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Chapter 70: Suppressing the Rebellion 2

Eden Hall Castle, was located on the east side of the Issilon province. Behind its high walls, Count Ludwig and Count Ethan were in a meeting.

“I had no idea it would turn out like this.”

“Indeed, we were attacked by the kingdom’s army.”

It was these two men that were the pillars of the rebel army that had recently faced off against the loyalists under Count Huntington.

Before having been poisoned by Count Gwain, King John must have issued a royal proclamation to them.

Still, the kingdom’s army arrived to reinforce the loyalist faction at the worst possible time, leading to their current situation which seemed devoid of hope.

“If we lose this castle, we won’t have any future.”

“I know, we need to hold on to it no matter what.”

Eden Hall was strategically located, due to its proximity to Cerendia, Ionia and Erutonia. It was something they could never lose if they had any hopes of winning this war long term.

Still, it was sure to be a tough battle because they had yet to receive any reinforcements.

“Although there is a large difference between our two armies, it isn’t all that bad because they don’t have many siege weapons.”

“I can’t believe we failed to capture Hayswick once more. I don’t understand why it has been twice now that we don’t manage to take that city.”

The overall situation would have changed drastically had they managed to capture Hayswick, the old kingdom’s capital.

While Count Ethan had a disappointed look, Count Ludwig kept composed.

“According to my informants, there must have been some other forces at play. Perhaps they had a clan on their side we weren’t aware of.”

“I’d be surprised if Count Huntington were to side with those foreigners. He is far too cautious for that.”

It wasn’t just one or two things that were going against their expectations.

Duke Arnorld sat on the throne despite him being on the kill list, while some unknown person took control as Regent...

Not to mention that it had completely caught them off guard to learn that Count Gwain had been killed. In order to keep an eye on him, he had planted the Akatsuki clan leader, Shinichi, as a double agent. Aside from that, he had been a worthy competitor.

It felt like they were missing something important.

“We don’t have to be too stressed, we still have a chance at this.”

“Did you say Melphis was going to participate in the next battle?”

“He told me that he would come with his army, and it sounded like it would be quite big.”

As Demon Kings awoke from their slumber one by one, their dimension was beginning to stabilize.

Evil monsters had begun to spawn once more and Historical Sites appeared in their territories as well.

Due to this, Melphis was able to assemble a Demon army, on the orders of the Demon King Volak, who was ranked 62nd.

Their intention was to acquire the Rhine kingdom by any means necessary.

“We are now basically Melphis’ servants. We might even have to sell our souls to him sooner or later.”

“It’s useless to worry about that right now. If we follow their orders, the Demons won’t touch us.”

In order to reduce the impact of the kingdom’s citizens, Demon King Volak wanted to rule the Rhine kingdom from behind the scenes.

That was the reason that he chose to help Count Ludwig. If the rebellion were successful, Count Ethan would be assigned the role of prime minister, and would essentially have great influence over central politics.

Naturally, Count Gwain whom they judged to have a dark heart, was never fully let in on their plans.

“Huu… I really want this war to end soon. Wouldn’t it be nice for our two families to finally unite, as we increase our power?”

“In the near future, this will all come to pass. For now however, let’s worry about holding on to the castle, the enemy will soon be on our doorsteps soon.”

The kingdom’s army along with the loyalist forces were currently advancing on their castle.

As Count Ludwig finished speaking, a cloud of dust appeared over the hill.

“Speak of the devil.”

“Gather the men, the gates must not fall until Melphis arrives with reinforcements.”

All their preparations had already been done. They had ballistas, capable of firing huge arrows, installed on the walls.

Within the castle, a trebuchet that launched heavy boulders across long distances was installed. They had also hired skilled mages to shoot down and siege towers or battering rams that approached.

This battle would determine their fate, so they didn’t hesitate to throw a ton of money into it.

Both sides were certain to suffer a lot in these kinds of confrontations.

‘Come on, do your worst.’

Eden Hall had enough food stocked to feed the troops for three months. Even if their opponent was a strategic genius, a direct attack wouldn’t work. But even if they were to try and starve them out, Melphis’ Demon army should arrive long before that.

As Count Ludwig smiled contently, he heard a bizarre screech coming from the sky.

“Kyaaah!”

There were a bunch of Gargoyles up above.

Any soldier that saw them, trembled in fear.

“What are you doing? Shoot them!”

Count Ethan scolded them, as the archers finally pulled themselves together.

Shushushu!

Still, those arrows weren’t enough to damage the stone skin of the Gargoyles.

“Use the ballistas!”

Count Ludwig ordered from behind. After some time, the ballistas fired their large arrows, causing a Gargoyle to shatter into pieces.

‘At least it’s effective.’

Although it was quite unfortunate to have to use their ballistas simply for this, it couldn’t be helped. It would be a far greater loss if they were to lose any of their mages why they were busy chanting.

As the Gargoyles were being shot down one by one, a large shadow loomed over the heads of the rebel soldiers.

The undead Griffon had made its appearance.

“What the hell is that?”

“Isn’t it too big?”

It gave off a pressure that was difficult to describe. They were definitely a target that needed to be eliminated, but the ballistas were all in the process of reloading and they had no effective means of attack.

The mages tried sending Fireballs, but the Griffins’ dark armor gave them ample protection.

JJangrang!

Glass containers rained down among the soldiers as Wildfire exploded in their ranks.

Seeing the strange color of this fire, Count Ludwig’s face stiffened.

‘This…’

He had recently seen this liquid fire in the free city of Media. He had tried to persuade the Cohen merchant group to reveal their source, but they had refused.

No doubt there was some huge power behind them. If they had somehow gotten involved in this war…

‘I have a bad feeling.’

His instincts kicked it, as he fled into the castle’s keep.

“Hyaaah!”

From atop his Griffin, undead Lee Shinwoo ripped up his magic scroll [Fire Arrow]. Shortly after a barrage of fire arrows dropped on to the castle, shaking it to its core as several explosions occurred.

Quang! Qua Quang! QuaQuaQua!

A blistering hot flame engulfed the soldiers as it ravaged across the castle. Watching from inside the tower, Count Ludwig was stunned at the damage it had managed to unleash upon the sturdy castle walls.

“Can’t….”

A completely unexpected scenario. Just who was capable of pulling off something like this?

As Count Ludwig was still bewildered by the latest fireworks, a nearby soldier shouted as he pointed to the gate.

“Count, the enemy is attempting to cross the moat!”

While the soldiers in the castle were distracted by the latest attacks, their forces were busy erecting a makeshift wooden bridge to cross the moat. Behind, several siege towers and battering rams were waiting to be sent forward.

Feeling a sense of crisis, Count Ludwig ran to shake a nearby mage to his feet.

“Pay attention! If they reach the gate with those we’re all dead.”

Fortunately the area where the mages were was protected by a magic barrier, so they hadn’t suffered much damage.

The same was true for any soldiers within the castle keep or any of the watchtowers. After gathering all remaining soldiers, Count Ludwig rallied them to fight desperately against the kingdom army.

Unfortunately for him they had taken too many losses and morale was at its lowest, so it wasn’t easy to make a stand. As things stood, Eden Hall falling into the kingdom army’s hands was all but certain.

‘Everything is going as planned.’

Woohyuk nodded as he observed the ongoing siege from a distance. After appointing Joanna as Regent, he became the new Commander in Chief of the entire army. The forces under the loyalist faction had also agreed to follow his command.

Of course none of them recognized him because he had removed his mask.

‘I no longer has to hide my identity.’

Previously when he had been Regent, he had pretended to be another person, in order to avoid any unnecessary attention. But now he no longer needed to hide, so he removed his [Jester’s Mask]

‘I can’t spend any more time on this.’

It was important to put an end to this rebellion as soon as possible. if Count Ludwig died, the rebels had no future and would soon surrender.

As Woohyuk was busy giving out orders to his officers, Jung Sanghoon rushed to his side on horseback.

“Commander, a Demon army is approaching from the east.”

“How big?”

“It looked to be about 70,000.”

They never mobilized in small numbers, not to mention that these were demonic creatures. Even for a veteran soldier they would struggle to win a one on one.

Basically their side would be at a disadvantage if they were to face off. After thinking for a moment, Woohyuk gathered that loyalist nobles.

“Help me by blocking the advance of this demon spawn.”

The kingdom army had to focus on capturing the castle, so that Eden Hall would fall before sunset.

The loyalist faction alone had 100,000 soldiers, so it wasn’t likely it was a huge mismatch.

After a short while, black creatures were spotted charging in the distance.

Red eyed Demons, their very appearance causing the soldiers to swallow down nervously.

“Charge!”

Woohyuk unsheathed Grandia and took the lead atop his white stallion. His actions purging the fear from his soldiers’ hearts as they shouted out courageously.

“Waaahh!”

The clashing of metal soon followed as the two sides crashed into each other. Now that the morale of his men was high, Woohyuk set out to find the Demon’s leader.

‘Maybe by now it has regained a fair bit of its power.’

Amanda whom he had fought back in Landium, had only been awake for a very short time, and wasn’t able to freely use her abilities.

However this guy would be different.

Just the fact that he could mobilize an army of 70,000 Demons meant that he was on another level.

‘Doesn’t look like this can be settled peacefully. The opponent had taken too many losses as it was, so taking a step back was no longer an option.

If I don’t take care of him right here and now, he will without a doubt aim his sword at the Rhine kingdom once more.

As Woohyuk prepared himself for the tough battle ahead, he heard a cold voice in his mind.

[Who are you?]

Melphis.

He was communicating with his mind, so as to not reveal his position.

[Asura, Demon King]

[Oh, do wonder I felt such strong Demonic Energy. Why am I hearing your name for the first time though? I’ve never seen you among the list of 72 Demon Kings.]

Just like the clan system on the players side, the Demons rankings were also updated every 3 months. Through it, a Demon can check the rank and status of any other of its kind.

It was the reason that Melphis was full of doubts.

[I came from another world, but my circumstances are my own.]

[You might have your own reasons, but that doesn’t mean that I will let you do as you please.]

Melphis realised that it had been Woohyuk that had interfered with his plans time and time again.

It was an easy guess because there really wasn’t any alternate explanation.

[...]

As Woohyuk stayed silent, a black portal appeared and a blonde haired young man stepped out, Melphis.

“Demon King Volak has instructed me to take possession of the Rhine kingdom at any cost, so I’ve come here leading half of his army.”

“I can understand your situation, let’s just settle this.”

“You seem to be very confident simply because you are a Demon King.”

Melphis smiled as he released his magic. His appearance then underwent a drastic transformation, becoming a bipedal walking monster.

In order for him to use all of his power, he needed to assume his original form.

“So ugly.”

“To be honest I don’t much like this form either, but what choice do I have when I have to face off against a Demon King.”

Melphis wasn’t stupid enough to go up against a Demon an entire tier higher than his without some sort of trump card. The reason behind his confidence was because of the power bestowed on him by Demon King Volak, which allowed him to awaken.

In his awakened state, not only would his Stats rise drastically, but Demon King Volak could also take direct possession of his body.

‘Let’s start.’

If he was able to defeat this Demon from another world, he could then be the one to inherit his title.

It was worth risking his life for this challenge.

As Melphis raised his hands, dark clouds appeared and purple lightning bolts shot out.