Ch.344Bullets and Arrows

======[ Himmel Border ]======

If there were a painter who wished to depict the landscape of hell, visiting this place would be sufficient.

The war between elves and dwarves was truly a spectacle that seemed to embody the end of the world.

– KWAGWAGWAGWANG!

A thunderous roar, as if a thousand thunderclaps had been amplified, shook heaven and earth.

Sixty cannons deployed at the dwarven fortress. Each time the simultaneous barrage struck the ground, thick smoke rose along with shattered soil flying high into the sky.

“How do you like the taste of gunpowder, you decrepit elves!”

The dwarves’ battle cries echoed beyond the fortress.

Facing the elven invasion that had resumed after hundreds of years, they were responding with every operational weapon they could muster.

Machine guns, cannons, tanks, and mines. They even deployed automatic defense dolls to supplement their insufficient troops.

The mechanical civilization of the dwarves, estimated to be five hundred years ahead of the continental average.

Though they lacked the transcendent warriors that other races possessed, they were never a race that needed such beings to begin with.

Even a Master-level knight would become nothing but helpless flesh before the cross-fire of machine guns.

Had their population been sufficient, they might have become the rulers of this world.

“AAAAARGH!”

Elves who stepped on mines during their advance were torn to pieces.

Severed limbs were buried in mounds of dirt, and the entrails of elves killed in the explosions clung to the bodies of those lucky enough to survive.

“Mere dwarves!”

The head of a patrol member who was resisting with a drawn bow exploded from a sniper’s bullet.

The 20mm large-caliber round had enough power to penetrate the basic anti-projectile magic formations that elves typically deployed.

—-

Perhaps due to the endless cannon fire, the battlefield appeared to favor the dwarves at first glance.

However, the expressions of the dwarf warriors pulling the triggers were not particularly bright.

While their weapons possessed enough firepower to slaughter elves, the elves’ arrows likewise had the power to reduce dwarves to chunks of meat.

In terms of versatility, they were far superior to simple firearms.

“Do not retreat! They’re merely shooting pieces of metal!”

An elven patroller encouraged his patrol members as he fired an elemental arrow filled with mana.

A flame created by crushing and combining fifteen salamanders. A vortex of fire swept over the fortress.

“GYAAAAAAAH!”

Dwarves caught in the intense heat screamed as they burned.

Within the flickering flames, short figures danced, flailing their limbs.

– KWAAANG!

What followed next was a fierce explosion.

Their weapons were steel guns filled with gunpowder, and it was only natural that they would all explode when touched by flames.

The dwarves who were turning into roasted meat were caught in the explosion and shredded like pieces of steak.

—-

The elves’ main means of attack were arrows that transformed spirits, endlessly supplied from the World Tree, into magical forms.

What one might call spirit bullets.

Although there was a drawback that spirits, once used, would die as their souls were forcibly twisted using mana.

Long ago, elves had fought alongside spirits, communicating with them as comrades, but now no one insisted on such inefficient tactics.

Rather than communicating with lower spirits to throw small fireballs, it was far more powerful to sacrifice spirits as consumables to create vortices of flame.

Storms of fire raged, and lightning distorted the atmosphere.

Rising soil formed barriers blocking bullets, and blades of ice fell like guillotines.

A torrent of raging natural phenomena.

Countless lower spirits were dying by the second, screaming in their death throes.

These beings that elves called lower spirits.

Except for containing elemental power bestowed by the World Tree, they were mental entities no different from innocent children.

Other races did not know their true identity and essence, but if they had known, they would have taken up swords in rage to slaughter all elves.

For the true identity of these souls, who absolutely obeyed the elves’ commands and were used and discarded like consumables—

They were human offspring produced through kidnapping, breeding, and forced mating.

—-

The battle at the Himmel border, which had turned the surroundings into ruins through continuous firepower, was concluded by three Guardians who had been observing the situation.

Beings who commanded high spirits fundamentally different from lower spirits.

When one Guardian raised his hand to point forward, the earth completely overturned and transformed into a rock giant, while the flames summoned by another Guardian melted the fortress walls made of rock and metal.

The dwarves, who had only anticipated attacks from ordinary elves, abandoned engagement with the high spirits and retreated to their secondary defense line.

To face ‘such things,’ they would have to bring out their old weapons that had been strictly sealed away.

Finally, although the elves had taken the border fortress, they too could not enjoy the victor’s joy.

Dwarves were a paranoid race who attached self-destruct devices to all their weapons to prevent technology leakage through capture. The same applied to their fortress.

What awaited the elves who had occupied the border fortress and entered inside was enough explosives to reduce the entire fortress to rubble.

In an instant of blinding light, everything turned to ash.

A massive cloud rose above the ground.

The only surviving elves were the patrollers who had not entered the fortress and the Guardians who had deployed barriers with high spirits as soon as the explosion occurred.

The first battle between dwarves and elves thus concluded with severe casualties on both sides.

=======[ Haschal ]=======

Even after the rewards ceremony ended, I had to spend a full three days recuperating at Faelrun Castle without moving.

In fact, considering all the hardship I’d been through, this was an unreasonably fast recovery.

Does recovery ability also improve as one gets stronger? I hope so.

Anyway, thanks to this, I was able to enjoy hot spring baths to my heart’s content.

While watching Demian, who was drying up day by day, and Millia, whose skin was not just glowing but practically sparkling.

I spent most of my time sitting on the bed like that.

Of course, I didn’t waste time idly.

Although it was difficult to move my body vigorously, I could review battles in my mind and consider improvements. If I got stuck on something, I could just ask Hersella.

For example, ways to improve my heroic tale “Defying Fate”… things like that.

‘About the Sword of Defying Fate, could I expand its activation range from just the blade to my entire body?’

If that were possible, rather than just increasing slash speed, it could have an effect similar to explosively accelerating all my movements.

At that point, wouldn’t it be possible to one-sidedly beat Rurik before he could even do anything?

[ …How would I know that? It’s your technique, so you should judge for yourself. Asking me won’t give you answers. I don’t even understand the activation principle of that skill. ]

…Regarding the Sword of Defying Fate, Hersella was surprisingly useless.

Well, even at the level of a hero, understanding how another person’s heroic tale manifests—grasping its principles—was nearly impossible.

Even I couldn’t figure out how that Ghost Sword thing was possible.

Still, Hersella’s advice was quite helpful for other techniques besides the Sword of Defying Fate.

It was a beneficial time in many ways. I was able to understand the principles behind Hersella’s techniques, systematically refine them, and make them my own.

Techniques like creating chains of Karma of Murder to instantly restrain an enemy’s limbs, or blocking attacks with layered Karma of Murder like a curtain.

These were highly versatile methods worth remembering.

Additionally, I concluded that the gap that occurs right after using the Sword of Defying Fate could be covered with Hersella’s help.

By extending thorns of Karma of Murder in all directions, I could force the enemy to choose defense or evasion instead of attacking.

Even while lying in bed, I was gradually but surely becoming stronger.

…Rather than stronger, perhaps “sharper” would be a more fitting description?

—-

Three days later.

Early in the morning, Leonore visited my room with a bundle of papers in her hand.

“Lady Haschal, there are letters for you.”

“Letters?”

I received five envelopes. Each had the sender’s name written on the front.

Nigel, Ludwig, Leopold, Lacy, and Ophelia.

I’ll have to read them one by one a bit later.

While Nigel’s and Ophelia’s might just be simple greetings, the letters from Ludwig, Leopold, and Lacy likely contained important information.

—-

The rest of the papers Leonore was holding were re-enlistment applications from former Rose Cross Knights.

The Rose Cross Knights.

Although the Duke of Faelrun had transferred their ownership to me, I imposed one condition instead of taking them under my command.

A simple but most important condition.

‘Do not forget who your master is.’

It was a necessary procedure. The Rose Cross Knights were originally Leonore’s personal knights.

The object of their loyalty had been their captain, Leonore Wittelsbach.

That’s why even Rain Wigris, who was formerly part of the Rose Cross Knights, showed more concern for Leonore, my guard knight, than for me.

Of course, in Rain Wigris’s case, strictly speaking, she wasn’t under my command but a free person, so it wasn’t something to reprimand as disrespectful.

However, for other knights, now that they had become my knights, it was necessary to clearly establish the hierarchy.

To be blunt, if both Leonore and I were in danger simultaneously, they seemed likely to abandon me and rush to protect Leonore instead. Not even knowing who their master was.

So I had to make it clear.

Their master, the one they should be loyal to, was now me, not Leonore.

If they couldn’t accept that… well, they could quit the Rose Knights and join the Imperial Knights instead.

My intentions were conveyed to all knights through Leonore, and they chose to accept this condition rather than quit.

They probably only accepted it verbally… but that’s something I can gradually change.

Thus, I finally obtained what could be called private soldiers. Though they were all female knights.

Strangely, it seems only women gather around me. Is this what they call reaping what you sow?