Chapter 234
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Great Invasion (3) ༻
Last year, Korin had given the following request to the Hassin race.
[Do a close investigation of the key personnel of the Old Faith, gather evidence about their relations to other factions, the dirty things they did behind the curtains, and kidnap as many agents as possible on a specific time and date, and get them to confess their actions.]
It sounded like a tough mission but Rashid Ad Din Mustali and Sinnan Ib Salman Mustali were amazed by the list Korin provided.
All the priests he provided on the list regularly carried out suspicious actions. After kidnapping some of them while disguising it as an accidental death, locking them up and torturing them, the Hassin race figured out their plans, as well as what their individual tasks had been.
“It’s weird we’re saying this ourselves as a race living off the darkness but…”
“They’re absolutely crazy.”
Even Rashid, who detested the abductions, assassinations and tortures that their race did to survive, was baffled by the monstrous cruelty and madness of the Old Faith priests and gladly took up the torturing tools.
Help the god annihilate humans from this world – that was the truth of Advent of Paradise.
For the gifts of eternal life and authority promised to them in the new world, these people were willing to destroy the world they resided in.
However, this wasn’t enough – they needed more concrete proof… such as an edict with a seal of the pope.
The Hassin race made good use of their disguise and infiltration techniques to obtain this evidence, but even they couldn’t break through the security to reach the pope’s room.
All the information was shared with King David, Duke Dunareff, Garrand the Sword Emperor – the so-called Korin Lork’s father-in-law candidates, and they held a meeting joined by the two princesses and other crucial members of the plan.
It was Estelle who came up with a clear solution at the end of the long meeting.
“Why don’t we just break them down first and think afterwards?”
No-one bothered asking what they were going to do if they were wrong.
It was an undeniable truth that the Old Faith was in collaboration for the ‘Advent of Paradise’, which meant they could crush them down first and then look for the evidence.
They could settle the army’s doubt and skepticism with the evidence gathered thus far prior to the attack, and use the final evidence they will find later on to completely crush the Old Faith.
“What if… we can’t find the evidence?”
In response to Rashid’s question, Estelle replied with a smile so contorted that one wouldn’t be able to think of her as a Saintess.
“We can simply kill all the higher-ups of Xeruem.”
“Sorry?”
“Kill all of them and there’ll be no-one to complain, right? What are they going to do? They’d already be in the afterlife.”
It would be best if they could find the evidence, but even if they couldn’t, they could kill everyone that could potentially create a problem.
It was to be expected of the Saintess, who had done a similar thing already, and fully put the New Faith in her grasp after massacring the higher-ups.
“Not a bad plan.”
Her violent strategy was surprisingly met with a positive reception.
“Since this has to do with the fate of the world itself… Let’s think about the rest later on.”
“If need be, we can create the evidence ourselves.”
“Power is the most important thing in the end. The powerless can’t complain.”
Korin Lork’s father-in-law candidates were all as violent as the Saintess. Turning his blank eyes to the ceiling, Rashid hoped for the best.
‘Korin-sunbae… Whoever you choose, I hope you can survive.’
As a result of that…
“Kyaaaak!”
“Kuaaahk!”
“Defend! Stop them!”
The vanguard of the sacred expedition formed under the prophecy given by Saintess Estelle marched forward.
Their destination, however, was not the north. At the start, they were heading north but after leaving the vicinity of the capital, they suddenly changed directions and began charging westward.
“W, why…!”
Pope Alexander of the Xeruem Order was appalled by Zeon’s expedition army.
Nothing was working out for them. The Prophecy of Apocalypse they spread with great effort had gone to waste due to the Saintess adding a few lines.
So when the kingdom came together to create the laughable army called ‘Sacred Expedition’ and headed north, the Paradise supporters of the Old Faith were finally happy, thinking of this as a great opportunity.
When the army heads north, the city defense would be weakened, which they could take advantage of by creating rebellions to bring chaos to the kingdom.
By creating chaos and cutting off the supplies, the army was bound to collapse regardless of their size.
It would then become tremendously easy for the esteemed Danann of Light to wipe them all out.
Therefore, all they had to do was wait for the combined army of Zeon and the kingdom to leave the capital. Their plan was to revolt after waiting for the army to join the battle in the north.
‘W, why are those lunatics coming here!?’
Xeruem Order did not have the men to fight against the expedition, because they had already equally spread their men all across the kingdom to rebel at once.
In the first place, although they were a powerful religion, there was still a limit to how much army they could mobilize. Unlike Estelle who scraped together the soldiers from the kingdom by using her prophecy and status as a princess as an excuse, they had far less men.
“Kuaahk!”
Kwang!
The gates cracked in pieces as holy knights flew off, drenched in blood. A red dye, more crimson than the red carpet of the audience chamber, scattered all across the room.
“Ah~. Here you are~”
The Saintess, whose pink hair was now closer to red due to all the blood covering her body, dragged her mace and slowly walked inside. Pope Alexander pointed at her in fright.
“W, what do you think you are doing!?”
Despite standing in front of the pope from a rivaled religion, Estelle nonchalantly replied.
“It’s about time to combine the two religions.”
“S, such an atrocity! Do you think the believers will accept this?!”
“Probably? They will believe what we tell them. Besides… I’m the Saintess so who else will they believe?”
Her arrogance and insolence made the pope feel his blood boiling to his head. That was when men wearing turbans appeared next to the Saintess.
One of them was Rashid.
“S, sunbae-nim… Here.”
Albeit appalled at the sight of holy knights, whom he couldn’t defeat, being scattered on the floor soaked in blood, Rashid showed her the documents they gathered.
“Hmm~. We even have the evidence now.”
“T, that’s!”
“Maybe you forgot to be careful because of the battle. Let me tell you. Don’t put the very important things in the safe.”
Those were the documents Rashid and the Hassin race gathered by breaking through the pope’s safe in the heat of the battle between the Old and the New Faith.
Xeruem’s plans to rebel all over the continent; their plans to bring chaos and destroy the crucial facilities… All of them had the seal of the pope.
“I was going to dent your head in if there was no evidence but… Let’s quickly hold a religious trial and have you hung, okay? I’m a bit busy.”
“Ahhk!”
Estelle grabbed the pope by the hair. The 70-year-old old man couldn’t fight against her monstrous power and was dragged away.
The next day, the pope, 27 cardinals and dozens of bishops of the Xeruem Order were hanged at the plaza.
90 years had passed since the Witch Revolution.
For the first time in 90 years ever since the Zeon Order left the Xeruem Order, the two big religions had finally come back to one.
****
“Everyone. Dodge!!”
- Kwaang!
Several rocks scraped above the walls.
The soldiers standing on the walls were crushed to death.
“Uhk…!”
Josephine gritted her teeth looking at the rocks that she couldn’t block. After throwing gigantic rocks for the whole period of 3 days, the titans seemed to have changed their plans and were throwing rocks that were the size of their hands.
Although weaker than the enormous rocks, it became more difficult to block because of the sheer number of them.
“U, uaahh…”
“Damn it! Don’t falter! We have to push down the demons climbing the wall!”
The guards of the city were so frightened that they were about to run away. Even with the yells and roars of the higher-ups as well as Beyon, they showed no signs of recovering their spirit.
However, the northerners were different.
“Push through! Odinson…! The skjaldmaer are with us!”
“Everyone dies anyway! Die a valiant death!”
Die a valiant death in battle and the Valkyries will guide you to Valhalla.
That was a long faith of the northerners, and one of the reasons they did not fear for their lives in a war.
The demi-gods were with them. The skjaldmaer that lived over a thousand years were with them, so what reason was there to fear?
‘The moral is high but… those titans are a problem.’
After penetrating the ogre that breached the gates with his two spears, Korin thought while retrieving them.
The gates of the great wall were originally planned to be against the barbarians. With medium-large monsters like trolls and ogres marching in enormous numbers, the gates couldn’t last for long.
‘It’s not too hard yet thanks to the knights and mages but…’
At this rate, there would be more and more casualties on their side.
Korin headed to the troops that were hiding from the rocks behind the wall.
“Hua Ran. Alicia.”
The two of them were drenched in blood. Soaked in the blood of the demons, the two girls didn’t even get the time to take a decent rest.
“I know you’re working hard, but we got extra work. Get ready.”
“…Un.”
“Okay.”
Due to the heated battle, both the allies and the enemies were focused on the walls. Korin led the knights he pre-organized and walked under the guidance of Former Chief Guard Beyon.
“This way.”
He guided them to a door located on the outskirts of the wall. Opening the door, he walked down until they arrived at a dark underground tunnel.
“It’s a tunnel that was made in case the barbarians attacked in large numbers. It hasn’t been used for the past century but…”
The tunnel was both wide and tall. Normally, even cavalry was supposed to be able to pass the tunnel, but that looked a little bit rough now due to the lack of maintenance.
“But Sir Korin… Are you going yourself?”
“Even if I stay here, there’s nothing I can do apart from using my spear.”
Mages were a different story, but knights in defensive battles like these were nothing but slightly better elite units. The true value of knights was when they were against equally high-ranked enemies.
As such, Korin rallied a secret task force of knights. His goal was to leave the walls and wreak havoc in the enemy ranks.
It was the typical way of using knights.
“Hmm… A warrior voluntarily taking the lead. That’s a great character.”
“We like it.”
The knights weren’t the only ones in the squad – the Valkyries who had joined along with the barbarians were also in the mix.
“Sir Korin. Sir Korin~”
That was when a Valkyrie girl hopped her way across. The gray-haired shield maiden amicably held Korin’s hands.
“…”
“…”
Hua Ran and Alicia gave her a glance, but the shield maiden said with a bashful smile without even glancing their way.
“What is it, Miss Mist?”
“I wanted to know if I could get your permission for something.”
“What is it?”
“If you are about to die during a valiant battle… May I please cut your head off from behind?”
““……?!””
Everyone except for the Valkyries doubted their ears and looked at her in shock.
“No you cannot.”
“Uhh… Why?”
Of course you can't, you idiot… The knights swallowed their rebuttals but Korin wasn’t flustered. This wasn’t his first time after all.
“I do understand your wish to collect souls when they’re as pure as possible, but I’m the type of person who struggles till the end, you see.”
“…How unfortunate. I thought the hero who overcame Odin’s curse would be a remarkable commander of Einherjar.”
Mist sincerely looked like she was finding it to be a shame. Although everyone else seemed appalled by the idea, it was general knowledge for the Valkyries, that the best way to guide a great warrior to Valhalla was for the Valkyries to behead them right before death.
Even in the last iteration, Korin had to struggle a little because of the several Valkyries that wanted his head. He really was the type of person who was loved by some of the most dangerous beings.
“W, we’re here.”
While pledging to himself that he wouldn’t fight too zealously in front of those shield maidens, Beyon opened the exit door.
“Fuu…”
The group slowly returned aboveground and arrived at a small forest of leafless trees slightly distant from the great wall.
“Be careful not to be noticed by the demons.”
Outside the forest, there were countless monsters leaving their dirty footsteps behind the white canvas of snow. If they were caught here, they would immediately be encircled and have to fight until death.
“Korin.”
Hua Ran said after clenching on Korin’s sleeves.
“What’s wrong?”
“I feel something dangerous.”
- AWOOOOOOOOOO---!!
That was when a sharp and chilly howl echoed across the battlefield.
The knights and the Valkyries instinctively raised their weapons and readied themselves for battle.
“Wolves of Apocalypse…”
Thrud of Strength felt a drop of cold sweat traveling down her cheek. There was not a single Valkyrie present who didn’t know who was eaten by the mother of those wolves.
Although that very wolf had its mouth ripped to pieces and was no longer alive, its divine offspring had been sleeping in the north for a very long time.
“Calm down. We can’t even see it yet, so there’s nothing we can do.”
Korin said so to calm the group down. The knights and the Valkyries, however, couldn’t fully follow his example. They were surprised by the fact that Korin could stay so calm, but that was because they didn’t know how this warrior had once stood against the strongest existences with nothing but one spear.
“But it is quite strange. What woke up those lazy wolves?”
They were spiritual beasts. Unlike the Frost Giant who truly survived, they were remnants of mythology.
Beasts of Apocalypse.
The One who devours the Sun and the Moon, Skoll and Hati.
The One who devours the oceans of the Earth, Midgardsormr.
They weren’t demonic beasts with an actual body. If anything, they were similar to the demons of the Shadow World – they existed, but were like spirits without a true shape.
That was why they sought for a ‘host’.
The host of the Midgard Serpent, Miruam.
The hosts of Skoll and Hati, Ren and Ron.
However, Valtazar failed to secure them in this iteration and therefore I thought it would be impossible for the Beasts of Apocalypse to show themselves in this world.
‘And yet they’re here. Even the Frost Giant’s here. Why? How?’
There were too many weird things happening in this iteration. The titans that weren’t supposed to revive were brought back to life, and things like this were happening despite being prevented beforehand.
It didn’t feel right to simply call this a butterfly effect of his actions.
“For now, let’s settle with just scouting the area. We have to first deal with Skoll, the counter to the Sun so…”
That was when Korin’s instincts rang alarms in his mind. His sixth sense picked up danger coming his way through the wind.
What he took out was the beast-hunting Red Spear.
- Saaaaaaa!
It was an ominous breeze, making the area feel like a haunted forest. Something was speeding through the forest, and the thin branches of the forest couldn’t stop them.
“Korin…!”
There were only two that were able to react to that extraordinary speed – Korin and Hua Ran.
Hua Ran turned around and saw two yellow embers flickering in the dark.
- Kaaaahk!
Kung!
Something went by in a flash. It happened all too quickly, and the group needed roughly 2 seconds to process what was happening.
“Hua Ran!”
In just 2 seconds, there was something running off into the distance with the jiangshi sister in its mouth.
It was the One who devours the Moon, Hati.
Skoll’s twin wolf.