Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: 33. The Reverse Heaven Legion (3)
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A chilling wind brushed against my collar.
Carried on that breeze was a foul, ominous energy that made me nauseous without realizing it.
I couldn't believe it.
That those horrific soldiers were once noble knights and warriors.
It was impossible to accept.
Yet despite that, I had no choice but to accept it.
"The curse of the necromancer didn't strike the archmage alone."
Right before my eyes was a pitiful mage, robbed of peace and cast onto the boundary between life and death.
"The archmage found a vessel to hold all that he cherished in life, but they did not. They became wandering spirits beneath the earth, unable to reach the afterlife."
The truth of death that I hadn't examined—a truth beyond it now crushed me after four centuries.
Dizzy, I squeezed my eyes shut, only for a cool chill to touch both my cheeks.
When I opened them, there were eyes like starlight.
Ophelia. She was gazing at me.
Just like when we first met four hundred years ago, her gaze brimmed with an incomprehensible pity.
"Even if it speaks through the king's mouth, the guidance given to them all stems from you. It knows you held them dear."
That emotion, incomprehensible to me, felt uncomfortable, and I turned my head away instinctively.
"But remember this: What remains in the knights and soldiers you cherished isn't the fiery conviction of their living days, but only the cold grudge of the dead."
The cool sensation on my cheek vanished.
"When the sun sets, they will be unleashed. Along with their envy and hatred for the living."
Ophelia, stepping back, looked me straight in the eye as she spoke.
"If you can't stop them, you'll lose everything. And if you lose, you'll forfeit castle, flesh, and soul alike."
Her grim warning snapped me back to attention.
I looked up at the sky.
The sun hung high, but there wasn't much time left before it dipped fully toward the horizon.
I lowered my head again.
Vincent and the others were all watching me.
Every one of them looked anxious.
They were faces thick with instinctive fear of the Reverse Heaven Legion—something none had ever faced before—and the wraiths that would come with the night.
"Gather firewood and oil."
I gave the order firmly, looking at them.
"Enough to light the entire castle through the night."
I added one more thing.
"As much as we can possibly collect."
Tonight would be an extraordinarily long night.
**
The walls, already chaotic from battles with monsters, grew even busier with soldiers hauling firewood and oil jars.
Kreeeeek!
The same went for below the walls.
As night drew nearer, the monsters began rampaging even more madly.
They threw everything they had at scaling the walls.
Keeek!
A goblin clawing up the wall until its nails tore and broke was pierced by a ranger's arrow and tumbled down.
Bam! Bam!
An orc battering the gate kept charging even after its shoulder blade shattered. The troll pounding the gate had bones showing white through both fists.
It was pure frenzy.
Even the veterans of Winter Castle, who'd seen monster rampages every year, had gone pale.
The recruits were in worse shape.
Exhausted from the endless fighting, they were utterly terrified by the monsters' madness.
This wasn't good.
Even if we cleared all the monsters before nightfall in this state, morale would hit rock bottom.
No demoralized army could hold off wraiths.
Fearful souls would yield their vessels easily, and possessed soldiers would turn into ghouls craving allies' blood and flesh.
Chaos would consume the army, unleashing hell.
"Vincent. What's our available knight strength?"
"Currently, sixty-four Winter Knights and fifty-nine Black Spear Cavalry await orders."
Compared to the war's end, our forces had recovered decently. But it was still far too few to calm the rampaging monsters below.
"Assemble them all at the gate."
"You're not thinking of opening the gate and charging out, are you, Your Highness?"
Vincent voiced his concern.
Their numbers had thinned from daytime battles, but two thousand monsters still swarmed below.
Not just any monsters—frenzied ones.
Opening the gate in that situation wasn't wise.
But there was no choice.
Welcoming night like this would bring an even greater catastrophe.
What Winter Castle's soldiers needed right now was an overwhelming victory to forget their fear and raise a cheer.
"Tell Ilai to muster the knight candidates too."
Vincent bowed stiffly at my words.
The rangers atop the wall looked down at me.
Having overheard, their gazes were filled with incomprehension.
Why?
Why leave the safety of the walls for this?
The question on their faces was uniform.
Why risk opening the gate when arrows from the walls would finish them soon?
But the veterans' expressions differed.
Their pale faces had flushed red before I knew it.
"Drums! Find the drums!"
"Who touched my war horn?!"
"Anyone who forgets the battle songs dies—consider yourself dead. I'll kill you even if you survive."
The veterans were in a frenzy.
Excited like they were prepping for a festival.
"I'll bet on Your Highness."
"Black Spear Cavalry's best from horseback. I'm on Captain Lichtheim."
Some even wagered on who would claim the most monster heads.
"Me too, on Captain Lichtheim. His Highness still has a ways to go."
Vincent's loud voice scratched my pride deliberately.
"Anyone else? Speak now if you wanna bet."
He went further, urging the stunned recruits to join.
The recruits, clueless, threw money into the pot.
"Sir Lichtheim! House Ballerhard's coffers ride on you!"
"Not House Ballerhard's coffers—the lord's pockets!"
The one-eyed cavalry captain below cackled.
No tension anywhere.
Newbie spear cavalry swept up in the mood laughed ignorantly. Winter Knights' rookies did the same.
I shook my head and descended to the gate.
"Your Highness."
Spotting me, Adelia handed over my sword and armor.
Feeling her meticulous touch, I surveyed the assembled knights—and spotted a familiar face.
"Kals is coming too?"
"How could I not when Your Highness leads?"
Kals grinned. Behind him stood the Royal Knights in formation.
"Your Highness. Is it comfortable?"
"Yeah, fits perfect."
"You should tidy your hair too."
Without waiting for permission, she swiftly tied it up. With the obstructing strands gone, a strange sense of liberation washed over me.
"Thanks."
"I'll cut it short when you return."
Adelia stepped back, satisfied. She was fully armed in sword and plate too. Arwen stood beside her, with Ilai hovering nearby.
"Why are you here?"
"Ahem. I've got some experience—I should be up front."
"Cut the nonsense and get to your post. Who's leading the candidates?"
Ilai pouted at my words.
"Lady Arwen, please stay safe."
Arwen ignored Ilai's fond farewell, silently checking her gear.
"Everyone ready?!"
"Your Highness was the last."
The knights burst into laughter at the one-eyed captain's quip.
Mounting up amid their cheers, I took point—and Kuehn teased again.
"The last to arrive snags the prime spot."
I chuckled at his booming voice and scanned the walls.
Countless soldiers watched me from above.
Veterans brimming with anticipation, recruits still puzzled.
"Your Highness! Just say the word—we'll open it anytime!"
I replied to Vincent without hesitation.
"Open it!"
The gate shuddered with a roar at my command.
Creeeak, creeeak.
Chains and pulleys screamed.
Slowly, the gate lifted from the ground.
"Hoo."
The narrow gap was too tight still, but monsters shoved their heads in anyway.
Kraaaar!
I steadied my breath amid their deafening roars—more noisy than vicious.
"Hoo."
"Feels tense after so long?"
I smirked at Kuehn.
"Hardly."
I added,
"Just indigestion."
"Looked like you ate plenty up top."
Kuehn cackled.
Truth was, it wasn't from the bread scraps. It was the forest's essence, gorged over days and still undigested.
I didn't bother replying.
They'd see soon enough.
The gate had risen enough for cavalry. Trolls and monsters rushed beneath.
The knights arrayed before them? Ignored. They just desperately fled the mountains before night.
"How pitiful."
I slowly drew Dusk.
Vroooom.
In that instant, my sated Mana Heart stirred from its stupor. Mana flooded every corner of my body.
No voids left.
Yet my heart endlessly spewed more.
Rooooar.
Mana flooded my veins like a torrent.
"The place they fled to escape the dead."
I raised my presence.
The Warlord I slew and seized,
Thwarted by my lowly talent, never fully used—
"Of all places, to die here."
I unleashed towering presence on the monsters.
Vrooooom.
Dusk wailed in sync.
Fwosh.
Brilliant light gathered at the blade's tip.
Coalescing, compressing.
The light forged into a single edge.
The mark of perfect harmony,
The destructive authority granted only to masters.
I swung Dusk true.
Shiiiing.
A line slashed the air.
A flawless Aura Blade that cleaved even space.
Kieeek.
Monsters caught in its path looked down at themselves. Before they grasped it, their heads thudded to the ground.
Blood sprayed late.
"Charge."
I plunged into the crimson world.
**
Whoooosh.
The sudden aura erupting below the gate froze Vincent solid.
Vrooom.
His ring trembled on its own.
A colossal presence that crushed his heart.
"This is..."
It was a vibration all too familiar—and dearly missed.
He stared below the gate, entranced.
"Charge!"
With a lion's roar, black cavalry poured out.
The First Prince led them.
"Ah..."
Watching, something hot surged in his chest.
"Swordmaster!"
The knight among knights that Ballerhard lost in the war—his successor stood before him.
Wielding a sword of dawnlight to banish the coming night.