Chapter 690
Chapter 690
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 690
Chapter Title: The Giant Knight Order
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Bwooo—!
Thump—! Thump—! Thump—!
Bwooo—!
The unpleasant sound of a horn echoed from afar.
The giants at the vanguard of the legion marched in unison.
“Wh-what is that?!”
Ar cried out in astonishment.
*The Giant Knight Order.*
Demons were born with power that far surpassed the races of the surface.
As such, they learned nothing from the world’s inhabitants.
To them, the dwellers of the surface were nothing more than things to be annihilated.
Those who wished to live and those who wished for destruction could never fundamentally understand each other.
Moreover, a demon’s rank was determined at birth.
The higher the rank of a demon, the more they tended to look down upon the races of the surface.
*That’s what makes them so unusual.*
The Giant Knight Order was an anomalous group of demons who imitated and mimicked the races of the surface.
Their hierarchy was not determined by strength.
It was determined by merit in battle.
As a result, they had established themselves as the strongest unit within the Giant King’s legion.
*Is this the Giant Knight Order of the past? Or… have they existed from the Age of Calamity until now?*
Five thousand years had already passed since the end of the Age of Calamity.
Just as the Giant King had rarely shown himself during that time, there were few records of him in the history of the Heroic Age that followed the Upheaval, as he was an inherently secretive demon.
However, in the age before the Upheaval, the era known as the Early Heroic Age, many records from its two-thousand-year span had been lost.
This happened because the Hero Record was damaged when the Heroes of the Upheaval sealed the fragments of Erebos.
During the Early Heroic Age, there had been several great wars.
Especially after the end of the Age of Calamity, Tartaros had waged an all-out war to achieve its long-cherished wish of world destruction.
*It’s not impossible that Verkia subjugated the Giant Knight Order during the Great War.*
The Giant Knight Order’s disposition was different from the military forces under other legion commanders.
The immortal troops led by Artkan, the Grand Duke of Funerals, who belonged to the Necromancer King’s legion, were still infamous today.
They were, quite literally, the face of the Necromancer King’s legion.
But the Giant Knight Order was different.
Like the cautious and secretive Giant King, they too thoroughly concealed their existence.
That was why the people of this era did not know of the Giant Knight Order.
The way they needed to fight would differ depending on whether this was the Giant Knight Order from the Age of Calamity or one that had concealed its existence and endured for the subsequent 5,000 years.
As Leo observed the Giant Knight Order, he spotted a demon on the shoulder of a giant knight at the vanguard.
*The Knight Commander, Nareda.*
A demon known as the Giant King’s left arm.
She was the polar opposite of the Giant King’s other confidant, Giganto, the legion’s assault captain.
Giganto was a demon who overconfidently charged forward, trusting in his own power.
In contrast, Nareda’s power was incomparably weaker than Giganto’s.
However, she was the demon most like the Giant King.
*Cautious and secretive.*
A commanding demon who observed her opponents and devised countless strategies.
The strongest legion in Tartaros was the Necromancer King’s legion.
That was a fact that had not changed over thousands of years of history.
But during the Age of Calamity, the legion that had destroyed the most nations was the Giant King’s legion.
*The most troublesome demon to face.*
Just as Leo clicked his tongue,
Whoosh—!
“Leo!”
Chelsea flew onto the castle wall with a gust of wind.
“Chelsea, get ready. From now on…”
“Leo! We’re going to destroy the Legion’s Record now!”
“What?”
Leo’s face showed his bewilderment at Chelsea’s words.
Ar’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
With a resolute expression, Chelsea bit her lip and looked Leo straight in the eye.
“…”
Leo met Chelsea’s gaze, then closed his eyes.
“So my job is to buy time while you take care of it?”
“…Yes.”
Chelsea answered with difficulty, her head bowed.
“I’m sorry… Leo. We…”
“Don’t be sorry.”
Leo said firmly.
“You’re right, Chelsea. I’m the one who’s wrong.”
He had simply lacked courage.
Past comrades?
Or the future?
If one were to weigh them, they could not be placed on the same scale.
*Lisinas wouldn’t have let things turn out this way.*
He would have corrected the wrong choice Leo had made.
Just like Chelsea was doing now.
“Ar. You’re staying here with me.”
“Okay.”
Ar nodded with a bewildered look on his face.
As Chelsea watched Leo and prepared to move,
“Chelsea.”
“Yes?”
“I’m counting on you.”
“Got it! I’m counting on you too, Leo!”
Chelsea nodded with a determined face and left the wall.
Leo clutched his cloak and looked up at the sky.
“It’s heavy, being a leader.”
“Of course it is.”
Ar folded his arms and nodded emphatically.
“So lean on us when it’s tough! We’re comrades!”
“What I’m carrying is a little too heavy, though.”
“I’m the successor to Ar-on. I can at least support you!”
Ar puffed out his chest and spoke with pride.
He took a step forward.
“Besides, it’s not just me, right? We have lots of comrades! Black Rabbit, you don’t have to carry it all alone!”
A long time ago.
Looking at Ar, whose back resembled someone who had once given him courage, Leo nodded.
“You’re right.”
Thud—
Stepping beside Ar, Leo drew his sword.
Fwoosh—!
Posteritas.
The sword that held the name of the future revealed itself to the world.
“I don’t have to carry it all alone.”
***
“Everyone, move! Get to the shelters!”
Enniha shouted urgently.
She had entrusted the mission to Ar’s party.
Those within the World of Heroes could not go to the center of the dungeon.
Upon hearing this, Enniha had decided to hold off the Giant King’s legion with Kanea.
First, she needed to get Ivaldi’s non-combatants to a safe place.
Following Enniha’s lead, the residents of Ivaldi, excluding the combatants, began to hurry toward the shelters.
“Kanea! Gather the warrior trainees!”
“Y-yes, ma’am!”
At Enniha’s command, Kanea, who had been helping with the evacuation, quickly disappeared into the crowd.
A moment later.
Led by Kanea, Dit and the other warrior trainees came running.
Watching the trainees, Enniha clenched her fists.
The instructor for the warrior trainees was none other than Enniha herself.
To Enniha, they were also her students.
She had known a moment like this would come.
But she had hoped it would come as late as possible.
*I suppose this means we’ve run out of time.*
Suppressing her trembling voice, Enniha spoke.
“Everyone.”
“Yes, Lady Enniha.”
“…Are you prepared to die?”
Could there be anything more tragic than an adult asking children such a question?
After a moment of silence in response to Enniha’s question, Kanea and Dit raised their weapons high.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
As the two of them roared, the warrior trainees behind them joined in.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah—!
As the cheers echoed, Enniha took a deep breath and turned around.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
With Enniha and the warrior trainees, all of Ivaldi’s warriors finally gathered on the castle wall.
Watching them, Nareda, perched on the giant demon’s shoulder, chuckled.
“This might be surprisingly fun. Killing the same things we wiped out 5,000 years ago.”
“It will be a delightful hunt.”
“Right?”
Nareda patted the shoulder of the demon she was riding and gazed at the castle wall.
“So that’s Leo Flove and Ar Tune, the so-called successors of the surviving hero and brave hero.”
Nareda was already thoroughly informed about her enemies.
Her gaze, filled with interest, first fell upon Ar, then moved to Leo.
The moment her eyes met Leo’s, Nareda’s expression hardened slightly.
“No, wait.”
A human with white hair and red eyes.
She had been observing him since he first distinguished himself as a hero candidate, so she had long since grasped his appearance.
But this was the first time she was seeing him in person.
Because of that, she could feel a distinctly different atmosphere from what she had seen through magic.
And she felt a flicker of doubt.
Even though their target was Dweno, one of the Great Heroes, this was a battle they were destined to win.
She had wondered if it was truly necessary to bring the core forces of the legion just to capture him.
But she had dismissed such doubts.
The will of the legion’s master must be followed absolutely.
Doubts were not permitted.
“…Could it be?”
But now, she had encountered the answer to her question.
Whoooosh—!
Leo, standing on the wall and facing the Giant King’s legion, glanced toward his own side.
Despite the seemingly hopeless might of the Giant King’s forces, not a single person showed any sign of fear.
“Ahem! Alright! Then shall this great one finally make his move—?!”
As Ar cleared his throat and stepped forward, Leo grabbed him by the tail.
“Hold on.”
“Why?”
“Your howling does more than just make beastmen transform.”
“Then what?”
“It gives our allies courage when our morale is falling.”
“So shouldn’t I step up now?”
“Does it look to you like our morale is falling?”
At those words, Ar looked toward their allies.
“Uh, no.”
“Your howling is a trump card to be used when the tide of battle turns against us.”
“A t-trump card?”
A smirk appeared on Leo’s face as he saw Ar’s intrigued expression.
“What we need right now isn’t courage.”
“Then what? Should we just fight?”
“Not exactly. There’s one thing we need to imprint upon the enemy.”
“What’s that?”
Leaving a puzzled Ar behind him, Leo stood atop the wall and answered curtly.
“Fear.”
“Huh?”
Ar wore a look of bewilderment.
It was obvious to anyone that their side was at a clear disadvantage.
How could they possibly instill fear in the enemy in this situation?
*Even for the Black Rabbit, that’s impossible, isn’t it?*
Whoooosh—
A lifeless wind blew, scattering Leo’s hair.
With emotionless eyes, Leo stood on the wall and gazed at the Giant King’s forces.
Even he couldn’t instill fear in the entire Giant King’s legion.
However.
*Among them, there must be some who survived from the Age of Calamity.*
If so, it was possible to imprint fear through them.
Just as Erebos was an object of hatred and a symbol of absolute terror to the inhabitants of the surface, there was a being of terror for the demons who had existed since the Age of Calamity.
A being who had slaughtered an unimaginable number of demons, always leaving behind mountains of their corpses wherever he went.
Gwooooooo—!
As Leo held out his palm, a gray magic circle materialized in the air.
Seeing it, the face of one of the Giant Knights contorted in terror.
“Th-that’s…”
“What is it?”
A demon who had recently become a member of the Giant Knight Order looked baffled, seeing one who had lived through a distant age gripped by fear.
“To be terrified by a mere magic circle. How shameful for one who has borne the name of a Giant Knight for thousands of years.”
One of the Giant Knights who hadn’t witnessed that magic in the distant past scoffed.
Neither the demons of the distant past nor the demons of the present age truly knew.
They only knew of a blasphemous being who had slain a god.
That was why they could only hate.
But for the demons who survived the Age of Calamity, he was not only a being of hatred but also a being of terror whose name they dared not speak.
“The Hero of the Beginning… Kyle!”
Craaaaaack—!
The demons and monsters beneath the magic circle were all crushed.
Bright red chunks of flesh and pools of blood flowed out.
The legion’s advance came to a momentary halt.
The allies, too, stared blankly at the scene before them.
Whoooosh—
The wind blew.
Everyone on the battlefield fixed their eyes on the white-haired man.
“Hoh?”
The Giant King, who had been standing at the rear of the legion, let out a sound of admiration as the corners of his mouth curled up.
Looking at the Giant King, Leo spoke.
“Your tedious life ends here, too. Gias.”