Ch.209209. Plague War (7)

# Dawn Empire Front.

The plague forces concentrated their offensive particularly on this front, and from the perspective of the ‘Plague,’ there were ample reasons to be wary.

From the Avenger Legion, arguably the strongest infantry of this era, to the Legion of Black Sun that supported them and filled in their numerical gaps.

With at least five confirmed elite forces, and Emperor Bjorn Wolfson of the Dawn Empire being the only one to reach the level of Transcendent.

Their military power not only matched the ancient Roman Empire but was considered even more elite in reality.

Therefore, the plague forces made every effort to bring down the Dawn Empire, even having Ense-Pesgut, the Pope of the Plague Order, participate directly on the battlefield—but—

All these plans were swept away by the hands of the Imperial Emperor who appeared in person, effectively reducing them to nothing in an instant.

Beyond the number of casualties, the truly critical issue was that too many troops had simply vanished.

In other words, a serious power vacuum suddenly emerged on the Dawn Empire front.

The situation was so dire that there weren’t enough troops to defend if invaders appeared in that direction, causing the panicked plague command to hastily gather reserve forces.

These desperate leaders succeeded in conscripting tens of thousands of troops from various fronts faster than they had ever handled any task before, but…

“Advance!!”

“Forward!! Forward!!”

Before they could plug the power vacuum with these scraped-together reserves, the Dawn Empire, having completed preparations for a counterattack, immediately declared a Crusade of Avenge and began to march.

Crusade of Avenge.

A term referring to military operations aimed at revenge against those who attacked the Dawn Empire—a crusade with the purpose of vengeance.

The authority to declare such a crusade belongs only to the highest positions in the Order, the head of administration, or the Apostles.

Additionally, the declaration must be approved by the Emperor of the Dawn Empire, and even if all these conditions are met, it will never be recognized without God’s permission.

While the declaration process is extremely rigorous, once all procedures are completed and the crusade is declared—everything changes.

From that moment, the Dawn Empire becomes a massive organization dedicated to completing the Crusade of Avenge, mobilizing all national capabilities to completely annihilate the enemy.

This Crusade of Avenge was no different. The Dawn Empire raised an army of 20,000 to attack the ‘Plague.’

Although the Plague was originally overwhelmingly more efficient in defense than offense, the Dawn Empire had thoroughly prepared for battle…

They equipped one in every five soldiers with mass-produced flamethrowers, waging war with the determination to burn everything contaminated by the plague.

“Hah—ha—!!”

“Disinfect the filth!!!”

*FWOOOOOOSH*—!!

Soldiers in specialized suits wielding flamethrowers that resembled lawn mowers.

The Dawn Empire’s flamethrower troops purified the plague with scorching flames.

It was a tactic so simple it might be considered crude… but being crude only means less efficient, not impossible.

And even that reduced efficiency merely meant it was excessively expensive. The firepower of these flamethrower operators was like something from another era.

By simply burning everything in their path, plague-related issues were eliminated, and when enemies approached, they were met with volleys of fire followed by complete incineration.

As the soldiers spent considerable time among ash and flames,

a certain mage stood triumphantly in the air above them, laughing maniacally.

From his snow-white hair despite his seemingly young age, to his flowing white robes that matched his hair.

Mounted on his pet manticore and looking down at the ground below with madness in his eyes—his name was Lunifer Ficentrius.

The reason such a prominent figure as the Chancellor of the Imperial Magic University could arrive here without a single guard, and in such a defenseless state while laughing like a madman, was simple.

‘For them, the greatest, greatest love—!!!’

Nuclear Magic.

The joy of being able to wield what should be called the most destructive magic in the world, which he had only theoretically conceived and planned, revived his old personality, causing him to laugh wildly as he began casting the spell.

《────》.

Typically, a mage skilled in a particular spell can shorten the incantation, using only the name of the spell to cast it.

This technique is essential for mages to use magic directly in combat, but unfortunately, Lunifer lacked the proficiency to shorten the incantation for Nuclear Magic.

However, since it was a spell that needed to be cast through ritual anyway, incantation was necessary. Thus, as he recited the long incantation of approximately 270,000 characters—

《───Tsar Bomba》!!

He successfully completed the incantation for “Tsar Bomba,” the most powerful area-of-effect Nuclear Magic and the only Level 5 area Nuclear Magic.

And the moment the spell was cast,

a mass of magical energy the size of a passenger car slowly began to descend from a point in the sky so distant it was barely visible to Lunifer’s eyes.

The moment it touched the ground—everything was destroyed.

The massive explosion, powerful enough to potentially destroy the world, formed a mushroom cloud and released tremendous shockwaves.

Everything near the epicenter was completely destroyed by the shockwaves and burned to ashes by the overwhelming heat.

Nothing remained at the center of this explosion.

Only a massive crater remained as evidence of the blast.

Everything within an enormous radius was completely annihilated.

“Ughh!!”

Even those at least 10km away from the epicenter felt the manticore stagger momentarily from the transmitted shockwaves.

And witnessing the overwhelming size of the explosion in the distance, Lunifer unconsciously uttered a verse from an Indian scripture he had once encountered:

“…Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

As those words suggested, this became the starting point to end a war that had brought nothing but loss to all involved.

※ ※ ※

The Nuclear Magic “Tsar Bomba” cast by Lunifer Ficentrius, my adorable love-sick follower, successfully became the catalyst for ending this war.

With the destruction of the plague marshes, which were particularly contaminated areas in the plague’s main base, the Plague determined that continuing to fight would only result in further losses and extended a hand of reconciliation.

Of course, I would have preferred to commit all our forces to annihilate them completely, but…

After considering various factors, my decision was to accept the peace negotiations while extracting some faith as compensation.

From my perspective, this war was a complete victory for our side.

Our casualties barely exceeded 2,000, all of whom were soldiers participating in the war, with no civilian casualties.

Not only did we not lose a single piece of territory, but we even seized some of their lands and captured several fortresses.

While I suffered no losses and even gained benefits, the Plague forces suffered tremendous losses from this failed expedition.

At least hundreds of thousands of troops vanished during this invasion, they lost considerable territory, and their central region was devastated by magic.

No matter how tenacious and quantity-focused the forces of the Plague God might be, suffering such damage without any gain was a critical blow.

Therefore, I issued an oracle to stop the war at an appropriate time and negotiate.

I cited the reason that the newly occupied territories had significantly extended our borders, making further conquest unmanageable.

Most people, except for some extremists, accepted this decision.

Moreover, since the ‘Plague’ would need to serve as the main tank against future demonic invasions, destroying them now would only benefit the demons of the underworld.

Thus, the cessation of hostilities I proposed through my messenger was easily accepted, resulting in a definitive victory for the Dawn Empire.

Although there was some resistance, primarily from extremists… what could they possibly do about it?

Military authority is firmly controlled with no possibility of interference, and the supreme ruler of the Dawn Empire is a Transcendent with absolute power.

Therefore, the Dawn Empire soon quieted down again, bringing an end to the Plague War, a major event that would mark a significant chapter in world history.