Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 321: Great Raid(5)

Chapter 321: Great Raid(5)

Mavius stood atop his horse , his eyes scanning the battlefield below as the chaos unfolded in front of him. Though his disciplined soldiers had finally dispatched the savage, naked warriors, their unsettling display lingered in his mind. He could not shake the image of men charging forward with arrows protruding from their flesh, swords cleaving through their bodies, yet still fighting with monstrous determination until their very last breath.

He hated to admit it, but he was impressed. The sight of warriors ignoring pain, fear, and even death to such an extent was something he had never witnessed before. A mix of disgust and reluctant admiration churned in his chest. What sort of magic did these savages possess to create such monstrous devotion?

He recalled the imperial books he had studied in his youth, records of the northern tribes that had clashed with the empire's forces in the frozen expanse known as the Bane. Those writings often spoke of tribal shamans—elders who practiced strange rituals and wielded powers alien to the empire's understanding. It was said they communed with spirits or whatever otherworldly forces they believed in, channeling that connection to sway their people.Of course the book was old,and most time than not people liked to embelish their narratives with circumstances of magic.

Still what he saw today was not embellishment

"If my knowledge is correct," Mavius muttered under his breath, "their magic is usually the domain of the oldest among them. The ones who stay back, whispering to their gods and guiding their tribes with spells and omens."

The thought stirred his mind. What if he could harness such power? The empire's legions were formidable, disciplined, and well-equipped, but even the bravest soldier had his limits. Pain, fear, fatigue—these were natural boundaries that no amount of training could wholly erase. But what if those limits could be stripped away?

"What I could do with such magic," Mavius murmured, his fingers tightening on the reins of his horse. His mind drifted to the campaigns he still had to fight, the territories he planned to reclaim or conquer. Troops like that—unwavering, unyielding—could break the backs of any enemy line.