The Sword Emperor Transmigrates

Chapter 212

Boooooom—!

Agneyastra incinerated everything in its path, even erasing sound as it rained down on the ground. The entire forest was soon painted red as if splashed with crimson.

The roar wasn’t caused by an explosion. Rather, the air was being sucked into the vacuum created by the attack, causing a whirlwind. The fire, being a magical phenomenon, didn’t go out, but with the influx of air, it intensified, like a bellows fanning the flames.

Everything was set ablaze—the ground, the trees and treants, and even the Spriggans. Flames were literally bursting from the sky, consuming everything and clearing the path for the Mobile Fortress to advance. A few surviving treants retaliated with beams of light, but the overwhelming numbers they had relied on before were now gone, and their attacks proved futile.

“Impressive. It’s not any less powerful than the Barricade Train,” Leonard remarked, admiring the scene as he gazed up at the proud aerial fleet hovering overhead.

Yet, an inevitable question surfaced in his mind. “Are the Blue Dragon Knights aboard?”

“No, the Aeroships can function autonomously. Like the Barricade Train, they operate under the command of whoever holds control,” came the response.

Among the masterpieces created by Jehoia, the Barricade Train was the pinnacle, with the Aeroship coming in second.

Since most Celestials had the ability to fly, there was a need to redefine the dynamics of aerial combat to fight against them. Unlike the surface, the sky lacked cover, making warfare magic the most fitting choice to annihilate the Celestials.

The entire fleet, which had reduced hundreds of meters to ashes with Agneyastra, moved again, unleashing another barrage. @@novelbin@@

Though the Mobile Fortress boasted superior power, it was dedicating most of its energy to moving its massive bulk and maintaining its defense barrier.

Rumble...! Rumble...! Rumble...!

As such, the Aeroships provided steady bombardments, disrupting the treants’ formations with their precise rhythm, even if they lacked the sweeping impact of a war spell.

Several wyverns, possessed by high-ranking Spriggans, took flight, aiming for the Aeroships, but they were all shot down before reaching their targets. Even in the depths of Yggdrasil’s domain, it was impossible to deploy hundreds of Disaster-level demonic monsters at once, and just ten or twenty stood no chance against the fiery nets cast by the Aeroships.

“Hmm.”

However, the treants didn’t go down without a fight. Neither the Agneyastra nor the bombardments of the Aeroship fleet could entirely vaporize their forces. When dozens of treants simultaneously unleashed beams, some Aeroships were caught in the crossfire, unable to evade in time.

However...

Zzzziiiing.

The beams failed to penetrate the Aeroships, deflected into the distance by a defensive spell. Naturally, neither the treants nor the onlookers below had anticipated this, which was to be expected.

Reflection, a defense system that deflected energy attacks, was a standard defensive measure for the Celestial Frontier. The Aeroships, operated by the Order of the Blue Dragon, were equipped with this by default.

“Unlike the Spriggans, who rely on suicide charges, the Celestials specialize in mobility rather than close combat. They favor ranged attacks over melee, which is why those from the Order of the Blue Dragon excel at aura manipulation and remote control,” Audrey explained.

That was how the Aeroships inadvertently became the natural enemy of the Treants.

Leonard nodded in understanding, impressed by the explanation.

With specialized knight orders and weapons for each frontier, they can respond optimally to any situation, no matter how unexpected. This must be the real power of Arcadia’s three pillars—the Three Noble Houses.

The treants’ beams, which were capable of halting the Mobile Fortress, had little effect on the Aeroship fleet that unleashed firepower from above. Their power, which blurred the line between life and death, could not reach the Aeroships—and even if it did, it was pointless. There was no one aboard.

The two war machines, which supported the two frontiers, eliminated each other’s weaknesses, leaving only their strengths. However, Yggdrasil wouldn’t leave such a brutal display unchecked.

“Damn it!”

“We’re a bit late to intervene.”

Another storm arrow from Boreas flew toward them. Leonard and Audrey quickly sensed it, but this time, the target wasn’t the Mobile Fortress but an Aeroship. No matter how fast they reacted, they couldn’t intercept it before it reached the sky.

Fortunately, Grace reacted in time.

Tempest Blade

A blade of wind materialized, fiercely cutting through the storm arrow.

Screeeeech!

Despite exceeding the speed of sound, the storm arrow emitted a sharp, piercing sound as it was whittled away. But even so, the arrow wasn’t completely nullified.

Unlike Audrey’s Extermination, Grace’s unique trait didn’t function independently from the magnitude of the force. The difference in preparation time was undeniable—the storm arrow had been charged for several minutes, while Grace had conjured her technique in an instant.

Although the Tempest Blade had managed to dissipate nearly half of the arrow, the remaining force pierced an Aeroship.

Booooom!

The Aeroship, which likely cost more than a small kingdom’s annual budget, staggered from the blow. While it didn’t crash immediately, the gaping hole in its side meant it wouldn’t stay afloat for long. Like the Barricade Train, it had built-in self-repair magic arrays, but with its central structure pierced, it was beyond recovery.

A command? What’s happening?

Leonard instinctively read Grace’s lips.

“Maximum Acceleration?”

At her command, the Aeroship, which had been leaking fire and smoke, overloaded its power source. Rather than continuing its slow descent, it accelerated toward the ground.

“No way!” Leonard’s jaw dropped in shock.

Grace intended to use the Aeroship, a machine worth an astronomical fortune, as a one-time bomb. Its final destination was the forest ahead, where the treants and Spriggans were densely gathered, directly in the path of the Mobile Fortress.

It was likely that history had never witnessed such a luxurious bomb.

KABOOM...!!

The moment the Aeroship hit the ground, a massive explosion erupted, spreading light and heat across several kilometers, forming a mushroom cloud.

The subsequent shockwave was so powerful that even the Mobile Fortress, which had been steadily advancing without retreat, was pushed back several meters in an instant. As for those who were caught directly in the explosion, it was self-evident.

“If a Wraith King was caught in that...”

“They’d instantly be reverse-summoned, don’t you think? Even if they were several times stronger due to being near Yggdrasil, I doubt they’d survive that.”

Leonard and Audrey exchanged remarks, half in awe, half in shock.

Though there had been some instances of Aeroships being used as self-destruct bombs on the Celestial Frontier, such tactics weren’t particularly effective against the Celestials, who possessed high-speed flight abilities.

However, the treants, rooted firmly to the ground, had no chance to escape. Instead, they fired beams of light in a futile attempt at resistance until the moment of the explosion. Despite its battered state, the Aeroship had not slowed during its plunge.

As a result, the self-destruct bombing proved highly effective.

“The family treasury would be in tears over this,” Leonard mused.

“Hmm? Not quite.” Audrey cocked her head in confusion.

“Maintaining those Aeroships is incredibly expensive, even if they’re not quite as costly as the Barricade Train. With the primary enemies of the Blue Dragon Order gone, most of the Aeroship fleet needs to be scrapped, save for a few. Every Aeroship deployed to this front is marked for disposal,” Audrey explained.

“Disposal? With such performance, isn’t it worth bearing the maintenance cost?”

“Think again. Outside of fighting the Celestials and Spriggans, where would these Aeroships be useful?”

Leonard clicked his tongue as the realization hit him. Indeed, against the Demoniacs emerging from the underground caves, Aeroships would hardly be effective. It would be foolish to open the skies, which were already secure, just to engage the Demoniacs in a flashy display of firepower.

In unstable locations like the Rifts, where entry points constantly shifted, or in the ever-changing environments of the Corroded Realms, Aeroships were at a significant disadvantage, as they relied on stable hovering.

There was no way they could use the Aeroships to hunt down the Void Deities hidden around the world. The moment the Aeroship fleet was spotted, outsiders would learn the truth about the Empire’s true strength and its foes.

Thus, the absurd plan to use up all the Aeroships in this campaign was born. Yggdrasil could never have anticipated this. Even if it had known about the Celestials, the Order of the Blue Dragon, and the Aeroships, Yggdrasil couldn’t have predicted the madness of treating them all as expendable resources.

Rumble!

Thanks to this, the Mobile Fortress resumed its original pace, crushing any Spriggans that got in its way, pushing deeper into enemy territory. Before long, the landscape around them had completely shifted into Yggdrasil’s domain.

The forest stretched endlessly in every direction, reaching all the way to the horizon. While greenery was usually pleasant to the eye, this much of it was almost painful to look at. It was like a visual assault.

And then—

The interference in this domain has become more intense. We must be getting closer to it.

Leonard squinted as he surveyed the defense barrier with his Dragon Eyes. The barrier, which was essentially the lifeline of the entire expedition team, was gradually losing its effectiveness. Even though the Aeroships had stopped the incoming beams of light, reducing the strain on the barrier, it was still weakening.

Although Yggdrasil was still out of sight, its influence already outstripped the regenerative power of a Class 9 magic. If the barrier were to completely fail, it was uncertain whether the expedition could last even an hour before falling into total disarray.

When we get closer to Yggdrasil’s core... The barrier won’t hold even without any external interference. That’ll be the moment the suicide squad has to step in.

Defeating Yggdrasil just with the Mobile Fortress would be impossible. Unlike the Aeroships, the fortress had no self-destruct function, and even if it did, Yggdrasil was on a completely different level from something like the Wraith Kings. It was doubtful whether they could overwhelm it even with sheer force, and if Yggdrasil possessed some kind of authority capable of protecting itself, the attempt would be pointless.

In the end, the strongest fighters of the Cardenas family would have to step forward.

...Ideally, I’d like to break through to the Demigod Tier before then.

As they approached the edge of death, Leonard’s instincts, sharpened to the extreme, whispered to him.

The entity they would face beyond this point was on another level entirely. If he did not break through his current limits, there would be no chance of surviving the encounter. If he couldn’t cross that threshold now, he would inevitably die.

“Hah.”

Leonard unwittingly chuckled, his lips twisting into a grin. Some despaired at such grim premonitions, but not him.

Yggdrasil was such a terrifying entity that even deploying two entire knight orders, backed by war machines like the Mobile Fortress and the Aeroships, offered no guarantee of victory.

Knowing that he needed to reach the Demigod Tier in order to shift the odds of success and failure didn’t make Leonard despair; rather, it gave him hope.

That necessity meant the gap in power between the expedition team and Yggdrasil wasn’t as insurmountable as it seemed. If the breakthrough of one individual could make such a difference, it was a sign that they weren’t too far off.

Considering my enlightenment and cultivation, I’m not far from the Demigod Tier.

Leonard’s attempt to fully master the Five Elements One Origin had been too ambitious, and his body, strengthened by the Cardenas bloodline, had taken him on a longer journey than most. His path was especially arduous, but once he reached his destination, the reward would be unparalleled.

Great talents mature late—normally, it would take over a century of strenuous cultivation just to grasp the basics. And yet, Leonard had brought it within reach, drawing on the accumulated merits of his past life and his efforts in this one.

If he could close the gap just a little further, he would awaken a level of power unprecedented even among those who had reached the Demigod Tier.