Episode 536
Alicia looked at Zeke standing before her and spoke.
“Zeke Draker, friend of Himonas! I’ll get rid of those useless fools for you.”
Her words were accompanied by a bright smile, but the content was anything but friendly.
Zeke responded to Alicia in the northern continent’s language.
“Grand Duke, it may not be ideal, but their strength is crucial for now.”
Alicia frowned, clearly displeased, and lowered her heavy sword.
She then turned to the assembly and raised her voice.
“Hey, you idiots from the central continent, listen up!”
Thud!
As she set her massive sword down, the floor of the hall trembled.
Alicia’s voice boomed through the room.
“Stop spewing nonsense from the shadows! If you want to die, go ahead and do it yourselves! Evidence? Who needs it when monsters are pouring from the sky? It’s astonishing you can still talk such nonsense!”
She gestured to the images floating in the air and then glared at the chief wizard of Delpoa.
“I’ve made a special note of your face. Don’t come begging for your life when the monsters swarm.”
With a menacing aura, Alicia took her seat with the knights of Himonas, her words hanging in the air.
Her fierce gaze made the nobles of the central continent shift uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.
Thanks to Alicia, the atmosphere in the hall shifted.
“Whether the Demon King descends or not isn’t the issue. The monster wave itself is the real problem.”
“If we don’t form an alliance and establish a defense line, things could get worse.”
Ultimately, they decided that forming an alliance was more beneficial than opposing Draker.
In truth, the decision of Nirvana and Ishtar to participate had swayed their hearts.
“With all the transcendent families of the continent gathered, something significant is bound to happen.”
“Even if Draker has some scheme, Ishtar and Nirvana will keep him in check.”
Those who had been skeptical of Draker eventually agreed to join the alliance.
With the situation settled, Kali drafted a charter and recorded the participants.
Even Delpoa, who had been the most opposed, decided they couldn’t back out and expressed their intention to join.
Thus, for the first time in twenty-five years since the Murkan Empire’s invasion, a continental alliance was formed again.
This time, it was the largest alliance ever, with major kingdoms and families, including the three transcendent families, participating.
The news spread, claiming it was even larger than the alliance formed a thousand years ago to fight the evil dragon Bahamut.
A few days after the continental assembly concluded, urgent news arrived.
A legion of demons, monsters, and undead was advancing north.
“Huff, huff…”
Daria Calvi, a knight of the Centaur Palace, caught her breath as she lowered her longbow.
No matter how many arrows she shot, the enemies showed no sign of diminishing.
In fact, they only seemed to increase as time went on.
The dead soldiers, reanimated by dark magic, rose as undead and returned as foes.
The imperial legion of Rom, fighting fiercely, began to lose morale at the sight.
Then, a shout came from behind.
“Everyone! Stay sharp!”
Prince Leo was at the front lines, personally leading the charge.
At that moment, liches appeared in the sky.
In groups, they launched magical bombardments at the fortress walls.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Knights and soldiers caught in the liches’ magic screamed and fell.
The wounded gasped for breath, dying where they lay.
Seeing this, Leo, filled with rage, leaped into the air with his sword.
“Haaah!”
Lightning crackled from Leo’s body as he swung his sword at the liches.
Swoosh—
One of the liches was struck by Leo’s attack and disintegrated into ash.
But such attacks were futile against liches.
As long as their life vessels remained intact, they could always recharge their magic and resurrect.
Landing back on the fortress wall, Leo panted heavily, exhausted.
“Huff! Huff!”
Then, from afar, the sound of a horn echoed.
Bwooo!
In response, the advancing legion of death began to retreat.
The sky was brightening, signaling the approach of dawn.
The legion of death was powerless in daylight, so they typically advanced at night.
But that didn’t mean they could rest during the day.
During the day, the mercenary group hired by Jupiter attacked with loud drums and gongs, keeping everyone on edge.
After more than a week of this, the knights and soldiers defending the fortress were utterly exhausted, having barely slept.
Prince Leo was also suffering from extreme fatigue.
He clenched his teeth as he looked beyond the fortress walls.
“If this place falls, they’ll march straight to Rom.”
Thermo Fortress, the final gateway to the capital Rom, had to be defended at all costs.
At that moment, Daria approached Leo.
“Commander.”
Leo, currently holding the rank of commander, was in charge of Thermo Fortress.
She spoke in a voice heavy with fatigue.
“At this rate, we won’t last through the day.”
For Daria, a loyal knight, to say such a thing meant the situation was truly dire.
Prince Leo bit his lip at her words.
The legion of death was relentless.
Facing the undead with their current forces was impossible from the start.
Daria continued calmly.
“We still have time before the enemy returns. You should escape while you can, Commander.”
Prince Leo was destined to become the emperor of the empire.
Though he had insisted on being at the front lines, he was the one who needed the most protection.
Leo shook his head at Daria’s suggestion.
“No, I will continue to lead from here.”
“Commander… if you stay, only death awaits.”
Despite her words, Leo remained silent.
Daria realized then.
‘The prince has already accepted his fate.’
Leo had already arranged for Karus to take over the Rom Empire if he fell in battle.
After the mad emperor’s death, Leo had worked with Karus to manage Rom’s affairs and realized one thing.
‘Karus is more suited to be emperor than I am.’
While he could be an excellent knight or general, he wasn’t fit to be an emperor.
Karus, on the other hand, had a surprising knack for governance, handling difficult situations with wisdom.
Seeing this, Leo volunteered to lead the troops when he heard the legion of death was advancing on Thermo Fortress.
While boosting the soldiers’ morale was one reason, he also wanted to do what he was best at.
With Karus protecting the rear, Leo wanted to give his all on the battlefield, as he had always desired.
Understanding Leo’s resolve, Daria knelt on one knee before him.
“Legion Commander Daria Calvi. I will share your fate, Commander.”
In that moment, she too accepted her fate.
No matter what, they had to hold this gateway and buy time for Rom to devise a countermeasure.
Then, from outside the fortress, a massive drumbeat sounded.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sound that had been heard every dawn for days.
When the legion of death retreated, the mercenary group would appear with loud drums.
Each time the sound echoed, the soldiers on the walls despaired.
They couldn’t rest and had to prepare for battle again.
Leo slowly rose to his feet.
“Commander Daria, move the wounded to the rear and divide the able-bodied into three groups to rotate defense. Ensure each group gets at least an hour of rest.”
“Understood, Commander.”
Despite his orders, Prince Leo himself hadn’t slept in days.
But he had no time to spare.
With the loud drumbeats, the mercenary group brought a massive siege weapon.
Whoosh!
A catapult launched a black iron mass at the fortress walls.
Leo leaped into the air, striking the iron mass with his sword.
“Haaah!”
His sword strike collided with the iron mass, causing an explosion.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
It wasn’t an ordinary projectile but a bomb filled with gunpowder.
“Ugh!”
Caught in the explosion, Leo spun in the air and landed back on the wall.
Barely steadying himself, Leo witnessed an unbelievable sight.
‘Is that…?’
A massive horde of monsters was advancing.
Behind the mercenary group, monsters marched in formation toward Thermo Fortress.
Despair filled Leo’s eyes.
The mercenary group alone was overwhelming, but with the monster horde, they stood no chance.
The expressions of the other knights and soldiers mirrored his.
Despair and hopelessness.
They could only foresee their deaths here.
“Ugh! Aaaah!”
Driven mad by extreme fatigue and fear, some soldiers screamed and threw themselves off the wall.
Thud!
The soldier’s body lay crumpled on the ground, shattered and lifeless after colliding with the stones beneath the fortress wall.
This marked the beginning of a grim procession as soldiers began to climb the wall, one by one.
Then, like puppets with their strings cut, they started to plummet from the heights.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The chilling sound of soldiers falling to their deaths echoed relentlessly.
Witnessing this, Daria shouted, “Everyone, retreat from the wall! Knights, reorganize the ranks to prevent more from falling!”
Her voice scattered into the chaos, seemingly in vain.
Among those scaling the wall were not only soldiers but knights as well.
They, too, had lost all hope of survival and chose to embrace death.
Thud!
In an instant, hundreds of knights and soldiers cast themselves into oblivion.
Leo saw a vision of countless spirits clawing at his feet, trying to drag him down.
“You killed us.”
“You led us all to our deaths.”
Amidst the ghastly whispers, Leo clenched his teeth.
“Fine, I’ll join you in hell. But not yet.”
Determined to take down as many enemies as possible before his end, Leo forced his weary body to move.
He pulled out a potion he had saved and drank it in one gulp, then drew his sword.
With a resonant hum, he summoned every ounce of strength left in him to unleash an aura blade.
He hoped to rally the soldiers’ spirits, even just a little.
“Haaargh!”
He roared at the approaching horde of monsters, then leaped into the air, striking at them with all his might.
A desperate, all-out attack.
And then it happened.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted where Leo’s strike landed.
The monsters at the forefront were obliterated, vanishing without a trace.
Leo was more shocked by the unexpected power of his own attack.
“What…?”
At that moment, something flew through the air.
Whoosh!
A mysterious figure clad in black armor soared above, hurling a blunt-tipped spear at the monsters.
Boom!
Another explosion rocked the battlefield, disrupting the advancing monster army.
Daria shouted to the astonished Leo, “Commander! Reinforcements, reinforcements have arrived!”
Leo was taken aback by her words.
“Reinforcements? Could it be from Karus?”
But the unfamiliar armor and weapons made him doubt they were sent by Karus.
Amidst the confusion, one of the airborne figures descended towards Prince Leo.
Thud!
The figure, clad in heavy armor, approached him slowly.
Removing their helmet, their identity was revealed—a warrior of the avian race, adorned with black feathers.
The leader of the avian warriors and the commander of the Western Alliance.
The Song of the Crouching Flame had arrived at Thermo Fortress.