Chapter 579: The Edge of the Wasteland

The Black Forest.

Countless folk tales circulated among the people of Ansu about this ribbon of woodland nestled on the southern slopes of the Dark Mountains, bordering the Wasteland. Some said every tree here was once a victim who failed to escape the Wasteland, transformed into wood and bark. Others whispered of secret underground passages leading to chaotic realms beneath the forest floor. Still others believed the entire Black Forest was a colossal, malevolent creature with a dark intelligence, slowly creeping toward the civilized world, intent on finishing what the magical tide had started—utterly destroying all human civilization.

But Gawain knew the truth was far less mystical.

Once, it had been nothing more than an ordinary dense forest, marking the border of the Gondor Empire, a natural barrier between the northern mountains and the barren plains.

It was the corrupting power of chaotic magic that twisted this once harmless, fertile forest into the deadly no-man’s land it had become.

Now, the might of arcane industry was forcibly carving a broad highway through this forbidden zone.

Grotesquely warped, magically corrupted trees sprawled wildly across the desolate earth. Their towering, withered canopies wove jagged, monstrous webs high above. The forest’s signature thin mist hovered just above the ground, slowly writhing. Creeping vines and shrubs concealed themselves cautiously within the fog, as if lying in wait to ambush any unwary prey that strayed into their hunting grounds. Between the underbrush and the mist, bloated, rotting, half-dead corrupted creatures lurked silently, biding their time to strike.

The arrival of outsiders stirred the forest. The fresh pulse of living energy spread through the mist, awakening the predators.

Then, a sharp, piercing howl shattered the Black Forest’s usual silence of patient stalking.

Massive heavy explosive grenades and field artillery shells rained down from above, their blasts tearing through the mist and the hidden hunters within. Ancient trees swayed and toppled under the relentless bombardment. The writhing poisonous vines panicked, attempting to burrow underground—only to be caught and incinerated by the searing heat and shockwaves before they could escape, reduced to ash and smoke.

The surviving monsters howled in rage and fear. The few with any semblance of reason fled frantically, while the mindless charged blindly toward the source of the threat. Amid the dust and smoke, concentrated bursts of scorching rays and lightning bolts quickly halted their final desperate rush.

Heavily armored infantry, equipped with rapid-fire thermal ray guns and lightning generators, advanced steadily, halting at the edge of visibility to suppress any counterattack with overwhelming firepower. Interspersed among them, steel-clad rangers wielding grenade launchers cleared out pockets of intense magical energy with powerful explosives.

After sustained, concentrated fire, the soldiers’ tactical scopes registered one magical signature after another extinguishing. The infantry immediately spread out and fell back, while the larger, more heavily armored White Knights stepped forward, bearing massive flamethrowers.

“In the name of the Holy Light—commence purification!”

The squad leader’s voice rumbled with solemn authority beneath his helmet. The White Knights activated their heavy flamethrowers—cylindrical weapons linked to their armor by rune-inscribed chains—spewing forth roaring jets of flame dozens of meters long, incinerating everything within their line of sight.

The simplest “Grease” spell, combined with “Flame Hand” and blessed by the wind element, produced a blaze capable of consuming nearly all organic matter. Against supernatural foes wielding protective magic, these flamethrowers might lose some effectiveness, but for clearing out “organic waste,” nothing was more efficient.

The forest had new visitors. The scent of iron and fire spread through the mist. The predators were… nearly ready.

“Keep pushing forward! The Holy Light blesses your flames—advance!”

Fueled by the squad leader’s rallying cry, the White Knights pressed on, relentlessly burning any lingering threats. The infantry followed closely, providing covering fire and coordinated support. The steel rangers, having completed their fire support, swiftly moved to the flanks, using their advanced tactical scopes and expert reconnaissance skills to keep watch over the entire formation.

The soldiers moved with practiced precision and clear roles, advancing rapidly. It was obvious this was not their first time conducting such an operation.

Without a doubt, missions in the Black Forest were the ultimate training ground for these troops.

Behind them, multi-purpose war vehicles and towed artillery continued forward. These vehicles would become the vanguard at the next staging point, unleashing another round of bombardment. Afterward, the soldiers would sweep and purify the newly bombed area, repeating the cycle to steadily extend the road through the Black Forest and into the Wasteland beyond.

Gawain sat inside one of the war vehicles, watching the White Knights wielding their flamethrowers, shouting holy slogans as they set the forest ablaze. He couldn’t help but mutter, “Honestly, at this point… their methods have little to do with the Holy Light anymore.”

“Isn’t that what Light said? It’s all about faith,” Amber replied casually from beside him. “In other words, as long as you claim the Holy Light protects you, even if your gun’s spitting out roasted potatoes, it’s still the will of the Light…”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not what Light meant by ‘faith’…” Gawain shot Amber a sideways glance, then sighed. “But I have to admit, these flamethrowers are really effective.”

Amber blinked, watching the flames and thick smoke rising in the distance, and shivered. “I just find it terrifying… Only someone like Rebecca, who can shape fireballs into dozens of different forms, would come up with something like this. And honestly, using flamethrowers in a forest—aren’t you worried about uncontrollable wildfires?”

“This is the Black Forest. It’s not like a normal forest,” Gawain smiled and shook his head, gesturing toward the distance. “Flamethrowers aren’t something you’d use casually in any forest, but have you noticed… the fires here die out quickly?”

Amber finally realized the fires the White Knights set weren’t spreading beyond their immediate area, and the flames on the ground quickly extinguished. She looked surprised. “Really? How does that work?”

“The chaotic magical energy in the Black Forest suppresses fire spread. The flames from the flamethrowers are magical in nature. While they can cause natural wildfires, that requires the magic to sustain itself long enough. Here, most magical effects can’t last very long—unless they have a continuous supply of mana.”

“The Black Forest really is a strange place,” Amber said, scratching her head. “No wonder you insist on blasting everything flat to clear the way. In this weird environment, a conventional team of supernatural warriors would probably be wiped out in minutes.”

Gawain smiled but said nothing.

Blasting everything flat was the only way to deal with the Black Forest. But to do that, you needed overwhelming firepower.

To face the threat of the Wasteland and potential future enemies, he had never relaxed his grip on “force.” Though the weapons of the Cecil Combat Legion were already the pinnacle of human military technology in this era, no amount of firepower was ever too much against those bizarre, unpredictable mutants.

The weapon design department at Cecil never stopped innovating. While major projects like arcane vehicles, magic-net communicators, and arcane trains made steady progress, the soldiers’ personal gear was rapidly improving as well.

In the early days of the arcane era, many breakthroughs came down to one thing: having the right idea. Without the idea, a new invention—or even an entire field—remained a blank slate. But once the idea was there, development exploded.

After the success of the thermal ray gun, technicians discovered a crucial insight: “Low-level traditional magic, when properly harnessed, combined, and mass-produced industrially, can achieve astonishing effects.”

Gawain called this the “Minimalist Practicality Approach”—using stable, reliable basic spells arranged and combined to maximize practical effectiveness, all while controlling costs and system complexity.

Low cost, high stability, mass producible.

Building on this approach and the thermal ray gun, a series of weapons using universal arcane terminals and low-level offensive spell templates were quickly designed. By swapping modules inside the terminals, soldiers could switch from scorching rays to acid bolts, lightning arrows, ice pellets, or even weak healing and support spells—so long as the spell level matched and the terminal’s basic structure was compatible.

The heavy flamethrowers wielded by the White Knights were one of Rebecca’s recent inventions, an extension of this minimalist practical approach.

Inside these new weapons, Rebecca and her team embedded rune templates for Grease and Flame Hand, enhanced by the Wind Element Blessing to extend the Grease’s spray range. The results were astonishing.

Three basic spells combined into a devastating weapon of war.

Gawain didn’t mind that these weapons were essentially just “low-grade spells arranged in clever combinations.” For him, if it worked well, that was all that mattered.

On the 40th day of the Harvest Moon, the Pathfinder unit burned away the last patch of forest at the southern edge of the Black Forest.

Twisted poisonous vines and ancient trees turned to ash. The corrupted monsters, warped by chaotic magic, dissolved into smoke drifting through the air. On the scorched earth where the White Knights had marched, the magical flames from their heavy flamethrowers quickly died out in the chaotic mana environment. As the dust settled, the view at the forest’s edge suddenly opened up.

An endless corrupted plain stretched out ahead, with the massive light barrier of the Great Wall connecting earth and sky in the distance.

With the hum of machinery, specially modified arcane vehicles—designed to handle the Wasteland’s treacherous terrain—rolled out of the forest and onto the blighted land tainted by the magical tide.

Gawain stepped down from his vehicle and onto the barren ground. He saw several elves, including Sonia, had already left the convoy and were waiting ahead.

The elves were the technical advisors for the barrier restoration project, so naturally, they had come along.

As Gawain approached, Sonia spoke with a hint of relief, “We’ve finally emerged from that Black Forest. Walking through such a desecrated, twisted jungle was truly a torment for elves.”

A high-level ranger couldn’t help but say, “That’s true—though thankfully, those vehicles at least put a layer of crystal and steel between us and that corrupted forest.”

“Yeah, those magical devices…” Sonia glanced at Gawain. “I have to admit, the stuff you humans have come up with is pretty impressive. But I think you’d better be careful with those things called heavy burners—especially in the forest. The Black Forest is one thing, but if you start torching healthy woods… well, personally, I just can’t get behind that emotionally.”

“Setting fire to the mountains will land you in jail—that’s actually written in the Cecil Civilization Code,” Gawain said with a wry smile, spreading his hands. He’d known that as an elf, Sonia would sooner or later bring this up after seeing those devices. “Don’t worry, we’re not just a bunch of destructive maniacs.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but feel a bit reflective: while Sonia and her fellow elves instinctively frowned at the burners, Solderin—also a true elf—had no such reaction the first time he encountered them. In fact, he seemed pretty excited…

That guy must have spent so long wandering the human world, he’s forgotten he’s a child of the forest…

(End of chapter)