novelraw Chapter 325: Counterattack (3)
Chapter 325: Counterattack (3)
As the morning rising sun lit up the night sky with bloody red color of the Miasma of death, the grand army began its march.
Standing at the vanguard were the Order of Extinction and the armies of the Floating Archipelago.
For having the crime of being Kromgard’s servants, they had the duty to prove their sincerity from the front lines.
Behind them were the armies of the Dwarven King and King Arcanite, leading them forward at spear point, keeping a close watch on them.
Unlike the armies of the Floating Archipelago and the Order of Extinction, former nobles of the Kingdom of Rutheginea had a much weaker armies, so they were taken apart piece by piece and spread out across between gaps of other coalition armies.
Likewise, individual ships of the Floating Archipelago were absorbed into other flotillas of the coalition fleet.
And Schnellmerker who had position equivalent to ‘the leader of the Kromgard Faction’ was brought aboard Sungchul’s ship Sylphid.
He who was still pierced by Oom Brook had to take on the role of commanding the Order of Extinction that boasted the highest firepower in the coalition army.
And thus, the preparations to make use of Kromgard’s faction army was perfect.
If they tried to betray from the frontlines, then the watch dog fleets assigned to them in the rear will stop them, sandwiching the would be traitors between the Barbarians and the watch dog fleets.The units distributed across the battlefield were in similar situations. In fact, organized attempts to resist was even more unthinkable for them.
Now that his armies were perfectly prepared to fight, Sungchul thought of ways to deal with the Barbarians’ magic formation.
The difficulty with destroying the Magic Formation lay in the sheer scale of it.
The Magic Formation was comparable in size to a city, meaning the only reliable way to destroy the magic formation would be a series of large scale barrages from multiple ships. But unless the Barbarians were completely stupid, they would never allow the ships to come close enough.
And according to intel, the Barbarians had brought over many strange monsters called Divine Beasts, some of which could even fly.
And in fact, there were four winged monstrous eye-less birds that circled overhead above the Barbarian encampment letting out terrifying noises like some wandering ghosts.
Bombardment using the fleet was out of the question.
He needed some weapon to replace the bombardments.
A merciless and unimaginably powerful weapon.
While searching through the Soul Storage, Sungchul came across the Scroll of Harmageddon.
It was a trap left to him by the Seven Heroes Vestiare.
But the scroll was designed in the way that even the person casting the spell would be caught in the blast upon ripping the scroll.
“This one is a bit iffy. I need something else. Something strong enough to destroy a city. Is there anything like that?”
Sungchul bluntly asked Bertelgia, who was idling behind him.
“A weapon strong enough to destroy a city?”
It seemed like there was something on her mind.
Sungchul asked excitedly.
“Can alchemy create such a weapon?”
Bertelgia sighed disapprovingly at Sungchul as she replied.
“You only seek out alchemy at times like this, huh?”
“…”
He had no reply to this.
Sungchul was not a good alchemist after all.
Strictly speaking, it was only a side gig at best.
Bertelgia let out another sigh after a moment and began to speak.
“Yeah, there’s nothing like that.”
“Hmm.”
Sungchul was bothered.
“But, there is something that do come to mind when you say ‘destroy a city’.”
“What? There is something after all?”
It was first he’s heard of it, a tool capable of damage not even Fal Garaz is capable of.
Bertelgia shook lightly as she answered Sungchul’s desperate plea for the answer.
“Remember the hometown of that one unnie who sang well?”
“Panchuria?”
There was nothing at Panchuria, the city floating atop the river.
Aside from gangs, scammers, and robbers.
But now that he’s thought of it, a scene came to mind as well.
It was chains.
The giant chains anchoring the city from either side of the river.
Sungchul clearly remembered. The image of how the entire city was lifted up and destroyed as the Colossus rose up from below the surface.
An object of such size and weight might be capable of doing similar damage again.
Most importantly, Sungchul had the power.
God-like power strong enough to move even such a chain.
The problem was bringing such a tool to the right place at the right time. But Sungchul who had the support of the entire human race would be able to accomplish this without much trouble.
Schnellmerker volunteered for this job.
“If we make use of advanced teleportation spell of our order, we should be able to bring such a thing here without much trouble.”
But he then pointed at Oom Brook piercing through his body.
Sungchul pulled out the weapon of Calamity out of his body without another word.
The use of the Weapon of Calmaity was polluting his mind anyway.
“I’ll vow upon my name and honor that I shall follow your command. At least for this battle.”
Schnellmerker pledged his allegiance upon his name.
Sungchul permitted Schnellmerker to withdraw.
He allowed Schnellmerker a command of his own ship and to command the Lesser Gods independently.
All commanders protested Sungchul’s decisions, but Sungchul paid them no mind.
Schnellmerker diligently carried out his duties and took it upon himself to support Sungchul with the new plan.
“…We are going to make use of two Avians.”
As if to exaggerate his good will and compliance with Sungchul’s command, Schnellmerker unhesitatingly revealed the secret behind the Order of Extinction’s advanced teleportation skill.
Anyways, the last piece of the puzzle needed to secure the victory in the final battle was finally in place.
Only thing left now was the Emperor’s response.
After all, it takes two hands to make a clap.
–
Sungchul’s message to stop the use of the Heart of the Ancient God was enough to plunge the imperial palace into chaos.
The moment the heart is stopped, the barrier surrounding the city would fade away and the Barbarians surrounding the city would come rushing in like the flood.
It would lead to the death of the city.
The small number of loyal servants remaining by the Emperor’s side desperately pled the Emperor to ignore this message.
“It could be a trap from the Barbarians.”
“And, even if we win like this, what would be the point in victory if everyone were to die?”
Their hearts and minds were closed due to a long period of mistrust and confliclt.
And the Emperor was once just like them.
But he remembered.
Of Sungchul’s changes.
In their time apart, Sungchul had grown so much that the Emperor had to look up at his back.
The Emperor now understood.
The reason behind such a short and perhaps even rude message was sent exactly because Sungchul trusted him.
Why would old friends need to explain every small detail?
The Emperor remembered an old battle long ago that had a different yet similar qualities to the current situation.
The victory they achieved by allowing the enemy to take some objectives in order to create an opening to make a critical strike, to give skin in order to take the bone so to speak. Surviving by fighting with the resolve to die.
It was a battle that well represented the way Sungchul thought.
‘That man. He wants to reenact that battle here.’
Though they were separated by a large distance, their thoughts aligned.
Once the Emperor understood Sungchul’s intentions, he gave an order with an imposing voice.
“We shall temporarily pause the use of the Heart of the Ancient God. Before we do so, have all of our people evacuate to the 4th district. We shall create the last line of defense there, until there is light from the east.”
And to this, one advisor of the Emperor asked.
“What about those from the 8th district? Should those things also be evacuated into the 4th district as well?”
8Th district. Also known as the human sewage, a garbage dump of the capital city.
The Emperor did not treat them like humans and had always considered them trash that will die on their own.
But in the face of oncoming end of the world and extinction, what was the point of discriminating between one human to another?
The Emperor broke his long held prejudice and replied in a dignified voice.
“They, too, are my people. Evacuate every last person into the 4th district. This is an order.”
Before the Heart of the Ancient God was to be stopped, an evacuation order was sent to all lower districts. From district 1 through 8, all without question.
“What do you think happened?”
Sunghae who was a resident of District 8 asked her husband, feeling both terrified and confused by the unprecedented order from the Emperor.
The man who went by the name of Kimchi fixed on his helmet and stood up from his seat.
“There’s a rumor that the Enemy of the World showed himself before the Emperor again.”
“Sungchul ssi did?”
Sunghae looked surprised.
“Most likely he moved the Emperor’s heart.”
Kimchi reached out his hand to offer to Sunghae.
They grasped each others’ hands.
“There is something I always wanted to tell you.”
Kimchi glanced out at the streets filled with the heretical statues of the Evil Gods.
It was a terrifying and quite repulsive sight.
But the environment made no difference.
Kimchi pulled on Sunghae’s hands slightly and spoke his mind.
“Thanks for always being by my side.”
“Dear…”
“No matter what happens to the world, I am in paradise. Because you are by my side.”
After a brief embrace, the couple left to join the lines leading up to the upper districts.
Though there were the terrifying war horns of the Barbarians in the distance, the couple did not let go of their hands.
–
The heart beat of the Ancient God finally stopped.
All citizens within the walls of La Grange prepared for the storm that was about to fall upon them.
The Barbarians did not take any action.
The Barbarians who were organized by tribes and clans did not move by a central command. They most often acted independently from one another by the judgements of their various chiefs.
Most of the Barbarians were lazy and indolent, but there were always exceptions.
One cunning tribal chieftain noticed that the profane heartbeat coming from beyond the walls of the castle had stopped.
Cautiously, instead of sending out one of his tribal members, he ordered a rotting corpse to be loaded onto the catapult to be fired over the wall.
The Barbarians complained and grumbled, but they did as they were told as they loaded the corpse and shit it.
If it was as normal, then the corpse would have hit an invisible wall and slide down to the mountain of corpses where the moat used to be, but the corpse flew over the wall without any obstructions.
“Jenka!”
The chieftain’s eyes opened wide in surprise.
He immediately ordered all tribal members to prepare and climb the wall.
Hundreds of Barbarians stormed forward like a cloud and climbed the walls.
Other tribes that were lazying about and napping in the daylight watched on while digging their ears.
And soon, there was an unbelievable sight.
The vanguards were able to climb over the walls with ladders without trouble.
The walls of La Grange that had withstood all sorts of punishments for all that time had finally allowed the dirty feet of the Barbarians to tread upon them.
The Barbarians excitedly jumped down the walls to loot everything they set their eyes on.
Alcohol, food, interesting toys, there was so much to be had.
Except one: Prisoners.
But the Barbarians did not mind.
They were tired out by such a long siege that even this much was enough to satisfy their urge for stimulation.
After seeing the first group of Barbarians enter the city without resistance and pillage the downtown of La Grange to their heart’s content, the other Barbarians let out a shout as they hastely formed lines to join the pillage.
The main gates were opened and the Barbarians flooded in like water.
And soon, half of La Grange was filled with Barbarians.
The people of La Grange and refugees who were located on the upper districts had to watch as the Barbarians took over the other parts of the city.
The Emperor watched everything unfold from the Floating Palace.
Thankfully, the Barbarians did not immediately launch a siege into the 4th district.
The Barbarians were too busy looting food, alcohol, and shiny objects that were spread out throughout the rest of the city in advance to be thinking of further conquest for now.
But this chaos would not last forever.
The Emperor looked to the east.
To the east where the Miasma of Death was encroaching upon the land ever closer, there was no light of hope yet from the continent.
The Barbarians were slowly becoming uninterested in food, alcohol, and toys and wanted some other forms of entertainment.
The cruel eyes of the Barbarians noticed lights dancing at the upper parts of the cities.
The bloodlust of the Barbarians spread like wildfire.
There was a round of war horns from the Barbarian side.
The Barbarians took it upon themselves to prepare for the final siege on their own.
Countless ladders were prepared, and Barbarians who scraped together metal armor made of armors plundered from the humans took to the vanguard.
Before the walls up to the 4th district, the tribesmen of the Barbarians all began to shout in unison.
“Jenka! Jenka!”
The rumbling voice coming from deep within the chest was enough to shake not only the ears but the hearts of the people left in the center of the city.
The Emperor looked down upon the Barbarians with rigid expression.
There were so many of them. And each of them had the power to rival the Champions of the Continent.
It would be impossible to stop them without the use of the Heart of the Ancient God.
Even so, this time he had made a promise to his old friend.
‘This time, I shall not betray you.’
The Emperor was resolute.
He vowed that even if he were to lose everything because of this, he would keep this one promise.
The Barbarian invasion soon began.
Countless ladders were latched onto the walls.
The soldiers waiting on standby on the walls did everything they could to push the ladders away.
Then, particularly dexterous Barbarians began to hop up the walls without any assistance from tools like grass hoppers.
And a small number of them managed to land atop the walls.
Dozens of blades came stabbing towards the invader.
But in spite of the many spears and blades piercing his body, he ripped dozens of soldiers apart and threw them down below where the other Barbarians were waiting like a swarm.
Not even 10 minutes passed since the battle began when emergency signals went up from all over the defense line.
“The western districts are requesting backup.”
“Imperial Knights on reserve has already dropped below half strength. The 4th district will fall at this rate, sire!”
The 4th district was the key defensive point for the upper districts that was in the shape of a spiral.
If the 4th district falls, the fate of the rest of the three district was clear as day.
They had to stop the Barbarians here at any cost.
The Emperor looked to the East.
There was no light yet.
For a moment, the Emperor felt a strong desire to reactivate the Heart of the Ancient God.
That was the only way to defend his country and crown.
And thus, he thought of the face of the man he so vehemently despised, Kromgard.
‘I must defeat him at any cost.’
Jealousy. Sense of defeat. And vengeance.
For the Emperor who had never once tasted defeat, Kromgard was someone he had to overcome no matter what.
That was the only way he could have his invalidated values and past returned back to him, or so he thought.
That was the pillar supporting the Emperor for the past few decades.
The Emperor balled up his fist and gripped them hard.
If he only makes one command, he could defend the capital city.
It was a difficult temptation to overcome.
But before he could make up his mind, another thought came across his head.
It was the thought about Sungchul.
The man who shouldered the world.
What would he have done?
Would he have given up so easily like this?
No. Even if his entire body were to be broken, even if all hope seems lost, he always rose back up again like a phoenix to carry out his SaMeong.
A light began to illuminate.
It was not the morning light of sun.
It was a light illuminating from deep within the Emperor’s heart. And this light eroded away the pillar of jealousy and envy from below him until it collapsed like a pillar of salt.
The Emperor stood up from his seat and ordered his subordinates.
“…Drop the Floating Palace.”
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