Episode 19
The solid lake gaped open with a black maw. The water contained within began to surge upward.
The cracks that had formed around Kudan… spread at a terrifying speed, and soon the ground caved in.
The skeletons that had rushed at Kudan fell into the collapsing lake.
Even the skeletons trying to escape the lake lost their balance on the rapidly collapsing ice sheet and were sucked into the water.
They reached out trying to grab the remnants of the ice sheet, but due to their heavy armor, the slippery ice, and the water's friction, they ultimately slipped and fell in.
A few undead precariously climbed onto shattered fragments of ice, but their number was barely around twenty.
Moreover, the ice fragments were so small that fighting was nearly impossible.
The majority of the undead legion had been annihilated.
“D-did we do it?”
“D-did we win?”
“W-we lived! We lived… w-wait?”
The Nordian rejoiced at the sight, but the fracture in the ice sheet spread rapidly right before their eyes.
It was because they had hammered in too many stakes.
“Whaa?! We’re in danger too!”
“Everyone! Tear down the barricades—!”
The Nordian looked toward Aum.
Aum rapped on the barricade.
“Did you think I erected these useless things for nothing? I actually made them to use as boats, so tear them down quickly! Or do you want to swim with the dead?”
Only then did the Nordian realize why such useless barricades had been erected so shoddily.
They threw ropes in unison, fastened them to the barricades, and quickly pulled them down.
At the same time, the cracks around them spread rapidly, and the ground collapsed. The Nordian hurriedly climbed atop the barricades.
Those who could not climb on used the ropes to pull themselves up, desperately trying to survive.
Aum also barely managed to crawl up onto the barricade—no, now a makeshift raft of wooden fences. As he did, his eyes went wide watching Kudan leap about on the fractured pieces of ice.
In the meantime, Kudan had lost control and was charging toward the main camp where Loki was.
“That fool…! No matter how monstrous his strength is, there’s no way he can avoid the Skeleton Archers’ arrows…!”
Aum cried out urgently, but Kudan reached Loki’s formation so quickly that the shout was rendered meaningless.
The Skeleton Archers took formation and loosed arrows in unison, but Kudan deflected them with his warhammer.
Thwack!
But not all of them. His shoulders, arms, legs, body—none were spared from being pierced.
Even with spear-like arrows embedded in his body, Kudan gritted his teeth and did not stop his charge.
Rather than slowing down, he only accelerated, swinging his warhammer to blast the charging undead into the air one by one, crushing them.
Watching the scene from afar, Loki’s eyes went wide.
“…I knew he was a monster, but I never thought he’d be so reckless…. Haha! This is fun! It doesn’t compare to the boredom of staying cooped up in a palace!”
Good heavens…! Can a human really rampage like that with spears stuck in his body?
An ordinary person would normally be impaled and killed instantly by a single arrow from a Skeleton Archer, yet for some reason, only the arrowheads lodged in his skin as Kudan continued his advance.
Aum was equally dumbfounded by the sight.
“Was I really trying to tame such a monster? But… we’ll win! If this keeps up…!”
Loki narrowed his eyes.
“…He’ll break through.”
Skeleton Assassins draped in rags rushed at Kudan with daggers drawn, but they were either sent flying or mercilessly shattered and destroyed.
Kudan pressed forward without hesitation.
Since even skeletons specialized in close combat had been overwhelmed, the Skeleton Assassins and Archers, who were specialized in ambushes and ranged attacks, stood no chance charging head-on.
“Don’t let cannon fodder block my path—!”
Kudan unleashed his divine ability.
His divine ability was [Monstrous Strength].
It was a power that amplified all his strength several dozen to several hundred times over.
With a single swing in midair, the wind pressure swept the skeletons away, sending them flying.
“You demon!”
Together with that roar, Kudan leaped high.
“For Kankun—!”
He pulled his warhammer back as far as he could, ready to strike down at any moment.
It was the same situation as when they first met.
But—
‘I’ve grown since then!’
His muscles swelled abnormally and his veins bulged and throbbed.
Strength hundreds of times greater amplified to thousands of times.
“I’ll save her!”
With such monstrous strength that the handle of his warhammer bent… he brought it straight down toward Loki.
Loki, seated atop his palanquin, raised his hand.
A defensive wall of magic formed, but it too was shattered with far too much ease.
Thinking of the humiliation he had suffered before, and of Kankun’s future, Kudan swung his warhammer with monstrous strength enough to tear his own muscles.
“Die—!”
Now there was nothing left that could stop Kudan.
Over half of the skeletons were already annihilated.
The surviving legion consisted only of Skeleton Archers and Assassins specialized solely in ranged attacks and ambushes.
They were insufficient to stop Kudan.
Watching this, Loki let out a laugh and then closed his eyes.
“…How amusing. The humans of this place are strong.”
Kudan’s warhammer struck Loki’s face directly.
Boom—!!!
The goat-horned helm shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions.
At the same time, Kudan’s eyes went wide, and Loki opened his mouth.
“But…”
Kudan stared at the being before him in confusion.
The broken bone helm of the goat disappeared, and from within, a single face popped out.
It was a mere skeleton.
A skeleton’s skull was breaking apart and gradually vanishing.
“…What is this?”
***
“Haha, how thrilling!”
Wearing a crow mask, Loki sat cross-legged on the frozen road, watching the ‘battlefield’ from afar.
He was enjoying the ‘game’, his eyes sparkling with interest at the ‘play’ unfolding more engagingly than expected.
“If that were the real me, I could have blocked it easily. But then it wouldn’t be fun.”
***
“Un…dead?”
As Kudan whispered blankly, those watching the scene from afar cheered.
“W-we… won?”
“Victory!”
“Kudan defeated the Necromancer!”
“Splendid! Kudan! You truly are a monster!”
Aum also watched from afar and rejoiced, but Kudan could only stiffen.
He knew.
When he first confronted the demon in the Holy Temple, he had sensed the aura of life from him.
But now, inside that shell, there was only a simple skeleton.
Which meant…
“…A… fake?”
***
“…As expected, everyone is moved! Only Kudan himself realizes it.”
Loki flipped over the chessboard.
“But breaking the ice sheet and charging to catch the king… it’s truly a ‘cliché’ story. Actually, I was going to use it too, but then it would be too boring… Anyway, splendid. To think a single human sank a legion of undead in one go!”
Loki—no, ‘Hun’, who now wore a crow mask—gazed at the formation where Kudan stood, from a distance so far that an ordinary human’s sight could not reach.
“With this, my connection to the stand-in Skeleton Sorcerer has been severed… Must I go myself now? Still, the stand-in was quite useful.”
Hun recalled what had happened a few days ago.
‘It’s very simple for you. Make what I asked for from cheap scrap iron.’
What he had requested from the dwarf, Reuran. It was a request to make a certain armament. It was…
‘Make armor that resembles me. A goat-horned helm, pitch-black armor…’
It was the creation of a ‘fake’ to use as Loki’s stand-in.
Thanks to that, he could gauge the extent of the armies in this world.
“It was a fun game.”
“…What are you muttering about? Lord Loki.”
Loki turned his head.
Right beside Hun stood a girl with blue hair, Kankun, tilting her head.
She had been by Loki’s side for several hours, wearing the armor he had given her, and was a bit tired.
“You’ve just been sitting here for hours… And didn’t you hear something from over there?”
“Now it’s your turn, Kankun.”
“Huh?”
“Well, the situation over there must look too far for you.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“It’s just… time to proceed with the game in earnest.”
Loki rose from his seat.
“Now, it’s about time for the real main force to move.”
Black energy coiled around Loki’s body as armor formed and enveloped him.
Behind him, hundreds of eye sockets lit up.
Two hundred undead.
They were undead that had not participated in the ‘war game’ until moments ago.
Fifteen Undead Liches wearing pitch-black robes adorned with bone, wielding staves set with long jewels of an unknown metal, and circlets like crowns upon their heads.
Thirty-five Death Knights clad in plate armor and helms, gripping a kite shield in their left hand and a massive greatsword in their right—a blade more suited for crushing than cutting.
With just these two forces, the annihilated undead legion from earlier was nothing.
Loki let out a sinister laugh and walked forward slowly.
“Now, let us begin the true counterattack!”
Following his cue, Kankun scurried after him, and behind them, the undead legion marched with eyes glowing with murderous intent.
***
“How did this…?”
Kudan was staring blankly at the vanished fake stand-in when—
—Kraaaack!
The remaining skeletons moved.
The Skeleton Assassins fastened chains to the tips of the arrows held by the Skeleton Archers.
And the Skeleton Archers nocked and fired the chained arrows toward the ‘lake’ where the ground had caved in.
When the undead moved, the Nordian were bewildered.
“W-what?! The Necromancer commander is dead! So why are they still moving?!”
“Besides, they’re firing arrows at the lake? Have they gone mad and berserk?!”
Then, the chains attached to the arrows that had entered the lake grew taut.
And the undead began pulling on them.
The Nordian were puzzled, but Aum stiffened upon seeing this.
“…No! Kudan! Stop them!”
Rather than heeding Aum’s words, Kudan observed the undead’s actions in confusion.
A few seconds passed. Suddenly, realizing what they were doing, he turned his gaze toward the lake.
Kwarurururuk—!
The chains were being pulled up. And along with them, skeletons that had grabbed on were crawling up from the lake.
“…They’re pulling out the ones who fell in?!”
Kudan hastily wielded his warhammer to destroy the skeletons, but the nimble Skeleton Assassins and Archers deliberately kept their distance from Kudan, focusing on hauling up the sunken undead.
As they did, the skeletons pulled from the lake lit up their eye sockets and charged at Kudan.
The undead crawling out of the lake looked like the dead themselves, as if death were emerging from hell.
Aum gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Everyone, help Kudan!”
For now, the enemy numbers were still few. Moreover, with few close-combat specialized skeleton warriors and shield soldiers, and with their formation in disarray, now was the best chance for victory.
The Nordian rowed with oars, landed on the ice, and charged straight at the undead.
But as time passed, the number of undead grew.
Aum also grabbed his sword and ran, approaching Kudan.
“Kudan! What on earth is going on! Did you kill that demon…?!”
“No.”
“…What?”
As Aum made a blank expression, Kudan gritted his teeth.
“It was a fake… A deception!”
“A deception?! That’s absurd…!”
At that moment, a scream-like cry from the Nordian echoed across the land.
“What the hell is that—?!”
Some Nordian stepped backward in terror, their eyes rolling back.
“…An undead army?!”
“What? Those numbers…? The ones we dropped into the lake weren’t all of them?!”
They froze at the sight of the ‘approaching death’.
Two hundred undead—but seeing the thirty-five Death Knights at the forefront and the fifteen Undead Liches behind them, they fell silent.
Kudan too couldn’t help but stiffen at the sight.
Conversely, Aum laughed as if he had lost his mind.
“Ha, haha! Hahahahaha! What is that? Huh? Haha! What… in the world… is that?!”
Now shouting as if angry at Kudan, he looked toward the being at the head of the army.
Aum looked at Loki wearing the goat-horned helm and felt a shock as if his head were splitting.
“You con artist! How dare you deceive us?!”
Aum’s cry rang out so loud that it drowned out the screams of the Nordian. Hearing it, Loki let out a twisted laugh.
“Haha! Deceiving and being deceived is all part of war strategy, is it not? Above all—”
Loki sneered at the weak humans.
“The best way to crush morale is to let them face despair after their hope has crumbled. It is also the most enjoyable victory.”
Defeating an opponent by toying with them.
It was the most enjoyable way to win in a game.
To him, this was merely a ‘game’.
Loki’s words reached Aum, who was far away, with uncanny clarity. It felt as if they were piercing his mind.
“Such cowardice…! How can you call yourself a Constellation after this?!”
“I never said I was a Constellation. You Nordian merely called me a ‘Constellation’ or a ‘Demon’. Besides, the god Loki has always been one who prefers playing tricks, deceiving, and causing mischief rather than using wisdom.”
Aum understood Loki’s meaning, and he knew how the situation would turn.
“…We lost.”
Aum gritted his teeth.
At this rate, there was no chance of winning. Their morale had already plummeted, and they had barely held off three hundred undead.
But if two hundred more were added—along with undead of utterly ridiculous classes?
Before them were ‘undead like reapers’, and behind them on the lake, the dead were slowly crawling out.
There was nowhere left to run.
“Now, let us end this. Aum Linia!”
At his shout, the undead behind him charged forward all at once.