Ch.1134Age of Turmoil (1)

If future historians were to record this era, they would undoubtedly describe it as a hellish age of chaos.

The bloody cycle of violence washed over everyone in the world like a wave, sparing neither time nor place, neither the strong nor the weak, neither the good nor the evil.

While those standing prominently in history wrote mythical heroic tales under the banner of protection and survival, countless supporting characters in their shadows also built their own war records as they navigated through the forest of blades.

By adding new corpses atop hills of the dead.

—-

“Look! Prey is scattered everywhere!”

Eastern Great Plains.

A large snow tiger werebeast wearing magnificent armor pointed at the horizon where dust rose like fog and shouted boisterously.

Oleg, the Ferocious King of Predation, second ruler of Baryachrus, the kingdom of werebeasts.

“Kill everything and devour everything. These plains will be our paradise, the foundation of the thousand-year kingdom we shall establish!”

No sooner had his fierce command ended, as imposing as his massive frame, than the warriors lined up behind him roared in response, raising their fighting spirit.

“KYAOOOOO!”

“Oleg! Oleg!”

“King of the North! King of Predation!!”

Roars overflowing with trust and loyalty toward their king. Every werebeast in the army praised and worshipped their king.

—-

After moving to the Great Plains with permission granted through peace negotiations with Hestella, the warriors’ support for Oleg had grown even stronger than their support for Rurik.

When they first migrated to the Great Plains following what was essentially a humiliating negotiation where they had to bow their heads to human power, many harbored resentment, but…

– It’s so warm here…?

– Deer, rabbits, and even horses. Prey everywhere…

Such resentment disappeared without a trace shortly after arriving at the Great Plains.

The comfortable climate that made one feel like falling asleep at any moment, abundant prey, and water sources that could quench their thirst anytime without needing to melt snow.

The natural environment of the Great Plains might not compare to the abundant Imperial territories, but compared to the freezing lands where the werebeasts were born and raised, it was heaven itself.

Having discovered the pleasures of a warm and well-fed life, the werebeasts completely forgot their resentment, and Oleg’s popularity naturally skyrocketed.

Even the peace treaty Oleg had concluded with Hestella was now considered a nation-saving decision rather than a humiliating compromise.

Thus, Oleg gained absolute authority that no one in Baryachrus dared to defy.

Such absolute authority that all his subordinates believed in and followed him, even though they hadn’t yet properly established a city to serve as the foundation for their nation.

Anyway, after migrating to the Great Plains, Oleg remained quietly crouched for a while, as if watching Haschal’s movements, causing no disturbances.

Of course, this was merely his outward appearance; behind the scenes, he was busy strengthening internal foundations for nation-building and gathering information about enemies.

Oleg finally raised his army and began a war of conquest after obtaining information that the Ka’har across the Barun River were mortal enemies of “Haschal.”

Originally, Oleg knew that the Eastern Ka’har were hostile to Hestella, but he hesitated to attack them rashly, thinking that “Haschal” might still have some lingering affection for his clan.

In the worst case, even if he managed to defeat the Eastern Ka’har after much struggle, Haschal might attack in response, causing him to lose everything.

However, once he learned that Aishan-Gioro Haschal and Aishan-Gioro Targiyan were bitter enemies despite sharing the same surname, he no longer had anything to fear.

Oleg chose the moment when Haschal departed westward to support the Holy State as his starting point, gathering all available forces to invade Targiyan’s territory.

Unless one carries an entire capital city during migration, establishing cities and founding a country in a new land requires tremendous time and effort.

Oleg had no intention of investing his lifetime in such “boring” work, and the other werebeasts didn’t desire such a life either.

So naturally, only one option remained: seizing the fortresses and cities already built by the Aishan Ka’har.

For this reason, Oleg started the war to conquer the plains, and the Aishan, busy recovering from their defeat, were completely caught off guard.

From the Aishan perspective, it was an utterly sudden surprise attack.

With little experience fighting werebeasts, the Aishan quickly lost several strongholds and retreated, only managing to reorganize their forces and attempt a counterattack after being pushed back considerably.

They hurriedly produced and supplied silver weapons, preemptively destroyed strongholds expected to fall, and deployed mounted archers armed with silver arrows to fire volleys and retreat, gradually wearing down enemy forces.

Additionally, they lured enemies into emptied strongholds for fire attacks, drew them into ravines to drop boulders on them, poisoned water sources, and set various traps throughout the plains.

Various and meticulous strategies that made one wonder if these were truly the Ka’har who had been despised as barbarians blocked the werebeasts’ advance.

The forces of Baryachrus were sometimes defeated by these strategies, and sometimes broke through them by sheer force, gradually consuming the east and establishing the foundations for their new kingdom.

As this was absolutely unacceptable to the Aishan, Targiyan abandoned even minimal peacekeeping efforts and scraped together all forces under his command to resist.

“Targiyan! Coward who tucked his tail and fled in fear of his younger brother! If you have courage, step forward and face me!”

“You beast-like demon…! I’ll skin you and hang your hide as decoration in my chambers!”

Since both sides believed that strength alone made one king, Oleg and Targiyan repeatedly led from the front and clashed with each other whenever large-scale battles occurred.

If it had been the Targiyan of old, the moment their swords crossed would have become his death anniversary, but—

– KWAAANG!

“Kuh…! For a coward, you have decent strength!”

“And you fail to live up to your size!”

Surprisingly, Targiyan and Oleg’s martial prowess was nearly equal.

More precisely, Oleg was slightly ahead, but the gap was so minimal that a single mistake could reverse the outcome.

This was because Targiyan, who had faced numerous rebellions and challenges after Orhan’s death, had awakened the wolf’s blood dormant in his lineage through repeated life-and-death struggles.

The blessing of wolf’s blood, passed down through bloodlines—the “Sky Wolf’s” blessing.

The blood blessing bestowed by the Thousand-Year Spirit Wolf Vanirgand granted superhuman capabilities to those who awakened its power.

Having awakened the wolf’s blood, Targiyan transcended human limitations and gained physical abilities far superior to other warriors.

Whether due to fundamental differences in talent, even after becoming stronger, he couldn’t quite match Haschal’s physical prowess.

Anyway, Targiyan’s physical abilities, enhanced by the karma of murder he had accumulated over time, slightly surpassed the Werebeast King’s.

Conversely, Oleg overwhelmed Targiyan in terms of weight class and endurance, but the quality of Targiyan’s weapons was decidedly superior.

Thanks to this, Targiyan could face the Werebeast King Oleg head-on without suffering a shameful defeat, standing as an equal opponent.

His forces, too, fought valiantly, utilizing their numerical advantage and the strengths of mounted archers to their fullest extent, even though they were somewhat disadvantaged in direct confrontations.

“Lord Mersin! The left wing is being caught up!”

“Signal the left wing to retreat! Reserve forces, volley fire toward the left front! Prevent the enemy’s pursuit!”

“Yes!”

“Once the left wing’s safety is secured, the center and right wing will also retreat and disperse, regrouping at the rear camp according to plan!”

Despite fighting with all their might, Aishan warriors repeatedly scattered and retreated to the next stronghold as soon as the battle situation began to turn unfavorable.

A cowardly tactic of shooting arrows from a distance and running away at the first sign of disadvantage, rather than committing full forces to engage the enemy.

In the past, many warriors would have opposed such tactics, but Targiyan’s warriors obeyed his orders without any resistance.

They too understood the stakes.

This war was a total war with national fate at stake. Using all available forces meant that recklessly charging in and being annihilated would seal Aishan’s doom.

After all, their Khan, Targiyan himself, had succeeded in his comeback by retreating to fight another day rather than engaging in reckless battles.

For those who had sworn loyalty to such a Targiyan, harboring resentment now about retreat being unworthy of warriors would be like spitting in their own faces.

Therefore, whenever retreat signals were given, Targiyan’s forces fled like lightning without a moment’s hesitation, allowing Targiyan to preserve his forces not only when victorious but also when defeated.

Even if they lost some territory, their forces remained intact, allowing them to reorganize and counterattack, occasionally achieving victories.

Such back-and-forth battles continued for some time across the Eastern Great Plains.

Since the war was taking place in the far east, far from the Wall of Berengaria, no western country except the involved parties noticed it.