Black Hearted Mage

Chapter 371: War of Annihilation 3

As the two Roland Empire armies marched out of Bonebreaker Castle, their movements were immediately detected by the vigilant sentries atop the castle. The sharp clang of alarm bells echoed through the sky, shattering the morning tranquility. The high-ranking officers of Bonebreaker Castle, who were dining, paled at the sound. They dropped their utensils, not even wiping the crumbs from their mouths, and hurried to the rooftop watchtower.

Looking down from above, one could clearly see the Roland Empire's legions marching in an orderly fashion, yet surprisingly, they carried no siege equipment. These massive weapons simply couldn't fit into storage rings; they should have been transported by a dedicated transport team. The commanders of the Bone Fort looked at each other, filled with doubt. After all, the defenses of a war fortress far surpassed those of ordinary city walls. Even powerful magic cannons would require more than ten consecutive bombardments to penetrate its sturdy outer walls.

At this moment, several magic cannons were mounted on the walls of the Bone Castle. Their superior position gave them a greater range than firing from the ground. The commanders stared intently at the approaching enemy troops, their fingers unconsciously tapping the stone bricks of the wall.

The Bone Land spanned approximately twenty miles. In less than two quarters of an hour, the two Roland Empire legions, at an astonishing pace, reached their designated location—three miles from the Bone Castle. This distance, carefully calculated, was just beyond the maximum range of the Bone Castle's magic cannons, leaving the defenders helpless to watch the enemy line up, unable to launch an effective attack.

From the towering walls of the Bone Castle, magical cannons inscribed with magic patterns slowly rolled out, their jet-black muzzles gleaming with a faint blue light. Dozens of long-range crossbows meticulously crafted by artisans protruded from the battlements, their bolts swirling with magical energy. These deadly defensive weapons were all aimed at the outskirts of the Bone Land, ready to meet the attack of the Roland Empire's army.

Suddenly, a lone figure appeared in the clouded sky. Caesars unfurled his jet-black magical wings, condensed from pure shadow energy, and soared high in the sky. His sharp gaze pierced the clouds, clearly catching sight of the Saint Laurent Legion soldiers gathered on the rooftop platform of the Bone Castle—those silver-armored soldiers frantically deploying their defenses, completely unaware of the impending death.

"Now," Caesars muttered to himself, a cruel smile curling his lips. He adjusted his flight attitude and began a slow descent. A fierce wind howled across the vast wasteland of the Land of Bones, stirring up clouds of withered grass. Dropping bombs at such high altitudes proved difficult to guarantee accuracy.

As the altitude continued to decrease, Kaisas finally hovered in the air just a hundred meters away from the Bone Castle. He first took out a huge rock from his space ring - a black basalt weighing tens of thousands of pounds.

"An appetizer first." Caesars released his grip, and the boulder began to plummet. This was both a test of the alchemical bomb's landing point and an attempt to penetrate the Bone Castle's strongest protective layer.

The Saint Laurent soldiers below were intently staring at the faintly visible Roland Legion flag on the distant horizon, none of them looking up at the sky. By the time the boulder ripped through the air with a sharp whistling sound, it was already too late.

With a deafening roar, the boulder crashed fiercely into the center of the top platform. Although it missed the target by five or six meters, missing the densely populated edge of the fortifications, the immense force still shook the entire Bone Castle. Debris rained down, scattering several unfortunate soldiers' armor in an instant. Chaos ensued on the platform.

Caesars narrowed his eyes, staring at the hideous gash in the Bone Castle's roof, punctured by a massive boulder. He adjusted his wings slightly, steadying himself amid the whistling wind. Then, another boulder roared down. The shrieking sound of the boulder piercing the air terrified the Saint Laurent defenders atop the castle, who scattered like startled ants. With a deafening crash, the boulder pierced the Bone Castle's roof once again, this time landing about two or three meters away from its intended location.

"Almost there," Kaesus muttered to himself, using his elemental wings to hover in mid-air. The violent air currents caused him to tremble slightly. Such unstable winds certainly made it difficult to guarantee an absolutely accurate throw. However, an error of two or three meters was completely acceptable—after all, what he was about to throw was no ordinary stone.

He pulled a shimmering metal sphere from his space ring. This alchemical bomb, weighing hundreds of pounds, was covered in intricate magic patterns, its outer shell infused with magic steel and engraved with a dense grid of patterns. Caesars gently stroked those patterns, sensing the dangerous energy within.

This was a terrifying weapon inherited from ancient times, the "Fragmenter," the one that struck fear into countless armies during wars thousands of years ago. When it exploded, its specially treated metal shell transformed into a thousand razor-sharp fragments in a dance of death, easily ripping through even the sturdiest magic steel armor, let alone ordinary leather.

With a deafening explosion, the alchemical bomb unleashed a deadly metallic flower atop the Bone Fortress. A thirty-meter radius instantly transformed into a living hell, hundreds of defenders torn to pieces by the metallic storm amidst shrill screams. Severed limbs and blood splattered everywhere, staining the entire platform a dark crimson. The yellow smoke from the explosion barely had time to dissipate before it was torn away by the biting north wind.

Caesars gazed upon his masterpiece with satisfaction and began to descend. He intended to precisely drop his next bomb into the hole, unleashing a deadly fog of poison within the castle. As he unloaded a new alchemical bomb, he caught a glimpse of dozens of spheres covered in magic patterns in the corner—they were the "Wall Busters" the elven elder had once given him as a lifeline. It was said that these high-explosive alchemical bombs could blast through even the strongest city defenses, but Caesars had never found the right opportunity to verify this claim.

The "Wall Buster" alchemical bomb, meticulously crafted by elven artisans, is barely the size of a head, shimmering with a faint blue metallic sheen. Though it weighs only thirty or forty kilograms, its surface is densely woven with magical patterns like a spiderweb, gleaming with a dangerous magical brilliance in the sunlight. This special alchemical device, activated only by magical power, is far safer and more reliable than conventional trigger-operated alchemical bombs, impervious to accidental collisions.

Caesars pulled a "Wall Buster" from his spatial ring and gently traced the intricate magic patterns with his slender fingers. As magic power poured into the bomb, the patterns on its surface gradually illuminated, and soon the entire device began to flicker with a dazzling red light, flickering on and off like breathing. The air was filled with suffocating magical fluctuations, and even his long hair trembled slightly under the energy. After confirming that the activation was complete, Caesars decisively released his hand and quickly formed a translucent magic shield in front of him.

"boom--"

A deafening explosion resounded like thunder, its violent shockwave instantly sweeping across the entire rooftop of the Bone Castle. Even with the protection of his magic shield, Caesars' ears still rang and his vision went black. Squinting, he saw the entire Bone Castle tremble twice in the violent tremor, and then a plume of dust rose from the center of the explosion. Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, the sturdy fortress began to crumble like paper, huge stones falling with a dull thud. Caesar was secretly horrified. Such astonishing destructive power must have been made from extremely pure elemental crystals as the core material, otherwise it would never have been possible to produce such a devastating effect.

The middle section of the Bone Castle collapsed with a deafening roar, the entire seven-story structure crumbling layer by layer like a decaying corpse with its skeleton removed. The magic turrets embedded in the city wall creaked with a sharp metallic crackle as they, along with the massive crossbows crafted from fine magic steel, plummeted into the pile of rubble below in a cloud of dust.

In the distance, Vivian clutched her cloak involuntarily. She saw Caesars circling the fortress, dropping dangerously gleaming alchemical bombs. Each explosion was accompanied by a burst of toxic mist. The yellow mist seemed to have a life of its own, spreading through the castle's corridors and staircases, corroding even the stone bricks with a sizzling sound. Even more terrifying, the chain reaction of collapse continued, and the entire castle crackled with a teeth-grinding sound, like rotten wood eaten away by termites.

After dropping his one hundred and third bomb, Caesars calmly donned his magic visor. He landed precisely on the terrace of the undamaged eastern wing of the Bone Castle. The towering spire here belonged to the magicians' residence. Through the stained-glass windows, he could see figures running panicked inside, magical tomes and alchemical instruments gleaming alluringly in the candlelight.

Kaisas licked his lips and stroked the magic blade at his waist with his fingers - it was time to let these closed-door mages see the true art of killing, and at the same time enrich his own empty wallet.

"Start the timer!"

A crisp, sharp command echoed across the battlefield. Vivian, clad in dark brown leather armor, one or two sharp daggers dangling from her waist, cast a sharp glance at the Bone Castle ahead. Beside her, a military magician in a deep blue robe nodded slightly and pulled out an exquisite hourglass from his bosom. The crystal glass was engraved with intricate magical runes, and the fine golden sand shimmered in the sunlight. He carefully placed the hourglass on a flat surface on the iron chariot. The sand began to flow silently, signaling the official start of the countdown to the attack.

In the distance, chaos had already descended upon the Bone Castle. Like the breath of an evil spirit, yellow, poisonous smoke billowed from the tower windows and the cracks in the damaged walls, filling the air with a deadly haze. From within the castle, the dull thud of soldiers falling continued. One by one, some clutched their throats and coughed violently, while others simply collapsed to the ground, soundless. Wherever the poisonous smoke passed, life vanished as swiftly as harvested ears of wheat.

Inside the side fort, Caesars' figure darted through the shadows like a ghost. A cruel smile played on his lips as he fired a continuous stream of shadow arrows, each one precisely piercing the chest of a Saint Laurent Empire magician. The legionary magicians didn't even have time to chant a defensive spell before being slain by the dark purple energy bolts. Their blood splattered across the stone walls, leaving shocking streaks.

Caesars' eyes remained fixed on the storage rings on their fingers—those gleaming magical treasures were his true targets. He was like a greedy vulture, wantonly plundering spoils during the slaughter, and the magicians of the Saint Laurent Empire were nothing more than lambs to be slaughtered.

In the early morning sun, the one-sided massacre at the side fort lasted less than ten minutes. The bodies of the mages lay scattered across the fort, their faces frozen in the terror of death. Caesars glanced down at the soul gem hanging from his waist. The once dim crystal now glowed with a dazzling white light—a sign of abundant soul energy.

"Soul energy is full so quickly!" He muttered to himself, casually kicking away a body that was in the way at his feet and sitting down on a relatively intact high-back chair. As he chanted the spell, the energy in the Soul Gem turned into wisps of white mist, flowing into his body through his fingertips.

A dull horn blared in the distance, signaling the start of the Roland Empire's two major legions' attack. A sneer curled up his lips, a perfect opportunity to recover some magic power.

When nearly half the soul energy had been absorbed, the ground suddenly began to tremble slightly. Gazing through the broken window of the side fort, a cloud of dust rose from the horizon of the Land of Bones. The deafening roar of war drums exploded like thunder, and the vast, black phalanx of the army advanced with overwhelming force. At the forefront were a dozen elite scouts, clad in lightweight magic-patterned leather armor, their warhorses galloping at the wind. These scouts wielded specially crafted, multi-layered animal hide shields—those repeatedly tanned from the hide of giant swamp crocodiles—that effectively protected them from attack.

Vivian Barton stood atop the command platform, her scarlet cloak rustling in the wind. This Imperial Valkyrie, known as the "Blood Rose," grimly surveyed the battlefield. Seeing the scouts approaching the castle's main gate, she decisively waved her command banner. As a legendary commander with seven major battles under her belt, she knew now was the perfect time to storm the fortress—the Bone Castle's medium-sized defensive weapons were largely destroyed, and the arrow slits belching poisonous smoke were deserted. Now, all she had to do was blast that damned magic steel gate with a specially crafted massive alchemical bomb, and the gates to the Saint Laurent Empire would be wide open...

"Let the bloody rose bloom again!"

Vivian spoke softly, her voice filled with chilling tenderness. In the shadows of the distant Bone Castle, the surviving defenders shuddered in unison. They saw the banner bearing the blood-red rose, a symbol of nightmares for countless people. Everyone knew what it represented.

The Valkyrie of the Roland Empire is personally supervising the battle. Tonight, countless people are destined to wake up from nightmares and relive the fear of being dominated by the Rose of Death in their dreams.