Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 34 (Part 2)

The soldiers on the front lines felt the approaching war more keenly than anyone else.

They spent each day on edge, as if someone with a knife was standing behind them.

It was different from when the war was merely a certainty. Now, both sides had completed their preparations.

Only the question of who would draw their sword first remained.

Tom, who came from a rural village in the south, felt this atmosphere too.

Having been a soldier for three years, his excellent physical abilities and judgment earned him the position of Squad Leader, but he felt no joy.

Why did he have to join the army now? Why was he born in this country?

It felt like the world hated him. He couldn’t have been more unlucky.

As everyone felt the impending war, soldiers rarely dozed off while on duty. Even in the cold, even when tired, they tried their best to stay awake.

But some things couldn’t be helped.

Tom was on his second shift of the day because of a noble in the adjacent squad. It was noble tyranny, but there was nothing he could do.

The Riyaz Kingdom was originally a country of nobles. For commoners, standing before nobles was no different from livestock.

When the noble lord spoke, no matter how unreasonable it was, he had to endure it.

Due to consecutive shifts, Tom barely slept.

He was reaching his limit. His eyelids felt like they had weights attached, constantly drooping.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Suddenly, the sound of the alarm bell rang out.

Tom, who had been dozing off, barely opened his eyes. His head was still foggy, but the drowsiness was slowly fading.

‘Is it the enemy?’

Unlike Tom, another soldier on duty had been vigilant. The loud noise in the distance sharply pierced the dawn.

“Ugh, my head.”

Tom tried desperately to clear his head as he stared blankly ahead.

His vision, which had been blurry from the noise coming from all directions, gradually returned to normal.

“Crazy!”

Thousands of lights were approaching from the front. All were torches held by the soldiers of the Ingram Empire.

“Enemy! Enemy!”

Tom belatedly shouted, looking around frantically. Now he could see soldiers running everywhere.

“What should I do now? What should I do?”

Keep watch facing the Ingram Empire. If the enemy comes, ring the bell and shout.

That’s all Tom had been taught. He had never been told what to do when the enemy actually attacked.

“Tom! Over here!”

“Lef?”

“Hurry! Quickly!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

At his friend’s and subordinate’s shout, Tom ran urgently.

Whenever he saw Lef, he always thought, ‘Lef should be the Squad Leader.’

He had even tried to give up the position to Lef before.

Lef was the smartest and most perceptive person in the squad. They had grown up together, and whenever there was a problem in the village, Lef always had a solution.

“What should we do now?”

“Follow me. We need to find the centurion.”

“Oh! The centurion.”

“Let’s go.”

Tom followed Lef, glancing back.

The torches held by the soldiers of the Ingram Empire were quickly approaching. At this rate, the first battle would break out within an hour.

The Ingram Empire had chosen the most exhausting time for the soldiers standing guard before dawn to launch their attack.

“A war.”

“It’s already begun. Get a grip. You’re a Squad Leader. You need to save our squad.”

“Right. I’m a Squad Leader.”

As they moved, a few soldiers from their squad joined them. Seeing their actions, soldiers from other squads also started gathering.

After running for about ten minutes, they reached the centurion’s tent.

Centurion Bance was just coming out, having heard the commotion.

“Is it the enemy?”

“Yes. The soldiers of the Ingram Empire have launched a full-scale attack. From what we can see, there are roughly ten thousand of them.”

“Hmm.”

Bance quickly counted the soldiers who had gathered. There were about forty of them.

“Tom, Harth, Cole, Bran, Edward. Go around and gather everyone in the squad under the sixth flag!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Miles, run to the millennium captain’s tent immediately and report the situation here.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

Fortunately, the centurion was not in a state of panic.

Receiving clear orders, the soldiers who had rushed over felt relieved.

“We don’t have time. Move out!”

“Yes, sir.”

As the soldiers dispersed, Bance tightly gripped the staff he was holding. The veins stood out on his hand from the force.

In the first group of the special forces training camp, if the promising ones were numbers seven and eight, the second group also had five useful talents. Four swordsmanship specialists and one magic specialist.

Bance was number thirty-one, the magic specialist among them.

Every time they practiced magic, Bance looked mediocre compared to the monstrous Rodin, but he wasn’t lacking in talent. He had enough talent to join a medium-sized magic tower, even if the four major towers were out of reach.

Thanks to his talent and expectations, Bance reached the third circle by the end of his eighth year. He officially became a mage a year and a half ago.

“Levitation.”

He cast the long spell, using magic. Bance’s body slowly floated up, soon reaching a height far above the surrounding tents.

Levitation is classified as a third-circle or fourth-circle magic depending on whether you can control the direction.

Naturally, as a third-circle mage, Bance used a levitation spell that couldn’t change direction at all.

“There are so many.”

The report of ten thousand soldiers was quite accurate. This was enough to consider that the Ingram Empire had indeed launched the war.

“I thought it would start after the harvest. Sigh.”

The special forces training camp was created in preparation for war, but no one actually wished for war. Bance hoped the war wouldn’t break out during his military service.

But now, with only five months left before he could return to the training camp, the war had started. He had no choice but to be involved in a life-and-death struggle.

“We’ll clash at dawn.”

He slowly descended to the ground, canceling the levitation spell as he reached the earth.

“It’s going to be a long day.”

Hyung_Otaku2

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