Ch.377Western Front

The captured prisoner was immediately transported to the basement of the lord’s castle for interrogation.

I headed to the basement with Lord Ludwig to see the prisoner.

“You Western dogs! Kill me if you dare! Otherwise I’ll tear you all to pieces and feed you to the wild dogs!”

Inside the basement prison, a Ka’har warrior wearing red battle garb was chained tightly with iron shackles, screaming in rage.

Hersella had mentioned he was a member of the elite troops called the Red Banner. Impressive that they managed to capture someone like that.

I didn’t bring Jahan along.

Although he had betrayed the Ka’har by following Hersella, it still seemed wrong to show him the torture of someone who had been his compatriot until just a few days ago.

Of course, this wasn’t a sight for Lena either, so I left her in the room with Nigel.

“Ser Khan will slaughter all of you! Kill every man and turn all women into slaves…!”

“Hello, remember me? It’s been a while.”

I smiled as I leaned in toward the warrior who was barking like a rabid dog.

The basement was a bit dark, but with my cigarette lit, he could clearly see my face.

“You…!”

The warrior’s eyes widened to the point of tearing.

I blew cigarette smoke toward him provocatively.

“Haschal! So you were here! Shameless traitor, you whore who spreads her legs for the Imperials!”

The warrior thrashed about in a fit of rage, spewing insults.

Spreading legs? I’ve been hit in the stomach before, but I’ve never done anything like that. And I never will.

“This bastard’s still full of energy. Interrogating him will be fun.”

I smirked and shrugged my shoulders.

I heard Ludwig was planning to turn him into an answer-dispensing machine through brainwashing, but I thought I’d try interrogating him first.

“Laugh while you can! Ser Khan and Lord Targiyan are waiting for the day they capture you! When that day comes, you’ll be screaming under a stallion just like Dahamei!”

The warrior hurled more insults at me.

‘Who are Targiyan and Dahamei?’

[Targiyan is Orhan’s first son. From what he’s saying, it seems he’s been given command of the Red Banner. As for Dahamei… she’s Amin’s mother, and it appears she’s been made to take the blame for Amin’s crimes. Under a stallion… Heh, I regret not seeing that spectacle. It would have been a fitting end for that vixen.]

Hersella chuckled.

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

The war between Alvheim and Himmel intensified, and the Empire, lacking the resources to intervene, could only watch.

Watch the true military might of non-human races revealed to the world after hundreds of years.

It was both terrifying and shocking.

“The time has come to reclaim our ancient glory! Long live Alvheim!”

The elves, led by high elementals and guardians, swept through Himmel’s territory unleashing all manner of elemental magic.

Storms of flame that melted even steel raged, and the earth itself rose up as giants walking on two feet.

Blinding flashes accompanied thousands of lightning bolts that roared through the air.

Writhing tree roots covered the dwarven territory like a tsunami, expanding the forest itself.

A scene that could only be described as a nightmare.

It was as if nature itself had gone mad.

“Dirt-digging dwarves! We’ll bury you all!”

High elementals were fundamentally different from lesser elementals created by twisting the souls of fetuses.

They were noble spiritual entities wielding nature magic surpassing even high mages, possessing deep wisdom and firm rationality.

Unlike lesser elementals who were mere consumables, they were beings respected even by the elves.

The high elementals were, in fact, the ancestors of the elves who had ended their lives in the embrace of the World Tree long ago.

Beings born when the blessing of the World Tree was added to elven souls that had accumulated vast power over eight hundred years of life.

That was the true nature of high elementals.

While only Alvheim’s upper echelons knew this fact, the mindset that high elementals should be respected was a belief shared by all elves.

“Urgh…! Abandon the fortress and retreat! Those things cannot be killed!”

The dwarves had no choice but to continuously retreat before the relentlessly advancing elven forces.

The dwarven firearms specialized in physical destruction, so they had poor compatibility against elementals, which were spiritual entities.

Fire and lightning elementals took no damage at all, while earth elementals could be destroyed by bombardment but would quickly regenerate and rise again.

To counter elementals, one needed to use mana or weapons capable of harming spiritual entities.

Of course, this didn’t mean the dwarves were being helplessly slaughtered.

Each time the dwarves retreated, they detonated all their weapons and fortresses, preventing the elves from obtaining any spoils of war and making it dangerous to rashly pursue the retreating dwarves.

Moreover, the self-destructing fortresses weren’t the only danger.

—-

– BOOM!

With a thunderous explosion, the head of an elf who had been cutting off a captured dwarf’s eyelids burst like a thrown watermelon.

Bright red chunks of flesh sprayed sideways.

Crushed brain matter stuck to the face of the tortured dwarf.

The elf, whose upper jaw had disappeared, convulsed like a broken doll before collapsing in a puddle of his own urine.

“Kuh, hahaha! Died well, you pointy-eared bastard!”

The dwarf who had been enduring the pain burst into laughter at the sight.

“Dwarf automaton sniper! Defend!”

“Damn it, where from…! We searched this area thoroughly!”

The startled elves hurriedly summoned elementals and lowered their posture.

Earth elementals were compressed into stone walls to protect them like cover, while wind elementals were dispatched to search for the sniper.

The dwarves weren’t retreating quietly.

They had buried mines that would explode when elves approached at every chokepoint, and hidden automatons programmed to snipe from terrain suitable for concealment.

While bullets might not work on elementals, they worked just fine on their masters.

The large-caliber sniper rounds, devoid of killing intent, were quite threatening even to elven guardians.

It took another ten minutes before the dwarven automaton doing the sniping was discovered and destroyed.

Three elves had lost their heads to large-caliber sniper rounds. All the elves could recover were broken fragments.

“Damn these dwarves!”

The elves who had dealt with the sniper vented their frustration by inflicting brutal torture on the dwarf prisoner who was still laughing.

“Kh, keh, kheugh-! Serves you right, you tree-huggers! Hahaha-!”

Even as his entrails were pulled out and his skin flayed, the dwarf didn’t stop laughing until his last breath.

—-

While the dwarves’ guerrilla tactics using automatons were threatening, they weren’t enough to affect the overall war situation.

Through fierce battles filled with magic and artillery, Alvheim’s legions continued to devour Himmel’s territory.

Literally devouring it, in a way that could only be described as such.

Areas occupied by elves transformed within days from empty wastelands into lush greenery, with massive trees growing into dense forests.

As a result of the World Tree’s blessing combined with the power of high elementals, Alvheim’s great forest itself was gradually expanding.

As if a massive living entity made of trees was extending its head southward.

That was the elves’ method of conquest.

—-

After repeated defeats, the emergence of high elementals, and the overwhelming strength of elven guardians straight out of ancient tales,

With the very existence of their nation in peril, Himmel’s parliament finally made a decision.

“It seems the time has come to bring out the Class 1 Relics.”

Class 1 Relics.

These were machines that had been strictly sealed according to the instructions of their ancestors.

The dwarves of that era possessed power befitting a time when dragons flew in the sky, high elementals burned the world, and kings of werebeasts led hunting parties.

Eight hundred years ago, these were the artifacts from when they proudly reigned as one of the dominant races.

Destructive weapons that couldn’t be reproduced even with current technology slumbered deep beneath Himmel.

Even with these, they had fallen to the human transcendent Carlos.

No matter how powerful their weapons, there was no way to win against a monster who could collapse entire mountain ranges containing the dwarves’ underground cities.

The dwarven ancestors who were defeated by humanity sealed their core weapons deep underground.

Given the weakened state of dwarven power at that time, if such technology were to leak out, it could have led to the extinction of their race.

The ancestors of that time left instructions never to bring out these relics unless Himmel faced an existential crisis.

And now, that existential crisis had arrived.

“Aye! Let’s burn those pointy-eared bastards’ forest to the ground!”

“Our ancestors would understand.”

There was no opposition.

While the great dwarven houses often feuded among themselves, tearing elves to pieces was something everyone welcomed.

With the unanimous approval of all representatives, the seal on the underground vault where the Class 1 Relics slumbered was finally released.

“This is…!”

“Amazing, I never imagined they had created such things…!”

The representatives gazed at the relics left by their ancestors with eyes mixed with admiration and envy.

They too had only known these were powerful weapons, but not their true nature.

It was a moment when the war entered a new phase.