The man spoke quickly in a trembling voice.
"Master, we don't know yet, but we have been facing an unknown group for the past 2 months. At first, it was bearable, as the individuals we faced were not that experienced in combat, but after 1 month, the more skilled and powerful individuals began to appear." The masked man stops for a second.
"Keep going." The heret said
"Yes, sir.
Even after we have eliminated over 100 of their members, their numbers do not appear to be declining.
Although it's not conformed, Master, we have our suspicions regarding their identity."
After learning all of this, Heret asked the man straight away in a serious manner.
"Who are these fuckers?" He said it in a low tone, abandoning his noble escapade.
He seldomly used these types of words, so the man understood after hearing this that Duke was more than just angry.
"Master." paused to consider if it was appropriate to respond in the first place.
Suddenly, the pressure, which was previously bearable, became so great that it is now even, difficult to breathe.
"It ballads, master," the man said, drawing breath erratically. "It's ballads, we suppose, master." Upon hearing it, the pressure in the room increased to the point where anyone with a lesser cultivation level would become meat paste just by being present there.
The man, despite being of S rank, could not able to leave unscratched. His bones, which are tougher than steel, break like a fragile twig, causing him to cough a mouthful of blood.
"Master, please show mercy." Said the man, with very much difficulty.
After hearing that, the pressure dropped, and a sound of air being exhaled from the mouth could be heard.
"Fuuuuuuu."
Heret calmed him down for a few seconds before speaking once more.
"Stand up."
The man behind the mask stays in a dogeza stance the entire time he speaks with Heret, and only when he hears the command does he get to his feet.
Observing the man in front of him in such a sad situation, Heret passes him a healing portion and says so while wearing a fierce expression.
"A few lambs are making a last desperate effort to create needless problems before they are killed.
Gather all of your agents and forward my orders to the military's next line of command that we are going to attack ballads as soon as possible.
We'll show them what happens if they try to mess with us."
°
°
In the evening of the same day, outside of Ballad's county capital, Virro's vacant ground.
There stood a sizable army, and a man with light brown hair and a decent build, clad in dark red armor with a sword at his hilt, stood atop a podium, delivering a speech to the soldier that would make anyone's blood boil.
"My comrades." Ynder stops briefly.
"Exactly two months ago, on this day, Heret Berus, duke of Berus duchy, came to our property with his debased aim.
He said to give up the land that all of you dwell on—a similar land where your family and your kin in the future will reside—a similar land where your precursors, alongside my progenitors, had bled and sweated to lay the groundwork for our ongoing province.
But that individual basically wants to taint our land for some wretched and unclean aim." Ynder again stops briefly to see the response of his soldiers.
"So let me know all of you: will we permit them to do anything they desire?"
The soldiers answered with a clear battle cry that reverberated throughout the capital.
"No lord
!
!
!
No lord
!
!
!
No lord
!
!
!" With some soilder pounding their metal lance or some of their foot on the ground, shaking the whole region.
The resident soliders's were especially unsettled and had wild assurance to sink or swim all over, but the mercenaries were fairly relaxed, yet Ynder knows precisely how to make them function. Then, at that point, he again continues his speech.
"Today, I'm not present as your ruler of this land but rather as an inhabitant of this land, a soilder, and the individual who loves to be the occupant of this delightful land.
As such, I request that you all lend me your solidarity so we can squash those detestable expectations of Berus duchy to assume command over our land."
The soldiers instantly drop to one knee, signifying their unwavering allegiance; however, upon realizing that the mercenaries have not done the same, Ynder begins to remove his sword from its hilt.
Ynder's response made the mercenary captain instantly wary, but what he witnessed next astounded him.
Ynder, after unsheathing his sword, pointed it towards the sky. The sword started to cover in dark blue mana, and along with his body, also a lighting crackle started to appear around his body.
Then a single phase left his mouth.
"Void lighting arts, fourth forms: summon lighting"
A ray of blue light shoots up into the sky, enveloping the entire capital in ominous dark clouds, and the immense quantity of mana in it makes it impossible to look at it normally, so it is definitely not your typical cloud.
A few days before he spoke, Ynder managed to perfect it, and it was his one and only wide attack.
That done, Ynder slashed his sword toward a massive mountain range that stretched far beyond the capital.
In an instant, a beam of light emerging from that cloud mass completely obliterates one of the mountain peaks, leaving the mountain looking like a flat plateau.
One of the soldiers gasps in shock upon realizing this.
"SSS RANK" gave everyone in the area goosebumps because, while X rank is equivalent to entering the world of gods, SSS rank is the pinnacle of the human realm, which not anyone can truly comprehend with talent or resources alone.
The soldiers were already on their knees when the mercenaries, who were standing, also fell to their knees in response to this unbelievable display of strength.
"Stand up, my comrades," Ynder said at that point. "Our era—the era of ballads and the people who live in them—will begin after this war."
The soil burst into a boisterous cheer upon hearing this.
"Hurray!!!!
Long. live. ballads!!!!
Long.live.ballads !!!
Long. live. ballads !!!"
°
°
At night, two days later, in the capital of the Berus duchy, Merus.
While Berus duchy was getting ready for war with Ballad County, it was an ordinary day for the populace, but still, there was a little tension in the air.
However, for the people of Berus, it has become the norm because their duchy is constantly at war with neighboring areas.
However, this cannot be said for the duchy's higher officials, as the mood in the war room, which is occupied by the duke and his recently appointed generals, was rather dismal.
Upon receiving the news, Heret was astounded by what he learned. On the contrary, such absurd information is incomprehensible, but it was nevertheless made possible.
A single line made up the contents of the letters.
"Your door is surrounded by Ballads. Get out now!!!"
It indicates that without being aware of it, the army of the Ballads has arrived in their capital, and worst of all, they are even surrounding the capital from all sides.
Abruptly, the merus rang with a tremendous roar.
"Duke of Berus, come forth and engage in one-on-one combat with me. Using my title, As a count of ballads, I challenge you."
Heret swore when he heard this.
"Has that fucker fucking finally lost it?" Heret approaches and grabs his sword. "I will gladly fulfill his last dying wish." And with that, he leaped out of the war room window of the castle toward the voice.
He arrived at the voice's location, which was outside the capital, in a matter of minutes.
When he arrived, Ynder was standing there with his sword unsheathed in his hand and clad in dark red armor.
With a furious expression on his face, Heret yelled at the top of his lungs upon seeing Ynder.
"You ignorant! You have been shown mercy by His Highness, but you still dare to show us your fang.
Today, this is going to be your burial site." pointing his sword towards the Ynder.
Ynder laughed out loud as he listened to it. "Haaaaaaa!! What mercy! Aaaaaah! You, Your Highness, have a good sense of humor." Pause for a moment, and then all of a sudden, Ynder's eyes blazed with murderous intent.
"It was a unilateral threat to the ballad county." With a release of mana, Ynder spoke to Heret.
Heret became guarded, feeling the Ynder's mana, as the amount of mana that Ynder is releasing is of SS rank.
"Haa haa." What happened, your highness, and why are you so tense?"" Said Ynder in a mocking tone with a smug face.
Seeing this, he could not contain his anger and jumped towards Ynder with a loud roar.
"You insolent!!!!!".
To counter the attack, Ynder also adopted a stance.
As soon as the swords collided, a powerful shock wave swept across the battlefield.
After the dust settled, one could see that the previously clashed swords were in the same position and could not push one another.
Any low-level cultivators would be easily taken out by the powerful mana that both of them were emitting. Consequently, all of the soilders in the Ballad army began to retreat, leaving only cultivators who were class A or above.
The army of the Berus duchy, approaching from the opposite direction of the capital, also stopped their action at the same moment; as a result, only the elite cultivators advanced.