Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Preparing to Retreat
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No matter how much of a monster Count Kali Stehold was, capable of slaying an ogre barehanded, enduring the shockwaves from a Giant was an utterly horrific ordeal.
His ears rang constantly, blood dripped from his nose in drops, and a headache and dizziness like a raging fever kept bringing up waves of dry heaving.
It tasted metallic.
Bronteus stared at the staggering Fenrir and slammed his massive fists together with a thud.
"Kali. Is that all you've got? I figured a guy like you would have at least one Unique Ability... Why are you only using the obvious ones? I'm a little disappointed."
Ptoo.
Count Kali Stehold spat a glob of bloody phlegm onto the cockpit floor and ground his teeth.
"This bastard's been calling me Kali, Kali... Do I look like your buddy?"
"Closer than a friend. I'm the one watching your final moments. Right? So, any last words?"
"Bullshit."
The count flicked away the dripping nosebleed with a snap and clenched his fists tight.
"Not a single one of those Logot bastards knows what my Unique Ability is."
"Oh? So you do have one? A Unique Ability?"
"Yeah. You wouldn't know. Everyone who's seen it is dead."
"Then I'm the first."
"Heh..."
The count sneered as he raised his greatsword high.
He didn't want to use it if he could help it. This wasn't a situation where he could eliminate all witnesses, and he had no desire to reveal his power to the Logot side.
But...
Just how far did this guy plan to push his luck?
Guuuuung—!
A haze rose around Fenrir.
It warped.
The surrounding landscape twisted.
But Bronteus showed no tension whatsoever at the ominous sight. If anything, he smirked.
"That's why... no matter how powerful a Giant's might is, the inside is all soft and squishy anyway?!"
Kwaaaang!
Bronteus's enormous fist shot forward, spewing white steam. For him, it didn't matter if this blow landed or was blocked.
Even if Absolute Resonance was blocked, the vibration would carry through and shake the cockpit.
But Count Kali Stehold, greatsword raised, didn't even attempt to block the strike.
One might flinch reflexively as the fist hurtled in, but he stood firm, greatsword aloft, as if seeing nothing at all.
Creeeeeng!
In the end, Bronteus's fist smashed into Fenrir's chest. A direct hit crashing down on the cockpit!
But...
"Huh?"
The sensation felt off. There should have been a resonant boom like striking a bronze bell, but it didn't come. Instead, there was a dull thud, like punching a blanket.
"What the...?"
"Absolute Resonance, huh? Guess it can't shake space itself?"
"...Space?"
The count laughed.
Kiiiiing—!
The landscape warped.
Fenrir looked twisted like a vortex.
And Bronteus, up close, appeared fractured into dozens, hundreds of shards like a kaleidoscope.
It warped. Warped again.
Bronteus's rider, Ragnar von Herris, finally realized what was happening.
Space itself was being distorted. Layered and twisted like a crumpled sheet of paper, which was why even Absolute Resonance's strike hadn't penetrated.
His shockwaves couldn't shake space.
He was aghast.
"No way! Interfering with space? No human could wield an Ability like that...!"
"I can. Can't you tell?"
The count grinned ferociously as he swung his greatsword down.
Kudududuk!
A single greatsword sliced through the folded space, piercing dozens of entirely different spots simultaneously.
It burrowed into the right palm, skipped through space to impale the knee, then pierced the head, stabbed the abdomen's SPU, emerged from the left shoulder, and wrecked the chest hatch.
Chiiiii—
When the twisted space finally snapped back, Fenrir's greatsword had Bronteus impaled on it at bizarre angles, like a hot dog on a stick.
Fwoosh...
Boom! Kwa-kwang!
Through the thick steam, debris rained from the skewered Giant, followed by a chain of small explosions.
Kruk.
The count kicked the gruesomely impaled Bronteus off his blade.
Thud!
Gazing down at the wreckage that was once a Giant sprawled on the ground, the count shook off his greatsword.
"The Empire's Five Heroes aren't all that impressive, huh?"
Ptoo.
He spat blood-mixed saliva and turned his gaze.
"Gotta smash it quick and pull back."
The count's eyes took in the building-sized hemispherical void. Just as he moved to head that way...
Krurrr...
A beast's low growl halted his step.
"Haa... Already here?"
Krurr.
A massive wolf glared at him, eyes blazing red, face contorted.
It was the Wolf Queen.
She emanated honed killing intent, fully aware that Count Kali Stehold was the culprit behind this chaos.
"Come on, let's get this operation over with."
The count spoke lightly, as if joking, but he swallowed dryly inside.
The situation was bad.
'The Wolf Queen is no pushover...'
Especially not when facing her with a body worn out from battling one of the Empire's Five Heroes.
'Gotta destroy the objective and bail fast...!'
The longer this melee dragged on, the more allied casualties would snowball.
The count glanced regretfully at the void hemisphere, blood dripping from his eyes.
Krurrr...
But he couldn't afford to look away long with the Wolf Queen threatening him.
'Gotta smash it quick...'
The count bit his lip and raised his greatsword again.
* * *
Was there anything easier than fighting an already exhausted foe?
A laugh escaped him naturally.
Kang Geohan swung and slammed down Giant Slayer in the exact same rhythm as before.
But this time, the enemy couldn't defend properly.
Kwang! Kajik!
Wounds multiplied across the black Titan. In an instant, the tide turned uncontrollably.
Kwak! Kwajik! Kwak!
An arm flew off, the head split open, flames burst skyward.
The black Titan flailed its hands wildly as blows rained from all sides.
"W-Wait...! This can't be...!"
"It can!"
Kwak! Kwajik!
"I'm an elite of the Empire...!"
"Not buying it!"
Ppeok! Kwajik!
"Ugh... Crazy... W-Wai..."
"Rest now."
Dodging the sloppy guard of the fallen foe raising its four arms in desperation, Kang Geohan plunged Giant Slayer precisely into its chest.
Kwajijik!
Blood from the rider sprayed as the axe blade dug in.
The price of neglecting lower body and core training.
"Fuuu..."
Only then did Kang Geohan exhale deeply. His body was drenched in sticky sweat.
Dizziness he hadn't noticed during the fight now pinged his head belatedly.
But Kang Geohan shook it off and refocused quickly.
He worked the creaking diaphragm.
One thought filled his mind.
'Destroy the objective.'
While he'd battled the black Titan, the battlefield had grown even more chaotic.
Now, wolves and Giants clashed everywhere, from the outskirts to the center, in a frenzied melee.
Scanning the field swiftly, Kang Geohan's SPU locked onto a massive trailer.
Inside were densely etched mana circuits on a large cylinder, surrounded fan-like by solar panel-like structures.
Kang Geohan recognized it immediately. He'd heard the description drilled into him during the briefing.
'Omni-Bellows...!'
The device that pumped massive mana and spells into the Origin Furnace. One of the must-destroy targets.
And right beside it, the void hemisphere too.
'Smash both. As fast as possible! I have to do it.'
The situation he'd glimpsed briefly was grim.
Count Kali Stehold was tied up with the Wolf Queen, Viscount Lux Hayend and the Nephilim still pinned by Logot's ace pilots.
If the melee dragged on, allied losses would spiral out of control.
He had to smash them quick and escape.
"Golems...!"
Woooooo!
At Kang Geohan's call, the three Blood Golems fighting in the melee bulged their muscles and charged on all fours.
Wounds everywhere dripped blood, but fortunately none were combat-ineffective.
"Break through!"
Woooooo!
The golems bared crimson maws and charged alongside Kang Geohan.
Fortunately, no enemies left to bar his path.
* * *
Tremble, tremble.
Loen shook even as he fought.
Huuuuup!
Harklux drooled unwittingly from his lips.
Hahk, hahk, hahk, haaak!
Gerot's breaths came ragged and frantic.
Panic.
Even these rookies, hardened by multiple guerrilla skirmishes, had never faced a battle inducing such panic. The situation was that brutal and savage.
Kwajik!
An iron mace crashed onto a senior pilot's Giant—one he'd always saluted in passing, despite not being close.
Thud! A massive wolf crunched the toppled Giant's ankle and dragged it away with monstrous strength.
A Logot Titan hacked at it with an axe, but two wolves body-slammed the Titan's unguarded back.
One Giant toppled onto another.
Spotting it, yet another Giant blindly hammered down its mace, oblivious to the ally pinned beneath.
Spears stabbed out from nowhere.
In the midst of wolves and Giants surging like waves, riders died without a sound.
Amid the falling steel wreckage, the riders' blood gleamed in pitiful handfuls. Pathetic.
Pathetic deaths littered the field.
Linekal's 41 Giants were down to fewer than 20 now, surely.
"Get it together!"
Helena screamed into comms.
"You wanna die here? Keep moving! Don't break chain action! If our skills and links fail, we're all dead!"
Shouting that, Helena thrust her spear into the Titan menacing Harklux.
Kujik!
Even impaled, the Titan ramped output to shove forward.
A precarious moment where a hand stretch could crush Harklux's head—
Kugrgrgr!
But Helena's Cyclops spewed thick steam and held firm. It didn't yield an inch to the Titan. Unbelievable power for a Cyclops.
In that brief gap, a wolf wedged between them; Helena retracted her spear and yanked Harklux along.
"Move!"
"Y-Yeah! Sorry!"
Confirming Harklux rejoined the line, Helena scanned the battlefield swiftly.
'Not yet...? Still?'
Casualties were already too high. They needed to retreat ASAP. Which meant...
'Hasn't the objective been destroyed yet?'
Frantically sweeping the front lines, Helena's eyes lit up.
'Sir Kang Geohan Black Knight!'
Change at the front, blocked by enemy elites. Finally, a breakthrough—Yotun raiding the transport.
Wielding a familiar axe, smashing trailers and charging the objective.
Three muscle-bulging Blood Golems leaped about, trampling soldiers and hurling trailers.
'Yes. Go, Sir Kang Geohan Black Knight!'
A smile touched Helena White's lips. Finally, hope to escape this hell.
"Formation change! Breakthrough formation! Gather scattered allies into one spot!"
She bellowed till her throat tore.
"Prepare to retreat!"
Time for us to go too. Muttering that, she ramped her Giant's output.