Chapter 188 : Sacrifice (4)
Sacrifice (4)
Southeastern part of the Roderun Empire.
The forefront where the Grand Duke of Pride's forces surged forward.
Atop the fortress wall of a robustly constructed defensive stronghold—
Kalian Mirnoi stood overlooking the horizon, cold wind blowing upon him.
"Is it those things?"
Kalian's vertical pupils narrowed with a strange glint.
Forces filling the horizon black—no, dazzlingly bright as they advanced.
An army of giants whose gleaming golden skin and pristine white armor were flawless, marching forth.
― Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
"Hm."
Mirnoi stroked his chin as he listened to the mechanical footfalls of the golden legion.
"Rather than living creatures... they're more like exquisitely crafted statues."
"Lord of Dragonblood Family."
A Mirnoi family elder standing beside him swallowed dryly and advised,
"The enemy's aura is unusual. We may need to deploy additional defensive magic circles..."
But Kalian scoffed.
"Elder. Have your guts shriveled up with age? To cower before such piles of gilded puppets?"
"H-however, they are the ones who annihilated the Empire's elite in an instant..."
"That's only because the Imperial army was incompetent. Just barbarians who swing swords and axes. Naturally, they'd struggle against such lumps of armor."
Kalian curled up one side of his lips in a sneer.
"But in the face of our Mirnoi's magic, those chunks of metal are... nothing more than excellent targets. Their aura may be unusual, but whatever their nature, it doesn't matter. If we erase them without a trace, they'll be no different from nothing."
Kalian raised his hand high.
At the fingertips of Dragonblood Family's lord, called the mightiest mage on the continent, immense mana began to gather like a storm.
― Whoooooooooooosh!!
Clouds of the sky swirled.
For a moment, as if an eclipse had fallen, the world turned dark.
"This is a good chance to show the Imperial dogs. The... difference in the caliber of magic."
― FWOOOOOOOOSH!!!
A torrent of overwhelming flames shot out from Kalian's fingertips, pouring toward the horizon.
A blazing inferno that swept over the land like the sun plowing across the ground.
― KWAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!
The vanguard of the golden army, which had filled the earth, was engulfed in the massive explosion of fire.
The ground melted in a heartbeat, turning to magma, while the air screamed, burning away.
"O-oh!"
"As expected of the Lord of Dragonblood Family!"
"Waaaaaaaah!"
The Mirnoi elders and mages all erupted in cheers at the lord's overwhelming divine might.
"All forces, commence magical barrages! Follow the Lord of Dragonblood Family!"
In response to the lord's spell, the elite hundreds of the magic corps all began chanting at once.
― BOBOBOBOBOBOOM!
― BANG! Bang! KWAKWAKWANG!!!
Hundreds, thousands of magic circles blossomed atop the wall, and the bombardment began.
The earth heaved, and the sky was split by the thunderous noise.
With each eruption and cloud of dust, the golden statues shattered and exploded.
An overwhelming firefight. The tide of battle seemed to tilt instantly toward Mirnoi.
"Huhu. Too easy."
Mirnoi tilted his chin, laughing derisively.
"To think, because they couldn't block these toy soldiers they knelt and offered themselves to me. The princess is truly pitiful, isn't she? Well, thanks to her, my bedroom will be lively tonight."
Kalian was leisurely watching the dust swirl over the battlefield, convinced of victory—
"... How noisy."
― WUUUUUUUUUUUUNG!
A weighty, extremely oppressive voice instantly crushed the battlefield's cheers.
"... What?"
Kalian's smile broke off at once.
Soon, the dust of battle cleared.
As the clouds of debris parted, the golden army emerged once again.
"What...!"
Despite all the magical bombardment, the enemy's formation had not been disturbed by even an inch.
Those who were burnt were simply trampled over, and the gaps left by those who broke apart were filled by those coming behind, restoring the exact same formation and speed as before, advancing upon the wall.
And at the very center of that army—
From a magnificent throne carried by the golden giants, a certain being slowly rose.
Radiant crystalline armor, eyes glittering gold like the sun, yet cool as the abyss.
It was Lucifer, Grand Duke of Pride of the demon realm.
"A trifling firework."
Lucifer flicked his finger lightly.
He merely snapped his fingers.
No pulse of mana, nor any magic chant.
But—
― BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
"...!?"
A sickening sound of destruction erupted in rapid succession atop the wall.
"G-gyaaaaaa!!"
"Guhh—!"
The Mirnoi elders who stood flanking Kalian.
All ten of the continent's leading great mages had their upper bodies explosively burst like tomatoes simultaneously.
"Huh...?"
Kalian, his face suddenly drenched in the elders' hot blood and brains, uttered a dazed sound.
"T-the elders!?"
"No way! There were dozens of defensive barriers deployed...!"
The mages shrieked, fleeing in terror.
But that was only the beginning.
The real panic began now.
Lucifer gestured arrogantly toward the blood-drenched wall.
"Come forth."
― GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE!
The blood pouring from the elders' corpses suddenly ballooned, transforming into a black-red swamp.
Using the corpses of great mages as a sacrifice, the demon realm's gate was opened right atop the Mirnoi stronghold's wall.
"Wh-what's that!!"
― KWAAAAAAAAAAA!
― KAGAGAGAGAK!!
From the bloody swamp, golden-skinned giants began pouring out.
The supreme magic power accumulated by the elders across their entire lives... was completely turned into enemy forces by the Grand Duke of Pride.
"Gyaaah!!"
"Save, save us...! Guh!"
The walls became pandemonium in an instant.
Before they could even chant defensive spells, the blades of the golden demonkin sliced through the magic corps like radishes.
"Wh-what... what is this..."
Kalian's vertical pupils contracted as if tearing.
Even as someone centuries ahead in world magic, he could make no sense of the phenomenon unfolding before him.
'Run...'
No.
What was I just thinking?
If I turn my back here, the stature I built as the greatest mage, the pride of my divine dragon bloodline, will be reduced to trash.
Those of dragon blood are just as proud as they are strong.
"How dare you!!"
Kalian's blood vessels bulged as he roared.
The dragon blood in his heart boiled to the limit.
― KUGUGUGUGUGUGUGU!!
A tempest of blue mana exploded outward.
Dozens of ultra-high-level magic circles spread in the air.
On the verge of unleashing Mirnoi's strongest spell of destruction—
― FLAAAASH!!
From the midst of the golden army, a bolt of light shot up.
"...!"
― THUD!!!
"Gu-uurk!"
The golden spear hurled by Lucifer.
It pierced Kalian's abdomen precisely.
"L-lord!"
"Gasp! Even the Lord of Dragonblood Family!"
"Gu... guh... kuhrrrk!"
Blood spewed as Kalian grasped the shaft embedded in him.
"No way..."
The layers of defensive artifacts, the flesh empowered by dragon blood, the dozens of magical shields—deployed with his greatest spells—
For a mere thrown spear to pierce so easily... as if through wet paper.
Kalian's lips trembled.
"Save the lord!"
"Use healing magic, now...!"
The Mirnoi mages rushed to help Kalian urgently.
"Come here."
Lucifer, who sat on the throne beyond the horizon, elegantly extended his hand.
― WUUUUUNG!
"...!?"
At that moment, the gravity binding Kalian's body twisted entirely.
It felt as if an invisible giant hand clutched his whole frame in an iron grip.
"Gu... guhh...! A-aaaghh!"
Kalian's feet were wrenched from the wall.
"Gasp! Lord!"
"Lord of Dragonblood Family!!"
Though the Mirnoi mages reached out to grab him, the Grand Duke's telekinesis plucked Kalian from the air like a feather.
― SHREEEEEEEK!
"Lord!!"
From atop the several dozen meter high wall, Kalian was dragged crashing into the midst of enemy ranks.
"Kuaaaaaagh!!"
Within the wind-slashing, ferocious speed, Kalian struggled and spat blood.
He tried to pour forth mana to break the telekinesis, but the golden spear through his gut mercilessly suppressed his power.
― THUD! SMACK!
"Gu-uurk...!"
Hurtling at breakneck speed, Kalian was flung brutally onto the muddy ground just before Lucifer's throne.
"Kuuh..."
Wracked by the agony of shattered bones, Kalian lifted his head.
He met the gaze of dazzling, arrogant, sun-like eyes staring down at him like an insect.
"I... I... I...!"
Kalian snarled through bloody foam.
He tried desperately to stand, but his body was already half-ruined.
Then, Lucifer, who had been regarding Kalian like a worm, curved his eyes slightly with interest.
"... Ho."
Lucifer's gaze fixed on Kalian's chest—precisely, on his heart—piercing as if through flesh.
"There's a hint of lizard's power in your blood."
"...!"
Kalian's eyes shook.
The greatest pride of the Mirnoi family, the very source of their reign as the continent's mightiest magic house—the "Blood of the Divine Dragon."
The demon before him scoffed at that exalted blood, calling it nothing more than a lizard's power.
― Swish.
Lucifer slowly stepped down from the throne.
"D-don't come near me...! Guh!"
Kalian tried to back away, but Lucifer's foot crushed his chest mercilessly.
― CRACK!
"GUAAARRGH!"
The sound of ribs shattering rang out as Kalian's body was pressed into the earth.
"Perish in glory, worm. Your heart shall be a most excellent sacrifice to summon my legion."
"N-no...! I am Kalian, Lord of Dragonblood Family...! You dare take my heart... kuuaaagh!!"
Lucifer's golden hand plunged ruthlessly into Kalian's chest.
― THWACK!!!
"Guahhhg...!"
His hand, piercing Kalian's sturdy breastbone like tofu, seized the still-beating heart cruelly.
― CRUNCH!
With a chilling sound, Lucifer yanked his hand out.
In his grasp: the heart of the Mirnoi lord, densely packed with blue mana... the "Heart of the Divine Dragon."
"Ah... aah..."
Kalian's vertical pupils, unfocused, stared at his own heart as he faded.
The end for the self-proclaimed mightiest mage in history—was no different from a beast dying, stripped of the prideful heart that had been his glory, left cold in the mud.
― THUD.
Kalian's body slumped completely.
Lucifer gazed at the pulsing heart in his hand, and his lips twisted into a cold smirk.
"With this, I can open the gate even wider."
― KRRAAAAK!
Lucifer mercilessly crushed the heart of the divine dragon in his grasp.
As the heart burst, the enormous magic power and dragon blood scattered everywhere.
― GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE!!!
At that instant, the swamp of blood that had begun atop the wall exploded and spread to engulf the ground.
The demon realm's gate, now supercharged by the transcendent mana within the dragon blood, grew incomparably larger than before.
"Come, my proud legion."
Lucifer spread his arms.
― KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
From the vast, blood-red maelstrom came roars that seemed to split the sky.
Mighty higher-rank demonkin, on a different level from the previous golden giants, began to pour forth like a tsunami.
"Ah—aaaagh!!"
"Run! Run for your lives!!"
The waves of golden demonkin, swelled to hundreds of thousands, swept away the Mirnoi magic corps—now routed and fleeing—leaving not a trace behind.
It was the moment when the southeast of the Roderun Empire fell completely into the maw of the demon realm.