SSS SKILL: DUPLICATE

Chapter 65 War Against Maginev Empire

A commander of an army of the Maginev Empire is sneering while looking at the stronghold surrounded by a magic shield. Their sneak attack failed, but he believes their overwhelming attack will still crush the shield and the stronghold.

"Surround the stronghold. Wait for the declaration of war before attacking. Let us keep the formality of war hahahaha"

In the morning, the world is greeted by the shocking declaration of the Maginev Empire.

"Baynard usurped the kingdoms of Ru and Fran. They shamelessly cooperated with traitors within the royal court. The prince of Ru and Fran desperately begged our empire's help. For the sake of our long-term friendship with the two kingdoms, we granted their request! We hereby declare war on Baynard and liberate the people from the hands of an evil kingdom!"

The declaration of the Maginev Empire is read by the news anchor on TV. When the citizens of Baynard Kingdom heard it, their eyes turned red from anger.

"Damn Maginev Empire, our lives became ten times better under Baynard's rule. What evil hands! Damn you!" Cursed by a man with missing teeth, he spit on the ground as he was disgusted by the Maginev Empire.

"So shameless! The citizens of two kingdoms willingly chose to be ruled by Baynard! Maginev cannot even take care of its own citizens! There are many displaced people in their empire!" said a chubby business owner. He always led a caravan to trade in Maginev. The trade between the two empires stopped two months ago; they were given notice by Baynard's court that the situation was tense. They will not gamble their lives; there are many channels of trade anyway, so they stop going to Maginev.

All the citizens of Baynard, especially in the previous kingdoms of Ru and Fran, are loudly cursing at Maginev.

Maginev does not care. The two princes of the previous kingdoms were demanded by them from the royal court of the previous two kingdoms as a symbol of the relationship between the empire and the two kingdoms. They are actually hostages of the Maginev Empire.

Twit! Twit! A messenger bird went to the camp of the Maginev army. The commander looked at the small paper on his hand with a grin. He approached a sixth-circle magician.

"Sir, please start the attack," the commander respectfully said to the magician.

"If the grand magician is here, that shield will probably be destroyed immediately. Too bad, most of our empire's forces are being held back in the west," said the magician. He walks, then a huge blue magic circle formed beneath his feet.

Woosh! A twenty-meter-tall water creature rose; the magician is standing on its head. The creature opened its mouth. It was like closed petals that opened. Its petal-like mouth has sharp teeth.

"Push the Smasher forward. Red knights, walk forward. Let them taste the power of an empire. Let's smash that shield in an hour!" ordered the commander.

Within the stronghold, Edgar is looking at the defense tower with complicated runes. A master runesmith is explaining to him about the new defense tower.

"Is the underground safe? What if earth magicians dig holes?" asked Edgar.

The master runesmith laughed when he heard their king's question. He spread his palm, and an earth formed and floated above the magic circle on his palm.

"Your Majesty, the defense towers are emitting mana to the underground. The soil beneath our stronghold can no longer be manipulated by earth magicians just like this earth in my palm because my mana is there and I am controlling it. The other effect of the defense tower on the soil underground is making them very tough. The time to spend breaking the soil underground is almost the same with breaking the shield on the surface."

Edgar nods. He looks at the shield with waving blue waves and faint blue magic circles blinking and moving on the surface of the shield. Edgar imperceptibly smiles.

"Their armies will probably be stupefied."

Soldiers push a big crossbow with a large rectangular object attached to the crossbow bed. The rectangular object has many runes. Magicians are standing beside the large crossbow.

ROOOAR! Five big earth lizards walked forward and surrounded the stronghold. Their skin color is red. They have two black horns on their heads. They are being ridden by knights wearing red armor and white capes. They also have two black horns on their helmet. The red lizards open their mouths, and then the fire element starts gathering and forms a red energy ball. There are fires rotating on the energy ball.

The water creature starts gathering water elements in front of its mouth. A blue energy ball forms and gets bigger.

"Break that damn shield! Pulverize their stronghold! Keep no one alive!" ordered the commander. He raised his hand to give a signal.

A white magic circle appears on the magician's hand that stretches toward the Smasher.

"Fire!!"

The red lizards fired the red energy balls.

The water creature fired the blue energy ball.

The magic runes on the smasher shine.

TWANNG! TWANNG! Big fire and lightning magic arrows flew rapidly to the magic shield. The rectangular object attached to the crossbow bed automatically rotates. The string of the smasher is automatically pulled when the rectangular object rotates. A magic arrow is ready to fire again.

TWANNG! TWANNG! More big lightning and fire arrows fly to the shield.

"Hahahaha, taste the terror of our empire's ange-!" The commander spreads his hands as he wants to witness the terror on the soldiers' faces on the wall, but he is the one who is feeling terror right now. His eyes and mouth are wide open as he stares at the blue magic circles that appeared on the surface of the shield, where the energy balls and magic arrows hit. Everyone in the army is stupefied.

Boom! Boom! Many magic arrows are continuously hitting the shield, but not even a tiny crack appears on the shield. A blue magic circle appears wherever an arrow hits.

"Hahahaha Maginev! Go home! You won't be able to break the shield in your lifetime! Go home now! Tell me if you don't have enough food for your return. I will gladly give it to you! Hahahaha!" said the commander of the stronghold.

The commander of the Maginev army has bulging blood vessels on his forehead. His eyes are bloodshot as he stares at the provocative commander. The magician also has a fierce look on his face.

"Tell it to the empire: Baynard has stolen our technology! The latest magic shield, which combines decades of research on our empire, is in Baynard's hands!"

In another stronghold, there is huge killing intent within the commander's tent of Maginev's camp.

Bartos' expression became very fierce when he was informed by an adjutant. He went out of his tent and stared at the magic shield with blue magic circles that blocked the impact of magic arrows. He has a frown on his face.

"It will not be easy even for me to break it. I must not spend too much aura and mana. I don't know yet if their king is really in this stronghold." thought Bartos.

"Halt the attack and let's formulate another plan. Inform the empire. Whoever leaked our technology must be captured and killed!" Fiercely ordered by Bartos

Twit! Twit! Messenger birds fly from the camps of Maginev in all their strongholds at the border of Baynard. They all halted their attack.

After many hours, the news reached the imperial court. The emperor convened an emergency meeting. He is holding a sword while sitting on his throne with so much intent to kill.

"Your Majesty, leaking our technology is so unforgivable! He must not be given immediate death. He must suffer unimaginable pain as an example! There is only one I know who possesses that technology in our research team! Ruso, it is you! The magic runes saw by the soldiers in the stronghold is your unique creation! You like to tinker with our technology to form a rune that looks like your mark!" said Leyton as he pointed his finger at a man who looks like a sixty-year-old who seems to have a bloodline of dwarves.

Leyton's face looks so fierce as he stares at Ruso, but his back is actually drenched with sweat. His heart is beating fast. He is the one who leaked the technology. The spy who bought the technology from him promised shares in the company in Baynard two years ago. The spy promised that they would only use it for research and derive technology from it. The spy is a comrade of Rostas who communicates information between Baynard and Maginev. He is actually a spy, persuaded by Trojan Horse Roy to work for Baynard.

Leyton thought it was a good deal. He felt that he was just sharing the technology with his comrade. He gave an incomplete technology researched by Ruso to avoid getting blamed when it was found out. Their budget keeps getting cut for their research. He has concubines who are living in luxuries. Money is not enough. A big pie was offered to him, so he bit it. He has been receiving so much money in the past two years as a dividend, which makes him smile from ear to ear. He did not expect that the pie he bit was a big poison that would kill himself. He must put the blame on Ruso, or else he will be chopped into pieces by the emperor.

"How dare you betray the empire! How dare you! I will kill you!" shouted Leyton as he ran forward to Ruso. The ministers and commanders were shocked. A commander held Leyton to prevent him from attacking Ruso.

Ruso was also shocked when Leyton actually wanted to attack him, and his face also became angry.

"Damn you, Leyton! I know that you are always jealous of me because I always have a lot more budget than your team and make more remarkable results! Don't try to put the dirt in my head! I am not as vile as you!" Furiously said Ruso.

"Fuck you, Ruso! You must die for me!" thought Leyton as he fiercely stared at Ruso.

The hall became a mess because of the exchange of insults by their top researchers. The blood vessels on the emperor's forehead are bulging as he looks at the mess in front of him.

"QUIET!" Gustav shouted.

"Put Ruso under house arrest! Investigate it very well!" Gustav ordered. He can't kill his top researcher without solid evidence. He knows the character of the old man. He is not the only one who has access to his research.

"Your Majesty, it isn't me!" said Ruso with a pleading sound.

Gustav ignored him and signaled the royal guards to escort Ruso out of the hall. He is giving Ruso a cold shoulder to lower the guards of traitors. He will find the traitors and console Ruso later.

Ruso has despair in his eyes. He thought the emperor had abandoned him. Leyton is laughing inside.

When evening came, soldiers replaced the guards on the wall in the stronghold. Edgar stands in a shadow as he looks at the camp of the enemy with a smile. He is already informed of where Bartos is. Edgar stares at the three moons in the sky.

"Tonight will determine the outcome of war."

At 2 am in the morning, the surroundings are very quiet, but it suddenly gets disturbed by the running hooves of the tundra. A detachment unit secretly went out of the camp. At the front of the army is Bartos. He is wearing a dark red coat, but his upper body is still naked. The tundra he is riding is bigger than other tundras. Its horn is longer, and its hooves have lightning.

They are now passing through a road surrounded by small hills.

Brrgh! "Hmm?" Bartos and his army are startled as the ground in their surroundings suddenly rises. Deep within the ground on both sides is a time-release magic device that emits earth magic to create an artificial, small valley. It is the result of long-term research. Edgar assigned a dedicated research team to the device.

The device only emits that one magic skill. To emit other magic skills will take long research again. Edgar prepared the device for a war. He knows that suddenly changing the terrain will have many advantages. Baynard predicted the actions of the Maginev army before the war. Edgar took out the device and included it in the formulation of the strategy. They subtly changed the terrain on the border. The flat grounds where their steeds could run smoothly led to ambush sites.

It happened not only to Bartos's army but to all detachment units of the Maginev army.

A flat area near the area suddenly opened. Many square holes were opened. The Army and special forces are underground. In the middle of the hole is a magic device that hides their energy.They clad their bodies with aura and jumped to the surface, then climbed the slope. Some went to the entrance and exit of the artificially small valley. It happened so fast. By the time the Maginev army reacts, magic arrows, magic skills, and martial kills are already flying down to them.

A huge orange magic circle is above Bartos' detachment unit.

Edgar is standing above the artificially small valley, and his left hand is stretched forward. Around him is his army, ready to fire.

FLAME METEOR

Woo! Woo! Huge flames are falling. The army fired magic arrows, magic skills, and aura blades.