Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: 46. Cataclysm (3)
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The Imperial Army was just as baffled by the 3rd Prince's line of thinking.
The foolish prince was immensely pleased with his minor success of using the floodplain's dense trees to block the wyvern attacks. He behaved as if nothing else mattered.
For the Imperial commanders, who believed it was to their advantage to escape the floodplain as quickly as possible and seize Dotrin, it was utterly incomprehensible.
"Does Your Highness even realize we're the invading force? Dragging this out only hurts us!"
"The war ends only when we advance. This is just handing Dotrin more time."
The commanders vented their frustration.
Rumors even circulated that the 3rd Prince feared Dotrin's wyverns targeting him and dared not venture out from under the thick canopy.
He, who had mobilized the imperial paladins, hundreds of knights, and even mages to erect a curtain of benevolence around the camp.
With such rumors spreading through the ranks, morale was predictably low.
The soldiers were exhausted by the sweltering heat and the stifling forest life, deprived of sleep by the occasional flap of wyvern wings and their roars echoing through the night.
And amid all that, ominous rumors began to spread.
Strange noises from the woods. Someone on watch saw trees moving. Another encountered something neither beast nor man.
They were the kind of ghost stories perfectly suited to this floodplain teeming with ancient trees of indeterminable age.
In truth, scouting parties had discovered beasts horribly mangled and corpses shriveled dry as if drained of every drop of blood.
Exhaustion was no longer the problem.
Intangible tales of terror were spreading like a plague.
Soldiers came to fear even going out on reconnaissance, avoiding night watches altogether.
That day was no different.
Soldiers desperately tried every trick to avoid scout duty, only to be shoved out by the commanders' whips.
"Ugh... Feels like someone's watching us."
They trudged through the sunless forest, grumbling.
"No monsters, right? All just rumors?"
A scrawny soldier's voice trembled. A burly comrade scoffed.
"Main camp's got 50,000, and 2,000 on today's recon. Nothing's getting through. It'd be slaughtered."
"Yeah, but why's it so creepy?"
"Big man, scared of the dark."
The big soldier strode ahead, then halted before a grotesquely shaped tree.
"Whoa, looks just like a face. No wonder the scouts freaked."
He tapped the wrinkled trunk, which resembled a crying face.
"Hey, stop. Gives me the creeps."
The more the others protested, the harder he pounded the tree.
"It's just a damn tree. What's scary about wood?"
He even drew his sword and scraped at it.
"See? Nothing. Quit being pussies..."
The boastful soldier abruptly shut his mouth.
Something had brushed his shoulder.
Glancing around, he spotted something pale and shrieked in terror.
"Hiiiik!"
The big soldier fell flat on his ass.
There, dangling from the branches amid the foliage, was a bush.
The surrounding soldiers burst into hysterical laughter, mocking him.
"Guys, I just tripped."
Red-faced, he scrambled up with a lame excuse.
Then he noticed his comrades staring at him with frozen expressions.
"Your back..."
"Not buying it, you assholes. Who you calling chicken?"
"No, your back!"
He snorted dismissively.
But that lasted only a moment before an eerie chill rooted him in place.
His head creaked around stiffly.
The massive tree, mere steps away before, was now right in his face.
"Why's it here..."
Puk.
Before he could finish, a gruesome sound pierced the air.
The soldier blankly stared at his chest.
A branch had impaled it.
"Huh?"
He looked up at the tree.
The once-sorrowful face split into a wide grin.
Kwak.
Dozens of branches speared through his body.
His feet lifted off the ground.
Not a drop of blood flowed, despite the punctures.
Gulp, gulp.
The branches piercing him greedily sucked his blood.
The scouting party screamed and turned to flee.
But escape was impossible.
The sparsely spaced ancient trees now densely encircled them.
No gaps anywhere.
Writhing roots like snakes snagged their ankles. Twig-like skewers pierced their flesh.
"This is a dream. Yeah... a dream... hehe."
A deranged soldier collapsed, giggling madly.
A creeping branch impaled his throat.
He laughed on, oblivious to the pain.
His laughter withered. It became a deflating wheeze, then silence.
Gulp, gulp.
Only quiet sucking sounds echoed as the greedy trees feasted.
Similar horrors unfolded across the floodplain.
One scouting party ambushed by trees. Another swallowed into shadowy woods. Yet another mauled into corpses by unknown beasts.
The forest threw a party for the scouts.
Only a dozen survived.
"M-monsters in the forest!"
The survivors reported in panic.
Commanders bellowed rebukes at the hysterical soldiers and dispatched knights to investigate.
The knights returned.
The valiant knights' faces were ashen as paper.
One thrust forth an object.
A shriveled branch, common anywhere.
Except it writhed and moved.
"These are everywhere."
The knights spoke in grim tones.
The noble commanders sought out the 3rd Prince and reported.
"The forest has changed."
The entire forest was attacking the Imperial Army. Unknown monsters lurked everywhere.
The 3rd Prince, face drained of color, dismissed it: knights and mages could handle mere monsters.
He dispatched one knight order and three mages to assess the forest.
"Night's deep. Better to wait for dawn and send more."
Even knights and mages struggled in the midnight floodplain. Commanders objected, but the prince ignored them.
He seemed unable to endure the thought of monsters surrounding him.
"Moon's full. Knights can manage by moonlight."
Declaring the night illuminated by the full moon, he drove the knights and mages into the dark woods.
No sooner had the knights departed than the floodplain's darkness devoured them.
Wooooooo!
Distant wolf howls echoed.
Far more chilling and savage than any ordinary wolf.
Just before dawn, the reconnaissance knights and mages returned.
But their numbers had dwindled sharply. Of over a hundred, only thirty knights survived; no mages.
The survivors were scratched and mangled, in dire condition.
"A-ambushed."
"By what?!"
To the commanders' questions, the knight stammered incoherently.
"N-not human, not wolves... abominations..."
One camp mage interjected.
"Did the wounds heal instantly, even from blades?"
"Yes! Slashed one's chest to the bone, but soon no trace."
The mage groaned.
Commanders pressed: What do you know?
"Not certain, but I read of such in an ancient tome."
"Ancient tome?"
"A rare transcription of legends over 400 years old."
"Skip the book talk. What are they?"
Urged by the commanders, the mage asked for silver. A noble handed over a silver brooch from his cloak.
The mage summoned an injured knight.
He pricked the knight's forearm with the pin.
A mere slender pin—nothing compared to their grave wounds. Knights endured pain superbly.
"Gaaahhh!"
Yet the knight screamed in agony from that tiny prick.
"Tch. Such fuss over a scratch is why our knights keep losing to Dotrin rabble."
The 3rd Prince clicked his tongue. The knights' faces twisted.
But none dared retort his folly.
Whoosh.
Flames erupted on the knight's arm.
Other knights rushed to extinguish it, but the mage barked sharply.
"Leave him! He's no longer human!"
Already irked by the prince, the knights rounded on the mage.
"Failed knights aren't human?!"
"How can you watch a comrade writhe and act so cold?!"
Ignoring protests, the mage turned to the prince.
"The tome says a horrific plague spreads only under full moon. Victims ignite at silver's touch."
The prince recoiled at "plague."
"Plague?! What plague?!"
"Called Lunar Fever."
The writhing knight's screams cut off abruptly.
Grrrrowl.
A beastly snarl escaped his throat.
"Also known as the Lycanthrope's Curse."
No sooner had the mage spoken than the knight's body contorted, shedding human form.
Swiftly becoming neither man nor wolf.
Terrified knights drew swords on their former comrade, now abomination.
But before they could strike, before the transformation completed.
The knight twisted and died, trapped in his armor.
That was the beginning.
"Gah!"
The returned scouts mutated one after another.
Most perished like him, mangled in armor, vomiting blood.
"Most succumb to the curse. But the lucky few who survive..."
Amid the horror, the mage's oddly excited voice felt detached from reality.
He pointed at one knight.
Snap.
Straps tore; armor clattered to the ground. The freed beast howled long.
Awooooo!
Beast and man, neither and both.
"Become half-beast."
The mage finished, and the 3rd Prince shrieked hysterically.
"K-kill it! Now!"
A paladin stepped forward, severing the monster's head in an instant.
Twitch.
The headless body thrashed long after. All shuddered in revulsion.
"Wh-what? No big deal."
The prince blustered amid the chaos.
But his bravado was short-lived.
Awooooo!
Awooo!
As if answering the fallen half-beast, wolf howls replied.
From the entire forest, everywhere.
As if the woods themselves wailed.
Knights gripped swords, scanning wildly. The prince cowered behind paladins.
The mage, about to recite the tome's final passage, clamped his mouth shut.
「The lunar horrors are warriors serving the Plague Lord. If you see them, beware their king.」
Speaking of the Plague Lord now would send the terrified prince raging to fetch its head—driving knights and mages into the fray, himself likely included.
The mage sealed his lips.
He had no desire to die for a fool prince.
**
A sky knight from reconnaissance returned, reporting a commotion at the Imperial main camp.
Dotrin's leadership debated fiercely.
Infighting among fractious princes? Weary Imperials deserting? Surviving Dotrin knights and soldiers clashing?
Whatever it was, something was afoot in the floodplain.
An eager commander proposed a massive raid.
The marshal pondered gravely.
But could reach no decision.
As something inexplicable plagued the Imperials, trouble stirred for Dotrin's forces too.
The wyverns sensed it first.
Wyverns patrolling the skies landed en masse. Those beating wings to rise folded them and crouched low.
No urging moved them.
They glared skyward, emitting sharp cries: Kyak, kyak.
Threatening, as if bracing for battle.
Wyvern knights, pleading futilely, were at a loss when—
Aaaaaaaaah.
Something let out a long, clear call.
Too pure for a roar, too mighty for else.
Knight faces stiffened as they looked skyward.
A colossal lifeform soared overhead.
Its neck stretched proudly, chin raised nobly like a lady's.
Its exquisite body gleamed with scales like myriad rubies, otherworldly splendor.
Leathery wings more graceful than master-embroidered warship sails.
Fit for the world's king.
It was a mighty fire dragon.