Chapter 219: Those Who Were Sown
“……How did you get here?”
“I’ll explain later. Let’s deal with that black thing first.”
Russell, who had gotten off Kry, stood in front of a bewildered Julia. He knelt and lifted Julia, who was bleeding profusely, with one hand and placed her on Kry’s saddle.
“Eh! W, What are you doing?”
“You’re injured inside. If you leave it like that, you won’t be able to eat properly later and you’ll be shitting blood. You don’t have a hobby of shitting blood, do you?”
“S, Shitting blood? What, how dare you…”
Russell, who had been laughing at her crazy mumbling, gently rubbed Kry’s rump.
“Stay inside.”
Heeheeheeng!
Kry neighing, as if he understood, and walked quickly. Julia, who had been ready to say something, screamed and gripped Kry’s neck, curling up on the saddle.
Russell turned his head after confirming that Kry was jumping and treading on rubble as she approached the castle wall.
The black fog was arriving quickly.
Just then, Jess, who had finally descended the cliff, gasped and whispered.
“Hey, slow down a bit. Why did you go up the mountain and come around?”
“I had my reasons. Where’s Elenora?”
“I, I’m here.”
Elenora approached with a pale complexion.
“Why are you trembling so much?”
“I, I’m scared of heights…… Why did you go down without saying anything?”
“I had to come quickly because someone was about to die.”
At that point, the black fog that had approached quickly expanded wide and made a whooshing sound.
Jess quickly drew his rectangular shield and narrowed his eyes as Elenora whispered a prayer.
Russell, holding his greatsword, stood with both feet on the ground and assumed a stance.
“Here they come. We’ll figure out if that’s the real Hailyn as we fight. You guys do your best.”
Jess looked at Russell, perplexed, and said,
“How can we possibly stop all those corpses? Calia-nim or Lexi-nim, let alone Aellasiss-nim”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be joined by reinforcements.”
After he finished speaking, the Death Knight let forth a silent growl. It was clear that it was a roar.
As soon as the Death Knight removed the longsword from his waist, the corpses and zombies who had been standing back began to scream.
Jess murmured as he saw Russell dash towards the Death Knight, who was charging directly at him.
“If those reinforcements don’t come soon, we’re all going to die here.”
A tidal wave of black fog, white bones, and rotting flesh rushed towards them.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
“So this is the reinforcement?”
Lexi was wary of what Aellasis was holding in her hand. At first sight, it appeared to be an ordinary pouch—nothing more or less.
It was a standard leather bag with a little rough texture, a thick thickness, and an entry that could be folded up and fastened.
The pouch was the one Russell had found in the collapsed underground pit of Calisden two years ago.
It was a pouch found on an old table while Aellasis was still sleeping in an egg in Ismenios’ room.
Aellasis explained.
“Yeah. Russell said he found it in the room I was in.”
“The room you were in?”
Lexi appeared even more perplexed by Aellasis’s statements. Calia, who was scrutinizing the pouch, suddenly widened her eyes.
“No way. Can I take a look?”
“Sure.”
Calia, who had taken the pouch from Aellasis, studied it from all angles before opening the pouch’s entrance with somewhat quivering hands and placing her hand inside.
The pouch absorbed Calia’s arm up to her shoulder, despite its size.
“Heek? W, What? Are you okay?”
Lexi, horrified by the sight of the leather sack swallowing Calia’s arm, seized her. Then Calia was able to pull her arm out normally.
“What? You’re fine?”
“This is a subspace pocket. And it has an unimaginably large and deep space. To think that there was such a treasure……”
“This?”
Lexi removed the pouch from Calia’s hand and placed her hand inside. Then, as before, Lexi’s arm went deep inside.
Lexi, who had been swinging her upper body as if stirring the inside, pulled her hand out with a face of amazement. In her hand were gold coins and jewels.
“Wow…… Russell, that guy, was filthy rich…… I wondered where the money for the inn and accommodation came from. No, no, more than that. What does this mean that there’s something here that can deal with the undead army?”
“Give it to me. He said it would be in my hands if I searched for it.”
“You?”
Lexi handed over the pouch to Aellasis. Aellasis accepted the package and slipped her small hand inside.
After a while, Calia was astonished by what she took out, and Lexi made a look as if she wanted to know what it was.
“T, Though this is……”
“What is it? It’s a tooth, isn’t it? A crocodile tooth? It’s a bit big for that, though.”
Aellasis extracted a tooth larger than the palm of her hand. It was initially a lower tooth, but it had discolored and worn down over time.
However, its hardness and sharpness at the tip had not faded at all, and it looked like it could be used as a dagger right away.
“Spartoi……Those who were sown. I see why Russell said there was a way.”
“What? What’s this?”
“You’ll see. Aellasis? You’ll know better how to do it. Do you want to try it?”
Aellasis nodded. The place where they were standing was a large clearing on the mountain ridge, to the right of the undead army.
A boulder that had popped out in the center protruded outward like the edge of a cliff, creating a basin-like environment.
Aellasis held a single tooth from the purse in her left hand while spreading her right palm.
Swish!
The next moment, she pierced her palm with the tip of the tooth.
As if its appearance as a dagger could be used was not a lie, the tooth easily pierced Aellasis’s palm and drew blood.
It was a shocking sharpness, given that even iron could barely harm her skin.
White and transparent flesh was torn, and scarlet blood trickled down. Calia, who had been observing, unconsciously licked her lips, immediately covered her nose, and took a few steps backward. Lexi didn’t look at Calia, instead focusing on Aellasis.
Aellasis, who had blood on her palm, dug up the earth with her left foot and deposited the tooth there. She then covered the dug-up dirt with her foot again.
Aellasis’s right hand rose over it. She squeezed her fist with power, and blood poured from her palm.
As the first drop of blood fell, a dong sound echoed throughout the wide valley.
While Lexi was perplexed and Calia was lowering herself, Aellasis, as if possessed by something, concentrated on pouring drips of blood into the earth with a dull expression.
The second and third drips of blood fell. She then stepped back.
In a matter of seconds, the seeds Aellasis had planted showed signs of sprouting. The movement shook the entire valley, which was several hundred meters in diameter, where she, Calia, and Lexi were standing.
It was as if waves made of soil were trembling. The land, which had never been invaded by any outsider for hundreds or thousands of years, and which seemed like it would never be, began to shake.
Kudddudddudddd!
The mountain and ground shook violently, raising the possibility of a landslide. Lexi drew out two spears and inserted them into the ground to maintain her balance on the shaky ground, while Calia steadied herself with a blood spear.
Despite the rocking, Aellasis’ clear and graceful voice sounded forth.
“Those who have thrown themselves into irresistible fear, those who have wielded their swords on hard scales, those who have rejected the great command, rise! I called you back from the dead! Dragon warriors!”
White hand bones shot out, piercing the white snow that was shaking violently. Following that, arm bones emerged, then skulls, collarbones, spines, and pelvises.
They began as skeletons, but as each element of their body emerged, muscles and skin formed around them.
A red heart formed inside the empty rib cage, and the lungs expanded on both sides.
The trachea, esophagus, and intestines developed, while the blue nerve system grew up and down like a stem.
The process of covering the red muscles and the skin around them occurred in the blink of an eye.
When they had fully recovered, they held weapons in their right hands. There were various types of weapons.
Greatswords, longswords, swords, short swords, spears, shields, glaives, poleaxes, battle axes, war hammers, and so on were not all interchangeable.
They were a mixed group of men and women, completely naked, without even armor or underwear.
Their height, size, and appearance varied, but they all had one thing in common. Their expressions.
Warriors who bravely confronted the dragon and agreed to be revived in exchange for pawning their souls.
Their expressionless, soulless faces appeared to have been transplanted from blunt warriors.
The draugr, who had white snow on their heads or shoulders, looked at each other and gradually tensed their muscles.
The heat was so intense that the snow that had melted owing to their scorching bodies swirled about them like water. Then Aellasis stepped forward.
“Stop.”
They were halfway up the mountain, and there was snow blowing. Below, a glittering cliff and a slew of corpses were constantly releasing meaningless moans and groans, making it extremely deafening.
Yet, Aellasis’s voice pierced through the blizzard and wails, clearly and distinctly reaching the draugr’s ears.
“I know you’ve made a pact with my mother, and her mother, and her mother, all the way back.”
When Aellasis spoke, one of the draugrs who had been staring at each other raised his head to look at her.
A female draugr with black hair opened her mouth to Aellasis.
“Then you must also know very well why we fight, young dragon.”
The female draugr’s statements elicited nods from the whole draugr population. Aellasis spoke without hesitation.
“I know that you fight each other and leave only one person to choose the most qualified. I know.”
“If that’s the case……”
“But as you said, I am a dragon.”
Aellasis floated a foot into the air, interrupting the female draugr’s comments. All the draugr’s heads followed her.
“As the owner of the contract that has come down to me from my mother, and her mother, and her mother, I command you. Stop fighting for a moment and look down.”
At her instruction, the draugr crowded together and peered down the mountain.
The draugr could clearly see the undead because the altitude was low and they had exceptional physical ability.
Skeletons, banshees, and wraiths fly through the air, their spines waving like tails. Skeletons, zombies, draugr, and ghouls marched in hundreds toward a fortress, filling the passage between the cliff and the mountain.
The group resisting that advance was just a handful compared to the undead army.
However, a golden wave of light that occasionally emerged from the fortress was attempting to purify hundreds of undead.
Among them, the movement that flashed blue and tussled with the black fog was the most noticeable.
Dozens of draugr displayed impressive fighting skills, but a knight in black armor and a man brandishing a greatsword stood out.
Every time the knight swung his sword dozens of times per second, the guy blocked or deflected all of the strikes and extended his greatsword.
The draugr, who had turned their heads, exchanged glances before returning their gaze to Aellasis. The female draugr with black hair spoke again on their behalf.
“We saw.”
“Even if you choose the most qualified among you, you won’t live long with that army of corpses below. That’s not what the pact is about, is it? To prove your worth and live. This isn’t all you want to get by pledging your soul, is it, to live such a short life?”
“……”
At Aellasis’ remarks, the draugr exchanged glances, each gripping their weapon. There were men and women mixing together, but the air was so icy and chilly that the term disorder did not dare enter.
The male draugr raised his blade. Then he pointed to the corpses beneath them.
“The dragon is right. Our contract must be fulfilled. After we crush those skeletons.”
The others nodded in unison. The draugr formed a line on the mountainside and thrust their weapons forward.
Faced with bare corpses exposed to the snow and wind, the draugr began to sprint.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.
It sounded like dozens of horses were running at once. The warriors, priests, and knights of Keonitra Castle, who had been fighting the skeletons and zombies, glanced around as they heard the amazing sound.
“Where is that sound coming from?”
“O, Over there, over there!”
It took some time for them to find out where the sound was originating from because it was reflected off the mountain and rock. Soon, the occupants of the church noticed a snow cloud descending from the mountain on the left.
“L, Landslide!”
“Step back!”
“You idiot, how far is it from there to here to step back? Huh?”
It was not an avalanche. There were almost thirty naked men and female warriors.
They were all expressionless, running towards them with their eerie blades, looking surreal.
“W, What is that……”
“They’re all naked……”
The thirty naked warriors, draugr, who seemed to have lost their sense of shame, ran forward without hesitation, stabbing the right flank of the corpse army like a spearhead.
Kwa-gwang!
Rotten limbs and white bones floated toward the gray, damp sky.
Russell kicked the knight after using his greatsword to parry the Death Knight’s sword that was falling over his shoulder.
It was difficult for him to comprehend the chaos that had ensued in the army of the dead from his vantage point. However, his horse’s eyes instantly identified someone other than the Death Knight.
“Well done.”
Kagagak!
The Death Knight pumped strength into the sword he was facing, as if to tell him to concentrate on the fight.
Although they were both black swords, the Death Knight’s blade, which was billowing with black magic and mana, pressed down on Russell’s greatsword slightly more forcefully.
Russell had no intention of trying to match the Death Knight’s strength. As his legs and waist flexed, his log-like left leg lashed out at the Death Knight’s side.
Bang!
The Death Knight fell without even being able to scream. Russell let out a puff of breath towards the fallen knight and walked towards him with long strides.
“Let’s take off that dark helmet first.”
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