Chapter 121 – Return of the Winter (3)  

‘I have no idea who decided to launch an attack at such perfect timing.’

It was unknown as to why the warriors of Arbalde were attacking the Order of the Evil Snake all of a sudden, but there was no reason for Juan to intervene and stop them from fighting when both the warriors of Arbalde as well as the Templars were nothing but annoyances.

“Juan!”

Sina called out for Juan from above the walls.

“Do you understand what’s going on right now? Why are the warriors of Arbalde attacking the Order of the Evil Snake?” Sina asked.

“I have no clue. But doesn’t it make sense that they don’t like each other? Just let them be. It’s rather fortunate that they are taking each other out. The one thing I like better than killing the people I hate is watching people I hate kill each other,” Juan shrugged.

“Fair enough. Then do you know the identity of the army that just stepped in? They look like another division of the Imperial army based on their formation.”

“That’s what I’m about to go and find out.”

Juan quickly jumped up to the top of the wall to find the place with the best view.

“Now then, let’s find out who this hero that appeared out of nowhere is, shall we?”

Juan squinted his eyes and focused. It was difficult for him to identify distinct features from this distance, but Juan could roughly identify the characteristics.

“From the looks of it, they all appear to be wearing heavy armor made with beast skin. They have even put armor on their horses. Their armor seems to follow the Imperial style, but I don’t see a flag… maybe they are a backup? I also see someone at the forefront who seems to be the commander…”

Juan closed his mouth without finishing his sentence. Although he couldn’t recognize the details of the commander’s face, he was certain.

Juan’s words suddenly stopped, but the information he had given so far was enough for Sina to identify the army.

“It’s the Northern Imperial Army,” Sina murmured.

“Northern Imperial Army? Why did the Northern Army come all the way here to Beldeve? They aren’t allowed to come here without Duke Henna’s permission.”

Horhell said after hearing Sina’s conclusion.

“Duke Henna had always been heavily opposed to the Northern Imperial Army getting involved in the affairs of the eastern territory. It’s only natural for her to be opposed, considering the hostility that the easterners have towards General Nienna. I understand that General Nienna did what she had to do, since that was her job, but it would still be hard for the eastern territory to accept her just because of that.”

“But they are here. Don’t tell me that General Nienna came here herself… did she?”

Juan couldn’t hear any of the conversations between Sina and Horhell. In fact, it was no surprise to Juan that Nienna would come to the east at such a time. Nienna went to wherever the Crack had spread its reach, all in order to exterminate and destroy them. It was rather strange that she had left the situation in the northeast unattended until now. It was either that she had become politically liberal as she grew older, or that the situation in the north was even more serious than in the east.

‘So it’s not too strange that I encountered her here… but why now out of all the times?’

Juan’s heart was pounding. It was his second time meeting one of his children. Unlike Ras, who had been stigmatized as a traitor, Nienna was the hero of the empire and the leader of the North. The way Ras and Nienna were treated was completely different, and Juan was still not sure about what that meant.

‘Was she also involved in treason? If she was, how much does she know? What should I do if it turns out that she knew everything from the beginning? Whatever she did to me, would I be able to tolerate it?’

Juan stopped thinking. It wouldn’t be too late to worry about all his concerns until after he had met her.

Neither Nienna nor Juan were the type to postpone the slaughter of their enemies when the enemies were right in front of their eyes.

*** “You… damn monster!”

One of the Templars struggled and stabbed a sword into Urkel’s leg but not a single drop of blood came out of Urkel. Instead, Urkel’s muscles just split and purple tentacles popped out to wrap around the Templar’s hands and arms.

The Templar squirmed, trying to get the tentacles off of him, but the Templar was helplessly absorbed into Urkel like an insect entangled in a spider web. The Templar soon became a part of Urkel’s calf, just like many other Templars.

“■■■ ■ ■■■!”

Urkel uttered an unintelligible word. It was Suvole’s name, Velkre’s name, and also the name of the master of the Crack—just words mixed with countless names that did not have any specific meaning.

A clear trajectory was left on the ground every time Urkel dragged his legs. Urkel no longer had the figure of a human at this point. At least ten Templars were torn to pieces and tangled in the tentacles attached to Urkel.

Marco’s distorted face was at the top among the Templars tangled to Urkel. Marco persistently survived even after having been absorbed into Urkel’s tentacles, but no sound was coming out of his puffed lips.

The Templars were strong. They were strong enough that each Templar could easily take on five of the warriors of Arbalde. But that was it. The Order of the Evil Snake, without the power of the snake, was crushed by a crowd burying them instead of their attacks—and half of them were killed by Urkel.

Urkel was still looking for the Templars. The knight order was almost wiped out, but Urkel still hadn’t found the Templar named Velkre who had been with Suvole.

“L-Leader!” one of the warriors approached Urkel and shouted.

Urkel did not respond but simply walked with a two-handed axe dragging against the ground. The warrior’s voice became desperate upon seeing such a sight.

“Nienna Nelben and the Order of Penlil are headed this way! The villagers have been trampled on and the warriors are on the verge of annihilation! Please let us know what we need to do!”

Urkel’s neck creaked toward the warrior who just made the report. His appearance was closer to a hideous monster than a human, but the warrior smiled brightly.

“…enemy,” Urkel said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Where is the enemy?”

It was clear what Urkel was referring to. The warrior’s face became more and more expressionless, then he soon bit his lips. The warrior forced a sad smile with miserable eyes. Then he soon saluted Urkel in a light gesture.

“Since when did we wait for our enemies to come find us? We are nothing but stones thrown into the world anyway, aren’t we? Among all the stones, I was honored to be a stone thrown by your hand! I’ll get going then. I hope you will be born in a warmer land in your next life!” The warrior slowly backed away.

The warrior left after giving such a greeting and ran toward the back—it was the direction from where Nienna and the Order of Penlil were marching. Urkel didn’t look back but only continued walking in silence.

A large camp came into his eyes. Almost all the camps were falling apart with the bodies of the warriors of Arbalde scattered around. Urkel tore open the camp with an expressionless face, and there sat a man wrapped in a large towel. He was a gruesome-looking man whose muscles were exposed.

Urkel could recognize him at a glance.

“Velkre.”

“Revenge King. It hasn’t been that long since the last time I saw you, but both of us look quite different from the last time we saw each other, don’t we?” Velkre made a self-mocking joke.

Urkel had parts of the bodies of the Templars merged into him with the tentacles, while Velkre’s red flesh was revealed without skin. It was a sight that no one would want to encounter at night.

“Stand back, Urkel. Isn’t it the Fourth Division that you are hostile to? Why are you attacking us all of a sudden?” Nora asked.

Nora had stayed with Velkre to guard the camp and protect him. She was covered in wounds, and Urkel could easily tell that the bodies of the warriors of Arbalde scattered outside the camp seemed to be of her handiwork.

“Sister Nora, stand down. I would have tried talking to him already if he was someone who would listen,” Velkre said.

“But…”

Urkel raised his two-handed axe and struck it toward Nora even before she could say anything. Nora quickly lifted her sword, but she lacked the strength to withstand his blow. Urkel took away the sword from Nora and stabbed it in her own shoulder, causing Nora to collapse to the ground with a short scream. She groaned as she tried to pull out the sword stuck in her shoulder, but it was clear that she no longer had the ability to fight.

Velkre looked at Nora with complicated eyes. In his current state, he could neither swing a sword nor stand up on his own. All he could do was watch death approaching him before his eyes.

“We desperately wanted to kill each other from the first time we saw each other. We should have done this a while back, don’t you agree?”

Velkre recalled having mixed feelings when seeing Urkel with his imposing and threatening expression back in Arbalde—Urkel was a despicable heretic, but he was arrogant and energetic enough to call himself a king.

However, he was nothing more than a monster now.

“Go ahead. Neither do I have the strength nor the ability to hold a sword. Feel free to eat me up or split me in half.”

Velkre waited for his death with open arms, but Urkel did not move. Instead, he opened his mouth.

“Where is Suvole?”

Velkre couldn’t answer Urkel’s question. Just like Urkel, Velkre had no idea where Suvole had gone.

But Velkre couldn’t open his mouth for a different reason altogether.

Suvole was standing right behind Urkel’s back.

Urkel turned his head when he saw Velkre’s gaze turning toward his back. Only then did he notice Suvole. Suvole was riding on a horse and looking down at Urkel with a deriding expression. Myriad of heavy cavalry stood behind him, and Urkel could immediately tell that it was the Order of the Penlil.

Upon seeing Suvole, Urkel charged toward him with an unintelligible shout. Usually, a bigger size meant lower speed, but Urkel’s speed was overwhelming.

However, Suvole continued to look at Urkel with a relaxed face.

Urkel, who was running as fast as he could, almost as if he was about to break down and tear everything in his path, was forced to come to a stop with a loud roar. Countless spears from the cavalry had penetrated Urkel.

The long, thick spears that seemed to have been made to deal with monsters larger than humans fused with the tentacles from the Crack, effectively retraining Urkel. Despite his limbs gradually being torn apart, Urkel continued to push himself against the spears, causing the cavalry to start getting pushed back with a cracking sound.

“...Suvole!”

Suvole stepped back with a nervous look on his face when he saw Urkel slowly approaching him.

At that moment, Urkel’s face began to freeze as he was covered in white. Urkel desperately twisted his body, but it only cracked and broke like glass. Urkel’s movements completely stopped not long after the cold white air had covered him entirely.

Suvole wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

“General Nienna. If you did that on purpose, that’s a bad thing to do.”

“You’re the one who said you would stand in front of me.”

Nienna rode her horse around Survole with an interested expression on her face.

“He is definitely smaller than the demonic beasts belonging to the Crack, but it’s rare to find anyone with his level of energy. Most of them are mindless beasts anyway—they run away as soon as they get hurt. But not so for this one.”

“...Is that so?”

Nienna showed curiosity rather than disgust or fear upon seeing the bizarre figure of Urkel.

At that moment, Suvole once again realized that she was the general standing on the front line in the war against the Crack.

“But that’s about it.”

Nienna left a short comment and turned her back on Urkel.

Crack!

At that moment, Urkle’s body broke down into pieces. Suvole fell off of his horse when the broken ice and body fragments poured over him all of a sudden. But Nienna didn’t even bother to look back at Suvole, who had fallen to the ground.

“Knight. If you’re not used to horseback riding, just walk.”

Nienna also spoke to the knights of the Order of Penlil who followed her.

“Was this the last of the warriors of Arbalde?”

“I think so, General.”

“Are all the Templars dead as well?” Nienna asked while looking at the camp where Velkre had just been.

There was no one left inside the camps, and the same was true of Nora, who seemed to have been fatally wounded.

Nienna was curious for a moment, but soon shrugged; she didn’t care. The knight order was none of her concern anyway.

“We are heading to the fortress of Beldeve.”