Chapter 596

The great warrior of Ai-shan, Ihan Kunuma, had never imagined that he would ever cower in fear before an enemy.

Even during the war with the Tribal Alliance that had led him to the realm of a great warrior, or in his younger days as a mere warrior, he had faced countless life-threatening situations, but he had never once felt fear.

The only thing an Ai-shan warrior should fear is the wrath of their Kagan, Or-han. That was what he had believed all his life.

Until now.

“Guh, ughhh…!”

A warrior, his face gripped by a hand clad in black armor, let out a single, agonized groan as he convulsed. Bones and flesh, muscles and organs, all tore apart piece by piece, and a waterfall of blood poured through the gaps.

Like weathered rocks turning to sand, chunks of flesh scattered. Kunuma felt his heart lurch again at the repeated, horrifying spectacle.

Before his eyes, a person was literally being torn apart!

– Pssshhh…

In just a few seconds, a person was reduced to a pile of dust floating on a pool of blood.

‘What is this, what is this monster?!’

Kunuma barely managed to steady his trembling body and stared in terror at the monster slowly walking toward him.

—

The flames rising from the southwest garrison. Thinking something had gone wrong, he hurriedly ran toward it, only to encounter a hooded sorcerer clad in black, his entire body shrouded.

Suspicious of someone wandering alone in the dead of night, fully covered, Kunuma attacked first, but that was a fatal mistake.

He should have chosen to flee. What they had encountered was not a suspicious human, but a living calamity merely mimicking human form.

– Krrrrrumble!

The moment the sorcerer placed his left hand on the ground, the earth shattered into pieces, collapsing like a dried-up lake. It was as if a landslide had been reversed.

Mounted warriors were swept away by the collapsing ground, tumbling inward and falling from their horses, while shattered rocks rained down on them. Dozens of warriors perished in an instant.

And what followed was a one-sided slaughter beyond comprehension.

The warriors who had survived the collapse charged at the assailant, but the sorcerer, who had overturned the earth with a single gesture, effortlessly dodged the combined assault of Kunuma and dozens of other warriors, slaughtering them all with ease.

– Kwaaaaang!

A warrior was kicked and exploded into a spray of blood.

“Kyaaaah!”

With each swing of the longsword he had drawn, those who hadn’t even been touched by the blade were sliced to pieces.

“Guh, guhh…!”

“Hagalaz.”

The warrior gripped by the left hand let out a final scream and crumbled into dust.

“You monster!”

“Die-!”

The spears of the warriors who had barely managed to close in pierced the sorcerer’s torso-

– Kkkkrrrkkk!

“What…!”

They slid off with a screeching sound, as if they were facing the Indestructible Body of their Kagan, Or-han.

“This can’t be…!”

“Indeed.”

The sorcerer muttered in a hollow voice, as if in disbelief, before unleashing a violence that no human body could withstand.

It didn’t take long for the warriors to be annihilated.

—

And now, once again.

“You, what are you…!”

Kunuma, his legs giving out, desperately scrambled backward, shouting from his crouched position. He couldn’t stand, couldn’t swing his weapon. He could only tremble like a rabbit before a predator.

The dagger in his right hand, once his reliable companion, now seemed as small and weak as a toothpick, having lost all its fighting spirit.

The sorcerer, who had slaughtered over a hundred warriors in an instant, shook off the blood from his sword and walked toward him.

No, was he even a sorcerer? To Kunuma, the being before him was no human. Something terrifyingly strong and horrifyingly ominous. A calamitous entity, like the incarnation of disaster burning with blue flames.

“Answer me-!”

Fear. His heart lurched, his limbs froze, and Kunuma felt tears welling up as he screamed in desperation.

The opponent responded, narrowing his glowing blue eyes as if amused by the trembling figure.

ᠪᡳ ᠰᡠᠸᡝᠨᡳ ᡥᠠᠰᠠᡤᠠᠨ

“I am your calamity.”

Contrary to Kunuma’s expectation of a monstrous, chilling voice, it was a young woman’s voice, albeit mixed with strange noises.

“Calamity…? No, more than that. This voice… where have I heard it before?”

Despite his fear, Kunuma felt a sense of familiarity with the voice and stared directly at the masked monster’s face.

“You’ve heard it before? Yes, I suppose you have.”

The monster, who called herself the Calamity, touched her mask—click—and the metal mask covering her face below the nose was removed. The face that was revealed made Kunuma forget his fear for a moment, his eyes widening in shock.

“How about now? Do you recognize me?”

A face that was a mix of Ka`har and Westerner features. Blue eyes flickering like will-o’-the-wisps. Sharp eyes resembling Or-han’s, with an overwhelmingly ominous aura. Such a distinctive appearance couldn’t be mistaken.

“Ai-shan Gi-or, Ha-shal-leur…!”

Kunuma muttered the name in a daze.

Ai-shan Gi-or Ha-shal-leur. The woman before him, baring her teeth like a beast, was once expected to become Ai-shan’s greatest warrior, but had betrayed her father, sided with the Westerners, and sought her own glory!

“Yes, I have returned. Here, on the grasslands of Ai-shan. As the calamity you will face.”

Ha-shal-leur curled her lips. Her voice, strangely heightened, and her exaggerated tone, as if in a theatrical performance, were exactly as Kunuma remembered.

“This can’t be. How…!”

Kunuma’s trembling stopped. Was it because he was so shocked that he forgot his fear? Shock had gripped his mind.

“How, in just a year, did you gain such power…!”

If she had been some unknown monster, he might have been able to accept it.

But a woman who had been at the level of a great warrior when she left for the West had returned in just a year, wielding superhuman strength and sinister sorcery, becoming a powerhouse on par with the Kagan. How could this make sense?

There’s a limit to how much one can grow, but she had grown too strong.

“Experience. Talent. Luck. You seem to lack all three. Seeing how you can’t even fight back, you’re also lacking in courage.”

Ha-shal-leur sneered at Kunuma as she approached him. Close enough to see the cold sweat on his forehead. The crimson aura rising behind her ominously flickered.

A suffocating, thick, and ominous killing intent. Kunuma felt as if he were sinking into a swamp with teeth.

‘This is dangerous. This woman is too dangerous…!’

His shoulders shook. His breathing quickened, his pupils trembled. His teeth chattered and clashed. The fear he had forgotten in his shock was beginning to resurface.

‘I must inform the Kagan…!’

He had to. That such a monster was roaming the Great Plains, hiding her identity.

Before irreparable damage was done, he had to somehow inform the Kagan and have this monster subjugated.

Otherwise, countless warriors would be pointlessly slaughtered.

– Thud.

However, five fingers covering Kunuma’s face cut off his thoughts.

A cold, chilling touch. Time seemed to stop as Ha-shal-leur’s left hand suddenly gripped his head and lifted him up.

“Eek! Let go! Let go! Let me go!”

“Do you think I’ll let you go if you say that?”

Kunuma let out a shrill scream and convulsed. The final screams of the warriors who had turned to dust flashed through his mind. The image of himself being torn apart.

But what awaited him was not the collapse sorcery, but a crimson lightning spike that pierced his skull and spread through his body.

Thunderous Rend. The lightning of the Life Force Technique that had entered his body tore him apart.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

The agony of every nerve in his body being ripped apart. Kunuma screamed, spurting blood from every orifice, and died instantly.

Ha-shal-leur shook the lifeless corpse once, then tossed it onto the pile of bodies like trash and walked away.

—

Thus, the troops rushing toward the southwest stronghold were annihilated by the hands of the calamity before they could reach their destination.

One great warrior and a hundred and ten warriors. Their journey to the afterlife wouldn’t be lonely. Ha-shal-leur, who had gone to the barracks where they had stayed, sent the rest of them to the afterlife as well.

After slaughtering the two military strongholds, Ha-shal-leur tore the fabric from a tent and made a large flag, planting it in the ground.

「 Ai-shan Gi-or Ha-shal-leur 」

The name written in the blood of the warriors fluttered on the flagpole.

======[ Ha-shal-leur ]======

[ Shouldn’t you be hiding your identity? ]

‘You said to reveal my name after killing over five hundred. From then on, I need to draw proper attention.’

I reminded Hersela, who was puzzled, of what Ludwig had said, as I stomped the ground around the flagpole.

Dawn was approaching, so it was time to return to the barrier.

—

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