464 Greatest Threat

Following Ulrich's issued retreat order, the commanders began pulling back their troops from the front lines. Some found it regretful, while others felt relieved.

Although the central army managed to reach the foot of Fort Whitebridge, the firepower was too strong for them to scale the walls. Under the heavy barrage of spells, they incurred more losses than when they were trying to cross the lake.

The situation was even worse for the western army.

The Violent Tributary was too treacherous for them to cross with the same tactics; they had to deploy large, sturdy metal ships.

Otherwise, the soldiers would be cooked alive.

Furthermore, the concentrated sulfur zone turned the river into a highly explosive and toxic region with only a few fire spells. As a result, the empire's troops did not even get to reach the walls of Fort Dragontail.

Only the eastern army achieved the greatest progress in the full-scale assault.

They froze the Sleeping River and crossed it before laying siege to Fort Ironhaven. Thanks to their swift advancement, the enemy's battle witches were forced to target the troops scaling the wall instead of destroying the frozen river.

Claiming the walls of Fort Ironhaven seemed close at hand, but in truth, they reached a stalemate in their advancement. With the enemy's battle witches alternating turns in defending the wall, their mana reserve seemed endless.

In the end, the eastern army incurred even more losses from the intense battle than the other two armies.

After the armies retreated with more losses in their rear, battle reports soon reached the command center, including news from the holy knight armies.

Just as Emperor Renardier feared, the Kingdom of Black Rose had also hidden troops to ambush them at the other secret passages.

Fortunately, the lords leading the holy knights were quick-witted in realizing the unfavorable situation. As such, they managed to retreat before sustaining heavy losses like Count Eldridge's army.

Even so, after the losses on all fronts were tallied up, the Holy Knight Empire found out they had lost over 200-thousand soldiers on that day alone. It was a catastrophic loss for a single day.

Including the losses from previous days, the losses reached up to 250-thousand soldiers.

It was no longer the age of swords from three hundred years ago, where such losses would have spanned several weeks, possibly even months, to reach.

Life was too fleeting with magic involved.

Nevertheless, the Holy Knight Empire experienced first-hand how terribly misinformed they were about the Kingdom of Black Rose.

They were far more advanced than they could have imagined.

Not only did the Kingdom of Black Rose possess a whole army of High Witches, but they even had magic bombs and other advanced magic technology!

However, Ulrich ultimately ruled that it was impossible for the Kingdom of Black Rose to possess such advanced magic technology.

The Assembly of Silent Night would have at least learned about it during their years of operation in the kingdom.

In other words, it wasn't that the Assembly of Silent Night was too incompetent to acquire such vital information over the years; their information was simply outdated.

"There's only one reason why the Kingdom of Black Rose would suddenly possess such advanced magic technology and strength of High Witches within a short time: they received help from a mighty power."

"Impossible. There's no human country with such advanced magic technology, let alone capable of raising an army of High Witches in a short time."

"Not a human country, but there's one: the fabled dragons. It seems their existence wasn't just a rumor."

When Ulrich mentioned the dragons, Emperor Renardier and the others all had drastic changes in expressions.

"However, I believe we don't have to worry about the dragons personally joining this war. They have been reclusive all these years; they wouldn't suddenly emerge now. I think we can all see that much," Ulrich reassured everyone.

After all, it was much more troublesome for the dragons to raise the Kingdom of Black Rose's battle witches to High Witches and give advanced magic technology than simply ending the war with their own strength.

"So the dragons have been hidden in the Kingdom of Black Rose..." a lord muttered.

"Not necessarily," Ulrich shook his head.

"Considering they could give the Kingdom of Black Rose teleportation technology, they must be masters of space magic; they can travel virtually anywhere in this world. Although I also suspect their home is located within the Kingdom of Black Rose, it's not a certainty."

"However, one thing is clear. The dragons don't like us invading the Kingdom of Black Rose, so they are telling us to fuck off. We have no choice but to give up on the Kingdom of Black Rose," Ulrich stated.

"But even if we give up, the Kingdom of Black Rose certainly wouldn't. We can't initiate and end a war as we please. The Kingdom of Black Rose will most likely launch a counterattack on our empire," Emperor Renardier speculated.

"And that's exactly what we want, Your Imperial Majesty," Ulrich declared.

"We only suffered badly because we gave the enemy time to prepare, then fought on their home ground. That was a grave mistake.

However, the result will surely be different if we are the ones to have the home-ground advantage."

"The battle witches can only be helplessly slaughtered in our antimagic field, just like how they killed our holy knights in their anti-aura field," Ulrich stated.

"Right," Emperor Renardier nodded and said, "But even if we don't have to worry about the dragons, the Kingdom of Black Rose still has that man to lead them. His powerful fire magic will be the greatest threat to our army."

"For that reason, I will use myself as bait to lure him out. If we take out their leader first, the witches' chain of command will be crippled," Emperor Renardier stated.

"We can improve on that plan," Ulrich agreed.

Kingdom of Black Rose, Fort Whitebridge

Meanwhile, after the Holy Knight Empire's army retreated, Artemis reported to Vaan, including their total loss of 20-thousand battle witches, with a proud look.

Although the losses were higher than Vaan had hoped, to the witches, such an outcome was already the best they could have hoped for.

After all, they originally didn't have high hopes for this war.

However, Vaan turned their defeat into an overwhelming victory.

That said, Aeliana contributed most to the war by crippling the Holy Knight Empire's elite army's strength with her antimagic spores.

"For tonight, get some rest. You've all earned it. Tomorrow, we charge into the Holy Knight Empire and claim it as our prize."

"Yes, my Lord!"