I Built a Beast Empire After Reincarnation-Chapter 42: Phase Two — The Generals Step In

The battlefield crackled with heat and smoke as the rising sun cast pale light over the blood-soaked fields. Bodies littered the trenches. Broken lances and shattered shields formed makeshift barricades, while smoldering magical glyphs glowed faintly beneath a charred earth crust.

But the battle was far from over.

Lucas stood atop the central watchtower, wind billowing his crimson-lined cloak as he surveyed the aftermath of Phase One.

"Malrick," he said, "detonate the eastern trench glyphs. Wait for my mark."

Below, Malrick gave a silent nod, hands poised over the etched runes. The merchant’s once-cheerful face was now grim, eyes glinting with a strategist’s cold focus.

Lucas turned to his party at the battlements—Kaela, armed and ready, crouched beside Thunderfang in a crouching stance, waiting for blood. Elira, cloaked in wind, stood near the high archer’s platform, Luna already scaled and crouched with bow drawn. Behind them, the Greystone militia braced themselves, nerves strung like drawn wires.

Lucas raised a hand.

A horn sounded in the distance.

Then the enemy surged forward.

From the smoke and wreckage, Stonewatch’s vanguard reformed ranks—shields locked, lances gleaming in the light. Their armor had been scorched, dented, and pierced, but still they advanced, undeterred.

"They’ve hardened," Lucas muttered. "Now comes the real test."

Suddenly—

A furious roar split the air.

Like a beast unchained, General Corven thundered onto the field. His Earth Rhino, Gorefang, tore up the ground beneath its hooves, each stomp shaking the battlefield. His warriors, beastmasters all, followed behind with armored boars, war panthers, and even a bull-scaled basilisk.

[System Alert: General Corven has entered the battlefield.]

"Guerrilla teams: fall back to the inner ruins," Lucas said. "Malrick, now."

The merchant slammed his palm into the control crystal.

Boom!

A second wave of magical explosions erupted across the eastern field—firestorms, mana spikes, and sonic blasts tearing through the ground. Beasts screamed. Dozens of soldiers were caught in the blast, their formation shattered.

But Corven... kept charging.

The man laughed as his armor glowed with emerald light. "You think fancy fireworks scare me, boy? I broke siege lines with my fists!"

His mount crashed through the flames, swatting debris and corpses aside like ragdolls. Gorefang’s hide glimmered with enchanted runes, making him nearly impervious to fire.

General Corven roared louder as the smoke cleared, rallying his beastmasters behind him. His emerald-enchanted armor flared as he dismounted Gorefang and grabbed a mace that looked more like a slab of iron fused with bone.

"Greystone’s walls are your grave markers!" he bellowed. His beastmasters howled in unison, their creatures responding with growls and snarls that shook the air. The ferocity of their charge was almost primal—a thunderous wave of wild force intent on smashing everything in its path.

Lucas’s gaze hardened. "Then we’ll break yours with steel."

"Kaela, change of plans," he said. "You’re up."

Without waiting for orders, Kaela roared and vaulted over the rampart, Thunderfang streaking ahead. Lightning crackled from the beast’s fangs as it pounced into the fray.

Kaela met Corven’s front with a hurricane of fury—her twin axes flashing like lightning, cutting down beastmasters and beasts alike. Thunderfang crushed one of the war boars with a thunderous slam, while Kaela twirled beneath a rhino’s horn and slashed its leg out from under it.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, a shriek echoed from the skies.

Lucas’s eyes flicked upward just as General Darion Bragg soared in on his massive eagle, Skyrend. The eagle’s wings gleamed in the sun, slicing the clouds like blades. A squadron of elite knights flew behind him on wind-beasts, dive-bombing toward the archers of Greystone.

[System Alert: General Darion Bragg has entered the battlefield.]

"Elira," Lucas said, pointing toward the heavens, "it’s time."

She smirked and leapt onto Luna’s back, taking to the skies.

Darion’s expression was steely beneath his winged helm. "I won’t fail again," he muttered to himself, gripping his lance. His gaze narrowed on Elira, who now circled him like a hawk waiting for weakness. "This time, I’ll prove I’m not the weakest of the four." Skyrend flared its wings and lunged, launching a slicing gale toward Elira and Luna.

Within seconds, she clashed with the aerial knights—arrows streaking across the battlefield in spiraling volleys. Her movements were precise, dance-like. Arrows curved mid-air, empowered by wind magic and centuries of elven precision. Luna spun between air-bursts, claws slashing as they danced in and out of Darion’s assault range.

Darion growled in frustration, shouting over the wind, "Why won’t you fall?!"

"Because I’m not your prey," Elira replied, loosing three arrows in a blink.

Back on the ground, Lucas clenched his jaw.

And then... silence.

A sharp, unnatural hush fell across the battlefield.

From the shadows near the treeline, a whisper moved through the air. Soldiers began to drop, one by one, arrow-pierced throats and hearts claimed by an unseen hunter.

A flash of silver danced across the field.

[System Alert: General Nera Valen has entered the battlefield.]

"The Phantom Archer," Lucas whispered.

From the trees, the true predator emerged. General Nera Valen—elegant and ghostly—moved with the silence of a falling leaf. Her silver eyes glowed faintly, and her fingers danced over her bow like a harpist’s. Moonstalker, her ghost wolf companion, phased beside her, leaping between shadows.

"So many targets," she whispered, nocking an arrow. "But only one heart to stop the beast."

She aimed at Lucas, but her shot was foiled by a sudden mirror ward, her arrow splitting the illusion instead.

Lucas turned to the battlements and pointed.

"Activate the mist wards! All units maintain formation! Malrick, we need illusions now!"

Mana flared across the towers. Glimmering images of Lucas, Kaela, and Elira multiplied like reflections in shattered mirrors. Arrows began striking decoys instead of flesh.

Still, one found its mark—barely missing Ilyra’s shoulder as she hauled ammunition toward the western wall.

"She’s aiming for our leadership," Lucas growled. "Exactly as predicted." freewebnσvel.cøm

He turned and shouted over the crystal:

"Reynard! Dispatch anti-stealth mages and sound-wardens. Don’t let her vanish again!"

Below, the battlefield churned—fire, shadow, wind, and steel. Agram had not yet moved, biding his time. Watching.

And Lucas knew... the Warhound of Stonewatch was saving himself for the final blow.

But Phase Two had only just begun.

With two generals engaged, one lurking in the shadows, and Agram waiting like a storm on the horizon, Lucas stepped back from the wall and drew his blades.

"Phase Three," he whispered to himself. "Is mine."