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“Whoooong, whoooong, whoong!”

Two long blasts followed by a short one.

It was a signal that the enemy had appeared.

“Huh?”

Tetsvalt made a puzzled expression. He knew very well that the current forces under Prince Yubel had no capacity for a counterattack. Soon, he saw his lieutenant running towards him.

“What’s going on!”

“An enemy attack, Lord Tetsvalt.”

Tetsvalt was momentarily taken aback. His lieutenant’s expression was too calm. No, it was somewhat surprised, but it was certainly not the face of someone facing an enemy. It was more like someone who had seen something strange and bizarre.

“Why do you look like that?”

At Tetsvalt’s question, the lieutenant made a peculiar face. He hesitated before speaking.

“Well, it seems the enemy has indeed attacked, but…”

“What do you mean ‘seems’? Either they have or they haven’t.”

“Umm…”

After hesitating for a moment, the lieutenant gave a wry smile.

“I think it would be best if you saw for yourself.”

Equipped with only light armor, Tetsvalt immediately climbed the fortress wall. As he looked towards the gently sloping ridge outside the fortress, he understood why his lieutenant had made such a face.

“…What is that?”

The lieutenant replied awkwardly.

“Are they…the enemy?”

The lieutenant, uncharacteristically for a knight, did not answer straightforwardly, trailing off instead. Normally, Tetsvalt would have reprimanded his lieutenant for such an attitude, but this time, he said nothing. He just stared blankly at the scene outside the fortress.

On the ridge, a group of soldiers was lined up. From their armor and raised flags, it was clear they were an army. But the composition of the force was extremely peculiar.

“There are almost no humans, only dwarves?”

“If you look closely, there are some elves and orcs mixed in…”

The lieutenant scratched his head as he replied to Tetsvalt’s question. Tetsvalt clicked his tongue as he looked at the emblem on their flag.

“The emblem is definitely that of Prince Yubel’s army…”

In battle, it is customary to wave flags to signal the start of combat. And they were certainly initiating battle. From their actions, it was clear they intended to challenge the Sinai Fortress as part of Prince Yubel’s army.

But…

“With just that number?”

Tetsvalt looked around the fortress. He wondered if there were other forces.

There were none.

Undoubtedly, the little over a hundred soldiers before him were all there was. About a hundred dwarven warriors, twenty or so elves, and six or seven humans without even riding horses were challenging the impregnable Sinai Fortress.

At this point, he was so dumbfounded that he didn’t know what to say.

“What are they doing?”

“They’re slaves. They just do as they’re told by their masters, don’t they? They’re probably just following orders.”

“Why waste such expensive slaves like that? Are they planning to throw money away?”

“…Could it be some kind of trap?”

“That’s possible.”

The situation was so bizarre that he was almost certain it was a trap. Tetsvalt’s expression hardened. He gave orders to his lieutenant.

“Strengthen the defenses and prepare for a possible surprise attack. Have the mages use the spell of farsight to scout the surroundings.”

The lieutenant, who was selecting the orders to relay, suddenly asked,

“Then should we ignore them?”

Tetsvalt shook his head.

“That would disgrace Prince Carsus. Prepare for battle. A hundred cavalry, three hundred infantry, and a hundred archers should suffice. Choose ten knights to lead them. Sir Zalt would be a suitable commander.”

The lieutenant, surprised, asked,

“Isn’t that excessive?”

He thought it was too many troops for just a bunch of slave races. But Tetsvalt had his reasons.

“If it’s a trap, we need that many troops to break through. And it would be a waste to just kill them, wouldn’t it?”

Even if the dwarves could be disregarded, elves were valuable. With his keen vision befitting an aura user, Tetsvalt noticed that half of the twenty or so elves were women.

“Kill all the dwarves and male elves, but capture the female elves. If the female elves are wielding swords, they must be Slayers. They will be excellent trophies to commend my subordinates’ achievements.”

The lieutenant nodded with a grin.

Soon after, the gates of Sinai Fortress opened. Ten knights led five hundred troops, charging forward imposingly towards the front lines.

* * *

The knights of Sinai Fortress charged, raising clouds of dust. The forces of Prince Yubel, composed of slaves, also began to run towards them with shouts. Leading the charge, Sir Zalt glanced ahead and chuckled.

“Living long enough, you see all sorts of ridiculous things.”

The other knights running alongside him had similar expressions. Seeing those short, hairy dwarves charging at them, making guttural noises, what else could they do but scoff?

As he put on his helmet, Sir Zalt shouted to his surroundings,

“Remember, we need to capture the female elves! Understood?”

“Yes, Sir Zalt!”

The response was utterly devoid of tension. As the distance to the dwarven group decreased, the knights collectively leveled their lances and increased their speed. They planned to plow through the dwarves, and the following five hundred troops would mop up the remnants.

“In the name of Lord Carsus!”

Thundering hoofbeats!

Ten knights charged shoulder to shoulder, shaking the very ground. They looked like a massive spear forged of steel! Tetsvalt, watching from atop the wall, was about to smile in anticipation of the impending slaughter.

Suddenly, three beams of light shot up from the forefront of the dwarves.

Buuuuung!

With a chilling roar, three dwarves wielding a giant axe, a spear, and a greatsword leaped directly at the knights. Three beams of light—reddish-brown, light green, and deep crimson—swept through the knights.

Screams erupted continuously.

“Keuh!”

“Ugh!”

“Aaaargh!”

Blood fountains spouted in all directions. The three dwarves, emitting beams of destructive light, decapitated the ten knights in an instant.

Tetsvalt, observing from the fortress, shouted in astonishment.

“…Blade Aura?”

The advance slowed dramatically. The following soldiers were all taken aback by the scene before them.

“Did Sir Zalt fall?”

“No way!”

“How could the knights be defeated?”

The knights, who were supposed to slaughter the enemy and lead the charge, were killed in an instant. Moreover, those who had caused this unbelievable result were still approaching them, weapons glowing brightly.

“Let’s go, Malroid!”

“I understand, Kadamyte!”

The three dwarves, who had slaughtered the knights, leaped again. This time, their target was the cavalry, closing the distance with superhuman speed.

The five hundred troops led by Sir Zalt had a formation with one hundred cavalry at the front, followed by three hundred infantry, and one hundred archers covering them. As the cavalry who had been diligently following the knights saw the approaching dwarf aura users, they screamed.

“My God!”

“That’s not a dwarf! It’s a dwarf monster!”

Kadamyte, leaping into the panicked cavalry, swung his axe spear. Each time, reddish-brown blade aura scattered, slicing horses and men in two simultaneously.

Kadamyte let out a hearty laugh.

“Haha! Wicked humans! Now, I avenge my kin!”

Malroid also swung his greatsword, continuously cutting down cavalrymen. Wherever his blade passed, crimson aura and crimson blood flew, producing countless screams.

The three aura users of the Grand Forge utterly ravaged the hundred cavalry in an instant. After smashing the heads of three cavalrymen with one swing, Sloytle, lifting his light green glowing battle hammer, shouted,

“Comrades! Let us show them our strength!”

* * *

“Huh huh huh…”

Tetsvalt let out a dry laugh. The scene before his eyes was so absurd that he couldn’t even muster anger.

A hundred dwarf soldiers were mercilessly pushing back the vastly outnumbered Sinai Fortress troops. Each of those dwarves possessed terrifying skills, leaving no room for the soldiers to properly swing their swords. They were all dying without being able to put up any resistance.

On the other hand, not a single dwarf was dead, or even slightly injured. The difference in power was so atrocious that even a scene of wolves attacking a flock of sheep seemed peaceful in comparison.

Looking down from the castle wall, his lieutenant murmured in a trembling voice.

“My God, every one of them has the prowess of knights…”

Even the archers were useless. With the battle in chaos, shooting arrows would only harm their own side. They should have launched a volley before it reached this point, but the commander of the archers was momentarily stunned and missed the timing.

In the end, the infantry and archers could do nothing but spill their blood on the ground. It took barely a few minutes for a mere hundred dwarves to massacre nearly five times their number.

Tetsvalt groaned at the sight of the three main figures who led this entire situation—those dwarves, each wielding weapons glowing with dazzling light, rampaging like demons. At first, he couldn’t believe his eyes, but now he couldn’t deny it.

“Aura users… Dwarves are aura users!”

His lieutenant, who was also watching the situation, murmured in a dazed voice.

“What should we do now, Sir Tetsvalt?”

Tetsvalt looked back at his lieutenant with equally dazed eyes. A full-course display of defying common sense was unfolding, rendering even his seasoned judgment ineffective. At that moment, the old mage standing beside him, Westrad, hesitated before speaking.

“Sir Tetsvalt, if they are truly aura users, the gate is in danger…”

Following orders, he had been scouting around the fortress with a farsight spell. But seeing the current situation, it was no time to report that there were no ambushes. Westrad’s words snapped Tetsvalt back to his senses.

The dwarves who annihilated the vanguard of Sinai Fortress could be seen charging towards the castle gate with renewed vigor. Indeed, with the power of an Aura User, they could easily break through even the thick gates of Sinai Fortress. Sir Tetsvalt himself was capable of such a feat.

He stammered as he spoke,

“Y-Yes… Activate the fortress’s defensive magic immediately, Mage Westrad.”

Upon receiving the order, Westrad hurriedly ran towards the fortress wall. At the post above the gate, four mages were already standing on the magic circle, waiting for him. All were mages sponsored by the Fernando ducal family.

“Everyone, begin the defensive magic!”

At Westrad’s command, they all started chanting spells.

“By the power, be upon my hand…”

“By the ancient contract, I request…”

“Wood becomes rock…”

“Rock becomes steel…”

“Become an indestructible shield!”

As a strategic stronghold, Sinai Fortress had high-level defensive magic circles installed throughout to defend against powerful magic or attacks from Aura Users. The five mages combined their powers to activate the protective magic inscribed on the gate. The pre-positioned mana stones amplified their magic, imbuing the entire fortress with a strong protective force.

At that moment, Sloytle arrived at the gate and swung his battle hammer with a powerful strike.

Boom!

A pale green aura struck the center of the gate precisely. A tremendous shockwave spread in all directions, shaking the ground like an earthquake. However, the gate did not break. As the hammer made contact, a faint light dispersed all the destructive power outward.

Retrieving his hammer, Sloytle clicked his tongue.

“Tch!”

Looking down from the wall, Westrad sighed with relief.

“Phew, we weren’t too late.”

Arrows began to rain down on Sloytle, who had failed to break the gate. The garrison of Sinai Fortress, who had initially been confused and disoriented, seemed to have prepared for battle.

Sloytle retreated, deflecting the arrows with his hammer. Soon, a torrent of arrows fell upon the entire dwarf legion. The dwarves raised their shields to protect their heads and withdrew out of arrow range.

Watching from a distance, Repenhardt nodded.

“As expected, the defensive magic circle installed at Sinai Fortress is of high quality.”