Gods, Ashes Descend

Chapter 74 Target Academy

As the war in the Dark Souls world began, the manpower problem slowly began to emerge.

If we do manage to capture the border area, we'll naturally need manpower to guard it, but there's no rush.

After Li Wei said that exploration was allowed but indiscriminate killing was prohibited, the killing spree slowly began to spread.

Some of the assassins rushed directly to the checkpoint.

Now everyone has upgraded their equipment; Li Wei's main force is fully equipped with Dragonblood Knight Armor, which looks quite intimidating.

Hundreds of muscular knights marched in their direction, nearly scaring the guards at the checkpoint so much they wet themselves.

The garrison knights led the retreat, heading back towards the city, capturing the pass without bloodshed. They were just killing soldiers, though they wanted to ask if they needed to hire mercenaries to kill anything.

Li Wei hid in the basement learning magic from Ceremony, letting the assassins do whatever they wanted.

The Killers would send all sorts of strange materials over here, such as the little living pots they had captured. They moved very slowly and were a bit pigeon-toed. As an oddity, the Killers thought this thing was surprisingly ugly-cute and that they might keep it as a pet.

They even sent over a dragon's head. The dragon over by the pool had been killed, and they decided to dry it so that Li Wei could take it back and hang it at the sacrificial site as decoration.

There are also some runes, but they're useless to them anyway. Seren said they'd need them to make magic scrolls, so they're just piled up here.

Meanwhile, the checkpoints and crossroads began to bustle with activity. Civilians, merchants, soldiers who had surrendered in the wild, mercenaries from Kaidan looking for life, and Faded Ones gathering information—anyone with a will was being sent to the checkpoints and crossroads.

The assassins were thriving, while Li Wei only earned the pitiful title of a stupid apprentice.

He couldn't even cast a single spell all day. If Ceremony hadn't confirmed that Levi had magical abilities, everyone would have thought he was immune to magic.

"You're such a clumsy apprentice! Just make do with you."

Li Wei, who was being harassed by the crickets, could only obediently take the magic scrolls given to him and use magic to guide them, becoming a fake mage turret.

Just as Li Wei was unwilling to give up and was pestering his teacher to continue learning to become a mage, Ken brought in a local nobleman.

"Boss, someone's looking for you."

When the nobleman saw Livy, he bowed and spoke in an aria-like voice.

"My lord, my name is Kenneth Hyde, the eldest son of Lord Nymgford. I have a favor to ask of you. There is a fortress in the Misty Forest that belongs to me, and I would like to ask you to help me take it back."

It's all because of..."

Li Wei raised his hand to interrupt the man's nonsense, then turned to look at Ken with some disbelief.

"Why don't you just resolve this kind of thing directly?"

Ken looked at Li Wei with a bewildered expression and explained.

"Boss, didn't you say we shouldn't clash with the local army for now? The place is full of local troops, and there's also that local thing called a demi-human."

Li Wei slapped his forehead, realizing he had indeed said that. He turned to Hyde, stroked his chin, and asked.

"Nimgefu, if I remember correctly, this whole area belongs to Nimgefu. You were driven out by amputation."

Forget it, whatever. Ken, don't ask me about this kind of thing anymore. It's something a few people can handle. You guys make the decision yourselves.

Unless a major power or someone starts a war with us, don't come looking for me.

"No problem, boss."

Li Wei turned around and continued to pester Ceremony to explain magic to him, not to explain any arcane spells, but to start from the very basics.

Selene squinted, confirming that Li Wei was a complete idiot with absolutely no background knowledge.

I talked all day, but it was like casting pearls before swine.

But as for the basics of a mage, in terms of speaking, Seren felt that he shouldn't do anything else for the next two years but just honestly recite Li Wei's teachings and get by.

But as a mentor, Seren felt that it might be difficult to ask Li Wei for something in the future. However, he felt that he should be able to serve as a mage advisor.

"You helped him retake the fortress, aren't you afraid of casualties among your own people? Even if your people are all good, people will still die from being hit by the crossbow bolts used by the city guards."

"Didn't I say we wouldn't die?"

"........"

Seren paused for a moment, then suddenly realized he might have to start begging for help from powerful figures.

He coughed once.

"My disciple, I've almost forgotten the basics myself, since they've become second nature to me. But there's one place where you'll definitely find what you're looking for."

Realo Magic Academy, however, is occupied by those idiots, and many of the teachers' notes and books are left there.

The Kalia royal family is currently engaged in a civil war with the Cuckoo Knights of the Magic Academy; this might be an opportunity.

If you don't mind~.

Looking at the somewhat ingratiating smile of his newly apprenticed teacher, Li Wei felt a pang of sadness. As the saying goes, the higher you climb, the colder it gets; only Naiko offered a tiny bit of warmth.

He answered verbally.

"Of course I don't mind."

Anyway, I'm interested in the Great Rune and need a territory, so whether I go to kill the amputee or the doll girl's mother makes no difference to me.

First, establish a firm foothold, then slowly deal with the rest.

The teacher has a grudge against the magic academy, so naturally they'll side with the teacher. As for the doll girl, who is she? They don't even know her.

The army set off, heading straight for the magic academy. The border region was not peaceful, and the journey could be described as a fight.

The process of gathering the scattered assassins was naturally slow.

Li Wei and his group gathered right in front of the border checkpoint between the academy and the royal army, and had a fierce battle.

Li Wei stood with Serenity at a distance, hands in his pockets, watching the battle formations clash, magic and lightning spears fly together, and guns and grenades explode.

Although the overall strength of the assassins was greater than that of the two armies, their deadly giant crossbows and fire catapults meant that the mages occupying the high ground were not to be trifled with.

Moreover, those puppet soldiers created by mages are not very effective against firearms. Even the horse-mounted cuckoo knights, when they activate their magic shields and charge into the ranks, will be thrown into chaos.

However, after Li Wei planted a spiral sword in front of him, the number of enemies on this side only increased as the fighting continued.

In particular, some people died twice and felt that it was better to have more people, so they even teleported back to call for reinforcements.

"Apprentice, just how many men do you have?"

"Right now? There are probably less than eight thousand who can move. Taking down the magic academy shouldn't be a problem, and the mages over there are also interested in radiance magic."

While Li Wei was chatting idly with Seren, Jack, who was interested in the other world, ran over.

Onion Bro pointed at the golden tree and exclaimed loudly.

"What a beautiful sight! These trees are gorgeous! This is the perfect time for a drink."

They started calling on friends and family to set up iron pots by the roadside, preparing to simmer the original soup.

"Brother Jack, there's a war going on here!"

Jack kept his hands busy, grabbing at his regular customers for help.

"Don't worry about this little thing. If you're tired of playing, come over and have a drink."

Jack and some of the others who had been caught started setting up a pot and eating outside the battlefield. Serenity was a little interested and pulled Levi over.

When Serian saw what was in the pot, he was dumbfounded. He took out his wooden spoon and poked it into the pot. When he picked it up, all that was left was the handle.

"Wait, this stuff is drinkable! Are you really carbon-based life forms?"

Li Wei had no idea what the undead in the Dark Souls world were—were they beings made from ashes?

(A low-level mage who can only use one spell, Shining Stone Shard, but its range is quite long.)

(The cuckoo soldiers of the magic academy possess cuckoo gems and can track magic missiles.)

(The Cuckoo Knight, wields magical weapons, wields Radiant Stone Shards, and tracks the Radiant Sword.)

(Puppet soldiers, divided into three types: spear, sword, and bow, but all of them have four arms)