Chapter 153: Sudden Monster Disturbance

“There are too many!”

A number that could be called an army was descending toward House Gisert.

From atop the fortress, the soldiers guarding Gisert’s northern border poured out their fury against the monsters.

-Kiiiiik

-Kiik!

As if intoxicated, they radiated more madness than usual.

Twitch—

With bloodshot eyes, they charged.

“Fire!”

Sweeek. Sweek.

Thud!

The soldiers unleashed their stockpiled arrows without restraint. The arrows, sharpened for this very moment, pierced the monsters’ flesh.

Thuuuud.

–Kieeeeek!

They didn’t even pull the arrows stuck in their bodies.

They screamed even louder. In their agony, they began to rampage.

Koooomg. Koomg.

They charged toward the small gate—a gate built to lure monsters. Even at that gate—

“Stab!”

Thuud. Thud.

–Kiyaaak!

A barrage of spear points awaited the monsters. The soldiers thrust their spears as trained, without hesitation.

There was nothing difficult.

The monsters kept charging, and the soldiers stood in predetermined positions.

Thuud. Thud.

They just had to drive their spears into the monsters.

The well-honed spearheads pierced the monsters’ flesh as easily as a child’s.

Guts bulged out.

Where the heart was pierced, blood sprayed.

Whoooosh—

Even as they were bathed in that blood, the soldiers did not flinch.

They struggled to block, to hold the line.

In every unit, there were those willing to lay down their lives to defend.

“Hold the line!”

“Block them! We must block them!”

It wasn’t for House Gisert. It was for their own homes, their families. Because they knew that once this castle fell, the monsters’ killing intent would turn toward their families!

Not for pointless loyalty, nor for hollow fame!

“Hold! Goddammit!”

“Stab! More! More! More!”

The spear tips stabbed like mad, without hesitation.

Thud thud. Thud.

Simply to protect.

Even without great strength, to survive.

They struck desperately.

But in the end, the limit of their power was clear.

“Huh… huff.”

They had held back the first wave of monsters.

But that only worked against small monsters, lower-tier ones. Even a well-trained soldier was no match for higher-tier monsters!

–Kraaaah!

–Kreuk.

***

After stabbing and felling the lower-tier monsters, as if waiting for that moment, the massive monsters began their charge.

The ogre—

Hwooooomg—

Swung a tree as large as its own body toward the castle without hesitation.

Crackddddduk

The walls—repaired over time, built for survival—cracked.

Koomg. Koomg. Koomg.

Once, twice, three times.

The barrage was unending.

The knights stepped forward.

“Stop them!”

To block the giant monsters, the high-tier ones, knights who could use Aura had to step in. That was the strategy—humanity’s strategy for survival.

Woooooomg—

Some shaped their Aura.

“Hup.“

Others ignited the Aura within their bodies, unleashing power close to that of a superhuman.

Sweeek!

Swords honed over decades, swung since childhood for this very moment, aimed for the ogre.

Thuud—

Just as the ogre swung its club toward the castle!

Thud!

Thud. Slice.

They swung their swords. They thrust their spears. They charged at the monsters.

“Stab!”

“Cut the neck from atop the wall!”

“Keep your distance! Don’t waste your lives on useless attacks!”

To live with spirit.

They charged at monsters several times their size. Without rest.

Kraaah!

The monsters’ roars. The killing intent within.

They threw themselves into that killing intent. With their own will to protect, they charged at the monsters.

Thuud—

–Kreuk.

Pwaaah—

Some severed necks with shaped Aura.

“Got it!”

The giant monster! The king of monsters—the Ogre!

Koomg.

Its massive body collapsed below the castle walls.

If they could salvage the corpse, it would be enough money for a commoner to live on for a lifetime.

But not a single person here could claim that fortune.

Below the castle walls—

–Gruk. Grrrk.

–Kiik.

There were other monsters, even the corpses of their own kind, coveting them as mere prey.

To them, the dead ogre’s body was food.

Food that strengthened their power!

Monsters could grow stronger by consuming the faint Mana contained in the ogre’s body.

That was the principle by which monsters, living on instinct, increased their strength!

A power they gained to survive, unlike humans!

And that made them vicious!

Enemies! Enemies to fight desperately!

Enemies that required overwhelming force to completely eradicate!

“……This is hopeless.”

“Ah……”

The situation was hopeless.

Holding them back didn’t make the monsters disappear. Even more poured out.

“There should have been more time before the Monster Wave occurred!”

“……Stab! Don’t stop! Don’t lose your will!”

Encouraging courage.

Summoning even non-existent strength.

Thuud. Thud.

They picked up their spears and stabbed again.

To protect—no, to survive. Before saving their families, they thrust their spears to survive this desperate battle.

‘Just do as trained. As trained!’

They put strength into it. They thrust. They pierced.

Thuud.

They killed monsters. That was all.

All they had to do was this simple task. But—

–Kreuk.

“Ah…… No!”

Pheok.

His strength gave out. A moment of carelessness. The instinct-driven monster didn’t miss that chance. The monster’s attack came straight in!

A swing from a rusty axe of unknown origin.

Craak—

The soldier who had thrust his spear to protect his family, himself, and his territory—

“Kraaaaah!”

Breathed his last. Death. Perfect death!

“Kugh.“

“We… have to hold…”

They die. They die. They die.

The soldiers kept falling, without end.

Even if, using formations and training, one soldier killed three monsters—

–Grrrrrk.

The monsters kept coming endlessly.

Again and again.

The charging monsters were stabbed, pushed back, collided with.

It was the worst!

“Send a messenger! Report! Where are the mages?!”

“Healers! Where are the healers?!”

“Bring a priest!”

The situation continued to spiral negatively.

A torrent of evil killing intent overflowed.

“Sa… save me!”

“Ah! My arm!”

Amid the carnage. War.

A desperate scene that no storyteller could adequately describe—not simply that one or two people died! A gruesome death unfolded.

Death. Death. Death.

Monsters and humans. A desperate battle where neither side would gain anything.

***

From afar, Rayrn observed that battle.

‘If this is karma, I will accept it. To protect my family…’

He just watched in silence.

Looking at the desperate result of his own making, he neither fled nor covered his eyes.

He simply watched silently.

Rather, he stood in the place where everything was clearest and took it all in. Because that was what he, who had started all this, must do.

Because he had been greedy and attacked House Ofern. There were many excuses he could offer—old grudges, for instance.

‘But they’re all excuses.’

None of it could justify the slaughter.

He merely endured it.

It was to protect his own values, his family, his territory.

Because those connected to him were more precious, he simply attacked first to protect them.

But the guilt of karma lingered in his heart as he watched them.

‘Even if I am reborn into a next life…’

Because they, too, were people with their own values.

That was why he remembered. He held onto his karma and guilt without fleeing.

“My Lord.”

Gajei looked at him. Standing beside him, taking in the entire scene, Gajei also did not look away.

“Is it brutal?”

“……It must be done. I’ve seen plenty of this while working as a mercenary.”

“I see.”

His expression was as heavy as Rayrn’s. A quiet but tender-hearted man, so he must have felt something.

But he too did not turn away. As if to share Rayrn’s karma, he stood in the same place and watched.

The battle they observed eventually—

“Retreat! Retreat!”

“Survivors to Hellk Castle! Head south!”

The commander, who had struggled to hold the castle, seemed to finally end it with a surrender declaration.

‘A massacre will begin.’

In war, more casualties occur during retreat than during the battle itself.

How many of those fleeing would survive was unknown.

“……Prepare.”

Rayrn simply did what he had to do.

“Yes, sir!”

He took another step forward.

“Urgent report!”

The step Rayrn took was toward Hellk Castle, which guarded the northern part of House Gisert.

“Where is it from?!”

“From Ensin Fortress!”

Northern Gisert was defended by one castle, two central fortresses, and several smaller forward outposts.

All to block the monsters.

The central castle was Hellk Castle.

It was natural for urgent reports to reach the central castle.

‘Haa. What now.’

It was Count Tchitun of Hellk Castle.

He had entrusted the central First and Second Fortresses to his eldest and second sons separately.

House Tchitun, loyal to House Gisert for generations, had received a portion of House Gisert’s power.

That meant they possessed formidable defensive strength.

Thus, Count Tchitun held power befitting his title.

The problem was that this power came from what House Gisert had lent them, not from House Tchitun’s own strength.

Therefore, whether they wanted to or not, House Tchitun had no choice but to swear loyalty to House Gisert.

That was also why the castle was named Hellk.

House Gisert, with its insatiable greed, refused to name the castle after House Tchitun, even though they guarded it.

They simply ordered House Tchitun to guard it as a direct territory of House Gisert for generations.

When the previous generation of House Gisert lost a fortress to a monster invasion—

“Shouldn’t Hellk Castle have sortied to support?”

“There was no other way to block House Ofern.”

“From now on, guard Hellk Castle as the front line.”

“……As you command.”

They installed the Count of House Tchitun as the person responsible.

In truth, it was almost the same as losing territory due to House Gisert’s own mistake. If House Tchitun hadn’t lent its strength from behind, retaking the territory would have been difficult.

‘……Bound by origin, there’s no way out.’

By granting power, House Gisert had fully subjugated House Tchitun, and they did not treat them well. Rather, they only drove them harder.

Yet the Count’s household endured.

Because maintaining the title of Count, even by begging for power, was better than the life of a powerless commoner.

Even Count Tchitun, in his youth, had resented his subjugation and sought new power.

“……I’m insufficient.”

His rebellion ended pathetically as he realized his limits.

All that remained for Count Tchitun was to silently guard the castle.

A castle he would have to guard for his entire life, perhaps for generations. Yet reports of defeat kept arriving at that castle.

‘It’s bleak.’

Count Tchitun faced the worst crisis of his life.