Chapter 325
Chapter 325
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 325
Chapter Title: Hawk, Wolf, and Sea Serpent (2)
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-Clang!
It was almost pure coincidence that Fernandez managed to block the creature’s claws. Even with his night vision that could pierce the darkest night, Karadskar’s talons lunged for his throat without any warning.
-Clang! Clang! Crack!
Every time he wildly swung his sword through the air, the talons were reliably deflected. It was a force that would have shattered an ordinary steel blade ten times over. After just five exchanges, Fernandez realized his forearms were starting to twist out of alignment.
-Behind you!
‘I know!’
-Shrieeeek!
Thanks to the near-prophetic instinct honed by long experience and a trained body, Fernandez barely managed to duck his head. With a sound like the air itself being torn apart, a chunk of his hair was sliced off and scattered.
[Is that all you’ve got? Is that the extent of it!]
Karadskar bellowed savagely, swinging his arms relentlessly. The razor-sharp nails at the tips of his massive talons ripped through space, aiming for Fernandez’s head and chest.
-Clang!
“Urk!”
Blocking two strikes at once threw off his stance. His firmly planted feet lifted into the air, and Fernandez took the full impact, flying backward.
-Damn it, it’s coming!
‘I kn……ow!’
There was no time to roll with the landing or adjust his tactics. In the instant he was airborne, he saw Karadskar leap in like a beast, jaws gaping wide.
-Boom!
Fernandez twisted his waist, kicked off the ground, flipped his body midair, and barely escaped. A chilling snap echoed from where he’d stood moments before—the creature’s jaws clamping shut. It sounded almost like an agricultural press colliding.
‘Is this why Darian failed?’
-What are you talking about? The Karadskar that Darian fought wasn’t anything like Yekaset’s apostle. We’re in a tougher spot.
‘Killing that thing would mean we’re better than Darian, right?’
-Can you even kill it?
‘Then you’re saying we should just plan on dying?’
Fernandez shook off the pressure with a joke as he regained his stance. The creature didn’t charge immediately; it stood there for a moment, looking down at him.
Karadskar’s four pairs of glowing red eyes glared at him as if to devour him whole. Whatever it was waiting for, it gave Fernandez a brief chance to catch his breath.
‘Physically, I can’t match it. Even if Tyban’s apostle showed up, it wouldn’t put on a show like that.’
-Injuries?
‘Some organ damage, and my right wrist is slightly dislocated. Any more strain, and it’ll snap.’
-Alternatives?
‘Like always—do our best.’
Beating it in close combat was next to impossible. The ruler of beasts, incarnation of the full moon, hunter of the seven nights, wolf with the horned crown—Yekaset. The fact that he was enduring the full brunt of such a being’s power while it retained its reason meant the creature had become a great demon’s apostle.
Even a true hero shouldn’t face a monster like this alone. Fernandez clicked his tongue. His damaged organs let a hint of bloody froth seep out.
A monster no one should face alone. Great demon apostles and those on their level—the so-called Fifteen Evils. Fernandez let a nostalgic smile slip out for a moment.
[…Enjoying this?]
“It’s amusing, in a way.”
[What’s so funny? Self-mockery? Resignation?]
Fernandez shifted his greatsword to one hand and lightly flexed his empty left. His wrist ached, but his fingers moved without issue. And that was enough.
A monster no one should face alone.
The Fifteen Evils?
If there was a name at the very end of that list, written in the thickest, boldest letters—etched deep and menacing so anyone could recognize it—it would be Feizashi Wildcast. The name of the “Traitor” Feizashi.
A sword was just a tool, after all. Fernandez reflected briefly. Confusing means and ends was for fools. And warlocks always made a virtue of using every tool at their disposal.
“Karadskar, I respect your rage. It won’t take long. So…….”
The dark greatsword in his hand spun once, then thrust straight out. Fernandez held it extended, gazing for a moment at the creature’s blazing face.
Rage like that of a wounded beast on the brink of madness. The raw pain and sorrow were palpable. Anyone else might not understand, but he empathized with this man’s madness right now.
It was an unavoidable choice. But it was also just an excuse. From the moment he chose to kill the man’s son for his own son’s sake, his son’s future. Even if time rewound, he’d make the same choice—but even if the same events repeated, he would still pity this man.
Because he too was someone who had once shattered the world and charged toward the heavens out of grief for a lost child. If history had flowed as before, this man wouldn’t have faced such sorrow.
But if history flowed as before, that day’s pain would burn his own heart again. He couldn’t allow that. Contrary to the priests’ bold claims, the scales of life were never equal for all. At least for him, his son’s life weighed as much as the entire world.
If sacrifices had to be made, it couldn’t be his child. Immature, selfish, immoral—yet up to this moment, that had been Fernandez’s foremost principle. So even if he could turn back time, he’d act the same.
“I’ll pray for you.”
He would pity the man’s plight. Immature, selfish, immoral self-consolation though it might be.
“Fervently.”
-Awooooo!!
Beneath the swollen full moon, amid scattering droplets like black ink, the wolf and the priest—no, two fathers who had lost their sons—charged at each other.
* * *
-Awooooo!!
“Great Chieftaaain!!”
“Urk!!”
The beastman cavalry were now tangled with the unidentified enemy forces. Kirhas swung her sword wildly through the scattering rain, holding back the foes.
Unidentified? No, their identity was clear. They were the White Kingdom demon tribe’s cavalry—at least until tonight. They were ordinary soldiers who spoke the language and knew fear.
But now, right after their assault began, they could no longer be called human. Even for her, who had faced countless demons and even gods from other worlds, she was at a loss for what to call these things.
“Uwaaa…… Aaaagh!!”
“Don’t look up! Eyes in the sky—don’t look at the heavens!”
“Aaaagh!!”
“Too late! Cut off that bastard’s head!”
Kirhas growled as she eyed her soldiers. The elite troops who had charged alongside her were foaming at the mouth, trembling uncontrollably.
The moment she glimpsed that moon, even Kirhas felt her mind burning away for an instant. She’d held onto her reason only because of Kadan’s power.
[Impressive, indeed.]
‘This isn’t the time for admiration!’
[The god of the hunt and the demon of the hunt. Ha, if it were before, I might’ve tested which was superior. Who knows. I know him. A demon born from the scream of the first prey when the first wild beast sank its teeth in, before the War in Heaven. A demon that gained its name when mortals first feared the glowing eyes of beasts in the dark night. He has become the concept itself.]
Kadan spoke with self-deprecating laughter. The difference in their existential rank was clear. Kadan had inherited the concept of “hunt” solely due to Beitasser’s design. His original domain was balance and judgment, and his divinity as gatekeeper to the afterlife had been devoured by Munto.
But Yekaset was a conceptual being born from the first hunt in antiquity. A phenomenon incarnating primal fear of savagery and the madness within beasts.
If it had fully manifested, the situation would be far worse, but thankfully, it hadn’t reached that point. Kadan clicked his tongue, looking at the beastmen soldiers. That full moon. The beastmen caught in its concept were transforming one by one into bestial shapes.
-Crunch!!
Muscles writhed like snakes beneath the soldiers’ skin, tearing it like paper. Soon, they became forms no longer human, like the other White Kingdom demon troops—rampaging in search of blood and flesh.
No physical prowess could compare, and morale was meaningless. They were beasts of madness that knew no fear. Hounds of the moonlit night. Demons of Yekaset.
[Human, beastman, whatever. Primal savagery from antiquity can never be fully tamed. Hunter and hunted switch places, and the time of the hunt begins.]
“Shut up!”
Kirhas gripped her mask as if to crush it, growling. She too was barely cooling her increasingly feverish head. It felt like her gut was aflame and her brains boiling. Violent impulses surged—urges to kill and devour flesh.
But no. Not yet. Deep in her heart, she whispered her lord’s name. Fernandez Cerned. She recalled the man who seemed the incarnation of reason and rationality—his actions, words, demeanor.
“Urk! Great Chieftain! We must retreat!”
“W-We can’t hold any longer!”
Looking at the soldiers still clinging to reason, Kirhas scanned her surroundings briefly. The world shimmered in chaotic colors. A plain strewn with blood and crimson peonies, a burning jaundiced moon, pitch-black rain……
No path to victory anywhere. Of course not. No matter how dire, no matter how hopeless, there was always a glimmer of triumph somewhere—as long as one didn’t give up, possibility existed.
……Ha……
Kirhas finally spotted that faint thread of possibility and let out a short sigh. It was there. A path to victory. So distant, so impossible, yet faintly shimmering before her eyes.
The moon. That massive celestial body bloated like a rotten tumor overhead, spewing mad mana like festering veins—it was the sole hope in this battle.
That was probably the source. A conceptual being, so its true essence, the core of its concept, must reside in that moon up there. It wasn’t illogical, but for the one who had to deal with it, it only drew a sigh.
“Everyone, run.”
“Great Chieftain……?”
“We need one more day……just one.”
Roughly a day until the imperial main force arrived. Assuming they prepared for battle and engaged, it’d be a day and a half at best. Her already crumbling army, with deserters fleeing by the moment, held no more meaning than ten thousand tails.
So someone had to buy that day and a half. Far off somewhere, probably in a fiercer battle than this, her lord was fighting. Alone, lonely, as always. So she too must stand by his side, as always.
She would never abandon him alone. Kirhas shook her head, baring her fangs. Silver Duke, if I have one wish left, it is to die at least a day before you. With a pang, she stroked her belly and spoke.
“Go, all of you! Gather every survivor and report this to the Emperor! Give them at least the bare minimum intel to prepare for battle!”
“But, Great Chieftain! How can we alone…….”
“Someone has to buy someone else a day. Who do you think I am?”
At her words, the beastmen—who had tucked tails and bowed heads—suddenly looked up at her. Facing the mad moon and the beasts below it, Kirhas’s turquoise eyes shone brightly.
It was a nobility no base word like madness or savagery could capture. At that sight, the beastmen whispered unwittingly.
“Shield of the Wastes…….”
“The Undefeated…….”
A defiant strength blazing amid the demon’s oppressive presence that blanketed the sky. Like a lighthouse faintly glowing beyond a stormy sea’s hazy horizon. Distant and insignificant, yet resolute. In other words, hope.
Before her figure, despite the chaos around, the beastmen simply bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Regardless of her prowess, command, charisma, or achievements. Every beastman here with reason intact offered her their heartfelt respect.
“We’ll come back for sure, Great Chieftain.”
“See you alive.”
“Yes, Hearttaker. Definitely. We hope to see you alive.”
As the beastmen departed amid pursuing beasts, Kirhas bared her fangs and charged in.