Chapter 323:
Chapter 323
When Yu-hyun returned to the barracks with Frechen, they ran into Lean who was looking for them.
“Keira, and Frechen. Where have you been?”
“Well, actually…”
“I just went out to scout the enemy situation a bit. This lady here came along to monitor me in case I did something suspicious.”
Frechen cut off Yu-hyun’s answer.
When Lean gave him a doubtful look, Yu-hyun nodded in agreement.
“It’s almost time to march.”
“I know. That’s why we came back in time, right?”
Frechen shrugged off Lean’s words with a faint smile. Lean stared at him with a gloomy gaze for a moment, then turned his body when he heard someone calling him from afar.
“Don’t you want to clear up the misunderstanding? It would be better to do so.”
“What’s the point of telling him anything? Even if I can’t stop you from knowing what I know, I don’t need to tell him that. Or what, do you want me to confess that I was a hopeless lover and make peace with him?”
Frechen hated such awkward gestures.
He never cared if the other person hated him or liked him.
What did it matter? The important thing was, he was himself no matter what anyone said.
“I am Frechen. That’s all. I don’t care about what others think of me or want to waste my nerves on changing that.”
He didn’t need to correct the misunderstanding that others had until now.
It didn’t suit his temperament to brag about it.
“What about your subordinates?”
“What do I have to say to them? They’re rather sorry for me.”
That day.
The Gray Wolf Knights who knocked him out and fled south with him to save his life.
They were still following Frechen.
“I don’t hate my subordinates. I understand their feelings. I’m the last hope of the royal family, the bloodline, and I’m going to hell anyway. Who wouldn’t try to stop me? Even if they get punished later, or die by my hand when I go mad, they acted knowing that.”
He didn’t blame his subordinate knights even when he lost Rebecca and fell into despair.
They did nothing wrong. It wasn’t a sin to be loyal to him.
“If I tell them that I went to get Rebecca’s keepsake, they’ll only feel more sorry for me for what happened then. I don’t like that.”
“You care for your subordinates a lot.”
“Care? No. I just don’t want to see them whining. They may not be imperial knights anymore since the empire has fallen, but they’re still following me. Me, Frechen, that is.”
Frechen smiled arrogantly.
Yu-hyun felt like he understood why this man was called the Gray Wolf.
He led and captivated people with his charisma that he earned through hard work.
“Do you think I’ll tolerate them being depressed over something like this?”
“You’re a harsh boss.”
“This is being kind.”
“I wouldn’t last a day under you.”
“Those who can’t endure are weak. And my subordinates are never weak.”
His voice was filled with infinite trust for his comrades who had been with him for 32 years.
The Gray Wolf Knights who recognized Frechen from afar approached him.
“I’ll go now. You should get ready by Lean’s side too. You never know when or where someone will die.”
“Right.”
Yu-hyun parted ways with Frechen and headed towards Lean.
People were busy moving around.
They covered the remaining rune stones with snow, finished checking their weapons and swung them a few times.
More than that, for the upcoming battle, their minds were sharper than any blade.
They were not fearless. But more than that, they wanted to overcome their fear and fight.
Lean nodded and shouted when he saw Yu-hyun coming.
“Let’s go!”
Lean took the lead and the people followed him.
A large army of two thousand people walked on the frozen Andolim Lake.
The lake that divided the world like transparent glass did not even crack, as if it had frozen to the bottom.
“Frechen.”
Before the final battle began, Lean called Frechen.
Frechen didn’t know why this man called him for some reason. Maybe he wanted to tell him not to mess up and fight hard?
“Huh? What is it?”
“After the fight is over, if we both survive.”
Lean gave Frechen a faint smile.
“Let’s have a drink together.”
“…”
Even Frechen didn’t expect to hear such words from Lean, and his expression became ridiculous.
Lean ignored Frechen’s reaction and looked ahead again.
The blizzard had stopped by now. A hazy fog was visible beyond where there was no wind.
The ice fog was Georen’s breath.
And beyond that fog was Georen, the culprit who made this world into this mess.
He was once a great god that the guardians served, but now he had fallen into a monstrous form that spread despair in the world.
The Divine Spirit of frost.
People did not approach rashly even with the mist, as they had been warned beforehand.
“Damn. It’s too quiet for comfort.”
“Every time it’s like this, something bad happens.”
“Shh. Can’t you be quiet?”
As the murmurs came from behind, something changed in the mist ahead.
The mist gradually thinned and then completely cleared.
It did not happen when they came here last time, so Lean was startled. It was the same for Yu-hyun.
“Why did the mist suddenly…”
“Look, look over there!”
Someone shouted and everyone’s eyes turned to one side.
Large shadows began to rise from the mist that was slowly disappearing.
It was a familiar sight to the explorers.
What was in the mist were frost giants.
Their number was about 100, which was not very threatening considering this side’s strength, but the problem was what came next.
When the mist completely cleared and revealed what was beyond, it was none other than the source of all this trouble.
“Ge, Georen.”
Someone called his name with a trembling voice.
A frost giant that was so big that this side had to look up at him, and even bigger than that, more than ten times bigger, Georen looked down at them with red eyes that contrasted with his blue skin made of ice.
His whole body was covered with sharp ice, and even his hair and beard were made of ice. Georen rose up.
Kugugung.
As the giant stood up, reaching 200m in height, the guardians instinctively stepped back. The space vibrated even though Georen only moved a little.
Lean clenched his teeth and shouted.
“Everyone, grab your weapons! We go as planned!”
Before they could answer or nod, Georen opened his mouth.
Wooooooow!!!
The ground shook with a roar that sounded like it would burst their eardrums. The thin layer of snow on the ground could not withstand the vibration and scattered like dust.
At the same time, something changed in Lake Andolim.
Crack!
As if a sound came from somewhere, a hand popped out of the lake.
The frost giants that had been hiding in the lake’s ice emerged at Georen’s command.
“What, what is this!”
“Be careful everyone!”
The frost giants that suddenly appeared attacked the people around them indiscriminately.
Their number exceeded a thousand.
“How, how did this happen?”
“Did Georen know we were coming?”
Georen acted as if he had been waiting for this from the beginning.
A trap.
That was the first thing that crossed Lean’s mind. This place was already a trap set by Georen.
“Behind! Something is coming from behind!”
“This is crazy! There are frost giants coming from behind too!”
From beyond Lake Andolim where they had come from.
There were also frost giants flocking there.
As if being surrounded was not enough, frost giants also popped out from the center of their camp.
The guardians fought against the frost giants in confusion.
“From the beginning, did he know?”
Lean stood at the front and cut off the neck of a frost giant and muttered to himself.
They were surrounded.
As if Georen had been waiting for this situation from the beginning, frost giants were lurking everywhere.
“Lean! Orders!”
“Lean! What do we do?” Lean. Lean. Lean!
Voices looking for him desperately came from all directions.
Lean’s head became complicated.
Their plan was to push away the ice mist and surprise Georen at the start.
Even if Georen noticed in the middle, they thought they could attack him as quickly as possible before he called the frost giants.
But all their plans were thwarted from the start.
“It can’t be.”
His steps were heavy. It felt like his ankles were stuck in a swamp. His breath became short and his vision blurred.
Because of me.
Because I insisted, everyone was in danger.
“Snap out of it!”
As Leon heard that, his vision flashed and a pain shot through his cheek.
“K, Keira?”
“What are you doing! You’re the leader! How can you be so spaced out!”
Keira shouted at Leon without her usual respect, glaring at him.
Leon finally looked around.
The people fighting the frost giants and his closest aides were all staring at him.
Seeing that, Leon bit his lip and regained his composure.
“…Yeah. We’ve come this far. I can’t panic over something like this.”
“If you’ve come to your senses, then give the order.”
Leon nodded.
“Listen up!”
Leon shouted, emitting a golden aura from his sword.
To the Gard warriors who had fallen into despair, his appearance shone like a beacon of hope.
“Buy us some time! Form a defensive line and back each other up! Hold on as long as you can! I’ll take down Georen!”
The arrow had already left the bowstring.
Now that it had come to this, he had to bring down Georen, the source of all this trouble, as soon as possible.
To do that, he had to break through the frost giants that blocked his way to Georen.
Leon gave the signal and ran forward with Keira. The scouts followed them.
“Clear the way!”
“All we have to do is get Leon to him!”
They had no choice but to believe that Leon would solve everything for them.
Leon heard their words and clenched his teeth without denying or affirming them.
He knew. His words were nothing but irresponsible promises.
Even if he reached Georen, he couldn’t face him properly without the key sword at his level.
He knew it as soon as he saw him. Georen was still too far beyond his reach, even if he had lost some of his power.
But still.
‘I brought these people here. They followed me because they wanted to fight.’
He couldn’t betray their expectations.
Even if it was a faint hope that might disappear like a candle in the wind, if he could light a fire in their hearts now.
That was enough for him.
He didn’t think about the future that would end in failure.
He focused only on bringing down the enemy in front of him right now.
“For the glorious Gard!”
“For the land of salvation!”
“For this world!”
The suicide squad behind him echoed Leon’s cry.
The weight of honor in that cry pressed down on Leon’s shoulders, but he didn’t stop.
He didn’t look back at the deaths of his comrades who fell under the frost giant’s hand with screams behind him.
He deliberately ignored them and only looked ahead.
“Aaaaaah!!”
Fight. Don’t let go of your sword. Swing it. Move forward.
The golden aura drew a shining trail in the air, cutting off the necks of the frost giants.
Leon was not only fighting against the frost giants in front of him.
If he was even a little late, a life would disappear.
If he was even a little crushed by the weight of expectations, someone else would die.
His weak self, his limited time, his heavy burden.
They were all Leon’s enemies.
“Hold on! Hold onnnn!”
“Damir! No! Aaaaah!”
“Hold the line! Don’t crumble! Hold on!”
Screams filled the air.
The roar of the frost giants and the shouts of resistance from the people.
The blood of Gardians splashed over the blue ice and white snowfields.
The red color did not mix with anything. It was just vividly red.
Leaving behind that hellish scene, Leon ran and ran again.
‘It’s far.’
Surely, the distance between him and Georen was not that far.
With his physical abilities, he could have covered this distance in a very short time.
But it was far.
Every step he took felt heavy as if he had iron weights on his ankles, and the white plain he had to cross seemed endlessly far away.
Yet Georen’s figure was so clear in front of him that it seemed like he was mocking him from close by.
Damn god.
Why have you forsaken us?
Why do you force me to swing my sword at you?
“Georeeeeen!”
Leon cut down the last frost giant blocking him and stood before Georen.
Until then, Georen had been still, looking at Leon running towards him with an emotionless gaze.
Leon didn’t care about that. All his power flowed into his sword.
Golden sword energy. It soared up to 5m high. Some warriors were captivated by its splendid appearance.
Leon kicked off the ground and jumped up. His body soared high in an instant, reaching Georen’s chest. Before long, Leon’s sword energy grew to 10m long.
A strike with all his might.
Leon unleashed his strongest blow he could muster right now.
“This is the end!”
He would end it all with this blow. This cursed world, this annoying shackles, everything.
It should have ended.
Clang!
The sound that came from the collision of the golden aura and Georen’s neck was unbelievable. Leon’s eyes widened.
Leon’s full-powered strike didn’t even leave a scratch on Georen’s neck.
Georen had been watching Leon charge at him without moving, not because he couldn’t react.
He didn’t feel the need to.
‘From the beginning.’
Was he out of reach?
Georen slowly raised his hand. Leon blankly watched the scene.
After that.
Georen’s fist came down, smashing Leon’s body.
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