Sovereign of the Ashes

On his second day at the Thunder Marsh camp, Sein headed directly to the Thunder Marsh, located to the east of the camp, instead of commencing his assigned task of performing various maintenance work and constructing the magic towers at the fortress base.

Fortunately, the battle near the camp was not particularly fierce, and the mission Sein had accepted did not have a strict deadline.

Therefore, his departure did not violate the directives of the operations command center.

Besides, the operations command center often granted mages like Sein more leniency and freedom.

Before leaving, Sein personally concocted several alchemy potions for his father.

With decent apothecary knowledge, Sein managed to amass quite a number of nice resources in the Knight Continent’s trial zone.

With him personally tending to his father’s injuries, Jeremy could rest easier than if others were in charge.

In fact, he was very satisfied with Sein’s initiative.

“Where are you going?” Jeremy asked as Sein was about to leave the fortress camp.

“The disturbances in the easter part of Thunder Marsh have been going on for a while, so I’m planning to investigate,” Sein replied.

Currently, Sein had his Aura Restraint spell activated, so Jeremy was unable to discern his true strength.

Unaware of Sein’s remarkable feat of stealing a Rank Two knight’s kill upon his arrival at the Thunderfall World’s battlefield, Jeremy frowned slightly and expressed his concern.

“The unrest in the eastern part of Thunder Marsh isn’t something a couple of knights or mages can easily quell. The native creatures of the Thunderfall World periodically launch coordinated counterattacks there. During the last conflict, Rank Two creatures from the Thunderfall World were even spotted there,” Jeremy warned.

“Your ancestor, Julius, has been dispatched to scout the area and monitor the situation,” he added.

As a seasoned knight in such warfare, Jeremy was far more acquainted with the Thunderfall World than Sein.

”Why do these native creatures continuously attack the area we’ve already conquered and occupied? I intend to find out how they make their way there but don’t worry, I won’t act recklessly,” Sein assured.

Although they shared the last name, Sein’s early childhood experiences had created a small distance between him and his family.

Furthermore, his status as a tower master’s apprentice meant that Jeremy could not abuse his position as Sein’s family elder to simply order him around.

After letting out a sigh, Jeremy handed Sein a small crystal ball.

“There’s a detailed map of the area in it. Make sure you return soon. Before Kelman lost consciousness, he was calling for you. I believe he’d like to see you first when he awakes,” Jeremy said.

Sein nodded. Verdant green flames enveloped his body before he quickly departed from the fortress camp, flying eastward.

Watching Sein leave, Jeremy murmured to himself, “That boy has grown so much already? Even for me, the elemental pressure he just released is... Is that the advantage of having a tower master as a mentor?”

***

Thunder Marsh camp, one of the four major fortress bases that the Order of the Steel Fist established in Thunderfall World, held significant strategic value.

Beneath the marsh lay multiple large thunder diamond veins, but the fortress base’s role extended beyond mining; it served as a pivotal site controlling the main battlefronts to the northeast and southwest.

To the northeast, the battlefield was a joint operation between the Order of the Steel Fist and the Order of the Green Gale—each boasting Rank Four knights within their ranks.

They had always maintained a good relationship with each other; otherwise, the Order of the Thunder Knights would not have sought their help.

The southwest front was managed solely by the Order of the Steel Fist.

Here, tens of thousands of knights and hundreds of thousands of enslaved creatures—nearly half of their total forces in Thunderfall World—were engaged on the front lines of the Thunder Plains.

The conflict there was far more intense than the one near Thunder Marsh.

The order’s sole space fortress and its Rank Four knight, known as the “Steel Fist”, were also present on this battlefield.

As a critical junction linking the eastern and western war zones, Thunder Marsh was highly valued by the Order of the Steel Fist.

Similarly, the native creatures of the Thunderfall World recognized its strategic importance too.

Despite being fully occupied by the Magus World Army on the surface, the area continued to experience ongoing skirmishes.

The creatures of the Thunderfall World adeptly used the terrain to their advantage, constructing hidden underground caves within the marsh’s silt.

The operations command center had long suspected the existence of an extensive underground network beneath Thunder Marsh, potentially connecting to other regions.

However, the absence of specialized scouts hindered their ability to pinpoint the exact location or number of entrances to this underground space.

During his guard duty at a mine within Thunder Marsh, Kelman was ambushed by a local guerrilla army from the Thunderfall World.

Despite their defense, the attack resulted in injuries to eleven Rank One knights, including Sein’s father, and the deaths of three others.

Kelman was among the most severely wounded, yet, fortuitously, he did not succumb to his injuries on the spot.

As a recently promoted Rank One knight, Kelman had been primarily assigned to garrison and patrol duties by the fortress command center, which generally exhibited leniency in its mission assignments to spare newer knights from direct frontline combat.

Surprisingly, what appeared to be an ordinary garrison duty escalated into a highly perilous situation.

This debacle clearly resulted from a grave underestimation of the Thunderfall World’s forces by the Orders of the Thunder Knights, Steel Fist, and Green Gale.

Even their combined strength seemed insufficient against the formidable adversaries of this world.

Given the ongoing intensity at the frontline, the duration of this interplanar war remained uncertain.

***

The electro elemental particles were extremely active in Thunder Marsh.

It was an elemental force that Sein had seldom encountered before and its volatile nature far exceeded that of the pyro element he was accustomed to.

Many knights and mages, newly arrived in Thunderfall World to participate in the war, struggled to adjust to the world’s harsh environment.

It was common for individuals to be struck by lightning while flying through the sky.

This was the notorious characteristic of the Thunderfall World.

Sein, however, quickly adapted to the environment after his arrival.

CRACK!

Suddenly, a blue-violet bolt of lightning from the sky struck Sein.

Apart from a slight numbness in his body, it did not bother him too much.

Then, something caught his eye—a subtle movement beneath the surface of the dark marsh in the distance.

Now a peak Rank One mage, Sein could detect any movement within a thousand-meter radius under his mental focus coverage; nothing could escape his notice.

Reacting swiftly, a large fireball appeared at the top of his Verdant Flame Heart Rod.

Whatever had stirred in the marsh was now the target of a fiery and terrifying pursuit.