Ch.195Chapter 195

The fire arrow that flew like a lightning bolt from the clear sky pierced through the corpse’s body and burst into flames.

The corpses caught fire as easily as dry kindling, and they flailed their bodies as if trying to extinguish the flames.

Yet… strangely, the unharmed corpses just stared blankly at the fire consuming their comrades.

‘What’s going on?’

Wendigo observed this peculiar behavior with confusion. He had expected the corpses to respond aggressively from the moment the fire arrows were launched.

But the corpses merely gazed at their burning companions as if hypnotized by the flames.

“The enemy is immobilized—now’s our chance! Don’t stop firing!”

Twang… thud!

Even without commanders’ orders, the archers fired fire arrows with heightened enthusiasm. They too could see the enemies burning without resistance.

Like a crashing wave, another volley of fire arrows painted the sky.

The corpses looked up at the sky as they cut and tore away the roots attached to their bodies.

“Fire… it’s fire.”

“Ah… aaaah!!!”

Their eyes filled with ecstasy. Freed from their restraints, the corpses charged forward, covering their heads with shields and weapons.

The corpses begged as if the fire arrows were descending angels.

“Rest! Give us our rest back!!!”

“Give me… give me fire!!!”

“I want to go back. I want to go back. I want to go back!!!”

No one in the world wants to die. But those who had found peace in death had no reason to live.

The Emperor’s army simply wanted to return to the comforting embrace of death.

With that opportunity appearing before them, the corpses advanced with smiles on their faces.

“Those bastards are smiling!”

“So what? If they want to burn, let’s grant their wish!!!”

“Everyone, light your weapons! Burn the enemy as if to banish every bit of darkness from this clearing!!”

“Look at those bastards smiling. Their smiles are properly rotten!”

In truth, those smiles were grotesquely twisted on the corpses’ rigid faces.

Two volleys of fire arrows struck the corpses, but their charge didn’t slow. After all, if their wish was to die, why would they stop?

The warriors swallowed dryly, tense from the fierce momentum and the ground-shaking rumble. Some gripped their weapons so tightly their hands bled.

Amid the uncomfortable silence, Wendigo quietly moved forward.

In the stillness, only the sound of archers releasing their bowstrings could be heard. Wendigo looked up at the fire arrows cutting through the sky and asked:

“Are you afraid?”

“N-no, sir!!”

A young warrior’s voice rang out in the silence.

No one rebuked his clumsy response. They all knew their own answers would have sounded just as unconvincing.

Wendigo turned around with a slight smile. Meeting the gaze of thousands who followed him, he spoke:

“It’s okay to be afraid. We’ve faced those ready to die in battle before, but never those who fight in order to die.”

They say the most fearsome beings in the world are those with nothing to lose.

Wendigo thought something even more frightening was a being who had lost what they treasured most.

Those with nothing to lose can still give up, but those who’ve lost something precious cannot.

So these corpses could be called the most terrifying beings in this world. They had lost their only possession—peace.

They were the intersection of both cases he mentioned.

“They won’t care if a sword pierces their heart. They might even thank you as you split their head with a burning axe.”

“……”

“But what does it matter if something is frightening or not when the question is whether we can win?”

Wendigo raised his ice sword high so all warriors could see it.

Reflecting the blazing firelight, the ice sword gleamed beautifully as if it had cut down the moon in the sky.

“Whether the opponent is base or noble, whether they are frightening or laughable, I will be victorious. I will not do anything I might regret when looking back on this day!”

The human heart is fickle. Just by having a radiant presence beside them, the warriors’ trembling ceased and their hearts began to pound.

A belief welled up that with their king beside them, there would be no battle to regret.

In a wave of indescribable emotion, Wendigo shouted to them:

“Fear your enemies! But do not break! If your spirit remains unbroken, fear will become your shield and the sword that cuts down your foes!”

If the heart is a double-edged sword, then one edge is fear and the other is courage.

Thump! Thump!! Thump!!!

Bodies once cold now burned hot with fighting spirit, and uncontainable passion became footsteps that shook the ground.

Wendigo pointed his sword toward the enemy and commanded:

“Open the way.”

WAAAAAAAH!!!!!

With a thunderous roar, wolf riders with flaming spears led the vanguard, waving their spears like banners.

Warriors followed, thrusting their weapons skyward, while arrows from the archers trailed behind them like a cloak.

The living fought for glory, the dead for lost peace.

And Wendigo fought to protect his head.

The two armies collided.

* * *

“Peace—”

“If you want peace so badly, just wait a little longer.”

As always, Wendigo led the vanguard alongside the standard-bearers. His ice sword, swung with enough force to create air pressure, cut through the corpses’ armor, flesh, and bone.

The corpses’ bodies exploding into the air seemed more “burst” than “cut.”

“Forward! Exploit the gap His Majesty has created!”

“Anyone who stops for even a moment will be beaten to death when we return! If you’re going to die, die here without regrets!”

As more than ten corpses were instantly neutralized, the wolf riders dove into the gap like they had become one with their wolves.

The sight of flame-wrapped weapons cutting down corpses was beautiful, like a display of fireworks.

“Fiiiire?!”

“How do you like that fire you love so much!!!”

“The head. Take off their heads and they die instantly!”

“Aaaaargh!!!”

Of course, the scene was too brutal to be truly described as beautiful.

The path the standard-bearers had risked their lives to open began to close as corpses piled up to rebuild the wall. If they delayed even slightly, Wendigo and the cavalry would be isolated among them.

Crack!

“If you want peace or whatever, just die easily!”

“Shields! Push with the shields! Those with large shields, trust your comrades behind you and push with your eyes closed!”

“Kill them quickly! These bastards are damn strong for corpses!”

While cavalry might determine the advantage on the battlefield, infantry determines endurance.

Manheimr’s infantry maintained the line, using large shields as walls while thrusting and swinging spears and swords at the corpses.

They didn’t waver when their comrades were stabbed, nor when they were covered in dark blue fluid and screaming.

“His Majesty promised us victory. Everyone, hold the line and be prepared to die!”

They believed their king would bring them victory as he always had.

Wendigo glanced at the steadfast warriors and hastened his steps. Each flash of his ice sword sent corpses flying into the air.

Bronze breastplates split helplessly, and armor made of unknown monster hide was torn to shreds.

‘…Attire unsuited for this era.’

Wendigo sensed something strange about their anachronistic equipment.

If one could resurrect the dead, why only resurrect figures from the past? What was the purpose of using ancient items that couldn’t even withstand steel weapons?

CRACK!

“Out of my way!”

As his ice sword once again shattered the enemy formation, a faint yet sharp sound made itself known amidst the clamor.

Wendigo reflexively moved his arm toward the sound. With a pain he hadn’t felt in a long time, a faded silver arrow pierced through his hand.

“Your Majesty!”

“His Majesty has been shot! Standard-bearers, protect the king—”

“Hmm… No need for such a fuss. It seems this dark blue fluid doesn’t affect me much.”

Calming the panicked standard-bearers, Wendigo clicked his tongue and pulled the silver arrow from his palm. The faint mystical energy suggested this was no ordinary arrow.

Another silver arrow flew from among the corpses, aiming for Wendigo’s neck.

Wendigo deflected the silver arrow with his ice sword and…

“□□□□□!!!!!”

He roared toward the direction the arrow had come from. While Wendigo’s cold energy couldn’t burn enemies, it could completely freeze corpses.

The corpses hit directly by the roar froze like ice statues, and from among them emerged a figure in tattered cloak.

Dodging the spear of a charging wolf rider, the figure used the rider as a stepping stone and leaped toward Wendigo.

“Die.”

Proving himself the owner of the arrows, he thrust a faded silver dagger fiercely at Wendigo’s neck.

Wendigo instinctively sensed this dagger was no ordinary weapon. Considering how cleanly it had pierced his palm, this was obvious.

The silver dagger was about to pierce his neck, but having deflected the silver arrow, it was difficult to swing his ice sword in time.

“Saying it politely doesn’t change the meaning.”

So he swung something else instead—the hand that had just been pierced by the silver arrow.

Crack.

With a full-force punch that shattered every bone in the assassin’s body, the figure crashed to the ground.

The standard-bearers finished him off with their flaming spears, ensuring he was dead.

Though he might have watched the assassin burn, Wendigo had no time for that.

As if to signal that the silver arrows were just the beginning, more notable figures began to emerge from among the corpses.

Warriors wearing armor made of unusual metals—neither bronze nor steel—and wielding weapons that seemed to combine beauty and practicality.

Unlike the surrounding corpses, their eyes were not cloudy, nor did they writhe in ugly longing for peace.

Wendigo immediately recognized who they were.

“Heroes of the past.”

“Yes. We who accepted death at the peak of glory…”

“Heroes who surrendered to insatiable greed and were abandoned by the gods they served.”

“……”

The heroes fell silent at Wendigo’s scathing criticism. Though their expressions remained rigid, they couldn’t hide their bewilderment.

But Wendigo had no intention of apologizing. After all, he hadn’t said anything untrue.

Thugs who had wreaked havoc on the world under the name of heroes to satisfy their own greed.

Given their numbers, there might be some who weren’t thugs, but their reactions clearly showed Wendigo had struck a nerve.

A delicate-looking man wearing boar hide frowned and drew a mace attached to his shield.

“A creature born with a beast’s head dares to wag its tongue so freely. We’ll leave your head for our peaceful rest, but your body…”

“For such a great hero, it seems you were defeated and killed by a beast… Do you still think you deserve to be called a hero? As far as I can tell, you’re nothing but a fallen one.”

Crack.

Though it was merely being interrupted and insulted twice, the hero’s patience instantly evaporated.

They drew their weapons and prepared for battle. Wendigo summoned his duplicates to break through the heroes blocking his advance.

‘These are people who once made names for themselves as heroes. The common soldiers were nothing, but these ones will be different.’

Perhaps this time he would truly struggle…

CRASH!

The ground beneath the fallen heroes collapsed, and massive roots erupted, attacking them.

“Kuk!?”

“What is this? Was a summoner lying in ambush?!”

“Not an ordinary summoner. This level of magic requires extensive preparation… Look, that one is escaping!”

“I don’t have time to waste on you. Wait here, and I’ll send you to the afterlife by killing your master. In the meantime, be my wife’s playthings.”

Recognizing the massive roots as Skadi’s assistance, Wendigo charged past the fallen heroes.

Naturally, some of them tried to dodge the roots and pursue Wendigo…

He countered by sending his duplicates after them. Though small and simple in movement, combined with the unpredictable tree roots, they were enough to entangle the heroes.

“Kugh… Coward!”

“It’s amusing that those who don’t mind dying call others cowards. Fight my duplicates until your anger subsides.”

“You dog… kuhek!?”

With a final glimpse of his duplicate striking a hero’s mouth, Wendigo turned his back.

An unknown yet familiar energy was calling to him.

* * *

He couldn’t tell how many corpses he had cut, torn, and sent flying.

Judging by his body painted with dark blue fluid, the number was certainly not small.

The wolf riders who had broken through the battlefield with him became entangled at some point, leaving him to charge alone, slaughtering enemies.

But it wasn’t in vain.

As proof, no more corpses appeared to block his way.

What came into view was a frail old man wearing a magnificent cloak adorned with jewels, and…

“We meet at last.”

A massive deer with its severed neck spewing dark blue fluid.

The elderly man, looking as if he might collapse and die at any moment, knelt before the headless deer with great joy upon seeing Wendigo.

“L-look. Th-there is the one you desire right before you! I have kept my promise. I have paid the price for releasing you into this world!”

Using neither formal nor informal speech, the old man begged the headless deer.

His deranged appearance was far from normal.

Understandably so. He was no ordinary old man, but an emperor who had been sustaining his life in agony, neither living nor dying, as payment for breaking a curse.

Everyone believed the emperor had raised the corpses, but in this army, he was merely a guide.

Without the imperial signet ring on his finger, his crimson cloak, and his splendid attire, no one would have believed he was the emperor.

“Please, kill me now! If you want, I’ll even hand over the empire…”

“I can’t believe an emperor could be so irresponsible. Perhaps it would have been better not to know.”

What nerve did this man have to decide his country’s future when he had wielded power only for his own glory?

Clicking his tongue, Wendigo created a massive ice spear. With a familiar stance, he aimed it at the emperor and the deer standing before him.

There was no hesitation. The ice spear, thrown in an instant, flew toward the emperor with a flash of light.

CRACK!

“Kahak?!”

The ice spear pierced the emperor’s chest without losing momentum. It continued toward its next prey.

But the deer didn’t move at all. There was no need to dodge.

Dark blue fluid boiled up from the deer’s neck area, and something shot out to deflect the ice spear. The emperor, skewered by the ice spear, tumbled to the ground like a rag doll.

What deflected the ice spear was a human arm. But it wasn’t an ordinary human arm—it possessed a beautiful physique that was hard to imagine as human.

The arm was just the beginning. Another arm emerged from the deer’s severed neck, followed by a head and body.

Would such a body be considered the most beautiful physique in this world?

“Aah…”

The man looked at his hands and body with a soft groan. But his eyes were filled with deep despair.

Because what he wanted didn’t exist in this world.

“Beast, send me back to Megara’s side.”

“I’ll send you back.”

Wendigo answered kindly, then kicked off the ground and swung his ice sword at the man’s head. He intended to cut through both the man and the beast’s body.

But…

Clang!

“…This is absurd.”

The man swung his arm and struck the blade of the ice sword. A force unimaginable for a human transmitted through the sword to Wendigo.

At that moment, the fluid flowing from the deer’s neck targeted his body like a spear.

Wendigo swung his ice sword to cut through the dark blue spear and retreated. The man observed Wendigo up and down with a leisurely attitude.

“So you’re the one who woke me.”

The man muttered as if understanding the situation. That seemed reason enough for him to fight.

The deer and man’s forms blurred, and Wendigo instinctively defended his neck with the ice sword.

BOOM!

With a sound that seemed like the ice sword had exploded, Wendigo’s body was pushed sideways. Where he had been standing, the man now stood holding a gladius.

“I will kill you and then meet my lover again. Everything… is for my love, Megara.”

Alkeides, the only hero who had ever slain the Beast of Death, pointed his sword at Wendigo.