Chapter 524: The Stand Against Oblivion (4)
In the blink of an eye, dozens of imperial soldiers and allies were turned into skeletons ..right before their comrades’ eyes.
Panic erupted across the battlefield.
Terror. Screaming. Death.
And the true nightmare had only just begun.
The hands slithered across the battlefield at terrifying speed, like serpents signaling an impending massacre...
In mere seconds, hundreds had already been reduced to skeletons.
But just before the situation could escalate further ..
They heard his voice.
"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Supreme Art : Abyssal Wave."
He was fast—so fast their eyes could only catch the trails of violet aura he left behind.
Like a spinning buzzsaw, Frey shredded through the massive gray hands in mere moments, scattering their rotting black blood across the field.
Stopping the attack that nearly annihilated them, Frey reappeared at the front with blinding speed, his blades pointed in a single direction.
"Get a grip. The enemy is right ahead," he said, unleashing a colossal cleaving arc that tore through the fog.
"Brace yourselves. We’re facing one of the Nightmare Lords ..
The Cosmos."
His strike blew away the mist ..
And he would soon wish it hadn’t.
The true form of the monster that had attacked them was finally revealed.
A grotesque abomination, crawling out from the very depths of hell.
It looked like a giant wraith, its skin ghastly white. From inside its body sprouted hundreds of colossal gray hands that carried it aloft. Its long black hair flowed like a waterfall, dragging across the ground.
Its face—was a living nightmare.
Even the bravest of soldiers couldn’t bear to look at it for more than a second.
It was as if this creature was the embodiment of every curse imaginable—
A hideous beast sculpted from mankind’s deepest fears.
And beside the Cosmos, another presence could be seen .. One exuding immense, suffocating power.
Clad in a black suit, a massive scythe strapped across his back..
That cursed man stood beside his mother.
Many recognized him at once.
"The Hollow... Ludwig,"
Snow Lionheart whispered his name, clenching Vermithor tightly, ready to unleash the War King’s form at a moment’s notice.
"This will be a tough one," he said, signaling the troops to follow him and Frey in subduing these monsters.
But before they could even move forward, they froze ..
As their ears were shattered by a scream that tore the skies apart.
A harrowing cry unlike anything they had ever heard.
And at the same time ..
A quake struck the earth from out of nowhere.
Announcing the arrival of another nightmare.
From afar... they saw her coming.
Taller than all the mountains surrounding them.
A monster crawling on eight limbs, a single eye on her head and a gaping mouth splitting open her chest ..
The Lady of Eight Legs.
Another Nightmare Lord.
At the sight of her... despair overwhelmed the troops.
So much that many collapsed on the spot.
Especially when yet another overwhelming aura descended upon them, suffocating their lungs.
A fourth presence had arrived.
From afar...
They could all feel him approaching.
A man carrying immeasurable power.
"M-My Lord..." a soldier said, trembling, barely able to speak the words:
"One of the enemy commanders has been spotted...
The Human Demon—Dragoth."
The soldier burst into laughter ..
His legs finally giving out under the weight of fear.
"This is insane..." Snow muttered, his expression growing darker.
The Cosmos.
The Lady of Eight Legs.
Dragoth.
Each of them... monsters of SS+ caliber.
Especially the last.
Aside from Abraham Starlight, Dragoth had never lost a single battle in his life.
Even at his worst, not even Sir Alonne could kill him.
And now ..
That man had arrived, alongside two Nightmare Lords and one Hollow.
A full-scale disaster had befallen them.
"Sir! We have to retreat! There’s no other way! We’ll be wiped out if we stay!!"
A soldier cried out, pleading with Snow to give the order.
"We need to run..."
Snow Lionheart ..the commander.
The one whose word determined whether they lived or died.
The church’s champion, staring down the monsters before him.
He fully grasped the scale of the catastrophe.
No matter how he looked at it, he reached only one conclusion ..
They would be annihilated.
In a situation like this, there was only one option left ..
Retreat.
If they wanted to survive, that was the only path.
He was just about to give the order—
But before he could...
Everyone on the battlefield froze in place ..
As an overwhelming pressure spread, pushing back the combined auras of the Nightmare Lords and Dragoth alike.
It was a terrifying aura ..
One that wrapped around them and banished the enemy’s power completely.
Its source... was none other than the man who always stood at their front.
With eyes burning bright in violet light—
With a face carved for killing—
Frey Starlight turned to them.
"Retreat? Who’s retreating? And where the hell would you run to?"
Stepping forward, he declared:
"The enemy is right in front of you. So why are you hesitating?"
Gathering every ounce of his strength, Frey roared:
"Wake up, for fuck’s sake! This is war!
We’re standing on a battlefield!
And our enemy is right here ..how could we possibly show him our backs?!"
"You really think you’ll survive if you run?"
"Look at them! They’re monsters—monsters bred to hunt down humans like us!"
"The moment you turn your backs on them...
You’re already dead!"
With his gaze returning to what stood before him, Frey Starlight declared:
"I’d rather die a warrior fighting on his feet than be buried as a coward who fled."
Frey took his first step forward, uncaring of what order Snow Lionheart might give.
Beside him... his shadow thickened, and from it emerged Sansa, cloaked in a black aura.
"Another suicidal move, huh? What if no one joins you? Will you face them alone?"
she sighed, exasperated by the reckless lunatic she was stuck with.
But he just chuckled.
"Of course not. I know you’ll come with me. So..."
Pointing toward the colossal creature in the distance, one so massive it blotted out the sky...
"I want you to handle that one."
It was madness. A request so insane that Sansa blinked, glancing from the monster to Frey in disbelief.
"You really want me to fight that thing?"
The Eight-Legged Lady was so immense that despite being dozens of kilometers away, her outline was crystal clear.
And Frey wanted her to take it on alone.
"I trust you can handle it. And if anything goes wrong, I’ll come save you. So don’t worry,"
he said, turning his back to her and facing Snow and the others.
"I’ll deal with their leader. Sansa will intercept the Eight-Legged Lady. That leaves you with the Cosmos and her cursed son.
So what do you say, Snow? Will you join me once more?
Or will you run with your tail between your legs?"
He stared him down, forcing the hero to make his choice.
Snow met Frey’s gaze, then glanced at the terrified soldiers behind him.
He let out a long breath.
"If I turn back now, I’ll never be able to catch up to you again... Frey."
As golden runes crawled over his skin, Snow Lionheart stepped forward.
"Soldiers of the Empire.
If you wish to flee, I won’t stop you. I won’t blame you. The enemy ahead knows no mercy."
"But because of that, we must stop them here and now.
Otherwise, only death and defeat await us."
Looking at the soldiers, at his comrades, Snow made his choice.
"We fight!"
He declared, resolute, and Frey responded with a nod and a grin.
Behind Snow, Ghost remained with the rest of the troops, ready to offer support.
Their enemies were monstrous, but Frey and Sansa had already committed to facing two of them alone.
It was a gamble.
A terrifying one.
But it was the only choice they had.
Some soldiers still hesitated... but Frey gave them no time to ponder.
"Good luck."
He said, just before his feet slammed into the earth and launched him like a comet toward the battlefield he had chosen.
Behind him, a pair of black wings unfurled from Sansa’s back. She soared at supersonic speed toward the Eight-Legged Lady.
That towering monstrosity would spell doom if it reached the frontlines—so the Demon Princess had no choice but to intercept it, no matter the cost.
As for Snow and the others, they charged toward the Cosmos and her cursed spawn, the hollow Ludwig.
What awaited them now were brutal, hellish battles...
Fights that could decide the very outcome of the war.
Focusing his sights on Dragoth, Frey finally saw the man who had once defeated by his father.
A being at the peak of the SS+ tier.
A monster once called immortal.
Knowing he was about to clash with such a foe, Frey couldn’t suppress the twisted smile curling across his face.
Gripping the Nameless Mask, he placed it over his face, hiding his expression as he tightened his hold on his twin swords.
Like a violet meteor screaming across the sky, Frey shot forward ..
.. toward Dragoth, the Human Demon.