Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Dragon (2)
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"Ah, it hurts! It hurts!"
"Save me! Please, spare me!"
"I'm sorry! Sorry for killing you!"
As time passed, withdrawal symptoms began to appear among the soldiers.
They complained of pain or trembled in terror from hallucinations.
Some even took their own lives.
Though the most severely afflicted were isolated, if this continued, morale would hit rock bottom.
With morale in the gutter, forget conquering the Holy Land—they'd end up the ones hunted.
But most of the mid-distribution cities had been attacked.
It was a crossroads.
Assault the Holy Land now, or retreat.
'How the hell did they know the drug storage locations?'
Only a handful knew those locations.
If one of them had betrayed the group, it was possible.
Rooting out the traitor and rebuilding the distribution network would take time.
Attacking would let them seize the Holy Land, but the northern campaign would fail.
If one of them had betrayed the group, it was possible.
In the end, Carlos and the other nobles chose one step back for two steps forward.
Rooting out the traitor and rebuilding the distribution network would take time.
It was the day the massive human wall encircling the Holy Land finally lifted after 48 days.
Attacking would let them seize the Holy Land, but the northern campaign would fail.
And through the empty plain left in that vacuum, a single carriage leisurely passed.
Germin couldn't believe the scenes unfolding before his eyes as he drove the carriage.
Assault the Holy Land now, or retreat.
In the end, Carlos and the other nobles chose one step back for two steps forward.
'How the hell did they know the drug storage locations?'
Only a handful knew those locations.
It was the day the massive human wall encircling the Holy Land finally lifted after 48 days.
If one of them had betrayed the group, it was possible.
And through the empty plain left in that vacuum, a single carriage leisurely passed.
Rooting out the traitor and rebuilding the distribution network would take time.
Germin couldn't believe the scenes unfolding before his eyes as he drove the carriage.
They had forced Grand Duke Carlos—who never backed down—to retreat without even facing him directly.
It was something even Emperor Deus couldn't accomplish, yet Reinhardt had done it.
"How did you know about the drug storage locations?"
Croft asked from inside the carriage.
He hadn't asked until now because dealing with the drugs came first.
"War is ultimately waged by humans. It's clearly suspicious that Grand Duke Carlos wouldn't invade just because they surrendered."
When Carlos waged war, he crushed his enemies completely.
His clans were infamous for utterly exterminating families in wars between houses, leaving no chance of recovery. That was why no one dared touch him.
For a man like that to simply leave northern cities—ones that could stab him in the back—intact just because they 'surrendered' was undeniably strange.
"......So he needed cities to hide the drugs while disguising them."
"Exactly. Finding the surrendered cities isn't hard."
Anyone could learn it from Parsel the administrator or the forest dwellers.
All they had to do was identify the surrendered cities serving as mid-distribution points between the Holy Land and the continent.
But while it sounded simple, it was anything but easy.
First, you needed the vision to see the big picture.
Spotting storage locations by linking them to the drugs, then instantly grasping their connections to other cities—that required mastery.
'War is ultimately waged by humans.'
Croft mulled over the words.
It was the most basic truth, the most vital one, yet the thing most forgot in war.
Humans fight wars.
Analyze the commander waging the war, and their next move becomes predictable.
Review the enemy's war, dissect the reasons, and strike the unseen weaknesses.
It was a stratagem tough even for battle-hardened veterans to conceive.
No—even if they thought of it, executing it wouldn't be easy.
Most would just cut off supplies.
But Reinhardt had the decisiveness too.
Burning the drugs in every city took just seven days.
Since they only needed to burn the drugs, no pointless battles were necessary.
They divided their forces and handled it in a flash.
How could a crown prince who'd spent his life in the palace learn such tactics?
'Magic without casting, battlefield insight and tactics, genius talent......'
The more he dug, the deeper it went—like a bottomless well.
But the most astonishing was Reinhardt's swordsmanship, which had improved by leaps and bounds since arriving at the forest.
He'd even nearly blocked a strike from Croft himself.
'In sparring, he predicted my next move and drew his sword.'
It happened that morning.
Their daily sword training.
Though they ended with spars, Reinhardt had never properly swung his sword against him before.
But today, Reinhardt moved.
He read Croft's momentum, drew his sword, and nearly parried the strike.
'Even 1st Prince Raunel took a year to reach that point.'
A full year to resist his momentum and harbor counterattack intent.
Reinhardt had done it in a month.
No—not even a full month.
They'd been constantly traveling, with no proper lessons.
If he taught him properly...
'A talent that surpasses all the princes.'
Not just the princes—even Croft himself.
Greed stirred.
The desire to mold him not just in basics, but as a true disciple.
He'd taught countless knights and princes, but never taken a single disciple.
His school allowed only one successor. As heir to an ancient lineage with a thousand-year tradition of single succession, Croft had none.
Unfulfilled and with brutal methods, he'd never bothered. But Reinhardt more than qualified—overflowed, even.
"We've arrived."
Germin's voice snapped them back to reality.
Looking out, the massive Holy Land loomed right before the carriage.
A wall formed by countless stone towers piled high.
Crude compared to the empire's walls, but not to be touched lightly.
[Excessive radiation detected from the stone piles.]
[Switching to defense mode.]
Stones laced with radiation.
Stone towers built from rocks within the Holy Land.
Unauthorized touch or entry meant instant death.
Only the designated path offered safety from the radiation.
'Pagans.'
Pagans atop the stone towers.
Mutated humans exposed to radiation.
They glared at the carriage, spears in hand.
When a Pagan from the carriage stepped down, their gazes shifted instantly.
"Yung?"
"Yung!"
"Yung has come! Open the gates!"
Edis's friend, the Pagan, was apparently named Yung.
Even among Pagans, Yung seemed special.
The other Pagans bowed briefly and opened the gates.
'So this is the Holy Land.'
I smiled.
Even I was visiting the northern Holy Land for the first time.
I should've been locked in the palace by now, after all.
As several gates opened and we entered, even more warriors came into view.
But their appearance was enough to furrow brows.
"......There are too many Pagans."
As Edis said, there were far too many Pagans.
Warriors twisted by bodily mutation.
They'd deliberately increased their numbers.
Only at the Holy Land's heart did suspicion turn to certainty.
A massive cave.
[Warning. Enormous radiation latent in the cave.]
[Not leaking due to unauthorized Nano Machines, but energy levels dropping rapidly.]
[The moment the Nano Machines' energy depletes, a 30km radius will be a contaminated zone.]
Warriors entered the cave, shaped like a dragon's head, one after another.
Nine out of ten died at the entrance.
Only one ventured deeper, gaining power through mutation.
The dead swelled, burst, and vented gas.
A gruesome sight too horrific to watch.
"Yung, you've finally come, great warrior."
A woman with dangling necklaces approached, staff in hand.
She smiled brightly at Yung and bowed.
But Yung's face was stiff.
"Then why have you come with the empire's demons? Ah, hostages?"
"What... are you doing? Saintess."
She was the Saintess.
The Saintess spoke in ecstatic tones.
"The time for counterattack is now. Those vile empire demons are fleeing. We must seize their rear."
"You're insane."
They weren't fleeing.
They'd pulled back temporarily for drug resupply.
Chasing them now would mean massacre in reverse.
"Great warrior, lend us your strength. We must exterminate the empire's demons. The gods... have given me a divine oracle."
She wasn't sane.
War had driven everyone mad.
Under the guise of oracles, she used warriors as expendables.
Killing nine out of ten, staking the survivor's lifespan to create Pagans.
"Looks like your gods commanded mass suicide."
"......You dare speak, hostage?"
The Saintess's face twisted instantly.
I shrugged indifferently and stepped down from the carriage.
"The demons you speak of didn't retreat because they lost strength. Strike their rear now, and you'll meet real demons."
"Who's that young demon, Yung?"
Yung looked at me.
Then, with firm resolve, he declared,
"The Holy Son."
The Saintess's face contorted.
"What... did you say? Yung, have you lost your mind? How could an empire demon be the Holy Son?"
Holy Son.
If the Saintess was chosen to convey the gods' will, the Holy Son was one who ascended through personal enlightenment.
Pure and holy in solitude, his position surpassed even Pagans or the Saintess.
The Saintess protested, but Yung didn't retract his words.
He had seen it.
The sight of her reversing rampaging mana to heal a woman.
The miracle born from his friend Edis's wish.
The act of wielding mana through will alone to slay foes.
Mana was divine.
The pillar upholding the world.
One who wielded that pillar freely.
That one was the Holy Son.
Above all, he had repelled 200,000 imperial troops without battle.
With qualification and wisdom, he was undoubtedly the Holy Son.
"Yung. Even as one of the great warriors, this cannot be overlooked. Kill those demons now."
Pagans gathered around the Saintess.
Their number easily topped a hundred.
The Saintess's face grew more venomous.
"Yung. Retract it now, kill the demons, and I'll forgive you. Yes, probably brainwashed by demons. But the Holy Son is sacred. To bestow that holy title on such filth!"
Yung didn't budge.
His will to never retract his words.
By the way, Holy Son, huh.
I nodded and said,
"Then I just need to prove my qualification as Holy Son, right?"
"Shut your mouth, demon. As if you could prove it."
"Exactly. And there's a perfect way to prove it right over there."
I pointed to the cave.
The place where countless warriors kept dying.
"Ha! You mean that demon dares enter the Holy Land?"
"Your Highness, you mustn't."
Croft was firmly against it too.
I didn't answer.
I stared intently only into the Saintess's eyes.
'Good timing.'
The Saintess thought.
The great warrior Yung had named a Holy Son.
She couldn't let it stand. It might unsettle the warriors.
But there was a way to prove it.
Entering the Holy Land.
For an imperial brat—even warriors struggled—to challenge it.
He'd die without fail.
Suicide, plain and simple.
A smile crept across the Saintess's lips.
"......Very well. Though it defies sanctity, the gods have permitted it. To punish that demon directly."
[ (2) ] End