[This was a sight you had never seen before.]
[A deep darkness surrounded the city of Uliorum, transforming it into a city resembling a hell.]
[Innumerable skeletons slowly crawled up from within, forming the most powerful weapon to push the front line forward.]
"..."
Ian gasped.
This was the first time he had seen a sight like this.
A dark mass of skeletons was expanding outward at an extremely slow speed, destroying everything that stood in their way.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, probably no one would believe that this was a real situation.
No wonder... the Roman armies that were sent out earlier were so easily defeated.
This was an enemy that could not be defeated by normal means!
The moment he realized this, Ian immediately conveyed this information to Nero.
"Your Majesty, the situation looks quite bad."
"We... should retreat first."
Nero was quite obedient to Ian's words to begin with, and the current situation had indeed far exceeded the imagination of this Roman emperor.
"I understand."
The young empress raised the sword that symbolized the army's appeal and waved it in the air.
"Retreat!"
[At Nero's signal, you temporarily retreated to a city far away from that darkness.]
[Of course, this would not stop it from continuing to expand—this was not something that you or Nero could decide by will.]
[You continued to observe the situation. Once the darkness approached again, you would immediately retreat.]
In the Roman military camp, Nero and Ian were discussing the situation.
There were only the two of them here, so they didn't need to be so careful with their titles.
Recalling everything she had seen, Nero's expression became more and more serious.
"Teacher."
"What do you think that is?"
"Magic," Ian quickly gave his answer. "A kind of magic that we still don't know the principles of."
"It has created a barrier there that allows those skeletons that should have fallen to be continuously resurrected in this way and become the driving force for the advancing front line."
"This is the reason why our army cannot win—because the enemy is endless and cannot be completely destroyed in a normal way."
"..."
As the pioneer of the systematic study of magic in Rome, Ian's words were naturally trustworthy.
Combining this with the results of their previous discussion, the young empress quickly came to a new conclusion.
"Teacher."
"If that's the case, wouldn't it be my mother who arranged this?"
"Very likely," Ian nodded. "Or rather... this should be the truth."
After all, in all of Rome, besides the magic unit he had trained for Nero, the only person who had mastered magic was that cruel and malicious woman.
"But doesn't this seem a little off?" Nero quickly thought of a new question.
"If my mother has such powerful magic, why didn't she release it during the previous conflict?"
"That's the key to the problem, Nero," the man who had cleared his thoughts replied.
"What happened after she met Britannicus—that's something we still haven't figured out."
"..."
Nero frowned slightly.
Obviously, as the emperor of Rome, she didn't like this feeling of being limited by others—after all, all of Rome was her possession, and rebels like this shouldn't even be alive for a second.
Ian saw what was on Nero's mind. He reached out and stroked her head, gently comforting her.
"Nero, don't worry."
"With me here, we will definitely be able to figure out what that is."
"..."
The young woman hugged the man, buried her head in his chest, and then nodded slightly.
"Hmm, I understand."
[You weren't just comforting Nero with words.]
[You would absolutely not allow her path as an emperor to be blocked by others.]
[As long as Nero was still here, she would be the only emperor of Rome.]
[Of course, you also didn't forget the future of a tyrant that Lev had mentioned—you constantly reminded Nero to never vent her anger on her soldiers because of a temporary setback.]
[You asked a soldier for a warhorse.]
[You took a bow and arrow and warned the soldiers not to tell Nero about this.]
[You went alone to the vicinity of that darkness that was constantly eroding the surrounding land.]
[You observed as safely as possible.]
[You uncovered some information that was missed during the hurried retreat earlier.]
In the military camp, Ian, who had returned from his expedition, was analyzing the information he had obtained.
First, it was certain that this mass of darkness was indeed expanding outward with the city of Uliorum as its center, and the lands that were affected would become a domain where the dead would be resurrected.
Obviously, it was impossible to defeat them with conventional means (including but not limited to open warfare).
After all, the enemy's numbers were endless, while the Roman soldiers would only decrease.
And because of this conversion mechanism, they would even turn into a force that would help the darkness expand.
But—
This conversion was not instantaneous.
Using the bow and arrow in his hand, Ian had successfully shot down several skeletons and then witnessed the entire process of their resurrection to prove this point.
There seemed to be a time gap between the resurrected individuals, but it wasn't very long.
Could this... be the key to breaking it?
But how could he use this to his advantage?
Ian thought hard, but he couldn't figure out a reason—he realized that he couldn't use this point.
Just then, the tent curtain was pulled back with a whoosh.
Immediately after, Nero's figure appeared there.
However, completely different from her usual obedient and cute appearance when she came to Ian, her expression at this moment was very displeased, and her movements had become much more aggressive.
Thump thump—
Thump thump—
The young emperor who was on a personal expedition came to her teacher and then pushed him onto the temporary bed.
Her green eyes were now burning with a fiery red.
"Teacher, you've gone too far!"
"Why did you go to such a dangerous place behind my back?"
"..."
[You realized that the soldiers had not kept their promise to you.]
[But you didn't blame them—after all, Nero was the emperor. If she wanted to know something, these soldiers would never dare to hide it from her.]
[You decided to apologize properly.]
"I'm sorry, Nero."
Ian, who was being held down by the young woman, apologized very sincerely.
"It was my fault, Teacher—I shouldn't have gone out behind your back."
"..."
Hearing her beloved's apology, Nero's hands loosened a little.
Then, she fell onto his chest and began to cry softly.
"Teacher, are you an idiot?"
"If something happened to you, how would I save you?! Did you ever think about that?"
"..."
Nero was fine when she was being strong, but as soon as Ian heard her voice, which was filled with sadness because she cared about him, he was at a loss.
"I was wrong, Nero."
"Teacher won't do something like this again next time."
"Really?" The young woman's voice came with a hint of a test.
"Really."
"Then what about this time? Shouldn't you make it up to me?"
"..."
Ian suddenly felt that something was wrong with the situation.
He looked down and saw that Nero was maliciously licking her lips, and she no longer looked sad from worrying about her lover.
"Teacher, you're not saying anything."
"That means you agree that you should make it up to me, right?"
"Nero," Ian's throat was moving slightly. "This is a military camp... are you sure you want to do this?"
"What about a military camp?" The young woman's hand moved towards the man's waist.
"All of Rome is a place for us to have fun, isn't it?"
"The military camp is no exception."
"..."
[With her words, you could no longer refuse Nero.]
[You, in the military camp, once again savored each other's taste.]
[But it must be said that this was indeed a very effective way to relieve stress—for both of you.]
"Phew—"
Ian let out a long breath.
Although Nero didn't cry out at all due to the environment, the man still felt the pleasure he was supposed to from her gradually changing expression.
She... was getting better and better at draining him dry.
"Hmm~" Nero, who had her hair tied up from her pleasure, looked very happy.
"It seems Teacher is not so proper after all—you just said that we couldn't do this in a military camp, but you were as active as usual."
"You're like a lion."
"I can't help it," Ian shrugged. "It's because I really like Nero's body—I can't resist it once I touch it."
"..."
"Hmm?!" A slight blush appeared on Nero's face. "Teacher, are you serious?"
"Have I... become the reason for you to be so brave?"
"You've always been, Nero," Ian replied. "Have I ever not given it my all?"
"Hmm, I guess that's true~"
Looking at the young woman's happy face because she had successfully drained her beloved, Ian's expression gradually became heavy.
"Nero, I thought you were really angry just now."
"Of course I was!" Nero tied her hair. "When I found out about this, I wanted to draw my sword and kill the person who let you go."
"But—"
"But?"
"But I remembered that Teacher had told me to never vent my anger on the soldiers."
Nero said this, and then she lay on Ian's chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"So I held back—and I believed that Teacher must have thought carefully before acting, so I stopped worrying."
"Nero..."
This was a unique trust, and Ian knew that he was the only one who could get this kind of approval from Nero.
"Hmm, Teacher wasn't reckless—this time, I got a lot of information."
"Hurry up and tell me!"
[You told Nero the information you had obtained from the edge of the darkness at the risk of your life.]
[You hoped that her wit might be able to come up with a solution.]
[But this did not seem to be the case.]
"This..."
Nero, who had learned this information from Ian, was a little stunned.
"Then my army, doesn't it have any chance of winning?"
"Yes," Ian didn't want to give Nero false encouragement. "For now, we should even try to avoid our army from coming into contact with these things—after all, if they betray you because of the magic barrier, the loss would be too great."
"Hmm, that makes sense," Nero nodded. "I'll go and give further orders later."
"But on another note—"
The young woman looked at the man in front of her, and her eyes had a hint of wanting to share.
"I had a strange dream recently."
"A strange dream?"
"Yes," Nero nodded. "I dreamed that a huge, burning thing fell from the sky."
"What?" Ian felt that the situation seemed a little off. "Can you be more specific?"
"Let me think..." Nero frowned slightly. "I remember in the dream, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and lightning was flashing everywhere."
As soon as the young woman's voice fell, a rumbling sound came from outside the tent.
"Was it like that?" Ian couldn't help but ask.
"Yes..." Nero nodded. "Exactly the same."
"And then?"
"It rained."
Drip, drip.
The rain began to fall, turning large patches of the ground wet.
"..."
"..."
Ian and Nero looked at each other and immediately understood.
Although the two of them really enjoyed this state of intimacy, they also knew that some things were more important—for example, the situation right now, which was highly consistent with the dream.
They helped each other get dressed.
"Nero, is there any other information?"
Ian asked while tidying up the young woman's collar.
"Yes."
Nero tightened Ian's belt and then replied.
"I heard a name in my dream."
"What name?"
"Aestus Estus (Original Fire), and then I woke up."
"..."
Even with all of Ian's vast knowledge, he didn't know what this name meant at this moment.
But he vaguely felt one thing—this seemed to be something sent from the heavens to help Nero defeat Agrippina.
He absolutely could not miss it.
The man made up his mind.
Just then, a scream came from outside the tent—it seemed that something, just like the skeletons earlier, had surprised these battle-hardened soldiers.
Ian and Nero looked at each other and then left the tent one after another.
But—
When the man walked out and witnessed the sight in the sky, he froze.
A dazzling light tore through the cloudy sky.
Then, a giant meteor with a burning tail made a deafening roar as it plunged toward the ground.
Had the dream... come true?