Chapter 451: The Great War, a Reenactment of That Day.
Chapter 451: The Great War, a Reenactment of That Day.
Whoooooooosh!
In an instant, a colossal amount of magical power began to flow wildly across the floor of the central plaza. At the same time, the pure white walls began to turn blue in a flash. No, on closer inspection, it wasn't that the walls were turning blue, but that the letters carved into them were beginning to glow.
Soon, the light from the walls spread out in a wide circle, brightly illuminating the somewhat dim central plaza. The light wasn't shining on us. To be precise, it was focused on the four statues standing nearby.
“What... is happening?” someone muttered in a daze.
Wooooong!
Then, at a certain moment, the light from the walls, which had been blindingly bright, began to slowly fade.
But it wasn't over yet. As if being lifted from the surface, all the letters on the walls seemed to rise into the air before they began to shuffle randomly at a speed the eye couldn't follow.
A moment later, the letters abruptly stopped, having rearranged themselves. The flow of magic surged once more, and the newly arranged letters suddenly split into four directions and shot forward.
Their destination was precisely where the statues stood. The still-glowing blue letters seeped into the statues as soon as they touched them, like water into a sponge. A similar blue aura began to rise from the statues that had absorbed the letters, shimmering like a heat haze.
Whoooooooosh!
An immense amount of magic, enough to cover the entire vast plaza, began to well up from the ground.
I was only now able to come to my senses. I moved to draw my sword without thinking, but I froze mid-motion. Ahn Sol had gripped my arm tightly.
“Ahn Sol?”
I called her name, but she just shook her head. As I was trying to figure out what she wanted me to do, a head of deep violet hair fluttered past my eyes.
“Hup!”
The User who charged forward with a short cry was none other than Heo Junyoung. Schwing. He drew his longsword and swung it with all his might at the nearest statue. It seemed that, like me, he had sensed something was wrong and intended to shatter the statue to stop it.
Clang!
But the powerful strike produced nothing more than a hollow metallic sound as it hit the statue. I stared at it in disbelief. The old, crumbling statue that looked like it could fall at any moment was gone. In its place was a figure from which a faint light now flowed.
It was then, from the part of the statue that I presumed to be its face, that two blue eyes flashed open.
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
As a powerful and resonant cry echoed through the air, the blue light from the statue flowed down to the ground like water. There were so many streams of light that it was impossible to count them all.
The streams of light that fell to the ground dyed the central plaza and shot out fiercely in every direction.
Pzzzt! Pzzzzzt!
Pzzzt! Pzzzzzt!
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
And again, the magnificent voice resounded, powerful enough to shake my eardrums.
The voice was majestic, echoing through the air, but the words were completely incomprehensible.
Clatter, clatter! Clatter, clatter! Clatter, clatter! Clatter, clatter! Clatter, clatter! Clatter, clatter!
“Ugh!”
“Kyaaak!”
At that moment, a sound like hard objects clashing and shaking erupted from all sides. I could see clan members grimacing and covering their ears, letting out sharp groans. A few such sounds would have been one thing, but when what seemed like hundreds, no, thousands of them rang out simultaneously, the noise was agonizing.
What in the world was happening in this fortress?
I tore my gaze from the walls and statues and looked back in the direction we had come from. The moment I did, my eyes froze in place.
The bones... were rising.
It was exactly as it sounded. The bones we had crunched underfoot were now floating into the air, clattering as they assembled into something. At the same time, the blue light that stained the ground surged up and began to slowly envelop the levitating bones.
Soon, when the bones were completely covered in the blue light, a shimmering blue mass filled my vision, moving like gentle, undulating waves.
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
And then, at the very moment the statue's voice rang out again.
Ruuuuuuuumble!
With a vibration so powerful it shook my entire body, the light enveloping the statues shot up as a single pillar, as if to pierce the sky.
The pillar of intermingled white and blue light relentlessly spewed a terrifying flow of magic. The force was so intense that I worried not only my hair but also my equipment would be blown away. Soon, my vision turned completely white, as if I'd been blinded, and I pulled Ahn Sol into a tight embrace and squeezed my eyes shut.
Gooooooooooh….
How much time had passed?
As the majestic voice that had filled the air and the deafening noise that had rattled my eardrums began to subside...
Sensing the flow of magic weaken, I cautiously opened my eyes. I could see the pillar of blue light quietly scattering its glow around the statue. It left a powerful afterimage in the air before fading away like a phantom.
“My god... What in the world... is that...?”
It was then.
A dazed gasp escaped from Vivian, who had fallen to the ground at some point.
Vivian's gaze was fixed straight ahead. Following her line of sight, I looked forward, and I felt my entire body turn to stone.
Standing there were skeletons. No, the Dead. And not just a small group, but an army of them, so vast their numbers were impossible to count.
I tried to remain calm and turned my head to look around.
Front.
Back.
Left.
Right.
Packed. There was no other word for it.
The area around the central plaza was now surrounded, layer upon layer, by skeletal Dead, each holding a weapon. Just counting those that registered on my Sensing, there were easily over several hundred.
A thought suddenly occurred to me. Perhaps the bones we had been treading on all this time belonged to these very skeletal Dead.
Despite countless years having passed since their deaths, the aura each one exuded was formidable. As that pressure closed in on us from all sides, it felt like I was suffocating.
I knew instinctively. The skeletal Dead standing here now were the Residents who had fought the mythical dragon.
I shook my head violently. With a momentarily clearer mind, I stared ahead.
The skeletal Dead were watching us, their eyes flashing with blue light. Their gaze did not seem friendly.
The clan members around me stood in a daze. Everyone was at a loss for words. I was no different. A possibility I had considered on our way in had become reality, and I was speechless.
Maybe... if I had stopped it earlier...
I ground my teeth. I desperately wanted to scream something, but now was not the time. Sensing a slight movement among the skeletal Dead, I shouted without delay.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
The clan members snapped to their senses one by one, but they looked back at me hesitantly. They all wore expressions of utter confusion, unable to grasp the current situation. Of course, I was in the same boat.
But I couldn't just die here.
“Vivian! Summon the best magical beast legions you can. One for protection, and another with strong breakthrough power!”
“R-Right. ———. ———. ———.”
That order meant we would use the magical beast legions as a shield to break through this encirclement. After confirming that Vivian had immediately begun her incantation, I issued further orders to the remaining clan members.
“I'll take the lead. Heo Junyoung, Nam Daeun, and Cha Sorim, move to the left, right, and rear, respectively. Lee Yoojung and Woo Jungmin, be ready to provide support wherever our line is breached. The rest of you, gather in the center at all costs. Do not even think about attacking. Use only defensive spells—!”
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
But I stopped mid-sentence. A grating, metallic voice erupted from among the skeletal Dead, and I instinctively fell silent.
A moment later.
The blue light in the skeletons' eyes flickered briefly before they began to move slowly. They raised their swords and shields, aimed their spears and arrows at us, and lifted their staves high into the sky. Then, from the raised staves, a humming sound began, and a brilliant, multicolored light started to gather.
I quietly closed my eyes. The sounds of weapons being raised, of bones grinding, and of low, mumbling incantations still flowed into my ears. It was an ominous cacophony, like a chorus of death. Amidst it all, a thought struck me, and I quickly looked over at Ahn Sol.
Ahn Sol was crying. A single tear trickled down her face as she wept in silence. But I couldn't tell if she was crying out of simple sorrow or out of fear in the face of death.
Is this your choice...? Ahn Sol?
I wanted to scream at her, but I barely managed to compose myself. What was the point of fighting during an expedition, right before a battle? I didn't know how things had gotten to this point, but what mattered now was finding a way out.
“———. ———. ———. Hah.”
Just then, Vivian's incantation finished. As she turned to me, clutching her Ordo of Order, I steeled myself, sensing the time had come. The skeletal Dead also stood ready, their weapons aimed at us.
The moment the summons appear, I charge forward.
In the tense atmosphere, I gave a silent nod.
Taking that as her cue, Vivian raised the Ordo of Order high into the air and parted her lips.
And at that very instant.
Krrrrrrrrrumble!
“Come forth! Pierre— Kyaa!”
Just as she was about to cry out the summoning spell, a shockwave powerful enough to shake the entire fortress rippled across the floor. The force sent me, Vivian, and everyone else stumbling violently. It was so strong that even the statues, which had stood so rigidly, fell to the ground, and the very earth beneath our feet buckled.
Thump! Crash! Thump! Crash! Thump! Crash!
Crack! Craaack!
No. It wasn't just buckling; it was shattering. A series of thuds echoed from below, and the ground began to crack, sending fragments flying into the air. The vibration was so immense it felt as if we were at the epicenter of an earthquake.
Several clan members couldn't withstand it and fell, but I barely managed to keep my balance.
However, it was too soon to feel relieved.
KRA-KOOM!
Suddenly, an explosion of sound unlike anything before shook my entire body. It was easily several times louder than the thunderbolts my brother created with his Thunder God ability. The noise grew exponentially, and a ringing that felt like it would rupture my eardrums echoed relentlessly in my ears.
What was happening now? What was going on? What was happening in this fortress? A storm of confusion raged in my mind. Amidst it all, I managed to draw my sword and stab it firmly into the ground. Using it as a brace, I held on, and I felt the vibrations slowly begin to subside again.
But immediately after, this time from a distance, I heard a non-human voice let out a massive roar.
GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!
A wailing roar.
A colossal explosion, not from here, but from somewhere else.
And a powerful wind that brushed intensely against my skin.
Flap! Whoosh!
Flap! Whoosh!
I swallowed hard without realizing it. That was unmistakably the sound of giant wings beating.
Get a grip, Kim Soohyun!
Right. I'd been through worse than this, hadn't I?
Deciding to check on the clan members first, I turned my head to look around.
And in that moment, I saw it.
A terrifyingly massive shadow slowly covering the ground.
......
Slowly, very slowly, I raised my head and looked up at the sky.
When my head was fully tilted back, I could finally see it.
The first thing I met were gaping eye sockets, from which a red light glowed. Two horns jutted out from its skull, and its sheer size seemed to cover the entire fortress, with massive wings made of bone... No. Its entire body, even its long tail, was made of bone.
Flap! Whoosh!
Flap! Whoosh!
The creature currently circling in the air above the fortress, flapping its bone wings, looked just like a Bone Dragon from the legends.
Wait a minute. Horns?
For a split second, I felt a sense of familiarity, as if I recognized the shape.
—Magna….
—Carta….
—Magna Carta….
—Magna Carta….
But immediately, incomprehensible words began to murmur from all sides. I reflexively lowered my gaze to the Dead. And I saw it.
The gazes of the Dead were no longer directed at us.
Every single one of them was looking up at the sky, their eyes flashing erratically, chanting the same unknown words in unison.
—Occidite Eos!
And the moment the voice that had shouted at us before rang out once more.
Swish! Swoooosh!
Kaboom! Kaboooom!
A grand explosion of sound.
At the same time, spells and arrows numbering in the hundreds, even thousands, streaked across the sky in a brilliant display of colors, all flying upwards in a single, unified assault.