Chapter 40 is out!
By the way, there is a night mode now, you can activate it by clicking on the yellow b.u.t.ton at the top right-corner of the website, or in the menu.
Anyway, here"s the chapter, I hope you"ll enjoy it!
Chapter 40
As one would expect, breaking out of the unexplored monster territory was no easy task; not even for Kurats.
If he didn"t use investigation spells to know his localisation as well as the direction he was taking, he would still be stuck in the forest, like a lost child.
Although he did try to experiment with various spells on the way, that only served to once again confirm how clumsy he was.
『Can"t you suppress the spell a bit more?! You"re going to drag all your allies into you attack if you use this in a battle!』
【”I suppressed it as much as I could though…”】
Kurats" anti-military magic was so overwhelmingly powerful that it even injured himself. On the other hand, his other, weaker spells were much slower and much less effective than his punches. His spells went to one extreme or the other, neither of which were good.
The only gain this monster territory had brought him was a bit of experience with using magic.
『How did it come to this….』
Bernst was gazing at the half-light of dusk, with a distant look in his eyes. And who could blame him? An alter-ego who shared his own genes had grown up into a meathead.
At any rate, after mowing down a swarm of monsters and causing a natural disaster, Kurats had arrived at Lapland.
Bolthron looked suspiciously at the giant in front of him.
It was clear that his splendid body had been tempered for combat. It was a forged fusion of great endurance and agility.
And yet, the man was wearing an attire that was typically worn by mages.
Apart from a single robe, he had no equipment. No armor, no sword, not even a knife.
Bolthorn had no clue why anyone would come to this place so unprepared.
【”Who are you? And why on earth are you here?”】
Bolthorn looked at Tulle to see if he recalled ever seeing the man, but Tulle only shook his head in response.
This meant that he at least was not a n.o.ble from Lapland.
Although Bolthorn was worried about the man"s ident.i.ty, what worried him the most was whether there were other people who knew about this side road.
Depending on the answer, this could mean there was a chance he would be met with an ambush at the end of the path.
If his troops were to meet with a surprise attack on such a narrow and straight road, they would all be annihilated, regardless of the enemy"s numbers.
(I hadn"t thought of this, but is it possible that Tulle didn"t betray his people and is actually leading us to a trap?)
Now that Bolthorn started having doubts, all of Tulle"s actions se far were beginning to seem strange.
For example, would the duke of a country really betray his allies so easily?
Wasn"t it possible that he was sacrificing himself in order to save Lapland?
But the truth was that Bolthorn was completely overestimating Tulle.
Unaware that he was under suspicion, Tulle had his hand on his sword, ready to seal Kurats" mouth before he could tell others about this side road.
【”Hey, you. Are you from the Asgard empire?”】
【”Know your place! You are speaking to Lapland"s duke of Varandi, Tulle!”】
【”That"s weird, I thought fore sure that the crest on the back of those soldiers was from the Asgard empire, but―― Oooh, you"re a traitor, aren"t ya?”】
【”H-how dare you!”】
Kurats" words stabbed Tulle right where it hurt.
No matter what excuses he found, he was going to be branded as a traitor for life.
Tulle had not dared to think about it, but Kurats had mercilessly brought it up.
Blinded by anger, Tulle pulled out his sword to go for a killing blow, but Kurats easily grabbed it and crushed it with the grip of his hand.
Watching his sword that didn"t break but was squeezed into a deformed shape, Tulle stepped back, terrified, and screamed.
【”Y-you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, are you a monster?!”】
As for Bolthorn, he instructed his troops to surround the man. He recognized that Kurats should not be made light of, even though he was alone.
【”Don"t move. Any suspicious move and you"ll be impaled on the spot.”】
Just who in the world was this man working for?
a.s.suming that he was sent by another country, then why was he sent alone?
If he was a messenger, he should have gone to the royal capital, Bernholm, not to Crowdagen.
【”Keep your hands together and turn around slowly… What are you waiting for? Hurry and do as you"re told!”】
【”Good grief, you"re thinking of restraining me? …You?”】
【”―― We already told you not to move, you asked for it.”】
In response to Kurats" exasperated shoulder shrug, a first attack came in the form of a spear aiming for his feet.
【”I wouldn"t mind letting this go, but I really don"t want you to pierce a hole through my robe, sorry about that.”】
After Kurats said so, the spear aiming for him came out of the back of the soldier who had been wielding it.
Kurats had grabbed the spear before it could reach his feet and then used his incredible strength to push it right back.
Bolthorn temporarily lost his voice at the sight of this absurd scene.
But this was no time to capture and question the man.
He had to be killed as quickly as possible.
【”Tighten the encirclement! You"re allowed to take his life!”】
Following Bolthorn"s orders, the knights formed a tight circle around Kurats.
To make things worse, as the knights with swords tightened the inner side of the encirclement, the knights with spears took position on the outer side. They were looking at Kurats like he was already minced meat.
However――
【”You people are in way over your heads.”】
Bolthorn had to blink several times before realizing what had just happened.
Every single soldier within the double encirclement was gone, with only their lower bodies left.
The half-corpses formed a giant blood fountain before they fell down to the ground, spreading their entrails around, shrouding the whole area with a sickening smell.
Where were their upper bodies?
And more importantly, would Bolthorn"s forces be enough to defeat this monster?
Some insecure thoughts that Bolthorn had not considered before were dawning on him.
But that did not last, for the heavy silence all around was teared apart by a miserable scream from the miserable Tulle.
【”Iiiiiiih!! Someone! Help!”】
With his pants wet from fear, Tulle clung onto his retainer and escaped as fast as he could.
In a sense, this was not out of character for Tulle, he was just being himself.
Even so, his unsightly behavior still felt disgusting in the eyes of Bolthorn and the knights under him.
【”How could we be afraid to fight a single man whose background we don"t even know?! We will stand our ground until death! FOR THE HONOR OF THE ASGARD EMPIRE!”】
【”OH! OOOH! OOOOOOOOH!!”】
The knights roared like they were possessed by their commander"s fighting spirit.
These men"s sublime display of bravery was so admirable that it even left Kurats a good impression.
【”I"m a helper from the outside who came in on his own accord, and the name is Kurats・Hans・Almadianos!”】
(Bolthorn should have arrived at the side road by now.)
Thought Cabernard as he looked up at the mountains.
If that upstart"s words were right, there were a few hours left before the troops would reach Crowdagen from the back.
As a camouflage for the operation, some mages, the ones who were initially staying in reserve to dissuade the griffon units from attacking, had been sent to the frontline, where they formed a thick barrage of spells.
This kind of heavy offensive coming from mage units usually meant that an all-out attack was coming.
Even so, there was no way a commander as capable as Frigga would neglect the defense of the front line.
In fact, she was already aware that the battle was reaching its climax.
【”Marcus, how many of our soldiers can still fight?”】
【”Including the slightly wounded men, there should be around 600 of them.”】
In four days, about half of Crowdagen"s forces had been lost.
Asgard"s army had lost five times as many people, more than 3000 thousand men, however, due to the differences in numbers, it was obvious that
Crowdagen"s situation was going to worsen faster and faster.
【”―― We can still hold out against them, but probably only one more time. Once we manage to force them back, then I"ll go for one last attack. Use that opportunity to take all the injured and escape.”】
【”Your highness, you can"t! His Majesty is still waiting for you to return!”】
【”I"m the only one who can do it.”】
Besides Frigga, there was no one in all of Lapland"s military who could buy time against an army of tens of thousands.
Marcus was no exception.
Marcus tried to say that he would be the one staying in her stead, but his words were stuck in his throat.
That was because he saw the bright and cheerful expression Frigga had on her face, despite her impending meeting with death.
【”I know what they say about women, but I love war. I"m enjoying it way more than I ever expected. Well, if I have one regret, it"s that I wasn"t able to meet a gentleman who can defeat me, I guess.”】
Frigga always said that the man she would marry would have to be able to beat her in a one-on-one fight.
There was no one in the kingdom who didn"t know about the many men who had challenged her only to end up lying on the ground.
【”I"m sure one day you"ll find a man out there who"s stronger than you, your highness. Please take care of your life. “】
【”Yes, and if the fortunes of war allow it, let"s meet again.”】
They both knew that their chances of meeting again were close to zero.
However, any warrior with a lot of experience on the battlefield knew that miracles did exist.
And they were about to witness one.