Swordmeister of Rome

<If you can make my army work as one with fear, I can give half, no, three-fourths of my army in exchange.>

Excerpt from the first king of Taran Kingdom

...….

The war between Usharan and Con Kingdom was getting worse. Con had been using everything at its disposal to protect their borders, but it was no use. The newly-deployed automated machines from Usharan were very powerful. Not only it was possible, but they had no feelings and moved as one.

There were not too many of them, which allowed Con to defend against them with Bander users and explosives, but somehow the number of such machines increased all of a sudden.

They began pushing the borders of Con Kingdom from all sides and were now closing in at a rapid rate.

"Ugh, I'm getting a headache. Usharans… how are we faring?"

The commander of the Con-Tian Region, Grandal, frowned as he asked his lieutenants.

"It's bad, Commander. We are barely managing with the Kularen cannons, but these machines are hard to hit."

<Kularen>. This cannon was created by Exar and science that utilized Talic Stones to fire. It was very stable and used little Talic Stones to fire powerful magic. It did prove useful against all the soldiers and siege weapons alike, but the problem lied with those automated machines.

If it wasn't for the <Black Star>, one of the best warrior groups of Con Kingdom stationed at Con-Tian, all would have been lost.

"Sir Krashana is fighting hard… even so, we cannot handle such machines!" Grandal exclaimed. He too knew how terrible these machines were.

"We will have reinforcements coming from Tian Kingdom today. That will help us out a little."

"Good. It will be too late if they sent them later. But I didn't expect a Grand Bander as a reinforcement."

"Yes, Commander. It looks like we will owe Tian for this."

The captain of <Dragona> was a Grand Bander. It did not matter who the others were.

"I think it's about time."

"Yeah, I'll go out and meet them. Call Sir Krashana. We should introduce each other."

Grandal needed to go out himself to greet the Grand Bander. He then called the <Black Star> also.

"Welcome to Con-Tian. I am Grandal. Commander of this region."

"Greetings. I am Kalagul, leader of <Dragona>."

Kalagul, who learned the manners of this world, introduced himself politely to Grandal.

"This here is the captain of <Black Star>, Sir Krashana."

"I am Krashana. I have heard much about you, Sir Kalagul."

Krashana looked at Kalagul with respect. Grand Banders were respected everywhere they went.

"Thank you. I heard a lot about your exploits too, Sir Krashana."

Kalagul wasn't flattering. <Black Star> was one of five powerful warrior groups of Con Kingdom who stood as a pillar of Con. The leader, Krashana, was a powerful warrior who had no match among the other masters of the world.

That was why Kalagul, who had recently begun studying about the world, knew about him.

"We have prepared a place for you to stay. We won't have a lot of time to rest but… why don't you all unpack first?"

"I can see that. Sir Rian, Lady Celine, guide our team to unpack and come back."

The machines did not need rest, thus attacking nonstop. Even now, Kularen cannons were firing against incoming attacks. Kalagul had no intention to rest so he decided to join the warfront at once when his team was ready.

After all of Dragona gathered together, Kalagul began discussing with Grandal and his advisors.

"So… where shall we position ourselves?"

"First, I will explain about the <Kanuans> and <Kel-Rufens>…"

They began explaining the current war front and the details regarding the enemy. The new recruits of Dragona began to frown as they listened to the details. These were like war dogs from the legends; they never got tired and kept fighting until they died.

It was Kalagul, Rian, and Celine who didn't seem to be surprised by the information. Rian turned to Sian, who was making weird expressions, and became curious.

'What's up with him? These wouldn't be enough to make him concerned…'

Throughout his life, his brother was never worried about any enemy. The machines looked very dangerous, but they were surely no match for Kalagul or Sian.

Sian was thinking of something else entirely.

'Oh… so those toys in the box were here.'

Sian speculated that the box was broken, but he realized what happened now. He didn't know how, but all the stuff that was transferred inside was sent to Usharan and they were using it against Con. It was apparent where the thief had come from.

'Ugh… that thief…'

He didn't understand why the thief smiled satisfyingly, but now he understood.

Gronn couldn't pull himself together because of all <Kanuans>. The wolf-like four-legged machines wielded Bander throughout their entire bodies and they were looking for a chance to bite off his arms.

'Ugh… we should've kept the formation.'

It was a mistake to charge in after looking at these machines that gave the <Black Star> a hard time, thinking they were afraid of his sword. Right after he broke out from the formation, one changed and began attacking him fiercely. He looked back but there was no one there to help him.

'Machines trying to set up a trap… but what's with the captain?'

It seemed like these machines were no match for Kalagul, a Grand Bander. But all he did was stand and cut down any enemy that charged at him. He did not advance at all. As Gronn became full of thoughts, the machine took its chance to attack.

"ARGH!... huh?"

Gronn, who figured it was too late, closed his eyes and slouched for the incoming attack, but nothing came. The machine was shivering while spitting out a weird mechanical voice.

[ADQDA.. DAS1.AS… KSKDF…]

Then it came to a full stop, losing all its lights. Gronn became curious and went closer to investigate. There was some small iron marble still spinning fiercely on the Kanuan's head. The marble was the culprit that put a stop to the machine as it destroyed the machine's brain.

Gronn then turned to Kalagul. Surely his captain had saved him from death.

"Ugh, give me a break. Why is he becoming more brave?"

Sian, who had been sitting up on a spire along with the other advisors, sighed as he watched Gronn who charged in again like a boar. He was at the spire since his position was not a fighter. He did not want to interfere, but that Kalagul didn't seem to mind saving their friends. He was defending an important passage, but he didn't care if the others died. Sian didn't want to see people die, so he activated <Nitzmatan>. No one inside the spire cared about what Sian was doing because they were busy commanding the war. After a red light, many marbles rolled out onto Sian's hands. It was what Sian purchased before coming here. Sian then picked one up with his fingers and snapped it.

The marble, shot upon the target in a straight line, crushed the Kanuan's head that tried to bite off Panolan's neck. Panolan looked at the Kanuan with shock before he turned to Kalagul and charged into the battlefield more eagerly.

"Ugh, can you please listen to Rian…?"

It was good that they were brave, but they needed to stay in formation. Rian and Celine were having a hard time keeping everyone in formation.

Sian only brought five hundred marbles since he had higher expectations for the people. He was only using them to save those who were about to die, but the number of marbles was decreasing rapidly.