Chapter 47 - The Lord of the Ashen Ridge

Ashen Ridge began where the forest ended.

The trees became thinner.

The ground turned gray.

And the air carried the smell of old metal.

Kael stopped at the boundary.

He had been walking for almost half a day.

Behind him stretched the Verdant Territory.

Ahead lay a landscape of broken stone, blackened earth, and ancient ruins.

No birds.

No ordinary monsters.

Not even insects.

That silence bothered him.

A Territory Lord usually created a hierarchy.

Subordinates.

Predators.

Scavengers.

Something.

Ashen Ridge had none.

Kael crouched and touched the ground.

Cold metal answered his Metal Sense.

Not natural ore.

Weapons.

His eyes narrowed.

“Hundreds of them.”

The deeper he looked, the more he found.

Broken swords buried beneath ash.

Rusting spearheads.

Fragments of shields.

Metal chains.

Arrowheads.

Pieces of armor.

Entire weapons had been driven into the ground and left there.

Some were ancient enough that he couldn't determine their original shape.

Kael stood.

The creature waiting here wasn't simply controlling territory.

It was controlling a battlefield.

And it had been building that battlefield for a very long time.

His hand rested on his katana.

A crimson thread ran from his palm into the blade.

[Armament Bond: Active.]

Kael smiled faintly.

“Let's see what you're planning.”

Kael entered.

Nothing happened.

He walked fifty meters.

Still nothing.

One hundred.

Nothing.

Then—

a metallic click came from behind him.

Kael turned.

A broken sword was rising from the ash.

Then another.

Then another.

Twenty weapons slowly emerged from the ground.

Kael's eyes sharpened.

Metal Control.

The weapons stopped.

He hadn't moved them.

Something else had.

A voice came from the ruins ahead.

“You're carrying Darven metal.”

Kael looked up.

A figure stood on the remains of an ancient stone structure.

It was humanoid.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

Its body was covered in dark gray armor that seemed fused directly to its flesh.

Long black hair fell behind its head.

Several thin metallic lines crossed its arms and neck like veins.

Its eyes glowed a dull crimson.

In its right hand rested an ancient two-handed blade.

The System activated.

[Threat Analysis.]

Name: Ashen Warforged

Level: 39

Grade: Lord

Potential: Overlord

Classification: Territory Lord

Traits:

• Ashen Armory
• Kinetic Resistance
• Weapon Command
• Mana Reinforcement
• Territory Authority
• Unknown Trait

Intelligence: Extremely High

Kael's expression became serious.

The creature smiled.

“Your System is looking at me.”

Kael didn't answer.

The Warforged stepped down from the ruins.

“You're different from the previous Darvens.”

That caught Kael's attention.

“You knew them?”

The creature stopped.

“Some.”

“How many?”

“Enough to know what you're doing.”

Kael's fingers tightened around the katana.

The Warforged raised its ancient blade.

“I know why you came.”

Kael waited.

“You want my Territory Lord Core.”

Kael's eyes narrowed.

The creature laughed.

“And you believe defeating me will give it to you.”

Kael drew PR-02.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether you're worth killing.”

The Warforged's smile disappeared.

“Good.”

It lifted its weapon.

“Then we can stop talking.”

Every piece of metal in the valley moved.

Swords.

Spears.

Knives.

Broken axes.

Arrowheads.

Shields.

Even armor fragments.

Hundreds of pieces rose into the air.

Kael's expression changed.

Metal Control.

His own metal responded.

But before he could command it—

the weapons attacked.

A hundred projectiles crossed the valley.

Kael moved.

He didn't try to destroy them all.

He couldn't.

He created a curved metal barrier.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Weapons struck from every direction.

One spear slipped through.

Kael twisted.

It grazed his shoulder.

He immediately moved again.

A sword came from the left.

His katana deflected it.

Another attacked from behind.

Kael pulled the rifle around and fired.

BANG!

The weapon shattered.

Three more replaced it.

Kael leapt backward.

The Warforged hadn't moved.

It simply stood there controlling the battlefield.

Kael's eyes sharpened.

It doesn't need to fight me directly.

It can make the territory fight for it.

Kael fired at the Warforged.

BANG!

The precision round crossed the battlefield.

The creature moved its hand.

A shield fragment appeared in front of it.

The bullet struck the shield.

The fragment shattered.

The Warforged didn't even flinch.

“Precision weapon.”

Another gesture.

Five swords attacked.

Kael blocked two.

Dodged one.

Destroyed another.

The fifth slipped past.

His arm moved.

The Darven katana intercepted it automatically.

CLANG!

Kael froze for half a second.

His Armament Bond had reacted before he consciously gave the command.

The sword returned to the air.

Kael smiled.

“That's useful.”

The Warforged noticed.

“So you've awakened Armament.”

Kael's expression hardened.

It knew the bloodline.

It knew his new ability.

This wasn't going to be a normal fight.

Kael raised his hand.

PR-02 floated beside him.

AR-03V rose from behind his shoulder.

His katana remained in his hand.

Three weapons.

Three directions.

He activated Darven Armament.

PR-02 shifted position.

AR-03V angled downward.

His katana moved independently.

The Warforged's eyes narrowed.

Then it smiled.

“Three.”

Kael frowned.

“What?”

“That is your limit.”

Kael's gaze sharpened.

So it knew that too.

The Warforged moved its hand.

The battlefield changed.

Weapons began forming patterns.

Not random attacks.

Groups.

Spears attacked in straight lines.

Swords attacked from alternating angles.

Axes targeted the ground.

The enemy had understood his movement.

Kael immediately changed tactics.

AR-03V fired.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

Four weapons fell.

PR-02 fired once.

A chain snapped.

Kael moved through the opening.

His katana struck.

SHING!

The Warforged blocked.

The impact sent both backward.

Kael slid several meters.

The Warforged's arm moved.

A metallic spear formed beside Kael's head.

He ducked.

The spear passed overhead.

Kael fired AR-03V.

The Warforged twisted.

Two rounds struck its armor.

Small cracks appeared.

Kael immediately noticed.

Mana reinforcement.

Its armor wasn't naturally that durable.

It was constantly reinforcing itself with the territory's mana.

That meant—

the same solution he'd used against the other Lords might work here.

Disrupt the territory.

Kael looked around.

There were no visible mana nodes.

Only metal.

Ash.

Ruins.

Weapon graves.

He activated Metal Sense.

The entire ridge appeared in his mind.

His eyes widened.

The weapons weren't random.

They were the nodes.

Every ancient weapon embedded in the ground carried mana.

The entire Ashen Ridge was an enormous array.

The Warforged wasn't merely controlling weapons.

It was using them as a territorial network.

Kael smiled.

“I see you.”

The Warforged's expression changed for the first time.

Kael had found the secret.

Kael stopped attacking the Warforged.

Instead, he fired at the ground.

BANG!

An ancient sword shattered.

The pressure in the air changed.

Several airborne weapons fell.

Kael fired again.

BANG!

A second node broke.

The Warforged immediately moved.

It raised one hand.

Every weapon in the area rushed toward Kael.

Kael didn't retreat.

He waited.

PR-02 floated beside him.

AR-03V rotated upward.

His katana moved behind him.

Then—

all three attacked different directions.

CLANG!

BANG!

SHING!

Three weapons shattered.

Kael moved forward.

Another node.

BANG!

Another.

The Warforged finally charged.

It closed the distance almost instantly.

Its ancient greatsword crashed down.

Kael blocked.

The force drove him into the ground.

BOOM!

The earth cracked beneath him.

The Warforged pressed harder.

“You understand the network.”

Kael gritted his teeth.

“Enough.”

The Warforged's blade pushed closer.

“Then understand this.”

Its eyes glowed.

The shattered weapons Kael had destroyed—

began moving again.

Fragments rose from the ground.

Kael's eyes widened.

The Warforged smiled.

“Every weapon is replaceable.”

The fragments became blades.

Hundreds.

Kael released the lock.

A crimson pulse traveled through his arm.

His katana disappeared from his hand.

Then reappeared behind the Warforged.

SHING!

The blade struck its back.

The creature staggered.

Kael immediately used Armament Recall.

PR-02 flew into his hand.

He fired at point-blank range.

BANG!

The round hit the Warforged's chest.

Its armor cracked.

Kael stepped back.

The Warforged looked at the damage.

Then smiled.

“Better.”

The creature raised its hand.

The weapons surrounding them stopped.

Then—

they disappeared into the ground.

Kael froze.

The battlefield suddenly became empty.

No airborne weapons.

No flying blades.

No visible attacks.

The Warforged stood alone.

Kael's instincts screamed.

Something was wrong.

Then the creature disappeared.

Kael barely raised the katana.

CLANG!

The ancient greatsword struck.

The impact sent Kael sliding backward.

The Warforged followed.

Another strike.

Kael blocked.

Another.

Kael twisted.

Another.

Kael ducked.

The creature was fast.

Much faster than its size suggested.

Kael fired AR-03V at point-blank range.

The Warforged turned its body.

The bullets struck its side.

It barely slowed.

Kael's katana met the ancient blade.

CLANG!

The two locked.

The Warforged stared directly into Kael's eyes.

“You depend too much on your weapons.”

Kael smiled.

“No.”

His hand opened.

The katana disappeared from the lock.

The Warforged's blade continued forward.

Kael stepped aside.

His sword appeared in the ground behind the creature.

Then—

Metal Control.

The blade rose.

The Warforged twisted.

Too late.

The katana struck its leg.

The creature staggered.

Kael drove his shoulder into it.

The Warforged was pushed backward.

Kael fired.

BANG!

The round struck its chest.

The armor cracked further.

The creature stepped back.

For the first time—

it looked genuinely irritated.

The Warforged slammed its greatsword into the ground.

The entire ridge responded.

Every ancient weapon embedded in the earth began glowing.

Kael stopped.

The air became heavy.

The System flashed warnings.

[Territory Authority activated.]

[Ashen Armory entering full synchronization.]

Kael's eyes widened.

The ruins trembled.

Weapons rose from every direction.

Not hundreds.

Thousands.

The sky darkened.

Kael stared upward.

The Warforged spoke quietly.

“You wanted my territory.”

It raised one hand.

“Then survive it.”

The weapons descended.

Kael brought both hands forward.

Darven Armament.

His three bonded weapons moved simultaneously.

PR-02 fired.

AR-03V fired.

His katana cut through the nearest weapons.

But there were too many.

Kael activated Metal Control.

A wall formed.

It shattered.

Another formed.

It shattered.

His mana dropped rapidly.

He retreated.

The weapons followed.

A spear pierced his barrier.

Kael moved.

A sword struck his shoulder.

He spun away.

Another blade struck the ground beside him.

He created a metallic shield.

It broke.

Kael's breathing grew heavier.

Too many.

He couldn't fight thousands.

Not directly.

Then he noticed something.

The Warforged wasn't moving.

It was standing at the center of the array.

The entire system was flowing through it.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

That's the weakness.

Not the weapons.

Not the array.

The controller.

Kael looked at the Warforged.

Then at the three weapons surrounding him.

Then at the entire battlefield.

An idea formed.

It was dangerous.

But it might work.

Kael lowered his weapons.

The Warforged frowned.

“What are you doing?”

Kael smiled.

“Changing the battlefield.”

He slammed his hand into the ground.

Metal Control.

The ancient weapons beneath the ground began vibrating.

Not attacking.

Moving.

Kael wasn't controlling individual weapons.

He was controlling the metal beneath the territory.

The entire Ashen Ridge shook.

The Warforged's eyes widened.

Kael pulled.

The ancient array shifted.

One section disconnected.

Then another.

The thousands of weapons in the sky faltered.

The Warforged's connection was breaking.

Kael shouted.

“Now!”

PR-02 flew into his hands.

The Mana-Breaker Round was already loaded.

The Warforged moved.

Too late.

BANG!

The shot struck its chest.

Mana reinforcement vanished.

For one second.

Kael didn't waste it.

PR-02 shifted in his hand.

His armament bond reconstructed the firing configuration.

The barrel lengthened.

Mana compression increased.

The rifle became a temporary high-power configuration.

Kael fired.

BOOM!

The shot struck the same point.

The armor shattered.

The Warforged staggered.

Kael recalled his katana.

The blade flew through the air.

He caught it.

Then charged.

The Warforged raised its sword.

Their blades collided.

CLANG!

Kael pushed harder.

The Warforged pushed back.

Two monsters of completely different fighting styles met in the center of the collapsing territory.

The Warforged smiled.

“You learned quickly.”

Kael gritted his teeth.

“I had a good teacher.”

“Your father?”

Kael's eyes hardened.

“No.”

The crimson energy around his blade intensified.

“My enemies.”

Kael twisted the blade.

The Warforged's guard opened.

Kael struck.

SHING!

The ancient armor cracked.

The Warforged staggered backward.

But it didn't fall.

Instead—

it laughed.

A strange crack appeared across its chest.

Inside was not flesh.

Not bone.

A glowing metallic core.

The System flashed.

[Hidden trait identified.]

[Ashen Core.]

[Primary territorial energy source.]

Kael stared.

The Warforged smiled.

“You found it.”

Kael slowly raised his weapon.

The battle wasn't over.

But now—

he knew exactly what he had to destroy.