59. omen (4)

“Can’t you tell me about that?”

It was a story that Roberto had brought up a few days ago during an overnight stay during the journey to no man’s land. As always, Maxim, Roberto, and Paola were spending the short break they were given chatting. When Paola glared at Roberto, wanting to ask all these questions, Roberto shrugged once and said,

“Isn’t that the opponent we’ll be fighting soon anyway?”

He demanded an explanation. Paola sighed and tossed one of the scattered pebbles into the fire.

“It was 15 years ago, so it may not be accurate.”

“Didn’t you speak well until now? Are you going to pretend that you don’t remember now?”

said Roberto booing. Paola looked troubled rather than annoyed. Maxim also tilted his head and expressed his curiosity.

“As Roberto said, it’s an opponent you’ll be fighting anyway… Wouldn’t it be better to know a little bit in advance?”

Paola lifted another pebble from the ground and threw it back into the fire. Maxim and Roberto looked at the series of actions, which seemed like child’s play or some kind of ritual. Paola swayed and narrowed her eyes at the burning fire.

“Because it’s an opponent you’ll be fighting in the future, you’re reluctant to talk about it.”

“What else do you mean by that?”

At Roberto’s question, Paola shyly scratched her head.

“To tell the truth, I don’t think you’ll believe it, and if I say it without exaggeration, I’m saying that I think the existence of the Behemoth will be taken lightly.”

“You take it lightly?”

Roberto asked again.

“It literally means that you are not something to be taken lightly.”

“Okay, please say something, mister.”

If Paola knew this, she complained, saying she wouldn’t be talking about meeting the Behemoth 15 years ago.

“Isn’t that what you just don’t want to think about?”

“…To be honest, there is such a thing.”

Paola accepted it surprisingly meekly. Seeing him readily admit it, Roberto immediately shut up. Although he looked like a talkative uncle, everyone knew that he was a fearless and experienced knight.

Paola opened her mouth in a heavy atmosphere.

“What do you know about the Behemoth?”

Maxim and Roberto looked at each other and frowned in thought.

“I know that it is a legendary monster…”

Roberto shrugged his shoulders and laid out the information he knew.

“In that mythical story, he is said to be the father of all monsters. I’m not sure what it actually is. If not to the level of the parents of all monsters, it would be to the extent of a really old monster.”

Paola nodded quietly.

“At first, I thought it was a monster that existed only in old stories. When we went to the no-man’s land, everyone was afraid of the existence of the Behemoth.”

I saw it 15 years ago, so what? Maxim added so. paola

“Well… whatever you imagine, the Behemoth is beyond that.”

As if it’s hard to explain in words, Paola said, gesturing.

“I honestly don’t know if I should call it a monster. When it first appeared behind the barren horizon, just as it did, some soldiers were terrified and backtracked. I could only see the outline, but I heard that the soldiers and knights who had been fighting the monster for days and nights were trembling in fear.”

Roberto shook his head, not understanding.

“Isn’t it natural to be scared when a powerful monster appears? Even more so if it’s a mythical monster…”

“If I had been able to see the faces of the people gathered at the time, I wouldn’t have said that.”

Paola clicked her tongue in pity.

“What did the Behemoth look like…?”

Maxim asked.

“…I’ve seen so many monsters… but I’ve never seen one that looks like that. I wondered if the word ‘beast’ would come down to the world in a specific form, would it look like that?”

Although he had only seen it twice, the image of the Behemoth was imprinted in Paola as an indelible memory. In the wilderness, like a king, the Behemoth standing tall behind the army of innumerable monsters was like a hazy nightmare.

“It doesn’t resemble any monster. I thought it… rather resembled a rocky mountain, not even a creature. Its entire body protruded as if it were wrapped in obsidian, and the ground shook a little every time it moved.”

When the two knights, who seemed to be listening to her explanation, stared blankly at her with expressions that didn’t make any sense at all, Paola let out a short sigh, saying that she knew this would happen.

“Well, I’ve only seen it twice.”

“Was there a battle?”

Hearing that question, Paola’s face darkened. Maxim thought that he had asked something useless, but Paola calmly opened her mouth.

“The knights who fought 15 years ago… 80% of those deaths occurred in a single battle with the Behemoth.”

Paola threw the pebbles back into the fire.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to live, but I don’t know if I can live a second time.”

—

The commander continued to run left and right along the wall, encouraging the soldiers, or cutting down monsters trying to cross the wall, giving orders without pause. Less than 30 minutes after the battle started, the top of the castle wall was wet with the blood of monsters and people.

Air raids were fierce today. There were far more monsters than usual that crossed the wall. The commander desperately hoped that today would be a special situation and that the procession of monsters would subside by tomorrow.

Boiling oil from the oil pot spilled onto the monster’s face. Writhing in pain, several monsters attached to the wall tumbled down. The demons, who stubbornly ignored the pain and climbed the castle wall, tripped on the slippery stone wall and faced the same fate as those who had fallen to the ground first.

“pour…! Keep pouring as you fill, even without my order. Don’t make me climb any higher.”

When the commander hit the pot with the scabbard and shouted, the soldiers hurriedly picked up the pot and ran.

“uh?”

“no…!”

Black shadows rose over the walls of the castle. The monster that jumped up lands directly on the soldiers carrying the pot. The commander instantly recognized the shadow of the monster over his head and shouted with a distorted face.

“Damn it-!”

is it too late The wolf monster seemed to be smiling hideously, showing its teeth. Black claws gleamed sharply at the tips of the spread soles. If it started to break through, killing soldiers on top of the wall, it would only take a moment for the defense system to collapse.

The commander threw his sword with a spirited effort to delay the moment, but the projectile was absurdly missed.

Arms like a guillotine slashed down the soldiers. At that moment, the commander closed his eyes tightly. That’s it. The commander felt his heart sink to the floor…

squeak.

There was a sound of blade digging into flesh. When the commander gritted his teeth and opened his eyes, the monster was lying on the floor with its head cut off. Even though the head was severed and the body fell over the castle wall, the body continued to wriggle its limbs as if it didn’t realize it.

“Knight!”

“You saved us!”

The commander looked at the golden-eyed knight with a pale face holding the wolf monster’s head with bewildered eyes.

“A…thank you…”

“Return to command. The situation is urgent.”

Maxim responded in a calm voice. The commander hurriedly looked for the sword at Maxim’s words, but it had already been a long time since he tried to throw the sword at the wolf monster and threw it away. He seemed ashamed to show himself like this to Maxim, who, according to rumors, had once been considered a worthless knight.

However, Maxim himself didn’t even remember that fact, so he kindly picked up a sword that had fallen on the floor and placed it in the commander’s hand.

“Soldiers, instructions.”

At Maxim’s words, the commander couldn’t answer and just lowered his head. After looking at Maxim for a moment as he turned his back and left, the commander raised his sword high again.

“Carry the pot again! Even while you pause, the monsters are crawling!”

The soldiers started carrying the cauldron again in response to that cry. Seeing the scene for a moment, Maxim let out a sigh of relief.

That part will be fine for a while.

This wolf monster apparently aimed for the soldiers who were carrying the cauldron and leaped. I thought that just crossing the wall was the purpose of those monsters and the only principle of action, but the number of monsters that seemed to be equipped with intelligence and acted gradually increased.

“The cause is…”

Maxim looked over the wall. The endless wilderness was filled with endless monsters, and the sunset was burning bright red beyond it. The change of monsters probably means that the Behemoth is getting closer.

Maxim gripped the hilt of the sword tightly and cut open the stomach skin of the monster that had just climbed up the castle wall, pouring out the intestines. Just then, Maxim could hear the voice of Paola, who ran after him.

“Maxim! damn this man Don’t go too far.”

Paola shouted, brandishing her mace.

“Don’t you know that it was an unavoidable situation?”

As Maxim looked at Paola with displeasure, Paola sighed and said:

“You know it’s the vice-captain’s order. It’s not that I don’t want to let you loose. And,”

Paola narrowed her brows and looked at Maxim.

“You look tired right now, but aren’t you forcing yourself to stand with your sword? His eyes are open and his legs are not working properly.”

Maxim looked at Paola and shook his head. I unwillingly spent a little bit of mana to get closer to the werewolf. Maxim pretended not to know the pain of the burning scar.

“Fine. Fatigue just built up.”

Paola let out a laugh.

“It seems that simple fatigue has been accumulating quite often lately, Maxim. It was like that in the previous training.”

Maxim, unable to answer, cut the monster in two as it bounced back over his head. Paola shook her head as she watched Maxim stumble dangerously.

“There were unusually many soldiers and crew members around me who were so pushy.”

Paola lightly waved her mace and crushed the head of the monster leaping at Maxim.

“I always wondered why I was so eager to die, and why I was giving up my life so devotedly. And do you know what happened to them all?”

Paola swung her mace again and killed the monster. Blood and intestines splattered and gave off an unpleasant fishy smell.

“Most of them really died just like I said. On a battlefield where I’m not even with you.”

Somehow, Paola seemed to be getting nervous.

“I know you are good at it, but I hope it never happens to you, Maxim. If you really want to overdo it, fight where I am.”

“All right.”

“Roberto’s being sarcastic, so why don’t you imitate him?”

Saying that, Paola lifted the mace and slung it over her shoulder. It was a joke, but it never sounded like a joke.

Paola looked around at the left and right walls and frowned.

“…It seems that the most intense air raids have passed. First of all, it would be better to go around the middle and help where help is needed.”

“Ah, senior Paola… Come to think of it,”

“What is it?”

Maxim remembered the monsters that were starting to act more intelligently.

“The demons…”

thud.

Vibration, then rang.

I could feel the walls vibrating. It wasn’t a strong vibration, but it was a deep, heavy vibration. It was like the most primordial vibration resonating from the deepest depths of the earth.

With just one ringing, the world fell silent in an instant. The fear in the instinct brought about by this vibration dominates the mind of both monsters and humans. The monsters wept lowly as they noticed their ruler, and the humans were overwhelmed by the unknown presence and turned their heads in search of the epicenter with fear-stricken eyes.

Maxim could see Paola’s face hardening in an instant. What this vibration was, what this presence felt in the world right now, Paola knew exactly.

“Damn it.”

The words fell out of Paola’s mouth.

At the same time, a deafening roar that seemed to proclaim the end engulfed the world.