Barbarian Quest

Chikaka, leading the mountain goat warriors of Phergamo, had followed the Alliance for a long time. The mountain goat warriors were different from other forces of the Alliance, having joined not as part of the Alliance but as an ally of equal standing.

The mountain goat warriors were the first to reach the gates of Hamel.

‘The gates are open.’

Indeed, the gates were unguarded, exactly according to the original plan. There were no sentries on the walls.

Creeeeak.

Chikaka entered through the gates, drawing his bowstring.

“Urich.”

He released the bowstring and ran toward Urich. He knew it was a hit even without seeing the arrow’s flight, and sure enough, a soldier’s scream was heard.

‘Urich’s wound is deep.’

Thud.

But Urich grabbed his arm.

“Not yet. The sun is rising. It’s the time of the civilized,” Urich muttered. His words weren’t coherent, perhaps due to the loss of blood, and his thoughts were unorganized, floating around.

Urich was standing in front of the gate, barely supporting himself. He felt that if he sat down, he wouldn’t be able to stand up again.

The mountain goat warriors were the first to pass by Urich as they shot arrows to fend off the approaching imperial soldiers.

The swiftest warriors of the Alliance soon followed into Hamel.

“Great Chief Urich!”

The heavily panting warriors shouted at Urich’s back upon seeing him alive, feeling the ancestors' blessings and the heavens' favor once again.

“We knew you would be alive, Urich! There’s no way the Son of the Earth would fall!”

The warriors shouted something to Urich and moved forward. They fought the imperial soldiers rushing in from inside the gate.

Buzzzz.

Urich, still standing, watched the warriors pass by. Their voices were faint, like afterimages.

The dawn was cold, and as the sun was rising, Urich felt the sunlight on his back.

‘I have to move.’

The battle was not over yet. It was unclear how many soldiers had entered Hamel, and even with an advantage like this, annihilation was only a single mistake away.

“Urich, can you stand?”

Belrua asked, supporting Urich. Urich’s weight hung on her arm.

She staggered under the unexpected weight, then steadied herself.

‘Urich is in a terrible state. He can’t even support his own weight.’

Urich drank water with Belrua’s help. Even draining an entire water bag was not enough compared to the blood Urich had lost.

“How many came? What’s the size of our warriors?”

Urich barely managed to speak. Belrua flinched.

‘He’s gone.’

Urich felt like he was submerged deep in water. Every sound was distant and muffled and his limbs felt weightless. Everything looked and felt blurry.

“All of them will be here soon. Georg insisted with passion that you were alive. If he hadn’t risked his life to say that, the army would have scattered because of Six-Fingered.”

“There’s still the main force of the imperial Army left. Don’t let the troops scatter for plundering.”

Urich had to forcefully squeeze out every single word.

“Don’t die yet, Urich. The warriors won’t listen to me. You need to stand up and speak for them to listen.”

Belrua and Urich watched the warriors charging ahead.

“Kill them all and burn everythiiiiiing! The Son of the Earth has opened the path to victory!”

The warriors' morale was incredibly high, making it hard to believe they were an army that had been starving for days. Although three hundred warriors were massacred, looking at it from the larger army scale, they had practically penetrated the walls without blood.

“Catch your breath first, Urich. Do you want to become a legend by dying? If so, I can help with that.”

Belrua ordered a warrior to bring a horse. Urich, with her help, mounted the horse.

Belrua took a cloth to roughly bandage Urich’s wounds to prevent them from reopening and the bleeding from worsening.

“I don’t plan on dying.”

Urich’s response was more relaxed as his energy somewhat returned after catching his breath and stopping the bleeding.

‘The forces of the Alliance are dispersing.’

The eager warriors were scattering all over Hamel without direction. The armies, split into units of tribes and warriors, attacked civilian houses instead of heading straight to the imperial palace.

The screams were unending.

“The heart of the civilized world is being shattered by the barbarian axe.”

Even the mercenaries from the civilized world who had joined the Alliance sighed, feeling both joy and regret simultaneously.

“Hooo.”

Urich exhaled a breath mixed with blood and swept his hair back. He weaved through the warriors on horseback.

“Uuuuurich!”

“The warrior of warriors! Our Great Chief!”

The warriors, who had been cutting down people, saw Urich and cheered.

Ache, ache.

Urich felt as if his back was about to snap. Each time the horse jolted, he felt like he might lose consciousness.

“My brothers! Did we come all this way just for some plundering?” Urich shouted. Even the warriors who had been chopping doors with axes for plundering turned their gazes to him.

“Do you see that splendid palace? That is where we must go! The emperor who invaded our homes with a mere flick of a finger is there! Are there any men who will join me in avenging our brothers? Or are you all just some animals who crave food and females?”

The warriors flinched and gathered. Urich relentlessly reorganized the army and changed the direction of their charge.

‘The Imperial Army’s main force is regrouping at the imperial palace. They’ve given up defending the residential and outer areas.’

Urich squinted his eyes. The pain disappeared as the cooling blood heated up again.

Not all warriors had gathered under Urich as many had scattered and were still busy plundering Hamel. However, enough had assembled to attack the emperor’s palace.

The Alliance Army wasn’t the only one plundering Hamel. The Serpentines who had risen from the underground also took part. Areas were wealthier the closer they were to the imperial palace, and the Serpentines mainly targeted nobles and the rich.

“That man sold my sister, all just because I owed him a few coins!”

“B-but you were the one who had that huge debt from your gambling! You sold your own sister!”

“Shut up!”

The Serpentines searched through the residential areas, dragging out nobles and the wealthy for judgment. Hamel was in such chaos that even status and class became blurred. There was no such thing as order any more.

Urich led the warriors along the main road toward the palace. He rolled his eyes, glancing at the Serpentines.

“Beast of the Apocalypse marked by the world! You have fulfilled the prophecy!”

A group of Serpentines stood in Urich’s way. It was led by Ludmil the Guide and the priests of Serpentism.

“Ludmil the Guide.”

Urich looked at Ludmil, who led the Serpentines. Ludmil slightly bowed a knee, showing reverence to Urich.

“They will face our judgment! The nobles and the rich have made the world suffer! They enjoyed our possessions for their pleasure. There is no place for them in the world we will create!”

Ludmil was so excited that his saliva was splattering on the ground.

“It seems to me that you’re just venting your anger. Did Trikee tell you to drag people out, humiliate, and kill them like this?”

Urich closed his eyes and opened them again. He saw the Serpentines shouting and laughing, rejoicing at the sight of the blood of the nobles. They were no different from barbarians.

Ludmil was too excited to hear Urich’s words properly and babbled on about the future like a child.

“Once you and your people leave, we will create a new world! Since you have carried out the destruction of this world according to the prophecy, we will bear the new world on our shoulders!”

Urich glanced at the massacre performed by the Serpentines. They carried the heads of nobles on poles.

The Serpentines, who were mostly lower-class people, needed to vent the hatred and anger that filled their hearts, which they had to suppress all their lives. That hatred spilled out in the name of Serpentism.

“Go, Beast of the Apocalypse! Destroy that palace, the symbol of the old world!” Ludmil shouted as he aggressively pointed his finger. His bloodshot eyes were not satisfied despite having drunk deeply of blood.

Urich stared intently at Ludmil's face. How much blood was this man going to spill in the name of the will of the world?

“Ludmil, there’s a god that I’ve seen multiple times. Whenever my will wavered, he appeared to help me.”

Ludmil widened his eyes. He spread his arms wide, feeling as if he stood in a solemn and historic moment.

“You are truly the one chosen by the world!”

“But looking back, it wasn’t a god… It was just shadows of my choices. It was my weak self who summoned him. Because I wasn’t confident that my choices and judgments were right… I hoped that a god would assist me.”

“U-uh?”

Ludmil looked up at Urich in confusion. Urich raised his axe high.

“You are no different. You merely use your faith as a means to your hatred.”

His body was exhausted, but he still had enough strength to split a man’s head.

Crack!

Urich’s axe cleaved Ludmil’s head in half. Blood sprayed out to the sides.

“Divine punishment! Divine punishment has fallen upon the Guide!”

The priests of Serpentism, who were watching, shouted in shock. They scattered in all directions to avoid Urich and the warriors.

“Urich, should we kill the ones running away?”

“Leave the small fry.”

Urich winced as he bent over to pull the axe out of Ludmil’s head.

The Imperial Army maintained its command structure even as Hamel fell. Imperial soldiers crowded into the imperial palace for a final defense.

Thousands of warriors followed Urich to the imperial palace in the city that was engulfed in screams and flames where the shadow of death did not lift even as the sun rose.

Clop.

Urich pulled the reins of his horse and looked up. The entrance to the imperial palace was closing, and the steel knights of the empire stood in the gap of the closing door, still resisting.

“Olga…”

Olga's body hung at the entrance of the palace. There wasn’t a spot on his bloodied body that wasn’t beaten, and the blood pooling beneath him stained the ground.

‘You probably came here knowing you would die.’

Olga was strong in improvisation. Though he didn't strictly follow Urich's orders, he was a warrior who acted on his thoughts and judgments. He was a man who led rather than followed.

‘That’s why I trusted you. I knew you would do great.’

Urich ordered the warriors to lower Olga’s body. Soldiers on the palace walls shot arrows, but the warriors skillfully raised their shields in response.

The warriors treated Olga's body with respect, honoring his death.

It was a victory built on the blood of brothers. It was the sacrifice of the recklessly brave warriors that allowed Hamel to fall.

The walls and gates of the imperial palace were significantly weaker than those of the outer wall of the city. Mercenaries brought roofed battering rams to pound the palace gates.

Boom! Boom!

The entrance to the palace wasn’t going to hold for long, as it was designed for security, not siege.

“Urich, you have to take a break, even just for a second. You look terrible.”

Belrua stood by Urich.

Urich nodded off, then straightened up. He had been fighting for over a day without any proper sleep. Even someone called superhuman was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

“No. If I rest now, I won't be able to get back up. It's not over until the emperor falls.”

Urich persevered stubbornly. He held onto consciousness.

—The time has come.

—Come to us.

—You have done enough.

He hadn’t taken any drugs, but he was still hearing voices. His chest felt cold, and even when he turned his head toward the voices, he saw nothing.

‘What I should fear is not the invisible beings, but my own weakened heart.’

Urich shook his head and bit his tongue until it bled.

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