Chapter 323
Chapter 323
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 323
Chapter Title: War of the Puppets (20)
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“Piel, what of the Empire’s support?”
“The Emperor’s main force is trailing a day behind.”
“A day…… a day.”
Kirhas toyed with her mask, lost in thought. Her instincts screamed for her to charge right now. But how? Even if the enemy was scattered, their main body outnumbered their own forces by dozens to one.
When cavalry clashed against cavalry, she believed the beastkin riders wouldn’t be at too much of a disadvantage. But assuming equal quality, the problem was numbers.
“Great Chieftain. What worries you? If the Empire advances and we flank them, we can handle it.”
“Their forces are gathering by the minute. By tomorrow, their camp will have at least twice the troops it does now.”
The enemy wasn’t stupid. No matter how perfectly the beastkin warriors struck, there was no way there’d be zero survivors from the initial skirmishes. In fact, the White Kingdom Horse Tribe’s main camp was already seeing reinforcements return from pursuit and patrol duties.
-Tap, tap.
Kirhas drummed the table, deep in contemplation. A cluster of flowers bloomed wildly atop it. Staring at the blossoms opening and wilting in real time, she let out a heavy sigh.
‘My benefactor is approaching them.’
A single deep blue flower symbolizing Fernandez wove its way toward the enemy’s red floral thicket. Even from afar, she felt as if she could read his thoughts.
‘If they finish their battle preparations completely, it means we can’t be certain of the Empire’s victory.’
No matter how reduced their numbers, the enemy still commanded two hundred thousand troops. They were a colossal disaster, mostly mounted warriors. Against such a force, not even the Empire’s legions could guarantee victory, no matter their prowess.
‘My benefactor is aiming to assassinate Karadskarr.’
Deep strike tactics. No matter how exceptional a warrior and mage Fernandez was, he couldn’t take on an entire legion alone. Thus, up to now, he had focused solely on striking the enemy’s command structure.
Perfect division of roles. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, he targeted only the enemy’s key personnel. With their leadership crippled, the bloated legion would be trampled under allied forces.
But in this situation, Fernandez was acting alone, without any contact with her. Despite knowing he couldn’t infiltrate that massive army and take the enemy commander’s head by himself.
The meaning was clear. He trusted her. He believed she would disrupt the front while he struck from behind. That with Piel and Freyja there, they would surely coordinate perfectly.
“We need to buy a day.”
“……Pardon? Great Chieftain, surely not?”
“Tell the warriors to eat a hearty dinner tonight. There’ll be no rest until tomorrow morning.”
“That’s madness! Even gathering every warrior now, we barely have ten thousand!”
“And the enemy outnumbers us ten to one?”
“Yes! Great Chieftain! We just need to wait one day, why……?”
The elders’ opposition was fierce. Despite Kirhas’s authority in the Tiger Clan Alliance, they couldn’t accept this decision.
Kirhas didn’t respond, instead turning to Piel.
“Do you think we’ll wait another day?”
“No, Great Chieftain. As you wish, we’ll march out tonight.”
“Then, will we win?”
“That…… I don’t know.”
Piel bowed his head. The elders murmured in unease at his words. They knew what it meant when the oracle said “I don’t know.”
“Does that mean we’ll all die! Great Chieftain!”
“Or it could mean something is lurking behind this war.”
No matter how skilled the oracle, he couldn’t perfectly control every future. An oracle couldn’t read information from places where a higher being was at work.
[Or it could really mean all these fools die.]
‘Not everyone will survive.’
[Even if you die?]
‘If I can just die one day before my benefactor, that’s enough for me.’
As long as she didn’t have to watch him die. Kirhas stared at the trembling elders with resolute eyes.
“We can’t throw the alliance’s warriors into a mere gamble! Great Chieftain! There’s no need to act so hastily!”
“Please reconsider. This is insanity.”
“If one side leads to doom and the other to survival, and gambling is the only way, then of course we stake our lives.”
“Great Chieftain!”
At the elders’ protests, Kirhas slammed the table and shouted.
“The outcome of this war hinges on our one day! Even now, countless souls are laying down their lives for its end! Are you afraid of death? Even in your most wretched moment of death, your gods and your Great Chieftain will be with you!”
-Clack!
Kirhas raised the golden mask and secured it atop her head, shouting. The elders flinched and averted their gazes at her commanding presence.
“I’ll hear no more dissent. Go tell your clan warriors. At sunset tonight, follow the Great Chieftain’s banner!”
* * *
The sun was setting. Fernandez crouched in the underbrush, evading the gaze of patrolling troops.
-Clop, clop.
“Damn it, the enemy’s closing in, yet what’s the Kagan thinking, holed up like this……”
“Shh, wanna die?”
The guards grumbled as they passed by Fernandez. He didn’t even need magic; diverting the eyes of decently trained soldiers was child’s play.
Troops are coming…… If even rank-and-file soldiers knew, battle would start in a day or two. The camp’s tense atmosphere confirmed it.
Fernandez slipped under a boundary stone, slowly gripping his sword hilt.
-Poof!
Right in front of where he lay, a green flower bud burst open. It had been yellow and withered moments ago. Freyja’s signal: all clear now.
-Swish.
The enemy camp had roughly cleared surrounding weeds, but as nomadic campers who shifted sites often, they paid little heed to landscaping. With such dense patrols anyway, they had no attention for scattered shrubs.
Fernandez wove through them, stealthily penetrating deep into the camp. The fishy stench grew stronger.
‘The relic is nearby.’
-Mana interference is intense. Ever seen a relic like this?
‘Not in this life.’
-No surprise; it’s from the War of the Heavens, one of the lost spells of that era. Tempting.
‘Whatever it is, we’ll check it after it’s over.’
The strain on the bronze throne was unnatural. A typical mage wouldn’t dare attempt a spell. Failed incantations inevitably backlashed on the caster, and few could succeed in such conditions.
‘Found it.’
-Damn.
The expected sight lay before him: countless corpses buried in a pit. Even right up to the edge, sticky blood still glistened, not yet dried. Fernandez clicked his tongue briefly.
He’d seen far worse. But his keen sense of smell numbing to the gore was annoying. He spread out before the pit, cracking his knuckles.
‘Kirhas, I trust you.’
A moment where all must gamble. Especially Fernandez, deep in enemy territory. Unlike others, he had no way to actively gather intel. So now wasn’t time for analysis or planning. It was time to bet.
-Whoosh!
Beastkin mudras formed in midair. A black halo blazed behind his hair. With one hand deftly forming seals, he slipped the other into his bosom.
“What……? Who the hell…… guk!”
-Swoosh! Thunk!
A dagger buried to the hilt in a nearby guard’s forehead. Fernandez shook off his hand after throwing it, then reached into his bosom again.
Mana distortion was severe. Complex grand magic was beyond even him. But simple, pure spells—like Asit necromancy drawn from deep leyline mana—were feasible.
All he needed now was a ruckus. No need for advanced rites syncing peak undead one by one, or summoning ten thousand at once.
-Crack, creak!
From the corpse pit, an arm not fully rotted rose. Undead with dried wounds and torn flesh crawled out one by one.
‘Around three hundred’s the limit.’
-Subpar performance. Worse than modern necromancy zombies.
‘Doesn’t matter if they’re weak; let’s conserve mental energy.’
Fernandez rolled his neck and stood. These weren’t “specters” retaining memories of life. Just lumbering corpses obeying orders.
Puppets. Think of them that way. Fernandez flicked his fingers to direct their advance, then slowly walked forward.
* * *
“Ugh!”
“Freyja? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
Freyja, eyes squeezed shut in lotus position concentrating on her ritual, suddenly clutched her head and collapsed, gasping. Abel rushed to her side, gently stroking her back.
Her gossamer dress clung sweat-soaked to her back. Trembling in his arms, Freyja drew deep breaths.
“Was the ritual too taxing? Rest a bit……”
“Lindwurm……”
“Yes, Freyja. I’m right here.”
Freyja and Abel were conducting the ritual deep in the Great Wilderness. For days, they’d secured vision across the entire expanse, relaying intel to Fernandez and Kirhas.
It was just an extension of what they’d done in the North. Even easier, really. Unlike the North, the Great Wilderness brimmed with life force, and the area Freyja monitored was narrower than the whole northern region.
“I can’t see him. Lindwurm.”
“……Does that mean he’s lost divinity?”
“The Goddess is still the Goddess. But…… Lindwurm, she’s invisible. Fernandez was wrong. This isn’t just a relic.”
Freyja looked up at Abel with tear-wet eyes, trembling. Terror filled her gaze.
“It’s a trap. Someone who knows this Goddess well…… no, something…… designed this trap. We must warn Fernandez. Retreat now, regroup the plan!”
“……Someone who knows us well……? What do you……?”
“There’s something in the area Fernandez infiltrated, where Kirhas will soon attack! It’s been waiting for this moment.”
“That human Karadskarr? How would he even know about us?”
“No! Not just a human! There’s a demon, Lindwurm. Older and more evil than Jormungandr, lurking behind it all.”
Four pairs of red eyes gleaming grotesquely in the dark. A massive presence burrowing through the earth, corroding everything. Nothing else visible. Freyja bit her lip, sobbing.
“The Goddess can no longer wield power here. You…… you must go help him. His life is in danger.”
“If a great demon manifested here, he’d have noticed, Freyja. That’s impossible.”
The shock of Muto’s ascension turned this land into the Great Wilderness. Abel, remembering the War of the Heavens, shook his head denying her words. A great demon reaching divine rank would cause that level of ripple.
Even from distant Asgard, Sadarkelia merely breaking her seal set the World Tree ablaze. This was the material world. If an abstract being tore through dimensional rifts to arrive, everyone on the continent would instinctively know.
Yet no such omens. This was too sudden, impossible. Calming her ragged breaths, Freyja replied to Abel.
“No, Lindwurm. It knows of Fernandez. And that he’s walked right into its grasp……”
All previous wars were mere puppet shows, dolls dancing. Like an ant spirit digging tunnels, waiting for prey worth fighting to gather in one place.
Freyja shuddered as she finished.
-Drip, pitter-patter.
Raindrops began to fall. Abel stood, gazing at the thick clouds blanketing the northern sky.