Chapter 26 – The ughter of 3,000, Kerknude Evacuation n (1)


    August, 1697 A.D.


    After the all-out attack from the demon races, the Inferno Line copsed, bringing down both Aristapo, the maritime strategic point of the old empire, and the capital of Terbenople.


    “The Eastern Front’s n to defend the Inferno Line and block the demon advance was also crushed.”


    An allied army’s defeated remnants suffered a crushing defeat and were chased away. The uruk army, after annihting the small army’s main forces, cut off their retreat and surrounded the final soldiers.


    “This is when the main forces of humanity dispatched from each country to protect the Inferno Line were in danger of being surrounded and annihted.”


    Several fortresses attempted to reorganize the remnants of the defeated forces and counterattack, but it ended in a meaningless and cruel disaster.


    Ultimately, 230,000 survivors and 2.46 million refugees were besieged by the uruk army on the Kerknude Coast.


    Finally, the Tahuf n stepped forward topletely destroy the remainder of the allied forces.


    “Tahuf, meaning ‘atonement’, was a Hai-tark n. It is also the uruk n most notorious for its barbarity.”


    “Professor, why is that?”


    “They made various tools from human bones and skin, and it’s said they extracted the bones and removed the skin while the victims were alive.”


    “…!”


    “Because their rituals were performed with other humans watching, fear of the Tahuf n quickly spread among the soldiers. Many gave up everything and chose tomit suicide.”


    The Kerknude evacuation n, one of the two major battles that marked the end of the ‘Red Summer’, began amidst this setting.


    “The Eastern Front dispatched Kaisen Alter Aradamantel, who hadpleted his investiture ceremony, to assist them. What we will cover today is thergest maritime evacuation operation in the history of this continent.”


    As stated, the Kerknude evacuation operation was where Kaisen Alter Aradamantel’s legendary ‘The ughter of 3,000’ campaign began.


    * * *


    Kaisen would always vividly remember what he witnessed when he arrived at the Kerknude Coast.


    Most evident was the odor of rotting corpses mingling with the salty scent of the sea. As far as the eye could see, torn and crushed corpses littered the coast.


    He would never forget the tens of thousands of eyes that looked his way as hended on the pontoon bridge or the despair those eyes held.


    “It’s a Fake Warrior…”


    “A Fake Warrior…”


    “A Fake Warrior…”


    On the other side of the coast, beyond the city, volcanic ash surged in a blizzard of darkness. The abyss wasing.


    Since the sea andnd fronts suffered crushing defeats and the defenders were scattered, there were nond routes left. Thus, refugees from all over flocked to Kerknude after hearing rumors of the evacuation ns.


    “Thebined forces of the Dunos Royal Navy and the City Alliance Navy are sending more ships for a sea evacuation. Buy them some time.”


    “Why is it taking so long?”


    “The sea route is under extreme pressure from those damn nagas.”


    Any human ships to make it through the undersea blockade of enemy mages and witches ended up crushed and dead in the sea. The starving refugees looked at the remnants of their so-called rescue fleet washing ashore, faces nk.


    For them, hope was a concept that was either dead or never existed in the first ce.


    ‘I wonder if enough boats will make it through to carry all of these people. Even if they do, will there be time…?’


    Kaisen saw it all upon his arrival on the coast. Only a handful of human troops were there.


    The Royal Cavalry Regiment of the Alconde Kingdom, thebined forces of the seven small kingdoms, the remnants of the old empire, and the contingents of the Dunos Kingdom—that was all that remained to protect the city.


    Many were injured or had gone mad, and there were less than 100,000 defenders in total who were still capable of fighting.


    “Marshal Krauzan formed a three-sided defense line centered around Tourenham Pier and is in the process of an evacuation n with the help of the Witches of the Turquoise Rose Coven.” The officer meeting them at the shore spoke in a gloomy tone.


    Iughed. “Don’t worry! I, the Super Fake Warrior, has arrived! Kaaaaang kaaaang!”


    “H-huh?”


    “It’s nothing. I has a habit of imitating the roar of a dragon.”


    “That’s a dragon roar…?”


    “What’s with that look? Are you dissatisfied with dragons?”


    “No, no…”


    They rode a carriage through the devastated city and moved to the city hall, which was being used as a temporary headquarters.


    There, a heroine with hair as white as snow gave various orders to the soldiers. When she saw Kaisen, her eyes widened, and she fell into silence.


    “It’s been a while.” Sharon broke the awkward silence and greeted him first. His dead teacher’s friend smiled sadly.


    Sharon Alter Tas Alfo… Her hair had lost more luster and vitality than when he’d seen her on the southern front half a year prior and was stained gray. Just like Kam before her death, the change was sad.


    Sharon stretched out her arm and lightly stroked Kaisen’s white hair, speaking regretfully. “I heard, but you really have be a Fake Warrior, even inheriting Kam’s Aradamantel.”


    Aradamantel let out its red energy, and Holy Sword Tas Alfo resonated with its blue aura.


    “I heard from Wolf that you saved Kam from Kishun through a Kaltake?” she asked.


    “I couldn’t save her. It was toote,” Kaisen said.


    “There is no such thing as beingte. Kam would have been proud of you. Even Wolf is proud of you.”


    “You don’t have to say that.”


    “She acknowledged you as her disciple with her own words, right? If that’s not proof, then what is? We both know that Kam was dishonest with herself.”


    His teacher had died with a smile on her face. When he thought of that smile, the only thing that came to him was a never-ending sadness.


    He didn’t have the strength to continue the topic. “It’s been a while, Lia.” When Kaisen looked at Lia Riley, who was cautiously ncing in his direction, a cough mixed with hups was the reply he received.


    Lia had matured beautifully in the half a year it’d been since hest saw her. Did flowers that bloomed on the battlefield grow more beautiful through bloodshed?


    Kaisen wondered if such a thing was possible, even though blood, gore, and sweat made a mess of Lia’s blonde, curly hair.


    “A long time? Yes, yes! It’s been a long time!”


    “You sound strange. Like I.”


    “I?”


    “Kwaaang! He’s talking about this one. My name is I Alter Gaumris. The owner of Holy Sword Gaumris, I am a Super Fake Warrior!” I swung Gaumris back and forth as if to show off.


    Light shimmered and bounced on her de, and the wind made her hair and the hem of her clothes flutter wildly.


    Sharon grabbed her horn and smiled sweetly yet eerily. “You can’t do that, I. If you swing your holy sword like that, people will get scared, right? A Fake Warrior shouldn’t do that. Didn’t Runelle teach you as much?”


    That feeling of intimidation…


    I’s face turned white. “K-Kaisen taught me to greet you like this. Actually, I didn’t want to do this. Really.”


    “?”


    “Kaisen is not that type of kid.”


    “I am a dragon! Dragons only tell the truth! Kaisen is a human. Humans do not tell the truth like dragons.”


    Kaisen responded to Sharon’s gaze with a sigh and a shrug, as if to say she was always that way.


    “Is that so? Actually, I don’t really care what you do, I, but you can’t touch Kaisen. Our Lia has first dibs on him.”


    “M-Master? What are you talking about?” Lia stuttered.


    * * *


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    * * *


    I’s Dragon Hammer Corps and Sharon’s ck Rose Corps were chatting on the other side.


    The ck Rose Corps was a cavalry unit, and the Dragon Hammer Corps was an armored unit. They were the core forces of the defensive battle.


    Originally led by Runelle, the survivors of the Dragon Hammer Corps had waited at ‘Haraldoniki’ for I and came to the front again.


    It was painful to watch because it reminded Kaisen of the past and made him dream the impossible dream. He thought it would be great if he could meet the White Bone Corps again.


    “Kaisen, what Master said was a joke! You know that, right? A y on words! Oh, she’s so funny, hahaha,” Lia tried tofort him.


    Not minding Lia pping her arms, Sharon observed the two corps. “I wanted them to send Roro, the current deputy seat… but it looks like the central front is much more important.”


    “Am I not trustworthy? You don’t believe in me!” I shouted.


    Sharon held I’s horns again and smiled. “You’re good, but you’re a bit rude, huh? In the past, I let Kaisen go since he’s a boy, but I’m strict with women, you see.”


    “Am I not trustwor… thy?”


    “Pfft, okay, that’s not to say that you guys aren’t trustworthy. This is just a very harsh ce.” Sharon looked at the city.


    The wounded on stretchers groaned in misery as they were being escorted from the front lines to the central medical unit.


    “I was hoping for reinforcements from the empire. It’s not easy.”


    The Holy Human Empire, thergest and most powerful nation in the world, was plunged into chaos under the name of ‘religious reform’.


    Reforming religion… How could they have time to fight among themselves when the demons were right around the corner?


    “The empire is divided and fighting between whether to follow the True Religion or the Heathen Religion. Still, it seems strange. Could it be the work of the ck Church?” Lia asked.


    Sharon shrugged. “Perhaps they are making excuses because they are tired of war. The empire has also been caught up in all kinds of wars.”


    “That’s the same for all countries. Master’s home country, the Dunos Kingdom, continues to strive for war… um, I’m really sorry.”


    “What does Lia have to be sorry for? It’s probably just a trick by the high-ranking adults of the empire,” I said. “That’s right! Humans are stupid! They just lie! They’re different from a good dragon like me!”


    Lia lowered her gaze as if she were embarrassed that she was the child of one of the three great swordsmen of the empire.


    Kaisen could not and did not want to understand the Holy Human Empire, the home of his mother and teacher. If the empire had sent reinforcements without caring for the reform, then maybe his teacher…


    “Kaisen, you know about the Hai-tark, right?” Sharon asked.


    “Of course.” It was a synonym for fear and nightmares that referred to the top 21 ns of the uruk race. Their lead n was, of course, the Balkrush. Second was the Kiral, who destroyed the White Bone Corps in Aristapo.


    “The n we’ll be fighting here is the Tahuf n, which goes beyond Hai-tark and is a Hai-khun-tark.” The name was an honor earned by the top seven ns among the 21 ns of Hai-tark.


    Unlike the Hai-tark ns, whose ranking fluctuated depending on the times and circumstances and whose statuses could sometimes be taken away, Hai-khun-tark ns were said to have remained unchanged for a long time until the ‘ck Summer’.


    The Balkrush n took over a vacant Hai-khun-tark position during the ‘ck Summer’ and became the top n.


    Kaisen spoke. “Tahuf means ‘atonement’. I learned that they did not participate in the invasion during the ‘ck Summer’ at the Temple of the Sword of Bravery.”


    “Yes. No one knows what kind of power they use. That’s the problem. Theck of information is very ominous.”


    “It’s not that there is no information, Master,” Lia said. “There is a unit that survived an encounter with the Tahuf n.”


    “Everyone is so shocked that they can’t even say a word. There is no information on the enemy who has always ranked 4th among their kind.”


    It was onlyter that they learned of the barbaric customs of Tahuf, which reduced those who encountered them to madness.


    The terrible Tahuf yed humans alive, ate them, pulled out their bones, and used the skin to make clothes. They opened the skulls of young children, extracted their brains and spinal cords, and used them for rituals.


    Their surviving victims were made to watch the entire process. At the time, they weren’t able to discuss it in a sane manner. Even if they could, there wasn’t time.


    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng—


    A bell rang as ominously as the scream of a burning man.


    The bell resounded low and cried loudly.


    The refugees searching the city for food and water ran toward the coast.


    Sharon sighed. “They didn’t even give us time to catch our breaths. Talk to that perverted old marshal next time.”


    Soldiers bearingmunications rushed through the rooms of the building.


    “Wee to Kerknude, Kaisen.” Sharon walked down the hallway, her helmet at her side.


    Kaisen immediately followed her.


    Lia, who was walking by his side and wearingbat gear, said, “Brace yourself. We’re headed to hell.”


    Kaisen was surprised by thement. Every time he touched the stigma of fate on his cheek, he felt resentment, sadness, and the grief of the distant past rise in his chest.


    “If that’s the case, then there’s no need to worry.”


    There was no way out of his hellish grief, and the road ahead seemed endless. If they continued to spill their enemies’ blood, wouldn’t the hellish me burning at his soul subside?


    “From the moment this brand was engraved on my cheek, my life was already hell.”