Arena

Chapter 189. The Final Exam (3)

“Your humble servant Wolfenbrooke, as well as 32 other people have arrived here per your orders, your majesty.”

The 33 of us arrived at the battlefield.

As our representative, Odin showed courtesy to the king.

Alsefon III, who had come to the battlefield himself with his troops, nodded in satisfaction.

“Thanks for coming. Since the Count and the other heroes are here. We may as well have won the war already.”

In his words, the nobles around him also laughed in agreement.

This was the northern border of the Arend Kingdom.

The same place where Margrave Sendels, who conspired with the empire, was once protecting.

Margrave Sendels was the one that was executed for his crimes that were uncovered by Yo Jisoo’s team.

As the border between the Arend Kingdom and the Aman Empire, there was a passageway between the two countries for trading, and it was the core battlefield of this war.

As evidence, most of the forces of both sides were gathered in this place.

“You must be tired after coming all the way here. You may go to the barracks to rest. As for Count Wolfenbrooke, you come and talk with me a little bit.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Odin left with the king, presumably to discuss the war.

“Please follow us.”

We were led to the barracks by some soldiers.

The room I was designated was a small room.

Although the facilities were horrible, as this was prepared for war, there were no problems with living. This was great considering that we were about to go to war.

As Cha Jihye and I revealed that we were husband and wife, we were told to use the same room.

“How would the war go?”

I asked and Jihye replied.

“The forces on both sides are very large, so they will not go into a full-scale battle right away. They will start with the smaller-scale ones and probe each other out.”

“Then I guess we won’t need to do anything for a while.”

“I do not believe that we have to stay passive.”

“Really?”

“We have the surveillance satellite. We know all of our enemy movements, and there’s no reason to let this advantage go to waste. In fact, we can be as daring as we want.”

Thinking about it, that was true. We can see all of their moves, so there was no ‘probing’ to do.

***

Dana analyzed the locations the Aman Empire put their forces in detail with the satellite.

A report containing a map that marked all those points was given to Alsefon III through Odin.

The report even contained the scale and routes of the supply chain of their enemies, so the king and the nobles were very surprised.

The king asked just how they could look into the enemies with so much detail, but Odin just told them that one of the examinees had such an ability.

It was a great advantage to get detailed information on enemies.

Alsefon III wanted to use this advantage fully and as a result…….

“An ambush?”

“Indeed. Military rations are being moved in large quantities.”

Odin came to me and briefed me on the plan.

Simply speaking, it was to strike their supply chain.

We were aware of the enemy’s supply chain in realtime, and we could also fly there very quickly using the rake eagles, so an ambush was very easy to do.

“The quantities are huge as they have to feed an entire army, but compared to that, there aren’t many soldiers guarding it. They have their guards down because the routes aren’t battlefields and it’s within their country.”

“So you want me to fly there and strike them?”

“Yes. You wield the flame elemental, so you can burn those rations, can you not? You don’t need to go down there and fight too. You can just snipe from the skies.”

Just as he said, the man for the job was me.

There was no reason to refuse.

I nodded my head.

“Okay. I’ll do it then.”

But at that time, Jihye, who was standing next to me, joined in.

“I’ll go with him.”

“Is it really necessary to? It will be much faster moving by himself.”

“This should not be a one-shot mission.”

She started explaining.

“As there are numerous forces distributed throughout numerous areas, the number of units that supply those areas must not be just one either. If you give us their locations through the communication device, we’ll keep targeting them.”

So that’s it.

We had another advantage other than intel and movement speed.

It was communication.

We could call each other real-time regardless of distance.

Jihye had extended the plan to bring damage to all of the Empire’s supply chains.

Odin, after thinking about it, nodded his head.

“That’s a good plan. I haven’t thought that far.”

Currently, the Aman Imperial Army was at war against not just the Arend Kingdom, but several other countries surrounding it.

The countries that allied themselves with the Arend Kingdom had all declared war against them, so they couldn’t just concentrate their forces on one country.

In other words, there were several supply chain routes leading to different battlefields, meaning that there was more than one unit transporting the supplies.

If we managed to attack all of them and destroy them, we may as well bring the war to victory before it even began.

Though, I could do that by myself as well.

There were two reasons she decided to follow me.

One is to protect me if something dangerous happens.

The other was that one was better than two in regards to mental stability when it came to long-term battle.

Odin relayed her plan back to Alsefon III.

The king permitted the plan with glee. He had no reason to refuse as they would be able to win this war without fighting if this went well.

“Please take this with you.”

Dana handed me a small orb just as we were about to depart.

He spoke with a smile.

“It’s my Marble of the Abyss.”

“The Marble of the Abyss? Why give it to me?’

“Because it will be easier for me to give you orders if I know exactly where you are.”

Dana intended to learn our real-time location through the orb. With that, he would have an easier time giving us directions.

“Okay. but isn’t it too draining on you to maintain his Marble of the Abyss at long distances?”

“It’s no problem. I’m not joining the battle as I have to control the satellite.”

With that, Jihye and I got on First’s back.

-Do you hear me?

Dana’s voice could be heard from the Marble of the Abyss in my pocket.

“Yes, I can hear you fine.”

-Okay then. You may depart. You can go south-east.

“The distance?”

-I’ll notify you when you are about to arrive.

“Got it.”

When I tapped with my feat, Firstborn took off with a flap of its wings. Jihye grabbed round its wings, while I hugged her waist.

***

There was an endless stream of carriages carrying rations, while cavalry could be seen scouting the area and protecting the procession.

This enormous quantity of rations was precious food for the armies that would participate in conquering the world.

If they did not arrive on time, an army of several hundred thousand would starve, so they would not be able to avoid punishment.

Thanks to that, the transportation corps of the Aman Empire had to move without rest.

There weren’t just one or two carriages in line. Even if one of them broke, there would be huge consequences to the schedule, so they couldn’t help but hurry.

“Please, let them not break.”

A middle-aged military officer in charge of the transportation corps sighed.

Since the war began, the military discipline was at an all-time strictness.

As someone who was serving his country in the backwater countryside before the war, he couldn’t help but think that he got caught up in something unpleasant just before he was discharged from service.

‘Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m a transportation troop.’

His mission was simple: to transport rations to his allies at the border.

Since the supply route was confined to the territories of the Empire, there were no worries about getting attacked either.

‘Really, really fortunate.’

Thought the middle-aged officer.

However, his relief disappeared without a trace exactly ten minutes later, when a rain of fire descended from the skies.

“Wh, what the hell?”

He doubted his eyes.

A rain of fire was coming down from the skies.

Massive balls of flame pouring down from absolutely nothing was not within his realm of common sense.

Flicker!

The fireballs strangely only aimed for the carriages with rations.

Finally, the officer came to himself. There’s no way that was a natural disaster!

“We’re under attack! Defend yourselves!”

Even as he shouted that, he could not understand himself – just how were they supposed to defend?

Then, the next moment, he realized something important.

“The rations! Move the rations away! Put the fire out and move the rations!

The rations were burning along with the carriages.

The soldiers hurriedly started loading off the rations, but the flaming carriages didn’t allow for easy access.

“Find the enemy! There’s an enemy magician somewhere!”

He never imagined that it was the doing of a fire elemental.

Archers looked around with bows and arrows in their hands, but there were no signs of enemies.

There may have been countermeasures taken if there were magicians within the corps, but such high-class human resources weren’t included here.

In the end, dozens of carriages were burnt to ash.

There was no more rain of fire as well.

The rations rescued from the carriages amounted to less than a percent.

“How can this be……!”

The middle-aged officer collapsed. As someone who was just about to get discharged, this was no different from a bolt from the blue.

***

“That should be about done, right?”

“That will suffice.”

I burnt all the carriages carrying rations and supplies, and there were no unnecessary casualties either.

I made Kasa fire a round of fireballs from extremely high altitudes, and the effect was very good.

-You’ve succeeded. Congratulations.

Dana’s voice could be heard from the Marble of the Abyss.

“You can see?”

-Yes, I’m watching through the satellite. You’ve not missed a single carriage.

“Then we’ll head off to another one then. Please point us in the directions.”

-There’s a transportation unit carrying weapons in the north-east. You should be able to find them if you fly there for about an hour.

“Okay, then.”

I ordered Firstborn with my heart. After receiving the order through the animal taming skill, Firstborn started flying north-east.

A few minutes later, Dana told us to steer a little towards the right.

This was something he was only able to do as he knew of our position through the Marble of the Abyss.

‘Good, at this speed, we can destroy over 10 troops a day.’

The war had just begun.

And the start was very smooth.