Witch Troupe and the Undead

The college's dormitories are more like standard small apartments than dormitories. After all, given the size of the college and the total number of students, apartment-level accommodation per person is not a problem. Those who can study here are basically members of the upper class and the aristocracy, otherwise they would not be able to afford the tuition fees.

The teachers' dormitories were larger than the students' dormitories. Like the rest of the capital, the east wing housed the teachers' dormitories, the west wing the students' dormitories, and the central area was a common lounge. Since the teachers and students did not share washrooms and bathrooms, the male and female dormitories were not completely separated; they were simply located on different floors. There were no guards, only a dense array of magical alarms and barriers separating the dormitories.

Back in the old dean's time, a few burly female school workers were used to keep out the boys who were like rutting dogs. But later, after discovering that the boys would use various means to bribe these school workers, the positions of guards and dormitory heads were completely removed and replaced by layers of highly difficult barriers.

To get in, you have to find a way to break the barrier, and each of these barriers is a rare and obscure thing that Elena found in ancient books. To break it by brute force, you either have a higher level of skill or more extensive knowledge than her. This greatly motivates the boys to study hard in the library - otherwise you can't even get into your girlfriend's dormitory.

Similarly, if female students didn't want to be out in the cold wind in the lobby or on the street late at night, they either had to follow the school rules and go back to their dorms on time, or they had to work hard in the library to find a way to break the barrier. As a result, the romantic atmosphere in the college was completely eradicated, effectively preventing some useless people who came in to "gild their resumes" from influencing others.

Because this group of people can't even break the barrier of the dormitory building, let alone the barrier of the academy gate, if they don't follow the school rules, they can only stay outside. As for what they do outside, Dean Elena is too lazy to care, as long as they don't do it inside the academy.

"That's great! It would have been wonderful if my old school had this system." Luo Qi exclaimed sincerely, so that teachers could legitimately say, "You won't even go to the library, and you still dare to say you love her?!"

"Master Roach, what was your school like before?" the girl leading the way asked curiously, as it was the first time she had ever heard of the existence of other academies.

"Ah...it's a mess, that's all I can say." Roach shrugged. "It's not that no one is seriously studying, but a significant number of people are here to get their resumes, even some teachers are here to get their resumes. The school leaders are all laymen, no matter how many achievements they have in the past, once they sit in that position, they are just complete bureaucrats."

This is actually not as academically rigorous as the colleges here. Of course, the academic atmosphere here is indeed very rigorous, but it's too demanding on people.

While knowledge on Earth is also a form of power, it's not as direct. But here... which of you clerical or administrative bureaucrats would dare to block professors' titles and funding? Look at this fireball the size of a basin before you speak!

On Earth, there's no such thing as higher academic level equating to stronger combat power. Here, Elena alone could wipe out half an Imperial Knights or cause the Empire to lose its national fortune in an afternoon. Even if the Emperor consumed three pounds of brainwashing powder, he wouldn't dare to parachute any leaders or civil servants into the academy. Even those noble school board members would have to put on a smiling face.

However, academic disputes and controversies on Earth are at most just empty talk, at worst involving stealing poison from the lab and poisoning people. If all else fails, there's always the hammer and fist debate. But academic disputes here can really be a situation where at least one of the two people has to die. Moreover, whose theory is more correct is directly reflected in their fighting ability, highlighting that being weak is the original sin.

"The good news is that our papers won't turn into fireballs, but the bad news is that we can't use papers for dark duels, which leads to a bunch of slackers."

As I passed through the corridor, I saw the magical academy's characteristic academic debate in the backyard. Two people, who were probably ordinary faculty members, were exchanging arcane ritual arrays in the training field, and the barrier surrounding them even shone with a powerful golden light.

"Young Miss, who do you think will win?"

“Hmm…you’re all wrong~” Livia shook her head, then pointed to the one on the left, “That one is less wrong, it should win.”

There are amateur scientists on both sides, but in the magical world, no amateur mage would go to the gates of the Imperial Royal Academy to promote their strange theories, because, as mentioned before, "See this barrier? You need to break this barrier first so you can get in before we discuss anything."

The teachers' dormitory consists of single rooms, which are not particularly large, but are fully equipped. In addition to the usual washing and living facilities, there are temperature-controlled enchanted cabinets for making replica potions, racks for storing medicinal herbs, drying, smoking, and air-drying racks for processing medicinal herbs, as well as matching alchemy devices and arcane arrays.

Furthermore, each dormitory room was equipped with a soundproof quiet room, stocked with a thick stack of paper and various pens and inks, for the professors to use for private research and contemplation, effectively preventing external interference. Although the size and luxury were not as great as the deluxe hotels they had stayed in in Rubyshire, it was certainly more comfortable and convenient for spellcasters.

Livia kicked off her shoes and stepped barefoot onto the thick blanket. She casually touched the fireplace with her little hand, and flames rose from the prepared fuel pile of phlogiston and charcoal powder. At the same time, the magic of the flames also lit up several crystal lamps in the room.

"Staying here for one night, the cost of materials alone must be almost a silver coin, right?" Leslie looked around. If she turned on those alchemy devices, the cost would increase rapidly.

"Mmm~ So soft..." Livia lay on the bed, burying her face in the thick feather quilt and rubbing against it, her two white little feet dangling off the edge of the bed and swinging back and forth.

"So, have you decided what kind of class you're going to teach in a few days?" Upon hearing this question, the little witch immediately reverted to her previous expressionless demeanor, nodded very seriously, and then pointed to the pile of things she had taken out and placed on the empty bookshelf in the room.

"Are you sure you want to talk about this?" Leslie glanced at the things, her eyelids twitching. The magic emanating from those things was already extraordinary, and it would be strange if the students could understand the content.

"Just a little bit~" The little witch meant that she only needed to teach a little bit of the basics. On the contrary, Roach was the guy who prepared his lessons seriously. Or rather, among this group of people, Roach was the only one who actually had teaching experience.

The content of his lesson preparation made Leslie feel as if she were seeing a great demon preparing some kind of evil pact, because strange symbols covered the entire page, and Roach was converting various arithmetic symbols from Earth into arithmetic symbols for this world.

Indeed, given that the essence extraction method of the Mystic Sorcerer that he studied is based on mathematics and modern chemistry, it is necessary to determine the students' mathematical level in order to teach this general part. Thus, a storm of mathematics from Earth is about to begin.

"Livia, help me make two hundred copies of these. I've already inquired about it; the Alchemy Refinement Department is a large course, basically the kind that the entire Alchemy Academy needs to take."

After all, no matter what level an alchemist is at, refining is a must-learn skill. Relying solely on buying refined raw materials would lead to bankruptcy. Therefore, refining and rune studies are major courses because they are fundamental subjects.

However, there are fewer people who specialize in it. It's like how mathematics and language are both basic subjects on Earth, but only a few people specialize in mathematics or Chinese language.

"Oh," Livia said, handing over the papers. One by one, the quill pens clumsily jumped out of her luggage. She then took out the ink and paper from the quiet room and began to copy and transcribe at a rapid pace.

"Besides those who are getting their gold plating and some who are about to graduate, there are about 190 people left in the Alchemy Academy who need to take this course. Considering some redundancy, 200 copies should be enough."

Yes, the entire Royal Academy, including the largest general education academy, has fewer than 1,500 students, less than the number of students in any elementary school on Earth. These 1,500-plus students are the elite talents of the entire empire, and even those with gilded diplomas are the future ruling class from noble families.

"I feel like my brain is about to explode, I'm going out for some fresh air~" The mermaid felt like those symbols were drilling into her brain like some kind of evil spell, her brain was throbbing as if it was about to explode, because she could understand a little bit of the meaning, although if she really wanted to do it, she could only pick up a pen and write the word "solution".

As for Alessina, who couldn't understand a single character, he didn't have this anxiety.

"So, Master Roach, what about your ranking assessment? I heard that the academy's holiday will end in a few days, and then three alchemists will conduct a formal assessment of your abilities."

"Not difficult" The alchemist's assessment is different from that of the arcane mage. Basically, as long as you can produce something and reproduce it, there will be no specific theoretical assessment. After all, alchemy formulas are... trade secrets.

"You don't mean to..."

“That magic crossbow is obviously very suitable for this kind of test.” Roach said that he just needed to bring out the machine gun version. As for the need to connect to the rune disk, it wasn’t a big problem. After all, alchemists wouldn’t ask their fellow alchemists what their alchemical devices were.

Meanwhile, in Catherfield County, with the arrival of Imperial reinforcements, the two sides engaged in numerous battles on the winter plains of Catherfield. The Grand Duke's army was clearly at a disadvantage, both in terms of manpower, resources, and tactics. However, the Imperial army was not as fortunate as it had initially anticipated.

"Whoosh~" An Imperial soldier pressed himself against the arrow shield, his foot on the front handle of the magic crossbow, and rapidly cranked the two cranks with both hands. The light patterns on the crossbow gradually lit up, and when the green gem at the very top began to glow, he suddenly turned to the side, pressed himself against the cover, and aimed his weapon at the crossbow cart that was firing arrows wildly from the top of the wall.

"Bang!" A huge explosion was accompanied by a burst of white air that shot out in all directions. The triangular cone-shaped destructive projectile, about the thickness of three fingers, accurately hit the ballista on the city wall. The magic gem inside exploded, and a fireball rose from the top of the wall.

"Well done!" These magic missiles are about twenty times more expensive than crossbow bolts, but if used properly, their power is indeed remarkable, and they can achieve the effect of a grenade launcher.

"Clatter, clatter~" The archer squatted on the ground, in front of a drum-shaped device. As he kept shaking the handle, a crisp sound of crystals colliding came from inside. After about ten minutes of effort, he finally finished charging the "rapid-fire mechanism".

Its principle still follows the charging method designed by Roach, but the single-shot charging is changed to multi-shot parallel charging, and the drum itself is also treated with anti-magic to slow down the energy loss rate of the crossbow bullets inside.

In short, it combines the firing rate of several shots every few seconds into a single burst and fires it in a short period of time. However, there are drawbacks. Even with anti-magic treatment, this type of equipment cannot use high-quality anti-magic and energy storage materials, so energy will still be lost. Only the first shot has normal power, and it will continuously decrease afterward.

"Load!" the main gunner shouted. The assistant gunner, carrying two rapid-fire mechanisms, rushed over along the cover made of wooden fences, shields, and large metal shields. Before he even reached the main gunner, an arrow was lodged in his head.

At this distance, there is no difference in power and accuracy between the magic crossbow and the bow, and the latter even has a higher rate of fire. The firepower sustainability is also about the same. Although the magic crossbow does not consume much of the archer's stamina, it does consume the secondary archer's stamina and costs more money.

The duration of firepower for the side using the magic crossbow is not determined by the weapon itself, but by the number of silver coins in the general's or logistics officer's chest. The number of silver coins you can count determines how many shots you can fire.

However, the magic crossbow has one major advantage: when using the "rain of arrows" strategy, these devices equipped with external rapid-fire mechanisms can achieve a burst rate of fire far exceeding that of bows and arrows, or even any ranged weapon.

"The archer's down! Quick, cover him!" The assistant archer shoved the archer aside, bent down, secured the two rapid-fire mechanisms to the cast iron frame, and forcefully lifted the overly heavy "Heavy Magic Crossbow." He stepped onto the pedal and pressed it hard. The empire's alchemists and mechanics had solved the problem of loading and charging the bullets using a very simple, sewing machine-like structure.

The shooter frantically slammed on the pedals, causing the belt to rotate the flywheel. Several long, strip-shaped charging structures started working simultaneously, transmitting energy to the uppermost launching mechanism via a mithril cable.

Aside from the fact that the entire structure is 2 meters high and weighs more than half a ton, it does indeed achieve the effect of machine gun fire.

"Bang bang bang!" The loud firing sounds blended together, and the emerald green magic bullets washed over the wall like a rainstorm. Except for the first few shots, the power of the subsequent shots did decrease, but they were still enough to penetrate the thin shield. Only the thick wall could stop these magic bullets from penetrating.

Soldiers of the Grand Duke's army were constantly being hit by bullets. The triple heavy armor could ensure that they would not be killed by a single shot, but it could not stop the destructive effect of the wind-attribute magic bullets. The soldiers might be fine, but their armor would be severely damaged, and the logistics officers could not keep up with the repairs.

Moreover, when the armor is breached to a certain extent, the person is not necessarily unharmed. Soldiers who have been hit by too many bullets often have their entire torso like a pillow that has been beaten up, with all the "inner cores" exposed. Flesh, bones, and internal organs are mixed between the metal plates, and the damage to morale appears to be greater than the actual damage.

Moreover, the attack of the Wind Demon Bullet will cause severe blunt force and impact effects. Even those soldiers who hold on will find it difficult to catch their breath for a short time, and their physical strength and combat effectiveness will decline significantly.

"Kill that guy!" The Grand Duke's army also has its own style of magic crossbow. After two years of research, the "war constructers" among the alchemists have basically figured out the ridiculously simple principle of this magic crossbow, and thus a series of various improved versions have been produced. Well, none of the above paid patent fees to Roach or Mr. Burke.

"Bang!" Like the sound of cannon fire, a cloud of crimson smoke exploded from the castle tower, and a fireball, stretched into a long strip at high speed, flew towards the frantically firing point.

"Boom!" The fireball exploded on the magic barrier that had been deployed in time. The flames flowed along the barrier to both sides. Several Imperial soldiers who couldn't dodge could only scream and run towards the cut-off moat, rolling around frantically in the dried-up mud, trying to extinguish the magical flames on their bodies.

The fire explosion was blocked, but the elemental magic cannon fire from the city defense magic cannon was not. A golden sphere rose from the sharp crystal, hovered in the sky, and turned into several bolts of lightning that fell down, turning the heavy magic crossbow that was just raging into a pile of scrap metal.

Currently, the Empire has no good solutions for the rapid deployment of magic crossbows. The only constructive solution they have proposed is to build simple temporary rails and install them on a railcar for mobility. However, this is only suitable for defensive battles and it would be difficult to lay such a project on the offensive battlefield.

Another option is to install it on trains as a train defense system, but the Royal Railway Company has no intention of doing so yet, and the plan to weaponize trains has been overtaken by the intriguing "Assault Rotating Flamethrower Tank" that has recently become very popular in the capital.

Of course, if Roach knew, he would suggest that they further optimize this two-meter-long, half-ton thing and turn it into a weapon station for armored vehicles, which would solve the tank's firepower problem. As for the drive problem, there would be no way to solve it.

"Quickly put up the magic bullet defense shield!" Several metal fork-shaped objects were pushed onto the city wall, forming an earthen-yellow curtain between them. This thin magical barrier could greatly neutralize the wind element magic effect of the magic bullet, causing the magic bullet to slow down drastically after penetrating this "earth defense barrier," making it difficult even to penetrate leather armor.

(The leather armor in this world is enchanted, and its defensive power is equivalent to a few millimeters of iron. It can also withstand police pistol bullets on Earth.)

The only problem is that the essence of this thing is the elemental neutralization effect, which means that each magic bullet will consume a portion of the magic power of the energy storage gem on the base. This offensive and defensive confrontation is less a confrontation of technology and firepower and more a confrontation of money.

Whoever has more money wins. If the defender has more energy-storing gems than your magic bullets, you will have almost no way to destroy this defensive barrier remotely.

The battle between the two sides has already burned through several cartloads of silver coins, and it is estimated that it will continue to burn for some time to come. However, the Empire, which controls the minting rights and has several newly discovered large silver mines, is least afraid of this kind of money-burning tactic against the Grand Duke's army.

Especially after the introduction of the princess's "new performance law" and "new management law", the "non-natural losses" of silver mines have decreased significantly, and the mining efficiency of silver mines has also increased significantly. After all, if there are reports from miners or KPI failures, multiple responsible parties will decide who should take the blame. If they cannot decide, they will go to the octagon to decide who should take the blame.

Given the miners' considerable power, the management had no choice but to give them some benefits, and they dared not go too far with the issue of unnatural losses. The miners, considering the difficulty of filing a complaint (after all, you have to make it to the princess's door alive) and the fact that KPIs require cooperation from all levels to be met, could barely tolerate it as long as the higher-ups didn't go too far.

This proves that whether it's politics or economics and business, it's all about the art of compromise, and it requires a larger and more unreasonable form of violent suppression to force them to compromise, such as the bizarre octagon system.

Not to mention, in addition to resolving differences and forcing them to compromise, the Octagon system can also generate revenue from ticket sales. This has resulted in the Empire having one of the healthiest finances, but the finances only ensure that the Empire and the Grand Duke's army can burn through money together. The money cannot be converted into qualified soldiers and weapons in a short period of time.

Therefore, this war cannot be dragged on for too long, and gold coins cannot fill an empty stomach. Once one of the three major grain-producing areas is destroyed, the rising price of grain alone will be enough to evaporate all the current fiscal surplus.

Chapter 226 The True Legendary Weapon

The siege of the castle has entered its final or rather, most tedious phase. Both sides are engaged in one futile exchange of blows around the city walls and moat. Both sides have a railway line that can quickly transport ammunition, supplies, and personnel from the rear to the battlefield.

Overall, the Empire had the upper hand because it had more forces at its disposal, but the Grand Duke's army had the advantage of terrain. In an era and world without indirect fire artillery, the defensive power provided by the city walls was simply beyond imagination.

This forced the Imperial Army to bring out their ancient counterweight catapults. "Release!" The heavy counterweight arm slammed down, and using leverage, it tossed up the net connected to the long leather strap. Three polished stone balls fell like meteorites, leaving behind irregular glowing patterns of various colors on the surface of the rocks, formed by a simple enchanting process.

"Boom!" The stones collided with the city wall, and the steel-reinforced bricks shattered along with the stones. The enchanted magic expanded and poured onto the barrier, causing the radiant barrier on the city wall to fluctuate violently.

"Bring some more over!" the quartermaster shouted. "We'll have to wait, the craftsmen haven't finished processing those stones yet!" The Graystone River basin is full of gray and white stones of all sizes on the riverbank. If these stones are thrown directly, they won't be able to do any damage to the supernaturally reinforced city walls. They might even be intercepted in mid-air by various rapidly activated spells.

Therefore, the alchemists accompanying the army needed to direct the craftsmen to polish the stones into relatively smooth spheres, inscribe runes on the surface, and then use a set up arcane ritual array to simply enchant them, turning them into "magic stones" that could be used.

Not only is it more powerful, but it can also break through the opponent's city defense spell barrier and prevent being intercepted in mid-air by a mage's simple spell.

The way to intercept these curved stone projectiles is not to explode or stop them in mid-air, but rather to release multiple acceleration spells when these stone projectiles are about to reach the apex of their trajectory, making their trajectory even higher, and eventually allowing them to cross the entire defensive zone and land on the other side of the fortress or city.

A skilled tactical mage can even create a subtle angle between the acceleration direction and the trajectory, causing the trajectory to not only become higher but also tilt, ultimately avoiding the impact point.

Even if the opponent adjusts the trajectory, causing it to eventually land in the town center, the higher trajectory height means a longer descent time. Before its descent accelerates enough to penetrate the fortress and any magical defenses, a Featherfall spell will turn the stone projectile into a slowly falling feather.

It's like someone throwing something at the other side of a wall, and the person on the other side catches it, then slowly puts it down, releasing the kinetic energy as potential energy in a more gradual way.

The enchanting process of the magic stone bullet is essentially about preemptively seizing the enchantment slot, preventing the defending mages from quickly enchanting the object a second time. After all, the difficulty of enchanting spells and enchanting processes increases exponentially with the number of times they are applied to the target object.

This kind of attack requires the mage to complete the spell in the shortest possible time, even within a second or two. In such a short time, to perform a second enchantment... it can only be said that such a master-level arcane mage would not generally be used as a human interceptor on the battlefield. Even if he could, with the increasing difficulty of casting the spell, it would be a question of how many attacks he could intercept with his focus and energy.

The catapults had run out of ammunition, and the magic array behind the attacking camp could only gather so much magic power that any further extraction would affect the morale and stamina of the attacking soldiers.

The most common types of magic on the battlefield are death magic, mental magic, and life magic. In contrast, elemental magic is exhausted by the various elemental magic cannons of both sides shortly after the start of the battle. In a sense, this is why there are relatively few high-damage elemental magic cannons in this world.

"Attack!" The horn signaling the attack sounded once again. Rows of soldiers holding shields covered the siege ladders as they approached the city wall. The arrow rain from the city wall became exceptionally weak and ineffective. After all, the original steel-tipped enchanted arrows and alchemical alloy armor-piercing arrows had been exhausted. The quiver stored on the city wall and in the towers only contained hastily made arrows without even fletching.

The lethality of this thing is limited to whether it can hit the helmet seam or the eyes of the target, and to cause casualties to conscripts who are not well armored and are carrying sandbags to fill the moat.

"Clang!" A cheap arrow made of scrap iron and wooden sticks shattered on the breastplate. Although the arrow itself lacked penetrating power, its kinetic energy still caused Sir Siarlow to tilt slightly and almost fall off the ladder.

Thanks to the existence of magic, this city wall is not the kind of low wall that is a few meters high, but a monster that is nearly 20 meters high. If someone in full heavy armor falls from this height, even if they are a human from another world, they will at least suffer multiple fractures and paraplegia. Of course, the most likely outcome is that they will die on the spot.

The soldiers on the city wall were working in pairs, each carrying an axe and spear, pushing the ladder with all their might. Unfortunately, the siege ladders of today have evolved over a hundred years and are no longer the ordinary wooden ladders of the Dark Ages.

The exceptionally hard ebony structure, felled from the Black Forest, had metal cladding at the joints and a square metal base at the bottom. Two iron chains hung from the middle of the ladder, securely fastened to the rock spikes driven into the wall by infantry at the base. The defenders tried several times but couldn't budge the ladder, so they had to resort to their backup plan.

"Blazing Potion!!" Upon hearing the screams of his colleagues above, Sir Siarro decisively rubbed the ring on his middle finger with his thumb. A layer of dim red light enveloped his body, and almost the instant the defensive magic was activated, scorching liquid carrying raging flames poured down from the city wall.

The infantryman above frantically reached out to shield himself from the flames, but the movement of looking up caused the flames to penetrate his visor, and he screamed as he fell down the ladder. The knight leaped up a few steps rapidly, flipped over the wall, and burst out of the raging flames like a demon from purgatory.

The shield fixed to his left arm slammed into the face of a guard who had just dropped his axe and was about to draw his weapon. The extraordinary level III strength directly flattened the canteen helmet along with the fragile flesh inside. The "H"-shaped sword holder fixed to his back, made of three metal bars, disintegrated as his right hand pulled the latch, and his hand smoothly grasped the falling sword hilt.

"Die!" The sword, at least 1.6 meters long, was swung out with both hands, centered on the right shoulder, and directly cleaved through the shoulder armor of a guard. The serrated blade was firmly stuck in the gap between the neck bone and the shoulder armor.

"Hahaha!" The jazz kicked the unfortunate man hard in the stomach, and with the momentum, he pulled the blade of his sword back, the terrible serrations quickly tearing through the bones and flesh, pulling blood vessels and everything else out from the gaps in the armor.

A Knight Commander of Rank III with Extraordinary Physique successfully scaled the wall, a terrible blow to the defenders. To put it roughly, it was like an Astartes wielding a melee weapon charging into a large group of soldiers.

The heavy and precious enchanted full body armor may not be as functional as power armor, but its defensive capabilities are probably not much different. The remaining armor-piercing bolts can only penetrate the outer armor plates at close range, and have no effect on the multiple inner linings.

"Serpent's Tail Sword!!! It's the Viper's Sword!!!" The most famous weapon of the Viper Cialo family is this greatsword, which is said to have been passed down since before the Dark Ages.

The blade and hilt together exceed 2.2 meters in length. The blade is made of countless interlocking serrated metal plates, possessing a sturdiness far exceeding its fragile appearance. This legendary magical weapon is extremely simple compared to others of its kind, as it appears to have no special characteristics other than being sturdy, sharp, and heavy. Its magical effects are manifested in…

With a "whoosh," the sturdy sword blade disintegrated into a giant python composed of countless sharp blades, which lashed out like a whip, clearing a large area on the city wall. These intertwined metal pieces, in their disintegrated state, possessed an extremely strong cutting effect.

Furthermore, this sword possesses a faint sense of self, capable of cooperating with its master's offensive actions. It can be like a venomous metal snake, accurately burrowing into the gaps in armor, or tightly entangled in the weapons of several guards, turning these standard weapons into scrap metal.

"Click!" As Jazz swung back sharply, the supple blade quickly retracted, covered by heavy metal teeth, transforming back into a two-handed greatsword. "Clang!" The blade and the battle axe intersected. As Jazz tilted the blade to one side, the tip of the blade coiled back like a snake, wrapping around the axe handle, and the tip pierced straight towards the enemy's eyes.

"Sizzle!" The iron gauntlet gripped the blade tightly, sparks flying, and at the same time, a chill spread from the blade towards the knight's hands.

“A viper… I should have thought of that.” The burly man, who was at least 2 meters tall, loosened his grip and let the pale golden blade disappear from his palm.

“Frost Giants…” Sir Ciallo swung his shield from his right arm, gripping the Serpent's Tail sword with both hands. “How much did the Grand Duke offer? And you actually dared to get involved in this?”

The Frost Giants Mercenary Group is a mercenary group active in the Northern Highlands and the area around the World's Ridge Mountains. It is composed of hybrid beastmen, highlanders, and orcs. They charge high fees but are extremely powerful in combat, and their equipment is quite good due to their excavation of ruins near the Forgotten City.

"You guys deal with the others, leave this to me. This is a legendary weapon..." The burly man gripped a long-handled battle axe—a weapon a normal person would need two hands to wield—in one hand, while the other hand was gripping an Imperial knight by the neck. He casually tossed the man off the city wall like a piece of trash. Behind him, other mercenaries and the knights who had scaled the wall were locked in a fierce battle, with the latter being firmly suppressed.

"So that's Icehowl..." Cold sweat began to trickle down the face behind the Jazz's visor. He could easily dominate the Grand Duke's army with the help of a legendary weapon, but the problem was that his opponent was also wielding a legendary weapon—a battle axe that had severed the head of the demonic dragon "Icehowl" that roamed the mountains.

Reforged using dragon blood, dragon bones, and dragon breath, it was upgraded from an ordinary magical weapon to a legendary weapon with an "eternal" effect. This is the biggest difference between legendary weapons and other magical weapons; besides their legendary reputation, their magical effects do not weaken with use or the passage of time, which is the fundamental reason why they are called legendary.

After all, to become a legend, one needs to leave behind a lot of legendary stories, which means that the weapon or equipment cannot be the kind that is only used once and then becomes unusable. Even with Livia's strength, she cannot guarantee that she can achieve this "constant" effect. Moreover, even she can only enchant the simplest constant effect. Anything slightly more complex depends on luck and materials.

The battle axe handle was jade white, with a fine gold counterweight ring inlaid at the end. The axe head itself was reinforced with dragon bone, and the blade surface had countless scale-like blue patterns. The part where the handle connected to the axe head was covered with frost-white scales and fur—genuine dragon hide. Frostwolf fur hung down along both sides of the axe blade, like a row of gray-white braids.

"Hmm, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen you, Sir, as my opponent, would I?" The burly man lowered the axe blade, switching to a two-handed grip. The power of frost spread from his body, and the gray-white hair on the handle danced wildly.