༺ The Return (3) ༻
Marian knew the deeds of the heroes from the last great war.
Not from the fanciful tales like a cheap ballad sung by a minstrel in an inn that was only worth a few coins.
Sometimes through letters, at times she heard it firsthand from Marquis Kalshtein himself, one of the Seven Heroes of the Continent and the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army.
While the information she received wasn’t top-secret information that the Marquis couldn’t just willingly share with her beloved granddaughter, it was in a whole different caliber compared to the rumors circulating among the public.
That was why, even though Marian had not experienced the war itself, she was confident that she knew about the war more than the majority of people.
Suddenly, she remembered the tale of a great warrior who single-handedly defended the city by blocking the broken city gate.
The story was so famous that numerous minstrels had turned it into ballads. There were even those who said that none of the heroes could surpass this great warrior in defensive battles.
People unanimously praised his fierce determination in his fights, and the greatness of his achievement.
But at this moment, Marian was certain.
No matter how great the battle that warrior had fought…
Her current instructor wouldn’t lose out to him.
Instructor Eon dashed through the city, his black armor clung to him like his second skin. He relentlessly moved, treading through the heavens and earth, covering all the directions he could reach. Following its master, the crimson spear in his hand sharply cut through everything in its wake.
-Swoosh!
“Grrrrr…!!”
With a single thrust, dozens of ghouls were pierced in the heads, and they fell down.
[Neeiigh—!]
With a single swing, dozens of Death Knights, along with their horses, tumbled to the ground.
“Amazing.”
Marian couldn’t even try to describe this fight. To her, it seemed like a bunch of ‘Whoosh!’ and ‘Bang!’ happened, and heaps of undead were swept away.
She could barely catch a glimpse of the flashing crimson spear’s afterimage, let alone see how her instructor moved. This was probably what happened to his enemies as well, as the undead army couldn’t even hinder his movements.
Logically speaking, it was impossible for one person to confront an army, let alone completely overpowering it.
Yet, the instructor did it. He made the impossible possible all by himself.
His achievement fit the sayings, ‘Fighting against overwhelming odds,’ and ‘unmatched by thousands’.
It was a display of his overwhelming might, worthy to bear the name of the Seven Heroes of the Continent.
Then, Marian had a sudden thought.
‘Maybe it wouldn’t be impossible for Instructor Eon to hold out on his own.’
But the situation wasn’t as optimistic as she thought.
“…”
There was a mountain of corpses piling up around Eon.
The once moving corpses had now become real corpses.
“Huff…hup–!”
With one deep exhale, he steadied ragged breath. A short breath followed, and he thrusted his spear. From his heart, a massive magic power emanated, wrapping around his shoulders and arms, shooting out in a straight line.
He no longer hid dark magic, showcasing his overwhelming magic power.
The crimson red magic power shot like a spear, carving a huge crevice on the ground as it flew towards the Immortal Corps Commander.
Even a Master Class would perish if they were to face it directly, but the Immortal Corps Commander didn’t even spare it a glance.
Without hesitation, the army of the dead around him threw themselves to cover for him like a pack of mad dogs.
This included even the highest-tier of undead like Death Knights, Dullahans, Doom Knights, and Skeleton Commanders. All of them sacrificed their existence to block Eon’s attack. The attack made its way through the horde of corpses, but it was soon nullified by the barrier woven by the Immortal Corps Commander and scattered into nothingness.
Seeing this, Eon clicked his tongue lightly.
Gaining an advantage with long-range attacks seemed impossible.
Which meant, he had to cull through the army of the dead and strike the Immortal Corps Commander’s body directly. But, such a method wasn’t feasible in the current situation. After all, he wasn’t alone; He had students that he needed to protect.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was protecting the place by himself. The distance between him and his target was around 1 km, practically within arm reach for him. But, there was no way that the army of the dead would just let him approach their lord easily.
The Immortal Corps Commander seemed to have figured this out too, as he had already commanded the undead to enter the building instead of trying to take Eon’s life.
It was to buy more time. A cunning plan, but it was working terribly well.
Anyone could see that the situation looked precarious. Eon couldn’t attack the Immortal Corps Commander because of his army protecting him, but what they didn’t know was that the opposite was also true.
The undead under the Immortal Corps Commander’s command couldn’t stop him. No matter how vast the number of his army was, it was clear that it was steadily decreasing. Such was the Malevolent Star, how formidable of an existence he was when he unleashed his full power.
As time passed, the possibility that Eon could annihilate the army by himself appeared, making it seem as though he had the upper hand in this fight.
But the reality was quite the opposite.
Eon swung his spear without hesitation, his gaze fixed on the Immortal Corps Commander.
Meanwhile the latter was quietly concentrating on his ritual, standing in the eye of a hurricane as he emitted a storm-like magic power in all directions.
“He’s trying to ascend to the Heavens…”
A realm that transcended even the Grandmaster, one which Eon had once stepped into but ended up abandoning it.
Eon could see that his opponent didn’t have enough offerings and his ritual was incomplete, and as such, his chance of success was extremely slim.
However, even if the chance was only a one in a ten thousand, if it succeeded, the current situation would be completely reversed.
And Ascender would emerge.
Which also meant that the next Demon King would be born in this battlefield.
‘I must prevent that at all costs.’
If he could somehow turn this battle into a one-on-one situation, he was confident that he could quickly disrupt the ritual, but that was a tall order.
It was already a miracle that the students managed to survive until he arrived in the city in the first place. Asking them to buy a moment of time for him? That was out of the question.
The city guards and adventurers were in the same situation. They were already exhausted and asking them to buy more time was almost like asking them to die. It was unreasonable to expect them to fight again.
In short, if things were to continue this way he’d have to helplessly watch as the Immortal Corps Commander ascended.
There was still a way to break this situation, though.
Since his enemy was trying to gain the power of an Ascender, then all he needed to do was to match his power level.
There was something that people often misunderstand. They thought that the armor of the Malevolent Star represented his full strength.
But that was only half right. The full body armor was not a protective gear to guard his body, but rather shackles that suppressed his power. To safely use the immense dark magic in his heart, the sealed power of the Demon King, he had to use this form, no question asked.
Which meant, if he were to cast off his armor.
Release the power within him.
He could become an Ascender right away.
“…”
Of course, releasing the seal of the previous Demon King to prevent the birth of the next was not worth considering, even when the power could easily wipe out this mere army and disrupt the ritual. It was akin to burning down a house to kill a flea. In the end, Eon had to see through this in his current state.
Meanwhile, the students had started to notice how abnormal the situation was.
“Are you okay, Oz? What are you thinking so hard about?”
“…This magic…is too ominous. If this continues, something bad will definitely happen…”
Oznia’s body was stretched out like a slime as she leaned on Gwyn.
Though her magic was utterly drained from the grueling battle and she had no strength left in her body, her eyes were still sharply focused on Instructor Eon.
To anyone else, the sight of him single-handedly wiping out the undead might seem like a magnificent sight, but it was obvious that the reason why he hadn’t charged forward yet was because he was trying to protect them.
The magic storm surrounding the Immortal Corps Commander intensified.
Drawing a sword meant one would swing it, the same way as gathering magic power meant one would cast a spell. That was a natural order.
That was why this situation felt like a lit fuse on a bomb to Oznia. It was only a matter of time that it would explode. This assessment of hers was quite accurate.
It wasn’t like the students didn’t want to do something to help their instructor, hell, they wanted to do it so badly, but like the rest of the people, they were helpless. As mere subjects of protection, there was no way they could do anything in a situation that even Instructor Eon couldn’t resolve.
Marian bit her well-manicured nails. Her admiration toward the instructor’s prowess had gone, replaced by a terrible anxiety in her heart.
‘I need to do something…anything…’
‘Should I summon the golem troops? Maybe I should be a decoy? Or a hostage? Wait, had the Immortal Corps Commander ever clashed with my grandfather on the battlefield? Will he give me, the granddaughter of the Dragon’s Hand, any value as a hostage? Could I do something to create a variable in this situation?’
Even after checking all the cards she had, she couldn’t come up with any plausible plan. As her face grew increasingly sullen from her own powerlessness, a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.
Elizabeth.
The princess said with a soft smile.
“It’ll be okay. I’ve already made my move.”
“Made…your move? What do you mean?”
“The Immortal Corps Commander isn’t the only one who aims to stall for time.”
Elizabeth’s voice was different than usual. Due to her frequent use of incantations, her vocal cords were torn, so her normally clear and melodious voice was replaced with a dry and cracked one. Yet, her eyes were filled with conviction. The gaze that she directed past the broken city wall implied that something was about to happen there.
“Look, they seem to have arrived just in time.”
“Huh…? Arrived…?”
Marian furrowed her brow and squinted her eyes.
When she rubbed her eyes and tried to look again, the scenery was unchanged; She could only see the undead army.
“What do you— Huh?”
She couldn’t see anything.
But…
She could hear something from afar.
-Woooonng!
A long, echoing sound of a horn from beyond the horizon.
This was the sound that she knew well, the distinctive, deep sound that came out of the horn of a drake, a type of dragon.
There was only one army on this continent that used such a thing for their signal. The Imperial Army who bore the symbol of a dragon.
Soon, an army of ten thousand cavalry stormed the scene, driving the undead back.
At the forefront of this column was a familiar face to Marian.
“Mariaaan!”
“G-Grandfather?!”
He was a seasoned Imperial Soldier who was still active even in his sixties.
The commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army, one of the Seven Heroes of the Continent, and most importantly, her own grandfather.
“Wait for me! Your grandfather is coming to save you!”
Kalbad von Kalshtein shouted as he skewered the undead with his spear.
TLN: Hi everyone!
After almost 5 months the author is back!
