Chapter 181: One and Many
Even after the third pulse faded, the earth still trembled faintly. The reverberations flowed through the ground and spread beneath the hooves of the horses. Soldiers could barely hear each other's breathing. Even the wind was shaking.
Hadiya lifted her head and gazed at the distant wall. Where the light had vanished, only red mist filled the emptiness.
The Wall of Memories—that colossal silhouette was breathing. Then its surface heaved, vibrating in great waves, as if blood were seeping through.
She raised the flagpole in her hand as high as she could. Through the dust, the Mountain Rabbits' banner sliced through the wind.
"Advance! Everyone advance toward the wall!"
In that instant, the human column surged forward.
Tens of thousands of footsteps struck the ground simultaneously, and the aftershocks of the pulse rang across the battlefield once more. As if they had been waiting for nothing but that command.
* * *
On the left flank of the battlefield, Royce stood at the vanguard.
The wind swept low across the plains with a moan. The dirt floor had already hardened with blood and metal dust. The soldiers' armor was heavy and damp with sweat and grime, yet not a single one slowed their pace.
The moment you stop moving, you die.
Then it happened.
A vibration that began at the wall spread through the earth below. A low, resonant metallic groan. Sand kicked up, and the ground split open. Red pillars erupted from the surface in its wake. The shape of enormous spikes formed from hardened lava—dozens of iron columns grew straight as bamboo.
"Halt—!!"
Faster than Royce's cry, the earth bulged upward.
The pillars intertwined and formed a rounded shape, and from its center, the sound of something living leaked out. From within, a massive shadow rose to its feet. A familiar silhouette.
Red metal armor. Eyes blazing like a furnace—it was Bandipa, the Dwarf King.
With every drag of his hammerhead across the ground, the earth groaned alongside it. The dust in the air trembled all at once, and a thickening darkness wandered between the gaps.
"Kraaagh!"
An instant later, the soldiers' armor crumpled inward. The joints of their plate buckled inward, piercing flesh and bone. The victims clutched their broken limbs and collapsed.
"You……"
Basim could not finish his words. His face held equal parts fear and shock.
"You were surely swept away by the Rodir River's fury……"
Bandipa slowly raised his head. Through the cracks in his helmet, fragments of his face were visible. His skin was like the scales of a fish, yet as hard as metal.
[Mountains do not die.]
A furious voice spread through the surroundings.
[Only the traitors who linger within them shall rot.]
He lifted his hammer and drove it into the ground.
In that instant, the earth wailed. Stone dust shot into the air, and the very skeleton of the ground shook as one. Royce raised his sword to brace against it, but the force split into two directions and cleaved the formation in half.
Soon, Basim sensed the change and looked down at his feet. Centered on the spot where the hammer had struck, the surrounding ground rippled like molten iron before hardening.
"The soil…… is turning to metal!!"
He shouted the moment he detected it, but it was already too late.
By the time the soldiers looked down, metal had already crept up their calves. It bound their legs, burrowed in like thorns, and hardened.
Royce and Basim immediately broke free of their bindings, but a second wave crashed in just as quickly. The dirt floor cracked, and boulders erupted from the ground at every point.
The Alliance Forces' tight formation collapsed in an instant. The front line had been isolated.
Basim barely steadied his footing and rose. The veins on his axe-gripping hand stood out sharply.
"……You're doing a poor imitation of the mountain's wrath."
Royce ground his teeth.
"Basim, this time we have to break through on our own strength. We can't bring down the wall unless we defeat that thing."
"Obviously."
The dwarf answered with a composed face, yet he unknowingly swallowed hard. The pressure radiating from Bandipa's body was no ordinary thing.
Far stronger than before.
At his gesture, boulders floated into the air. Large enough to carve statues from.
[What is your name.]
"……Damn bastard. How long are you going to keep asking something like that?"
No further exchange was necessary.
* * *
On the right flank of the battlefield.
Marik and Volga were leading the cavalry in a breakthrough charge through enemy lines when they both yanked their reins simultaneously. From a distance, an ominous smell rolled toward them.
The stench of rotted blood. It was as if they had stepped into a swamp filled with countless corpses. Sure enough, the horses also heaved ragged breaths.
"……Do you feel it?"
At Marik's murmur, Volga unconsciously raised his hand. He wiped his forehead, and sweat came off on the back of his hand.
The ground was boiling.
At first he thought it was the aftermath of battle. But soon, black mud began to bubble up in place of water. Foam formed on the surface, then burst with a pop.
The cavalry's hooves sank into the mire and faltered.
"We're losing speed! Dismount!"
"Reestablish battle formation!!"
Marik made a swift judgment and shifted to infantry combat. But at that moment, one side of the swamp rippled and a hole gaped open.
From within, a monster surged.
A beast-like shape burst through the mud and let out a roar. Blood-soaked mane, layers of twisted muscle, and violet blood trickling from one eye.
It was Brawk.
The monster's body had grown far larger than before. Wet fur spread like a proliferating growth over his armor, filling every gap between scales and metal without seam.
[There is no mountain here, nor any river!]
His howl pierced the eardrums.
Brawk planted his forelimbs and charged. When his violet eyes flashed, the fur across his entire body coiled and turned razor-sharp like needles. He gripped an axe in one hand, but the tendrils trailing behind him numbered in the hundreds.
"Shield wall!"
Marik stepped forward and slammed shields together. With a clash of metal, a defensive formation was assembled in an instant. But Brawk's tendrils pierced it with ease. Rather than forcing through the gaps, they punched holes through the metal itself and claimed human lives.
Startled, Volga quickly drew up his energy and rushed in. Flames shot straight and grazed the monster's flank. There was a scorching smell, but the energy-fed fire bent and deflected, unable even to graze the hide.
The reinforced armor and the rite-stone fragments embedded in the skin had deflected Falling Fire.
[Now it's your turn to be toyed with!]
Brawk howled again. At the battle cry laden with killing intent, the soldiers felt their sternums pressing inward. Their teeth chattered.
Kwoaaaah!
The swamp gaped open wider.
2 riders at the front sank into it along with their horses. Their comrades reached out and grabbed for them, but the suction of the mud was stronger than any human grip. Their waists submerged, then their necks, and soon their faces were swallowed into the pit and vanished.
Marik sensed that the formation was about to collapse and drove straight forward, driving his shield in. The moment the impact landed, the pattern on the back of his hand faintly glowed. A burning pain spread outward. His divine power was being repelled.
Reverse flow.
He barely maintained his stance and swallowed the pain without a sound.
"Half a step back—just half a step!"
But before that, Brawk shook himself. Black energy surged from his shoulders and up along his spine. A single shake swelled every puddle in the vicinity simultaneously. As if breathing into multiple chambers with a single heart…… and bursting them.
Puh—KWAAAAANG!!
After a tremendous explosion, soldiers were launched into the air. Those standing at the center vanished, leaving behind only arms and legs, while those nearby crawled across the ground, blood streaming from their eyes and ears.
For a moment, the entire right-flank front line fell into silence.
‘Could they advance any further toward the wall?’
Just as that deep doubt circled through every mind, Marik drew a long breath. He raised his shield with trembling hands and forced the fear within down with a hard swallow.
"Warriors, hold together!"
At least he had not given up.
* * *
Though Royce and Marik faced their crises, the most savage battle was being fought elsewhere.
Near the wall—the central front.
Calix had pushed closer to the Wall of Memories than anyone. He had carved a path by his own strength, backed by Master Sevi Belgrado and his knights, with the mage Yelayen joining naturally alongside them.
"……Calix."
Ella's voice trembled.
White radiance burst from both her hands, and the wall casually pushed it aside. They were in a space where the name of god could not reach.
"This is a warped space."
Yelayen said quietly.
"A place straddling the boundary of the world. It stands to reason that light cannot reach a place that has slipped beyond all order."
At that instant, the surface of the wall rippled like a tide. Then, from within the wall, countless shapes began to crawl out. A man wearing a crown, knights clad in armor, the faces of heroes who had died long ago.
They emerged, expressionless, staggering forward.
Just as Ella began to recite a prayer again, Adrian quickly raised his hand to stop her. But he could not hold back every cleric in time, and beams of light shot into the air. Divine power poured toward the enemies—then deflected back and washed over the allied formation.
Screams erupted.
Sacred power harmed the living. It scorched skin and blinded eyes. In an instant, dozens were taken out of fighting strength.
"This can't be…… Why……"
Ella stared blankly at her own hands and muttered. Her prayer had reached—but god's answer had not manifested in the form she had hoped for.
Then, the surface of the wall split open again.
1 became 4, then swelled to dozens, then rapidly to thousands. These wore a unified appearance unlike anything before. Black cloaks, hair gone white, and burning eyes. At a glance they seemed human, yet their flickering, flame-like eyes told those watching they were not the living.
Above all, those eyes held will.
"……Verhas."
No—to be precise, they were replicas made in his likeness. Others might not know, but Calix saw through it in an instant. The threads of energy extending from behind the replicas were connected to the wall.
Yet they could not be taken lightly.
A replica smiled faintly.
[Who calls this form.]
The laughter spread simultaneously. Thousands of Verhases showed their contempt. Each individual among them was the same as the whole.
Yelayen spoke with a heavy expression.
"Do not underestimate the enemy. They were not divided and poured into multiples. The 'entire memory' was stamped into them."
In that instant, the Verhas replicas simultaneously drew their swords and charged. Their movements were without a single deviation. When the Alliance knights charged to meet them, blades crossed in an instant and the air burst apart.
Calix was the first to clash with an enemy.
The core of his heart drew out vast amounts of energy. Chaos energy streamed in lines from the tip of his blade. He swung his sword, and 3 figures were swept up in it and vanished. But immediately after, other entities filled the gap and came crashing in.
An assault that disregarded defense entirely.
‘The swordsmanship…… Is different?’
Calix pushed Geomhwa to its limit and deflected the blades raining down on him. They were clearly made by Verhas, yet each attacked the high and low lines simultaneously using different swordsmanship.
It grew clearer with every exchange.
The replicas possessed all of it—Niboria's aggression and Latia's flexibility, Kalahim's cleaving specialization and the Elvra Holy Empire's stable swordplay.
Again, dozens of combatants charged in the most effective manner possible. Battle instinct replicated through memory, alive and moving.
Crack!
Calix held an overwhelming advantage in energy, but ‘completeness’ was the problem. The enemies accurately identified what to yield to him and what to thrust against in opposition.
Verhas's mistakes were filled by producing more replicas.
Whereas Calix's own mistakes—
Fsh!
A blade grazed his shoulder. Thanks to his armor resisting the dark energy, only a thin bead of blood formed. Calix attempted to step back, but 2 replicas drove their bodies forward first.
The timing to pull away had been consumed.
The enemies' sword tips converged with a single will and aimed at Calix. Then, with a sharp sound of parting air, a clash of metal rang out.
In that instant, Calix's vision twisted red.