Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Battlefield
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The first to reveal itself was a rhinoceros clad head to toe in iron armor. To Jade's eyes, he couldn't even tell if the beast's skin merely resembled armor plating or if it was genuine metal.
This was also the creature that had toppled the massive tree toward him.
Jade had only ever seen pictures of such animals as a child. And he'd naturally insisted they were imaginary. Danel had stubbornly claimed they were real. Jade had half-believed it, figuring it was somewhat of a lie.
The rhinoceros in Danel's drawing had been a believable size, at least. But the one that had appeared now was far too enormous for human common sense to handle.
The rhino's head reached the height of a two-story building, and the horn at the tip of its snout was thick and long enough to punch through a castle wall. And where ears should have been, another horn protruded.
Ruby, blocking the rhinoceros's path, looked like a rag doll by comparison.
"This must be the assault captain of this war."
Ruby analyzed it leisurely.
Jade scanned the surroundings for Saf. About twenty paces away, Saf sat slumped in the mud, caked head to toe. The hood on her outfit had fallen off, exposing her horns.
Saf simply stared up at the colossal rhinoceros, at a complete loss.
"Jade, Saf! Don't freeze up just because of the size, got it?"
Ruby had already warned them, as if reading Jade's mind.
"Saf. Look over here."
Jade shouted in a whisper.
He didn't dare raise his voice for fear of attracting the rhinoceros's attention. His voice was too soft, and Saf didn't hear.
Jade crawled over to her on all fours and lightly touched her shoulder. Only then did Saf notice and turn her head. Mud from her blue hair splattered onto Jade's face.
Jade wiped his face and said,
"We need to stay together. That way, it'll be easier for Ruby to protect us."
Saf didn't reply, just nodded half-heartedly.
Jade looked up again at where Ruby stood. He wanted to catch any orders she might give right away. Not that it would be anything other than "Run" or "Get down," anyway.
Upon closer inspection, the giant rhinoceros had a bit in its mouth, and another rhinoceros was riding on its back.
It looked smaller, but that was only relative to the massive mount—its own height was still far greater than Jade's. It appeared clad in armor studded with sharp spikes, but on closer look, the spines grew directly from its hide.
"A rhinoceros riding a rhinoceros... I would've found that amusing if I'd seen it coming."
Just then, Ruby beckoned to Jade without a word. It looked like a signal to head back.
Jade grabbed Saf's hand and pulled her to her feet. She wouldn't stand easily.
"Hang on a sec."
She huffed out two breaths, just like when Ruby had threatened her back at the monastery, then sprang up.
"Okay now."
Jade took Saf's hand and turned to look behind them. The air was still thick with dust and splintered wood chips that obscured their vision, but shapes were starting to emerge.
Following the path cleared by the giant rhinoceros, other monsters began to appear.
"Monsters not a whit inferior to the desert demons."
Ramathus's army might have had demons on the inside, but outwardly they were just ordinary beasts. Aside from behemoths like the Goat King and the Tyrant, the rest were merely ferocious wild animals. But these ones looked unmistakably like an army of demons, even on the surface.
A lion with teeth where eyes should be, a bird with a human face, a giant snake spewing wriggling tentacles from its mouth—creatures of every grotesque form. Some had necks, heads, and limbs so fused they were indistinguishable.
"With bodies like that, who even knows where to strike? This'll be tough for Ruby."
Jade knew he was in no position to worry about her, but worry he did.
The lumbering rhinoceros ignored Ruby and kept advancing. Its unfocused pupils didn't seem to register her at all, staring off into the distance instead. The smaller rhinoceros on top spotted her, however.
Ruby caught its gaze and spoke.
"Hey, are you the boss?"
But the smaller rhinoceros ignored her and tried to trample her flat.
"Stop and talk for a sec."
Ruby said in Elvish.
Jade kept retreating while eavesdropping on Ruby.
The smaller rhinoceros replied in Elvish as well.
"Silence. Any who block the Heldra army's path shall know only death."
"You're the noisy one, with that rhinoceros you're riding. Anyway, whose army are you?"
Ruby asked.
"We are the great Heldra legion, serving the supreme and singular sovereign who spreads the will of the gods across this land: the Cow King."
"What did you just say? The will of the gods? Aren't you demons?"
"Indeed. The gods originally bestowed this land upon the demons. But the angels drove us out and gave it to humans. Now the time has come, and we return to reclaim it..."
"That's a new theory to me."
Ruby muttered, but the smaller rhinoceros pressed on with its speech.
"...In this great conquest, the Cow King has descended to lead the vanguard. He alone is the sovereign who shall guide all demons, and only in his name shall this world become the domain of demons once more."
Then the smaller rhinoceros suddenly began to sing.
"Over great mountains and vast seas we crossed, through hell's gates came the Cow King, bearing the gods' will to this land. Bearing the gods' will to this land. The Cow King has descended, to make this land demons' own. The bodies granted by the Cow King, repaid with lifelong torment. This grace bestowed by the Cow King, repaid with lifelong death."
By the end of the first verse, the front-line monsters had joined in, and soon even those hidden behind trees in the horde beyond were singing along.
"Hey, sing if you want, but do it right, you tone-deaf bastards! You sound like crap!"
Ruby yelled.
The smaller rhinoceros rebuked her sternly.
"I have no intention of debating our hymn with a heretic like you."
"I'm not debating—I'm saying you can't sing! Don't play dumb!"
Ruby snapped back, but the smaller rhinoceros ignored her.
"Rhinodon! Trample this heretic!"
The giant rhinoceros lifted its foot.
Ruby leaped back to evade. The foot crushed only the tree where she'd stood.
Ruby immediately hurled her chain, looping it around the giant rhinoceros's horn. She yanked hard the moment it tightened.
The sudden pull sent the giant rhinoceros tumbling forward, and the rider lost its grip on the reins, catapulting ahead. Unfortunately for it, it landed headfirst right in front of Ruby.
"Woo-hoo! I didn't plan this far, but it lined up perfectly."
Ruby stomped on the smaller rhinoceros's head.
"Small" was relative—it was still twice Ruby's size. But it couldn't rise against the force of her foot.
"You—who are you, little one?"
"Didn't you say no talking to heretics a minute ago?"
Ruby shot back.
The smaller rhinoceros asked in confusion,
"Are you with the Watchers?"
"Keep asking questions? Does that mean you'll talk now? Answer my question first, then I'll answer yours."
Ruby giggled and asked,
"Who are you? The one from the plains was the Goat King, and he's the Cow King's vassal, so are you the Rhino King?"
"My name is Rhinod! How dare you compare me to the likes of the Goat King."
Rhinod spat in fury. But all it could manage was flailing its limbs under Ruby's foot.
"Likes of? The Goat King was stronger than you. Anyway, looks like you're one of the Cow King's underlings too?"
"How dare you utter His name so lightly—you deserve death."
Rhinod bellowed,
"Full assault!"
An immense horde of monsters surged forward from behind the fallen giant rhinoceros, drawn by Ruby's chain.
Rhinod kept shouting.
"Show the glory of the Cow King! Over great mountains and vast seas..."
As it tried to sing again, Ruby ground its head harder, silencing it completely.
"Shut it! You can't sing for shit!"
But silencing Rhinod didn't stop the praises to the Cow King echoing from the demon army everywhere.
"Jade, retreat farther that way. As far as you can."
Ruby shouted not toward where Jade stood, but off to the side. Jade figured it wasn't because she didn't know his position, but to keep it from the demons.
"It's the first time Ruby's ever sounded that urgent."
Jade hurried backward.
"There are too many enemies. Shouldn't Ruby run with us?"
Saf stopped, worried.
"Trust Ruby. She has a plan. Maybe she's just pretending to fight to buy us time to escape..."
"No, looks like she plans to fight."
Saf wasn't retreating; she was watching the battle.
The monsters charged Ruby all at once. Wingless birds with no beaks or heads, just necks lined with teeth. Sphere-shaped things with no eyes or heads, only parrot-like beaks on necks...
Just looking at them filled one with revulsion and chills. Yet Ruby didn't dodge. She swung her chains, felling each as it approached.
If a chain pierced a torso, she'd swing it to cleave the body in two. If one broke through the chain's range, she'd kick or punch it away.
She toppled ten at once, only for twenty more to follow, then forty swarming in.
Ruby wrapped her chain around the neck of the smaller rhinoceros—Rhinod—still pinned underfoot and yanked it up. Its head tore free from its body as it screamed.
"What are you planning?"
"Tossing it."
Ruby spun the chain-wrapped smaller rhinoceros once and hurled it. A gorilla with a horn where its ear should be toppled after taking the hit.
Some wielded weapons, others had bodies that were weapons themselves. Some had talons like spears, others shot needle-like barbs from their hides like arrows.
Each time, Ruby flung Rhinod to knock one down, then reeled it back for the next.
Once she'd used Rhinod like a flail on her chain's end to her satisfaction, she tossed it away. It sailed far off to impale its horn into a distant gorilla's chest.
The number of monsters facing Ruby didn't dwindle—it only grew.
"We gotta go!"
Jade grabbed Saf's hand and pulled. She ran reluctantly.
With no proper path, they couldn't build speed. Trees and reeds blocked the way, the ground was muddy and treacherous. Tree roots sprawled like nets, some so thick they had to climb almost like a hillside, then leap down with commitment.
The darkness of the Darkwood thickened further, visibility dropping.
Now Jade understood how safe and easy a path Ruby and Barshu had led them on.
Farther on, a dirt wall five paces high blocked their way. Too steep to climb.
"Can't go up that. Let's take the other path."
"No. That'll make us loop too far."
Saf bit the side of her skirt with her front teeth and tore it with both hands from ankle to thigh in one rip. It wasn't fine cloth.
Then Saf leaped up the cliff with barely a running start.
Her first bound covered half, then she grabbed the top with one hand, hauled herself up, and swung one leg over.
She was fully atop the dirt wall in under two seconds. Saf lay flat and extended a hand to Jade.
"Father, grab my hand!"
Jade stared at her face in brief shock.
"It's not my imagination. Saf isn't just fitter than me. Ruby's so overwhelming that the gap seemed smaller by comparison, but this level..."
Saf shook her hand urgently.
"Hurry!"
Jade snapped to, gripping her hand and climbing the moss-slick wall.
Saf moved lightly but lacked raw strength, so they both grunted with effort getting him up.
Beyond the dirt wall, the ground leveled out again.
'...Unless they gave Saf military training at the convent, she's no ordinary girl.'
Just then, a tree cracked behind them, and something enormous soared into the sky. Glimpsed through the leaves, it resembled that giant rhinoceros called Rhinodon.
To Jade, it looked for a moment like a whole building floating in the sky.
'It'll taste a sensation it'll never have known in its life. Crashing from that height will be a first too.'
Rhinodon, which had risen above the Darkwood's tall trees, plummeted moments later.
The ground shook as far as Jade and Saf, half a mile away.
Dust and leaves billowed out from the impact site. Fortunately, no splintered wood or shattered rocks flew their way, but the dirt cloud pierced the forest trees like a desert sandstorm and engulfed them.
"Is Ruby okay?"
Saf peered toward the battlefield, hands cupped over her eyes.
"She threw that thing—why worry? She told us to get far away for exactly this."
Jade peered like Saf, but dense trees, dust, and darkness made it hard to make out details.
Saf stamped her feet and said,
"Are we really okay not going back? What if Ruby's hurt—I could heal her. And a little demon like that, we could block with our holy light..."
"Possible. But right now, staying out of her way helps her most. She just yeeted a giant rhinoceros—what's left to fear?"
Jade said. He soon had to retract it.
Moments later, a beast even larger—one that could make Rhinodon a pet—burst above the treetops.
Saf's eyes widened.
"Father, what is that?"
Jade grabbed Saf's hand again and pulled.