“Ma, monsters!!”
A sentry on the wall shouted.
Far in the distance, dozens of monsters were charging toward the fortress in a pack.
Soon, the sound of horns signaling an attack echoed throughout the fortress.
Bwoooooo!!
Bwoooooo!!
The soldiers resting below quickly donned their armor, grabbed their weapons, and rushed up the stairs to take their positions on the walls and at the gates.
However, the number of soldiers had been cut in half due to the many casualties suffered in previous battles.
Naturally, those who remained felt intimidated.
“Of all times… the Sage isn’t even here…!”
Even with dozens of soldiers armed with holy stone and holy iron equipment, it was difficult to handle just one monster.
But now, there were about forty of them.
“Huff… Huff… There’s no time to stand around! Everyone, get down from the walls!”
The lord of the fortress, already armed and out of breath, had climbed up to the battlements.
“What…?”
“What do you mean, my lord…?”
The soldiers looked at him in confusion.
“…We are abandoning the fortress.”
“What…?!”
“What?!??”
“Th-then… w-what should we do…?”
“We can no longer defend against these monsters.”
There’s no point in wasting our lives here.
Everyone, leave the fortress with your families!
“I will…!”
I will buy you as much time as I can.
“The soldiers hesitated.”
The lord was right—there was no chance of victory.
Abandoning the fortress and saving their lives was the logical choice.
But the problem was that without anyone to stop the monsters, they would surely chase after them.
Whether they stayed and fought or fled, people would die either way.
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances.
“What are you all waiting for?! Hurry and go…!!”
“I… I will stay!”
One soldier shouted with a trembling voice.
“I will stay and fight alongside my lord!”
“Me too…! I will stay as well…!!”
“I will fight with you!!”
“Ahh, damn it! I’m staying too!”
“Me too…!”
“Me too…!”
“Me too…!”
One by one, soldiers stepped forward, declaring their determination to stay and fight.
“You all…”
In that moment, the lord felt a deep sense of fulfillment.
If he had ruled his people carelessly like other lords, the soldiers would never have chosen to stay.
Though their morale had been crushed, it now burned again with a new sense of determination.
They would fight for their fallen comrades.
They would fight to ensure their families could escape safely to another fortress.
As the lord and his soldiers steeled their resolve, the monsters finally reached the walls.
“They’re coming!!”
The creatures dug their sharp claws into the stone and began climbing the walls with terrifying speed.
The lord and his soldiers did everything they could to stop them.
They poured boiling oil, fired flaming arrows, and used every method at their disposal, but the monsters were relentless.
Eventually, some of them reached the top.
“Grrrrr…!! Humans!! We will kill you all!!”
“M-my lord! Over there…! More monsters are coming…!”
“What?!”
The lord had been so focused on the ones already climbing the walls that he hadn’t noticed the second wave.
Though they were fewer in number, their charge was even more ferocious than the first group’s.
“W-we have to deal with the ones already up here first!”
“Push them back! Throw them off the walls!!”
“Aaaaahh!!”
“D-damn it…!!”
The soldiers fought with everything they had, throwing themselves at the monsters.
But against their overwhelming size and power, the soldiers were like autumn leaves in the wind.
“Aaaagh!!”
“Guaaah…!!”
“Ugh…!!!”
The battlefield was filled with the screams of the wounded and dying.
Watching his men be slaughtered, the lord felt despair creeping into his heart.
“Damn it…! Damn it…! Damn it…! If only the Sage were here…!”
“Grrrr… Are you the lord of this pathetic fortress?”
“…?!”
“That damn human isn’t here, is he…? Grrrr…!!”
A massive monster had silently climbed up the side of the wall and was now staring directly at the lord.
Their eyes met, and the lord’s body froze in terror.
“W-what?! When did it…!!”
“My lord!!!”
“No…!!”
“Run, my lord!!”
But before anyone could react, the monster’s huge arm swung forward, sending the lord and his guards flying.
“Ahhhhh…!!”
“Graaaagh!!”
“Ughhh!!!”
The lord, who had been at the very front lines, was flung across to the opposite side of the wall with his eyes tightly shut.
A dreadful sensation of something snapping ran down his back as he crashed into the stone wall.
“Ugh… ugh… ahh…”
But when he opened his eyes, he saw something even more horrifying.
“M-my… my arm…!”
The arm he had instinctively raised to defend himself was gone from the elbow down, with blood gushing out uncontrollably.
The moment his eyes registered the injury, the pain doubled in intensity.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!!!”
As he writhed in agony, the monster that had severed his arm approached him.
‘Is this… the end for me…?’
Seeing the monster raise its massive arm again, the lord gave up.
“Grrrrr…! Die, human…!!”
He closed his eyes, accepting his impending death.
Just as the monster’s arm swung down toward his head—A tremendous impact shook the entire fortress wall, accompanied by a deafening explosion.
Startled by the sound, the lord opened his eyes.
The monster that was supposed to be standing before him… was gone.
“W-what…?”
“What was that…?”
“The monster… got hit by another monster…?”
As the soldiers turned their eyes toward the scene, they saw two monsters tangled together, rolling across the fortress wall in a fierce struggle.
The sudden turn of events left both the monsters and soldiers momentarily stunned.
Then, the two beasts began a vicious, bloody brawl, growling accusations at each other.
“Grrrr!! Stay out of my way! The leader is no longer fit to lead!”
“Shut up, you fool!!”
“You still insist on trusting humans? How utterly naïve! I’m ashamed I ever followed you as my leader!!!”
“I feel the same! I regret ever allowing an ignorant fool like you to be my lieutenant!!!”
“W-wait… am I seeing things…?”
“Are the monsters… fighting each other…??”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a thing.”
But the strangest sight was yet to come.
The second wave of monsters, initially believed to be reinforcements, charged in with immense force—only to attack the ones already on the fortress walls.
The battle, which had momentarily paused, suddenly resumed.
But this time, it was no longer humans versus monsters.
It was a brutal, frenzied war between monsters themselves.
The lord, still clutching his bleeding wound, rubbed his eyes and stared at the surreal scene unfolding before him.
A group of monsters had flown in and attacked their own kind…?
Why…?
Even with death looming over him, the lord struggled to comprehend what was happening.
After a moment, he snapped out of his daze and gave a command.
“Now! Help the monsters defeat the other monsters!!!”
“…?”
Help the monsters… fight the monsters?
Even the lord himself hesitated after giving such an odd order, and the soldiers were equally stunned.
But then—”U-uwahhhhh!!”
“Attack! Attack! Just attack!!”
“Shove them all off the wall!!”
No matter what was happening, the situation had undeniably shifted in their favor.
The soldiers’ morale reignited.
Since they couldn’t tell which monsters were allies and which were enemies, they simply attacked anything in sight with their weapons.
The Krevkan faction monsters, already frustrated by the sudden interference of the Tartakan faction, found the humans’ meddling even more infuriating.
At this point, they no longer cared whether they were fighting humans or their own kin—they simply lashed out at everything in reach.
Because of this, the soldiers were finally able to distinguish which monsters were on their side.
“The ones that don’t attack us are our allies!”
“The ones that don’t retaliate even when hit are on our side!!”
The Tartakan faction monsters, determined to honor their agreement with the Crimson Mask, endured the humans’ attacks and focused solely on fighting the Krevkan faction.
And so, for the first time in history, an alliance between humans and monsters was temporarily formed.
The combined forces were small in number, but that wasn’t the important part.
What mattered was that two species, who had always fought to the death, were now working together.
To defeat the monsters.
As the lord watched this extraordinary sight, his vision began to blur.
‘Hah… I’m about to die, but at least… I got to witness something truly remarkable before the end…’A face appeared in his mind.
The hero who had suddenly appeared days ago and saved his people from slaughter.
‘The Sage… I want to see the Sage… If I had known this would happen, I would have talked to him more.’
“Well, well… this is quite moving, wouldn’t you say, my lord?”
‘Yes… Monsters fighting for humans… I don’t know why, but…’…Wait.
“SAGE?!”
The lord, on the verge of losing consciousness, suddenly snapped back to life as if by sheer will.
Turning his head toward the voice, he saw him.
The man he so desperately wished to see—standing right beside him, wearing his signature crimson mask.
“We need to treat you before it’s too late.”
The Sage, having just finished dealing with a certain count, had returned to find an unexpectedly touching scene.
But there was no time to dwell on it—his lord needed help immediately.
The lord’s condition was critical.
As the radiant light flowed from the Sage’s hand and touched the severed stump of his arm, the wound closed instantly, and the bleeding stopped.
“Are you injured anywhere else?”
“I… I think my spine is broken.”
He had been unable to feel anything below his waist for a while now.
The Sage gently ran his hand over the lord’s back, and as if by magic, sensation returned to his lower body.
This miraculous healing magic was astonishing to witness—but experiencing it firsthand was even more unbelievable.
“Stay here. I’ll take care of the rest.”
The Sage turned his gaze toward the battlefield atop the fortress wall.
It was pure chaos.
Monsters trying to kill humans.
Monsters interfering with those monsters.
Soldiers caught in the middle, utterly confused.
There were so many soldiers mixed in among the monsters that unleashing Phoenix’s Firestorm on a wide scale was out of the question.
Instead, the Sage extended his hand and began firing narrow pillars of flame, one by one.
WHAM!!
“Grrr?! GRAAAAAH!!! Th-this fire…!!”
BOOM!!
“Krrrhhkk!! GAAAHH!!”
WHAM!!
WHACK!!
BOOM!!
The monsters struck by the flaming pillars were unable to withstand the force and were either sent flying or plunged off the fortress wall.
“GRAAAHH!!!”
“Wh-what the—Grrr!!”
The sudden appearance of the flaming attacks made the soldiers turn their heads.
And there he was—the one person they needed most in this moment.
The Sage, clad in his crimson mask, stood before them.
“It’s the Sage…!”
“Th-the Sage?”
“Over there!!!”
The moment the soldiers recognized him, their morale soared to the skies, and their cheers shook the air itself.
“The Sage is here!!!”
“He’s come!!!”
“WAAAAAAAH!!!”
“We’ve won!!!”
Even though the battle wasn’t over yet, countless soldiers were already celebrating victory.
“Grrrrk..?!! R-run away!!!!”
Terrified by the arrival of the Crimson Mask, Krevkan let out a desperate cry and fled with his forces without looking back.
“WAAAAAH!!!”
“They’re running away!!!”
“We won!!! We won again!!!”
Having survived death countless times, the soldiers shed tears of joy and roared with earth-shaking cheers.
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