The Witcher: Make Witcher Great Again

Chapter 420 The Manchu Army is Invincible

half year later.

Somewhere in the Duchy of Humphries, far from the city, in the countryside.

Lynn stood in front of a small lake.

He took out several bottles of high-grade tawny owl potion and drank them all in one gulp.

Once the medicine took effect, he snapped his hands together, and magic began to gather between them.

As the magic power gathered, blazing flames appeared on his hands.

The next moment, Lynn pushed his palms forward, and terrifying flames, like a blooming red lotus, burst forth with astonishing heat, spewing from his palms and transforming into a huge sea of ​​fire that swept towards the small lake in front of him.

Chi Chi Chi!
The lake water began to churn violently, steaming and releasing large amounts of white vapor that filled the surrounding area.

As time passed, the flames Lynn unleashed showed no signs of diminishing.

Under this continuous baking, the water in the lake evaporated at a visible rate, revealing the stones at the bottom of the lake.

Eventually, all the lake water evaporated, leaving only a large, charred pit.

Lynn looked at the scene before him with satisfaction.

Although his face was covered in sweat, his heart was still filled with joy and excitement.

This is the result of his months of study at the Aretusa Academy.

His earlier guess was correct. After learning about the magical theories related to the various signs, he received a hint that he could unlock the limits of the signs and further improve their levels.

He naturally upgraded his seal level without hesitation, raising it from Master level to Grandmaster level.

The power and range of a Grandmaster-level magic seal are more than one level higher than that of a Master-level seal, just like the difference between Master-level and Proficient-level, or Proficient-level and Master-level.

Mastering a level 1 magic seal is at best like a small flame, barely enough to light a tinderbox.

While a master-level hand seal can unleash a decent flame, its power is still insufficient.

Master-level signs are quite powerful, but very few Witchers reach the master level in both swordsmanship and signs.

The Grandmaster-level Sign, a realm never before reached by a Witcher, possesses terrifying power and range. Even without considering Lynn's other feats, the Igni Sign he unleashes can melt weapons and armor.

The range of the Kun Seal can reach hundreds of meters, enough to stop a group charge of heavy cavalry.

Even more terrifying is that the power of a Grandmaster-level magic seal increases exponentially, while the magic power consumed decreases.

For example, the Igni sign he released just now to dry out a small lake only consumed one-third of his magic power.

Even after drinking several bottles of high-grade tawny owl wine, this energy saving is still quite considerable.

More importantly, for area-of-effect spells like this, the charging time is shorter than that of orthodox sorcerer spells.

He can release it in about half the time.

Moreover, he discovered that after his hand seals reached the Grandmaster level, all his hand seal effects were no longer affected by the magic-blocking gold and the magic-suppressing effect of his own "Chosen Champion" title.

This means that if he activates the title's effect, the opponent cannot use magic, but he can release spells at will.

Even if the opponent tries to use the magic-blocking gold against me, it won't work.

In the very end, he did one small, insignificant thing.

They raised an army of 20,000 throughout the Duchy of Humphries.

These 20,000 troops were certainly not standing troops, but militia.

However, compared to other countries where conscripted peasant soldiers only received cursory training before war, or even went to the battlefield without training, they had to set aside one day each week for assembly and training.

Of course, by the standards of this era, this training intensity can actually be considered that of a regular army.

……

Another six months passed just like that.

On this day, the nobles of Isparden suddenly discovered that rumors had begun to circulate in their territory that the pass of Kestrel Pass had fallen.

At first, the nobles thought it was a rumor.

So they ordered a ban on the spread of such rumors.

But instead of disappearing, the rumor spread like wildfire.

Sensing something was amiss, the nobles eventually sent spies to the Kestrel breach.

Not long after, the spies who went to investigate returned with news that shocked them.

The Kestrel Pass had indeed fallen, and the banner of the black and gold double-headed eagle of Grand Duke Augustus flew on the pass.

Completely unprepared for the fall of the Kestrel Pass, the nobles hastily assembled an army and marched in a mighty force toward the pass.

When they reached the outside of the Kestrel Pass, they sent a team of scouts to the pass.

Then, an arrow with a letter attached was shot down from the pass and stuck in the ground.

The scouts were startled and quickly left.

He then delivered the arrow with the letter attached to it to the nobles.

The content of the letter is:

If they are willing to surrender, they should take only a small number of followers and go to the pass to surrender.

By doing so, they could retain their titles and half of the territory.

If they are unwilling, then let's have a decisive battle the next day and let strength decide the outcome.

"Keep half of the territory? You said it was all of it before."

Over the past two years, the nobles of Isparden have taken turns guarding the Kestrir Pass, and naturally, they have all received letters of surrender left by Letho when he infiltrated the pass.

However, the condition that Cowell offered them at the time was to guarantee the integrity of their titles and territories.

But now they're only allowing them to retain half of the territory.

Half of it was deducted directly.

However, even with such harsh conditions, some of the nobles still wavered.

After all, the strength of Kovir's army was somewhat beyond their expectations.

Originally, in order to prevent an attack by the Koviel army, they had left five nobles and five thousand soldiers at the Kestrel breach.

Logically speaking, even when facing an attack by tens of thousands of troops, a pass defended by five thousand soldiers should not be able to fall before it can even send out a message for help.

But Kowell's army did just that.

Doesn't this prove that the Kowell army that attacked this time was extraordinary?
If they insist on fighting against it, wouldn't that be like throwing an egg against a rock?

Little did they know that the five nobles who had previously been stationed at the pass were the very same nobles who had pledged their loyalty to Lynn.

That's why Lynn assembled a large army and captured the Kestrel Pass with minimal effort.

The five nobles and their respective private soldiers were also in the pass at this time.

They just didn't display their flag.

Although some nobles believed that Lynn's terms should be accepted.

But the remaining nobles felt they should fight a decisive battle with Kowell's army.

The reason is also very simple.

They believed that even if Koviel's army captured the pass, they would have suffered heavy casualties and would not have much military strength left.

They still have a chance to win.

Since it was believed that only a minority of nobles should surrender, it was ultimately decided to go to war the next day.

Time soon came to the next day.

The two armies deployed their forces on a plain far from the pass.

When the noble coalition saw that the opposing Kowell army consisted of only five hundred cavalry, their confidence soared.

It should be noted that although they dispatched troops, due to the haste, they only managed to assemble 10,000 men.

But even 10,000 men are far more numerous than 500 cavalrymen.

One spit from each person could drown the other side.

How can we lose this?
Even those nobles who thought they should surrender last night are no longer mentioning surrender.

Just as the nobles were about to give the order to attack, they saw the enemy lower their flags and turn to flee. The nobles were first startled, then overjoyed.

"Quickly chase them! Don't let the enemy escape!"

The soldiers became excited as well.

They knew that pursuing fleeing enemies was the least risky course of action.

So the noble coalition of Isparden disregarded their formation and began to charge.

Everyone was eager to be the first, afraid of falling behind others.

Especially those who were conscripted from the peasantry.

It's important to understand that commoners in this era were obligated to provide military services to the nobles, but the nobles only needed to provide food; they didn't even receive wages.

Therefore, civilians are naturally less motivated to participate in the war.

This is why conscripted peasant soldiers can easily collapse if things don't go well in war.

However, if it is a battle with favorable odds, especially a mission like pursuing enemy troops, the morale of the conscripted peasant soldiers will be particularly high.

Because whatever you manage to grab, it's yours to keep.

However, no one noticed that a small group of nobles who had also supported the decisive battle against Kowell's army the previous night, as if they had agreed beforehand, restrained their subordinates and prevented them from breaking formation.

And he deliberately lingered at the very back of the line.

Kowell's army ran very fast.

They wore only light leather armor, and to make it easier to run, they first threw away their flags, then their lances and sabers.

The noble coalition following behind rushed to loot, and some soldiers even fought over the spoils.

The chaos spread to the entire army, to the point that the nobles had to behead several people before they could finally quell the riot.

But by this time, Kowell's army had already fled far away.

"Send the cavalry to intercept them."

After some thought, the nobles decided to have the cavalry break away from the infantry and pursue the enemy independently.

The Isparden Dominion also had cavalry, but the cost of maintaining them was simply too high.

Therefore, even the entire noble coalition only had a few hundred cavalrymen when they came together.

Moreover, the cavalry of the noble alliance was poorly armed, lacking cavalry lances and relying on infantry spears instead, and their armor coverage was also poor.

But since we are currently pursuing the enemy, there shouldn't be any major problems.

Therefore, the cavalry of the noble coalition broke away from the main army and gave chase.

Upon discovering that enemy cavalry was in pursuit, Kovir's army quickened their escape.

They quickly disappeared from sight along with the cavalry of the noble coalition.

The nobles roared for the infantry to speed up, and the soldiers gritted their teeth and began to run.

After running for a while, a forest finally came into view.

"forest?"

"Where is Koviel's army? Where are our cavalry?"

"Judging from the messy hoofprints on the ground, they must have chased the horse into the forest."

"Then let's not delay, let's catch up quickly."

"No, wait a minute, something's not right."

Quiet.

It's so quiet.

Moreover, this place looks far too much like an ambush.

Just then, a scream suddenly rang out.

The nobles were taken aback.

Then they saw something that made them feel incredible.

Sometime during the day, the friendly forces who had deliberately fallen to the back of the column launched an attack on them.

"You bastards, have you gone mad? You're attacking friendly forces!"

However, all that answered him was the arrows that were shot at him.

At the same time, Kowell's army also emerged from the forest.

And it's not five hundred, but twenty thousand.

Of these 20,000 soldiers, only 3,000 were regular troops; the rest were militia who trained only once a week.

Even though they were just militia, their training and fighting spirit were far superior to the conscripted peasant soldiers of the noble alliance.

Because the militia on Lynn's side are fully paid.

The Koville army surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing head-on into the disorganized and bewildered noble alliance. Before they could even regroup, the noble alliance was utterly routed.

Those conscripted peasant soldiers who were only brought in to make up the numbers immediately dropped their weapons and ran away when they saw this situation.

If one person runs away, there will be a second, a third...

Then, they were utterly routed.

After this battle, most of the nobles and their private armies in Isparden were wiped out.

Only those nobles who had secretly pledged allegiance to Lynn remained.

And so, the Isparden Dominion, which had been a headache for successive Kings of Cowell, fell completely into Lynn's hands.

Moreover, it wasn't just superficial loyalty; they actually controlled most of the land.

After Isparden became the property of Lynn, the non-human races secretly transferred by the Kowell caravan from the Kingdom of Cordwin no longer needed to be sent to Novigrad.

The Isparden Dominion is sparsely populated and has plenty of land to settle these non-human races.

……

time flies.

And so, several years passed.

The year is 1263.

That is, the year in the original storyline when the first Northern War broke out.

At the training grounds of Kaer Morhen, in the ancient sea fortress.

A group of young apprentices are sweating profusely, undergoing arduous training.

"Lord Lynn has arrived."

Someone shouted, and the apprentices stopped what they were doing, all looking at the black-haired youth passing by outside the training ground with admiration.

The black-haired youth also waved to them.

Without this adult, they, who had become orphans for various reasons, would have died long ago.

This great being not only saved them, but also gave them a new life where they could reap rewards as long as they were willing to work hard.

Their predecessors, becoming Witchers, not only meant gaining immense power, but also receiving a status equivalent to that of a knight.

In this feudal and backward era, how difficult it was for an ordinary person to achieve upward social mobility.
It's not easy for a native farmer to settle down in the city, let alone become a knight.

Why are the poems by bards about commoners becoming knights so popular?
It's precisely because there are so few such examples in reality.

But now, this lord has generously given them such an opportunity.

Previously, because Lynn's improvement of the Grass Trial was not 100% successful, he gave each apprentice two chances to choose.

After all, most of these children were under ten years old when they began to receive physical training as Witchers, and by the time they were about fourteen or fifteen years old before they were to officially undergo the Improved Grass Trial, their minds and thinking abilities were different from before.

If they regret it, Lynn allows them to back out.

Even if they don't become Witchers, the training they received in Kaer Morhen is enough to make them elite.

After all, anyone can let you down, but your efforts will never.

(End of this chapter)