Ch.52Imperial Invasion (10)

The humans were abandoning the walls and rushing toward our position.

It seemed they realized the walls no longer offered any advantage after Commander Rune’s 9th Circle magic attack. A group consisting of Masters, knights, and mage battalions was charging toward us.

“Hmm, at least they have some spirit. I was worried they might be too frightened to act.”

“They seem to live up to the Empire’s name. Shall we send out only the rookies?”

“Hmm—yes, send the rookies with some seniors to support them. We’ll observe from behind and provide backup if things look dangerous.”

“Understood. Rookies—!! You’ll be facing those humans! Seniors, each of you assist one rookie!”

“Yes, understood!!”

With those words, the rookie Elven Knights rushed forward, followed by seniors matching their pace.

“What will you do, Lord Khan? Will you join our rookies against those humans? Or will you wait here?”

“Hmm… (Mmm.)”

Honestly, I wanted to participate. Fighting opponents like them would be valuable experience for me. I was about to nod in agreement, but my size and attack style would likely harm our allies in such chaotic combat.

I could reduce my size, but only to that of a regular minotaur, and all my attacks affected wide areas.

With a dejected expression, I lowered my head and declined to participate. Mary mimicked my dejection and said in a dispirited voice that she wouldn’t join either. Commander Rune nodded in understanding.

“Then, I’ll leave the destruction of the wall and imperial palace to you, Lord Khan. That should be acceptable, right?”

At those words, I gave him a thumbs-up with a bright smile, then watched the confrontation between the Elven Knights and humans alongside Mary.

* * * * *

Clang—!!

“Urgh…”

Charging boldly at the Elven Knight was admirable, but courage and spirit alone couldn’t guarantee success. The first to realize this was Rabid Dog, an S-rank mercenary.

The continent had been peaceful with no wars for ten years.

Since then, only minor territory disputes had occurred. Seeking battles against strong opponents, Rabid Dog participated in every territorial conflict, eventually becoming a legendary S-rank mercenary after 15 years.

He had entered the mercenary business 15 years ago at age 15, making him just thirty now. At the mere age of thirty, he had reached the same rank as the Empire’s monstrous elites, yet his thirst remained unquenched.

To fight someone of his own caliber required a major war, which hadn’t happened. This was like a curse for someone who had reached S-rank but couldn’t find worthy opponents.

He would join opposing territories in territorial disputes even without payment if he found a strong opponent there. Just as he was considering leaving the mercenary life to become an adventurer…

Finally, his opportunity arrived. The Empire was waging war and called for him to fight against the Elven Knights.

How thrilled he had been at the news! He couldn’t sleep, like waiting for a wedding night, and had been anticipating battle with the Elven Knights through daily image training.

Claaang—!!

“Gah!!”

They were monstrous. The ones he was fighting now had been called “rookies.”

‘These are rookies? Ridiculous!’

In Rabid Dog’s opinion, these fighters ranked among the Empire’s elite.

The elves, whether female or male, all had long hair and slender builds making gender difficult to distinguish, but regardless, they were smaller in stature than Rabid Dog himself.

Yet what incredible strength they possessed. Those slender arms wielding small swords deflected his great sword, and their quick movements with those small blades left wounds on his body.

They outmatched him in both quantity and quality of aura, and instead of going for killing blows, they steadily pressured him. This scene was playing out for all the Empire’s Masters on the battlefield.

Some had their heads severed by jungle knife-like weapons, while others died unable to withstand the rain of arrows.

The elves weren’t even using spirit magic, their specialty, yet they overwhelmed the imperial forces using only aura-enhanced combat. Honestly, it felt like the battle’s momentum had completely shifted toward the Elven Knights.

But even so, he couldn’t give up.

The situation he had longed for had finally arrived, and retreating would bring shame to the mercenary profession that had given him the name “Rabid Dog.” So he began pressing his opponent even harder.

Whoosh—! Whoooom—!

Abandoning full-body enhancement to focus on strengthening just his upper body, Rabid Dog finally managed to overpower the Elven Knight he was facing.

Claaang—!!

For the first time, Rabid Dog’s great sword deflected the Elven Knight’s blade. The expressionless face of his opponent finally cracked, and seizing the opportunity, Rabid Dog swung his great sword downward to split the Elven Knight’s head.

CLAAANG—!!!

However, the Elven Knight somehow blocked his great sword with another blade drawn from nowhere.

“AAAAARGH—!!!”

Putting more strength into his swing and infusing his great sword with aura, he pressed down, gradually getting closer to the Elven Knight’s head… but…

Shunk—!!!

“Huh?”

He paid the price for forgetting that the Elven Knight wielded dual blades. While one hand of the Elven Knight was blocking his offensive, which he thought he had deflected, the sword now blocking his great sword was…

From the opposite arm of the one he had deflected. Then… what happened to the arm he had deflected?

As he pondered this, his vision began spinning, and he saw himself from behind, still pressing down his great sword against the Elven Knight.

‘I… lost.’

And what severed Rabid Dog’s neck was… the blade he thought he had deflected. The aura surrounding the sword had extended, cutting off his head while he was focused on pressing down his great sword.

‘It was… a good life.’

With that final thought, Rabid Dog’s consciousness was pulled into the abyss as he met his death.

* * * * *

‘It’s over.’

Marquis Lorza, the Imperial Army Commander-in-Chief and Sword Master, knew this war had ended in defeat.

Despite knights and Masters charging together, the knights were annihilated by the Elven Knights’ arrows. Thousands of knights died without even getting to swing their swords.

Enraged by this sight, the Masters engaged the Elven Knights, but… these Elven Knights seemed to fight only one-on-one, targeting everyone except Marquis Lorza himself.

Marquis Lorza also tried to join the battle… but binding magic flew at him each time. Being a Master, he could naturally break the bindings, but somehow, no matter how many times he broke free, more bindings kept coming.

As the bindings were reapplied each time he broke free, he eventually gave up. Thus, he could only watch the deaths of the Empire’s finest with his own eyes.

The first to catch his eye was a Master named Riopan, who had played a significant role in the war against the Silphin Kingdom 20 years ago. He wielded dual blades as naturally as his own arms, and his blade speed was renowned as the fastest in the Empire, but…

Even he couldn’t match the Elven Knight’s blade speed. His movements gradually became erratic, his proud swordsmanship was repeatedly blocked, and finally, both his arms were severed by the Elven Knight’s sword, ending his life.

Next was Crokt, who pressured opponents with a massive shield and club. He was known as the Empire’s Shield for his defensive prowess.

But the Elven Knight’s archery penetrated his shield with just three shots, sending his body flying and resulting in his death.

Many other Masters met their deaths at the hands of the Elven Knights without much resistance, and when only about ten Masters remained, including himself…

Even they soon met their deaths, and when Rabid Dog’s head was severed, Marquis Lorza became the last survivor on the Empire’s side.

Finally, when he broke the binding magic, no more binding spells came his way.

“I demand—a duel—!!”

Marquis Lorza thought that since he was going to die anyway, he might as well try to inflict some damage on the Elven Knights. There must be a reason they kept him alive until the end.

If so, they wouldn’t kill him until they achieved their purpose, so he requested a duel, but…

Shunk—!!

‘Huh…?’

An arrow lodged between his eyebrows. As if to say there was no reason to keep him alive, an arrow he couldn’t even perceive flew and pierced between his eyebrows.

Thud—

And so, without having properly commanded his troops or swung his sword, he joined his comrades.

* * * * *

“We spared him, yet he thinks he’s something special. We merely let him, as a commander, witness the helpless deaths of his soldiers.”

Commander Rune’s arrow instantly pierced the commander. It flew so fast that even though I was watching from the side, I couldn’t properly see the arrow’s flight.

After all the Empire’s Masters were killed, the Elven Knights gathered the humans they had slain in one place. Then they opened a spatial pocket, took out poles, tied the corpses to them, and planted them here.

The number was a staggering 81.

It matched the number of Masters they had killed, while the others simply lay on the cold ground.

“Now then, Lord Khan, please proceed. We will go ahead to the imperial palace to take the Emperor’s head. Please come slowly with Lady Mary and instill fear in these imperial humans.”

With those words, the Elven Knights disappeared. Watching them gradually become dots in the distance, I placed Mary on my head and slowly began to advance.

* * * * *

“AAAAAAHHH—!!!!”

The Empire’s citizens were gathered at the city gates, screaming. As if they would die if they didn’t leave immediately, carriages lined up at the gates, forming a procession of people trying to flee the capital.

Currently, the imperial capital was experiencing numerous crimes including arson, looting, and rape.

The Emperor was watching this with a blank expression. Somehow, these rioters had learned of the imperial army’s defeat and were committing various crimes.

The city guards who could stop them were currently sleeping on the walls, and even if he wanted to send soldiers to maintain order, they were already overwhelmed trying to control those fleeing the capital.

The Emperor covered his face, wondering how things had come to this, but the answer was simple:

They had provoked the elves.

As he saw the impending collapse of the 200-year-old Empire due to his own greed, tears flowed endlessly from the Emperor’s eyes.

Creeeak…

Someone was entering his office without permission. But imperial fixtures wouldn’t make such an undignified sound.

He instinctively felt that someone had come to take his life, and when he turned around, he knew his intuition was correct.

Brilliant golden hair that couldn’t conceal the long ears beneath. An Elven Knight wearing silver armor engraved with the World Tree emblem on the chest stood there.

“Are you the one who has come to take my life?”

The Emperor decided to act as composed as possible. He was already a dead man whether they killed him or not. If so, he would show dignity befitting an Emperor of the Empire until his death.

As he made this resolution…

Thud, thud thud, roll—

When he saw the heads of his empress, concubines, and children, he couldn’t keep his resolve.

“I clearly had them evacuated yesterday, how did you…”

The Elven Knight showed no reaction to the Emperor’s pitiful voice.

Slash—

The Elven Knight simply cut off the Emperor’s head as indifferently as a farmer harvesting grain. It was a miserable end for the one praised as the great Emperor of the Empire.

* * * * *

When I broke through the wall and entered the imperial capital, I saw beautifully maintained roads and buildings befitting a capital. I was now destroying this place that would otherwise inspire admiration.

Lightning struck with each step I took, demolishing buildings, and cracks formed in the ground whenever my hooves touched it.

People screamed beneath my feet, trying to get as far away as possible… but my lightning raced across the ground, reducing all fleeing people to ashes.

Watching the beautiful Empire being defiled by me, I finally reached what appeared to be the imperial palace.

Befitting the Empire’s palace, the building was adorned with gold and various jewels. The place where the Emperor resided should have had the tightest security, but the Elven Knights had already swept through, as there wasn’t a single guard to be seen.

As this building represented the Empire, rather than simply barging in, I decided to make a more impactful entrance by enlarging my body.

My body now grew quite naturally. At about 12 meters tall, I summoned lightning from the sky into my hand.

Crackle—!!!

With a thunderous roar, the lightning wrapped around my hand made me look like a monster straight out of mythology.

While people watching this scene from a distance trembled in fear, not understanding what was happening…

MOOOOOOO—!!!!

I let out a simple roar without any killing intent and swung my lightning-wrapped arm at the imperial palace.

The lightning became my strength, allowing me to imprint on all inhabitants of Grancia exactly what kind of being I was.

Boooom…

My fist, driven into the imperial palace, shattered the building that represented imperial dignity in a single blow, and the lightning in my hand made the scene even more impactful.

This was the day the 200-year-old Laugiel Empire disappeared at the hands of the Elven Knights and a minotaur.