Regressor of the Fallen Family

Regressor of the Fallen Family Chapter 122

“Fortunately, it seems that Duke Yordan won’t be causing us any more trouble.”

“He wouldn’t have the mind to. Now that the elites are clashing with full force.”

Logan snorted cynically in response to his father’s words.

Indeed, if the man had the capacity, he would send assassins again and again.

It had been three months since the nighttime assault occurred.

Half a year since the civil war began.

The front lines, stretched long from north to south, had gradually shifted towards the center.

And.

It was now clear to anyone’s eye that the faction of the Second Prince was losing ground.

After a significant loss in one major battle, the Second Prince’s faction was continually losing ground on the central front and had barely managed to stop further retreat at the Valdermaine territory, skewed to the west, and the Twin Castles at the border of the King’s Direct Dominion.

Only when the battle reached their doorstep did they show some desperate resistance, having already lost one of the Twin Castle’s forts.

“They’d probably like to grind our entire family to dust, Prince Romain and Duke Yordan alike.”

McLaine, who had seized Bifrost Castle and sat upon the power of five additional castles within its reach, was in a dire situation. No matter how elite his forces, with supply lines severed, it was as if his wealth had run out.

In such a situation, maintaining Bifrost’s power meant the burden had to be carried entirely by another faction of the Second Prince’s party.

‘It was only natural that the Second Prince’s faction would decline faster, already destined to fall.’

This was a natural flow, in line with Logan’s intentions.

The worries that the tide might turn too quickly before his family was prepared were now nothing more than groundless fears.

Recently, the leaders of both factions had taken a breath, and the people of the McLaine family were even more motivated because of the incident three months earlier.

And thanks to that…

“It might be wrong for a knight to say this, but the civil war ultimately caused our family to grow much stronger.”

As his father had said, the family’s military power had truly taken off.

Thanks to enlisting knights from fallen minor families, the number of knights exceeded the previous level of 170 from before the Siege of Tomodo Castle.

The number of crossbow cavalry, previously at 700, now more than doubled, including squire trainees, maintaining a force of 1,500.

The number of regular soldiers continually increased to over 3,500.

Of course, there were differences in the level of training and quality, but in terms of size, they had clearly surpassed the McLaine of old.

Moreover, from ten fortresses—precisely, eight castles and two towns—nearly 10,000 volunteers formed local militia forces, regularly trained, and the numbers were still rising.

‘It might not be ready for expeditions yet, but it’s more than enough for defense.’

Moreover.

Whooosh.

A light manipulation of Force created a small blade form at the fingertips.

force blade. That power, representing the pinnacle of mastery, meant more than just a blade of Force.

It went beyond augmenting weapons or physical strength with Force; now, Force itself exerted physical force.

Force itself became a weapon and armor.

Logan had now completely mastered this level.

“Ha. Seems like you’ve improved beyond me.”

“I’m not there yet.”

Logan responded with an awkward smile to his father’s humility.

While he was familiar with the skill level, regarding the Fourth Form of the Divine Blade Technique, Flame Slash (暴炎斬, Violent Flame Slash), he was nowhere close to grasping it.

‘But with this much…’

All planned preparations were proceeding much faster than expected.

The desire to thank Duke Yordan, who had sent those thugs, was almost amusing.

“So now we should put it to the test. It would be nice if that would come out faster.”

“Eh? What are you going to use? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of…?”

Patrick’s face froze mid-smile.

Instead of answering, Logan lifted his head and looked towards the northeast sky.

“We have to end the civil war.”

“…End what?”

“The war.”

“Son, I understand your enthusiasm, but even so, compared to the entire power of the kingdom, our family’s military might is…”

Despite his father’s urgent tone, Logan’s smile did not fade, and soon the awaited news arrived that the wait was over.

“They finished it?!”

“Woah, not finished, just a prototype is out, master. It’s not good to pressure me like that. It’s …”

“Where is it? In the tower of magic?!”

Bang.

“What bad habits…”

Sigh.

Hammer sighed heavily as he looked at the door that had closed suddenly.

“Who am I even talking to right now…”

* * *

“Uh, uh…”

“Where does it hurt? Stop groaning.”

“Do they think they’ll survive even if they’re wronged? It’s tough being a powerless dwarf. Tch…”

“Why did you drag me here, forge master? Eh?”

“Silence! I can’t be the only one dying. You helped make that thing, too!”

“You didn’t even tell me what it was, just had me make it! And then dragged me to a place like this…”

“Both of you, shut it!”

“Oops!”

“Ye, yes sir…. oops!”

Fetching a dwarf reminiscent of himself, Ah, I must have bought him.

Logan sighed lightly as he watched Hammer and the one-armed dwarf, who were spitting images of each other in behavior, alternating his gaze between them.

But now was not the time or situation for rebuke, so he settled for radiating a killing intent to silence the two dwarves.

Hidden atop trees, the group stilled even the smallest movements at that one word.

Far below, towards the direction pointed out by Clayton, a group of six goblins was walking towards their location.

To take care of such a lowly band of creatures would be a simple task for either Logan or Clayton, who could kill them with a simple gesture, but the real issue was where they were.

“Master, do we really need to do the test here? If we kill them and the noise spreads, goblins are going to pour out of…”

Hammer trembled visibly, understandable given their location.

“That’s why! Why did we have to come to the Southern Mountain Ranges!”

Tamer’s voice, though faint, was laden with terror.

Right now, all the forests below the mountain had been cleared for the construction of McLaine Town.

They had entered the foothills notorious as a magical wasteland— the Southern Mountain Ranges.

“At least they say monsters here should be considered a rank higher…”

“Why here of all places…”

“Do you want to do it?”

“…”

That was when the dwarves silenced themselves.

Logan had brought them along to witness firsthand the flaws of the ‘prototype,’ as a developer should experience the results. But now, it was increasingly troubling him.

“If you make noise one more time, I’ll give you the chance to experience the full power of the product and point out its flaws from the front row seat—where the monster’s breath is also within reach.”

After verifying the pale faces of the dwarves, Logan nodded towards Clayton.

Following his gesture, Whooosh.

Clayton’s mana swirled and suddenly, a humanoid golem matching a person’s height formed a short distance from the ground where they were.

A small and weak golem compared to Clayton’s abilities, thus the impact of its destruction would not be great, imbued with the smallest amount of mana necessary, held blue stones in its grip as it stood.

“Kyarat!”

“Kyarakarak!”

The goblins, spotting the golem, charged headlong towards it.

As the goblins charged, the grasping hand of the golem containing blue stones exerted a force, heating one stone to a red hue and hurling it effortlessly at the oncoming goblins.

Logan and the others watched with bated breath, silent as death.

Until the red stone, leaving the golem’s grip, neared the goblins, it felt like unbearable time stretched on.

Then.

Click!

“Kak! Kyarak?”

One goblin dodged the red stone, pointing and laughing at the golem—as everyone frowned and sighed in disappointment.

But suddenly.

BOOM!

With a thunderous noise, an area nearly 5 meters around the red stone burst into flames with a powerful blast.

“Kyoooak!”

Five goblins died instantly from the blast, and another, slightly distant from the center, though not instantly killed, screamed in agony from the flames.

“Kya… r.”

It took a few staggering steps before falling, reaching helplessly into the air, succumbing at last.

To witness even a monster desperately clinging to life invoked an inexplicable sense of guilt in the observers.

But the one responsible, with hands clenched in victory, cheered.

“Nice!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What? Why?”

Logan frowned as the party looked at him with knitted brows.

The hardened mercenary from his past life had no sympathy for monsters.

Instead, he was elated by the power of the bomb, Liberatio, which destroyed even the monsters’ venomous wills.

“No, of course not.”

“Just need to shorten the activation time. Maybe by 0.5 seconds?”

“…Will take note.”

“The noise will attract more goblins soon. We have enough supplies, right?”

“…Yes.”

Reacting a tad slowly, Logan sighed and gave the group a cold look.

“Monsters are as useful as they’re gone from this world. Don’t think needlessly. This goes for you too, Sir Clayton.”

“…Of course, Logan, sir.”

Cough.

As Clayton evidenced his agreement with a cough after half a beat, the familiar noises started growing closer in the woods.

– Kirarak! Kirarak!

Having confirmed the power of a single blast from their recent experiment, now they had to test the interaction effect when multiple bombs were used simultaneously in a wide area.

The results were satisfactory.

Boom! Bang!

“Kyarak!”

The several hundred goblins, prompted by the “eulogy” of their kin, were all vanquished by merely a hundred bombs.

Among them was a hobgoblin, classified as a low-level monster, which was no match for the consecutive blasts.

The goblin lair was eradicated in barely an hour, with most of the time spent waiting for them to gather.

Though, of course, there were some variables in the process.

“Your Highness. The forest is catching fire.”

“Good. Let the monsters burn… no way they will?”

“The ones who lost their lair will probably head down the mountain.”

“Put the fire out! Quickly!”

The unexpected firefighting was nothing more than a minor issue.

[Kyaaaaaaaaaa!]

A strange roar echoed from deep in the mountains, not near their initial location; the disruption at the entrance seemed to have awoken a predator.

It made even Logan, a top Force user, and Clayton, an equal mage, turn pale, sending chills down the spine of the criminals.

“Run!”

But the startled dwarves just stood there, blue-faced, petrified.

“Damn it all!”

The simple roar from afar was enough to terrify the ultimate criminal and first-rate mage.

Not wanting to confirm what kind of monster they had awakened, Logan quickly scooped up the dwarves and darted off, with Clayton likewise employing his greatest movement magic, Land Slide, to hastily follow suit.

Only after they escaped the Southern Mountain Ranges did the roaring stop, and the group breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew. Thank you for your efforts, Sir Clayton. And well done, Hammer.”

Logan’s appreciation was genuine.

A bomb made with no information aside from materials and anecdotes seemed to be even more effective than the ones Logan used in his past life.

‘It feels at least 30% more effective.’

A new ultimate weapon to rival the threats of the empire had been created.

“It’s amazing every time I think about it, the efficiency of this thing is just… not normal.”

Even though he had created it, Clayton couldn’t stop marveling at its effectiveness, his face reflecting shock and awe.

With the power of the bomb, Liberatio, equating to a 2nd Class spell, its cost was akin to a 1/20 of a 1st Class scroll, at around 50 gold.

The prohibitive cost of scrolls was the main reason why most nations couldn’t use them in war.

This revolutionary invention had nullified the fundamental problem.

“But why do you look so dissatisfied?”

“Just… greed, I suppose. What if this device were created solely by my skills? Haha, just a musing of an old man.”

The knowledge that the foundation of the invention came from others’ experience and data made Clayton unable to feel completely jubilant.

“Haha. Honestly, I had big hopes from the start, but the outcome exceeds all expectations. It’s better than anything I’ve used. You’ve made a masterpiece. Be proud, Sir Clayton.”

“Master, me too…”

“Nevermind. I benefited greatly from that data. What I’ve implemented is but a fraction of that knowledge. If I truly understand it all, I can craft countless magic items at a fraction of the cost.”

Hope flashed in Logan’s eyes at Clayton’s words.

Although it couldn’t be stated outright, that was exactly what Logan had hoped for.

Liberatio, while significantly combat-effective, was just a tiny branch in the grand scheme of things.

“You can do it. This alone will change the face of war entirely.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.”

“Master. My skills too…”

“So, how long would it take to start mass production after fixing the flaws?”

“…Hey!”

“Adjusting material content should suffice, won’t take more than a week.”

“Then please make an extra effort for a little while longer.”

“Hey! You guys! What about me?! Do you know how much I’ve suffered…”

“Hammer, well done too.”

“Well done, Sir Hammer. You’ve worked hard.”

“Huh… huh…”

Bowled over, gratitude pouring forth.

‘Must flip everything. Does it look like the mage did it all? The dignity of the craftsman…’

Hammer’s cheeks turned a shade of agitated red, but then—

“If we hit the target amount, I’ll grant you a month’s holiday.”

“…I’ll endeavor to conclude the work posthaste, my liege.”

The swift shift in stance.

Observing it all from the start, Tamer snorted as if to ridicule Hammer, but Hammer ignored it, grinning from ear to ear…

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