Chapter 730: Beyond Destiny (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 730: Beyond Destiny (2)
June 20, 1803.
The decisive battle began.
A fleet of approximately five hundred ships and over six hundred dragons streaked across the blackened skies of Huphester.
The night, upon which the survival of humanity rested, flowed by like slow, agonizing years.
Occasionally, the knights, mages, demons, and beastmen aboard the ships felt a chilling wind sweep through the cabins—an illusion born of sheer terror. Deep-seated fear has a way of manifesting as a physical sensation.
The elites of each faction, veterans of countless life-or-death battles, focused desperately on their will to fight. They knew that if they let their guard down for even a moment, fear would pierce their hearts like a blade, rendering them useless.
It wasn't that they were weak. As they drew closer to the Grave of Swords, the influence of the Evil God grew heavier, as inescapable as the deepening night.
"So a maze can exist even in the sky… Our course is accurate, so why haven't we sighted the Evil God's castle yet?" Veradin muttered.
The fleet had been unable to increase its speed for some time, its vision obscured by a thick fog of chaos energy. The scouting party led by Orgal was in the same predicament. The pure chaos energy radiating from the Evil God was so potent that it even prevented Orgal from freely opening and closing his Steel Gate.
However, Veradin soon realized the truth.
"…We were already here."
As if a great door had swung open, the fog suddenly parted, revealing an impossibly massive fortress wall stretching out before them.
The fog had been concealing the castle all along.
The citadel, which the Evil God had erected in just two days, proved with its sheer scale that the initial reports had not been exaggerated in the slightest. The hundreds of ships and dragons looked as small as mayflies before it.
The end of the world.
Everyone who laid eyes on the Evil God's citadel had the same thought. This place was the very edge of the world.
"Young Patriarch! The sky… it's opening!"
The cumulonimbus clouds gathered over the citadel were splitting in half. A super-giant ship, the very symbol of the Evil God's authority, descended heavily, its presence warping nature itself.
The shadow of the Ram cast a dark shroud over the sky and land. As if its mere presence possessed immense mass, the dragons struggled to fly, and the mages maintaining the fleet's power broke into a cold sweat.
Their altitude was dropping. It felt as if an invisible hand was pressing down on the entire fleet of the Temporary Alliance.
No matter how hard the dragons and mages struggled, they could not maintain their height. The pressure only ceased when the fleet came to a halt at roughly the midpoint of the fortress walls.
"Is he saying we don't dare fly above the abode of a god…?"
Veradin understood the implication. It was proper etiquette when facing a god: one could not begin the fight from a higher position. This meant they had no choice but to break through the front.
"We expected that a descent into the castle would be impossible. Everyone, do not waste energy trying to gain altitude. Stay calm and prepare to deploy shields. The welcoming ceremony will begin shortly."
As he spoke, Kadun, Orgal, and Vail took their positions at the center of their respective fleet formations. They were preparing to block the Ram's main cannon—the same nightmare they had faced during the first major offensive.
Greeaaaaaaa—!
However, what echoed through the sky was not the charging of a cannon, but the dreadful roars of chaos dragons. The creatures were displaying a ferocity incomparably greater than during the first offensive or the battle at Ricalton. The Evil God's authority was amplifying their power.
The number of chaos dragons pouring from the lower section of the Ram quickly exceeded a thousand. The colossal ship continued to vomit out chaos dragons and Black Ships without a moment's rest.
This was not the welcoming ceremony Veradin had anticipated.
'Instead of firing the main cannon, he's sending out chaos dragons and Black Ships?'
From the very start, the battle flowed in an incomprehensible direction. If that many chaos dragons and Black Ships swarmed the area, the sky would devolve into a chaotic melee. Surely, not even a being as powerful as the Evil God would fire the Ram's main cannon into a sky where his own forces were intermingled with the enemy.
'Is he trying to conserve the power of the main cannon? Or does he plan to draw us into a melee and then wipe us out along with his own troops?'
Just as Veradin considered this, an urgent report came from the watchtower.
"Young Patriarch! A report from the scouts! The power source of the ship Ram is presumed to have been cut off!"
"What?"
"They say the main cannon, which was emerging as the central part of the Ram opened, has suddenly stopped moving! The chaos energy that was gathering for the cannon has also dispersed!"
The Ram's power was a manifestation of the Evil God's authority itself. If its power was cut, it should have meant a problem had arisen with the Evil God himself, in which case the chaos dragons and Black Ships should not have been strengthened.
'The Evil God's authority remains intact, but only the link connecting it to the ship Ram has been severed…?'
Lin Milkano.
The Temporary Alliance, save for the Barmul Alliance, did not know of her betrayal. Thus, they could not fathom why the Ram had suddenly stopped.
"Young Patriarch, the cause is unknown, but this is an opportunity. We must break through as much as possible before the Ram becomes operational again," Octavia said.
Veradin agreed. There was no reason to disagree. And yet, an inexplicable sense of unease nagged at his mind. Still, he had no concrete grounds to halt the advance over a mere feeling.
Veradin soon decided. "…All ships, change to breakthrough formation. Of the three designated for main cannon defense, inform Fire Dragon Kadun and Knight Vail to take the lead. Tell Orgal to remain prepared for defense."
As the fleet began to change formation, the Evil God's aerial forces moved to block their path.
"Gunners, to your stations! From this moment until the breakthrough is complete, I authorize you to fire at will!"
As soon as the command was given, the entire fleet spat fire. From the direction of the fortress, the breath of chaos dragons and the bombardment of Black Ships rained down upon them. A heavy, incessant roar pressed in on them, and the dizzying flashes of colliding attacks seared themselves onto their retinas.
"I shall head out as well, Young Patriarch."
"I wish you luck in battle, Wraith Captain."
Octavia stepped onto the deck. Alongside her, champions appeared atop the flagships of each fleet.
Hedo's sword, Dante's Invisible Sword, Siris's Ten Thousand Ice, Valkas's Black King Fist, Amela's war weapons, Julian's Lightning Bow Harmila, the greatsword aura of Verakt and Bianca, Lanke's Berserk, Octavia's Light Magic, and the Wraith Squad's Chain Magic.
Their ultimate arts tore through the swarming enemies.
The most prominent among them was Vail, who flew at the vanguard. Every time his golden wings fluttered, hundreds of chaos dragons and Black Ships disintegrated into particles and vanished. In aerial combat, Vail was nothing short of a natural disaster. His speed was impossible to intercept, and he alone commanded an attack range equivalent to an entire fleet.
The Ram's main cannon remained stalled. The chaos dragons and Black Ships continuously reinforced from below were not a significant threat. A war of attrition was meaningless against the current Temporary Alliance. Unless a force appeared that could neutralize the might of these champions, it was only a matter of time before they broke through to the castle gates.
However, ten minutes later, the Temporary Alliance faced another situation they had not anticipated.
"Ahead! A purple force field is forming!"
"The force field is pulling the fleet in…!"
They were about two miles from the Evil God's castle. A purple force field had materialized around the citadel, and its gravitational pull caused the fleet's speed to accelerate uncontrollably.
The Evil God's aerial forces were completely unaffected. While the Alliance fleet faltered, trying to slow down, the enemy counterattacked.
Those most affected were the warriors on the decks. Most were unable to fight properly, struggling against the pull as they cast personal shields and clung to whatever they could.
Dragons in the vanguard were sucked into the force field. Vail unleashed his golden authority to pull some of them back, but even he could not prevent several from crashing into the barrier.
[Kahaaaak!]
[Khak…!]
The dragons caught in the force field let out final, piercing screams. The moment they touched the field, they were crushed like scraps of paper. The fleet in the rear found themselves unable to reverse course and escape the field's influence.
'Fortunately, the force field isn't completely immune to physical attacks.'
Every time the fleet's bombardment struck the force field, cracks began to form.
'But they repair themselves too quickly. It will take too long to break through with bombardment alone.'
Ships began to plummet, shot down by chaos dragons and Black Ships. Veradin watched the battlefield closely. He confirmed that cracks caused by powerful individuals like Vail regenerated far more slowly than those from ordinary bombardment.
Therefore, Orgal and Vail had to be the key to destroying the force field. But the Army of Chaos recognized this as well and pressured the two men relentlessly.
"Change the positions of Orgal and Kadun!"
"We need time! The chaos dragons are attacking our rear!"
Orgal, who had been on defense, was already occupied protecting the ships being dragged toward the force field. Since Vail was in the same situation at the front, repositioning them to focus their attacks would inevitably take time.
At that moment, a figure emerged from the training room of the Kozec.
"Veradin."
"I was just about to call for you."
It was Jin, the magic swordsman whose power was the most unique of all.
"Is your meditation finished?"
While the fleet had advanced toward the Evil God's castle, Jin had been in a final meditation, alone in the training room. He had been visualizing his duel with Rosa, contemplating the swordplay he would need to face the Evil God on his own.
Jin gazed at the Evil God's castle, visible dimly beyond the purple force field. In the deepest part of that fortress, Rosa, too, would be imagining her duel with him.
Jin nodded slowly.
At his signal, a flame ignited on Veradin's staff. It was the Seal of Fire, the very technique Kelliark had used during the Sword Emperor Holy War.
As Veradin swung his staff through the air, massive letters of glowing red were etched into the dark night sky.
Jin Runcandel is descending.
The forward viewport of the Kozec slid open like a gunport.
Jin raised Bradamante, now steeped in spirit energy, and launched himself into the heart of the battlefield.