Chapter 178: The Breathing Wall
The pre-dawn was quieter than expected. The river's current seemed frozen, motionless, and even the wind had retreated somewhere out of sight. The earth did not breathe. Or rather, it seemed to be holding its breath.
Calix stood atop the hill.
Beneath his gaze, an endless plain stretched out before him. Just as Hadiya had said, the 'Wall of Memories' held the pale light of dawn within it.
From a distance it resembled a solid fortification, but to his eyes, its inner flesh was visible. It was something that existed at the boundary between soil, flesh, and stone. Neither its color nor its form was consistent. It was stained, as though it had swallowed decaying life and regurgitated its traces.
Though the sun had yet to rise, the interior surface of the wall faintly glimmered as it writhed with subtle movement.
It was unmistakably alive.
"It seemed to be moving. It may be my imagination, but……"
A scout spoke in a near-whisper. His voice trailed off uncertainly as he lowered his gaze. The comrade beside him shook his head.
"That can't be. It's nothing but a mound of dirt."
But even his own words seemed meant to convince himself, and they trembled faintly at the edges.
Then Marik drew close. His nostrils twitched subtly.
"It's certainly no ordinary soil."
"Sir?"
"The stench of rot is overwhelming."
His low voice scattered on the wind.
Calix raised his head and looked across the plain. From the earth that no sunlight could reach, every manner of foul odor seeped forth. A vile stench — the smell of blood, soil, and the lingering trace of aged gore mingled together. It was also the residue of memory and sin, of forgotten names.
Then Ella carefully pressed her palms together.
A faint light bloomed at her fingertips and was immediately snuffed out. Her divine energy had been rejected. Though she had anticipated it, the voice reciting the prayer wavered slightly.
"Kriya……"
The light responded to Ella's will but could not grow into full bloom. Rather, the air twisted ever so slightly, constricting the very space to breathe. The soil beneath their feet stirred faintly in turn. As though the land itself were repelling the prayer.
At the sight of it, the expressions of the vanguard soldiers hardened.
Calix gazed wordlessly into the air. The pre-dawn light was slowly spreading, and the wall was still growing. Things that had not existed just one night ago now blanketed the earth like a vast living creature.
Beneath it, the enemy's forces were packed in tightly.
"……It won't be easy to break through."
To make matters worse, the soldiers standing below the hill began to murmur.
"The ground…… It's moving!"
"Wait, did you hear that? It sounds like a human voice."
The Mountain Rabbits moved to suppress their unrest, but the earth was already trembling. Like a great organism turning itself over, the surface of the plain rolled slowly in waves.
From below, the sense of something writhing and straining to rise could be felt.
In that instant, Calix's instincts told him.
That this place would become the final destination of the war that had been waged in the North.
At that very moment, Mage Yelayen spoke the same thing aloud.
"The Legion Commanders each have their own nature. There are those like Kohtan, who fight to the very end, and then there are those like Midra, who cut off their own tail and flee. Once Verhas is defeated, the one that remains will recognize its own inadequacy and withdraw."
"That means……"
"Yes. The fate of the North hinges on this battle. In your hands, Calix."
Calix rested his hand on the hilt of his sword and turned to look back at the Mountain Rabbits behind him.
Royce was quietly anchoring him from behind, as always. Marik stood with eyes gently closed among the praying clerics.
Hadiya was watching the plain with intent focus, unwilling to miss a single detail, while the dwarf Basim spoke with Airien in a grave expression. Volga tossed out a remark — 'Now that's a king for you' — but when no one reacted, he quietly backed away with an awkward look.
The decisive battle was approaching.
And yet, though tension was present, anxiety and fear were nowhere to be seen. They had already come this far. They had started as a mercenary company and come to be called heroes.
'This time is no different.'
Keep pressing forward in silence, and a new path would open once more.
As the battle was imminent, no surviving refugees came to join them, and in their stead, additional reinforcements arrived from Niboria.
Accordingly—
"Distribute the rations. Fill the soldiers' bellies."
In place of fear, steam rising from cookpots filled the encampment.
There was nothing to hesitate over.
* * *
When the pre-dawn mist thinned, the plain revealed itself in full. The earth beyond the gorge appeared utterly dead. Yet no truly dead land could produce such fierce, rasping breath.
At the center of the plain, between the sky and the ground, a faint tremor arose.
First, the wind split apart. Cloaks billowed in one direction only, and the banners of soldiers standing on the opposite hill fluttered in the exact reverse direction. As though dividing the air according to some precise demarcation, an invisible line cleaved the earth in two.
Hadiya murmured low.
"The sky…… Has drawn a line."
Where his gaze pointed, a crack had been drawn through the center of the plain. Wind collided along that crack, clouds were split in two. Even time seemed to falter and hesitate.
The vast combined forces of the Alliance stood with that battlefield directly before them. The scouts' reports were unchanged.
"They…… Are not moving at all."
The fear of being attacked mid-march; they had divided the army and devised movement plans accounting for the terrain, but all of it was rendered meaningless.
A cold shiver ran down Calix's spine.
"……They've been waiting for us."
Verhas did not appear to be waiting for battle — it seemed to be demonstrating that the outcome had already been decided. It had transformed the battlefield into its own domain, beckoning to all who dared approach.
"Rotten filth. Dragged itself up from the underworld after all."
Basim spat his curse as though ready to bite through steel. His gaze fixed deep within the enemy lines, on the armored giant standing there.
Uam Bandipa, King of the Dwarves.
"He survived that torrent?"
The other dwarves, like Nuri Sarui, were visibly worn and weary, but Basim instead gripped the handle of his axe harder and snorted through his nose.
"Unfinished business has to be settled. Aye, that it does."
Royce was occupied commanding the army, so the matter of vengeance was his alone. Likewise, Marik and Volga both looked toward the same spot.
"Brawk."
"That blasted beast. Still alive after all."
While Marik quietly composed himself, Volga's reaction was far more heated. Zahira had nearly been killed, after all.
"……See you soon."
"Goes without saying!"
He had now made up his mind that he would do anything — anything at all — to protect her.
It was then.
The ground at the center of the plain vibrated ever so slightly. As dust rose, shadows of soil danced within it. At first it resembled mere traces made by the wind, but it quickly became clear that this was no ordinary change.
Soil and stone, rotting scraps of flesh — they began to writhe together, mimicking the shape of humans.
Arms took form, and legs were made. But the faces alone could not be completed and remained hollow. Shapes with empty eye-sockets and only gaping mouths scattered into the air and vanished. Thousands of memories had gathered, briefly mimicking a single life, before being torn apart.
The soldiers of the Alliance, already standing in formation, swallowed hard.
"That…… Is not a wall."
Calix spoke with certainty. What was reflected in his eyes was no longer a mere structure. It was like a living army.
A barrier built of blood and memory — it breathed, it gazed, and it answered.
Bang!!
A lightning-like flash blazed in the distance.
The cloud of dust split apart, and within it, a single enormous shadow was revealed. Its form was not visible, but its very presence alone silenced the entire area.
And then—
From deep within the wall, a low and drawn-out sound spread — a voice that was the mingling of countless voices.
[Welcome.]
The breathing of humans and other races ceased in an instant. It was no hallucination. Every soldier simultaneously heard the same words, each in their own language.
An evil being was calling to them.
* * *
The instant Verhas's voice shook the air, Calix immediately issued commands to his officers.
"Dress the formations. Infantry in phalanx at the front line, hunters deployed in the center. The clerics of the Order are attached to the rear."
His voice echoed and carried across the plain. With no high ground to speak of on the vast open terrain, even sound traveled far through the silence.
Royce signaled to the mid-level commanders. Speartips rose in unison, and the clash of steel armor rang out in succession.
"Cavalry, spread left and right! The rear is held by the mercenaries!"
Hadiya pointed toward the gorge and shouted.
"There is no retreat behind us! The gorge is sealed — to fall back is to be annihilated! Fight with everything you have!!"
No mention was made of what they were fighting for, or why. They were battle-hardened veterans who had survived enormous campaigns, and they were ready to charge headlong even into an enemy that defied all comprehension.
The soldiers' gazes then turned toward the center of the plain.
A moment of stillness.
And then the earth slowly exhaled.
Royce raised his arm and shouted.
"Infantry phalanx, advance!"
At the first order, the entire plain shuddered all at once. The clash of iron, the metallic ring of spears being leveled, the creaking of wheels — it all followed in turn. Strangely, however, all of those sounds grew quieter the closer they drew to the wall.
As though absorbed, they melted into the air itself.
"Cook Comrade, the sounds…… Are being swallowed up. It's truly uncanny!"
Gregor tilted his head in puzzlement. Even the vibration of hoofbeats had been reduced by half.
"It means we've drawn that much closer to his domain."
Mage Yelayen answered with a stiffened expression. Even by his reckoning, the flow of magical energy was far from smooth. 'Anomalous phenomena' were unfolding to a degree that even ordinary people — not just soldiers — could perceive.
The knights quietly bit their lips. A silence that had swallowed fear blanketed the plain. No dust rose beneath their feet. Even the sand seemed to bow its head, reluctant to make a sound.
But Vice-captain Marik acted in direct opposition to all of that.
"Men and women, warriors all! Lift your heads! Even when it seems all falls silent, the order of humankind endures everywhere! Are we not here!!"
That resolute cry spread like a chain.
The soldiers who had been holding their breath gripped their spear shafts again. As he had said, they had already reached the very heart of the battlefield. A place where you kill or are killed. If they had to choose between the two, there was no need to say which they would rather be.
The light in their eyes blazed fiercely.
At the same moment, movement stirred within Verhas's encampment in the distance.
But it was nothing like the march of humans. From beneath the ground, black hunks of flesh burst forth. Soil and stone and clots of blood tangled together and clawed their way upward.
"Not forming ranks…… They're merging?"
Volga muttered, his expression aghast.
The surface of the vast organism heaved.
Flesh spread across stone, and atop it, another form took shape and grew. Some were as hard as armor; others had hearts exposed and beating on the outside. Several devoured existing Corrupted and swelled to even greater size.
Calix stared at them steadily.
"They're trying to defend their domain……"
Beneath the line of the wall, shadows clad in the skin of mounds of flesh writhed and took shape, forming into a battle force.
On one side was the human army, moving with order. On the other were creatures born from darkness. The contrast between the two forces was clearer now than it had ever been.
Calix tightened his horse's reins and pressed forward. His voice carried out across the field, borne on magical energy.
"Accept the fear."
At those words, tens of thousands of gazes converged into one.
"This emotion is nothing more than proof that we are alive. It does not foretell the choices I will make — nor our tomorrow!"
Their commander rejected the notion that this was Verhas's domain.
"Fight, overcome, and seize it! And at the end of it all—"
His hand slowly pressed against the scabbard. The legendary sword Srna revealed itself, its blade flashing as though cutting through the morning mist.
"Protect what matters!"
Uwaaaaaaaa!!
Hadiya answered with a bright smile. Royce, even now, adjusted the spacing of the infantry units. Marik steadied his breathing and gazed at the markings on the back of his hand. Ella closed her eyes and offered a brief prayer. Basim simply tightened his grip on the axe handle. Volga…… Conveyed everything to Zahira with his eyes alone.
No words were spoken, but their resolve became one.
In that instant, a crimson fracture spread from within the wall. The mouths of tens of thousands of enemy soldiers fell open simultaneously. They bore identical smiles, as if locked into place.
A grin that was harrowing enough to split the air.
For a moment, the world held its breath. The wind stopped, and time itself seemed to freeze.
With the next step forward, the earth cried out and blades came down like driving rain. Blood and soil, firelight and battle cries mingled together and stained the plain.
Every living thing that had crossed the Rodir River was poured into this single moment.
It was the opening of a great battle that would be recorded in history.