Debuff Master

Chapter 732

“Today will be the final day,” he muttered while trimming his beard with a razor.

After a long and grueling campaign, the O’Toul Fortress was finally going to fall today. The Proatine Kingdom had created an alliance with various smaller nations and was surprisingly formidable.

Siegfried van Proa was joined by the three Masters and even a Great Wizard. Their numbers were small, but their quality truly made them a formidable opponent.

However, General Andrei was undeterred even after losing two hundred thousand men. The kingdom understood the situation, as they had been informed of the fact that Siegfried van Proa had Masters and even a Great Wizard as helpers.

The heavy losses incurred were justified in the face of such a line-up.

But all of that was going to end today...

General Andrei was certain that the Proatine Alliance was reaching its limit. He noticed visible signs of exhaustion within their ranks during the seventh battle, so he planned to launch a full-scale assault at dawn to conquer O’Toul Fortress once and for all.

“Three Masters and a Great Wizard. If we somehow manage to convince even just two of them to join our kingdom, then these losses would not be in vain. They\'d definitely bolster our power and benefit us in many ways,” Andrei muttered.

Thus, he decided to focus on forming a plan to entice the three Masters and the Great Wizard into joining the Zavala Kingdom.

Why?

It was all because Masters were assets capable of turning the tide of an entire war. The Zavala Kingdom’s military might would increase dramatically if they managed to add at least two such powerful individuals to their ranks.

Moreover, with the current turmoil happening across the Marchioni Empire, the addition of these individuals could even open the door for the Zavala Kingdom to become the most powerful nation in the world.

“We just need to secure two of them. That’s all I need to do...” General Andrei said as he finished grooming his mustache.

It was then.

BOOM!

A sudden explosion echoed through the camp followed by a powerful shockwave tearing through General Andrei’s tent.

Sukeok!

General Andrei lost his grip, and the razor slashed a deep cut across his jaw, eliciting blood from it.

“Damn it!” Andrei raged before reaching for a cloth to stem the bleeding. Then, he shouted toward the outside, “What the hell is going on?!”

What replied instead of his men were more explosions erupting in rapid succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Kaboom!

One of the explosions erupted nearby, and General Andrei’s tent was partially shredded by the shockwave, throwing him to the ground.

“Damn...!” Andrei groaned while struggling to his feet, dizzy from the impact.

At that moment, he looked down and saw an arm lying near his feet. The arm still looked fresh as if it had been severed mere seconds ago.

“What... in the...?” Andrei muttered, confused at the sudden turn of events.

“General! It is an emergency! A bombing! Our entire camp is under attack!” His adjutant burst in, his face ghastly pale.

“What did you say?” General Andrei growled in response.

“Nearly half of our camp is in ruins from the explosion, sir!”

General Andrei stood dazed for a while, momentarily paralyzed by the report he heard.

Bombings in their own camp?

How did the enemy manage to plant explosives right under their noses?

“T-This can’t be...” Andrei muttered, refusing to accept reality.

Just then, another officer rushed in and exclaimed, “General! Several of the carts containing our fallen soldiers’ bodies have been found empty!”

“What...?”

“It seems... the enemy smuggled themselves among the corpses of our own fallen soldiers...!”

“What? That bastard Legent! What the hell was he doing?! He’s the one that brought the enemy in along with the corpses?! Where is he?!”

The officer’s expression turned grim as he replied, “W-We... found the colonel’s body among the casualties, sir.”

“What?”

“No one saw him after he returned to camp last night. It seems that he was attacked on the way back to his tent, sir.”

“Damn it all!” General Andrei slammed his fist against the nearest table, splitting it in half in a burst of fury. Then, he roared, “Get additional reinforcements and supplies immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

“And this... This must not be reported back to the kingdom,” General Andrei added, his voice sounding vicious.

“We\'re not going to report this, sir?” the adjutant asked, looking stunned. Reporting was the basic of all basics in the military, and choosing not to report something as huge as this was equivalent to treason.

“You fool! How do we report something like this?! What are you going to tell them?!” General Andrei screamed in anger.

“M-My apologies, sir!”

“This wasn’t even a battle! We’re in this mess from the enemy’s subterfuge! The kingdom won’t spare us if they find out about this! Don’t you understand that we didn’t lose in combat? We let our guard down and got hit by the enemy! We’d be risking our lives, not only mine but yours as well! Fool!”

“U-Understood, sir!”

“Now, get things under control and place the entire camp on high alert! Move it!”

“Y-Yes, general!”

The adjutant sped off to carry out General Andrei’s orders.

***

The damage to the Zavala Forces was far worse than anyone had anticipated.

The C4 bombs were so potent that a single one obliterated an entire barracks, leaving few survivors in its wake. Any soldier lucky enough to survive the blast rarely escaped without losing a limb or suffering extensive burns.

“A-Aaargh!”

“Ooogh...”

“My leg! My leg!”

Operation Troy had turned the Zavala Kingdom’s camp into a living hell with the cries and groans of the wounded.

As if that was not enough, there was even more bad news awaiting. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Damn it, you lazy bastards! The whole camp is in chaos, yet you’re lying around like nothing’s happened?! Up! Get up now!”

The officers stormed through the barracks and were furious after finding hundreds of soldiers still sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags despite the explosion that had just rocked their camp.

The fact that soldiers were sleeping so soundly amid an attack was an unimaginable lapse in discipline. The officers flung open the tent flaps, kicked at the bedframes, and shook the sleeping men with all their might out of anger.

During this chaotic round of wake-up calls, one officer grabbed a soldier by the collar and felt something unsettling. He noticed that the soldier’s body was unnaturally stiff, his lips tinged blue, and his nostrils and upper lip were smeared with dried blood.

In fact, the soldier didn\'t move a muscle even after being shaken so roughly.

“Medic! I need a medic!”

“Sir!”

“W-What the hell happened here?”

A medic rushed into the tent and inspected the unconscious soldiers. Then, he gave a grim report, “Sir, t-they’re all dead...!”

“What?!”

“They are not asleep, sir. They are dead... all of them!”

“That’s impossible!”

“They seem to have been poisoned by some deadly toxin. Someone must have spread it while they slept.”

The officer was shaken at the report. He struggled to process what the medic said, as a whole platoon being wiped out in a single night was a very rare occurrence.

However, the scale of the disaster became clearer as more and more tents were searched. Across the camp, hundreds more soldiers were found cold and lifeless, as though the Angel of Death had visited them all overnight.

General Andrei seriously considered taking his own life after receiving the full casualty report. Ten thousand soldiers were slain, and they were victims of the bombs or poisoned in their sleep, without even having a chance to fight back.

On top of that, he received news that their supplies were all but gone as well. Even the ration they were supposed to give for breakfast this morning had been consumed by the flames.

His career, his reputation, and even his life were effectively over

What if this news reached the kingdom? He knew that merely resigning would not suffice. He would be demoted to private, discharged in disgrace, or even court-martialed to be sentenced to death by execution.

There was a saying that a commander losing in battle could be forgiven, but a commander\'s error due to a lapse in vigilance could not be forgiven.

The scale of this catastrophe meant that no amount of shifting blame onto his subordinates could shield him, so his mind was now swirling with thoughts of ending it all before the worst even began.

However, General Andrei could not pull the trigger—not yet, as there was still a sliver of hope remaining for him.

If he managed to conquer the O’Toul Fortress and recruit two of the Masters to the Zavala Kingdom’s side, then the kingdom would grant him clemency for what happened today.

Of course, the fortress had to fall today for that sliver of hope to remain.

General Andrei was left with only one option.

“All units! Stop all recovery efforts immediately and prepare for battle! Now!” General Andrei screamed. His command was fueled by desperation, as the only way for him to survive this mess was to conquer the fortress.

And just like that, the Zavala soldiers scrambled into formation to march on the fortress.

Ironically, their hands were full of scraps of rations they had hastily grabbed before marching, as they had yet to have a proper breakfast.

The army of such an affluent kingdom was heading to battle on an empty stomach.

***

Meanwhile, the Proatine Alliance was elated at the success of Operation Troy, but their joy lasted only for a while.

“Your Majesty! Enemy forces are approaching!”

Siegfried dashed to the fortress wall after hearing the report from the sentry.

‘All we need to do is hold them off this one time,’ Siegfried thought, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.

His comrades, Lionbreath and Cork, had already mobilized to intercept the reinforcements and supplies that the Zavala Kingdom had sent over to their troops here.

‘If we withstand this attack... either Brother or Cork will cut off their supplies. That will definitely buy us a few days more time.’

The Zavala Forces’ supply depots were already in ruins, which meant that the massive army was standing on their last legs. They\'d effectively be crippled if they didn\'t receive reinforcements and supplies soon.

By then, they would be incapacitated. After all, even the most elite veteran soldiers could not march on an empty stomach.

To top it all off, today was the third day of Michele’s promised time frame, which meant that the Zavala Kingdom’s neighbors would soon begin mobilizing against the kingdom—if Michele\'s endeavor ended up in success.

This battle was the turning point of this war—the upcoming clash would decide the war’s outcome. However, the biggest problem was that surviving this one battle would prove to be not as easy as it seemed.

“T-There are so many of them...!”

“That’s a lot...”

“Good heavens...!”

Operation Troy was successful, but the Proatine soldiers were left stunned by the sheer number of the Zavala army. There was a sea of armor and weaponry in front of the O’Toul Fortress, and every enemy soldier was now swarming toward the fortress walls.

The Zavala Forces had mobilized every able-bodied man in their camp, and even the cooks, who usually stayed behind, were now armed and mobilized for battle.

General Andrei’s desperation to conquer the O’Toul Fortress within the day was now clear, judging by the overwhelming all-out assault.

‘I must hold my ground even if it costs me my life,’ Siegfried steeled himself while gripping his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.

He was prepared to face this final incoming wave and ride it till the end.

It was then.

CHAAAARGE!

A thunderous war cry erupted from the Zavala Forces, and their soldiers rushed toward the fortress.

The war cry signaled the beginning of what could very well be the final battle of the war between the Zavala Kingdom and the Proatine Kingdom.