Chapter 102: Cloud Spirit Polymorph
Soon, a blood-soaked knight from the Kingdom of Valeria came stumbling over.
"Hornreach somehow acquired alchemical cannons. Their power is immense—they blasted down an entire section of Frostfang Pass's wall!"
"And there's also a Sky Knight on Hornreach's side. He's leading the charge from the front lines, and no one can stop him! Many knights have been cut down by his hand..."
"The entire battle line is in extreme danger now. The soldiers could collapse at any moment."
"..."
When he heard about the alchemical cannons, the commander of the Kingdom of Valeria remained expressionless.
But the moment he heard the words Sky Knight, his expression finally changed.
He stared fixedly at the wounded knight.
"Are you certain it's a Sky Knight?"
"Yes! Lord Rekaen led a squad of knight attendants to stop him, but he was killed by a single thrust! The knight attendants following him were swept by the spear shaft—those who weren't dead were badly wounded!"
"Lord Robert confirmed it was a Sky Knight. He said he couldn't fight him head-on and has already withdrawn with his family's soldiers!"
"My lord, you must make a decision quickly!"
"The defensive line won't hold much longer!"
As soon as those words fell, another shell slammed into the city wall outside. Then came the sound of soldiers breaking down in panic, accompanied by frantic, chaotic footsteps.
After that came the repeated crack of gunfire.
The commander of the Kingdom of Valeria's face became extremely ugly.
The line had collapsed!
Viscount Silverclaw understood it as well. His expression changed.
He knew he had completely lost his value.
Instead, he burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha..."
The sound was especially grating within the room.
By then, the commander of the Kingdom of Valeria had already regained his composure.
He glanced at Viscount Silverclaw and calmly gave the order.
"Kill them."
"Then withdraw back to the kingdom."
"We'll reorganize the army."
Viscount Silverclaw could still see the turmoil hidden deep within the man's eyes.
For some reason, that made him feel immensely satisfied, even though death was already staring him in the face.
His laughter grew even louder.
"I know Baron Levi of Hornreach fairly well."
"The Kingdom of Valeria has taken the initiative to attack him. This matter won't end so easily."
"Send my regards to your king."
"Perhaps it won't be long before we meet in hell."
"Hahahahaha..."
Viscount Silverclaw continued laughing wildly.
He took a deep breath of the air filled with frost and the scent of blood and tightened his grip on his weapon.
Even if he was doomed to die today, he would make the enemy pay a price for it.
The more he could kill, the better.
Maybe he could even hold them here long enough for the Sky Knight on Levi's side to arrive.
At that point, they wouldn't be able to escape even if they wanted to.
Every last one of them would be buried with him.
At the thought of that, madness flashed through Viscount Silverclaw's eyes as he led his remaining trusted retainers and charged forward.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Kingdom of Valeria slowly retreated.
The elite soldiers around him surged forward, clashing with Viscount Silverclaw's men.
The sounds of slaughter rang in his ears.
But the commander's thoughts were no longer focused on the battle before him.
Hornreach had chosen its timing far too well.
So perfectly, in fact, that every move he made felt as though it had been under their surveillance.
If Hornreach hadn't launched its attack during the middle of their internal conflict, then even with alchemical cannons and a Sky Knight as overwhelming weapons, he was confident he could have held off this assault with the trump card the King of Valeria had entrusted to him.
After all, their combined forces numbered over ten thousand men.
And most of them were elite soldiers!
They held a tremendous advantage over Hornreach.
But it had happened at precisely this moment.
Hornreach had attacked when they were at their weakest.
And that had led to the current outcome.
He didn't even know how he was supposed to explain this disaster to the King of Valeria after returning.
A deep sigh rose within him.
But he quickly forced himself to recover.
This was not the time for sighing.
Turning around, he strode out of the room.
He needed to find a way to reorganize the defensive line.
The soldiers of the Valerian army and Viscount Silverclaw's troops had lost all leadership.
Under the assault led by Sky Knight Rune, they were being slaughtered until they broke and scattered in every direction.
The firearm troops followed behind, finishing off the fleeing soldiers.
The battle was already lost.
There was no possibility of turning it around.
The commander of the Kingdom of Valeria looked at the scene before him and froze momentarily.
From inside the room behind him came Viscount Silverclaw's manic laughter before death.
He fell silent for a moment.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he led his trusted soldiers in retreat toward Silverclaw Territory.
Frostfang Pass...
Could no longer be held.
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
It had only been a few months.
Just a few months, yet Hornreach had undergone earth-shaking changes.
Today, Hornreach had defeated the combined forces of the Kingdom of Valeria and Viscount Silverclaw.
Its name would soon resound across the entire continent.
And all of this...
Was because of that mysterious man.
His Majesty the King had always attached great importance to him.
At first, the commander hadn't taken it seriously.
Now, however, it seemed the king had been right all along.
He couldn't help but turn back for one final glance at the chaotic Frostfang Pass.
His eyes once again became indifferent.
'Farewell, Frostfang Pass.'
'Farewell, Hornreach.'
'The next time we meet... things won't be the same.'
"Move!" the commander of the Kingdom of Valeria shouted to the soldiers beside him.
The moment the words left his mouth, an alchemical shell came screaming through the air and landed directly on his position before exploding violently.
The commander of the Kingdom of Valeria and his trusted soldiers were blown to pieces.
There was no surviving that.
...
Outside Frostfang Pass.
Levi stood beside an alchemical cannon.
It was he who had used Detection to correct the cannon's firing angle, sending the commander of the Kingdom of Valeria straight to the heavens with a single shot.
To this day, he still couldn't understand why the man had stood there like an idiot for so long after leaving Viscount Silverclaw's room.
It had given him all the time he needed to adjust his aim.
Levi shook his head and looked up at the sky.
A flock of crows and other birds was circling overhead.
A blue glow flashed in his eyes.
With a thought, Wizard's Hand materialized out of thin air and grabbed toward the birds.
If he killed these potential informants, the King of Valeria—the man who claimed to be knowledgeable and all-knowing—would learn of this news much later.
Before, Levi hadn't known that the king was the king from the fairy tale White Snake.
Now that he did, he naturally had to take precautions.
That said...
Now that the king from White Snake had appeared, what about that servant?
Levi remembered clearly that the servant had obtained the legendary Golden Apple through the help of several birds and had ultimately won the hand of a beautiful princess.
Levi had no interest whatsoever in the princess.
But he was very interested in the legendary Golden Apple.
Still, obtaining it would require careful planning.
First, he needed to determine whether the servant had eaten the king's White Snake flesh yet.
In addition, the offensive against the Kingdom of Valeria would have to be slowed down.
Otherwise, the line of fate might change, and the servant might never have his chance to rise to prominence...
Fortunately, digesting Silverclaw Territory alone would take Levi quite a long time!!!
After pondering the matter for a while, he looked up at the battlefield before him.
The outcome had already been decided.
There was no need for him to intervene personally.
Levi turned and left, returning to the castle in Coldwind Keep Town.
The war at Frostfang Pass was still ongoing, but deep in the rear, construction of the new city continued uninterrupted.
Nothing had been affected.
Levi merely glanced out from the castle window before closing his eyes and entering meditation to restore his Magic Power.
For the next period of time, he intended to focus his efforts on another important spell—
Cloud Spirit Polymorph!
Within Levi's Sea of Souls, the spell crystal for Cloud Spirit Polymorph was still in its most primitive state.
It was only Level 1.
Compared to his other spell crystals, many of which had already reached Level 6, it seemed incredibly small and simple.
Like an artificial satellite.
Even Conversion was more sophisticated and complex than it.
Yet Levi's expectations for it far exceeded those of his other polymorph spells.
Time passed little by little.
The battle at Frostfang Pass entered its final stage.
Sky Knight Rune continued leading the soldiers forward, steadily advancing.
Meanwhile, Levi's Magic Power had fully recovered.
His Spiritual Power had also increased by 0.3 points, reaching 66.3.
For a Third-Ring Wizard, that rate of growth was by no means slow.
Naturally, that was because more and more spell crystals existed within his Sea of Souls, and their levels continued to rise.
As his Sea of Souls was strengthened again and again, his Spiritual Power naturally improved at a faster pace.
If he could obtain an even higher-tier meditation method, the speed of his Spiritual Power growth could increase further still.
The high-level meditation method Sweet Corridor, which he had obtained from the Candy House, produced remarkable results at the Second-Ring Wizard stage.
But now that he had reached the Third-Ring Wizard level, it was beginning to fall short.
Silently, Levi added "acquire a higher-tier meditation method" to his task list before turning his attention back to Cloud Spirit Polymorph.
The spell he had obtained from the Cloud Spirit was still only at its most basic stage.
Levi expended only a tiny amount of Magic Power, using it to stir the energy of the outside world and wrap it around himself.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a fluffy white cloud resembling a giant piece of cotton candy.
It was neither too large nor too small.
Neither too thick nor too thin.
Its edges were soft, and its color was pure white.
Mixed among the drifting clouds high above, it appeared completely unremarkable.
Even sunlight falling upon it produced nothing more than an ordinary bright whiteness.
Not the slightest trace of Magic Power leaked out.
[You have cast... Experience +20. Current Experience...]
A gust of wind blew by.
The white cloud Levi had transformed into drifted lazily upward until it finally came to a stop above the castle.
A cloud was not a Cloud Spirit.
It had no eyes.
Its entire body was composed of water vapor.
Levi could only use his Spiritual Power to observe the world below.
The sensation was extremely strange.
And somewhat uncomfortable.
At the end of the day, the spell's level was simply too low.
The cloud possessed no special abilities at all.
Only two traits that barely qualified as abilities.
The first was going wherever the wind carried it.
One gust, and it would drift away.
The second was automatically absorbing water vapor from its surroundings.
Once enough accumulated, condensation would begin.
And if it condensed beyond what the air currents could support, it would transform into raindrops and fall from the sky.
And once it turned into rain...
The white cloud Levi had transformed into would effectively be dead.
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