“What is it? Is that all you’ve got?”
He grabbed a fallen log and leapt at the magicians. Blood and entrails sprayed as enemies were sent flying. At the same time, his burned side was slashed open, and blood flowed out.
“Gah! Thi-this is nothing…!”
The magicians had been caught off guard by the sudden attack, and they began to flee. The spearmen who had been waiting in reserve behind them closed the gap with astonishing speed, cutting off further pursuit.
“Lord Udik! Please fall back for now!”
The surviving caster clung to his wounded side and desperately began the healing. His allies tightened their defensive formation around them, but the enemy soldiers did nothing more than level their spears in their direction, and made no aggressive move.
“You idiot! We’re barbed hooks piercing the enemy’s flesh! What good is pulling back now?!”
The dragoon unit had already retreated, and the reorganized magicians were advancing in formation. However, as long as they held their ground here, the enemy’s magic would not be directed outward.
“All of you, fight as if this is where we die! With every swing of your arm, every bite of your fangs, slay the enemy with all you’ve got!”
Those who had survived steeled themselves and lunged at the magicians who had just finished their preparations.
“Now! There is no holding back! I’ll be using forbidden arts, so everyone, fall back!”
He tore the skull ornament from around his neck and slammed his fist down together with the ring.
“Wither in death, starve in hatred. those who long to make me their enemy!”
The spirits he himself had slaughtered, stored within darkness and resentment, began to seep out from inside the bones.
The mad souls, having become miasma itself, devoured Udik’s arm. And at the same time, Udik too fed upon their malice.
“You and I, an equal offering.”
The enemy magicians noticed the disturbance and fired blasts of golden light. But every one of them was devoured by the giant black arm that raised to meet them.
“Enshroud me, devour me, to the farthest reaches of heaven and earth, consume all things.”
The blackness swallowed everything, leaving only Udik’s eyes as he himself became a living shadow.
“Shadow Curse. Devouring Dirge Armor.”
It was an ultimate art that cloaked the user in the grudges of the dead. Their unquenchable hunger devoured enemies and magic alike, without distinction.
Once invoked, this deadly sorcery also started to consume the caster’s own life.
But Komos had told him. To take down as many of the magician soldiers as possible.
And so there was only one thing he could do as a caster.
“Come, you bastards. Let’s all get cozy together!”
Ignoring the magic light raining down over him, Udik charged headlong into the enemy ranks.
—
Something was amiss. At least, that was how it looked to Parokt.
The forest rose slightly here, and even with his half-rotted eyes, he was able to see a fair distance ahead.
On the left wing of the Hero’s army, a unit of lizardmen was launching an assault. Their movements were swift, and they showed no fear of the enemy’s cavalry.
Thanks to the gentle slope and the densely packed trees, the enemy could not see this position. Even the enemy ‘eyes’ had not passed through this area.
However, near the center of the battlefield where the ogre unit was positioned, bolts of lightning were dancing over and over again. And on either side, what looked like spearmen were locked in a contest with Berganda’s main force.
“Captain, something about this does not feel right.”
“Aye… You are right.”
This was nothing like the enemy movements they had been told. Only the dragoon troops were supposed to be capable of unleashing lightning strikes of that power. If that was the case, then it meant the enemy was concentrating their strength in the center.
“M-magic beasts… And bugs…pull them back. As far away…as possible.”
“Why?”
“A b-bad…feeling. Something’s…likely…gone wrong.”