novelraw Chapter 94 : Chapter 94
Chapter 94 : Chapter 94
Chapter 94. Return, What Happened Before (2)
Dozens of ships, red banners fluttering, sliced through rough waves toward the harbor.
“Kandahr!”
“Sound the alarm!”
The panic began at the lighthouse.
It didn’t take long to spread throughout the harbor.
“Run!”
“Kyaa!”
Amid piercing screams, terrified citizens pushed and fell over each other,
causing casualties in the chaos.
And finally—
Boom! Boom!
With a massive crash, the red fleet’s warships slammed into the docks.
“Hahaha!”
Kandahr warriors leaped over the railings, swarming like frenzied beasts.
Behind them, a giant shadow landed, a massive axe the size of a man’s torso slung over his shoulder.
Thud!
An axe too large to believe a human could wield.
Yet an even larger man held it lightly.
“Hmm…”
A deep scar crossed one eye.
This was Drenbalk, leader of the Thunderbear Tribe, commanding this fleet.
“No prisoners. Kill them all.”
At his command, the warriors moved even more ferociously.
Their sole purpose for coming this far was clear.
“Remove anything in our way. We came here for Lansed.”
Lansed Academy.
That was the reason they set foot in this harbor.
***
They dared to invade here!
Everhart Mylon, tasked with protecting the Academy in the Dean’s stead.
To him, the barbarians reaching this place was a scenario he hadn’t even considered.
Crack! Bang!
But the threat became reality.
Outside the Academy’s walls, three thousand barbarians were already laying siege.
“Listen, all of you! We must not let them breach the walls!”
“Yes!”
Everhart fired arrows from the ramparts, desperately holding them off.
But the Academy’s fighting force was only two to three hundred, including non-combat staff scraped together.
Damn it! How did they get here? Do they have that many troops to spare?
Three thousand was too large a force for mere raiding.
This was a deliberate invasion with a clear purpose.
Indeed, Drenbalk had brought his entire tribe, aiming solely for the Academy.
Standing before the walls, he silently watched his warriors, who hadn’t yet breached the interior.
Then, with cold eyes, he issued a stern warning.
“Break the gate. Anyone not inside by sunset will lose their head to my axe.”
At Drenbalk’s words, the barbarian warriors grew even more frenzied.
They climbed the walls like madmen and charged to smash the gate.
Even as comrades fell beside them, they pressed on, consumed by frenzy.
Thud! Thud!
The reason the Academy could hold against this ferocious assault was the powerful magic placed on it by the scholarly mage professors.
“The gate won’t be breached. So we hold the walls!”
Everhart trusted the sturdy gate and continued the defense.
But Drenbalk, observing this, slowly lowered the axe from his shoulder to the ground.
“Move.”
Dragging the massive axe, he walked toward the gate.
The imposing sight made Everhart, watching from the walls, unable to shake a bad feeling.
That man is dangerous.
He immediately nocked an arrow.
The arrow flew like lightning, but Drenbalk neither blocked nor dodged.
Instead, his warriors threw themselves to shield him.
Flesh was pierced, and blood sprayed, but Drenbalk didn’t flinch, his steps unwavering.
“Magic, huh.”
Reaching the gate, he gripped the giant axe with both hands.
His arm muscles bulged, veins swelling as if they’d burst.
The massive axe swung through the air toward the gate.
Crack!
The barrier around the gate shattered in an instant.
Blue mana scattered and dissipated.
Confirming this, Drenbalk raised the axe again.
Crunch!
This time, the gate itself split.
Wood splinters and metal fragments flew as the massive door broke in half.
The Academy’s final line of defense crumbled.
“Instructor! The gate’s been breached!!”
“No way! That was a 6th-circle defensive barrier!”
The Academy was designed to serve as a fortress in emergencies.
The gate, especially, was nearly impervious to ordinary attacks.
Yet it was destroyed in just two strikes.
That gate was a barrier even the Dean couldn’t breach easily. Who is this man… Could it be Bakan?
There was no time to ponder the enemy’s identity.
Through the broken gate, barbarians flooded in like a tidal wave.
“Kill all who resist. But don’t kill the young ones. They’re only useful alive.”
“Raaar!!!”
The Thunderbear barbarians rampaged like unleashed beasts, trampling the Academy.
To oppose them, Everhart leaped from the walls to face them.
Clang!
The moment his weapon clashed with a barbarian warrior’s, Everhart grimaced.
What monstrous strength!
Each warrior’s power was beyond imagination.
The brute force from their bulging muscles required four or five men to counter.
Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered and outmatched, Everhart and the instructors fought fiercely to hold them back.
“We must at least buy time for the kids to escape! Hold on!”
At that moment, a massive shadow lunged from the chaos, charging at Everhart.
Boom!!
The ground split, and the impact spread.
Barely blocking Drenbalk’s axe, Everhart felt searing pain as if his grip was tearing apart.
“Where’s the Dean, and why’s a guy like you here?”
“He has no time to deal with scum like you!”
“Scum?”
“Haa!”
Everhart summoned his full strength instantly.
His sword struck like a storm, and the barbarian warriors couldn’t even approach him.
Clang! Clang!
But Drenbalk stood firm, blocking every strike without batting an eye.
“Haa!”
In an instant, Everhart swung his sword down with all his might.
It was a blow infused with his essence.
“Not bad…”
Drenbalk grabbed the blade with his bare hand.
The energy in the sword dispersed and faded uselessly.
No way. He caught my sword barehanded.
Everhart pressed the blade, aiming to cut through his hand, but the sword wouldn’t budge, as if embedded in solid rock.
Drenbalk, losing interest, pursed his lips in disappointment.
“Pretty pathetic for someone guarding in place of the Dean.”
With those words, his grip tightened on the blade.
And in one motion, he snapped the sword.
Crack!
As the broken blade fragments flew, Drenbalk’s fist tore through the air and struck.
The impact pierced the armor, bending metal and breaking bones.
“Guh!”
Everhart spat blood and fell to his knees.
His breath caught, and his vision blurred.
This one has strength beyond an Executor. I can’t let him go.
Gritting his teeth, he gripped the broken sword again.
Mustering his remaining energy, he infused the blade with his last strength.
The remaining blade glowed blue.
“Hnngh!”
Kneeling, Everhart thrust the sword with all his might.
The target: Drenbalk’s abdomen.
It was his best strike.
But.
Clang!
His broken sword was blocked by Drenbalk’s axe.
“Pathetic.”
Dropping the axe, he clenched his fist.
With a sound like tearing air, the fist came down, striking Everhart’s head directly.
Thud!
His body bounced in the air and crashed into the dirt.
Blood flowed from his face as he lay face-down.
“Take this one. He’ll be useful.”
Drenbalk said, looking down at the bloodied Everhart.
“Chief! What about the rest?”
With the head instructor down, the desperately holding instructors and assistants began to fall one by one.
Their hands, gripping swords, lost strength, and the fallen crawled in their final struggles.
Drenbalk scanned them with cold eyes and issued a ruthless order.
“Kill them all.”
Without even a proper scream, the instructors and assistants’ heads rolled one by one.
“Set this place ablaze. Make sure any hiding rats come crawling out.”
Soon, the smell of blood mingled with flames engulfing the Academy.
Beyond the red blaze, a warrior approached and reported to him.
“We’ve captured the hiding cadets! But some seem to have escaped through a doggy door. Shall we pursue?”
Drenbalk waved his hand dismissively.
“No need. Chasing stragglers scattered in the forest would waste time. That much doesn’t matter.”
His gaze turned to the cadets the warriors had dragged in.
Tear-streaked, terrified faces, bodies trembling like aspen trees, some with wet pants.
“Take the captured ones to join Bakan. These kids are bait and sacrifices for the capital’s siege.”
Bakan’s right hand, Drenbalk, made a cold decision without hesitation.
The young cadets of the Military Academy were bound in cold chains, dragged away without the strength to scream.
At that moment, the dormitory tower of Lansed, engulfed in flames, collapsed with a massive explosion.
Boom!
The collapsing tower seemed to symbolize the Kingdom’s tragic downfall.
The children, with that horrific scene as their last sight, were dragged away by the barbarians in despair.
***
A week passed, and I, Evan, stepped heavily into the ruined Academy.
My face was shadowed with despair.
Everything was burned.
The walls were blackened, and blood had dried on the stone floor.
Scorched bodies lay scattered everywhere.
“Instructors… Assistants…”
“They’re already rotting, crawling with maggots.”
All that remained in this once-vibrant place was death and despair.
“What in the…”
“Judging by the state of the bodies, they’ve been left for at least a week. But with a place this large, there shouldn’t be so few bodies.”
There should’ve been hundreds of cadets and instructors, yet the number of bodies here didn’t match.
A faint hope sprouted in a corner of my heart.
The hope that someone might still be alive.
In truth, I knew the chances of survivors were slim, and even slimmer that they’d stay in this place.
Yet, I searched the ash-covered Academy desperately for survivors.
“It’s futile. Expecting anyone to have survived and be waiting for rescue is unrealistic. Even if someone did survive, why would they stay here?”
“Be quiet!”
Despite Gaiard’s pessimistic attitude, I didn’t stop searching.
Deep down, I hoped to find even one living person.
Holding that hope, I wandered through the collapsed buildings.
At one point, as I passed a certain spot—
“Haa…”
A faint breath mixed with the wind reached my ears.
The doggy door!
Catching the sound, I rushed toward its source.
Near the doggy door, I saw a familiar face.
“E… Evan? How are you…”
“Instructor Nell?”
His face was smeared with dirt and blood, but it was unmistakably Nell Verind.
Behind him, about forty cadets leaned on each other, huddled together.
“What happened here?”
At my question, Nell Verind couldn’t speak for a while.
His eyes held a deep darkness.
“…The Kandahr Tribe invaded. Those beastly bastards massacred the instructors and assistants.”
The name Kandahr sparked a reaction, not from me, but from Gaiard, who appeared late.
“Ha! Those savage bastards finally caused trouble.”
At his appearance, Nell’s eyes sharpened.
“Danger, Evan!”
Recognizing Gaiard as an enemy, Nell drew his sword instantly.
“No, Instructor!”
Before I could finish, Nell swung his sword, and Gaiard, looking exasperated, raised a blade-like hand.
At that moment, I stepped between them.
Clang!
I didn’t just block the sword; I knocked it away in one motion.
“Please, listen to me!”
Nell’s eyes wavered.
He had swung with full force.
A sword he’d never lost, even in battles against the barbarians.
But I deflected it so easily.
That meant one thing: My strength surpassed his.
“Evan… What happened to you?”
Nell asked, clutching his aching wrist.