Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Rampaging Monsters
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Thump, thump. Tacha, who had been moving along the wall with those sounds, entered the building.
What had happened? It was when he had come down from the building roof to change his observation position.
With a deafening roar that made his ears ring, the building's outer wall exploded. Tacha and the monster were entangled in midair, plummeting toward the ground.
"Uncle!"
He immediately climbed onto the surrounding buildings to secure a line of sight. Getting too close and getting taken hostage would only be a hindrance.
What needed to be done was clear. Provide accurate surrounding information to Tacha, who was engaged in combat.
The ground tiles shattered, kicking up clouds of dirt. The first thing to burst through the dust was a human figure covered in blood from head to toe.
The sight sent chills down his spine the moment he saw it. It was similar to that 'monster' he had seen twenty days ago. It had the form of a human, but it was not human.
Tacha moved next. He charged forward recklessly and grabbed the enemy.
A contest of strength began. They grappled, each seizing the other's arms in a standoff.
As he watched the fight, a noise from behind made him turn his head. Dao was flying ahead first.
Flames were rising about 100 meters away. Screams rode on the wind.
People were hurrying along, stepping on snow that hadn't yet melted.
There was a monster there too. Ethan narrowed his eyes. With his trained vision, he assessed the situation.
A monster with veins bulging all over its body was charging at the people, while armed guards formed ranks to confront it.
"What the hell is going on?"
Incidents were breaking out everywhere. Who had the guts to cause chaos in the heart of the Empire?
Boom!
A sound came from Tacha's direction. He had pinned the monster to the ground and was smashing it down with massive fists.
The monster's head burrowed into the earth. The ground cracked, and its body sank beneath.
It was a state that would have killed any human instantly, yet the monster's hands were still moving.
Tacha tore off the monster's arms. Cleanly, like dressing a raw chicken. The severed arms continued to writhe after falling aside.
It was a gruesome sight. The monster, which had been dyed in human blood, was now stained red with its own.
Bits of bone and flesh were scattered messily. Tacha, who had been crushing the monster's body and pounding with his fists, straightened his upper body and stopped.
Ethan raised his hand to cover his mouth. Tacha's scaly hand was coated in viscous fluids. Even what seemed to be a milky-white eyeball was stuck to it.
Tacha stood up. His shoulders heaved up and down. The massive lizard warrior, exhaling the breath he had held, looked at him.
"What about the other places?"
"Seven that I can see. If you count the ones out of sight, it's impossible to say."
Ethan swallowed his nausea and spoke.
Spotters had a duty to look straight ahead. A guide who couldn't even watch had no reason to exist.
It was then, as Tacha shook off his hands and approached. He saw the monster's body, embedded in the ground, suddenly surge up.
It was a horrific sight. Where its head should have been, only a protruding spine, chunks of flesh, and brain remnants remained.
He couldn't even guess how it could still move. The revulsion quickly turned to fear.
But that lasted only a moment; the monster collapsed. It fell silent completely, as if it had squeezed out its last bit of strength to move.
Ethan hurried over to Tacha.
"Uncle, you okay?"
"I shook it off, but no major issues."
"It's the same kind as that thing we saw a little while ago, right?"
"The temperament is similar, but the skill is incomparable to that one. That one had wits. It judged, discerned, and attacked like a warrior. It was even superior to me in pure strength. These ones, though—they have no thoughts. They charge at prey and attack anything that blocks them. Like beasts. No, worse than beasts."
Ethan recalled the monster they had encountered in the Holy City about twenty days prior.
The monster that had killed dozens of people and stood amid the blizzard. If they had been even a little later, even the girl with bandages over her eyes would have lost her life.
Back then, the monster had been powerful enough to put even Tacha on the defensive. Without the reinforcements from Schola, everyone gathered there would have been massacred.
"Wait a moment," Tacha said as he left briefly and returned with his glaive.
"We need to hunt down the rest."
"Where did these monsters suddenly come from?"
"I don't know either."
Had they climbed over the high walls surrounding the Holy City? Or slipped through the strict inspections? There was no way to find out right now.
"Where's the closest one?"
"Heading out from here toward Central Square..."
He couldn't finish. A monster blocked the way ahead. It clutched a decapitated corpse like a precious treasure.
"Take your position."
"Don't worry about me. I'm pretty good at running away."
Ethan caught Dao's signal in the sky and climbed to a safe spot on a building. The battle between the hulking lizard warrior and the monster resumed.
Wooo, a long trumpet blast echoed. Yellow flames signaling danger rose from a beacon tower.
Bell tolls rang out from all directions, and voices announcing evacuation burst forth.
"Kid! It's dangerous up there! Get down now!"
A guard controlling the area shouted.
"Just a second! I need to see from up high."
Ethan climbed one of the clock towers installed throughout the Holy City.
The door for administrators was locked, so he scaled the outer wall. He found grooves between the interlocking bricks, wedged his fingers in, and steadied himself.
The wind shifted. Sweat soaked his back. He used the ringed strap he always carried to tether himself to the clock tower. The Holy City sprawled out below in a single glance.
The situation was truly dire.
"What the hell is this?"
What he had seen from the building roofs was just a fraction. Chaos had engulfed the entire Holy City.
An eagle's cry rang out. It wasn't Dao's.
He looked up. Dozens of eagles filled the sky. Every spotter in the Holy City had begun their work.
Anyone visible on high buildings or clock towers was a spotter.
Ethan looked down at the middle-aged man climbing up. He seemed like a senior spotter.
"The situation isn't good."
"What should we do in a case like this?"
It was a massive incident. He was even confused about who to report to.
Should he just relay to Tacha? Wasn't there something else he needed to do?
He was sure his master had taught him, but his mind went blank. Processing the information flooding his eyes was overwhelming enough.
"If you don't have an assigned team, prioritize notifying the nearest control officer."
The senior spotter whistled. The sky suddenly darkened.
Wings of overwhelming size stirred the wind just by the sight of them. He'd never seen such a huge eagle before.
"Let's secure the chain of command first. I'll leave this place to you. What's your name?"
"Ethan."
"Good. Hold the position and grasp the situation. Where's your partner?"
Ethan raised his hand to point at Dao. Dao folded his wings and landed on his shoulder.
"We'll evacuate people to the left sector with the clock tower as the focal point. Keep watch from above and let me know through your friend if anything unusual happens. I'll relay to the other spotters to avoid confusion."
"Got it."
The senior spotter descended the clock tower. The massive eagle took to the skies again.
The eagles circling nearby gathered around the leader like soldiers in formation. Dao joined the ranks as well.
His master had said it: the more complex the battlefield, the more crucial accurate reporting was.
He untied the ring and climbed to the top of the clock tower. The space was so narrow that a misstep would mean a fatal fall, but there was no choice.
To see properly, he had to go higher.
* * *
"Evacuate the citizens to the rear!"
Ariel slashed off the monster's arm with her sword. She was out of breath. It was as grueling as mock battles at Schola.
What annoyed her was how the monster toyed with them. It would attack, then lunge at the people. She blocked as much as she could, but casualties kept mounting.
"Damn bastard."
She grimaced and dodged. A torso-only corpse flew past her. The monster, gnawing on entrails in its mouth, curled its back.
It's coming again!
The monster charged, scraping the ground with both arms. It was so fast she could lose sight of it if she didn't focus.
Left—her sword deflected it. The monster's fingers were severed.
Blood splashed onto her face. Her vision darkened briefly.
She retreated and wiped her face with her forearm. Despite losing fingers, the monster showed no sign of pain.
"I'll help."
"It's not ordinary. Be careful."
"Understood."
"I'll take the front, so the other soldiers block the escape routes. Especially prevent them from heading toward where the citizens evacuated. Block them even if it costs your lives."
Nobles had a duty to protect citizens. For a First-Class Noble, that responsibility was doubled.
Even if her family's affairs were in turmoil and her authority had hit rock bottom, she couldn't tarnish her honorable name.
How could one call themselves noble if they failed in their duty?
"Protect the Holy City citizens and clear out this trash."
It was while facing off against the monster. A man in uniform standing in the wide street bellowed. At the same time, lightly armed figures advanced with short spears at the forefront.
Ariel let out a deep sigh. The Empire's pride, students from Schola—once her own alma mater—had arrived on scene.
"Long time no see, Lady Ariel."
"Instructor Panan."
"It's good to see you acting as you've been taught. Lord Gesthalt would have grinned ear to ear if he saw this."
"Receiving honorifics from you feels really awkward, Instructor."
"That's society for you, isn't it? More importantly, fall back. I'll take over from here."
"I could also..."
The words "help" rose to the tip of her tongue but she couldn't spit them out.
Before her were Schola's elite students.
Students only at Schola—outside, they were treated as exceptional warriors. Help? It was an absurd notion.
"Has the Holy City ever suffered this much damage from external forces?"
"The incident twenty days ago was shocking enough, but compared to today, it was nothing. Just thinking of His Imperial Majesty's wrath makes me shudder already."
She could feel Instructor Panan's sincerity.
"We've confirmed fifty so far. The casualties are too grim to even mention."
The monster's head flew off. Schola students, well-practiced together, never let a hunted prey escape once engaged.
Uniformed personnel brought carts to collect the monster's corpse.
"I'll be off. Still many places to clean up."
Instructor Panan left with his students. Other areas were probably in similar straits.
The Central Guard would have mobilized too, so the situation should calm soon. The response was swift, yet the damage would exceed expectations.
Just the corpses visible to her numbered over twenty. The first-floor shops were a wreck. All from one monster's brief rampage.
She wiped her flowing sweat and moved again. There were still many places needing help.
It was while walking straight down the main avenue. A shadow enveloped her.
She looked up and raised her sword to block above. A monster. She braced for attack, but the monster's state was odd. It landed on all fours, didn't attack nearby people, and leaped forward.
As if fleeing. She looked toward the direction the monster had come from. District 8, a restricted area for civilians. That's where it had come from.
Another one, then another. She watched the monsters pass by on either side and disappear, then headed toward District 8.
The moment she approached, she understood. What had made the monsters turn tail.
"Fancy meeting you here."
She said to Lander, who approached with a cloak draped over his arm.
(To be continued)