Chapter 182: Willpower
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
The protection of a True G.o.d? Mortal battles didn’t need it thanks to the fundamental laws of the world; it was impossible for True G.o.ds to directly intervene in mundane matters.
That Forest Guardian True G.o.d of the elves? The fact that he was now dead was plenty of evidence of what would happen if one broke the rules.
But it was enough for the brave warriors who fought to protect their tribe.
The mortal Mist King Roland announced their glory while Wumianzhe from the heavens above announced that their heroic deeds would be recognized by everyone. Even if they died and their souls slept forever, it would be fine—it was fine as long as their glory existed in the hearts of the true warriors of the north.
For the beastmen, however, it was devastating. Perhaps a True G.o.d’s protection seemed rather ephemeral, but it was actually supremely dangerous when they witnessed it for themselves.
“What will Wumianzhe do? Will he make the Church of Law partic.i.p.ate in battle? Or will he personally give out divine punishment?”
This was especially so because the beastmen’s original True G.o.d had already perished in the previous holy war. Due to this unbalance in power, they were now even more afraid of the intervention of a True G.o.d.
“We can’t afford to hide our full power any longer. Londe, send out your best forces; Kagra, let’s combine your Blue-Feathered Harpy Division with my Bloodaxe Tribe as our warriors lack the protection of air cavalry and casters. Hamar, Sostilo, stop your brave warriors from wallowing in regret. Even when they’re off their steeds, they’re still our most elite warriors, and our castle-scaling warriors lack the command and leaders.h.i.+p of the elite.”
All the tribal leaders who were mentioned nodded in silence. As the highest ranks of the allied forces that const.i.tuted the beastmen armies, they each had strong tribes but had been avoiding sending out the best of their troops to prevent their own tribes from becoming frontline cannon fodder. However, when it truly came down to it, they would send in everything they had.
“We must conquer Red Maple Castle within two days! Sound the battle drums; I’m going to fight personally!”
The Bloodaxe Tribe Leader viciously pounded the conference table with his fist. The crushed sandbox that represented Red Maple Castle seemed as if it was indicating its eventual fate. At this moment, this Beastman King, who previously seemed to be more like a merchant than royalty, was finally showing off his own pride as a beastman.
The snow was falling intermittently, but the temperature never once rose above zero degrees. The d.a.m.ned weather would freeze any skin directly exposed to the elements.
The sun had already set, but the number of beastmen surrounding the walls of Red Maple Castle didn’t decrease in the least. It was the opposite; with the return of the Wolf King’s troops, the beastmen army had increased once again and now included countless of hordes of the famously dexterous Wolfriders.
Several hundred large torches acted as temporary lighting and heating. After the beastmen discovered that there wasn’t enough wood to burn, they tossed all the valuable books and artwork that they had pillaged into the fires as if they were worthless lumber. The humans could even hear the beastmen’s unique roughshod singing and the beat of battle drums in the distant beastmen camps.
“d.a.m.ned beastmen! They’re looking down on us!”
To be honest, it was actually the opposite of what the furious humans were thinking. The beastmen were now treating the humans before them as warriors on an equal level to themselves. They were venerating their ancestors on the glorious battlefield to console the souls that had died in battle, and they were also conducting this ritual for the sake of prematurely honoring those of their tribe members that would die in battle.
For the beastmen who believed in the War G.o.d Holadis, dying on the glorious battlefield was easy to accept. If they could meet their deaths in an epic-level campaign, it would be considered as the blessing of the War G.o.d. This was why they kept chanting the War G.o.d’s name as they bravely fought to their deaths, only hoping for a major battle that would please their ancestors’ spirits.
Of course, since Holadis had already died in the previous Holy War and the current War G.o.d Kalonpis was a Human G.o.d, there was nothing that would answer the beastmen’s prayers. Their prayers were more like grat.i.tude and idolization towards their ancestors as they thanked fate for giving them a glorious battlefield where they could challenge their own fates.
“If we win, we can finally return to the Great Bianluya Plains, the place of origin of all beastmen! It’s supposed to be inconceivably beautiful! After this battle, I can finally return to my ancestral home and get married!”
In their eyes, the battle was already nearing its end. As long as they got rid of those pesky humans, they would only be one step away from completing the grand mission of their ancestors.
Those beastmen that belonged to the first wave, which was acting as the vanguard, made preparations for the possibility of their deaths as they charged onto the battlefield. Since their ritual was now over, they believed that their souls would forever accompany their own tribe. They weren’t afraid of any sacrifices on the battlefield.
“We admit that these northern humans are brave warriors as well. Only cowards are afraid of death! This is a grand battle where only one side will live in the end! We fight to the death!”
Battle drums and bleak horns sounded from everywhere around Red Maple Castle’s walls. War songs were continuously sung as the beastmen kept up their current attack for more than ten hours.
Due to the castle walls acting as an obstacle, the siege battle became a b.l.o.o.d.y and cruel meat grinder. The warriors of both sides were only going to the frontline in limited numbers and could only become a part of the endless amount of sacrificial cannon fodder for the attacks of the mages and mage towers.
As midnight arrived, the number of combined beastmen troops totaled more than 120,000. The beastmen had Red Maple Castle surrounded so tightly that even a fly could not escape. But even though the beastmen had the advantage in numbers, as well as a higher individual combat strength for each unit, the humans made use of the castle walls for protection, and n.o.body could change the fact that this was a desolate meat grinder.
The castle protectors weren’t having an easy time either. With the protection of the beastmen’s air cavalry combined with the charge of various colossal creatures, the beastmen were succeeding in scaling the castle walls every minute. Even though they would be tossed down quickly, the sacrifices of the human armies were always several times that of the beastmen.
The outermost castle wall’s defenders were already in utter chaos when faced with the unstoppable flood of beastmen who were superior in both numbers and quality. Platoons were being devastated in the blink of an eye.
The vast attacking forces of the beastmen had an inconceivably high morale. The innumerable beastmen forces swarmed the castle walls like ants, and with the major tribal leaders’ elite forces that had been saved for last exploding with astonis.h.i.+ng power, this battle quickly turned into a living nightmare for the humans.
Finally, the first layer’s low-quality castle wall, created by the Earth Mages using Transform Stone to Mud and Sculpting Magic, was finally on the verge of collapse, despite the fact that the beastmen army had also lost many troops to the defending army and their defensive mechanisms.
“Die! You butchers!”
Reyne sliced through a beastman general’s defenses with her silver longsword, piercing through his body and stealing away his life. She unhesitatingly kicked him down the castle wall as the beastman general’s pitiful wails echoed out as he met his end.
“Your Highness Reyne!”
“Knights, clear this area and toss down all the beastmen corpses! Watch out for archers. The next attack wave will be here soon; hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Her youthful voice now contained an unmistakable regal bearing. The magical ability of battles in helping people mature was always astonis.h.i.+ng, and after experiencing the bitter struggles of battle as well as the endless amounts of blood and sacrifice, the cruel burden and responsibilities helped the new soldier Reyne to quickly mature. The current Reyne was already an experienced battlefield leader who could take charge by herself.
“Your Highness Reyne, all the beastmen’s mammoths are on the attack now. The command center’s order is to abandon the first castle wall and retreat to the inner layer!”
“Retreat? You’re telling me to retreat? Just look at this battle and all those brave warriors who have sacrificed themselves already! We haven’t even been able to retrieve their corpses yet, and you dare to tell me to retreat?”
The messenger was also very familiar with Reyne. Even though Reyne was angrily shouting at him, he was the sub-commander of Antuen; he knew that now wasn’t the time to cower to her.
“You think I want to retreat? I f**king want to fight those beastmen b.a.s.t.a.r.ds to the end as well! Our main forces have suffered and lost so much. The Earth Mages have depleted their mana and can’t keep up with the speed of repairing the walls compared the beastmen in destroying them. If this keeps up and the beastmen break through our defenses, it’ll be nothing but a meaningless slaughter. There’s no other way but to retreat and guard the inner castle.”
“Fine, you guys retreat. I shall show you once more the pride of the People of the Mist. Dimlet, is the Train King ready yet? If it takes any longer and isn’t ready for combat, I’m going to cut off your head!”
“…It’s currently undergoing a full self-checkup, and it’ll be ready in five minutes. But it can’t be used for any longer than ten minutes, or it’ll self-destruct!”
“Ok, Borealis, toss down the t.i.tan Warriors from a long distance! Help our allies stand firm.”
When the beastmen’s mammoths began their next attack, the castle walls were nearly knocked over by their heavy impacts as dense amounts of beastmen scaled the castle walls. Just as all the walls were entering their largest emergency situation yet, the Princess Knight finally gave the order for the Eastern Mist Communal Country to reveal its ace secret weapon.
The gigantic battles.h.i.+p began operating once more as its cargo hold opened up. What flew out along with its rockets were prototype Roland t.i.tans. As experimental subjects, these Roland t.i.tans had already completed their tasks for history and would end the final moments of their lives explosively on the battlefield.
*Boom!*
Five t.i.tans landed directly on top of the beastmen that were in the process of scaling the castle walls. The beastmen stared in amazement at the gigantic beings before them. Even the tallest and strongest Elephantmen reached only the s.h.i.+ns of these t.i.tans, and they were completely unable to be of any threat to the steel t.i.tans at all since they were unable to carry any heavy weaponry.
The crazed steel t.i.tans stomped with their feet and slapped with their hands. These accidental products of the Underground World finally revealed their true natures as heartless war machines!
“You beasts! This is for my son who wasn’t even ten years old!”
A furious mecha smashed the beastmen in front of him to pieces.
Inside the c.o.c.kpit was a furious volunteer pilot who was doing his best with the complicated controls of the mecha. Inside a pendant around his neck was his family’s portrait, but he was the only one alive now. Even he himself had lost his left foot, so this was the only method by which he could take revenge for his hometown.
A red warning light within the c.o.c.kpit began flas.h.i.+ng. From the very beginning, this t.i.tan mecha was at the end of its time, and overloading it had given it astonis.h.i.+ng battle power, but it also turned it into a super explosive that was in danger of exploding at any moment.
“Camut, hurry up and get out! It’s about to explode; activate your rocket chair already!”
He ignored the Borealis’ command center. He had just discovered a large centaur wielding a ma.s.sive war pike while killing human soldiers. This centaur was a monster who was more than three meters tall, and each swing of his war pike would kill many human soldiers.
“Hamar! Hamar the Butcher! I finally found you!”
These easily spotted characteristics just happened to belong to the butcher who had slaughtered his entire hometown.
The furious mecha pilot smashed every beastman in his way to pieces. Even when the beastmen climbed all over the mecha in swarms and the battle axes smashed onto the c.o.c.kpit’s door, he didn’t slow down even a little bit.
However…
“Foolish hunk of metal! The weak humans can only rely on such useless things.”
Every beastman tribe leader was at least of Legend-rank strength or higher. Hamar was famed even among the tribe leaders for his combat strength, so there was no way he would be easily dealt with. When he jumped, Hamar’s height was even taller than the t.i.tan.
*Slice!*
With one swing of his war pike, the gigantic golden arc brought death along with the explosion of the c.o.c.kpit and half the mecha.
Hamar didn’t even intend on watching the explosion behind him and was only focusing on continuing his slaughter, but he didn’t expect the already fallen mecha to reach out with its only remaining hand and clutch onto him.
The prideful centaur tribe leader began roaring in anger. His frightfully powerful strength caused even the steel arm to start shaking.
“Only weaklings need to rely on these foolish objects, while we beastmen can stand on top of the world with only our bodies! We are the high-cla.s.s species that deserves to be at the center of the world!”
In the demolished c.o.c.kpit, the blood-covered Camut was still biting on to the control lever with his only remaining tooth. He was also smiling while the gigantic centaur made fun of him condescendingly because he could see the red warning light that indicated that the Roland t.i.tan’s engine was right at the limit of exploding.
“Really? Heh, heh, then see the weak human race’s willpower for yourself… See you soon in heaven, Elsa, Nini! Your papa’s taking revenge for you!”
Camut opened his mouth, which was filled with blood and broken teeth, and viciously pressed his chin against a red b.u.t.ton. Finally, a red explosion covered everything as a mushroom cloud rose up by the castle wall.
“Impossible…”
That was the last word that the haughty centaur warrior had said. The weak human had used his own life to prove his bravery. At the very least, they both died together.
“The tribe leader Hamar has died in battle! The Centaur Tribe is beginning to flee!”
“The tribe leader Barthlo has died in battle!” The beastmen’s attack on the northern castle door failed, and their siege weapons were destroyed. Their reinforcements were no longer able to press the attack.
“The tribe leader Elosion has died in battle! Both the northern and southern attacks on the castle have failed!”
“The strategist Wen has died in battle at the southern castle door!”
For the tribe leaders, who were still in the midst of patching up their own injuries, every single news of a tribe leader’s death was like a lightning strike on a clear day. But what could they say? Could they blame their fellow tribe leaders and point fingers by saying they were nothing but words? Honestly, it was difficult enough for the remaining tribe leaders to survive the field of battle against the maniacally resisting humans. If one of those terrifying red mushroom clouds exploded near them… heh, wasn’t the mighty Hamar a perfect example?
“Hamar, what a pity. Treat his family well.”
After a long silence, Amon could only give his condolences as he shook his head and continued cleaning his weapons. Now wasn’t the time for needless sympathy; who knew if he would be the next one?
“Camut, what a pity. Treat his family well… Oh, he has no more family left? Then let’s put his hometown’s reconstruction at the top of the list for cities to be reconstructed.”
At the same time as Amon, Reyne could only sigh and give her own condolences when she learned that only two out of the five t.i.tan pilots had returned alive. Camut didn’t even attempt to activate his rocket chair for an escape.
“Dimlet! Are you still not f**king ready yet? I’m going to shoot you out of a Gnome Cannon if you aren’t ready!”
“It’s ready! You definitely can’t let the Train King overheat! Otherwise, we’re the ones that will explode! Its energy source has thirty times the power of the Roland t.i.tans! The entire castle wall will collapse from the explosion!”
The floating battles.h.i.+p finally landed and opened up its cargo door to allow an even more terrifying war machine to walk out. Just its appearance caused every beastman warrior to tremble in fear.
“What kind of monster is this? Those East Mist humans are insane!”