Chapter 308
Chapter 308
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.65 – The Knight Remembers and Repays (2)
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"-God?"
Whoosh. Sensing the sudden drop in temperature, Ninshubur made a face of astonishment.
Boom!
However, facing two knights, letting one's guard down was tantamount to allowing a strike.
Ninshubur's body tumbled pitifully through the air, flying away, leaving his opponents feeling awkward instead.
"What kind of trick is this?"
They even grew suspicious.
Wondering if there was a reason he had deliberately taken the hit.
However…
Drip.
"G-God…"
Despite the fatal wound, Ninshubur sought his god.
Like a lamb lost astray.
"……."
"Oh no…."
At this reaction, the knights felt an ominous chill rising and hardened their expressions.
And rightly so, for though a step behind Ninshubur…
Whoosh!
"What is that?"
A dark, frigid chill made their toes go numb.
Neigh!
The first to sense the crisis and turn tail were the horses.
The warhorses, fearless even before hundreds of thousands of monsters, wheeled around and fled in panic. The knights atop them were bewildered by their partners' behavior.
But soon, feeling the chill themselves, the knights looked back and…
"Wh-What is that?!"
"Everyone, evacuate! Evacuate!"
Displaying bewilderment no less—no, greater—than the horses, they urged their partners onward.
Neigh?!
In the case of the Black Iron Lions, some were even carrying their own horses.
"Hang in there! How are you slower than us?!"
"I told you to lose some weight, you lump! Why are you so heavy!!"
The fearless northern warriors, gnashing their teeth, all fled in terror, tending to their horses.
An unbelievable sight, but the Black Iron Lions were brave, not devoid of fear like humans, nor fools lacking common sense.
Thus.
"They said the capital was peaceful! Why the hell is that thing here?!?!"
Fleeing from the massive 'vortex' that had appeared on the ground was undoubtedly the sensible choice.
A gigantic [Vortex] that belonged in the ocean had suddenly descended upon the land, creating an immense flow of air in an instant.
Whooooosh…!
"This is insane! It's a real vortex!!"
A knight from Galahad, familiar with the seas, cried out in despair before the colossal vortex.
Seafarers said that encountering a vortex meant your life was over that day.
Why?
Because you couldn't escape.
An unstoppable force of nature that no human could resist, it swallowed ships whole—one of the top disasters for those at sea.
Fortunately, this was not the ocean but the solid ground of earth and rock.
Not drawn in irresistibly like in water, but even so…
Crunch!
"Incredible suction power…"
The suction was tremendous.
Had their judgment been even a moment late, or their flight slower, death would have been no more than they deserved.
Without water currents, the air resistance alone was no less intense than ocean flows.
The knights broke out in cold sweats.
However, unlike the knights who barely escaped the vortex…
…the monsters that failed to escape began getting sucked into the vortex.
Smaller monsters were pulled in instantly, while medium and large ones were drawn in without meaningful resistance.
No, it was as if resistance wasn't permitted?
There was something off about it.
But the unease was just beginning.
-Crunch.
-Crunch, crunch.
-Chomp, chomp…!
A sound emanated from within the vortex.
A familiar sound to their ears, yet not one expected at this moment, so no one could place it immediately—until someone muttered softly.
"…Chewing?"
Ah, exclamations of realization rose as people nodded in agreement.
Yes, precisely the sound of chewing something.
Could a vortex normally chew and eat?
Such doubts arose naturally, but the vortex's appearance on land already defied common sense.
And sure enough.
Crunch! Crunch crunch!
"……."
"…Even the royal capital isn't to be underestimated. It's crazier than the North."
Events defying common sense continued.
As the vortex chewed the monsters, 'wings' and 'mouths' began sprouting on the ground.
But wings and mouths were just the start.
Grind! Grind!
The vortex began taking form.
The more monsters it sucked in, the larger it swelled, morphing into a spherical mass of flesh.
Still…
-Crunch!
…devouring monsters like snacks without pause.
"Urk!"
A knight who never thought himself squeamish dry-heaved, but no one mocked him.
Honestly, not retching at the sight would be the strange thing.
"…I feel like puking."
Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even over a million…
Not only over 100,000 living monsters devoured in one go, but also the corpses of those they'd slain were chewed up, spreading thick blood and rotten stench everywhere.
Weak stomach or not, it was enough to turn anyone's insides.
However…
"!!!"
…the horrific voice from that mass of flesh was utterly unbearable.
Squirm…
The unstable sphere slowly lifted into the air, revealing its true form.
Rumble…!
Just once, stretching as if waking up, and the surroundings shook.
Even from afar, its immense size was evident—roughly estimated at…
"About 66 feet (around 20m)."
"Sperm whale size?"
"At least that's better; it could be kraken-class…."
"……."
For a moment, people deemed the kraken comparison apt.
The sea monster kraken.
A colossal beast like a fusion of octopus and squid, with steel-like skin and whip-like tentacles—a demon of the deep.
A legendary creature that could swallow a ship whole, its grotesque form instilling primal fear, or so the tales went.
…However, a Galahad knight who had faced a kraken before declared it several times more dangerous.
Due to its enormous size?
Or the hundreds of mouths still munching monsters?
…Both correct, but what made it truly horrifying was none other than.
Flash!
the massive, ominous glow occupying a third of its colossal body, reaching the pinnacle of dread…
"………."
Not even the sound of swallowing could be heard.
Naturally so.
Any human—no, any living being—would freeze upon facing it, blood running cold.
The horses were trembling violently, after all…
Splash!
Its eight wings evoked an angel's, but it was no angel.
Far from holy, no boon to the living.
Rustle…
Behold, all beneath it withered and perished.
A demon! A demon born at the advent of doom!
A dissatisfied voice resounded.
No one had called it demon aloud, yet it seemed to recite their innermost thoughts.
"…Don't look at it long."
"C-C-Captain?"
"……Madness will surge. Damn it, that's why we need priests."
Galahad's captain, who had battled demons before, spoke gravely.
It denied being a demon, but it was one.
Meeting its gaze alone summoned the disgust of thousands of ants crawling over the body, invading mouth, nose, ears—and suddenly the urge to stab oneself with a blade.
First-timers might endure somewhat, but repeated encounters only intensified the fits.
Unlike poisons or germs building tolerance, demonic aura corrupted and maddened with exposure.
Proof…
"Kuhk!"
"Captain!"
"D-Damn it! Keep my sword away from me! As far as possible!!"
"Grand Master!!"
Veteran knights from the era of warring gods convulsed one after another.
Dangerous. They could turn on allies and annihilate themselves.
'Wasted years; in the past, bringing priests was common sense…'
Perhaps the era's shift.
Demons were common then, not now.
Who could predict a high demon here?
No one.
Thus, crisis.
No way to resist while the self-proclaimed god spewed demonic energy.
…A utterly hopeless plight.
The demon sneered.
As if they deserved their fate for resisting instead of dying cleanly, spoiling its appetite.
Ding, doong.
Ding, doong.
…the demon's words halted midway, and the people's trembling stopped.
More precisely…
"The demonic energy is… dissipating?"
The demonic aura from the demon grew faint.
Veteran knights on the verge of madness heard irregular bell tolls, their minds clearing.
And thus they—
"-Mahaprajnaparamita Heart Sutra, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practices the profound prajnaparamita—."
……found peace before a prayer they'd never heard.
'So I recited the one I knew…'
It works?
Lee Han rang the bell while chanting the Heart Sutra.
To maximize the [Holy Relic]'s power.
On one hand, fortunate.
'Good thing I chose Buddhism for army religious activities.'
Worth learning.