Chapter 365: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 19
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 365: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 19
Peru blamed herself, thinking of those she couldn't save, but in truth, she had saved far more lives than she had lost. If she hadn't liberated the city, if she hadn't drawn the Golden Lord's attention, far fewer Dholes would have escaped. Some had been swept up by the steel fragments but were lucky enough to flee in the opposite direction of the Golden Lord. A good number of those who had wisely chosen vehicles with roofs had survived and escaped his sphere of influence.
"This way! Everyone, maintain your distance and form up in squadrons!"
Dominarch Hector was gathering the surviving Dholes.
Even with war decided, his duties remained unchanged. He had been about to harvest the grain with the machines bestowed by the Golden Lord when he was the first to notice something was wrong and gathered his men.
The Dominarch's subordinates, who frequently consumed the Golden Lord's crops, had no resistance to him. If not for the Dominarch's swift response, more than half of them would have been absorbed without ever knowing why.
But this was no situation for Hector to feel relieved.
A great road was forming in real-time, leading somewhere. Hector pinpointed the direction and muttered.
"That way is… Claudia…!"
The Golden Lord, having turned unusually cruel, was passing the city and heading for Claudia. It would be a problem if it were a coincidence, but it would be even more horrifying if it were intentional. It meant the Golden Lord was moving with a clear objective.
He had sent a swift subordinate to Claudia in advance, but… the Golden Lord was just as fast. By the time the message arrived, the Golden Lord would be on Claudia's doorstep. Could Claudia, with its insufficient vehicles, possibly react in time?
"Damn it! I should have sent someone sooner! I was so busy dealing with the aftermath that I didn't realize!"
The peaceful life they once knew was gone forever. To evade the god of calamity now roaming the Fallen Dominion, the Dholes would have to endure an even harsher nomadic existence.
But that was only if they could protect Claudia.
"It's over if that road reaches Claudia. I have to buy time, somehow…!"
"Mr. Hector!"
Having blended in with the escaping Dholes, I approached him, waving my hand as I called out. Hector recognized me, his face a mask of bewilderment.
"You're—from the Military State!"
"Yes! The peace envoy from the Military State!"
His confusion was brief. Hector erupted in anger, his face turning toward my smiling one.
"Did you do this to the Golden Lord?!"
"How could we, the ones who got beaten up and chased away by him? If anything, he's the one who did something to us!"
My single sentence left him speechless. He had only blurted it out of a simple desire to find someone to blame, not because he had given it any deep thought.
…Truthfully, he did go berserk because I provoked him. But that's a secret.
"You saw it yourself, didn't you? The Golden Lord declared war on the enemies of the Golden Empire. But what do you know? It seems the Fallen Dominion was included in that! Haha! Serves you right for rejecting peace!"
"Did you come here to mock me?"
"No? This is just a secondary objective; I have a real goal!"
"I'm busy. Save the nonsense for later…!"
"You may have practically betrayed us, but we're still peace envoys! We'll stop the Golden Lord for you, to bring about peace!"
Moved, Hector looked at me with an overwhelmed expression.
I know you're in a tight spot, but don't look at me with such sparkling eyes. It's a bit much. Makes me feel a little guilty, too.
In any case, time was short, so I summarized the current situation.
"The Witherarch is on her way. She will reach the Golden Lord, no matter what it takes. But she said she needs help from others."
The battle had become simple.
If Peru reaches the Golden Lord and rusts that golden bell, we win. If not, we lose.
Win, and we lose the Golden Lord. Lose, and we lose everything. It was a lose-lose situation, but that's how the world often works. You have to realize that even a zero-sum game is a luxury.
"Do whatever you can to help Peru reach the Golden Lord. Whether it's drawing his attention or applying pressure."
I didn't know how many seconds the Dominarch could buy, but even that was precious.
So he wants us to be meat shields. The Witherarch, huh. That child can certainly stand against the Golden Lord. But I and the other Primarchs cannot. Alchemy is his domain.
Hector hesitated, but not for long.
Even lives depreciate in value, and an old man who has used his for a long time tends to offer it up for a relatively cheap price.
No matter how far removed from patriotism the people of the Fallen Dominion were, attachment grew with the years spent. Hector, who had been born a citizen of the Fallen Dominion and lived there into his old age, had reached a point where he could no longer distinguish himself from his country. Compared to that, his shrunken life felt so light.
A heavy heart and a light life. Having finished weighing them in his mind, Hector made his decision and spoke.
"Where is the Witherarch?"
"Over there."
I pointed a finger toward a hill in the distance. Hector stared in that direction, then narrowed his eyes and looked around.
"…Is she hiding behind the hill? Planning to ambush the Golden Lord when he passes by?"
An ambush would be most effective, I can't deny that… but will the Golden Lord even go that way?
A hill. If the Dominarch saw it that way too, then the plan was a success. I grinned and spoke again.
"Just watch for a moment. You'll see."
Though half-doubting, Hector kept his eyes on the hill. A few seconds later, he realized why I had pointed to it.
The mound of earth was squirming as if it were alive, moving toward the Golden Lord.
The ground appears as a single mass, but it is in fact a fabric woven from thin layers. Over tens of thousands of years, Mother Earth had stitched, thread by thread, the clothes that would cover her divine body.
The Regressor used Jizan's power to peel back one layer of that clothing and hid the Golden Ark beneath it.
'Uuuuungh! Even for Jizan…! Lifting the earth is… a bit… tough…!'
She lifted a layer of earth with Jizan. The Golden Ark sped through the space created beneath. It was a feat made possible by the Ark's ability to pass through the earth via displacement.
…Of course, the Regressor lifting the earth was expending a considerable amount of concentration and Qi.
But I suppose worrying about the Regressor is the most pointless worry in the world.
The hill heaved and moved, aiming for the Golden Lord's path. It was as if a giant mole was advancing underground to ambush the ever-extending road. The moment their two paths intersected was the time for Hector to act.
Their speeds are about the same. At that distance, when will it arrive? If I leave now…!
His calculations complete, Hector shouted urgently.
"We're moving out! Raise the horn!"
A subordinate beside him lifted a large horn. Hector used his Unique Magic to apply pressure to the horn. Air flowed through its complex inner structure, passing through the tube to produce a sound like a ship's horn.
Bwoooooo. The horn blared a long note. Hearing the signal, the Primarch's men climbed onto their vehicles, looking puzzled.
"Moving out? To where?"
"Primarch?! Where are you going?"
Though they feigned ignorance, they all knew. They were just asking for confirmation, hoping against hope.
Hector started the engine of his Juggernaut and shouted, his voice even louder.
"To buy time! We will draw the Golden Lord's attention!"
"What?"
"Don't ask such a stupid question! I don't have time to persuade you! You! Mount the exhaust pipes!"
The Dominarch's Unique Magic was the power to apply pressure to metal. Hector primarily used pistons to convert his magic into force.
His Juggernaut, the Steel Heart, was no different. The Steel Heart, made of thousands of pistons and cylinders, vibrated violently.
"I won't ask you to risk your lives for free. That's not our way!"
Unusually, Hector's Juggernaut was only an engine. What was attached to it, what purpose it was modified for, was purely up to Hector's discretion. The Steel Heart didn't care how many arms it had, whether it had wheels instead of legs, or whether it would reap grass with a scythe or cut trees with a saw. It simply provided power, silently.
Until now, Hector had a corn harvester designed by the Golden Lord attached, but now, he detached all the 'parts for harvesting corn.' As the core clattered to the ground, his close aides brought parts to their designated positions. Larger wheels, a spring-loaded connection, and dozens of exhaust pipes.
The completed Juggernaut boasted a crude and brutish chassis. A sound as rough as its appearance roared from the exhaust pipes.
"I will give you a reward instead! I will buy your lives with my money!"
Grrrrrumble. The Steel Heart spewed not a flow of blood, but a flow of air. Hot wind wrapped around his Juggernaut, converting into power. A scorching gale blasted from the exhaust ports.
"To those who follow me, I will divide all the wealth I have accumulated equally among you! I say this as the Dominarch!"
With only those words, Hector unleashed the reins of the Steel Heart. The Juggernaut roared, its wheels clawing at the ground as if to tear it apart. Creating a storm in its wake, the Juggernaut shot forward, becoming one with the wind.
A stir went through the Dholes. Most of them knew just how vast the Dominarch's fortune was.
The Dominarch was the Golden Lord's closest aide. He had made his money processing and selling food for a long time. Hector's wealth was so immense that it was more than enough to support his nearly one thousand subordinates.
"Is he serious?"
"No way he's lying. He's not some random drifter. I've never seen the Primarch break a promise."
Their lives were precious. But when a sum of money they could never earn in a lifetime was on the line, it was a different story. If they got lucky and survived, they could live in luxury for the rest of their days.
"Ah, screw it! It's not like we're guaranteed to die!"
"It's one big score! If I make it big, I'm leaving this damn country!"
"Are you stupid? Why leave the country when you're rich? We can go to Claudia and live like kings!"
The Dholes, with nothing to lose but their lives, shouted boldly and mounted their vehicles. They whipped beasts that were somewhere between pack mules and pack horses and ignited sputtering engines. The Dholes, seeking a fortune, charged after the Dominarch.
"Let's go! You only die once!"
"We somehow survived just now, right? We just have to do it one more time!"
Letting out screams to psych themselves up, the Dholes of the Fallen Dominion followed Hector as one.