Chapter 328
Chapter 328
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 328
Chapter Title: Hawk, Wolf, and Sea Serpent (5)
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The arena was silent. Across the vast plain, beasts glared at him in numbers too vast to count, yet not one dared to open its mouth.
The beasts' ragged breathing echoed. Amid the murderous intent slicing into Fernandez like a thousand blades, he detected a certain emotion. Bewilderment. Yekaset seemed to be struggling to grasp his true intentions.
An ancient evil spirit that had lived since before the War in Heaven. A primordial great demon that had existed since the first hunt began, since intelligent beings first feared the beasts in the darkness.
But Fernandez remembered clearly. Not all demons grew stronger in proportion to their history. Beings who harbored divinity drew their power from the quantity and quality of the minions who worshipped them.
Great demons and celestial gods grew by devouring awe. They fattened their spirit and flesh on the admiration and reverence of mortals, on respect and fear. Gods and demons were not superior to humans. If anything, they were closer to parasites. Parasites that latched onto the souls of mortals to grow their power.
Thus, Fernandez acknowledged their strength but did not respect them. Mortals and these immortal beings were not in a hierarchical relationship to begin with. At best, it could be a mutually beneficial transaction.
[Ha... Haha... Ha! Yes, you're right, Feizashi. My power is not whole, and my seal remains bound by those hateful celestial chains. But do you think that guarantees your victory?]
Fernandez quietly closed his eyes. Bewilderment and shame surged, only to be overtaken by a storm of furious rage that dwarfed them all.
[Mortal, you've let killing a few young pups inflate your sense of power. I have existed since the first life stirred in this world, and I shall exist until its final breath fades!!]
The wolves arrayed on all sides began to howl. The prolonged wailing shook the earth like an earthquake. The presence alone would have crushed an ordinary human into terrified madness long ago, beaming down from the distant sky.
But Fernandez kept his eyes shut. He calmly assessed his condition. His body's performance was at less than half, he couldn't use magic, and the moment he threw away his rosary and abandoned his priesthood, miracles were off the table.
'I never intended to cling to miracles in the first place.'
So, what was the demon's weakness? Its imperfectly released seal and weakened true form were only relevant in a direct confrontation in the material world. With its true body slumbering deep in the abyss right now, killing it required a trip to hell.
Alternatively, to neutralize it, he had to eliminate every minion here. An army of two hundred thousand, every one a demonized legion under its command. Either option was impossible.
Fernandez admitted it. He had no cards left to play. Almost completely none. But...
"You're no different."
[What...?]
"Karadskarl's existence... must have been your only means of interfering in the material world. You have nothing left now."
[Open your eyes and look ahead. Every one of the hundreds of thousands blocking your path is my blood and flesh. Interfering in the material world? What does it matter?]
Only then did Fernandez open his eyes. Madness-filled beasts dripped chilling murderous intent as they fixed on him alone. He steadied his stance, slowly straightened his back, and raised his blade.
-Kiiiiing...
The sword tip trembled faintly. That clear sound seemed to cool the hot blood surging through his veins. Fernandez declared to the beasts glaring at him.
"You have nothing left either, Yekaset."
Beings with divinity devoured the awe of mortals. In other words, if mortals no longer feared them, they lost that power.
Over a thousand years had passed since the War in Heaven ended. Charlemagne the Great founded the empire, and the age of civilization began. Humans survived an era teeming with demons and celestials, elves and dwarves, dragons and monsters, and carved out their domain on this continent.
A thousand years like that. In this era, even the smallest village in the remotest hinterlands flickered with the light of civilization.
"You are too late."
Occasionally, wolves snatched sheep from pastures. Until the hunters exterminated them.
Sometimes, rock trolls appeared and wrecked roads. Until the knights hunted them down.
Rabid patients sometimes emerged and bit people to death. Until the city guards captured the madmen.
When had this world ever been friendly to humans? Even if a world without elves, dwarves, dragons, or gods arrived, with scorching deserts, frigid plateaus, deep jungles, and mist-shrouded forests that swallowed people. Humans were always frail, and the world always harsh.
Yet even in the darkest corners untouched by civilization's light, humans never gave up. They advanced, seized hegemony over this continent, and in this era—where no land was uninhabited by people—
"The threat of predators, beasts in the dark... aren't they just fairy-tale villains to scare children nowadays?"
He remembered his past life. By the time the Great War arrived in that life, he was a great villain whose name topped the continent's most-wanted list.
In an era of rampant madness, Sadarkelia's legions ravaged the northern continent.
When polluted wastewater flowed beneath cities, the Huangchong of Urkasia swept through the last farmlands.
On days when human deaths were just numbers in records, Mumto's wraiths claimed the wilds.
And when destruction reigned as absolute terror, Tyban alone opened the gates of hell.
But Yekaset, the oldest, decrepit wolf, had not been enough to devour the awe even of that era's civilization heroes. Fernandez remembered his past life. No great demon was an easy foe, but the fact that the remaining great demon now was this one was almost a stroke of luck.
[You bastard...!]
No need to underestimate it. But no reason to cower in exaggerated fear either. Its desire to destroy civilized society without exterminating humans was to reawaken ancient terror of the unknown darkness and devour that awe.
Not yet. As long as it hadn't succeeded, its forces and power fell far short of its heavenly war grandeur.
"Now release the wolves. Is more talk needed?"
[You will die here!]
"Was there ever a reason to survive?"
With Karadskarl's death confirmed, his tasks to preserve civilized society were nearly done. Among great demons, only Tyban retained his full power, and no one but Fernandez could unseal its prison anyway. Civilization was now free from demonic threats.
"I just need to see the need to kill you."
-Awooooooo!!
Wolves, driven mad by peaking rage, charged at him. Fernandez smiled faintly and raised his sword hilt.
As long as Yekaset couldn't intervene in the material world, its best was a swarm attack via minions. Deadly to Fernandez now... but he gripped the hilt tight and slashed straight down.
-Kaang!
The first charging wolf's chest split vertically, thick blood spraying everywhere.
* * *
His breath reeked of iron. Darkness surrounded him, and he couldn't tell if the growling came from his own throat or the oncoming wolves.
Kirhas rampaged like a beast. Muscles pushed to their limit now frayed at the edges. He lacked even the strength for one more swing, yet his arms still moved. Perhaps a miracle.
[You must retreat.]
The golden mask pressing his head was deeply scarred. He had abused it like a helmet. Yet as a divine relic, it resisted the demons' claws.
Kirhas moved without reply. Their claws whistled through empty air. He ducked low to barely evade, then swung again. A thick forearm sprouting coarse fur flew skyward.
"Not yet...!"
A blue line scattered like lightning. Enemy positions, his stance, attack directions, escape routes—nothing clear. Wounds scattered across his body bled profusely, shrinking his vision to extremes.
Yet the blue line flickered, pointing a direction, and he took one more step.
-Kwaang!
A long gash scarred the ground where he stood. A wolf had raked it. The wolf, scraping empty earth, twisted to face Kirhas. The blade sliced air, and the wolf's head tumbled.
Already a legendary battle. He'd cut down over three digits of foes like slaughtering sheep. Even striking a stationary dummy a hundred times was grueling labor, yet each leap and swing here risked his life—and he'd done three times that.
No ordinarily trained beastkin warrior's body could endure such exertion. His flesh teetered on ruin. Yet, still.
Just one day—no, half a day—before Fernandez died.
That belief was his sole driving force. As long as he lived, Fernandez lived too, he thought. Baseless faith, but his only lifeline now.
-Kang!
The blade crushed oncoming fangs and cleaved the wolf's head. Blue light flickered again. A faint, slender thread of victory. He threw himself toward it.
His blade danced like a storm. Sword strikes reflecting moonlight grotesquely whipped through the wolf pack, tearing them apart. Each a great demon's minion, the weakest majol that could terrorize a village—yet Kirhas transcended them all in this moment.
'One more... day...'
Thoughts wouldn't connect. Dazed mind, battered body, survival instinct pushed to limits—he couldn't think rationally. He just advanced toward what his eyes saw, toward hope's direction.
[Kirhas. Dodge!]
"...!!"
For an instant, the world blazed white, and his fur stood on end. He sprang back like he was repelled.
Light signaling victory. Visible only to him, that innate instinct bloomed at his feet, flooding the entire area!
"What... is this...!"
No direction. Where to go, where to dodge? Like a compass losing its needle, spinning wildly. He lost orientation, plunged into chaos.
But the wolves' attacks didn't follow. They stared blankly skyward, forgetting rage and madness.
-Piriririk...!
With half-lidded eyes, he followed their gaze. Opposite the swollen yellow moon, from the eastern horizon, azure light poured down. He narrowed his eyes and stared straight at the approaching sight.
The sky's dark clouds shredded into tatters, and a sharp sonic boom tore the air.
"Cannon fire...? But how...?"
Kirhas's ears perked. He knew that sound. From the harbor, amid cheerful laughter—the raucous boom of those guns!
-Kwaaaaaang!!!
Crimson flames erupted, slamming the wolves' midst!
"It flew... through the sky...?"
Clouds parted to reveal massive walls, stone pillars and spires atop them. A colossal sea serpent flag whipped in the gale—
The elf Serpent King's flagship, Gaimeorn's, floated in the heavens!
"...Abel... you!"
Beyond the clouds, a massive silhouette glowed faintly. Two dragons flanked the ship like hawks snatching sheep, wings spread wide.
-Piriririk!
Cannon fire adorned the sky once more—
-Kwaaaaaang!!
This time, heavy shells—not lighter ones—crashed into Yekaset's demons. Flames pillar-ed up, illuminating the surroundings.