Chapter 9: The Battle of the Divine Beasts
“Piyooo-!”
A fierce roar of a raptor tore through the thunder.
Dilayzer swept her wings, conjuring a whirlwind that dragged clouds from the sky.
“Dilayzer…!”
I gazed up at her, entranced by her presence.
“Kroooar-!!!”
Immediately, Garvas leaped over me from behind.
With agile, graceful movements, he hunted down magical and demonic beasts one by one. His sharp claws and teeth shredded impure beings into pieces with a single touch.
With the addition of the two divine beasts, everyone’s movements gained a sense of ease.
Garvas supported Lumanis and Valuzer as they breached the barrier, while Dilayzer charged toward the harpy that had emerged in the storm.
Fiercely, relentlessly.
Shwaaaek-!
The wings of the living and the wings of the dead tangled together.
With a powerful flap, Dilayzer’s massive shadow plunged through the dark clouds, crashing onto the harpy’s body like a bolt of lightning.
Puh-eok-!
An attack so swift my eyes could barely follow.
The harpy’s head, patched together like a ragdoll, exploded under Dilayzer’s assault.
“Kieeeek!”
The harpy spun helplessly, plummeting to the ground.
Its creaking wings, now grounded, emitted a foul, nauseating stench.
“Manipulated by the demon’s grasp, you cannot even rest in death.”
At Dilayzer’s roaring words, the creature merely grinned.
Despite its mangled face and neck, hollowed out grotesquely, it was a puppet of the demon, its nerves dead, incapable of feeling pain.
‘If that’s the case.’
“Vanish, Kaiye.”
Dilayzer’s gray wings stirred another whirlwind, floating above the clouds.
And then.
Kwang-!
Eujeok-!
Dilayzer crashed down like a thunderbolt, pinning the rotting harpy’s body with her full weight, rendering it immobile.
She began tearing into the decayed flesh.
Though Kaiye, revived as an undead harpy by the demon, struggled fiercely, it was no match for Dilayzer, who tore into it with unrelenting determination.
Its writhing was no longer that of a living being striving to survive.
The flesh torn from its body was like the remnants of the dead left in the world.
By biting and swallowing it, Dilayzer shredded the bonds still tethering the dead to this plane.
Kwa-ang-!!!
Meanwhile, deafening roars echoed from Valuzer as he continued breaking through the barrier, and the demonic beasts in front surged forward with chilling cries, their numbers swelling.
It was as if a black tide was flooding into the valley.
Spikes shot up, claws and talons flew from all directions, and teeth gnashed at empty air, swallowing their frustration.
“This won’t do! Valuzer, I’ll force a gap, so widen it!”
In the midst of this chaos, Elinore shouted urgently.
“But you have no resistance to the barrier! If you try to break it, the backlash will be unimaginable! So…!”
“It’s fine! If I can be of help right now…!”
“Shut up and move-!!!”
With a thunderous roar, Valuzer slammed his face into the barrier once more.
Kwazik-
A large hole tore open in the barrier.
“Now!”
Elinore thrust his massive hand into the left side of the barrier’s hole, where it was struggling to repair itself, and pulled it wide.
Lumanis, without hesitation, sank her teeth into the opposite side—the right side of the barrier.
Geugeuk-
“Ugh!”
“Krrk!”
Both struggled to prevent the barrier from regenerating as much as possible.
Instead of dismantling it slowly, they were forcing a small gap open, making the barrier’s resistance fierce.
“It’s definitely slowing down!”
Valuzer, assessing the barrier’s state, shouted with conviction.
“No timeee!!! (There’s no time!!!)”
“Claude!!!”
Lumanis' garbled, desperate cry mingled with Elinore’s shout of my name.
They couldn’t keep this up for long.
The barrier’s hole was shrinking by the second, and if not now, we’d have to face Magridon’s army in a life-or-death struggle to escape.
“Claude!!! You have to get through now!!!”
I turned quickly.
The narrowing barrier hole and Elinore’s anguished cry filled my vision.
Ujikkeun-!
Ppajik-!
The moment I threw myself into the narrow gap, I felt the hard edge of Lumanis' fangs and the searing pain of my skin burning against the shrinking barrier.
“Go, Claude. Leave this to us and head north.”
Beyond the barrier, I saw the teeming army of demonic beasts and the divine beasts turning to face them.
In the sky, Sleipnir’s roar echoed as he folded space to charge forward.
Below, Garvas' roars and Valuzer’s bellows shook the earth.
“Come back stronger. Your father’s sacred texts will be safe here.”
Elinore, his hand sizzling as it gripped the barrier’s edge, gave his final farewell.
“Take this. It will promise our reunion.”
A bundle of wooden tendrils sprouted from Elinore’s arm.
Glowing with a faint green light like fireflies, it was the last I saw of Elinore as he vanished beyond the burning barrier.
“Uwaaaa…!”
I didn’t hesitate.
I didn’t entertain the thought that Elinore and the divine beasts might fall to the demonic army.
I wasn’t in a position to worry about them.
Surviving and standing on equal footing with them on the battlefield.
That was all I focused on as I ran blindly down the path ahead.
***
In the black forest, skeletal branches swayed.
A howling wind wailed like a person writhing in pain.
As cold air filled my lungs, a tearing pain and harsh coughs erupted, and the world was dyed in shades of blue and white.
White snow crunched beneath my feet.
‘This is bad. I need to find a place to warm up before it gets darker…’
An endless winter forest.
I wasn’t certain if I was even on the right path.
Unable to stop, I kept moving forward, half-doubting, half-hoping.
Surely, descending the mountain would lead to something, so I searched for a small cabin, scouring the slopes.
“Kwoooar-!!!”
“!!!”
A deafening roar made me instinctively duck.
‘A magical beast? A demonic one?’
Had Magridon broken the barrier and come after me?
No, this felt different from the demonic beasts’ cries, which stirred instinctive revulsion.
I quickly hid behind a fallen tree.
Peeking out cautiously.
“Ah.”
The sound of bones and flesh being crushed.
A large gray mother bear and her two cubs were feasting on a massive elk, preparing for the cold.
Not the work of a demon, but nature itself.
“…Not bad.”
I was lucky.
The bears wouldn’t care for the elk’s hide, so with some effort, I might secure something to shield me from the cold.
“Phew.”
I lay quietly beside the fallen tree, gazing at the sky, waiting for the gray bear family to finish their meal.
Though the sun hadn’t fully set, stars already adorned the sky.
I grabbed a handful of snow and brought it to my mouth.
Hoping some flesh might remain on the elk hide the bears would leave behind.
I waited.
It was still okay.
I could endure.
“Kroooar-!!!”
Soon, the beast’s roar signaled the end of their feast.
I peeked out again.
The bear family, their muzzles stained with blood, lumbered up the mountain.
‘Now.’
I rushed toward the sprawled elk carcass.
“Huff… huff…”
Perhaps because it had just died, it still radiated warmth.
“Hmm…”
The hide, now an empty shell, was matted with leftover flesh and fluids.
The gruesome sight made me grimace, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.
The sunlight was nearly gone.
The fierce cold was numbing my face.
Swallowing some relatively intact flesh, I burrowed into the elk’s hide.
Tonight.
I’d sleep inside.
If I didn’t want to die.
***
Rustling.
“Hm…?”
Voices of people, which shouldn’t have been audible.
Snapping awake, I sensed human presence beyond the damp hide.
Clatter, clatter.
I felt the ground trembling through my skin.
Was I being transported somewhere?
But where?
Sssk-
I pushed through the rotting elk flesh, lifting the hide slightly.
Among the sticky fluids, I saw other hunted animal carcasses, including the gray bear from the day before.
Beyond them, two figures stood in the distance.
A tall rifle and a sharp spear caught my eye.
A hunter and someone in a helmet, looking like a knight.
I lowered the hide again, holding my breath.
I didn’t know where we were going, but should I stay hidden or slip away?
As I pondered, their conversation reached me.
“Thank you for joining the hunt, Sergeant. You could’ve sent your men, but to come out yourself…”
“With manpower short, I wanted to see the search area myself. Besides, sitting around waiting doesn’t suit me.”
“I see, especially with all the grim rumors lately…”
The voices of a man and a woman.
The one called Sergeant, wearing the helmet, was a woman.
“…By the way, I heard Lord Shukain ordered the search battalion to be integrated into a new legion. Is it true there are… mages among them?”
The hunter asked in a shrill voice.
The sergeant glanced at him silently before responding.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“It doesn’t seem like Lord Shukain is hiding it anymore.”
“He said the people need to know to protect themselves… That magic will once again take its place in the world’s order. He had no choice but to reveal it.”
“Hm, order…”
The hunter muttered in a worried tone.
“So, Sergeant, are you… planning to learn that magic?”
“With the world as dangerous as it is, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?”
The sergeant replied cheerfully.
“Any concerns?”
“No, it’s just… unfamiliar. Haha, magic feels like a far-off tale for a lowly hunter like me. I knew about the great war in the past, but until recently, I didn’t even know such things existed. I thought they were just folktales or legends.”
“No need to force yourself to understand. Lord Shukain doesn’t push his views on others.”
“With the talk of war brewing, it’s unsettling. At my age, I worry if I have the talent to learn anything…”
“Are you worried soldiers might show up one day, saying you have a knack for magic and drafting you into the northern army?”
The sergeant’s sudden question left the hunter silent, mulling over her words.
Clunk, clunk-
The path grew rough.
Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t hear the hunter’s response clearly.
‘Does Lord Shukain’s magic have a bad reputation?’
Regardless, they seemed to be heading to Shukain, so I’d find out soon enough with my own eyes.
I should go.
And reveal my identity to this sergeant to get help.
As a public official, she might assist me in meeting Shukain.
Just as I prepared to emerge,
“Who’s there!”
A sharp, authoritative female voice rang out, accompanied by the sound of a blade.
At first, I thought I’d been caught and hesitated to lift the hide.
But soon, I realized her spear was pointing elsewhere.