Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Battlefield Storm
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The Empire's army poured out in droves.
However, Golas's great banner was not omnipotent. It couldn't teleport the entire Empire's forces.
There were limits.
‘With five great banners and this many soldiers, there are five Masters.’
The commanders would number just over ten.
Before they crossed over, he'd stolen one of the Empire's sacred relics, leaving one Master slot empty.
That was their only hope.
The kingdom had five Masters.
The Empire had brought five as well.
If they could hold out.
If they could hold out even a little...
-Roaaarrr!!
Slash!
Kallias, who had just cut down an Empire soldier, lifted his head at the monstrous roar echoing from the royal castle.
The horrific voice from the castle made both Empire and kingdom soldiers tremble without exception.
‘The prince's roar.’
So they had driven the prince berserk after all.
Of course, it was likely the archbishop who had urged the Light Dragon Sword upon him.
Making him rampage wouldn't be difficult.
“There’s no time.”
The berserk prince's power rivaled a Master's.
And at the end of that rampage lay the queen, so time was short.
The queen would either die by her brother's hand or the archbishop's—either way.
There was no time to conserve strength.
“Lord Kallias! There are too many enemies! And distinguishing friend from foe is...”
Slash!
Kallias frowned as he watched the soldier collapse.
“Allen.”
“Yes!”
“Shut up.”
Craaaack!!
He swung his frost-covered sword.
Kaboom!!
Ice walls surged up from all directions.
“...!”
The intense chill silenced the fierce battlefield as if cold water had been dumped on it.
As the hellish battlefield grew quiet, the outlines of spear-wielding figures—and those holding swords aimed at their own kin—began to emerge.
No one could tell ally from enemy.
In that case, the task was simple.
“Consider anyone blocking the path to the royal castle an enemy.”
“Understood!”
Allen led his troops charging forward.
Soon, he gripped another sword in his left hand, prompting a traitor to bellow.
“House Jerban, you bastard!!”
Slash!!
“Gahk!”
He clutched at his severed head but collapsed futilely.
【Empire's Spy】
◆ Kill the Empire's spies to save the kingdom from the path to ruin.
◆ Spies killed: 16/18
<Reward>: 「Lord's Banner」
Just two left.
“C-Capture Jerban's Wolf!! He's ruining the grand undertaking!”
“You've nicely pointed out where you are.”
How thoughtful.
Whoosh-!
One swing cleared a path.
Two froze the enemies' feet.
By three, their entire bodies were encased in ice.
No way to withstand it.
Stab.
“Urk...”
Slash!
Now only one remained.
Just the archbishop.
As he moved to charge again.
Boom-! A massive bulk dropped down as if it had been waiting.
He moved to slice it apart.
Boom!!
Screeech!
Pushed back by sheer force, Kallias narrowed his eyes.
His strength, enhanced by divine grace, could rightly be called monstrous.
Yet someone had repelled it.
An Empire knight?
Or a noble who joined the rebellion?
The figure emerging from the white frost turned Kallias's expectations upside down.
“An orc?”
His severed left arm stump held an axe.
His right hand gripped a spear.
“Grrr... I remember. You.”
The pronunciation was clumsy.
But it was clearly the continental common tongue.
‘An orc speaking the common tongue.’
Unbelievable.
Yet somehow familiar.
Red hair. Swollen muscles and valiant power. A massive axe strapped to his arm.
And finally, the huge scars.
“No way.”
He recalled the name of a warrior he had forgotten. Come to think of it, there had been a great warrior in the north he hadn't finished off.
“Keltuk.”
It was Keltuk, the great warrior who had blocked Kallias in the north.
And now, he blocked him again.
“What's with that getup.”
Kallias couldn't help but ask.
Orcs revered axes and despised other weapons. Strapping an axe to his arm was one thing, but what was that spear in his hand?
“Discarded. To fight.”
He held a spear.
And an axe.
He had likely abandoned his god.
“Gained. New power.”
Thus.
“Fight. Kallias. For honor.”
Crunch. Kallias gripped his sword tighter, his lips twisting. All for a fight with him, even abandoning his creed.
“Abandoned your creed for honor.”
What honor was there in that.
But he didn't care.
The unfinished battle from the past was something he had longed for as well.
“Fine.”
Wanted or not, he blocked the path. Since he craved death so much, it was only right to grant it.
He crossed his two swords.
Divine power made his cloak flutter fiercely.
As Kallias assumed a battle stance, Keltuk roared.
“Kallias!!”
Boom!!
The two clashed in the battlefield,
and a storm began to rage between them.
An axe on his lost arm's stump.
A new spear in his right hand.
‘Different feel from back then.’
The great warrior's axe had been wild and tearing.
But the heavy thrust's single point was quite troublesome to counter. What he called a spear was wide and long-bladed.
It looked like a small axe hooked onto a spear.
Thus, he wielded it not just for thrusting, but like a long-hafted axe.
However.
“Pathetic.”
Clang-!!
In an instant, Kallias's aura exploded outward.
Keltuk's spear thrust at him.
Crack!
Layers of his sword energy instantly severed Keltuk's spear blade.
Thud-! Boom!!
Keltuk, sent sprawling by Kallias's kick, shattered a pillar.
He rose with a groan of pain, but Kallias's sword was already at his throat.
Looking down at Keltuk, Kallias's eyes held no prior excitement.
“Received divine punishment.”
“Kunta... punishment. Honor. Reclaim.”
Axe God Kunta.
The gods of this world shared their miracles.
They bestowed authority and power upon believers.
To the diligent, to the idle—gods were equal.
‘However.’
Betrayal was not easily forgiven by any god.
At betrayal's end lay divine punishment.
Keltuk had received it.
‘Kunta's punishment is pain.’
Pain came with every use of strength.
A lifetime prison of agony, as if his body were crushed and torn.
Even movement brought pain, and sleep was tormented by it.
Like worms gnawing his flesh, or a mere breeze ripping his skin.
That was why his movements were so sloppy.
“My interest waned.”
Kallias sheathed his sword.
As he turned, Keltuk cried out in a fit.
“Honor!! Give! Honor to me!!”
Had an orc's death-seeking mindset brought him this far.
“You did something foolish, Keltuk. You abandoned your god for greater power, only to grow weaker for it.”
That's why I can't casually discard my sword.
A god's punishment is harsh. If you can't endure it, it becomes a lifelong yoke.
“The end of your foolish choice is yours to decide. That is reclaiming your honor.”
Kallias left him and ran. An opponent who had once troubled him so much, now so weakened.
Better not to have met.
It just soured his mood.
“Honor!! Honoorrr!!”
Until the green beast's cries for honor faded from earshot.
Kallias ran and ran.
“Wastrel!”
“It's Jerban's Wolf! Catch him!!”
“Block that bastard! No one gets through here by command!”
The Empire and rebel numbers were considerable.
Kallias drew another sword.
Lament in his right hand.
Thunderclap Sword Lakan in his left.
This was no time to hold back.
“Block him!”
Soldiers poured down like a flood.
One against dozens, no, hundreds.
Common sense dictated halting the charge and defending.
Instead, Kallias accelerated.
“Get lost.”
One swing with Lament.
Craaaack!!
Scattered sword energy became an iceberg engulfing the army.
“Arrrghhh!!”
Thunderclap with this sword.
Crackle!!
Sword energy slashing like lightning bore thunderbolts.
Kabooooom!!
Kallias exhaled roughly, blue lightning and biting frost in his breath.
Yet in one strike, the enemy lines gaped like a massive hole in the belly—utterly futile.
“Impossible...!!”
“Move! I'll handle him!”
Boom!
One of the Empire commanders slammed his spear into the ground. A chilling sound emanated from the cracked earth.
“R-Retreat! Don't stand before the commander!!”
Empire soldiers recoiled left and right in horror. Thanks to them, only unprepared rebels stood between Kallias and the commander.
The Empire commander thrust his spear without hesitation.
Screeeeech!
“Try blocking this!”
Ziiiiiing!
“Gaaahhh!!”
Rebels screamed and collapsed. A bizarre, distorted sound pierced their ears.
It burrowed into eardrums, scrambling minds.
Kallias took it head-on.
Even he couldn't fully escape the bewitchment's range.
But Kallias's ruby eyes glowed faintly.
“Childish tricks.”
“Not!”
Slash!!
Kallias slipped past like a shadow, leaving only the commander's blood behind.
“Guhk! Cough!”
The commander spewed blood and fell.
Kallias walked through the center with cold eyes.
As one man advanced, the hundreds surrounding him stepped back.
“D-Don't fear! There's only one enemy!!”
“Scared of a single foe? Are we the Grand Holy Empire's army?!”
“Ooooh!!”
“Lacteus for!!”
“For Lactur's Empire glory!!”
At the subcommanders' orders, they charged again.
Empire soldiers gripped spears and rushed Kallias.
But this time, it wasn't Jerban's Wolf who struck them.
Boom!!
“Uwaaak!”
A shadow crashed among the soldiers like a meteor.
Dust parted to reveal a white sword strike slaughtering nearby Empire troops.
“W-What?!”
Behind the flustered subcommander, inky blackness surged.
It coiled like a serpent, mercilessly severing the subcommander's neck.
With the subcommander dead in an instant, Empire soldiers couldn't hide their panic.
“Lord Kallias, you look worn out?”
“Count! Are you alright?!”
Water-blue hair and red hair.
Esther and Helena appeared.
“The queen is in danger.”
“!!”
Kingdom elites followed, shouting loudly.
“For Carpe!!”
Waaaaah!!
Swords and spears clashed anew.
Kallias tried to slip through the gap.
“Where?!”
The Empire's spear wouldn't let him.
As he reached for his sword.
“Go!”
Esther deflected the spear.
“Insolent! Think that toothpick sword can do anything?!”
“Don't think your skewer can handle me either.”
As Kallias advanced through the opening.
Another spear-wielder appeared.
But then.
Clang clang clang!
Helena with twin swords danced through shadows, blocking.
“Hurry! I'll put it on your tab!”
“Thanks.”
Kabooooom-!!
He swung Thunderclap Sword in one motion, blasting the door with lightning and charging in.
Suddenly, his body trembled, vision barren desert.
A wasteland without a blade of grass.
Eerie rocks formed unnaturally amid the sands.
‘This is a sanctuary.’
Tremors shook his entire being.
A Master's battle raged for sure, and lesser auras clashed on one side.
He wanted to help if possible, but the queen's safety came first.
If the queen died, Carpe would truly collapse beyond recovery.
Kallias dashed ahead, scouring the surroundings.
This sanctuary was likely from Judgment Gerald and Monster Spear Paseton.
In such a domain drawing everything in, the archbishop would have prepared countermeasures.
‘The queen's location?’
Kallias sheathed Lament and drew Tyrant Sword.
He spread his gravity sense like a detection field, endlessly outward.
Spread, spread, and spread again.
Now just faint gravitational wisps unfit for battle, but ideal for sensing in another's sanctuary.
“Found it.”
He dashed there, spotting a small healing rift.
Kallias drew Thunderclap Sword.
“Whew.”
Focus.
Pure focus.
Even with a sanctuary rift, piercing intertwined Master domains was no easy feat.
But he had to.
He poured vast holy power into Thunderclap Sword.
Blue lightning streaked from the raised sword.
Rumble boom!!
Like a thunderstorm, gale winds dyed Kallias's body in thunderclap light.
And instantly.
Silver Flower Sword Wave's Other Shore Blossom intertwined.
Kaboooooom-!!
A blue lightning flower bloomed.
As the sanctuary shattered, powerful suction pulled him in.
Before him appeared the archbishop.
About to plunge an ominous spear into the queen's throat.
‘Good.’
Not too late.
Kallias shot forward like an arrow.
Boom!!
“You bastard.”
The archbishop—no, traitor's face twisted viciously.
“Count!”
“Wastrel, how did you?!”
At Alhamtra's demonic grimace, he sneered.
“Heard there was a traitor here.”
The traitor's face crumpled further.