Chapter 151 : Chapter 151
Chapter 151. Incorrect Meeting (5)
As soon as the battle ended and he entered the conference barrack, Deniz, unable to control his anger, struck the table with his fist.
Kwang! Pajik!
Deniz, who broke the table in two at once, raised his voice.
“Why on earth did the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb not work properly!”
Prokle's expression turned pale upon hearing that voice as he followed into the conference barrack.
Seeing that expression, Deniz cornered Prokle.
“You made a mistake, right? Right? Answer truthfully!”
Prokle shook his head and said.
“No. I didn't. I definitely operated the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb properly and threw it, and I confirmed with my own two eyes that it stuck to the second castle gate.”
“Then why is the second castle gate fine!”
“……I don't know that either.”
Deniz, unable to control his anger, rushed toward Prokle.
It looked like he was about to throw a punch right away.
The nobles who appeared in the conference barrack one step late hurriedly stopped Deniz.
“Oh my, Count! Please calm down!”
“We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves, amongst ourselves!”
“In times like this, everyone should join forces!”
Only then did Deniz come to his senses and step back.
Then he shook his head from side to side and muttered.
“With this, even if we capture Velia Castle, we will be reprimanded by His Majesty. It probably won't end with just a verbal scolding.”
Hearing Deniz's words, the faces of the nobles recalling the future turned pale.
It was a point where they could realize anew how fearsome the Emperor of the Empire was.
It was natural since everyone here remembered the incident where the Council of Elder Nobles stepped down taking responsibility for the defeat not long ago.
And the bloody purge that happened at that time.
Silence flowed for a while, and the nobles began to speak one by one.
“W, will we be held responsible even if we capture Kroxen Castle, not just Velia Castle?”
“Rather than that, shouldn't we first find out how the Allied Forces blocked the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb?”
“It must be the doing of another mage tower jealous of the Penitudo mage tower sweeping up gold coins!”
“If we find out which mage tower that is, will our responsibility be lessened? Then I will try to gather information.”
“Rather than that, I think we should besiege Velia Castle and Kroxen Castle and target the Aequor Plains. Because eventually, we need to quickly get our hands on the Aequor Plains to reduce our responsibility.”
“Sending troops here and there like that is rather dangerous. Trying to have everything might result in losing everything. Let's rather approach carefully.”
The nobles' discussion was flowing in the right direction overall.
Because eventually, to cover up this problem, they had to capture Velia Castle and Kroxen Castle step by step and even get their hands on the Aequor Plains.
At the same time, they also had to find out how the Allied Forces defended against the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb.
‘Right. Let's solve the problems one by one, one by one.’
Deniz, who was listening to the nobles' stories, barely composed himself like this.
But suddenly, Roden's unsightly face came to mind.
And as soon as it did,
Ppadeuk!
Deniz ground his teeth unknowingly.
‘I don't know what tricks you used, but you haven't transcended the issue of eating and living, right. Just you wait! I will somehow capture Velia Castle and spit on your face!’
***
Although they succeeded in defending against the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb, the Main Battalion suffered from the Imperial Army consistently for fifteen days.
“The enemy is more cautious than I thought. I thought they would pour out troops determined to destroy the second castle gate somehow.”
Hearing Michael's story, who seemed to have lost a little weight compared to fifteen days ago, Roden nodded quietly.
Roden also thought so.
But unexpectedly, the Imperial Army proceeded with the siege warfare calmly.
In a direction to reduce troop and supply consumption as much as possible and exhaust the Main Battalion.
Recently, they didn't even launch boulders with catapults.
Because Roden had reinforced the castle walls following the castle gates with enchantment magic step by step over the fifteen days, so catapults couldn't even make a scratch.
The Imperial Army also seemed to have grasped this fact.
Eventually, at this rate, the Main Battalion was in a situation where they had no choice but to give up Velia Castle while suffering from hunger.
What was even more despairing was the fact that it was difficult to even expect reinforcements.
Let alone reinforcements, the situations of the 1st Corps and 2nd Corps were more serious than the 3rd Corps.
The 1st Corps was hit by the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb, lost Tizren Castle, and fled to another castle,
And the 2nd Corps barely succeeded in defending against the Imperial Army coming through the breached castle gate with the Castle-Breaking Crystal Orb, but it was unknown when that strength would run out.
For that reason, receiving help from other corps was impossible.
Eventually, there was only one thing the Main Battalion could expect.
Hoping that the Allied Forces' high-ranking nobles would participate in the war just like the Imperial Army's high-ranking nobles participated in the war.
However, time was needed for such a decision to be made, so the Main Battalion had to hold out in Velia Castle somehow.
The problem was whether that was realistically possible.
That's how oppressive the Imperial Army's current siege warfare method was.
It was even more so because the stockpiled food was almost showing the bottom.
Roden, who organized his thoughts for a moment, spoke.
“Since the enemy is cautious, I think we should also judge the situation realistically.”
“Realistically?”
“Yes. Because just holding out will only result in everyone dying in vain. If the situation doesn't turn around by next week, we have to move to prolong our lives somehow.”
“How, in a situation where we are surrounded? Are you going to try breaking through at a single point?”
“If necessary. But there won't be a need to go that far.”
“Don't tell me?”
“Yes. That's right. I will use the new recruit unit.”
Roden didn't necessarily bring the new recruit unit here when entering Velia Castle.
Because bringing them would only consume food and wouldn't be helpful in fighting the enemy.
It didn't mean they were useless.
To be precise, it meant there was no place to use them.
Since battalion-sized troops were sufficient to block corps-sized troops.
Like that, the new recruit unit was currently staying at an earthen castle in the Aequor Plains.
For that reason, the new recruit unit could act quite freely even now.
It was also the new recruit unit that delivered the news of the 1st Corps and 2nd Corps via carrier pigeons.
However,
“Will we be able to escape Velia Castle just because we use the new recruit unit? In fact, it was lucky that the new recruit unit's carrier pigeon arrived at our side.”
Naturally, the Imperial Army was dealing with all carrier pigeons as soon as they saw them to prevent them from arriving at Velia Castle.
But the new recruit unit persistently sent carrier pigeons to somehow deliver the news, and one of them survived, allowing Roden to know the news of the 1st Corps and 2nd Corps.
Eventually, it was lucky, and Michael's question started here.
Isn't the new recruit unit just staying at the earthen castle because they are lucky, and their combat power is lacking a lot.
“It is true that the new recruit unit's combat power currently falls short of the Main Battalion. So even if the Main Battalion and the new recruit unit attack the Imperial Army together, the probability of successfully escaping wouldn't be very high.”
“That's what I'm saying. And rather than doing that, wouldn't it be better to hold out somehow and wait for the news of the high-ranking nobles' participation? That side has a higher probability.”
“Originally that would be the case, but if I escape Velia Castle alone and lead the new recruit unit, the situation will be different.”
“What? What do you intend to do now?”
“If I manufacture and supply equipment engraved with secret techniques to the new recruit unit for a week, their combat power will increase significantly.”
“W, wait a minute!”
“Still, the scale is larger on the Imperial Army's side, so we would lose in a head-on confrontation, but we will somehow succeed in escaping Velia Castle. If done well, we might even achieve better results.”
“No! Wait!”
Only after shouting several times did Roden stop speaking and look at Michael.
Then he asked.
“Is there a problem?”
“There is! Just now, Battalion Commander, you said it with your own mouth. That you will escape Velia Castle alone and go to the new recruit unit.”
“Yes. That is so?”
“Does that make any sense? While one carrier pigeon broke through the siege and came in, almost over thirty carrier pigeons were hit by arrows and fell. Even that one came in because it was lucky. But you, a person, intend to break through that.”
“Do you think it won't work?”
“It won't! You don't have wings on your back! No, even if you had wings, it wouldn't work!”
Certainly, breaking through the Imperial Army's siege even by flying was impossible for now.
That's how tight the Imperial Army's siege was.
But Roden was confident.
Confident that he could break through the Imperial Army's siege and advance toward the new recruit unit.
Seueuk.
Seeing is believing.
As if waiting, Roden used something, and Michael, unaware of that fact, raised his voice in excitement.
“Don't tell me, do you intend to use that secret technique that detects surrounding living beings? That is also unreasonable. Even if you hide like that, if you are discovered even once, it will be the end…… Huh?”
Michael realized belatedly that Roden had suddenly disappeared and tilted his head.
At that time, Roden's voice was heard from the empty air.
“How is it? Do you still think I won't be able to break through the Imperial Army's siege?”
“W, what is this…….”
When Michael was flustered without grasping the situation.
Once again, Roden revealed himself on the spot with a seueuk.
What Roden used was the 7th-circle stealth magic ‘Eternal Shadow’, known to almost perfectly block sight, hearing, touch, and even mana detection.
That was right.
Roden intended to break through the Imperial Army's encirclement network with Eternal Shadow.