Ch.864The Power of Civilization!

“Lord Garun and Lord Hadar, taken down so easily…!”

“Good heavens, is this the end…?”

The battle situation in front of the imperial palace was resolved in an instant. There wasn’t a warrior brave enough to charge forward after witnessing two Champion warriors perish without even blocking a single strike.

On the battlefield, the bravest are often the first to fall.

Anyone foolish enough to challenge me after witnessing this scene had already been reduced to dismembered corpses by my companions long before I arrived.

In other words, the only warriors remaining were essentially cowards.

They had been forced to fight under the direct command of their Champion, but had permission been granted, they would have turned tail and fled faster than anyone else.

So—

“Kenaz.”

Just like that, setting a moderate fire was enough to make them all flee with their tails between their legs. Their fighting spirit had already been broken.

“Hieeeek!”

“R-run! The heretic wolf’s sorcery, the fire of Gisaka!”

Their desperate scramble to escape was quite an unsightly spectacle.

—-

After quickly clearing the area in front of the imperial palace, I immediately flew toward the main hall.

There was no time to waste. An intense presence that sent shivers down my spine was rapidly approaching from hundreds of meters away.

Rotholandus.

Just as I could roughly sense his position, he too would be sensing my presence.

That was precisely why I had to deal with the two Champions as quickly as possible, even at the cost of wasting my Karma power.

If I had spent a minute fighting them head-on, I would have ended up in an unwinnable battle with Rotholandus, who would have reached the imperial palace in the meantime.

That would be troublesome. If he got too close, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to board the airship.

Therefore, I needed to complete all my tasks before he reached my vicinity and then escape to the sky.

To give these barbaric bandits and sorcerers a taste of civilization’s fire.

—-

*CRASH!*

The interior of the main hall I reached was filled with traces of a battle as fierce as the one at the imperial gates.

Severed pillars and collapsed roofs. Ownerless limbs and dismembered bodies were scattered everywhere, with blood flowing like a river across the hall floor.

In the midst of it all.

“Haaaah!”

“Damn this young brat. Are you some kind of immortal? You simply refuse to die…!!”

Demian, who had become a true white knight enveloped in the miracle of blessing, was essentially overwhelming Sahakal.

The sight of a white knight’s power pressing down on a dark-armored person of color.

If a certain president who won election with the slogan “Make White People Greater!” had seen this scene, he might have shed tears of joy like a waterfall and nominated Demian as the next presidential candidate.

The physical abilities of a hero-class knight, a heroic tale that nullifies momentum, a divine barrier that blocks blessings and sorcery that strengthen the body, and self-healing miracles on par with Lacy’s.

The current Demian was literally a cheat-like existence that combined a paladin’s endurance with a knight’s offensive power.

It seemed like just yesterday he was struggling to defeat a single werebeast champion, but now he could probably take down a champion with his toe.

In terms of growth rate, he might be equal to or even greater than me.

I had grown rapidly by facing powerful enemies, but Demian had become one of the strongest, second only to me, despite only facing opponents I had casually passed on to him.

It was half—no, actually seventy percent due to the holy sword’s power, but still, seeing him fight so well made me feel proud.

“Demian! Change of plans!”

But now was not the time to praise Demian’s valor.

“Haschal? What’s this suddenly…?”

A threat incomparable to Sahakal was approaching.

“Haschal…! If you’re here… does that mean Mother has passed away…?!”

No, she’s probably still alive. Though not for long.

“Well, she turned out to be surprisingly weak. Those spell-casters who spend their time plotting are all the same.”

Of course, I had no reason to provide information to the enemy. There were only two types of things to say to an enemy: provocation and deception.

“Besides, even the plot she concocted was pathetically crude… Perhaps she used up all her talent plotting something else?”

“…You’ve become more vulgar since I last saw you. If you knew what Mother was preparing, you wouldn’t speak like that… Did it end before that? You’re quite lucky.”

What is he talking about? It seemed Sahakal mistakenly thought Meiharin had died before she could bring out the ginger death.

Well, it was true that Hersella’s side was still dealing with the ginger death problem, so Sahakal, not knowing my identity, couldn’t help but misunderstand.

Of course, whatever he misunderstood was none of my concern.

“Demian. I’m going to burn this place down, and in that moment, grab onto me and fly to the airship. You can manage that, right?”

I only needed to explain to Demian why I had come to the main hall. As for Sahakal, well, we wouldn’t be seeing each other again anyway, so I didn’t care about him anymore.

“The airship? Got it.”

Demian nodded and swung his holy sword like an axe, forcefully pushing Sahakal away.

Simultaneously, I stretched out my right hand, pointing it diagonally at the ground. The sight of Sahakal’s face turning pale as he anticipated what I was about to do was personally quite amusing.

“Damn it…! How despicable, Haschal! Where has your warrior’s honor gone?!”

Warrior’s honor?

“Well, I don’t even remember where I threw that away. Such a thing.”

Then, a storm of flames swept through the entire hall, burning all the barely surviving sorcerers.

“Guaaaak!”

Sahakal, being heroic in his own way, quickly retreated and avoided becoming barbecued, but the rest weren’t as quick as him… they probably all died.

—-

When I boarded the airship, hanging onto Demian’s left arm, I was greeted by a barrage of questions from my companions who had arrived earlier and were waiting.

Why had I ordered a retreat when they were fighting well? Did I capture Meiharin? What would we do now? What was that loud noise just now? Questions like that.

“There’s no need to struggle fighting when we have a better method. Look below. Now, you can’t find any women or children even if you tried, right?”

Lacy’s face brightened at my answer. Even before I finished my explanation, her expression showed she had caught on to what I was about to say.

“Lord Astika. Does that mean… finally, finally…?”

Is she that pleased? She’s really living up to her name.

I nodded with a slight smile.

“Yes, that’s right, Lacy. Now, there’s nothing but enemies below us. We’ve taken down most of the sorcerers who could attack the airship. So…”

The ground was already quite distant below. Sensing a presence that had stopped and was blankly looking up at us, I raised the corners of my mouth as if pitying the flightless two-legged beasts.

Keep watching from down there, you land dog.

We have no intention of going back down, so throw your sword if you’re upset. Not that it would reach the deck anyway.

“There’s no reason to hesitate anymore, right? Let’s begin. The spectacular fireworks you’ve been longing for.”

“Yes! I’ve been waiting for those very words!”

Lacy looked at me with expectant eyes, wearing the most radiant smile I had ever seen from her.

It was honestly a bit burdensome, but I decided to gladly meet her expectations.

I actually enjoy bombing too.

“Captain! I know you’re listening! As of this moment, I authorize unlimited shelling and bombing!”

Therefore, I shouted loud enough for the mages below deck to hear.

“Pour everything you have. Until the name Ordos is erased from the map!”

An order to return Ordos to the Stone Age.

“Yes, Your Majesty Queen Astika!”

Soon, along with an energetic response, I could sense the mages below deck bustling about.

“Open all gun ports! Target the ground, the imperial palace, and the entire city!”

With a creaking sound, small gun ports on both sides of the hull opened wide, and the barrels of mana cannons with their characteristic metallic gleam protruded forward, aiming at various parts of the city.

“Open the lower deck! Prepare to drop mana bombs! It’s time to demonstrate the might of the Imperial Magic Tower!”

The rear end of the airship’s lower deck opened wide, revealing metal boxes stacked inside.

Small mana reactors designed from the outset to explode within seconds. Expensive bombs worth their weight in gold.

“Begin shelling!”

“Commence dropping!”

With excited shouts, the mages in charge of aiming the mana cannons simultaneously pulled the handles beside the barrels, and the airship’s lower deck released dark metal boxes like a hailstorm.

“Finally…!”

Along with Lacy’s joyful smile as she looked down at the scene—

——!

A storm of steel and flame swept through the entire city like a calamity.

The war airship, created through Leopold and the Magic Tower’s massive investment and effort.

This was the moment its strategic value was proven.