The Sword Emperor Transmigrates

Chapter 211

Rumble, rumble, rumble—!!!

It all started the very next day.

For the first time in centuries since its creation, the Barricade Train completed its transformation into its offensive mode and boldly rolled into Yggdrasil’s domain, deep into the forest that rejected even a single ray of sunlight. This was the Barricade Train that had sealed off the Spriggan Frontier, an area larger than a vast dominion—closer in size to an entire nation.

Against the massive Mobile Fortress, with its incredible length and compressed mass, obstacles and terrain meant nothing. Even hills were flattened into wastelands after being crushed beneath its weight, leaving behind nothing but the remains of shattered trees. @@novelbin@@

These trees had drawn strength from Yggdrasil’s roots, making them so sturdy that even an Aura Blade struggled to cut through them in one strike. But when a mass equivalent to several fortresses charged forward, there was no way to stop it.

Strength could be defeated with sheer numbers up to a point. When faced with overwhelming force, a thousand times greater in scale, everything would just be crushed.

This is a brutish method, but it’s undoubtedly the best option, Leonard thought as he gazed down at the scene of destruction. He could sense the presence of the Spriggans, swarming deep within the forest.

A thousand? Ten thousand?

No, even with his Dragon Eyes, it was impossible to estimate how many there were. If they hadn’t switched into this offensive mode, the Barricade Train would have lasted an hour at best. Among the countless creatures lurking in the forest, there were dozens of Spriggans that had taken hold of Rank S monsters like the ones Leonard had defeated previously.

The commanders weren’t exaggerating when they said this was merely the starting point of the Yggdrasil subjugation.

Skreeech...

Groarrrr...

Possessed creatures like ogres and trolls charged without fear, only to be pulverized under the wheels of the fortress. Even Rank A demonic beasts, possessed by intermediate-ranked Spriggans—usually formidable foes, requiring more than four Transcendence Tier knights to handle—stood no chance of halting the Mobile Fortress. The sheer mass of the fortress ensured both offense and defense. With speed added to it, it became invincible.

“What a spectacle,” muttered Audrey, who had somehow appeared beside Leonard. “It’s no wonder the dwarves of Jehoia praised this as their greatest masterpiece. What do you think, Leonard?”

“Just as you said, Commander Audrey. Without this train—no, this fortress—closing in on Yggdrasil would have been nearly impossible.”

In this, Leonard had to acknowledge the foresight of their ancestors. Yggdrasil’s territory wasn’t something that could be handled by simply increasing troop numbers or building a great wall around its perimeter. While they could prevent anything from coming out, such measures had no real use when it came to launching an offensive into the territory.

For that, they needed something that could block the irregular enemy attacks from within like an impenetrable fortress and, at the same time, pierce through the heart of the territory when the opportunity arose. The Barricade Train and Mobile Fortress were the results of turning this theoretical strategy into reality.

“You’ve been paying close attention. Seeing those monsters, which even the people of Cardenas would struggle with, piled up like that... Well, it doesn’t look any less terrifying than what lies beyond the Hell Gate,” said Audrey, the Black Dragon Commander.

Even she, accustomed to large-scale battles, felt dizzy watching the countless Spriggans of various types turned into minced meat by the Mobile Fortress.

Not even an army of millions or tens of millions of External Force Tier warriors would stand a chance here. They would get wiped out without being able to do anything. And even if a hundred thousand Transcendence Tier warriors gathered in the forest, none would come back alive. They would need at least ten Demigod Tier warriors to break through and ensure victory.

That was, if the Mobile Fortress weren’t there to trample over the Spriggans in its unstoppable advance.

Boom! Boom! Boooom! Crash!

A barrage of cannon fire from the spiral ramparts tore through the Spriggans. Some managed to survive a shot, others survived ten, but none could endure the relentless hail of shells. Combined with the Soul Stakes and the Four Sword Mirage Origin Return Formation, the barrage became even more lethal to the Spriggans.

“At this rate, we should be able to advance smoothly,” Leonard remarked.

Audrey smirked at his words and replied, “At this rate, you say?”

“Yes,” Leonard answered, knowing full well what she meant.

He couldn’t suppress a bitter smile. Neither the Wraith Kings nor Yggdrasil were mindless beasts. They were as cunning as humans, and they undoubtedly had more in their arsenal, techniques and tricks they hadn’t revealed in centuries.

The Spriggans crushed by the Mobile Fortress were ultimately insignificant. To both the enemy and the allies, they were nothing more than a nuisance. The true sentinels of Yggdrasil had yet to show themselves.

It was then...

“Ah.”

Both Leonard and Audrey, almost simultaneously, turned to the horizon, unsheathing their weapons as they leaped forward without hesitation.

———!!

A bolt of compressed wind, like a storm, came hurtling toward them. Only a handful of people here, fewer than ten, could even sense or react to a projectile coming at that speed.

Naturally, Leonard and Audrey were among those ten.

It’s Boreas.

This was far more powerful than the last time he encountered Boreas. The technique hadn’t improved, but the sheer power behind the projectile had grown immensely. The already unreasonable output had been further enhanced by being in Yggdrasil’s proximity. Even with Deep Frost Shroud, withstanding such force would prove difficult.

The attack carried a destructive force comparable to Demian’s ultimate technique, One of Thousand.

Extermination

However, Audrey’s glaive unleashed a torrent of darkness, like ink spilling into the air, and as the wind arrow collided with it, its core disappeared without a trace.

Is it possible to erase even the authority of a Wraith King...?!

Though Extermination didn’t manage to completely erase the projectile, it did lower its destructive force to less than twenty percent of its original power. The core, where most of the energy had been concentrated, had been completely erased.

Leonard’s jet-black sword delivered the finishing blow to the weakened projectile.

White Tiger's Resolve

There was no need to use Sky and Clouds Piercer. With a single diagonal slash enveloped in the White Tiger Qi, Leonard unleashed the concept of Cut and sliced the projectile in half.

With its core gone and now split in two, the wind arrow exploded mid-air.

Kaboooom!

Having successfully repelled Boreas’ ambush attack, Leonard and Audrey landed back on the ground. However, instead of feeling any sense of accomplishment, their expressions were riddled with anxiety.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes,” Leonard replied, raising his sword.

When they leaped into the sky to intercept Boreas’ projectiles, they caught sight of something writhing in the distance. Their vantage point had suddenly extended, allowing them to see the form of a mysterious entity, something that even their heightened senses at the Demigod Tier couldn’t detect.

It appeared as though the creature was a bizarre fusion of tree bark and roots, twisted together.

“It’s a treant,” Audrey explained, recognizing the entity that Leonard did not.

“It’s a species born when the roots and bark of sacred trees, like Yggdrasil, accumulate and gain life force. They’re symbols of an ancient era, when the energy of heaven and earth was abundant.”

“But Yggdrasil...” Leonard trailed off.

“Yes, it’s been corrupted,” Audrey confirmed. “Originally, treants are said to possess the wisdom of old sages, but the one before us looks nothing like that.”

Both of them recalled what they had glimpsed: blackened bark, rotting as if soaked in tar, and roots writhing like nerve fibers or blood vessels—a most grotesque sight.

The creature’s hollow eye sockets—though no trees should have eyes—glowed with a red light that exuded not intelligence but malice and hatred, as though it were a mere puppet driven by those feelings.

Just then—

Shingggggg—!!

Hundreds of beams shot out from the direction the Mobile Fortress was moving toward, violently striking the defense barrier. Each hit packed considerable power, but as the beams accumulated, the fortress slowed for a brief moment. The atmospheric air evaporated in the wake of the beams, stirring up fierce winds that tore the clouds apart.

Though their level was lacking, the output of these beams rivaled that of supreme magic.

“...Are they harnessing the power of Yggdrasil and firing it like a cannon?” Leonard mused aloud.

“That’s how it looks to me as well,” Audrey responded.

Leonard, enhancing his eyesight with his internal energy, expanded his vision.

It really is a treant.

He saw that the tree-like monsters, their bodies rooted into the ground, had opened up like flower buds. It was likely from those openings that the beams were being fired. Their power had to be equivalent to Class 6 spells or higher.

If those beams kept damaging the defense barrier, the Mobile Fortress would struggle tremendously to reach the World Tree Yggdrasil. It was already operating at reduced efficiency compared to when it was in the defensive Barricade Train form.

“This is bad. The fact that these monsters are appearing now means they’re troops that can only be deployed in the deepest part of this domain,” Audrey explained.

Leonard’s face stiffened in understanding. “Then more of them will come. Hundreds, maybe even thousands.”

He was right. The number of beams hitting the barrier rapidly increased.

Crack! Crackle! Snap!

Cracks, like spiderwebs, spread across the surface of the spherical defense barrier, vibrating with each strike. The relentless barrage was chipping away at the barrier faster than it could regenerate.

What started as hundreds of beams had now multiplied into thousands, and as the Mobile Fortress pushed forward, even more treants emerged. There were already close to a thousand of them, and it was only a matter of time before their numbers reached tens of thousands.

The expedition team needed to respond to this situation.

Inferno Blade

Sure enough, as if on cue, Grace appeared from somewhere within the fortress. She extended her palm, and hundreds of flaming swords materialized in the air, descending toward the source of the beams. Each strike carried enough power to rival an Augmented Qi Sphere.

The treants, having sacrificed mobility to serve as beam platforms, were struck by the flames and burned to ash. But Audrey, instead of rejoicing at the sight, merely clicked her tongue.

“It’s no good,” she muttered.

Though Grace’s attack had incinerated over a hundred treants, the fact that a knight commander could only eliminate that many was troubling. The treants were sturdy, and their numbers were overwhelming.

Their attack strategy was simple yet effective: fire at an unmatchable speed from extreme distances. If the Archmages of Wickeline were present, it might have been different, but with only those from Cardenas and Jehoia present among the expedition team, dealing with this barrage was a challenge.

Even without the defense barrier, the Mobile Fortress might not collapse immediately... But the real issue is the people inside.

The true danger lay in the influence of Yggdrasil’s domain, which twisted the boundary between life and death. Even outside the forest, breathing had become difficult due to its effects. If the defense barrier, which protected the interior of the fortress, was shattered, the interference from Yggdrasil would grow far more severe.

At first, it might just distort bodily functions, but if it worsens, people could end up like the possessed corpses of the Spriggans—neither fully alive nor dead.

Only those capable of resisting external interference with their own laws, like Leonard and other individuals on par with the vice commanders, could ensure their survival by expanding their Mindscape.

In short, fewer than twenty people in the Mobile Fortress would be able to survive on their own. Unable to think of a solution, Leonard looked toward Grace. After her Inferno Blade had swept through the treants, she hovered in the air, her back as proud and commanding as ever.

And then—

“...What?”

Leonard noticed Grace raising her left hand and moving her lips, just as Uluka had done when commanding the Barricade Train. In that instant, Leonard recalled something—the name and existence of a war machine, a symbol of the Blue Dragon Order.

“Oh, it’s been a while,” Audrey remarked with a smile as she welcomed the ships descending from the sky, designed for aerial combat against the Celestials.

The Aeroships—massive vessels, each over five hundred meters long—burst through the clouds, casting their shadows across the land. The treants and Spriggans, swallowed by the growing darkness, seemed to sink further into the abyss.

Leonard missed the first command from Grace, but he caught the second through lip-reading, muttering to himself, “Fire?”

In that moment, countless Class 8 magic circles appeared from the dozens of Aeroships, assembling into a colossal spell formation. The magic was activated smoothly thanks to the fact that the Aeroships were completely free from Yggdrasil’s domination.

It was a seamless combination, designed purely for war, to wipe out as many enemies as efficiently as possible.

Then, a large-scale warfare spell that mimicked the power of Agni, the Fire God, was cast.

Agneyastra

Although it was a Class 8 spell, the firepower unleashed was far beyond what any Class 8 mage could conjure. The sky turned crimson, and a torrent of flames rained down upon the earth.

It was quite literally a scene of divine retribution.