"Cancel the second bombardment! Increase altitude!"
"What?!"
"No questions, just up! Now!"
But an airship is enormous and cannot move instantly just because of a command.
The pilot, hearing my order, urgently moved the controls to raise La Mancha's altitude again.
It was a little late.
Grrrrrr!
Gaaaaaah!
The horrifying roars of the zombies suddenly melded together, and they began piling up like ants, forming a pillar with their bodies.
The spontaneously built block of corpses...A pillar of zombies was created in real-time, shooting upwards as the zombies climbed over each other endlessly towards the sky.
Dozens of such zombie pillars surged towards the airship. McMillan, in panic, extended his hand.
"Open fire! Shake them off!"
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-!
Dozens of machine guns mounted on the airship simultaneously blazed.
The bullets poured down like rain, riddling the approaching zombie monsters with holes.
However, these are not ordinary zombies. These are monsters from Zone 10 of the Lake Kingdom turned into zombies.
Even though they lost their intellect and abilities, their bodies were still robust.
Despite being hit by dozens of bullets, the zombies stubbornly built the pillar and finally crawled up...
They clung to the bottom of the airship. I shuddered.
"Increase altitude! Can't we go any faster?"
"We're at full power, but the monsters are building the pillar faster...!"
La Mancha had been lowering its altitude for bombing.
Trying to raise the altitude urgently wasn’t easy, and in the brief hesitation, the zombie pillars surged.
‘No matter what, how can they build a pillar as tall as a skyscraper this quickly with their bodies?!’
It feels faster than I can set up an automatic turret, damn it!
Such organized and purposeful actions couldn't have been done by the zombies on their own. I quickly scanned the surroundings and found it.
The center of the zombie army.
A giant demon woman with antlers emitting ominous green magic, staring directly at us.
"Cromwell...!"
The moment I spat out the name of the enemy commander, as if she heard my voice.
"Kaaahhhh-!"
Cromwell roared resoundingly and raised her hands.
From her huge antlers, tremendous green magic spread in all directions, and the zombies within the range howled, stacking the pillars even faster.
"Shake them off! Ascend-!"
The brief moment it took for La Mancha to ascend after lowering for the bombardment was actually very short.
But in that short span, the zombies built pillars with their bodies and approached, successfully reaching La Mancha.
When I came to my senses, we were bound in the air by several zombie pillars.
"This is ridiculous...!"
The faces of all the crew members turned grim.
More zombies clung to the ship, and various sensors on the airship turned red. Emergency alarms blared painfully from all sides.
McMillan shouted urgently.
"The force pulling us down is increasing! We'll crash at this rate, Your Highness-!"
"Damn...!"
I was flabbergasted by this absurd situation, racking my brain for a solution.
Let us crash? Not a chance. Dearmudin and I are here. So, the means we can use now...
Just then.
McMillan, watching the radar, looked at me with a shocked face.
"Your Highness, reporting!"
"What now?!"
"A fleet of flying entities approaching rapidly from the north!"
I widened my eyes at the unexpected news.
The north?
From the Crossroad direction?
"They're flying in formation! It's... flying troops!"
Flying troops coming from Crossroad?
Impossible, our only air force is La Mancha...
"I'll show the northern sky on the screen!"
At McMillan's command, a crew member manipulated the magic panel to display the northern sky.
And what appeared was...
"?!"
Creatures with eagle heads and wings, and lion bodies.
"Those are... griffins?!"
And those knights riding the griffins, clad in silver armor and fluttering scarlet cloaks...
「Message to the flagship La Mancha.」
Just then, a communication came to La Mancha.
「This is the Sky Knights of the Vermillion Kingdom.」
At the forefront of the knights riding griffins.
A young man with vivid scarlet hair, a braid hanging from one side, piloted a griffin. He was no longer a boy but had become a young man in the short time I hadn't seen him.
That young man, somewhere between boyhood and manhood, smiled and introduced himself over the communication device.
「I am Mikhail Vermillion, the captain.」
"Mikhail...?!"
「Do you need assistance?」
The crown prince of the Vermillion Kingdom.
Captain of the Sky Knights.
The young knight who had lost everything on this front, overcame it himself, and returned to change his homeland had come back.
Mikhail drew two long, sleek spears attached to his griffin's saddle, holding one in each hand. The tips of the spears gleamed with radiant magical power from embedded crimson jewels.
「Well, even if you say no, we’ll help anyway.」
"Haha...!"
Everyone on the bridge brightened up at the sudden arrival of these reinforcements.
Charging forward with his spear, Mikhail shouted in a clear voice.
「Sky Knights, charge! Save La Mancha!」
Screeeeeech!
Leading the charge, Mikhail thrust his spear forward.
Following him, about fifty griffin knights surged.
The Sky Knights, flying in at tremendous speed, wrapped their weapons in magical light and charged at the zombie pillars,
Boom-!
With overwhelming power, they shattered the zombie pillars instantly.
Gaaah!
Grrrraaa!
The zombies screamed hideously as they fell from the collapsing pillars.
Mikhail's prowess was particularly astounding, swinging his two spears like a windmill, literally pulverizing the zombie pillars.
The griffins also crushed the heads of approaching zombies with their massive talons and pecked them with their beaks.
Thanks to the Sky Knights' efforts, the zombie pillars weakened, and La Mancha gradually shook off the zombies' grasp and gained altitude.
After ascending to a safe height and circling around to ensure the area was secure, Mikhail spoke into the communication device.
「Message to the airship La Mancha.」
The young knight's face wore a mischievous smile.
「Is there a small spot inside that huge assault ship where our griffins can rest? We've come a long way and fought a battle, so everyone seems tired.」
I grabbed the communication device myself and responded.
"Message to the Sky Knights. This is Ash 'Born Hater' Everblack, commander of the World Guardian Front."
A smile spread across my face.
"Permission granted. We'll open the deck. Please make yourselves at home."
I continued.
"Welcome back to the front lines, Mikhail."
Mikhail, smiling, gestured to his knights.
Then, the fifty griffin knights, who had been circling the airship, began landing on the deck one by one.
***
"Prince Mikhail!"
The first to rush out to greet the landed Mikhail was Dearmudin.
Mikhail, who was removing his helmet and hanging it on his griffin's saddle, greeted Dearmudin with a smile.
"Dearmudin."
Dearmudin grasped Mikhail's hand firmly.
"I'm so glad you returned safely. I was worried ever since you left..."
"I was also worried about the safety of this front, but seeing you all well is a relief."
Mikhail then extended his hand to me.
"I'm relieved you're safe too, Prince Ash."
I grasped his hand firmly in return.
"I'm truly glad to see you alive again, Mikhail...!"
We shook hands firmly.
More than words, this handshake conveyed deeper emotions.
Then Mikhail, with a hint of excitement, added.
"Oh, and... I'm no longer a prince."
Not just Dearmudin, but I was also taken aback.
No longer a prince?
So... as he mentioned before, he was dethroned for the loss?
Seeing our worried faces, Mikhail awkwardly chuckled and pulled out a small golden crown instead of the helmet he had just taken off, placing it on his head.
"I'm now a king."
"What?!"
Dearmudin and I both exclaimed in shock.
Mikhail briefly explained what happened after he left this front.
He secretly returned to the Vermillion Kingdom, feigning death, and succeeded in gathering forces loyal to him.
Though he attempted a rebellion against the "Council of Elders," who practically ruled Vermillion Kingdom, conducting genetic experiments to create a "perfect king," the rebellion initially failed.
"My people and I were captured and imprisoned. But then..."
"But then?"
"Suddenly, the world lost its daylight, and a mad snowstorm began."
"Ah...!"
The Vermillion Kingdom is located at the far northwestern edge of the continent.
When Night Bringer extinguished the daylight, the northern continent was particularly engulfed in an enormous snowstorm.
"Thanks to the night and snow, the country's security system was completely paralyzed... In that gap, I managed to gather my people again and launch a counterattack against the Council."
"Who would have thought it would lead to this..."
That damned black dragon's catastrophic event had turned into an opportunity for Mikhail. Life is truly unpredictable.
"So I succeeded in the rebellion, the Council of Elders was completely overthrown. Now our Vermillion Kingdom no longer engages in human genetic modification."
Mikhail glanced back.
The griffins, occupying the hangar of La Mancha, were lying comfortably, growling softly.
"I inherited the throne, tidied up the internal affairs, and then... led all the griffins and trained knights available to the front."
"So that's how it happened."
This young prince... no,
king, had also gone through a grand adventure while away from this front.
Just then, the knights of the Sky Knights rushed forward from behind Mikhail. He beamed and gestured to them.
"Let me introduce the new Sky Knights. They are trustworthy people who followed me since the rebellion. They're all, like me, homunculi, enhanced humans."
The knights of the Sky Knights all bowed to me in unison. Dearmudin and I returned the gesture.
Among them, five male knights gave me a subtle look. Mikhail cautiously introduced them.
"These are my sister's husbands."
"Oh."
That sister who was originally betrothed to me but then the engagement was called off?
I heard she married five men out of the shock from the broken engagement, and these must be them. I understand the subtle looks now...
"My sister is currently in the kingdom, stabilizing it in my stead. She's smart and strong, so she'll do a better job than me."
Next, Mikhail pointed to five female knights standing behind him.
"And these are... not my fiancée, as I mentioned before."
For some reason, Mikhail's face darkened slightly.
"They are my wives... that is, the queens."
"..."
The female knights, one by one, removed their helmets and glared at Mikhail with sharp, fierce eyes.
The atmosphere in the hangar turned cold instantly. As I sweated nervously, I carefully whispered.
"...Why is the atmosphere like this?"
"...Well, actually, we came right after the wedding. I told them it was a honeymoon."
What?!
"The condition for them joining the rebellion was an official marriage with me."
"So...?"
"So right after the successful rebellion, we sorted out the internal affairs and held a coronation and wedding ceremony in a flash, then... I told them we were going on a honeymoon to the south. And we ended up here. Ahem."
The gaze of the Vermillion queens turned even icier. Mikhail desperately avoided their eyes.
Good grief, calling this a honeymoon and ending up on a monster front...
I carefully asked.
"Still, you are happy, right...?"
Mikhail, with a forced smile, showed a hint of tears in his eyes...
And gave a thumbs-up, saying.
"Ash, you must get married too. Definitely...!"
--TL Notes--
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