Chapter 49
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Battle of Behe-rik (2)
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“In March of 1698, just before the vernal equinox, the six FakeWarriors split into three groups to prepare for the Neigallas subjugation campaign.”
Roveris Alter Scherpang joined forces with Seira Alter Solang, who was defending the mountain range, and headed to the center of the range to rally the remaining troops.
Gorgotia Alter Zierda headed to the eastern part of the mountain range to secure the supply lines for the expedition to Aurelinople.
And Ria Alter Solang, after joining Isla Alter Gaumris, headed for the western coast to secure the armored train.
“At this time, all three regions were strategic key points and were under a massive assault by the main Reptilian forces.”
And the beings leading the main Reptilian forces were, of course, the three ‘Old Nobles’ of the highest rank.
The Bone-Hollow King, Hairkan.
The Glutton Duke, Behe-rik.
The Lustful Count, Saltira's.
At this time, the Glutton Duke, who boasted the largest size among the Old Nobles, headed for the plains to breach the greatest stronghold for the northern invasion.
“This battle would become a truly desperate race against time. Humanity had to retrieve the armored train before the Glutton Duke could swallow the coastal region.”
And at that moment.
Kaisen Alter Aradamanthel was reassigned to the Black Rose Corps by order of Mirngadia of the Blue Star.
He passed through the western plains, now a fierce battlefield, and hurried toward the coastal platform where the armored train awaited.
“The crucial battle for the coastal region, the key to the Neigallas subjugation campaign, began on March 14, 1698, during a mid-March that was hotter than any summer.”
The Direction of the Counterattack,
The Battle of Behe-rik (2)
Ten Titans of the Dragon's Fall Corps were waiting in Area 49 of the plains.
“So you’ve come! Lowly Kaisen and Ria! I welcome you as subordinates of the great dragon, Isla!”
Isla shouted from atop the shoulder of a Titan marked with the number [701] (01 designated the command unit; the Dragon's Fall Corps was officially the 11th Independent Armored Company), peeling a raw egg as she spoke.
*So you’re safe…*
It was our first reunion since we had all scattered at Aurelinople, but there was no time to share the sentiment.
“Isla, how long will it take to get to the coastal platform from here?”
The bloody stench and noise of battle raged from the long wall stretching to our left.
“Is lowly Kaisen so humble that he cannot even smell the sea! It is but a half-day’s walk to the ocean!”
“…”
“What is with that look… This egg, it is not stolen! A dragon steals nothing! A lowly farmer offered it to Isla as tribute! …I may have stared at it intently, but he gave it to me nonetheless! I neither took it nor stole it!”
“I didn’t say anything. A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Anyway, half a day, huh? Still a ways to go.”
As I pushed away Isla, who lunged to bite my head, and let out a sigh, Ria shook her head.
“It’s too dangerous to use the railway. And with the speed of ten Type-16 Titans, we can get there faster. Let’s head straight for the coast.”
The light cavalry of the Black Rose Corps led the front of the column.
Following them, the Titans moved, their heavy steel frames shaking the very earth.
Due to Isla’s incessant pestering, Kaisen was also riding on the shoulder of the 701.
“How is it?”
Isla asked, her eyes sparkling.
I wondered if all dragons were born with such clear eyes.
Suddenly, I remembered the smiles of my family as they looked at me when I was young.
“Isn’t the ride to die for? It makes one so sleepy.”
“I can’t really tell.”
“What do you mean you can’t tell! You lowly thing! Watch carefully! See how sleepy it makes you!”
As if to prove her point.
Isla soon rested her head on Kaisen’s shoulder and began to doze off.
“…”
Just as Seira had said, Isla really was a child.
Isla was now three years old.
Thanks to her dragon genes, her physical growth was rapid, but her mental age couldn’t be called high.
However.
On the path of the sword, there was no distinction of age, and Isla was a FakeWarrior who had to walk in the very center of that path.
[The platform is in sight. Get ready.]
A butterfly of light flew before my eyes, weaving particles of light to deliver the message.
It was Rudyenne of Arte, a mage from the Black Rose Corps.
Just before Rudyenne arrived, Isla’s eyes fluttered open. Her absolute sense of smell must have caught the scent of the sea and the blood on the coast.
“Have we arrived?”
“Yes.”
“Is lowly Kaisen perhaps scared!”
Wiping the drool from her mouth, Isla jumped to her feet and linked her arm with mine.
“Isla is not afraid! Isla is the strongest! Nothing can stand against me.”
“Isla, you know, right? The dragon power I can use in a day lasts less than three minutes.”
“I have not forgotten! Do you take Isla for a fool! Kaisen is a weakling! That is why Isla will protect Kaisen!”
Isla, who had been shadowboxing, extended her pinky finger.
A promise to protect me, perhaps? There was no need to go this far.
As I just stared at it, Isla grabbed my wrist, forcibly opened my fingers, and hooked her own with mine.
“A promise! Now, do not worry! Unlike humans, dragons always keep their promises.”
The western coastal platform was under invasion by the main Reptilian forces.
The demi-humans were defending the base with 5,024 ground-fixed cannons and long-range artillery from 144 cruisers and destroyers, all commanded by three battleships.
All around the platform, the bodies of human defenders were strewn about.
A wicked change had come over the climate since Neigallas’s appearance, and the summer of March 1698 was terribly hot.
Because of the heat, the corpses rotted quickly.
The bodies in military uniforms rotted into a pulpy mess, disintegrating like a viscous fluid.
Over those crumbling corpses, a sandstorm raged, and within that storm, yellow demons hissed.
“Reptilians!”
“There must be at least two hundred thousand of them.”
“We have to break through!”
Reptilians.
Not mere demons who worshipped The Forgotten Kings as profane idols, but the direct servants of those kings.
For reasons unknown, the Reptilians had a pathological preference for curves since the days of pre-recorded history.
Thus, not only their civilization's elements but also their weapons were predominantly curved blades.
The curved blades were modified to be ideal for slicing and carving human flesh.
And their priests were infamous for wielding the power of the burning desert, the power of lava.
“Dragon's Fall Corps, charge! We’ll turn these lowly lizards into dried fish jerky!”
Gaumris was a hammer-type Holy Sword.
It was a Holy Sword specialized in overwhelming a wide area, more so than any other Holy Sword in existence.
The special ability of the Supreme Holy Sword Gaumris was Light Pressure.
It could incinerate a wide range of enemies in front by causing light and air to explode from its impact surface.
*Booooom—!*
Just as now, when dozens of Reptilians were annihilated in a single sweep from the head of the hammer Isla swung.
“Kyahahahaha! The strongest!”
Following Isla, the Titans forged a path, trampling the yellow nightmares one by one.
Some of them, camouflaged and hidden, approached and began to climb the Titans’ bodies.
By the time the Titan soldiers noticed, the creatures were already aiming for the cockpits, but in that very instant.
A single flash.
A red bolt of lightning struck, and the heads of the Reptilians were simultaneously launched into the air.
“Excellent work, FakeWarrior!”
There was no time, no mental capacity to respond.
The Dragon's Fall and Black Rose Corps had to break through the encirclement in a straight line.
And from all sides of that straight line, Reptilians swarmed in, their numbers seemingly undiminished no matter how many were cut down.
The sounds…
The sounds never stopped…
The sound of clashing blades, the thumping of blood in my eardrums, and the howling of the sandstorm continued endlessly.
“Kyatt! You want to keep coming! I will show you the power of a dragon!”
“The main gate is in sight!”
“Reptilian priests on the left flank! Watch out for lava!”
“There are numerous large-type Reptilians and trolls positioned on both sides of the main gate!”
“I’ll break through. Follow me.”
“Kaisen, I’m going with you!”
The yellow beasts were pounding on the platform’s main gate, howling.
Two FakeWarriors took aim at their rear and charged forward in a single breath, and…
The next moment, blue and red light erupted from their respective Holy Swords, weaving and intersecting in a brilliant display.
Sipmunjado, Sixth Form.
Supreme Curse Sword Style, Eighth Form.
The red light, a single line, severed the necks of the nightmares.
The blue light pierced five points with precision, tearing apart the demons’ hearts at its tip.
As the light dissipated and the monsters fell, the iron gate creaked open, and someone spoke through the gate’s loudspeaker.
[Welcome to this humble place, FakeWarriors. Hurry inside before those lizard bastards get in.]
Huh?
Ria’s mouth fell open.
The commander-in-chief of the demi-human forces defending the coastal platform was none other than the Grand Master of a Thousand Arms, Halbaron.
“The demi-human emperor himself is participating in this operation. That means the Steel Fleet and the Royal Guard are all here.”
“The Blue Star must have summoned them, of course.”
“To go this far for my plan…”
“It means it was that good. You can be confident.”
“Halbaron is not a dragon, but he is useful! Isla approves!”
“No, I meant Ria is the one who’s brilliant…”
We thought we could catch our breath here, but that was a misjudgment.
Of course, the main gate was intact.
Yes, the gate… and that was all.
Swarms of Reptilians had stealthily climbed over the walls, and demi-human riflemen were engaged in combat throughout the base.
“The platform is this way.”
As we crossed the base, demi-human officers and soldiers guided us.
Demi-humans, though not as much as elves, were a proud race and did not address the FakeWarriors with deference.
Following their guidance, we cut down hundreds of Reptilians and finally reached the southern end of the platform.
“You’re finally here. Any later and we might have had to leave on our trip without our mom and dad.”
An impressively large cannon barrel, an unrealistically massive engine room, and a line of cars that stretched to the horizon.
It was a new weapon designed by Halbaron.
Known as the armored train, it was a steel fortress that ran on rails.
*It’s even more incredible in person…*
For a moment, the sheer, awe-inspiring majesty that sent shivers down my spine reminded me of the first time I saw the Inferno Line.
*This isn’t a train. It’s a fortress on rails.*
Come to think of it, hadn't Halbaron also designed the Inferno Line?
Truly, calling him a genius of the century would be no exaggeration.
The Grand Master of a Thousand Arms, Halbaron, dressed in his dignified emperor’s battle attire, greeted them with his Royal Guard.
“I wanted to get it out with my own power, but unfortunately, it was impossible. Defending it was all I could manage. Now, take this to the Blue Star at once. I’ll lend you my engineers.”
‘Greeted’ felt like the wrong word.
It would be more accurate to say he had set up a defensive line on the platform, protecting the armored train from the Reptilians, and was now handing it over.
“Kaisen, Isla. Take my masterpiece before those lizard bastards ruin it.”
“And Your Majesty?”
“What will Halbaron do!”
“Do your eyeballs become mere decorations when you become a FakeWarrior? You must have seen the Steel Fleet on the sea. The sea route is naturally more comfortable than the land route. Now that you know, go quickly.”
The world was never so kind as to let such a conversation end so simply, so poignantly.
Not once, ever.
The first sign of that realization began when the horizon suddenly receded and then rushed back in.
*The ground is… no, was I lifted into the air?*
Following that, a deafening roar, as if the world were collapsing, tore through my eardrums.
Debris from the collapse flew in, destroying the platform’s outer wall and roof, but by a stroke of luck, the armored train was unharmed.
Desperate voices flowed from the communication pipes installed throughout the platform.
[Your… Your Majesty… the… the wall, gyaaaah!]
[What in the world is that… a… a mountain is moving… the mountain is moving!]
[Your Majesty, an ‘Old Noble’ has appeared! It has shattered the wall and is charging straight for your position… It’s the Glutton… the Glutton Duke!]
Was it always meant to be this way?
Had the Blue Star foreseen this future, and that was why he had dispatched both Isla and me here?
At the chilling touch of fate creeping up my back and placing a hand on my shoulder, the fingers gripping Aradamanthel trembled.
“Start the armored train, Ria. We’ll hold off the Glutton Duke here.”
“What? No, no! Then I’ll stay here and fight with you…”
“Prioritize the mission. Have you forgotten? Your mission and ours are different. Yours was to acquire and transport the armored train, and ours was to escort you. This was the plan all along.”
“Lowly human! Leave this place to the super-strong dragon and the weak Kaisen and go quickly.”
What did she want to say in rebuttal?
Did she want to say that she wanted to stay and fight alongside us?
The unspoken emotions filled her expression, but Ria bit her lip and nodded.
“…Don’t die, Kaisen.”
Soon, black smoke erupted from the exhaust pipe of the armored train’s engine room.
*Pwooooooooooo…!*
In the sight of the steam engine burning coal and wood to gain power, Kaisen felt his own fate overlapping.
“Your Majesty should also leave. We will buy as much time as we can.”
Halbaron smirked, as if finding the words amusing, comical.
“You’re about a hundred years too early to be saying that to me, fledgling FakeWarrior Kaisen.”
“?”
“The reason I was here was for the subjugation of the Glutton Duke. That was my order from the beginning. I intended to handle it alone without dragging you or Isla into it, but it seems everything goes just as the Blue Star says.”
So it was always meant to be, an unavoidable future.
Halbaron handed his crown to the captain of the Royal Guard, then dramatically threw off the emperor’s coat draped over his shoulders.
The armor revealed beneath the coat was the light leather armor worn by Titan pilots.
“Captain of the Guard, bring out the super-sized Titan. I shall pilot it myself.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“That Old Noble is begging to see me. As emperor, shouldn’t I personally grant its wish? Who knows, it might be so taken with my character that it wants to kneel before me.”
