Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the living army was hindered from advancing further, they began to lose ground. The dead then took over the front line and made the final push in the decisive war—a war that would alter that fate of the entire world.
The dead had come to save the living—the descendants and their deceased ancestors came full circle.
Past the Wardens’ wall of light and the first line of defense formed by the knights, the army of undead razed the enemy to the ground. None of these soldiers looked human—they were monsters molded out of dead bodies, spirits, and hollow armor. Time and the Eternal Battlefield had destroyed their bodies and their lives, deforming their appearances. Nevertheless, their souls were untouched from these external factors. When the ragged army charged at the enemy, Hao Ren knew the situation was no longer under his control.
Lily growled restlessly as she kept herself firmly in position. She wanted very much to join the Spirit Braves in their battle, and Hao Ren shared her enthusiasm. Nevertheless, they knew that they should stay back and wait. Geddon, Lord of the Mountains, advised them to stay back too. “We have our roles to play. This is their war, and we have no right to intervene.”
The combined army of the dead and the “monsters” became the front line. Half of them entered from the flank to engage with the Constructs, while the other half fought against the minions. There was no dramatic battle cry and no glamorous show of magical skills. These courageous warriors, who had willingly stepped into the darkness to protect the world of mortals, charged silently into enemy territory.
Their tattered flag rose above the battlefield. It was so badly weathered that one could only guess what it once looked like. It may have been a glorious military flag or one that bore the symbol of the Armageddon Army. Now, it flapped in the wind like rags, tied to a protruding bone that doubled as a flag pole. Nevertheless, the flag continued to wave above the battlefield no matter how fierce the corrupted minions fought back!
Suddenly, another flag rose near the front line.
This flag was semi-translucent and had barely recognizable side profile of the goddess on it. It was a holy relic, one that was usually buried together with a disciple who had passed on and retained the spirit of the disciple.
The spirit who held this flag was a large man. He rode a phantom war horse and raised the flag high up as he pushed his way to the front line.
The two flags gradually met each other.
“Aaron! I knew it was you!” The tall spirit fought his way to the leader of the Armageddon Army with only one arm. “I can’t believe I’d see you again after being dead for so long!”
The deformed flag bearer seemed to recognize the voice and studied the person before him hesitantly.
“You old fool… You’re dead, and I’m dead too.” The tall spirit looked toward the knights. “They, however, are still alive…”
The phantom military flag suddenly tilted forward.
“Give hope to the living! We, who had died once before, will pave the way for their future!”
The corrupted minions did not fear death.
The undead army and the Armageddon Army did not fear death either!
This was the spirit of Collow, passed down from generation to generation since ancient times —
Give hope to the living.
For thousands of years, in every War of Chaos, the same thing happened at the boundary of Order — layers and layers of defense collapsed as countless guards of the boundary sacrificed themselves. Their lives were used to buy time and space for the mortal people to survive past the wave of Chaos.
For thousands of years, the same thing happened in every country in the mortal world — when the War of Chaos ended, the Nations of Order that were destroyed would fuel the beginning of new nations. Countries that survived would recuperate by gathering resources from their less fortunate neighbors. The surviving rulers of these countries knew that they would one day become the “fuel” for other new countries. This was the spirit of Collow.
On the battlefield, the ancestor warriors had the same realization — when a threat was present, even the dead who perished thousands of years ago would rise to fight against it. They would charge in the battlefield once again to give hope to the living.
With an army that even death could not defeat at the front line, the corrupted minions began to retreat. The seemingly invincible Constructs began to show weaknesses in their defensive line. A good part of the smoke pillars was destroyed by the undead soldiers, which exposed Lockmarton’s disgusting and rotting tentacles.
The sound of the bugles from the three enchanted warships echoed throughout the battlefield.
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Thanks for their ancestors, the Sanctum’s knights and soldiers were given a chance to take a breather and regroup themselves. When the bugles sounded once more, the soldiers yelled thunderously as they raised their silver blades to charge at Lockmarton’s heart—Spiral Hill.
Golash and Zeno howled angrily, releasing laser beams and balls of lightning into the battlefield that shot past the scattered Constructs and corrupted minions to hit the two tentacles.
Everyone heard an angry growl in their heads. This voice that invaded their minds indicated that Lockmarton’s true body was harmed. After its two tentacles were heavily injured, no more new Constructs were created to enter the battlefield.
The Sanctum’s army continued their advance until they finally reached the foot of Spiral Hill.
Perhaps the mortals had finally worn out the tyrant’s patience, or Lockmarton had begun to feel threatened from the attacks, but the end result was the same—it decided to reveal its true body.
Hao Ren suddenly felt something radiating from the sky that sent a shudder down his spine despite his demigod mental strength.
He looked up above Spiral Hill, where the clouds had begun to swirl and reach for the ground. Even Spiral Hill itself seemed to be vibrating intensely. The evening sunlight gradually penetrated the clouds until the sky became clear once again.
One by one, tentacles slithered out from the clouds. They twisted menacingly, raking up a storm around them.
One of the tentacles swept past Spiral Hill from above. Suddenly, the structure began to tremble even more strongly before it shattered quietly until only a third of it was left.
Another tentacle swept across the Sanctum’s army from above. The soldiers who found themselves under its shadow were immediately stupefied. One by one, the warriors vanished into thin air, becoming “dream elements that disappeared because of waking up”.
Mortals were completely defenseless against this level of power!
“The mortals have done all they could.” Geddon, Lord of the Mountains, roared. His body glowed brilliantly as he cried, “It’s time for their elder brothers to take over!”
Alftine, Lord of the Wind, smiled and added, “Don’t forget their elder sister too.”
The ten Wardens unleashed all their strength, firing pure Light of Order toward Lockmarton’s tentacles above the Sanctum’s army. Then, they leaped and flew toward the sky!
As the clouds thinned, Hao Ren finally saw what the tyrant really looked like.
Words could not quite describe this massive being. No common language could express the surreal appearance of this being. Its body had no clear shape, and it did have any body parts that fit traditional understanding. The being was like a mutated fleshy growth that consisted of physical and illusory parts. Sometimes there were sparkling lights swimming around in its body, but upon closer inspection, there would only be darkness like the beginnings of a nightmare.
The strange growth floated in midair. Every part of its body was changing all the time, be it in shape or structure. Even the physicality of these body parts changed constantly. The creature was forever beyond comprehension.
An unpredictable nightmare—the phrase that came to Hao Ren’s mind.
He hopped down to the ground from Lily and found a more spacious place to reach into his Dimensional Pocket for all his heavy-duty weapons.
A guided missile flew out of his Dimensional Pocket from behind him and crashed into Lockmarton’s body. Huge cannons materialized and began to fire toward the sky. Autonomous machines used their long mechanical arms to fire all kinds of weaponry much larger than themselves against Lockmarton. They joined the battle at last and formed a powerful offensive force against the enemy.
At the same time, at the rear of the battlefield, the three enchanted warships were finally deployed. They fired their cannons simultaneously, shaking the ground with the sound of explosions!
As the attacks landed one after another on Lockmarton’s massive body, the latter began to summon layers of defenses around it. Most of the attacks were silently absorbed, but some managed to breach its defenses and exploded on its black tentacles.
Lily ran around in circles anxiously and howled. The war had ignited the animalistic nature in her. The dumb werehusky could no longer control the urge to battle inside her. She looked up and stared at Lockmarton’s body as the Light of Order on her body gradually focused.
She opened her mouth and howled as loud as she could. “Howl—”
A thick beam of white light shot out of her mouth, fired straight through Lockmarton’s defenses and ended with a massive explosion on the creature’s body.
The howling stopped abruptly as the werehusky snapped her mouth shut in surprise.