Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: The Second Ruin (1)
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Kratos cautiously reached the edge of the island, docking his boat by a cliff and securing it to a suitable rock.
The chances of being spotted were lower here than on the wide-open beach.
Nothing could be felt at the edge of his widely spread spiritual power. That meant there was no one up there right now.
“I'm heading up. There's no one there.”
Seamus scaled the cliff as nimbly as a flying squirrel, while Kratos gripped the edge of the rock face with his fingertips and leaped up.
“Doesn't the fog seem thicker?”
“You're right. It's unusually thick... Unusually so.”
The fog was incredibly dense, as if concealing something. As if to support that theory, the moment he set foot on the island, his spiritual power began to spin erratically.
He was definitely in the right place. And it was certain *they* were here too.
“Let's get moving.”
They pushed through the dense fog, moving slowly toward the center of the island, where the spiritual power was most turbulent.
“The fog...”
“Get down.”
And with one more step. With that single step, the fog that had made it impossible to see even an inch ahead vanished like a mirage.
*It's not like I'm on a Call of Duty stealth mission.*
Lowering his body and using the bushes and rocks for cover, he advanced toward the distant shape, and a base similar to the one he had seen in the Ashar Desert came into clear view.
His spiritual power churned unlike usual, like a massive tidal wave.
Power without control is meaningless, so he suppressed his spiritual power as much as possible and moved forward.
The number of people detected by his spiritual power was around forty. The level of security had clearly been raised, likely due to the incidents in the Ashar Desert and the capital.
“Even knights?”
To the point of stationing knights. The ruin's exterior was similar to the one in the Ashar Desert. A triangular, pyramid-like structure with an entrance extending downward.
The tower that controlled the monsters also stood firmly in the center, though its appearance was different from the one in the desert.
“What are they doing?”
“Whatever it is, it can't be good for us.”
People were gathered around the entrance. The way they stared at it, as if in anticipation, was unusual.
BOOM—
A powerful explosion, loud enough to shake the entire island, followed, and clouds of dust billowed out from the entrance.
“It's breached! Oh! It's finally breached!”
“We're going in!”
From what he had seen at the Ashar ruin, it had seemed impervious to most bombs and magical attacks. But today, the entrance had been breached.
A thick cloud of dust suddenly gusted out from the entrance, but the researchers and soldiers paid it no mind and swarmed forward.
“Looks like they've breached the ruin's entrance. Isn't this a big problem?”
The bastards began carrying something out of the ruin. And those objects were clearly fragments of the wall that had firmly sealed the entrance.
This was not a good situation at all. The only reason he'd had any leeway was the assumption that the Empire's men hadn't breached the entrance yet.
“What are you going to do? I don't think the two of us can handle this.”
Seamus frowned at the sight of the Empire's men chatting away with gleeful expressions.
Seamus didn't know exactly what this ruin was for, or for what purpose they were excavating it, but he knew one thing for sure.
This was a very dangerous situation. And he worried whether he and Kratos could solve this problem alone.
“The knight has to be at least an Expert. And there's a considerable number of soldiers. Can we handle them?”
“Of course. Besides, we can't let them get anything from in there.”
Kratos also let out a sigh, gauging the enemy's strength.
Now that the ruin was breached, there was no turning back. Seamus might not know, but he himself knew the value of this ruin better than anyone.
And it was a place he absolutely had to enter.
“Wouldn't it be better to call for backup?”
“There's not enough time to call for backup. Now that the entrance is open, who knows what those bastards will do. What if they run off in the meantime? Or, I could buy some time while you go get reinforcements.”
“No way, absolutely not. You're trying to stay behind alone again? The White Mercenary Corps doesn't abandon its comrades. It's not a desperate, life-or-death moment like last time! Absolutely not!”
He couldn't give them time to get their hands on something.
If those who had gone inside the ruin destroyed something and prevented him from obtaining what he needed...
Wouldn't his revenge be further delayed? And the Empire would only grow stronger.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
“Then, we attack immediately. With our small numbers, it's better to launch a surprise attack and keep them off balance.”
“Hmm... They just breached the entrance. Right, it's better to leave a mark here and launch a surprise attack.”
Hearing Seamus's reply, Kratos shook his head and gripped the handle of his hammer tightly.
“It's not a question of whether it's possible, or if this way is better than that one. We just have to do it. That's what a surprise attack is.”
In any case, as the soldiers flocked to the breached entrance, the guard there had become lax.
And isn't a surprise attack best delivered from behind rather than head-on?
As long as they were careful with the knight, they could surely cause significant chaos. Besides, this time he wasn't alone; he had Seamus, who specialized in surprise attacks.
“There are about forty of them. I'll take care of them starting from the entrance. Stay close.”
“Hey! I'm your senior in this line of work!”
Seamus grumbled but gripped the daggers in both hands and stuck close behind Kratos.
CRACK—!
He smashed the head of the nearest man with his hammer, then pulled the sword from the man's hip and threw it at the soldier in front.
“This counts as a surprise attack, right?”
“It's fine. As long as there are no witnesses, it's an assassination and a surprise attack.”
At that reply, Seamus sighed and shook his head as he followed Kratos.
***
Around the time Kratos entered the ruin to strike the Empire's men from behind.
“What... What is this!”
“Why all of a sudden...?”
Lagaris was, quite literally, in chaos.
“Dammit! To arms!”
“Get a grip, you bastards! What are you soldiers doing! Grab your spears and stab the ones climbing up!”
The two remaining priests, excluding the one who had collapsed from exhaustion, were pouring out their divine power, drenched in sweat, but the situation didn't change.
Unlike before, the monsters' momentum didn't wane in the slightest as they charged toward the walls of Lagaris.
No, several times more monsters than usual were charging ferociously, as if to repay all the damage they had suffered until now.
“Don't let them on the walls! Don't let them up!”
“Aargh—! My arm— my arm!”
The knights who had managed to come to their senses pushed back the monsters scaling the walls, but it wasn't enough.
Many soldiers were still dazed, as if they couldn't believe what was happening.
“Group up! Form ranks! Archers! Fire!”
“Gah—!”
“Reinforcements! Call for reinforcements! Knock them down! I said don't let them set foot on the walls!”
That's how people are. When the first monster wave hit, they would have surely defended the city with their lives, accepting it as their duty.
But the peace created by the Raelian priests, a perfect peace that had lasted for quite some time, had made people complacent.
They naturally assumed that today's battle would unfold in the same way. A pattern where, once the priests arrived, they would hunt monsters as if it were a game.
Consequently, the soldiers' alertness had waned, and their battle preparations were, of course, not as thorough as they once were.
*Today will be the same as yesterday. Just like the day before, and the day before that.*
But today was different. The priests' power wasn't working properly on the monsters. That was something they had never once considered during this wave.
Everyone fell into chaos. The very people who were supposed to be guarding the city on the front lines.
Instead of immediately coming to their senses and responding when their lives were threatened.
“Snap out of it! I said snap out of it, you bastards!”
“Evacuate the citizens to the inner castle! Ring the bell!”
The urgent tolling of bells echoed madly throughout Lagaris, and the citizens screamed as they fled toward the inner castle.
“Defend the walls! Defend them! If they're breached, it's over! Buy time for the evacuation!”
While the soldiers, half out of their minds, scrambled about chaotically on the walls, the White Mercenary Corps, led by Derrick, managed to hold their ground and fend off the monster invasion.
“They're coming from the east, too!”
“Son of a bitch!”
It was impossible to defend every part of the city.
“Defensive formation! Hold the line!”
“Kraaagh—! Bring it on!”
At Derrick's shout, Doug Reinhardt threw aside an advancing monster and let out a great roar.
“Dammit. If Kratos were here, he'd definitely be a help. Of all the times...”
“You think he can survive that monster horde? He went to scout their lair.”
“Don't say such unlucky things. He survived a mutant Death Worm.”
“Shut up and kill one more of them! It's not like talking about him will make him appear!”
It was baffling. *They're collapsing this easily? Even with this many soldiers and mercenaries?*
The whole city felt as if it were possessed. He glanced at the Raelian priests, now all completely exhausted and leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.
The soldiers who had belatedly come to their senses were working together to drive back the monsters, but it was by no means an easy situation.
“It's a troll! Stop it! Stop it! Mages! Archers! The troll! Aim for the troll!”
When a massive, green-skinned monster, not one of the smaller ones they'd been fighting, emerged from the edge of the forest, the knights screamed as if coughing up blood.
KABOOM—!
The large monster slammed into the wall, shaking it violently, and a few soldiers stumbled and fell from the ramparts.
“Aaaaah—!”
A mountain of corpses. The troll trampled over the pile of monster bodies on the ground and repeatedly slammed itself against the wall, trying to climb.
“Why a troll... Trolls aren't supposed to appear here.”
The knight gritted his teeth and fired the aura gathered at the tip of his sword, severing the hand of the troll struggling to climb the wall.
“Kwwaaaak—”
The troll, suffering a deep wound that wouldn't heal easily, went berserk and smashed against the wall.
A few nearby monsters were caught in the collateral damage, but that was a minor loss.
At the troll's roar, more monsters poured out from the forest, accompanied by the sound of snapping trees.
“The sea! Monsters are attacking from the sea, too!”
“Oh, gods...”
Hearing the grim news from the rear, despair filled the soldiers' eyes.
***
Just like last time, he passed through a long corridor and arrived in a massive cavern, where a shattered door came into view.
“Ah.”
They hadn't opened the door wide. It looked as though they had somehow stuffed explosives into a slight crack and forced the door open.
“So it's you. The ones who dared to defy the Empire. In the Ashar Desert, and in the southern mountain range, too.”
Hearing the knight who stood blocking the door, Kratos recalled the map he had seen in Batoni's room. The marker in the southern mountain range belonged to the captain.
It seemed the Empire had been facing obstacles on many fronts. He himself had thwarted their plans at least three times.
“How dare you worthless scum!”
“Hey... is 'scum' the only word you know? If we're skilled enough to block the Empire's path, I don't think we're scum. Maybe you should try expanding your vocabulary?”
Kratos twirled his hammer as he slowly approached.
“I'm in a bit of a hurry. Let's get this over with. I have business inside, too.”
“How dare you...!”
“Sorry, 'how dare you' is also a bit cliché. I told you, you should try expanding your vocabulary.”
Hoping he wasn't too late to catch the researchers and soldiers who had gone beyond the door, Kratos blocked the knight's sword.
The aura coating the sword shimmered clearly before his eyes. At least an Expert.
“Ha. Everyone's an Expert these days. Back in my day, it wasn't like this.”