Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Two Choices (5)
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Surprisingly, faith is quite fragile. Of course, there are certainly those who possess an unbreakable absolute faith.
However, few can steadfastly uphold that unseen faith to the end when confronted with trials.
What compels people to believe in God? To put it bluntly, it was the existence of divine power.
Because divine power exists, they at least believe God exists—though even then, only a tiny few harbor secret doubts.
From that perspective, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the army led by Andre was forged from unyielding fanaticism.
They don't die even from fatal wounds. They feel no pain. Powers that could only be called miraculous.
"God has surely descended, borrowing His Majesty the King's body!!"
"With our king at our side, we can defeat any foe!"
"Long live His Majesty the King! Prosperity to the kingdom! Victory to His Majesty the King!!"
Back when he first raised that army, no one believed in him. Most just spat curses, calling him mad.
Yet the kingdom's advance, born from disbelief, had evolved into sheer fanaticism after racking up victory after victory.
With Andre, anyone could be defeated. God Himself had chosen Andre to pass judgment on the Empire!
"An army of God...? No way such a ridiculous force could exist..."
"B-but they're not undead, and yet they won't die and keep pushing forward?"
"If we've been pushed this far in under a month, then..."
Conversely, the Imperial soldiers encountering the kingdom's zealots for the first time were gripped by pure terror.
No matter how many times you kill them, they refuse to stay dead. They even cackle madly, as if savoring the agony, while slaughtering their comrades.
An unknown dread. The terror of facing not the kingdom they knew... no, not even humans, but monsters.
The kingdom's forces were no longer the ragtag mob the Empire could crush anytime, so long as the alliance held.
"Don't they ever tire? It's been over half a month of nonstop sieges already. Are they even human?"
"General, at this rate, even the Cliff of Despair will fall."
"We should retreat now and live to fight another day..."
"...No. We'll hold the line with every trick we have."
Yet the Imperial general, backed up to the Cliff of Despair, steeled himself and decided. Of course, as a man, he felt fear too.
Could they truly triumph over that undying army of God? And if captured after defeat—what then?
But judging objectively and coldly, they just wouldn't die. Hardly elite troops.
Besides, if the Cliff fell, nothing would stop their easy march into the Empire.
"We hold at all costs. Mages, forward! Bring the boiling oil and water! Somehow, we hold!"
"General! We're out of stones!"
"Rip up gravestones if you have to! We hold!!"
They threw everything they had. Logs, boulders—even tombstones pried from graves kept raining down.
The mages burned through their mana until depleted, some even dying from the backlash.
They clenched their teeth and endured. Clinging to faith that reinforcements would come. That the sacrifice meant something.
Just as those doubts began to take root, the homeland's reinforcements arrived at last.
"Finally made it up. Carrying out orders will aid His Majesty..."
"Die."
Stab!!
A blood-red magic sword pierced the immortal soldier's heart dead-center. A sight repeated endlessly by now.
But astonishingly, the undying soldier froze mid-motion, crumbling to dust and vanishing.
"D-died? They actually died?!"
"Those damn creepy freaks are finally dead."
The black-haired, black-eyed killer who felled immortals in a flash felt like a rope from the heavens.
Cain Blackguard.
The undefeated general who subjugated the Demon Realm in a single year—no one present didn't recognize him.
"I'll take command from here. Any objections?"
"An honor, Sir Blackguard!"
"Good."
Cain smoothly assumed command, then swung his sword—wreathed in ominous black haze—carving through the enemy.
The Imperial army's despairing morale erupted like a volcano.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The situation was worse than expected. Soldiers clung to the walls like slabs of meat, crawling upward.
Boulders, endless arrows—they recovered in moments and resumed climbing without a care.
So Cain first ordered the mages to unleash wide-area spells, blasting them all loose.
Yet even flame storms and sky-falling ice-and-rock barrages failed to halt them.
Cain was floored. Even undead that respawned couldn't shrug that off...
He got why the Imperials had yielded so much ground. But solutions existed.
'They recover from wounds... Then my power can handle it. Just kill them for good.'
Death Force. Power embodying death itself. Against normals, it'd hardly outshine other auras.
A decapitated head or severed limbs killed regardless. But Death Force's unique gift?
Perfect, irrevocable death. Recovery? Futile. Even lich immortality crumbled before it.
Cain's blood-red blade, Nox... black power surged along it. Death Force maxed out.
"Finally made it up. Carrying out orders will aid His Majesty..."
"Die."
The first sacrifice to Nox's Death Force was ironically some poor bastard just cresting the wall.
Nox, laced with Death Force, skewered the wretch's throat precisely. The kingdom soldier went limp.
The God-chosen immortals tasted true death for the first time. Just one, though.
Cain looked up. Fifty thousand left... countless soldiers scaling the walls right now.
"Damn these repulsive freaks! Dump every last drop of oil!!"
"We're out of oil!"
"Fine. My men are hauling supplies... Anyway, you're the commander?"
"Y-yes, Sir Blackguard!"
The knight who'd held the walls saluted hastily. Cain nodded casually.
"I'll take command now. Objections?"
"An honor, Sir Blackguard!"
"Good."
Cain barely registered it himself, but his name rang across the Empire already.
The rising young hero unearthed by Second Prince Oren and First Princess Morgana. Undefeated conqueror of the Demon Realm in one year.
The Empire idolized top talent, rewarding merit handsomely. Meritocracy in action?
No one here dared oppose Cain, architect of that Demon Realm feat.
"Don't kill them! Focus on knocking 'em off! I'll finish every last one!!"
The orders rang out. Vague or not, no hesitation gripped their response.
Imperial elites, knights alike—Cain Blackguard meant trust incarnate.
Undefeated legend. Zero losses. They'd win this too, no doubt.
True to orders, Imperials shoved kingdom troops off instead of slaying.
Paradoxically, the kingdom lines started yielding ground bit by bit. Death? No issue.
Fatal wounds just revived them. The real shift: grasping that, conserving stamina.
"Arms and legs only! Skip vitals and necks!"
"Ditch swords for spears, clubs! No kills needed—just drop 'em!!"
No more deep heart-stabs for kills. Slack emerged.
Some diehards crested anyway, clawing up relentlessly.
But none lasted; Cain's Death Force-shrouded blade granted them true oblivion.
'Not enough. Kill faster. Surer.'
For ideal victory. If unsatisfied? Slit own throat. Replay the war.
Until truly content.
Until overwhelming triumph.