The Hordia army, having captured Balderra Fortress, enjoyed a lavish meal using the provisions stored within.
Investigations revealed that their supplies were sufficient for fifty thousand troops to hold out for a year, hence the generous feast to replenish the soldiers’ spirits after their arduous journey.
Nicole, who had replaced Ign as the defending general upon Ign’s recall to the homeland, was in high spirits.
He was part of a faction aiming to depose Queen Asteria, intending to take her as his concubine after faking her execution once she was overthrown.
Despite his vulgar speech and behavior unbecoming of royalty, his looks rivaled those of Princess Lovisa of the neighboring country.
He expected his faction to be making preparations to act at any moment.
Though they couldn’t muster a large army to surround the Royal Capital without worsening the delicate situation, the Queen had become a minority.
Most of the eccentrics who supported the “mad queen” had turned their backs on her after the recent reckless and nonsensical expedition.
Hordia’s past transgression of breaking an unwritten rule and incurring the wrath of the continent, followed by defeat, had left a deep scar.
The Queen’s greatest mistake was to have dismissed this.
It seemed the assassins sent the other day were dispatched by a different faction from Nicole’s, though she had managed to repel them with her skilled maids, who were both young and beautiful.
“My era is coming!”
Nicole was convinced of his bright future.
He was still young, trusted by elderly nobles, and popular among his peers.
Scout reports indicated that the Filat army would attack today, and he believed all he needed to do was repel a magician named Marius Tuban.
“Lord Nicole, the enemy has arrived.”
His adjutant approached him.
The adjutant, a man Nicole found annoying, had retorted “Technically, you’re not a general yet,” when Nicole demanded to be called general.
“I shall annihilate them with my brilliant command!”
Nicole proudly stood on the ramparts, gazing at the enemy. He was first dumbfounded, then furious.
“That’s the enemy!?”
Only a single magician, clad in deep crimson robes and with his face hidden by a hood, was slowly walking towards them.
“That must be the rumored Marius Tuban.”
Nicole sneered at his adjutant, who was on high alert.
“Hah, the guy who’s proud of killing a few Wyverns!”
The slave soldiers watched Marius approach with unease.
“Fools, this fortress has giant ballistae!”
When Nicole revealed the source of his confidence, the soldiers calmed down.
They remembered the anti-dragon weapon that had killed many of their comrades in a single blow.
“With the giant ballistae and fifty thousand men, surely we can take down ten or twenty Wyverns! Marius is nothing to fear!”
Regardless of whether his judgment was accurate, Nicole’s confidence greatly boosted that of the soldiers.
If this man, whom they hated for overworking them but who was skilled at self-preservation, was so confident, they believed they could win.
Even the adjutant did not doubt their victory.
(It would be impossible to capture a fortress defended by tens of thousands of men alone, unless it was Melinda Guilford.)
The adjutant recalled a hero from thousands of years ago, offering a wry smile.
He felt ashamed comparing the man before him to the greatest hero in human history, who could command demon-class familiars and fight Demon Lords one-on-one.
Marius, whose name was compared to Melinda’s in Hordia, paused his advance. He used his “Radar” again to pinpoint the location of the watchers.
Then, he cast the support magic “Homing” and followed it with the paralysis magic “Stun.”
This method distributed power among the three spells, reducing their individual potency. However, it eliminated the risk of accidentally paralyzing the enemy’s heart indefinitely.
He used “Radar” again, confirming that everyone had fallen unconscious, and waved his right hand several times.
In response, the Filat soldiers mobilized.
“W-what… what did he just do?”
No one could answer Nicole’s question.
The common understanding was that detection magic was effective only within a range of a few dozen meters.
It was impossible to detect someone monitoring them from over a kilometer away from the fortress.
“Never mind that, prepare the giant ballistae!”
Dozens of men worked together to aim the giant spear.
Nicole took his time and then, with the demeanor of an executioner, gave the order to fire at Marius, who was walking again.
“Fire!”
The giant spear whizzed through the air.
It possessed a speed that even the strongest monster, the dragon, could not evade, and a destructive power that could pierce scales.
It hurtled directly towards the approaching magician and shattered into pieces.
“……..What?”
“Eh…?”
Their minds went blank.
What had just happened before their eyes?
How had the giant spear, capable of defeating a dragon in one blow, been destroyed?
Why was the magician, who should have been crushed, walking so calmly?
“I-it’s impossible, that’s impossible!”
Nicole’s mind refused to accept what had happened.
The fact that the giant ballistae were not effective against all dragons had vanished from his awareness.
“That’s it, it’s an illusion, it must be an illusion.”
He desperately muttering excuses.
No one pointed out that creating an illusion for tens of thousands of soldiers was far more difficult than defending against the giant ballistae with magic.
Everyone except Yaders was stunned by the nightmarish reality.
Yarn collapsed on the spot, muttering something to himself.
“Second shot! Fire both simultaneously!”
The soldiers frantically obeyed Nicole’s half-crazed command.
They were desperately trying to break free from the nightmare as well.
“Hurry, hurry!”
It was more of a scream than a command, but the soldiers earnestly complied.
They shared the same urgent desire to prevent the magician from getting any closer.
They hastily moved the second giant ballista, loaded both spears, and aimed.
“Fire!”
The two spears, their destructive power amplified, attacked the magician.
And again, he shattered into pieces.
“W-what…”
Nicole trembled, not just in his body, but in his voice.
He felt as though something precious, along with the spears, had been shattered.
Strength drained from his body, and he slumped to his knees.
Marius Tuban was now just a few steps away.
“Waaah… defend, defend!”
He ordered with teary eyes, but no one responded.
Looking around in a panic, many others had collapsed like Nicole.
They knew of no one other than Demon Lords and Demons who were impervious to giant ballistae.
But now, one more had been added to that list.
“Don’t panic! Attack him until his magic runs out, or we’ll all be killed!”
The adjutant, one of the few who still had fighting spirit, shouted angrily, and the soldiers, as if time had resumed, frantically followed orders.
(Right, magic depletion.)
It felt like a ray of hope.
No matter how powerful a magician, as long as they were human, their magic would eventually run out.
That was their best opportunity, and the soldiers finally realized they should attack relentlessly until then.
“Archers! Launch fire arrows!”
“Rocks! Rain down rocks!”
Fire arrows and a barrage of stones rained down on Marius.
It was an overwhelming assault for a single person, but the barrier Marius had erected shattered them all, and he continued to walk as if taking a stroll.
(He’s n-not stopping…)
All attacks were ineffective against Marius.
“C-could it be… a Demon?”
The adjutant shuddered.
Meanwhile, the Filat army, witnessing Marius’ “fortress assault,” widened their eyes and mouths to their fullest.
“Is that… even possible…?”
The giant ballistae and thousands of stones were shattered, and the fire arrows had no effect.
Despite Hordia’s desperate attacks, Marius walked as if he were strolling through the neighborhood.
They had longed for revenge and simply expected to “suffer greatly from the Royal Court Magician’s amazing magic,” but the scene before them did not elicit a “serves you right.”
“C-could it be a Demon?”
“No, if he were a Demon, he wouldn’t block stones. Therefore, Marius is human.”
As they were on his side, they retained a modicum of calm.
“Stop him, stop him—!”
The desperate cry echoed in vain.
Marius was now within arm’s reach.
They didn’t even have the luxury to wonder why he wasn’t using offensive magic.
Nicole, who was so strict about hierarchy, was too dazed to even reprimand the adjutant for overstepping his bounds and was useless.
The giant ballistae, the myriad arrows, and the rain of stones were all useless against Marius.
(You monster! And you back home! You set us up as disposable pawns!)
The adjutant’s thoughts turned to the betrayal by those he and Nicole belonged to, but it was a wrongful accusation.
Those nobles had no understanding of Marius’ power.
Marius, who had plunged the fifty thousand Hordia soldiers into despair, stopped a few steps from the castle wall and chanted another spell while maintaining his barrier.
“Slumbermist.”
A wide-ranging sleep spell.
A pale blue mist erupted from Marius’ body, quickly engulfing the fortress.
“Ugh…”
“W-what is this…”
Despite sensing something was wrong and attempting to resist, they were overcome by an intense drowsiness and collapsed on the spot.
For the soldiers who fell from the ramparts, he cast “Levitate,” returning them to the top of the wall.
The mist enveloped the fortress, taking only a dozen seconds for all of the Hordia army to fall asleep.
After confirming that no sound could be heard other than the snores and stertorous breathing, Marius destroyed the city gate with “Fire.”
Balderra Fortress had effectively fallen again in less than twenty seconds.
However, from this point on, Marius’ true battle was about to begin.
First, he covered the entire fortress with “Dimension Shield” to prevent magic from being activated from the outside.
Upon entering and checking the soldiers’ condition, he found them all in a “deep sleep.”
Unless subjected to a strong impact, they would not wake for several minutes.
(If I had used Stun, they might have died from shock.)
Killing with status ailments was no laughing matter.
Relieved that he had chosen the safer option, he looked for the commander.
While everyone was asleep, fewer than fifty individuals were not wearing the collars that signified their slave status.
One of them, adorned with the most luxurious equipment, had wet himself.
(Did he… lose control of his bladder?)
Disgusted by the smell emanating from Nicole, Marius touched his body.
Using “Psychometry,” he could ascertain information about the collars without interrogation.
This included the type of magic embedded in the slave soldiers, how to activate it, and how to remove the collars.
The collars were designed to prevent illegal liberation of slaves, and attempting to remove them by any means other than the official procedure would result in the slave’s death.
Therefore, all he needed was to remove the self-detonation mechanism.
(But it’s not that simple.)
The man only knew how to activate the magic and that attempting to remove certain spell systems would kill the slave.
This was to prevent revolts by slaves.
Yaders had likely anticipated this. Marius sighed deeply.
Should he have killed them all as initially suggested?
(No, I’ll try a little longer… that requires the resolve to let them die.)
Yaders had warned him that even if Marius saved them, the enemy might not be forgiven.
This applied particularly to those who commanded the enslaved soldiers, not just the soldiers themselves.
However, Marius still pitied the slaves who were forced into war and wanted to save them somehow.
Since the collars were Magic Items, there was a high probability that Marius’ magic could break them.
The question was whether they could be broken without killing the slaves.
He had to trust himself, having already broken many Nungaros with high magic resistance, but a chill ran down his spine.
He could hear his heart pounding loudly, and his stomach clenched.
He told himself that he had to save them, or they were destined to be killed, and felt a bit calmer.
Swallowing his saliva, he touched the collar of one soldier and poured in his magic with all his might.
The collar broke surprisingly easily, and the soldier showed no adverse effects.
Apparently, it had not been made to withstand Marius’ magic.
With a sigh of relief, Marius continued his work.
He had to handle nearly fifty thousand soldiers alone.
Afterward, he intended to call Yaders and their group for help in binding them.
Having been saved, he had to negotiate to ensure the slaves’ safety, but…
He had grasped the knack for it and managed to destroy all the collars in about a minute.
