Chapter 65

It is more common than one might think for the one who caused the trouble to be the one who grows angry.

“Roland… did you let all the demonic beasts escape?”

There were no gnoll corpses in sight.

Conrad, who had arrived at the gate belatedly, spoke in a reproachful tone as if pointing that out. Roland simply nodded calmly.

“They were remarkably quick on their feet. We had no chance to stop them.”

“……”

Conrad left without another word. His stride was visibly filled with rage. Watching his retreating back, Roland let out a faint chuckle.

“Looks like he’s finally starting to drop the pretense.”

“Did something happen between you two?”

Woojin asked cautiously. It seemed there was some hidden context between them.

Roland answered without hesitation.

“He came to see me privately and gave me a secret order. If combat broke out, he told me to kill all the gnolls inside the gate.”

The situation became clearer.

Roland and the holy knights under his command were highly skilled. The expeditionary force likely intended to pressure from outside the gate, while Roland eliminated the gnolls from within.

But Roland had not carried out that secret order aggressively. As a result, the gnolls escaped, leaving the expeditionary force with a significant future threat.

At least, that seemed to be Conrad’s view.

“Blaming others now is rather laughable. This was never a situation that could be smoothed over.”

The gnolls were not fools.

After confirming the size of the expeditionary army, Rogar had already prepared for retreat and pulled his subordinates back. Completely annihilating them had been practically impossible.

Even if it had been possible, it would have meant little. The moment fighting began, the gnolls would have used their signal fires to alert their kin.

“I warned them about this beforehand. Was my explanation insufficient?”

Woojin had already given the high command advance notice. He had assumed they struck fully aware of the consequences. Why, then, was Conrad reacting this way?

Roland pondered briefly before offering his view.

“This is only my guess… but I think the archbishop was inclined to accept your suggestion. However, Duke Edwin and Sir Cornelius likely opposed it.”

The high command had been divided. That was probably why the main force had hesitated so long after the vanguard entered the gate.

It was an unexpected assessment.

“What makes you think that?”

“Consider their respective positions.”

Archbishop Conrad and Duke Edwin.

Their goals appeared similar on the surface, but upon closer inspection, they differed greatly.

Conrad sought achievements.

If he could claim credit for assisting the duke in successfully completing the Second Expedition, he would gain the support of the Kingdom Alliance and numerous nobles. His political influence would grow considerably.

Edwin, on the other hand, aspired to become king.

He harbored ambitions of reclaiming the lands of the old kingdom and ruling from a new throne. But those lands were already inhabited by natives.

He had no desire to coexist with such inconvenient presences. The gnolls had to be dealt with now. Once the expedition concluded, Conrad would return to the frontier city with the Order’s forces.

Moreover, Cornelius had opposed negotiating with demonic beasts from the beginning. With opinions tilted in that direction, full-scale conflict with the gnolls became inevitable.

‘The secret order to Roland… perhaps it was a desperate attempt to avoid this outcome.’

If the gnolls at the gate were wiped out entirely, the backlash might have been prevented.

Conrad had given Roland that order as a final safeguard, but with that plan having failed, his emotions were plainly agitated.

“…This situation is more complicated than I thought.”

War—and politics.

Realms Woojin had never personally navigated. He realized he lacked experience in such matters. He had not anticipated internal conflict among the leadership.

Roland grinned.

“If you cause enough trouble like I have, you’ll learn to read the minds of those above you. If you don’t want to be cast out, you’d better get good at walking the tightrope.”

Even causing trouble required skill. Woojin listened carefully.

****

The expeditionary force resumed its advance.

The frequency of demonic beast attacks noticeably decreased. The reason was clear: they had entered gnoll territory.

“When do you think the attacks will begin?”

Roland asked.

It was something Woojin had already been considering.

“Likely within ten days… though we’ll have to see. It’s possible this might conclude without a major conflict.”

There were many variables.

Just as the expedition’s high command had been divided, the gnolls’ high-ranking females would gather and decide how to respond.

Roland found this fascinating.

“They truly aren’t so different from humans… By the way, do females hold higher status among gnolls?”

“Generally, yes.”

Gnolls were a matriarchal society—a trait inherited from hyenas.

Curiously, female hyenas are larger and physically stronger than males. They produce higher levels of testosterone, the hormone commonly associated with males.

That said, male gnolls were formidable warriors as well. Occasionally, a seasoned male could overpower females and rise in rank.

In short—

“The entire clan consists of warriors.”

“…That’s highly troublesome.”

Roland let out a deep sigh. The holy knight’s expression darkened further, as though he had only now fully grasped the expedition’s predicament.

A faction possessing immense strength, competitiveness, and intelligence.

And their fangs were now aimed at the expeditionary force.

…Four days later, in the dead of night.

But it was not just one or two.

A whole herd of wild bison came charging toward them.

Large gnolls ran alongside the stampeding beasts. They let out harsh, guttural howls, frightening and driving the herd forward—like a pride of lions coordinating a hunt.

The gnolls were herding demonic beasts toward the camp.

The soldiers on watch heard it first.

“Night attack!! Night attack—!”

That word—the very one that had once plunged them into nightmares.

But the expeditionary force had learned from failure. Soldiers jolted awake and rushed into formation.

“Fire!!”

Thwip—thwip—thwip—!

Silver bolts filled the sky.

The gnolls retreated without hesitation, while the bison herd, driven by inertia and fear, continued their charge.

Thud! Thud-thud!

“Moooaaargh!!”

Bison struck by silver bolts bellowed in agony. Yet the bull-like beasts were stubborn. Even riddled with projectiles, they pressed forward relentlessly.

If the herd broke through, the formation would collapse.

To halt them, priests of the Order of Wisdom stepped forward.

Woojin’s eyes fell upon the objects in their hands.

Quills.

‘The Quills of Offering.’

Writing instruments—ill-suited to a battlefield.

And yet, the priests of Talos, God of Wisdom, manifested divine power through those very quills.

Scratch, scratch—

As they moved their pens, glowing script appeared in midair.

It resembled magic—but was fundamentally different.

‘Offering of Wisdom.’

To offer meant to dedicate something to their god.

The priests offered up knowledge they had learned, gaining temporary divine power in exchange. The more valuable or difficult the knowledge, the greater the divinity manifested.

Kiiiiing—

The written characters gathered, forming spheres of blue light.

They shot forward and tore into the charging bison.

Boom! Boom!

Blue explosions erupted, knocking the beasts to the ground.

Another volley of silver bolts followed.

The bison struggled to rise—but soon went limp.

“They’re down!!”
“Waaaah!!”

The night assault was repelled with minimal losses. Cheers erupted among the soldiers.

But the priests did not look pleased.

‘The knowledge used for the Offering is lost.’

In exchange for unleashing such power, they forgot the knowledge they had inscribed.

Even if they studied it again, the offered knowledge would be difficult to fully comprehend.

Because of this limitation, priests were forced to constantly study multiple disciplines.

The problem was—

The attacks did not end with one night.

Each time the sun set and darkness deepened, the gnolls drove more beasts toward the expeditionary force.

The variety was wide: bison, deer, boars, rabbits…

From Woojin’s perspective, it was almost beneficial.

“Eat slowly. There’s plenty.”
“Woof!”

The wolves wagged their tails excitedly.

Whenever the expedition hunted the driven beasts, Woojin secretly extracted their inner cores and fed them to the wolves.

As a result, the wolves had grown far stronger than before the campaign began.

But they gained no new abilities.

The beasts the gnolls sent were plain creatures without special traits.

Naturally so.

Sending truly powerful demonic beasts against the expedition would not be easy.

‘They’re weak enough that the army can handle them… but the situation is steadily worsening.’

The wolves might find it thrilling, but the expeditionary force was losing sleep every night.

Fatigue accumulated, wearing down both body and mind.

That alone might have been bearable.

But the real problem remained.

‘Supplies are being consumed far too quickly.’

Each night, silver bolts, throwing spears, and divine power were expended in large quantities.

Their combat supplies were nearing depletion.

A resupply unit was scheduled to follow behind.

But they might not have the endurance to last until its arrival. And even if it departed early, there was no guarantee it could reach them.

‘The gnolls will intercept it.’

A supply column would not be as heavily guarded as the main force.

It would make perfect prey.

Given the circumstances, the expedition began retrieving and reusing silver bolts to conserve resources.

But that measure meant little.

Weapons consecrated with the divinity of the War God were consumables. After several uses, the divinity faded, leaving nothing more than ordinary metal.

Clack—clack!

Silver bolts struck a charging boar and bounced off harmlessly.

To stop it, the holy knights of the Order of Attunement had to step in.

Fwoosh!

Their blades ignited with blue light—not divine power, but mana arts.

Knights had little time to accumulate scholarly knowledge; thus, despite their title, most of the Order of Wisdom’s holy knights were primarily mana users.

Woojin stood at a distance, observing.

‘They can’t use divinity, but they fight well enough.’

The knights met the charging boars head-on.

With too many beasts to finish individually, they slashed at tendons to cripple them, leaving the final blows to the soldiers.

Soldiers thrust their long spears forward, skewering the weakened beasts.

It was effectively their first large-scale melee engagement.

Screams and shouts filled the air.

Woojin scanned the battlefield—

Then slowly turned his head toward the forest.

In the shadowed woods, faint lights flickered.

Pairs of ghostly eyes glowed in the darkness.

There was no need to wonder whose they were.

‘The gnolls are studying the expedition’s methods.’

A disaster long foretold was drawing near.