Chapter 270 - The Black Tree Road ②
Servetus decided to bring one retainer who could use [Skill: Maelstrom]. He was a precious ultra-high-level mage, but delay could not be permitted here. Furthermore, it served as a demonstration for the Engrio soldiers. Next were three high-level mages. These were to be placed one each on the Aerial Cavalry to take on the role of extinguishing fires and lowering temperatures with [Skill: Shower] magic or [Skill: Blizzard].
And as those who would fell the trees, ten soldiers with axes. Thirty archers, thirty heavy infantry, and ten magic infantry joined as support.
Naturally, numerous scouts were positioned in the surrounding forest.
"Even if there were someone to attack us, we shall repel them ourselves, so please protect those who are felling the trees."
Servetus left those confident words for the escort soldiers and stood before the Black Forest.
"There should be no enemy scouts. In other words, there is no [Skill: Magic Reflection]. I shall burn away the black trees with [Skill: Prominence], so you extinguish the fire with [Skill: Maelstrom]."
"Understood."
The Regnentes scouts were being killed by the spiders. [Skill: Magic Reflection] set in a magic circle could not have its form controlled. Even if it were set skillfully, two weeks had already passed. If it were left active, the effect would have worn off.
If things went well, they should be able to fell the trees in no time.
"[Skill: Prominence]!"
He advanced while burning the black trees down to the stumps. It was a full-power effort using both hands. He thought he could go two thousand paces at once, but in a short while, for some reason, it stopped at about two hundred paces.
"Hmm?"
Have they played some petty trick again?
When he strained his eyes to look, the [Skill: Prominence] that had hollowed out an entire large boulder seemed to have been stopped by something like an iron plate. He could see a plate glowing red-hot.
"Doing such trivial things. It cannot be helped. Extinguish the fire."
He thought about unleashing another one, but first he had to confirm what kind of mechanism it was. He decided to extinguish the fire and approach.
The fire was extinguished with [Skill: Maelstrom], but the ground underfoot was covered in mud. As he walked while sinking up to his ankles in mud, the ground beneath Servetus's feet suddenly vanished.
With a splash, he fell into the muddy water inside a pit trap. He was covered in mud from head to toe.
"D-Doing such trivial things."
As he stood up while brushing off the mud, a wooden sign was pinned up with something like a rod.
Welcome to Regnentes
That was what was written on the wooden sign.
"What a cheap provocation. It is merely child's play after all."
He found it amusing and began to laugh, but his spine froze when he saw the rod the sign was pinned with. It was a rod made of silver.
He instinctively looked at his feet.
If several sharpened silver stakes had been planted at the bottom of this hole...
Regnentes possessed silver mines. They could prepare a few silver stakes at any time. They had dared to do nothing.
We can destroy the likes of you whenever we wish.
"You... how insolent!"
He felt ashamed for having instinctively been frightened, and that turned into anger toward Regnentes.
"Your Eminence! Are you safe?"
The retainer, who was also an ultra-high-level mage, called out from above.
"Of course I am! Hurry and help me!"
The retainer, who had miserably become the target of his venting, was flustered by Servetus's anger and hurriedly borrowed a rope brought by the axe unit and lowered it into the hole.
"Your Eminence. I shall help you now. This wall seems to have more protrusions, so please climb up from here."
There was no use in staying angry forever. As he was told, he wound the rope around his waist, grabbed the rope the retainer was trying to pull up, placed his feet on the protrusions, and began to climb the wall of the hole.
When Servetus placed one foot on a protrusion, the retainer pulled him up about half a body's length, and when he placed the other foot, he was pulled up another half. In that manner, when he had climbed about two-thirds of the way, just as Servetus placed his right foot and put his weight on it while being pulled up, the protrusion—no, the entire front wall—collapsed with a clatter. In a panic, he kicked the wall with both feet and clung to the rope, but the retainer, losing his balance from the sudden load, slipped and fell into the hole. Both of them fell into the hole together, and naturally, Servetus, who was below, ended up on the bottom. He was slammed into the bottom of the hole, and then the retainer fell on top of him, followed by the wall that had slowly collapsed, which fell over the two of them like a board.
Servetus, who had lost consciousness, regained it when the escort soldiers, centered around his subordinates who had boarded the Aerial Cavalry bowl, rescued him.
"Ohh! Your Eminence, were you safe?"
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Some had even fallen on their backsides as if their legs had given out.
Even if he were an enigmatic being, for the soldiers the King had assigned for his protection, their own heads were on the line.
"My apologies."
Servetus stood up looking embarrassed. His retainers had already wiped off the mud and dressed him in a new robe.
Looking around, the retainer who had been pulling him up with the rope was not there.
When he asked what happened, they said he had perished. In other words, he had turned into dust.
"What do you mean?"
"Your Eminence. A board with many large silver nails driven into it fell on top of Your Eminence. He was pierced by those large nails and perished. Fortunately, because he shielded Your Eminence with his own body, Your Eminence was unharmed."
At that time, if Servetus had not jumped, the board would have covered Servetus, and presumably, the retainer would have fallen on top of it as a weight.
The difference between life and death had been a mere hair's breadth.
"Guuu..."
Servetus looked down and bit his lip.
Not only had he nearly been destroyed, but he had lost a precious ultra-high-level mage. No matter how much Forbidden Magic was used, crossing the barrier of ranks was no easy feat. Furthermore, there were only three ultra-high-level mages, including Servetus. He had lost one of them.
"Your Eminence. That Your Eminence escaped the enemy's trap is a divine revelation. It is proof that you receive the protection of the Goddess. As one who is, so to speak, chosen, you will surely destroy those who oppose you."
The words of comfort did not even enter his ears.
Curse you... I thought I would make the people of Sertoria the ones I would slaughter, but before that, I shall massacre the people of Regnentes.
Only hatred for the Regnentes army remained.
After Servetus narrowly avoided the trap set by the Regnentes scout unit, the felling work for the black trees was changed so that Servetus would unleash magic while riding in the bowl.
First, they would sufficiently wet the surrounding green trees with [Skill: Shower] magic, and then unleash [Skill: Prominence].
On the road of black trees, various measures to prevent the penetration of [Skill: Prominence] were taken every two hundred to five hundred paces, and each time, scouts confirmed the presence of traps, and if they were set, they were neutralized using magic after being disarmed. The road reconstruction work frequently came to a temporary halt.
In the end, the day's work ended before they could even proceed halfway through the schedule.
Servetus, after consulting with his retainers, devised a new work method.
After incinerating the black trees with [Skill: Prominence], the fire would be extinguished with [Skill: Shower]. Next, the ground covered in muddy water would be frozen with [Skill: Cocytus] so that traps would not activate. The destruction of the Regnentes side's contrivances to block [Skill: Prominence] was left to the soldiers who advanced over the ice. This method worked well.
Servetus had to use ultra-high-level magic twice in one process, but on the third day, he asked Seldic to have the Aerial Scouts transport two Engrio magic soldiers who were ultra-high-level mages and five retainers who could use [Skill: Shower] as reinforcements.
The three ultra-high-level mages, including Servetus, took turns unleashing magic and restored the road covered in black trees so that an army could pass through.
A week later, the work ended just as they had reconstructed about two-thirds of the road.
"Thanks to you all, it seems I shall somehow avoid being scolded by His Majesty. I am grateful."
"No, no, it is surely due to the hard work of Servetus-dono."
Both sides were in good spirits because the work had progressed.
Some of the ultra-high-level mages of the Engrio army were on friendly terms with Servetus. Naturally, those who could not overcome their feelings of revulsion toward Forbidden Magic and those who used it were excluded. They were researching magic together under the instructions of King Seldic.
The instructions regarding magic research also mentioned Forbidden Magic. The objective was primarily to find countermeasures against magic such as [Skill: Charm] and [Skill: Doll], but in reality, they were also researching their effects.
However, there was a condition: it was strictly forbidden to recruit magic soldiers to convert or become Revenants under the influence of Servetus, and it was declared that if such a case were discovered, the Ruined Town would be attacked and destroyed by the Engrio army, and at the same time, the soldiers who had accepted the recruitment would be executed along with their families. Though Servetus was not informed, it was essentially surveillance of those from the Ruined Town.
Similar research was also being conducted on holy magic, and priests in Engrio who could use ultra-high-level magic had to serve in the military as unaffiliated priests. It was unknown when military service would be imposed. Military service occurred multiple times, and ended after completing a period calculated in total. During that time, it was not an issue even if they no longer wished to return as affiliated priests. In exchange, large sums of money were donated to the church. As expected, there were no priests who wished to conduct research with Servetus.
In any case, the ultra-high-level mages of the Kingdom of Engrio were acquainted with Servetus and were forbidden from being hostile.
Due to such circumstances, the ultra-high-level mages reinforced this time were easier for Servetus to deal with compared to the Aerial Scout soldiers who were merely terrified.
At noon on the eighth day after Servetus began the removal work for the black trees.
The bowl carrying those two ultra-high-level mages and Servetus was hit by a surprise attack.
Servetus felt the activation of magic power above his head and looked up. The summer sun was sufficiently dazzling even for him, a Revenant.
As he instinctively frowned, silver arrowheads fell from above like rain.
He hurriedly deployed a [Skill: Wind Barrier], and as he looked up while holding up his hands, he saw seven bowls flying toward Regnentes far above where the Aerial Scouts were flying.
"The Regnentes scout unit!"
It would likely be too late to chase them now. The bowl he was riding was already flying in the opposite direction, taking evasive action.
As he ground his teeth, he heard a voice telling him to pull himself together.
When he looked inside the bowl, one of the ultra-high-level mages had already perished, having been pierced from his back through his chest. If he could be made into a Revenant, he could be saved in a sense. However, Seldic would not permit making his own citizens into Revenants, except for those who had been sentenced to death.
Other Aerial Scouts and Aerial Cavalry who noticed the anomaly gave chase, but it would surely end in futility. This was because the opponent would gain acceleration if they descended in their direction of travel. There was no doubt that Regnentes soldiers were waiting at the destination.
Servetus used a magic circle for sending letters to instruct the bowls chasing the enemy to return.
A precious ultra-high-level mage had been lost once again. Even in Engrio, which had a large population, there were not many ultra-high-level mages due to religious reasons. Although they were said to have the most, it was not that different from Medioland, which was in second place. Furthermore, that number included church priests who did not participate in war.
The other ultra-high-level mage, who had been participating in the Demon Lord subjugation unit as a deterrent along with the one who died just a year ago, was enraged, but it was pointless. It was the fault of those who did not notice the enemy's surprise attack during the war.
However, it was no wonder they didn't notice. The Regnentes scout unit had devised a way to prevent their method of hiding their presence from being discovered. They had gone out of their way to fire arrows while hovering directly above from a high altitude using a scroll of [Skill: Sight], and timed it to deactivate [Skill: Camouflage] and [Skill: Magic Reflection] just before the arrows reached the enemy. Naturally, they had already begun their retreat by then.
Since then, more Engrio aerial soldiers were reinforced, but they were forced to act in two groups: low altitude and high altitude.
Servetus, judging that no further delay could be permitted, consulted with the high-level mages dispatched by King Seldic and devised a method to hide their presence with [Skill: Camouflage]. Presumably, the Regnentes scouts had also hidden their presence in that way. There were doubts about the fact that they had not been caught by the magic detection of ultra-high-level mages like Servetus, but they could not think of any better method.
Five Aerial Cavalry kept watch above, while below, five Aerial Scouts carrying Servetus and the others continued the black tree removal work. An ultra-high-level mage was reinforced, and while one unleashed magic, the ultra-high-level mages riding in two other bowls kept watch on the surroundings with magic detection, discovering the approach of Regnentes Aerial Scouts early, and the Aerial Cavalry above would intercept them. With this method, even if the opponent was using [Skill: Camouflage], their approximate position could be grasped.
This was a development that the Regnentes side could not have hoped for more. While the visible bowls drew out the Aerial Cavalry above and made it look like they were fighting an aerial battle at a relatively low altitude, the bowls that had hidden their presence targeted the pilots with bows and arrows from high above. A bowl whose pilot was killed would disintegrate in mid-air. The soldiers who were riding in them were slammed into the ground and all of them died.
As a result, the Engrio side gave up on interception, and two of the Aerial Scout soldiers decided to take turns deploying [Skill: Wind Barrier] above the bowl Servetus and the others were riding, solely to block the attacks from the Regnentes side.
Once the soldier deploying the [Skill: Wind Barrier] ran out of breath, the day's work would end. This conventional, time-consuming method demonstrated sufficient effectiveness regarding defense, and Regnentes finally gave up on the raids.
In the series of battles, without the method of disappearing by casting [Skill: Magic Reflection] in addition to [Skill: Camouflage] being discovered, Regnentes had finished off one ultra-high-level mage, one high-level mage, and five pairs of Aerial Cavalry from Engrio, and furthermore, one ultra-high-level mage, two high-level mages, and multiple mid-level mages under Servetus's command.
Engrio, while paying a great sacrifice in terms of the loss of magic military power, succeeded in removing all the black trees one month after Servetus began the work. By that time, the dug-up sections continuing from the border checkpoint had also been maintained by Servetus's men. The remaining obstacle was the green trees growing near the end of the road, but the distance was not that long.
Finally, twenty thousand Engrio troops began their advance toward Regnentes.
The season was already midsummer with deep green, and it had become the middle of August.