“I humbly present myself before Your Imperial Majesty.”

Neighdelberg prostrated himself before Emperor Stuttgart.

Having spent the past months under house arrest and living with the status of a slave, he had been living each day wishing it was his last. He had no idea when Emperor Stuttgart would decide to execute him, so he had been living his days in fear.

For him, being summoned by Emperor Stuttgart was nothing short of salvation, as he could have spent the remainder of his life in house arrest or worse, he could have been executed.

“Neighdelberg.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Have you heard the news?”

“Yes, I have, my lord.”

Even though he was under house arrest, Neighdelberg still knew what was happening in the outside world. The Marchioni Empire was not doing well these days. Signs of divisions were starting to appear, and the emperor’s once iron grip was weakening.

On top of that, the recent failures had tarnished the empire’s prestige on the international stage, and even the people within the empire were starting to lampoon the emperor.

With the situation so dire, Emperor Stuttgart had no choice but to call Neighdelberg back. Emperor Stuttgart highly valued Neighdelberg’s cunningness, which was the reason why the emperor had him as one of his closest retainers.

Neighdelberg excelled at devising all sorts of both ingenious and insidious tactics, and he had executed countless plots that greatly benefited the Marchioni Empire. Given the severity of the current circumstances, Emperor Stuttgart decided to place his hopes on Neighdelberg once more.

“Do you know why I have summoned you?” Emperor Stuttgart asked.

“Yes, my lord. I am well aware that my gracious lord has summoned me to give me a chance to atone for my past failures,” Neighdelberg replied with his head bowed.

“Can you do it?”

“Without fail, my lord.”

“Good. I shall place my trust in you again.”

“Ah...!”

“But this shall be my final trust. I shall no longer grant you any more grace than this.”

Those words meant that the only thing awaiting Neighdelberg if he failed this time would be execution.

Emperor Stuttgart had offered him two extremes. Neighdelberg would be reinstated to prominence if he succeeded, but if he failed to deliver what the emperor desired, then he would meet an unimaginably terrible end.

“Your Imperial Majesty’s grace is immeasurable! Truly as vast as the oceans!” Neighdelberg exclaimed at the top of his lungs.

He gratefully accepted the emperor’s offer.

Why?

It was all because he couldn’t refuse it. He was either going to die or wither away under house arrest anyway, so it was far better to grasp this final chance than not.

“I shall surely live up to my lord’s expectations and appease my lord’s wrath!”

“Good. Hurry and resolve this matter, and show the Proatine Empire our might.”

“As you command, my lord! I will deliver delightful news to you soon!”

With that, Neighdelberg, who had been banished into the status of a slave, made his comeback as the Grand Duke of the great Marchioni Empire.

“I grant you full authority. Do as you will, to the best of your abilities,” Emperor Stuttgart said.

“Your grace is immeasurable, my lord!”

Grand Duke Neighdelberg wasted no time and immediately got to work after he was reinstated. Unfortunately, there was a limit to what he could do right now. The epidemic was so severe and spread out that there was little he could do about it.

‘Beowulf will find and slay the demonic creature responsible for the plagues ravaging our empire. For now, all I can do is trust that he will deliver. Then... the only other thing I can do now is to destabilize the Proatine Empire...’

That was the conclusion Grand Duke Neighdelberg reached. The repeated blows from the Proatine Empire led to the Marchioni Empire suffering severe damage.

To reverse the situation, the Marchioni Empire needed to deal a decisive blow that would not only inflict major damage on the Proatine Empire but destabilize it as well.

Since neither side could afford to launch an all-out offensive right now, the plan was to gnaw away at the opponent.

“Summon the chairperson of the Magic Council.”

“As you command, Your Excellency.”

The Magic Council was the union of mages on the continent, which was basically the Magic Tower itself. The chairperson was the master of the tower, the one who commanded tens of thousands of mages affiliated with the Marchioni Empire.

***

After defeating six of the Ten Calamities, Siegfried decided to take a short break.

While it was called a break, he was far from idle.

‘What should I do about those damn mages...?’

The biggest concern he had these days was how he could wipe out the tens of thousands of mages acting as one of the pillars of the Marchioni Empire.

The Marchioni Empire had mobilized countless mages to unleash a catastrophe that could have wiped out the Proatine Empire from the face of the continent. The Proatine Empire barely managed to avert that crisis.

The root cause, the mages themselves, were still alive and well, which meant that they could threaten the Proatine Empire again. Moreover, even if they did not hatch up another scheme, the mere existence of so many mages was equivalent to having millions of troops on the battlefield.

A mage's true worth was made visible in large-scale battles. Even the weakest mage could unleash firepower greater than that of a whole squad of knights, and the higher their level was, the more powerful they would be as weapons of mass destruction.

If an all-out war erupted between the Proatine Empire and the Marchioni Empire...

Just the thought of it made Siegfried shudder.

‘I have to do something about them. That has to be my priority before anything else.’

If the Marchioni Empire’s legions of mages marched to the Proatine Empire’s borders, the relatively smaller Proatine Imperial Army would stand no chance once bombarded with spells.

The Proatine Empire’s population itself was small to begin with, which was the reason why its military focused on training elite soldiers rather than fielding a massive army.

Against an overwhelming number of mages unleashing a barrage of area of effect spells, the Proatine Imperial Army would, without a doubt, be annihilated in the blink of an eye.

On top of that, the Marchioni Empire’s soldiers and knights were far from weak. As the most powerful nation in the world, even its conscripts were armed with at least Unique weapons.

The Marchioni Imperial Army was truly the strongest in the world by far, both in terms of quality and quantity.

The Proatine Empire was equal and inferior to the Marchioni Empire in terms of the quality and quantity of troops, respectively. Thus, the deployment of the battle mages onto the battlefield would, without a doubt, be the downfall of the Proatine Empire.

‘But how can I storm the Magic Tower and destroy it? How...’

Siegfried thought long and hard until an idea struck him.

‘Oh?’

He suddenly recalled that the cooldown of the Rod of God had ended, which meant that he could use it again. The Rod of God was the core of the incomplete masterpiece left behind by the Legendary Blacksmith, Herbert, and it granted access to the skill known as "Scourge of God."

[Scourge of God]

[Allows the user to launch the Rod of God into the air and drop it at the desired location. The range is eight thousand kilometers with a ten-meter margin of error. The Rod of God will wreak absolute havoc within a fifty-kilometer radius from ground zero.]

[The Rod of God weapon will automatically return to the user once used. (Cooldown: One Year)]

The destructiveness of the Scourge of God surpassed even that of a nuclear bomb. Even Inkarthus, who was the First Black Dragon as well as a demigod, died after taking a direct hit from the Scourge of God.

‘It might actually be possible...’

No matter how many mages were in the Magic Tower, there was no way they could emerge unscathed after getting hit by the overwhelmingly destructive might of the Scourge of God.

‘Hmm... I wonder if I can use it now...’ Siegfried wondered.

Without wasting another second, he headed straight for Quandt’s workshop.

The Universal weapon wasn't complete yet, so he wanted to go check whether he could use the Scourge of God even in its current state.

***

Siegfried soon arrived at Quandt’s workshop.

‘Isn’t he pushing himself too much?’

He couldn’t help but worry that Quandt was overworking himself.

Kaboom!

A massive explosion suddenly erupted.

“Argh!”

Siegfried was caught in the blast and was sent flying dozens of meters away before slamming into a wall. At the exact moment he tried to enter the workshop, a huge explosion occurred inside.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Ughh...”

“Hurry! Get out of there!”

From within the workshop that had just blown apart, the blacksmiths scrambled out, seemingly running for their lives.

“Ughh...” Quandt groaned and staggered out as well.

He was covered head to toe in black soot; he was a complete wreck.

‘Unbelievable...’ Siegfried thought, shaking his head.

He was left speechless at the sight, but it wasn't because he was not worried about Quandt or the blacksmiths. It was all because he had already lost count of just how many explosions had occurred in the workshop.

Surprisingly, despite there being an explosion almost every single day, not a single blacksmith ever ended up seriously injured.

In Siegfried’s eyes, what they were doing was no different from putting their lives on the line. However, there was one thing he was not aware of. Dwarves possessed a unique racial trait that granted them resistance against explosions or accidents that occurred while forging artifacts.

As long as they were in the workshop, they would only receive one percent of the damage they ought to have received, making them virtually indestructible from mishaps while crafting.

“Are you okay?” Siegfried asked, stepping forward and offering his hand.

“What brings you here today, Your Imperial Majesty?” Quandt replied, taking the hand and standing up.

“I have something I wanted to ask.”

“I-I apologize, but the Universal-rated artifact is still far from completion. If Your Imperial Majesty could just grant us more time and funds, then I will surely complete it and—”

“Don’t you know making excuses is a sin?”

“...!”

“Ah, I was just joking,” Siegfried replied, laughing it off.

He was not sure why he had suddenly blurted that out, but he just decided to make it seem he was joking.

“Anyway, that’s not what I am here for.”

“Then why...?”

“I was wondering if I could borrow the Rod of God for a bit.”

“Yes, that is not difficult. We are still in the early stages, so taking the Rod of God alone should be no problem. But just make sure you don’t lose it.”

“Then I’ll borrow it for a few days.”

“But may I ask what you plan to do with it?”

“To land a blow.”

“Huh?”

“You see, there are some bastards who need to be taught a lesson.”

“Hohoho!”

Quandt chuckled after realizing that Siegfried intended to use the Scourge of God. He knew all too well just how powerful the Scourge of God was, so he knew that Siegfried was about to do something big.

Quandt went to fetch the Rod of God from within the half-destroyed forge and handed it to Siegfried.

“Here. Take it with you.”

“Thank you,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

He took the Rod of God and immediately left the workshop.

‘Now it’s my turn. Kekeke! I hope you’re ready for what’s about to come!’ Siegfried thought with a big grin.

He couldn’t help but be excited at the thought of dealing a devastating blow to the Marchioni Empire using the Scourge of God.

***

“Hmm?”

Meanwhile, Cheon Woo-Jin was monitoring the continent using the satellite when he noticed something unusual.

‘What the hell are they up to now?’

The Marchioni Empire’s army, along with as many as twenty thousand mages, was gathering near the borders of the Proatine Empire.

And this could only mean one thing...

‘Those bastards are scheming something else again.’

Cheon Woo-Jin immediately realized that the Marchioni Empire had not learned its lesson and was once again scheming to strike at the Proatine Empire.

‘Tsk, tsk... What a bunch of fools. Do they really think things will go their way?’

Without wasting another second, he teleported to where Siegfried was located to inform him of the Marchioni Empire’s movements.