Grand Canyon Colne.
A huge canyon that had stood in place for thousands of years had its mouth firmly shut by the fist of just one man.
5
Hehehe… … .
A dusty wind blew over Colne Gorge.
No, that expression would actually be wrong. Because this place was no longer a ‘canyon’.
Sir Klatt’s laughter escaped from the thick dust.
“Huh, heh heh… … .”
Klatt blinked. I couldn’t believe the sight before my eyes.
But no matter how many times I rubbed my eyes, reality did not change.
The entrance to Colne, a magnificent canyon with cliffs reaching hundreds of meters.
Part of it completely collapsed and became a huge stone mountain. The entrance was no longer visible. Numerous boulders weighing tens of thousands of tons were piled up, completely blocking it.
There was no sign of the Zeppelin Knights. They were all buried under that collapsed cliff, swept away by a tsunami of such enormous destruction that it would be embarrassing to even call it a landslide.
But no one here was thinking about the dead Zeppelin Knights. That’s how unrealistic the situation before his eyes was.
“What… … does not make sense… … .”
Even Lord Klart is mesmerized, so why are the others appalled?
The entire chase team just stood there with their mouths open. Everyone looked like they were having a nightmare.
“No matter how powerful you are, how can you collapse a cliff that is hundreds of meters high?”
It’s surprising that something like that is possible, but it’s even more shocking that it was actually done just because it was possible. Isn’t this something a person with common sense would never do?
“I’ve heard many times that Jim Unbreakable is simply ignorant, but this is… … .”
In the devastated room, Klatt suddenly found Reppenhardt’s traces.
‘Well, now that I think about it, where is the King of Powers?’
Looking around, I saw nine shadows standing at the top of the stone mountain, halfway up the left and right cliffs, with only half a trace left.
Those who caused this merciless destruction ignoring Mother Nature, they were looking at the pursuit party with calm and cold gaze. In contrast to the completely swept away Zeppelin Knights, everyone looked perfectly fine.
‘Are you saying you pulled yourself out of that situation? I was prepared in advance, but it couldn’t have been easy… … .’
Looking at them standing so high up in the distance, Klat burst into empty anger.
“Yes, because he has that much power, he must have been able to act so carelessly… … .”
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Klatt thought that the Auror users of Antares were looking at him with cold eyes, but the truth was a little different.
“Oh my, this really works… … .”
Looking down the stone mountain, Kalken let out a tired voice. Tashid retorted, shrugging her shoulders.
“Did my benefactor say something I didn’t mean to say? “I guess I ordered it because it worked.”
But that Tashid also looked tired. Although he did as he was told, he couldn’t believe it himself when he saw the signs of collapse.
Iniya stuck her tongue out and muttered.
“Of course, it was aimed at a vulnerable point in the canyon that the dwarves had identified in advance, but still… … .”
Eight aurors are driven into various places at the cliff’s collapse point, and the Calamity Horn is used to drive a wedge into the cliff, causing them to explode in sync and transform into powerful destructive power.
This incredible linkage that changed the map of a country was conceived by Repenhardt after seeing the auror skills of the warrior Starla, the godmother of the Blue Bear tribe. Russ was not the only one who was deeply impressed by her skills during the Crovence Civil War.
With nine Auror users using the skills that Stala used alone, the destructive power was naturally on a different level. Although his absence was a problem due to the loss of Cardamite, the original plan was to use a 4-stack Calamity Horn. Although it was imperfect, hitting it with a 6-stack Calamity Horn made up for the lack of power.
Rumbling… … .
The aftershocks still linger and my feet shake. Atilka let out a sigh as she looked at the collapse site, with rocks rolling here and there.
“Wow, it may have been done to avoid seeing blood, but to hurt such great nature, it is truly a great sin.”
Anyway, everyone was speechless as they looked at their feet. Even though they are Auror users, they are definitely people with flesh and blood, so they can’t help but be amazed that these nine people have changed the terrain itself.
On the other hand, Reppenhardt, who had experience blowing up intact mountains, fields, and 10,000-year-old glaciers even in his previous life, still had a calm expression.
“Okay, this ties up the chase team. It will take at least another 15 days to return to the outskirts of the canyon, and even if the movement here is slow, that time is enough to move to Crovence Kingdom. “It bought me time.”
Carol’s original plan was to move escaped slaves to Colne Canyon while stationing elites of the County of Antares at the entrance to hold a sit-in for a while.
Since they were not a formally trained army and were living as slaves, there was no way they could escape the pursuit of the Zeppelin army no matter how fast they moved. Someone had to buy time in the middle.
-But although our side is good at surprise attacks, we are weak against mercury. Everyone who remains will have to sacrifice their lives. We planned to reduce the damage as much as possible, but the expected damage is still high.
The plan Carol came up with was indeed a common-sense and realistic strategy. However, upon hearing that the damage was great, Leffenhardt immediately changed his strategy.
-Oh, then instead of staging a sit-in here, how about just crushing the cliffs on the left and right sides of the canyon to block the road? If you just eliminate the road itself, there’s no need to leave any remaining troops, and you can buy time without taking any damage, right?
Of course, Carol was shocked at first.
-Hey, King Baek. It’s a canyon, a canyon. It’s not a man-made bridge or castle wall or anything like that?
However, after calculating Atilka’s destructive power with Auror users and listening to the advice of the dwarves, it was not an entirely impossible task.
Of course, it would be ridiculous to collapse an intact cliff with a hundred Auror users just by simply knocking on it.
However, in the country of Antares, there were dwarves, sons of the earth. Playing with the land, with the help of those who were more advanced than any other race on the continent, surprisingly seemed quite realistic.
That is why this Colne Gorge collapse operation was prepared.
-You are amazing, King White. I thought I was smarter than others, but I couldn’t even think of something like this. I guess I’ve hardened my brain a lot too, haha.
Reppenhardt smiled involuntarily, remembering Carol’s bitter face.
‘It’s not that Carol couldn’t think of it because she was hard-headed, actually.’
If there is a mountain in the middle that gets in the way, it is common sense for ordinary people to find a way to get back, and the method of a strategist is to choose the shortest route among those detours to save trouble. If you were a wizard or an Auror, you would have found a way to climb the mountain faster with your own power.
However, Reppenhardt was an archmage of the 10th circle. He had already blown up a couple of mountains with the New Clear Burst.
Because he was like that, he thought, ‘The mountain is inconvenient? You can even come up with bizarre ideas like ‘Then let’s get rid of it.’
Thanks to this, the Zeppelin chase team was safely pinned down. As an Auror user, Sir Klatt alone might not have been able to cross that rocky mountain that could collapse at any time and enter the canyon. If we were to continue the chase, we would have to take a big detour through the canyon.
‘Well, I guess there’s no way he’d keep chasing me after seeing this scene before.’
Repenhardt smiled as he looked at the group of people who were devastated. With their morale broken like this, they won’t have to worry about being chased for a while.
Reppenhardt turned and looked at the other side of the gorge that had not collapsed. They must have moved quite a bit in the meantime, so the group of escaped slaves was no longer visible.
“Then everyone go back!”
Gesturing to the group, Reppenhardt threw himself into the darkness of the canyon on the other side of the collapsed stone mountain. Other Auror users also jumped down one by one. Nine shadows began to gradually disappear through the thick dust.
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The rumor that King Repenhardt, the monarch of Antares, had attacked the Zeppelin and escaped the slaves quickly spread across the continent.
The story that King Gwon treated people of different races like free human beings has been widely spread since ancient times. The story that the County of Antares was behind the slave escapes of different races occurring across the continent was already accepted as an established theory among the people, although there was no evidence.
Then he finally revealed himself and did something!
Everyone on the continent paid attention to this situation.
Some people were amazed by the power of King and Antares.
A famous king establishes the emerging nation of Antares and achieves victory against the rich and historic nation of Chatan. It is a truly interesting story for small-town people who dream of becoming heroes.
Some strongly criticized it, calling it a foolish, reckless and greedy act.
Invading the capital of another country without even declaring war and forcibly plundering its wealth is no different from a group of despicable thieves. This is by no means the attitude taken by the king of a country and a renowned military man.
Some were wary of the danger of that idea.
The actions of the County of Antares, which does not simply seize slaves, but liberates them, gives them freedom, and makes them citizens, is an act that disturbs the order of the continent. This is something that can never be ignored.
Some cautiously praised his actions.
Unlike before, common sense on the continent has changed considerably due to the Crovence Civil War and the existence of the County of Antares. Little by little, the title ‘Leffenhardt the Liberator’ began to circulate among those who questioned slavery but did not dare to raise their voices.
Different people, different opinions.
But they all acknowledged one thing.
The world is starting to change.
Chapter 35: Situation in each country
One
One month after the Zeppelin liberation operation, the office of Prime Minister Antares Baekwang.
Karl was busy taking care of the administrative affairs of the escaped slaves of different races.
Write documents at high speed by dipping the stretched pen nib in ink. Even though it is a fast pen that resembles a scrawl, the strokes are all elegant and noble. Considering that the owner of that brush is a man so tall that the table looks narrow, it would be a truly awkward sight.
However, the mountain of documents currently in front of Carol was so massive that even its bulky size was obscured. They were all reports from dwarves, trolls, elves, and orcs. The workload was no joke as the number approaching 10,000 came in.
Carol muttered as she looked through the documents.
“As expected, the dwarves are the quickest to settle down.”
The dwarves settled safely within the kingdom under the leadership of Alport’s High Priest, Markelin.
The dwarves who preserved the teachings of their ancestors, even though they were slaves, still had cultural sympathies with the free dwarves of Grand Forge. They still worshiped their god, Al Pot, and maintained their faith even while in slavery, fully respecting the authority of High Priest Marceline.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s any problem with the trolls.”
Most of the troll tribes that had already remained on the continent came under the protection of the Kingdom of Antares. Thanks to this, most of the rescued trolls were able to return to their original tribes.
Even those who did not have a tribe to return to did not face any major problems.
This was because all of the trolls Atilka rescued were former shamans.
The life of modern-day trolls is to live deep in the forest, avoiding human eyes, and ordinary trolls never stray far from the village in the first place. Only guru practitioners escape the boundaries of the village, follow the teachings of nature, and practice asceticism, only to encounter humans and be captured. This was also the reason why trolls were known as powerful monsters to humans.
Among trolls, shamans were welcomed wherever they went. None of the existing gurus disliked the introduction of a new guru into the tribe.
Although troll magic’s teachings sought ‘assimilation’, there was a more practical reason.
In order for a troll to safely give birth, a magical ‘heart-pulling ritual’ is required. And no matter how powerful the troll guru was with regenerative powers, the ‘heart-pulling ritual’ was by no means an easy task. If you were a great shaman like Atilka, it was common for a guru to be sick for a week every time he performed that ritual. Among gurus with low skills, there were quite a few cases where heart regeneration failed and people died.
As the number of people who perform the ritual increases, it means that the number of times it is your turn decreases. That’s why I welcomed them with open arms and never acted territorially.
Well, since troll gurus are also human, there are times when they are wary of threats to their status, but at least they never refuse to recruit. For that reason, even troll gurus who had no tribe to return to could easily join the White Kingdom.
Carol again turned her attention to the next document.
“The elves and orcs are better than I thought.”
Siris and Tarsid were in charge of handling the rescued former slave elves and orcs, respectively.
Considering the influence and authority, Iniya or Kalken should have been in charge, but compared to dwarves and trolls, elf and orc slaves were far more influenced by human rule and had long been cut off from the culture of their ancestors.
The existing leaders, such as Relhad, Iniya, Kalken, and Stella, and these former slaves do not have much sympathy. Although Iniya practiced martial arts in his past and had quite a bit of exposure to the human world, he only hid his identity and pretended to be a human, so he did not live as a slave.
Therefore, Siris and Tashid, who were slaves and had exposure to both humans and their own people, became representatives of the elves and the orcs, respectively. Because of their close relationship with Reppenhardt, the existing leaders also accepted that fact without any hesitation.
Because they were both younger, they were not able to proceed as smoothly as Atilca or Marceline, but they made up for what they lacked in experience with the help of Reppenhardt and Karl, and were doing their best to settle the rescued compatriots.
Carol showed a satisfied expression as she approved the documents.
“I was a little worried, but you’re both doing pretty well.”
Anyway, it was a truly massive amount of work. If it were like before, even if she was the world’s greatest Carol, she would inevitably collapse from overwork.
Although many elf secretaries such as Flora had adapted to their work, they still had many shortcomings as administrative officials as they were a race that was slow to learn. It’s nice to be able to carry out work in a meticulous and detailed manner like an elf, but even simple paperwork often takes several days. Even though work was done slowly, it was too slow.