Chapter 178: Volume 8 - CH 12

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

「Uiru Defensive Battle」Part 3

At the head of the Calvary, prince Sect noticed the old man’s figure immediately, his appearance on the undead-ridden battlefield sparking a strong sense of incongruity within him.

While the man wore the clothes of a clergyman, his sizeable muscular figure wouldn’t loose when compared to elder Fargas’. Deep wrinkles rest underneath his eyes and his beard was a deep shade of grey.

The most eye-catching feature about the man, however, was the sword-like mass of iron,  larger than himself, that he carried.

The old man seemed calm and relaxed at first glance and unfathomable rage could be seen reflected in his eyes. A cold sweat trailed down the prince’s neck as he stared into those eyes.

『Well…… Well done! While being lower creatures, they’d been the precious subordinates entrusted to me…… You deserve to die!!』

Despite the stamping of the cavalry’s hooves, the old man’s voice echoed throughout the area, the sound of his voice reverberating through prince Sect’s body.

The moment the old man’s voice died down, his muscles began to swell, and his clothes flew off his body in tatters…… misshapen faces appeared all over the man’s body and another set of glowing red eyes appeared on his head.

At the same time, the giant sword on his back gradually began to rise, and prince Sect instinctively ordered his troops to part before they collided with the old man.

However, the bizarre old man leaped forward and swung his massive sword at prince Sect.

A chill traveled down prince Sect’s back, who’d been a caught off guard because he’d been giving out instructions, before he released the stirrups and jumped off his horse.

“Kyaw!? Gyhaa!!”

The air escaped the prince’s lungs as he landed hard and rolled away from his galloping horse.

While a dull pain wracked his entire body, the prince managed to drag himself to his feet just in time to see the mysterious old man bisect his horse with a single slash.

If he’d been a second slower, he would have shared the horse’s fate.

However, the old man ignored the parted waves of cavalrymen and turned his attention towards Sect. The prince realized that he hadn’t escaped the danger yet.

“Of course…… my swordsmanship isn’t the best it could be.”

Prince Sect begrudgingly wiped the blood off his lips after his self-deprecating remark and tried to draw his decorative sword from its sheath.

Unfortunately, while he only received a mild shock from his fall and could still walk, a sharp pain racked Sect’s chest, and it became difficult to breath when the sword was halfway out.

Given the old man’s previous showings, there was no way the prince could win against this monster. However, a sarcastic smile remained plastered on his face.

Looking at his strange behavior, a deafening roar, which reverberated through the area, was torn from the old man’s lips as he brandished his sword once more.

『For an insect to point a sword at me, it is extremely unpleasant……』

After the monstrous old man’s spirited shout, he raised his massive sword and set his sights on the prince.

However, in defiance of the prince’s orders, two soldiers with long spears broke away from the cavalry and placed themselves between Sect and the monster.

“Your Highness, please withdraw!”

“We’ll be your opponents!”

After making that declaration, the two soldiers raised their spears and charged the old man.

However, the man simply swung his massive sword towards the mounted soldiers, and blood and viscera flew everywhere as one of the men and his horse were bisected in the blink of an eye.

Prince Sect glared at the gruesome display in utter silence, but the four red eyes on the old man’s face narrowed as he detected something rapidly approaching from the rear.

However, he remained focused on the prince in front of him── when a figure leaped above his head and violently slammed a war hammer on the ground as it landed.

“You seem to be the leader of these monsters, aren’t ya?”

The massive, lilac-skinned dark elf suddenly descended upon the battlefield……  elder Fargas’ golden eyes carefully evaluated the strange being in front of him.

The enemy wrinkled his brow at Fargas’ intrusion.

『Those monsters are the great army entrusted to me…… You are the leader of the long ears and that accursed lizard. However, you’re merely the usurper’s vanguard.』

The air itself trembled as the monstrous man spoke, and for the first time since he appeared, he grasped his sword with both hands and glared at Fargas.”

『I, one of seven cardinals, August Ira Paciencia, shall purify you with my own hands…… accept the Pope’s gracious mercy.』

Having said so, cardinal August slashed at Fargas with his blindingly fast speed. However, elder Fargas used his mighty war hammer to deflect the cardinal’s sword before slipping into his opponent’s range and attempted to strike at his stomach.

A dull sound rang out as the momentum of the attack sent Fargas flying back, while the angered cardinal August was left unscratched.

Even though he seemed calm on the surface, Fargas stole several quick glances at his war hammer. Although there had been some positive feedback, the attack didn’t have any effect on the enemy.

“Cardinal…… apparently Hiruku is ruled by monsters.”

The old man’s muscles swelled as he lightly swung the lump of iron about, the same four-eyed, old man with misshapen faces across his body who had declared himself a cardinal of the Hiruku Theocracy.

As a great elder, Fargas had lived for a long time, but this was the first time he’d ever come across an undead as corrupted as the one currently in front of him.

However, it was evident that the existence before him wasn’t a hallucination.

It would be detrimental to both elves and humans if this twisted creature continued to exist.

…… It had to die here!

With firm determination, Fargas lowered his stance and targeted the enemy’s abdomen again, but the enemy was also a skilled warrior…… although his sword was deflected again, Fargas’ posture had collapsed in the aftermath of the bout.

The air itself trembled, and dust clouds were kicked up each time the two weapons collided with one another.

While the two of them clashed, prince Sect, whose body continued to be wracked by pain, was carried away from their battle by a couple of his subordinates.

『Despicable lesser being! I will tear you limb from limb!!』

Cardinal August anger only grew as the battle dragged on.

Following the cardinal explosive shout, just as Fargas deflected another of the cardinal’s attacks, the elder was forced to retreat as four black tendrils sprung from the cardinal’s back and attacked him.

The surprise attack forced Fargas to break his stance, and  Cardinal August immediately capitalizing on the opening.

“I see, he only excels at close-quarters melee combat…… Is that what you’re thinking? 『── Penetrate, Earth Fang──』”

However, Fargas wasn’t upset in the slightest, his mouth forming into a crooked grin as he performed a rapid incantation that unleashed the power of the earth spirits.

{Zuntsu! !}

Upon the spells activation…… the earth itself formed a spear and impaled August through his back.

For a moment, all of August’s four eyes were completely focused on the dull-colored foreign object protruding from his stomach.

However, the cardinal returned Fargas’ smile with a grin of his own as he glared at the elder.

『I see, so you’re proficient in magic as well…… but it amounts only to this much──』

Instead of worrying about the impalement, Fargas immediately invoked his spirit magic again when the cardinal began to move.

『── Sacred Earth, consume my enemies ──』

In response to Fargas’ chants, the same type of earthen spears that had impaled August began penetrating the cardinal in an ascending pattern. Skewered from all sides, the cardinal was crucified on the spot.

『Uooooonoooooreeeeeee!!』

But, in a fit of rage, August strained against his bonds, the flexing of his engorged muscles alone sending cracks through the spears that restrained him.

With the cardinal immobilized, Fargas gathered his strength and slammed his hammer into August’s jaw with enough force to twist his neck.

『Th……is……lesser……beinggggg!』

Despite suffering enough damage to kill an ordinary man, the cardinal’s four eyes remained locked on Fargas.

But, Fargas remained undeterred by August’s eerie appearance, his brows furrowing as he grumbled about the circumstances.

“You are quite the robust undead…… However, it’s over.”

Once those words left his lips, he shut his eyes and concentrated on his war hammer.

『──Everlasting peace to the corrupted, eternal silence to the dead, earth become his tomb──』

Wrinkles continued to gather on his forehead as Fargas continued to amass mana with his chant. August instinctively recognized the danger and redoubled his efforts to escape.

However, his body had been severely damaged and struggled to repair itself, the souls embedded within him refusing to follow his commands.

Fargas was unimpeded as the ground and sand floated into the air and coalesced into a single mass.

The massive rock emitted a strange light, which, upon contact, caused the souls within August to run amok, his four red eyes reflecting the agony he felt as he stared at Fargas.

August attempted to speak when the pair locked eyes, but the massive floating stone suddenly fell under its own weight, the ground and the air trembling as the cardinal was crushed beneath the boulder.

Elder Fargas looked up at the monolith that had pierced the earth and smiled.

“Please accept this gracious gravestone.”

After speaking to no one in particular, Fargas glanced around to check the war situation.

The dragon king Ferufivisurotte, who’d been waiting in the sky above, was now standing on the battlefield…… using the crystalline sword at the tip of her long tail, she mowed down the remnants of the undead army.

After viewing the progress of Sect’s cavalry, the human infantry and the elven warriors, it was clear that the battle was reaching its conclusion.

“My, my… this battlefield is no longer a place to unleash your power…… That’s understandable, I suppose.”

Fargus muttered that to himself as he glanced at the war hammer in his hands.

After a quick shake of his head, the elder combed the battlefield, with sharp eyes, for signs of other potential threats.

“None? Everything is going according to the plan. I wonder how things are going on their end? ”

Elder Fargas let out a sigh as he worried about Arc and Ariane, who’d gone to Delfuento’s Rione……  his eyes wandering over to the Sobiru mountains.