Do Your Own Revolution-Chapter 168
[An era of heroes, stagnating and corrupted in the past.]
[Light the fire in that age of lingering pain.]
[Knights, nobles, Round Table, heroes.]
[Burn everything they call noble to ashes, leaving not even a speck of dust.]
[And from those ashes, raise up a new era.]
[Your era.]
[An age of flames, filled with possibility and uncertainty.]
***
The Gloucester autonomous territory, located in the northeastern Empire, was known as an impregnable fortress among the Empire’s many strategic points.
The floods covering the entire territory and the pollution that blanketed it.
Using the terrain itself as a weapon to block military entry and employing guerrilla tactics to wear down troops.
Ironically, these numerous obstacles blocking the Gloucester territory’s residents became a natural fortress protecting them from external threats.
“But they become meaningless before us.”
“Kuk…! Keok…!”
A Gloucester knight who had been conducting guerrilla warfare.
The large man gripping his neck spoke in a deep voice.
“Where did your remaining comrades go?”
“Go to hell, you Round Table traitors…!”
“Very well.”
Crack-!
With that calm voice, the knight’s neck snapped and his body went limp.
“He was a knight who kept his honor until the end. Treat him with respect.”
“Yes, Your Lordship.”
The one laying down the dead knight was Drake Sutherland, head of House Sutherland.
Despite three days of continuous battle, his face showed no signs of fatigue.
His tremendous strength and endurance befitting his title as the Empire’s Anvil.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Behind the Count, knights in black armor began to appear one by one.
Black Knights.
They were an elite group of mages selected from only the finest talents in House Sutherland.
“We’ve identified the enemy’s movement patterns. It seems they’ve all retreated inside the fortress.”
“They’re now rats in a trap. Everything is going according to Your Lordship’s plan.”
“Hmm.”
Hearing the continued reports, the Count nodded gravely.
A signal to proceed to the next phase.
Understanding the Count’s intention, the knights exchanged glances while looking at the tightly sealed Gloucester fortress.
The armor they wore was House Sutherland’s secret – the black iron armor.
Thanks to this armor, which boasted strength greater than a mage’s barrier, Sutherland’s Black Knights could invest all their magical power into offensive spells.
Goooo…
Despite their close proximity, there was no movement from the Gloucester fortress.
Having spent most of their firepower in the battles over the past three days,
Now all they could rely on was the barrier of this sturdy fortress.
“Break through.”
Sutherland Count commanded sternly with his arms crossed.
Receiving his order, the two knights at the front struck with their fists without hesitation.
Cling-!
The five stroke imprints engraved on both their arms emitted a brilliant light.
Bam—!
With a massive explosion, the iron gate guarding the Gloucester fortress was torn away completely.
Thud! Thud thud-!
The torn gate flew straight ahead, completely destroying residential buildings inside the fortress.
Being able to unleash such large-scale firepower in Gloucester territory, where military forces couldn’t enter due to the vegetation, was a definite advantage.
The Black Knights, who could unleash firepower equivalent to field artillery on their own, were natural enemies of the Gloucester knights.
Ratatatat–!
Bang—!
As the Black Knights charged in, the pre-positioned machine guns and field artillery all opened fire at once.
A desperate strike using all the territory’s firepower.
However, when the smoke cleared, the Black Knights emerged without even a scratch.
“You’ll regret raising your banner against the Round Table, Lord Gloucester.”
Muttering this, Count Sutherland gave a precise hand signal.
Swoosh-!
When his subordinates laid out thousands of spears on the ground, hundreds of Black Knights picked them up without hesitation.
Special weapons procured from House Drexler – ‘Holy Spears.’
When infused with magical power and thrown, they had power equivalent to artillery shells.
“Your Lordship. There may be territory residents still inside the fortress. Before attacking, we should advise evacuation…”
“No.”
Cutting off his Knight Order commander’s concerns, the Count spoke with a grave expression.
“These are orders from Duke Buckenheim, head of the Round Table.”
“Orders, you say?”
“If the lord Gloucester has turned against the Round Table, then the territory residents under his protection share his crime. That crime can only be paid with death.”
“…!”
Hearing those words, the Black Knight bowed his head heavily.
Honor and faith.
Though the Black Knight Order operated on these two principles, this subjugation held even greater significance.
“I command the entire Knight Order.”
Those who rebel against the rule of heroes must be destroyed – that was the law.
Count Sutherland, a magic noble to his core, thought this as he ignored the rising guilt.
“Begin bombardment.”
With that brief command, the entire Gloucester territory began to be engulfed in explosions.
Rumble–!
Hundreds of knights rained thousands of holy spears across the entire city.
Explosion after explosion after explosion.
The Black Knight Order, stronger than ever through repeated training, finally succeeded in completely destroying the Gloucester territory.
Rumble…!
Completely shattered defenses and collapsed fortress walls.
After the bombardment, the Gloucester territory had been transformed into ruins filled with nothing but fallen debris.
The residents who remained inside must have perished in the bombardment.
“Your Lordship. Over there.”
“Hmm.”
While thinking this, one of the Black Knights pointed to a location.
The only space maintaining its circular shape, surrounded by barriers.
It was the mansion where Margrave Gloucester himself resided.
“I sense magical power reactions from inside the mansion. The barrier prevents reading the waves, but this amount of magical power…”
“Could only be produced by a seven stroke mage.”
Nodding, Count Sutherland immediately began walking.
Due to the recent bombardment, most of the defensive forces must have perished buried under the debris.
Now all that remained inside were a few Gloucester knights and the Margrave himself.
“We’re going in.”
Thinking this, they entered the Gloucester city streets and began searching.
Checking remaining buildings and possible choke points.
However, before long, the Black Knights conducting the search felt something was strange.
“There’s… no one?”
The territory residents were gone.
Every single one had vanished without a trace.
“What method did they use?”
The Count couldn’t understand the current situation.
They were monitoring all possible escape routes.
The only place beyond their surveillance was the unexplored territory swarming with monsters.
If there had been a large-scale evacuation, there’s no way he wouldn’t have noticed.
Then where did all these territory residents disappear to?
“Your Lordship.”
“I know.”
Though muttering this, the Count steeled his resolve as he looked at the Gloucester mansion.
Having already leveled the entire city,
Whether the residents were here or not, there was no future for the Gloucester territory.
If so, the task at hand was to end the subjugation mission as quickly as possible.
Thinking this, the Count entered the mansion where Margrave Gloucester waited without delay.
Rumble…!
A desolate mansion without any signs of life.
However, the knights who entered inside could only swallow dry saliva.
The majestic magical power felt from beneath the mansion.
Only the Margrave himself could emit such magical power.
“Is this the place?”
“Yes.”
Finally reaching the mansion’s basement, they gathered before a massive door and checked their weapons.
Though they had turned against the Round Table, they were still proper Round Table knights.
It was a knight’s duty to ensure they met an end befitting their status.
Bang–!
Having completed preparations, the Knight Order blew away the door with the Count’s hand signal.
“It’s over, Lord Gloucester!”
“If you surrender quietly, we can guarantee your household’s safety…!”
The Black Knights immediately entered and took up positions.
Though smoke filled the underground chamber obscuring their vision, there was not a hint of hesitation in their movements.
Come.
Thinking this, the Count steeled himself and waited for Margrave Gloucester to appear.
“Y-Your Lordship?”
“What… is this…?”
Seeing what lay in the center of the basement, he could only stare wide-eyed, at a loss for words.
Whirrr—!
What awaited in the center of the underground chamber was not Count Gloucester.
Instead, what awaited the Black Knights were hundreds of mana cores at critical state.
The byproducts of the monsters Gloucester had subjugated were all gathered in one place.
Crack.
As if it had been waiting for them, the cores glowed red.
Seeing the cracks forming there, the Count felt the blood drain from his head.
A trap.
“Everyone retreat…!”
Though he realized this and belatedly tried to evacuate his knights…
Bang—!
It was already far too late.
“Kugh…! Keulleok…!”
“Aagh… my head…!”
“Your Lordship, what is this…!”
The Gloucester mansion collapsed with the explosion.
Falling debris struck their bodies, and the explosive pressure turned the knights’ bodies inside their armor to pulp.
Half the knights who had entered the mansion were sacrificed.
The knights who barely survived were confused and trying to stumble out of the mansion with unsteady steps.
“Escape… we must escape…!”
A Black Knight emerged staggering through the debris.
The moment he removed his helmet, unable to bear the throbbing headache and ringing in his ears…
Thwack-!
A hole appeared in his temple, and his unfocused eyes rolled chaotically in their sockets.
Bang–!
The gunshot was heard only seconds after his head was pierced.
Hearing this, urgent voices arose among the knights.
“Snipers-!”
“Don’t remove your helmets! Did you hear me?! Quickly, defensive spells…!”
Whoosh-!
The next thing that flew in was a penetration spell used by a mage.
Bullets that pierced through Sutherland’s prized black iron armor like paper.
One by one. Then another.
Seeing knights falling one after another, Sutherland’s Black Knights had no choice but to take cover back inside the mansion.
“Where? Where are they shooting from?!”
Then the Count used detection spells to find the snipers.
Following this, he could only gape in shock.
Swoosh-!
Gloucester knights revealed themselves from various points along the collapsed walls.
In their hands were massive rifles unlike anything seen before.
“Enemy spotted! Eliminate them immedia… aagh?!”
Bang-!
The moment they tried to break through using barriers and black armor, waiting knights’ bullets mercilessly shook their bodies.
The Count himself tried to break through by deploying barriers but…
Kang–!
From a sniper shot far away, even he collapsed to the ground.
“Your Lordship?!”
“Impossible, to push back His Lordship who bears seven stroke imprint…”
It wasn’t that they pierced the barrier.
There were also very few spells that could pierce the black iron armor.
What stopped their advance was the tremendous impact of the bullets.
With just that alone, the Black Knights couldn’t take a single step.
After all, inside even the sturdiest armor was a body made of fragile flesh.
“…!”
And only then did they realize the situation they were in.
Gloucester knights surrounding the entire territory, aiming their guns at them.
The Black Knight Order, focused on defense and close combat, had no way to counter them.
They had now become tasty prey placed in the middle of a hunting ground.
***
“Hit. But being a seven stroke mage as expected, he didn’t die in one shot.”
On the Gloucester fortress walls.
Matt, who had been watching Count Sutherland crouching behind cover through his scope, pulled back the bolt of his specially-made large caliber rifle.
Click-!
One magic bullet per shot.
Moreover, it was a monstrous thing loaded with three times the normal magic bullet capacity.
The magical power consumption was enough to make one lose their mind.
However, this weapon’s power was worth bearing that cost.
After all, weapons that could land effective hits on a seven stroke mage like Count Sutherland were quite rare.
“Worth using all the mana cores we collected over two years.”
“It worked much better than expected.”
“Indeed it did.”
The Margrave muttered, seeing the completely isolated Black Knights.
The Viselgrad air drop operation.
The self-destruct tactics Eugene used against Petrenko there.
True to their reputation as single-minded knights, he hadn’t expected them to fall for it so perfectly.
‘By the way, this one…’
Next, what caught the Margrave’s attention was Matt, who was monitoring the Count after loading his next round.
Count Gloucester couldn’t help but admire the magical power condensing at the rifle’s muzzle.
Loading highly condensed magical power into large caliber bullets for long-range suppression.
Though the spell itself was simple enough that even Gloucester knights who had just received their weapons could use it…
‘Being able to land effective hits against a seven stroke mage… he’s probably the only one who can.’
As expected of one of Eugene’s subordinates.
Every single one of those under him was a monster.
That annoying fellow.
Just where does he keep finding and recruiting such talented individuals?
“Still… these knights truly don’t know how to wage war.”
“Agreed.”
When the Margrave muttered this, Matt concurred.
“Entering the city without surveying their surroundings or preparing for ambushes.”
“Entering despite circumstances warranting suspicion of traps… honestly, I don’t understand it.”
Even fresh recruits wouldn’t make such mistakes.
Yet these supposed elites of the Knight Orders fell for such basic bait.
“This is… the current state of the Knight Orders… of those Round Table members.”
Seeming to understand Matt’s meaning, Margrave Gloucester spoke with a sigh.
“Though their magical power and techniques are tremendously powerful, the minds using them have long since become obsolete.”
Just training. Just dueling.
Fools who had never experienced real combat.
Thinking of how these people had acted so arrogant while claiming to be the Empire’s guardians in the past made his teeth grind just remembering it.
“But thanks to that… this became much easier.”
“True enough.”
Saying this with a laugh, the Margrave spoke to his knights.
“The residents?”
“Safely evacuated.”
Hearing his knights’ words, the Margrave let out a relieved sigh.
Where the territory residents headed was deep in the contaminated zone.
The experimental base that Count Elcryer had created.
“With the emergency supplies provided by the Imperial Family for war preparations remaining, they can hold out for a month easily.”
“A month, is it.”
More than enough time for those needlessly sturdy knights to starve to death.
“It reminds me of the old days.”
Saying this, Gloucester looked at Count Sutherland glaring at him from afar.
“To think you’d end up starving to death trapped in the exile you prepared for me. Isn’t fate quite ironic?”
Recalling the old past, Gloucester spoke with a bleak smile.
“Let’s have fun together like back then, Count Sutherland.”
You and I both.
We have plenty of time, after all.
