<h4>Chapter 236 - Rivalries (1)</h4>


    “Don’t retreat! Fight until the end!”


    “Waaah!”


    The deafening roar from the hundred thousand troops was undeniably ferocious. In fact, it even made the pebbles on the ground shake.


    The imperial army, divided into five corps, formed a pentagon around the castle of Zipan. They stormed the castle with every trick they had up their sleeve, including siegedders.


    The First Corps was supposed to close in from the eleven o’clock position, with Ananda, the abbot of the Church of Peace, as itsmander.


    Ananda had assembled his corps with the monks under his guidance, along with priests and pdins. It was much easier for him to lead a military unit like this.


    Soon, Ananda emerged in front of the castle wall. His head was bald, his skin tanned to a dusky tone, and he wore a monk’s robe, one of his shoulders exposed.


    Of course, the robe wasn’t the only thing he had on. Monks typically wore a special armor called Lucit during wartime, which covered one of their shoulders and their entire arm. It was also connected all the way to one of the gauntlets that protected their hands.


    The reason he and many monks wore Lucits was simple: their fighting style consisted of empowering themselves with the Holy Code and swinging their fists. Thus, it was naturally necessary to protect their fists and shoulders as much as possible.


    As he reached the forefront of the castle, Ananda shouted at the top of his lungs, “Shield soldiers, forward!”


    "Forward!"


    “Get ready with the Steel Peak!”


    “Ready!”


    “Go!”


    <i>Bang!</i>


    Even though the battlefield was chaotic, Ananda’s voice went far and wide, perhaps because of hisrge physique. Contrary to what his appearance suggested, Ananda was actually a good strategist. He knew how to effectively utilize the pdins and the priests under hismand.


    The pdins who had received blessings from the priests raised their shields to repel the hail of arrows. Once they made way, the monks with Lucits followed up by using Steel Peak, a technique that involved mming into the opponent with their shoulders, to take down the castle walls.


    <i>Bang! Bang! Bang!</i>


    It sounded as if consecutive explosions urred. The power of the monks wearing lucits matched the tremendous noise they made with the Steel Peak.


    “Well, well, they shouldn''t be doing that.”


    At that moment, a colossal blue rose blossomed in the sky, gently scattering its petals as it rotated.


    The petals eventually fell toward the monks, and then...


    <i>Bang, Bang!</i>


    “Get away!!”


    “Ahhh!!!”


    Contrary to their beautiful appearance, the petals exploded one after the other as they made contact with the monks. If normal roses had the thorns as a defense mechanism, this magic rose had exploding petals as an offense mechanism.


    Three petals also fell on Ananda, enveloping him, but just as they were about to detonate, the monk leader took a deep breath...


    Ananda was suddenly surrounded by a pure white light. Once the dust flew away, Ananda was still standing in the same spot, his veins bulging on his forehead and his hands sped together.


    “Oh? Well, well...”


    Even with the Holy Code of Protection from Irenae and the blessings from the priests, Ananda had still sustained quite a bit of damage.


    Then, someone who seemed to be curious about what had just happened emerged from the thick dust.


    "You...!"


    Ananda was baffled by the person who came through the dust. H Amaris, the leader of Amaris, also known as the Iron and Blood Empress, stood before him.


    As she gazed at him, H said, “So you’re the monk from St. Hall? You can certainly take a hit, just as your reputation suggests. Are you good at everything you do with your body?”


    With a calm demeanor, H teased the monk with a smirk on her face. As themander of the First Corps of the Allied Powers, a unitprised exclusively of female soldiers, she was in charge of taking care of Ananda, who was trying to attack from the eleven o’clock position.


    That was her way of weing him.


    The guards of the empress, known as the Nine Flowers, came next to H.


    “H Amaris...!”


    “Oh my, the great monk calling me by my name. What an honor!”


    H found it a bit odd to hear Ananda, the symbol of asceticism, say her name. It was difficult to tell if she was just surprised, or also excited. After all, she had a penchant for strong men, such as Golden Jackson and Henry, and Ananda was especially appealing for her as he had a strong, muscr build, and darker skin.


    H used a thin, long rapier called Snake Tongue as her main weapon. It was a sacred weapon in Amaris, derived from their unique swordsmanship style of killing their foes instantly, just like a snake would wrap around its prey, killing it in a matter of seconds.


    H brandished her rapier like a bat and pointed it at Ananda.


    “I like what you’re trying to do. Your tenacious spirit of climbing the castle walls with your bare hands instead of using a siegedder suits my taste. So, I’vee down here myself to reward you for your efforts.”


    H meant every single word she said.


    The monks, known for their patience and discipline, climbed the castle walls using their hands and feet instead of the siegedders prepared for war. This impressed and stimted H, which was why she hade down from the castle and greeted Ananda personally.


    “Let''s fight now. I want to see if it’s true that the monks of St. Hall are alwaysposed and disciplined.”


    H and the Nine Flowers were d in armor, but the design of the armor seemed to have been created by someone with a screw loose. It almost resembled a dancer''s outfit, which highlighted the Amaris culture of wearing revealing outfits.


    Anandaughed at H’s disrespectful attitude.


    “Hmph, what a joke.”


    “What did you say?”


    “I guess the rumors that Amaris is a nation of whores are true. I had my doubts about it, but now I know.”


    “Wh-whores...?”


    “Why don’t you go ahead and shake those naughty breasts for me? Actually, I’d much rather have cheese than your worthless flesh.”


    Monks abstained from eating meat, so Ananda used cheese, his favorite food, as an analogy to humiliate H.


    H''s face went crimson at Ananda’s repulsive remark.


    “I will make you pay dearly for insulting me like this.”


    “I shall borrow your words!”


    <i>Bang!</i>


    Once Ananda was done talking, he stomped his feet on the ground. He then pped his hands together and muttered the Holy Code of monks.


    <i>sh!</i>


    As Ananda cast the Holy Code, the top-level monks around him also chanted in unison the same Holy code. A bright light radiated from all of them.


    “For peace on the continent!”


    “For peace on the continent!”


    The other monks kept chanting along with Ananda, repeating his words exactly. The concentrated light eventually spread evenly throughout them, and a pure white glow emanated from their Lucits as if smoke wereing off of them.


    “Let''s go!”


    <i>Bang!</i>


    The Holy Code they cast was called the Noble Sacrifice. While the monks were under its effects, they felt less pain, they had the courage to face any dangers, even if it meant jumping into fire, and they could also resist any sort of temptation.


    It was the perfect Holy Code for a battle against the female warriors of Amaris.


    At Ananda’smand, H shouted as well, “Let''s go, my lovely flowers!”


    "Yes, Empress H!"


    With that, the battle between the monks and the Amaris warriors began.


    <i> </i> *


    The Second Corps, one o’clock position.


    Kington had been assigned to the Second Crops because they would be the closest to the Holy Spire. Besides the siege of the castle, Kington also had the duty to protect the Saint and Mas as the generalmander of the corps.


    “Raise the siegedders!”


    Even though Kington was an ambitious man, he still had a decently logical, calcted approach when it came to battle. His style didn’t particrly stand out; he conformed to the fundamental principles of war found in books. Because of that, he served as a big advantage to the imperial army; his strong grasp of fundamental war tactics was more important than anything.


    However, because of how much emphasis he put on fundamentals and stability, Kington had never been able to take down Valhald, who had always been above him. Still, Kington was the current Knight King, a Grand Master, and the first sword of the Imperial Ten Swords. Those achievements convinced Kington that everything he did was correct.


    “Raise more! More!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Kington ordered his men to raise additional siegedders. He had also brought thedders Ananda hadn’t taken, so they had more than enough. Once again, he was going by the books.


    Kington also ordered the deployment of the catapults, as he was well aware how vital they were in a siege.


    Everyone performed their tasks perfectly, carrying out the orders of theirmander. Kington scanned the battlefield from its center, his posture straight. When his soldiers finally set thedders against the castle walls, Kington unsheathed his sword.


    “Everyone, get out of the way!”


    His sword was full of sword energy.


    Just like any other Sword Master, Kington knew that he had to step up to take down the castle walls if there weren’t enough wizards or siege weapons. It was standard procedure, and he sure liked following procedures.


    He infused a huge amount of blue Aura into his sword.


    <i>Swosh!</i>


    He swung a crescent Aura de at the walls.


    The Aura de exuded tremendous energy, and Kington knew the walls would crumble even before the attacknded.


    <i>Boom, boom, boom!</i>


    Gray smoke billowed into the air, and Kington smirked confidently. A few momentster, the wind picked up, dispersing the thick gray smoke, but...


    “Hmm?”


    To Kington’s disbelief, the castle wall, which he had expected to crumble to pieces, was still intact.


    “No damage?!”


    Kington couldn''t believe his eyes. Just as he was about to think he had done something wrong, he swung his sword again to quickly dispel his doubts.


    <i>Swosh!</i>


    <i>Boom, boom, boom!</i>


    Kington clearly felt the vibrating impact of the Aura de as it hit the wall.


    However, just like with the previous attack, the wall was still intact.


    “What the hell...?”


    Kington’s excitement turned to frustration, veins bulging on his forehead. However, he quickly realized that he had to keep hisposure during battle, so he calmed himself down and concentrated Aura into his eyes to enhance his vision. He wanted to see if he had missed something.


    As Kington looked ahead with his enhanced vision, he couldn’t help but frown. He was dumbfounded by what he saw beyond the castle walls.


    “Ronan?”


    Kington could clearly tell that the figure beyond the wall with a sword in his hand was Ronan.


    Ronan noticed that Kington stared at him, so he confidently stared back.


    “Ro-Ronan! How... How dare you?!”


    The moment Kington recognized Ronan, memories of the humiliation he had suffered because of Isn shed through his mind. He could barely contain his anger as he couldn’t understand why Ronan was there. Isn had been so adamant to keep Ronan by his side, so why...


    “Ronaaaan!”


    Kington wasn’t expecting Ronan to answer. Besides, he wasn’t in the mood for a civil conversation anyway. He merely drew his sword once again and cried out Ronan''s name beforemanding his men to advance forward.


    “Annihte them!”


    “Yes, sir!”


    Kington, who had been holding his ground like amand tower, charged forward as well. His troops brought in front of him a special giant siegedder designed just for him.


    <i>tter, tter, tter!</i>


    His massive siegedder with wooden wheels was four timesrger than an ordinary one. It took dozens of men to transport it, and they could barely move it. They set thedder upright, and then dropped it over the castle wall like a battering ram. Setting it this way would work even if the enemies intervened.


    <i>Boom!</i>


    As thedder hit the wall, a thickyer of dust formed, but once it cleared out, it was apparent that thedder wasn’t on the castle wall, but on the sandy ground in front of it.


    “What in the...! You! What the hell are you doing?!” Kington shouted at the soldiers in charge of thedder.


    However, the soldiers looked confused, as though they didn’t know what they had done wrong.


    “Yes, sir? Is there a problem?” asked one of the soldiers.


    “What do you mean,<i> is there a problem</i>? Can’t you see with your eyes?”


    "Pardon, sir? Thedder is on the castle wall..."


    By the look of the soldier who answered, Kington realized that they weren’t lying or trying to deceive him. They were genuinely confused as to why he was yelling at them; it was clear on their faces. Moreover, it wasn’t just one or a few soldiers looking confused; all of them had the same expression.


    They didn’t know what to do.


    It wasn’t just the soldiers who had moved thedder that acted strangely. The ones who had already climbed up were swinging their swords at the air with dumbfounded expressions.


    “Just as we expected.”


    Herarion and Viram spectated the idiots as they fell into chaos.