Chapter 331: And So, the Desert Wept.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 331: And So, the Desert Wept.
In the beginning, there were no words. Sand Glave and Agar clashed their weapons without a sound. With every thunderous crash, the desert cried out, and the sands, settled over long ages, began to scatter in all directions. Those sands were their memories, the very things they had slowly built up together. The sight was so beautiful it was as if they were painting a picture.
KWWAAAAANG!
The glaive and the hammer collided. Sand Glave looked somehow joyful. The interesting thing was that the Great Tribe Leader, Agar, also seemed inexplicably pleased. His expression hadn't changed, but from his parted lips, from his eyes, from the hand that gripped his hammer, you could feel his delight.
It occurred to me that perhaps Agar, too, had been waiting for the day he could cross blades with Sand Glave. He stood above all other Green Skins, a position that did not allow him to act rashly. He couldn't just fight whenever he wanted to. He, too, was a Green Skin. To have an opponent who showed such fighting spirit toward him was a glorious thing. And if that opponent was the warrior of the South, Sand Glave, it was all the more so. Agar had clearly sensed Sand Glave's feelings. If one considered that Agar, too, had been waiting for this day, his joyful appearance was no surprise.
“You've grown strong, my old brother.”
“Unlike you, who slumbered in the land of warriors!”
“Hahahahat! My weapon has not yet rusted, brother.”
“It looks rusted to me, Agar! Can you block this!”
The force of the wind from Sand Glave's swing was so fierce you could hear the air tear right before your eyes. A normal human would have been crushed by the pressure alone. But Agar effortlessly dodged and parried the blade. The sandstorm raged, but he did not close his eyes.
He blocked Sand Glave's glaive with his short hammer and swung his own once more. It was a speed that would have been impossible to follow without these eyes. The hammer swung precisely toward Sand Glave's side, but he dodged it by taking a step back.
“Did you not choose the wrong place, my old brother?”
“Indeed… This is a battlefield to your advantage. Warrior of the Desert. Sand Glave. A battlefield made for you.”
As Sand Glave plunged his weapon into the desert floor, the surrounding sands began to move.
‘Unique Ability.’
I swallowed hard without realizing it. Because Sand Glave was stronger than I had thought. Controlling the surrounding environment is a tremendous weapon. Agar's hammer began to be blocked by Sand Glave's sand. Then, a giant hand erupted from the ground and completely swallowed Agar. Overwhelmingly massive hands of sand and weapons of sand rained down upon him.
Agar's body was completely buried by the giant hand, but Sand Glave knew better than anyone that it wasn't over. The moment he rapidly approached the sand that concealed Agar, an explosion roared, and the sands that had bound Agar shot up into the air.
KWAAAAAAAANG!
Agar emerged from within the soaring and falling desert sands, his entire body glowing faintly. A physical enhancement-type Unique Ability. No, to be precise, he had put something inside his own body.
‘A spirit? Mana?’
Even with these eyes, I couldn't tell.
No, looking more closely, I could see it. What Agar had forced into his body now was the wind. Not some spirit. He had crammed nature itself into his body.
‘Huh….’
I let out an involuntary gasp. The sandstorm that had been targeting Agar was swept away in all directions by the wind pressure, and Sand Glave was biting his lip.
The way he swung his hammer was like a gale. With one swing, a wall of sand crumbled. With a second, Sand Glave's body staggered. He was defending with his glaive, but he grimaced, as if judging that a direct confrontation was too much.
In the blink of an eye, five or six thunderous crashes pierced my ears.
This was less a fight between Green Skins and more a battle between monsters. I had never seen a fight like this before. Just watching them without looking away was a lesson in itself. Their bodies, their techniques, their mindsets—they were magnificent. Not only did they have a perfect grasp of their own skills, but they also had a perfect understanding of each other's.
They had never crossed weapons like this before. But they must have watched one another often. How the other fought, how they faced their enemies, what techniques they used in what situations—they must have watched each other from the closest possible distance for a very long time.
They countered each other's techniques so perfectly it was as if it had all been choreographed. The glaive and hammer locked, and they continued to stare at one another.
“Agar!”
“Sand Glave.”
I felt the terrain changing. And it truly was. The desert was being flattened, and soon nothing remained around them.
A swinging hammer, a swinging glaive. Agar's hammer struck Sand Glave's arm, and Sand Glave's glaive struck Agar's arm in turn.
KRRRRR-CRACK!
“Hahahahat.”
Blood splattered across the desert, but the warrior laughed with joy. An entire arm was blown away. They had traded one for one. A giant glaive made of sand descended upon Agar, but he swung his hammer once, powerfully, and scattered it.
Sand Glave instantly closed the distance, digging into Agar's guard, but Agar welcomed his foe with open arms, as if he had known all along.
The wounds on their bodies continued to accumulate.
It was not a short time. No, for a very long time, the two clashed their weapons. There wasn't an unscathed spot on Sand Glave's body. The same was true for Agar. The only difference was that Agar's stamina was not falling, while Sand Glave's was continuously draining.
‘This is a disadvantageous fight.’
Sand Glave had certainly told me not to interfere, but that didn't mean I hadn't considered it. He is a great pillar of the South. I naturally thought it was right to save him. But for some reason, my body wouldn't move. His words came back to me.
‘A Sacred Battle.’
It is a Sacred Battle. If I were human, I might have moved. I couldn't remember when I had started to think of myself as a Green Skin. But I am living as a Green Skin now. I have a duty to watch their duel, to remember it, to protect it, and to make it known.
It is an honor to be a witness to this battle, which will adorn a page of history.
Sand Glave will overcome.
Their voices could no longer be heard.
But for some reason, I felt that they were conversing.
*
‘He is strong.’
That was what Sand Glave felt.
The Orc he had respected, envied, and followed was even stronger than he had imagined. If he hadn't been resurrected as one of the dead, he would have been stronger still. Pain can be a weakness, but it can also be a strength. While his thoughts strayed for a moment, a giant hammer fell before his eyes. Sand Glave raised his remaining arm to block the attack.
He couldn't let his guard down. After aiming for the head, immediately shifting to the side was his specialty.
Tens of thousands of humans must have met their end from that attack.
As expected, the hammer came flying toward his side. He raised his glaive at an angle to deflect the blow.
He had deflected the attack, but his stance wouldn't have crumbled.
The wind, the gale, inside Agar's body extremely enhanced not only his attack power but also his reflexes. He would probably respond to my attack immediately.
That's why I don't move forward and swing my glaive. Instead, I summon the sand to bind Agar's body.
KWAAAAANG!
The moment the explosion erupts and the sand scatters, I close in again. In this brief moment, I swing the glaive. From bottom to top, from bottom to top. It's a pattern I haven't shown before, but he can probably block it. Because the Agar I know is an incredibly strong Green Skin.
After Agar died, Sand Glave desperately honed his skills.
Because the imaginary Agar, whom he could no longer reach, was even stronger. He created various attack patterns and never stopped training. Every day, in his mind, he clashed weapons with the Agar of the past.
Sand Glave had noticed that his own growth was nearly at its end. But he didn't give up. Storm Shadow was getting closer and closer to him. Unlike me. As for Sand Glave himself… as time passed, as the years flowed by, he was only getting further and further away from him.
He thought it was a relief that Storm Shadow became the Great Tribe Leader. If it had been him, he would not have been able to handle the position. He wouldn't have been able to bear the weight they carried.
I am not growing, but getting smaller and smaller.
No matter how much I trained, no matter how much I swung my glaive, it felt like the gap could not be closed.
“Agar!”
Great Tribe Leader Agar was just as he was back then. He was no stronger, nor was he any weaker. He was exactly as he had been then—always strong, always someone to look up to.
But I cannot win.
Even though his time has clearly stopped, every attack I prepared is being blocked pathetically. Just as I had always imagined in my head, everything was being hopelessly blocked. The wounds were piling up more on my side, and so was the exhaustion.
It's not because my opponent is undead. Even if this were the original Agar, he wouldn't have batted an eye at the wounds on my body now.
It was when I thought I could not win.
One arm was gone, my chest was crushed. My lower body wouldn't obey, and my other arm was difficult to move. I had already surpassed my limits. My voice wouldn't even come out. My vision was blurring, and blood kept spurting from my mouth.
But my old brother, whom I so respected, was still standing firm.
It was when I thought I could not win.
Agar's eyes, which had looked so joyful, were growing more and more somber.
Those eyes seemed to be speaking. They seemed to say that he was wrong, and that I was right.
“I made a mistake.”
“…”
“You were right, Sand Glave.”
“…”
Sand Glave did not bother to answer. It was hardly a substitute, but with his unmoving body… with a body that could no longer move, Sand Glave raised his weapon.
“You were not wrong, Agar.”
I have to prove it.
Not for myself… but for him, I have to prove it.
When they clashed blades and bodies once more, Sand Glave somehow felt that he was conversing with the man he had respected his entire life.
It was a conversation they hadn't had in a very long time, and a story he had never been able to tell him.