Tide of Corruption (3)

At last, before the final wall, we had finished making ready for our last stand.

Inside the command tent, we took the time to run through the battle plan one more time.

The formation Alice had chosen was the Crane Wing. Yes — the very same Crane Wing Formation once wielded by the legendary admiral Yi Sun-sin. Though here, people simply called it "wing tactics" rather than by that name. Historically, the Crane Wing was never born for naval engagements; it was a formation that truly shone on land. Given that this battle demanded offense and defense in equal measure, she must have judged it the perfect fit.

"Right wing — Knight Deus. Of your total force of eight thousand, I am entrusting you with five hundred cavalry, two thousand infantry, and five hundred archers."

At her words, Deus nodded and accepted Alice's orders.

"Left wing — Knight Logi. Of your eight thousand, I entrust to you five hundred cavalry, fifteen hundred infantry, and a thousand archers. Should an emergency arise, I ask that you lend supporting fire toward the center's forces."

Like Deus, she received her orders with a nod.

"The terrain we will fight on has a steep cliff rising high along the right, so we must remain vigilant against ambush at all times."

A sheer cliff wall stood to the right; to the left, the wasteland flattened into open ground. With the cliff looming there, an attacking force would find it difficult for its archers to land their shots — hence the choice of formation.

"Strike unit, you will hit and run at the waist of their line, where their numbers run thickest, and keep them in check. Even for the demons, once that middle is severed, reinforcement becomes a great deal harder."

"Yes," Crow answered.

Just then, one of the couriers threw back the tent flap and rushed inside.

"Urgent report! The demons are converging on this position in staggering numbers!"

Alice asked the courier in a low voice:

"How long until they arrive?"

"Approximately two hours."

Two hours — that was dangerously tight. Alice saw it too, and immediately set every unit in motion, exactly as we had rehearsed.

I had just turned to follow Crow when Alice whispered something into my ear, then strode off to take command of the whole army.

'"Be careful. Always." ...yeah.'

Engraving her kindness and affection into my heart all over again, I followed Crow to seek out our ambush position.

About an hour had passed since we left the front line.

"This spot should do nicely."

Crow had chosen a place where one cliff split away from another, drowned in shadow where no light could reach. Certainly, unless one were a supreme-class demon with senses honed to a razor's edge, finding us here would be all but impossible.

Just as we finished concealing ourselves and preparing to strike at the demons' blind side—

Dududududu!!!

A tremendous tremor came thundering in, hammering the earth. What met my eyes was a wave. A wave made of demons, truly. They were advancing with terrifying momentum, as though intent on grinding everything before them to dust. Even at a glance, their numbers looked nearly double the humans' entire force.

Before long the front line spotted them as well; bugles blared to announce the demons' incursion, and the cavalry lowered their lances and charged out to meet them.

And so, at long last, the war between demons and humans began.

The lower and mid-tier demons leading the charge had no hope of dodging the lances of the oncoming horsemen — they were skewered where they stood or trampled beneath the hooves. As the cavalry wheeled back to the line to wait for another opening, the shield-bearers formed up rank by rank, sealing every gap in their formation. The demons, as if such niceties meant nothing to them, hammered at the shields with clubs and raked at them with blades, hunting for a crack—

"First rank, ready!"

Alice's voice rang out above the din, and in unison the archers nocked their arrows. Judging by how unnaturally far her voice carried, she was using an amplification artifact.

"Loose!"

At the command, a rain of arrows poured down — not upon the front line, but on a point farther out. By the time the shafts blackened the sky, they came drumming down on the demons' heads, slowly but surely whittling their numbers away.

"First rank, fall to the rear! Second rank, ready!"

All the while, the right wing under Deus — its archers comparatively few — wedged spears between their shields instead, mercilessly skewering the demons that pressed in close.

Kieeeek!

And yet, for all the composure of the human lines, the demons seemed utterly unbothered, their sheer mass swelling like a tide straining to swallow the formation whole.

"Strike unit, moving out."

I nodded and followed his lead.

"Successor of the Azure Dragon, you outmatch us in both offense and mobility. I ask that you fight in a way that draws as much of the enemy's attention as you can manage."

"Understood."

"All of you — battle ready."

As one, they drew their blades from their scabbards; I, too, summoned the Sword of the Azure Sky and wrapped my hand around its hilt.

"Charging!"

At his signal, we hurled ourselves at the demons.

I threw myself among the demons, sword raised, unleashing my special skills.

I took the head off a goblin that froze stiff at the sight of me, then shredded the legs of a mid-tier orc demon and sent it toppling — and with it, a whole mass of demons came crashing down.

'Three!'

A hew of the blade across the orc's neck put it out of action; a deep diagonal slash across its spine finished the job.

'Five!'

Putting power into my legs, I sprang forward.

One skill with devastating power despite its short reach, fused with a debuff-type skill guaranteed to bring any target down — together they birthed a technique of staggering scale.

Fzzzzt—crack!

An amount of current beyond all comparison to Thunderstrike alone coursed through the blade. I swung it straight ahead. The skill tore across the ground like the wake of a thunder dragon — powerful enough to fell every demon in its path at a single stroke.

Krooooar!!

It wasn't a direct hit from Lightning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Fang, but the fact that the attack had landed at all was enough: the high-tier demon Creta's Nightmare went berserk, its whole body seething with crimson light.

'Damn it — it's berserking!'

The Status Window was throwing some message or other at me, but in the thick of battle, I had no way to actually read it.

"I'll take that one."

With that, Crow sprinted at Creta's Nightmare. The moment the beast spotted him, it swung its great axe — and he slipped aside with contemptuous ease. In a blink he had carved through every tendon in its arm, robbing the limb of all strength, then drove his blade into its carotid to finish it. The black-clad figures moving in his wake were toying with the other Creta's Nightmares in much the same fashion. Surely these were the ones known as the "Ravens." Just as he'd said at the briefing, he seemed to have brought only two of them to the field — and by his own account, even sparing two had been a stretch. The Ravens ranged across the battlefield, putting demons down one by one with unerring precision.

The tide was steadily tipping our way, and just as the battle seemed to be winding toward its end—

"Humans! I will not let this stand!"

A Creta's Nightmare wreathed in a blackish-red glow filled our vision.

'That thing... that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no high-tier demon. That's supreme-class... Could it be a mutant? Seriously?'

Creta's Nightmare was a "nightmare" in name only; in every other respect it was no different from the minotaurs out of the game. Except that now and then, at some abysmal rate of chance, a black minotaur would appear — and I had always called that one the Black Nightmare.

"I shall bathe my axe in your blood and know glory!"

The black minotaur whirled its colossal axe toward us with terrifying ease.

Between Gale Formation and the Agility I had built up through all this training, evading it was no great feat. I bought time as a body of clouds gathered, and before I knew it, the sky had gone black.

"Fall!"

At my cry, lightning crashed down onto the minotaur's skull.

Krrrumble... KRA-KOOM!

And with it came the effect that followed whenever lightning was called down through Thunderstrike — rainfall.

Shaaaaaa!!

So those black clouds that had massed before the Thunderstrike fell — that had been this downpour in the making. The black minotaur, if not gravely wounded, had clearly taken real damage; howling in torment, it began to roar even louder.

"Krooooar! You will pay for this!"

But the rain was already sheeting down all around us — and where there is water, current reaches its target all the more easily. I pressed the Sword of the Azure Sky to the ground and simply drew it in a line. The current, riding the puddles the downpour had left, ran straight into the minotaur's thighs.

"Not a chance, human!"

What flew forth was no sword aura in the shape of an azure dragon, but a blade of light wearing the form of a yellow dragon — a Thunder Dragon.

"You expect me to be struck by something like this...?! Why...?!"

Never underestimate electrocution. Where and how a shock takes hold decides how much damage it deals. The current soaking into its thighs was nowhere near enough to bring down a minotaur of that bulk — but it was more than enough to startle the muscles into paralysis.

"Why... won't my legs move...?!"

Krrzzzzt! Shff!

My sword aura electrocuted the minotaur from head to toe, sheared the Black Nightmare's head clean away, and then drifted serenely up into the heavens.

The Black Nightmare had evidently been the core of this entire advance; the moment the horde lost its commander, the lower and mid-tier demons began acting on their own whims. They started pulling one piece of outright trolling after another — even ganging up on the high-tier demons they'd apparently never gotten along with.

"The enemy line is collapsing. We have bought ourselves time, at the least."

"Yeah..."

My strength was draining away. I had used a combination skill twice over. The strain was apparently far worse than I had imagined.

"Ugh... my whole body aches..."

First things first — before we could return to the front, I needed to carve out a path for a safe retreat.

"Wind... huh? There are two of them?"

Perhaps Gale Formation's maximum-sustain effect had kicked in — lingering at my side were not one but two wolf-shaped wind spirits.

"I think I pushed myself a little hard back there. So, how about it — could you two make us a retreat path?"

Awwooooo!!

The two spirits howled what could only be agreement and went racing ahead.

"We're setting out, then."

At my words, Crow and the rest of the strike team nodded and voiced their assent.

"All units! Follow the Successor's contracted wolf spirits and withdraw in safety! Clear the road!"

"Yes, sir!"

At Crow's command, the strike team swung their swords with practiced skill, cutting a retreat path alongside the wolves.

"Nnngh!"

And whenever my strength failed and danger loomed—

Whooooosh! Swish!

—the wolves would loose blades of gale wind and subdue the demons with their own hands. And so we brought the strike operation to a successful close.

Seen from our ambush point, the enemy's middle had been severed; their formation was a mangled wreck, crumbling in on itself. Recovery would be beyond them. Our remaining reserves began drawing steel and opening melee combat of their own to finish things off — and even the dim-witted lower demons seemed, at long last, to grasp that they had lost, bolting with their tails between their legs. And so, despite the crushing difference in numbers, we held the line against the first great horde to assail us.

Our first battle crowned with victory, we made our way back to the front.

The moment we arrived, to my surprise, I felt my strength simply gutter out. Apparently I had been under far more strain than I realized.

"Successor, I know you must be exhausted — but you are expected to deliver your report."

I wanted to brush him off and collapse on the spot, but a duty was a duty. Doing my best to ignore the jeering protest of my aching muscles, I stepped inside the commander-in-chief's tent.

As Crow and I entered, the three people across the map table turned as one to look at us. First Commander: Deus, commanding the right wing. Second Commander: Benedict, commanding the left wing. And Alice, supreme commander of the entire army. Alice's gaze swept over the two of us, soaked to the bone from battling through the rain.

Crow quietly began delivering his report.

"Friendly casualties: zero dead, two wounded in all."

"All units completed their withdrawal safely. Upon discovering a mutant demon acting as the enemy's leader, the Successor slew it."

At his report, every set of eyes went wide and swung toward me. Fair enough, I supposed. A few years ago, my combat ability had been so poor that even knowing the Black Serpent's weakness, I'd barely managed to bring one down. But that was then. Barring a handful of the supreme-class demons, I fancied I could manage anything now — though against that "hunk of scrap metal," I still hadn't the slightest confidence.

Alice nodded, a smile spreading across her face.

"Good work. Thanks to Knight Crow and the Successor, the line held safe and sound."

"You honor us, Commander."

"It was only natural."

At my glib retort, the commander-in-chief was visibly fighting to keep a straight face. 'And this is the woman who lectures me about drawing a line between duty and personal matters...' That aside, I genuinely couldn't tell what part of it had been funny. Women were impossible... Years into knowing her, and she was still a mystery from head to toe.

"Commander, the Successor seems to have 'pushed himself' ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠somewhat in the process of bringing down the black minotaur. He looked quite worn out."

"Ah. I see."

What was this? Why did I suddenly feel a chill? Every instinct I had was screaming at me to get out, quickly.

We moved to take our leave of Alice.

"We'll be off to prepare for tomorrow's battle, then."

"Right."

The moment I, too, turned to go—

"Ah — Successor, please remain."

"Huh?"

"I said, remain."

So that was the source of the chill. Deus and Benedict, whether or not they caught the mood, read Alice's expression, pleaded tomorrow's preparations, and beat a hasty retreat from the tent.

Damn it. She and I, left alone — one on one.

"Successor— no... Hyun-ah? So. Earlier, someone was saying something about you 'pushing yourself.' What exactly was that about?"

"Um... Noona. About that..."

"Tell me."

Alice's characteristically low voice bored straight through my ears.

"...Please, have mercy."

And so, I was the one who chose surrender.

"Did I not tell you, scarcely a few hours ago, not to push yourself?"

"Y...you did..."

"And yet you ignored what I said and strained yourself to bring down a demon. Why might that be?"

"B...because if I hadn't killed it then, there was no sign the battle would ever end...?"

That was probably true enough. The moment that black minotaur died, the enemy's formation had collapsed and the battlefield descended ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into chaos, after all.

"You're on warning number one. Keep racking them up, and once you reach three or more..."

"...And then what?"

"Noona is going to cry. Right in front of everyone."

'...That counts as a punishment?' Turning it over and picturing it as best I could, I saw it all too clearly: Alice bawling her heart out in front of the entire army, wailing that it was all my fault. And there I'd stand, sorry yet unable to console her, fidgeting in place while everyone around cast me looks of open reproach. I'd deserve it, too.

"I'll keep my promise, Noona. I will."

"Good. That's more like it. Come here. You're not hurt anywhere?"

I stepped toward her as I answered.

"Mm. Aside from being a little tired and sore, I think I'm all right. A good long sleep and I'll be fine."

"Even so — don't push yourself! Do you have any idea how worried I get?"

"I know. But Noona..."

"Hm?"

"Would you really cry?"

She nodded, smiling up at me, bright and sunny as anything. 'Next time, I'll just have to make sure she can't tell when I overdo it.' For the sake of survival, there were times one had to push past the limit whether one wished to or not. Nothing to be done about it. And when it truly came to that, she would understand, too. Surely it was better to strain oneself and end up merely aching than to die. Though of course, saying that to Alice's face right now would get me absolutely nowhere. Chasing these absurd thoughts, the two of us were able to spend a rare stretch of time alone together in the now-empty commander's tent.