"Soldiers, listen up!"

"I am Richard, Baron of Bull Territory and a Third-Tier Divine Chosen."

"Crush every enemy before us!"

"One thousand five hundred elite troops, eight hundred family soldiers, and a Third-Tier Divine Chosen."

Richard sneered confidently.

"Among barons, this level of strength is enough to dominate anyone."

"A mere Phield is insignificant."

"I can crush him with ease."

"I wonder what expression Phield will make when he realizes I’ve launched a surprise attack."

After riding back and forth to show himself off, Richard let out a loud roar.

"Move out!"

"Our destination is Starnight Manor!"

Creak...

The massive steel gates of the fortress slowly opened layer by layer.

Bull Territory’s soldiers streamed out like a long dragon, steadily marching away from the fortress.

"Damn it."

Phield narrowed his eyes.

"Their target really is us."

"They came even faster than I expected."

The tension that had only just left his chest returned immediately, tightening his heart and making his breathing heavier.

"I never expected Richard, who was famous for being a coward, to have something like this hidden up his sleeve."

"Why would they target our territory?"

Ophelia paced back and forth anxiously.

"There isn’t even much profit to gain from our land."

Back then, she had vaguely sensed danger approaching because she feared the Shadow World Sect might send people into Nightfall Domain to investigate.

She had never expected it to actually happen.

And on such a large scale.

"Someone definitely paid them a considerable amount of incentive money."

Phield sighed helplessly.

"As for our territory, it was only a matter of time before someone discovered it."

"Nightfall Domain isn’t completely inaccessible."

"As long as someone entered and happened to see our city, they could simply return and report it."

"But none of that matters."

Only a few breaths later, Phield had already regained his composure.

"These disgusting bastards were always going to fight us sooner or later."

"No matter how many they send, we’ll kill them all."

Phield clenched his fist.

"I’ll make them understand the price of provoking me."

The Divine Chosen were momentarily stunned by his domineering confidence.

"A true noble fears no enemy."

Rosalia’s eyes burned with fighting spirit.

Gherlos sighed in admiration.

"Everyone sounds so heroic."

"In my current condition, I could probably only throw a couple of bricks at them."

"The enemy outnumbers us several times over, and our territory’s defenses are practically empty."

After thinking for a moment, Ophelia said,

"We should return immediately and reinforce our territory."

"No."

Phield shook his head.

"If we retreat to defend, we’ll immediately become the disadvantaged side."

"We’d also throw away our information advantage for nothing."

"Nobody panic." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"A two-thousand-man army can’t reach the manor in less than half a month."

"The terrain of Nightfall Domain is even harder to traverse than cliffs and snow-covered mountains."

"Time is on our side."

After calming everyone down, Phield immediately led the army deeper into the underground fortress toward the armory.

A gigantic mechanical gate blocked the passage.

Countless defensive runes were engraved across its surface.

Even a Fifth-Tier Divine Chosen would need considerable effort to break through it by force.

Phield inserted the special key he had obtained earlier into the mechanism and began turning it.

Rumble...

The colossal gate slowly split apart from the center like heavenly doors opening.

"Wow..."

The brilliance radiating from inside the armory nearly blinded Phield.

Rows upon rows of complete iron armor sets, halberds, and war hammers were neatly arranged in one corner.

The terrifying part was that this corner was the least impressive section.

What truly attracted everyone’s attention were the standardized mana equipment, magic staves, scrolls, and mana cores.

"Holy shit!"

"Are these numbers even real?"

For the first time, Phield truly felt the terrifying power of a nation.

Even the Divine Chosen stared with widened eyes.

"Start equipping the soldiers."

"Pick the best gear available."

Phield stood with his hands on his hips and laughed triumphantly.

"As for those who were ordinary civilians before, start loading the wagons."

"Only take the mana cores, scrolls, and staves."

Nightfall Domain had no mana warriors.

Mana armor and weapons were incredibly heavy, making them unusable for ordinary soldiers.

Jamie looked around in a daze.

"So this is where the armory was."

"Baron Ram insisted there was only the castle armory."

"He really didn’t die unjustly."

Phield couldn’t be bothered to respond.

He began inspecting the equipment personally.

Ignoring the ordinary gear, the highest-ranked equipment present was Third Tier.

After rapidly taking inventory, Ophelia reported,

"There are one hundred complete Third-Tier equipment sets."

"Three hundred Second-Tier sets."

"One thousand First-Tier sets."

"The rest of the equipment follows roughly the same proportions."

"There are also one thousand Third-Tier mana cores."

On a nearby table, Phield found an inventory report.

According to the paperwork, there should have been three hundred Third-Tier equipment sets.

"Certain people here embezzled more than half of it."

"Our gains could have been much greater."

Thinking about it, it made sense.

The equipment he had purchased before had originally come from Maple Leaf Fortress.

"Regardless, even a little grease leaking from the Empire is enough to stuff us full."

Phield stopped dwelling on it and immediately gave another order.

"Ophelia, leave behind only the necessary reconnaissance corpses."

"Bring the rest of the undead over and equip them."

"Yes, Lord Phield!"

Ophelia was so excited her eyes practically sparkled.

"An iron legion composed entirely of undead corpses will become an unstoppable force."

The undead possessed tremendous strength and vitality.

Their only weakness was a lack of equipment.

Now that flaw would be thoroughly corrected.

Fully armored monsters clad in high-quality plate armor.

Phield believed they would become the stuff of nightmares for their enemies.

Suddenly, Gherlos seemed to remember something.

She tugged lightly on Phield’s sleeve and whispered,

"My lord, if we’re about to enter a war, it won’t be practical to keep Jamie imprisoned."

"That’s true."

Phield immediately agreed.

"We barely have enough manpower for combat as it is."

He called Jamie over and asked,

"What about the resurrection ritual for the Divine Chosen of Destruction that you promised me?"

"My patience is running out."

"Since the beginning of our cooperation, you haven’t created a single bit of value."

Cold sweat instantly broke out across Jamie’s forehead.

Unable to withstand the pressure, she finally came clean.

"It’s beneath the border fortress."

"The resurrection requires an enormous amount of life energy."

"The Life Divine Artifact beneath the fortress can provide a tremendous quantity of life energy."

"Why didn’t you say that earlier?"

Ophelia rolled up her sleeves, ready to hit her.

"Are we supposed to attack an entire fortress for some vague, uncertain possibility?"

"I think you’re asking for a beating."

"I can get you into the fortress."

Jamie immediately raised both hands in surrender.

"As long as you claim to be my subordinates and enter under my leadership, the soldiers won’t attack."

"Haha."

Gherlos shook her head repeatedly.

"That’s the kind of thing that only happens in knight novels."

She wrapped her arm around Phield’s and advised,

"The slightest accident would trap us inside with no way out."

"Who knows what secret codes or recognition methods exist between members of the sect?"

"Exactly."

Phield nodded in agreement.

"But I already happen to have a plan for capturing the border fortress."

"Seriously?"

Ophelia stared at him in shock.

"Don’t tell me you’re planning to crawl into the stomach of an undead corpse again and sneak into the center of the fortress."