Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: March of Tribulations
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They took a few days of rest before the final march.
The path ahead would be extremely arduous and dangerous, so this was to recover the stamina depleted underground.
Of course, rest didn't mean they could do absolutely nothing. There was constant training, preparations of special items for the march, and plenty of other tasks.
Even so, people felt happy just staying put at the base without moving anywhere.
It was a sign of how grueling the previous marches had been.
‘Should I name it the March of Tribulations, something worthy of the history books?’
It was a joking thought, but not entirely unrealistic.
If their journey ended successfully and changed the world, this march would become a great expedition immortalized in history books.
Perhaps even being a descendant of an expedition member would one day be a great honor.
‘Now that I think about it, it feels a bit like heading to Mordor to toss the ring.’
While entertaining such silly thoughts, Arsen lightly swung the sword in his hand.
Having dabbled with various weapons lately, this one—the one he used most often—felt a bit unfamiliar.
But even if swinging the sword had grown awkward, it was more than enough to deal with the enemies in front of him.
“Huff, pant...”
“What the hell.”
Bazkal and Lino, breathing heavily to catch their breath.
The two were now strong enough to be called experts. Though their skills were lacking for their age, they had gained power and speed incomparable to ordinary knights.
But even they couldn't match Arsen.
Arsen possessed a physique one dimension superior, along with techniques and experience several times greater.
“Attack.”
At Arsen's firm command, the two knights who had been catching their breath charged with a shout.
“Haaah!”
“Here I go!”
Lino thrust his spear from the front, while Bazkal circled around to aim his axe at the neck. Both attacks were full-force strikes that could kill in one blow if taken undefended.
But Arsen leisurely tilted his head back, leaped away to dodge both, then struck Bazkal's face with the flat of his blade while simultaneously uppercutting Lino's jaw with his free hand.
The two knights screamed and collapsed.
“Gahk!”
“Kuak!”
“Not bad. Again. Bazkal, lower your leg angle when running. Like you're lunging forward.”
What Arsen was doing now was instruction. Specifically, imparting the movements unique to high knights and drilling them until ingrained in their bodies.
“Uwaaaah!”
Whether shout or scream, Lino and Bazkal charged again.
Their movements were improving little by little. More precisely, they grew each time they attacked, got countered, and hit the ground.
No teacher is better than experience, and in pain, every lesson sinks deep into the bones.
“Good, a bit more!”
It would have been nice if the session ended after drilling them until exhaustion, but unfortunately, Arsen's tasks didn't end there.
Separate from developing his subordinates, he needed training to hone his own skills.
“Done?”
“Your back foot is raised. Lower it.”
“How about this?”
“Perfect.”
Observing and correcting Arsen's movements was Anun's role.
Unlike Bazkal or Lino, he was a master martial artist even among the top in his homeland of Elta territory. Though he lacked essence absorption and fell short physically, his skill alone was someone even Arsen couldn't take lightly.
Thus, he had ample ability to supervise and correct Arsen's form.
“A bit lower—your center of gravity is too high.”
“Legs back!”
After repeated form-based sparring, critiques, and corrections on such minute details, the training finally ended.
Arsen was drenched in sweat, and even Anun, just calling out pointers, had a raspy voice and chugged water repeatedly.
While rinsing off sweat with stream water nearby, Anun spoke.
“But isn't the training a bit excessive? At this rate, your body won't hold up. It was already intense before, and with this crucial period ahead...”
“I can handle it. Ever since absorbing the essence, this body's recovery has improved a lot. Rather, I'm sorry for taking away your training time, Sir Anun.”
Arsen said this while gesturing to his body.
Most people limited physical talent to strength, speed, reflexes, and muscle coordination, but durability and recovery were talents too—very important ones.
Surprisingly many lacked them so badly they had no right to even train.
“Anyway, since it's ability gained externally, I have to hone it twice as hard as others to make it my own.”
At those words, Anun shook his head with a weary sigh, as if fed up, then soon took up his spear beside Arsen and assumed position.
Stimulated by the ceaseless self-discipline, he too planned to train a bit more.
* * *
After training, Arsen bridged his legs toward the sea and sat resting.
This world's ocean had far more spectacles than Earth's. Even under blazing sun with no sign of storms, the sea raged like a tempest.
Occasionally, massive magic beasts dozens of meters long would soar into the sky. Whether just enjoying the breeze or fleeing something even larger below, who knew.
If the latter, how enormous must that pursuer be?
As Arsen imagined, a voice echoed in his mind.
[Still looks like a mad sea. Launch a ship and it'd sink instantly. How the hell did it end up like that... Well, this world's land isn't exactly normal either.]
Bakran muttered in disbelief as he gazed at the sea. From his words, it seemed in his era, the ocean currents weren't so violent.
With no one around, Arsen replied aloud.
“I hear the massive magic beasts living in the sea create waves with every movement. They say when mountain-sized ones fight, the aftermath becomes tsunamis.”
It was something he'd heard from Valken, lord of the nearby fortress. Of course, he too had never entered the sea himself, so it was just an old hypothesis, but quite convincing.
Especially hearing that in Bakran's era, without magic beasts, the sea was as calm as Earth's.
[I see.]
“Yeah.”
After that exchange, they silently watched the sea for a while.
Soon, Bakran cautiously asked.
[By the way, that Giant King of the south or whatever—they say he's not a bad ruler these days? Can't we just ask for cooperation?]
Arsen unwittingly replied in an incredulous tone.
“Just summon the library for us, you say?”
[Yeah. If we can restore the purification magic circle, it's not bad for them either, right? Wouldn't it be better to resolve it through talk if possible?]
Sometimes in conversation, Bakran seemed almost foolishly naive.
A case showing scholarly intellect and worldly wisdom are separate.
Arsen explained patiently, like to a child.
“If the world were a fairy tale full of dreams and happiness, sure.”
It would be nice if everyone were kind and trusting, making things smooth, but the world rarely flows like fairy tales.
Humans were too greedy for that.
“But if we propose negotiations, and they break down over distribution issues?”
[Well...]
“Revealing our existence is basically handing our lives to them. Not just mine, but everyone's here. Even as leader, I have no right to do that.”
[As expected?]
“Yeah. If talk could solve it, and we could concede a few things to pass easily, I'd want that too. But attempting talk alone means giving up too much.”
* * *
Four days later—exactly after four suns rose and set—the march began.
The most crucial aspect of this march was concealment.
If discovered, sparking a chase in the kingdom's heart, survival was impossible.
“Ugh, stuffy.”
“Stinks.”
“Everyone shut up and walk. Kids are here—aren't you embarrassed?”
He heard mages complaining nearby, and an older mage scolding them.
They walked draped in hides of water buffalo-like magic beasts caught locally, walking on two legs.
Gutted inside, but the still-damp hides emitted a surprisingly foul stench.
While the knights trained, the mages had hunted and dried them themselves. Lacking expertise, they weren't perfect, but from afar, they looked decent enough.
Naturally, they covered Jin too with quadruped magic beast hide. Its bright red fur was conspicuous from distance, which bothered him.
But among nearby magic beasts, these were the only large, commonly huntable ones big enough for Jin.
Dozens of different beasts herding together looked odd, but as long as they didn't scream "humans," it was fine.
To look like a human group, they'd need to approach within hundreds of meters—and at that range, they could charge and subdue easily.
‘Still, it's absurd no matter how I look.’
Arsen lightly brushed the fur hide on his Jin and clicked his tongue.
Such unnatural bright red fur—hard to camouflage as hunter or prey—should naturally go extinct.
But magic beasts ignored such natural selection, as if born and living arbitrarily.
He'd discussed this with Bakran.
Bakran theorized magic beasts arose from side effects of biochemical weapons from his era.
Those weapons twisted organisms' genes into grotesque forms just by dispersal.
Thus, one of the worst war weapons, banned internationally for use alone.
‘Crueler than nukes, even.’
Nukes were among humanity's most powerful and cruel weapons. Arsen knew well from childhood Japanese manga depicting radiation effects.
But a magical poison gas turning generations into monstrous lifeforms, not just one or two?
Better to burn alive—unthinkable horror.
Worse, in Bakran's era, it wasn't the worst weapon, just one of them.
Moreover, mutated ones were euthanized to preserve human purity—even minor cases like extra fingers, integrable into society.
‘Anyway, everyone's struggling.’
Days of wearing stinking hides all day until sleep, no fires, no proper camps.
Plus walking without Jin or mounts, causing blisters and sores, everyone in pain.
But to avoid detection utterly, they excluded anything catching the kingdom's eye.
Unlike sneaking past anti-mage territories—where getting caught meant just bolting through—here, every surrounding territory was a potential foe.
As he observed others, someone called from ahead.
“Sir Arsen.”
It was Miro, the knight back from forward scout. Cowhide-draped, he looked comical, but Arsen didn't show it.
“What is it?”
“Found unidentified ruins ahead. If no big issues, seems good to camp there tonight.”
“Ruins?”
“Yes.”
“No report of purification zones ahead? A relic site?”
In this world, buildings were mostly in purified zones. Toxic beast-ridden areas harmed even trained humans long-term.
Exceptions were mines for essential resources.
There, workers needed soldier-level training; in Belluan, they used criminal soldiers.
“Well, I'm not familiar, so hard to judge...”
Miro scratched his head and said cautiously.
“But it looks just like a collapsed lord's manor.”