Chapter 769: If You Ask What I Can Do
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 769: If You Ask What I Can Do
“Information control.”
Luagarne murmured the words. It was the very task she had entrusted to Sachsen.
She had proposed the idea because the lords of the Demon Realm seemed to have abandoned their posts, placing far too much trust in the monsters they commanded.
It was an "if it works, great; if not, so be it" kind of plan, but it had proven remarkably effective. The enemy’s reaction was entirely predictable.
Even though they had drawn this close to the fortress walls, the lack of a specialized response meant that whatever was about to happen was not an anomaly, but a reaction well within their expectations.
“Here comes the next wave,” Sinar whispered from behind Encrid. Her voice cut through the deafening shrieks of the thorn-shrouded wraiths.
From the dark recesses to the left and right of the wall, monsters slinked forward as if they had been lying in wait.
They were four-armed werewolves, werebears, and other twisted abominations.
The werebears were exceptionally massive, some clutching pitch-black clubs in their paws. Four clubs swung by four arms—it was a terrifyingly lethal sight.
Above all, every single one of them exuded a far more dangerous aura than the beasts they had fought outside. Right, so this is the Demon Realm.
“Defend and break through,” Luagarne commanded.
Sometimes, the simplest tactic makes for the sharpest spear.
With a force of this caliber, why bother scaling the walls or searching for a hidden gate? Sachsen might have opted for stealth to glide atop the battlements and carry out assassinations for information control, but the rest of them had no need for such subtlety.
Or rather, there was absolutely no reason to bother.
Besides, what did that bastard say earlier? So, what can you guys do?
Luagarne wanted to deliver the most striking answer possible to that arrogant prick.
Aside from the swarming monsters, as the group neared the wall, structures lined up along the battlements began to move on their own. Their frames were constructed of bone, and the projectiles they loaded were thick bolts also fashioned from bone. They were possessed ballistas—monsters in their own right.
Creak.
Bowstrings made of twisted purple tendons wound themselves back, loaded the bolts, and fired.
Thrum!
The strings snapped, sending heavy bone bolts hurtling toward the center of the group. The moment the group crossed a certain threshold, the weapons reacted as if triggered by a defensive spell.
Were they defensive monsters guarding the Thorn Castle wall?
Encrid’s gaze swept over them just before the bolts flew.
They’ve got everything prepared, even inside the Demon Realm. They basically turned siege-defense weapons into monsters.
One almost had to commend the effort.
Though his hand rested on the grip of Dawn Forge, Encrid did not need to step forward. Someone ahead of him leaped upward and swung his sword.
Clang!
A swift blade deflected the bolt. The projectile, made of twisted bone, clattered against the ground and bounced right in front of an approaching werewolf.
The creature was mangy, with patches of fur missing all over its body, but its forearms were exceptionally thick. If caught in those arms, an ordinary human’s limbs would snap like dry twigs.
Of course, there was no such thing as an "ordinary human" here.
The werewolf snatched up the bone bolt from the ground, gripping it like a weapon. It swung the makeshift club through the air with a heavy whoosh.
A monster improvising and using a weapon was proof of decent intelligence. Though, seeing it growl while drooling pus instead of saliva, its intelligence was likely nonexistent—it just had the grotesque look of a human-faced dog’s penis.
The one who had deflected the bolt was Pel. Still holding his sword’s grip with both hands in his follow-through stance, he spoke.
“I’ll handle the ones above.”
Pel thought this was the perfect environment to practice his defensive swordsmanship—the sword that blocks anything. Though the ballista bolts were heavy, they weren’t particularly fast to a knight’s eyes, making the task far from difficult.
“Please do,” Audin replied. He stood at the center of the group.
Grrrrr.
The pack of werewolves and werebears closed the distance. None of them rushed; they simply ambled forward. Yet, despite their seemingly slow pace, their massive strides brought them close in an instant.
Anyone else would have been terrified by the monsters closing in from both sides, but the group remained perfectly calm. Pel watched the sky, while the others watched the monsters. Everyone caught their breath in quiet composure, completely unshaken.
Shring.
Teresa drew her sword. In her hands, it looked like an ordinary longsword, but it was actually a greatsword comparable in size to Ragna’s Sunrise. The fact that she could swing it effortlessly with one hand was proof of the giant blood flowing through her veins.
Ahhh...
She began to softly sing a hymn. Along with the humming melody, a white light shimmered across her entire body.
Divine power was indeed the most visually prominent of all the supernatural abilities on this continent.
To achieve something like that with Will would require a profound level of enlightenment.
Encrid knew all too well that every power had its own unique characteristics. On the flip side, divine power lacked inherent aggressiveness. By nature, it was a force meant to heal and embrace rather than destroy.
To compensate for this, Audin had trained relentlessly to surpass the limits of his physical body. In fact, the entire holy order did so. Audin had just been exceptionally extreme about it.
‘Compensating for the lack of destructive power with raw physical strength.’
From that perspective, divine power might be the most fitting force of all for a half-giant. Of course, it also required deep devotion and innate talent.
The corners of Teresa’s mouth curled upward. If the singing woman from a moment ago was Teresa of the Divine Light, the one standing here now was Teresa the Half-Giant, craving slaughter.
The white light that gathered with her humming was no longer a force of healing. It was the manifestation of pure martial might, bolstering her innate, monstrous strength.
Boom!
Her greatsword slammed into the head of an approaching werebear. The creature’s skull did not split. Though black blood sprayed, the layer beneath its skin was as hard as iron. It was an armored bear, a type of werebear possessing a rigid exoskeleton.
With Teresa’s strike as the signal, the battle erupted once more.
Thud!
Pel blocked another bolt, and Ropode stepped up to guard one flank. Ragna’s Sunrise cut and burned through everything in its path without hesitation.
Sizzle.
White smoke rose from the severed neck of a werewolf—the trademark trail left by Sunrise. In a single, sweeping arc, Ragna severed the heads of six monsters at once.
It was Oara’s Linking Sword.
No one could afford to hoard their Will in a situation like this, so everyone unleashed their power.
A knight can slay a thousand alone. Which meant a single knight could easily slaughter hundreds of monsters. With several such powerhouses gathered, it was only natural that the oncoming monsters were carved up like butcher’s meat and strewn across the ground.
As the group advanced, Audin finally reached the edge of the vomit moat. The vile discharge spewed by some of the wraiths emitted a sickening stench. The mere scent was thick with poison, but it had no effect on Audin. He did not join the fight against the monsters.
He left the beasts lunging from the left and right to the others.
Gwoooooh.
The wraiths on the wall wailed. Watching them, Audin took his stance. He stepped forward with his left foot and extended his left hand. Twisting his ankle and hips, he threw a right punch that glowed with a brilliant white light.
The rotational force coursing through his entire body concentrated into his single fist, and that spin was applied to his divine power as well.
“Lord,” he murmured.
With his brief murmur, the surrounding air seemed to whip violently around him. The gathered divine power stirred the wind, forming a small vortex that surged upward around Audin.
Flutter.
His hair whipped upward. In that state, Audin thrust his arm forward. Wind, white light, and everything else tangled together along the trajectory of his extending arm, blasting outward.
Hum.
The white light spiraled around his thrusting fist and collided with the thorn-shrouded wraiths.
Crash!
A deafening explosion roared. Intense pressure erupted where his fist connected, shattering the components of the Thorn Castle wall and sending them flying in all directions, accompanied by the screeching wails of the wraiths.
With a single blow, dozens of wraiths were sent to the heavens.
“Lord, as it is Yours to decide whether they require forgiveness or judgment for their sins, I shall merely send them to Your side.”
Audin prayed as he pulled back his extended fist. It was impossible to guess how the wraiths felt upon hearing this prayer for their ascension—assuming they even had any sanity left. It was doubtful they possessed any reason at all.
As a result, a single divine punch had blasted a hollow in the wall large enough for a person to fit inside. The thorn-shrouded wraiths hadn’t just stood by and watched; they had resisted fiercely, but their struggles were entirely negligible. The Holy Light Armor enveloping Audin’s body repelled and rejected all of it.
The ground touching the shattered wall trembled.
“The foundation is weak,” Audin said in a cheerful tone. As he took a few steps to the side, the grating shrieks of the wraiths momentarily ceased.
Though they surely couldn't think, if those wraiths still possessed any shred of reason, they would have screamed, Who the hell are these bastards?
The apostle of the God of Battle, confident that no curse could ever harm him, pulled his fist back once more.
“That’s one hell of a knock,” Encrid muttered dryly as he watched.
For some reason, it reminded him of the time they raided the Gilpin guild in the Border Guard and discovered the underground entrance. Back then, they had smashed the door down, calling it a "knock," and honestly, not much had changed since.
Except for the fact that their target this time was the wall of a fortress nestled deep within the Demon Realm.
Baaaaang!
The second punch erupted with another thunderous roar. With those two full-powered punches, Audin had blasted a hole straight through the wall. Seeing the hollow squirm as it attempted to regenerate, the wall itself seemed to be alive.
Sinar frowned at the sight, her expression radiating pure disgust.
“Are they trying to mimic an elven city?”
Her city—specifically, the city where she had lived and which bore her name—was made of living, moving trees. In other words, the very foundation of her city was alive, and the fact that this Demon Realm fortress was mimicking that concept deeply offended her. It meant they had undoubtedly stolen a portion of elven knowledge and applied it here.
The regeneration speed wasn’t slow, but Audin’s punches were undeniably faster. Moreover, after just two punches, they could catch a glimpse of what lay beyond the wall, even if the opening was only the size of a peephole.
“The door is open,” Teresa murmured, looking at the gap. She had just snatched a werebear’s club and tossed it aside. Before that, instead of decapitating the armored bear that lunged at her, she had simply beaten its body to a pulp. She spoke while taking a brief breather.
“Shouldn’t you say a door was created?” Pel said, deflecting another bone bolt from the ballista. He deftly swatted the bolt away while suspended in midair. He had swung his sword by utilizing the rotational force of his spin in the air. It was almost miraculous how he could pull off such a feat without any footing.
Encrid agreed with Pel, but he didn’t argue. What did semantics matter? What mattered was that a path had been opened. And looking at the situation, Encrid figured it was a good time for him to lend a hand.
Zing.
Dawn Forge hummed, as if demanding to know why it wasn’t moving yet. Encrid took a step forward, as if soothing his blade.
He could see Sachsen moving along the top of the wall, dismantling the bone ballistas one by one. Thanks to his efforts, the barrage of bolts was steadily thinning. That meant Encrid no longer needed to stand guard here to catch any bolts Pel might miss.
Encrid lunged forward like a released spring.
A werewolf’s claws; a black club descending from above; a leg sweeping low to target his ankles while the beast supported itself on four arms; and dagger-like talons on that foot that could carve out chunks of flesh with the slightest graze.
It was a coordinated assault targeting his high, mid, and low sections simultaneously. These beasts knew how to fight.
Holding Dawn Forge in his right hand and Penna in his left, Encrid advanced, lightly tapping his blades.
Excluding thrusts, it was a continuous sequence of alternating slashes. With just that, the monsters’ limbs were severed and sent rolling across the ground. Before their attacks could even connect, flashes of light born from optimized thoughts sliced through their limbs. As those flashes chained together, they became a tempest of lightning.
Cr-cr-crack—Boom!
Breaking the sound barrier in rapid succession, his blades unleashed a series of thunderclaps. A long trail of black blood marked the path he walked.
He could pull off feats of this level with ease now. It was the growth of his capabilities, born from a mindset that always strove to deliver the absolute best strike, anytime, anywhere.
‘It is a person who wields the sword.’
No matter how the swordsmanship is divided into five, it is always a person who wields it.
This was an extension of the realization he had reached before. Though he had only grasped a clue so far, it was a path of the sword whose ultimate connection remained to be seen.
He quickly shook off the idle thoughts.
Once Encrid reached a point just an arm’s reach from the wall, he sheathed Penna. The tension in his muscles felt perfect, and the Will swirling within him was overflowing.
To put it simply, he felt as energized as if he had just woken up from a deep, restful sleep. On a day like this, he felt like he could do anything. One might even say he felt a surge of omnipotence. Not that he would be foolish enough to attempt the impossible, of course.
“Hello, wraith friends,” Encrid offered a simple greeting and raised Dawn Forge parallel to the ground. Its blade shimmered with a sky-blue light, humming as it vibrated. It was as if the sword was reacting to Encrid’s sheer, uncontainable excitement.
In reality, the blade’s vibration was merely resonating with the Will he possessed, but how one interpreted it was entirely up to the wielder.
Since Audin was blasting through with divine power, it would be good to lend him some strength.
His Will boiled over, channeling into the sword. This was the Demon Realm, and before him stood a Demon Realm fortress. All of that was already clear in his mind. So what? What did that bastard say earlier? What can we do?
Gurgle.
“Crazy bastard,” he thought he heard Luagarne mutter from behind.
There was no smile on Encrid’s face. He was dead serious.
What can I do right now?
This was his answer to that question.