Chapter 41
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: The Old Ones Awaken
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“Truly, humanity is a hideous thing.”
A nightmare was dancing.
The nightmare had taken human form, but its blood vessels writhed outside its body like tentacles.
The blood spewing from those tentacles became blades that tore the soldiers’ flesh and ripped out their hearts.
“What in the world is this thing! The tentacles just keep coming!”
“Just hitting it won't work! We have to burn it!”
“You bastard, let go of Lan!”
“Stop! You'll die if you go!”
“Blood, the blood! Aaargh!”
Like a melody of starlight taking shape, a silver-haired man of cosmic beauty licked the blood splattered on his long sleeve.
“Hush, be quiet. Raising your voice so is an act utterly lacking in grace.”
Around the man, countless spikes of blood had risen.
On each and every spike, witches were dying, their bodies pierced straight through.
“Embrace the dignity I, Endursha, bestow upon you, and rise again. I grant you the blessing of a true king.”
In that moment, pained moans turned into eardrum-shattering screams.
The blood spikes spread through the veins of the dying humans…
The humans, the whites of their eyes showing, soon surrendered their consciousness and bodies to some cosmic ossuary beyond space-time, rising as mere puppets.
“Yes, splendid. Silence is, after all, a virtue of the nobility.”
The Rising Clouds of War,
The Old Ones Awaken from Eternity (1)
[Iron Cross, at present, all approach routes are compromised. Make a path, quickly.]
Imperial Calendar, January 1698.
A pure white voice brushed past his mind.
The new year’s dawn had been unsettling from the start, and as the Iron Cross Knights charged through it, the heat of the Abyss seethed around them.
“Understood. Alidona, reconfirm the mission objective.”
Roveris Alter Scherpang answered on behalf of the Iron Cross.
“The Snow Fire Peak barrier generator has fallen to the Bloodkin army. It generates the barrier that contains the volcanic ash, so I don't need to tell you how important it is.”
“What of the enemy's commander?”
Kaisen asked.
Alidona answered, exhaling a puff of smoke drawn from her long pipe.
“The one leading the Bloodkin army is one of the 'Pale Viscounts.' He annihilated the Red Hyun Coven an hour ago.”
The Pale Viscounts were three leaders of the Bloodkin who had received titles equivalent to nobility from the Old Kings.
Of course, it was an honorary title; they hadn't gained the power of immortality and eternal life like the Old Nobles.
They were far inferior opponents compared to the Old Nobles, but he still remembered Camilla struggling quite a bit when she killed one of them.
Mern asked.
“The Red Hyun Coven? Aren't those the witches directly under your command, Lady Alidona?”
“They were. All gone now, though. The Blue Star wishes for the Iron Cross to secure this location.”
The Miko's tone, speaking of her disciples' deaths, was as plain as if she were commenting on the day's weather.
It was always like this on the battlefield.
The young FakeWarrior already knew that death was piled up all around, leaving no room for time or words of mourning.
“All the witches are dead? What a pain in the ass.”
Tval tapped his shoulder with his Wyrmbone Spear.
“Hah! Can't we just end this with a carpet bombing from the magic artillery? It's on a peak, so we just need to pour it on.”
“You're not serious, are you? It's an important facility, we can't do that.”
“Both of you, stop. Our mission is to create a path for the main force to join us so we can defeat the Pale Viscount and retake Snow Fire Peak.”
“Why weigh the options, Commander? Just give the order.”
“First, we secure all outer paths. Kaisen, you will clear the north and east mountain trails by yourself. I'll give you fifty knights. With squires and attendants, that should be about two hundred. Can you do it?”
“I can do it alone, without the fifty men. Leave it to me.”
Such incredible confidence.
Alidona whistled.
“Mern and Tval, you're with me. We'll break through the closest western path and head for the center first. Alidona, you'll command from the air. Support Kaisen as much as you can.”
“Got it.”
“As soon as your tasks are complete, both of you come to the central temple. Our mission isn't just to clear the path, but also to kill the Pale Viscount.”
Among the six great demon races, the Bloodkin had the smallest population, second only to the Demons.
Their unique sense of privilege led them to extremely control the creation of their posterity.
Yet, as the war dragged on, their power gradually grew, making them the most loathsome race from a human perspective.
- They create and command Blood Slaves by injecting them with their cursed blood.
More than once, they had easily ended sieges by sending Blood Slaves into cities or castles to incite internal conflict.
- But these Bloodkin are not without their weaknesses.
If the master of the blood—the Bloodkin who injected it—is killed, the Blood Slaves die with them.
“Mission start. See you later.”
“Alright, hop on the back. The weather's great. Let's go for a little joyride.”
Alidona casually perched herself on her broom, patting the space behind her with a friendly gesture.
Witches could fly by maneuvering brooms. To maintain balance with two or more people required considerable skill.
Kaisen stepped onto the broomstick with both feet.
[This is Veraph, the Star Witch. Can you hear me, Miko?]
“Yes, loud and clear.”
[The Bloodkin have seized the barrier generators installed in each of the outer temples. There are a great many of them.]
“We're on our way now.”
[We'd appreciate it if you hurried. We're no match for them. There must be at least 200,000.]
Squinting down through the turbulent air currents, he could see the Bloodkin's minions occupying the mountain path.
Blood Slaves…
Puppets that walked with the leisure of dolls but slaughtered soldiers with the brutality of butchers.
“Uuugh…”
“Uwaaaa…”
“Aaaargh…”
The Blood Slaves charged forward in a horde.
Even with their legs blown off by bullets or their torsos shattered, they kept running, determined to carry out their master's command.
Their obsessive, relentless movements inspired terror. They weren't threatening in the same way as a Tahup, but…
“Hmm, that's a hell of a lot of them.”
“There must be at least 80,000 here alone.”
“Hmph. You probably know this, but Blood Slaves aren't human. They're just dolls, their souls gone, turned into puppets.”
“I'll take care of them.”
“All of them?”
“Three will be enough.”
“Hey, wait!”
Kaisen placed his right hand over the hilt of Aradamanthel. The sword was crying out fiercely.
The next moment, he kicked off the broomstick and plunged downward.
As he fell, he focused the impact of his descent into the scabbard he plunged into the ground. At the same time, he locked his eyes on his targets.
‘Number of Bloodkin… one, two, three.’
Amidst the crimson wave of Blood Slaves, he found the three masters controlling them.
Bloodkin.
They are physically quite similar to humans, with almost no discernible differences.
- Instructor, does that mean there's no way to tell them apart?
- It's not that there's no way.
The fact that they cannot walk under sunlight and can only be active at night or under volcanic ash is a physical difference.
- And, their skin is nauseatingly pale and their eyes are as blue as stars. That's a visual difference.
- Is that all?
- Don't worry too much. Take away their pride, which borders on a chosen-people complex, and they're nothing. They always dress extravagantly.
Just like the three caught in the corner of his vision now.
“Hmph, a FakeWarrior?”
The Bloodkin found the FakeWarrior who had dropped alone into the heart of the battle both interesting and impudent.
For their use of blood in their sorcery, they were also called Blood Fiends.
In that instant, blood extended from the three fiends' bodies, becoming blades and spears that rushed in from all directions.
A single flash of the blade.
Converting the impact of the fall into magic power.
The scabbard was already seething with converted magic, so there was no need to charge it with new power.
The lack of that step meant no time was needed beyond the motion of drawing the sword.
“?”
“?”
“?”
The world spun dizzily in their retinas.
The sight of Kaisen drawing his sword and then sheathing it with disciplined precision.
Only at the end of that spin, when they saw their own bodies staggering, spouting fresh blood from clean cuts, did reality sink in.
‘This is... impossible…’
The bodies of the Bloodkin.
As their bodies, clad in elegant lace and frills, collapsed brain-dead.
The Blood Slaves who had been swarming the soldiers at the outer temple also collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
“That was clean. Your skills are really something else.”
Alidona took a deep drag of tobacco smoke and then exhaled.
As she descended, her breath became a fierce flame that began to incinerate the Blood Slaves' corpses.
Parting the smoke from the burning refuse of the battlefield, Alidona landed at the entrance to the outer temple.
“Let's see here.”
Inside the outer temple was a stone monument, its surface engraved with a formula dotted with Draconic words and runes.
That was the barrier that drove back the volcanic ash.
Of course, that was before it was damaged by the Bloodkin's blood.
“These bastards really did a number on my masterpiece.”
“Can it not be fixed?”
“Nah. This is why I can't quit smoking. Look how convenient it is.”
Alidona seared the bloodstains on the surface with her pipe. Then she filled the gaps in the formula with tobacco ash.
It was exceedingly messy, but her masterful skill was truly proof of a first-class talent.
Soon, the monument emitted a wave of energy, shooting a partial barrier into the sky that tore through the dark clouds of volcanic ash.
“Alright. That's one down.”
It went on like this.
The process of finding the outer temples, cutting down the Bloodkin, and restoring the barriers.
Just as they had completed this process a total of three times, a message came from Roveris.
[Alidona, as soon as the outer perimeter is clear, I need you at the Snow Fire Peak temple.]
“Thanks to the kid here, we just finished up anyway. We're on our way.”
They traveled by broom to the Snow Fire Peak temple, its courtyard covered in fresh blood.
The corpses of Bloodkin, Blood Slaves, knights, and soldiers were already melting into a thick sludge in the intense heat.
Everywhere the eye could see was covered in blood and ichor, obscuring the stone paths and weeds, leaving the courtyard simply crimson.
“This used to be such a charming place.”
And from within the temple's horribly shattered stone gate, desperate screams were erupting.
As Kaisen hurried inside, Alidona paused for a moment at the entrance.
She gazed with calm eyes at the corpses of the witches who had been given blue eyes, controlled as Blood Slaves, and then killed. Her calmness was somehow chilling.
[Bring Kaisen quickly, Alidona. We're at our limit. No one but Mern can use their full strength here.]
The temple's interior exuded a noble air, aged by long years.
The incredibly high ceiling.
The beautiful dragon statues.
The warmth, like that of a womb.
That's surely what one would have thought. Had it not been for the current situation, with blood rising to their ankles.
[Come straight down the basement stairs.]
Kaisen sprinted down the temple's long corridor.
He passed the bedroom where the old Miko, Fride, was said to have lived, and bounded down the stairs to the basement in one go.
And in the middle of the underground space, he joined the Iron Cross party, who were fighting a starlit foe.
“Indeed, your movements possess not a shred of dignity. I lament your lack of grace.”
The Pale Viscount, Endursha.
A noble sheen flowed over his radiant, starlike silver hair.
His robes, shimmering like a winter mirage, gave off an air of otherworldly elegance.
“Shut up, you son of a bitch!”
And his back…
Dozens of blood vessels sprouting from that back thrashed about as if in agony, spewing corrosive blood everywhere.
The blood transformed freely. It shot up as spikes, then spun as blades…
“Mern!”
For an instant, just as the arrow of blue light shot by Mern was about to strike his head.
No, just before it struck.
His body dispersed into a mist, like a swarm of countless bats taking flight, before reforming behind a pillar on the other side.
“This bastard.”
Endursha masterfully manipulated the confined underground space.
Roveris and Tval, frustrated by the lack of room to swing their heavy weapons, could only remain on the defensive.
Roveris eventually sheathed Scherpang and resorted to magic. Magic, arrows, and blood repeatedly clashed in the air.
“Then how about this?”
With a rustle, just as Kaisen was looking for an opening to intervene, the sound of a scroll unfurling was heard.
The cry of creation was woven into a voice from Alidona's lips, manifesting with power.
The characters that began to rise one by one at Endursha's feet were the very letters of creation.
“This is…?”
The power of creation was bound into seven cantos known as the Seven Genesis Cantos, and the Miko had been the guardians of this power since ancient times.
Four of the seven cantos had been lost, but three still remained in humanity's possession.
Alidona was the guardian of the Luminous Canto, one of these seven.
A power manifested that greatly sapped the physical strength of beings who existed outside the providence of creation.
To put it simply, it was a wide-area slow.
“Kaisen.”
Before the word was even out, he was already lowering his stance.
He gripped the scabbard with his left hand. He grasped the hilt with his right.
The Sipmunjado was originally a sword style that linked advanced forms from four basic stances.
But for Kaisen, there had only been the four forms. It was the only path he could take.
Release: Sipmunjado, Eleventh Form, Thunderclap Severance.
A radiant flame swirled from the sliding blade.
In an instant, before Endursha's body could even transform into red mist, the cry of a sword slashed through him in a flash of light.
The moment the swung blade grazed past Endursha’s body.
*SHIIING—!*
The radiant flame reflected in all directions, precisely tearing apart the dozens of blood vessels.
It leaves dozens of microscopic sword-ki fragments in the path of the slash.
That sword-ki acts as wedges, piercing the opponent's body. This was an advanced technique, the eleventh of the twelve forms of the Sipmunjado.
“Ah, you lowly… things…!”
Fresh blood burst from Endursha's neck.
The blood tried to stitch the wound closed like thread, but it was impossible due to the microscopic sword-ki that had destroyed the internal fascia.
At that very moment, a vortex that transcended time and space began to emerge from Endursha's body…
“What is that?”
“Kill it before it pulls any shit!”
It was surely just a moment, but it felt as long as a frozen eternity.
In that hair-raising moment, as a giant finger burst forth, tearing its way out of the body.
Aradamanthel, Scherpang, and the Wyrmbone Spear crossed, completely shattering Endursha's body.
“…”
“…”
“…”
As the momentary chaos subsided, a silence descended, filled only with the sound of their breathing.
“What was that just now?”
Tval said, catching his breath.
Alidona answered.
“Looked like a summoning ritual…”
“A summoning? What do you mean?”
“We're about to find out.”
Alidona swung her pipe, and the blood that had filled the underground space was incinerated, revealing the floor.
Vile characters formed a script, and Alidona, who had been reading it, suddenly fell silent.
Tval asked.
“What is it?”
“Hokorom… it means 'Noble.' This bastard was trying to summon a Noble.”
An ominous silence.
Mern blinked.
“Summon? From where? I mean, is there an Old Noble who would come here?”
Roveris, who was communicating with the floating fortress command, cut the conversation short.
“Setsunen of Thunderous Fragrance will investigate that herself. Alidona, for now, cast a barrier over the entire temple.”
“Why?”
“They're going to carpet bomb from the magic artillery. To wipe out the remaining Bloodkin stationed on the outskirts.”
Immediately after Alidona cast the wide-area barrier, the temple began to shake violently amidst a heavy roar.
The carpet bombing order had been given from the floating fortress command.
As countless meteors fell, crushing the terrain and annihilating the unholy beings, Roveris spoke.
“Kaisen, you're coming with me.”
“Where to this time?”
“It's not a combat mission. The Marshal of the Dwarf Military has arrived and wishes to see you.”
Tval's jaw dropped in disbelief.
“The Dwarf Marshal? Aren't they a military empire right now? The Dwarf Emperor came himself?”