Chapter 72: End of War (3)

“Grrrrr—!”

The Red Giant roared.

The wail that burst from his massive throat became a single force of destruction, shaking the entire battlefield.

Yet the knights did not flinch in fear or despair.

“Uaaaaah—!”

Some shouted back, clashing fiercely against the undead.

“Do not tremble, everyone!”

Others quietly recited the verses of the hymn.

The Red Giant, Kalgos, despised the humans who dared to defy him right before his eyes.

He wanted to crush them all into a handful of blood.

But that was impossible.

“Tch, if you had fully emerged, we could have had a proper fight. What a pity.”

The old man spoke.

The Stars of the Female Magician wielded by Vallach pierced through Kalgos’s body.

The stars, tiny like needles compared to the giant Kalgos.

But their power was no mere needle.

Shaaak—!

From the open wound, fiery blood gushed out.

Kalgos’s eyes snapped wide open, stunned at just how deep the wound was.

“Humans…! Who do you think you are to challenge me?”

“It seems my disciple was the one who dealt with Kalgos.”

But that wasn’t important.

Vallach continued.

“Next time, come properly. Don’t suffer like today for nothing.”

The Stars gathered, bursting together as if about to explode.

The stars, wrapped tightly in streams of mana, were no longer needle-sized to Kalgos.

They resembled the sword of a giant.

A star-shaped sword as large as the giant’s torso.

It shot straight at him.

“Arrgh—!”

The arms of the Sword Saint and the giant collided.

Pure and refined mana clashed with sinister dark magic.

It was a battle between the one trying to push back and the one trying to resist.

***

“Wha—heh!”

The mages watching over the vast plain opened their mouths wide in disbelief.

Those who usually kept their composure now looked utterly shaken.

“Grrrrr—!”

A red dot jutted out from the broken sky in the distance.

It looked like a mere speck, but the roar bursting from it seemed to be shouting at the battlefield.

And the magic force pounding against the multiple layers of barriers was overwhelming.

The mages who were casually drinking tea turned grim.

“What on earth is that thing?!”

“Damn it… We need to retreat before the sparks fly!”

They’d be dead before they even targeted Eodom.

Mages gathered across the southern continent began to stir restlessly.

They were ready to flee without looking back.

“Wait! Everyone, stop!”

Rolang, the lord, shouted loudly as he looked in that direction.

His usually composed face was now stained with urgency.

“Are you really planning to disband the Union just like this? Like cowards?”

At Rolang’s words, the heads of the Mage Houses rose fiercely.

“Then what else can we do? Charging in like this is like leaping in front of a meteor.”

“Clearly, the Martial Union has no chance of victory. Eodom is a battle between dragons and worms! Why should we risk ourselves getting hurt?”

They weren’t wrong.

Though their tone was harsh, every word was true.

The knights, rough and brutal, could never win against the monsters while engulfed by that horrific magic.

The lords, strengthening their resolve with their own words, spoke again.

“The Martial Union will be annihilated, and the monsters will advance north. For the northern continent, it’s like a natural disaster, but it will be resolved eventually under Bartenberg’s command.”

“That’s actually good news for us. If they kill the knights themselves, it’s like having the enemy do our dirty work. Isn’t that just too easy?”

With that thought, they began to shift their direction without hesitation.

Rolang, who had been silent until now, closed his eyes.

“If that’s truly what you think, then go.”

“Hah, so Lord Rolang thinks differently?”

He nodded.

The cold contempt in his wide-open eyes was unmistakable toward the cowardly lords.

“Just imagine what would happen if the monsters that annihilated the Martial Union changed direction.”

“…That will never happen!”

“Lord Bilsen, do you really believe that? You claim to understand the monsters’ thought processes?”

Thud.

As Rolang stamped his foot, the multiple barriers vanished at once.

At the same time, the fierce magic poured down, and the mages turned pale.

“What are you doing!”

“Grr, grrrok!”

Several of the weakest mages collapsed, biting their tongues.

“These are not ordinary monsters with such an extraordinary aura. Yes, Eodom is beyond our reach, but the Magic Alliance gathered here is no joke.”

They spoke to encourage those who wanted to stay and face the unknown enemy.

Supporting this claim was Allan Marks.

“I agree. We cannot disband in front of monsters whose outcome we do not know. Otherwise, our civilians will be the ones sacrificed.”

The young prodigy’s influence was unmatched.

Finally, the lords, who had wanted to leave, reluctantly nodded at Rolang’s words.

“Thank you for your help, Master Allan.”

“It’s nothing. I simply thought the same.”

Allan replied coldly to Rolang’s friendly smile.

In his deeply sunken pupils, there was a flicker that could trap a person.

“So, has your magic really improved, Gillian Rolang?”

Watching him fix his gaze toward Polin Castle, Allan frowned.

You say you’re here to stop the southern advance?

The excuse was good, but beneath it lay a deeply personal grudge.

Rolang was completely intoxicated by magic.

‘This one must be watched closely.’

The young prodigy thought as he re-established the vanished barriers.

***

“Silent, huh?”

I gripped my sword tightly, staring at the liches.

They silently sealed their lips.

“They seem quite angry.”

Leon chuckled beside me and tapped his scabbard.

That made the knights in the boss raid team laugh and mutter vulgar insults.

“Boneheads!”

“Where are you pulling your tricks?”

“You’re done for. You should’ve just gone down quietly instead of acting like that.”

“A mage is a mage, nothing more. So sneaky. Except for our Union’s elves, of course.”

The knights, casting off their dignity, even made finger gestures.

They must have had a lot bottled up.

Leon and I did not stop them.

On the contrary, it was good to see.

I almost laughed at the sight.

“Yeah. A knight needs to have fight in them!”

Better than trembling in fear.

I could tell they had all grown a lot.

Turning away from the furious liches shaking with rage, I looked out over the battlefield.

The contest between the old man and the giant raged fiercely.

Below, the living and the dead fought fiercely, snarling and clawing at each other.

Who among them wasn’t afraid?

Who wanted to be trapped in such a dreadful battle?

No one.

Still, the knights gripped their spears and swords and threw themselves in front of the enemy.

Watching their fierce and valiant fight, I tightened my grip on my sword.

“Isn’t the most knightly of all our youngest lord?”

Someone whispered next to me.

Thinking it was Leon, I turned, but a young man smiled.

The youngest of the First Knight Order.

What was his name again?

“Addrun, sir.”

“Are you from the slums too? You sure talk freely.”

We exchanged smiles.

Judging by the wounds covering his body, he was definitely part of the First Army.

And yet he had somehow come over to our side, which was truly admirable.

“Our youngest is teasing the youngest lord.”

“Addrun, you’re not on the same level as the youngest lord. It’s different ranks, you see!”

The knights bickered playfully.

Such carefree, relaxed chatter was unexpected just before the outbreak of war.

That was how it seemed.

“How dare they give us time!”

“Stupid humans. They’ll regret this.”

The liches recklessly unleashed magic as if trying to break the formation.

Simultaneously, a large magic circle was drawn in the air.

“Finally, they’re moving.”

“Hah, I was getting bored waiting.”

The knights and I smiled, gripping our swords.

Our bodies burned with tension, but without fighting, the waiting was torment.

[Dispel]

The magic circle drawn by the liches was erased starting from the largest spot.

[Gravity]

The liches who had hovered high above suddenly crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

That was all.

[Stremes]

[Haste]

[Cure]

[Benevolence of the World Tree]

The multicolored light raced across the battlefield.

It was an incomparable blessing for humans.

‘Our elves also needed time.’

He was a great mage and a better buffer than anyone.

Moreover, the World Tree itself was entwined in that barrier.

Prepared since the castle’s fall, the magic’s effect blanketed the entire battlefield.

[Snow King Set Effect – Activated]

[Hyper Focus – Activated]

[Two-Blade Sword Saint – Activated]

***

The magic I cast was pierced by a spear and spilled.

Despite raising multiple layers of barriers against the next crushing attack, a man’s indigo sword ignited and stabbed through like paper.

“Kyaaah!”

Krombel cast magic again.

In an instant, he set coordinates and drew a complex formula, activating Blink.

He appeared behind the knight group, panting.

Then, turning pale, he rolled on the ground.

Bang—!

Where he had been, a star and a man fell.

Krombel felt as if even the beating of his non-existent heart was now noticeable.

“Filthy vermin!”

He called them vermin, but the brightly shining human before him was dangerous.

This disturbing aura felt strangely familiar.

“Back then, it shouldn’t have been the Death Knight but me who went.”

“Could it be that you were the one who sent the corpses to Snowfall?”

It was too late to regret.

The smiling human’s spirit surged fiercely.

Bang, bang—!

He fired magic consecutively at the charging foe.

Red, flickering flames.

Poison-infused sharp blades.

Illusions so terrifying that an ordinary person would be crippled.

Yet none of it worked.

The flames were extinguished by the cold air the enemy wrapped around himself.

The black blades clashed with sword winds.

The illusions were shattered by biting into the attacker’s mouth.

Such treatment would not make anyone falter.

Still, the human ran at them with blazing eyes.

“What the—?!”

How could he fight like that?

He was not alone.

The knights’ coordinated strikes had also cornered another lich.

Their relentless demeanor seemed untouched by magic.

Normally, one’s limbs would freeze.

Or their fighting spirit wouldn’t even ignite.

Was their magic the ordinary kind?

No, it was the magic of a High Demon granted a name in that hellish Demon Realm.

“Blink!”

Avoiding the charging Richard, Krombel blinked again.

The coordinate was that of the only remaining companion.

“…Stronger than I thought.”

The cracked lich pressed his chin against Krombel, staring.

“We die here.”

“We will not die so easily.”

Gooooh—

An ominous chant began.

It was a privilege held only by those with the same mana type.

The two liches cast curses on each other.

“I curse you!”

“I curse you as well!”

They drew rune marks on each other.

A death curse that triggered a horrific explosion upon demise—one used only for disposable corpses.

But for black mages of their caliber, a simple curse could become immensely powerful.

“Call it forth!”

At the ominous incantation, the knights scattered quickly.

The fierce magic that had been fading flared back up.

A curse, huh?

Richard stepped out among the knights.

“And… that rune must be the curse’s mark. Suicide attack?”

Bang, bang—

The two stars flared with light.

Though they knew the curse, their will was to cut it down.

The liches’ mouths gnashed fiercely.

“Feel it! This is our true power!”

“Do not underestimate the Demon Race of the Demon Realm. We will show you what the true Eodom is!”

The surging magic grew even denser.

The black mages, having put everything on the line, were ready for their last strike.

Watching them, Richard smiled.

Slash—

The two stars pierced through the blackened collarbones of each lich.

Neither of them showed any reaction.

Their bodies had already accepted death.

Whether they completed their final strike and died, or died and then exploded, made no difference.

They only needed to trample the humans before them.

“You should have avoided this.”

Suddenly, Richard extended his white voice.

Just as Krombel opened his mouth to say something, the two stars flew like sharp blades.

Carrying the liches with them.