Ch.1277How to Avoid Euthanasia

======[ Under the Fortress ]======

“Pierce through! Don’t stop advancing!”

The full-scale bloodbath beneath the fortress began when the half-demon Ain warriors at the vanguard were halted by massive undead blocking their path.

“Tear them apart! The time for vengeance has come!”

“GRAAAARGH! Follow the Great Chief!”

The werebeasts, arriving a step behind, burrowed into the cracks created in enemy lines by the cavalry charge, ferociously rampaging and widening the gaps in the formation.

Their numbers were merely a hundred and some dozens.

Though reduced to the level of a defeated army compared to their prime when they boasted one of the most formidable forces in Naraka, they were still undeniably a force to be reckoned with, considering that every single one of them was at least a Champion-class warrior.

– Slash!

“Kuhaha! That tickles!”

Moreover, unlike other races, they possessed transcendent regenerative abilities, allowing them to continue fighting regardless of being stabbed or slashed, as long as their heads remained attached.

Robust vitality, beast-like strength and agility, sharp teeth and claws, and regenerative abilities that quickly healed wounds that would be fatal to other races.

No other race was more capable than them in this kind of chaotic battle.

“WOOOOOOOAH!”

Their Great Chief, Caliburn, had already broken through the enemy lines alone and charged right into the midst of giant undead who were fighting the half-demon Ain warriors.

“KENAZ-!”

Flames erupted and engulfed his entire body, expanding his form, before a massive black dog leaped out and tore at the nape of a giant undead’s neck.

“Grr… grrrr…”

The giant undead with its neck torn collapsed while engulfed in flames, and the axe of another giant undead that rushed from behind cut through nothing but air.

“Ha, too slow!”

Caliburn, who had taken the form of a beast through divine power, overwhelmed most giants in both strength and speed.

This was thanks to the massive and powerful predator’s body he had gained in exchange for abandoning the advantages of bipedal movement.

“Grooooar…!”

“Don’t howl, you rotten corpse!”

A head torn out with its spine, a body burning while emitting a putrid stench. The massive undead were being ravaged, unable to defeat a single beast.

– CRASH!

Until a monster, a head taller than the other giant undead, swung a hammer as massive as its body like lightning, striking Caliburn’s flank and sending him flying.

“Kheuk…!”

The impact crushed muscles and shattered internal organs. Caliburn spat out a gush of blood mixed with chunks of flesh as he rolled roughly across the ground like a falling rock.

“Kuu, how dare… who…!”

Of course, the wound was already regenerating as he rolled, so he immediately sprang up as soon as his body stopped moving.

– WHOOSH-!

Another massive hammer flew toward Caliburn, wrapped in pitch-black mist that was chilling just to look at.

Caliburn instinctively sensed it. That mist was the undead’s grudge materialized through the power of runes. A curse that stole the vitality of the living, corrupting them and leading them to death.

Just now, he had survived unharmed thanks to the runic flames counteracting the cursed mana, but it was certain that without defense, even his regenerative abilities would struggle against it.

“Tch…! What an annoying thing…!”

Caliburn leaped backward to avoid the hammer head. When the missed hammer struck the ground, the earth’s surface instantly turned black and began to rot.

Having barely escaped, Caliburn ignited fierce flames to burn away the cursed mana that had corrupted the earth, and glared at the face of his enemy who was retrieving the hammer.

Then he paused, somewhat surprised.

“Grhu… good to see you again. You tail-tucking dog who ran away.”

Though changed in many ways, the face was still familiar enough to recognize at a glance.

“Hrungnir…!”

A giant who had been one of the strongest alongside Giant King Geirrod, but was pathetically subdued by the betrayal of the undead army they had considered allies.

The opponent he had assumed had either died as a sacrifice or degenerated into a mindless undead was now standing before his eyes, calmly flashing a fierce smile.

With half the skin of his face rotted away, exposing his skull.

“Your face looks quite clean now. I guess being the enemy’s lapdog suits you well?”

Caliburn sneered mockingly.

It was true that Caliburn himself had killed Giant King Geirrod, but wasn’t it Garmerlic’s betrayal that led to the annihilation of all his kinsmen?

Despite retaining his intelligence unlike the lower undead, he was serving under his true enemy.

Whether he was forced into submission or following willingly was unknown, but either way, it was a sight Caliburn found worthy of ridicule.

“He is not our enemy. I won’t call him a benefactor… but he could still be called an ally.”

However, Hrungnir firmly denied Caliburn’s mockery.

“Not your enemy? Is that what you say with your half-rotted appearance?”

“Our resurrection as undead was arranged through a contract between my king and him. I would have opposed it had I known beforehand… but it’s not something I hold a grudge for now!”

A cursed lightning bolt that shook the earth. Eight flames rising to meet it. In the middle of a battlefield covered with corpses, two transcendent beings clashed like a swirling storm.

“We have been liberated from death! From the fate of perishing from old age, from the curse of spirits that denies even the peace of afterlife!”

Hrungnir shouted as if roaring, in a passionate and solemn tone as if intoxicated by his own words.

“I don’t understand what nonsense you’re spouting!”

Perhaps due to the vague expressions that seemed to grasp at clouds, the meaning of those words was not properly conveyed to Caliburn.

“That is precisely the final achievement my king accomplished for us. Even in this form, we are finally liberated!”

“What are you even saying? Has your brain rotted halfway too?”

Though it was nonsense that Caliburn couldn’t understand, it was only natural for Hrungnir to be moved and praise what the dead Geirrod had done.

Thanks to the alliance conditions that Geirrod had secretly secured without informing even his close associates, they were able to be liberated from the fate they had carried for ages.

The two divine punishments imposed on the bloodline of the ancient giants who were defeated at the end of the war with the gods.

The curse of infertility imposed by Gemina, the goddess of life, and the curse of spirits overlaid by Bellona, the goddess of death.

—-

The curse of infertility that made it impossible to have offspring by any means. It bestowed upon the giants an inescapable fate of extinction.

Even giants, who lived lives incomparably longer than other races, could not escape the mortal fate of dying from old age.

With no new children being born while those already born gradually aged, it was inevitable that all their kin would eventually reach the limit of their lifespan and perish.

Giant King Geirrod had spent his entire life searching for a way to escape this curse, but there was no way anywhere in the world to undo the curse of a goddess who had already disappeared.

Therefore, he changed his approach.

‘If it’s impossible to ever have descendants… shouldn’t we at least try to change the ending of perishing from old age?’

While the former was completely impossible, there was one method that came to mind for the latter.

Undead transformation.

As evidenced by the “Knights of Bellona” who remained intact even after thousands of years since their death, undead born with Bellona’s blessing were not affected by time.

They could be destroyed and annihilated, or have their souls damaged and degenerate into mindless beasts, but they would never perish from old age.

Opinions might differ on whether beings that are merely moving corpses that don’t age can be called “alive,” but for Geirrod, it was the best option.

If they were all going to grow old and die anyway, wouldn’t it be better to become beings that continue to move even after death rather than becoming extinct altogether?

At least Geirrod thought so, which is why when forming an alliance treaty with Garmerlic, he put forward the condition of resurrecting his kin as “intelligent” undead.

And Garmerlic, in a manner truly befitting him, fulfilled this by killing them directly and then resurrecting them.

However, not all of his kin successfully resurrected.

Giants whose bodies were severely damaged by werebeasts succeeded in resurrection but failed to regain their intelligence, and Geirrod, who was killed by Caliburn, failed to resurrect at all.

Moreover, even though they were resurrected with their intelligence preserved, since Garmerlic was the one who resurrected them, they could not disobey his orders.

They all became slaves who obeyed Garmerlic’s commands.

…Well, since Garmerlic had not interfered at all after ordering them to eliminate those sustaining Naraka, their status as slaves had become somewhat ambiguous.

Anyway, that was the first condition Geirrod demanded from Garmerlic. It was the only option to bypass the extinction decreed by the goddess of life.

And by Garmerlic accepting this, the giants were also able to be liberated from another goddess’s curse.

The curse of the dead imposed by Bellona, the goddess of death. A terrible curse that prevented them from finding peace even after death, condemning them to eternal suffering as mere spirits.

The essence of the power to raise the dead as undead is to bestow Bellona’s blessing on the soul and body of the deceased, rebirthing them as Bellona’s kin.

Naturally, it was impossible to resurrect those bearing Bellona’s curse by bestowing Bellona’s blessing on them.

Therefore, Garmerlic, as an apostle of death carrying out Bellona’s will, removed Bellona’s curse engraved on the souls of the giants who had formed an alliance with him.

This too would have been impossible for the previous Garmerlic. How could a mere apostle, a mere demigod, remove the curse of the deity he served?

However, Bellona had died and disappeared, and Garmerlic had grown closer to the essence of death than before through his fusion with the dragon lord and several experiments.

Thanks to this, he had barely attained the status to undo that curse.

Of course, having the power to remove a curse and actually removing it were entirely different matters.

Even with sufficient power and status, for an apostle to arbitrarily undo a curse placed by a goddess was a clear overstepping of authority. It was an atrocity for which receiving divine punishment and dying on the spot would not be surprising.

Yet Garmerlic carried this out without hesitation.

“Let divine punishment come. I would rather rejoice! For Her anger to fall upon me would be proof that She has finally returned to this world!”

If the goddess were to be angered by this overstepping of authority and inflict divine punishment upon him, he would rejoice in Her return and gladly perish.

With the mind of a madman trying to resurrect—or create anew—a dead god.

—-

Thus, the giants who chose death to avoid extinction were reborn as new beings. As warriors of Bellona, the goddess of death—no, of Garmerlic.

Whether that was the right choice or not, only the outcome of this war will tell.