Chapter 101 - Army of Defiance (2)

Trampling right over a few goblins that were getting in his way, Quern turned his gaze toward the rear.

Beyond the wide variety of monsters, he could see the wretched Blade Mountains.

Nothing in particular stood out. The only suspicious thing was the strangely thick shadows of the mountain, despite it being broad daylight.

"The monsters were chased here by those bastards!"

Belatedly, Quern's gaze swept over the monsters.

Monsters of every kind were running without rest. Their usual ferocious appearances were nowhere to be found, replaced by faces completely consumed by terror.

"I don't know what they are, but if those ferocious bastards are that terrified, they must be some horrifying bastards."

"Tell me about it!"

Quern cut him off. The Black Lancers, having broken through the ranks of the monsters, drew a gentle circle and charged through the castle gates.

As soon as they passed through, the massive iron gates slammed down with a *CRASH! *

"Hup!"

Quern tossed the young lord of the Eli family toward the castle wall.

"Report what you saw! And what you experienced! Tell everything to the lord!"

Shouting that, Quern immediately leveled his spear and charged at the horde of monsters—specifically a Troll—that had slipped through the gates in that brief moment.

Glancing at the sight, the young lord of the Eli family flew up the stairs heading to the top of the wall.

Right atop the wall was the lord of Winter Castle.

"There are horrifying bastards deep inside the mountains!"

As he urgently made his report,

"If you mean horrifying bastards, I'm looking at them right now."

The lord silently raised a finger and pointed outside the wall.

At the mouth of the mountain range, in every deeply shaded spot, there was a darkness howling without a sound.

* * *

Right around the time the castle's North Gate was in a frenzy scuffling with the swarming monsters, a group of young men appeared at the South Gate of Winter Castle.

Though they looked like a complete mess from pushing through the blizzard, their noble upbringing was not entirely hidden.

"Is a Magic Tower really being established in a backwater place like this?"

"How should I know? Father pestered me about it, so I just came for now."

They were the sons of noble families, handpicked and sent by the nobles after much deliberation.

BWOOOOOO!

The young lords frowned at the incessant blaring of the horn.

"But what's been so loud since earlier?"

"Looks like they're doing some training or a jousting tournament."

As they grumbled dismissively, the soldiers at the South Gate waved them over.

"The gate will close soon! If you're coming in, hurry up!"

"Look at that arrogant fellow... Ah! Wait!"

Seeing the gate slowly starting to close without even giving them time to scold the man, the young lords hurriedly sprinted.

"Where do you bel—"

CRASH!

Startled by the thunderous sound of the closing gate, the young man cut off his words and frowned.

"I know it's a frontier fortress, but isn't it far too chaotic?"

"Tell me about it. It's exactly as if a war has broken out."

The young lords of noble families, who had been grumbling in displeasure, suddenly stiffened.

BWOOOO!

A faint noise could be heard through the endlessly blaring horns.

CLANG!

KRAAAAK!

The sickening metallic clashes and screams,

"Leave the Trolls to the knights, and the Rangers clear out the rest of the rabble!"

And the fierce shouts.

The young lords looked at each other. Seeing each other's stiffened faces, they could tell exactly what kind of expressions they were wearing themselves.

"What's this mess, and who are these guys?"

As they stood blankly, stiff as stone statues, someone spoke to them.

Turning their heads, the young lords saw a complete beggar with long, matted hair hanging down looking at them.

Because the hair covered more than half of his face, the only things visible were his sharp nose and the line of his mouth.

"Ah, you guys are them, huh?"

But strangely enough, just by looking at his mouth, they could feel that the other person's nature was arrogant. It was a fascinating thing.

"They sent guys who look more put-together than I expected, so I didn't recognize you."

The unidentified man, who had just asked and answered his own question, gestured to them.

"Let's go for now."

"Wh-where do you mean?"

One of the young lords, overwhelmed by the man's aura, faltered and asked.

The man pointed a finger. Of all places, the direction he pointed was exactly where the sounds of fighting were coming from.

"Follow me."

It was a voice they somehow could not disobey; without even realizing it, the young lords were walking after the man.

KRAAAAA!

"Shoot! Shoot them until they die!"

"Who's the bastard showing his fingers!"

"Can't you see the blood splattering on my hands right now!"

The deeper they went into the castle, the clearer the true nature of the commotion became.

It was unmistakably the sound of soldiers fighting.

GWOOOOR!

Moreover, it was the sound of soldiers screaming and struggling desperately against things letting out bizarre cries they had never heard in their lives.

Walking along in a daze, a wide clearing appeared.

"Urp!"

The young lords covered their mouths and dry-heaved. Some among them lost their dignity and actually threw up their stomachs' contents.

Normally, they would have clicked their tongues at such an unsightly display, but right now, they didn't even have the mind to do so.

Just looking at the dozens of corpses scattered across the wide clearing was enough to make them feel like their consciousness was flying away.

All sorts of monsters—blue and yellow, black and red, and green—lay dead, their limbs hacked to pieces.

"Well, I'll be. They sure came in quite the assortment."

The unidentified man said apathetically.

"E-Excuse me..."

"Follow me."

They wanted to reveal their identities and escape this gruesome scene even now, but the man didn't even give them the chance.

Completely suppressed by that bizarre, overwhelming pressure, the young lords once again followed the man.

The man climbed up the castle wall.

"Shoot!"

"Ignore the Trolls! It's a waste of arrows anyway!"

"Oil! Bring the oil!"

"We're out of arrows!"

The clearer shouts, the unidentifiable stench, and the disgusting smell of oil—all of it mixed together and turned the young lords' stomachs.

Suppressing it, they followed the man up the stairs.

And when they finally reached the top of the wall, the young lords had their breath thoroughly snatched away.

The heat exuded by the soldiers on the wall and unknown emotions were swirling over the ramparts. It felt as though if they carelessly took a breath, their insides would be scorched black.

"It's a complete mess."

Clicking his tongue briefly, the man began to pester the surrounding soldiers.

"You there, hold the oil cauldron straight. Are you trying to fry our allies to death too?"

"Huh? Yes! I'm sorry!"

"And you! Why are your hands idle! Is the battle over?"

"I'm shooting!"

Having gotten just a little used to the heat of the wall—at least enough to muster a thought—the young lords belatedly began to wonder about the man's identity.

Could he be the lord of Winter Castle?

Otherwise, there was no way he could order the soldiers around so naturally.

But that wasn't it.

"Huh?"

One of the officers commanding the soldiers saw the man and his eyes went wide.

"Your Highness?"

There was only one person in Winter Castle who would be called 'Your Highness.'

The eldest son of the Royal House of Leonberk, whose fathers had repeatedly emphasized they needed to get on the good side of—the maternal cousin of the lord of Winter Castle, the First Prince Adrian Leonberk.

They had heard he hadn't fully shed his boyish look yet.

He was so entirely different from what they had heard before coming that they hadn't recognized him.

"Where's Vincent?"

"He was over at the eastern wall just a moment ago."

"I suppose I'll hear about the state of the battle from Vincent."

While the young lords were debating whether they should pay their respects now, the First Prince strolled along the wall as if he were taking a walk.

"Your Highness."

"Aren't you a bit late?"

The officers who spotted him greeted him without any formality.

Unlike the soldiers clinging to the wall, firing arrows with stiff faces, they looked relaxed.

Only then did the young lords realize that the people on the wall were divided into two perfect categories.

Those stiffened by tension, and those so calm they even appeared nonchalant.

Those who acknowledged the First Prince all belonged to the latter.

"Your Highness. Why did your hair grow so much in just a few days?"

"Tell me about it. Must be because I'm in my prime. More importantly, got anything to eat? I came straight up to the wall without having a meal."

The young lords went wide-eyed.

Because of the unidentifiable stench, the smell of sweat, and the smell of blood, they were barely holding back the vomit trying to burst out of them.

And yet, the First Prince ravenously devoured a loaf of bread handed to him by a nameless officer.

It wasn't just bread.

Everywhere he went, he whined about being hungry and scrounged up food.

Jerky, potatoes, bread—the First Prince crammed the food into his mouth as soon as he received it.

He looked completely oblivious to the stench and tension filling the area.

After walking for a good while, the First Prince stopped in his tracks.

"Vincent."

"Your Highness?"

The man in the middle of commanding the battle, the lord of Winter Castle, saw the First Prince and widened his eyes.

"When did you come out?"

"Just now. More importantly, explain the situation."

"They suddenly swarmed in all at once. At first, I was worried because of their numbers, but as you can see, rather than a siege, they're just blindly clinging to the walls and screaming their heads off."

The monstrous screeches echoing from below were so horrifying that the young lords didn't even dare to stand near the wall and look down.

Yet referring to those monsters, the First Prince and the lord of Winter Castle were spouting utter nonsense about how it was a perfect opportunity to train the new recruits.

Their attitude seemed beyond carefree and bordered on leisurely.

However, contrary to what they thought, those two weren't just purely carefree.

"That's the problem."

"According to the young lord of the Eli family, the monsters are causing this mess because they were chased here by those things."

The First Prince spoke as he stood at the edge of the wall. Unlike before, it was a serious tone.

Without realizing it, the young lords turned their heads to follow his gaze.

And froze right on the spot.

At the boundary between the pure white snowfields and the mountain range, black shadows were clumped together as if a stain had been left there. And within it was a darkness far deeper than the shadows. It was howling, trying to burst out of the shadows.

The moment they saw them, the monstrous screeches of the monsters coming from below the wall became nothing.

The silent howling of the darkness lurking in the shadows far away was several times more horrifying than the roars and shrieks of hundreds and thousands of monsters.

It was something unholy and ominous that they had never faced even once in their lives.

With their limited worldly experience, the young lords couldn't even guess what it was.

They merely instinctively felt that the moment those things burst out of the mountain range, something horrifying would happen.

'Magic Tower, Mages... I just want to go back.'

It was a thought that collectively surfaced in the minds of the young lords.

'Should we go back? Right now, no one even knows who we are anyway.'

The young lords exchanged glances. And just as they were stealthily trying to slip away from the chaotic wall,

"But what are those guys?"

"Looks like the direct descendants the families sent this time only arrived today."

The gazes of the First Prince and the lord of Winter Castle, who had treated them as if they didn't exist until just now, landed on them of all people.

"They have incredible luck. To arrive on a day like today."

"Tell me about it."

The two men chuckled.

The young lords of each family, who had been blankly listening to their laughter, belatedly fell to their knees. They were about to introduce themselves and give a formal greeting, even if late. But the First Prince didn't even give them the chance.

"During your service at Winter Castle, absolutely do not speak your family names. You are just new recruits, and you will be treated exactly the same as the other soldiers."

"We came to become Mages of the Magic Tower. Even if we serve at Winter Castle, we must first verify if we have the aptitude to be a Mage..."

"Failed. Not a single one among you has the aptitude to become a Mage."

They had come all the way to this backwater to become Mages, so what was this bolt out of the blue?

They couldn't comprehend it, and they couldn't accept it.

So they protested. Stepping in front of the strangely imposing First Prince, they squeezed out courage they didn't even have to raise an objection.

"I have already confirmed that you have no aptitude."

It was absurd. He wasn't even a Mage, so by what skill did he confirm their aptitude? This was pure dogmatism, throwing around his status as the owner of the Magic Tower.

"We do not doubt Your Highness's foresight, but it is said one must ask a knight about swordsmanship, and a Mage about magic. Therefore, we entreat you, allow us to meet a Mage so they can confirm the seeds we possess."

It was a somewhat reasonable argument. But even that was soon rendered meaningless.

"You all have absolutely zero aptitude as Mages."

A clear voice suddenly cut in; turning their heads, there was a woman completely covered from head to toe in a pure white cloak.

* * *

The woman draped in a pure white cloak—all that was revealed was her slender jawline and delicate lips. But despite that, I could recognize who she was immediately.

Because that mysterious figure, hiding a heavenly beauty beneath a pure white cloak, perfectly resembled someone I remembered from 400 years ago.

"As the Master of the Magic Tower, I tell you this: your magical talent and potential are worse than a goblin's."

Even the way she poured out venomous remarks with an innocent voice was exactly the same.

"Just who are you to..."

The young lords of noble families, who had been mesmerized by her mysterious aura, belatedly snapped out of it and protested.

Asking her to let them meet a Mage, saying they would be tested directly in front of them.

I laughed.

"The Mage you're looking for is right there."

She was the very person they had wanted to meet so badly.

"She is the master of the newly built Northern Magic Tower."

Because she was the Master of the Magic Tower.

At my words, the young lords of the noble families put on blank faces.

But even Vincent was making the exact same expression as them.

'What is up with him?'

I jabbed him in the ribs, and only then did Vincent fix his expression.

"Is she the one Your Highness spoke of..."

"I am White Night."

"I am Vincent, master of Ballorhard and the lord of Winter Castle. It is a pleasure to meet you."

I frowned at his strangely forceful voice.

I could see Vincent's brightly flushed face. I thought it was because of the heat of battle, but apparently it wasn't.

I let out a scoffing laugh.

A man falling head over heels for a skeleton that was hundreds of years old.

I couldn't tell if I should call this pitiful or absurd.

I figured the former was probably right.

Because there was no way Ophelia, who had zero interest in men 400 years ago, would have suddenly changed after becoming a Lich.

"Good luck."

"Huh? Yes!"

Watching Vincent answer boomingly without even knowing what I meant, I shook my head back and forth.

Even on a battlefield rampant with screams and death, love still begins. Though it was a tragedy that the object of his affection was a hundreds-of-years-old skeleton without a single scrap of flesh remaining. I gave Vincent a brief glance and then asked Ophelia with a look.

There had to be a reason she revealed herself to the people earlier than planned. And if my guess wasn't wrong, the reason she showed herself was because of the darkness crouching at the mouth of the mountain range.

『The screams of the dead and the starving ghosts were so loud that I couldn't help but come out.』

It was exactly as I guessed.

Ophelia was also one of the dead, one of the deceased, so it seemed the screams of the dead—which could not be heard by the living—had drawn her here.

"What in the world are those things?"

I knew their true nature bordered on death, but I couldn't grasp the exact details. Because beyond death was an unknown world that I couldn't peer into, even with my authority and knowledge.

"The dead who have died yet are not dead, who are alive yet not truly living, who hate the living."

She answered aloud.

"It is the heaven-defying army."

『And as for who they are, both you and I already know.』

Simultaneously, I flinched and froze at her thought that dug into my mind.

『Those who climbed the mountain carrying the Will to Slay Dragons, yet never managed to come back down.』

Staring intently at me, Ophelia said.

『They are the knights and soldiers of the expedition that climbed the Frost Mountains 400 years ago.』