Ch.160Chapter 160

The wall was nothing more than stones piled high. Yet people found sufficient positive change in being on top of the wall, or behind it.

Looking down at enemies who appeared tiny from atop the wall filled one with an inexplicable confidence.

I am higher than the enemies, so their spears and arrows cannot harm me.

We are in a superior position to the enemy, so they cannot claim victory over us.

Therefore, we shall drive away the enemies from atop the wall and seize victory!

“Spears! Bring spears! Throw them or thrust them, but knock that monster down!”

“Bring stones from the gate area!”

“B-but there’s a battering ram at the gate too… Guhek!?”

“Damn it, the wall is about to collapse and you’re spouting such nonsense! If you don’t want to see everyone die, bring everything!!!”

But when crisis approaches, people realize that it was all an illusion.

Facing the Wendigo climbing the wall by digging its claws into it, the soldiers realized they were not invincible warriors.

Every time the Wendigo dug its claws into the wall, a distinct vibration struck the structure. With each intensifying vibration, the soldiers felt their hearts growing colder.

Soldiers whose fingers were torn and could no longer shoot arrows finally understood that ordinary bows could not stop the Wendigo.

It wasn’t that they were too stupid to learn. They simply couldn’t accept that there was no way to stop the monster climbing the wall.

Knight Dito, who had screamed like a girl, snatched a spear from the adjacent wall and shouted orders that sounded like screams to the rushing soldiers.

“Throw them! Throw everything to knock that thing down!!!”

The soldiers didn’t respond to the knight’s orders. They were more concerned with urgently dislodging the monster clinging to the wall.

As the soldiers leaned over the wall to thrust their spears…

CRACK!

“Kahaak…!?”

“Hiiieek!? H-Hamilton’s face!!!”

“A witch! The witch is attacking!!!”

Among the soldiers who leaned over, the unlucky ones had their necks or heads pierced by Skadi’s ice arrows and fell from the wall.

Skadi nocked arrows to her mystically crafted bow with a cold expression she had never shown her own people.

The ice arrows, shooting two or three at once, were more like hunting falcons than arrows. They instantly flew in and pierced the enemies’ eyes, throats, or mouths, taking lives in a single strike.

The pressure of losing one’s life upon leaning out weighed heavily on the soldiers. The knights, furious at this pathetic display, drew their swords.

“You fools! Most of you will die anyway if that thing climbs up. You have a better chance of survival if you knock it down!”

“If you don’t attack now, I’ll start cutting you down from the back.”

When the knights bellowed, the soldiers glared at their comrades in front and cursed. Those unfortunate enough to be in the front row leaned over the wall in a half-resigned state.

Once again, ice arrows pierced the throats of two soldiers, and the rest used their comrades as bait to throw their spears.

The spears thrown by the soldiers had terrible accuracy as they hurried to throw them before arrows could target their necks. But with more than five or six spears, one or two did hit the Wendigo’s body…

“Damn it.”

“Even throwing at a bear would be more useful than this. What kind of nonsense is—Argh!”

The spearheads that struck the Wendigo’s body barely penetrated. The soldiers cursed and fell to arrows.

They wanted to at least knock down the witch riding the monster, but the monster, as if born to protect the witch, blocked attacks aimed at her with sweeping motions of its hand.

How long did this meaningless resistance continue?

“■■■■■…”

“……”

The Wendigo’s heavy, rough breathing began to echo across the wall.

The sound of a fierce beast carrying cold air, seemingly ready to tear out their throats, echoed in the soldiers’ ears.

Even knights who had lived their entire lives for slaughter trembled at this primal fear—how could ordinary soldiers withstand such terror?

“This isn’t right. How are we supposed to stop something like that!”

“Silence! When Dencan completes his grand plan, monsters like that will be nothing. Soon the mages will subdue that monster—”

“Where the hell are those damn mages and what are they doing!!!”

Of course they couldn’t endure. The soldiers who had been forced to throw spears glared at the knights with bloodshot eyes and shouted.

Death was certain if they leaned over the wall, but turning back offered at least a possibility of survival, even if not guaranteed.

The mercenaries at the front threw down their spears and, wielding swords and shields, made a last desperate attempt by turning their blades against those who had been allies just moments before.

When betrayal erupted on the narrow wall, the soldiers hesitated and watched the knights anxiously.

All the knights’ talk of duty and honor meant nothing to soldiers and mercenaries with little education.

In this total chaos, the knights ground their teeth and screamed orders to throw the traitors off the wall.

Corpses were heavy enough that they might at least slow down the monster!

The soldiers found the crazed mercenaries less frightening than the Wendigo climbing the wall.

But…

“Arm, the monster’s arm!!!”

“Stab its fingers, at least its fingers! Knock them off!”

“You idiots. This isn’t the time to fight among ourselves when the monster behind us is—”

“Get out of my way!!!”

The Wendigo was climbing the wall faster than the traitors were falling from it. When its arm struck the wall, the soldiers’ hearts pounded as if about to burst…

“■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!”

When the Wendigo raised its head over the wall and roared, it felt as if their hearts had actually burst.

The traitors and soldiers who had been pushing and stabbing each other retreated from the wall like a wave. Instinct commanded them to back away from the Wendigo.

The Wendigo stepped into the naturally formed empty space as if it were only natural.

The soldiers stared blankly at the Wendigo. The giant standing on the wall was that surreal.

The Wendigo briefly looked around. Then it uttered one word.

“Kill.”

No explanation was needed.

The traitors who had been frozen until now unconsciously raised the corners of their mouths and swung their weapons at the soldiers—no, the “enemies” before them.

“The King of Manheimr has given you a chance for atonement. Kill them all and beg for forgiveness!”

“Arrrgh!!! You traitorous bastards!?”

“You’re the idiots for hiring mercenaries for this kind of job in the first place!”

The soldiers realized this was no nightmare but reality through the heat of blood flowing from their bellies.

The traitors—no, “warriors” who had found a path to survival in the face of death—fiercely charged at their enemies. The soldiers’ morale plummeted from the successive disasters.

Seeing the soldiers’ sidelong glances, the knights bit their lips and each took up their most trusted weapon.

“We’ll handle the monster. You deal with the traitors getting in the way!”

“Stop moving like slugs and clear a path quickly!”

At the knights’ commands, the soldiers reluctantly broke formation and cleared a path. The knights boldly charged toward the traitors.

“Why didn’t you step up from the beginning! If you had, we wouldn’t be this desperate—”

“A lowborn dares to speak so freely. Let’s see if you can still talk with a sword through your mouth!”

The enraged knights swung greatswords and maces, demonstrating why knights were the protagonists of war. The traitors’ necks and arms flew off, and helmeted heads were crushed.

As refined violence erupted, the soldiers’ morale seemed to rise again.

At least until the Wendigo itself moved. Would it have climbed the wall with such effort merely to incite the traitors?

When the Wendigo raised its ice sword, an ominous shadow engulfed the soldiers. The knights, their senses honed by years of experience, shouted in terror.

“Dodge!!!”

But it was a futile cry.

With a roar, the Wendigo swung its arm, and the ice sword swept through the soldiers in a flash of light. The sword cut through the armored soldiers as easily as slicing through rotten tomatoes.

When the comrades who had been protecting them moments ago flew off the wall with only their waists remaining, the soldiers trembled with their mouths agape.

The comrades’ entrails in their mouths still felt warm…

“Aaaaaaah!”

“R-run! How are we supposed to stop such a monster in such a narrow space!”

“Don’t push! If you push here, you’ll fall, you’ll fall… you bastards!!!”

Fear is contagious, and grows stronger when shared.

The soldiers, panicking, turned their backs and began to flee. It was useless even when the knights shouted at the front.

They just wanted to escape this cursed place, even if it meant pushing others off the wall.

The knights couldn’t stop them. More accurately, they had no chance to stop them.

Without a moment to catch their breath, Skadi’s ice arrows flew in, targeting the gaps in their armor.

“Huk!”

“Can’t… breathe…”

The knights, their guard lowered in relief at having dodged the sword strike, lost their lives to the cold that spread like poison, unable even to scream.

The knights had no time to mourn their comrades’ deaths and charged toward the Wendigo, stepping over corpses.

Knights from other walls were rushing to support them, so if they could just buy a little time, somehow…

“■■■■■!!!”

With a bone-chilling wail that made them want to cut off their ears, the Wendigo’s ice sword flew toward the knights.

The knight who stepped forward, skilled in shield techniques and attempting to block the strike, was cut in half along with his shield and armor. The knight skilled in counterattacks failed to deflect the ice sword and lost his head.

But the knights didn’t lose courage. The Wendigo’s sword had dug into the wall from the force of the swing.

“Now!!!”

The moment they realized this, the knights’ bodies were already lunging toward the Wendigo. They were determined to thrust their weapons into the Wendigo’s body even at the cost of their lives.

Their spirit was truly admirable, but…

CRACK!

“What!?”

“You crazy bastard!!!”

The Wendigo was no weakling unable to swing a stuck sword. When it applied force, the ice sword was swung toward the knights, leaving scars on the ground.

Those with bad luck lost their waists, and even the lucky ones lost their legs.

And Dito, the luckiest of all, was able to launch himself toward the Wendigo. He shouted in a voice close to pleading.

“Please die!!!”

Launching himself, Dito aimed his greatsword at the Wendigo’s head. Thrusting the greatsword into the wide-open mouth, he felt hope.

Hope that his greatsword might pierce through the monster’s head.

But that hope didn’t last long.

When the Wendigo’s mouth closed, the steel greatsword snapped instantly.

“Huh?”

A brief exclamation of bewilderment was Dito’s last words.

The Wendigo swung its arm at the floating Dito, and he, defenseless against the attack, flew off the wall with a scream.

The Wendigo spat out the sword fragments in its mouth. The traitors watched with a mixture of fear and awe.

“… Enjoying the show?”

“N-no, sir!”

When the Wendigo growled, displeased from having something distasteful in its mouth, the traitors panicked and finished off the knights who had lost their legs.

Skadi approached the Wendigo with a worried expression and said.

“There might be fragments left in your mouth, so let me check once.”

“Hmm…”

Not wanting to leave sword fragments in his mouth, the Wendigo lowered his head and opened his mouth wide. Skadi caressed the Wendigo’s head with both hands and checked inside his mouth.

“Hmm… Fortunately, nothing seems to be stuck. You didn’t swallow anything, did you?”

“I’m not careless enough to swallow such things.”

“Still, I can’t help but worry. Even for a possessed body, injuries can’t be overlooked.”

“Ahem… Excuse me, you two?”

“?”

The two, creating a strange atmosphere amidst scattered corpses, turned to look at the voice behind them.

There stood warriors who had climbed up ladders, looking at them awkwardly.

They had received news that the top had been secured and had come up, but strangely, it felt like they should go back down.

Recognizing the situation, the Wendigo turned to Skadi, who averted her gaze with a regretful expression.

The Wendigo snickered and ordered the warriors.

“With me at the lead, some of you secure the wall while the rest head for the gate. They’ve put too much faith in their barriers and walls, so there won’t be many at the gate. It won’t be difficult.”

The warriors responded to the Wendigo’s orders with resounding cheers. How could they refuse the command of a king who had captured the wall single-handedly?

The Wendigo, placing Skadi back on his shoulder, moved toward the next wall.

Watching his back, one warrior asked his comrade.

“It seems the King could take the wall by himself. Do we really need to follow?”

“…We have our pride as warriors. If we leave everything to the King, why did we come? Shut up and follow quickly!”

“Damn it, the King helped us cross the wall—how can we fail to open one gate! Everyone, prepare to attack the gate with your lives!”

The warrior who had inadvertently irritated his comrades scratched his head and followed the Wendigo. His comrades were absolutely right.

It was indeed… embarrassing as a warrior to leave everything to the King.