Edwin Hector spoke.
"I will not deny your words. The Hector Kingdom is suffering from a severe famine, as the world knows, and we have reached our limit in borrowing money from outside. Therefore, we have decided to attack the Cairo Kingdom. To escape the cycle of endless debt, we had no choice but to make this decision."
"Are you asking for understanding?"
"No. What I mean to convey is how desperate we are. The fate of the Hector Kingdom hangs in the balance in this war. We do not have enough supplies. As you mentioned, in about three months, we will inevitably face difficulties due to the dwindling food. Even so, we cannot retreat. Even if we have to forage for wild herbs in the mountains and resort to eating the flesh of our fallen comrades, we will not back down until we achieve our desires."
His words were chilling.
Edwin Hector's attitude was resolute, speaking of cannibalism, a realm no human should ever experience.
Once, Edwin Hector had gone out to a temple.
The state of the Hector Kingdom was truly tragic.
The land, once bathed in golden hues, was cracked due to severe drought, and children with ribs protruding sat on the ground, staring blankly at the earth.
When those children spotted Edwin Hector, they stretched out their bony hands, begging for food.
How did it come to this? As someone who inherited the royal bloodline, Edwin Hector pondered daily and began to consider attacking the Cairo Kingdom from that moment.
It was as Roman had predicted.
His words had pushed the Hector Kingdom to the brink.
However, the truth was that the Hector Kingdom was destined to fall off the cliff, whether in this war or at any other time.
"You know my plan, so you understand our mindset well. Inform the Cairo royal family. If they do not accept our proposal, we will fight to the end until we achieve what we desire. Do not think that time is on your side. If we cannot gain anything from this land, we will spread the corpse poison we obtained from the necromancer and turn this place into a land of death."
He turned the situation around.
His words were a counterattack, pushing them into a corner.
Edwin Hector had no intention of returning empty-handed from the start.
"My name is Edwin Hector. As the prince of the Hector Kingdom, I am prepared to do anything to save my people. Roman Dmitri, what choice will you make? Will you fall alongside the Hector Kingdom, which is pushed to the brink, or will you seek a reasonable compromise for the future?"
Cairo.
To them, he was a ruthless villain.
But it did not matter.
Doing anything for the kingdom was what mattered.
"The choice is yours, Cairo."
This was how Edwin Hector viewed the role of the royal family.
The opponent revealed his name.
Edwin Hector.
The man known as the Star of Hector.
It was a name he had heard while investigating the Hector Kingdom.
"Unlike his incompetent father, he has grown into a remarkable figure at the heart of the Hector Kingdom. Since childhood, he has been involved in the kingdom's affairs, solving numerous problems, and people admired his abilities, calling him the Star of Hector. Even amidst the famine, various nations, including the Kronos Empire, sought political marriages with Edwin Hector, recognizing him as a talent both inside and outside the kingdom. And now, such a being has taken command of this war."
It was as expected.
In this war, he did not think an ordinary person would lead.
The systematic and bold judgments made it impossible for Roman to deny the opponent's abilities.
The role of the royal family was clear.
He knew they would never retreat, but Roman Dmitri was also far from ordinary.
"Ugh!"
"Argh!"
"What are you doing?!" Roman stabbed his sword into Thompson's thigh.
Thanks to the muffled sound, the soldiers would not hear his screams.
Roman firmly pinned Thompson, who writhed in pain, slowly twisting the sword.
"What am I doing? As you can hear, I am stabbing this guy's thigh with my sword."
"Just kill me! Even if they are enemies, why torture me?!"
"Why torture you? Such an emotional statement. I have no interest in the circumstances of the Hector Kingdom. Regardless of the reason, you crossed the border and massacred the innocent soldiers of the Cairo Kingdom. And yet, you cry like a coward just because I stabbed your thigh a little. Do not be mistaken. Just as you care for the soldiers of the Hector Kingdom, I also care for my people. So why should I show mercy to the enemy? The war has already begun. And you, who crossed the line first, cannot expect me to act as a human."
Edwin Hector was gravely mistaken.
Roman Dmitri was not a reasonable person.
No matter what choices the opponent presented, he acted according to what he believed was right.
Crack!
"Argh, argh!"
Thompson struggled.
In the pain of having his bones cut, he sent a pitiful plea as if asking to be killed immediately.
Roman did not know Thompson.
He bore no malice towards him, but simply because he stood on the opposite side in battle, he tortured him without hesitation.
In a world of the survival of the fittest, such actions were natural.
Regardless of the values held or the justice pursued, the moment one recognized the other as an enemy and showed hostility, they could do anything to bring the opponent down.
That was all.
Roman did not overthink it.
Since he had no intention of backing down from Edwin Hector's threats, he tortured Thompson as if to make him hear.
Blood splattered.
His face was drenched in blood.
Roman revealed a fierce gaze and tightened his grip on Thompson's collar.
"Just as you perform your duty, I will also do what I believe is right. So never let yourself be captured by me. I will kill everyone I face in pain. Not a single one will be spared, and even if you choose to raise the white flag and flee, I will follow you to the end and stab you in the back. My name is Roman Dmitri. Unlike your grand cause, I will make you pay for the one reason that you touched my people."
He spat out hostility.
The Hector Kingdom would not have known.
From the moment they crossed the border, they had provoked an enemy they should not have touched.
The Hector Kingdom had already burned its bridges.
If they did not choose to surrender, Roman would also spread fear to the opponent through the communicator.
Thud.
"Grk."
He stabbed his sword into Thompson's neck.
The sound of a life fading echoed through the communicator, and Edwin Hector could not utter a word.
Thompson hung his head.
Roman brought the communicator back to his mouth.
"If you choose to fight to the death, we will meet soon."
With those words, he cut off the communication.
The communication ended.
Contrary to the rage that felt like it would explode from within, Edwin Hector's expression was cold.
"Roman Dmitri. He is more dangerous than I thought."
The method of mutual destruction.
An ordinary person would have no choice but to shrink back.
A statement of dying together is something that would be unbearable for most hearts, yet the opponent's reaction was even more intense.
He killed Thompson.
As if to make it clear.
Even knowing what circumstances Edwin Hector had and what mindset he held, he sent a warning by butchering Thompson's body.
He was a dangerously chilling man.
Knowing that losing momentum even a single step back would mean defeat, Roman Dmitri did not allow a moment's gap.
He was the type of person one would never want to meet as an enemy.
The one variable that arose in the perfect plan was growing in a direction Edwin Hector did not wish to imagine.
"... What do you intend to do?"
It was Jackson.
From beginning to end, Jackson had listened to the conversation.
Especially in the situation where Thompson was being tortured, he could hardly control his emotions, feeling as if his face would explode.
Edwin Hector spoke.
"If we do not make a decision and spend time as we did before, we will slowly wither away and ultimately lose the meaning of our nation. Therefore, we made a decision. We mobilized all possible funds and gathered warriors willing to sacrifice their lives for the country. Jackson, we have no way back. The people remaining in Hector now value the rewards we bring more than our survival."
It was a harsh reality.
However, that was the burden Edwin Hector had to bear.
Even if many people died, the thought of having survived would outweigh any gratitude.
That is how humans are.
Knowing this, Edwin Hector bore the burden.
He took on the responsibility of the war, leaving the role of king to himself and heading to the battlefield.
Thus, "We cannot return empty-handed. Immediately mobilize the troops and form a siege around the location where Roman Dmitri appears. And if we capture him, for the sake of avenging Thompson, who died in pain, I will personally carve out Roman Dmitri's flesh piece by piece."
He spoke with malice.
In Edwin Hector's sincerity, Jackson nodded.
"I will obey your command."
In this war, even if the end was death, Jackson would not regret being one of Edwin Hector's people.
They changed their strategy.
The Aura Knights of Hector stepped forward.
"Follow me."
Ten minutes ago, the order had come from Edwin Hector.
"We can no longer be swayed by the remnants of Cairo. From now on, we will eliminate the beings in the darkness, even at the cost of sacrifice. The Aura Knights will lead the way, and when attacked, the soldiers in other areas will ascend the mountain in unison. It is a battle of overwhelming numbers. We will give our flesh and take the enemy's bones."
He made a decision.
The Heavenly Net.
The moment Roman Dmitri revealed himself with a single attack, the troops would boldly charge, blocking all escape routes for Roman.
It was a strategy that would inevitably involve sacrifices.
Edwin Hector hoped to achieve maximum results with minimal damage, but upon facing Roman's hostility through the communicator, he changed his mind.
He acknowledged the opponent.
To catch the monster, he judged that the soldiers needed to be pushed to the brink.
The leading Aura Knights.
A bright light burst forth from them.
It was a magical artifact.
It reacted to mana and emitted light, and any enemy touched by this light would be temporarily exposed to sparkling shards of light.
It was a trap to maximize the effect of the Heavenly Net.
During the activation of the magical artifact, the Aura Knights would struggle to exert their full power, but someone had to risk their life to hang a bell around Roman's neck.
Thus, the knights of Hector risked their lives.
Even if they had to die as bait, their strong desire to lead this battle to victory was evident in their eyes.
"There is no one ahead! Move slowly!"
The Aura Knight cleared the path.
Leading the way, the Hector troops moved forward.
Everyone's faces were filled with confidence.
As they gained certainty that they had resolved the unknown fear, the previously slow search operation regained momentum.
However, that was an early certainty.
The moment they stepped into a space they thought was completely empty, the space twisted, and something reflecting the light flashed.
Swish!
Blood splattered.
The Aura Knight widened his eyes, and with a mouthful of blood, he collapsed.
Beyond him, soldiers from Cairo, who had not been seen just moments ago, appeared like a mirage and charged in unison.
"Attack!"
"Attack the enemies!"
The master of the sword, Chris, shouted with veins bulging in his neck.
When they first entered the mountain, Roman Dmitri had anticipated that the situation would turn out like this.