Ending Maker - Chapter 116
EPISODE 116 – TWIST (3)
Jude’s strategy was simple.
The eastern forces would become an anvil, and Cordelia and Jude himself would become the hammer.
While the eastern forces would lead the confrontation in the pitched battle that would begin on Snow Breeze Plain, Cordelia and Jude himself would go and destroy the rear, making them unable to maintain the front line.
The hammer had succeeded at the present moment.
After the two crossed the Sky Roof mountain range, their meeting with Melissa allowed them to use the underground tunnels left behind by Magellan’s high elves.
They had the full advantage in striking the rear of the west because of the deserted mountain.
But this alone was not enough.
The success of the hammer alone did not complete the strategy.
‘If the anvil can’t hold out.’
If the anvil was crushed by the enemy’s offensive.
If his strategy was destroyed as a result of his enemy’s tactics.
That was usually impossible.
But Haraken could make it possible because he had a few aces up his sleeve.
***
“Ararara-rai! Arara-rai!”
Seven Horns, who was reborn as Belial’s puppet, roared as his red eyes flashed.
Tens of thousands of warriors joined in the cry that shook heaven and earth, and their vigor alone was enough to crush their enemies.
And Red Gale didn’t just watch it.
Knowing the importance of fighting spirit, he raised his hand, and the chieftain of the Blade Song tribe, Nine Blades, roared on behalf of Red Gale.
“Kurara! Kurara!”
The eastern forces also shouted together. Horns were blown everywhere, and the wild gods with the eastern forces let out angry roars. They tried to cover the Snow Breeze Plain with divine power.
“Aaaaah!”
“Aaaaah!”
But it wasn’t easy. Something countered their divine power.
The western wild gods, who became hellish monsters as a result of corruption, also howled as their colossal evil thoughts offset the divine power.
The eastern forces numbered around 30,000.
The western forces numbered around 28,000 after losing some of their troops during their unification of the west.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drums boomed.
Wearing a helmet decorated with the horns of a stag, Seven Horns rode on a hellish monster that resembled a rhinoceros and moved forward, and the corrupted tribal chieftains lined up beside him.
They formed a wedge formation like they usually did and prepared to charge like turbulent waves.
Red Gale had expected it, so he raised his hand again.
Flags fluttered everywhere as the eastern forces went into formation to counter their attack.
“Kuraha! Kuraha!”
The eastern forces struck the ground with the end of their spears.
The western forces roared again as they raised their weapons.
Haraken watched the scene from behind.
His henchman, Sharp Horn, took a deep breath to calm his frightened mind.
The mid-ranking demonic humans all over the place waited for the start of the battle.
And at some point.
When Haraken exhaled, and the moment Jude realized the truth from afar…
“CHAAAARGE!”
Seven Horns loudly shouted and declared. The warriors of the Angry Bull tribe charged forward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Tens of thousands of people charged at once, causing the ground to shake.
Red Wind swallowed her saliva at the tremendous force that filled her eyes, and the nearby Sun Song took a deep breath.
Nine Blades drew his sword. He turned to Red Gale, who remained silent but was looking straight ahead as he counted down numbers.
It was the know-how in hunting.
Not too soon, and not too late.
Sweat trickled down the forehead of Red Gale. It was the first time for a seasoned and bold warrior like him to fight against such a large army.
One breath.
The Angry Bull tribe crossed the Snow Breeze Plain.
The roars of the wild gods and monsters reverberated in the sky.
“Now!”
Red Gale shouted. Nine Blades swung his sword, and the hand flags fluttered.
The crouching and waiting Blade Song sprang up and shouted, and Great Storm spread his cries throughout the battlefield with his wind.
Violent Avalanche stood up. Gentle Snow Breeze sang.
“Garaaaaaa!”
The eastern forces charged.
Likewise, it shook the ground.
The front lines of both sides.
Those who were at the forefront.
They were immersed in extreme excitement.
Drunk in the madness of the battlefield, they finally met each other’s breath.
Baaaaaaaang!
The waves met.
And broke each other.
Those at the forefront were crushed and slaughtered, whether they were from the eastern or western forces.
In an instant, dozens to hundreds of people lost their lives.
It was a little different from what Red Gale anticipated.
The western forces’ vigor and violence beyond one’s imagination had led to that result.
But Red Gale did not lose his composure.
It was only a few hundreds out of tens of thousands.
Battles on the first day were bound to cause heavy damage anyway.
They had to stop them in Snow Breeze Plain in order to prevent the horrors of war from reaching the east, so they were prepared to have losses on their side too.
‘Our guardian deities are with us.’
Those who dwell in the wild lands call those guardian deities as wild gods.
Red Gale’s belief wasn’t wrong.
The song of Gentle Snow Breeze healed the warriors.
Great Storm boosted the warriors’ energy, and Violent Avalanche’s cheering wasn’t very helpful, but it was better than nothing.
And Blade Song.
He did not hide his temperament. He turned into a huge black wolf and headed to the battlefield himself as he showed off the power of a wild god.
“Be ripped to death!”
He didn’t stop at trampling and biting them off. Blade Song used his divine powers to summon dozens of invisible blades around him to rip apart the western forces.
“Blade Song! Blade Song!”
It wasn’t just the Blade Song tribe. The eastern forces loudly cheered, and Blade Song felt better as he went around the battlefield.
Red Wind also fought hard. Instead of going to the front line, she used the Phoenix in a place somewhat behind it, and her gaze was drawn to the back of Sun Song who fought at the forefront.
Great Storm headed up to sky after reverting his true form of a giant bird.
From there, he monitored the entire battlefield and conveyed what he saw to Red Gale.
Although the battle between the eastern and western forces were violent enough that those in the front lines were crushed, it had now entered a lull.
Instead of people dying one after another, they were just pushing each other away.
It wasn’t bad.
The western forces did not make any tactical maneuvers. There was no mobile unit in the back, nor was there anything unusual in the reserve.
It was just a thoughtless charge.
‘Perhaps we can do it.’
Would we be able to destroy the western forces altogether instead of just holding our ground?
Both ends of the eastern forces stealthily headed toward the front.
They intended to besiege the western forces who was thoughtlessly attempting to break through the front.
If they succeeded in their besiegement…
Great Storm thought that they would be greatly victorious.
The song of Gentle Snow Breeze reminded him of a victory song.
And Haraken looked up at the sky.
Haraken saw Great Storm, the beautiful white bird looking down from above, before he moved his hand.
“Do it.”
The ritual.
What they had been preparing for.
Sharp Horn lifted the flag.
The demonic humans scattered all over the battlefield began to move, and the corrupted wild gods who remained seated rather than step forward since the battle began, finally stood up.
Haraken looked up at the sky again.
He no longer hid his demonic human form’s compound eyes.
***
Cordelia knew Jude well.
She could tell what he was thinking just by looking into his eyes.
So she lowered her posture. She sat in front of the altar and made eye contact with Jude, who had a stupefied look on his face.
“Jude.”
She called him again. Jude came to his senses and stared at Cordelia, who looked at him again instead of talking.
Jude took a deep breath.
He calmed down after doing that several times.
He returned to the Jude that Cordelia knew well.
“What kind of ritual is it?”
It was not a ritual to summon the great demon Kriemler.
Cordelia could understand that much.
Jude opened his mouth.
He told her what he found out.
And soon after, Cordelia’s intuition felt it.
Her instincts told her.
The eastern forces would be defeated.
They wouldn’t be able to beat the western forces.
And as always, her intuition wasn’t wrong.
***
Haraken easily captured the wild lands in the original scenario.
Almost all of the wild gods in the west and east were corrupted and went under his command, and Red Gale and the other rebellious chieftains were purged, so the barbarians were united into a single army.
Therefore, the headquarters of the Devil’s Eye in the Argon Empire did not interfere with Haraken’s movements.
Rather, they did not spare their support for him.
Thus, Haraken did not summon the great demon Kriemler in the wild lands.
He unified the barbarians, who together with the corrupted wild gods, destroyed the northern border area of the Sälen Kingdom before Kriemler was summoned.
He didn’t need to do it before.
It wasn’t until the two swordsmen, Count Bayer and Count Hræsvelgr, defeated the barbarian chieftains as well as the corrupted wild gods, did he have enough losses.
But everything had changed.
Jude and Cordelia made it that way.
Haraken was cornered and made a choice that he did not make in the original.
“O Belial.”
Haraken creepily smiled.
The west was virtually devastated.
All were sacrificed except for the great warriors on the battlefield and the minimum number of personnel for rear support.
A river of blood flowed at the ritual conducted by the great warriors.
‘No one will be spared.’
The wild gods.
All the firewood would be burned.
In front of Haraken.
In a place located a little behind the battle between the western and eastern forces.
At a point where both ends of the eastern forces were slowly approaching.
The corrupted wild gods gathered there.
The demonic humans gathered together.
Haraken commanded them.
The will of Belial dominated the demonic humans, and they struck the throats of the sacrifices they brought. The ground became wet with blood as they stabbed themselves in the neck one after another.
Blood.
The currency of the soul.
The blood covered the ground.
A circle was drawn.
And the corrupted wild gods stood around the circle as they offered themselves to the magic circle.
The wild gods were close to twenty.
Tens of thousands of human offerings.
And what was made from it.
“Aah…aaah…”
Haraken was filled with joy.
The blood in the magic circle seemed to be wriggling, and the circle was completed by itself. Intricate patterns were engraved on the ground, and Great Storm who saw all that from the sky widely opened his eyes.
It must be stopped.
They had to somehow stop it.
But how would they do it?
Blade Song who had ran amok on the battlefield raised his head.
He perceived the power concentrated in the magic circle of blood. He saw the evil energy that began to swirl above the magic circle.
Gentle Snow Breeze realized it.
Violent Avalanche collapsed and swallowed his scream.
“Open.”
Haraken said. He burst out laughing from the depth of his lungs.
Boooooooooom!
The space cracked. Then opened. And from within, it soared. A huge gate.
A huge crack that connected this world to another world!
“Hell Gate.”
Jude said.
Cordelia looked south.
Haraken laughed, and the Hell Gate opened.
Numerous monsters appeared.
***
The Hell Gate was tens of meters in height.
No, its size didn’t matter. At that moment, everyone on the battlefield felt it.
So they all turned.
For a moment, the entire battlefield stopped.
The eastern forces raised their heads.
The western forces looked back.
A small monster walked out of the huge gate.
In fact, it was a 3-meter giant, but the gate was so huge.
And then it continued.
The demonic monsters continued to walk out.
Dozens, and hundreds.
Then the time that had stopped began to flow again.
A new fight had begun.
***
“Run away!”
Nine Blades desperately cried.
The battle line had already collapsed for a long time.
The monsters poured out from the Hell Gate and broke through the front.
The western forces, who were fighting against the eastern forces, were split and torn along the eastern forces.
It was pandemonium.
The demons did not distinguish between the eastern and western forces. All the humans in front of them were torn and crushed to death.
The evil energy of the Hell Gate overwhelmed the divine power of the wild gods.
“We can’t win.”
Great Storm said. It wasn’t because he was terrified.
It was a level-headed judgment.
“We have to escape.”
It was important to escape from here.
If they fought here, the entire eastern forces would be destroyed.
Blade Song understood that. So he didn’t show his back to it. Rather, he stepped forward and shouted.
“Warriors of the Blade Song!”
At the command of the wild god, the warriors of the Blade Song tribe turned their heads.
Nine Blades looked at his guardian deity, and Blade Song bitterly smiled. He declared to his warriors.
“It’s today.”
This is the place.
Where we will die.
The place to sing our last song.
Nine Blades understood it.
And he smiled.
Because he was a warrior of the Blade Song.
Because he stood on the battlefield while singing death.
Moreover, it was a fight to protect.
It was a beautiful and worthy fight.
A good song was about to be made.
“Blade Song.”
Great Storm spoke, and Blade Song just smiled.
He didn’t say any weak-sounding words to his long-time rival, but he still had to leave a word.
“Please take care of the children who were left behind.”
The children who did not stand on the battlefield.
The children who would continue the song of Blade Song.
“Brother!”
Gentle Snow Breeze shouted, but Blade Song did not look back. He fiercely smiled and charged.
“Go! My warriors!”
The warriors of the Blade Song turned around. They charged together with their guardian deity.
They became a living wall to buy time for the eastern forces to retreat.
“Father!”
Sun Song shouted, and Nine Blades saw Sun Song. He smiled and said goodbye.
“Go.”
Lead the children who were left behind.
Blade Song wants it too.
That was it. Nine Blades no longer looked back. He charged together with the warriors of the Blade Song tribe.
He bought time with his blood and life.
“Retreat!”
Red Gale loudly shouted.
Gentle Snow Breeze cried tears of blood and sang. She raised the energy of the warriors of the Blade Song and added strength to the feet of the fleeing eastern forces.
Red Wind cried and grabbed the arm of the roaring Sun Song.
The eastern forces retreated.
The Blade Song tribe became a wall.
The western forces broke down the wall, and demons poured out from the Hell Gate.
“Golden Dragon King.”
Blade Song’s entire body was covered with blood as he confronted the monsters from hell and thought of the king of the wild gods.
He remembered the cheeky children who had the dragon’s emblem.
Why though?
At the last moment, the faces of the two came to his mind.
“Farewell.”
Blade Song flew towards the monsters.
He sang his last song.
***
The eastern forces collapsed.
The Snow Breeze Plain was stained with blood, and the western forces was also virtually destroyed by the Hell Gate and the demons that poured out of it.
About half of the western forces’ common soldiers were corrupted and became low-level monsters that could no longer be called humans, and the other half were sacrificed to maintain the Hell Gate.
Haraken won one battle, as he declared.
He had to sacrifice too many things to do that, but he didn’t care.
It was already spilled water.
Moreover, his purpose was to cause chaos in the wild lands and in the northern part of the Sälen Kingdom.
The method was different, but what was more important was the result.
Inside the Hell Gate.
A demon with an immense power was approaching.
If he could come down to this world.
If that happened before Haraken’s life ended, before he could no longer maintain the Hell Gate.
“O Belial.”
I will dedicate the wild lands to you.
At the time when Haraken prayed as if worshipping a god.
Violent Avalanche fell alone while running away, and then raised his head.
He saw a man with a red cloak standing in front of him.
It was a man he had never seen before, but the man somewhat reminded him of Cordelia even though they did not look alike at all.
The man saved Violent Avalanche who was being chased by the monsters. The man looked away and saw the Hell Gate that rose far away.
Having deeply studied the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom, he knew about the Hell Gate.
“Cordelia.”
The man spoke in a low voice, and Count Chase turned to Violent Avalanche.
And at the same time.
At the edge of the east.
A place called the sacred place.
Blue Whiskers shriveled at the terrifying aura he felt in the west and raised his head as he looked at his back.
He hastily flew into the temple. And he faced that person.
The white wings of the angel spread out.
The angel who washed away the aura of hell opened her eyes.
Lena Ainsburg.
One of the five heroes who ended the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom.
She woke up.
And looked west.