Leveling up the World

Chapter 940: All the Archduchess' Soldiers

The pain in what was left of Dallion’s legs had decreased to a dull ache. It was by no means pleasant, but not enough to distract him from the upcoming fight.

It was obvious that the archduchess was making a show of force. She didn’t bother using stealth or concealing the numbers of her army. Without any care whatsoever, she had ventured into the domain atop an awakened animal—a warhorse from what Dallion could make out.

Riding an awakened creature? he said to himself. Her new rank came with its privileges. He had to do his best not to disappoint.

Gleam, how are things on your end? he asked, summoning his Nox dagger.

She eats like a cow, the shardfly replied with mild irritation. Other than that, we seem fine. No one’s tried anything so far.

That’ll change soon. Priscord is here. She’s come for me.

I’ll be right there—

No! Dallion ordered. Stay with Aqui. Make sure she levels up as much as possible. I’ll deal with this.

Without bothering to cast an illusion in place of his missing feet, Dallion floated in the direction of Priscord’s army. With many of the buildings removed, the Academy seemed no different than a serene valley. That was just the calm before the storm. Although she hadn’t been present during the ceremony at the imperial city, she had probably heard about everything that had happened. The emperor had been careful to keep everything within the capital separate from everything outside. At the time, Dallion thought that was to guard himself. In fact, it was the opposite—the imperial city was nothing more than a target meant to attract everyone’s attention, while the emperor was elsewhere and his forces were scattered throughout the empire.

It didn’t take long for the countess to become visible in the distance. Wearing a highly expensive dress of diamond thread, she rode side-saddle on the back of a warhorse large enough to be a small building. A handful of domain rulers walked behind, all dressed in light armor of various designs and colors. Their levels were in the high eighties and low nineties—the equivalent of Hannah and Vihrogon. Further behind started a massive army made of fully armored soldiers who had passed the fourth awakening gate. Despite being made entirely of sky silver, the sets of armor were mostly for show. Everyone was aware that such armor would do little against an awakened of Dallion’s level.

The TOWN of ISAL is part of your domain.

A rectangle flashed in front of Dallion’s eyes. Euryale was doing quite well on the other front. Nearly all of Wetie province had been reclaimed with Dallion’s forces pushing in further north. It would have been nice if he were able to join in, directing his settlements personally. Sadly, facing the archduchess required all of his attention.

Both sides kept on moving towards one another. Once they got half a mile apart, the archduchess raised her hand, indicating her army to stop. Dallion, on his part, kept on floating forward for a few seconds more before doing the same.

“Lost your legs already?” the woman laughed. She was keeping a low voice, knowing that Dallion had the perception trait to hear her. “For someone claiming to be the emperor’s equal, that’s more than a bit disappointing.”

“So nice of you to come here personally to tell me that.” Dallion used his music skill to probe the woman’s defenses. He wasn’t just targeting her, but the horse, and every item guardian on her body.

Two of the domain rulers instantly reacted, taking out harpsiswords of their own. Their chords, although less sophisticated, were adequate enough to interfere with Dallion’s music attack. Preventing the music strands from attaching to their targets.

“So predictable.” The archduchess pretended to take it calmly, but Dallion could tell that she was tense. Likely, the attack had come closer than she felt comfortable. “What will it be next? Spells?”

“You’re in my domain now,” Dallion continued with his attack. Even if he had no chance of succeeding, it was keeping two of her nobles occupied. “What did you think would happen?”

“True, you appear to have the advantage. All the skills, all that raw power, and within your domain, no less.”

The war horse snorted. Dallion could feel its hostility. There was no way this was a natural creature. The magic threads within it were too many, clustered in an artificial order.

“You should have arrived earlier. That way, the mages would have—”

Before Dallion could finish, one of Priscord’s nobles darted forward. The person had changed considerably, but Dallion recognized him from Halburn. Back then, he was a small piece of crap with delusions of grandeur. After the arena fiasco, and the subsequent conquest of the small neighboring country, he had wormed his way into Countess Priscord’s court, remaining there as she rose to power. His skills were still crap, though.

The noble drew a sword and thrust it forward. The blade burst into millions of hair-length tendrils, all of which extended straight at Dallion.

Undoubtedly, it was a peculiar weapon. The magic within it was unlike most of the artifacts Dallion had seen. Among the properties was the ability to drain magic at contact. Clearly, the noble expected that to be enough in his fight against a “battle mage.”

Long before any of the metal tendrils got near, Dallion burst into instances, spreading out in all directions.

The cluster of tendrils followed. While numerous, their actions were far too slow for the threat to be taken seriously. In over a hundred instances, Dallion used his blades to deflect them well before they could do any serious damage. A bit of magic was drained from his aura sword at the points at which it made contact, but by no means enough to cause any serious disruptions.

You’re overconfident, Giaccia said.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Dallion didn’t reply, instead performing a multi attack as his instances pushed towards his opponent. After a series of parries, he followed up with two line attacks, believing that would be enough to slice them up.

While the strength was destructive enough to slice up the ground for miles, all it did was push the tendrils away. Not only were they stronger than he expected, but also incredibly flexible, letting the thread of destruction slide off them on its way forward.

Leaping back, Dallion slashed the air in an attempt to cast a dozen spells, but no magic circles formed. Even the minute disruptions of the magic flow proved enough to render his sword temporarily useless.

Not losing concentration, Dallion loosened his grip, using a finger to cast the spells. This time, everything was as it should be. The magic circles formed, shooting out steel chains that flew straight at the noble.

The speed seemed torturously slow from Dallion’s perspective, but his opponent didn’t even have the time to blink before the first one had wrapped around his sword hand. Based on experience, Dallion expected him to twist in an attempt to break free. The noble didn’t.

Move back! Giaccia warned.

Dallion did so on the second, performing a spiral attack as he did. That failed to snap any of the metal tendrils, but it twisted them in such a way so as to temporarily tangle them in one another, and get them away from him.

More chains wrapped around the noble’s body, followed by a series of crunches. In a matter of seconds, the man went into what appeared to be a series of convulsions, then stopped moving altogether. Interestingly enough, his weapon didn’t.

Before Dallion could clear the distance, the strands reformed the sword, which then darted back only to be caught by another of Priscord’s nobles.

“Bravo,” the woman clapped. “I didn’t expect this. Seems you’ve improved more than people give you credit for.”

Despite the vast difference in level between the two, Dallion felt a cold chill. In a one-on-one battle, there would be no doubt that he’d end up victorious even without using magic. No, that wasn’t the right way to frame it. Right now, he was in a one-on-one against her.

“You’re using symbiont echoes,” he said, splitting in a new set of instances.

“Why should the Azures be the only one using such tricks?” Priscord’s smile widened. “You have to admire the empress. The second empress and your former house used music to get people to do what they wanted. The nymph empress took a far more direct approach, becoming one with her armies. The only mistake she did was limit herself to one target.”

“You’ve been controlling all your nobles,” Dallion said in disgust.

“And they said you were the one thinking outside of the box. I’m controlling all my armies.” Two more nobles drew their weapons: a whip blade and an origami ax. They, too, were more intricate than Dallion had seen in the past. No doubt they were quite deadly as well. “Why ruin such good bodies with such feeble minds?”

“It’s never a good idea to fully rely on echoes. They tend to get opinions of their own.”

“Yes, I heard that as well. But it all depends on the will of the original. It’s said that otherworlders have difficulties in that, but only because they are trying to control something that isn’t them.”

Dallion didn’t respond, using his magic threads to restore the effectiveness of his aura sword.

“Despite everything, you’re not part of this world. How can anyone, even an echo, trust something that isn’t from here? It’s natural that it would form opinions, even if it knows that through your death it would die as well.”

Is it possible she doesn’t know about the emperor? Dallion asked within his realm.

Why would she? Adzorg replied. She’s an archduchess—someone who by definition is too ambitious for her own good. The emperor didn’t share that detail with anyone, myself included. As far as she’s concerned, the glowing puppet on the throne is the real deal. And, of course, it belongs to this world.

Three nobles charged at Dallion with the other two remaining near Priscord to protect her from any future music attacks. That wasn’t by any means all. The large mass that composed her army also charged forward—thousands of awakened, boosted in skill and level to the point that the emperor’s awakening altars would allow. There was no doubt that over three quarters of them would die, yet that didn’t matter. Like ants in a colony, one person was controlling them, the same person that possibly fancies herself a contender in the game of conquest.

As things stood now, she was fully aware she had no chance against the emperor, but once she took down Dallion, new opportunities might present themselves. It didn’t matter whether she lost her entire army, or even all her cities in this fight. As long as she was victorious, there would be at least one power to protect her until she regained the strength to take them on.

Spikes shot out from the ground, as Dallion resorted to domain ruler powers in his defense. Simultaneously, he made a series of line and spiral attacks indiscriminately at the approaching forces.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by IKSIAM.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by VALORR.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by VALORR.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by VALORR.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by HYNDA.

Attack has no effect.

Rectangles blinked in front of his eyes. Despite her terrible personality, the archduchess hadn’t risen to her level by accident. She had been taught how to manipulate, control, and be ready for everyone aiming for her spot. While Dallion hadn’t seen her lead armies personally, it was undeniable that she had emerged victorious against Archduke Lanitol, and held her own against the Azures up till now.

Still, she was just one person and, as she had said, part of this world.

Music spark attack, Dallion thought as he slashed the air with his harpsisword.