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Earthshatter was a spell of cataclysmic power. In order to mask its signature, Ertalon had to prepare extensively in advance. A massive barrier had to be erected to hide the spellcasting; they had to relentlessly assault the northern wall in order to draw attention away; the spellcaster even had to use his Territory…

All that was just to prevent Cleoz from noticing the spell till it was too late. At the level of an overlord, there was no telling if he would have noticed the mana signatures of a forbidden spell while they were casting it.

Such spells were serious business that, once interrupted, could threaten the life of its caster.

The Territory of that hierophant had the ability known as Dimensional Severance. It was able to separate a section of space from another, turning it into an independent area. However, such a separation was limited by the fact that dimensional space tended to self-mend over time. Once this ability ceased to function, that separated zone would automatically return to its original position.

Dimensional Severance was used to separate the western section of the wall for Earthshatter to work its magic. And thanks to the barrier they deployed, no one on the outside noticed this.

As a spell, Earthshatter had a radius of ten kilometers. However, Dimensional Severance only carved out a hundred meters of space. The original effect of the spell was thus heavily compressed and magnified in that small section. The instant it struck the wall, its reinforced defenses crumbled into nothingness like a house of cards. But thanks to that barrier they deployed, no one even noticed that something was up.

To the defenders of the wall itself, the entire process played out like a silent film -inexplicable and beyond the realm of common sense… Truly, magic never ceased to amaze!

To those soldiers that weren’t even stationed at the wall, they did not even know what had happened till the roar of the enemies filled their ears.

———– Change of Scene————–

I had just teleported over to the fort when a white-robed mage, roughly twenty years of age, introduced himself as a messenger and handed down a curt command to hold the line.

They want us to defend this breach to the death?

The messenger was looking me straight in the eyes when he relayed that message. A little rude, but there was no time to fuss over such small matters when there was an army overwhelming the breach.

However, his insolence was soon wiped off his face when the rest of our Corp arrived.

Other than me, every other member of the Corp came riding their magitek knights. Just to accomplish this massive teleportation, Andassis the Seventh had to spend a fortune on the teleportation array. To bring about such a feat, an equally massive amount of energy was required. That was the law of conservation at work in the real world…

By the time all of their three meter tall magitek knights came rumbling out of the teleportation circle, the young messenger mage was so shocked that he had fallen on his butt, quaking in his boots like a frightened animal…

The mage pointed shakingly at the neatly lined up rows of magitek knights and asked in an incredulous voice, “Commander Mo Na, are these the members of your knight order?”

“That’s right,” I nodded.

“The support staff should arrive shortly, but our combatants are all here. Please lead the way to the battlefield.” I curtly stated, clearly annoyed with the man.

The young messenger mage seemed to have picked up on my foul mood as well. “Do not worry. The General only wishes that Commander Mo Na hold the line for a while, His Excellency will arrive with reinforcements before long.”

“In that case, he needs to be quick, otherwise there will be nothing left for him to do.”

“His Excellency will do his best.”

Despite the fact I had just been handed down what was tantamount to a suicide mission, I did not show any further dissatisfaction. I knew what was at stake here, but that didn’t stop me from rating the General poorly as a first impression.

Honestly, this sudden turn of events suited me just fine. The magitek knights were here to beat back the invasion and protect the kingdom. Thus the outcome would have been the same either way. It was just the way we were treated that rubbed me the wrong way. But now wasn’t the time for such petty matters. If we did not help now, this section would most likely fall before the General arrived.

Besides, wasn’t this just what we wanted? A fight of armies. Those kids might not be very experienced, being that this was their first battle, but in firepower alone, they were six-stars, without a doubt!

Seeing that I had accepted the order, the messenger mage waved to a soldier. “You, soldier, get over here and lead Commander Mo Na to the western wall.”

“Yes, sir!” he barked without hesitation before turning to me, “Sir, if you will follow me…”

The battle situation ended up a lot worse than I had initially imagined. My first reaction was of one utmost shock.

When I heard that the wall had been breached, I had assumed that the enemy blew a hole in the wall. But the reality was that a whole hundred meters section of the wall was just gone. Like it had never existed in the first place. If there was any indication that such a structure even existed, it would be ground-up rubble gathered in a pile where the wall once stood.

Countless well-armed soldiers stormed out of an underground tunnel dug outside the wall, like an army of ants leaving its nest to search for food. From a glance, the weakest amongst them was at least a two-star.

With such elite troops leading the charge, and no wall to hold them back, the defenders of this section quickly lost their foothold.

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Fort Andaris was the last line of defense that the King had in his arsenal. The general in charge was General Cleoz, one of the more famous generals in the kingdom, and a star amongst the commoners.

Being born of common stock himself, his rise to power could be said to be a miracle in itself.

LIke one of those main characters in a light novel, Cleoz was a genius at a tender age. Coupled with an equally prodigious series of encounters, his rise could only be described as meteoric. Without even turning forty, he ascended to become an overlord, receiving the prestigious title of “The Guardian of Andassis” – the very definition of a winner in life!

When he was but a teenager, he was scouted by a professor in the Royal Andassean Academy to enroll in the academy. That professor later became the headmaster of the academy itself. While studying there, he even had the fortune of meeting the current king’s younger sister… Irrelevant details to his strength, but definitely proof of how lucky the man was!

Right this very instant, this superstar of a general was in his meeting room, dressed in an ornately golden breastplate, matched with an exquisite cape that hugged his muscular frame. Looking like a thirty year old, he was the very definition of a handsome military soldier, coupled with a short and neat hairstyle to match. This was the undefeatable Guardian of Andassis. And that man was currently preoccupied with his own thoughts, brows furrowed so deeply they almost looked like muscles themselves. As he tapped on his table impatiently, the anxious voices of his adjutants rang out in the background like an annoying buzz.

The enemy assault had continued for over twenty fours straight; they seemed dead set on conquering this fortress, known as the “Impregnable Wall of Andassis”, in one fell swoop.

Countless boulders of fire, launched by even larger trebuchets, rained down on the beleaguered fortress. Like meteors from the heavens, they blasted a massive chunk out every section of wall they hit. The soldiers dared not stick their heads for fear of their withering assault. Even without that rain of death, the enemy below often launched a barrage of flame arrows towards them. While not as imposing as the boulders, they were harder to guard against.

By now, there wasn’t a section of the wall that was spared. Yet the soldiers’ morale held on. The war had only started, and the brunt of the enemy forces hadn’t struck yet, thus there was still hope for a counterattack.

Till now, the war had mostly been carried out through non-magical means, like trebuchets or arrows. Their continuous peppering of the fort had tired out the defenders greatly, aided significantly by the tremendous forces they had brought to bear today.

Yet the question remained: where were the experts? Was there some grand conspiracy playing out in the background?

Undefeated though he might have been, the General was starting to feel like cornered prey. That was how strange the enemies’ actions had been.

He wanted to send out his own experts to investigate, but there was a nagging voice in his head that told him that would be the equivalent of throwing his men into the meat grinder. His foes could very well be banking on this tactic of psychological attrition. For the time being, he was in the dark, and they were the ones in complete control.

How he craved information right now… even a scrap would do…

In the midst of his ruminations, a white-robed mage suddenly interrupted his thoughts. This was the mage in charge of communications for the fort.

“General, sir, we have breaking news!”

“His Majesty has sent word at last?” The General’s tired but steady voice cut through the din of his officers like a hot knife; being on the frontlines, his stress was no less than the King. In fact, he hadn’t slept a decent wink since the battle started.

There were three overlords known to be leading the enemy army. They hadn’t acted yet because they did not wish to corner Cleoz to the extent that he would willingly drag them down with him at the cost of his own life.

Overlords treasured their own lives like that.

Under such grueling circumstances, was it a surprise that he was so worn out?

“Yes, sir. His Majesty has good tidings.”

The General’s eyebrows twitched in surprise, but his face remained passive for the most part. “Those two b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲ actually agreed to help?”

“The news isn’t about the Sword Saint or the Hierophant…” The white-robed messenger mage paused with a start. He sneaked a glance at the General, and upon seeing that he was still as passive as before, continued, “The reinforcements are from a newly established knight order…”

“And?”

“… That’s all…”

Cleoz fell silent upon hearing his subordinate’s response, though he was probably lamenting the lack of support from his dear royal brother-in-law. Who would even send a newly established knight order in such a situation, were they just here to sightsee?

To begin with, how many knights could a newly established unit possibly have when recruitment was already so strained by the war? A thousand? Ten thousand? Definitely not a hundred thousand -that’s just an army. While it took a skilled soldier to be a knight -a minimum of two-stars -the question of how many knights still remained.

Five thousand, at most. That was General Cleoz’s most optimistic estimate.

However, his long-service allowed him to suppress the dissatisfaction in his heart. “Tell me more about this knight order.”

The white-robed messenger mage began reading out the message, but the moment he got to the first word, he was stunned.

Finally, the messenger continued with much trepidation, “The new knight order is called the Magitek Knight Corp. Five hundred members, of which a hundred are combatants and the rest are logistics support…”

“How many did you say were combatants?”

“A hundred…”

“The rest are non-combatants?”

“Four hundred of them…”

“…” The silence was deafening in the room. The next time the General spoke, his voice was shaking from his barely contained rage. “What kind of knight order requires four hundred non-combatants as support?”

The General hadn’t said anything else, but everyone present knew he was already cursing to himself. Somewhere along the lines of, “What the heck is that King even doing? Just because we are brother-in-laws doesn’t mean I won’t betray him if he pulls a ridiculous stunt like this!”

Naturally, the General wasn’t going to turncoat. He would rather die standing than live with that dishonor. But even he wasn’t pleased with the news he just received. It wasn’t like a mere five hundred would make a difference in a war in the hundreds of thousands. Not unless they were all six-stars. And especially not when only a hundred of them could fight. In fact, the sheer number of support staff was strange. This was a functioning fort, meaning they had enough medical staff and logistics staff to begin with.

“General sir, the Magitek Knight Corp will arrive soon via the teleportation circle, they require your approval.”

“Approved.” The man coldly replied, though his eyes were burning at this point.

Let’s see what this knight order can even do with a mere five hundred, he thought to himself.

However, the General barely had time to digest this piece of news before his messenger mage received another shocking piece of news.

“General sir! The western wall has been breached…”

“What?!”

“The western wall has been breached. They are now marching through the breach. The soldiers can’t hold out much longer…”

“…” Once more, the General was overcome with the urge to yell, but he held fast. “That teleportation circle was near the western wall, wasn’t it? Have those newcomers hold the line!”

“… But General sir… they are His Majesty’s…”

“Tell. Them. Hold the line. I will be there soon.” The General shot up from his chair, glaring at the messenger mage.

The defenses of Fort of Andaria had undergone reinforcement on every level, meaning even the foundations underneath the walls were magically reinforced. Normally, even Earth magicks couldn’t breach it. However, there was news that Ertalon had recently hired a nine-star elemental hierophant. One that was proficient in Earth magicks, and had even recently learnt the forbidden spell known as “Earthshatter”.

Basically, it was just a massive earthquake. A forbidden spell version of it that naturally carried huge risks of magical feedback; but that mage probably received compensation to make up for that. After all, once this fort fell, Ertalon would have basically won the war.

Before this war even started, Ertalon even made secret arrangements with the overlords in Andassis. That was why the King had so much difficulty getting them to act. The aforementioned Sword Saint and Hierophant were included in this list. Technically, those two only promised to remain neutral, but remaining neutral in a war was basically treason.

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Establishing the Magitek Knight Corp was a major move by the King of Andassis. As such, preparations were taken when choosing its commander. Even with his lack of choices, he had screened Mo Ke multiple times, verifying that he was indeed the person for the job.

Based on his interactions with Mo Ke, he came to the conclusion that he was someone who was more sentimental. Someone that would not easily betray a person.

As for his otherworldly identity, he accepted it on the surface, but he was still on the fence about it. Not that it mattered…

The “movies” he was shown, while fantastical, weren’t objects impossible to replicate with magic. As proof of that, he questioned various magical authorities who came to the conclusion that producing such works was possible but expensive. The cost of producing one might even come out to a million gold coins. And that was just the cost of equipment…

The development routes of the two countries varied so much that what might have seemed simple in one world, was a wondrous feat in the other.

Back to the topic of those movies… the estimates he received were enough to bankrupt an empire, let alone a kingdom! In that case, they were better off just buying the kingdom. Why even bother going through the hassle of scheming in his kingdom?

At that point, even a monarch, and his tendencies for paranoia, had to admit that Mo Ke’s identity was worth betting on. After all, there was no other logical explanation for those movies.

In the first place, the Three Hells and the Western Human Realms were an example of different worlds, thus the idea of an otherworldly visitor wasn’t even that unusual.

With every sign pointing in favor of Mo Ke, his otherworldly identity was basically confirmed. Along with it, his qualifications to be the new commander of the Magitek Knight Corp.

And while the King had his own reasons for involving Mo Ke, Mo Ke himself had his own reasons for accepting. Thus an accord was formed. Granted… the King was already scheming how to take back this authority, even in spite of the war being at its height.

One couldn’t just trust a person that fell from the sky, after all. Not a king, anyway.

Now that he was done with the ceremony, the King did not return to his quarters right away via a teleportation gate. Instead, he had his carriage take him on a leisure drive.

But even in this state, Misseger was still able to contact the outside world on his behalf.

“Your Majesty,” the dead-faced maid said as she looked at the crystal ball in her hands. “Lady Redleaf has rejected the request once more…”

“Has she…” the King sighed. “But I’m sure Lady Mo Ke should suffice for the time being.”

Another notification popped up through the crystal ball then.

Upon reading it, even the stony-faced Misseger finally broke her war on emotions. “Your Majesty! The great houses have finally begun sending over aid. 50000 elite soldiers, but they want their children back.”

Even the King was visibly pleased by that news. “Have Baroque receive command of these troops,” he stated with smiling eyes.

Baroque was the younger brother of Baku. Just like his older brother, he was completely loyal to the King. Having a trusted subordinate receive command of these troops was actually a means by which the King took back some of the authorities given to the nobles. The whole training camp was just bait for these troops. A bait which worked, and he even got to keep the bait after hooking the fish…

“But…” Misseger seemed to notice the incongruence as well.

“Don’t worry, they can’t do much,” the King declared in a firm voice. “Tell them this, their children are fighting for the glory of our kingdom. They should be proud!”

“…”

To anyone not familiar with the magitek armors, his words were basically a death sentence for those children. Misseger was aware of this fact, thus she feared that the situation would spiral out of control. In contrast, the King and his allies had full faith in this new project. A group of five-stars and six-stars wasn’t something to laugh at, especially when they did not fatigue especially and possessed a powerful new area-of-effect weapon.

Naturally, all that was just theoretical. With just eight days of training and no actual combat data, even Misseger couldn’t fully reconcile those children with a special forces corp that each had the power of a five-star mage.

“It will work out.”

“But the great houses…”

“They won’t rebel. They aren’t fools either. At least not before the conclusion of the battle at Fort Andaria.”

“But the magitek knights…”

“Their fate is in the hands of Lady Mo Ke, as much as I’m not comfortable with the idea of fate…” The king gently grabbed onto Misseger’s hands. “Even without those elves, we will make it through this war… In fact, I can already see our bright future…”

“Mhm…” Misseger laid in his gentle embrace, no longer that stony-faced attendant she was before…

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