Regressor of the Fallen Family

Chapter 256

Following the Grand Assembly, Counts including Jacques Huan gathered their forces upon returning to their respective territories. Combined, the assembly of troops far surpassed that of any single northern count during the First Civil War a few years prior.

Moreover, as the smaller nobles nearby rallied to their cause, it took less than a month for Count Huan’s territory to swell with over a thousand knights and a formidable army numbering over 20,000 men, transforming it into a veritable fortress.

Nonetheless, there were those who still could not shake their unease.

“Doesn’t the royal army have 50,000 soldiers? Even if their knight count is lower, with the forces of Maclaine and Esperanza…”

“Our forces will continue to grow. The foolish king has turned all the nobility against himself; it’s safe to assume, aside from Maclaine and Esperanza, everyone is on our side.”

“But still…”

“Haha, no need to worry so needlessly. Moreover, the royal family hasn’t the means to sustain their army, right? You’ve checked that separately, haven’t you?”

Jacques soothed the worried nobles while maintaining his composure.

‘We’ve rebelled here, and in the capital, powerless nobles are incessantly submitting petitions. Just how long can the king hold out?’

However, that facade of confidence was swiftly shattered.

– The royal decree proclaims direct punishment for these barbarous nobles who have defied the crown and taken up arms in rebellion!

Merely days later, the royal proclamation dampened Jacques’s smug smile.

“What’s happening, Count!”

“The royal family can’t wage war, so they say!”

“What is this…!”

“Quiet! Quiet!”

Bang. Bang.

“Are you all this cowardly? Such a disgrace to our nobility!”

Jacques’s shout instantly quelled the commotion in the room.

Still, he couldn’t hide the grinding of his teeth as he faced those still clearly fraught with anxiety.

“Even if Maclaine and Esperanza squeeze out supplies, their army can barely hold out for a few days! Are you that frightened of an army too starved to fight?”

“But still…!”

“I see this as an opportunity!”

Jacques Huan overpowered Mike Terosa’s attempts to argue, scanning the confused faces of the nobility as he spoke with conviction.

“If we subdue the royal army by force, the king will no longer be able to refuse any of our demands! Gather the troops to their limits! It’s a war we win simply by holding out!” S

The sound logic in his argument escaped those unaware of the fundamentally flawed assumptions he based it on.

Despite convincing the other nobles, Jacques himself couldn’t completely fool his own heart.

‘What’s wrong? What’s missing? No, it’s got to be a bluff by the king. It has to be…’

Blood involuntarily stained his lips from being bitten, but he was entirely oblivious to it, drunk on dreams of ambition and failing to survey the ground beneath his feet, though an instinctual anxiety remained impossible to conceal.

* * *

Booooooom!

With a blaring trumpet, a huge army set forth from Gran’s city gates.

Thud. Thud.

The steady march resounded through the city, led by Logan, clad in armor as always.

As he looked back, the citizens of the capital erupted with cheers.

“Wowww!”

Though the soldiers were compelled for morale, the oblivious troops drew strength from the sight.

‘Someday, I’ll build a nation where all this happens voluntarily.’

With a clenched fist and resolute eyes, Logan turned back to the royal guard, now named after him.

Impeccably armored infantry, equipped with repeating crossbows, numbered 48,000. Ahead of them, 3,000 crossbow cavalry were mounted on majestic light-armored steeds, marching impassively, with over 500 knights and 300 mages holding aloft banners of flame leading the vanguard.

Such formidable forces were unbelievable for just a year’s making.

With Luther Kail and Whicken Calia, the Gargantuan and Stormsword, flanking him, how could he not feel fortified? Behind them was a supply unit unimaginably vast to any noble’s prediction.

‘This will end quickly.’

Having entrusted Gran’s security to his teacher and the Esperanza duchy, it was time to etch the royal guard’s might across the entire kingdom.

Logan bellowed a command that reverberated through the entire fortress.

“Advance the whole army!”

– CHARGE!!!

The robust chorus of a 50,000-strong force marked the start of their march.

In just three days, this military power approached Count Huan’s castle.

Bang!

“How many of them are there!?”

“They weren’t supposed to! How can they…!”

“Count Jacques! What’s going on here!?”

As the Royal Guard’s silhouette emerged over the horizon, the previously incredulous nobles at Huan Castle plunged into panic.

Though they had rapidly assembled, their own forces reaching 30,000, with thrice as many knights as the royal forces, none had truly been prepared for war.

And of them all, Jacques Huan was the most shocked.

“Curse them! They’ve deceived me!!”

His anger targeted the intelligence guilds that had supplied him with information on the royal family. It boiled out when he realized the information from notable guilds such as Nox, Arena, and Void was all incorrect.

Of course, those guilds, backed by substantial funds and power, were just starting to grasp the scale of the royal intelligence network and reorganizing, an awareness Jacques could never have had.

‘How dare these lowlifes deceive me!?’

While Jacques may have felt like making demands or smashing the scammers, those were concerns to be addressed only if he survived the current circumstances.

“If we fight here, our forces will be devastated! Count, we must surrender!”

“The war was not supposed to happen! How will you answer for this!?”

The barraging questions rang loudly in his ears, but Jacques struggled to make a decision.

‘Can we hold out? Our knights easily outnumber theirs twofold. We have repeating crossbows and wall advantages… Perhaps it’s doable?’

Uncertainty circled his mind.

Could they win?

Even if they didn’t win, if they just held out, might the king call for a ceasefire?

He couldn’t easily accept the crumbling of the glorious future that seemed so real just moments before.

His usually sharp mind wrestled between greed and reason, unable to operate as hesitations lingered.

“They’re advancing!”

“They won’t stop!!”

“No declaration of battle!? Nothing!!”

The shouts of knights outside hardened Jacques’s expression.

“There’s no need to negotiate. Just crush them.”

“Yes!”

As Logan’s men continued their march, they radiated an intense battle spirit as they relayed the king’s intent throughout the ranks.

“That is…!”

“They’re coming!”

“The Transcendent Ones!”

“Fire!”

“Shoot! Release everything!”

The assault on Huan Castle began as three riders – no, two riders and a giant – surged toward the castle walls amid cries of alarm.

Feeling the panic in those cries, Logan increasingly intensified his aura.

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pang!

Flash.

Ta-da-da-dang!

A shower of dark bolts hailed from the sky, all rebounding off Logan’s golden protective shield that sprang from his body, unable to penetrate, the noise echoing in the air.

His newly gained mastery over the Force Blade Technique, extending the golden protective shield even to the front of his horse, was a minor task for the now mid-tier aura user.

Logan, transformed into a massive golden figure, charged to the gates. Upon reaching the threshold, he raised his sword high.

‘Overwhelm them utterly, so they don’t even dare to resist.’

As his will surged, another Force Core sprang from the six nestled within his heart.

Whoooooom.

His realm ascended momentarily. Experiencing the explosive power, Logan summoned a secret technique he had only recently mastered.

The sixth form of Divine Sword Vision.

‘Cut of Origin (근원참), Wide Deployment, Variant form (만상붕괴)!’

Kwooom.

Small golden orbs emerging from the tip of Logan’s sword struck the western gate of Huan Castle, and a golden wave radiated outwards across dozens of meters from the point of impact.

Whooooooooooom.

Grrrrumble.

Rumble!

Enveloped by the golden wave, the western gate and walls of Huan Castle crumbled down in a deafening roar.

“Aaaah!”

“Magic!?”

“It can’t be!”

Boom!

Amidst the chaos, only a few knights were able to react as most of the soldiers manning the crossbows on the walls perished instantly.

The technique’s might, comparable to now-extinct grand magic not enchanted into the walls, was beyond belief.

“Hahaha! Truly magnificent, Your Majesty! Indeed a king among Transcendents!”

To Logan’s left, a giant cloaked in red aura leapt into the collapsed walls with an exclamation of awe.

“Surrender yourselves!”

For its part, the Silver Storm began tearing through the city’s interior.

Moments later, dozens, hundreds of liberatio rained down from inside the walls.

Boooooooom!

Bang!

Boom!

“Ah, help!”

“R-run away!”

“Save me…!”

With the onslaught raining down, the ranks of rebel nobles were already in disarray. Ahead of them, 500 knights glowing red, yellow, blue, and white, garbed in all kinds of enchanted armor as provided by the 300-strong mage regiment, charged straight in.

The Royal Knight Order, enveloped in all manner of armor-like magic.

“Cut down the traitor!”

“Adhere to His Majesty’s will!”

“For the glory of Maclaine!”

Outnumbered twofold, the noble coalition’s morale buckled under the relentless charge and ensuing assaul.