……That’s it.
His entire body synchronized with the pulsating mana. New energies he had never felt before coursed through him.
If the previous link was half, now it was double that.
It wasn’t because he had reduced the number of those connected through the link.
‘Who would have thought misfortune would turn into fortune.’
Even after reconnecting those previously linked, the bond of the link had grown stronger.
There was an enlightenment gained from the wavering link.
The pain of defeat was bitter, but the result of projecting that new enlightenment into the link was what he had now.
Whoosh-whoosh-
“Good.”
Energy surged vigorously through his entire body. His qi was leaping up at any moment.
It felt several times more powerful than before. He even thought, ‘If it’s like this now, maybe I can strike Ofern again.’
But there was something he needed to do before striking Ofern.
‘Those bastards.’
Following Helk Castle, he had to reclaim Klee and Wife Castle.
According to what Duke Jisert had heard, there were only soldiers at Helk Castle. The other two castles were nearly empty.
In particular, Viscount Burt had held out well at Klee Castle.
There were definitely survivors. As long as there were territory residents and land, Jisert could rise again.
It had been that way before, and even before that.
The problem was still Helk.
Feeling the connected links, Duke Jisert straightened his previously hunched body.
“What news from Helk Castle?”
“They say the numbers have dwindled a bit. Winter is approaching, so they might be thinking of slipping away.”
“Hmph… That cannot be allowed. How can we let them leave like that?”
It was time to reclaim what was his.
“Let’s recover Helk before winter ends. And along with that, we need to strike a blow.”
“……Understood!”
With the duke’s single command, the household began to stir busily.
‘There’s a shortage of talent. Talent…’
Though they moved busily, it was less chaotic than before.
A great many had died, and the wounded used various excuses to retire to the countryside.
Even if Duke Jisert’s personal power had grown stronger, a considerable number of those who supported him from below had vanished.
‘Time is the issue.’
He needed to find more suitable successors to inherit his link. Jisert prided himself that at his current level, he could find even more than before.
But first.
“Let’s go. To Helk.”
He moved to reclaim what was his.
At that time, he never anticipated the problems that would follow.
“Forward!”
He reconquered Wife and Klee in an instant.
Kiiiiik!-
Even the charging monsters…
“……Die.”
Whiz-thwack!-
Were crushed and disappeared with a wave of Duke Jisert’s hand.
This land had long been the duchy’s domain. While the Owen family’s land had low dominance, this place had the highest.
And now the link had even thickened.
“That spot needs to be dealt with too.”
Crack-crackle- Crack-
He could wield power as if he had truly become a god.
“Repair Klee Castle properly. As for Wife Castle… Yes, I’ll have to bring people from elsewhere.”
“There might be resistance. They say there’s a shortage of manpower because of the soldiers who died on the battlefield…”
“I promise I’ll handle that. Convey my word.”
“Will you use your power?”
“Yes.”
Having restored two castles, he moved to normalize them by deploying people.
That marked the end of two months since the war ended.
During that time, news came from House Ofern.
‘Damned bastards.’
As Duke Jisert, it made his blood boil.
It would have been better if House Ofern were just a brute-force idiot group.
But House Ofern clearly knew that their weapon was not only military force but also capital power.
‘To think they would pull such a crazy stunt.’
Using overflowing wealth to absorb wandering refugees was understandable—the Duke of Jisert’s household would do that anytime if they had the leeway.
Visiting slave markets in neighboring territories and even turning slaves into serfs was also understandable.
The problem was what came next.
Armed with capital, they began to raise walls.
Not small walls, either.
Crazy rumors came that they would build a wall surrounding their entire newly acquired territory.
Rumor had it they were even building the wall with magic, using mages supported by the Enchant Magic Tower and magic circles.
Something only heard of in fairy tales was actually happening.
While it was common to mobilize mages for large-scale construction like building a royal palace, mobilizing mages to build an entire wall was unheard of.
No one had ever heard of such a thing.
On top of that, mercenary mages whose origins were unknown were also active.
Logically, mercenary mages should be inferior to Magic Tower mages, but…
-It seems they learned a new formula.
-I saw an A-Class mage there. A mercenary originally known to be around 3rd Class.
That level was extraordinary.
Having won, Ofern had acquired another power from somewhere.
‘That can’t be all.’
The revealed power was probably just that.
Wasn’t Duke Jisert the one who had experienced House Ofern’s true strength? In his view, there was hidden power beyond what was revealed.
Moreover,
‘The real power comes from him.’
The problem was Rayrn.
He not only used capital, military force, and information, but also distributed and used power more wisely than a cunning old man.
And he himself was no weakling. His personal power was that of an O-Class mage and an Aura Expert—a known magic swordsman.
Considering he hadn’t revealed all his power, and factoring in what Duke Jisert had personally experienced…
‘He’s already… one of the strongest.’
Even Duke Jisert, who had thickened his link, found it hard to challenge him easily.
No, he had definitely been defeated. He could only barely challenge him in territories under Duke Jisert’s domain.
That man was the problem.
‘I need to back the Royal Palace. If things go on like this…’
As time passed, the gap would widen.
Rayrn would mature, and Jisert himself would grow old. He couldn’t let that happen.
There were many ways to rule the world besides brute force.
‘I must go to the Royal Palace.’
Crushing other powers with political power was also a method.
But first.
“It’s Helk Castle!”
“…Half-destroyed. Search the interior.”
Jisert moved to first recover what was his.
“Hm?”
But the number of presences that should be felt inside Helk Castle was small.
‘…Are they disappearing?’
Even if he intended to give up the hard-won Helk Castle, he never thought they’d leave it like this.
He had heard news that they were repairing the broken Helk Castle. He assumed they would negotiate even if they gave it up. If not, they would fight to the last before handing it over.
But…
Sigh- Sigh-
The barely detectable presences began to vanish the moment they spotted Duke Jisert’s soldiers.
Their traces were disappearing.
‘Not allowed.’
Boom!-
The duke immediately kicked off the ground.
‘I’ll catch those rat bastards.’
‘I barely shook them off.’
Duke Jisert’s attack was fierce. When the earth suddenly flipped, even Sian thought she couldn’t escape.
If the blink magic weapon that activated abruptly hadn’t worked, that is.
After evading danger, Sian had the upper hand in escaping.
“You rat!”
Crackle-crackle-crackle-
The earth rose up like a serpent and lunged, but…
Whoosh-whoosh- Whoosh-
There was no way he could catch her as she boosted her mana and even used Lightness Skill.
“Captain!”
“Get out of here! Don’t make a fuss!”
While she drew the duke’s attention, all the remaining Iron Fist members escaped.
‘I’ll go too. See you at the agreed place.’
‘Yeah. At the agreed place.’
Only after receiving Birence’s telepathy did Sian relax and completely leave the castle.
“Form a pursuit squad!”
*
Swish. *Swish.
A long while later, the place they gathered to avoid Duke Jisert’s pursuit squad was the Northern Mountain Range.
‘This place is amazing every time I come.’
It was a hideout Rayrn had prepared before leaving Helk Castle.
This place operated on a Jinbeop; unless you entered in the way Rayrn allowed, it trapped the opponent in an illusion.
Like monsters do. Trapped in the illusion, they would wander until they exhausted all their strength and barely escaped, or died.
At that spot were Birence and everyone who had remained in Helk Castle until the end.
Standing at the center was Birence.
Except for Gajei, Sian, and Hoden, he could also be considered an executive-level figure, so having him at the center was quite natural.
“Heh heh, you made it. Why were you so reckless back there? You looked completely crazy.”
“I had to so we could all get out. Perfectly.”
“Still, don’t overdo it. The young lord wouldn’t like it.”
“……Shut up.”
Their manner was the same as ever, but no one looked down on them.
Even though he learned martial arts late, everyone here knew he was also a strong one.
However, Sian, who prided herself on being stronger, approached without any sign of tension and handed over what she had in her bosom.
It was a device with several small switches embedded in it.
Whoosh-whoosh-*
Whether it had quite a few mana stones embedded in it, the mana it emitted on its own was considerable.
“Wow.”
Birence stared at the device for a while, as if impressed.
“So this little thing is really that amazing?”
“The young lord made it himself.”
“That makes sense. The operating method… mmm, I roughly get it.”
Whether he was also proficient in magical devices, his eyes as he looked at the device were sharp.
“It’s funny—he told me to make it, and now he tells me to completely destroy it… but we have to do it, right?”
“
In response to Birence’s words, Sian nodded instead of answering.
“Heh. Well, no matter how you look at it, that’s right.”
Press-*
As if he knew the operation method in advance, Birence fiddled with the device this way and that.
“It’s done.”
The moment he set the device down as if declaring it.
Even the mana trapped in the Jinbeop began to hum, and it started absorbing mana from the surroundings.
Whoooooooosh-*
The massive mana flowed toward one place.
Thump- Thump-
Underground Helk Castle, where the pulsating mana resided!
Whiiiiiing!-*
“Hrk!?”
Duke Jisert, linked to the pulsating mana, sensed the calamity fastest.
‘What the hell is this!?’
He had no time to grasp what was happening.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr-*
A violent tremor occurred.
It was a tremor rising from the pulsating mana underground.
“It’s collapsing!?”
“Th-the castle is collapsing!”
This was no ordinary thing.
Boom! Crash!
Huge explosions suddenly began. The explosions grew larger.
Grrrrrrr-*
The walls that seemed to have been rebuilt began to collapse like dominoes.
They hadn’t been rebuilt at all! They looked fine on the outside, but inside they were completely hollow.
Crrrruuuuumble-*
As if responding to the explosion, the collapse worsened.
Booooooom!-*
Ear-splitting explosions continued in succession.
The castle collapsed.
It had stood for decades, perhaps a century, or even longer. The collapse of the castle that had guarded this place.
While protecting his own body, Duke Jisert engraved the scene deeply in his eyes.
“You damned bastards!!!!”
Without needing to say it, he knew who had done this.
Rayrn.
He was destroying one of Duke Jisert’s central pillars.
Right before the duke’s very eyes!
Grrrrrrrrrrrr-*
“Ghk.”
The castle completely crumbled.