Episode 1073.
Clang!
My heart has been sinking heavily since the moment the blade of my lance sliced through the first victim.
Is it because the enemy is stronger than I thought?
Or because in the back of my mind, I’ve already begun to mull over the word defeat?
No. Wrong.
I believed in our allies’ victory from the start.
I just realized that, as always, I was pushing myself to my limits.
Limitations that I, as a mere mortal, can never fully escape, even though I’ve broken through them many times before.
“How many more people will die this time?
Of course I know.
I’m not an omnipotent god who can save everyone.
That I, or anyone else, can’t be that god.
That was true of the heroes of mythology, and it was true of the supposed savior of mankind.
To get something, you have to pay a price.
Whether it’s time or life.
But even if you know that, you can’t get used to it.
No, you can never get used to it.
Because if you do, everything becomes normalized.
And someone’s sacrifice and death is the kind of thing that should never be taken for granted.
Quadruple!
Just once.
An eerie crackling sound accompanied the blade of the spear as it was swung with force, and a thick mist of blood spread out.
If it were a human opponent, the sight would have instantly struck fear into their hearts.
But even as the dozens of monsters scattered like minced flesh, they were unperturbed, pushing in from all directions.
They were in a tight formation that didn’t match their fierce, ferocious momentum.
‘Impossible for their level of intelligence. There must be someone.
Before the battle began in earnest, those eerie bells carried by the wind in all directions were no hallucinations.
Mutants, or monsters.
I don’t know exactly what to call these horrible creatures, but I do know that somewhere out there, there is a commander who controls them like puppets.
The only problem is that…….
“Good hiding.
I wonder if they’ve been mindful of the presence of super-advanced players like me.
Their presence was nowhere to be found.
And this was not only true of me, but also of one of our allies, the man with the best eyesight of all.
Shhhhh, kwaaaaah!
Four streaks of light shot out in rapid succession from east, west, north, and south, engulfing space and exploding.
Amidst the shockwaves and booms that followed, a peculiarly calm voice pierced my ears.
“I can’t see or feel it now. It’s at least a hundred sheets out.”
The words seemed to penetrate my thoughts.
At the same time, the Red River, drenched in the blood of the monsters, appeared and added.
“And there are a lot of them.”
Pfft, pfft!
Before he could finish his sentence, a punch was thrown.
The flames burned through the air, radiating a terrible heat that engulfed the monsters.
– Crrrr!
– Grrrr!
Layered screams echoed through the air.
However, even though he had once again slain dozens of enemies with his mighty strikes, his expression did not brighten in the slightest.
“There’s no end to this. Unless we annihilate everyone here, there will be no way out.”
It was clear that the tide of battle was turning in the allies’ favor.
The problem, however, came after they had defeated all of these monsters that surrounded them.
Many of the three thousand or so allies would surely be dead or wounded, and Amtian’s pursuit would be relentless.
“Damn it.
I swallowed the swear word that rose up in my throat and looked around.
The battle against ten thousand monsters had barely begun.
So far, the efforts of the various peak adepts, including myself, hadn’t resulted in any casualties, but it was only a matter of time.
‘They’re already exhausted, they’ll crumble soon enough.
Battle is also a battle against oneself.
They may be a hand-picked elite, but unlike their enemies, they are made of flesh and blood.
The moment they recognize that they are in a life-or-death situation, their bodies are rapidly exhausted and their minds are blurred.
And even the peak adepts, who have been using all their strength from the start to protect such allies as best they can, are exhausting themselves at an even faster rate than usual.
Because right now, I was just like them.
Pucker, thud!
A hulking figure two zhangs tall fell to his knees on the blade of a spear that sliced through the tendons of his calf.
A hulking figure that doesn’t look human at all.
The flesh surrounding them was as tough as leather armor, and it took even greater strength to cut through the harder bone.
Puck.
Crushing the creature’s skull with a single, force-filled blow, I gritted my teeth and shouted.
“Hold formation!”
A chorus of echoes echoed around the room, but I could already tell that its size and momentum had diminished.
“We need a change.
Fear.
The darkest emotion known to man.
It’s only natural when you’re surrounded by monsters you’ve never seen or heard of.
And I have enough power, right now, to cut through the fear that binds them.
Instead of expending an enormous amount of power, I’ll do the best I can to turn this situation around.
“One shot. One chance to tear through their ranks.
Even the most solid walls crumble at the first sign of a crack.
I swallowed slowly.
At the same time, I was confronted with a world that had slowed down, a noise that was fading away, and a new sensation that opened up deep inside me.
The still unfamiliar sensation of suspended animation.
Oooooh.
The space suddenly shudders.
I reached out, sensing everything around me.
No, I tried to reach out.
Until, at that very moment, someone appeared with a shout so loud it shattered my focused senses.
“Gaaaaah!”
A voice brimming with determination.
And with a jerky movement unbecoming of the man who stood in my way, he brandished an iron sword of unknown origin.
“You foolish, pitiful freaks, you must kneel before me right now, for the god of the gods, the dog turd, has descended to this earth by the will of the heavens!”
“……!”
“……!”
A chilling silence descended for a moment.
Everyone around me, my allies, and the monsters that had been attacking us from all sides, stared at the great man with cloudy eyes.
“What the fuck.
The same look. Same thoughts.
But the man who had performed the miracle of bringing monsters and humans to the table in one fell swoop was unperturbed and continued to shout in a stern tone.
“What are you doing, do you not hear the name of me, Chun-ja?”
At the words of a man who had changed his name and gender in one fell swoop, Red Sky River muttered in frustration.
“I should have killed him first.”
I almost nodded my head in agreement with this very valid point, but that’s not the point now.
The arrival of the big man in the vanguard meant a power vacuum on the left wing, led by Samapyo, and that meant that our entire formation might soon collapse.
“That crazy guy……!
I knew he wasn’t in his right mind, but I didn’t expect him to shit his pants at this critical juncture.
But there’s no time for anger at this point.
I stifled the dysphoria rising up in the depths of my lungs and was about to send him back to his place.
Boom!
With a loud rumble that shook the ground, the monster closest to me suddenly dropped to one knee.
“…… What the hell.”
The lone groan that escaped someone’s lips was a question that was on everyone’s mind at the same time, including mine.
And before I could answer it, the other monsters that had surrounded us like an iron wall shuddered.
– Creeps. Krrrr.
– Crouch?
Dilated pupils and unintelligible groans.
And anomalies that began at the same time.
A thud. Kugugugung!
The ground rumbles. One after another, heavy bodies collapse, creating a thick cloud of dust.
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.
Until every monster in the vast reed forest has fallen.
It was a sight like a giant domino toppling, and everyone, including me, was left speechless by the unbelievable phenomenon that had suddenly unfolded before our eyes.
Except for one person.
“Hmm. That’s it, that’s it, that’s it.”
The grizzled old man turned toward me with a grin.
“Ahem. See? I’m that good.”
Of course I did.
Right there, right in front of me.
So there was only one thing I could squeeze out at this point.
“……What, this. Is this a dream?”
“A dream, that’s right. A man’s life is a dream in the middle of the day.”
Over the big man’s shoulder, who nodded with a knowing smile, a half-stunned Red River looked at me.
“What the hell is this…… situation?”
I asked, dumbfounded as I was.
I replied in a stammering voice.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know either?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I suppose you can think of all sorts of things. Has old man Nobu lived too long?”
“He’s lived a long time.”
“Or are we dreaming the same dream?”
“Maybe we are, and if you don’t mind me asking, can I punch you? Because I think it would hurt so much if I did.”
“That’s very uncharacteristically dreamy of you. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since you’ve been hit, hasn’t it?”
“That’s a very realistic reaction, so I’m pretty sure this isn’t a dream.”
That was the moment.
A voice drifted into my ears from the distance, having just avoided a blow from the Red Heaven River with a quick change of stance.
“They’re still the same. They’re still the same.”
I pause at the sound of a boy’s voice, barely past puberty.
“Wow, I’ve never seen a priestess like that before!”
My lips parted at the unforgettably cheerful voice that followed, carried by the wind.
“……Chengfeng?”
