Chapter 310

While Valentin was tilting his head, pondering the source of the smell, Oleg, with his arms crossed, silently glanced at Ha-shal-leur and then smirked.

A feeling slightly different from hostility. His perked-up tail faintly revealed a sense of satisfaction.

After standing there for a while, Oleg approached Ryurik.

“Shouldn’t we start attacking soon? Just standing here watching won’t make the castle collapse on its own.”

“Right. We should.”

Nodding, Ryurik walked to the front of the formation.

The warriors, who had stopped their chatter, followed behind.

The warriors’ gazes turned toward their king.

Ryurik, the Winter Wolf.

The hero who united over ten tribes to create a nation of beastmen and turned the seemingly indestructible northern wall into rubble.

The strongest beastman of the current era.

“I won’t make a long speech. There’s no need for it. As your king, all I have to say is this.”

Ryurik turned his head and scanned the warriors.

The warriors’ eyes were filled with reverence, almost like faith.

“Aren’t you tired of a life where you eat each other out of hunger, where the knife-like blizzard seeps through your fur? Why must we live like that? Right over there, there’s prey with everything you desire! Look at that wall!”

Ryurik pointed toward the Paleun Castle.

Paleun. The castle of their enemy, which had blocked them for hundreds of years since they fled over the mountains to escape the cursed Carolus.

Today was the day to spill Paleun’s blood on the snowy field.

“That wall is the last boundary separating winter and summer, harshness and abundance! Once we cross it, all that awaits you is endless prey and warm sunlight! Doesn’t the thought alone make your mouth water?”

The warriors roared in unison.

“Let’s go! This battle will decide the fate of our—no, our entire race! Teach them the cruelty of winter! Kill them all, devour them all! The season of hunting, the time of feasting, has come!”

The howls of thousands of beasts tore through the night sky.

Revealing their wild ferocity, the beastmen’s army charged toward the castle walls.

Thus began the battle that would determine their destiny.

“Catapults! Load the ammunition! Aim not at the walls, but above them!”

“Yes!”

Nazar, just before running off with Ryurik, left his final command to the catapult operators.

This was a battle where even deploying all their warriors didn’t guarantee victory. He, too, had to fight on the front lines as a great warrior instead of commanding the rear.

The hybrid warriors operating the catapults busily loaded the next ice boulder.

“We’re going to break the gate! Follow us!”

The giant squad, led by Vasily and Viktor, broke away from the group and charged toward the gate.

Among the beastmen, these were the ones with exceptional size and strength. They were more suited to breaking walls than climbing them.

All the other beastmen scattered and sprinted toward the walls.

They carried no equipment except for armor to protect themselves and weapons to wield. Climbing the walls was as easy as using their claws.

—

Ryurik’s speech was clearly audible even to Ha-shal-leur, who was watching from the castle walls.

To her, it was nothing more than nonsensical chatter that didn’t move her at all.

“What a load of crap.”

Ha-shal-leur sneered as she drew her bowstring.

No one responded, but others likely thought the same.

“The audacity of these man-eating beasts. If they had just quietly lived off livestock, we wouldn’t have driven them out.”

They seemed to claim that humans had forced them into a harsh life, but even to Ha-shal-leur, who wasn’t from here, it sounded like nonsense.

Just looking at the half-humans, dragon-kin, and elves who coexisted peacefully with humans was enough to refute their claims.

…Though the elves might have slightly different thoughts.

Anyway, being driven into the snowy plains was entirely their own doing.

Whining about it being unfair was just ridiculous.

‘Well, I guess it’s natural for dogs to bark nonsense.’

Ha-shal-leur chuckled and fired another arrow.

There was no need to aim carefully. The area below the walls was overflowing with targets.

The red arrow, like a shooting star, scattered flesh across the snowy field.

Beastmen screamed and fell, torn apart by the blade of life force.

“Don’t be afraid! It’s just a sharp wind! As long as you’re not hit directly, you can regenerate!”

Oleg shouted fiercely. True to his words, the beastmen who had been grazed by the arrows were already getting back up, regenerating severed limbs and torn organs at a rapid pace.

No matter how sharp the attack, unless it was silver or Jin’s energy, it couldn’t stop the beastmen’s regeneration.

Though the arrowheads were made of silver, the blade of the arrow was merely a manifestation of life force.

Unless they were completely slaughtered to the point where they couldn’t regenerate their heads or entire bodies, losing limbs was just a minor injury that even hybrids could recover from quickly.

—

Ha-shal-leur could clearly see the scene.

The beasts that had been screaming and rolling on the ground were now getting up as if nothing had happened.

“Still, the Eokseonsi doesn’t seem to have much effect on the Suin.”

[Of course not. It’s meant to slaughter humans in light armor. It’s not a technique for hunting beasts.]

As if to say, “What obvious nonsense,” Hersela muttered with a mix of reproach.

“So, is there any technique that works well against those guys?”

[Why would there be? It’s rare to even encounter those beasts on the Great Plains.]

Since reaching the level of a Grand Warrior, Hersela had continuously developed various techniques using the solidified Life Force… but most of them were techniques for killing people. She had never even thought of devising attacks to deal with enemies who regenerated as stubbornly as the Suin.

Jin Yeryun might work, but that technique wasn’t designed for long-range combat, and it wasn’t something Hasal could use either.

“You’re less creative than I thought.”

[And you’re more shameless than I thought.]

Hersela let out a disbelieving laugh.

So far, she had taught Hasal seven techniques.

Mangin, Eokseonsi, Nakwachang.

Cheoksan, Nakgoe, Up-hwa, and even Geunrimbo.

Most of them were just basic techniques, though.

There were other techniques like Jin Yeryun, but she had never taught them to Hasal.

Hasal fought well enough on her own, and it was clear that teaching her more wouldn’t yield much efficiency.

The techniques beyond what she had taught required razor-sharp focus and control, like walking on a blade’s edge.

Hasal’s control over Life Force had improved compared to before, but it was still only at the level of being able to wield it freely. It was impossible for her to manipulate and control it with the same precision as Hersela.

[If it’s a regenerating enemy, wouldn’t cutting off their head kill them? Instead of wasting time thinking, why not improve your archery?]

“Easier said than done!”

Grumbling, Hasal relentlessly fired arrows at the Suin.

The Eokseonsi, though incomplete, was too weak to be effective.

Rather than wasting energy on an ineffective Eokseonsi, it was more efficient to fire arrows with just enough force to blow off heads.

If it didn’t hit the head, the attack would be meaningless, but the occasional flashes of light struck true, obliterating the beasts’ heads without a trace.

[Three or four hits out of ten. Don’t go around calling yourself Ka`har.]

“Isn’t that pretty good for this distance?”

[…It’s a shame I can’t show you the archery of a Grand Warrior. That girl with the messy hair would shoot much better than you.]

Hersela’s sarcastic sigh.

Before Hasal could retort, a flash of light shot from the watchtower behind them like a storm.

– Goooooo!

A deafening roar, unlike anything an arrow should make, echoed in their ears.

The rushing wind violently whipped Hasal’s hair.

An arrow, almost like a javelin, tore through the air toward the enemy.

– Kwaaaaang!

With no margin of error, the massive arrow struck its target with pinpoint accuracy.

Like a cannonball hitting its mark, the ground erupted in a volcanic spray of snow.

When the white mist settled, only the massive arrow embedded in the ground and the wreckage of the catapult remained.

[Look at that. She’s ten times better than you.]

“Hey, my specialty is swordsmanship. Archery is just a secondary skill.”

Hasal shrugged and grumbled.

The second massive arrow shot through the air.

—

For the hybrid Suin operating the catapults, Milia’s arrows were nothing short of a thunderbolt.

The shockwave alone was enough to knock them back, and a direct hit would pierce even armor, leaving a hole the size of a head.

“Ugh… What was that? A javelin…?”

The fallen Suin shook their heads and staggered to their feet.

The unlucky ones who were grazed by the arrows clutched their torn flesh, groaning. Bright red blood gushed from between their fingers.

Injuries that showed no sign of healing. The bleeding wouldn’t stop.

For them, who weren’t purebloods, even a simple silver arrow was a significant threat.

“Over there! It came from that tower!”

A Suin standing next to another catapult pointed toward the watchtower beyond the wall.

Little did he know, those words would be his last.

The next moment, what filled his vision was death itself, swirling with turbulent air, flying straight toward him.

“Ah.”

The Suin’s head turned to pulp, scattering in all directions.

The catapult behind him shattered into pieces, and the debris covered his corpse like a blanket.