Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Emperor of the Skies (6)
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The moment the arrogant Sky King's head finally hit the ground, the winner of that hellish war was decided.
Deprived of their leader, the wyverns—whose epithet "Emperor of the Skies" now rang utterly hollow—degenerated into a disorganized rabble in an instant.
Morgana didn't miss the opening. The sky's net unfurled with masterful precision.
Mages, siege weapons, and even ballistae joined the pursuit, and one by one, the wyverns began plummeting, unable to withstand the onslaught.
Unlike expectations that they would rampage wildly upon losing their leader, their swift retreat prevented total extermination.
...That was the after-action report I received directly from her while lying in a sickbed.
It's true—no memories remain after felling the Sky King.
I must have blacked out immediately from the unbearable pain.
The knights said it was a grievous wound that could have been fatal if they'd arrived even a little later. I let out a sigh and said,
"No way... You're telling me Her Highness is in such a foul mood because of that?"
"Of course! What kind of deranged commander dives straight into the heart of the enemy lines the moment the battle begins?"
"......"
I had nothing to say, not even if I grew ten mouths. Apparently, the instant I soared toward the wyvern on my spear, the princess had fainted for a brief moment.
To be precise, I hadn't exactly ridden the spear. It was more like I'd used my death force like a rope to tether my body to it.
I'd failed at first, but by gritting my teeth and repeating the attempt, I'd managed to pull it off somehow.
The problem was that I'd ended up bearing the full brunt of Morgana's wrath as payment.
"Do you know what the soldiers are saying? They're in an uproar, claiming the legend of the founding emperor has returned to this very land right now!"
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"And that so-called reincarnation of the founding emperor nearly ascended to the heavens right after the battle ended?"
".........My apologies."
The moment I launched toward the wyvern with my spear, time itself seemed to freeze for a split second around me—or so they say, no exaggeration.
Everyone had just stood there, dumbfounded, faces blank as they watched the scene unfold, utterly beyond comprehension.
Of course, it had ultimately led to victory by slaying the Sky King... but that didn't make my actions right.
'The princess is correct. Without Defeat Regression, it would've been nothing short of suicide. And as she said, I died multiple times in midair.'
In reality, I'd been torn limb from limb by wyverns, shot down by magic and sent plummeting, and more.
After compiling countless error logs and dodging every single one, I'd finally won.
But to anyone unaware of that, it must've looked like the act of a death-wisher...
Anna, wearing a wry smile beside me, leaned in and whispered cautiously.
"Her Highness was terribly worried about you."
"Th-that's because I asked you to keep it secret..."
"Good deeds should be spread far and wide. In truth, Her Highness never left your bedside for a moment, nursing you late into the night..."
"Cough! Cough! Cough cough cough!!"
"......"
Caught off guard by Anna's unexpected counterattack, Morgana flushed tomato-red and coughed repeatedly.
Thanks to their devoted care and treatment, my wounds had improved somewhat by now.
Still, both Morgana and Anna insisted I needed absolute rest.
"You must rest more now. Honestly, you're only recovering this much because you're lucky... A little later, and you'd have lost the use of your limbs forever."
"Is that so."
"What on earth did you do to twist your limbs that badly?"
I gave a wry smile as I gazed at Morgana, who sounded utterly incredulous.
First, I'd reinforced my body with death force to prevent it from snapping or bursting. Then, I'd willed the death force to manipulate my body directly.
A simple way to put it... I swung my body around using death force.
Think of it like puppetry. Just as a puppeteer controls a marionette with strings, I'd done the same with my body.
I'd come up with the idea of physically binding myself to the spear like a rope out of sheer desperation.
"What happened to the wyverns?"
"When they fled the moment their leader died, I judged them intelligent enough and offered surrender. They ignored it and kept running, so we pursued and killed about half."
"Then once my wounds fully heal, we should chase them down immediately."
"No, that won't be necessary."
Morgana shook her head, a smile curling her lips. It was a smile I hadn't seen in ages... the smile of a strategist.
"They'll have no choice but to come to us on their own."
To survive, that is.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The law of the jungle.
That was the only rule in the Demon Realm. A lawless land where the strong devoured the weak, and the weak were devoured.
And even the wyverns, once rulers of the skies, were no exception.
The Sky King's death was an unimaginable loss for the wyverns. Not that it made them weak by any means.
But the reason they'd reigned as Emperors of the Skies until now was solely because of the king who led them.
Unfortunately, the successor who took his place was both weaker and far more foolish.
'To think I believed our alliance would hold... What a fool I've been!!'
The necromancers broke the alliance and launched a massive assault on the weakened wyverns—to harvest their corpses.
With corpses in hand, there was no need to bother maintaining the alliance!
On top of that, the other Demon Realm races banded together to shun the wyverns.
A tyrant stripped of power pays the price. But fleeing the Demon Realm wasn't a wise choice either.
'Even if we go elsewhere, we'll just be hunted down. And even if we find a safe new home... more of my kin will die than now.'
The horde that had numbered nearly a hundred was down to barely that many survivors.
It was total ruin. But survival came first.
Ras, the successor personally raised by the Sky King, gnashed his sharp fangs.
[Surrender, and your lives will be spared! Refuse, and pay the price!]
Humiliation. An indelible humiliation from those mere prey creatures, uttered after losing their king and fleeing in defeat.
He wanted nothing more than to fly there now and tear that woman to shreds.
But... he couldn't. Ras now had to lead the remnants of his kin.
He couldn't let one wrong choice doom them all. Responsibility weighed heavily on his wings.
In the end, Ras had no choice but to bow before those who slew his king and beg for their lives.
This happened exactly one month after the Sky King's head fell. Renheim's lord accepted the surrender...
And the wyverns were officially subjugated by the Empire. Honor? As if mere monsters had any.
Reduced to the weak under the law of the jungle, they could only grovel to survive.
For Renheim, forcing a deathmatch with the wyverns meant too great a loss—accepting surrender was the gain.
'I want to just kill them all.'
Of course, Renheim's lord, Cain Blackguard, despised the wyverns.
No one else remembered, but he'd witnessed them ravaging his territory far too many times.
But... that's precisely why he knew their power better than anyone.
And he knew full well what happens if you don't accept a cornered foe's surrender.
A rat at bay bites even a cat. In the end, he had no choice but to accept.
The monumental achievement of fully subjugating the wyverns spread like wildfire.
The two forces that reacted most fiercely were, without doubt, the Alliance and the Demon Realm's Four Great Powers.
The Alliance went without saying, and the Four Great Powers felt unprecedented anxiety at the Empire absorbing one of their own.
Subduing those wyverns by force alone proved the Empire no pushover.
But they couldn't suddenly join hands and attack the Empire either.
The necromancers themselves had broken the alliance to pursue the fleeing wyverns.
The Alliance could only watch from afar... and so, a brief peace descended.
'If I train wyvern riders, I can operate them like an air force. That'll make logistics and scouting far easier.'
Cain didn't waste the short respite. He began personally training wyvern riders.
Of course, controlling wyverns wasn't easy yet... but Cain had no intention of giving up.
The advantages of a full air force would surpass imagination.