Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading

Chapter 178 : Chapter 178

It wasn't just the 3rd Corps.The Glockner unit also moved toward the capital after a long rest.

Because Albrecht, who had devoted himself only to recuperation for three months after using the Heart Sword, finally raised his body.

Like that, the Imperial Army advanced toward the capital equipped with the best available strength.

However, what was guarding the capital was an unexpected existence.

“…Mages?”

It was so.

Mages wearing robes instead of armor were walking on top of the castle walls.

“Why…?”

Someone muttered like this unconsciously.

And everyone had the same thought.

Because no one had thought that mages would be controlling the capital.

They weren't even just mages.

Surprisingly, what had seized control of the capital were the mages of the Penitudo Mage Tower.

“…….”

Because Roden knew the attire of the Penitudo Mage Tower better than anyone, he could be certain.

“Before fighting, we must grasp the situation first. What kind of situation does it seem to be in your view?”

Alexis, having come to his senses, asked Roden first.

This showed how much Alexis trusted Roden.

Considering what Roden had achieved so far, it was only natural.

However, because Roden had received a bigger shock than usual, it took him some time to come to his senses.

Nevertheless, as soon as he came to his senses, he offered a plausible guess.

“There are largely two possibilities. One is that the Penitudo Mage Tower dispatched reinforcements to help the Empire….”

“The other?”

“That the Penitudo Mage Tower completely seized control of the Empire.”

“Surely not….”

“Yes. That is correct. If it is the latter case, they probably intend to cause another Sword-Magic Great War.”

Hearing Roden's story, everyone present received a huge shock.

It was inevitable.

Because if it was the latter, it was truly a big trouble.

The war between the Imperial Army and the Allied Forces was already enormous in scale.

Since all the nations existing on the continent had participated in the war.

However, the land on the continent occupied by nations was only half.

The other half was occupied by mage towers, so it was natural.

Yet for nations and mage towers to clash again at this point.

That meant this time, the entire continent could be engulfed in the flames of war.

At the same time, it also meant that a bigger war than now would break out.

Even in the case of the Allied Forces, their strength was greatly drained due to the war with the Imperial Army.

For that reason, if the Sword-Magic Great War was reenacted, they would be extremely disadvantaged.

“…We must hope for the former situation. Even if it is the former, a tremendous obstacle has appeared in the capture of the capital, which we thought would be easy.”

“Even if it is the latter, there is a possibility. Because it could be the Penitudo Mage Tower's independent action, not a situation agreed upon with other mage towers.”

“Right. Then, for now, we should not fight rashly and observe the situation. Establish a base… Huh?”

Alexis, who was issuing orders, could not continue his words until the end.

It was because the Glockner unit, which had been waiting together, was moving toward the capital.

They weren't even just moving.

Their momentum was clearly that of wanting to fight, to anyone who saw it.

“Damn it! Someone stop them! Main Battalion Commander, Corps Staff Officer! Even you guys, step forward! Try to stop your father!”

Roden and Michael could only make ambiguous smiles even after hearing Alexis's story.

Because stopping the Glockner unit was an impossible task.

***

‘Mages…. It will be quite a fresh fight.’

Albrecht thought while leading the Glockner unit toward the capital.

Already, after achieving victory over Maxim, Albrecht was suffering from a strange emotion.

That was an emotion named futility.

He thought he was the strongest, but for it to be revealed as true fact.

For Albrecht, who had lived his whole life to prove he was the strongest, he felt joy at this fact but also inevitably felt futility.

Above all, he couldn't get a sense of what goal he should live for anymore.

‘But to think it is mages.’

He had forgotten.

The existence of mages.

And the moment he recalled the existence of mages, Albrecht could realize that there were still opponents left against whom he had to prove he was the strongest.

‘Right. I must overcome mages. To become the true strongest of this continent.’

This thought had come to mind.

So for Albrecht, there was no reason to avoid this fight.

Rather, he had to clash at least once to fight properly.

Only then would he get a sense of how to proceed with the fight against mages.

Like that, Albrecht led the Glockner unit without hesitation and advanced toward the capital.

‘Prove your strength. Then I will accept you as my adversary.’

And a moment later.

Albrecht, putting his characteristic arrogance forward, reached the capital's gate.

Now the gate would be opened by Albrecht's sword blast, and a full-scale fight with the mages would begin.

But,

Piiiiiing! Kwaaaaaaaaang!

An unexpected event occurred.

“!”

The capital's gate was not pierced even by the sword blast containing tremendous power.

It didn't even end here.

Thinking the gate would naturally be pierced, the Glockner unit, which was charging to match the timing of the explosion, was counterattacked by the mages.

Kuuung! Kwajijik! Ureureu!

Kwaaang! Jjeojeojeok! Peoeong!

A magic barrage, whose power couldn't even be compared to ordinary arrows, fell above their heads.

Fireballs fell, water streams were shot, and lightning struck down.

Even stone pillars soared up as the ground shook violently.

But what was more fatal than this was mental magic.

Cases occurred where they lost the will to fight drenched in fear, fell into oblivion forgetting what they were doing, or were seized by hallucinations attacking their own side.

Because they weren't accustomed to fighting mages, the Glockner unit was helpless against these attacks.

Albrecht also shouted a spirit cry while feeling some thought digging into his head.

“Haaaaaaap!”

Then a tremendous aura filled the surroundings.

As if unfolding a spirit curtain over the area.

Thanks to that, the knights struggling with magic could come to their senses.

“…Retreat.”

Albrecht decided to withdraw the troops although he was reluctant.

Because it was disadvantageous to have to fight a siege warfare as he couldn't break the gate, and above all, the Glockner unit was too vulnerable to magic.

Of course, if Albrecht unfolded a wide-area spirit curtain like now, he could block it sufficiently, but the consumption of aura was too great.

Furthermore, Albrecht had detected a certain energy beyond the castle walls.

‘A strong person who is not pushed back at all even compared to me exists in there. So I cannot win the battle by wasting strength in this way.’

So for now, it was right to withdraw the troops and prepare countermeasures.

At least he had to find a way for the knights to protect themselves from magic attacks.

At the same time, it was also necessary to analyze why the gate didn't break.

Like that, the Glockner unit retreated according to Albrecht's order.

Fortunately, the mages did not pursue them, whatever their thoughts were.

***

The Glockner unit's retreat was a big shock to the 3rd Corps as well.

Considering that the stage of the Glockner unit was at least 3-stars, the shock had to be even greater.

That meant that any unit of the 3rd Corps would inevitably suffer the same fate in a fight with mages.

“The existing methods won't work to deal with mages.”

“Especially, a method to block mental attacks seems urgent. Because this is why the Glockner unit was helplessly defeated.”

Alexis spoke first, and Tobias received those words.

Certainly, mental magic was fatal.

Because while mages had magic to block this, knights had no such thing.

Of course, even without such magic, mental magic didn't work if the stages were identical.

It meant that a 3rd-circle mage's attack didn't work on a 3-star knight.

The reason Albrecht could break through mental magic with aura was also because of this.

However, they were inevitably vulnerable to magic cast by someone with a higher stage than themselves.

So magic to block this was needed.

Because if someone with a high stage cast this magic, they could help their allies.

But naturally, there was no one among the Allied Forces who had learned such magic.

For that reason, mental magic had to feel fatal.

At that time, Michael seemed to think for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“I once read somewhere that a similar problem occurred during the Sword-Magic Great War in the past, and secret techniques to break through this were developed by each family. So if you look carefully, you might be able to find secret techniques related to this.”

Since mental magic wouldn't have been absent in the past, Michael's words made sense.

And Adriel added weight to this opinion.

“Ah. Come to think of it, there is something similar among my family's secret techniques. It's an attack skill that is strangely weaker in power than others, but when checked later why, they said it has a function to block mental attacks.”

Alexis nodded at Adriel's story.

“It must be a trace of the Sword-Magic Great War. If so, families with a long history will have secret techniques for this remaining somewhere. Let's each look for them.”

Fortunately, it seemed a countermeasure for the most threatening mental magic could be created somehow.

For that reason, Roden, who was thinking about whether he should personally make a countermeasure with imprinted weapons, kept his mouth shut without bothering to bring it up.

And instead, he brought up another story.

This was also an important story that had to be addressed.

“Anyway, the Penitudo Mage Tower seems to have occupied the capital without permission.”

“Really? How did you know that?”

“Scouts reported discovering units of Imperial nobles wandering around the perimeter, unable to enter the capital.”

“Ah.”

If the Penitudo Mage Tower had sent mages upon receiving a formal request for support from the Empire, they would have let the units of Imperial nobles into the capital.

But they didn't, and because of that, the possibility that the Penitudo Mage Tower harbored ambition increased further.

Roden had mentioned this.

A situation where another Sword-Magic Great War might occur.

Eventually, the atmosphere in the meeting room had to become much heavier.