Awakening the Great Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Who Stopped the Antelopes

Who is chasing the Antelopes?

In truth, the footsteps following them were not just one. Soone approached dreaming of revenge, and soone else of completion.

* * *

Several weeks ago, deep in the Land of Shadows.

The underground fortress swallowed silence whole. Like machinery stirring in its sleep, only a steady, periodic hmm of vibration filled the space. And at the heart of the darkness—Ardorem, who had once commanded hundreds of assassins, knelt on the ground.

Above his head floated a sphere of deep crimson mana. The punishnt device, woven through his body like veins, had not ceased for even a single mont.

Krrrgh——

By nature, Ardorem had been a herald of shadows. The vanguard of the Corrupted Lord, De Generitum. An executioner who traversed the continent, punishing humans. But now…… He was nothing more than a useless failure who had botched his mission.

"……It's because of him."

A low mutter escaped him before he could stop it. Sunken in darkness, with nothing but an endless wait permitted to him, rage boiled up unbidden.

If those humans hadn't clung to him, he would have dispatched the target long ago.

If only Yelayen hadn't gotten in his way, things wouldn't have beco this tangled.

If the forest core had stayed quiet……He would have killed them all before the mage arrived.

In the very mont he was rationalizing himself one excuse after another——

Shwick.

With a sound like sothing tearing, the darkness flinched. The mana sphere's light flickered precariously. Soone was approaching.

When he raised his head, twelve pairs of crimson eyes surfaced from the deep shadows. Left and right, up and down, diagonal. No pattern to their arrangent. Yet every single gaze pierced through Ardorem alone.

"……Draug."

A brief silence passed, and then an answer ca.

[Ardorem.]

The mont the other called his na, it felt as though a cold bolt of lightning had driven straight down his spine. The air was crushed, and the darkness enveloping the fortress writhed. The entire space seed to heave and contort to accommodate the being before him.

Once, he had considered them equals—but now he could see it plainly. Draug had risen a full step higher. It had beco a living calamity.

It uttered no words, made no sound of breathing. As if to flaunt a more complete body, it simply placed one foot forward and drew closer.

Crack, crack.

With every step, the floor split, and violent tremors cracked through the iron walls.

"Draug, to think that you would co to look down on

like this."

Ardorem ground his teeth and spoke.

"It's Yelayen! If only that being, who defies providence, hadn't been there——"

[Do not make excuses.]

"You……"

[You were always like this. You make a mistake, and then you make another.]

He tried to maintain a composed expression, but before long, cracks ran through his composure. Draug's eyes were peering into his mind. Not only the hideous jealousy he harbored, but his imdiate thoughts and mories from the past as well—every elent was being laid bare, and only what was needed was taken.

[So you've t soone.]

"……Have you found the mage?"

[No. This is one the mage found.]

"Who……?"

Draug did not answer. Only one of its twelve eyes drifted away from Ardorem, gazing at so point in the empty air.

Then, all of a sudden, it spoke in the language of shadows.

[Calix.]

It was brief, yet carried a deep resonance.

The breath wrenched up from within tore the air like iron being scraped, and the syllables spat from the tip of its tongue split like aged parchnt. Two emotions that could never coexist—malice and anticipation—intermingled, sending a feeling as though blood had frozen solid.

No further explanation was necessary.

"Just what is that person?"

[He is the chain that will elevate .]

"……"

[He is what the Corrupted Lord desires, and the sole possibility by which I myself can beco complete.]

The words were simple, but the conviction contained within them was unsettlingly vivid. Before long, Ardorem's expression twisted into sothing vicious.

"Foolish talk. The further we stray from the Land of Shadows, the more our strength is constrained. Humans are not such easy prey!"

[Then I will clear them away.]

"What?"

[Whatever stands in the way, I will clear it all away. Whatever it may be.]

A brief silence passed—and then Draug turned its body, and the surrounding darkness heaved as it followed in his wake.

[This is not a choice.]

It left behind one final word of certainty and departed.

[……It is destiny.]

* * *

Around the sa ti, in the central region of the Astria Kingdom.

A thick fog blanketed the dawn plains. The sun had not yet shown itself, and two armies crouched facing each other in stillness.

The Astrian Royal Army: thirteen thousand.

Most of them were infantry. Conscripted soldiers of farming origin, rcenaries hired from foreign lands, and knights whose ranks had simply risen through the tides of war. Shield-bearers from the Gardia Kingdom and spear-carriers from the Latia Republic. Tension and anxiety were soaked into the camp where foreign tongues mingled.

On the other hand, the Niborian Imperial Army: six thousand.

Yet the more-than-twofold difference seed aningless. A formation with not a single row out of place, and strict, unyielding silence. Though fewer in number, every one of them was accustod to the scent of war.

Prrrrr——

"Whoa, whoa."

The emperor's knight surveyed the landscape of the battlefield from atop his horse.

Dakar Raihe.

He was the Knight Commander of Blutspheer, one of the Empire's eight great knight orders.

"Commander, inspection is complete."

At that mont, the inspection of the barding was finished.

Blutspheer's total strength was so 800 n. Among them, the elite Barding Cavalry numbered around 300, with the remainder composed of supply and ground combat units. This included the magitech support soldiers who oversaw the knights' equipnt.

"Was the check thorough?"

"But of course. This is that important a battle, isn't it? If we win here, the road to the central region opens wide."

The young man answered in an optimistic voice. It was a voice that didn't suit the battlefield, but the words were true. It was a battle with much at stake for both sides.

If the Niboria Empire were to win, they would have the wherewithal to set their sights deep into the central Astria Kingdom. Conversely, if they were defeated, their grip on the northern region of the kingdom would waver.

Pwoooooo——!

All at once, the trumpet signaling advance rang out.

[Advance, advance——!]

Far away, the front line of the Astrian Royal Army trembled. Spear tips jutted out in ragged disarray, cleaving through the fog.

Thud, thud, thud!

Countless feet turned the dirt into mud, and battle cries tangled without pause. The Niborian Imperial Army, by contrast, moved without a single shout or warning.

The mont of collision.

Swords and shields were raised in unison, and the weapons of the Astrian Royal Army fell like autumn leaves. Blood and screams ran rampant in a single exchange, and the first rank crumbled in no ti at all.

Yet even as their allies held the upper hand, Blutspheer did not move.

It was not yet ti to advance.

Dakar Raihe silently watched the tide of battle.

Though the order to sortie was ready, his thoughts had drifted not to the battle before his eyes but to the letter of command that had arrived from the imperial palace days prior. It was a personal letter from Emperor Caracal.

"O sword of Ours. With the blood of those who wear false facades, go and reclaim whatever thread of honor remains."

It was an exceedingly terse sentence, yet its aning was not difficult to grasp.

It had not been long since Centurion Artinger had departed on a mission to the northeast and been killed. The problem was the fact that he was the second son of Marquis Loshvar, the emperor's maternal family.

'To wield a blade of honor as a tool of political intrigue.'

The Knight Commander pinpointed the crux of the matter with precision. Even though the campaign had been launched with a long war in mind, the internal strife within the Niboria Empire was growing ever more fierce. Conducting a war required staggering amounts of supplies, after all.

At so point, the emperor had reached a position where he had to placate the nobles rather than suppress them.

'The territorial annexation will need to be concluded before sumr……'

Dakar Raihe exhaled a long breath to steady himself. At that very mont, the Vice-commander approached and read his expression. He was a man who understood the Commander's state of mind better than anyone.

"Your expression is poor. Is it by any chance because of the orders from above?"

"……"

"……I've heard the target we're pursuing is a rcenary group fairly well known in Astria. They're called the 'Antelopes', apparently. They seem to number a hundred at most…… It's rather like setting a tiger loose to catch rabbits. Even the knights under your command seed taken aback."

He didn't answer. He simply turned his head slowly and surveyed the battlefield. Only after quite so ti did he let out a few words in an expressionless face.

"……Orders are orders."

With those few words, he cut away all emotion. No unnecessary comntary, no afterthoughts. A knight is the sword of his lord. Emotion is rely rust upon the blade.

Tap, tap, tap.

And then, without another word, he moved forward. He didn't pull the reins, yet the warhorse stepped out of its own accord.

The knight order mbers ford ranks around their Commander. Not a single one had been given a command, yet all of them followed without exception.

Thwack! Crack! Bang——!

Steel barding cleaved through the fog.

The horseshoes ground against stone and a sound of friction rang out. More than three hundred warhorses moved in a single direction. At first, like a leisurely stroll—but gradually—

Drdrdrdr.

Speed rose.

Breathing lengthened, and hooves dug into the earth.

Vibrations spread through the ground, but the Astrian Royal Army, buried under the carnage of the battlefield, failed to notice the knight order's approach.

When they drew close enough that the expressions of the Royal Army soldiers were almost visible, the Commander raised his clenched fist horizontally. Imdiately after, the neural accelerators of the riders activated.

Puh——whoosh.

At the sa instant, the mana stones built into the barding ignited all at once. The eyes of the horses glowed crimson. Mana surged out through their entire bodies, surpassing the limits of their species.

In the mont just before impact—

Shrrring!

Curved blades were drawn from their scabbards. They were cavalry, but they carried no lances.

They were Blutspheer.

"For Niboria!"

"We shall beco the living spear!"

More than three hundred barding cavalry transcended, in an instant, the boundary between human and horse. As the riders set the direction, the warhorses tore through the wind as they charged, and the mana stones layered speed upon them above that.

This was no simple charge.

It was a wave that would rend the shape of the battlefield asunder—a storm that no human force could withstand.

Kwakwakwakwakwa!

And in the final mont, Dakar Raihe murmured in a low voice.

"The price of blood is paid in blood."

In his field of vision, the forms of Astrian soldiers were reflected. Above the sound of hooves tearing the earth, a single thread of screaming was woven in. So tried to flee, and so dropped to their knees begging for rcy.

"R-run——!"

"Spare ! Please, spare !"

But the crimson wave swallowed all of it.

Kwaaang!

The first square formation was shattered to pieces in a single collision. Hooves smashed through shields, and barding carved deep into soldiers' chests. Steel snapped from the sheer force of impact, and bones were crushed entire. Flesh was shredded, and severed limbs flew upward, dyeing the fog red.

It was not battle.

It was perfect, one-sided slaughter.

But the crimson wave did not stop here.

Next was them. The Antelopes who road the forests. The tip of Dakar Raihe's blade was already pointing toward the northern mountain range.

* * *

And now, in the present, the Antelopes sensed a clear sign of threat at the entrance to the mountain range. A brief stillness descended grimly along the ridgeline.

Royce lifted his head at the chilling air. The wind was still, yet even the mountain beasts had fallen silent, suppressing their sounds.

"……This isn't so natural phenonon. It's people."

It was a certainty born from long experience.

"People?"

When Volga asked again, Royce answered by fixing his gaze ahead. Far in the distance, beyond the ridge, sothing was approaching.

Flutter—

A few birds took to the wing, and not long after, a cloud of dust rose.

At that very mont, Calix was the first to see it.

Hundreds—no, more than that.

The light of countless mana stones colored the ridge above.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it was the Niborian Imperial Army.

Crack!

Just then, Hadiya burst through the undergrowth. She had returned in such a hurry that her entire body was streaked with sweat and dust.

As her warhorse panted, a resolute voice rang out.

"Forces are approaching from the southwest. Heavy Barding Cavalry in large numbers—roughly a thousand in all, infantry included."

"……How many cavalry?"

"Accounting for the sound of hooves, at least two hundred horses. More, most likely."

The dwarf Basim sucked in a sharp breath.

"……A thousand?"

"Could they be a supply unit?"

"She said they are Barding Cavalry. That doesn't add up."

With each exchange, things grew clearer. It was no coincidence.

"This isn't to pursue or drive us off. It's to kill us."

A silence fell the mont the Commander reached his swift conclusion. After a brief pause, the veteran rcenaries in particular made their cold assessnts.

"If the enemy is cavalry, running will be hard. Even if the horses' abilities are comparable, the riders' own skill falls short. And fleeing through a mountain range on top of that…… Is simply impossible."

"So we have to fight."

"……Yes."

In terms of sheer numbers alone, the difference was nearly twentyfold. Naturally, the complexions of the mid-ranking rcenaries turned white as a sheet. Not a word left their lips, yet their mouths moved several tis over.

"Haaah……"

Soone exhaled a low sigh.

At that mont, Volga stepped forward.

"So, you're saying our opponents this ti are a knight order?"

All eyes turned. Just as always, with an iron club slung over his shoulder and that sly expression—yet his eyes shone with unmistakable clarity.

"With high probability, yes."

"Then who cares about that……Let's just beco a knight order ourselves."

"……A knight order? We're rcenaries."

One of the mid-ranking rcenaries answered with a voice laced with skepticism. Volga smirked and shot back.

"True. But that might not be the whole story. Maybe it's sothing we haven't realized yet. What did the Holy Empire soldiers call the Commander?"

"……Sir Royce?"

Even amid the heavy atmosphere, a small laugh blood. Then, in turn, his fingers pointed to the horses, the armor, the backs of their necks, and so on.

"Look. We got northern warhorses, didn't we—iron armor too—got our neural accelerators newly implanted—and on top of that…… It was all free! Doesn't that an we've earned at least one good fight?"

"……You really are a madman."

Basim the dwarf's rebuke ca flying in response to the bluster-laden words, yet strangely, the shoulders of those who had been hunched began to straighten, one by one.

At that, Volga shrugged his shoulders as if it were nothing.

"Madman? It's more like—think of it the sa way the Commander has, sa as the Vice-captain. Volga is there beside Calix. My quick thinking is second to none, you see."

"Damned rascal. You're at it again."

"Heh heh."

A few light laughs burst out, and for a mont the atmosphere loosened. In the space where the confusion had receded, only resolve remained.

Without missing that opening, Royce stepped forward.

"We are not soldiers."

He opened his mouth in a firm tone.

"We have no strict discipline, and we don't know how to fight in formation. But instead—we know the outside. We know how to make use of the mountain ranges, the forests, the land."

"……"

"And so we fight without form. We scatter, vanish, and co back again. That is how we've survived until now. So……"

The end of his words stretched out, but concentration rose all the more. The unit mbers stared fixedly at their Commander, waiting for the order to fall.

Even knowing what he was about to say, they stood perfectly still—only their short tails swaying gently.

And then——

"This ti too, we fight like Antelopes."

The Antelopes smiled.

* * *

At the sa ti, near the southern ridge.

The vanguard of the Niboria Empire advanced swiftly. About a hundred knights swept down the mountain slope, tracing a great arc.

"……The targets are spreading out."

"Isn't it a retreat?"

"Hmm, looks like they an to engage. Seems like a trap."

They were Blutspheer—one of the eight great knight orders of the Empire. Through the slits of their helts, mockery and arrogance practically dripped.

"A bunch of drifters with no knowledge of the world, were they? A trap, of all things. Just smash it all to pieces, that's all."

The latest-model barding, lightened while maintaining full defensive capability, along with top-tier neural accelerators. The knights were convinced.

"There are no variables. The mont they enter our field of vision, we charge."

"Agreed."

Yet neither the Imperial Army nor the Antelopes—nor anyone—knew. That the one who would overturn the balance of the battlefield had not yet arrived.