The first to move were the god’s chosen ones.
“Brins Arnolt! Ssackle! Ssackle chenjui!”
“Ino! Benagu!”
“Dom! Dom!”
The Barbarians, speaking in a bizarre language incomprehensible to outsiders, swarmed like clouds towards the fallen Sungchul.
The humans who were abandoned by their gods watched on with heavy heart.
“The Imperial Commander in Chief is in danger. What are your orders?”
The Emperor’s adjunct saw Sungchul’s crisis through the Magic Mirror and turned to the Emperor for directions.
Deep furrows carved themselves into the Emperor’s forehead.
‘Sungchul. He was our only hope.’
Emperor wanted to save him.
And in fact, there was a way to save him.
The Emperor turned to his adjunct.
“Can the heart be activated?”
After a brief moment, the Emperor received the reply that the heart of the Ancient God could not be activated.
Even without it, Sungchul, his only friend, could be saved. However, without the aid of the heart of the Ancient God, a tremendous sacrifice would be required in return.
The most probable outcome was the loss of most of his fleet as well as his precious soldiers.
Was the life of one friend truly worth such a staggering loss of life?
“We must save the Imperial Commander in Chief.”
A man approached the hesitating emperor, speaking in a polite yet firm tone.
He is the captain of the ship.
‘I think his name was Colonel Brev?’
The Emperor was informed that this was a man who had fought alongside Sungchul at the Tower of Recluse. That is why after the Colonel’s ship was lost, the colonel was reassigned as the captain of the Imperial flagship.
“We are ready to pay any price.”
The Emperor had initially thought that this was a personal sentiment on the part of Colonel Brev.
However, the Emperor quickly found out this was not the case.
Every airship and every unit commander on the field was sending optical signals with lights.
This unchoreographed and spontaneous chorus of light signals could mean only one thing.
[Requesting permission to attempt the rescue of the Imperial Commander in Chief.]
[Willing and able to pay any price necessary]
Among these, there must have been a mix of soldiers who fought with Sungchul in the past and not.
But all those who were abandoned by god, they were painfully aware of one fact.
That in the darkest times that were about to come, the only one they could place their hopes for a future was in Sungchul who had dared to stand up against God and fight to his bitter end.
“…”
The Emperor was quickly swayed by all that he saw.
And it was right when the Emperor made up his mind and was about to issue the command.
A short report came through to the Emperor.
“The Wandering King is preparing to withdraw from battle.”
The moment the Emperor heard about the Wandering King, he snapped awake as if he had been asleep.
“Show me.”
One Magician brought a magic mirror to show the activity on the Wandering King’s camp.
The reports were accurate.
Though the retreat hasn’t been started in earnest, the men were ferrying all the supplies onto the ships and preparing to abandon camp at any moment.
The Emperor wavered once more.
If he were to commit most of his army to Sungchul’s rescue, he would not only lose the majority of his army, the Wandering King would have an opportunity to launch a surprise attack onto La Grange itself.
The Emperor had invested so much into driving out the Wandering King’s Soldiers of Salvation from La Grange.
And most importantly, there was something in La Grange that he could never allow to fall into the hands of the Wandering King.
The Heart of the Ancient God.
The Emperor placed his hands over his heart. Piercing his beating heart was the Vow of the Covenant.
The only thing the Vow of the Covenant protected was but a single secret.
The ambitions of the Wandering King.
This was the only condition the Wandering King had in return for temporarily relinquishing control over his Kingdom to the Emperor.
At the time, the Emperor did not believe such a fantastical and absurd dream could ever be realized.
But now, circumstances have changed.
He learned that the heart of the Ancient God possessed enough power to turn the Wandering King’s ludicrous dreams into reality.
And that had to be stopped by any means necessary.
Among the myriad Magic Mirrors displayed before the Emperor, the still figure of his one dear friend, fallen amidst the Barbarians, was still visible to him.
After a moment of contemplation, the Emperor finally made up his mind.
The Emperor gazed upon Sungchul’s image in the mirror with great sorrow before turning his head.
‘…I am sorry, dear friend.’
A sigh filled with regret escaped from the Emperor’s lips.
And finally the command was issued.
“All units, withdraw.”
Grave disappointment appeared on the faces of all the men who had been preparing to put down their lives in anticipation of a command for an all-out attack.
Captain Brev, commander of the flagship, let out a shallow sigh and ordered in an emotionless voice to turn the bow.
The frontlines began to shift.
The land forces and the imperial fleet of the Empire turned to withdraw from the battle.
Back to the city of La Grange where the heartbeat of the Ancient God had stopped beating once more.
Wandering King’s forces that had begun their preparations for a retreat before even the Emperor also quickly began their withdrawal with all due haste.
In mere moments, nearly half of the coalition forces left the battlefield.
With the remaining forces, let alone attempt the rescue of Sungchul, it would be impossible to hold the line against an enemy attack.
“What? Our only hope is about to be captured by the Barbarians. You’re telling us to just watch it happen right under our noses and do nothing?”
Daincraft and other loyalists were strongly advocating for attempting the rescue of Sungchul with their fragmented forces no matter the difference in power, but this was too reckless and unrealistic.
“You ungrateful monkies! You all really do deserve to go extinct! What are you doing? Move your armies!”
The black feathered Marakia declared that he will lead the charge at the vanguard aboard Sylphid, but it wasn’t possible for just Sylphid alone to turn the situation around.
In fact, in their moment of hesitation, the Barbarians came charging forth for a counter attack, placing the remnant forces of the Coalition in great peril.
The attack focused primarily on the Sylphid which flew at the forefront of the coalition front lines.
“We have no other choice.”
Tigon who had withered like a mummy advised Marakia to withdraw as well.
Marakia had no choice but to turn the ship around.
The Barbarians whose moral was now rising uncontrollably were now beginning to disintegrate and tear apart the frontlines.
It was only then that the remaining Kings realized something important they had been forgetting all this time.
That the Barbarians were not an enemy they could fight and win against to begin with.
Even escape was impossible.
The Barbarians began pursuit after the retreating coalition forces.
At this rate, they would at minimum lose over half their forces, or perhaps even be wiped out completely.
However, a miracle happened at this time.
All along the crumbling front lines, black robed individuals appeared along with smoke to serve as rearguard and protect the retreat.
They were the Order of Extinction.
“We, the Order of Extinction, shall protect your retreat.”
The man widely known as the second in command of the Order of Extinction, Schnellmerker, appeared like the wind and brought hundreds of fellow cultists with him. They raised their weapons against the Barbarians.
All along the chaotic battlefront, black flames erupted, signaling multiple Lesser God transformations.
“Wait, why would you protect us?”
Daincraft shouted at Schnellmerker with complicated feelings evident in his voice.
To this, Schnellmerker simply smiled as he responded.
“The Barbarians are the enemies of all humanity. Before the enemies of all mankind, race, religion, or factions are all meaningless details. How can you argue about trivialities like personal interest or gains in the face of the end of the world? Please leave this place to us and preserve your armies.”
But even the Lesser Gods could not stem the flow of the Barbarians who were now fully in battle frenzy.
The three Lesser Gods cut down the Barbarians with immense effectiveness, but the Barbarians continued to pour forward like a flood.
But thanks to the efforts of the Order of Extinction, the remnants of the Human coalition forces were able to safely withdraw from the battlefield.
But at the cost of abandoning the best candidate to become the One King among humanity.
Sungchul who was all alone was completely surrounded by the Barbarians.
Though Sungchul was unconscious, the Barbarians couldn’t easily approach him.
They were still afraid of him.
They vividly recalled the sight of him one-sidedly destroying and bisecting the Barbarian formation with his hammer.
“Hurai! Hurai!”
The most courageous among the Barbarians slowly approached Sungchul.
One had a stick and tried poking at him. There was no response.
And just as they were about to let down their guard and walk up to him…
“Stop it, you bastards!”
Suddenly, something fluttered down from the sky.
A book clad in something resembling a black carapace.
It was Bertelgia.
Bertelgia landed atop Sungchul, desperately fluttering and growling at the approaching Barbarians.
“Get lost! Unless you want to die!”
Startled by the sudden appearance of Bertelgia, the Barbarians reeled back.
They had thought that it might have something to do with the terrifying warrior.
As the Barbarians hesitated and floundered, one of them, his face smeared with blood, pushed through the others and said in a growling voice.
“Radiye! Ita!”
At that call, the other Barbarians seemed to regain their senses, their eyes snapping open as they stared at Bertelgia.
It was merely a Living Book.
While the black carapace it wore looked somewhat concerning, it was normally something that they could vanquish by breathing slightly strongly.
A Barbarian boy, watching the adults, picked up a stone and hurled it at Bertelgia.
Though it was only a child, the stone still carried the strength of a Barbarian.
Thud!
“Ouch!”
Bertelgia who had been growling at the Barbarians to stop them from getting to Sungchul was hit in the back and was nearly knocked out of the air.
Fortunately, thanks to the Hand of the Ascendent acting as sturdy armor, she suffered no damage.
However, there was a grave consequence of being hit by the child’s stone.
This time, the adults picked up the stones as well.
“Zenka!”
A stone, filled with terrifying power, impacted Bertelgia.
“Ack!”
The impact was on a different scale from when the child threw it.
The strike was so powerful that it smashed and embedded Bertelgia into the ground along with the stone.
If it hadn’t been for the mythic-grade protection from the Hand of the Ascendant, Bertelgia would probably have been torn to shreds and disintegrated.
However, Bertelgia did not back down.
She dusted off the dirt and rose again, blocking Sungchul’s path.
“D…Don’t touch him! I won’t show any mercy if you come any closer!”
Bertelgia growled ferociously like a cornered predator. However, she had no strength to back up her feelings.
Another stone came flying at Bertelgia.
Bertelgia was once again knocked into the ground, and a torrent of stones came flying at her.
“Ack! Ah!”
Even the mighty Hand of the Ascendent could not nullify all damage.
In the midst of the endless torrent of thrown stone, Bertelgia felt herself losing her consciousness.
Even in the midst of the dizzying stoning that was quickly robbing her of her consciousness, Bertelgia desperately looked towards Sungchul who couldn’t wake up.
‘W…Wake up! Wake up already!’
The stoning stopped.
Barely conscious, Bertelgia barely managed to stand herself back up.
A dark shadow was cast by someone standing over her.
It was a Barbarian. With an axe.
The glistening blade of the axe was pointed at Bertelgia.
“Ino!”
Bertelgia thought about death.
And for a moment, something akin to a painted image of a blonde girl looking back as she left home flash across her mind.
She wondered what that was about for a moment.
‘Is this… how it ends?’
Just when she thought this was the end of the road, Bertelgia noticed something.
A book floating above, encircled by a Magic formation.
‘T…that’s…’
It was unmistakable. Another Living Book, identical to himself.
Unit 49.
2 more chapters are out!
Thank you!
Brilliant, a book standing up against a barbarian horde.