Chapter 140 — Kohtan
Early in the morning, the allied forces completed their formation. Their numbers had dwindled to thirty thousand, yet even that was enough to fill the surrounding land.
Thud, thud, thud!
The mont each unit took its position between the plains and the hills — Calix was inside the encampnt conducting a final inspection.
When the ti ca, he would advance alongside a thousand soldiers of the death squad.
"……Spread it as thin as you can."
"Of course."
The sound of armor straps being adjusted, the sll of oil on blades, the hands pressing helts down. No one spoke at length. They all knew this was a dangerous mission — and so a heavy silence hung in the air just the sa.
Then Marik released a calm voice.
"It's about ti Hadiya returns……she'll send word soon."
It was Adrian who received those words.
"Precisely."
Sure enough, a ssenger ca running from the distance, gasping for breath. At that, the dwarf Basim let out a hollow laugh. His ability never failed to leave them speechless.
Imdiately after, the battlefield status report followed.
"……The decoy succeeded! The monsters have split into two groups — south and north — and are closing in!"
In an instant, the air shifted.
Royce's gaze landed on Calix's face.
"Just as planned. It's as if they're moving on cue."
"Yes. They know, and yet they're walking right into it."
He did not deny the cruel reality.
Screech!!
An unsettling shriek and the sound of the earth trembling underfoot. The enemy's forces advanced without hesitation toward the point where the allied troops lay in ambush.
'Kohtan is no different from Midra. He seems to regard the battlefield as nothing more than amusent.'
Calix surveyed the entire battlefield from atop the high ground.
Hadiya's scouting party had suffered severe losses during the enemy decoy operation. Hundreds had been reduced to dozens, and even now they were being chased by flying beasts.
"Open shields!"
But the mont the enemy passed through the ambush point, the roles of the two groups reversed.
"Throw!!"
Javelins poured from between the ranks of the seasoned soldiers. With dying screams, the flying beasts shaped like serpents ca crashing down one after another.
A small cheer rose from the allied camp. But that mont was brief — enemy cavalry let out ferocious cries and ca charging in.
"What the……"
And what they rode upon was neither wolf nor horse.
Within the black cloud of dust, grotesque shadows lood tall. These were not re mounts — they were monsters assembled from human corpses stitched together.
Dozens of arms and legs slid and pushed against the ground, and the heads dangling from the ends of split ribcages creaked and clattered.
The rotting, decomposing flesh was half-hidden beneath dark crimson iron armor. Within their blood-red, rippling eyes, there was nothing but hatred and hunger.
Yet the seasoned soldiers standing across from them were no less formidable.
"……This is truly worthy of Gregor! He's picked exactly the right place to die!!"
"Cavalry charge! Close shields!"
Crash!!
The Silver Shield Legion handled the first collision splendidly. The front ranks partially collapsed, and the venom that sprayed over the shield wall lted through armor — but in the end, they held their footing and pushed through.
The next step was to push back in return.
"You wicked things—"
"Be annihilated!!"
Blades flashed between the tightly packed formations.
***
The battlefield was already seething with madness.
To the southwest, where the Mountain Rabbits clashed against the beasts, the tallic sound of weapons and fangs colliding rang out without pause. Centered on the Silver Shield Legion, their distinctive mobile tactics shone brilliantly. When the front line scread and fell, the empty positions were filled by the rcenaries behind them.
To the northwest, by contrast, the noble forces relied on discipline and order to repel the enemy's assault. Volleys of javelins pierced through the skulls of the monsters, but the corpses that fell to the ground rose again and seized the soldiers by their ankles.
Shrieeek!
Corpses that appeared to have been forced together from human and animal flesh moved. A putrid stench of rotting blood and iron mixed in the air, and the sound of bones twisting and scraping filled their ears.
In every direction, there were nothing but monsters.
Between the hills and the plains, not a single empty space remained.
The death squad watched all of it unfold.
"……It's horrifying."
"We're at a nurical disadvantage, but in terms of overall strength, we seem to have the edge."
"The problem is that they keep getting back up."
The knight commanders exchanged words with hardened eyes. They were effectively the most elite individuals the Niboria Empire had to offer, and yet not a single order had been given to them.
Even so, there was no sign of impatience.
Their commander was fulfilling his role.
"Northwest sector — the enemy's assault is intensifying!"
"……Still holding. The spare Mana Stones for the warhorses?"
"We've prepared more than enough in reserve."
Calix looked through the battlefield from atop the high ground. Wherever his gaze fell, the flow of each front beca plainly visible.
'The start is good. But I can't miss even the smallest shift.'
The allied forces were holding on well.
It was because the wicked things knew no retreat. They were incapable of complex thought, and simply threw themselves at whoever stood before them with no regard for their own lives.
Still, there were things that weighed on his mind.
'……Nergas is absent. Every powerful individual has been pulled back.'
War was a place where unpredictable things happened by nature, and so even as he continued issuing commands, he could not ease the furrow between his brows.
"Calix! Scout report!"
Right then, Hadiya approached and called out his na. The armor of the mounted scouting party was stained with blood, and the sound of labored breathing rose from every direction.
Paradoxically, it was the very news he had been waiting for.
"Kohtan is holding position just outside the capital. One hill away. He hasn't moved at all."
"The size of the remaining unit?"
"Two to three thousand. There were so who looked quite formidable at his side, but they were equally stationary."
Calix finished his cross-verification. His trust in his Bloodline Ability remained intact, but he intended to move with slightly more caution than usual.
'There is no second chance.'
When Hadiya's report concluded, Calix gave a brief nod. A great deal of blood had been shed for the two missions of decoy and scouting.
Now it was ti to see the result.
"Good. From this point — we hold, and we cut."
A brief silence fell. He exchanged glances with his companions. Not a single word was needed — everyone understood what was held within them.
"Mountain Rabbits, maintain the front line. Pull back in rotation and draw the enemy out long. You absolutely cannot collapse all at once."
"Understood!"
Romance answered, then leapt straight onto his horse. His manner of speaking was plain, but the spirit in his eyes was as cold as a blade.
"Noble forces, maintain current position. They won't be accustod to pulling back efficiently the way rcenaries are. Tell them to deploy the reserves the mont they arrive. If they fall, they'll be trampled."
"Leave it to . I'll make sure the ssage gets through clearly."
Kotchap raised his banner and quickly departed in the northern direction. The horn sounded twice short, and once long.
Bwooo—!
"And—"
Finally, Calix's gaze turned toward Volga.
"Tell Duke Akron — the rear must be blocked. We need to cut off any possibility of the enemy's forces returning to Kohtan."
The ti had co for the hunters of the north to move.
Shortly after, signal sounds cascaded along the ridgelines. While the monsters had their eyes fixed on the front, thousands of soldiers crossed through the rear of the battlefield.
***
The noble forces on the northwest front were wavering.
The dark venom that sprayed over their armor gnawed through the tal. Scrape — at the sound of flesh being cut through, soldiers from the rear ranks surged forward, but by then the gaps had already begun to widen.
Breathing grew ragged. Hands gripping weapons were soaked in cold sweat and gri, and a chill deeper than that bored into their very bones. Before long, their stomachs turned and the urge to retch surged upward.
"How much longer can this……"
Soone's voice slipped out, and scattered away helplessly amid the din of the battlefield.
They were elite soldiers who had undergone grueling training. Restraint was woven into their every movent — but no amount of training had ever prepared them for the madness unfolding before their eyes.
Crack!Sliiide.
Soldiers thrust their blades, slash, and stab. Thanks to the output of the Neural Accelerators sustaining them, individual combat ability clearly favored the humans.
But the beasts were cut, dropped to their knees, collapsed to the ground…… And rose again.
"Jeeee-eral!!"
"Kunyaa!"
A soldier was torn apart alive. A monster made of chunks of flesh seized a human forearm, ripped it free, and drove it into its own body. In the instant blood splattered, it gained yet another arm. Scenes like this played out everywhere along the front line.
Even hardened veterans instinctively stepped back. When they opened their mouths to catch a breath, a stench of blood and rust mixed together stabbed at their throats.
The hands gripping swords went limp as wet grass. Even when they tried to exert force, their hearts sank heavier than the blade. Then nausea rose and overturned their composure.
Just then, a comrade beside them fell. A monster with twisted limbs ca crashing down on top of them, and imdiately — crunch — the sound of bones being ground apart rang out from beneath the weight of the body.
'This is not an enemy that can be killed.'
'This is not a fight that can be won.'
Fear and dread gnawed away at their hearts.
And in that mont—
Boom!
A deep rumbling that began from the eastern ridge shook the battlefield.
A shadow fell across the hilltop. Their armor varied in form, but they were united beneath a single banner. Within the shield emblem, a pale and withered tree thrust its roots bare.
"It's Duke Akron's army!"
The hunters of the north.
The northern noble's army, which had road the wastelands, moved in a manner befitting that na. Soon, the Drenshol-style slingers — that is to say, the weapons designed for stone-throwing — demonstrated their power.
Whoooosh!!
Difficult to inflict significant damage, but more than sufficient to seize attention. Imdiately after, the Akron army pushed forward rapidly into the rear areas with sword and spear at the front.
Rays of light and mana intertwined, severing the necks of the monsters. By that asure, the pressure from the front, the fear, and the despair — all of it gradually eased.
The northern spearhead had blocked the passage that led to Kohtan.
***
Calix watched as the beast horde turned its heads toward the east. The intervention of Duke Akron's army had wrenched the front line out of shape.
That very gap was the mont he had been waiting for.
"Retreat signal! Mountain Rabbits, fall back to the southwest ridge!"
"Noble forces, wheel them to the flank! The front line must hold to the last!"
ssengers rushed out in every direction.
Bwooooo!
The horn rang out long once more, and the Mountain Rabbits were the first to respond.
The commander of the Silver Shield Legion, Erdman Falter, raised his voice from the very front.
"Back! Don't die in vain — fall out together with your comrades!"
On a brutal battlefield where humans and monsters were locked together, the masters of mobile warfare drew the line of retreat. The highest order that only those who lived with one foot in death could ever display. Even as they extracted themselves, they struck back, and when necessary, they advanced once more.
The noble forces quickly followed behind them.
They had faced a crisis in which the formation nearly collapsed, but the opening created by Duke Akron's army breathed life back into them. The allied forces were pulling back — slowly, but surely — like two wings spreading open.
Now, all that remained was the death squad led by Calix.
From a distance, Marquis Ashapel watched the scene and murmured to himself.
"……Cut through the battlefield, strike the human wall, and block it in reverse. Was this kind of delaying action what he had in mind from the very beginning."
Within the sigh that reached no one's ears, there was a small asure of reverence.
At the sa mont, the death squad mounted their horses. The banner fixed to its pole cut through the cold wind and fluttered. The eyes beneath the pressed-down helts each carried a different light, yet the resolve was the sa.
The gaze of those who had wagered their lives.
"There's no need for idle words."
The voice of the Master, Imran Akran, fell low and quiet.
"From here on, this is not a road for the living. Make your peace."
The knights' resolve seeped through the dry air.
At that, Calix too stared quietly at the final hill. Cross one more ridge, and he would co face to face with the Legion Commander Kohtan.
'The real fight begins now. There's no ti for hesitation.'
The clock of fate was turning. While the main force held back the wicked beings, the head of Legion Commander Kohtan had to be taken.
"Cook comrade?"
When Gregor pressed him softly, he gave a nod and opened his mouth.
"Let's move."
At last, the ti had co to cut through the wind and advance.
Clop, clop, clop, clop.
The death squad column began to move. Hooves struck the earth, and the sound of armor clashing echoed through the air.
Then, just as they approached the top of the hill, the air changed.
"Anomaly manifestation zone ahead! Stay alert!"
Calix spotted the marker Hadiya had left and called out imdiately. Atop the undergrowth lay the carcasses of an ox and a donkey.
It had been an unavoidable sacrifice made to confirm the extent of Kohtan's influence — and sure enough, the mont they crossed the line, trouble arose.
The first anomaly ca from light.
The banners stained violet. Was it an illusion? No. A second, a third banner — they too lost their color. Along with them, the shadows of the riders pressing forward stretched out long. Even the sense of distance between the far sky and the earth beneath them beca impossible to discern.
Next ca sound.
The dwarf Basim blew the horn to relay a warning…… But as though the ears themselves had been sealed, all sound vanished into a vacuum.
And then, shortly—
Boom!!
The world cracked open again, and all of that sound ca crashing back like an explosion. Screams, tallic clangs, heartbeats and more mixed together and tore through their ears.
Last ca the senses.
Up and down, left and right, all reversed in an instant. Reality itself was unchanged, but as though the neural network had tangled, all five senses were thrown into chaos.
Thud!
Soone's hand trembled and they dropped their sword, and another lost control of their mount and tumbled to the ground. Laughter turned to weeping, then broke into severed screams.
"Activate mana! Use the Mana Stones to keep the warhorses from being affected!"
"Hold formation!"
Calix called out through gritted teeth. His warhorse, Lunos, held out magnificently — but already, those breaking away were appearing.
Fortunately, Royce, Marik, and the other key mbers of the Mountain Rabbits were unaffected.
And soon they reached the top of the hill.
Beyond it, the capital of the Niboria Empire ca into view. But it was no longer sothing that could be called a capital.
The outer walls had half-crumbled to dust and hung suspended in the air. The stone dust bent the light in reverse as it drifted, adorning the sky like a work by so renowned painter.
"……Is that it."
Right before it, Kohtan was there. The form made of countless streams of blood was like an enormous void. The fact that sothing breathed and lived within it was, if anything, even more horrifying.
It lay subrged in stillness, not moving at all.
That fact was all the more ominous. Like a beast waiting for prey to step into a trap, it seed to be smiling from behind a mask of pitch black.
Calix gripped the reins of his horse. His heart sank cold. Within him, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, and wariness, and hatred.
But what was certain was that it was not fear.
"Let's go."
He was the first to step forward into the space where light flowed in reverse.
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