The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game-Chapter 79.1: Great War (3)

The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game-Chapter 79.1: Great War (3)

Translator: Dreamscribe
The barrier created by the pillar of light turned black. It wasn’t because of the energy of Erosion or any magical effect. Too many enemies had swarmed the barrier, climbing over each other’s bodies and starting to obscure it.
The barrier had a dome shape.
Blocking out the sunset of Arsilan, it thus became stained black.
“Holy crap…”
Gulp!
“A zombie movie’s got nothing on this.”
“How can you watch that kind of stuff now? It’s so tame.”
It was like a scene from a horror movie. Not just any scene, but the most horrific, climactic moment. Countless Heroes held their breath and stared at the barrier.
Crackkk!
A huge crack ran across the entire barrier.
Clang!
The barrier shattered like glass.
Thudududuk!
The enemies clinging to the barrier dropped to the ground like a heavy downpour.
Crunch!
The black swarm of enemies from behind trampled over the fallen ones mercilessly and advanced. As one Hero threw himself to activate a trap, a massive explosion blew away the oncoming enemies.
In the northern village, such traps were installed at every passage, but they were useless before the overwhelming numbers.
The enemies charged forward, piercing through the smoke caused by the explosion.
“Let’s go!”
“Uwaaaa!”
“Valhalla!”
“Graaaah!”
Raising their morale, Bakal, the orcs, and the Heroes faced the enemies.
The Heroes did their utmost to slow the advance. The experience gained from clearing Quests had made them into seasoned soldiers. Before even thinking what to do, their bodies responded and moved.
“Uwaaaa!”
“Hold them back!”
Heroes revived from the Hero’s Flower kept charging toward the enemies.
Bakal and the orcs fought valiantly, scattering light as they moved. Whenever they swung their weapons, particles of light scattered like tiny pillars of radiance.
Boom! Boom!
Giants came charging in. Bakal stared at them, then charged toward them. He leapt and slammed his axe onto the top of a giant’s head.
Crackkkkk!
A long line tore from the crown to the groin. As Bakal landed and rose from the ground,
Boom!
The giant’s body split into two and collapsed.
“Graaaah!”
Bakal’s momentum surged.
A strong light continued to rise from his body, tightening his heart, and his stamina was rapidly being drained, but none of that mattered anymore. As long as he could hold on for just a little longer by burning his entire body, it was enough.
The Northern Grand Duke and her guild members swung their weapons desperately. High-level Heroes blocked enemies with their bodies, and even novice Heroes threw themselves into the fray.
“Guhk! H-hehahah…!”
The orcs met their end one by one, buried under the enemies.
Seeing that, the Heroes screamed and charged.
Everyone was desperate.
They struggled to stop the enemies heading toward the pillar of light, no matter what. But there were too many enemies. Giants gathered from all directions, and the enemies surged like waves.
“Bakal, are you okay?”
The Northern Grand Duke asked, slicing enemies apart with her two-handed axe wreathed in red aura.
“Khahaha! Far from it!”
Though staggering, Bakal continued swinging his axe.
The number of Heroes gradually decreased, and the orcs fell one by one.
The enemies dyed the entire northern village black and choked its breath as they pushed toward the pillar of light.
“Haaat!”
The mage operating the pillar of light squeezed out all of his remaining magic power and pushed the enemies back, but it only bought them the briefest of moments.
Bakal and the orcs, the Northern Grand Duke and the Heroes remained silent as they looked at each other.
They didn’t speak, but instantly understood each other’s thoughts.
“Let’s buy even one more second!”
“Let’s go!”
“Uwaaaa!”
Just as they were about to throw themselves at the enemies one last time.
[Wait!]
Message windows began to pop up in front of the Heroes.
[Look up!]
The Heroes froze and all looked toward the sky.
“Huh?”
“T-that’s…!”
A massive dragon appeared, lighting up the gradually darkening sky as it approached.
It was their Guardian Dragon. Several flying objects floated around the Guardian Dragon. Spreading their wings with it, they soared through the sky, following the Guardian Dragon.
The Guardian Dragon opened its mouth. As it exhaled its breath, radiant light poured down.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga!
The breath blasted away a portion of the northern village and carved through the advancing enemies in a straight line.
The Guardian Dragon looked down at the northern village, then headed straight for the Gate of Invasion. It began reducing the numbers even slightly by unleashing its breath and magic onto the Gate of Invasion.
The flying objects following the Guardian Dragon remained in the skies above the northern village. The numerous flying objects floating in the air looked like small dragons.
Using the Starflower of the Magic Dragon as material, they were able to maintain stable gliding.
[We have arrived!]
The Heroes recognized who they were.
The Helby Lovers Group, the ones responsible for the missile incident that stirred up Arsilan Worlds.
Fweeeeew!
From the flying objects, Helby Bombers, countless magical bombs rained down, turning the area around the pillar of light into scorched earth.
It was a tremendous show of firepower.
“Wooooah!”
“Fuck! This is it!”
“You crazy sons of bitches! You actually flew through the sky!”
“You really became dragons!”
The Helby Lovers Group.
They had become dragons now.
The Heroes cheered.
Even the orcs, seemingly thrilled by the miraculous sight, gripped their weapons tightly and raised them high.
“Graaaah! These are our Heroes!”
“Kuhaha! They’ve conquered even the skies!”
The orcs shouted.
Thunk!
Once they had used up all their magical bombs, the wings of the Helby Bombers broke off and fell away.
[For Arsilan!]
That was the message they left in front of the Heroes.
A silent message. Yet, it felt like the shout of the Helby Lovers Group echoed in their ears.
Fweeeeew! Kwaaaang!
The Helby Bombers fell from the sky just like that. Crashing like comets onto the northern village and its surroundings, they exploded on impact.
The bodies of the giants were reduced to powder.
Countless enemies evaporated and vanished. Pillars of fire shot up, and the scorching heat reached all the way to the pillar of light.
The Northern Grand Duke raised her two-handed axe.
“Valhalla!”
At her cry, the Heroes and orcs shouted and smashed the remaining enemies.
The mage who had been transmitting information from the pillar of light clenched his fist. Thanks to everyone's desperate effort, they had bought enough time, and at last, the transmission was complete.
“We did it! We did it!”
The mage ran forward.
“We met the quota! We filled both the other villages’ and our village’s quotas!”
Transmitting even the quota for other villages from this place was truly a legendary achievement.
Despite the mage’s triumphant cry, the northern village was silent.
Though all enemies nearby had vanished, in the distance, enemies once again surged like waves.
The Heroes were all looking at one place.
The surviving orcs were the same. The mage, too, saw it and fell silent.
The light was fading from the bodies of Bakal and the elder orcs. Their hearts had already stopped, and they had expended too much. Their bodies were losing light.
They were covered in wounds.
Their chests, legs, arms, rusty blades were embedded all over their bodies.
“Did we succeed?”
Bakal asked the mage.
The mage ran up and nodded.
“Yes, we transmitted everything! We’ve won!”
Bakal nodded.
“We were not afraid. We did not retreat. We endured to the end of the final battlefield. We surely fought with valor.”
At Bakal’s words, the Northern Grand Duke and the Heroes nodded.
“Bakal hyung! You were incredible!”
“This is what orcs are!”
“Uwaaah! Long live the orcs!”
All the surviving Heroes responded to Bakal’s words and roared. Though their numbers had dropped from tens of thousands to just thousands, the volume of their roar had not diminished.
Everyone blessed Bakal and the elder orcs with a warrior’s shout.
“Let the Heroes who will soon be resurrected know this as well.”
Bakal raised his weapon.
“It was a joy to fight alongside you! You are true warriors!”
Bakal and the orcs washed away the shame of long ago.
They became great warriors and left their names in Arsilan.
Bakal and the elder orcs' bodies became frozen in place. They looked as if they had turned to stone. The Northern Grand Duke and the Heroes bowed their heads in silence before those statues.
The mage also paid his respects with proper courtesy to honor them.
“The enemies are approaching. Other villages will need assistance too. Shall we move there?”
The enemies were surging once more.
The northern village and the pillar of light had completed their purpose. Though the northern village would disappear under the incoming black swarm, they had won.
The Northern Grand Duke brought her palm to the blade of her two-handed axe. She smeared her blood onto the X-shaped symbol that had been worn away in the intense battle.
The Heroes followed suit.
The surviving orcs struck their chests with their fists.
“The war is just beginning! Let’s go! For Bakal and the orcs, let’s slaughter the enemies!”
“Kill them all!”
“Uwaaa!”
At the Northern Grand Duke’s cry, everyone cheered and used the Hero’s Flower to go to villages in need of help.
Victory was not enough.
They would win more, and wash away all these emotions with the enemies' blood!
Bakal, the elder orcs, and the orcs who had died in battle moved on to the Soul Gate. The Soul Gate was beautiful. The song of return spreading from the Soul Gate reached their ears.
Bakal looked down.
He saw International City Marogo.
International City Marogo was also in the midst of intense battle.
“Northern village succeeded!”
“They even completed the quotas for the other villages?”
"...But Bakal nim...."
The Heroes and the people of Arsilan held a moment of silence.
Each of them drew the symbol of valor on their faces. The designs were varied. Some weren’t X-shaped, but it didn’t matter. They were all drawn in honor of the northern village’s achievement.
“We’ll win too!”
“It’s level-up time!”
The morale in International City Marogo rose.
Bakal looked toward Solis, the capital of the Kingdom of Sillion. A black tide of enemies was also swarming there. The enemies entangled one another as they surged like a tidal wave, their speed gradually increasing.
He saw the Archmage standing atop the city walls. Even as his soul was being torn to shreds, he didn’t let out a single groan. He endured the hellish pain calmly, merely staring at the enemy.
Bakal and all the orcs placed their hands on the ground.
[Our king.]
[Enjoy peace in our stead.]
[May your pain lessen, if only for a moment.]
They offered their souls, wishing to lighten the pain their king was bearing.
Bakal, the elder orcs, and the fallen orcs' bodies scattered and headed toward the Archmage.
Where their hands had touched the ground, golden palm prints remained brightly. They would remain forever on the path to the Soul Gate, recorded as the heroic myth of Arsilan Saga.
“......”
The expression of the Archmage, which hadn’t wavered in the face of any pain, now twisted. In his eyes, intense regret and sorrow gleamed.
The Archmage did not use the soul’s power infused into him to suppress his pain. Just by witnessing Bakal and the orcs’ noble will, just by receiving news of their great final stand, he gained the strength to endure.
The Archmage scattered their souls across the entire continent of Arsilan.
[The symbol of valor born from a great myth grants you power! If you draw the symbol on your body, the power of valor will be imbued in you.]
[It will remain with you until the end of the Great War.]
The Heroes saw the message that appeared and drew symbols on their bodies. The soul’s power was imbued there, and they glowed with a golden light.
“Oh, ohhh!”
“Guys, we’re actually getting buffs from this!”
“This is pretty cool.”
Each Hero gained the strength they needed. Some saw a large increase in strength, others in magic power. Until the Great War ended, Bakal and the orcs would fight alongside the Heroes.
So.
“For Arsilan! Endure!”
The Archmage, the King of Sillion, shouted to all.
For Bakal, for the orcs, for everyone, they would endure.
The roar of Solis echoed toward the enemies.
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Chapter 79.1: Great War (3)