Chapter 30
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Three Thousand Man Slayer
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I retraced my memories from before the battle.
Kerkneud was said to have been a prosperous coastal tourist city during the era of the old republic.
This meant that, unlike a military fortress, its fundamental design pursued romanticism over efficiency.
“A city of wonders...”
As Kaisen moved toward the south gate, he carefully surveyed the city.
The blood-red sun, veiled by volcanic ash, was slowly setting in the west, while four moons rising in the east scattered a faint light.
His mother's voice flickered in his ear like a spring breeze.
- Kai, in the age of the distant Abyss, there were four goddesses who watched over this world with love.
- Four goddesses?
- Yes. They were the ones who created the moons.
What kind of sentiment was this?
Lifting his gaze further, he saw Ilanus Square spread out before him, pristine and white.
The square, surrounded by ancient colonnades, seemed to absorb the moonlight deeply, glowing with a serene luminescence.
“Kaisen.”
It was then that Ria approached him. Her hurried breaths trembled faintly.
The girl with elegant, curly hair avoided Kaisen's gaze, looking off into the distance.
“This might be our last chance, so I wanted to apologize to you.”
“Apologize?”
“That day, at <Aristapo>... I was sorry, Kaisen, truly... for leaving you alone.”
When he heard the name <Aristapo>, he felt his fingertips tremble unconsciously.
<Aristapo>.
He still remembered it. The feel of his master's hand on his head, and the first and last smile she had ever given him.
“When you said you were going to save Lady Camilla, I shouldn't have let you go alone...”
“...”
“Instead of helping, I tried to stop you. I even spouted nonsense about how Lady Camilla was going to die anyway. I'm so, so sorry.”
As she spoke, Ria's voice trembled as if it might break at any moment.
Her tone was fragile, yet sincere.
*So this is who Ria is. She has a gentle nature. That's why she was so awkward around me when we met again.*
“There's no need to apologize. I never held it against you.”
“But back then, I...!”
“It's true. In fact, I'm grateful.”
Ria looked perplexed.
“If you and Senior Sharon had desperately tried to stop me then, I probably wouldn't have made it in time.”
“...!”
“My master died with a smile. She didn't resent you or Senior Sharon in the slightest. So don't dwell on it. If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry for insulting Senior Sharon back then.”
Walking ahead at the front, Sharon Alter Tassalpo, who had been eavesdropping on her disciple's private exchange, felt a sharp pang in her chest.
The pain of sorrow and longing.
Her hair, faded whiter than moonlight, fluttered in the wind as the head FakeWarrior wiped away the hot tears welling in her eyes.
- Hehe, another contest today to see who'll be top of the class, Camilla.
- Not interested, you bitch.
- Camilla, for a disciple of the great hero, you sure have a foul mouth.
- Olier, that's enough. Her tongue may be sharper than a passing butcher's, but isn't that part of Camilla's charm?
- You call *that* charming?
- Charm my fucking ass. Get your asses over here! Where do you think you're going? You're all dead. Get over here!
Those brilliant.
And just as dearly missed.
Recalling her days as a cadet, Sharon moved forward with steps that felt a little lighter.
‘I'll be seeing you soon, Camilla.’
*I was wondering how I should apologize for that day, but I guess I don't have to.*
*What a relief.*
*Yes... what a relief indeed.*
Three Thousand Man Slayer,
Kerkneud Evacuation Operation (5)
Extinction Circle, the ultimate secret technique usable only by a FakeWarrior.
Although she had used it to reduce their numbers by nearly a thousand, they were nothing but small fry.
What meaning was there in such numbers?
‘On the battlefield, the process doesn't matter in the slightest. The battlefield speaks only through results.’
As Sharon knelt, coughing up blood, Ria Raily rushed to her side in a panic.
“Master, you have to stay with me, Master!”
She pulled a dragon's blood serum injector from her waist and plunged it into Sharon's body, but...
It was no use.
*What is happening?* An ominous possibility reared its head in her mind, but she forced it down.
In that instant, the sky and the ground switched places.
Through her dizzying, inverted vision, she saw her master's body thrown back, caught in the blast wave and shrapnel of an explosion.
‘From behind...?’
A Tahup Madman, having circled around, had detonated itself from behind the outer wall where Sharon had been slammed.
The granite of the outer wall shattered, sending shards of stone flying into her face as a thick cloud of dust rose.
In the midst of such chaos, it was nothing short of a miracle that Ria Raily managed to grab her master's arm.
“M-Master, I've got you...!”
Sharon's body, clutched in her disciple's hand, was drenched in blood. The crimson fluid stained her white hair red, and her arm was slick.
“Ria.”
“Master, my arm! Please, you're slipping... Hurry, quickly...”
“Ria, you were a disciple far too good for me.”
Her master's voice, bidding farewell, was low and calm.
Only the quiet tremor in her tone whispered of the loss and sorrow of parting to her disciple.
With a hand that lacked even the strength to tremble, Sharon unfastened the Supreme Holy Sword Tassalpo from its sheath and held it out to her disciple.
“Take this and run straight for the harbor, do you understand? You must not let the Uruks get it.”
Tears welled in Ria's eyes.
Explosions went off in succession, sending fragments of what were once Corps soldiers flying everywhere.
It was impossible to support her master and shake off the brutally persistent Tahup Madmen chasing them from behind while holding the holy sword.
“Go, now. I have one last Dragon Spirit left. I'm going to detonate it and blow this whole area away. I'll take that ugly bastard down with me.”
“No, I won't...!”
“I truly loved you, Ria.”
In the next instant, the crushing pressure that had seemed to hold Ria's shoulders down vanished.
Sharon smiled faintly.
That would have been the last image Ria ever saw of her master.
If, in that moment her mind went blank, Ria hadn't kicked off the ground and placed herself between her master and the madmen.
“Ria...!”
“I'm not going! I'll never go alone!”
“This isn't just about the two of us! You have a duty to take Tassalpo to the Papal Office and become a FakeWarrior!”
Her master's argument was sound and irrefutable, but Ria couldn't bring herself to obey, shaking her head frantically.
“Ria! You always listen so well, why are you being like this now? You can't do this!”
Beyond the crumbling cityscape, a nightmare was limping toward them.
The Tahup Chief, Ranikikan.
A sinister energy oozed from the staff clutched in his right hand. To his sides, hundreds of Tahup Hyullele swayed their bodies.
Four seconds from now?
No, maybe three.
Master and disciple would become prey for those madmen, and Tassalpo was fated to be lost, just like the other five holy swords.
‘How? What should I do?’
Ria Raily tried to think, struggling to calm her wildly pounding heart.
‘First, steal the breath of the charging Uruk and pierce its neck, and then the one next to it...’
Tactical thinking.
It was impossible.
‘...How many of those countless madmen could I possibly cut down?’
The outlook was nothing but pitch-black despair.
And the moment Ranikikan extended his staff, they would have had their lives stolen by the charging madmen in an inescapable fate.
Just then.
*Charrrrng—!*
Had it not been for a dazzling flash of light that seemed to tear through dimensions.
The color of that flash was a crimson reminiscent of a red lotus flower.
By the time she registered the flash sweeping past, the heads of five Tahups were already flying through the air.
Then another.
And another, and another again.
A dozen more Tahups became corpses under the fiercely erupting crimson blade, soaking the stone pavement in blood before exploding.
“Ria.”
Was it because they met in a moment of despair?
Was it because he appeared like a flame of hope?
All dignity and composure as a noble and a FakeWarrior's disciple forgotten, tears poured from Ria's eyes.
“Kaisen...!”
Kaisen, it was Kaisen.
His condition wasn't perfect either. The gambeson that had covered his upper body was shredded, revealing mottled skin beneath.
New flesh interspersed with charred skin—proof that he had regenerated parts of his body blown away by explosions.
“Sorry, I'm a little late.”
Kaisen sheathed Aradamanthel, hooking it to the frog on his back, then helped Sharon up and onto Ria's back.
“Kaisen, it's not too late. Take Ria and...”
Her life force fading, Sharon's voice was as faint as a dying flame.
“No.”
“What...?”
“Did you think parting like that was cool? Really?”
Sharon's eyes widened.
As Kaisen quickly settled Sharon onto Ria's back, Sharon shouted desperately.
“Kaisen, it's an order, an order! Take Ria and go! There's no way you can do it, not alone—”
“—Why on earth do you think I can't!”
The legends of the world say.
That the Hero never loses.
That the Hero never abandons his comrades and will, in the end, save everyone so they can laugh together.
“Am I not a Hero?”
Even if it's a fake one.
Was that truly a question, or merely a statement of emphasis?
His low voice as he asked, his golden eyes, were indescribably dazzling.
Ria, who had been about to support her master and retreat from the battlefield, felt a sharp pain pierce her heart.
“Ria, find a safe place, administer first aid, and rally the soldiers.”
“Kaisen, what about you?”
A complex mix of emotions flickered in Ranikikan's dark eyes.
Bewilderment and interest.
At the end of his gaze was, as expected, the male FakeWarrior. His cruel, twitching tongue licked his lips.
Ranikikan extended his staff, and the horde of madmen charged, letting out bloodcurdling screams.
“Finishing that bastard here is the strategic objective, isn't it?”
*Strategic objective, no, Rahel Dune Jerajeh said this was the mission of a FakeWarrior.*
*I.*
*I have to be the one to do it.*
Facing the swarm of madmen head-on, he drew Aradamanthel from his back once more.
*Chaaaaang...*
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.
And yet, there is one truth I have come to understand with certainty. In this cruel world, Heroes are no longer 'born'.
Someone.
Someone 'must become' a Hero.
They must cast aside their own love, happiness, laughter, future, past, and present.
They must bloom as a flower named Hero, connecting this land to love, happiness, laughter, future, past, and present, and then wither away.
Just as my mother did.
And just as my master did.
“Three minutes.”
Before, I couldn't use it right away because I wasn't sure he was the chief, but now I know.
This one is the chief.
So I can go all out.
*Ting—!*
With the index finger of the hand gripping the hilt, he pulled the pin on the inhibitor bracer on his left wrist.
Dragon Spirit Release.
In that instant, an absolute life force erupted explosively over his mortal flesh.
“I'll end this in three minutes.”
It was the moment that one of Kaisen Alter Aradamanthel's legendary military feats, the 'Three Thousand Man Slayer,' began.