Ch.140140. The Star-Cutting Sword (2)

When pushed back, I would recall Camilla’s face and voice. George held up his shield to push back the monsters, crushing and smashing their heads with his mace. Dried blood and fur stuck to the mace’s head. The monsters’ assault on the walls neither intensified nor diminished. Like a river flowing toward a blocked dam, they just kept piling up.

“Supply carriers, don’t slow down for a moment!”

Quivers spilled onto the ground. Someone dropped a cannonball that rolled down the slope of the wall. The attackers weren’t rushing, but the defenders were growing desperate. Monsters could afford to be injured and die, but humans couldn’t afford to be hurt. George gritted his teeth and shook off the monsters. Wounds accumulated. Skin tore, and claws and teeth pierced his body.

“Commander. Let me take over.”

“Save your strength for swinging your sword instead of talking about rotation.”

The vice-commander approached with his sword extended, but George didn’t back down. The thought that he must protect, and return alive without regrets, kept George moving. The vice-commander bit his lip as he watched George, who was bleeding profusely yet still fighting fiercely on the front line.

“Still stubbornly holding your ground, I see.”

George’s eyes widened at the voice beside him. With a bitter smile, a tired-looking Isis stood there. She must have been extremely busy, as her once pristine white outfit was now tattered and soaked with blood, soot, and dust. Isis immediately spread healing magic. The wounds eating away at his body disappeared completely, and the injured who had been writhing on the ground regained consciousness.

“You’re not in a normal state. You’ll collapse from exhaustion before the battle even ends.”

“I can afford to be exhausted, but you can’t. It’s not like you’ll die from using up all your magic.”

At Isis’s sharp words, George averted his gaze apologetically.

“You were the last one with Ilroy, weren’t you?”

George started to say, then closed his mouth. It wasn’t like they were children desperately searching for their parents, yet people kept looking for Ilroy whenever he wasn’t present in battle.

“He’ll come. Ilroy must be fighting a battle that’s difficult to handle alone. When he was in meditation, I don’t know what he was seeing, but he looked very troubled.”

“That guy has always carried burdens he couldn’t handle alone.”

George said as he knocked a monster off the wall. Then he deflected another monster flying toward Isis with his shield.

“I want to tell him he doesn’t have to come. Ilroy is fighting against an unreasonable weight.”

“Ilroy is the kind of person who would willingly throw himself into danger for others. Even if you tell him not to come, he will, the hero.”

At the trust in Isis’s eyes as she spoke, George let out a small sigh.

“It reminds me of old times.”

“Not exactly happy memories. Not for you, not for me.”

Isis looked toward a distant part of the wall. Even now, people were getting hurt and dying. How many more could she heal? Isis deliberately avoided checking her remaining magic. She pushed forward, brainwashing herself into believing her magic wouldn’t run out.

“Hold on a little longer. Ilroy will definitely come.”

“Go on, I can hold out until he arrives.”

“…Don’t die.”

At Isis’s worried addition, George snorted. What was this person saying when she looked like she might collapse from exhaustion at any moment?

“I don’t know who’s worried about whom.”

Just then, before Isis could take a step. Every living being in that space simultaneously looked up at the sky. Human time was disappearing. And what should have been monster time was approaching.

“…Can you see that?”

“Yes. Though I’d rather not.”

To be precise, it wasn’t monster time coming. All time was ending. The world was one giant bell, and the star now cutting through the twilight was its clapper. Dong, when the bell rings, the world ends. The most terrifying yet beautiful form of death traced a spiral tail.

“It approaches with such splendor.”

All fighting stopped. Not just the fighting, but all movement ceased. The world fell into silence. A stillness so profound you could hear a leaf fall.

“The messenger of the Lord is coming.”

Something’s muttering broke the silence. It was an ancient half-human, half-beast monster that had been confronting Quenore. The ancient monster wasn’t alone. Quenore was fighting valiantly with his half-dead body. Thanks to him, the ancient monster’s rampage was being contained, but even this couldn’t last much longer.

“You are finished. Even if you kill all of us right now, your defeat, your extinction, has already been decided.”

The monster said, trembling its clenched fist.

“We do not desire our victory. All we want is your defeat. Your destruction is our victory, your extinction is our glory.”

“You talk too much.”

“Have you ever loved someone so much that you truly worshipped them? Not like your pitiful prayers to crosses or books.”

Quenore frowned, and the monster raised its head. Toward the sky filled with tense silence like the dawn before daybreak, the monster opened its mouth wide and took a deep breath.

Kwaaaarrrrrr!!!

That roar, like a horn, woke the creatures on the battlefield from their stupor. A chilling, low roar that seemed to welcome the approaching end. The monsters joined in, looking up at the sky and unleashing fierce cries. It was the prelude announcing the beginning of destruction.

“The end is here!! We will live forever, and you will die!”

The monsters’ assault began again. This time with a completely different intensity. If before it was like river water gradually building up against a dam, now it was like a torrent pouring over a broken dam and engulfing the riverbank. The soldiers and knights, already overwhelmed by the comet’s appearance, couldn’t withstand the intensified assault.

“You claim to be prepared for death, but have you ever truly been prepared to die?”

The monster giggled with laughter. It stood back and observed without engaging. Quenore gritted his teeth and summoned his magic. A majestic voice burst from Quenore’s mouth.

“Raise your swords!! Stand against the enemy!!”

He had to push back the fear. He had to instill belief. The belief that they could overcome this. But the already frightened soldiers fell without putting up proper resistance. Only Quenore and Agnes maintained their will to fight, swinging their swords. Monster corpses continuously piled around the two, but they alone couldn’t resolve everything.

Agnes scattered her aura. Her magic was gradually diminishing, but her martial prowess was inversely increasing. She filled the void left by magic and aura with her sword. Agnes grabbed the neck of a knight who had dropped his sword and was staring blankly at an approaching monster, throwing him backward. The knight tumbled on the ground, then saw a sword that had flown and stuck in front of him.

“If you’re going to throw away your life like that, at least take one more monster with you when you die.”

Such a thing as a knight. The queen clicked her tongue and turned her head sharply. Behind her, she heard a desperate scream. Then the sound of someone pulling out a sword and cutting down a monster. The sound of a steel sword cutting through the air and fabric tearing. The sound of death, both monster and human intertwined. Among them, Agnes could distinguish the sound of the knight she had just saved having his throat cut.

“Hold them back.”

Agnes still looked forward. If she looked back, she couldn’t lead those still alive. She couldn’t fall. She had to endure and overcome.

“Will you be my wall, Quenore.”

At Quenore’s feet lay a massive fallen monster. With unsteady steps, Quenore moved to stand beside the queen.

“Do you think we can stop the comet, Your Majesty?”

Agnes didn’t look at the sky but stared directly into Quenore’s eyes. That was her answer, her will, her belief. Seeing those unwavering eyes, Quenore could only nod. Despite everything, the queen looked forward. She didn’t look down at the ground in despair, nor did she look at the comet seeking help.

“I ask again.”

A curtain of aura spread out. Approaching monsters disintegrated and collapsed in pieces. In that moment, Quenore became not the ruler of Evernode, but the queen’s most loyal servant.

“Will you be my wall.”

“I will obey your command.”

Quenore directed his gaze toward the smiling half-human, half-beast. Words could no longer rouse the soldiers and knights. All they could do was protect them and fight until they rose again. Agnes and Quenore exchanged unspoken words and gripped their swords.

==

“Damn it.”

The curse escaped. Kora’s condition wasn’t good. The medics who rushed over turned pale. The battle situation was even worse. Yujin’s gaze wandered between the front line and Kora.

“…Focus… on the battle…”

Blood flowed from the corner of Kora’s mouth as she struggled to form words. Yujin squeezed out magic to seal the wound and stop the bleeding. The wound was deep. She needed to be evacuated, but the front line was too disrupted to allow evacuation. There was no time to bring a stretcher. Yujin himself would have to evacuate her directly.

“If you… leave the front line… to move me… I’ll jump off the wall.”

“Shut up. There’s no one else to move you right now.”

He tightened the cloth pressing on the wound. Yujin stood up unsteadily with Kora on his back. Was it because of her armor? The weight pressed down on Yujin’s legs and waist.

“You’re heavy. Have you gained muscle? Been working out hard.”

“…Shut up… you crazy…”

The blood was sticky. The blood was lukewarm. The blood flowing out was life itself. Yujin was trying to reassure Kora. More precisely, he was trying to reassure himself. Because they had to survive. Because they both needed to stay calm to survive.

“The line is breaking!!”

The breaking of the line was clearly audible. Soldiers died and knights fell. Yujin unconsciously turned his head.

“…”

Where people had stood, monsters now stood. The path he needed to take was blocked. Yujin stepped backward with Kora on his back. Monsters surrounded them. Magic gathered in Yujin’s hand.

“Put me down… You run away quickly.”

He ignored Kora’s words. Yujin fired crude spells trying to knock down the monsters. But the magic didn’t reach them. Yujin, unable to accept the death before him, widened his eyes.

BANG-!!

And then, the monsters flew away. Yujin blinked at the monster that suddenly appeared before him.

“Go.”

The monster, that is, Natalie, looked at Yujin while waving her tentacles. There was almost no evidence left that she had been human. Black hair. And the basic form of a figure with limbs were the only things faintly proving Natalie’s original appearance. Toward Yujin who was staring at her blankly, Natalie shouted in a sharp voice.

“Hurry!”

Yujin took a step. Monsters rushed toward their prey, and Natalie pierced the charging monsters with her tentacles. The monsters on the wall were being cleared, but the monsters below that Natalie had been holding back surged toward the wall all at once, scraping against it. Natalie extended her tentacles to clear the path for Yujin. Yujin gave Natalie one glance, then jumped down from the wall.

Why am I.

Natalie fought off the monsters until Yujin disappeared. In that moment, she felt something change within her. She didn’t yet recognize that the emotion she felt upon confirming their safety was relief.

“…That’s enough.”

But Natalie could say that it was enough. Her body was deteriorating moment by moment. Even this form couldn’t be maintained permanently. The longer she maintained it, the more her form collapsed, becoming closer to a monster. Her tentacles were being bitten off. Natalie roughly shook her tentacles to shake off the monsters. The regeneration of the severed tentacles was slow. Perhaps if they were cut off just once more, they wouldn’t regenerate at all.

“But with this…”

Natalie, about to stop moving, bit her lip.

I just found it. Now I think I know how and for what I should move. I’m starting to vaguely see why I should live. Yet the situation was telling her to stop living. It was telling her that her life would end here.

“…I want to live.”

Natalie murmured as she fell to her knees. For the first time, a will formed in her mind. She forcibly extended her tentacles. She moved her limbs and raised her body.

Live. Fight.

The instinct that erased the commands programmed into her mind said so. She resisted the approaching death, baring her teeth and raising her claws. Like a child bursting into tears, when Natalie screamed at the monsters,

Far away, a light rose up, dispelling the darkness of twilight.