Mimic Awakening

Chapter 42: The Empire Attacks

On a sunny day, within the territory of the Kingdom of Roheazul, an army of soldiers is camping in the vast prairie a few leagues from the walls of a large city. Judging from the design and color coding of their armors and uniforms, every kingdom citizen knows that they belong to a foreign nation.

Hundreds of tents are erected to shelter tens of thousands of soldiers from the peak summer heat of the kingdom. But to the soldiers of the Empire of Siafran, this level of heat is comparable to springtime in the empire.

The reason why an army of enemy soldiers are camping within the kingdom is that they have successfully occupied a few major cities behind it over the course of days. Currently, they are preparing for an upcoming battle with the soldiers of Marquis Laurence, the last obstacle before the Royal Capital of Rague.

Neigh!

"Commander, the scouts are back!"

"Very well, let them in."

"Right away, sir!"

At the center of this massive camp, a massive tent with the banner of the empire on top is constructed as the temporary headquarters of this army. Underneath the shade, the commander is revising their plans with his generals until a report of the scouts returning echoes inside.

The leader of the scouts then enters the tent and bobs his upper body before stating his reports to the men inside.

"Sir, the scouts confirm the absence of both the Great Sorceress and the hero in the city and the nearby area. On the other hand, we estimate that the city has seven thousand troops stationed around the city walls. That’s all for now."

"Well done. Keep on investigating and surveying the area."

"Yes, sir."

With rigid movements, the man salutes the commander before exiting the tent. The generals glance at one another before one of them speaks to the commander.

"Sir Wilburg, it seems that the reports of the sudden and mysterious disappearance of the newly discovered dungeon are true. Both of them are probably facing the same fate as the dungeon."

"Even though their absence really brought massive impact on our success, it is still worrying me."

"I understand how you feel, Commander," a middle-aged general agrees. "The Great Sorceress and the hero are one thing we need to deal with, but the thought of a massive dungeon vanishing is a bigger matter to address. I heard no magic or ability or whatever has the power to erase a dungeon as large as that."

"You’re right," an elderly general seconds the opinion. "The reports of a dungeon outflow before that highly indicate that the monsters are seemingly running away from something more dangerous than themselves. Griffins? Lesser dragons? What the hell makes them resort to ascending to the surface from the deeper floors?"

"If those two incidents connect, then I fear that the thing that makes the monsters run in fear is also the one that caused the disappearance of the dungeon," the commander voices his speculations. "In the worst case, it probably destroys the dungeon to free itself."

"I hope it’s not a Dread Horror or a Great Calamity unleashed into this world."

"..."

The tent goes silent when the elderly general utters those words. The names that he just mentioned are the entities that are in the history of some nation of this world.

Appearing dozens of times throughout history, powerful monsters known as Dread Horrors emerge and wreak havoc on the world. They are massive and grotesque creatures with mysterious origins and nature. Their appearances vary from one another, and there are times Dread Horrors took appearances akin to humans.

Legends has it that a single Dread Horror can flatten a nation in a few days. Dread Horrors are ranked as disaster-class threats, and the last one appeared on Eastern Revoria roughly a hundred and fifty years ago.

Despite that Dread Horrors possess overwhelming power, they do not last long on the surface of earth. They would weaken the longer they manifested, and they would ultimately perish either from outside attacks or the passage of time.

However, there are entities above the disaster class, the catastrophe class. Creatures of this level are capable of destroying multiple nations in a short time. There were only a few recorded instances of their appearance in this world. A handful of them were something they dubbed the Great Calamities.

"Well, let’s just pray that it won’t be the case." Sensing their worries, Wilburg changes the topic. "More importantly, we still have a day before the main imperial forces reach this location. Send them a messenger stating that we are about to take over this city."

"Affirmative, sir." One of the standing soldiers on the side steps forward before exiting the tent, carrying the commander’s order.

The army lead by Commander Wilburg is actually an advanced force deployed to weaken the kingdom before the main force jumps into action. They will join the main force later on to clash with the kingdom’s main army, which is probably in the royal capital, head on.

The Siafran Empire initiated their invasion, or what they called reoccupation, of the neighboring kingdom a few days ago following the beginning of the kingdom’s hero’s exploration of the newly discovered dungeon. Without his presence, in addition to the Great Sorceress, who has gone missing, the empire makes its way to the kingdom’s territories with little resistance.

The empire’s campaigns have been successful due to the fact that some of the kingdom nobles are inherently imperial loyalists, patriots to their former identity. Those nobles help the imperial army by supplying them rations and reinforcements as well as letting them stay in their cities.

The joint forces of the imperial army and the loyalists easily overwhelmed the kingdom’s military might. Territories submit to the empire’s superior force one after the other, changing the geopolitical map of the continent in just a few days.

"Prepare your men for the offensive. Once this war ends, I will share my personal collections with you."

"You mean those fifteen-year-olds?"

"Don’t underestimate the commander’s liquor collection, sir. I heard he has twenties as well."

"Alright, if you want them, I don’t mind sharing a few."

"For the glory of the empire!" The men collectively exclaim.

Afterwards, the advanced force sieges the marquisate city until the next day. They rejoin with the main imperial force before they march their way to the royal capital, intending to bring a massive victory to the empire.

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"Now, how do we move it to the island?"

In the afternoon, Azrael is standing before the villa with arms crossed, staring at it as he wonders what to do. As he is deep in thoughts, a female voice coming from behind reaches his ears.

"Reusing the same methods to create the floating island might work, but it would rather be difficult."

"Oh, Claire."

Azrael turns his head around and sees the figure of a gorgeous woman walking toward him. She stops by his side and looks at her house.

"What do you mean it’s harder to move the villa than to make a piece of land float?"

"It’s true that making a floating island required massive power input to execute, but it needs less mental stress since the shape of the island is not that hard to draw. Also, there are a few things to consider, like how to carefully transfer this villa to the island."

"I see. If we want to execute the same method, we have to dig a hole on the island that perfectly fits the base of this property."

After her revival earlier, Claire has regained her former body shape, which Azrael is excited to lay his eyes on again. Ever since, Azrael has been secretly staring at her body to imprint her beautiful figure into his memory.

Claire quickly notices his cheeky behavior, and she is having a hard time engaging in a conversation with him, especially since she remembers what they have agreed on back then.

"If we are afraid to move the villa, how about just abandon it and make a new one on the island?"

"Are you sure about that, Claire?"

"Probably. My important stuff is already in my subspace. The things in the storage room can be transferred individually or in batch. Out of my hundred years of existence, I have some spare time to study other fields like architecture and engineering, and I personally built this villa myself."

"Wow. Well, I would probably spend some time learning a few things if I have such a long lifespan. Anyways, if you can make a new house, then we can go with that."

"If you say so, Azrael. We should start gathering materials."