LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 12: Tinnitus (1)
Fundamentally, in a siege, the defending side can manage the battle much more comfortably than the attacking side.
No matter how many troops attack, the presence of walls provides an advantage that can cover for overwhelming numbers.
Of course, in this world, there are heroes who can completely negate the advantages of such walls, but that’s only when the walls are ordinary.
From the moment serious resources are invested in the walls to imbue them with ‘magic’, the walls begin to hold significance, even for the heroes.
“Hu, huhuhu-!”
Just like now.
Lord Roadmalis looked around with a confident expression.
On the walls, there were hundreds of archers armed with superior equipment and ten wyvern riders prepared for sortie, standing proudly behind him.
Beside them, more than six heroes, who had already shown brilliant performances in dozens of territory battles, were lined up on either side.
Among them, four heroes had particularly distinguished titles.Baron the Massacrer.
Arta the Spear Collector.
Sharen of a Hundred Battles.
Talan the Silencer.
They looked down at the area below the walls with confident expressions.
Just like the heroes, Lord Roadmalis turned his gaze to Red Eyes, standing in the desolate plain.
With endlessly expressionless, hollow eyes,
Yet, with a gaze that seemed to oddly contain anger, looking at him.
“……”
The moment Lord Roadmalis felt his breath catch at that gaze, unknowingly.
Boom!
In front of Lord Roadmalis, a loud explosion could be heard.
Specifically, the sound came from a blue barrier that appeared to block the punch swung by Merilda, about five meters away from Lord Malis.
Crack-! Fizzle!
The barrier began to crack with a harsh thundering sound.
However.
Thump!!!
The barrier soon pushed Red Eyes back with strong bulletproof force.
Seeing her, who had launched an attack so fast that not even Lord Roadmalis or any other hero could perceive her form, land on the ground,
Crunch-
soon smiled, sweating coldly, as he saw the cracks in the barrier quickly repair themselves to their original state.
“You’ve come this far with difficulty, but I’m sorry, Red Eyes. You cannot cross this protective wall.”
There was a reason Lord Roadmalis had a confident expression.
It was because the walls of Sertoa were enchanted with protective magic.
Not just any protective magic, but a protective magic circle created by inviting dozens of magicians and investing an astonishing amount of resources.
Of course, the protective magic circle was not invincible.
Just constructing the protective magic circle, as mentioned, requires pouring in several years’ worth of territory budget.
Once completed, it can block most attacks from outside, but that’s only as long as there are Mana Stones to be used as energy.
In other words, the protective walls that Lord Roadmalis is confident about will no longer function once the Mana Stones embedded in Sertoa are depleted.
Despite being fully aware of this fact, the reason Lord Roadmalis was confident is because Sertoa has a considerable amount of Mana Stones.
‘Of course, they weren’t meant to be used for the walls…!’
Honestly, the fact that the Lord of Sertoa had collected over 100 tons of Mana Stones for a different reason meant that it was a painful loss for him.
However, thinking differently, it was obvious that the 100 tons of Mana Stones would surely preserve his life from Red Eyes, allowing him to smile confidently.
Hearing that, Merilda charged again and swung her fist.
Whoosh-!
Her fist was blocked by the protective wall, as expected.
“I was slightly afraid because of the ‘Hero Massacrer’ and such titles, but it’s nothing. Rather, isn’t she a bit foolish?”
“Yeah, why is she doing that?”
“Maybe it’s because she’s a beastfolk that her intelligence is a bit low.”
Along with that, heroes including Baron the Massacrer, standing next to the Lord, sneered as if they had been waiting to mock, opening their mouths with laughter.
Of course, they also knew how strong Red Eyes was.
After all, the heroes hadn’t been able to follow Merilda’s attack with their eyes even once.
But still, they could mock Red Eyes because, like the Lord, they knew the power of these overwhelming protective walls.
Merilda, seeing the heroes mocking her along with the soldiers who sneered at her supposed folly, then,
Swiftly.
She lowered her gaze to look for something and then,
picking up a stone the size of her palm from the middle of the barren field,
Scrape-!
She began to carve the stone with her fingernails.
“…?”
“What is she doing?”
“Who knows, maybe she suddenly felt like sculpting.”
“Is she a bit off in the head?”
Lord Roadmalis, along with the heroes who chuckled and talked while watching Merilda, also mocked her.
However, she said nothing and continued to carve the stone until it became thin like an arrowhead.
Then she looked straight at Lord Roadmalis.
The moment Lord Roadmalis felt a threat through a hero’s unique intuition upon seeing her.
Whoosh-!
At the voice he heard from the side, Lord Roadmalis turned his gaze.
And soon saw.
“Choke- Gag?”
That Baron the Massacrer, who had slaughtered hundreds of soldiers alone on numerous battlefields, had a sharp stone embedded in his neck.
Gush-!
As Lord Roadmalis realized the stone was embedded in Baron’s neck, the blood that burst forth was sprayed around in an instant.
Thump-!
One of the heroes Lord Ro had trusted was met with death.
Before he could even question how it happened.
“Ah-”
Soon from below the walls.
“…I missed.”
At the indifferent voice of Red Eyes.
Shiver!
Lord Roadmalis felt a shiver down his spine and unwittingly stepped back from the walls.
A few days later.
[Congratulations! You have obtained a title.]
[Title: 'God of Stone']
“…What’s this.”
Kim Hyunwoo, who had just produced the necessary resources for the barracks and blacksmith, muttered incredulously at the title he received soon after.
He turned his gaze to see the fences of the territory’s castle nearing completion, then suddenly looked at the cabinet on one wall of the office.
More precisely, he looked at the shelf of the cabinet from which the wine had disappeared.
‘…Why did Merilda take the wine?’
Kim Hyunwoo thought of this because the wine had been missing since Merilda had entered and exited the territory in an instant, he then tilted his head in confusion.
After days of thoughts that led only to various speculations without a clear answer, he suddenly shifted his thoughts elsewhere.
‘The Beast King, now that I think about it, I don’t see what was so great about it.’
The title “Beast King” attached to Merilda was not given by Arteil but was coined by Kim Hyunwoo himself.
In Arteil, heroes born with four stars came with their titles, so you couldn’t give them one, but if you raised a hero from one to three stars to four stars or higher, you could give them a title.
From Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, there was one hero he felt slightly sorry for at the moment because of the title.
‘The Absolute Ruler of Darkness…’
As soon as Kim Hyunwoo thought about it, he involuntarily grasped his forehead as if dizzied and then clenched and unclenched his hand without realizing it.
“It’s not easy.”
A title not easy enough for him to murmur unknowingly.
‘What was I thinking, giving such a cringeworthy name?’
Of course, the person who could answer that had disappeared ten years ago.
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness was a title Kim Hyunwoo came up with at 17, thinking it would be cool while playing Arteil in the back of the classroom.
In fact, even at that time, and even after quitting the game, he had no regrets or much thought about the title he had given.
However, now that he was in the game and realizing the hero he raised was using that title, he felt sorry.
…Honestly, even Kim Hyunwoo thought the title he came up with at 17 was filled with adolescent cheesiness.
Therefore,
‘…If I ever get the chance to meet later, I should apologize for this.’
As Kim Hyunwoo was lost in these thoughts, staring blankly at the gradually completing fence…
In Sertoa Territory.
“Lo-Lord…! The amount of Mana Stones we have-!”
“Shut up! I know, so just shut it!”
“Yes… y-yes!”
Lord Roadmalis sat in his office chair with a very anxious expression, biting his lip with a mix of anxiety and nervousness-
Boom! Crash! Boom!
He gritted his teeth as he saw the sparkling blue barrier protecting the Lord’s castle amidst the tremendous noise coming from outside.
‘That monster…!’
Lord Roadmalis thought of Red Eyes.
She had sharpened a mere stone to pierce the barrier and kill one of his heroes, Baron the Massacrer, in one go.
‘How on earth did she penetrate the protective magic circle’s barrier to attack…?!’
Lord Roadmalis frowned, unable to comprehend the phenomenon.
Fortunately, it seemed that was her only means of attack, as she then resorted to throwing rocks or punching to try to break the protective magic circle.
However, that only further agitated Lord Roadmalis’ anxiety.
After all, only about 30 tons of Mana Stones remained from the original 100 tons, all due to Red Eyes.
‘Is this… is this even a plausible situation…?’
A hundred tons of Mana Stones, laughable as it may sound, were enough for a massive war lasting a long time, not just to be depleted in a few days by one person.
But Red Eyes had depleted those 100 tons of Mana Stones in just a few days alone, making Lord Roadmalis feel increasingly suffocated as time went on.
He was all too aware of what would happen to him if the protective magic circle engraved on the walls broke after a little more time.
‘When on earth is it coming…!’
Thus, Lord Roadmalis, with his hands sweaty and his eyes filled with anxiousness, was in a state of extreme nervousness.
“Lo-Lord!”
The servant who had fled the office after Lord Roadmalis’ scolding came back.
“The Swords of Calan have arrived…!”
He reported to Lord Roadmalis.
Upon hearing that, Lord Roadmalis wiped away his anxious expression and smiled broadly.
When Lord Roadmalis first announced that Red Eyes had appeared in the crystal ball with a murder threat, the very first thing he did was to request support from the Kingdom of Calan.
Not just any support, but he requested help from the five strongest warriors of the Calan Kingdom, the Swords of Calan.
Of course, calling upon the Swords of Calan was not something that could be said to be easy even in jest, but the Sertoa territory had given much to the kingdom over the years.
More precisely, they had given much to one of the real power holders of the Calan Kingdom, Lord Rosetonia, which allowed them to request the support of the Swords of Calan.
Believing that their lives would be undoubtedly saved if only the Swords of Calan came, they were able to wait with a glimmer of hope despite the protective magic circle being consumed at an alarming rate.
“I’m alive…! I’m saved now!”
As Lord Roadmalis saw Shin Sword Loriel, one of the Swords of Calan, enter his office, he immediately attempted to bow his head, but then,
Immediately after,
“…?”
Lord Roadmalis expressed his confusion when Loriel immediately stepped aside and bowed slightly towards the door.
Of course, the Swords of Calan do not bow their heads to anyone.
Nor do they show awe.
The only ones the Swords of Calan bow to are the King of the Calan Kingdom or those with power comparable to the King.
Thus, Lord Roadmalis was expressing his confusion.
Immediately after, as a girl entered the office and he heard her voice,
“I will ask.”
Instinctively he felt that something was amiss.
“You-”
The reason was…
“Is it true that you sent the poison I made to the Lord of Lartania?”
Because the gaze of the girl, who was receiving the awe of the Swords of Calan and looking at him, was filled with immense hatred.