Night of the Soulless Heathens – 325



#325. Banreung Expedition 4

Dwarf Blunderbuss soldiers are not afraid of hippogriffs or anything like that.

However the area where they are currently located is not a place with good visibility due to the many forests and mountainous hills of the Chadra-Banreung ridge.

The confidence of the Blunderbuss soldiers was somewhat excessive as the flying enemies could launch a surprise attack at any time.

Chashan’s brothers brought that point to mind.

“First we need to gather our forces. If Azadin’s men start to move it would be foolish to disperse our forces.”

In order to capture the caravan run by Azadin the Dwarven Arrows dispersed their forces and placed them in nearby villages and various roadblocks.

However when Azadin took action to seek revenge he had to gather his forces. Chashan was so focused on torturing the merchants out of revenge that he neglected to gather his forces.

It was clearly Chashan’s fault and Chashan knew it.

“ah.”

At that moment the groundskeeper flinched in surprise.

“I hear a sound.”

“Where are you?”

“…are engaged.”

“You’re in combat?”

“Yes. They are fighting north.”

“….”

The meaning of the groundskeeper’s words was clear.

Azadin is defeating them one by one.

“It’s too fast. And since it moves without any ground shaking it must be riding a hippogriff. But how?”

“It seems like some of them know us well. They use flying beasts to avoid ground shaking and fight by dismounting.”

There is someone in Azadin’s group who knows the magic system of the dwarves well. In fact their prediction was true. Bernard a blood magician who studied at Banreung Academy is Azadin’s advisor so Azadin is already well aware of the dwarves’ abilities and fighting methods.

It was a fact that Chashan also knew but he didn’t consider it at all.

He may be a successful gang leader but he had too many disqualifications to become a soldier on the battlefield.

“Big….”

The surrounding gazes were sharp. Chashan who had already been humiliated by Azadin several times felt his dignity fall to the floor and his teeth chattered.

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“This is not the time. Gather all forces in front of the Sandokar Corridor Gate!”

Sandokal Corridor Gate It was the first gate of the Banreung Kingdom that could block all the paths leading from the Arangi Kingdom and the Rescue Knights’ territory. It was also the starting point of the Banreung Kingdom’s fortress defense line during the ‘Plum Blossom War’ between the Banreung Kingdom and the Arangi Kingdom.

“We have more numbers so shouldn’t we just rush at the enemies and fight them all?”

It may sound silly but these dwarf mafias with their abundant dwarf sorcerer resources were able to organize multiple units into an organic movement.

The strategy of avoiding and surrounding those who were trying to destroy them one by one sounded like an empty theory from a desk sleuth who didn’t know the practicalities but it was a strategy that the dwarves of Banreung could actually carry out.

“No. It won’t work for that guy Azadin.”

Chashan shook his head. Although Chashan hated Azadin so much that he could chew on every single bit of his flesh he never ignored his abilities.

“Gather everyone at the Sandokar Corridor Gate!”

*********

-Pfft!

“Purrrrr!”

The hippogriff roared and swung his forelegs sending the dwarves flying.

The Blunderbuss dwarves boasted that they could easily take down hippogriffs with their proud musketeers but they were rolling around without being able to put up much of a fight.

“This is ridiculous! Why is this?”

The panicked Blunderbuss soldier raised his gun and aimed it at the hippogriff.

-Click!

The flintlock wheel turns but it just slides and doesn’t produce any sparks.

Something reddish is stuck to the flintlock wheel preventing the flint from igniting.

“What is this!?”

“Mercurial Blood. It’s true blood magic!”

Mercurial Blood was a blood magic developed at Banreung Academy that used cinnabar as a catalyst to emit mercury vapor that prevented ignition.

The mercury vapor produced in this way would stick to metal firearms causing them to deform and was particularly fatal to flintlock weapons.

The blood mage of Azadin’s party cast Mercurial Blood to disable the firearms of the Blunderbuss soldiers and then attacked.

The dwarves tried to fight them off with the bayonets attached to their blunderbusses but…

-Whew!

The sword swung by Niselda blew off the heads of the dwarves.

She and the undead half-vampires who were immune to damage from Mercurial Blood slaughtered the dwarves.

As the dwarves had predicted Bernard who had studied at Banreung Academy knew the dwarves’ special skills tactics and weaknesses well.

The dwarves tried to engage her with bayonets but Niselda and Scott’s undead and Bernard’s blood magic spiders only slaughtered them.

Azadin also did not enter the Mercurial Blood. He attacked the dwarves with arrows and took their breath away.

The dwarves were easily annihilated without offering much resistance.

“Hmm. Mercurial Blood. It’s so useful. Doesn’t it spread damage to the surrounding area?”

Azadin frowned at the mercury-laced fog.

“It’s okay. I didn’t use much cinnabar. It’s usually too expensive to use magic. Fortunately our specialty is cinnabar.”

Bernard who cast this spell said it as if it was nothing.

Azadin was lost in thought after hearing Bernard’s words.

“Cough cough. Should I not use it next time? If I use Mercurial Blood I have to kill the enemy soldiers unconditionally….”

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“No there is no need to save.”

Azadin motioned to Scott. Scott used his necromancy to move the dead dwarves to check if they had any letters or orders or if not any other valuables and he gathered the corpses and moved them to a crevice in the rocks where wild beasts would have difficulty eating them then he lifted a stone to block the entrance himself to prevent the corpses from deteriorating.

Now they just leave it behind but later they want to collect the body and hold a funeral.

Even if you kill them while they are alive you still have to give them a funeral when they are dead.

It’s ridiculous to think about the dignity of the corpse while using necromancy… but in order to dispose of the corpses without poisoning in the mercury vapor of Mercurial Blood necromancy was the only way.

“Go to next.”

Azadin shouted Arael’s voice into the sky looked around and after confirming the dwarves’ location approached.

Knowing that the dwarves were using the ground rumble to gather information they flew their hippogriffs at low altitudes sprayed Mercurial Blood around the dwarves and then swooped in to annihilate them.

According to reports from surviving dwarves and soldiers the number of dwarf Blunderbuss soldiers brought to this area by the Chashan party is around 100.

If you were to collect all these Blunderbuss bottles it would be a huge number that could determine the fate of a country.

However Azadin was effectively defeating them one by one.

Up until now the only damage Niselda has sustained is a brief shot from a Blunderbuss bottle but the wound was lightly healed by Niselda drinking blood.

This is absurd considering the fame of the dwarf sorcerers known to the world.

“Hmm.”

Jibek who had entered Azadin’s army and was now engaging in full-scale combat for the first time was amazed by the extraordinary fighting ability of Niselda one of Azadin’s subordinates Chadra Ogel.

The reason why the Kingdom of Banreung became a union kingdom between the Dwarf Dynasty and the Yaegas Eight Kings was because the Dwarves’ abilities were so extraordinary.

Even when the Nagas ruled this land in the past and when the Yaegas ruled the dwarves would take their share from everyone.

Those dwarves could easily defeat the best troops. The Chadra-Vermillion troops raised by Azadin have high morale and excellent skills.

No matter what disaster strikes wouldn’t Azadin be able to overcome it?

That was when I was thinking like that.

“Now that I think about it it’s about time for the villagers to light a fire.”

Azadin had asked the conquered villagers to light bonfires to create smoke so that they would not engage in other activities.

The time to light that bonfire and send up smoke was approaching. No in fact it had passed a while ago.

Of course since no one has a proper clock we’ll have to give ourselves some time before and after… but the deadline is approaching soon.

“uh?”

But then smoke rises from the village.

A large amount of red smoke was rising into the sky.

“…No Captain. Aren’t you a little scared? What on earth are they burning that’s producing that kind of smoke?”

Usually there is white smoke or black smoke but the smoke rising now was a mixture of red black and even green flames.

And then the smoke takes the shape of a demon writhes in the sky and explodes.

“….”

It’s not just this town.

Smoke also rises from other villages to the north.

The same dark red and green smoke continued to rise from this Chadra-Banreung ridge.

“Sir Azadin.”

“…Change of target.”

Azadin had wanted to capture Chashan as soon as possible but now that this had happened he had no choice but to change his goal.

“I have to go to the nearest town and find out what happened.”

Azadin said so and turned his horse around.

*********

The sun was setting by the time we reached the nearest village.

Azadin got down on the hippogriff and looked around.

Survivors remained scattered throughout the village struggling to put out the fire that had spread to their homes.

“All of you?”

“…We did nothing wrong.”

They surrendered first when they learned that Azadin was a warlord from the Chadra Plateau who had come to fight against Chashan.

Azadin stopped them as he watched people struggling to survive their eyebrows burned from putting out the fire.

“Stop. Take a rest for a moment. I didn’t come here to persecute you.”

“….”

Of course they would. The Dwarven Arrows also forced the villagers to grow narcotic crops claiming that they were liberators who would free them from poverty.

Azadin smiled bitterly as he looked at the villagers who distrusted him.

“What happened?”

“A person suddenly opened fire.”

“Speech?”

“excuse me….”

Azadin looked where they were pointing.

Inside the building there were human remains the entire body petrified.

“….”

It’s an elemental wailing.

A strong storm of magical power erupted around the person who had the Elemental Wailing manifested rapidly burning anything that came into contact with it.

But up until now the elemental wailing was a disease that caused suffering as parts of the body were turned into magic stones so why did these people suddenly have their entire body transformed into magic stones in an instant?

-Crack.

“huh?”

Azadin heard the sound of a petrified corpse moving in the flames.

Stones sprout from the bodies of the victims of the Elemental Wailing.

And the stones break.

The victim was moving.