CH 543

The battle for Serandia

Monsters spewed flames and lightning from their mouths, while humans unleashed bolts of lightning and fire from their fingertips.

On the battlefield where winter had retreated, there was little difference between the lives of humans and monsters.

Flames, impossible to discern whether they came from the monsters or the mages, intertwined and exploded in the sky. In the rear, artillery weapons crushed, burned, or froze the monsters to death.

-Screech!

A soldier, cleaved in half at the waist by a monster's jaws, died without even a chance to scream.

-Splash!

Then, a heavy hammer struck the monster's skull, shattering it in an instant.

-Bang!

A monster lunging at the hammer-wielder was met with a blinding white shield, its head smashed against it.

-Bang! Splash!

After pushing the monster back with his shield, the knight looked around, his hammer dripping with gore.

-Groan!

White light radiated from the knight's body, beginning to heal the wounds of the injured soldiers around him.

Yet, what good would it do to heal these wounds?

Adriana could only watch as a soldier, whose shoulder was miraculously reattached by her divine power, charged at another monster, only to have his head crushed in its jaws.

“Huff!”

The knights were the medics and assault troops of the battlefield.

They were the ones who could heal critically injured soldiers, allowing them to flee on their own feet.

Not only that, they were the knights who could restore combat strength by healing wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

However, the knights also had to witness the most futile loss of lives they had saved.

Their hope only intensified their despair.

If they didn't have the power to heal, they could simply focus on fighting after swallowing their tears for the horribly injured.

But the knights had to save many lives and watch them vanish before their eyes.

They had been watching lives disappear in this brutal battlefield, as they fought and saved people during the Gate Crisis.

Why hadn't they shed tears?

They had cried out in grief countless times.

But tears couldn't bring back the dead.

Wailing could only serve as a memory for those who had vanished.

Only strength.

Only fighting.

Only this heavy, blunt hammer.

This Hammer of Judgment, which she had switched to after realizing that it was easier to crush monsters than to kill them with a sword.

This violence, which tore and smashed enemies, was the only line of goodness and the only justice in this cruel battlefield.

-Splash!

“Hrrraaaah!”

-Splat!

Adriana, who had learned that there was no justice other than killing enemies, swung her Hammer of Judgment.

Adriana was powerful.

Although not a Master Class, she had joined the ranks of superhumans through Moonshine, and her divine power to strengthen her body made her even more exceptional.

Comparing the capabilities of ordinary soldiers with Adriana was impossible.

But she couldn't save everyone.

She had witnessed countless lives, saved only to fade away.

Through countless battles, she had learned that fighting while trying to protect others was futile.

Fighting to protect others had often put her in danger as well.

However.

Still.

Adriana couldn't turn her back on those who had fallen.

Just like when she had reached out to help a despised junior who was about to make a reckless attempt, knowing that there was no need for it.

Adriana hadn't changed.

She couldn't change.

-Roar!

“!”

The moment she saw the monstrous creature, as large as a bison, charging towards the fallen soldier with its dark, gleaming fangs, Adriana was already standing in its way, blocking its path to the soldier.

- Thud!

"Ugh!"

Unable to withstand the weight of the charging creature, Adriana was flung back, tumbling across the ground.

She had fallen.

In the midst of battle, losing one's footing could mean death before getting a chance to stand back up.

Gulping for air from the impact transmitted through her shield, Adriana saw the monster lunging at her with its maw wide open, aiming straight for her neck.

She hadn't regained her proper stance, she couldn't offer her neck, and her weapon was lost.

Adriana thrust her right arm into the monster's gaping maw.

- Crunch!

"Argh...ugh!"

- Crackle! Crackle!

Her plate armor crumpled pathetically.

- Creak! Creak!

Despite the divine protection imbued in her armor, the monster's teeth tore into Adriana's right arm without resistance.

Adriana was strong, but monsters were unpredictable in their strength.

Some were pathetically weak, but others could pierce through armor with divine protection and Magic Body Strengthening just by biting.

At this rate, her arm would be ripped off, and her life would follow.

"Ugh...!"

- Thump!

Even as she lay on the ground, with the monster crushing her arm in real time before her eyes.

- Thump! Thump!

- Crackle! Crackle!

Adriana relentlessly bashed the monster's head with her shield, which hung on her left arm.

It was a battle of whether her arm would break first or the monster's head.

- Crack!

"Ugh... Aaah...!"

- Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thud!

- Gasp...ack...

One side of the monster's head shattered, and its body went limp.

Adriana tried to pry open the jaws of the monster that, even in death, refused to let go of her arm.

There was more than one enemy.

She had to get up.

If she didn't, she would die.

Adriana desperately tried to pry open the jaws of the dead monster that seemed to have clenched even tighter.

No one would be concerned for her.

On the battlefield, everyone was essentially alone.

The soldier Adriana had saved had already been bitten in the neck by another monster, blood spurting from the wound, rendering her previous efforts futile.

Countless people fought together, but most were preoccupied with their own survival. Those who fought to protect others, like Adriana, were few and far between.

- Roar!

And then, before Adriana could extract her arm from the monster's mouth, she saw another monster charging across the battlefield.

It was roughly six meters in size.

A common soldier couldn't handle it.

It wasn't coming specifically for her, but with every step, dozens of soldiers were sent flying, crushed beneath its feet.

The monster's path went straight through her.

"Ah...ugh! Ugh!"

She had to somehow open the jaws of the dead monster to get out of the incoming monster's path or find a way to counter it.

It would be too late at this rate.

Should she sacrifice her arm?

Losing an arm was better than dying.

But how could she cut off her arm in this situation?

The monster was already upon her.

And as Adriana gritted her teeth, preparing to strike her own elbow with the sharp edge of the shield she had used to crush the monster's head.

- Fizzzz!

A spark, akin to lightning, flashed in midair, and something appeared.

What emerged from the spatial displacement was a colossal metallic gray mass, comparable in size to a giant.

Whoosh!

Splash!

Adriana stared blankly as the giant's head collided with the massive gray metal, shattering it into pieces.

"Golem..."

A giant iron golem appeared and began to trample and crush the monsters.

It's a golem!

The Archduke's golem!

Adriana's life had been saved by the appearance of the golem, and as the other soldiers witnessed the giant golem fighting alongside them on the battlefield, they cheered.

Archduke of Saint Owan.

Despite his disgrace due to his youngest daughter's betrayal, no one could deny the skill of the Archduke and the mages of Saint Owan Duchy.

In fact, the Archduke, who had participated in the Great Demon War, now used the golem that once trampled demons to crush the monsters emerging from the Gate.

Screech!

Growl!

Adriana watched the golems fighting valiantly in front of her, as she wrenched open a monster's jaws with her shield.

"Ugh...ugh!"

She could feel her right arm's bone completely shattered.

Moan!

Adriana could heal herself just as she could heal others.

With her healed arm, Adriana picked up her fallen hammer and stood up.

The Duchy's golem fought alongside them.

The iron golem battled the massive monsters, devastating the battlefield as befitted its huge form.

Adriana chased after the iron golem, running.

As she ran, she muttered a prayer.

"O gods."

The young priestess spoke.

"The five great gods."

"With these tears."

"With this blood."

"With so many tears."

"With so much blood."

"What exactly do you wish to accomplish?"

In her despair, amidst the blood of monsters and humans, Adriana cried out, her eyes still alive.

How beautiful must the paradise created from tears and blood be?

Why do the gods desire so much death and tears?

Thud!

Staring blankly at the battlefield, Adriana struggled to set her bloodstained hammer down amidst the piles of flesh from the fallen and crushed monsters.

Clang! Crash!

The giant golem swept across the battlefield, opening a path so quickly that the sky suddenly darkened and something fell to the ground like an arrow.

Growl

"A...dragon...?"

A monster with a pair of wings, a massive body, and a lizard-like head.

The creature was already three times larger than the huge iron golem, and its impact on the ground caused numerous soldiers and monsters to stagger or fall.

The dragon, massive enough to look down upon the over six-meter-tall monster as if it were a toy, opened its jaws toward the iron golem.

Roar!

Rumble!

Crimson flames burst from the dragon's maw, pouring down on the iron golem.

"Ah..."

The iron golem, which had seemed capable of breaking through the waves of monsters and pulverizing them all, was turned into molten metal and disappeared under the fiery breath of an even more enormous creature.

A powerful monster.

A creation of humans, even more potent.

But an even more immense and formidable monster.

Humans are strong, but monsters can be anything.

Adriana could only freeze as she saw the molten remains of the golem and the dragon standing before her like a mountain.

Monsters do not fall into despair, but humans do.

Adriana gripped her hammer with trembling hands.

And she held her shield.

Though it was hopeless, she could not fall.

Adriana, clad in protective armor, charges towards the dragon opening its jaws wide to face her.

Rumble!

Seeing the fiery breath that had melted even the iron golem pour down on her, Adriana predicts the path of the flames and leaps to the side.

Her small stature is a disadvantage.

It might be impossible to win because of her size.

But her size could also grant her a little more freedom from the monster's attacks.

Discussing the odds of victory is foolish.

If every battle is a roll of the dice between life and death.

In war, it is the fate of a soldier to eventually face death's backside, as they must fight countless battles.

Despite knowing that, Adriana dodges the ground-melting flames, and soon reaches the massive dragon's jawline.

She knows that the backside of death will eventually show itself.

But she's decided to fight.

Just as she once offered salvation to those destined to die again.

She continues this foolish battle.

Foolishly determined.

"Ha!"

Reaching the monster's face, Adriana leaps up from beneath it, using the dragon's horns as a handle to climb atop its head.

The heat from the dragon's enormous head, even larger than her own body, was unbearable for any human, perhaps due to the iron-melting flames it spat.

Squeal!

Holding the dragon's horn with her left hand, Adriana strikes the dragon's head with the hammer in her right hand.

Roar!

There's no time for doubt about its effectiveness.

Even if she can't defeat it, preventing it from spewing flames will save someone's life.

Even if they die next time, they won't die now.

That's enough.

She can't do more than that, but if she can protect them now, that's enough.

Roar!

Adriana grips the horn with her left hand to avoid falling from the dragon's violently shaking head, and swings her hammer down with her right hand.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Swords and spears wouldn't penetrate this thick hide.

Even most magic would likely fail to harm this monster.

To kill a monster with impenetrable skin, Adriana abandoned her sword.

She chose the hammer to kill such a monster, discarding her long-trained swordsmanship.

Whoosh!

In the midst of the disorienting shaking, Adriana raises her hammer.

Bang!

O gods.

Bang!

If everything is at your disposal, then what lies at the end of all this?

O gods.

Squeal!

Five Gods.

Spat!

I despise you.

Roar!

The hammering of the priest who hates the gods continues in order to shatter the massive rock called a dragon.

The world might not belong to humans.

But at least, it should belong to the living.

Not to these destructive creatures with nothing but their instincts.

That's not something that can be called a world.

"Raaaaaaaaaaah!"

Towards the out-of-order beings.

Towards the beasts of destruction that lack the path of a living being.

An intense white light wraps around the hammer that Adriana raises high toward the sky.

To annihilate the out-of-order beings.

Towards the beast, no different from a machine that lacks the concept of order.

Adriana strikes down with her hammer, filled with pure hatred.

Squeak!

As the hammer comes crashing down, a white bolt of lightning pierces through the sky and penetrates the dragon's head.

Roar!

The dragon, which had raised its head with a sound like a dying scream, collapses along with its massive body.

Grumble...

"Haa... Haa... Haa..."

Adriana lands just before the monster's head touches the ground, staring in disbelief at what she has just done.

She cannot understand what has happened.

But the monster is dead, its head pierced right in the center by the hammer.

It had fallen to a pitiful weapon that, though heavy, was nothing more than a toothpick compared to the monster's massive body.

"Haa... Haa..."

Catching her breath, Adriana looks at herself as if she had just performed a miracle and meets the gaze of countless soldiers.

-Ohhh...

-By the Five Gods...

Feeling something from Adriana, who is surrounded by the white light that signifies divine proof, the soldiers show reverence to the divine even in the midst of this brutal battle.

Is it a miracle?

Is this what they call a miracle?

Adriana stares blankly at the sky above the battlefield.

The fight is not over just because a giant monster has died.

Such miracles happen frequently on battlefields, and countless tragedies unfold beyond measure.

As long as the end of the war does not arrive, these monsters will continue to appear.

Is there really an end to this fight, where countless creatures like this emerge?

A desperate battlefield filled with waves of monsters, fire, lightning, and cold.

Is there truly an exit in this hell where slaughter is everywhere?

Adriana, who has slain the dragon, falls into despair.

Seeing similar-sized or even larger monsters surging in, one can only fall into despair.

How many more miracles are needed?

Will it ever end?

Lost in the despair that follows the miracle, Adriana becomes dazed.

The end of this hell.

Anyone will do.

The conclusion of this hell.

Witnessing death, both killing and being killed, is increasingly exhausting.

The end of this world.

The final destination of pain, despair, and fear.

Bring it forth.

-Boom!

-Ku-ku-ku-boom!

From afar.

Adriana sees dozens of flashes crossing the battlefield.

-Swoosh!

-Crack!

Those dozens of beams of light cut through, crush, and shatter every monster they touch, racing past the soldiers like arrows.

They are not mere flashes.

Beings imbued with blue mana throughout their bodies.

Superhumans among superhumans.

The strongest of mankind, who have reached the Master Class, are coming.

Among those beams of light, Adriana sees one of them rushing past her, grazing her.

Dozens of flashes trample over the corpse of the dragon that Adriana had brought down.

One of those flashes.

"...Ellen."

Ellen Artorius.

Adriana clearly felt the gaze of someone with emotionless eyes briefly directed at her before looking forward again.

-Whoosh!

Despite being a person, the charge was so rough and agile that it created a whirlwind.

The hero, Ellen Artorius, leads a guerrilla unit composed of Master Class fighters and breaks through the battlefield.

Every monster in their path explodes, shatters, is sliced, and trampled, disappearing.

That eerily calm and composed expression.

In that indifference, Adriana finds a sense of relief.

It's no different for the other soldiers.

The hero's emotionless expression is neither flustered, scared, sad, nor overly confident.

People trust the hero's calmness.

They place their faith in that composure, in that inhuman expression of the hero.

Transcending humanity, a bizarre trust arises in the belief that they will accomplish what humans cannot. This trust soon turns into faith through the impossible feats the hero achieves.

The seemingly emotionless hero.

The one who will bring an end to all of this.

Swoosh!

Ellen Artorius leaps high into the air and swings her sword just once at a monster as large as a mountain.

Slash!

From her vastly elongated Void Blade, a curtain of darkness grazes the colossal beast, and with just one pass, it falls, spewing blood.

Adriana had to risk her life to fight a monster smaller than that.

But for Ellen Artorius, it seemed that one blow was enough to subdue a mountainous creature.

Rumble!

And then, the whip of flames pouring from the hero's sun’s cloak crashes to the ground, instantly burning and killing thousands of monsters.

A calm expression, yet an intense power.

Overwhelming force.

The hero pierces through the waves of monsters and advances.

Furthermore, the superhumans she leads cut through the battlefield like beams of light.

Overwhelming strength.

Overwhelming protection.

How could people not find hope in Ellen?

The miracle Adriana caused is a part of Ellen's daily life.

The monsters that Adriana could only kill by causing a miracle are slain with a single blow from Ellen.

That's why she is called the hero.

Watching the hero and her strike force cutting through the waves of monsters, Adriana feels it.

Though there may be no hope.

It might be possible with them.

If they are that strong, the end of this war might come.

That's why the hero inevitably becomes a matter of faith.

They will destroy the Warp Gate.

They will bring an end to everything.

People believe that they will put an end to the era of sorrow and hatred.

"Phew..."

Adriana lifts her hammer once more.