34. Chapter 34
The war between the Four-Country Alliance and the Highserk Empire was about to reach its climax. The Four-Country Alliance had destroyed two battalions of the Highserk Empire, even though they had suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and the defense layer had fallen except the last layer, the U-shaped layer in front of the castle gate.
Tomorrow, they would do an all-out attack on the castle gate, and a large number of supplies and soldiers were gathering at the captured layer. More than half of the soldiers went to bed before the big offensive, with the exception of the commanders and sentry soldiers of each country who participated in the late war council.
Jackson, a Ferrius soldier, was unfortunately assigned as a night watchman. Although the Highserk Empire had been pushed back to the fortress walls, Jackson wasn’t entirely comfortable. After all, there was a danger of enemy spies and rebels infiltrating their camp and taking advantage of the darkness of night. After all, he had heard that the total number of dead in both armies had exceeded 15,000. And it could increase.
In this battle to capture Sarajevo Fortress, there were many fierce battles in the defense layers before the fortress. Among them, the battle in the 3rd layer caused the greatest damage on both sides due to the fierce hand-to-hand combat. In this layer, there were many large holes, opened by a large number of magic attacks from the magic-user soldiers plus two of the three heroes from the other world of the Craist Kingdom. More than 5,000 soldiers were randomly buried there.
Despite the sprinkling of holy water and the prayers of military chaplains, there had been a number of corpses that became undead, and today alone there were reports of 10 undead. Jackson himself suppressed the undead of the Highserk corpses, whose eyes were hollowed out. Even if the corpses became undead, since the limbs and both eyes had been crushed, the threat should be low. Though, it was some idiots who thought so and actually did such stupid things. So maybe, they were cursed by an evil spirit for doing so, or it was just bad luck, because the corpses that became undead were more than ever.
Jackson was also disgusted with the Highserk Empire, but at least he knew they wouldn’t be so crazy as to kill the non-resistant POWs and destroy corpses.
Jackson believed that he wouldn’t fall into the madness of his allies. But ironically, he was guarding the 3rd layer, which had become a huge graveyard, and the 6th layer, which was the largest and highest of the 13 layers.
In this place, from which most of the undead had been confirmed, 40 soldiers, including Jackson, had been ordered to guard it, and they continued to patrol. The magic stone lamp in his hand, the torch, and the moonlight were the lights that kept Jackson’s view.
Not far away, three sentries shouted from the spot Jackson was overseeing. Jackson didn’t know what had happened. But it was the soldiers chatting happily in the graveyard-like area, and he could guess that part of their heads was strange; they had to be crazy. Even when he asked from a distance what had happened, no answer came. But judging by the equipment, it had to have been a Highserk soldier.
Jackson let his eyes wander left and right and turned in the direction of his comrades
At the thought that it had to be undead, Jackson felt tired. He was tired of it, but it was his job, and if left unchecked, it would cause damage.
The sense of strangeness grew the closer Jackson got. The corpses should have no equipment and their eyes and limbs should be crushed. But the one he saw didn’t match any of them.
Preparing for the worst case, Jackson had the magic stone lamp in one hand, holding his shield, and his longsword in his other hand.
“Hiii―― it’s a lie. He should have died already.”
The attitude of his comrades changed, and their voices became distraught. There happened to be a magic user nearby, so with the magic, <Torch>, the appearance of the one standing was revealed.
The whole body was stained with blood and flesh, and all the fingers of the left hand were twisted. Up to this point, there was no difference from the corpses in this area. However, when Jackson saw the man put the mask on his expressionless face, he couldn’t stop shaking all over his body. The reason was that the man who had supposedly died during the capture of the 3rd layer under the leadership of the Order of Reharzen was wearing the rumored red demon mask.
The man with a demon mask
“I-is he the user of《Demon Fire》, the one manipulating that 《Fire of Hell Gate》?!!”
Jackson cried out reflexively. A Highserk soldier of unknown origin with a terrifying “Skill” that could burn a group of soldiers alive, was standing there.
Jackson remembered the man’s characteristics because the soldiers the man had seriously injured kept talking about it.
Remembering all the conversations, Jackson, who was preparing for battle, couldn’t move his legs.
The moment the nearby soldier pointed his weapon, the hot air instantly dried Jackson’s lips and eyes. His mouth sucked in a little of the air and felt as if the inside of his mouth was burned. However, Jackson was lucky. His distance and the fact that he was behind other soldiers helped him avoid fatal injury. The rising heat and the bright blue flame that felt like a sun in the night formed instantly, and the soldiers were engulfed by the fire.
Jackson couldn’t even scream anymore and his knees had given out. He had no choice but to crawl away.
As Jackson pondered why it had become this way, he kept cursing, “Damn it, DAMN IT! No one should ever play with the corpses!”.
Jackson thought it had to be the stupid soldiers playing with the corpses. He blamed this strange situation on his comrades. Like the unfortunate soldiers before him, he himself would soon become a human torch and dance like crazy. Jackson was determined to join them soon, but the idea of his own death ended up as mere imagination.
The user of《Demon Fire》 disappeared into the shadows of the embankment of this layer together with the hot air with incredible speed.
When Jackson saw this, he understood. It wasn’t that he was forgiven. It was just that the man wanted to go where there were as many people as possible. So the target was undoubtedly the 6th layer, and the unprotected sleeping soldiers would soon be attacked. Although he knew this, his legs were so heavy as if he was cursed and therefore couldn’t warn his surroundings.
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Can’t wait for the next chapter!
Keep up the good work mate.