Chapter 99: The start of the battle
「So, Zaeryn is at the Plain of Monas Kye, huh?」The pink-haired Astral, leisurely floating in the air, asked to reconfirm the information he just learned.
「Yes, Ayer sama.」The woman Astral, cloaked in white robe, timidly nodded. She has been in service of Ayer for more than five thousand years, yet, she could never get used to being in the presence of her Master.
「Does any other Ennead know about this?」
「I did not dare to report to them before getting your permission.」
「Good. Don't let them know.」The feminine looking Ennead finally descended down. His soft, smooth bare feet gently stepped on the emerald marble floor, before slowly walking toward the grand entrance, ignoring the female Astral standing in front of him.「Zaeryn is mine and I don't intend to let him fall into the hands of the other Enneads.」Ayer licked his upper lip, a sinister smile grew wider across his twisted face.
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The settlement of Alsen, the greatest "city" of The Eastern Monas Kye, one of the last two bastions standing against the unstoppable forces of the Yin Empire, was surrounded by 7 small hills. On top of each hill stood large watch towers, all connected by a wide sturdy wall that has successfully protected the settlement for eons. In its long history of existence, it had been besieged more than a dozen times, yet not even the armies of the great crusades of the past, led by the forces of the distant Uronas Theocracry, could breach the wall. That was why along with its sister city to the West, Alsen stood as the beacon of hope for the denizens of Eastern Monas Kye.
「The endgame is approaching.」The young orge man looked out beyond the wall protecting the crowded settlement.「Do you think your former subordinates would arrive here in time for the crucial battle, Teran?」
「... Can't say.」The mutant ogre shrugged.「Though, even without the help of my former mercenary group, the Empire would still find it hard to subjugate us here. We all have a reason to fight them until the bitter end.」
「Of course, the majority of us here are refugees who have lost someone we hold dear because of the Empire's aggression. Those Yinese soldiers will not emerge from this battle unharmed.」The orge turned to his companion.「I guess among us, you're the most peculiar person here. A former notorious mercenary who devotes his all to fight for the survival of a place you hold no allegiance to.」
「You fight to avenge your lost wife and son. I fight to protect the peaceful life of someone I hold dear… It doesn't matter what our reasons are. It only matters that we're here now… I'm glad I'll be fighting side by side with you, Kailos.」
「Likewise, my friend.」Kailos grinned before unsheathed his flaming sword. With his gaze focused on the incoming burning projectile, the orge swung his sword, unleashing a fiery slash that pulverized the large rock into dust before it could crash into the wall.「Survive this battle and we shall share a drink tonight!」
Using trebuchets' launches as signals for the start of the assault, the endless waves Yinese soldiers began to advance at the order of their commanders. Behind the staunch lines of the marching spearmen stood several platoons of magic casters, who have been continuously chanting spells of favorable wind, allowing their archer corps to let loose their arrows at the defending demihuman soldiers.
「...Massacre those who are weak, enslave those who are strong and bring them back to the laboratory.」Hou Yi, the white hair young man, supreme commander of the army, declared. His cold eyes did not seem to hold any emotion as he looked at the clash between his men and the demihuman on the wall. Smell of blood, fire, and irons, along with the deafening screams and shouts, quickly filled the air of the battlefield. Yinese steel swords clashing against the sharp claws of the raging beastmen, whistling arrows blocked by the hastily constructed wooden shield of the defenders.
「GGGGRRRRR!!!」On the Western wall, a loud roar ruptured the flow of the battle, sending the invading soldiers to a brief stunning horror. For the lion beastman standing in front of them, the commander of the Alsen forces, angrily transformed into a great white lion and leapt toward the Yinese forces, tearing them into shreds with his teeth and claws. His white fur and braided mane slowly dyed in the red blood of his enemies.「You filthy human! I will show you the bravery and power of the people of Monas Kye! I will show you why no outside power could conquer us for thousands of years! Come here! Come to your death!!!」
「... Nothing but meaningless ramblings.」Hou Yi dismissed the threat before stepping up to challenge the lion beastman. Before he could reach him, his advance was stopped by a flying spear aiming at his face. Any regular man would have been effortlessly pierced by such an attack, but Hou Yi easily caught the lightning fast spear with his bare hand.「Teran, former captain of the 13th division, we meet again.」The Yinese commander greeted the mutant ogre like an old friend, yet, his tone was nothing but.
「Our battles have yet resulted in a winner, Hou Yi.」Teran jumped down from the high wall, crashing the ground beneath him before walking toward the guarded commander.
「We will soon find out, won't we?」The Yinese drew out his large iron fan, similar to that which was used by Madara.
CRACCCKKKKK!!!!!
「What?? The Northern Wall has crumbled!」yelled one of the Alsen soldiers.
「How? How can a wall imbued with so much magic be breached at easily?」Another asked.
「I don't know! What's happening at the Northern side?」
「...Tsk!」Teran clicked his tongue in frustration, knowing there's nothing he could do to reinforce the Northern Wall since the presence of Hou Yi was now trapping him here.
「Don't worry, Teran, Ectharen. I'll go there to keep things in check!」Kailos shouted to the ogre and the lion beastman before jumping on top of the wooden houses toward the direction of the crumbled wall.
「For our defense to be breached that easily… it must have been the work of chimeric corp.」Teran deduced.
「Indeed. 5 of the 12 chimera monsters we created are fighting over there. No amount of fighters you have can stop them when they're together.」Hou Yi revealed.「Those slaves are our triumph card in this fight. This place will be burned to the ground, Teran. Just accept your fate.」
「...」
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「Ahh…」
「Haaa.. I… 」
「Can't…」
「My lung!」
The Alsen soldiers, all bleeding from their orifices, quickly dropped dead on the floor as Mu leisurely walked through the breach in the wall to enter the settlement. 「
「We're their tools… their slaves, what can we do but following his order.」The muscular monster with a distorted face commented while his thick claws crushing the heads of two struggling soldiers.
「Ara ara, these soldiers are weaker than I thought.」The red-eyed monster girl noted. Each step she took, sheets of ices began to form under her feet. The dark aura swirling around her spread out and grabbed onto the few soldiers who tried to surround her, then freezing them into ice sculptures.
「End their lives quickly.」The shota monster reminded.「After all, these are our mother's people.」
「Abomination of creation!」Kailos angrily screamed before his blade slashed downward, pushing the layer of mirror dust to either side to create a path for him to get to Mu.「Don't you dare think that you can take one step further into Alsen!」
「... Kailos.」Mu gazed at the orge. Our mother's husband is finally here.
「Careful, brother.」The muscular monster warned Mu.「He's also one of the individuals that Hou Yi singled out as dangerous being.」
「I know.」
「... and control your emotions.」The monster whispered.「We know we have to face him eventually…Mother had already believed he's dead so him dying here under our hands would not make a difference. Besides, not like any of us will tell her about it.」
「What are you guys whispering about?」Kailos warily grinned.「Thinking of a strategy to fight me?」
「Strategy? No. We will simply overwhelm you with our power!」The monster girl with an eternal smiling face declared as her shadow, snake-like arms extended out, ready for an attack.
BAMMMM!!!
「What are you guys talking about?」The incubus hybrid crashed down from the sky with his dark scythe in hand, a confident grin decorated his face「Mu… and his friends? Mind if I join in? Good thing we did not arrive to Alsen too late.」
「That's…」
「Kibadios!」
「Where did he come from? The sk…」The shota monster looked up, only to realize a large dragon was now circling above their head.「A dragon kin?」
「... So that man wasn't a lizardman, but a dragon?」Mu was surprised. He had noticed the overwhelming presence of Ryuu back during his clash with the hybrid's group, yet, he was only assuming Ryuu was a lizardman due to the tail. Not in a million years would he think his brother had a dragonkin companion following his order.
Before the group of chimeric monsters and Mu could react, Ryuu began to fly away toward the other battlefields.
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「Chiii!!!」From his shadow, his loyal slime suddenly jumped up, expanded to twenty times its normal size and absorbed the large ice shards that were sent flying at its master. Once it dropped down to the ground, the sheer size of the slime caused the earth to shake for a bit.
「Brother… We meet again.」Mu smiled.「Just like I had predicted.」
「... Kiba… dios?」From behind the hybrid, the orge stood frozen in disbelief. Standing in front of him was a hybrid that bore an uncanny resemblance to his wife, whose name was that of his son, whom he thought had perished 5 years back. [Note: due to me not planning ahead, I said previously, Kibadios was only 1-2 years old. But thinking about it, i'd like to retcon it and make Kibadios ~5 years old. That meant he traveled around for ~ 4 years prior to meeting with Rowan and Maia in the first chapter… Sorry! Yuusei is still older than Kibadios… probably around 5-7 years old.]
「Huh?」Kibadios turned around. From above, when he was riding on Ryuu's back, he did not notice the familiar appearance of the brave ogre facing the chimeric group, but now, once he got a chance to take a closer look at the man, there was no way he could not realize it.「Father? You're alive?」
Click on comments to see the pictures:
Ayer (One of the Ennead)
Artist: Akimachi
Skeb: https://skeb.jp/@akmc0015
Pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/2376573
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Teran, the mutant ogre
Source: Novel AI
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Hou Yi
Source: NovelAI (Based on Total War: Warhammer 3 character designs)
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Kuron, The Yves father (From last chapter)
Artist: Musmoth
Pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/36428458