Ch.1191Half-Body Trio

The Enemy’s Attack.

It wasn’t unexpected.

Rather, because I had anticipated it, I was always on guard. Things might be going smoothly now, but there was no guarantee that would continue.

As the Ka’har saying goes, “Long hair gets caught,” if we continued like this, we might eventually be discovered by the enemy—no, we would definitely be discovered.

I had thought that way. And because I thought that way, I was always prepared.

“Three demigods…”

…The problem was that the attacking force we had anticipated would be at most one demigod followed by an army.

Even in the worst-case scenario, I expected two at most, and I was confident that we could somehow block and defeat them, though we would suffer some damage.

“…We’re screwed.”

But there are three.

Beyond the temporary fortress built by the dwarves and concealed with Naga inscriptions, the powerful waves of energy reaching me were three in total.

All three of them carried their own divinity.

One was ferocious, one was sinister, and one was somehow bizarre and alien.

Though I hadn’t yet confirmed what they looked like, I could tell from their aura alone that they were formidable enemies.

Should I consider it fortunate that they didn’t attack right away?

Of course, if they had, I would have rushed out to block them, but whether I could have actually succeeded… honestly, I’m not sure.

Perhaps limiting their power somewhat would have been the best I could do?

Even if I somehow survived, most of the forces in the fortress would have met their deaths. The surviving half would not withstand the continuing battle and would be annihilated.

They probably anticipated that much, yet they still didn’t attack immediately…

‘…Does that mean they don’t even need to launch a surprise attack? That’s a bit infuriating.’

With such a power difference, they probably felt confident they didn’t need to.

[Perhaps they want to exchange greetings with their neighbors.]

‘They don’t seem like such polite fellows.’

If not that, then perhaps they were revealing their presence to provoke me, waiting for me to show myself because they had something to say.

“…Lord Haschal, what should we do?”

At that moment, the Naga warriors who had rushed—no, quickly crawled—to report the enemies’ appearance asked me for a plan with tense expressions.

“……”

But I had no answer to give. With three demigods, what clever solution could I possibly have?

If I had the ability to defeat three demigods and emerge unscathed, I wouldn’t have stubbornly stuck to the petty strategy of hiding and gradually whittling down weaker forces.

Even if I fought with all my might, burning my soul and divinity completely, at best I could only achieve mutual destruction with them. I couldn’t expect any better outcome.

‘…Should I have brought Demian and Persiella?’

If I mobilized all the forces I’ve been building up until now, we might have a chance of winning, but that was an impossible assumption from the start, so it was meaningless.

So, for now…

“Deploy protective sorcery at maximum output, and tell Turankai to prepare for ground collapse. Also, open the emergency evacuation waterway in advance.”

“Are we retreating to the east?”

“There’s no need to cling to this fortress. Until we fight, we won’t know, but if retreating is advantageous, wouldn’t that be better?”

“…Understood. I’ll inform them right away.”

Let’s try one battle relying on the fortress, and if it seems hopeless, collapse the fortress and retreat through the waterway.

That was the conclusion I reached.

Even so, it would be impossible for all troops to escape safely, but having some survive would be better than fighting to the end and being completely annihilated.

If we engage and find we can hold out better than expected? Well, then we’ll fight to the end, either they die or we die.

“Then, what will you do, Lord Haschal—”

“I’ll go to the wall.”

Of course, retreating wouldn’t be easy either.

Unless we could instantly retreat through a transfer gate like those undead creatures, we’d have to rush out through the underground waterway in the rear, and the enemies wouldn’t just stand by watching.

If they were in their right mind, they would naturally try to stop us, so someone would have to buy time for our allies to escape.

The only person capable of that would probably be me.

In other words, whether I fight risking my life or fight moderately and then flee, I have no choice but to stand at the front line.

“It seems they’re calling for me… I should go and greet them.”

So I forced a grin and put on a confident face, showing off.

What the hell, if it’s a fight I can’t avoid anyway, I might as well act dignified.

This is my principle: a leader should always bluff confidently in front of subordinates during a crisis, as if saying “trust me and don’t worry.”

Putting on a grim face and saying we’re all doomed won’t improve the situation or produce a solution; it will only drop the morale of our troops to rock bottom.

For that reason, I smiled confidently and brazenly, opened the office window, jumped out, and flew toward the main gate of the fortress.

—-

The sight on the ground, viewed from atop the wall, was threatening and terrible enough to haunt the dreams of the faint-hearted.

– Skitter skitter skitter skitter.

– Keeeeeeek—!

Tens of thousands of Arachnes emerging from distant underground burrows, approaching with countless giant spiders presumed to be their minions.

“You’ve finally come. I almost fell asleep waiting, little girl.”

At the forefront of the creatures, a woman with long black hair floated in the air, glaring at me.

Thin limbs covered in black carapace. Beast-like sharp claws.

Her height was roughly 4 or 5 meters.

Around her wet-looking, drooping black hair, several horn-like protrusions formed a crown, and peculiarly, her halo—the proof of a demigod—was not above her head but beneath her feet.

– Woooooong…!

A black halo like twelve long, thin claws woven into a single ring. The slowly rotating symbol of divinity rippled, emitting a faint vibration.

‘The Queen of Arachnes… Did I leave some trace behind last time?’

The Queen of Arachnes and goddess, whose name was Hubrisia, if I recall correctly? Her appearance matched what the prisoners we captured last time revealed under interrogation.

Where her mouth should be, there was something like a cracked line, and she had four eyes that were completely black without whites, hard and mineral-like in appearance.

A dress woven like a web of spider silk. Behind her exposed back, four pairs of spider legs extended along her spine.

Two pairs of long legs were driven into the ground like stakes, keeping her floating in the air, while the other two pairs wrapped around her chest and waist.

Including her human-like limbs, she had twelve appendages in total.

That’s why she was called Hubrisia of the “Twelve Thorns.” Her appearance, vaguely resembling a human, evoked a sense of discomfort.

“Scaled vermin and monkeys who don’t know their place. I, Hubrisia, have come to collect blood payment for my children, and you shall pay a thousandfold in death.”

The killing intent and hatred she emanated as soon as she saw me was fierce enough to erase that discomfort in an instant.

‘She’s very angry.’

[Of course she would be. You did something to deserve it.]

An intense and dense killing intent declaring her intention to tear apart and kill everyone in the fortress without exception.

The aura itself was somewhat weaker compared to demigods like Varnir or Garmerlic whom I had faced before, but…

‘…There are just too many. How many children does she have?’

The Arachne forces, still endlessly crawling out, were numerous enough to more than compensate for any lack in aura.

It seemed they could crush and kill most of our troops through sheer numbers alone, without any need for strategy.

[Don’t complain. You should be grateful it ends with just that.]

‘Well… that’s true. They could have been three times more numerous.’

Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that only one demigod had brought this great army.

“Tsk, picked a bad time to visit… now I look like I’m working with that disgusting spider woman.”

Hundreds of meters away from the Arachne army, near the eastern tower of the wall, another demigod stood askew, grumbling.

‘What kind of creature is that? I’ve never seen this species before.’

Dark gray skin covered in purple tattoos. A large body smaller than a troll but filled with even more muscle.

He had no hair, a flat and wide nose, and boar-like tusks protruding from between his wide lips.

[Particularly flat nose and protruding tusks… I’ve heard of this. The savage race… in your western language, they’re called “Orcs,” aren’t they?]

Orc?

Ah, so that’s an Orc. I heard they were completely wiped out during the time of Carlos the Great, but it seems some survivors remained in this underground.

However…

‘I’ve never heard that Orcs have six arms.’

As far as I knew, Orcs had the same number of limbs as humans—two arms and two legs—though their proportions might differ. But this one had six arms in total.

On each of his shoulders, as thick as human heads, three arms wielding large swords were attached.

[When there’s a spider-human with twelve limbs, what’s so special about an Orc with four extra arms?]

‘Does it work that way…?’

From my perspective, an Orc with three pairs of arms seems more unusual than a spider, which naturally has many legs.

[And speaking of strange appearances, is that one even comparable?]

But there was an even more peculiar being on this battlefield.

“———.”

The third demigod, floating high in the air without saying a word. The owner of the bizarre divinity I had sensed earlier.

‘…Indeed, that’s true. What on earth is that?’

Its form was as bizarre as its divinity. To describe it in one phrase, it was a mass of wings.

Eight swan-like wings in total.

Four were spread out vertically, flapping slowly, while the other four overlapped to form something resembling a slightly squashed sphere.

Above that sphere, a halo like a ring of fire was burning.

Of course, if that were all, I would call it unusual rather than bizarre. A mass of snow-white wings could even be considered mysterious.

‘What kind of eyes…’

But if what was attached to those wings wasn’t feathers, that would be a different story.

Bizarrely, what was attached to those wings wasn’t bird-like feathers, but diamond-shaped eyeballs with dark red pupils that blinked wildly.

That’s truly disgustingly creepy.

The spider woman and six-armed Orc could at least be considered unusually shaped different species, but that thing seemed fundamentally different on some basic level.