episode_0030

Loud cries of children can be heard. The mother and father try to soothe their daughter’s crying. It’s okay, they say. Upon hearing the sound, a boy asks his parents.

“Is it really going to be okay? Will the war ever end?”

The parents couldn’t even lie in response to the uncertain question about the war. The child starts to cry sadly, saying there were still so many things he wanted to do, so many places he wanted to go with his parents.

Fibron Empire civilian shelter.

This was a space where women, children, and non-combatants gathered. Although it was quite far from the battlefield, there were no people who thought it was safe here.

Even if this place is now a comfortable shelter, if the knights ahead are all defeated, it will turn into hell. Being a civilian means being a protected entity, but at the same time, it means being an ordinary person who is difficult to protect oneself. They have no power to protect themselves. No, even if they did, they are not stronger than the enemy.

“I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”

The child’s crying seemed to infect others with depression like an explosive. In this place where a chilling silence prevailed, the screams, cries, and wails of people could be heard. People of the Fibron Empire despaired. They lamented that their country had become the target of the Karelend Empire. And they thought their fate was sealed.

Confined in a cramped internment camp, they were convinced that they could only face their pathetic deaths. However, amusingly, they didn’t seem to give up on life. When the military broadcast from the center of the square came on, everyone covered their mouths and listened.

“People of the Fibron Empire. We are planning to engage in direct combat with the Karelend Empire from now on. If we win, everyone may live, but if we lose, everyone may die.”

The voice of Sir Platine, the commander of the Royal Knights, transmitted by magic, was firm. But at the same time, it assumed the worst.

If we are to be captured, it is up to each of you to protect your families. No matter what happens, do not give up. The royal family, the knights of the Phyrone Empire, and the mages will fight for you until the end.

Short broadcast. Plutain was not confident of victory until the end. Therefore, before the decisive battle, using a magical device in the place where refugees had gathered, he conveyed his voice. Whether Plutain’s heart reached them or not, the children and people who had been crying until just now no longer shed tears.

They stood up with determined expressions. They began to build structures around them and searched for things that could serve as weapons, preparing for a possible imminent fight. Perhaps at this moment, even if the enemies were to come, they would never die easily.

Drip…

Drip…

As they prepared, the sound of raindrops falling little by little was heard.

“It’s… raining.”

Strangely, the rain only fell near the battlefield.

After a while, the appearance of the battlefield began to be projected from the magical device. This was Plutain’s consideration. If the Phyrone Empire were to be defeated, it was his consideration to respond quickly.

Thanks to this, people looked from afar at the appearance of the battlefield. As if possessed, they began to capture the final moments of the battlefield.

There, the back of a man walking towards the enemy lines was seen.

— — —

“Fall back! Those who are injured to the rear, those who can still wield a sword, step forward and block the enemy!”

The commanders of the Phyrone Empire’s knights shouted. The knights, divided into several organizations, were not few in number, even with just their commanders. However, they had all gathered on this battlefield. This was because the Phyrone Empire’s leadership had decided to engage in an all-out war.

“Commander Kanyan! We…we have no more potions! Even if we pull the wounded to the rear, there is no strength left to heal them!”

“Then fight! Wield your sword until you die! It doesn’t matter how, just kill the enemy before you die!”

The commander of the Canian Knights was frustrated even as he shouted. The overwhelming difference in forces. He was convinced that they couldn’t defeat the Kaelor Empire with their own power. But even so, the men did not flee. If they were to flee in fear, it would be their families behind them who would end up dead.

He was more afraid of seeing the families of those who would be ravaged by the Kaelor Empire after the fall of the Fibron Empire than of his own death.

“Ugh…!”

A knight next to Canian fell after being struck by a sword. Countless lives were being lost at a rate of dozens per second.

This place is hell. A hell where you can’t see the end no matter how many you kill, and you can’t escape. The commander of the Canian Knights emptied his mind and began to cut down and kill the enemies.

As the battle continued like that,

Boom!

With a huge sound, a massive red sphere appeared on the battlefield.

“What is that…?”

Both the Kaelor Empire and the Fibron Empire, not knowing whose magic it was, began to be wary of each other. At the same time, someone behind the lines of the Fibron Empire began shouting and running forward.

“All knights of the Fibron Empire, retreat!”

The cry of the royal knight commander of the Fibron Empire, Fltain, was heard. He rode ahead with over hundreds of people and horses, helping people to escape.

“If you don’t want to die, retreat!”

Without stating the reason, the knights, unlike before, began to retreat. They mercilessly killed the pursuing Kaelor Empire knights and, in the process of blocking them, the royal knights suffered immense losses. However, retreat itself was possible. It was all thanks to the meager force of only a few hundred.

The red sphere floating in the air was drawing ominous energy from the surrounding corpses, and because of this, the Kaelor Empire’s knights could no longer charge forward.

The sphere swelled roughly as if it were about to burst, then regained stability, repeated swelling, and drew energy again.

“It’s the enemy’s magic! Attack and eliminate it!”

The mages of the Kael’thas Empire, who had finished assessing the situation, desperately tried to remove the red sphere, but the sphere simply repelled all attacks.

Kugugugung

From the sphere that had only repelled attacks, a tremendous sound began to resonate, and soon massive walls began to fall from within.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

The walls blocked between the knights of the Kael’thas Empire and the knights of the Phaeron Empire. A wall, easily 5 meters high, began to firmly embed itself in the ground, leaving a slight gap.

There were openings to slip through, but no one dared to do so. Partly because the ground was shaking like mad, but mainly because a man was walking toward the center.

Between the walls, a man in a robe walked without a staff. It was easy to see that the red sphere was his exclusive possession. Whenever someone attacked the man, strange fragments would burst out of the sphere, repelling everything.

As everyone watched, the commander of the Kael’thas Empire at the forefront bravely began to rush toward the man. However, the man effortlessly disarmed him in an instant with his sword. The brutally fallen body was once again absorbed into the red sphere.

“Cease your meaningless actions.”

Macderas spoke, but this time, hundreds of knights began to charge all at once. More forces tried to come in, but due to the wall, more than that number could not push through.

Their charge did not continue as a continuous action. Objects like giant spears emerged from the red sphere, piercing the oncoming men.

Watching from behind, the Phaerin commander Plutain, unknowingly, drew his sword. He realized it wasn’t his place. Then he dared to ask the princess beside him.

“Your Highness… Who is that man… really…?”

Princess Braine briefly replied.

“He is hope.”

Eventually, Princess Braine gazed through Macderas standing on the battlefield.

“It doesn’t matter who he is. What matters is that he is our last hope.”

The hands of Princess Brainy trembled. Teckeloman, the commander of the knights who had been watching from the side, as well as Choi Ye-bin and Flimia, who were beside him, simply watched the scene without saying a word.

Flimia clasped her hands together in prayer.

Please, may the man save this place. At the same time, I hope he returns safely without harm.

“Damn it… Who is that suddenly appearing guy? I was sure there were no such people in the Phibron Empire.”

The power of the Kaoleden Empire still seemed endless, but they ceased their movements. They felt it. The desperate difference in strength. That they couldn’t win against an opponent who could push them with mere numbers.

Macderas shouted.

“I’ll give you one last chance. Surrender now and abandon the emperor. Then you can live.”

However, there was no one on the battlefield who would simply listen to the enemy’s words. They still held their swords and guarded against Macderas.

“Incite a riot? What a joke. Anyway, you are soon going to die. No matter how hard you struggle, most of the Phibron Empire’s forces have already fallen. You should surrender. Then at least we will kill you without torture.”

Finally, someone shouted.

“All knights of the Kaoleden Empire, prepare for attack!”

Macderas looked at them with emotionless eyes. Macderas also knew. This was not going to be just a conversation.

From the very beginning, there were only two ways to resolve this war. One was for one side to bear great losses, raise the white flag, and declare surrender. Of course, if they surrendered, that empire would become a vassal of the victor.

The other was for one side to suffer irreparable, fatal damage.

Macderas quietly spoke while looking at the Kaoleden Empire’s knights who never gave up the fight until the end.

“I have no intention of justifying slaughter, so please resent me.”

Macderas began pouring mana into the sphere with outstretched arms. The knights and mages of the Kaoleden Empire, realizing that something was happening, launched an attack, but they could not penetrate Macderas’s barrier and defenses.

The concrete absorbed the energy of the surrounding corpses, then swelled up and burst with a loud noise. A deafening sound that seemed to burst eardrums struck the battlefield.

Along with the dreadful noise as if lightning had struck.

“Rain…?”

From the sky, red rain began to fall.

It was a sign heralding the beginning of a mass slaughter magic.