single person could help them.

Booom! Pooooow!

Not just stones, but also large trees were raining down from the sky, and there was no way to resist.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Ruuuuumble.

Their morale flying high at the sight of the wyvern offensive, the Temir soldiers cheered as they charged.

The old castle wall had already been in a weakened state and was ruined in many places. They didn’t even need ladders. All they had to do was use the collapsed debris as footholds and charge.

“Block them! Archers, fire at will!”

The knights ordered to defend Haiton drew their swords and shouted.

They were well aware from past battles that these cruel, savage people never left survivors or took prisoners.

The problem wasn’t defeat or victory, but survival or death.

Booom.

Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!

The archers gathered their wits despite their fear of death and fired. Among them were also male residents living in Haiton. Because they were used to hunting monsters or climbing the nearby mountain to pick herbs or mushrooms, they were pretty much warriors.

POOOOOW.

“GAAAAH!”

The Temir, who mistook brainless force for courage, raised their shields made of wood and monster hides and were already at the foot of the castle walls.

“Defend the collapsed castle wall! Block them at all costs! Block!”

The shouting knight took the lead and blocked the Temir coming over the gaps of the castle wall.

“You bastards!!! You’re all going to he—Gah!”

Bam!

The knight standing at the forefront with his Aura Blade was unable to finish his words. His eyes opened wide.

A single rusted spear flew from the sky and plunged into his shoulder, cleaving him at a diagonal.

“Lukevadio!”

“WAAAAAAAA!”

A warrior with feathers decorating his head shouted in the Temir language. He hurtled towards the soldiers of Haiton, who were frozen with fear.

Behind him, Temir warriors swarmed up the castle walls.

Their red eyes had long been devoid of any reason. They were enchanted by the hallucination herb that the Temir would chew before going into battle.

Clang clang clang clang.

“B-Block them! AAAHHH!”

After one part of their defenses were penetrated, the enemies rushed in from all sides.

From the very beginning, they were no match.

Haiton could handle the infantry somehow, but the wyverns and Skyknights blackening the sky embodied fear itself.

It was already a miracle that they were able to endure this far.

“R-Reinforcements have arrived!”

“WAAAAA! The Skyknights are here!”

When the defending soldiers were about to fall into the maw of death, they cheered at the sight of a flight of wyverns flying from the east.

“Block them! Protect the castle to the last with all your strength!”

The sight of hope fired up the last embers of resistance in the knights and soldiers.

“KILL THEM! KILL THEMMMM!!!”

They courageously crashed into the Temir warriors.

Within moments, chaos ensued as both sides tangled in close hand-to-hand combat.

Above, the Temir wyverns were turning their noses towards the newly arrived Nerman wyverns.

* * *

Flash! Flash! Flash!

The distance was 3 kilometers.

The new model of Blessed Spears provided by their new lord cut through the air.

‘Fast!’

Shailt expected some improvement in performance, but the territory wasn’t so rich that they could waste Blessed Spears in practice, so today was his first time seeing it in action. It flew about 1.5 times faster than their previous Blessed Spears.

The spear whizzed through the 3 kilometer distance in the blink of an eye.

The Temir wyverns that were turning and assuming attack position began evasive maneuvers, shocked by the speed.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

KWAAAAAAAK!

KUUUUUUAA!

However, three wyverns flying from the back were unlucky enough to get hit by the spear volley. Their screams shook the air. Because they were not wearing any decent armor, their thick blood sprayed in the air as they began to plummet.

Flaaaash!

Just then, the Skyknights in the back who had already come close hurled Blessed Spears towards the Nerman wyverns, old-model spears that had most certainly been purchased from other empires or kingdoms.

Flap, flap, flap flap flap flap.

No matter how heavily geared the wyvern was, a hit would result in major injury. Everyone began evasive maneuvers, swerving to the ground or sky.

FWIIIIIIIIP.

“Shield!”

But because the enemy was close, the spears were hurled at an effective range, putting two Nerman wyverns in critical danger. Their Skyknights activated Shield spells.

CLAAAANG!

PAAAANG!

“…..”

The magic shields enspelled on their wyvern gear gave a milky glow as the spears bounced off as if the Skyknights themselves were mages.

Whiiiiirrrrr.

And even after that, the wyvern gear maintained the Shield without faltering. The Skyknights instinctively knew it wasn’t the same Shield spell that they had used in the past.

This was defense magic nearly reaching 6th Circle Barrier level.

The seed of hope sprouted in the hearts of the Nerman Skyknights who went into battle with a ‘do or die’ spirit.

Lord Kyre’s astonishing gift to them was shining a ray of hope in their moment of crisis.

‘We have a chance!’

Even though the enemy had six times as many wyverns, with gear this good, they weren’t at a disadvantage.

A small smile formed on the lips of Shailt, who was leading the Skyknights.

Flash!

Then, he hurled the spear in his hand towards the next target.

The Lord had buffed them up to this extent.

If they could not win, then they weren’t Skyknights.

Flash! Flash!

Magic flashed far in the distance.

Having flown desperately all the way here, Bebeto’s muscles were spasming underneath the saddle.

‘I’m sorry, Bebeto…’

But we could not stop.

Fatigue could be cured after a short rest, but everything was futile once you crossed the River Styx.

I maximized the performance of the mana scope in my helmet as I examined the sky.

‘Did the shields work properly?’

I had put my touch on the wyvern armor repaired by the dwarves. Instead of Shield, I engraved the armor with the Barrier spell I was able to use after reaching the 6th Circle. Naturally, in order to implement Barrier, I used Grade 4 magic crystals.

Craaaash.

I saw several wyverns twisting their wings as they crashed in the distance.

Distance, about 10 kilometers.

I took out a spear.

“Bebeto, do your best! If we get through this I’ll get you laid tonight!”

GUOOOOOOOOO!

At my promise, Bebeto roared loudly enough to reach the heavens.

SWOOOOOOSH.

His wingbeats raised a powerful tempest as he charged towards the enemies.

‘Say your prayers!’

Grinding my teeth, we approached the messy tangle of wyverns.

In my hands was a license to kill from hell.

“S-Shield!”

Whiiiiir!

CLAAAAAANG!

Bzzt~! Bzzt!

‘Danger!’

It was truly fierce.

There was no time to figure out where his allies were, and Shailt hurled his spear as soon as he saw the enemy. There wasn’t even time to aim.

A volley of ruthless spears hurtled towards him and his wyvern from all directions. If it were the wyvern gear he’d used in the past, he would have fallen into the valley of death long ago. But thankfully, with the Barrier-level shield magic made by the Lord, Shailt was able to overcome deadly crisis several times.

He could feel that his whole body was wet with sweat.

Schwwwinng!

‘Ah!’

There was no way to know how much longer the magic crystal could last. Suddenly, another two spears came flying from above his head.

CL-CLANG!

The moment he raised his head, he saw that the shield that was activated time after time was shattering after repelling the second spear.

‘I-It’s the end…’

He had fought as fiercely as he could.

Shailt had skewered a whopping five enemy wyverns. He had fought with everything he had, so he had no regrets.

‘My lord…’

The only thing he could think of was Lord Kyre’s face.

His Lord, who had such confidence as he gallantly dominated the world even at such a young age.

‘Thank you. I am your knight even in death.’

That was the greatest praise one could offer as a knight.

If his first liege, Count Yaix, was like his parent, then his second liege was his hero.

Shailt closed his eyes tightly.

As soon as the shield was destroyed, the enemy wyverns would surround him and cut off all chances of survival.

He faced his death like a true knight.

He did not want to become a shameful Skyknight who lost his wyvern a second time.

BOOM!

KWAAAAAAAAAAAK!

KIAAAAAAAAAAAK!

Ba-ba-bam!

‘….?’

His eyes were closed, so he couldn’t see, but his ears registered a powerful explosion, followed by the familiar cries of wyverns.

Shailt’s eyes flashed open.

“!!!”

Ba-ba-bam!

The first thing he saw was the two wyverns charging towards him vomiting blood as they whirled uncontrollably in a headlong crash.

“M-My liege!!”

Behind the crashing wyverns appeared a certain very unique wyvern.

A wyvern of intense black with golden stripes that stood out.

Shailt hoarsely called his liege through his helmet.

Fwip fwip fwip fwip fwip!

Just then, nearly ten spears flew towards his liege. The moment Shailt caught sight of them, they were already reaching his liege.

Flash!

BOOOOOOOM!

A blinding flash of magic, followed by an explosion that shook heaven and earth.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

An uproarious mana-filled laugh that didn’t suit the battlefield rang out in the air.

Flap flap flap.

Shailt’s eyes were filled with the sight of a certain man cutting through the wind, his crimson cloak fluttering behind him.

Swoooosh!

A silver eagle of wind, Shuriel, suddenly appeared.

“My knights! I have come!”

The powerful and blazing voice of his liege made his heart tremble.

“SAALUUUUTE!” 

Resounding roars of loyalty echoed from around the battlefield.

Swooooosh.

Shailt turned his wyvern’s reins and flew towards his liege’s side.

The most reliable boulder in the world, his liege.

He had finally arrived, descending onto the battlefield like an avatar of the wind….

* * *

KIOOOOOOO!

My summoned Shuriel whizzed off and chomped down on an enemy wyvern’s wing joint. Having determined the weak point of a wyvern after several battles, Shuriel knew what would make me happy. A wyvern without any armor was practically a sitting duck. Shuriel clamped down on a shrieking wyvern and easily dragged it to the ground.

‘They’re running away?’

I had worried a lot on the way here, but the situation wasn’t as severe as I feared.

There were two wyverns wearing armor crashed on the ground, but thankfully, I could see Skyknights next to them providing supporting fire with spears.

Also, I only saw around 20 Temir wyverns in the air. According to the report, there had been 50 wyverns, but their numbers had greatly fallen.

‘They were definitely effective.’

It was obvious without looking that the unprotected Temir had fallen victim to the spears and Barrier gear enhanced by me.

‘These bastards!’

After hurling a concentrated volley of spears at me, the wyverns began to desperately flee.

Shouting unintelligible words at each other, they fled without a single glance back.

But the problem was that unlike the flying wyverns, the Temir soldiers were still fighting in fierce hand-to-hand combat on the ground. With half of their bodies bare, unprotected by hard leather, and strange patterns painted on their bodies, the tribal savages were massacring my soldiers and citizens.

Swoooooosh.

At a turn of the reins, Bebeto began to plummet. I let go of the reins and pushed off his back.

Schwing!

As I dropped, I unsheathed my sword and landed like a meteor right in the middle of a cluster of Temir.

BOOM!

My sword plunged into the hard earth.

“Burn in hell! Fire Explosion!”

I cast the 6th Circle magic I had memorized in advance.

Whirrrrr.

Mana whirled inside my body for a moment before combining with atmospheric mana, creating a red ball of flames.

BOOOOOOOM!

After a moment where the air seemed to be sucked in like a vacuum, an enormous sea of flame exploded outwards.

FWOOOOOOSH.

There were no screams.

Dozens of the Temir were drawn into the red explosion of flames, their bones and flesh melting away in an instant.

“EVERYONE, HALT!!!!!!!”

And then, I let out a yell of rage that shook the earth.

“…..”

Everyone caught in my gaze stopped moving.

Fwoooooosh.

Dozens of flame corpses blazed before crumbling into ashes.

“THROW DOWN YOUR SWORDS. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!”

I pointed my sword, shimmering with Aura, at the Temir, who were looking at me wide-eyed and in panic.

GUOOOOOOO!

Above me, Bebeto spread his huge wings wide as he roared.

That was the moment the battle came to an end.

Because even those brutal savages realized they had only one life.

* * *

“One wyvern died, two wyverns were severely injured, and the rest were slightly injured. All of the Skyknights are safe.”

“How is the damage to the soldiers and people?”

“All five knights stationed in Haiton and 321 soldiers were killed. The rest of the severely injured soldiers were treated with holy water. And due to the desperate resistance of the soldiers, only 50 residents lost their lives.”

“Mm…”

This was the first big wound I experienced since becoming the lord. If they still had half a breath in them, they could be saved with holy water, but I had arrived too late.

‘Accursed bastards!’

My rage blazed towards the Temir.

My people committed no wrongs, but those savages enjoyed killing.

They would one day receive their just deserts.

“My liege, what do you wish to do with the prisoners?”

“What do you think we should do, my knight?”

That was another problem.

More Temir were captured than I expected. About 2,000 prisoners had their weapons taken away and were kneeling outside the fort.

“The Temir have always been difficult to turn into slaves. Their attitudes themselves are rebellious and hostile, so even the youths will cause a ruckus on a daily basis.”

It seemed Shailt also found the Temir prisoners difficult to deal with.

“Turn them into slaves. It’s only natural that they should pay the price for their crimes by living on. We’ll put them to forced labor.”

“As you command!”

Some may say I was being inhumane, but this was what I wanted to do. This was what they deserved.

Treating a person like a human was an honor reserved for those who acted like humans, not for those who wore human skin but acted like demons.

“Provide the families of the soldiers and residents who died in the battle 100 Gold each as remuneration. Also, for 20 years, the families of the soldiers will receive 1 Gold each every month, the knights 50 Gold.”

“M-My liege…”

This was probably the first time such an incredible remuneration and pension were provided. It was commonplace that even someone in the Imperial Army would usually get a few Gold as remuneration, and that was it.

“How many wyverns were captured?”

“The battle was fierce, so not many survived. Of the 30 wyverns shot down, only 10 survived. All of them have been treated with holy water.”

‘10, you say…’

At any other time, I would have rejoiced with clapping and cheering, but not today.

The noble death of my soldiers.

I prayed with all my heart that they had gone to a good place.