Chapter 2. Burken Fortress (2)
‘Warlord Conquest’ was a fantasy strategy ga.
I led armies as a hero capable of shattering mountains and slicing rivers, conquering foreign lands and expanding territory.
How could a person shatter mountains and slice rivers?
The answer was simple.
Because mana existed.
[Achievent Unlocked! You have acquired a spell for the first ti!]
[You have gained a fixed trait.]
[Crude Mana]
[A mana capacity at the level of soone just stepping onto the path of magic.]
Even in my darkened vision, the notification window was visible.
Anyway, the hero growth system in ‘Warlord Conquest’ was broadly divided into two branches.
The first was ‘skills’ like [Infernal teor (Level 7)].
The second was ‘traits’ like [Crude Mana] or [Lord’s Unyielding Mind].
‘The forr is active. The latter is passive.’
Digging deeper made it a bit more complex.
But that wasn’t sothing to worry about right now, so it didn’t matter.
What was more important was the commonality shared by skills and traits.
Naly, they weren’t sothing you could just magically acquire by reading a skill book or the like.
[Warrior’s Insight]
[Instantly acquires skills witnessed in actual combat.]
[The proficiency of acquired skills is 100%.]
…That was exactly why this trait was so overpowered.
Instantly acquiring a skill just by witnessing it?
And with 100% proficiency, no less?
Had the developers finally lost their minds?
Even learning a skill through a secret manual or a good ntor took anywhere from a few weeks to several years.
Traits were the sa. In many cases, learning them was outright impossible.
If a trait like this existed before the update, I would have long since fulfilled my fantasy of flipping the ga board.
For example, sothing like ‘a swordmaster archmage paladin elder shaman who simultaneously unleashes a level 12 unique spell and sword aura while casting large-scale resurrection and wide-area buff rituals.’
“Ughhh…….”
Up to this point, it seed like a situation worthy of firing off celebratory cannons.
But contrary to my silly fantasies, my expression wasn’t good.
Not just because blood was streaming from my entire body.
It was because I knew this ga well.
Or rather, I should say I knew the developers’ malice better than anyone.
‘Those bastards never, ever make the ga easy, no matter what.’
If an overwhelmingly powerful hero appeared, capable of breaking the balance?
Then an antagonist strong enough to crush that hero in one blow would inevitably show up.
If a faction received an excessively strong buff in the early ga?
That ant an insanely difficult crisis was updated for that faction’s mid-to-late ga.
[The hero Naless Ash is granted three traits as a bonus.]
[The detailed abilities of the traits start in a hidden state and will be revealed when conditions are t during play.]
The hero ‘Naless Ash’ would be no different.
I didn’t know about other things, but this hero was crafted with so damn fine traits.
Not only [Warrior’s Insight], but the previously acquired [Lord’s Unyielding Mind] was also one of the most unrivaled overpowered traits.
Which ant, among the content added with the 4.0 update…
‘There’s content designed to counter this hero. Or the difficulty for the empire faction has beco insanely tough.’
Fuck. I should’ve just stuck with the hero I was playing.
As always, regret ca too late.
And when regret hit, dwelling on it usually led to an even more miserable ending.
Instead of self-bla, I had to do my best with what I was given.
“Ughhh….”
That said, there was nothing I could do right now.
It was a miracle I wasn’t dead already.
The power of a level 7 spell was comparable to an explosive shot from a dwarven cannon.
Even considering it only grazed , surviving was a miracle.
My prisoner’s uniform was already in tatters, and my body was torn, scorched, and covered in blood.
The shortness of breath suggested my lungs were damaged too.
But there was one piece of good news…
“…Aaaah!”
The fact that I could finally hear sothing through my muffled ears?
I thought it might be a hallucination and poked at my ear.
Co to think of it, my hands were moving too. That was good news as well.
The throbbing in my finger joints didn’t feel like they were crippled.
If I could feel sensation, it ant I was roughly intact.
“Aaaaah!”
Anyway, the source of the hallucination was a scream.
As my blurred vision cleared, I could see the owner of the scream.
“Huff, huff! Cough!”
It was a mage.
A mage with one arm and one leg amicably blown off, skin sizzling as if roasted by an ogre slathered in oil.
Though half-cooked, the face seed oddly familiar.
On closer inspection, it was a face I had glimpsed at the execution ground earlier.
So, he ca to watch the prisoners’ necks get chopped?
Mages and their tastes.
“[Shield]! [Shield]! Aaaah!”
Co to think of it, if he was inside the open ground, he would’ve taken a direct hit from [Infernal teor].
It seed the mage survived by using the [Shield] spell to absorb the impact.
But repeatedly turning [Shield] on and off like that was tactically a huge waste.
Mana wasn’t infinite, and even a shred left should be used to support allies.
As a veteran commander who led countless wars to victory, this was highly botherso…
[Deploying [Warrior’s Insight].]
[Skill acquired.]
[Shield (Level 1)]
…If you’re going to waste it, couldn’t you use so other spells too?
Preferably sothing flashy like [Lightning Arrow].
***
Cruelly, the mage soon stopped spamming spells.
Whether he ran out of mana or regained a bit of reason.
“…Ughhh.”
Clink!
With his remaining hand, he pulled out a potion to pour on his wounds but died.
What a pity. If he had lasted 10 seconds longer, he might’ve survived.
“Ugh.”
I dragged my aching body over to the mage.
Opening the leather pouch on his belt, I found it quite bountiful.
So clinking silver and copper coins.
Two healing potions and one mana potion.
“Ugh. Urgh…”
Groaning, I stripped off my tattered prisoner’s uniform and equipped the mage’s robe and staff.
In an instant, I went from an escaped death row inmate to a mage who barely survived a spell bombardnt.
Naturally, I felt no guilt taking the mage’s belongings.
Not only was he already dead, but wasn’t he here to watch my neck get chopped?
[Deploying [Warrior’s Insight].]
Though, unintentionally, he was the one who taught the [Shield] spell.
Well, rest in peace in the afterlife, Master.
Anyway, with my identity laundered, it was ti to recover my body.
I tucked the leather pouch into my waistband, opened a healing potion, and poured it into my mouth.
“…Urgh.”
If I had to describe it…
It was like the herbal dicine my parents fed as a kid to grow taller, concentrated tenfold.
Unlike that herbal dicine, which didn’t make grow an inch, this one’s effect was very clear.
“Phew.”
The nausea from the spell’s aftermath eased.
Breathing beca much easier, and the concussion-like dizziness in my head cleared.
The bruises and abrasions visible through the torn prisoner’s uniform began healing rapidly.
Who said advanced science was indistinguishable from magic?
No matter how advanced science got, it couldn’t make sothing like this.
“To the walls! To the walls!”
Unfortunately, there was no ti to indulge in sentint.
I started hearing soldiers shouting in the distance.
Surviving [Infernal teor] was likely due to the starting point’s tutorial buffer.
But now, having overco the first crisis and identified two traits, there was no such thing as tutorial buffer.
“Third platoon, search for survivors! Move the wounded to the inner castle!”
Real survival started now.
Let’s organize the situation.
This was Burken Fortress on the empire’s southern border.
The invaders were the undead army of the Vampire Archduchy.
Enemy necromancers were bombarding with spells led by [Infernal teor].
Once the bombardnt ended, zombies and skeleton soldiers would soon swarm to capture the fortress.
‘…It’s fortunate there’s no high-tier necromancer.’
If a high-tier necromancer were present, this fortress would already be done for.
Vampires could use spells one or two levels above their rank through the [Blood Sacrifice] ritual.
The ones casting [Infernal teor] now were likely level 5 necromancers at best.
Anyway, once their mana ran out, the spell bombardnt would stop.
What mattered was what ca next.
“Why are there prisoner corpses everywhere? Wasn’t this the execution ground today?”
“Urk…! That’s right. Looks like they’re all dead.”
I had two choices.
Escape the fortress.
Or hold the fortress.
Screech! Squeak!
Escape was out.
I just saw the shadow of a vampiric bat.
As long as those human-torso-sized bat bastards were around, leaving the fortress would only lead to being a drained corpse.
Like wolves hunting the weak who stray from the pack, vampiric bats had a habit of attacking detached units or scouts.
That left one choice.
Avoiding the soldiers’ eyes, I left the ash-covered open ground.
Thud. Thud…
With the noise of spell bombardnts hitting the outer walls behind , I headed straight for the inner castle where the command center was.
Co to think of it, escaping wasn’t the smart move.
Burken Fortress was one of the battlefields I knew best.
If I fled from a place where I knew every troop placent and minor terrain detail, how could I survive elsewhere in this insane world?
In that sense, I thought I should defend this place too…
‘There’s one problem.’
The reason Burken Fortress beca such a familiar battlefield was exactly that.
A familiar battlefield ant I had fought here a lot.
That ant, when playing as an empire hero, I had to defend it with utmost caution early on.
Conversely, when playing as the Vampire Archduchy, it was the place I’d typically attack right from the start.
‘Baron Burken, that pig bastard, is probably true to the ga’s setting, right?’
The decisive reason was none other than Baron Burken himself.
The man responsible for a corrupt command that was too busy skimming profits to conduct proper training.
Burken Fortress beca a pri target for vampires thanks to his stellar performance in corruption.
‘The epito of incompetence and corruption. Also weak to superstition.’
How should I put it?
He was the classic ‘greedy but incompetent boss’ type.
The number one person to avoid in a modern workplace, but here he was, sitting in an imperial noble’s seat. Enough said.
By the way, the inner castle walls were coming into view.
Breathing heavily, I grabbed a passing soldier.
“Hey.”
“Who… Oh, Mage!”
“Will you guide to the command tent? I have urgent matters to report to Baron Burken.”
The soldier, who seed to be a supply soldier, hesitated but nodded.
This showed how high a mage’s status was in this ga.
It wasn’t for nothing that mages were one of the three forces that forged the empire.
Even a low-level mage could single-handedly determine the survival of an entire unit.
But even so…
‘Mage cosplay alone isn’t enough.’
…This damn ‘Warlord Conquest’ world was never that easy.
Honestly, if I could live comfortably as a mage, I’d welco it.
But this was a world, true to its na, where wars broke out constantly.
A continent in a Warring States era where countless factions, divided by nation, race, and territory, devoured each other.
To survive, a single well-raised mage character wasn’t enough.
To begin with, the ga genre wasn’t a role-playing ga.
It was a strategy ga where you had to rally a massive force around top-tier commanders and superhuman heroes to clear it.
Even thinking back to World Scenario 3.0 before the update, surviving alone in this world was impossible.
“…Phew. Ha.”
“Mage, the command tent is that way.”
Ultimately, if I wanted to survive, I had to gather a force.
That was why I ran, gasping for breath, to the command center on the high ground.
“Thanks. Now return to your duties.”
I sent the soldier off and adjusted my attire.
Though I wore a trashy body for a hero.
Even if I was in a pathetic body, I was an 8-year veteran.
A nurturer who turned the weakest hero into the greatest monarch.
A strategist who reversed hopeless battles like flipping a hand.
At least in this ga, I could confidently say no one was better than .
Of course, alone…
With a body that couldn’t even use [Infernal teor] due to lack of mana and only knew a level 1 [Shield] spell, I couldn’t do anything.
So…
‘Seize command.’
Baron Burken, probably patting his bloated belly inside the command tent.
“Baron! Baron Burken!”
I had to settle things with that guy.
***
“Twenty percent of the southern wall has collapsed. We’ve urgently deployed spearn to plug the gap, but I don’t know how long it’ll hold.”
“Baron, the undead army has stopped advancing. The vampires seem to know the exact range of our mortars. We need to conserve shells for battle.”
“Are you mad? If we stop shelling, three thousand—no, four thousand undead will swallow the fortress whole! Don’t you see the artillery is the only thing holding the status quo?”
“Do shells grow on trees? We’ve already used nearly half! No more…”
“Enough!”
Bang!
Baron Burken slamd the table and shouted.
The knights, glaring at each other as if ready to tear one another apart, shut their mouths simultaneously.
The baron’s hand, which struck the table, trembled before he spoke quietly.
“Only the chief of staff stays… everyone else, leave.”
The knights left, leaving only the seasoned chief of staff and the baron in the tent.
Baron Burken sighed deeply and buried his face in his hands.
“Phew…”
It was a mistake.
No, a clear blunder.
When offered the position of fortress lord, no matter how tempting the baron title was, I should have refused.
But I couldn’t, partly because of the prophecy of a wandering mage who paved my path to success.
‘When the red moon rises, you will beco a lord. And when the red moon rises again, a perilous ti will co. I will return on that second red moon. Heh heh heh.’
Mysteriously, as the mage said, ten years ago when the red moon rose, I achieved great rits and beca a lord.
At first, I firmly resolved.
To thoroughly manage the fortress to prepare for the crisis that would co soday.
Unfortunately, that resolve crumbled within a few years.
The fortress' military supplies were just too sweet a honeypot to pilfer.
“Two hundred… no, two hundred fifty florins?”
“Is that what you’ve skimd so far?”
“Yes.”
“Probably closer to three hundred, Baron.”
The chief of staff corrected in a deep voice.
At the jab from the only truly honest knight in this fortress, Baron Burken hung his head low.
“Ha, well…”
Regretting now was too late.
The baron knew it.
If he had to make an excuse, it was the inspections.
He had done minimal checks and training, but with news of Archduke Gabir’s inspection coming, he couldn’t even focus on that.
Why did the undead army have to invade at a ti like this?
No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t figure it out.
“…Mage.”
The baron whispered softly.
The mage who prophesied his success had promised to help.
On the day the second red moon rose, when crisis struck, he would co to aid.
“If that prophecy is truly real, please, just once…”
He knew nine out of ten wandering mages’ words were superstition.
But right now, he was desperate enough to clutch at straws.
Having ignored it when tis were good, it was only natural it ca to mind now.
At that mont, the outside of the tent grew noisy.
“Move! Move aside! I must see Baron Burken!”
“…What’s going on?”
A knight guarding outside cautiously entered and reported.
“It’s nothing serious. So mage is shouting to see the lord.”
At the word ‘mage,’ the baron’s shoulders flinched.
Pretending to be calm, he asked.
“Identity?”
“Unknown. He claims to be a rcenary mage, but he’s not registered. As you know, our rcenary ledger has so omissions…”
If they were listed, they’d have to be paid on ti.
So, they deliberately omitted nas and delayed paynts with various excuses.
That’s how the accumulated amount reached three hundred florins.
“Don’t worry. I’ll quiet him down quickly.”
The chief of staff said.
Then the mage shouted again.
“Baron Burken, rember the red moon!”
“Wait.”
The baron raised his hand to stop the chief of staff heading out of the tent.
“…Bring him in.”
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