Battle Baptem

A few hours later, Drodosis and his little army reached the Blood Legion camp. In the past two years, Drodosis trained them to the best of his abilities, feeding them with high-grade food, and letting them consume a few nutrition-filled pills said to increase muscle growth rate. Thanks to this environment, they grew so strong as to reach the preparatory knight realm, which basically means that their bodies is twice as strong as that of normal humans.

Becoming a knight is tougher since one needs to awaken life force, and because of that, not a single one of his slave reached this realm. One needs a meditation technique in order to do so, something that he didn't own at the moment. Jackul managed to do so, but only because he consumed a treasure Drodosis bought called a Blood Meteorite. The radiation coming out of this meteorite was beneficial to the body, and after using it, Jackul broke through. It had cost Drodosis a little fortune of 30 magic crystals, but it was worth the price.

Drodosis used a simple plan. Instead of letting the blood region the time to react, he formed 50 teams of three men as if it was a training session. They immediately complied. The composition was simple: there were 2 crossbowmen and a swordsman in each group.

Then, Drodosis ordered each teams to surround the camp and they agreed on the signal to attack being a mighty fireball.

Twenty minutes later, when the patrol changed, Drodosis cast the second spell he learnt in the two years he has been training. The first spell was the average yet threatening fireball. The second spell he mastered was called Blaze. It was a high-grade spell, which became his signature move in his past life. After a few dozen seconds of incantation, a mighty fire tornado appeared out of nowhere, in the middle of the camp, instantly killing more than 50 men, and killing even more as time passed. The other bandits, who were lucky enough to survive the spell, were either crippled or burning. Those who were luckier tried to escape, but they were met with crippling shots on their knees by the 50 teams that had surrounded the place.

Blood flowed everywhere, and screams of agonies could be heard amidst the silent sound of the wind blowing on a night lighted by stars. The fight wasn't long. It only lasted a few minutes. Drodosis ordered Jackul to bring 50 more swordsmen to clear the area, erasing any trace of a fight. Of course, Drodosis also wanted the Blood legion's equipment and gold coins. However, time was of essence, since he needed to go and conquer the Sahuagin barony. The shrewd old man was absolutely friendly with him the last time he met him in a banquet, but two months later, he sent a bandit group, with more than 200 elite swordsmen and bowmen, to plunder villages. It was unforgivable.

Drodosis wasn't a cruel man. However, he was a ruler, and it was his fate to be ruthless against his enemies. However, he himself felt quite shocked about the fact that he felt no remorse after killing so many humans this easily. This was different from the time he executed hundreds of demons with a single spell. This time, they were human beings, not mindless beings controlled by instincts!

After a few moments, Drodosis fell on the ground.

(...)

Jackul – "Young master! Are you alright?"

Drodosis – "Yes…I'm out of mana though. I will need to meditate for a few minutes. Come back with 50 swordsmen, as I said. Quickly! Team 1 and 2, make sure to get every bit of information you can from the captured bandits. Those who don't comply will die slowly and harshly."

After meditating, Drodosis was in peak condition again. He wasn't called the blue devil for nothing. He had an absurd regeneration rate thanks to the high-grade meditation technique he had found in lost ruins. It had become his greatest trump card, although it was more of a perk than a trump card. This was also the only thing he wouldn't share with anyone in his life, since it was much stronger than what he originally thought. At first, he thought that reincarnating was a flaw from the gods, but after thinking about it, it was probably linked with the fact that he had burnt himself to death, using the suicide technique of the devil technique manual.

Marching for 2 days straight, the whole group finally reached the Sahuagin's castle. They had killed the scouts, and anyone who witnessed the army. Moreover, they crossed forests and such in order to be as stealthy as possible.

Taking a castle was nowhere near as easy as taking down a veteran bandit camp. It required skills. However, Drodosis didn't come unprepared. His loyal subordinate Wiz had spent the past few months concocting a special kind of solution.

"It is a highly unstable solution, so provide with care. The smallest spark would create a godly explosion, despite the low volume of solution. I used the 45 sets of Jade Flowers from the plantations to concoct it."

This is what Wiz told him, and it made him feel appreciation.

Drodosis – "Jackul, how confident are you to infiltrate the castle with me?"

Jackul – "As long as there aren't any group of knights, there shouldn't be any flaw. The problem is that if you fight, they will be alarmed."

Drodosis – "I understand. Everyone else, let's repeat the tactic we used against the blood legion. Surround the castle stealthily, and kill any survivor. This time, only capture knights. Kill everyone else."

Army – "understood!"

In order to infiltrate the castle, Drodosis and Jackul faked the image of itinerary merchants.

Gatekeeper – "What's your purpose of coming here? The lord is a bit anxious at the moment, I'm not sure he will accept you in his castle."

Drodosis – "Tell him that I seek to sell him a secret from the Starlight Company. I worked for them for quite a bit, but they started to expand quickly. The lord offered quite a generous sum to other spies, so I wanted to get my share of benefits!"

Gatekeeper – "Then come in! The lord will receive you in his personal dinner. Come in, come in! And don't- "

The gatekeeper couldn't finish his sentence, as Jackul landed a dagger throw. There was so much force in this throw that the gatekeeper's head burst after getting pierced by the dagger. Jackul was indeed a knight, and one at the apex of the realm, since he possessed strength exceeding that of four men reunited.

Drodosis himself wasn't half-bad, having reached strength exceeding 3 men reunited and speed equal to that of Jackul, an apex knight, but he couldn't break through the knight realm despite all of this, since he was already cultivating mana. There was no need for him to become sturdy and physically fit, but he knew the benefits from having a healthy body, after suffering the consequences of overlooking his body health first hand.

Killing a few guards on their way to the dungeons, Drodosis and Jackul arrived at the core area of the castle, but they were unfortunately seen by a few knights.

Jackul didn't hesitate and charged to the nearest knight, beheading him without any flaw in his technique. Drodosis managed to cast two fireballs that killed one knight each. Only 3 knights remained at this point, and they were extremely scared. However, they still mustered up every inch of their remaining courage and honour to charge towards Jackul.

By using a specific and profound footwork, Jackul used the minimum amount of movement to dodge narrowly the three incoming chops from the knights, while counterattacking by stabbing the heart of the biggest one of the three. However, before dying the latter restrained him by embracing him, giving the opportunity to the other two knights to strike.

Jackul, in the face of death, grinned like a devil. The knights had a bad feeling about it, but still continued with their plan. At this moment, they realized that they couldn't see the strange man anymore. Before they could realize it, their vision turned blurry, and they felt themselves flying. Oh, they could see their own headless body…

This was the tier 3 Gloom swordsmanship, using the blinking reflexes and time reaction of the enemy to use explosive movements, allowing quick and threatening slashes and thrusts with the sword. Drodosis beheaded the two knights before they could even threaten Jackul.

Lighting up the solution with a detonation spell, Drodosis ran as fast as he could next to Jackul. Soon enough, an enormous sound reverberated in the region, with a mighty explosion destroying the foundation of the castle. Soon enough, the walls collapsed, and the guards, believing in a demon curse, were caught by panic and tried to get as far as possible from this haunted castle.

However, only death awaited them, for they weren't knights. The few knights who survived were successfully captured. Drodosis expected to gain a meditation technique from them.

After announcing the fall of the Sahuagin Household, their crimes, and the legitimacy of his action to the inhabitants of Silver City, capital of the Sahuagin household, Drodosis proclaimed that this barony would now be under the Gloom Banner, and surprisingly, the population cheered for him.

Grinning, Drodosis started to plunder the castle, or more accurately, what remained from the crumbling castle. Silver, gold coins, armours, papers, and administration.

Instead of installing himself in this place, he communicated with Fitz, proposing him to take over the town and making a secondary branch of the Starlight Industries within Silver City. After his father got here with several thousands of soldiers, he was shocked to see that the battle was already over. His father decided to offer a chance to the ex-Sahuagin's soldiers, and let them join the Gloom army or leave, depending on their choice. This earnt the population's acknowledgement as well.

Soon enough, the Sahuagin's barony was erased from the map, letting its place to the newly expanded Gloom Barony. Stories about an alchemical explosion blowing up a castle would circulate but ultimately, no one would ever know whether it was baseless rumours, hallucinations or the truth.

The next week, after settling the businesses matters in Silver City and neighbouring villages, Drodosis returned home, even wealthier than before. He had gotten two meditation sets, several hundred set of sturdy noble armours, with high-quality metal swords and priceless blueprints for ballistae.

Drodosis was grinning. His base would get enhanced once again, this time with siege defensive weapons.

Jackul – "Young master, we amassed 35 000 gold coins from the treasury!"

Drodosis – "Alright, ask Fitz to find some underworld slaves with engineering skills. Tell him that we're ready to purchase 10 of them, each costing 1000 gold coins. Tell him we want the best of the best. In the meantime, try to acquire peak-quality Greenhill wood planks."

Jackul – "How much?"

Drodosis – "As much as you can. I think that 35 000 gold coins will be enough for everything. Of course, if you find any alchemist or pharmaceutic goods, buy it as well."

Jackul – 'Not even blinking in front of 35 000 coins…this is the true nature of young master, huh. He truly is fated to become a great ruler in the future. But he is right. Saved up money is wasted money. We must do our best.'

In this day where blossoming trees were illuminated by sunlight, the Gloom family gained influence and it wasn't acknowledged by everyone. Soon enough, the neighbour Thornfield County near the Gloom barony was enraged to lose its Sahuagin's allies so fast, without even being warned. The resources invested in it…the corrupted merchants getting executed by some Norsemen Veteran soldiers who came out of nowhere…Everything that happened in this week made Roland Thornfield, count and great knight, also known as the Frost Barbarian, held a meeting.