Chapter 146: 079. Hashashins and King Rahamma -3 (Part Two)
Chapter 146: 079. Hashashins and King Rahamma -3 (Part Two)
The spear shafts over three metres long failed to penetrate the armour on the undead. No – the weapons shattered into bits, instead.
At the same time, the chariots and the cavalry collided with the pike wall. The noises of explosions rocked the night sky.
Aslan’s pike soldiers were flung hard away in random directions.
The unlucky ones caught in front were mercilessly crushed by the skeleton hooves, while the ones standing to the left and right got shredded to bloody bits by the hooks attached to the wheels of the chariots.
“Infantrymen, advance!”
“Necromancers, summon the Bone Golems, now!”
“We need slaves! The supply of slaves...!”
Necromancers quickly grouped up and chanted their next spell. Slaves were dragged towards them in the meantime. The dark magicians used up the lifeforce of the slaves as the offering for demonic energy.
Skeletons were summoned, before they meshed into one giant creature. A Bone Golem about three metres tall was created, and it stood before the incoming chariot.
BOOM-!
The Bone Golem managed to stop the four skeleton horses. Although the giant’s feet dug into the ground as it got forced back little by little, there was no doubting the fact that it had succeeded in slowing down the enemy.
This caused the chariot to overturn.
When the Bone Golem proved to be effective, the complexions of the Aslan soldiers brightened for a brief moment. Unfortunately for them, their relief didn’t last for long.
Because a towering stone statue had entered the fray.
The Cyclops Golems about five metres tall strode into their view. The giant stone statues took mighty swings with their greatswords and completely swept aside not just the Bone Golems, but even the unlucky human soldiers standing nearby.
Shards of broken bones were flung everywhere, while human bodies were knocked flying in the air like a bunch of ragdolls.
The complexions of the Necromancers became deathly pale in an instant.
“A-attack with magic!”
“What is the siege weapon regiment doing?! Stop those things!”
The Necromancers hurriedly chanted attack magic next. Balls of flame materialised in the air before crashing into the giant stone statues. Meanwhile, ballistas were aimed at the Golems before firing their projectiles.
Bang! Boom! Thud!
The flames burned on the bodies of the statues, and after getting struck by the projectiles, they stumbled and faltered as if they would fall down. However, that was all that happened to them.
The lone eye of a Cyclops Golem sizzled before shooting out a beam of light.
“R-run...!”
The Necromancers trying to flee were hit by the petrification magic and turned into stone, while the siege weapons in the surroundings solidified and became inoperable, looking as if a layer of concrete had been poured on them.
“Ahhh, it’s too hot! H-help me!”
A Necromancer with only a portion of his leg turned to stone screamed desperately. His head yanked back from the indescribable pain of his flesh burning up, but then, he got crushed into meat paste by the giant stone statue’s stomping foot.
The stone statues continued to swing around their large greatswords, causing the explosive gusts of dust winds to kick up. Dozens upon dozens of Aslan soldiers were flung into the air.
“Hang on! We can’t stop something like that!”
“All of you, break off from the formation and disperse!”
“Prepare the spears and chains!”
The Aslan soldiers hurriedly moved out.
They tossed their steel chains at and around the stone statues, but that was an act of foolishness. Rather than managing to tie the Golems down, the soldiers got dragged around by the chains now gripped in the hands of the statues, instead.
Dozens of soldiers got thrown into the air by the chains before crashing back down to the ground to meet their instant deaths.
-Fuu-woo! Fuu-woo! Fuu-woo!
Meanwhile, the mummies rapidly dashed in. Their destination was the middle of Aslan’s formation. And with nimble, smooth movements full of stunning technique, they swung their scimitars to perform the dances of death.
Every time their blades danced, Aslan soldiers lost their limbs and lives, dyeing the ground crimson in their blood.
Of course, it wasn’t as if the Aslan army was one-sidedly being massacred here. They managed to bring down the holy undead as well.
The Bone Golems stopped the advancing cavalry and chariots, causing the riders to fall to the ground. The waiting soldiers then hacked away at them.
They also entered a messy melee with the skeleton legion rushing in.
But the undead proved to be persistent. If their arms were cut off, they used their maws to bite. Even if their legs were cut off, they still crawled on the ground to kill their enemies.
So, even though the numbers of the undead were steadily decreasing...
“W-why aren’t they decreasing in numbers?!”
...The living soldiers didn’t get that impression at all.
The formation of Aslan’s army steadily crumbled away. The soldiers were too tightly gripped by fear, and their fighting spirit hit rock bottom.
The situation had devolved into a chaotic mess. And with their desire to fight as good as broken, commanding them seemed nearly impossible at this point.
The commanding officer looked to the distant front.
Boom, boom, boom!
He could see about thirty or so Bone Golems, at least three metres tall, over yonder. They were completely covered in plate armour from head to toe.
On top of their heavy armouring, they also carried sturdy tower shields in their left hands, while the right wielded huge maces.
The heavily-armed ‘infantry’ division was now protecting the boy and the carriage behind him.
The commanding officer swallowed back his dry saliva.
‘We can’t break through that.’
With what method could they kill a being hidden behind the impregnable steel wall?!
‘We need help. What about the hashashins?’
The commanding officer turned his head.
The hashashins he was searching for were not making any moves at the moment.
Even though their demonic energy reserve or their skill set would be more than enough to break through the Bone Golems and reach the enemy leader, those damn demi-humans weren’t doing anything.
‘Are they abandoning us?!’
The flustered commanding officer yelled out, “P-prepare a wide area spell! We need to buy more time until the main army led by the feudal lords arrives at this...!”
“Sir, it’s dangerous!”
Someone cried out, and the commanding officer raised his head to look up at the sky.
Arrows of pure-white light were raining down from above.
...Arrows that were brimming full with divinity.
Banshees with the appearance of fair maidens were firing their arrows into the sky.
“S-shields!”
The Aslan soldiers hurriedly raised shields made out of either wood or metal. Several shields were set up all around the commanding officer.
Soon afterwards, arrows loudly collided with the shields.
The wooden shields were easily penetrated through. As for the metal shields, they managed to barely deflect the arrows as sparks lit up on their surfaces.
The commanding officer screamed.
He had just witnessed the soldiers around him turn into sieves from the incoming baptism of arrows and die miserably.
“R-retreat...!”
The commanding officer’s tiny voice leaked out of his mouth. But the unending chaotic noises of war buried his voice altogether, preventing it from reaching his subordinates.
He could see that the Aslan soldiers were rapidly decreasing in number.
“Retreat, now-!”
The commanding officer yelled out so loudly that the veins bulged on his throat.
Could it be that the soldiers were waiting for that order? They hurriedly looked at their officer.
“R-retreat?”
“Run away, now!”
“We need to get to where the main army is... Hurry!”
The Aslan soldiers turned their backs to their enemies and urgently fled from the battlefield. Thousands of soldiers discarded their weapons and began running away.
However, the holy undead weren’t planning to let them off the hook that easily. No, they actually chased after the fleeing humans.
This was a type of warning. A warning to all would-be pursuers, telling them to give up by instilling this fear deep into their hearts!
The Seventh Imperial Prince was planning to engrave that fear deep into their marrow today.
“...”
King Rahamma silently watched all these events unfold.
The whole of the undead army was focused solely on the Aslan army’s formation. Meanwhile, the carriage with the Imperial Family members was gradually creeping forward.
If this continued on, it’d be almost the same as Aslan opening the door and letting them leave without putting up a proper fight.
“I see. So, the Crown Imperial Prince wasn’t the real problem.”
Rahamma slowly rubbed his face down.
Indeed, the Crown Imperial Prince was not the issue. That man could be suppressed by Rahamma alone, or with the combined efforts of the feudal lords, after all.
Just what was an army?
Normally, they would be nothing more than expendable pawns meant to break the enemy formation and march forward while the truly strong generals and warriors dealt with the monsters from the opposing sides.
This couldn’t be helped, since there existed a clear difference in power levels between the army and the powerful warriors. So, the army had devolved into a group of pawns meant to trample on the enemy territory.
However, what about that Prince before Rahamma’s eyes?
He was commanding not just the holy undead, which were all highly skilled and powerful, but even the giant Golems as well.
What would happen if someone like that joined up with the Theocratic Empire’s main army? The balance of power would crumble down in an instant.
And Aslan would either be destroyed, or end up as an enslaved kingdom to the empire.
‘I made the right call by coming here.’
Indeed, he needed to deal with that boy first, not the Crown Imperial Prince. That being was still a young boy. If he were allowed to mature even further, then without a doubt, he’d exceed the Crown Imperial Prince in the level of threat he posed. No, maybe he’d become even worse than Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse himself!
-This is because you will be responsible for calling the ‘angel’ to this land.
Rahamma recalled what the soothsayer had told him, then turned his head. Hashashins had gathered around him before anyone had noticed it, and were bowing their heads at him.
“I shall deal with him personally. In the meantime...” Rahamma reached behind him and extracted the huge mace slung on his back. “...All of you, go and apprehend the remaining Imperial Family members.”
The hashashins bowed deeply to indicate their understanding.
King Rahamma strengthened his legs.
He planned to reach his target in the blink of an eye. Even before that undead legion had a chance to surround him, he’d go and kill that bastard!
Rahamma’s figure exploded forth from the top of the city’s wall.
**
(TL: In 1st person POV)
Just as I suspected, Amon’s skull alone didn’t place a lot of burden on my body. Fatigue was washing over me, sure, but it wasn’t at the intolerable level.
As long as I managed my divinity reserve right, we should be able to break through the Aslan army’s encirclement and get out of here safely.
I sighed in relief under the mountain goat’s skull.
But then, while I was barely maintaining my consciousness, a sudden chill ran down my spine.
I sensed this truly horrifying level of demonic energy and turned my head in its direction. At the same time, a spot on top of the city’s outer wall literally exploded, and ‘something’ flew off from there.
The Bone Golems synced with my mind immediately responded to the incoming ‘threat’ by standing in front of me. They used their huge bodies to block the path and raised their shields in many layers to create a sturdy metal wall.
This defensive wall should be strong enough to withstand the attacks of even the strongest cavalry in the continent.
However...
BOOM!
The Bone Golems weren’t strong enough to withstand the monstrous force behind that charge. Along with a loud metallic crunch, the shields twisted until they broke apart into pieces.
Even the Golems holding onto the shields were cracked apart and blown away.
“What the f*ck?!”
I had to doubt my own eyes at that nonsensical display of pure strength.
A man revealed himself from among the mess of twisted steel and bone shards. He was a man with an angular face and eyes as sharp and unforgiving as a wild beast.
[Name: Rahamma Aslan.
Age: 55
Attributes: Crushing, destroying, a man with great ambition, the disposition of a tyrant, a foolish king, overwhelming physical ability, massive pool of demonic energy, excellent combat abilities.
+ I shall become history’s greatest king!]
While I stared at this muscular dude, muscles around my eyes began twitching nonstop.
The king of Aslan, Rahamma...
The last boss of the enemy nation had shown up without warning!
While he was blowing away my Bone Golems, the sharp gleam in Rahamma’s eyes seemed to flicker brightly.
He then glared straight at me. “I see. So, you’re the one that that soothsayer spoke about...”
More Bone Golems quickly surrounded him, then swung their maces and shields down.
Rahamma instantly scanned his surroundings, accurately saw every single weapon flying in towards him, and quickly spun on his heels.
He then systematically crushed and destroyed the Bone Golems with his own huge mace.
An incredible amount of demonic energy gushed out from that mace of his. The aura at complete odds with divinity flooded out from his body to blanket the surroundings.
I clenched my teeth at the aura of death.
“So, you are...” King Rahamma stared at me and muttered out as if he was recalling something, “...that ‘angel’ from the prophecy.”
< 079. Hashashins and King Rahamma -3 (Part One and Two) > Fin.