Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: 33. The Heaven-Defying Army (1)
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The rangers patrolling the mountain range began returning to Winter Castle one by one.
"The atmosphere in the mountains feels off. It's too quiet, even for quiet."
"The small beasts are flattened in the underbrush, not moving a muscle, and the large ones are holed up in their dens, refusing to come out. The monsters aren't showing themselves at all. It feels like the entire mountain range is terrified of something."
They competed to report on the eerie atmosphere permeating the mountains.
"If I had to put it into words, it's like the calm before the storm."
Even the veteran rangers who had survived the war with the Warlord were voicing their concerns, so something was definitely about to erupt.
The problem was that no one knew what it was.
"I've never seen anything like this before."
Even when tens of thousands of orcs had come sweeping down, the mountains hadn't felt like this. Checking the records of their ancestors yielded no similar cases.
"If only His Highness the First Prince were here right now."
When no one knew of the Warlord's existence, the First Prince alone had warned of the danger. Perhaps he knew what was happening in the mountains.
But the First Prince had only left word that something ominous was brewing beyond the mountains and to strengthen patrols before shutting himself in his room, not showing his face at all.
Even when they visited his room out of frustration, the lady knights standing firm guard at the door would only say that His Highness was passing a critical juncture and to come back later.
"Why now, of all times?"
As a knight entering a bottleneck meant a breakthrough in realm, it was certainly worth celebrating. But given the timing, anxiety outweighed the joy.
"Everything always piles up at the worst moments."
After venting briefly, he ordered a nearby soldier to summon the commanders of each unit.
The faces of the gathered commanders were all rigidly tense. They clearly sensed the abnormal atmosphere in the mountains.
Of course, these were men who had spent their lives facing a mountain range teeming with monsters; it would have been stranger if they hadn't noticed the odd currents.
Yet,
"What of His Highness the First Prince...?"
"His Highness the First Prince would surely..."
The first words from these commanders, who had spent their lives contending with monsters, were all about the First Prince.
Where was His Highness? He might know something about this situation. His Highness this, His Highness that. Listening to them, Vincent felt like he'd been struck in the back of the head.
He saw his own reflection in the commanders searching for the First Prince.
Snap out of it.
This wouldn't do.
Protecting the North was the fate of the Ballerhard men, not the duty of a prince who hadn't even completed his coming-of-age ceremony.
Vincent took a deep breath to steady himself.
BAM!
He slammed the table as if to shatter it.
"Since when!"
He rebuked them.
"Have the men of Ballerhard waited around for someone else to solve our problems!"
The leadership's eyes widened. Bewildered by the sudden anger, shame quickly colored their faces as they stood there dumbly.
"What is the symbol of Ballerhard!"
"The Triple Shield!"
"What does the Triple Shield represent!"
"Courage, wisdom, and a sense of duty!"
BAM!
Vincent slammed the table again.
"Do you think any of you possess even one of those right now!"
The leadership of Winter Castle shot to their feet and bowed deeply.
"We're sorry!"
"Apologies aren't what you should be doing right now!"
"We know!"
"If you know, then why are you dawdling!"
The men of Winter Castle sat back down.
"Expand the rangers' alert net further to the northeast..."
"Reinforce the long-range patrol units..."
And they began pouring out countermeasures.
Only then did Vincent's stone-hard expression soften slightly.
* * *
They had shown a moment of immaturity, but the commanders of Winter Castle were far from incompetent.
The somewhat chaotic atmosphere in Winter Castle sorted itself out in an instant.
The number of rangers on the walls doubled, and those on short-range patrols came and went through the gates multiple times a day. Even the Black Spear Cavalry, led by Quean, patrolled along the mountain perimeter in preparation for any contingency.
It was a state of alert rivaling wartime.
The dwarves watching from atop the walls let out exclamations of admiration.
"Most impressive. The soldiers here accept war so naturally."
Even at the dwarf's praise, Vincent replied with a dissatisfied face.
"If the elder had come last winter, you'd have seen them ten times sharper than this."
Most of the soldiers now manning the walls were green recruits because the veterans had all perished in the last war.
Their discipline was tight, but their fighting spirit was still far short of true elites.
"Have the rangers who crossed the mountains not returned yet!"
At Vincent's shout, the ranger company commander shook his head.
Over twenty of the rangers sent to scout beyond the mountains—elite veterans for the most part, who had handled missions even when monsters overflowed the range—hadn't returned a single one.
That was no good sign.
"What in the world is over there..."
His gaze turned beyond the jagged Blade Mountains. The fields and mountains were blanketed in white, the sky blue, yet somehow only that direction was shrouded in a murky gray.
"Give me a few rangers as guides, and I'll go take a look myself."
A young man approached him amid his worries. It was the Ilai heir, Bernard.
"You?"
"Just a few guides. My boys and I will be quick about it."
His roguish attitude didn't inspire confidence. Nor did his sudden volunteering after holing up all this time.
"Well... you could give it a shot."
Vincent let out a hollow laugh at the Ilai heir's attitude, like a market thug shaking down for protection money.
He'd at least had some noble air when he first arrived, but after the war, this was what he'd become.
"Your unit answers directly to His Highness the First Prince."
When Vincent pointed out he needed permission to deploy, the Ilai heir shrugged nonchalantly.
"Since when has His Highness cared about that?"
He couldn't argue with that, so Vincent nodded unwittingly.
"Yorden!"
"Yorden here!"
Ranger Yorden came running from the far side of the wall.
"Your platoon will support them."
"Got it... but you're not sending us on a long-range patrol, are you?"
Vincent nodded, and Yorden bowed his head.
Damn it, can't stand being cooped up in the castle. Just got back from a mission, and now this? Gonna die out there.
Vincent smirked at the grumbling just audible.
"Finish this mission and return safely, and I'll give you four weeks' special leave."
"We'll complete the mission and return without a single error!"
Yorden snapped to attention with crisp salute, then dashed off to call his platoon.
"Mission time!"
"Again? Squad leader, you got on someone's bad side?"
"All the other ranger bastards out there dead? Why's it always us spinning our wheels?"
"Shut it, you lot! A whole month's leave if we get back safe—now prep!"
Watching Yorden bicker with his squad, the Ilai heir said dubiously,
"Doesn't exactly inspire confidence."
Vincent eyed the Ilai heir up and down at that.
Neither of them looked particularly trustworthy.
* * *
The next morning, Yorden's 17th Platoon of rangers and the ten knight candidates led by Bernard Ilai departed the fortress.
It had been a week since the First Prince had secluded himself without emerging.
Three days later, the ranger 17th Platoon and the Ilai heir who had headed toward the mountains reappeared at the foot of the range.
"Why are they back so soon?"
A few sharp-eyed rangers spotted them and tilted their heads.
It should have taken at least ten more days to scout beyond and return.
"Huh? Wait—they're being chased?"
Someone peering at the Ilai group said it.
The men bolting desperately as soon as they exited the mountains looked far too frantic.
"Behind them!"
Someone shouted then.
The rangers, now crowding the walls, followed the shout and looked to the Ilai group's rear.
Orcs, goblins, kobolds, trolls, dire wolves—every manner of monster poured out from the mountain pass where Bernard's group had appeared.
"Crazy! Trolls too!"
Among the surging horde of colorful monsters was even a troll, apex predator even among the mountains' elite.
"Alert! All rangers to positions!"
Horns blared across the walls at the wall captain's order.
Toot, tooooooot!
Quiet Winter Castle erupted in clamor instantly.
Rangers gripped bows and crossbows, glaring at the snowy plain.
The Ilai group and 17th Platoon rangers were sprinting for their lives, a horde of monsters on their tails.
Yip! Yip!
The swift dire wolves closed right in on Bernard's group's heels.
"Faster! Faster!"
The rangers cheered as one. But no matter how fast humans ran, they couldn't outpace four-legged beasts.
"Huh? What?"
The rearmost ranger was finally caught by a dire wolf.
"C-caught...?"
But the dire wolf, which seemed ready to snap its jaws and tear him apart, merely brushed past the ranger.
It wasn't just the dire wolf.
Orcs that would make Winter Castle rangers shudder passed them by, and even the gluttonous trolls—who'd stuff anything living in their mouths—brushed past the rangers and Ilai group.
"What the..."
The rangers were utterly dumbfounded.
In their eyes, they saw rangers and knight candidates running neck-and-neck with the monsters.
Humans and monsters sprinting amiably side by side—what other bizarre sight was there in the world?
"Ballerhard Rangers!"
A mana-infused voice boomed across the walls.
"Nock arrows and stand ready!"
The acting lord raised his sword toward the plain, issuing orders.
"The moment the knight candidates and rangers enter range, prioritize shooting the monsters around them!"
The rangers, who had been staring blankly at the monster stampede, hurriedly nocked arrows to bows and crossbows.
"Black Spear Cavalry! Break through the monsters and rescue our allies!"
Black cavalry burst through the gates.
"Loose!"
Vincent's order fell the instant the spearmen charged out.
Arrows left strings, arcing through the air to rain on the monsters.
"Perfect!"
The one-eyed cavalry captain, Quean Lichtheim, grinned fiercely and gripped his spear.
The cavalry veered right, galloped far, then wheeled left. At the end of the gentle curve, the monsters' flank lay exposed.
"Front spearhead!"
Dozens of mana-clad spearpoints formed a wedge, shredding the monster horde's side to ribbons.
Quean frowned.
Armored cavalry were beings even monsters feared. But these monsters were different. Despite sensing the earth-shaking hooves and cavalry momentum, they didn't even glance aside. They just charged straight ahead.
Think later.
As they pulverized through the monsters, he spotted the gritted-teeth knight candidates and rangers sprinting ahead.
"Grab one each and break off immediately!"
"Yes sir!"
There was the Ilai count's heir up front.
"Damn it! Am I some kind of herder or what! What kind of bullshit is this every damn time! It's like they smeared honey on me! Every time I step out, it's monster season!"
Quean lowered his stance at the Ilai heir, still complaining despite breath heaving to his throat.
"Loosen up!"
Quean leaned like an acrobat, scooping up the Ilai heir and draping him over his horse.
"You're safe now! Detailed report to the lord when we return!"
At Quean's hearty words, Bernard Ilai gasped out,
"These puny monsters aren't the problem right now!"
"What?"
"The real problem's the ones behind them!"
Bernard Ilai's finger jabbed toward the rear, the mountains.
"Something unknown's swarming in there!"