Chapter 777
Apocalypse Knights.
These monsters we once defeated have appeared in this world again.
But when you think about it, it's only natural.
This is the world after the end of the world.
It's not surprising that monsters symbolizing destruction, embodying the concept of annihilation, would revive and rampage.
Boom boom boom boom!
Through the hazy view caused by the swirling ashes, Apocalypse Knights charged in from all directions.
"Form a circular defense! Take defensive positions-!"
I shouted, reaching for the flagpole at my waist - but it wasn't there.
Only then did I realize.
My flagpole, in the form of a ceremonial longsword, [■■ ■■■], was destroyed 15 years ago.
"...Kuk!"
I tried to deploy my exclusive armor, but it was the same.
Clink, clink, clank-!
The chain mail armor, [■■ ■■ ■■], that once fully covered my body had been damaged during the long battle, and with the remaining chain parts, I could only form something like a gauntlet that barely covered one hand.
I grabbed that gauntlet and struck the head of an approaching Apocalypse Knight.
Thwack-!
The one hit by my fist had half its head blown off, but soon it regenerated the injured part and stood up like a zombie.
'Damn it!'
These were tough enemies even 15 years ago.
And now they've become even stronger with this apocalyptic era as their battlefield.
They're too strong for us to handle, having lost most of our ace heroes and reduced to a group of defeated soldiers.
"Kheuk!"
Even Elize, our strongest vanguard swordsman, couldn't withstand the fierce attack of the enemy cavalry and kept retreating.
The rest of the survivors fell, spewing blood, or rolled on the ground screaming.
In an instant, our defense collapsed. I gritted my teeth.
'At this rate...!'
Inevitably, I tried to awaken the dragon's power within me.
There's a price I have to pay every time I use this power, but now is not the time to be picky!
"Lord."
At that moment, a light touch landed on my shoulder.
"Leave it to me."
"...!"
Whoosh-!
With a sound of the air boiling.
Sid, who had suddenly floated up into the sky, looked around with his characteristically emotionless eyes.
Behind the boy, a dazzling rainbow-like radiance was bursting out in all directions.
That's right.
The reason why our World Guardian Front, weakened and tattered as we are, could still survive without being completely annihilated.
It's all thanks to this boy.
Flash-!
Countless magic elements poured out from behind Sid's back and began to merge into a massive ring shape.
The Mana-Chosen.
A genius among geniuses who learned the basics from Dearmudin, was trained by Junior, and surpassed even their achievements.
Now that the two previous Archmages are dead, he is the last Archmage of humanity, carrying on their legacy.
This is the boy before my eyes, Sid.
Clap-!
As Sid lightly clapped his hands together and then spread them left and right, the rings of light that had been spinning around the boy's body flashed out in all directions.
"...!"
Black darkness gushed out like blood from the bodies of the Apocalypse Knights hit by these rings of light.
More than half of the Apocalypse Knights died instantly and sprawled on the ground, while the rest barely pulled themselves together and quickly turned back.
Boom boom boom boom...!
The enemies are retreating.
As I watched them move away, I let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Sid. We survived thanks to you."
"...But many still died."
Sid, who had landed next to me, muttered indifferently as he looked at the fallen comrades on the ground.
The enemy's surprise attack was brief, but in the short time until Sid unleashed his magic to repel them, it had inflicted great damage on our side.
The survivors gathered the bodies of their fallen comrades.
We lit a fire and blankly watched as the lives turned into another form of ash amidst the falling cinders.
"Let's go, Your Highness."
Elize, adjusting her sword coffin, jerked her chin.
"The new hideout is far. We need to walk quickly before the enemies attack again."
Leaving the pervasive death behind, we silently marched forward once more.
How long did we walk like that?
The place Elize guided us to was a ruined city.
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As the earth's axis continues to twist and the land repeatedly decomposes and reassembles, it's impossible to know exactly where in the continent this city was before the apocalypse.
We can only be grateful that we can shelter from the ashen rain for one night.
"The hideout I scouted is still half a day's walk away. Let's stay here for tonight and continue moving tomorrow."
We unpacked in one of the ruined buildings and prepared to camp.
After setting up watch shifts, people in the ruins collapsed one by one as if fainting.
As usual, I sat at the entrance of the building, trying to think about tomorrow's plans, but extreme fatigue interfered with such thoughts.
I was tired.
My eyes closed involuntarily.
***
"Do you often have nightmares, Ash?"
A sweet voice, but one I never want to hear again, comes from in front of me.
"..."
I glared ahead.
I'm sitting at a table, and seated across from me is the Vampire King.
Celendion.
With his bright red eyes twinkling amiably, twirling a wine glass in one hand. He's smiling at me.
"Nightmares uncover the deepest fears in a person's inner self. They show you what you fear most in a tangible form."
I know.
This is a memory from long ago.
Stage 5.
Part of a conversation I had with him during the 'Commander's Meeting' amidst the final battle with the Bloodkin Legion.
"But imagine this. What if that nightmare doesn't end with the dream, but comes out into reality?"
Celendion stared intently at the wine glass in his hand.
"If it crawls out from the other side as a living, breathing monster with a clear form. If that monster stands before your eyes and looks into you. How would that feel?"
This is a meaningless, empty koan.
"Well then, young human. Let me ask you once more."
Even though I know this, I found myself drawn into his words without realizing it.
"Do you often have nightmares? What is it that you fear most?"
What I fear most?
That is...
"I hope it's not too terrible."
Celendion slowly turned his gaze.
There stood the familiar walls of Crossroad from Stage 5, sturdy and strong.
"Whatever it is, if you look too deeply into it, it might become reality."
And on those walls.
There are the figures of dear comrades who fought alongside me long ago.
Someone among them is shouting something.
Desperately reaching out their hand towards me.
As if earnestly hoping their voice would reach me...
I can't hear the voice.
But I can read their lips.
"My Lord-!"
***
"Lord."
I opened my eyes with a start.
Once again, I tumble from the nostalgic mire of the distant past into the barren reality.
A ruined world where ash rains down.
This is my reality now.
"Lord. Please eat."
Sid, who had approached me without my noticing, was holding out a skewer of meat.
Along with the heat of what seemed to be freshly grilled, a pungent smell hit me. I waved my hand.
"No. I don't have an appetite..."
"...Then, can I eat this? I'm hungry after using magic."
"Sure. If you want."
Sid then quietly began to eat the meat skewer that was meant for me.
That skewer is made of rat meat.
It tastes bad, smells awful, and has little nutritional value, but it's one of the few food sources available to us in these times.
"Is it edible?"
"No, it tastes bad."
Sid mumbled as he quickly finished the rat meat skewer while chewing.
"But at least we don't have to eat each other, right?"
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Unlike his bleak and cynical voice, Sid's face as he licked his greasy fingers was still young.
Born in such an era, forced to become a premature adult... As I quietly watched this child, I suddenly asked.
"Sid, do you remember cotton candy?"
"Huh?"
Sid tilted his head.
"Cotton candy? What's that?"
"It's candy made by melting sugar into threads, then wrapping them up to make it look like a cloud."
"Sugar? Cloud? Candy...?"
Sid kept tilting his head at this parade of unfamiliar words.
"It's food, right? What does it taste like?"
"It's sweet. Very sweet."
"Sweet taste..."
Sid furrowed his brow as if trying to recall that taste he had rarely experienced in his short life.
"I think I knew what it tasted like, but what was it again..."
"..."
I swallowed my words internally.
'On New Year's Day, the first after you were born. Your mother put a piece of cotton candy in your mouth.'
You probably don't remember.
I can't recall it well anymore either...
But even in this ugly world, there was once such a beautiful moment.
"I'd like to try cotton candy someday."
Sid mumbled, finally giving up on recalling the sweet taste.
I chuckled.
"Yeah. That would be... nice."
It might sound like empty talk.
But who knows? If we're alive, anything could happen.
"..."
Really.
Will anything actually happen?
It was then.
"Your Highness."
Elize approached.
She looked tired and exhausted after tending to the wounded inside the ruined building.
"Many were injured in the earlier battle, and we've run out of medicine and bandages."
"...So we've finally run out."
"At this rate, many will die tonight unable to hold on."
It's been three years since Rosetta, our last healing priest, died.
Since then, we've been treating injuries with always-scarce medicine and dirty bandages, and now even those have run out.
"As it happens, this place seems to have been a city, albeit now in ruins, so I plan to search around. If we're lucky, we might find some useful items besides medical supplies."
"I'll go too."
I decided to go along, not wanting to let Elize struggle alone.
Then Sid hurriedly followed us, wiping his fingers on the hem of his robe.
"I want to go too! It's my first time in a city, so I want to look around."
"...Alright. Let's go together."
We don't know what threats might be hiding in this long-abandoned ruined city.
But the three of us - me, Elize, and Sid - are the strongest forces left in the World Guardian Front. If there's a problem, we should be able to crush it.
After leaving the night watch and guard duty to the other heroes and soldiers, we left the campsite and entered the ruined city.
***
In a world that has ended, when searching ruins or structures for supplies,
There are all kinds of threats one might encounter.
Starting from the danger of collapsing old buildings, ferocious wild beasts, all sorts of monsters like ghosts and demons,
The horde of rats that surrounded us earlier and waited for an opening, the Apocalypse Knights that suddenly hunt living humans, and also...
But more dangerous than any of these.
"...There's a light."
Other survivor groups.
People, that is.
"I can see a bonfire inside that building over there. It seems there are other survivors staying in this city."
"...That's not good."
That's my honest feeling.
Meeting people is not good.
In a world that has ended, it's actually easier to make judgments. Because every being you meet is an enemy aiming for your life. So I can be wary and kill them all, and that's that.
But people are in a grey area that can't be simply treated as hostile.
Because they're people, we can't just cover it up and kill them. They might be of help to us, and further, they might even become allies.
However, in this changed world, with a very high probability,
People are our enemies.
The only beings that can gain our trust, then deceive us and stab us in the back. That's what people are.
Monsters that are only human in form.
"What shall we do? Should we bypass them?"
"No."
I sighed.
"We still need to make contact. We might be able to get medicine."
I took the lead towards the building where the light was flickering.
Elize and Sid, exchanging glances, cautiously followed me.
As I walked without stopping, Celendion's voice from the dream I had earlier suddenly came to mind.
- Do you often have nightmares? What is it that you fear most?
"..."
I shook my head vigorously.
And strode towards the campfire, not knowing if those around it were enemies or allies.
--TL Notes--
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