Ch.1239Prologue (2)

Caljarat was sent to the front with orders to rampage fiercely for a simple reason.

First, if I stepped forward myself, that Erzsebet fellow might flee at the sight of such a monster, wondering how to defeat it.

Though it would be difficult for a demigod’s pride to allow such retreat, beginnings are always the hardest. A woman who had already abandoned her subordinates and fled once could certainly do so again.

That’s why I deliberately concealed my strength and sent Caljarat to the front.

Since our last battle, his power has been considerably diminished, making him relatively manageable by demigod standards. She wouldn’t flee from an opponent like that. Probably.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. I had two more.

“KWAOOOOO! KWAAAAA!”

“KUUUHAAAAAP-!”

The second reason was to determine exactly how strong the enemy was and what powers they wielded by observing how they responded to Caljarat’s attacks.

Unfortunately, they merely fired blood projectiles from a distance without revealing anything more, but that alone was enough to roughly gauge their power.

‘Each individual strike is ordinary… but that rapid-fire shows no sign of stopping. Do they have inexhaustible energy?’

[Perhaps they’re the type with enormous raw power. Fools who possess immense strength but lack the skill to control it perfectly, unable to unleash their full potential.]

It’s honestly pathetic that a demigod can’t properly handle their own power, but this wasn’t particularly rare.

Even I had to spend days and weeks training and fighting to adapt whenever I acquired great power.

True strength is established only when power and skill are in balance.

If skill remains the same while only power increases, one might fight longer but can’t demonstrate significantly enhanced combat prowess.

Of course, demigods are all battle-hardened warriors with tremendous combat experience. It doesn’t take them long to improve their skills and restore balance.

In other words…

‘They must have acquired this much power extremely recently.’

[That seems likely. Perhaps they’re simply hopelessly untalented… but if they were that incompetent, wouldn’t they have perished before reaching such a level?]

This meant the vampire lurking in that tower had experienced something that doubled their strength very recently.

They either killed one—or two—demigods and stole their power, or perhaps Garmerlic gave them some great gift. Something along those lines, I suppose.

‘Anyway, if they just keep repeating this… there must be no other demigods. That was my biggest concern.’

The third reason was to confirm whether Erzsebet was the only demigod-level enemy lurking in their territory.

The vampire leader—Erzsebet—would certainly be in Nirvator Castle, but there was no guarantee she was the only demigod residing there.

Information about the vampire forces was limited to what Caliburn had condescendingly shared and what we’d extracted from brief prisoner interrogations.

The former was quite outdated and potentially false since Caliburn might have lied, while the latter was limited because ordinary soldiers knew very little.

In other words, we had no solid intelligence on the castle’s internal structure, troop deployments, or the number of demigod-level powers.

Some might say, why not just overwhelm them with force anyway?

Well… honestly, though unlikely, Garmerlic or other demigods might be visiting for a housewarming party at this magnificently built castle.

It’s truly an absurd possibility, but having been burned by dismissing such absurdities before, I wanted to verify this concern.

‘…There shouldn’t be any, right?’

[There shouldn’t be. If there were, wouldn’t they have emerged by now?]

Fortunately, my worry seemed to be just paranoia.

Caljarat was staggering under the barrage of blood projectiles but steadily advancing, and still no one else had emerged.

If there had been even one more demigod-level power, they would have rushed out from the castle to stop him, as Hersella suggested.

The fact that they hadn’t meant Erzsebet was the only card they could play.

A single demigod whose power and skill were imbalanced, barely able to hold off Caljarat. This was truly an ideal situation.

I’d learned everything I needed to know. The rest I could discover while fighting.

Good, now only two questions remained: when to step in, and how to enter the fray.

Neither required much deliberation.

======[ Nirvator Castle. Below the Castle Walls ]======

“KWAOOOOOOO!”

Thunderous noise. Violent tremors. Ground crumbling, shattering, and melting.

The neutralized aftereffects of multiple bombardments instantly transformed the approach to the castle walls into ruins, and the scattered blood turned into crimson vapor, enveloping the surroundings like thick fog.

“KWAGWAGWAGWAGWAK!”

“You miserable blood-sucking wench, let’s see how long you can keep this up…!”

Another crimson pillar of light flew toward him. Caljarat, who had taken the lead, sliced through it with his severing strike and gritted his teeth as he took another step forward.

His arms trembled slightly from the accumulated internal and external impacts. His energy was being chipped away with each deflection. His skin was gradually deteriorating where the scattered blood touched it.

Just by deflecting attacks fired from a distance, his life force was being depleted—slowly but surely.

‘Damn it, if only I didn’t have those burdens behind me…!’

If he could have dodged, there would have been no reason to take such damage.

No matter how devastating an attack might be, it’s no more harmful than a gentle breeze if it doesn’t hit. The blood projectiles flew at lightning speed, but from Caljarat’s perspective, they were slow enough to dodge easily.

However, if he dodged sideways, the allies following behind could be annihilated. Therefore, he had to deflect everything rather than dodge, which required infusing his blade with the power of severance.

Without the spatial severing ability, even a great sword forged from dragon bone would shatter against those projectiles.

The problem was that maintaining this severing power placed a serious burden on him.

The severing ability he used was less efficient and had poorer duration than the original, perhaps because he had learned it by observation. It also placed considerable strain on both his body and weapon.

Moreover, there was a vast difference in the performance of the weapons themselves.

Durandal contained an unprecedented power of indestructibility that not only withstood such strain but even reduced it, whereas his six great swords were merely enchanted dragon bones.

Though strengthened by Naga magic, they were still like soft metal scraps compared to Durandal.

Therefore, Caljarat had no choice but to maintain this approach, knowing that the accumulated damage would eventually cause him to collapse.

‘When is that damned woman going to step in? Surely she doesn’t intend to wait until I fall?’

He inwardly cursed Haschal, who had assigned him this most dangerous role while quietly watching from behind.

—-

“Here they come again! Defensive positions-!”

Caljarat wasn’t the only one suffering terribly.

Though Caljarat was somehow neutralizing the bombardments themselves, even the remaining aftereffects were catastrophic threats to the Nagas.

While Caljarat’s skin was protected by the power of soul imprinting, causing it to only gradually deteriorate when covered in scattered blood, the Nagas’ scales, flesh, and even bones would dissolve and develop holes upon contact with that blood.

And the blood wasn’t the only danger.

“KWAAAAAAANG!”

“Kheuk…!”

“Spread formation! Lower your stance and charge in dispersed order!”

“Arrow rain incoming! Raise shields-!”

The shockwaves from each impact were strong enough to make sturdy warriors cough blood and be thrown back, and as they drew closer to the castle walls, arrows and magic spells began to rain down.

The scattered blood and magic could be blocked with barrier spells, and the arrow rain could be deflected with shields and armor, but could all attacks truly be blocked this way?

“KYAAAAAAAK!”

“Kuk…!”

Lightning penetrated the magical barriers and scattered blue charges, while unfortunate warriors groaned as arrows found gaps in their armor.

With an army of three thousand, such minor losses weren’t particularly noticeable, but damage had clearly begun to accumulate.

In other words, the siege had truly begun.