༺ Whose Hand will the God of War Raise (4) ༻
“There! There it is! Mount Valdeath!”
And just like that, the exhausted procession of soldiers finally made it to the cultists’ supposed hideout before the end of the day. We even managed to arrive before the sun had gone down the horizon.
I was expecting to see a long line of innurable ridges as we got closer to the mountain.
But this Valdeath mountain was a single mountain that rose in the midst of a wild plain.
It didn’t really look like a naturally-ford mountain, rather, it was more akin to an artificially made hill to serve as a battlefield or cover.
DoDoDong—
I could see wooden barriers and lit torches sprawled about here and there, creating quite a unique atmosphere.
“Damn it, there are so many of those undead bastards here. That area over there even beca as dark as night.”
I wonder who said that.
As that voice had exclaid, a lot of skeleton warriors and beings that looked to be undead were roaming about in multiple areas of the mountain.
Clatter—
Rattle—
It seems these white-boned skeletons were what we had to deal with in the upcoming war. Their numbers, were surprisingly low, however— in the hundreds at most.
Even a tactic as simple as all of us grabbing a stick and dealing with a single skeleton each seed reasonable in such a situation.
Of course, there were a lot of variables that could arise while fighting these fleshless skeletons that were not perceptible to feelings like pain and fear.
For soone who had been running fast for quite a while, I was surprisingly feeling that a strange vitality was filling up my whole body right now.
Was this the blessing of Enya, the margrave’s daughter or was so other kind of power at play here?
Did the Gale tactic really work? Damn it! This war was turning crazier by the minute.
Blow—
The wind picked up and swept over the grass-covered fields. It was so strong that it even swept away the hairs of the soldiers, cooling the sweat that had accumulated through the course of the run and drenched their bodies.
Flap— Flap—
The brass-armored flag bearer was holding the flag high up in the sky.
“Standby!”
We gathered and stood in a straight line in front of the undead army at Enya’s shout.
“Drogo. Death. Close. Sand of the desert. Bad luck…”
“… They’re scarier than I thought! Fucking damn it! You are telling that we have to fight these bastards, huh? I’m not sure if my arrows will even go through their skulls.”
Unlike the people of our ranks whose feelings ranged from excitent to fear and tension, there wasn’t a single ripple of emotion in the group of undead far away.
Clatter— Clatter—
Grrrrrrr…
Still, the only emotion that I was able to feel in the midst of this confrontation against the horde of undead was a chilling aura of killing intent that emanated from our enemies.
Killing intent, shit! I would normally laugh at such a cheesy expression and string of words, but now that I was experiencing such a skin-piercing sensation myself, that was the only way I could describe this feeling.
In any case, these undead, full of the intent to slaughter the living, were now gathered in front of us and looked ready to start attacking at any mont.
Even the strongest and bravest of hearts would feel goosebumps running down their backs, as though a deep and primal fear had overtaken their whole bodies when witnessing such a horrifying sight.
Nearly a thousand soldiers gathered in this place were shaking simultaneously when confronted with such complicated emotions in their hearts.
My head also beca soaked in all kinds of complicated thoughts. My body was feeling as though all of its vitality was being drained away. I had the illusion that a cold hand had gone through my body and was now caressing my heart.
The lower stomach being a tension-prone organ, I could feel it slightly hurting in response to the extre pressure that I was feeling in the current situation.
It’s not like I could ask to go to the bathroom in this kind of situation now, could I? And for that reason, in order to temporarily calm my intestines, I began pressing on the Hapgok acupoint situated in my palms.
While it was probably a placebo effect or sothing similar in nature, I could already feel the pain ringing in my lower half ease ever so slightly as my mind focused on the pain that was inflicted on my palms.
Clatter— Pop— Gulp— Gulp— Gulp—
As my stomach cald down, I decided to drink the potion Luna gave beforehand. And with the usual Ding— noise I was notified that my strength had risen by 3 points.
Whether it was because of my sudden rise in levels, due to the effects of the potion, or because of the sand-like taste of the potion, I could feel that my mind had beco way sharper than before.
Damn it! We were finally getting started for this war.
“Archers—! Wizards—! Everyone on standby—!”
As the sun had started to lower beyond the horizon and our surroundings began to darken, a ray of light began to strangely illuminate the earth as it pierced through the clouds.
“Holy.”
The flag-bearing commander of our unit— Enya slowly approached the horde of undead, riding along the path of dazzling light.
“Anxious, cultist of Pluto and professor of the Mage Tower, Enya Sardic challenges you to a duel of honor!”
The battlefield suddenly stirred at the roaring cry leaking out of the commander’s mouth.
“A duel of honor. Lady Enya is going to fight alone.”
“As expected of the Young Lady. But, in that case, doesn’t it an we have co here for nothing?”
“This way we can quickly be done with this and return ho.”
Duel of honor.
I’ve heard about this kind of thing before.
I heard that warriors and knights who highly valued honor, would wage victory and defeat during war in a single one-on-one duel to avoid large-scale losses to their individual forces.
Of course, since it was my first ti participating in a war of any kind, naturally, it was a first for to see this proposition for the duel of honor occurring between the two commanders. It was evident that this wasn’t just a simple duel.
I excitedly watched the situation unfold, thinking about the next set of events that may happen in the next mont.
The brass-armored woman, sitting far in front of the army while wielding a flag in her hand, began looking more and more reassuring in my sight right now.
And just as the morale of the lined-up soldiers began to increase in the midst of this weird atmosphere.
“W-What’s that? Look up!”
“Damn it, what’s that…?”
At the unknown person’s words, we all looked up to the sky simultaneously. And as we looked up, we were greeted with the sight of the dark clouds that were covering the mountain beginning to converge on a single spot and weirdly distort in many shapes and forms.
There was sothing innately creepy about this event transpiring right now which was otherwise a natural phenonon.
It soon took the shape of a huge black skull, the size of the sky itself.
Enya Von Sardic. Brave warrior of Minerva—
In the next mont, a thunder-like nose began erupting from the skeleton skull’s mouth.
At the sa ti, the horses that the knights had been riding till now began to track back, and the legs of the soldiers, including , began to shake in terror.
Soone suddenly spoke among the frightened crowd.
“T-That’s magic. There’s a wizard on the cultists’ side…!”
“No one said anything about the presence of wizards… I thought that we would be fighting a few skeletons at most!”
“They have a wizard, damn it! A fucking wizard!”
I had previously heard from Hippolyte about Anxious, the wizard’s presence among the gathering of cultists.
However, it seed that the soldiers weren’t in the know of this matter, and thus, seed greatly unsettled at the realization that a scary wizard was among the enemies that they had to fight.
Well, in this world, a wizard was akin to a tactical weapon— so their reaction was rather normal.
Imagine the idea of being hit by an ice or fireball coming from so unexpected corner and dying as a result, just like getting hit by an unknown missile. No wonder the wizards were so scary to so many people.
Fear and terror were spreading throughout the battlefield with the knowledge of the cultist wizard’s presence. I was terrified too, of course, but I could manage as I already had knowledge of this matter. But I couldn’t say the sa about the untrained bunch that was surrounding . Was that why Lady Enya proposed the duel?
“Anxious! Accept my duel! You only have two options!”
A duel in this day and age? Our Young Lady is very naive, isn’t she? This is how things went in the ti of romance and heroes. Fine, I’ll agree to your duel.
Dong— Dodong— Dong— Dodong— Dong—
The eerie sound of drumbeats spread throughout the whole mountain range out of the blue. Along with the sound, the clattering of the undead skeletons increased and a tall monster ca out from within the horde undead.
It was twice as big as . What kind of food did it consu to grow this bug?
Just as Hector had soone like Achilles and Asterius had soone like Theseus as their opponent, there were always enemies to defeat even in this declining era of heroes.
Clang— Clang—
Chains and iron balls attached to its arms and legs were being dragged through the soil and sand of the mountain range. Its gray outer skin was covering what seed to be extrely toned and well-crafted rigid muscles underneath its exterior.
Karliah, a descendant of the fallen Titans. He’s truly worthy of competing with the Young Lady.
“Why are you not coming out yourself, Anxious?!”
Lady, where in the world would you find a wizard stupid enough to accept such a one-sided duel?
“As expected, a cultist like you would never know about honor! A Titan’s descendant? Truly a good match, but not for ! Andrea!”
At the Young Lady’s shout, soone appeared in front of us after cutting through the crowd of soldiers on our side.
The person was of a size comparable to my own, their body, however, was completely wrapped up in shining armor. A long sword was also carried on their shoulders, giving the person a much bigger disposition.
“Is that Andrea? The commoner who beca a knight?”
“I see, she’s quite big, isn’t she? She looks pretty skilled too.”
“But she’s still smaller than the Titan’s descendant.”
“Damn it, this is too nerve-wracking. I wanna go to the bathroom already.”
Andrea, the armored knight and Karliah, the monstrous giant, faced each other before the public’s myriad of reactions.
nacing—
I could feel a kind of tension perating the air just by the way they were facing each other. All of us gathered soldiers were left with no choice but to shut our mouths and watch on this scene with bated breaths.
Step—
It was Andrea, the knight, who moved first. She drew out the sword that was the size of her torso and quickly slipped between the giant’s legs.
She then swiftly cut the Achilles tendon and the shin of the sluggish giant. It was a neat and straightforward attack yet its effectiveness was imnse, without a shadow of a doubt.
Guaaaahh—!
The thundering, deafening scream that the giant leaked out of his mouth as his body and head twisted in pain and anguish was a testant to just how effective this attack was.
The knight then swiftly rode the bent body of the giant and raised her sword high in the sky.
“Farewell, fallen divinity!”
Andrea cut the giant’s throat with a loud cry; its body and head falling to the floor while twitching and spewing blood everywhere on the surroundings.
Wow—!
This overwhelming victory of the duel raised everyone’s morale to sky-high heights and the gathered crowd began cheering simultaneously as a result. I was glad too, fucking damn it! Did it an that we could go back now?
As expected, the countess’ knights are all as strong as monsters.
I could hear the skull-shaped cloud clicking its tongue in disappointnt.
I couldn’t bring myself to believe that a cloud was able to talk and even click its tongue. This didn’t make sense to no matter how much I tried to think about it. Magic was so fucking insane.
The Young Lady, however, didn’t look intimidated in the slightest and proudly retorted.
“We have won the duel of honor, Anxious— submit and surrender! The only reason I’m not charging at you right away is to protect the honor you wield as a professor of the Magic Tower.”
Honor? It seems I still have such a thing, huh? Thank you for reminding .
“But you’ll just be tied up and dragged around like a prisoner if you don’t yield right now! I’ll give you a minute.”
That’s very kind of you, but this bloodshed just now was just a little interlude for what’s to co. Hey, Young Lady, have you ever heard of sothing called Deity Summoning?
“Deity Summoning…?”
It’s when a mighty deity temporarily borrows a suitable body to descend into the human realm. It was initially a re theory, but I, Anxious, have discovered that the probability of a successful possession increases when the bodies of descendants from the sa lineage are being utilized.
“What are you suddenly talking about, Anxious?”
You’ll see for yourself very soon. Observe, and bow in reverence, to the authority wielded by the depths of the underworld! O, Primordial Night! The supre progeny you gave birth to… The manifestation of death— MOROS, ascend to thee lands above!
Slide—
The world imdiately went dark as the words uttered by the skull-shaped cloud ca to a close.
Black soot began spreading around the setting sun as though it had been plunged in grease-like black tar… and soon the whole world was thus shoved into the depths of perpetual darkness as though the darkest night had descended upon these lands.
It was just like a solar eclipse.
“The radiant light…”
“The sun god has hidden his head! What’s going to happen now?”
It seed to that the people of this world were interpreting this natural phenonon according to their own religious views.
Well, even to , this was quite a weird sight so I was not able to bla them.
｢ You can’t just call whenever you want, Anxious. I was doing sothing important. ｣
I heard a man’s chilling voice, and I subsequently felt a cold chill run down my back.
“L-Look! The body, the body is moving!”
With that shout, I lowered my previously lifted head, specifically, towards the convulsing corpse of the giant whose head had been cut off by the armored knight. I was surprised to see that his body had now beco whole once more.
｢ …But a contract is a contract. Rules must be obeyed. ｣
The giant then raised his head, felt his neck with his hand, and then spoke once more.
｢ Then I’ll quickly get over with this and go ho. I sentence you all to the death penalty. Now, split in half and die. ｣
Slice— Hwaaak—
At that mont, a tepid breeze blew between the gathered crowd. I had a gut feeling that moving right now would be a great mistake so I just stayed as still as I possibly could.
Jyaaaak—!
The body of Andrea the knight was perfectly split in half and it soon fell down with blood gushing out from both sides of its split halves. What the hell was that? Magic?
｢ This Deity summoning is only so-so. Looks like it would be faster to use my hands rather than utilize my divine powers. ｣
Crack— Crush—
The giant soon stooped down and grasped the body of the fallen knight before him. From the split knight’s body, the giant retrieved long and sturdy bones. And then, the giant ticulously weaved the steel plates together with the bones and ford sothing akin to a massive scythe-like weapon.
｢ Good, this should be enough against re mortals. ｣
Neigh—
“Huu, huaaa, G-Goddess of War and Honor…!”
The horses began running amok at this horrible sight, and soon Lady Enya, who was holding a long flagpole even fell down from her horse and began trembling on the ground.
“I, I, Enya, beseech you, please grant the power and courage to confront death. Bestow upon the audacity to cross the abyss of somber demise.”
｢ You managed to keep your calm even when I’m right in front of you. You’re a pretty strong mortal. You can pray all you want, but nothing can stop the power of death. That’s the rule. Now, who shall be next? ｣
An eerie silence settled over the previously bustling and chaotic plain. Not a single sound could be heard, not even the sound of breathing, or the rustling breeze of the wind.
It was so silent that ti itself seed to have stopped right now.
All of us, subrged in that silence must have had the sa thoughts.
Please don’t let it be .
｢ No one? Then I’ll choose myself, Death Grip. ｣
The scythe-wielding giant chuckled at our frightened selves and opened his palms. And at the sa ti, sothing amazing seed to have transpired in the previously silent battlefield.
“Guaa, wh-what, damn it! Damn iiiiit-!”
My body suddenly began moving as if attracted to a magnet! It was so frightening that I almost peed myself for a second!
｢ Why is it you? I actually aid for the guy next to you. Hmm, it doesn’t really matter who’s first, death has no set order after all. ｣
Float—
“Gyaaaak—!”
I tried putting my feet on the ground and digging into the ground with all my might to resist this strange magnetic power but it ended up being a futile effort.
｢ Resistance is useless. That aside, what’s this— That’s quite the weird karma you have, mortal. Why is your face painted like that? Looks like a kid scribbled on your face or sothing. ｣
Kwaaaaak—
The giant grabbed by the collar and lifted up into the air, his empty purple eyes peering into as though seeing through my whole existence. Damn it! Was this how a mouse feels after getting cornered by a cat?
Noticing how my life was so close to coming to an end, I didn’t even feel like swearing any longer.
Then the eyes that were peering into my soul widened in disbelief.
｢ Why do you have… No, our youngest should still be a young… I heard she was a young lass with pink hair… ｣
Slide—
The power of the grip holding my neck loosened ever so slightly, finally giving a chance to breathe.
｢ Hmmm, are you a girl? No, that can’t be. A woman in a man’s body…? That’s impossible too… ｣
I thought that I would be squeezed to death right there and then. The giant then began talking to himself as if he was in a big pinch. What the hell was going on here? No, I shouldn’t waste my ti in useless doubts.
｢ …Sigh, this slls like bad news. I’ll definitely be hearing from Mother. ｣
I could suddenly feel my surroundings tilting ever so slightly. It was because the giant that was holding by the collar collapsed and began rolling on the floor as if he was in great pain.
Kong— Thud—
｢ What a powerful punch! H-How dare a lowly mortal, ugh, agh! ｣
The giant flew away and began trembling on the ground. I don’t get it, fucking damn it! Just what in hell was happening right now!? Just what the fuck was this all of a sudden?!
Lord Moros! What’s happening…!
｢ I can’t handle him. What a warrior! He’s too strong—! ｣
“L-Look! That black-haired weirdo is overpowering the giant!”
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