Chapter 256

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

When faced with an unbearable truth, people generally go through five stages of reaction. The same was true for the tens of thousands of conscripted soldiers.

The truth that their families had already become worm food or something even more horrifying.

It was a truth too brutal for them to accept.

At first, they denied the truth itself. That’s why they attacked me.

They lied to themselves, believing that if they could just defeat Leopold’s army, they could save their families.

After being captured, when they woke up, they cursed at us.

They spewed nonsense like, “You’re the ones who killed tens of thousands of lives,” or “What kind of holy war is this, coming so late?”

Some even tried to go berserk and cause chaos, so the soldiers and knights had to subdue them.

If they hadn’t been tied up beforehand, there might have been a riot within the camp.

After the anger subsided—or rather, was suppressed—they began to beg the knights.

Please, go save their families right now. Or at least let them go themselves.

It was a plea that couldn’t be granted.

We needed some time to heal the wounded soldiers and secure supplies for the attack on the Venes territory.

We couldn’t release the conscripted prisoners either.

Eventually, the tens of thousands of prisoners sank into despair, as if they had given up on life.

Some stared blankly into the void, cursing the gods. Others refused to eat the rations they were given, wanting to die.

Some even laughed or cried all day, as if they had gone mad.

The priests were taking care of those prisoners, but… no one knew if they would ever recover.

It was a fate too cruel for mere farmers to bear.

Some even requested to join Leopold’s army to seek revenge. Though not many—about three thousand.

Leopold must have been deeply conflicted.

They were in a better state than those who had given up on life, but it was still a burden to let them join.

Considering their skills, at best, they would only become monster fodder if deployed as infantry.

They couldn’t ride horses or shoot arrows, so other deployments were impossible from the start.

Entrusting them with supply route management was also out of the question, as they couldn’t be fully trusted.

But outright rejecting them was risky too. If those who had sworn revenge were denied their only goal, who knows what kind of reckless actions they might take.

So, Leopold eventually accepted their request.

They’re currently being trained in archery, focusing on suppression fire… though it’s unclear if it will yield any results.

Four days after the Battle of Jeren Plains.

Once the damage control and resupply were somewhat completed, a military council was held in Leopold’s tent to discuss future operations.

According to Lacey, the plan was to march to the Venes territory, surround it, and set it on fire to burn everything down.

It wouldn’t kill Isabella, but… it would still deal some damage to the monsters. Not a bad judgment.

====[Leopold’s Army Camp]====

“Monster ambush! Alert! Report to the knights!”

“Again? How many times is this now?!”

The march to the Venes territory was nothing short of a grueling ordeal.

We had an idea from the moment the images were shown, but Isabella, now seemingly unconcerned about hiding her identity as a witch, repeatedly sent monsters to ambush us.

They weren’t particularly strong monsters… but they came almost every two hours.

Each time, Leopold’s forces had to halt their advance and engage in battle.

“That damn witch…!”

The constant, repetitive ambushes, day and night, left everyone on edge and mentally exhausted.

Given the strength of the forces gathered here, the extermination itself wasn’t difficult…

But no matter how quickly we responded, we couldn’t prevent casualties.

—-

“Earthworms!”

“Scatter! They’ll suck you in!”

The cracked ground creaked and split.

The soldiers, now familiar with the phenomenon, shouted urgent warnings… but it was a bit too late.

Those on the outer edges of the danger zone quickly threw themselves out of harm’s way, but those clustered in the middle couldn’t.

The expressions of those facing death beneath their feet twisted in horror.

– Kwa-rur-rung!

With a thunderous roar from underground, a massive hole opened in the center of the camp.

The split ground turned into rock fragments, disappearing into the black hole as if being sucked in. Along with the unfortunate soldiers who had been standing on it.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“Save meeeee!”

The screams of a dozen soldiers echoed like a chorus, then abruptly cut off with a *thud*.

All that remained was the sound of something chewing, wet and squelchy.

Then, something massive burst out of the hole.

“Grooooooar!”

A bug so thick it measured two to three meters in diameter. A massive creature over ten meters long.

Its funnel-shaped, circular mouth glowed red, and hundreds of teeth lining from its mouth to its throat were embedded with torn chunks of flesh.

It had no eyes, but instead, long tentacles—whether hair or feelers—sprouted around its lips, wriggling incessantly.

Its segmented body was covered in legs resembling those of a centipede, and its front pair of legs had massive, sharp claws like a mole’s.

A burrower worm.

A monster that digs through the ground with its front legs, creating holes, and devours any prey that falls in.

Since it was hard to detect while hiding underground, soldiers had to endure losses every time it appeared.

And besides this one, there were three other monsters.

“Magic Corps, fire at will! Roast those bugs!”

“Paleon Knights, prepare for battle! Charge as soon as the bombardment ends!”

The lightning summoned by the mages tore through the air, striking the monsters’ bodies.

Even those that could withstand fire couldn’t handle the nerve-shredding lightning.

The giant worms writhed in agony, letting out painful roars.

Seizing the opportunity, the knights’ spears pierced through the gaps in the exoskeletons, and black fluid oozed out from the torn flesh.

Only those who had reached the level of masters could shatter the hard exoskeletons head-on.

“Haaaah!”

Paleon’s master, Richard, scraped and tore through the exoskeleton with his saw-like blade, like peeling bark off an old tree.

As the shell was ripped away, the monster’s flesh stretched and tore along with it.

“Now! Everyone, attack! Aim for the exposed areas!”

“Gut it completely!”

The knights’ swords tore through the monster’s insides.

Unlike their steel-hard exoskeletons, the insides of these bug monsters were just ordinary flesh.

The Paleon knights, coordinating with Richard, dismembered the monster piece by piece.

On the other side, the Randenburg knights were dealing with another monster.

Or rather, one Randenburg knight.

“Time to sleep, you bug bastards!”

Randenburg’s Seventh Sword, Hayden, danced like a storm with his twin blades.

The relentless slashes shattered the exoskeleton, severed legs, and chopped the monster into pieces.

No knight could intervene in the whirlwind of blades.

One wrong move, and they might get sliced themselves.

The holy knights weren’t idle either. In fact, they were fighting the hardest.

While the knights and mages dealt with the monsters head-on, the holy knights were dismantling the burrower worms that had attacked from underground.

“Deploy the Holy Barrier! May Elpinel’s light protect us!”

“Astraea, grant me the power to vanquish evil!”

The barrier of holy light formed by Elpinel firmly sealed the hole, trapping the burrower worm’s body.

The sacred light that negates evil. The burrower worm, now stuck in the ground, twisted and screamed in frustration, but the holy barrier showed no signs of breaking, only spreading faint cracks.

The holy knights of Astraea, blessing themselves with miracles, charged at the immobilized worm.

Swords filled with holy radiance sliced through the monster’s shell like tofu, and spears of holy light pierced through like thorns.

The battle didn’t last long.

Despite their initial ferocity, the four monsters were reduced to tattered corpses.

===============

“…Looks like it’s over.”

Nigel, who had been surveying outside the tent, turned his head.

As my nominal guard, she had been guarding my tent these past few days without participating in the battles.

“That makes it eleven times now? It’s over in five minutes anyway, don’t they get tired of it…? Attacking without even letting us sleep, are they trying to exhaust the soldiers to death?”

Rene clicked her tongue, complaining.

Having just been woken up, her tone was quite irritable.

[They’re blatantly stalling for time. If the witches are stalling… doesn’t that mean they’re planning something incredibly dangerous?]

…I think so too.

Isabella wouldn’t repeat these meaningless raids without a reason.