Chapter 684

======[Or-han]======

The main force of Ai-shan, led by Or-han, descended below the barrier and joined Targien’s enemy army, which was attacking the borders of Dane.

Targien, who had been dropping two fortresses and annihilating retreating troops while sounding the victory horn, was utterly bewildered. The descent of the main force meant that his father, Kagan Or-han, had given up on breaching the barrier.

“Father! Your arm…!”

“Don’t make a fuss. Losing an arm is a light price to pay for the cost of carelessness.”

Moreover, Or-han’s appearance was far from intact. His left sleeve fluttered weakly, proving why the strongest warrior of Ai-shan had chosen to bypass the barrier rather than continue the assault.

Targien knew it too. The Indestructible Body might be invincible, but Or-han could not be invincible. Even the Indestructible Body, which could nullify any attack, could not transcend the inherent limitations of Conceptual Manifestation.

If the Indestructible Body couldn’t be broken, all they had to do was wage a war of attrition until Or-han could no longer maintain it. Or-han’s accumulated feats were deep, but not infinite. If they kept attacking, it would eventually run out.

That’s why Or-han, despite possessing the Indestructible Body, had avoided facing large armies alone. He was confident he wouldn’t lose in one-on-one combat, and he could annihilate small groups of enemies without a scratch. But if the enemy’s numbers were so vast that he couldn’t kill them all before his strength ran out, he would inevitably lose.

Knowing this, Targien believed the battle at the barrier had been that intense. His father had fought until all his strength was exhausted, even losing an arm in the process.

However, the truth was quite different from his assumption.

While it was true that Or-han’s strength had been rapidly depleting after being trapped in Ludwig’s fiery pit, it hadn’t reached the point where the Indestructible Body would deactivate. Or-han didn’t lose his arm because the Indestructible Body failed; he lost it because even with the Indestructible Body, he couldn’t block Ha-shal-leur’s attack.

“It was an attack that couldn’t be blocked.”

Or-han was certain. Not just the Indestructible Body, but any Conceptual Manifestation, could not withstand the final technique Ha-shal-leur had displayed.

The moment he lost his arm to that crimson lightning, Or-han understood the essence of the power within it. It was a force of destruction compressed to its limit, a slash that could sever even the Indestructible Body—the very feats that composed Or-han’s invincibility.

A blade that could cut through concepts and feats. It was a technique literally designed to kill heroes.

No Conceptual Manifestation had any meaning before that slash. Not Glar’s Reversal Body, not the amplified weight of armaments, not even Joshua Blake’s Giant Hunting Sword. The moment they touched that lightning, they would be cleanly severed.

To counter that slash, relying on Conceptual Manifestation was futile. It was better to wield a shield so sturdy that even the power within it couldn’t break it. A shield forged from the Reverse Scale of the Fire Dragon might at least block one strike.

Of course, Or-han didn’t have such a thing.

Among the rarest of dragon scales, the Reverse Scale was even more precious. No madman in history had ever made a shield from it.

Most of the ancestral weapons made from dragon scales were spears or swords, and the only weapon made from a Reverse Scale in Ai-shan’s treasury was the Crimson Twin Blades.

Creating a new one was also impossible. In his era, dragons were already ancient legends, and the scales of rare spirit beasts couldn’t even match the strength of ordinary dragon scales, let alone a Reverse Scale.

—

After joining the enemy army, Or-han explained the results of the barrier battle and what he had learned to Targien and Hatan, who were both bewildered and horrified.

The barrier had partially collapsed, Ibamai was severely injured, and Glar had died in battle.

Moreover, the Empire, unlike nine years ago, no longer had the forces to surround them from all sides.

“So… there’s no need to breach the barrier. We’ll march straight into their homeland.”

“…Like nine years ago?”

Unease crept into the expressions of the Paladins. Perhaps they were recalling the humiliation of being surrounded by the Empire’s forces and forced to retreat nine years ago.

Or perhaps they felt a sense of crisis realizing that Ha-shal-leur, who they had thought invincible, had severely wounded Or-han, who they had believed to be invincible.

Seeing their eyes unconsciously drift to Or-han’s empty sleeve, it was likely the latter.

‘Even if it was a trap, he lost an arm despite having the Indestructible Body. If we face him again, can Kagan defeat that traitor?’

‘He couldn’t win even with both arms intact…’

‘Even if we defeat the Imperial Army, if Kagan falls, it will all be meaningless. The old saying that one hand can’t defeat ten hands has become obsolete.’

Or-han read the unease in the warriors’ eyes.

‘They’re starting to waver.’

Deep wrinkles formed on Or-han’s brow. He had anticipated this, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He was no longer a symbol of invincibility.

The myth of invincibility maintained by the Indestructible Body, the absolute belief that defeat would never come as long as he was with them, had shattered along with his severed arm.

He couldn’t chastise them for becoming cowards. Or-han himself believed there was a high chance he wouldn’t win if he faced Ha-shal-leur again.

Of course, that didn’t mean he could give up on marching into the Empire.

If this was the reaction just from retreating from the barrier, what would happen if they retreated all the way to Ordos? It would be an undeniable, complete defeat. The warriors’ morale would plummet, and the united grasslands would fracture again.

It would take a long time, longer than the Empire would need to recover from the scars of war, to restore discipline among the restless warriors and chieftains.

Thus, Or-han had no choice but to move forward.

“If you’re afraid, go back. Return to the grasslands and lament that you were too afraid of the enemy to fight and ran away. I won’t stop you.”

With a simple yet stern statement, Or-han cut off the warriors’ retreat. While he had allowed them to return under Kagan’s name, no warrior could back down after hearing such words.

Ka`har society was a harsh world that showed no mercy to those who lost their warrior status.

It was better to die fighting than to return to the grasslands branded as cowards.

In the end, all the warriors had no choice but to follow Or-han’s command and march into the Empire’s territory, whether they wanted to or not.

Once the warriors’ resolve was unified, Or-han gathered all his forces and issued what might be his final marching order.

“Ravage the Empire! Burn their wheat fields, forests, and villages! Pile their corpses into mountains! So they can never rise again! So they can never set foot on the grasslands again!”

The hooves of tens of thousands of horses began to trample Dane’s land.

—

Though the Ai-shan army began their march with high spirits, their advance came to a temporary halt as soon as they reached the first city.

There was a reason for this.

“No enemies?”

Or-han tilted his head at the scout’s report. He had expected to fight several battles before reaching the Empire’s borders.

It was unthinkable that Dane’s army would just watch as they plundered the cities for supplies.

However, contrary to Or-han’s expectations, Dane’s army was suspiciously quiet. They hadn’t even attempted a night raid, and days passed without a single battle.

So Or-han assumed they were gathering in the cities to mount a defensive stand. Since they couldn’t compete on the plains, they must be relying on the city walls to hold out.

But when they arrived at the city, what they found was baffling. There wasn’t a single guard on the city walls. It was so suspicious that they sent scouts ahead before attacking, but the report they brought back was even stranger.

“Did they evacuate the entire city? This quickly?”

This was problematic for Or-han. If the enemy was employing scorched earth tactics, they would have to march while enduring hunger, relying on plunder for supplies.

“No, it’s not that. Only the soldiers are gone. The civilians are still there. It seems they don’t even know a war has broken out.”

“What in the… Did the warriors abandon the civilians and flee?”

Targien, who had been listening to the report beside Or-han, frowned in disbelief. This was beyond his common sense.

Slaves, perhaps, but warriors abandoning ordinary tribesmen to their deaths? That was something he had never even imagined.

Or-han rested his chin on his remaining hand, deep in thought. A city where only the soldiers had disappeared was beyond strange.

‘…Is it a trap? If so, for what purpose?’

Even the great Or-han couldn’t imagine a nation that would sacrifice tens of thousands of its own people as offerings. Naturally, he assumed this was a trap set by Dane.

His thoughts grew darker.