Transformed into Cosmic Horror in a Sci-Fi Universe-Chapter 121 : Prelude to War
The continent of Rohal has a very peculiar history.
Namely, that the conflict between science and magic has persisted for hundreds of years.
They refused to accept each other, remaining in constant opposition and waging numerous wars, both large and small, for about 300 years.
However, their powers were always evenly matched, so time simply passed without either side achieving a decisive victory.
Thus, the western part of the Rohal continent belonged to the Lakru Empire, a world of magic.
The eastern part was controlled by the Dhala Republic, a world of science and machinery.
Their long-standing opposition wasn’t merely due to their different technologies.
“Those arrogant and foolish ones who don’t believe in god.”
“The great magic god Lak will bring divine punishment upon them.”
“You speak as if you’re gods. There are no gods in this world. Only science exists.”
“Your magic is nothing but a scientific phenomenon that can be explained through the manipulation of internal mana using formulas.”
Their ideologies were fundamentally incompatible.
The Lakru Empire worshipped the god of magic and believed magic was a divine gift, while the Dhala Republic maintained there were no gods and everything simply followed the laws of physics.
They continued to fight, never mixing with each other.
Today.
They began preparing for the great war that would put an end to their long-standing conflict.
“Lak has given us divine revelation.”
“We shall sweep them all away.”
It began with the Lakru Empire.
The Lakru Empire dispatched their First Knight Order, said to be the strongest among all magic knight orders, with serious intentions of starting a war.
“They’re invading again.”
“How many times is this now?”
The border guards on duty sighed deeply as they watched the Lakru Empire’s knight order advancing openly.
Rather than tension about war, they only felt exasperation that it was starting again.
The guard immediately picked up the radio to report the enemy invasion.
“This is Dorak City Guard Section 7. Enemy invasion confirmed.”
[We’ve confirmed it too. They’re all showing up on our detection grid. Pretty bold, aren’t they?]
The superiors had already confirmed the radar detection, making the report unnecessary.
They clicked their tongues.
They’re invading openly.
This meant one of two things.
Either they’re confident they can win even with such an obvious approach, or it’s merely a provocation.
There had been cases where they would approach the border like this, not attacking but moving around to provoke.
“It seems like the former. Those are… the First Knight Order…!”
As they got close enough to be identified, the guard could determine who they were.
The First Knight Order, considered the strongest magic knight order in the Lakru Empire.
Their commander, Knight Commander Oreka, was visible.
“What? The First Knight Order?”
At those words, the guard captain startled and hastily grabbed the guard’s binoculars.
After confirming it was indeed the First Knight Order, he gritted his teeth.
“Those bastards… looks like they’re serious this time.”
The First Knight Order.
Known as the Lakru Empire’s strongest knight order, they were estimated to have combat power equivalent to one mechanized division of the Dhala Republic.
This was certainly not a force to be deployed for typical small-scale skirmishes.
Usually, when they sent knight orders, they would send lower-ranked ones or just a small portion of an order.
“Emergency situation! They’ve really come to wage war this time!”
“…!!”
“Hmm.”
At the guard captain’s words, the entire guard unit began to tense up.
A real, proper war.
Though it had happened before, it had been quite a while since the last one.
Most had been small-scale battles.
And those were just minor provocations, not real attempts at war.
“Reporting in. Confirmed the invading enemy is the entire First Knight Order. I repeat, confirmed the presence of the entire First Knight Order.”
The higher-ups naturally became tense upon hearing the report.
This was truly the prelude to war.
“We’ve issued a Level 1 alert to the 3rd Division at the border. We’re ready to begin war operations at any moment.”
In the conference room where the highest commanders of the Dhala Republic had gathered.
They were discussing the impending war.
“How do you assess the situation?”
“This can’t be seen as a mere provocation. They clearly intend to wage a full-scale war.”
“Even if it were meant as a provocation or harassment, we cannot dare let this slide.”
“Indeed. I believe we must respond decisively.”
They haven’t attacked yet.
They’re just quietly stationed in the border surveillance zone.
It was as if they were giving time to prepare for war.
As if they intended to crush everything once preparations were complete.
That intention was palpable.
Even if this was merely for show, the Dhala Republic had no intention of letting it pass.
A provocation of this scale warranted starting a war from their side, even if the other side hadn’t intended it.
That’s why they had placed the entire 3rd Division on Level 1 alert, with other divisions standing by ready to provide support at any moment.
“We must consider the possibility of a trap.”
“The fact that only the First Knight Order is here concerns me.”
Amidst all this, the possibility of a trap was being raised.
No matter how powerful the First Knight Order was, equivalent to a full division’s strength, it seemed suspicious that they only sent them to the surveillance zone.
There was concern that they might be trying to draw attention here while launching a surprise attack elsewhere.
“Still, we can’t ignore the First Knight Order. We don’t know how many forces they have waiting in reserve.”
It was a situation requiring attention on all fronts.
They had no choice but to divide their forces.
They couldn’t focus too much on one area, but they couldn’t leave things alone either.
The Dhala Republic found itself in deep contemplation.
“As expected, they haven’t concentrated their forces here.”
“Yes. They seem to be considering the possibility of a trap.”
Through the First Knight Order’s report, they confirmed that the 3rd Division had been put on alert.
However, their report indicated there were no movements beyond that.
The Supreme Commander of the Lakru Empire smiled slyly upon hearing this report and said,
“Shall we shake them up a bit more? Third Knight Order, prepare to deploy.”
“Third Knight Order preparing for deployment. I’ll relay the orders.”
They prepared the Third Knight Order, which, while not as strong as the First Knight Order, was the third strongest knight order.
They planned to send them to the border region where the First Knight Order was stationed.
Once the Third Knight Order showed up there as well, the other side would surely be more unsettled.
That was what they were aiming for.
‘Yes, become more unsettled. Move your forces. Move more forces to this side.’
Draw their attention to this area.
Then have the prepared secret special forces attack from another direction.
It was a simple diversionary tactic.
But it wasn’t just simple.
They would gradually deploy forces near where the First Knight Order was stationed, testing the waters.
If the response was halfhearted, they were prepared to engage in a head-on battle.
The Dhala Republic would have much to worry about.
Whether to concentrate their forces for a proper response, or keep them dispersed in consideration of surprise attacks elsewhere.
‘I can see right through your thoughts. You foolish ones who rely only on machines.’
Humans can develop themselves further through the great power of mana bestowed by the gods.
Yet from their perspective, they couldn’t understand the Dhala Republic, which sought to rely on mere machines created by humans.
That’s why the people of the Lakru Empire thought of them as fools who had abandoned divine power.
However, they weren’t as foolish as the Lakru Empire thought.
“The Third Knight Order has been spotted.”
“Hah, are they playing games now?”
The Dhala Republic saw through the Lakru Empire’s intentions.
They were probing them.
Forcing them to choose between concentrating or dispersing their forces.
‘They probably plan to attack wherever becomes vulnerable, whichever choice we make.’
But that was underestimating the Dhala Republic’s response capabilities.
“The war has already begun anyway. It doesn’t matter who attacks first. They provoked us first.”
The Dhala Republic had no intention of waiting.
They planned to attack first.
“Where’s the area with the weakest defenses, away from where the knight orders are gathered?”
“The border region under the Fifth Knight Order’s control.”
“Good, we’ll strike there. Deploy the 6th Division to the forces currently in standoff, and send everything else except the garrison forces there.”
“Yes, sir!”
Following the commander’s orders, commands were swiftly relayed and forces began to move.
To avoid detection by the Lakru Empire, stealth forces capable of moving covertly moved first.
They reached the other border region.
‘As expected, they haven’t anticipated this at all.’
Seeing the relaxed guard forces despite the imminent possibility of war, the stealth forces who realized they had struck true began to move quickly.
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‘Commence attack.’
BOOM!!
A massive explosion erupted from one side of the Lakru Empire’s walls.
This was the true beginning of the war.
