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The soldiers groaned and stood up one by one at Nienna’s scolding.
It seemed that none of them died, but everyone had at least one or two bruises here and there. Some of them even had broken limbs, but everyone thought that it was a miracle that they managed to survive the storm of crazy tentacles.
“Opert, you saved all these soldiers! I thought wizards were lame, but you’re amazing!” Nienna exclaimed.
“...Thank you,” Opert said with a groan after crawling out of the pile of soldiers.
The Dragon Citadel was slightly tilted after coming to a stop. Opert spat out a bloody tiny horn in his mouth. The tiny red horn ended up breaking inside his mouth when he unknowingly clenched his teeth to brace for impact.
Nienna clicked her tongue at the sight.
“Dragon Citadel won’t be able to fly again, huh? It was kind of fun.”
“Thank you for worrying about my wounded mouth, General Nienna.”
“What about your mouth? Everyone gets a wound like that once in a while whenever they argue while drinking. What gets stuck in people’s mouths are broken tooth pieces, not a tiny horn. It’s better than that, isn’t it?”
Opert then heard Anya’s voice from behind.
“The Dragon Citadel won’t be able to fly again even if the horn is intact.”
Anya was walking out of the hallway. Nienna was surprised to see Anya’s pallid look and her injuries.
“Wait, what happened? Did you fall?”
“It’s kind of complicated. I was guarding the heart chamber that Mr. Opert told me about, but the heart was… destroyed. It’s the reason why the Dragon Citadel fell, and it will never be able to fly again.”
Nienna furrowed her brows. The destruction of the Dragon Citadel’s heart and Anya’s injuries meant that there had been enemies. Nienna had no idea how the enemies managed to enter the Dragon Citadel, but it seemed that the enemies were already gone judging by the look on Anya’s face.
“I see. Let’s stop your bleeding first and get out of here. The most dangerous moment is over, but—”
“General NIenna!”
An ominous cry suddenly rang out.
Nienna frowned and looked at where the voice had come from.
Pavan was pointing out of the window while shouting, “The monsters are surging from the inside of the Crack. I don’t think we have time to waste.”
“The monsters?”
Nienna was surprised to hear that there were still monsters. She was convinced that the surroundings had already been devastated. However, her mind quickly changed when she saw the scene beyond the window.
Black Aldebaran was singing something from afar in mid-air.
Nienna gnashed her teeth and looked around. Coincidentally, two of Gerard’s giant tentacles were flanking the Dragon Citadel and had formed a valley. Nienna was sure that they wouldn’t be surrounded.
Their current location was too great; Nienna couldn’t consider it a simple coincidence.
All of a sudden, something came to Nienna’s mind.
“Opert. Did you have any chance to observe the surroundings when we crashed?”
“Of course. We can’t just crash anywhere. There are no enemies around here, and we’re at a reasonable distance from the Crack.”
Nienna gave Opert a thumbs up and said, “You are the best flying castle pilot of the empire.”
“I think I’m the only flying castle pilot in the world, but thank you for the compliment,” Opert remarked.
The monsters were running toward them at breakneck speeds.
The Dragon Citadel trembled ever so slightly as the monsters’ footsteps sent waves of tremors toward the citadel.
Pavan stared anxiously at the monsters and asked Nienna. “What are you going to do?”
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“What are you talking about?” Nienna summoned two ice swords to hold in both hands. “Gerard killed the surrounding monsters, and he brought the rest of them all in one place! In other words, there won’t be any monsters left if we kill those monsters!”
***
Juan stared at the Crack.
A huge mass was wriggling and creeping up in the purple mist as it tore the ground apart. It was so huge that Juan couldn’t even see the whole thing. However, Juan knew that it was only a small fraction of the tentacles in Qzatquizail’s possession and that it was thin as a thread compared to its entire body.
The situation would get out of control once that thing started digging. Qzatquizail would invade the world’s insides like a collapsing dam. However, there was no malice or goodwill in such action.
Qzatquizail was simply waking up and moving. However, such mundane actions were enough to destroy the world. Gerard was right, Qzatquizail was so powerful and huge that it would destroy thousands of years of history in just a single move.
“Our civilization must be like a sand castle in your eyes.”
Juan was sure that Qzatquizail was thinking that human civilization was easy to build because it was so easy to break.
Juan had once wiped out the gods who had ruled the world for thousands of years, and he had also seen how the speedy demise of his empire.
It all happened in less than a hundred years.
“But you can’t even build a decent sand castle yourself...”
Juan’s physical form could barely keep its shape. Elkiehl had penetrated him, but the power of the crown didn’t immediately disperse like before. There was only half of a crown left, but Juan had long become the crown itself.
Qzatquizail’s tentacle started to open in the middle as if it were puff pastry. Afterward, a booming voice reverberated. The voice was filled with so much power that it seemed to be making the entire world tremble as it spoke.
[The emperor has returned!]
A powerful shockwave scattered the clouds. The clouds were cleared away, but the sky was still dark without a ray of sunlight because it was currently being covered by the fog of the Crack.
Qzatquizail had once again declared the return of the emperor.
Juan’s face distorted at Qzatquizail’s voice. He once thought that one day, he might have to give his crown to Gerard—a crown made out of gold rather than a flame.
Juan had laughed at himself back then, but he thought that it would be more beautiful than the flame crown. He thought that it would be a glorious day filled with blessings and joy.
However, Gerard was looking uglier and eviler than ever despite the declaration.
It was the worst coronation ceremony.
Gerard started to levitate Qzatquizail while stomping on his tentacles on the ground as if to boast that he was dominating Qzatquizail. However, Juan saw through the bluff and saw that Qzatquizail was still half asleep.
If Gerard could fully control Qzatquizail, he wouldn’t need the support of the tentacles. In other words, Gerard was only controlling a small part of Qzatquizail—a part the size of his finger.
Juan wordlessly stared at Gerard without moving. It would be weird to say that Gerard was in control of Qzatquizail just because he was moving it.
“Your will was strong, Gerard,” Juan said.
Gerard’s will was strong enough—until it met Juan’s will.
“I wonder, can you still maintain your will now that you have already achieved your goal of dominating Qzatquizail?”
Qzatquizail’s will was no different than the will of the universe itself, so Juan wasn’t convinced that Gerard would be able to maintain his ego once he came face-to-face with Qzatquizail’s will.
[The emperor has…]
Qzatquizail’s twitching became more pronounced. The tentacles trembled as if they were having seizures, and the voice proudly declaring the return of the emperor disappeared.
Juan felt Gerard’s voice die down from Qzatquizail. Gerard’s will to go beyond Juan was broken as soon as he achieved that goal. It wasn’t long before Gerard fell into complete silence. Qzatquizail had taken away his crown and vanquished his ego.
Gerard only had half of the crown. Qzatquizail had shattered Gerard’s ego, but Gerard’s collapse became the inevitable outcome when he tried to absorb Qzatquizail with an unstable crown.
Crack!
A huge wound appeared on Qzatquizail’s side. A dark purple liquid gushed out of the wound. Juan inadvertently recalled the wound he had left on Gerard’s face upon seeing Qzatquizail’s wound.
It was the last trace that Gerard left on Qzatquizail.
“This is not what I wanted,” Juan muttered, “But I knew that it would end up like this. No, maybe perhaps I had been waiting for it this.”
Juan directly jumped onto Qzatquizail. Juan’s physical form quickly distorted. The crown shook upon noticing the presence of its other half.
Juan turned into a massive flame before reaching Qzatquizail and left only the afterimages of his sword as he entered Qzatquizail’s body through the wound that Gerard had inflicted on Qzatquizail.
***
“Push them back!”
It was a chaotic scene. The Northern Army and the monsters collided with each other. The soldiers were wounded and exhausted, but they looked more dignified than when the Dragon Citadel was plummeting to the ground.
A soldier roared while covered in the thick bodily fluid of a monster he had just killed. He didn’t even spare another glance at the monster above him as he immediately looked for his next target. He looked terrifying and fierce, but Nienna looked no better than him.
“Don’t chop them into too small pieces! I like to chew on bigger pieces!” Nienna roared.
Pavan looked back at Deputy Kilt, seemingly astonished. “Um, did General Nienna just chew on a monster’s nape and swallow it? Please tell me I’m hallucinating.”
“...I saw it, too.”
The Imperial knights and the soldiers fought bravely, but the sight of the Northern Army warriors fighting the monsters made Pavan feel as if his eyes were hurting. Some warriors were fighting along Nienna while still chewing on the monsters’ appendages.
Pavan was worried that the soldiers would run out of energy due to hunger, but he didn’t expect that they would resolve their hunger like that.
“It seems like they’re used to that way of fighting,” Kilt said.
“It’s probably easy for them to distinguish what monsters are edible or not since they had been spending their entire lives fighting monsters. I’m constantly worried about supplies, so I’m a bit intrigued that they can do that. Kilt, why don’t you try and take a bite as an experiment?”
“No, thanks.”
The Northern Army’s brutal performance prevented the monsters from moving forward.
The monsters were twice as large as the Northern Army in numbers, but they couldn’t even dream of surrounding the Northern Army because of Qzatquizail’s tentacles on both flanks.
It was the perfect playground for the Northern Army.
Meanwhile, Black Aldebaran was in despair. She thought she had heard Gerard’s declaration of return, but the voice was abruptly cut off the second time around.
Black Aldebaran could tell that Qzatquizail’s revival was a success, but she didn’t want anything to do with all this anymore. She just wanted to sort the ongoing situation out as fast as she could so that she could finally retreat.
All of a sudden, Black Aldebaran flinched and quickly dodged upon sensing a sharp killing intent aiming for her head.
Something speedy passed by Black Aldebaran within a hair’s breadth.
It was a huge bone crow.
The bone crow, which was the amalgamation of remains from various species, flew downward to snatch a monster on the ground. Afterward, it hurled the huge monster toward a group of monsters.
The monsters were crushed beneath the huge monster.
Black Aldebaran’s expression distorted in disgust.
“You filthy and trivial undead…!”
Black Aldebaran’s words sounded hilarious in Anya’s ears.
“You control those monsters, and it is your goal to destroy the world, so why do you hate the undead.”
“We serve the life that is born from space. The existence of the undead is against providence!”
“I see…” Anya grinned. “Then, I shall let you follow providence.”
Black Aldebaran found Anya’s grin weird.
Her eyes abruptly widened upon realizing that something was wrong. She turned her head, but it was too late. A sharp edge had just sliced through her head..
Black Aldebaran was visibly stupefied when she saw the attacker.
The attacker was Sina Solvane.
Anya gasped sarcastically when Black Aldebaran’s head abruptly flew into the air.
Black Aldebaran had not revealed any signs of fear or surprise until she realized that Sina Solvane was the one who had severed her head.
Sina Solvane snatched Black Aldebaran’s head out of mid-air and then hurled it toward the ground to prevent any possibility of resurrection. The passing by monsters quickly crushed Black Aldebara’s head.
Anya commanded another bone crow to snatch Sina out of mid-air.
“I’m glad the timing was just right. How did you do that?” Anya asked.
SIna looked back at the cliff. It was a distance of at least a dozen meters. Even Sina herself couldn't understand how she had done it, but this wasn’t the time to think about that.
“I’ll tell you later. I’m sorry to bother you in the midst of the battle, but can I use the Dragon Citadel?”
“The Dragon Citadel? Um, well…”
Anya explained to Sina that the Dragon Citadel’s heart was destroyed, and it couldn’t fly anymore. Sina revealed a perplexed look upon hearing Anya’s explanation.
“I came running here because I thought I could go back to Juan using the Dragon Citadel…”
“His Majesty? Is His Majesty still inside?”
Sina was about to say yes, but the ground suddenly trembled. The trembling came from the vibrations that the Crack was producing.
Nienna was astonished. It hadn’t been that long since the previous earthquake, and she also knew what it meant—the Crack was widening.
Qzatquizail was about to arrive…
Their efforts were about to go down the drain…
However, Pavan soon realized that it wasn’t the case.
“The Crack isn’t widening…!” Pavan exclaimed. He had been staring at the skies.
Nienna turned toward Pavan and saw Pavan’s overjoyed look.
“The Crack is closing! It’s narrowing!” shouted Pavan.