#198
Sehyun’s head jerked back at the sudden sound. The water hanging from the ends of her hair splashed her cheeks. What could be seen between them was a man walking towards Sehyeon without any attendant.
Sharply narrowed golden eyes and transparent golden hair. Nelus, it was him.
Sehyeon’s surprised eyes immediately turned to the side. Euncheong was seen slightly lowering her head and lowering her gaze. If it were Ncheong, he would have known that Nelus was coming, even from a distance. However, there was no way to explain that he condoned it other than that there was a reason.
“Are you not planning on answering?”
Sehyeon, seeing someone approaching, brushed back her wet hair and stood up from the well. And he opened his mouth in an annoyed tone.
“Why do you keep talking to just a mercenary? “If anyone sees it, they will misunderstand.”
“That would be if you were a mercenary.”
“I even gave you a card, but I guess you still don’t believe me.”
“It’s possible to forge a mercenary badge. Even more so when it comes to cards handed out in places where there is no organization.”
“It’s so salty, that.”
“Is this what you mean?”
Nelus took out a card from his pocket and waved it in front of Sehyeon. The attitude was already full of distrust. Yes, that obsession has completely ruined the current Ruhak. So persistent.
“I think I asked if you could see that.”
“What is that… ah.”
Sehyeon’s eyes glanced towards the sky. Nelus was now asking Sehyeon if he could see the monster’s hand. Just asking this would mean that he can already see ‘that’.
“If you see it… What difference does it make?”
Many people are already here, and in a few days, most of them will lose their lives in exchange for money. Without even having that money in my hand.
Even though the empire knew this fact, it concealed it and recruited mercenaries with large sums of money. Indeed, even if they had known the truth, would the mercenaries have volunteered for the punitive force? Sehyun thought that there wouldn’t be at least this many people.
“I guess it’s not important that I can see that.”
As I looked down, my eyes met Nelus’ brilliant eyes. The wings that Nelus had when he first came here were no longer visible. He can’t reveal his weaknesses in a wartime situation, so I don’t know if there’s some kind of protocol that allows him to hide them temporarily.
Either that or he was just as determined.
Nellus stretched out his hand toward Sehyeon, leaving just a step or so of space between them. It was not his touch that contained a threat. Unlike last time, his fingertips slowly approached in front of his eyes as if he were caring.
“Still, it would be better to go back.”
It was like a whisper. Same tone, same voice, even accent, everything was the same as Ruhak. The fingertips that grazed her cheek came in between them and grabbed the end of Sehyeon’s wet hair and gently rubbed it.
“… “Why does this only happen to me?”
“We have a duty to take responsibility for their sacrifice. Leading future generations on their behalf is something that you, I, and all nobles must undertake. I will be primarily responsible for everything that happens here. But after that, you have to help me. “In the position of a nobleman, not a mercenary.”
He was convinced that Se-hyeon was a nobleman, and decided that sacrificing himself here would be detrimental to the country. A being who is prepared to make sacrifices and lead the country. That was what Nelus thought of as a noble.
“So go back. “If you don’t want their sacrifice to be in vain.”
The fingertips that had been smoothing her hair touched the moist area around her eyes one last time before leaving. It was a gentle touch, as if comforting an immature child. For some reason, it felt like it was stuck to my mouth and wouldn’t come off.
“When I go back… “Then I will find you.”
Did Ruhak even dream this scene? Sehyun thought that as she looked at Nellus. The phrase “find it first” reminds me of a long journey.
While Sehyeon was looking for something to say, Nelus took a step and turned around. The gap of about a step gradually became farther away. The wide back moving away reminded me of a heavy burden. Here too, he was living a life that felt like he was being crushed.
It was at that time that a red dot suddenly appeared through my endless gaze. The fingertips that had been reaching out unconsciously stopped shaking, and the back of my neck became stiff. Meanwhile, the red dot that had caught my eye had disappeared like a lie.
It was strange. It felt like the sounds of the world were gradually dying out. Suddenly, the loud sound of rough water was heard through the gap.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-
As if Se-hyeon was the only one who felt that way, Eun-cheong and Nellus also stopped in their tracks and turned their heads to look in the direction where the sound came from.
Before Sehyeon realized it, he instinctively turned and ran towards the fortress walls. After that, the two men moved together without a sound.
The place we arrived at after running so hard that we were out of breath was on the top of the castle wall where we had visited to check the water level of the dam in the early morning. There, Sehyeon saw cloudy foam being spread by the wind.
However, the water level in the dam was different from the morning.
“… The river… .”
Deeply stagnant water inside a huge dam. The water, which was less than 1 meter high, has now risen to more than ten times its size. The water gushing through the gap in the broken dam was so fierce.
There, Sehyun again saw the red dot that she hoped was an illusion. He conveyed a sense of ominousness that made one shiver, as if he had been blown away by something. The red dots floating among the foam quickly increased as if they were multiplying.
And when it became an innumerable dot and filled the field of vision, people began to appear one by one from inside the barracks, as if sensing something ominous beneath the castle walls.
All their eyes were fixed on the sky. They looked somewhat dazed.
There wasn’t even a sound. No one opened their mouths or took their eyes off the empty space. Seeing this, Sehyun also held his trembling fingertips tightly and raised his head towards the sky.
In the vast expanse, in the dark sky filled with dark clouds, there were numerous fluttering dots that obscured the view. It was red enough to give me goosebumps, and light enough to be dangerous.
That wasn’t a dot. It was red ash, a symbol of disaster.
Red ash filled the air in abundance, covering the world to the point where it seemed distant.
It was the omen of destruction that Kwak Jeong-han spoke of. What I had hoped was an illusion had already become reality.
So big that it’s scary.
***
Red ash covered the world. Red ash, which had already piled up like snow on the black ground of the battlefield, was being blown around by the desolate wind. The chaos at the outpost had already reached the sky.
Nelus returned to the fortress and gathered the commanders of each division, and each division was given instructions to arm themselves.
When the red ash flew, it should have been said that destruction had already begun. The time given is at most one day. Several of those hours had already been wasted preparing for the exhibition.
Red ash has been falling continuously ever since it appeared. Sometimes it blew violently like a snowstorm, and sometimes it disappeared before it even reached the ground, as if evaporating. Nevertheless, the ash had accumulated enough to fill the black ground of the battlefield.
The sky was filled with dark clouds, and the distinction between day and night had already become blurred.
“Approximately 100,000 troops have gathered in the Eastern Empire. And from the moment the omen occurred, everyone had started preparing for a war situation.”
Ruhak and Fen, who had gone to scout the Eastern Empire, returned about an hour after the red ash started flying. As soon as the omen of destruction appeared, the Eastern Empire was no different from the other side and immediately began preparing for war, and was currently deploying its troops under the castle walls.
Squeak, rattle-!!
And from then on, the empire has been preparing ‘something’. Numerous soldiers rushed in, carrying parts and moving around the walls without stopping, building supports and starting to build something.
I found out what it was when the red world, where I couldn’t tell the time, became a perfect night and turned black.
catapult.
But it was no ordinary catapult. It was a huge catapult, dozens of times larger than that. Considering that it was tilted diagonally rather than horizontally on the floor, the location of the dialysis could be seen to be roughly towards the sky. There was a high probability that the giant monster’s hand was the target.
In addition, the catapult basket was so large that it could carry ten trees, giving an idea of how huge the weapon to be catapulted was.
Sehyeon expected that the weapon would be ‘armor’. That was confirmed as certainty when the fortress gates opened and dozens of carts appeared.
Rattling-
Sehyeon looked from a distance at a long line of cloth tied with a strong rope. The shape of the object rising above the cloth took the shape of a harpoon. It was so huge that it was difficult to capture it all in the field of view, and the heavy weight of the cart that a person could not lift with force was felt as it was being moved.
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“Each division moves into formation to the battlefield below the walls!”
“All troops, all move!”
A tense air flowed through the night air. The mercenaries and soldiers, looking anxious, followed the knights’ instructions and lined up in rows, passing through the fortress gate and moving to the battlefield. As tens of thousands of soldiers took steps, the ground throbbed like the sound of drums announcing disaster.
