Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Night God's Messenger
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A sudden beam of light plummeted into the heart of the Floating Island.
That light was more than enough to seize the attention of every crow tribe.
And with good reason—what lay at the island's center was none other than the Star Sword.
So the tribes hurriedly dispatched their own detachments racing toward it.
They wondered if perhaps someone chosen by the Night God had finally appeared.
"Stop right there! Who's there?!"
The moment the detachments from each tribe burst out of the forest almost simultaneously...
What met their eyes was a single human man.
He was the one wielding a sword infused with the glow of the Milky Way.
And the sword's form was all too familiar to them.
The Star Sword.
The blade of the Night God, without a doubt.
Their faces hardened in unison.
And why not? The one who had drawn the Star Sword was a human.
A human of a build similar to their own.
The instant they realized he had drawn the Star Sword, the tribes reacted in all manner of ways.
"Oh, ooh, the Night God's messenger has descended!"
"How dare a lowly one like me!"
"Retrieve that sword at once!"
A cacophony of cries erupted in an instant.
Caught off guard by this, each group hesitated.
They had only just become aware of one another.
The detachments from the various tribes faltered.
The tribes were always vying for unification among themselves.
Acting rashly could lead to clashes right here.
In this standoff of wary glances...
One member from a tribe shot his hand up high.
"May I ask a question?"
He was a notably young crow tribesman.
Havel gestured to Elasia.
At his signal, Elasia perched on his shoulder translated.
"Go ahead."
With Havel's permission, the crow began his questioning.
"Do you know what that sword you're holding is?"
It was an obvious probe, thrown out to test him.
They were probably thinking they could negotiate if he didn't.
The detachments from the other tribes silently awaited Havel's response.
"It's the Star Sword left behind by the Night God."
But the moment Havel's answer came, they clacked their beaks in shock.
He knew everything, just as they feared.
This alone made the situation a massive headache.
"That sword is incredibly precious to our tribe. Surely we could offer some recompense—would you consider handing it over?"
As all the detachment members pondered...
The same crow who had asked the first question seized the initiative.
Noticing this, the eyes of the other tribes' detachments grew icy.
Their expressions screamed they were ready to fight depending on the reply.
Havel, who had been watching them steadily, let out a chuckle.
"Do you know why one tribe is missing from this gathering?"
At Havel's question, the tribesmen blinked.
Then their eyes began to widen slowly.
They had belatedly noticed that one of the five tribes was absent.
Gone.
Just as Havel said, the youngest tribe, Tendarr, was nowhere to be seen.
"I am Havel of Banpellyon."
Havel slung the Star Sword over his shoulder and flashed a grin.
"And I am the Night God's messenger, chosen to unify all your tribes."
The tribesmen erupted in a riot of conflicting emotions at his declaration.
"Don't make me laugh!"
One tribesman bellowed.
He was from the eldest tribe, Bardcommon.
Bardcommon was currently locked in a power struggle with the second eldest, Ronnir, over control of the island.
As the firstborn, Bardcommon brimmed with pride.
They always insisted that Bardcommon alone should unify the tribes.
And they backed that claim with substantial force.
For such a tribe, the idea of the legendary Night God's messenger choosing the runt Tendarr was utterly unacceptable.
"How dare a puny human impersonate the Night God's messenger!"
The Ronnir group, in a similar bind to Bardcommon, vented their fury as well.
"We'll crush you right now!"
"Invoke the Night God's wrath!"
The two enraged groups found common cause in that moment.
No matter what, they intended to finish Havel off here.
The two tribes closest to unification couldn't stomach their fates being decided by a mere outsider.
Watching them, Havel wore an incredulous smirk.
He hadn't expected the powerhouses to buy into the legend so easily.
But while some refused to accept it...
"What is the meaning of this outrage! Before the messenger chosen directly by the Night God himself!"
Others saw this as the perfect turn of events.
And those were the ones who had suffered most from the power struggles.
The fourth tribe, Allante.
They were weak, just like the youngest Tendarr.
They stepped forward first to defend Havel, as if the legendary Night God's messenger had truly arrived.
"Lacking even basic decorum and accusing him of impersonation! Away with that blasphemy at once!"
Allante blocked Bardcommon and Ronnir, unleashing their anger.
Bardcommon and Ronnir glared at them with bulging eyes.
"Allante, you think a puny human could be the Night God's messenger?!"
"He's clearly using some trick! Don't mock the Night God!"
"Do you think the Night God is so lenient? Aren't you afraid of divine punishment?!"
In an instant, the ruins descended into chaos.
From Allante's perspective, even Tendarr was preferable.
The first and second had always eyed their forces hungrily.
Meanwhile, Bardcommon and Ronnir sought to preserve the status quo.
The air filled with raucous cawing.
As Havel pondered whether to shut all their beaks for good...
"No matter the circumstances, the fact remains that the Night God chose him."
The crow who had questioned Havel earlier spoke up again.
All eyes in the clamor turned to him.
He was from the third tribe, Gardan.
Gardan was the tribe that always played neutral.
But in truth, they were a tiger lying in wait for any opportunity.
Unlike the other crows, Gardan's members stood out with their red feathers.
Their detachment leader slowly curved his beak into a smile.
"For now, I'll report this to our chieftain. That the Night God's messenger has chosen Tendarr."
Ultimately, the final decision would come through the chieftains.
Everyone present knew that much.
And this statement from the Gardan tribesman dramatically shifted the situation.
War is, without doubt, a clash of strength against strength.
Yet amid that clash, a single justification can upend the entire course of battle.
Intelligent beings who are more than mere monsters...
In combat, they place great weight on their convictions.
A war without justification betrays those convictions.
And warriors who lose their convictions lose their will to fight.
They may even defy orders to reclaim their beliefs over confronting the enemy before them.
Such a war can never be won.
That is why justification is always crucial.
Havel understood this better than anyone.
'During the Unification War, that was why Arhan ultimately toppled the Veltaron Empire.'
The Veltaron Empire had committed countless atrocities, cornering other nations.
Arhan was the alliance of heroes formed to defeat such a Veltaron.
Naturally, throngs followed the footsteps of those heroes.
No matter how ambitious Veltaron's dream of world domination...
They could not triumph against the entire world.
'Those who fear defeat rot from within. From that point, victory ceases to exist.'
That was Havel's creed, forged in the Unification War.
The tribesmen's eyes darted about, crossing paths feverishly.
The Night God was the sole faith for all crow tribesmen.
For the messenger of that faith to appear...
It would undoubtedly shake them from the inside out.
From those now pointing fingers at Havel, denying he was the Night God's messenger...
To those who would embrace him as such.
Clashing ideologies and beliefs would sow chaos among countless souls.
That is the terror of faith.
The easiest tool for the elite to manipulate the masses below.
Yet a double-edged sword that can topple those elites in an instant.
'That is faith.'
So Havel placed no trust in it.
Even those who believed in gods endlessly perished miserably in the Demonic Palace.
Yet the world believes in the divine.
The detachment members here all recognized that truth.
No matter how vehemently they denied it...
Havel's presence would inevitably cause internal discord.
And if that discord couldn't be contained, the group would collapse.
Their gazes intertwined.
From this moment, they had only one way to resolve the situation.
They had to pull Havel to their side, no matter what.
A war without justification led only to defeat.
"Did you foresee all this, Lord Havel?"
Elasia, grasping the dynamics, asked Havel cautiously.
He replied,
"I told you. War is my specialty."
He had spent the prime of his life in the Unification War, after all.
This was child's play.
"Everyone, head back."
"Report the facts to the chieftain immediately."
In the end, the situation flipped in an instant.
Allante aside...
With Gardan intervening, the other two groups could no longer strike at Havel.
Striking him would make them the killers of the Night God's messenger.
That would hand a new justification for others to wield superior force.
The Gardan tribesman knew this and cleverly exploited it.
'That one's sharp.'
Unlike the other two groups, desperate to douse the immediate flames.
'Now I see why they pretend to be meek neutrals.'
Gardan might prove the trickiest to topple, after all.
"Where do you think you're going?"
But regrettably, as mentioned earlier, they had far less experience with war.
Havel directly called back the ones turning to leave.
Doubt flickered in the tribesmen's eyes.
These were the same ones who had just vowed to kill him.
They couldn't fathom why he would stop them now.
"You still don't know what the Night God's messenger is truly like, do you?"
A sly grin spread across Havel's lips.
If they returned like this, all they'd report was that the Night God's messenger had appeared.
And that he had chosen Tendarr.
That alone wouldn't shake all five tribes.
What was needed now was a show of force.
They had to learn just how dangerous the Night God's messenger was.
So they'd bow their heads and come crawling first.
Annihilation had no place in war.
It provided no reason for victory.
What was required was submission.
That was the true aim of war.
"Kyaa!"
Elasia leaped from Havel's shoulder, her robe fluttering wildly.
Before her feet even touched the ground, in that brief gap...
Havel's silhouette blurred.
Not a single tribesman present caught it with their eyes.
Thwack! Thud!
Two sounds rang out simultaneously, without the slightest delay.
Crash!
Followed by the noise of bodies tumbling.
The tribesmen's eyes blinked in confusion.
Every one of them stared around, utterly lost as to what had just happened.
But one fact registered in their vision.
Bardcommon and Ronnir—the two who had declared they'd kill Havel moments ago.
The central figures of their detachments.
The very two who had announced their retreat were rolling on the ground.
Their heads caved in at the temples, no less.
They lay there, unable even to groan.
Seeing them changed everything in an instant.
These two were the detachment leaders.
Naturally, they were the strongest among their groups.
Yet they had been felled by an unseen strike, sprawling on the dirt.
Havel slowly turned to survey every last tribesman.
A chill...
Crept down their spines.
A frigid wind rustled through the trees.
As if the Night God himself had caressed them.
"Deliver my words exactly as I said."
Havel flashed a smile at the frozen tribesmen.
"Your five tribes will soon unite as one."
The Night God's messenger was a rampaging fiend.
A monstrously powerful one at that.