Chapter 97: CH 97

Massacre Part 3

Translator: Skythewood, Frostfire10

The two armies formed their battle lines along the gentle slopes of the Kazte plains, staring each other down.

The Kingdom had 200,000 and the Emprire had 60,000.

There was a huge difference between their troops. The Kingdom had too many, and the Empire had too few. Yet neither showed any sign of apprehension.

The Kingdom did indeed have an overwhelming number of troops. However in terms of individual strength, the Empire had the advantage.

The soldiers conscripted had only been to this battlefield and had not learnt how to use weapons. Most had no armour and went only with weapon in hand. There were few that were not scared of the battlefield.

In contrast, the knights were equipped in full armour and were forged by training after training and battlefield after battlefield. In a war, most had come here prepared.

If there was such a stark difference in physical abilities and morale, overwhelming troop numbers were not enough to secure an advantage.

Even so, it was a simple fact that there was a vast disparity in the military power of both sides. Although it would not be a problem if they could fight forever without fatigue, they were only human. Once they got tired, even the difference in their individual abilities would eventually be caught up to.

And the Empire did not wish to lose any knights. One could understand this just by considering the amount of time needed to train a knight. A conscript and a knight. The loss was of a different scale.

Moving this many soldiers during the harvest period would result in the national power being lowered. The cost of having such a large war and to learn of the nobles that he should be wary of, Jircniv had acted . And so even if the Empire retreated, they would still maintain an advantage.

That was why most of the wars have ended with them glaring at each other.

This would be the same. Or some half of the Kingdom’s nobles naively believed.

Usually after some light skirmishes, the Empire would charge once and then retreat.

However, after the knights had deployed from the castrum, they had not moved.

“They’re not moving.”

Marquis Raeven stood beside Gazef, speaking quietly as he surveyed the Empire’s formation.

This place was the safest place in the formation since it was surrounded by Gazef’s elite warriors and Marquis Raeven’s personal soldiers.

That was why Marquis Raeven could calmly look at the Empire’s knights.

While he had said that they were not moving, Gazef understood that he meant that they had yet to begin the attack.

The Empire showed no intentions of moving.

As Marquis Raeven said, the Empire did not seem to move after being deployed from the castrum. Despite the fact that the final negotiations were over and it was time to settle things with swords.

That was why the Kingdom could not do anything.

It would be dangerous if the Kingdom were to charge first. And the Empire usually attacked with their knights and the Kingdom would attack with their spear formations. There were nobles who had attacked the Empire first, but they were defeated instantly and brought great loses to the Kingdom.

Thus, the Kingdom would construct a spear wall and focus on defense. And sometimes it would break, and the men would be trampled.

“It is normal for the Empire’s heavy cavalry to take some time. It seems that there’s movement in the castrum so just a bit longer.”

Gazef looked far away, and got a strange feeling from the movement within the Empire’s formation.

There was quite the distance, but to an excellent warrior like Gazef, he could feel the slight changes in the air.

“While it is the usual pattern, I am not good with this tense atmosphere. It feels better to say things that I don’t like out loud, it’s quite relieving.”

“True. The left wing is moving strangely.”

“Ah, Marquis Boullope.”

The two wings of the Kingdom had the soldiers of the Noble Faction, and the centre was of the Royal Faction. The wings had fifty thousand each and the centre had one hundred thousand.

“Rather than panicking, it seems he is angry. The thousand troops sent to capture Enri have yet to return. I believe Marquis Boullope is very unhappy.”

Gazef recalled the face of the noble he had seen before the war. Of course, it was not intentional.

“Well, he might think that they’ll simply return late, but they are probably all dead.”

“….Even if he did lose them, isn’t a thousand a large number?”

“The loss of a thousand is not much.”

While those of the Noble Faction might write off a thousand deaths, Gazef could not stomach the loss of a thousand commoners and made a worried expression.

Gazef was originally a commoner. Yet he had to see men like him die. Marquis Raeven noticed this and apologised.

“Apologies. I said too much.”

“No. I understand Marquis Raeven’s perspective. Pay me no heed.”

Marquis Raeven was looking at things at a level higher than Gazef. While Gazef believed that it was a waste to lose a thousand lives, Marquis Raeven was looking at the Kingdom’s future were a thousand lives were a small price to pay. They could not be said to be right or wrong.

“Oh. It seems they’re making their move.”

The Imperial army slowly parted in two, to make a path. A group of soldiers slowly proceeded down it. They beared a strange flag that neither Gazef nor Marquis Raeven had ever seen before.

However, the two were fixated.

And Gazef was at a loss for words. He recalled a certain battle.

Those were Death Knights. The undead soldier that served Ainz Ooal Gown. An existence that Gazef would have to go all out on if he were to fight one.

There was—

“—This many? Impossible.”

Gazef felt sweat run down his forehead.

There were 300 Death Knights. The Kingdom had 200,000.

300 vs 200,000. It was a winnable battle. However, that was if they were facing humans that could tire. They could be defeated once drained, and so the violence of numbers was useful.

However, when facing creatures that could not tire like the undead, that threat would not decrease over time.

Basically the chance of victory was low even with two hundred thousand. No, even if Gazef could not tire, with those three hundred, they could kill all those present.

“This is bad….”

Seeing Gazef’s frowning face, Marquis Raeven spoke in a grim voice.

“Those are Skeletal Dragons. A terrifying undead. And looking at Gazef-dono’s reaction, the ones riding them seem to be quite the strong enemy.”

“Yes. They are the warriors of Ainz Ooal Gown who I fought to a standstill.”

“….Those.”

Marquis Raeven was shocked, but he soon nodded.

The undead troops slowly spread out and stood in front of the Imperial troops. Since there were three hundred creatures in front of sixty thousand men, there was a large gap in between them and did not seem threatening. However, Marquis Raeven saw Gazef’s reaction and felt that no level of caution was enough.

“Understood. If we fight them head on, we will face tremendous casualties. For the plan….Let’s send out the soldiers of the Noble Faction to grind them down. I shall ask the King for permission for the Noble Faction to face the Archduke.”

Marquis Raeven and Gazef, who had been looking at the Empire’s troops, both made a blank face.

Suddenly, a black wall appeared in front of the Archduke’s troops. It was not large. About three metres high and two metres wide. Two people then appeared from it.

A man wearing a mask, and the ex-Head Magician of the Empire, Fluder.

“That is Ainz Ooal Gown.”

“Him.”

Hearing Gazef’s unconscious mummur, Marquis Raeven took a good look at Ainz.

The person who had become a major topic in the Kingdom who might control a magic power that was out of this world.

Ainz waved his arm. In response, a magic circle sprang into existence, roughly ten meters in radius and shaped like a dome. It was centered on him. Seeing how Fluder was within its boundaries, it did not seem harmful, yet it was a dreamlike scene.

The magic circle glowed bluish-white, and translucent symbols appeared across its length and breadth. The sigils changed with kaleidoscopic speed, shifting between runes and letters that nobody had ever seen before.

The Kingdom’s troops gasped out in surprise.There was no fear or tension in their voices, like they were watching a beautiful show.

However, to those two, they felt a strong unease from that giant magic formation.

“I’m returning to my unit. Gazef-dono, please protect His Majesty.”

“Got it. I shall protect His Majesty.”

As Gazef said that, he turned back towards the centre formation, where countless flags were being hung.

“Then, let’s begin.”

The two men hurriedly flew into action. However it was all too late.

◆

Nobody’s there.

After Ainz deployed his magic circle, that was what he had thought.

There are no players in the Kingdom.

Yggdrasil’s super-tier magic was incredibly powerful. Thus, it had a penalty until it was casted. It was a system where it was stronger the longer it was casted for.  And if one’s allies used more of them, there was an additional time penalty. This was implemented by the developers to prevent super-tier magic from ending guild wars.

Basically, it also meant that the longer it was held, the stronger it got.

Because of that, during a large-scale battle, bringing down a person who could cast super-tier spells first was a basic tactic. One could hamper one’s opponents in many ways. Teleportation assaults, for instance. Bombardment from atop a magic carpet. Pinpoint shooting from extreme range. There were countless methods to accomplish that aim.

However, no attacks like these came toward Ainz. In turn, that proved that there were no Yggdrasil players present.

Under his mask, Ainz smiled, a fact which went unseen by anyone. Of course, his skeletal face could not form a smile.

“So I don’t need to serve as bait, then?”

Whispering that, Ainz opened his gloved hand. In it was a tiny hourglass.

“Cash Item”

Ainz spoke in the tone of a certain popular blue cat robot. And without hesitation, he crushed it. And Ainz’s, no, Suzuki Satoru’s two lunches worth of cash flew away.

If he used a cash item, he could immediately cast the super-tier spell. The reason why he had not done this was because he was serving as bait to verify the existence of any possible players from Yggdrasil. However, if there were none, then there was no need to wait out the long casting time for the spell.

The particles of sand leaking from the shattered hourglass moved against the wind and flowed into the magic circle surrounding Ainz.

And then— the super-tier spell activated instantly.

“<Tribute to the Black Bounty (Ia Shub-Niggurath)>!”

A black wind blew, racing past the Kingdom’s army.

No, there was no physical wind blowing. Neither the scattered weeds growing on the plains or the hairs on the heads of the Kingdom’s soldiers had been touched.

There were fifty thousand men in the left wing of the Kingdom’s army.

Every single one of them was slain in an instant.

◆

What on earth happened? Nobody could answer immediately. Every living creature that comprised the left wing of the Kingdom’s army had suddenly collapsed to the ground. The ones who realized the answer first were the Imperial troops.

It took a while for the human mind to properly parse the events that had just transpired before their eyes. So after a short delay, shouts of panic rose into the air, becoming a great wave that engulfed the entire Imperial Army.

Certainly, they knew Ainz Ooal Gown was going to cast a spell after he had deployed his magic circle. However, who could have possibly anticipated such a horrifying spell?

It was a terrifying magic that stole the lives of fifty thousand people in an instant.

However, there was one person who let out a cry of joy.

“Magnificent….”

It was the man standing next to Ainz, Fluder.

In front of such a powerful spell, a cry of joy leaked out of him. He knew that Ainz was a powerful magic caster without equal. But tasting that power directly let Fluder feel something that could not be put into words.

Excitement sparked down his back.

Seeing him, Ainz happily told him something else.

“Why do you look so satisfied? My spell is not yet finished.”

When one makes an offering to the Black Goddess of the Bountiful Harvest, she will reciprocate with a gift of her offspring.

And just as ripened fruit would fall to the earth in the fullness of time—

Who was the first ones to notice it? No one knew. However, it was probably the Empire’s knights.

It was expected that the knights, watching from afar, from a safe distance, would see it first. Because they felt safe, they dared to peer outside from the narrow slits in their helmets.

After the black mass stole the lives of the Kingdom’s soldiers— And after it disappeared in the sky.

In the sky— was a repulsive black sphere which seemed to pollute the world with its very presence.

Seeing their neighbour looking up, they would too. And thus, all of the Empire’s knights silently gazed at the floating sphere.

Their eyes could not leave it. That sphere that seemed to be rejected by the world.

It was not only the Empire that could not look away. Many of the Kingdom’s soldiers were silently staring at the expanding floating sphere.

Be it fighting or fleeing, no human could engage in any meaningful thought or activity. All they could do was stare dumbly.

And eventually— the ripened fruit fell.

The falling sphere broke apart when it touched the earth.

It burst like a water balloon striking the ground, or perhaps like an overripe fruit doing the same.

It was full of something that spread out from the point of impact. It was something like coal tar. It absorbed the light, like a wave of infinitely-expanding black stickiness, and it swallowed the corpses of the dead Kingdom soldiers.

Informed by a strange instinct, nobody thought it would end there. They had a premonition, that this was only the beginning.

Suddenly, a vast tree grew from the black tar that covered the earth.

No, that was nothing as pleasant as a tree.

At first, there was only one of them, but then it multiplied. Two, three, five, ten… these objects waved in the absence of the wind. What was grew there… were tentacles.

[MEEEEEEHHHH!!]

Suddenly, they heard the adorable bleating of a goat. It was not just one goat. It was as though a herd of goats had appeared out of nowhere.

As though drawn by the sound, the coal tar writhed up, and it seemed to vomit forth something.

It was something that was far too strange, too unnatural.

It was five meters in height. If one added the length of the tentacles, that figure became unclear.

At a glance, it resembled some sort of turnip. In place of leaves, it had numberless black tentacles, and its thick root portion was a slab of meat covered in frightening lumps. Below that were five legs, like those of a goat’s, tipped with black hooves.

Fissures appeared on the root-like portion of its anatomy, a thick slab of meat covered in lumps, as it peeled and split open in multiple places at once. And then—

[MEEEEEEHHHH!!]

The adorable bleating of goats rang forth from those fissures. They were gaping maws that oozed sticky drool.

There were five of them.

They displayed their hideous bodies to everyone on the Katze Plains.

The Dark Young of the Black Goat.

These monsters appeared in proportion to the number of deaths caused by the super-tier spell <Sacrifice to the Black Bounty (Ia Shub Niggurath)>. Although they did not possess any powerful special abilities, they were outstandingly resilient.

Moreover, they were all over level 90.

The world was silent.

There was no other sound besides the bleating of sheep. However, unable to believe the scene before them, and unable to confirm it, no one spoke. Despite there being two hundred and sixty thousand men present, no one spoke a word.

Ainz gleefully smiled.

“Look, Fluder. It’s a new record. Even I have never summoned five before. It seems I have to be grateful that so many people have assembled here.”

The Dark Young were summoned based on the total levels of the dead killed by <Sacrifice to the Black Bounty (Ia Shub Niggurath)>. Under normal circumstances, being able to call forth one of the Dark Young was not bad. Being able to bring out two was a rarity.

And now, there were five.

Just like a player who was celebrating over beating his own high score, Ainz was overjoyed by the fact that he had set this new record. In Ainz’s mind, they were not humans, but points to be collected.

“Congratulations, Master.”

Bowing towards the ecstatic Ainz, Fluder’s respect for that powerful magic deepened another level.

He thought, to this person, that was still just child’s play. And in fact, one of the world’s strongest spells was cast before him. A spell that he thought he could never reach. But, as long as he stuck to this man, hope rose within him.

“It truly is amazing, Master.”

The bright voice that came from the mysterious noble rode on the wind to reach the ears of the knights.

The clattering of metal could be heard from the Empire’s formation.

It was the sound of armor clattering against itself.

The bodies of those wearing them were shivering. No one could laugh. There was no one who did not get goosebumps by hearing the joyful cry of a magic caster who had released such a terrifying summoning spell.

Every knight present was thinking the same thing.

Please let Archduke Ainz Ooal Gown was a reasonable person. Please let him be our ally.

It looked more like a prayer to the gods.

As if praying to an evil god or a god of misfortune, they hoped that he would not turn on them.

As the soldiers pleaded sincerely behind his back, Ainz began the next phase. He felt that he had already done enough, but he was in high spirits, and felt that it might be better to kill a little more to be sure.

He felt that this was a chance to become a hero in the Empire by showing further overwhelming pressure.

“Now, let’s begin. You may begin trampling.”

As they received the command of their summoner Ainz, the Dark Young began to move slowly.

Their five goat legs moved in a bizarre gait as they segued into swift motion. It was not so much graceful as energetic, and perhaps one might smile to see it.

As long as they did not come for you.

Their vast bodies moved lightly, and the five Dark Young broke into a run as they hurtled towards the Kingdom’s army.

◆

“Is this a dream?”

A soldier from the Royal Army muttered to himself, far from the inhuman monsters. Of course, he received no answer. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the scene unfolding before them, and they had lost the power of speech.

“Hey, this is a dream, right? I must be dreaming, right?”

“Ahh. This is a fucking nightmare.”

The second time the question was asked, someone managed to answer. But their voices sounded like they wanted to run away from reality.

Impossible.

I don’t want to believe this.

Thoughts like these spread through the infantry. Even as the lumbering shapes grew steadily larger— even as the inhuman beings approached them, they still did not want to accept that this was reality.

If they were simple monsters, perhaps they might have been able to gather up the courage to raise their weapons. However, the monsters which had appeared after an entire wing of the army had been slaughtered in an instant could not possibly be simple monsters. It was like watching an advancing hurricane, and nobody could muster up the courage to brave the storm.

One could call the figure of an anomalously large figure running on its stumpy legs to be cute. But that was only if one was in a safe place.

“Get your spears up!”

A voice rang out.

One of the nobles was shouting.

“Spears up! Get your spears up!! Get your spears up if you want to live!!!”

Acting on reflex, the soldiers raised and set their spears, forming a braced spear line.

The reason left in their heads recalled what the spears in their hands were for. However, they also realised that they could do nothing else.

Given the speed at which those bizarre creatures approached, escape would probably be impossible. Even if they ran with all their strength, they would still be squashed flat from behind.

They prayed that the monsters would not come for them, even as they braced for their charge.

And the shockwave hit them.

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It was like a dumptruck smashing into a swarm of rats.

The soldiers of the Kingdom raised countless spears in trembling hands. But what use were they against the massive, solid bodies of the Dark Young? The spears snapped like toothpicks without so much as scratching the Dark Young.

Even the soldiers wielding their spears lost their lives in an instant. It was perfectly natural.

Without magic weapons, how were those monsters going to be hurt.

Within the ranks of the Kingdom’s troops, the giant bodies of the Dark Young rampaged.

They screamed and they screamed and they screamed.

Gobbets of meat flew through the air. They had not come from just one or two people, but tens, hundreds of victims. They were stamped flat by the enormous hooves, and thrown— no, flung away by the waving tentacles.

Be they patricians or plebeians, now they were all the same chunks of bloody flesh. Everyone was the same in the face of death.

Surely they must have been satisfied after crushing countless humans underfoot, but they showed no signs of stopping.

The Dark Young began to run.

They ran on. They did not stop while in the midst of the Kingdom’s forces, simply running on.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Abbaaaaaaahhhhhh!!”

“Stoooooooooooooop!”

“Save meeeeeeeeeee!’

“Noooooooooooooooo!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!”

The screams rose up every time those gigantic hooves came down. It blended with the sound of humans pulping under the Dark Young’s mighty legs, and the sound as they playfully batted humans away with their tentacles. It continued.

Trampled.

What better word was there to describe this scene?

Several people desperately thrust their pikes forward. The Dark Young, whose bodies were massive and who had no intention to evade the attacks, were hit solidly by the points. However, the pikes could not pierce deeply enough to cause harm to their slab-like bodies.

In the time it took for them to realise that panicked attacks had no meaning, the Dark Young had trampled into the middle of the centre troops.

“Run away!! Run away!!”

They heard the shouts from the distance. In response, all the soldiers began to flee. It was exactly like a swarm of spiders scattering in all directions. But of course, the Dark Young were much faster than human beings.

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat—

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat—

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat—

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat—

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat—

The sounds of humans being crushed to death and turned into chunks of meat went on and on.

“Retreat!! Retreat!!”

The way Raeven shouted these orders was closer to a wail.

Nothing could be done to such creatures. Humans could not touch them.

As they heard Raeven’s words, the surrounding soldiers threw down their arms and fled in a panic.

“Ainz Ooal Gown. So he’s this powerful of a magic caster.”

He regretted it. That he had not imagined something of this scale.

As Marquis Raeven looked at the rampaging monsters, he continued to shout at the surrounding soldiers.

“This isn’t a battlefield any more, it’s a killing floor! Just run!”

“My lord!” a knight said as he removed his helmet. “The King! What about the King?”

“You idiot! There’s no time for that! My lord! It’s coming right for us!”

The Dark Young figure was larger than before. It was steadily heading towards them. Rather than saying that it was aiming for Marquis Raeven, it was probably just running in a random direction. In truth, the other Dark Young were far away from where Raeven was.

“Where’s the King?!”

“He’s there!”

He saw the royal flag in the direction where the soldier was pointing, but a Dark Young was already bearing down on it.

Raeven hesitated. What could he do if he went to help? However, if King Ranpossa III was lost here, the entire country might come apart.

However—

“My lord! Please run! Humans cannot defeat such monsters! Hurry!”

Yes. That was the case. Even if the Kingdom’s Strongest, Gazef wielded his sword, he could not defeat it.

“Matching two hundred thousand troops with just one man. Impossible! How does that even work! Isn’t he stronger than Landfall!”

“My lord!”

It was closer to a scream that human speech. Hearing the soldier’s warning, the Marquis replied with a shout.

“I got it! I’m running!”

The sound of hooves was close. He could not turn around due to fear. That was why Marquis Raeven smacked his horse.

In the confusion, a group of horses were running away. Most men had given up on controlling the horses, or rather the horses were escaping in sheer confusion and the men felt that it was better to leave everything to the horses.

The horse could bear this fear due to its training of a warhorse. If it were a regular horse, it would not be able to move from fear.

“That magic caster’s a monster! How can someone like him be allowed to exist in the world?!”

Raeven cursed Ainz as his horse jerked up and down in its top-speed gallop.

“Dammit! We have to do something! I need to think of some way to protect our world — our future!”

While feeling the horse pulsating beneath him, Marquis Raeven dashed off while protected by soldiers. When he returned, he would converse with Renner and come up with plans to face that ridiculous magic caster. If this went on, all of humanity would be conquered.

But Marquis Raeven had one misconception.

Marquis Raeven looked at the Dark Young’s rampage and believed that they were not sentient. However, he thought that having them rampage with their large bodies was the best way to fight. It was the best method to kill the most weaklings.

Marquis Raeven saw it coming his way and thought that it was a mere coincidence. But was that the case? Or could it tell from the soldiers final yells that he was the overall commander?

In reality, the Dark Young’s intelligence was impossibly high compared to its appearance. It was about the same as a human.

[MEEEEEEHHHH!!]

The Dark Young cry out from close behind.

The sweat poured off Marquis Raeven’s head like a waterfall. He was so afraid that he did not dare turn around, but he could sense the air behind him getting warmer and warmer.

And then, he heard it again—

[MEEEEEEHHHH!!]

Hmm. He believed that he was protected by the soldiers on horseback.

Then what happened to the sound of hoofbeats?

He heard one giant hoof. And as if erased, the other hoofbeats stopped.

His heart lurched in his chest.

He realized there was a massive shadow beneath his feet ─ his body carried by the speeding horse ─ and that a long and thick tentacle was reaching out for him.

“No…”

The horse ran like it had gone mad. It was faster than Raeven had ever ridden it. It might have been the fastest it had ever gone. Even so, the mighty shadow still stretched out across the earth.

“I don’t want this!”

Marquis Raeven’s eyes widened and forced his horse onwards without looking back.

He could not die yet. It did not matter what happened to the country. If it was to fall, then let it fall. If taking up arms against Ainz Ooal Gown meant death, then he was willing to abandon this country and flee.

He had been an idiot.

Truly, he had been an idiot.

He was a fool for trying to manage the Noble and Royal Factions by coming to this battlefield. Since he knew how powerful Ainz Ooal Gown was, he should have stayed in the Royal Capital no matter the cost.

He would not think of the Kingdom’s future any more.

“I don’t want this!”

He could not die yet.

He could not die while his son was still so young. And… he could not leave his beloved wife alone by dying.

“I don—”

Raeven imagined the form of his son before him.

My lovely boy.

A tiny little life had been born. It slowly grew up. It got sick. Back then, he had made a huge fuss because of that. The image of himself running around half-mad, bellowing orders, while his wife sat there in silence was deeply embarrassing.

His hands were soft and his cheeks were rosy. When he grew into a youth, he would be the talk of the Kingdom.

He believed his son’s abilities would surpass his own. He could already see traces of that from time to time.

His wife said that it was the delusions of a parent but that was definitely not the case.

Raeven was deeply grateful to his wife, who had bore his beloved son. However, he rarely said so because it embarrassed him.

It was time for a second child.

If he had not come to this battlefield, he might have been able to hold their hands—

He lost consciousness in an instant.

The last thing he heard was the sound of meat being crushed, and Marquis Raeven’s consciousness disappeared.

In the midst of the fleeing soldiers, Gazef slowly looked forward.

Gazef drew his sword in response to the charging Dark Young. There were no soldiers near Gazef.

“If I let it past me, the King’s main camp is next.”

As he felt the earth trembling under his feet, Gazef exhaled forcefully. He gripped the sword in his hands tightly, and raised it.

Seeing the giant bodies crushing humans in its wake, how did he feel?

If it were a runaway horse cart, he could easily get control of it. Even if a ferocious tiger pounced him, he could evade its first blow and strike off its head. Even he could not imagine what would happen in front of the Dark Young.

Of course, his chances of survival seemed very low indeed.

“Please take care of the King.”

Despite knowing that it would not reach his subordinates, he still spoke.

He had not sent them away to hide, but to protect the King.

Compared to the monsters approaching, even if the soldiers put their lives on the line, all they could do was serve as meatshields that would crumble after one hit.

“Huuuuu!”

As Gazef breathed out, a dramatic change appeared in the flow of people around him. Until now they had gone in all directions, but now it seemed like they were moving to avoid Gazef. It looked as though they were creating a clear path between Gazef and the Dark Young.

The Dark Young continued splattering humans under its feet as it closed in.

Gazef wielded his sword and look at it. Where would be the best place to strike. He activated a martial art called Weak Point. But—

“—It has no weaknesses.”

Gazef did not know if that was because it truly had no weaknesses, or because it was so much more powerful than him that he could not read them. Still, he did not despair. He had expected that much, after all.

He activated another martial art.

The ability that could be called a sixth sense, Future Sight.

“Come, monster.”

The Dark Young seemed to have heard the challenge, and set a course straight for Gazef. The distance between the two shrank dramatically.

To be honest.

Gazef was afraid. If it was at all possible, he would have liked to flee with the surrounding soldiers. Since his senses were strengthened by Future Sight, he could tell several things. Judging by the way its hooves remained undamaged, it was likely that normal swords would not be able to deal any harm to it. From the deep prints it left in the ground where it stepped, its weight would instantly kill anyone it was applied to.

The more he learned about it, the more his fear of it grow.

Right now, Gazef was exposed to a terror far more intense than those of the soldiers fleeing willy-nilly around him. But he could not turn back. The Kingdom’s strongest warrior could not run.

—The Dark Young closed in.

It was close enough that the clods of dirt kicked up by its hooves could reach Gazef.

It ignored the soldiers around it, like they were nothing but crawling worms, and headed straight for Gazef.

“I should have come will everything equipped.”

He should have come in full armour. He should have ignored the worries of being looked at with strange eyes by the nobles.

Gazef regretted it, but it was too late. This was the result of being overconfident in his sword. No, even if he had come in full armour, nothing would have changed.

The Dark Young closed in. With a force that shook the earth.

Gazef slipped past the fleeing soldiers and ran towards the Dark Young.

Rushing past the crowd, he stomped forward one foot at a time. Should he be attacked from the front, he could not avoid it as it was far too wide.

With a foot of almost fifty centimetres, the Dark Young charged forward. And with that—

“—Yeeart!”

Gazef swung his sword. At this speed, the enemy’s own velocity would become a weapon that would tear itself apart on the edge of his blade.

In the instant the hoof touched the sword, a massive impact travelled up the weapon and into Gazef’s arms. It made him feel as though his arms had been torn off.

His feet, planted firmly in the ground, left two trenches in the dirt as he was dragged backward.

“Gwaaargh!”

Somehow, he had kept his grip on his sword, but pain spread through his entire body. Be it his muscles or his tendons, every part of him hurt from the stress it had to bear.

Gazef panted heavily, and stared at the giant body that passed him.

Not far from Gazef, one of the Dark Young had finally stood still as opposed to running madly.

One of its tentacles became a blur.

Fear shot through his body. Gazef hurriedly raised his sword. In that instant, an extraordinary impact struck him, and his body floated into the sky.

Gazef could not see anything, but he guessed that he must have been slapped away by the tentacle.

His body flew through the sky.

After hanging in the air for a surprisingly long time, Gazef’s body finally struck the earth. He rolled several times. This rolling was not the tumbling of a flung corpse, but the deliberate action of a human that was trying to bleed off the energy of his rotation.

The Dark Young, for one second, hesistated.

It was wondering if it should pursue the creature that did not lose its life after one of its attack. However, it realised that it should not. It had several targets, and it had no time to chase after one just to kill it.

Looking around— It had no eyes but it could sense them— It saw a group of prey running away. It had no time to chase after the creature it had hit out of its range.

The Strongest Warrior of the Kingdom, Gazef Stronoff.

To the Dark Young, that man was no different from a normal soldier, it was weak and did not need to be paid attention to.

The Dark Young charged again. It would follow its summoners orders to smash everything.

Gazef slowly stood up, spurring his ungainly body into motion. He stared at the distant Dark Young.

It had been just one hit.

The arm that took the strike had broken. It was probably sheer good luck that his sword had not snapped as well.

All emotion vanished from Gazef’s face

Why had he been spared?

Even with a monster that could not understand speech, he understood it as a warrior.

This was not a defeat. He had not even come anywhere close to the arena.

Fresh blood flowed from his bitten lip. Following that, Gazef suppressed the intense pain which filled him and ran forth with all his might. Even if he could not beat his opponent, even if his limit was one more hit, even so, he still had to protect his King.

The headquarters of King Ranpossa III was located in the center of the Royal army. It was surrounded by countless banners belonging to numerous nobles of the Kingdom of Re-Estize.

Although there had been many nobles gathered here before, only a few remained here. Most of them had already fled, and only a scant few remained in this camp.  No, to be honest, there were two people here.

The surprising thing was that one of them was Rampossa III. And the other was a man commoner’s clothing.

That man in commoner’s clothing was tearing off Rampossa III’s equipment. It seemed that he was being stolen from, but Rampossa III showed no sign of resistance. In fact, he seemed to be resigned.

That person wearing commoner’s clothes was Climb.

His white armour was thrown aside, and he looked just like the other commoners in the area.

His full armour was usually difficult to remove, but Climb used his magic sword to tear it apart.

The armour of Rampossa III was also of excellent make, but that could also be destroyed by Climb’s sword.

“However, what do you think are our chances if we were to run?”

It was closing in with an earth shaking rumble. In such an extreme situation, Rampossa III’s tone was calm. It was nothing like the panicked nobles that were here until now.

The problem was his tone, which was the one of a human who had given up on life.

The lack of his desire to remain in this world appeared in his tone.

“It’s probably impossible. Those who escape on horses will definitely be chased. As you can see, they prioritise those who are running away. That is why we can do nothing but this.”

Rampossa III realised the intentions of Gazef’s warriors who had left as a group on horseback. And the reason for the smiles on their faces as they left. And the recommendation for them to escape on the horses the nobles left behind.

“Climb. Why can you?”

Do this? Rampossa III continued.

In such an extreme situation, only a certain group of humans could retain their mental faculties. One could only do it if they were mentally tough.

“I have seen a person more terrifying than those monsters. Thus I can act faster than any of them.”

The killing intent that he faced at the capital. Due to that, Climb returned to his senses faster than anyone.

Climb began to rub mud onto Rampossa III who was now without armour, sword and helmet.

“Your Majesty. Even now, our flight is still a matter of luck. If the worst happens… I pray you will forgive us.”

“That’s fine. It was my decision to use your idea. If it fails due to misfortune, then I will have no complaints.”

The Dark Young blew away the flags with its tentacles, and looked around in satisfaction.

This place was probably the centre formation, but there was no one to be seen.

There were two humans laid on top of one another on the ground. The two were alive, but they were the same as the countless other humans it had killed, without armour and in dirty rags. Considering the other humans it had massacred, they were not particularly enticing.

As it was moving to crush them, it noticed a group leaving slowly. It was a group in full armour riding horses, showing that they were not mere soldiers.

Looking at its comrades, there was no one chasing them.

Its summoner wished for it to trample many humans. And to kill those of high positions who would ride on horses. Rather than wasting time killing the humans here, it should head towards those who were escaping.

The summoning time of the Dark Young was not infinite after all.

The Dark Young lost interest in the sprawled humans, and immediately ran off.

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