Chapter 652

To admit defeat and retreat like this, or to attempt the gamble of bypassing the barrier and invading the Empire’s mainland…

Even for Or-han, it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

The warriors were accustomed to winning and retreating, but they had never experienced a retreat after a crushing defeat. They couldn’t possibly accept retreating without avenging their loss.

If they retreated, the rest of his life would be wasted quelling the rebellion of the khans and the backlash of the warriors.

With the myth of the Indestructible Body’s invincibility shattered, the morale and loyalty of the warriors wouldn’t be the same as before. The khans of the forcibly united Tribal Alliance would see this as the perfect opportunity to break away from Ai-shan.

Of course, even if the khans rebelled, it wasn’t something he couldn’t suppress, but…

“While we waste time and combat power on internal strife… the Empire will recover from the losses suffered in this battle and more. Perhaps they might even intervene in the rebellion to escalate the scale of the civil war.”

The Empire wouldn’t stay idle while he suppressed the rebels. Even if the Empire did nothing, Ludwig wouldn’t. He wasn’t the type to sit back and watch Ka`har grow stronger.

Undoubtedly, he would stop at nothing to prevent Ai-shan from regaining stability.

“If we retreat here… the chance to set foot on the Empire’s land, the chance to take revenge on Ludwig, might never come again. But instead…”

The fight with Ha-shal-leur would be postponed to a distant future.

Even if he had gained the power to break the Indestructible Body, he wouldn’t recklessly charge into Ordos alone, relying solely on that.

“Perhaps… in the meantime, I might find the culprit who harmed Ai-mel-ra.”

If that were possible, he might be able to prevent Ha-shal-leur’s madness before it happened.

Even if he found Ai-mel-ra’s killer, Ha-shal-leur wouldn’t let go of her hatred for Or-han, but at least he wouldn’t have to kill all the Ka`har over thirty.

On the other hand, if he gambled on crossing the Dane border and attacking the Empire’s mainland, the warriors would be satisfied, and he might even shatter the Empire…

“But there’s no fallback. One defeat, and it’s over. While it might be possible to deal a significant blow to the Empire, with the current forces, could we march to the Empire’s capital and capture it?”

Like any gamble, the strategy was fraught with too much risk.

Even if he joined forces with Targien’s enemy army sent to the Dane border, the available combat power would be around seventeen thousand at best. The only War Chief available was Hatan, and the number of Paladins had significantly decreased.

“If we can’t bring down the Empire, we’ll have to inflict enough damage and then retreat… but if we misjudge the timing, we could be trapped in enemy territory and wither away.”

It was just a worst-case scenario assumption, but with the possibility existing, Or-han couldn’t rashly give the order to march towards the southwest.

If the gamble failed and they were annihilated, Ha-shal-leur would be the one to take him down. What would follow was as clear as day.

“After killing me and annihilating the main force, Ha-shal-leur would lead the Imperial Army as she boasted, invading and burning the grasslands.”

To choose safety and slowly wither away in internal strife…

Or to choose the gamble with the risk of annihilation.

To avoid the fight with Ha-shal-leur…

Or to fight once more.

It was a choice that would determine the fate of the grasslands, and his own fate.

After much deliberation, Or-han finally made his decision. The report that Glar had died in a bloody battle likely helped him decide.

“…Prepare for the expedition. We will join the enemy army and strike the Empire’s mainland.”

He had rolled the dice.

======[ Ha-shal-leur ]======

After returning to the room, I sat by the window and lit a cigarette. The wind blowing into the empty room was chilly.

Rana was busy treating the wounded, so even though the battle was over, it would take a while for her to return to the room.

In the past, she would have put treating the wounded aside and checked on me first. It was a commendable growth, but… being alone and feeling lonely, I missed Rana’s absence a bit.

Feeling lonely just because I’m alone, really. It’s been years since I last felt this way. I must have gotten too used to Rana’s nagging and fussing.

What about the others?

Nigel was completely down due to exhaustion, injuries, and the psychological shock from the deaths of his seniors. Ja-han and Leonor were also in the infirmary, receiving treatment for the wounds they sustained while fighting the Paladins.

Compared to the Sword of Landenburg that had to stop Glar, their injuries weren’t severe enough to worry about.

And Hersela…

“Hey, are you asleep?”

[…….]

No answer. It seemed she had fallen asleep again.

It wasn’t as bad as last time when her Life Force Technique was completely drained, so she would probably wake up in a few days.

If she were awake, I would have asked her about the secret of the 5-fold Thunderous Rend that severed Or-han’s arm… but since she was asleep, I had to figure it out on my own.

If Hersela didn’t wake up before clashing with Or-han again, I would have to face him myself, and without that technique, I wouldn’t be able to break the Indestructible Body.

With his arm gone, he wouldn’t be able to show the same divine power as before, so even if I couldn’t break the Indestructible Body, I could still win through attrition.

But considering the damage our allies would suffer during the attrition… the sooner I could cut off his head, the better.

If things went worst-case, even if I managed to kill Or-han, our allies might be annihilated, leaving me alone and exhausted in enemy territory.

If that happened, there would be no point in killing Or-han. The Ka`har army, having lost their leader, would go berserk and swarm the Empire’s land like locusts.

Even if I somehow managed to annihilate them, what would remain would be a crippled Empire, the other races waiting for this moment to pounce, and dragons and monsters running rampant as if they had found their new world.

Just thinking about it made my head spin.

“Sigh…”

It’s really one mountain after another. Why does this Empire keep getting tougher the more we fight? At this rate, my forehead might start resembling Leopold’s.

I lamented the bleak future and filled the room with smoke.

In fact, I didn’t even need to think about the distant future; the immediate problems were already giving me a massive headache.

If Ka`har attacked across the Dane border as Ludwig predicted, we would have to fight them on the plains, which would be like trying to win a speed-eating contest against beastmen.

…In that case, all I could hope for was that the Dane forces would fight hard.

They said there were thousands of magicians stationed there, so with some luck, they might significantly reduce Ka`har’s combat power. But if they couldn’t stop Or-han, defeat would be inevitable.

“Sigh…”

Thinking about Or-han made me sigh again, along with a throbbing headache.

Damn Hersela, why did she let him get away…

—

Anyway, even if things had gone south, I couldn’t waste time just worrying and lamenting. There were too many things to do before the next battle.

First, I needed to prepare a replacement for the Winter Armor. The armor I had been wearing was completely burned beyond repair.

I had spare clothes for daily wear, but the armor parts protecting my shoulders, waist, right hand, and legs had to be newly ordered from Asha.

Since Asha was staying in the Imperial Capital, even if I sent a letter to order the armor, it would take a while to receive the finished product.

In the meantime, I would have to wear another set of armor, no matter how awkward it felt. Preferably something with high fire resistance.

I didn’t want to experience fighting naked twice, after all.

Of course, the armor wasn’t the only thing I needed to prepare.

As I mentioned earlier, to cut down Or-han, I needed to somehow master the 5-fold Thunderous Rend, or if that was impossible, at least replicate a similar effect using the Power of Feats.

In fact, for a sure victory, the latter would be ideal. That technique seemed to put an enormous strain on the weapon.

If the Reverse Scale of the Fire Dragon-made Slaughter Sword was torn to shreds after one attack, trying it with the Black Iron Sword would shatter my sword before I could even strike the enemy.

But if I used Durandal, Jin’s Silver Sword treated the Life Force Technique as impure and rejected it, making it impossible to even unleash the Thunderous Rend, let alone stack it.

In other words, unless I repaired the Slaughter Sword or replicated the technique using the Power of Feats, even if I mastered the stacking of the Thunderous Rend, I wouldn’t be able to use it properly.

And honestly, besides Asha, there didn’t seem to be any blacksmith capable of repairing the Slaughter Sword.

I had briefly visited the military blacksmiths to ask, but seeing their eyes nearly pop out at the mention of the Reverse Scale of the Fire Dragon… it didn’t seem promising.

They probably wouldn’t even try to repair it; they’d just run off with it. Even in its broken state, selling it would fetch enough to buy a castle.

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the red-scaled Slaughter Sword leaning against the wall.

Unless I returned to the Imperial Capital, it was just a disposable relic. A disposable relic worth a castle, at that.

Considering that even a pure Jin’s Silver Sword was worth a castle, I was essentially carrying around two castles’ worth of premium weapons.