Ch.45Chapter 45. Northern Fortress Defense Battle (4)

* * *

“What… What is this?”

“Something is falling from the sky!!!”

“What did you say?!”

Julian, who was at the vanguard of Serpina’s army, froze in shock as he looked up at the sky.

A boulder… was falling.

A burning boulder.

A massive boulder so enormous that it wouldn’t be inappropriate to call it divine punishment as religious people might describe.

And that boulder-

It gradually began to block the sky from Julian’s view as he looked upward.

‘……!!!!’

At that moment, Julian quickly realized how dangerous his situation was and pulled hard on the reins in his hand, setting aside all thoughts in his mind.

Simultaneously, the horse he was riding began galloping at full speed.

He had to avoid it!

Command be damned, if he didn’t avoid this now, he would die!

Death!

Even for a general who had taken countless lives on the battlefield, how could death ever be taken lightly?

At the very least, if he were to die valiantly fighting on the battlefield, he could have consoled himself that it was a meaningful death.

But.

To die crushed by some boulder suddenly falling from the sky?

His name would certainly go down in history. As the general who died crushed by a boulder that fell from the sky.

Not as a general who fought bravely until the end in an impossible battle.

Not even as a general who died in an unfortunate accident while preparing for battle.

But as a general crushed by a boulder that randomly fell from the sky!

“Absolutely not!!!!”

Julian shouted as he rushed forward, trying desperately to escape the impact zone.

Because the commander had momentarily panicked, the chain of command fell into chaos.

What if he had ordered, “Everyone, flee as far as you can!”?

But it was already too late.

And then.

“Aaaaargh!!!”

“Save me!!!!”

The massive meteorite, as if it had no intention of considering the situation of Serpina’s army-

Fell directly onto the area where soldiers and siege weapons were densely gathered.

BOOM——-!!!

What followed was a thunderous sound that seemed to tear the earth apart.

And between that, the wretched screams of Serpina’s soldiers leaked through.

As the sound of spreading flames reached their ears, intense smoke soon obscured everyone’s vision…

Then, one or two raindrops began to fall – quickly turning into a downpour that soaked the ground.

How much time had passed?

Julian slowly raised his head as he became aware of the raindrops striking his forehead forcefully.

“Kuh… Kugh.”

Thrown off his horse by the meteorite’s impact shockwave, he was flung to the side. He wiped away the blood flowing from his head and sat down on the ground.

Though he was in quite a pathetic state, the fact that he was still breathing held immense significance.

He could feel pain. He could breathe. A deafening ringing continued to throb around his eardrums.

All these things proved one single fact.

‘I’m alive……!!’

Because of this fact, he could manage a smile of relief despite the pain that instantly dominated his body.

The pain was fine. Pain could be endured somehow.

But death couldn’t be endured. Death was the end of everything.

It would mean everything he had lived for until now would become meaningless.

However.

Julian couldn’t hold onto that relief for long.

‘W-wait… W-what happened?!’

Only then did the scene before him unfold in his vision.

A massive boulder that had fallen right in the middle of his army’s formation.

The ground, deeply cratered.

…The remains of soldiers who couldn’t escape and were crushed.

‘Hii, hiik……!!’

He had cut the throats of countless soldiers on the battlefield.

He knew better than anyone that if he didn’t kill, his life and the lives of his comrades would be in danger.

On such battlefields – he thought he fully understood that lives, including his own and those of people who were breathing alongside him just moments ago, were treated as insignificant as flies.

But.

An unknown power.

Something fundamental, something completely incomprehensible.

To be crushed by a massive boulder suddenly falling from the sky.

In the face of an unknown terror that couldn’t be controlled no matter what one did, including changing one’s behavior…

Even Julian, seasoned in battle, couldn’t help but be terrified.

After all, he was just a commander who was good at fighting. Not some superhuman.

At that moment.

“……!!”

Feeling a subtle gaze, Julian slowly turned his head to look behind him.

The wall.

He could see the not-so-high fortress wall.

Because he had galloped away on his horse, he was now a bit closer to it.

And.

On top of that wall-

A white-haired man stood with his hand extended.

He was looking at the boulder.

Though he was too far away to clearly see his expression… at least he didn’t appear to be disturbed.

He was just calmly looking at this place without showing any sign of surprise.

‘W-what on earth?!’

If such a boulder fell from the sky, any normal person would naturally be shocked.

But why… could he remain so detached?

As if he had known from the beginning that this would happen…?

Come to think of it, that man.

He had been building a strange altar on the wall and behaving oddly.

Beating drums, shouting loudly.

The memory of him performing some kind of ritual was still vivid.

At first, Julian thought he might just be insane.

But now that something impossible had happened… he couldn’t simply dismiss the man’s behavior.

‘Could it be……?!’

Magic…?

Was it magic?

Was that ritual… a form of magic?

Magic couldn’t possibly exist. Magicians only existed in legends.

Besides, even the magic described in legends wasn’t this absurd.

But if not magic, how else could this situation be explained?

Everything he had witnessed with his own eyes, not heard from someone else!

How could a boulder suddenly fall from the sky without warning?

Wasn’t it more plausible that the man’s actions had summoned the boulder!

And then.

The man on the wall… slowly lowered his head to look down at him.

And then, he looked down at where Julian was.

“Wh… What……!”

Overwhelmed by the man’s expression, Julian unconsciously waved his arms and stepped back.

He felt like he would be devoured by those cold, gray eyes.

And at that moment.

The man looked at him with an extremely displeased expression.

As if saying, ‘Why are you still alive?’

“Hii, hiiiik……!!”

He was certain.

It was this man who had made the boulder fall from the sky!

Whether it was magic or not, that didn’t matter.

Once the result was evident, the process became irrelevant.

Then, the identity of the man who had done this-

‘G… God……??’

Just moments ago, he had dismissed religion as weak and mocked the idea of performing rituals to non-existent beings.

But now, upon seeing the man’s cold eyes, he was thinking of a god that couldn’t possibly exist.

At that moment.

“General Julian!!!”

From behind, a soldier on horseback approached where Julian was.

Apparently, he was a soldier who had been at the very rear of the army and had escaped the damage.

He quickly approached Julian and supported him while asking:

“Are you alright, General?!”

“I… I am.”

He wanted to stand up.

But because of those cold eyes, his feet wouldn’t move, as if he was being forcibly held down.

This was fear.

A very primal fear of an unknown power.

The reason humans fear death is because they can’t even imagine what lies beyond it.

In this realm, one couldn’t ask anyone. It was impossible to revive the dead to question them.

That’s why humans rely on the power of religion to overcome that fear.

The fear he felt now was very similar to the fear of death.

“S-save me…!”

“General Julian…?”

Only then did Julian realize again that there was a soldier beside him and said:

“R-run… Run away! All troops! We must retreat! God… God, God has appeared…!! We must flee!!!”

“What? What are you…!”

“Can’t you hear me? Quickly! We must flee!”

The soldier was also at a loss for what to do after seeing a boulder fall from the sky.

Therefore, there was nothing else he could do now but follow the commander’s orders.

“Understood…!”

The soldier supported Julian and handed over the horse he had ridden.

Julian, somehow mounting the saddle, swallowed the pain he felt in his body and began to ride.

He had to escape!

That thought alone was the driving force that allowed him to move his body in the current situation.

And so, Julian rode away on his horse to save his life, without even gathering his collapsed army forces.

* * *

‘…I can’t see well.’

I wanted to check the face of a man who appeared to be an enemy near the wall.

Even squinting, I couldn’t see clearly.

I thought about getting closer to check, but abandoned the idea. My body felt weak.

Still, as I had expected, it seemed that Serpina’s army had begun a full retreat.

They were fleeing in a hurry, abandoning even the siege weapons they had brought, showing how terrified they were.

Well, it would be strange not to be scared when a meteorite suddenly falls from the sky.

“…Phew.”

I’m glad things worked out well, but honestly, I was really nervous.

There was absolutely no sign of lightning striking.

The sky was churning, but there was no rain or wind. In this game, lightning – or thunderbolts – only struck when it was raining, so I was really confused when the enemies arrived at the fortress and it still wasn’t raining.

It was a bit scary when the siege weapons approached, but… I wasn’t extremely anxious.

Since “holding the fortress” was the correct answer, something would have happened anyway.

Even so, I never imagined a meteorite would fall.

In the 10,000 hours I played this game, I rarely saw meteorites.

To see a meteorite in the world I’ve been possessed into.

How astronomically low would the probability be?

Actually, when the meteorite was about to fall, I worried that the fortress might collapse from the shockwave.

Fortunately, it seemed to have caused only the damage set within the game.

Although I could predict the outcome by observing the battle, it was quite fortunate that this world faithfully followed the rules of the game.

By the way, if hit by a meteorite, regardless of the number of soldiers, about 90% of the entire force would be instantly vaporized.

I let out a small sigh.

Even though the result turned out as I had predicted, I couldn’t control the tension.

Now that the tension had eased, my body felt extremely languid.

If I turn my head slightly feeling a gaze…

There was Irene, frozen with a pale face, staring at me.

“Swen… what… what on earth… have you done…?”

Right.

From Irene’s perspective, this situation would look like I built an altar, spouted nonsense about “communicating with the sky,” did all sorts of strange things while calling out to the sky-

And suddenly a meteorite fell from the sky.

Wondering how to explain this, I decided to answer simply.

“…Fortunately, it seems I succeeded in drawing out the distortion of the sky…”

Huh?

Somehow, the words weren’t coming out well.

My vision was also getting blurry, and I felt like I was about to lose consciousness.

Ah, I see.

Low strength means low basic stamina.

Even though I knew things would work out, I had been performing bizarre acts while witnessing death right before my eyes, so my body must have been extremely tense.

Now, as all that tension was released at once… it seemed an overload had come.

“Swen!”

As I staggered and was about to fall, Irene quickly ran over and caught me.

It was fortunate that she was nearby.

If I had fallen straight down, I might have been injured.

“Lady Irene… as I told you… Lady Irene…”

After saying that much, I mumbled a few more words-

And then lost consciousness.