The Army of Yeokcheon (3)
The gentle breeze blew through my hair. The corrupted and ominous energy was carried upon that wind, and it made me nervous.
I couldn’t believe it. The knights and soldiers in that terrible, dark army were once noble men.
I couldn’t accept it. Nevertheless, I had to.
“It is not only the mage who has been cursed by the necromancer.”
Ophelia had said this. She herself had been deprived of her rest when she was plunged into the boundary between death and life.
“The mage found a vessel to contain his entire life essence, but they could not find it. So, he became a ghost under the ground that could not reach the living world.”
A truth of death that I couldn’t see before, and the truths that lay beyond it, crushed my spirit now – four hundred years later.
I closed my eyes out of dizziness, and the cool breeze touched both my cheeks.
When I opened my eyes, I met a gaze of starlight.
Ophelia was staring at me.
Just like when we first met four hundred years ago, hers was a gaze filled with incomprehensible compassion.
“Even if you did speak through the king’s mouth, I knew that all his teachings had originated from you. And that you hold them dearly.”
A strange, uncomfortable feeling filled me, so I turned my head away.
“Keep one thing in mind. All that is left for those soldiers and knights you so fiercely loved is not the fiery convictions that they held in life, but the cold void of death.”
The cool sensation on my cheeks disappeared.
“When the sun sets, they will be unleashed, together with hatred and envy toward the living,” Ophelia said as she stepped back, still staring straight at me.
“If it cannot be protected, it will be taken. If it is taken, passion, soul, and body will all be lost.”
Her low whisper of a warning struck me.
I studied the sky – the sun was still high, but there wasn’t much time until it completely set.
I turned my gaze to the wall and saw that everyone, including Vincent, was looking at me.
They all seemed nervous.
Their instinctive fear of the soldiers of Yeokcheon, who would come with nightfall, was writ deeply on their young faces.
“Gather firewood and oil,” I ordered, putting strength into the command, and added, “as much as you can possibly collect.”
This would be a very long night.
* * *
The walls had already been insanely chaotic due to the battle against the monsters, and now they became even busier with soldiers carrying firewood and pots of oil.
‘Haawwoooor!’
The case was the same beneath the wall, for the closer that night crept on, the more monsters ran wildly to the castle. Many of these beasts tried their utter best to scale the walls.
‘Kieeek!’ cried a goblin, its nails bloody and broken after the climb, when a ranger’s arrow struck it.
‘Dwaf! Kwadaf!’ came the sound of orcs banging against the gate so hard that their shoulderblades got smashed. The hands of a troll had been worn to the bone as it punched the gate.
Quite the frenzy existed beneath the walls.
Even the veterans of Winter Castle, men who faced swarms of monsters every year, had hard faces when seeing the absolute berserk desperation of the beasts. The recruits fared worse. They were exhausted by constant battle and terrified by the madness of the monsters.
It wasn’t good – If things continued like this, morale would reach rock bottom, even if all the monsters were slain come nightfall.
The undead could not be stopped by an army with low morale.
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Those who were terrified would easily give their bodies as vessels, and soon enough, exhausted soldiers would be naught but shambling evil spirits who craved the blood and flesh of their erstwhile allies.
Confusion would consume the entire army, and hell would bloom within the castle walls.
“Vincent, how many knights are battle-ready?”
“Currently, there are sixty-four Winter Knights and fifty-nine Black Lancers awaiting orders.”
Compared to when the war had ended, their power had been shored up quite a bit. However, it was not enough might to beat back the monsters that assailed the walls from below.
“Let the knights gather by the gates.”
“Are you sure you want to open the gates and ride out?” Vincent expressed his concern.
The number of monsters has decreased a lot due to the continual battles during the day, but there were still at least 2,000 monsters under the walls.
And they were not just monsters; they were crazed monsters.
It was not wise to open and exit by the gates in such a situation, but there was no other way.
If we went into the night like this, the tragedy would be of a far greater magnitude.
What the soldiers of Winter Castle needed most now was an overwhelming victory to bolster their hearts and allay their fears.
“Call up some of the men serving under Bernardo Eli as well.”
Vincent bowed, his face stiff, as I gave these orders.
The rangers on the wall looked at me.
Perhaps due to overhearing my recent conversation with Vincent, their gazes shone with a strange light.
Why? Why the hell do you want to leave the safety of the walls? they seemed to ask, and that question was evident upon all their faces.
They figured that they could clear the monsters up by firing from the walls, so they could not understand why I would want to open the gates and so blatantly court danger.
The expressions of the veteran rangers had changed, for their faces had been pale and stiff. They were all now excited and expectant.
“For the north! Come, beat the drum!”
“Hey, someone touched my horn!”
“Imagine, these recruits think that we’re all now dead. If I get to live, I’ll beat some sense into them.”
The veterans continued to joke around, and it sounded as if they were preparing for a festival.
“I will place my bet on His Highness.”
“Aye, but the Black Lancers are the best on horseback. I’m betting on Captain Lichtheim.”
As the bets increased, some even started a pool on ‘Who beheads the most monsters.’
“I’ll also bet on Captain Lichtheim,” said Vincent in a loud voice, and his statement scratched my pride.
“Now, do we have any more bets? If you have a bet, talk quickly,” Vincent urged the recruits to partake in the betting, but they only looked at him blankly. Then, they bet their coin without knowing who to bet on.
“Sir Lichtheim! Balahard’s financial future rests on you!” came the jocular cry of a veteran.
“It’s not from the men of Balahard that I get my pay, but from the pockets of the Lord Balahard!” the one-eyed commander shouted and then chuckled from where he stood beneath the wall.
There was not a sense of tension to be found anywhere.
The new lancers were swept up in the jolly atmosphere and laughed along without knowing why. Winter Knights and the new Mana Heart Knights joined in the mirth.
I shook my head and headed down from the wall.
“Your Highness,” Adelia said as she found me, bringing me my sword and armor.
As I felt her gentle touch, she observed the knights that had been summoned before the castle gate. Among them was a familiar face.
“Carls is also going?” Adelia asked.
“His Highness dragged me here, so I must,” said the grinning Carls, who had the other ex-palace knights lined up behind him.
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“Your Highness, are you uncomfortable?” Adelia asked me.
“Oh no, I’m good.”
“I need to tie your hair.”
Before I could even give her permission, Adelia lifted my hair and tied it in a single deft and skillful motion. When the hair – which had restricted my vision – was removed, I felt a sense of freedom.
“Thanks.”
“I’ll comb it when I come back shortly,” Adelia stated with a satisfied face. She was also fully armed and armored.
Arwen stood beside me, and Bernardo was hovering around as well.
“Why are you here again?” I asked Bernardo.
“Uhh… I have to face the monsters with you, so I have to stand in the vanguard.”
“Don’t even talk about such things. Go to your post. You must lead the candidates.”
Bernardo screwed his mouth at my words and then said, “Sir Arwen, please be safe.”
Arwen didn’t so much as respond to Bernardo’s heartfelt wishes. She merely kept her silence and re-checked her armaments.
“Then everything is ready!” I exclaimed.
“Ready for your latest mad charge, yes,” spoke the one-eyed cavalry commander, and the knights burst into laughter.
As he heard their laughter, he mounted his horse. As Quéon rode to face them, he asked, “So who will it be, who kills the most and wins the bet?”
He smiled and looked across the walls.
Countless soldiers on the wall were staring at us. There were the veterans, full of anticipation, and recruits, some of whose faces were still wracked by doubt.
“Your Highness! Just give the word, and we will open the gate!” came Vincent’s shout.
“Open it!” I answered without hesitation.
The gates began grinding open, their sound terrifying to the end.
‘Kraaark, kruurk.’
The chains and pulleys connected to the gates rattled and squealed.
Gradually, the gates started lifting from the ground.
‘Hawrrooo!’ came a roar as the first monsters started pushing their heads through the cramped gap.
‘Haa fha fha,’ went my breathing as I listened to the noisy roar of the beasts.
‘Mrooaawr!’
“It’s been a while. You seem nervous, said Quéon, and I smiled.
“No way,” I said, “It’s just that my stomach is bloated.”
Quéon chuckled and said, “I saw you eat a whole lot when I was on the wall.”
It had nothing to do with the few loaves of bread I had gobbled down, really. It was due to the Elixir, the essence of the forest, that I experienced digestive problems. I didn’t dare tell this to the cavalry commander.
I would soon find out whether I was ready.
The gate had raised enough to allow a horse passage. The monsters, trolls included, were now charging wildly.
The knights lined up in front of me weren’t even concerned. On my part, I just wanted to desperately stay on my feet and try to achieve something before night fell.
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“It’s really bad,” I muttered and slowly pulled out my sword.
Wow… Wow! At that moment, I enjoyed a feeling of wholeness as my mana heart expanded. Mana spread over my body in an instant.
There was nowhere for it to go, and yet my mana heart kept spewing mana.
“Oooh ahhh,” I sighed as my mana overflowed, as if in flood.
“The place that flees from death.”
I raised my voice.
I had killed the Warlord, but even then, I could not recite it properly with my lowly talent.
“There is no place to die.”
I have gained a higher level and was now about to face the monsters.
‘Vswooo! Vswoo!’ sang Twilight.
‘Pwoo!’ a brilliant beam of light formed up to the tip of my sword.
Unite, unite, and unite again!
The tightly compressed beam of light shaped itself into a sword.
It was the sign of knights who have reached completion.
The destructive power wielded only by those called masters.
I swung Twilight as it blazed.
‘Skaaa!’
A line of energy appeared in the air.
Space was filled by a completed Aura Blade.
‘Keeew!’
The monsters who had been caught in that arcing swing which had sundered the air looked down upon me.
Before they could even realize what had happened within my body, their heads fell to the ground.
Bright blood bloomed a second later.
“Charge!”
I leaped into that red world.
* * *
‘Gwoo-oh-oh-oh!’
The energy that had suddenly burst from beneath the castle gate slammed into Vincent.
His mana rings began to tremble. So strong was the energy that it made hearts shiver.
“This…”
It was a wave of energy that he was familiar with – and had missed dearly. Vincent stood on the wall like a man possessed as he looked at the area before the gate.
“Charge!”
Roaring like lions, the Black Lancers poured from the gate. At their fore was the first prince.
“Ah…”
As Vincent watched it, warmth crept into his heart.
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“Sword Master!” he shouted.
The knights of Balahard had lost many of their number in the war.
Now the knight to succeed them was here – holding a sword that shone with the light of dawn as if he was banishing the coming night.