Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 144

“……”

I rode my horse to the highlands where I had deployed the artillery.

While Mersephone sat in front of me, playing with the horse’s mane, I scanned the battlefield and fixed my gaze on the distant capital of Mycenae.

“There aren’t many.”

Rachel approached and said.

The garrison on the walls numbered only a few thousand at best.

A quick check revealed about 3,000 soldiers.

“Even if the numbers are small, they are elites. Don’t let your guard down.”

“They left such elites in the city and went out to fight a battle?”

What a fool.

It’s because the capital is worth that much.

“Is that so?”

Rachel tilted her head.

“Looking at the population alone, it doesn’t seem very valuable.”

Mycenae is a country with a small population.

Even the capital has a very small population, just over 100,000 including slaves. It’s only natural since there are only vampires and monsters besides slaves.

“But it’s different if you know the artifacts this city holds. There are plenty of things the Grand Council would covet. There are also things they desire but are too dangerous to take out.”

The main body of the sacred object that took over Vlad’s body is also there.

“Could it be that Father is targeting the capital because…”

“You could say I’m also picking up gifts for you.”

I said lightly as a joke.

It’s good to give artifacts to familiars.

But that is only a secondary income.

“I didn’t recover the capital, but rather seized the enemy’s spoils of war. It’s like taking away the most important objective in the war.”

Their garrison is like the gatekeeper of that treasure.

“I plan to use this as bait to make Vlad and the Allied Forces fight a decisive battle. To make the two forces clash, both trying to reclaim the capital and artifacts.”

Vlad wanted to avoid a battle and buy time.

But I won’t let the situation flow as he wishes.

It is second best for both sides to preserve their strength and buy time.

It is best to fight endlessly while inflicting fatal wounds on each other.

That way, they won’t turn their eyes to me.

“From the moment we handed over gunpowder weapons, our intervention is bound to be discovered. Even if they mistake your familiars for Vlad’s blood relatives and servants, they won’t mistake gunpowder.”

That’s why I said to hide our identity as much as possible.

Not necessarily, but as circumstances allow.

To prevent other races from paying attention to human intervention.

I need to divert their attention so they don’t look at me.

To do that, I always keep my opponents busy.

“What humanity lacks is time. There is not enough time to narrow the gap between humanity and other races. I have only come to buy that time.”

I always have. This time is the same as before.

The method is different. The purpose has always been consistent.

“Occupy the capital and use the artifacts as bait to induce a decisive battle between Vlad and the Grand Council… Then both sides will surely suffer great damage. But what if one side doesn’t come?”

“That won’t happen.”

I stroked Mersephone’s head and looked at the city.

“I told you before. Vlad didn’t claim to be a god, but borrowed the power of a god. But why didn’t that greedy guy covet the position of God?”

A vortex was swirling, enveloping the imperial palace in the center of the city.

The vortex was not of wind, but of swirling souls.

Their screams echoed not in my ears, but in my soul.

“He wanted to become a god, and because of his excessive greed, his body was taken over by a sacred object. But the terrible device he prepared to become a god remains intact.”

That is the throne in that imperial palace.

A device to make mortals into gods.

A device to absorb souls and nurture his own soul.

“Whether he chooses to recover it or destroy it, he must take the city to do either. I’m just giving him the opportunity. But there is no option to refuse.”

Tiamar.

Bang! Bang! Thump!

The siege artillery fired at the walls.

The number of siege artillery positioned in the highlands was 41.

Zombies and skeletons were attached to the 41 siege artillery.

Clack, clack.

White bones rattled as they put gunpowder bags into the muzzle. Following that, a one-armed corpse pushed in a cannonball, and another corpse inserted a fuse into the vent.

“Ready!”

A familiar advisor walked around the artillery, checking the aim.

The necromancer looked at the familiar and gathered magic power at his fingertips.

“Fire!”

At the same time, the fuse ignited, crackling and burning.

Thump! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The siege artillery fired cannonballs in succession, recoiling backward as if bouncing.

“Push it back!”

Corpses swarming with maggots clung to the artillery and rolled it back to its original position.

Then, they returned to the beginning of the artillery procedure and repeated it.

“Damn it.”

In the meantime, the familiar checked the impact and spat out curses.

It was because the cannonballs did not reach the walls.

The range of the cannonballs was sufficient.

By no means was the reason a lack of firepower.

It was because of the artifacts installed by the dwarves.

Cheeeeeek—!

I watched as the cannonballs turned into molten iron in the air.

Just before the cannonballs reached the walls, they were caught by the magic power surrounding the walls.

The magic power either melted the cannonballs as just now, became an invisible wall to bounce the cannonballs, or even allowed them to pass through the walls and sent them back towards the artillery.

Thud— Bang!

“Oh, crap!”

A necromancer screamed in horror.

It was because the cannonball that had returned hit right next to him.

He almost died from the cannonball he had fired.

“I heard the elves put up barriers like that.”

Kiriyan clicked his tongue as he watched.

The barrier that the elves built to stop the orcs and goblins.

The magic surrounding the barrier was also similar to the magic surrounding the capital.

No, they applied magic of a higher level.

“I don’t know how the pig bastards broke through that.”

Kiriyan muttered, glancing at me.

He was suspicious that I might have been involved.

“Who knows.”

I didn’t show it.

In fact, it would have been impregnable if it hadn’t been for me.

It was fortunate that I knew the weaknesses and neutralized it by undermining the foundation.

If they had stubbornly insisted on a frontal breakthrough, they would never have broken through.

Even lesser artifacts exert such power.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Keep shooting. Artifacts are not infinite.”

The artillery continued firing, changing the point of impact.

The walls are wide. It is not a level that can be defended by only 3,000 people.

How many artifacts can show such performance with simple installation?

There must be a point where the artifacts could not be installed.

“The point that collapsed in the last siege was there.”

Kiriyan had participated in the defense of the capital.

Because of this, he knew the point of wall collapse that caused the fall.

There was more than one point.

“It’s no use making one or two holes, because the garrison will just block them. I made several holes so they couldn’t block them. They probably haven’t fixed them all yet, have they? Aim for them one by one. There will definitely be a gap.”

The artillery aimed at those points one by one.

Bang!

After several attempts, they found a gap.

“Alright!”

Kiriyan clenched his fist tightly.

A wall that is not protected by artifacts.

The wall shook greatly as if it would collapse with just one impact.

“Cease fire!”

“Direct the muzzles to one place!”

Familiar Titus raised his right hand and spun it around.

Then, the corpses turned all the gun barrels to the point he was pointing at.

Wham! Bang! Wham!

Rumble——

It is a wall that has been collapsed once.

It was not properly repaired, so it is not easy to do it twice.

The walls collapsed helplessly as dozens of siege artillery pounded on them.

“I’m going to charge. Is that okay?”

Kiriyan suppressed his excitement and asked for my opinion.

He has become docile since his spirit was broken by me in the previous battle.

It is an unexpected sight considering the high pride of the blood relatives.

– He knows his place.

Vlad’s soul in the ring let out a sneer.

I ignored the thoughts in the ring and nodded.

“Good. Go!”

At Kiriyan’s cry, 30,000 troops screamed and ran.

Uwoooooooo!

Kiriyan’s army has decreased significantly compared to the previous one.

In the previous battle, he mobilized about 50,000, but now it is only about 30,000.

This was because I waited for the Allied Forces to exhaust their reserves, and they were unilaterally pushed back while spending time bypassing the flanks and rear with familiars and riflemen.

Even with my undead army, the number was close to 50,000.

“Block them! Block them!”

The garrison spread out on the hill created by the collapsed walls.

They created a wall with shields in front and set up spears densely.

Thud! Thwack!

Inferior groups such as skeletons and zombies could not approach.

The gap in the collapsed wall was narrow, so they could not take advantage of their numerical superiority.

They were simply skewered as soon as they entered the gap.

Wham!

Then, the siege artillery fired cannonballs again.

“Cough!”

“You, you cowardly bastards!”

As the cannonballs disrupted the formation, large monsters intervened.

Uwooooooo!

Large monsters such as ogres and trolls.

They didn’t care if spears or arrows were stuck in their bodies.

They simply went forward, possessed by the rage created by the servants.

“You bastard!”

Flash!

When a dwarf swung his hammer, light burst out.

The light was purple, and the hammer hit the ogre’s abdomen.

As electricity crackled, the ogre crumbled like dust.

“You cannot conquer this city!”

The dwarf shouted, wielding his hammer.

Following him, the garrison also shouted and burned their will.

“It won’t be easy.”

Kiriyan frowned and bit his nails.

I turned my head and gestured to Titus.

Titus immediately turned the muzzles.

Thump! Thwack!

If the entrance is narrow, you can create multiple entrances.

They continued to pound on the walls that were not protected by artifacts.

If the number of entrances to protect increases, the enemy will have to divide their already small forces.

On the other hand, in terms of numbers, this side had more than ten times the enemy’s number.

“Don’t put the main force forward, just buy time.”

“You mean exhaust their stamina?”

“That’s right. It’s okay to lose all the undead. Keep attacking from all directions to disperse the enemy and exhaust their stamina.”

We were launching an offensive from the north.

Because of this, the enemy was concentrating their garrison on the north to block us.

I sent some troops to the south, east, and west to pretend to attack.

The garrison divided their already small forces and began to defend.

“Now is the time.”

The main force entered around sunset.

The battle, which had begun before noon, had been going on non-stop until then.

The enemy was divided into four, and less than 2,000 garrison troops were deployed to the north, where the main force was located, and they had completely exhausted their stamina.

“Hah, hah…!”

The dwarves breathed heavily and began to defend.

Their will to stop us was still firm.

But their bodies could not keep up with their will.

Thwack!

The moment the mace flew in with a whoosh, the dwarf’s eyes accurately read the movement of the mace. But his body could not avoid it in time.

He was bound by the chains of fatigue and did not budge until the mace wielded by Rachel slammed down on his head.

“Ugh, it’s quite hard.”

Rachel clenched her numb hand and frowned.

The material of the helmet worn by the dwarf was mithril [a strong, fictional metal often used in fantasy settings].

If it had been iron, it would have shattered his head along with the helmet.

It was only enough to dent the helmet.

“It wouldn’t be easy to deal with them with muskets if they covered their whole body with this.”

She muttered to herself and stepped back.

“Die!”

The dwarf with the hammer that burned the ogre to death.

The dwarf, who appeared to be the commander of the garrison, rushed in.

Rachel did not fight back and hid behind the monster.

“Get out of here!”

Crackle!

Electricity splattered in all directions, sweeping through the monster.

The magic power was still vast, and the monster that touched the hammer was charred black and crumbled.

“Hah, hah… Hah—“

But the user’s stamina was not vast.

Clang!

Calliope, who had been hiding behind the crumbled monster, stretched out her sword. The dwarf with the hammer also protected his whole body with mithril armor, but even the mineral of God was like paper in her hands.

Of course, the blade could not withstand it and broke immediately after, but she snatched the hammer from the dead dwarf and wielded it.

Rumble— Wham!

The clear sky distorted and lightning struck.

“Ho, how can a blood relative have that….”

“Retreat! Abandon the city!”

When the walls were breached, the dwarves turned their backs.

It had only been half a day, but the enemy had entered the city center.

They must have realized that they could not hold out by stubbornly resisting.

The dwarves systematically dispersed and attempted to escape.

“Kill them all!”

“Only the dead are the Father’s people!”

Kiriyan took the lead and chased after the dwarves.

Those who were slow to collect spoils were all hunted down, and those who barely managed to escape with only their bodies barely succeeded in escaping. But there were few of them. The vast majority of the 3,000 garrison troops had to be buried in the castle.

They were incorporated into Kiriyan’s army after their death.

“We might get caught.”

Kiriyan said after the battle.

His voice was filled with concern.

“There were no survivors in the last battle, but there are quite a few this time. They saw the use of gunpowder weapons, so they must know that you were involved. What should we do?”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s okay?”

“Just make it so they can’t catch me even if they know I’m involved.”

It is difficult to tell a lie that is not discovered.

Realistically, it is a lie that I cannot tell.

That’s why I have to run away far enough so that I don’t get caught even if I get caught.

The reason why I keep causing incidents is because of that.

“That’s why I secured this place.”

The gods of Greek mythology each have their own domain.

For example, Zeus has the sky, lightning, and order, and Hades has death and the underworld.

If I had a domain like them, wouldn’t I be the god of lies and schemes?

I smiled inwardly and headed to the imperial palace.