The guards of the 2nd Fortress stood in the way of the unit.

Erich asked them.

“Tell me more about the rampaging dead.”

“This all happened so recently that we’re not entirely sure ourselves, but suddenly, the dead started popping up and attacking the troops of our 2nd Fortress. That’s why Commander Hern quickly sealed off this place.”

Erich nodded. Even if you’d heard about the dead, it was only natural to struggle when facing them for the first time.

“But what does that have to do with stopping us here?”

One of the 2nd Fortress’s troops replied, looking troubled.

According to their account, ever since Albrecht refused the summoning order, the dead suddenly started running rampant, and the soldiers of the 2nd Fortress realized—too late—that a bite from the dead would soon turn the victim into one of them.

Thus, Fortress Commander Hern enacted a single measure to deal with it: to quarantine the area as quickly as possible.

Frankly, his rapid judgment deserved respect.

“So, you’re absolutely forbidding entry in order to prevent the dead from increasing?”

“Exactly. Commander Hern is currently carrying out a large-scale cleanup operation, so it would be better for you to wait until it’s over to pass through, commander.”

The commander’s reasoning was sound. If poorly prepared troops who knew little about the dead entered and were wiped out, all it would do is increase the number of dead.

But Erich had a few more doubts.

“But if they’re just ordinary dead, I don’t see why you need such a grand-sounding ‘cleanup operation’—shouldn’t it be easy?”

“… That’s the troublesome part, but these aren’t ordinary dead. Because the Barbarians have turned into the dead, they’re all the more difficult to deal with.”

Erich let out a low breath. This was something he himself had experienced before his regression.

‘Unlike ordinary dead, the fresh Barbarians turned into dead are real trouble.’

Barbarians who’d become dead were fundamentally different from imperial soldiers. They possessed tremendous strength and agility.

They were tough enough to deal with even before, and now, unless you took off their heads, they wouldn’t die. It felt almost unfair.

Erich even recalled his own Watch unit suffering tremendously from an onslaught of Barbarian dead in the past.

Were it not for that, the fortresses along the front lines might not have fallen so swiftly.

But since then, the creation of Barbarian dead had been relatively rare. In the past, Erich had speculated:

‘Maybe it requires much more strength to turn Barbarians into dead than it does for regular humans.’

If that weren’t true, their enemy would have packed all their forces with Barbarian dead and sent them into battle.

And this suggested something else to Erich.

‘Albrecht is getting desperate. The fact that he’s turning Barbarians into the dead says as much.’

The main force had been destroying every Barbarian they encountered on the way, so there must have been corpses everywhere, waiting to be used.

Moreover, this was the frigid north. Corpses wouldn’t rot and decompose quickly just because a bit of time had passed.

‘This is why I said to burn everything, but realistically, that was probably impossible.’

It was hard enough to control all the regular troops, and if the fighting happened at night, they would have avoided lighting fires and drawing enemy attention.

Naturally, this meant plenty of Barbarian corpses ripe for turning into the dead were scattered everywhere.

Anyway, after hearing their explanation, Erich spoke.

“Well, I understand your concerns. But our unit was the first to fight the dead and report their activity to the entire Watch. What you’re worried about won’t happen, so don’t worry—open the way.”

“… Still, we have Commander Hern’s orders. We can’t let you in.”

“Really? Are you saying the 2nd Fortress Commander outranks the Lord Commander? And if I did try to force my way in, what exactly would you do to stop us?”

The face of the 2nd Fortress’s guard went pale. Behind Erich were thousands of soldiers waiting.

Among them were not only Barbarians but also the holy knights of the Order. Some guards at the entrance wouldn’t be able to stop such a force.

The head of the guard flailed his hands in alarm.

“… C-Commander Hern will have your head!”

“I know that man’s temper well enough. Just tell him I forced my way through. He won’t punish you for something you couldn’t have helped.”

The squad leader heaved a deep sigh. With no choice left, he withdrew the blockade.

Thus Erich’s unit was able to head further in, toward the Central Region.

Straight into an area where the dead gaped with open jaws.

***

As Erich’s unit advanced into the Central Region, they witnessed the aftermath of fierce battle left by the main force. Just as he predicted, corpses of Barbarians and soldiers were strewn everywhere.

Hrung-ga frowned at the sight of the corpses.

[They may be a different tribe, but it’s still pitiful.]

[What, are you feeling a sudden surge of vengeance?]

[No, they’re not of our kind. There are many sky tribes in the Central Region.]

Barbarians were divided into two groups: Hrung-ga’s steppe tribe, and the sky tribe, like Calga whom they’d met previously.

Unlike imperial citizens who lumped all Barbarians together, the relations among the tribes themselves were as bad as could be.

Hrung-ga’s feeling probably wasn’t vengeance, but simple pity for the dead.

As Erich’s unit continued their march, they soon heard a commotion. The entire force stopped, and Barnes, who had just scouted the coniferous forest ahead, reported to Erich.

“Commander Erich, the dead are gathered up ahead.”

“Just the dead?”

“There were also the bodies of Watchmen.”

Erich concluded they must be members of the 2nd Fortress’s Watch. During the cleanup operation, a small group must have been defeated and killed.

While Erich pondered, the holy knights behind him suddenly drew their swords.

“Incensus’s Will!”

Some even shouted out in exultation. Erich quickly moved to block their way, suspecting they would only cause trouble if left alone.

“It’s not the time yet. There’s no need to make a grand spectacle out of this.”

“How can we just stand by with the dead in front of us?”

Complaints arose among the holy knights. But then Alexander stepped forward.

“We have come here following the Apostle of Incensus’s Will. You would do best not to act out of your own judgment.”

“… Th-the Lion of Barendorph.”

The holy knights did not have the courage to defy Alexander to his face.

Evidently, they were also from the Lightbringer Order like him.

The Allflame Order, like Alexander, tended to act based on reason, but the Lightbringers were a different story.

Allflame knights had already fought on the battlefield, while the Lightbringers had only trained in seclusion with each other, so their approach to strategy was completely different.

‘I wish I could take only Allflame with me.’

If Corin, the Knight Commander, weren’t originally from the Lightbringers, Erich could have composed his entire holy knight squad from the Allflame Order alone; a bit of a shame.

‘Well, at least we got our hands on some good equipment.’

Just then, Ceres quietly spoke up.

“I’ll take care of that. You want it done quietly, yes?”

“That’s right, but there are quite a lot. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I can manage that much.”

Ceres strode toward where the dead were.

Erich followed her, not wanting to lose a precious mage, especially one without real combat experience who might make a mistake.

At the site, the dead could be seen gnawing on corpses. They had lost all sense and were engrossed only in devouring flesh.

― Crunch, crunch.

Ceres’s blue hair fluttered lightly. At the same time, the air around her vibrated.

She raised her staff, aiming toward the dead, quickly locking her gaze on all of them in her field of view. Within moments, Ceres’s eyes fixed in place.

― Snap! Tear! Crackle! 

In an instant, dozens of dead gathered there were crushed or exploded without warning. In terms of the “quietly handle it”

Erich had ordered, it was the best possible outcome.

‘… So unpretentious. She’s quite different from other mages I’ve seen.’

The mages Erich had encountered before tended to unleash spectacular spells—rain fire from the sky, summon thunderbolts, and so on.

But the magic Ceres used was entirely different. She simply targeted the heads and necks of the dead for precise explosions.

If a mage’s power were measured by effectiveness rather than spectacle, Ceres was certainly a formidable mage.

Her magic wasn’t meant to create a grand phenomenon, but to deliver a fast, silent death. In that, Ceres was a master.

Having checked the dead, now just puddles of blue gore, Ceres closed her eyes gently, as if feeling just a little fatigued.

“Let’s go. It’s done.”

“Amazing. You can do that kind of magic without preparation, even from this distance? Most mages I’ve seen rain fire or things like that.”

“You’ve seen a few mages, I see. That sort of magic is just for show. It’s inefficient. Only third-rate mages bother. Magic should only have as much effect as needed.”

Erich nodded. He felt he might finally understand the mage’s temperament.

‘A high-level swordsman’s temperament grows as sharp as his blade. In that sense, maybe Ceres became obsessed with efficiency because she’s a high-level mage.’

Thanks to Ceres quietly dealing with the dead, Erich’s unit could advance once more. But the way ahead was increasingly swarming with the dead.

― Bzzt! Crack! 

Hrung-ga smashed the skulls of the dead with his club. Erich’s plan to progress quietly was changing as their numbers grew.

‘The farther in we go, the more dead there are. But they’re not grouped together. What does that mean?’

If he were Albrecht, Erich thought, he would gather the dead in one place for defense.

But now, the dead were simply scattered everywhere, strategically unreasonable behavior.

Confronted by this odd sense of dissonance, Erich led his unit further in. As the number of dead increased, so did the number of corpses of their own men.

The fallen wore the insignia of the 2nd Fortress on their shoulders.

Erich began to feel something was wrong. Hern claimed a massive cleanup operation was underway—so there should be some sign of success by now.

But instead, the dead remained everywhere, and their own troops lay dead.

It wasn’t long before Erich realized the reason. Everyone’s faces darkened as they saw the scene before them.

“… So that’s why.”

Erich muttered quietly. The dead he’d seen so far weren’t deliberately ‘scattered’.

There were simply so many dead being controlled that those straying outside the handler’s command had been left behind along the road.

― Grrrrrr!

― Everyone, hold your formations!

Before their eyes, the forces of the 2nd Fortress were being massacred by tens of thousands of the dead.

At the center, commander Hern was seen desperately rallying his troops in a life-and-death battle. But at this rate, annihilation was certain.

Erich drew his sword.

― Clack.

He turned to address the troops behind him. They needed to move and rescue the 2nd Fortress.

It would be the first true major engagement for this combined force from every faction.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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