Ch.341Return

Durandal pierced straight through the center of the throat, shooting vertically toward the sky.

It split Rurik’s cervical spine and skull like a pomegranate.

– Crack.

Rurik’s head, frozen in shock, split vertically from crown to neck.

Hot blood sprayed upward like a burst water balloon.

Brain matter leaked out. The bisected brain that had been contained in the split skull oozed down along the cross-section.

The foul stench escaping from the gaping throat bored into my nostrils.

With his vertically split tongue hanging out, weeping bloody tears and brain matter,

The Winter Wolf met his end.

—-

Is it… over?

It must be over… right?

I stared suspiciously at Rurik’s corpse, which was kneeling with its head bowed, as I caught my breath.

A skull severed by the silver sword. A fatal wound that should cause instant death even for the King of Werebeasts…

Perhaps because the shocking sight of him pulling out his own neck to regenerate was still vivid in my mind, I couldn’t be certain he was truly dead.

Though seeing his brain dangling from his neck, he did seem dead.

“Did you finish him…!”

A voice filled with amazement came from behind me.

My skin crawled. Who the hell would make such an ominous comment!

‘Did you finish him.’

If there were a ranking of phrases one should never utter after defeating a powerful enemy, this would consistently hold first place.

It was a magical phrase that could resurrect even the dead.

I turned my head to see the face of the tactless person who had uttered this resurrection spell.

A left arm torn off and a right arm broken.

A middle-aged man covered in mud-mixed snow on top of his tattered armor was looking back and forth between Rurik and me with a pale face.

Ah, it’s the Duke of Faelrun. Well, can’t be helped.

Just to be sure, I stabbed Rurik’s left chest deeply with Durandal before addressing Valdemar.

“Duke, are you alright? Your injuries look serious.”

“Not serious enough to receive Menes’ call, so I’m fine.”

Not exactly a reassuring answer.

He looks like he could collapse at any moment. What tenacity.

“Well… if you say so. Anyway, it seems like it’s all over now.”

I smiled, pointing at Rurik’s twitching corpse with my thumb.

Despite Valdemar’s resurrection spell, there was no sign of regeneration.

At this point, he must surely be dead.

Of course, with both his head and heart destroyed by the silver sword, there’s no way he could regenerate.

“…Indeed. We’ve won… Now I have something to show my ancestors.”

Valdemar smiled weakly and collapsed to the ground.

…Don’t say things that sound like last words.

—-

The great invasion was over.

The Masters who had eliminated Vasili and Viktor helped the knights attack the werebeast warriors, and the demoralized warriors, unable to withstand the overwhelming difference in strength, were annihilated.

Frozen entrails were scattered everywhere, and severed beast heads with protruding tongues filled the area.

Even as a courtesy, it could hardly be called a glorious end.

Rather, the words miserable and wretched death would be more fitting.

The werebeasts of Baryachrus had been thousands strong with high morale when they crossed the mountains.

But in the end, all that remained were dozens of corpses.

Well, we victors looked just as wretched.

After annihilating Rurik’s forces, we were retreating back toward Faelrun Castle.

It was inevitable. We had suffered considerable losses as well.

Only twenty knights survived the final battle against the pureblooded warriors, and most of the Master-level fighters were severely wounded.

Alfred, the Master who had been kicked by Vasili, had his spine shattered and could no longer move, while Aingen, who had been rammed by Viktor, had most of his ribs crushed.

These were injuries that couldn’t be easily healed with the potions we had. Both were already unconscious.

If we didn’t get them to priests quickly, we might lose them both despite our victory.

Moreover, Valdemar’s injuries were not light either.

Perhaps the pain had hit him after the battle ended, but Valdemar, who had been sweating profusely, ordered a retreat after skinning both Rurik and the Champion, then passed out.

He wouldn’t die since he had been drinking potions like water… but his exhausted body couldn’t maintain consciousness any longer.

Knights made a temporary stretcher with spears and fur, carefully loaded the unconscious Masters, and rushed forward.

No one opposed the retreat.

It was impossible to head toward the northern wall in this condition.

The werebeasts’ reinforcements hadn’t arrived… but who knows. Maybe they were just delayed.

If that were the case, heading to the northern wall would mean everyone except me might die at Oleg’s hands.

Additionally, I was concerned about the three Champions who had split off to lure away Frider’s forces and hadn’t been heard from since.

Given that they hadn’t appeared even by the time Rurik died, they might have already been captured and stuffed by Frider… but I couldn’t be sure.

In the worst case, they might suddenly appear somewhere and ambush us in our exhausted state.

I was also too drained of both physical and mental energy to face three Champions.

No. I probably couldn’t face them at all.

I was so exhausted that I could barely run on my own feet and had to be carried by a knight.

“…Are you okay? Am I not too heavy?”

I quietly asked the knight carrying me on his back.

I might be lighter compared to large men, but the weight of an armored woman couldn’t be an easy burden for an exhausted body.

“Not at all! It’s an honor!”

Oh, is that so…

The knight carrying me didn’t look tired at all; rather, he seemed delighted.

I worried for nothing.

Anyway, for these reasons, we headed back to that wretched forest.

—-

On our way back to the forest, we reunited with Frider’s forces.

All four looked somewhat tired but were in better shape than I had feared.

Frider turned pale upon seeing his unconscious father who had lost an arm, throwing aside his weapon and rushing to him.

He reluctantly backed off when the knights warned him not to cause shock, but his restless, anxious appearance was quite unfamiliar.

Karl, unable to watch any longer, reassured him that his father would be fine after receiving treatment at the castle, which finally calmed him down.

“So, you lost all three?”

“Not three, two. After searching the forest thoroughly, we found one. It was already dead for some reason.”

I heard from Frider, who had calmed down a bit, about what had happened.

They never saw Abigeyl from the beginning, and although they had a perfect opportunity to kill Lyudmila, they ultimately lost her.

Apparently, she used her spear like a pole to leap into the air and fly away, leaving them no way to pursue.

After continued searching, they found two snow leopards and recovered Georg’s silver sword, but they couldn’t locate the Champions.

They did find the fox werebeast, Nazar, but that was by chance.

A fox native to the forest had been digging in the snow and eating his corpse.

How ironic that a fox werebeast became food for a fox.

Anyway, Nazar’s death was confirmed.

The clean cut across his neck, with no signs of regeneration or resistance, indicated it was undoubtedly done by a silver sword.

Considering that the snow leopard werebeasts carried silver swords, it’s reasonable to assume he was killed by the betrayal of his allies.

So were Oleg, Lyudmila, and Abigeyl working together?

Using this war as an opportunity to eliminate Rurik and his forces?

“Looks like they’re in quite a mess too. Backstabbing each other even as they lose the war.”

“Exactly. There’s a limit to how much they can disrespect us! If it weren’t for the Heaven’s Mountains…!”

Upon hearing about Oleg’s betrayal—that their reinforcements never even arrived—Frider, who had guessed the truth, could barely contain his anger.

He had reason to be angry. While we risked our lives fighting, half of our enemies apparently never intended to win from the start.

And what’s more frustrating is that there’s no way to avenge this humiliation.

—-

The defeat in this great invasion undoubtedly depleted Baryachrus’s military power.

Rurik, the Wolf King and their only warrior capable of facing a Hero, lost his life, and four—no, considering the Champions who died before the northern wall fell, five or six Champions perished.

Moreover, hundreds of pureblooded warriors and thousands of mixed-blood warriors were all killed.

It would take at least ten years to recover from such losses.

This was actually the perfect opportunity to attack their homeland and completely annihilate them.

…If only their homeland wasn’t beyond the Heaven’s Mountains.

The Heaven’s Mountains.

A natural barrier with elevations of 6,000-9,000 meters and average temperatures of -40 to -50 degrees Celsius.

Sending an army there would give even Amin pause.

With two imperial legions already melted away by the great invasion, suggesting a northern campaign would only get me labeled a lunatic.

It was impossible for the Empire to attack Baryachrus.

If it had been possible, they would have attacked and conquered it long ago.

Oleg must have known this well, which is why he could betray them without worry.

—-

After five days, the pursuit force finally returned to Faelrun Castle.

Holding high Rurik’s severed head.

Cheers shook the castle walls.