Glen used the captain he made into a puppet to immediately move the army. His destination was, of course, the Pinne Estate where he thought Zich must have headed. He had a strong desire to find and torture the person behind the empty, moving armor, but he didn’t have much time to spare right now.

‘It’s probably the Tyrant of the Earth.’ That would explain how the metallic armor was able to move by themselves.

‘How stupid am I?! Even I knew that guy always stuck closely by Zich Moore’s side!’ It was rare and astonishing, but Glen was blaming himself this time, saying that he wouldn’t have fallen into this trap so easily if he had thought a little bit more about Snoc’s abilities. However, Glen had always thought of Snoc as simply one of the many Demon People he had scattered across the world. He had never carefully inspected the abilities of each Demon Person, and it was quite natural that Glen failed to consider Snoc’s ability this time too.

‘I’m sure that guy is somewhere around here, but…’ Glen looked around his surroundings in anger. He was certain that Snoc must be hiding underground nearby. Even someone who made a contract with the mythical beast of the earth couldn’t intricately control metal from far away. Glen wanted to search for Snoc even if he flipped the ground upside down, but he decided to push that plan to another time.

‘I should crush him the next time I see him!’ Even if another changed variable arose as a result, Glen swore to do just that and gritted his teeth. The allied forces’ pursuit team quickly marched. Although they lost most of the military horses from the landslide, they were still elite soldiers. They threw away majority of the supplies the Pinne Estate people had brought with great effort and forced an extreme march to move at an unbelievable speed.

Yet, they weren’t rewarded for their efforts. When the pursuit team first saw the castle walls, they were filled with hope. They didn’t see anyone belonging to Steelwall and the walls looked untouched. Thus, some even thought that the Steelwall’s detachment might have been satisfied with their victory against them and returned to their main army. Yet, when they saw the castle inside the capital city, all their hopes were swept away. The bloodstains and corpses strewn all around the castle walls clearly showed that a battle had recently taken place.

“Ah, damn it!” one of the knights cursed in a low voice. Others didn’t voice it out loud, but they also had similar feelings as the knight, including Glen. In fact, he felt a rage that far surpassed anyone else’s. However, even he couldn’t dwell on this emotion for long since he needed to quickly take action.

‘I can’t let our troops enter the castle!’ Since Belri Weig was with their enemy, there was a high chance that the fact Viscount Pinne was a Bellid follower had been uncovered. At the very least, they would have definite proof that the viscount had secretly communicated with the Bellids. Yet, Glen didn’t care about such matters, and the only thing that concerned him was Zich. Even if all his schemes were uncovered, he needed to capture Zich.

‘I just need to find out how and how much that guy knows and regress again.’ Thus, the allied forces didn’t know of the viscount’s connection with the Bellids, because the other members of the allied forces would try to withdraw from this war. Glen was sure of this, and if that happened, there would be fewer troops to capture Zich.

Thus, Glen immediately moved the captain. He made only those connected to the Bellids among the Pinne Estate’s soldiers inspect the castle and made the rest wait outside. Then, Glen entered the castle himself to confirm something.

‘The Bellid facilities is under the basement. They’re probably fine, right?’ If that area wasn’t discovered, they could prevent the worst-case scenario. They might not be able to excuse the Bellid followers who tried to protect the castle, but they also found Bellid subordinates in the Steelwall Estate. Of course, the Pinne Estate’s situation was more severe since there were even some Bellid fighting forces inside, but a third party would need to take some extra time to assess the whole situation, seeing how confusing and bewildering the progression of this war was.

‘Even if things come to the worst, we just need to stop the Karuwimans from participating until the war is over,’ Glen thought. Yet, Glen’s hopes were immediately crushed by the sight before him.

In a daze, Glen stared at the large hole in one of the basement prison’s walls. The secret passageway leading to the Bellid facilities he had desperately hoped to keep hidden was out in the open for everyone to see. Glen went inside this hole while gripping his fist tightly. In case there were enemies remaining, he pulled out Tornium and warily looked around his surroundings. Yet, he couldn’t spot any enemies; he only saw Bellid followers. Then, Glen stopped moving when he reached the last room. There were the corpses of Vishipuna, the one chosen to be the manager of the Bellids’ northern base, and his bodyguards lying all over the floor. The sight of the floor filled with their dried blood was quite grotesque, but that didn’t faze Glen. Only the blackish-red letters written on the opposite entrance caught his eyes.

The words were written in blood, probably belonging to the corpses on the ground. The imagery looked chilling, but Glen’s attention was only focused on the content of these letters.

[To the oh-so-noble and esteemed hero, who must have rushed here like a damn dog getting chased by a beast.]

It was a piece of writing that clearly expressed the twisted and sarcastic character of the writer despite its flowery word choice; Glen instinctively knew that the writing was addressed to him.

[It makes me laugh to imagine you fussing and stirring up all sorts of trouble to capture me, but I think anyone who shows as much effort as you warrant a compliment. Good work on doing absolutely nothing.]

The following lines were also full of mockery.

[As you can clearly see, we have found evidence of your endearing and heartfelt relationship with these roaches. Unlike you, our real holy Karuwiman knight burst out laughing after finding this den. The Karuwimans will soon excommunicate and declare war against the allied forces, and when that time comes, that will be the end of your forces.]

Glen’s eyes became bloodshot.

[But wouldn’t it be too disappointing for things to end just like this? After all those years you’ve been chasing me? So quickly go back to the allied forces’ main base. I’ll be waiting for you. Why don’t you try giving a last desperate attempt before everything is over?]

Then the writing ended with the last line:

[From a past friend of yours for decades or hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of years.]

“…This bastaaaaaard!!!!!” Glen shouted with all his might, surrounded by a pile of dead bodies.

* * *

“What? Sir, we’re immediately returning to the main base?” The vice-captain was bewildered by the captain’s command.

“Yeah. Since the enemies have probably returned by now, we should also follow them.”

“But sir, didn’t we just arrive here? There are many knights who feel tired because of the long march. Wouldn’t it be better to at least take one day to rest in the castle? Moreover, I’m suspicious as to why our enemies immediately abandoned the capital after gaining control of it.”

Despite the high standards used to select the pursuit team, the knights of the pursuit team were physically and mentally exhausted from numerous factors. They not only lost their first battle, but their enemies had also deceived them. The uncomfortable sleeping situation and long march did not help their condition either. Thus, it was too much of a strain for them to immediately begin moving without a break.

In addition, the detachment’s movements were strange. It was speculated that their enemy attempted to take control of the Pinne Estate to overturn the nature of this war. If so, then they should have occupied the Pinne Estate’s capital for a certain period of time, since Viscount Pinne was still alive, and they couldn’t claim complete victory over the estate after capturing the capital only once. However, they couldn’t even find a single enemy soldier.

He even thought that the detachment might have failed to capture the capital, but considering the state of the castle and the scattered mess of the Pinne Estate’s troops, this was surely not the case. Perhaps, had they withdrawn after suffering too much damage while capturing the castle and judged that it was impossible to continue fighting and withdrew? There was a possibility that this could be true, but he couldn’t be certain.

The vice-captain continued, “Above all, there is no guarantee that our enemy has headed back to the Steelwall Estate. They could have moved to a completely different location that we didn’t expect for an unknown operation.”

One way or another, the vice-captain was not yet sure of the enemy’s movements. However, the captain continued to push his order as if had some strange conviction. “I’m sure that they returned to their main base! Get ready to leave immediately!”

“…I understand, sir.” The vice-captain had no choice but to nod at the captain's forceful and dogmatic behavior, which he was now used to. His shoulders slightly drooped as he went outside.

After the vice-captain left, Glen entered the tent after some time passed. He didn’t even greet the captain and walked toward him. However, the captain, who should have rebuked Glen’s rude behavior, did not show any signs of dissatisfaction. No, there was no response from him at all. Glen stood in front of the captain and looked into his eyes. The captain’s blurry and unfocused eyes clearly showed that he wasn’t in good condition.

‘As expected, brainwashing in a short time has great side effects.’ If it weren’t for the side effects, it would have been extremely helpful for him to control the world as he pleased. Glen clicked his tongue in regret. ‘I can’t use this guy for much longer either.’

However, it didn’t matter. It did not matter to him whether a human who was not even worth being an extra died in order to achieve what he wanted. Besides, it wasn’t time for him to worry about others.

“Cough!” Bright red blood burst out of his mouth. Glen roughly wiped the blood around his mouth with his hands. He frowned while looking at the blood on his hand. ‘As expected, the side-effects are severe.’

It was the remnants of Clowon Empire that had made Glen worthy of the hero title even though he lacked talent. With the Clowon Empire’s power, he forcibly increased his small amount of mana and exponentially increased his lacking muscle strength and reflexes. In addition, it also increased his other abilities. However, since it fundamentally modified his body’s performance, the user had to slowly adjust their body accordingly to properly use it. However, Glen disregarded its correct function and recklessly used it in this timeline. His ability rose quickly, but his body was breaking down from the side effects.

However, Glen didn’t care. ‘My body will return to its original, healthy state if I regress anyway.’ It was more important than anything else for him to defeat Zich. ‘Yeah, after I capture that bastard and extract information from him, I can just regress.’

Of course, Zich could have been lying about waiting at the main camp. Therefore, Glen was also going to employ every possible means to find out Zich’s whereabouts. However, if Zich really was waiting for him at the main camp, he thought, ‘I’m going to use all the forces I can in the upcoming battle!’

Glen began to hone his fighting spirit in what might be his last battle in this timeline.