Chapter 454: Taking the First Step (2)

“Deploy the shields!”

Viola’s command rang out across the battlefield, cutting through the clash of steel.

Whoosh...!

Knights reached for the long cords strapped to their armor. With a sharp tug, blade-like panels unfurled from their backs, spreading into sharp, fan-like shields.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A cacophony erupted as the swarms of insects slammed into the shields, bearing down relentlessly on the knights.

“Don’t waste time trying to scatter them! Concentrate on the swarm and scorch them all! Magic battalion, get ready!” Viola shouted from behind the steel wall.

“Fireeee...!!”

Viola raised her Silver Wrath high above her head, then brought it down in a sweeping arc. At her signal, the mages stationed behind the knights unleashed a torrent of flames.

“Everyone except for the fifty, hold your positions and maintain formation! The rest of you, follow me!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Greys Fanpinel charged through the roaring flames, his armor streaked with soot. The murderous insects were momentarily held back by the inferno—but it wasn’t long before they surged after him and the fifty knights at his heels.

“We’ll be the bait! Magic battalion, adjust your bombardment to match our movement!” Greys shouted as he wiped the black grime from his face, his voice unwavering despite the very real danger of being consumed by the swarm.

The Fanpinel knight valiantly led the charge.

***

“Blue Knights!”

“Yes, sir!”

No further explanation was needed. The moment Kuwell’s sword left its scabbard, the knights lowered the visors of their helms and spurred their horses into motion.

“Waaaaahhh...!!”

The ships moored at Piasta Harbor had long since been ravaged by the Lice swarm. Though the insects were nearly invisible, the devastation they left behind was unmistakably horrifying.

Crack—! Boom...!!

Buildings in Piasta collapsed one by one, as though swept away by an invisible tide.

“Maintain the defensive line on the left flank! Split the order into two groups and establish the first and second walls quickly!”

“Understood!”

At Kuwell MacGovern’s orders, the knights dispersed with precision. Paul Hendt, hearing Kuwell’s voice for the first time in ages, felt oddly exhilarated, despite the life-or-death stakes of the battle.

The Blue Knights moved like a cohesive unit under Kuwell’s command. As he raised their massive banner high, the knights spread out in perfect formation.

“The rest is up to you,” said Kuwell, turning to the Free Army under Beikan’s leadership.

Between the defensive walls erected by the Blue Knights, Beikan’s warriors raised their long spears, ready to hold the line.

They truly are the empire’s greatest knight order

, Beikan observed the Blue Knights’ precision and discipline.

As a warrior of the Great Plains, he had never been one to fear others. Yet even Beikan couldn’t deny the aura of dominance Kuwell exuded—something that went beyond mere strength. Since the Oracle’s descent and the revelation of the Phrael in the Ice Cave, the presence of the MacGovern swordsman had grown only more profound.

While the other original Sword Masters remained stagnant, the one once hailed as the strongest seems to have ascended to an even higher realm.

Though Beikan lacked mana, his instincts as a seasoned warrior allowed him to sense the difference.

Is this his way of atoning to our lord? I don’t know what drove him to push himself even further, but...

Beikan gazed upon the shield wall created by the Blue Knights.

“Their defense is truly impenetrable.”

When they first arrived at Piasta, the prospect of stopping Lice had seemed daunting. Despite their experience in conquering countless maelstroms and slaying innumerable monsters, the uncertainty that came with facing an invisible enemy left even the most seasoned warriors uneasy.

If we had relied solely on the strength we wrested from the empire, their forces would be nonexistent by now. In that case, stopping this on our own would have been impossible.

Beikan now understood why Karyl had been so determined to minimize the empire’s losses during the war.

He truly saw the bigger picture.

Even in the face of a relentless tide of enemies, Karyl’s composure and foresight continued to inspire awe.

“Free Army, prepare for battle!”

Clink! Swooosh—!!

At Beikan’s command, the soldiers gripped their weapons, emerging through the gaps between the shields created by the Blue Knights.

“Our lord will take a step in a direction we cannot even imagine. Our sole duty is defending this land. Nothing more, nothing less.”

With that, Beikan pulled the reins of his horse firmly.

Neigh...!

The horse reared up, letting out a piercing cry.

“Warriors of the Free Army, raise your spears and bows! Let us face them together!”

***

“Stay sharp! Maintain the formation and wait until they come closer!”

Hwarin’s voice rang through the freezing northern air, her commanding presence undiminished by the biting cold. Her lithe, muscular frame rippled with energy as she moved.

“Hey kid, are you ready?” she went on. “The stage belongs to you now.”

At her words, Lilliana glanced over her shoulder. Perched on behind them on the hill were three smaller figures.

“...I still can’t get used to this cold,” muttered Kayla Spear, shivering despite the thick cloak wrapped tightly around her.

“The north really isn’t my place...”

She recalled the time Karyl had declared independence from the empire and led the Free Army northward toward the imperial capital. The frigid winds that now lashed at her face felt even harsher than she remembered.

“Hahaha, you southerners are so fragile,” Hwarin teased.

“I hope you never visit the south. I wouldn’t want to drag that large body of yours through the desert heat when you collapse,” Kayla shot back, unfazed.

Hwarin sneered at her, impressed by her spirit. Though small in stature and lacking the sheer combat power of her northern counterparts, Kayla was nonetheless the leader of her tribe, and that alone commanded respect.

“The Fierce Fire Formation may be an old one, but there ain’t nothing better than that to unleash our tribal power,” Kayla said confidently.

The Fierce Fire Formation, devised by the 17th head of the Spear tribe, Ordo Spear, was considered an ancient tactic. But just as Anthem always believed in potential for progress, Kayla also believed that the Fierce Fire Formation could evolve.

That was why Karyl had included her in the expedition to conquer Pharel.

“You know the strategy, right?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” Lilliana replied without hesitation.

Satisfied, Kayla nodded and up the hill. Facing the oncoming swarms of insects below in the gorge, she shouted to the troops, “Warriors!”

“Waaaahhh...!!”

It was truly a breathtaking scene—the southern and northern warriors united in one place.

“Let’s set the north ablaze!”

Kayla Spear’s commanding voice rang out, muffling the fierce blizzard.

“Unleash the Flaming Formation!”

***

“The battle has begun. The swarm is attacking the continent, from the harbor to the north and south alike. So why is the commander standing idle in a place like this?”

Miliana had been searching for Karyl since the war began. And when she finally found him, he was just standing there motionlessly, seemingly lost thought.

“Hey. What are you doing in the imperial tomb, at a time like this?” she grumbled.

“I’ve decided to leave it for now,” Karyl said with a sigh, as though sealing a decision.

Miliana stared at him, confused, but he simply shrugged.

“I can’t meet him yet, not while Pharel remains unconquered. There’s too much I want to know, but this isn’t the time. I almost made a fool of myself.”

Turning away from the tombs, he brushed his thoughts aside.

“Israphil.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Check Yurin’s location.”

“He appears to be nearing his destination. Would you like me to connect you with Wingel?”

“Yes.”

As Karyl nodded, a magical projection emerged before him.

“We’ve arrived,” said Wingel, removing his helmet and bowing slightly toward Karyl. “Pharel is just ahead.”

“Yurin and Hawat will be joining you soon. Lice’s attacks came sooner than expected, but the plan remains unchanged. You know what to do.”

“Understood. No need to worry.”

“The battle there will be fiercer than anywhere else.”

“That’s why we’ve spent all this time hidden in the warehouse. You won’t be disappointed.”

Wingel’s confident reply brought a faint smile to Karyl’s lips.

“Golem battalion, prepare for combat!”

At Wingel’s command, the hundreds of golems surrounding Ascalon moved into formation, kicking up clouds of dust.

“Wait a second! What is that?!” Miliana exclaimed, frowning as she stared at the magical projection.

It wasn’t the presence of the towering golems that shocked her—it was the massive structure before them.

“...Pharel?!”

She was utterly stunned.

With the continent overwhelmed by the Calamity, merely fending off the swarms was a monumental challenge. And yet, in a display of sheer audacity—or perhaps madness—Karyl had been devising a plan to strike at Pharel itself.

“That’s right,” Karyl confirmed calmly. “We’re going to take Pharel.”

“But your so-called Ten of the Oracle are scattered across the continent right now! Didn’t I warn you not to try to do this alone?”

Miliana’s voice rose, her frustration clear.

“And that’s why you sent your sisters to the south while staying in the capital. To keep an eye on me and stop me from going alone.”

To that, Miliana flushed crimson, hesitating to respond.

“Th-That’s ridiculous... and besides the point! How do you expect to reach the top of Pharel with the continent ravaged by the Calamity?!”

Her exasperation made Karyl smile faintly.

“I’ve thought about this a lot. If we only defend against the calamity without taking Pharel, humanity will still fall.”

Although things had shifted significantly from the previous timeline, Karyl remembered vividly how humanity’s future had unfolded before.

Back then, when the final Calamity struck, humanity was left with no army—no men to fight back, and no hope to cling to.

“That doesn’t mean conquering Pharel will be easy.”

Karyl knew that better than anyone. After all, he had crawled for eons through that oppressive darkness, fighting with everything he had to reach the top of that accursed tower.

Yula had framed conquering Pharel as the only solution, but Karyl knew the truth—it was a gambit that could just as easily hasten humanity’s destruction.

“The gods do not wish for humanity to survive.”

“Then...”

“My lord, we’ve arrived!”

Wingel’s voice broke through the tense atmosphere.

The Aegis, delivered by Hawat, was mounted onto Ascalon’s massive arm. As it locked into place, the ignition stone embedded in the colossus’s chest began to glow with a fierce light.

“I am no longer a warrior fighting for the gods,” Karyl said, his tone cold and resolute. “And that means there’s no reason for me to obediently climb the stairs they’ve laid out, as they commanded.”

Click—

Vroom—!!!

With both arms, Ascalon gripped the enormous Aegis and hurled it with all its might toward the towering structure of Pharel.

Before, I was alone. I had no choice but to walk the path you had laid out for me, Yula. I fought the Calamities and climbed Pharel because there was nothing else I could do.

Karyl stared intently at the Pharel in the magical projection.

“But no more.”

His eyes glimmered with a newfound determination.

“Just as history has been rewritten and the future reshaped, I no longer need to follow the path you’ve crafted, Yula.”

BOOOOOM...!!

The Aegis struck Pharel’s walls with an earth-shaking explosion, the impact echoing across the desolate battlefield.

“Reaching the summit isn’t the only way to conquer it,” Karyl murmured, raising a finger to the sky.

“...!?”

“If we can’t reach the summit, I’ll just bring it down beneath my feet,” he whispered.

“Golem battalion! All units, attack!”

At Wingel’s cry, the golems surged forward, their massive forms thundering across the ground toward Pharel.

Ghaaaaarhh...!!

The crimson wyvern soared above them, waiting for its moment to strike.

“Pharel?”

Karyl’s sharp voice cut through the chaos as he watched flames erupting from the towering structure, rising from the now-embedded Aegis.

“We’ll just bring it crashing down.”