Chapter 733: Beyond Destiny (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 733: Beyond Destiny (5)
Unknown.
Valeria opened her record windows, but no information about the castle’s interior appeared.
In a typical war, she would have already received intelligence from scouts like the Nameless or determined the enemy’s approximate strength from above with the fleet and dragons.
In this war, however, all such actions were meaningless. No matter what dangers lurked beyond the darkness, they had no choice but to break through.
The fleet resumed its bombardment of the walls stretching out on either side of the open gates. Since they knew physical strikes were effective, they had to destroy the walls to secure a path into the castle. Flying over them by increasing their altitude was impossible.
But with every step Jin took toward the castle gates, a growing sense of unease washed over him.
The gates… they keep opening.
It was as if they were welcoming him.
The closer he got, the more the darkness within the gates expanded—not to repel an enemy, but to welcome an ally.
“Lord Jin,” Ronil said. He, along with Octavia and a portion of the Wraith Squad, had already descended to the ground.
“Speak.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to enter after destroying more of the walls? They’re holding the gates wide open, as if to flaunt their confidence.”
Just as Jin was about to reply, an unsettling, heavy noise reached the ears of everyone on the battlefield.
Greeeeeeak…
It was a low, somber sound, like the groan of a monster deep within a cave.
Jin and the others couldn't help but look up at the sky.
The Ram’s main cannon? Did Sir Lin fail?
It was moving. A massive orb of Chaos Energy had already formed at the tip of the hideous barrel.
The fleet immediately diverted the mana from its bombardment into deploying shields. Signal flares shot up, announcing the emergency as blue barriers materialized across the sky. The ground forces also took up defensive positions around Jin.
Then, the Ram’s main cannon spat out the massive sphere of Chaos Energy it had been harboring.
Flash—!
The blast carved a path straight between Jin and the fleet. Five ships in its trajectory vanished without a trace, yet the black pillar of energy that had erased them did not dissipate.
“4th Flagship Pistro destroyed!”
“Confirm the status of the 4th Fleet's flagship! Over ten vessels have been obliterated…!”
“Enemy main cannon reloading! Predicted strike zone: Kinzelo’s 1st Fleet!”
“Our ships can’t disperse fast enough to evade the Ram’s reload speed!”
The fleet's mages were screaming frantically. Before the Ram’s main cannon, their shields were nothing more than sheets of paper. The horrific bombardment they had experienced during the 1st General Offensive was beginning all over again. Mages haunted by the nightmare of that day were consumed by terror.
The Ram fired its second shot.
Although the Gruneil was Kinzelo’s supreme flagship, the ship’s capabilities alone could never withstand the Ram’s main cannon.
[Tsk!]
Fortunately, before the blast could connect, Zephyrin positioned herself above the Gruneil and unleashed her breath.
Unlike during the 1st General Offensive, Zephyrin’s body was not pierced, even after taking a direct hit from the main cannon. While this was partly because she had grown stronger, it was also because this blast was weaker than the first.
However, the cannon’s weakening did not mean its total power had decreased.
“Main cannon switching to radial mode! The damage radius covers the entire fleet…!”
A black meteor shower, spreading like a spiderweb, rained down upon the entire aerial force. With every passing second, ships shattered and dragons let out their final death cries.
Vail soared into the sky and unfolded his golden Authority, while Orgal deployed a shield that encompassed the entire airspace.
Once Orgal’s shield was perfectly formed, the damage was significantly reduced, but the Ram seemed unwilling to allow even that. Its reload speed grew faster and faster.
Since the entire aerial force had already lowered its altitude, returning fire was fundamentally disadvantageous, and they lacked the leeway to do so anyway. At this rate, the aerial forces would soon be annihilated or suffer damage bordering on total destruction.
A swift decision was needed. Veradin bit his lip, his eyes darting between the Ram’s barrel protruding from the clouds and the battlefield below.
Retreat is difficult, too… The force field Jin broke has reformed. If we try to force our way out, we’ll likely be annihilated.
Veradin’s gaze fell upon the castle gates—the gates that were still opening, widening the darkness. By now, they were wide enough for the entire fleet to enter.
And while the walls had lost their perfectly straight form from the shockwaves of the Ram’s main cannon, they were holding firm, incomparably sturdier than the ships.
“…Fleet, advance! The entire fleet will enter the castle! Inform the ground forces as well!”
The commanders flinched at Veradin’s command, but they immediately prepared to accelerate.
Jin and the heroes on the ground read the fleet's signal and continued to intercept the radial fire from the Ram’s main cannon.
The Kozec, at the head of the formation, was the first to touch the darkness of the gates. One by one, the ships began to pass into the gloom.
Veradin’s judgment proved effective. The Evil God’s castle acted as an umbrella, protecting the ships that entered its interior.
By the time the fleet, the dragons, and the ground forces had all completed their entry, only about seventy percent of their ships and dragons remained.
It had taken less than ten minutes for thirty percent of their total aerial force to vanish.
The allies stared back at the castle gates with dazed eyes. Beyond them lay the same darkness that had been there when they entered. It felt as if they had just crossed a boundary—the one separating the human world from the world of the Evil God.
However, the merciless noise and vibrations of the Ram’s main cannon tearing up the ground outside could still be felt inside. In a sense, the temporary alliance had escaped the bombardment only by fleeing into the Evil God’s castle. The allies couldn't help but feel a humiliation as great as if they had begged an enemy for mercy.
Unlike when observing from the outside, they could now see the structure of the castle's interior with the naked eye. It was a gargantuan hollow, a space that made one truly feel the scale of the fortress. Even with the entire remaining fleet inside, the ceiling didn't feel cramped at all. It wouldn't have felt out of place to say they were in the middle of a nocturnal plain rather than inside a castle.
“…It’s much larger than it looked from the outside.”
“Why would they create such a vast space?”
“We were in checkmate from the start. Stay outside and die to the bombardment, or enter the enemy’s castle to survive.”
Just as the allies were offering their comments, the sound and vibration of the Ram’s cannon fire from outside suddenly ceased.
The castle gates had closed.
“Aaaagh!”
“Keugh!”
As soon as the doors shut, the weakest knights and mages among the allied forces began to scream.
A mental attack.
The Evil God’s mental attack, which had pressured the entire human world just before their departure, now assaulted their minds. Inside the ships, people collapsed one after another, unable to withstand the shock. Even dragons were seen writhing on the floor.
The sheer absurdity of facing a god was on full display.
If there was any consolation, it was that those with sufficient willpower were experiencing no problems. This was also proof that Rosa had suffered a blow during the skirmish Jin had previously fought in the inner world. Back then, Rosa had unleashed her mental attacks indiscriminately, regardless of a target's will or power.
[If we had come here without winning that skirmish in the inner world with Ricalton, we would have been annihilated by now,] Orgal said, looking at Jin. In his eyes, he could see a faint light enveloping Jin’s body amidst the darkness.
It was a light that beings of a lower rank could not perceive.
[This borders on kidnapping, but they did extend an invitation and hold a welcoming ceremony, so we must respond. Tend to the fallen and move forward. As you can all feel, we have no chance of winning if this fight drags on.]
His words were accurate. With people collapsing from the mental assault just by standing still, even a moment’s pause was a waste.
But where were they to go?
It wasn't easy to find a direction. The interior was so vast it felt empty, and like a plain, it was open in all directions.
This meant they could be ambushed from anywhere.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Jin, just as one naturally looks to a light when trapped in darkness.
Jin had his eyes closed, reading the Chaos Energy. Though the entire space was filled with a foul miasma, a particularly dense aura was rising from the center.
Soon, Jin began to walk, and the allied forces followed.
With every hundred steps, more people fainted from the mental attack. Just by enduring it and moving forward, each person was fighting their own desperate battle.
They advanced for about thirty minutes. In all that time, the army of Chaos did not ambush them.
Instead, Jin and the allies stopped, finding themselves at the edge of a cliff that had suddenly appeared ahead. Just like with the outer walls, it was impossible to cross by flying.
Vail and Zephyrin attempted it, but the moment they tried to pass over the cliff, their altitude dropped sharply as if something were pulling them down. The two of them nearly plummeted into the chasm without warning.
An empty void lay beyond the cliff. The only way forward was down. The interior of the Evil God’s castle was designed to lead them ever deeper underground.
Jin looked down the cliff.
Are they trying to draw us deeper and deeper…?
It was like a swamp.
Just as Jin thought, Rosa was drawing the allied forces toward the lowest point of the world—as if they had to reach that very place to face her.
“I will go down first and check,” Jin said, drawing his sword. “I don’t know if I can send a signal from below. If there’s no news for ten minutes after I descend, the rest of the high-ranking forces should follow in sequence.”
Normally, and if it weren't Jin, the allies would have urged caution, calling it too dangerous.
However, in this war, Jin’s judgment was absolute. No one could open a path that he could not.
As Jin began his descent down the cliff, his comrades watched his retreating back. For some reason, they couldn't imagine him falling into a trap, no matter what might be waiting below.