Chapter 631

The Rune of Collapse, which reduces everything to dust, lowers its output and spreads its destructive mana, shattering a corner of the barrier and finally causing it to collapse.

Like the ice sheet on the lake unable to bear the weight of those standing on it, the core structure of the tens-of-meters-high city wall crumbled, unable to bear its own weight, and began to collapse like a mountain.

As the name “Thousandfold Catastrophe” suggests, it was a scene as if the sky had flown away and the earth had flipped over.

“Ah, ahhhh!”

The floor, collapsing like a pit of antlions, gave way.

The soldiers on the city wall, with faces pale as if they had failed in their defense, screamed as they fell dozens of meters along with the debris of the wall.

Flailing their limbs as if swimming or flapping like birds.

Of course, this wasn’t the sea, and they had no wings, so no matter how desperately they flailed their arms, none could rise into the sky.

– Crash!

The falling boulders collided with each other, shattering with a deafening roar.

Warriors caught between the kissing rocks proved that 70% of the human body is water, splashing red waves as they were flattened.

Human bodies were crushed and mixed like fish paste.

It wasn’t just the soldiers on the wall who screamed.

The landslide-like cascade of boulders swept away the siege towers clinging close to the wall, and the massive wooden towers, unable to withstand the collision, shattered like sandcastles hit by waves, taking the soldiers inside with them.

A collapse akin to a disaster. Thousands lost their lives in an instant. Warriors, soldiers, and paladins alike.

—-

“This is insane…!!”

Or-han, forgetting all decorum, cursed in shock.

Yes. He might have expected a trap, but he probably didn’t anticipate the insane idea of collapsing the barrier to bury thousands alive. Right?

No one would have thought the barrier would collapse like this. When I proposed this plan, even Ludwig gave me a look as if I were crazy.

“No, I need to get out of here first…!”

Or-han, standing on a falling boulder, bent his knees. He must have thought to leap into the air to escape the debris. A predictable reaction.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Reversed Heaven. In a world slowed to a crawl, I kicked off the rock beneath me, rushed towards him, grabbed his ankle, and pulled him down with all my might. Or-han, unable to react to my speed, fell.

I mounted his body like a spider, wrapping my legs around his lower body and pinning his arms with my hands.

It was a perfect submission hold. Even with a body surpassing Jin’s strength, Or-han, with strength not much different from mine, couldn’t break free.

The next moment, the world regained its color, and Or-han’s confusion was clearly audible.

“Grr…! Get off me!”

“You get off! All the way to the bottom of hell!”

Or-han struggled to shake me off, but with his limbs firmly pinned and the interference of Life Force Technique tentacles, it was impossible.

Amid the disaster of falling boulders like a meteor shower, we fell towards the gaping maw of the collapsed wall, tangled together.

“Do you think you can kill me like this!”

“Who knows!”

I unleashed Up-hwa from my back, increasing the momentum of our fall.

Unlike Or-han, who needed to flail his limbs to soar into the air, I could fly in any position as long as I had mana and Life Force Technique left.

The efficiency was terrible, but I could increase Up-hwa’s output to generate several times the thrust of Or-han.

Like now.

– Kwaoooo!

The explosion of Up-hwa, no longer even resembling flames. Massive acceleration added to our falling bodies. Using Or-han’s back as a shield, I pierced through every boulder in our path, falling like a burning comet towards the underground.

“Grr…! I can’t shake you off…!”

“Get buried, aaaaaah!”

Realizing there was no escape from being buried alive, Or-han gritted his teeth—

Finally, the end came.

– Kwaaaaaang!

The underground cavern beneath the barrier, precariously supported by pillars, collapsed as the red comet fell.

The underground bedrock shattered, and wet soil surged like a tidal wave.

Using the recoil of slamming Or-han into the depths, I flung myself towards the cavern wall. Staying in the center would have meant being buried under the debris.

“Ah.”

Finally free, Or-han looked up at the void and let out a single sigh.

It was too late to do anything. The debris of the wall was pouring down, covering the sky.

“Ha-shal-leur!”

As Or-han roared and hastily got up, the meteor shower of boulders mercilessly rained down on the underground cavern.

———!

With a deafening roar, an immense shockwave swept through the area.

The earth shook and screamed under the unprecedented disaster. Rock fragments and soil surged like a storm, carving and tearing through everything.

“Grr…!”

I gritted my teeth, enduring the shockwave with a barrier of Life Force Technique. The impact, like being hit by a dragon’s tail, struck the barrier several times. Blood seeped from between my clenched teeth.

An eternity of ten seconds.

When the storm of destruction, akin to a natural disaster, subsided, a vast darkness loomed before me.

The underground cavern, devoid of light. The ceiling, blocked by the debris of the wall, let in no light.

“Kenaz.”

I summoned a small flame to illuminate the surroundings. Through the rising dust, the scene of the devastated cavern revealed itself.

A ruin filled with rock pillars reaching the ceiling. Every space, except the gaps between rocks, was filled with debris.

I had been nervous about being completely buried, but fortunately, as Ludwig had predicted, the fallen rocks formed massive pillars, supporting the cavern.

He had said it was designed to collapse “like this.” I expressed silent admiration for the Empire’s architectural engineering as I moved through the gaps.

– Splash.

The liquid, now ankle-deep, sloshed around my boots.

—-

At the center of the cavern where Or-han had been buried, a massive hill had formed. Or-han was nowhere to be seen, likely buried beneath it, surrounded by rock debris.

Perhaps due to the crushed and split debris embedded in the ground. Or the liquid pooling on the floor. The scene eerily resembled a stone cave.

[Did we defeat him…? This easily?]

‘…Doesn’t seem like it.’

You just muttered a resurrection spell. Filial piety, resurrecting your dead father.

I drew Durandal and glared at the rock hill. Seconds later, a fierce aura erupted from beneath the hill.

– Kwaaaaang!

No, not just the aura. The hill itself.

“Ha-shal-leur!”

Or-han burst out, shattering the rock hill. His hair was disheveled, his armor crumpled and shattered, but his body bore no wounds.

As expected, the impact of being buried under a collapsing mountain wasn’t enough to kill him.

“Kyaaaaah!”

I let out a fierce roar and unleashed an Ice Blade towards his fist.

– Kwaaaaaang!

The collision, unbelievable as a clash of fists, sent our bodies flying in opposite directions.

My body, floating in the air, flew dozens of meters and crashed into the pool covering the ground. Two sprays of liquid scattered into the air.

No, perhaps not sprays.

I stood up, slipping on the floor, and wiped the liquid from my face.

A greasy smell hit my nose. Oil soaked my armor, dripping down.

“……Oil?”

Finally realizing the nature of the liquid, Or-han looked at me in shock.

—-

When planning the Thousandfold Catastrophe operation, Ludwig and I, along with the magicians, dug beneath the barrier to create a massive cavern. Like mining a shaft.

The underground cavern, completed after countless calculations by Landenburg’s magicians and architects working through the night.

A task done with utmost caution, as any mistake could have caused the ground to collapse under the barrier’s weight before the war even began.

Digging the ground to create Or-han’s grave, supporting the ground with logs and stone pillars until the plan was executed, and burying the necessary tools in the cavern walls.

Collapsing the wall to bury Or-han was only the first step. Ludwig’s plan didn’t end there. It was just the beginning.

—-

I looked at Or-han, who was staring at me in disbelief, and curled my lips.

“We wanted to give you a grand burial… but if being buried underground doesn’t suit you, we’ll have to change the method.”

The oil pool, once ankle-deep, had risen to mid-calf. By now, outside, Landenburg must have been pouring all the oil they had gathered into this place.

Through the black iron water pipes buried in the walls.

“…We’ll have to change the funeral method.”

I smiled broadly and placed my right hand above the oil pool.

“Kenaz.”

The next moment, a storm of flames swept through the cavern.