Chapter 324
Chapter 324
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 324
Chapter Title: The Hawk, the Wolf, and the Sea Serpent (1)
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-Plop!
A green flower bloomed. Fernandez tilted his head and paused for a moment, gazing down at the flower forming at his feet.
‘...This is weird.’
-Isn’t that Freya’s signal? What’s so strange about it?
‘There’s no reason for her to send a signal like this right now.’
According to the implicit remote signaling system that had been passed down from the north, green and blue meant safety. It could be interpreted as an instruction to head in that direction.
However, once combat began, Freya didn’t send directional signals. It would be meaningless. Unless it was an extreme warning for an imminent deadly threat, there was no need to send movement signals during an engagement.
And right now, this was clearly a combat situation.
“Block them!”
“Damn it, where the hell are they coming from!”
“We’re cursed! The corpses are rising!”
The White Kingdom demons’ camp was engulfed in chaos. The undead, rising abruptly, were silently swinging swords, sinking their fangs in, and rampaging.
Each one individually wasn’t much of a threat in terms of strength or ability. But their durability—refusing to fall unless completely destroyed—and the horrific sight of half-rotted corpses were sapping the soldiers’ morale.
The soldiers, who had been resting in preparation for the impending war, were now thrown into panic and scrambling about. Fernandez targeted their warhorses first.
The terrified horses bolting around amplified the confusion, and in the rainy night commotion, the soldiers were bound to overestimate the enemy’s numbers.
“There’s no end to them! The dead are rising!”
“Burn the corpses!”
Fernandez walked through the chaotic camp. In any case, the direction Freya’s flowers indicated matched the one he intended to go. Flowers bloomed in a line toward the largest, most ornate ger he had scouted earlier when infiltrating the camp.
-She must be worried you’ll lose your way in the dark.
‘Overly kind? Hmm...’
Freya knew the physical capabilities of the Demonica. She was someone who had witnessed firsthand the feats of Demonica like Zephys in the north. For her to waste energy worrying about his night vision?
‘My instincts are tingling.’
Feizashi Wildcast, in spirit form, might not have noticed, but Fernandez’s gut felt an uncomfortable foreboding. He gripped his sword hilt tightly and headed toward the ger.
-Hearttaker’s late.
‘She’ll arrive right on time. No need to worry about Kirhas.’
His plan was ridiculously simple. Cause a commotion in the camp to infiltrate right up to Karadskar, then use Kirhas’s forces to draw the enemy’s attention and boost the assassination’s success rate.
It wasn’t a pre-coordinated plan, so controlling variables would be tricky, but with Piel by Kirhas’s side and Freya assisting from afar on timing, it was a strategy hard to fail.
-Plop!
At that moment, a flower bloomed. A red flower grave. The vibrant thicket of green and blue that had just been there was instantly covered in blood-red flower turf.
‘...What the hell?’
-Plop! Plop!
The sound of flower buds bursting was eerily chilling. From the short shrubs around him to the low-growing grass at his feet—red flowers began blooming on every blade of grass, as if blood were erupting.
-Crush!
Thorns sprouted from somewhere, crushing the shrubs, and piles of vividly crimson flowers rose atop them.
According to Freya’s signaling system, red meant enemy appearance or warning. But Fernandez couldn’t see this as a mere warning.
This wasn’t a subtle information relay hidden in normalcy. This was no warning.
-Plop!
It was closer to mockery. The sight of everything turning red all around him was like...
-Did that northern minor god betray us?
‘No reason or need for that. And Abel’s with Freya. Abel wouldn’t betray us even if it killed him.’
If Freya intended to betray him, she’d had far better opportunities. So this situation wasn’t her doing.
-Drip, crackle.
Raindrops struck Fernandez’s nose and trickled down. He slowly looked up at the sky. In that brief moment, countless pieces of information and hypotheses unfolded like a puzzle in his mind.
‘On this land, excluding divinity or equivalent “authority,” or ancient forbidden arts using ley lines, general magic is hard to use.’
Blooming off-season flowers on the earth was a clear anomaly. But it wasn’t magic. If it were ancient forbidden arts, he would have noticed beforehand.
‘High chance this isn’t Freya’s intention. And the lack of any prior warnings or signals from her means she can’t intervene in this situation somehow.’
We must assume an entity capable of mimicking a goddess’s authority and sealing her divinity. And...
‘Such an entity coincidentally manifested right now, the moment I infiltrated, without me noticing at all.’
Meaning, the being causing this has been lurking here, concealing its presence.
‘Mimicking Freya’s system means it knew about my connection to her and had already tracked my movements.’
They’d repelled the White Kingdom demons’ invasion on a grand scale, sealed off their offensive momentum, and were on the verge of completing a grand encirclement. It had observed Fernandez, who led all those operations, and merely watched until now.
‘After drawing attention away, strike the enemy’s depth to paralyze command...?’
That was Fernandez’s basic doctrine. Depth-strike tactics. This war could be won decisively by eliminating Karadskar. The White Kingdom demons’ myriad tribes were a loose coalition bound only by that one man’s charisma.
But conversely. If he were Karadskar or a leader in this camp, able to watch Fernandez’s every move and anticipate his schemes...
If Fernandez were in that position, the most rational strategy would be to use the exact same play.
The Dane-Levaintein allied forces, the beastkin tiger tribe coalition, the Ravirata and Apotazar undead warlords, even Al’Hashr sending reinforcements from somewhere in the west.
Considering them all multinational legions, an entity capable of hijacking Freya’s signals—if Fernandez were in that spot—would absolutely strike the enemy’s depth to cripple command.
By killing the overall staff officer of the enemy forces here.
‘Telling me that now means...’
Fernandez looked down at the rain-soaked red flowers. This mound of mocking blooms.
‘It’s a trap.’
-A trap.
His expanded train of thought snapped shut rapidly. In the instant raindrops fell, the puzzle of hypotheses in his mind completed, forming a single shape.
A great demon. At least on par with Sadarkelia. One that had stayed silent, hiding its power until now.
Who? Fernandez narrowed his eyes. Tyban’s seal was still intact. In the first place, discovering and dismantling it was Feizashi’s achievement in his past life. No matter how twisted the worldline, it wasn’t easy.
Urkasia was likely unable to act now. She’d killed the great demon’s near-full-power corrupted servant and dismantled its spell. Magic backlash was unavoidable even for gods. Urkasia was probably incapacitated for a while.
That narrowed it to one possibility. An entity that had sensed his presence long ago, dug this cunning trap, and waited silently for the perfect moment.
“Yekaset...”
A year ago, the Walker incident in Merlinport. While tracking its mastermind, he’d slaughtered Gian-Kel, drawing Yekaset’s attention. Gian-Kel was Yekaset’s apostle, and demons’ minions shared their master’s vision.
Unlike other demons, Yekaset’s seal was in a conceptual realm. Perform seven specific rituals, and it naturally unravels. Like offering the hearts of seven innocent slaves slain by an unbeliever.
Its seal wasn’t in the material world. To interfere directly from the material world required conceptual rites, not specific places or artifacts.
-Drip, drip...
Amid the raindrops, all sorts of foul odors mixed in. Fishy water, sweet floral scent, blood, and a pungent stench like beast fur.
Fernandez grimaced and crouched low. As if hearing his whisper, the presence under that tent grew clearer and more intense.
-Rumble...
A sickly yellow glow stabbed down from the sky, and the earth groaned lowly. A noxious presence scorched the land, and the shrubs blooming everywhere began crumbling one by one.
Heavy thunderclouds scattered raindrops below, and amid them, a deep yellow light flickered. The moon swelled grotesquely, revealing its presence clearly even beyond the clouds.
Mumto’s manifestation brought the deathly gaze raising the dead; Urkasia’s brought toxic rains rotting all things. And Yekaset’s—
-Awooooo!!!
A beast’s howl and feral madness descended like a curse. The earth boiled, warriors shed their skins. The camp, noisy from the undead ambush, fell silent in an instant. Predators stalking their prey—their murderous gazes closed in on him.
[Seeing you confirms it. The shaman was right. You killed my son.]
-Crash!
Claws tore through the ger and burst out. From the shadowed, festering darkness within, four pairs of red eyes blazed, glaring at him.
[Dog of false gods. You killed my son and summoned me.]
“You haven’t been fully consumed yet. Karadskar.”
Fernandez grimaced and steadied his stance. The presence close to a great demon’s, a situation hard to explain without its power—but Karadskar retained mortal reason.
If you could call it reason.
-Rrrrip!!
[Don’t mistake me for a puppet like you! Panting dogs on leashes, fawning over your false gods... filthy worms drinking their dust!!]
The ger collapsed, debris flying up. Fernandez swiftly swung his sword, batting away the incoming fragments. The impact on his blade was no joke; he staggered back a couple steps before regaining his footing.
Beyond it stood the thing. Against a backdrop of sickly moonlight and black rainwater, it slowly uncurled its crouched form, looking down at him.
[I will tear this world apart and shatter even those arrogant hypocrites in the heavens. I am the end of you and your world, you filthy worms. No one escapes me!]
“Ha.”
Fernandez let out a short laugh, staring at Karadskar’s face. It now took the form of a wolf, almost maddened by frenzy.
A massive wolfman with four pairs of red eyes dangling, human flesh scraps clinging and scattering atop it. Madness erupting from beneath the skin tore the flesh, swelling its distorted shape.
“Many have said the same before you. Karadskar.”
I even feel a sense of kinship. Fernandez grumbled briefly. When drunk on power, he’d often spouted such lines himself. At so-called “heroes” charging him.
He’d never imagined being on the receiving end... Fernandez shook his head and spun his sword.
“Now, you’re the last one left.”