Episode 55
The Wights standing blankly looked at one another and tilted their heads.
They could not understand that language, but they could feel it instinctively.
That those ones were treating them as ‘prey’!
Ordinarily, Wights would have rushed in without hesitation, but… a strange feeling kept them from moving rashly.
-Kueeeeek!
But the hunger they felt did not allow their hesitation to last long.
Once one charged, dozens, hundreds charged.
Their speed was truly like that of cavalry.
The rapidly running feet could not be seen, and clouds of dust covered the earth.
The ground shook, and the monsters’ howls, like wails of lamentation, reverberated through the air.
In comparison, the Berserk Warriors were composed.
Rather than looking at the enemies before them, they were fiddling with and inspecting their weapons.
When the horde of hundreds of Wights was nearly upon them, Aum Linia, standing at the forefront, spoke a word with a twisted smile.
“Kill them.”
In that instant, the air around the Berserk Warrior troop expanded.
“The order has fallen!”
“Kill them—!”
“Massacre them—!”
“May the glory of Valhall be with us—!”
The shouts bursting from their once-silent mouths buried the Wights’ howls.
The Wights charging with killing intent flinched in surprise and faltered.
But that was the opportunity.
The moment a gap called hesitation was created, the Berserk Warriors, wearing deep smiles beneath their helmets, stomped upon the earth with all their might.
Thud—!
The hard earth they were stepping on caved in. Simultaneously, the Berserk Warriors’ bodies shot forward.
The instant the Berserk Warriors closed the distance with the Wights, the Wights flew away like light straw dolls from the weapons they swung.
Yet, as if to prove that they were not light at all, when the Wights crashed into the ground, the floor shattered with heavy sounds.
Piercing in like a wedge, they split the horde of hundreds of Wights in half.
Wight heads were crushed by their weapons, bodies were pierced, and forms split left and right.
Though human, their laughter filled with ecstasy as they displayed inhuman strength mingled with the Wights’ screams.
Under the overwhelming force, the Wights began noticeably decreasing in number.
-Kueeeek?
The Wights let out voices filled with doubt, as if unable to comprehend.
Wights were beings moved by hunger. Thus, even if their comrades died, they would only head toward prey.
But the Berserk Warriors were the same.
They trusted their comrades. Their comrades would not die. And the same went for themselves. The moment they received help from a comrade while in danger, they believed they became trash.
It was a warrior’s disgrace, and to avoid such disgrace, they had to give their all even against weaklings.
Especially as the continent’s apex predators, they did not let their guard down.
Kankun too drew the holy sword Brutgang.
Her gauntleted hands gripped Brutgang tightly as she ran swiftly.
Moving in zigzags at a terribly fast speed incongruous with her slender legs, each time she swung her sword, a Wight’s body was split in two.
One Wight swung its hand at Kankun, but she stopped her running feet, leaned her head back, and narrowly dodged.
As her hair fluttered, she spun around and severed the Wight’s neck.
When black blood and Wyrm Pest sprayed from the Wight’s neck, the runes on the holy sword Brutgang shone and incinerated them into ashes.
By the time the ashen Wight completely disappeared, other Wights had leaped at her back with maws wide open.
Kankun gently closed her eyes and turned around, raising her sword. As she softly opened her eyes and muttered…
“[Light’s—]”
Radiance exploded from the sword.
“[-Slash!]”
A flash swept across the earth.
The charging Wights burst and perished in the explosion of light. Not only that, but even the Wights behind them were split left and right, and moments later the earth itself let out a massive roar as it was pulverized.
In an instant, dozens of Wights scattered into ash and vanished.
Kankun smiled, gripped her sword again, and ran.
Her goal had been to save the people here, but in one corner of her heart, she was feeling ‘joy’.
The pleasure of battle, the act of destroying something and proving one’s strength.
She too was a Nord.
“…That Kankun, it won’t be long before she completely catches up to me.”
Kudan scratched his head.
“Then I too…”
Kudan unfurled the cloth covering the object on his shoulder.
There was a heavy hammer inscribed with golden runes. However, its head reached 2 meters in width and 1 meter in height, yet its handle was only about 50 centimeters, giving it a strange shape.
Mjolnir.
It was also the weapon used by Thor, the god of Norse mythology, to smite the giants that tormented gods and humans.
Mjolnir’s skills were simple.
One was [Thunderbolt], which burned everything.
Another was [Recall], which allowed it to be summoned back no matter where it was placed or thrown.
Lastly, it had the effect of raising the user’s strength stat sevenfold.
Kudan unleashed the Divine Skill [Monstrous Strength].
His frame grew larger and swelled.
This was further amplified by Mjolnir’s effect.
His physique grew monstrous and his muscles hardened like steel. The armor he wore swelled with a roar to match his transformed body.
A Wight approached Kudan at a speed difficult to follow with the eyes, running on all fours. Without paying such a Wight any mind, Kudan raised Mjolnir.
Sparks flickered on Mjolnir’s head. And when he brought it down with all his might toward the earth… the bedrock moved.
The ground caved in around Kudan, and the earth spewed electrical currents into the crater, charring the Wights within its range black before gradually subsiding.
“Th-that was dangerous!”
“C-Captain Kudan causes trouble because he doesn’t control his strength!”
“Kudan does that, but Kankun doesn’t control her strength either!”
The Berserk Warriors backed away as far as possible from them, paling. Some, having fallen on their rears, stared at the scorched earth and swallowed dryly.
They were all terrified by the wide-area skills that even threatened their comrades.
Kudan Ragna. Kankun Ragna.
In Asgard, there was no one who surpassed them.
The number of Wights decreased in an instant.
Even the charging Wights trembled before the alien beings that had suddenly appeared.
They had no reason. No, ‘it was said they had none’. But now, for the first time in their lives, the Wights were feeling ‘fear’.
The Wights glanced at one another and began slowly stepping back.
“…At this rate, I’ll be forgotten.”
Aum frowned.
Unfortunately, he did not have any remarkable ability. Rather, if he were to fight one of the Berserk Warriors here one-on-one, he would lose without even exchanging a few moves.
Unable to perform any proper feats, he turned around at a strange presence felt from behind and thrust his sword.
The sword flew swiftly toward its target and lodged deep.
It was a magnificent strike that would draw admiration from any trained knight.
Aum’s sword lodged in the Wight’s mouth. At that sight, Aum smiled.
The Wight tried to close its gaping maw and break the sword, but the weapon crafted by the dwarf Reuran instead caused the Wight’s teeth to shatter.
Realizing it could not break the sword, the Wight grabbed it with its hand. Just as Aum flinched in surprise, the Wight ignored its pierced body and slowly closed the distance.
As the Wight approached Aum through a thoroughly ignorant method, a Berserk Warrior threw an axe and smashed the Wight’s head.
As black blood and Wyrm Pest scattered, Aum let go of his sword and stepped back.
“…….”
He was a Nord. But his talent in combat was exceptionally abysmal.
In fact, he had no chance of winning even against a Wight.
Aum twitched his eye muscles and looked at the Harma estate with a humiliated smile as he spoke.
“…Somehow this is infuriating. To think I couldn’t even kill one of these bastards! Kuh! We’ll sweep them all away right now and enter quickly. I don’t want to show any more unsightly behavior!”
At Aum’s words, the Berserk Warriors advanced swiftly and began annihilating the Wights.
***
The Berserk Warriors entered the Harma estate.
The charging Wights died powerlessly, scattering blood and maggots, but the warriors wearing helmets fashioned after beastly bones paid no heed and trampled them underfoot.
Everywhere in the Harma estate was filled with black blood and writhing worms.
The Berserk Warriors ignored them and moved forward.
They were heavily armed. Even if infected, Purification Potions could neutralize curses or plagues, so they had no fear.
The Wights opened their maws and distanced themselves from them.
The Wights that had swarmed at high speed fled to avoid the Berserk Warriors.
Other Wights seeing them for the first time lunged, but died powerlessly.
A hundred beasts, two warriors who truly transcended humanity, and one human commanding them.
Ash, who was not far from the castle gate, watched them enter the estate with eyes wide open.
Their imposing figures caused his body to tremble involuntarily.
“What in the world are they…”
What did one even call such beings?!
Even a single Wight entering an army’s formation would spell its end. Unless one was a powerful expert, whether their numbers were ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or a million, the number was meaningless.
Yet they were facing not dozens or hundreds, but thousands of such Wights.
And they displayed overwhelming force mercilessly, without any strategy or schemes.
To the extent that they made those Wights flee in terror.
Ash felt a tingling sensation throughout his entire body.
Only later would he realize it was a shudder of excitement.
Watching the entering warriors, legendary armies from fairy tales and myths came to mind.
To Ash at that moment, the beings before him seemed like knights led by angels.
He wondered if perhaps he stood at the center of an event that would be remembered in history, no, perhaps even depicted in mythology.
‘Are they an army? No. Mercenaries? Not that either! If monsters like these existed as mercenaries, the continent would have fallen into great chaos long ago!’
If such beings were mercenaries, what would the countless kingdoms and empires of the continent do?
They would stop at nothing to recruit them. Any war they joined would surely end in victory, and the losers would experience hell.
They would become objects of terror on the continent, and no one would dare antagonize them.
No, perhaps even the force that recruited them would be unable to handle them and fall into ruin.
That was how absolute the Berserk Warriors’ martial might was.
‘To whom do they belong?’
Ash observed them.
There were no banners. Then it was possible they belonged to no one.
‘Plus, beast helmets.’
As far as he knew, there were no knight orders or mercenary bands that used beast bones.
The armor they wore and the helmets they used were alien, unlike anything seen anywhere on the continent.
Why were they here? How? For what reason?
Had they appeared before his very eyes?
Perhaps also exhausted, the Berserk Warriors let out rough breaths. Suddenly, they discovered Ash’s party.
Their steps halted firmly.
Their rough breathing grew even rougher.
It was excitement. They looked joyful, as if they had discovered something.
“We have been looking for you.”
Looking for them?
They began walking again. And reached Ash. Leading was a man in luxurious clothes, flanked by a middle-aged man with bulging muscles and a beautiful woman, with the Berserk Warriors following behind them.
When the man, Aum Linia, knelt, Kudan, Kankun, and the Berserk Warriors behind them knelt in unison.
“……!”
He had thought they were definitely not an army. But he had to think differently.
Without a single mistake, they all knelt on one knee and bowed their heads. They set their weapons down on the ground and placed their hands upon their chests, lowering their backs.
It was a gesture of loyalty retainers offered to their master.
A gesture of submission directed toward their liege.
Ash thought, ‘It can’t be.’
Who was there here to kneel and offer submission?
He was the one who inherited a noble bloodline. He was royalty, one who would become king.
Ash’s heart surged and his face brightened, but it soon stiffened.
The divine warriors before him were facing his ‘side’.
The one they submitted to was not him. Their master was someone else.
He was…
‘…That… person?’
With wide eyes, Ash looked at Loki.