Chapter 215
A mountain piled with corpses.
On top of the pile of corpses sat a massive man calmly resting his chin on his hand.
The giant axe laid at his feet indicated he was an orc, but his dull, murky skin color rather than green skin revealed he was a Fallen One.
[He's a strange one, I tell you.]
[What do you mean, Gorgal?]
[No, I mean the gray one. You saw it too. The scabbard he carries.]
Black hair. Gray eyes.
Kallias, the man with a sword on his back and two swords at his waist.
Among them, the sacred relic created this time.
Demetri.
Kallias swept away an army of ten thousand with a single sword drawn from its scabbard.
In a single strike.
No matter how strong the Fallen Ones may be, they don't possess a fatal technique capable of slaughtering an army of ten thousand in one strike.
Yet he did it.
Very simply.
[Come to think of it, you looked down on him. Said he wouldn't even live thirty years.]
[I didn't speak falsehoods. Jaeger.]
Jaeger, named 666, turned his gaze away from 555 Gorgal's face.
There stood Kallias, gripping his scabbard as if concentrating.
[Looks like he's starting again.]
[What do you mean?]
[Didn't you see? That bastard. He's marking his territory. As if it's his land.]
Suuuuur.
Wind swirled around him.
Beneath Kallias's feet as he closed his eyes and focused, all the corpses slowly crumbled into ashes piece by piece.
The corpses that had stopped after spilling red blood and various emotions on the battlefield also slowly turned to ash.
And the sight of him gathering some of it into his scabbard was truly bizarre even to the Fallen.
[I think that might be the real devil. Worse than the Fallen, isn't he? If I were a god, I would have thrown him away long ago.]
[We can't know that. Whatever the case, they gave the oracle because he was necessary, right? Gods cannot interfere directly.]
Until he comes into their embrace.
Gods can do nothing.
[...What's that. They're coming again? Those bastards sure are persistent.]
Beyond the ridge.
More armies, each fully armed, were rushing in succession.
[They charge in knowing they'll die.]
Expressions of resolve, prepared for death.
555, Gorgal's eyes read even the expressions of the distant knights.
[That's how powerful the god's influence is. Isn't that what those who've lived borrowing the god's power look like?]
The god's oracle is that absolute.
Among the things on the earth, humans value their own lives most highly, yet ironically, they also rush to throw their lives away for the most useless things.
For things like loyalty, faith, conviction, belief.
[No matter how much they believe in the god, nothing comes back, pitiful creatures.]
But Gorgal's lips curled upward, contrary to his words.
[Someone who truly pities them wouldn't kill humans while smiling.]
[Hahaha! Would they now? Who cares! You know and I know they won't stop unless they die. And to weaken the god's power, that's what it takes, right?]
[That's right.]
Killing the god's followers.
Eliminating the sacred relics.
Erasing even one more fragment of divinity.
That was the best course of action.
[Ugh. But when does that gray bastard plan to stay here? Zellarin, you should know. Do you?]
[I don't know. He said he needs a little more time.]
[Good grief, I wonder if he'll kill all the humans on the continent before we leave.]
[If that happens, it would be better.]
It would be better if that happened.
There's no need to worry about humans.
Then or now.
There was only one thing they were concerned about.
[I just don't know if those damn lizards will interfere again.]
It was the appearance of dragons.
* * *
Same time.
Emily's party passed through several forests, crossed hills, and reached a region close to the Gray Land.
They arrived at Aiti.
The reason they could come this quickly was none other than the Iron-scaled Dragon Beati.
Brance, even if it meant slightly disobeying orders, flew Emily as close as possible to the Gray Land where Kallias would be and dropped her off.
Thus they arrived at the Gray Land without incident, but an obstacle stood before them.
"Why is the Holy Army setting up camp here?"
"The official reason is obvious. They say it's to form a siege line to prevent the Fallen from escaping the continent."
"They've all gone underground and this siege is bullshit. They're probably just sitting tight with some lame excuse because they're too scared to die."
Those agreeing with Emily were a lizard-man with scales covering his skin and a dwarf man shorter than Emily.
They were Aldu and Filo.
They had mixed in among the pilgrims and followed Emily all the way here to meet Kallias, to confirm things themselves.
Of course.
They weren't the only ones.
The water-haired saintess.
Esther was also with them.
"Chris. What about the rumors you've heard?"
"Based on the intelligence we've gathered, any army that set foot in the Gray Land never came back out. Those who confirmed their battles using artifacts said..."
Chris hesitated, glancing at Emily.
"Tell me."
"Yes. They said those with dark, murky skin slaughtered the army single-handedly with their respective weapons. Their number was three hundred. Compared to an army of a hundred thousand, it's nothing but dust. But since all of them are Fallen with ranks similar to Masters..."
"They were all wiped out."
Chris nodded.
An army of a hundred thousand was utterly defeated by merely three hundred.
Emily was dumbfounded even hearing it.
A hundred thousand. A hundred thousand.
An army whose numbers could pass for a nation was defeated by just three hundred.
She couldn't believe it even after hearing it.
But this was a clear fact.
It meant the Fallen's power was at that level.
"Yes. Because of that, they're only maintaining the siege and not attacking recklessly. I think they intend to wear down their strength using rotation tactics. They have no other option."
"Are the Masters not stepping forward?"
"They're probably observing the situation."
"Well, in the current nations, Masters are treated as strategic weapons. No fool would carelessly deploy such a precious resource."
Masters are mostly knights.
Since they are knights who swore loyalty to the nation, they cannot go to war without the king's command.
A Master, like a treasure of the nation, is not a card that can be easily used and discarded.
Even the Empire doesn't easily dispatch Masters, and other nations would be no different.
"So what's the problem?"
"That we can't enter either."
"Why?"
"I just told you. They've set up camp."
"Ah..."
Sighs followed from Filo and the others. Currently, near the Gray Land.
Aiti has the Gray defectors and Fallen who are evaluated as enemies of humanity.
Its location is at the center of the land where seven small nations are situated, which is also the western front of the Empire.
It was a situation no different from a mouse trapped in a jar.
Many soldiers and knights deployed by the nations have died, but the boundary line surrounding the Gray Land is still fiercely contested.
Many brave knights are gathering.
In the face of humanity's crisis.
National interests fade away, and for those with only a sense of duty blooming in their hearts, human lives were left to heaven.
Everything is heaven's will.
Since they followed the god's will, their lives were not to be regretted.
For those who would return to the god's embrace beyond death, dying in battle was not terror but an honorable path.
"Honor my ass. They're just squatting there doing nothing because they're scared of the Fallen, wasting supplies."
At Filo's sarcastic remark, most of the party nodded.
However, Chris looked at Emily and Esther and asked for their intentions again.
"What should we do now?"
"...?"
The question seemed to mean they had done all they could.
"Carpe sent us to find out whether the Fallen and the Count were truly connected. It doesn't seem much different from the rumors, so returning wouldn't be a big problem..."
"Pilgrim Chris."
"Yes, Sir Emily."
"The king's royal decree clearly had fragmentary parts written. It said to find out if there's a connection with the Fallen. But what do you think was the intention of sending me for that?"
"..."
Emily turned her gaze and body toward the party who were listening to her words rather than Chris.
"The Count of Zerban, one of the four great nobles of Carpe and the hegemon of the north, was branded a defector by the oracle of another god. But no one knows the whole story. The name Zerban is an indispensable name for Carpe. The Count of Zerban, my father, eliminated the wicked group that attempted to assassinate the queen and destroy the country that was invaded by the Empire."
Emily's voice began to fill with force.
Something everyone had forgotten under the notoriety of the Gray Defector.
The Guardian of the North.
And the Guardian of the Kingdom.
The one who raised the North that was about to fall to the orc hordes, and protected the Kingdom that was about to perish from the Empire's invasion.
"And he saved the North several times, fought and defeated the Empire's spears for Carpe, and in the end even took the Saintess hostage to serve Carpe. Yet!!"
Bang!!
Crack! Boom!!
Emily's face contorted as she gripped her bloodied fist that had struck the tree beside her.
It wasn't because of pain.
It was because of unbearable anger.
"If we judge and conclude by looking only at the surface like they do, can that truly be called the proper attitude toward a hero?"
"..."
"Or, if we judge by appearance alone and bring back wrong information to Carpe, what do you think will happen?"
"..."
"Carpe will commit the blunder of losing the strongest knight on the continent."
That massive national loss.
"Can you fill it?"
No one in the party could answer lightly, unable to believe such bold cry came from a young girl's mouth.
What stood before them was not a tender girl, but a knight who knew righteousness.
Chris and the pilgrims saw the true face of the girl who seemed only young.
Esther and Serena's group looked on with satisfaction, saying she was indeed his daughter.
"Then what should we do now?"
Chris asked her with even more respect than before.
Before them, the Holy Army had set up outposts to block reckless entry, and even if they entered, the Fallen were swarming inside.
Even a Saintess would struggle against a single Fallen, so what could they possibly do if they went in?
The pilgrims beside Chris were fledglings who had just finished training.
They were Carpe's lion cubs who hadn't even properly completed their training before being sent out.
At best they were equal to average knights, and more likely below that.
Of course, there was somehow a Saintess here and a few knights close to Master level, but most of them would die without even drawing their swords.
Not just the pilgrims, but Emily herself was in a place with a high probability of the same.
"Definitely, if we just go in, it's suicide."
If Kallias was there, he would absolutely not let that happen, but for some reason, even among the rumors, there was no story about him.
No one really knew for sure whether he was here or not.
'It feels like we're getting further away.'
She had tried so hard to narrow the distance.
Yet it felt like it wasn't narrowing but growing further apart.
"May I offer my opinion?"
"Your name?"
"Leone. Leone de Toret."
If Chris had a sharp, handsome face, Leone had a pure appearance.
"Go ahead."
"I think the reason they were able to set up camp at the Gray Land is because they don't leave that land."
"Yes."
"What do you think that reason is?"
"...Are you saying they're waiting for something?"
"Either there's no reason to leave. Or..."
They're waiting for something.
"What do you think it is?"
"I don't know what exactly..."
Startled.
Everyone suddenly felt a presence and quickly grabbed the hilts at their waists.
Then, looking up at the sky.
"Insane."
Giant birds covering the blue sky.
No, dragons were flying in in swarms.