Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Rise and Fall (5)
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"Caden, sir! Caden, sir! This is bad!"
Revolutionary army camp, commander-in-chief's tent.
"The new white bone soldiers are overwhelmingly powerful. What are we going to do?"
The executives who had been leading the commoners rushed in one after another.
"Those bones aren't just bones. They're harder than steel...! Swords don't even dent them, and arrows bounce right off!"
"That's not all—their martial arts are no joke. We could handle it, but even the emperor's troops, trained professionals, are getting crushed without a fight!"
"Hmm."
Caden furrowed his brow.
The executives were relaying the information.
But truthfully, he didn't need them to.
Caden had been watching the entire situation from the high ground.
'What the hell are those things?'
Caden focused his gaze on the battlefield.
The might of the thousands-strong white bone legion was simply tremendous.
In the clashes between soldiers.
He was realizing for the first time what happened when the power gap was that vast.
Thud! Slash!
Thousands of soldiers charged without hesitation.
They deflected or parried the swords of allies trying to block them and kept running.
What was frightening.
Was how precise their attacks were, even mid-sprint.
No matter the skill gap, scenes like this were nearly impossible in large-scale warfare.
"Aaaagh!"
One commoner soldier clutched his ankle and rolled on the ground.
"It hurts! It hurts! Stop!"
The soldier, having lost the will to fight, dropped his weapon, covered his head with both hands, and collapsed face-down.
The funny thing was, they just passed by soldiers like that.
'This is.'
Caden's eyes gleamed.
Now that he thought about it, yes.
'Why aren't they killing them?'
The white bones were peculiar.
Despite their immense power, they weren't taking the lives of allies.
They were merely neutralizing those who attacked.
'What the hell is going on here?'
That only deepened the confusion.
War should have a purpose, after all...
"Caden, sir!"
At that moment.
Someone came sprinting breathlessly from outside the camp.
Judging by his attire, he was a squad leader.
"I'm Hugo, squad leader of the 3rd Division! I know who commands those bone soldiers!"
"What?"
Caden's eyes flashed.
He immediately summoned Hugo into the camp.
And heard the full story.
"So you're saying it's the work of a sorcerer from foreign lands?"
"Yes, absolutely! He had stamina that didn't tire after hours of running and stealth that was unmatched. His bone minions were the same. And he was definitely looking for you, Commander Caden."
"Looking for me..."
Caden stroked his chin with thumb and forefinger.
Then he turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
And saw what he had overlooked before.
Far away, the emperor's camp.
Spurt!
A bone soldier's sword severed the neck of a mounted general.
Caden's sharp eyes caught the scene in vivid detail.
'They do kill sometimes?'
Thump!
Suddenly, Caden felt his heart race.
It was undoubtedly a first.
An absurd reality he never could have imagined.
But why.
Why did.
This scene feel exactly like the one he'd longed for his entire life?
"We have to hold them off."
Caden muttered.
He gripped his shield tightly, veins bulging.
"This is heaven's judgment—and our chance. We preserve our strength with everything we've got until the judgment ends. That's how we'll change the world."
The white bone soldiers heading toward his side had no killing intent.
If they formed ranks properly, they could minimize casualties.
'Especially.'
Caden glanced at his shield.
He who had spent his life perfecting defense was more confident than anyone.
Caden shouted with certainty.
"Assemble all troops behind me! Switch from offense to defense!"
Boom!
He slammed his shield into the ground.
Caden descended to the plains, intent on building an ironclad fortress.
* * *
At that moment.
Whirr!
Dana was healing soldiers' wounds with graceful hand movements.
The order's top healer, the Saintess.
She could have stayed back, treating only the wounded brought from the front lines, but she didn't.
She rushed to the front lines herself, treating patients on the spot.
"Aaah, S-Saintess!"
"Th-thank you! Saintess!"
"Saintess... Has God abandoned the empire? This is insane. It's a disaster itself."
"You're right! Fighting undead monsters that won't die! Saintess, please retreat! We'll hold here somehow!"
"......"
Dana bit her lip.
Fear spread like a plague, making every imperial soldier tremble.
That emotion reached her fully.
'But.'
Something felt off.
She was right at the front lines.
Yet the white bone soldiers ignored her and passed by.
As if there was someone else they absolutely had to kill.
In short.
"Wh-what the hell are you bastards doing!"
An imperial general on horseback yelled.
"Protecting the Saintess is fine, but get over here too! Form a wall and protect me...!"
Thwack!
An arrow lodged in his shouting mouth.
A bone arrow.
"Guh, guh?"
The general fell from his horse, eyes wide in shock.
'Ah.'
Dana sighed.
He was already dead—no saving him, even if she rushed over.
The white bone legion was like a tsunami.
It swept through the imperial forces like a flooding tidal wave.
In such a calamitous situation, there wasn't much she could do.
Just.
'I have to save them.'
Keep moving without rest.
In the chaotic melee of friend and foe mixed together.
She didn't discriminate between allies and enemies.
Light poured from her hands, clinging life to the dying.
"Guh, guh! Saintess...!"
Even if the white bone soldiers spared their lives and passed by.
Casualties still happened.
In a clash of thousands, threatening collisions occurred.
Fear could choke someone.
And the blades of those maddened by battlefield panic were scarier than the enemy's.
"Just hold on a little longer!"
She felt heartbroken.
If only she had ten hands instead of two.
No, if her body could split into multiples—how perfect that would be?
Even as she treated the patient before her.
She saw another dying behind.
But there was no helping it.
No matter how frantically she moved, limits existed.
Then.
"Huh...?"
Dana witnessed an unbelievable sight.
So unbelievable she rubbed her eyes with her left hand while healing with her right.
"Healing...?"
One white bone soldier.
Was emitting a light similar to hers, healing a patient.
Creak!
One dying behind her, no less.
"You...?"
Dana couldn't continue.
'Ah.'
Perhaps.
These white bones weren't devils after all.
Rather.
They might be God's judgment.
Truthfully, as a person herself.
She had thought such things.
Why should nobles feast while commoners die?
Why silently allow innocents to perish when we know better?
Is this truly the world God desires?
Creak!
The bone healing the patient stared at Dana then.
She met its gaze.
A white bone with a build similar to hers.
Its aura so wistful, so heartbreaking.
Drip!
The Saintess shed tears unwittingly.
'Yes.'
She resolved inwardly at the same time.
Devils wouldn't heal patients.
'This is God's will. I just need to fulfill my duty.'
The light from her hands grew even brighter.
The Saintess kept moving.
As always.
* * *
"Hoo."
I exhaled.
It had been three hours since striking both camps.
The old man had retreated briefly after twelve hours.
Swoosh!
Sprinting via shadows brought me right before the imperial palace.
I had concentrated most of my skeletons on the emperor's faction.
Shuuuw!
A barrage of sharp arrows rained from the walls.
Boom!
But my shield bearers, now in formation, blocked them all.
'Truthfully.'
They didn't even need to block.
Such arrows couldn't pierce dragon bone anyway.
"My lord, let's begin."
Whoosh!
Taeyang spun his spear once.
In that instant, an aura dominating the area crushed the battlefield.
"Before overwhelming might, sieges mean nothing."
Stab!
His spear thrust toward the walls in a flash of light.
Like flashbangs exploding in sequence, kwagagang! It shook the earth.
Sun Chain Strike.
The S-rank spear, made envisioning 'Sun Spear' by Demir, slammed into the walls.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Each strike punched massive holes in the walls.
My skeletons charged through the gaps.
The imperial soldiers' morale shattered at the overwhelming sight.
Arrows, rocks, fire, oil—plenty prepared atop the walls, but the will to use them was gone.
"Nice one, Taeyang."
We kept charging inward like that.
The palace front yard.
Even the palace interior.
Nothing could stop the skeletons.
What could the pampered nobles holed up inside do?
If they had any guts, they'd have been at the front lines.
They wouldn't have cowered behind soldiers.
Thwack! Spurt!
"Kyaaak!"
"Kyaak! Spare me!"
The skeletons' merciless slaughter began.
'I hold no grudge against you.'
But to avenge the Bone Lord's kin, it was unavoidable.
If you exist in this world.
Countless more will bleed under the name of revolution.
A bitter feeling welled up, but I simply closed my eyes.
And walked.
Toward the final boss of this palace.
The emperor of the millennial empire.
'Indeed.'
I suddenly realized.
'I've gotten fucking strong.'
Even if I'd cleared absurd dungeons until now, taking on an entire empire solo...
And this time, without borrowing essence or poison fog power.
Purely my own strength.
Even with A-rank mediator dungeon buffs.
Even if not following the dungeon's design.
My growth was undeniable fact.
'But no arrogance.'
The world is vast.
Earth alone teems with unmeasurable rankers.
New worlds number like stars.
Essences, dragonkin—same deal.
"Hoo."
How long had I walked?
I arrived in the audience chamber, red carpet laid out.
'This audience chamber.'
A familiar place.
"Uwaaaah!"
At its end, just as in Caden and Dana's memories, the obese emperor screamed.
"Uwaah! My millennial empire! This can't be! Who the hell are you! Who dares do this to us! What do you want! Gold? Power? Tell us first instead of barging in!"
I nodded quietly at the emperor venting his grievances.
Time to end the battlefield.
Swoosh!
Taeyang stepped forward from my left.
"Emperor."
Taeyang's spear shot toward the emperor's heart like a snake.
Thwack!
An emperor without a shred of muscle couldn't block such a spear.
"Your sole sin is encountering my lord."
"Kr, krrgh!"
The emperor glared at Taeyang like he was the devil himself.
And soon.
Drop!
His arm, gripping the spear shaft, lost strength and fell.
[Hidden condition cleared!]
[Defense Master, Caden's memory is overwritten.]
[Defense Master, Caden rests.]
[Great Saintess, Dana's memory is overwritten.]
[Great Saintess, Dana rests.]
With the messages, light flashed in my vision.
[Elapsed time – 26:00:50]
After entering this place.
In about a day, I had toppled the empire.