Chapter 251

Hermai Merhes rode the clouds and soared high.

Soon, the Throat Gate and the soldiers came into full view.

The Widow Queen’s earth soldiers hiding throughout the mountains also could not escape his eyes.

Even at a glance, the situation was unfavorable.

“Wiggling land… earth soldiers endlessly rising up….”

To control two Ancient Weapons, what kind of woman is she?

Hermai muttered.

Ancient Weapons are things even the Ten Great Generals of the Empire find difficult to handle.

The remains of an Ancient God are just such objects.

Yet, for a mere woman to handle two Ancient Weapons simultaneously is a surprising feat.

Indeed, one must live long to see everything.

“It does look tricky, but….”

Hermai Merhes snorted.

Even though he had laid down the position of Grand Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic, he is still the Imperial Chief Mage.

It means there is no mage superior to him in the entire Cordis Empire.

“It is not something that will drag on for so long.”

Light flashed in the clear sky. It started from behind Hermai Merhes’s head.

The magical light possessed six focal points.

Six-Origin Halo.

The proof of a six-star mage.

Watching from afar, the Widow Queen Aida felt a chill. She had once fought against the Demon King Pāpīyān.

He was one who became a seven-star mage by using the Ancient God ‘Black Light of the Abyss’ as a sacrifice.

Yet strangely, the spirit felt from Hermai Merhes was even more dangerous than Demon King Pāpīyān.

Even though Demon King Pāpīyān was a seven-star mage and Hermai was a six-star mage.

“Wouldn’t it be enough if rain poured down refreshingly once.”

Hermai waved his hand.

He does not chant spells.

He does not form hand seals.

He needs no trivial magic tools like a staff.

He simply revealed his will to the world and the world listened to his words.

Magic of the six stars, ‘Urgent Rain Forecast’.

Raindrops fall.

One drop, two drops, and soon it is a shower.

Before long, there was a torrential downpour.

Rain poured madly from this side of the great mountain range to that side, causing piles of earth to wash away.

The Cordis Imperial Army had already taken shelter on high ground, but they could not hide their astonishment.

“Ah. Is it no fun if it just rains?”

Magic of the six stars, ‘Black Clouds’.

Magic of the six stars, ‘Great Squall’.

Magic of the six stars, ‘Thunder Swarm’.

Magic of the six stars, ‘Thunder Echo’.

Chaos erupted.

The clear sky seemed to turn black, then was completely covered in dark clouds.

Hundreds of dark clouds, each uniquely massive, gathered to block out the light.

Even though it was broad daylight, it was quickly dyed darker than deep night.

In the dark, dark day, the wind blows.

A squall blew from this side to that. No, soon it blows from that side to this.

No, no, without even being able to guess the direction, it simply raged.

The Cordis legionnaires felt like mice trapped inside a shaken liquor barrel.

The blade-like wind blew intensely just like that.

Flash, there was a gleam in the darkness.

Lightning struck from the sky above like stretching tree branches.

Thousands of bolts of lightning, intense enough to make one shrink deep into their hamstrings just by looking, struck down.

A few bolts struck above the Cordis Imperial Army, but Sen Hostanio blocked them.

Amidst all these abnormalities, a roar followed continuously.

A booming sound so long it was impossible to describe.

A KRA-BOOM sounds as if someone were beating the sky like a drum. That thunder sound lingered without disappearing.

Boom, KRA-BOOM, it went. KRA-BOOM, KRA—BOOOM, Boom, it went.

From one end of the sky to the other, it rang out, making the soldiers tingle from their hearts to their groins.

“How exciting!”

Hermai Merhes laughed loudly.

Torrential rain, dark clouds, squalls, thunder, and lightning.

Amidst a calamity that humans dare not approach, the six-star mage alone was human.

While wielding a great catastrophe that Mother Nature does not permit to humans as if taking out a child’s toy, the old man continued to laugh heartily.

“It is exciting, exciting! It seems a lot of fatigue had certainly piled up in the capital. I feel refreshed!”

Behind his head, the Six-Origin Halo was formed of individual round spheres.

The six spheres connected with lightning to form a circle, and that became the dignity behind Hermai’s head, spinning round and round.

Hermai Merhes looked less like a human and more like an avatar of rain and lightning that had flown in from primeval times.

“Fall, O Rain. Strike down, O Lightning!”

Thunder and lightning and rain and dark clouds and squalls mixed together to birth a chaos that could not be greater.

The old man danced in the midst of it. He giggled while clapping his hands above the clouds.

“Ah, O Sky! Shake us according to your beat! If you too have a heart, chatter to us once about what kind of pounding it is!”

Every time Hermai clapped his hands, thunder echoed.

When he laughed heartily, squalls stirred the world, and when he stomped his foot, dark clouds trembled and poured out rain.

“Ah, joyful, joyful! To think I can be this joyful without my ugly disciple, it is a surprising thing!”

And amidst all this time, Hermai Merhes was weeping.

Every time he cried, rain fell steadily.

Hermai was thinking of his disciple and adopted son.

He believed Cornelius Merhes had died at the hands of the West.

He sobbed so that the soldiers’ ears could not hear.

It was audible only to the ears of Sen Hostanio and Kerenneus.

“-Ugly fellow! This ugly, disciple fellow!”

So he had no choice but to cry.

“-How dare you go first, leaving this old man behind! You gathered your mustache every day like a fool…!”

No matter how much he aged, as a father who lost a son, he had no choice but to sob.

Even if he clapped and danced and laughed, a burnt heart has no way to return.

Like that, he took out the lightning in his heart and vomited out thunder.

He had no hesitation in unleashing all these disasters toward the West.

My son, my son.

Cornelius, Cornelius.

My ugly son whom I raised with such care with my own hands.

You wanted to sit in the Grand Dean’s seat so much, you dreamed such a dream your whole life, so why did you die without even getting near that dream.

You should have at least left one word of a will, how could you go so heartlessly.

The old man danced while weeping.

Clapping his hands clap-clap above the clouds, he scattered lightning.

It was a disaster that even the Widow Queen had no way to block.

***

“…Tsk.”

Sen Hostanio clicked his tongue.

He clearly heard it.

“Crying when you are so old, Grand Dean Hermai.”

Hermai Merhes’s sobbing above the clouds stuck in his ears.

Even if it was not audible to other soldiers, it was clearly heard by him and Kerenneus.

“Granddaughter… losing Santia is the same for me.”

Sen Hostanio also believed that Santia was dead.

Shion kept the survival of Santia and Cornelius unknown to the Empire.

It was to protect them.

Because of that, Sen Hostanio and Hermai were grieving.

“Bald Eagle. Is it certain that Cornelius died? Santia too?”

“Then would they be alive?”

“…That is true.”

The Two-Flame Grand General stroked his chin.

He knew what mission Cornelius had been dispatched on and in what state that mission had failed.

“…That brat Niko died then too, so how could they be alive?”

The taste in his mouth was bitter.

Sen Hostanio, who was getting hit by the rain, drew his sword.

If it was now, they could break through the Throat Gate.

The rain and lightning and thunder and squalls striking from the sky were preventing Widow Queen Aida from exerting her full power.

“Give me two hours.”

Sen Hostanio’s hair burned yellow.

Even in the sobbing torrential rain, his spirit did not soften.

“I will pierce a path to the West.”

“I am going too.”

“…Bald Eagle, you?”

“Are you worried? I will stay quiet. I just intend to observe the movements.”

“…Fine. You stayed in front of a desk for half a century.”

“Are you worried about this Kerenneus Cansella Caseptus?”

“…….”

Kerenneus’s eyes flashed like an eagle.

Sen Hostanio recalled 53 years ago.

Remembering what kind of man Kerenneus was back then, he soon had no choice but to shut his mouth.

He jerked his chin and ordered a horse to be prepared.

“…Good. Follow well, Bald Eagle.”

***

Even two hours were not needed.

“Was it this easy of a task?”

As Sen Hostanio sprinted, leading the most excellent one hundred and thirty cavalrymen, the Widow Queen could not block them.

In the torrential rain, the earth soldiers flowed down sluggishly, and changing the terrain did not go as she pleased.

“…Tsk, it is the West already.”

Quite regrettably, Widow Queen Aida was not that outstanding as a strategist.

Furthermore, her experience in war was only enough to count on one hand.

It was natural since she had not gone outside the imperial palace for a long time.

The Widow Queen’s defensive line was easily pierced.

It was because once the defense began to collapse, gaps started to reveal themselves in droves.

For Sen Hostanio, who had lived on the battlefield for half a century, it was too easy a task.

Rather, it felt foolish that they hadn’t been able to break through for three months until now.

“Grand Dean Hermai, you should have let the rain fall moderately….”

Sen Hostanio wiped his cheek. The rain knew no stop. As time passed, it only became more intense. He grabbed a cavalryman standing next to him and asked.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Grand General.”

“You see that moving pile of earth over there.”

“I see it.”

“What does it look like?”

“It looks like the retreating Widow Queen.”

“As expected, right?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Sen Hostanio quickly pulled out a long spear and threw it.

The force was extraordinarily fierce even in the rain.

The long spear, which flew like a streak of light, stuck squarely into the center of the earth pile.

“Hmm. Did it miss.”

Even after the long spear stuck, the earth pile did not stop.

It flinched for a moment, but rather, its speed became faster than before.

Sen Hostanio thought about chasing it but decided to stop.

Probably the elites of Schmeizen would be waiting ahead. For now, he had to be satisfied with breaking through the Throat Gate.

“Let her go, well.”

“Is that alright, Grand General?”

“From the point Hermai and Kerenneus joined, the Widow Queen cannot be a threat.”

Look even now, when crazy Hermai dances while crying, didn’t she run away immediately.

The cavalrymen nodded their heads.

“More than that, preparing for the main unit to be stationed is the priority. The soldiers must be very exhausted.”

“Yes, Grand General.”

“Let’s go to the nearest village.”

***

Riding the horses, the village was soon.

Sen Hostanio led the one hundred and thirty cavalrymen and entered boldly.

The sky is still black.

The rain and lightning and thunder and squalls are still the same.

Terrified groans came from all over the village.

“…Truly an unpleasant day today.”

Raindrops flowed into the gaps of his armor.

It felt bad because it was sticky everywhere.

Sen Hostanio caught his breath and snorted, hmph.

His hair glowed and burned more fiercely.

The moisture all over his body dried up in an instant.

“Is it a little better?”

The Two-Flame Grand General looked around the village.

This is Schmeizen, already Western land.

Though not visible to the eye, the sounds of breathing from those trembling in fear could be heard from everywhere.

It was distinct enough not to be missed even in the torrential rain.

He frowned deeply and shouted.

“In the name of the Great Ferbias Caseptus Cordis-!”

The old veteran over seventy yelled at the top of his lungs, veins standing out on his neck.

“I, Two-Flame Grand General Sen Hostanio, have arrived here in this Western land!”

…….

The village was submerged in total silence.

Sen Hostanio had no choice but to furrow his brow.

His long-honed intuition told him.

The ones hiding in this village were clearly all civilians.

He sensed that the situation he wanted to avoid most was approaching right in front of him.

Yet, his old heart made him continue what he had to do.

“I give you all a chance! A chance to enjoy the great mercy of His Imperial Majesty! If you reveal yourselves and surrender, I will treat you politely as prisoners of war!”

Do not come out. Please do not come out….

Sen Hostanio muttered inwardly.

The words he was shouting were all lies.

They were empty words spat out to easily round up those hiding.

“What are you doing…? Come out quickly…!”

So please, continue to stay hidden.

So that I can turn a blind eye, asking why bother finding hidden civilians one by one, stay hidden so I can let you live…. Let me not kill you….

“Lo, lo, long live His Majesty Ferbias!”

“…Lo, long live Cordis…!”

“We came, we came out! Please save us!”

However, contrary to his wishes, Sen Hostanio ended up facing people appearing one after another from all over the village.

“……I see, you came out…….”

Above the sky, Hermai is still dancing while weeping.

Behind him, Kerenneus is watching him with eyes like an eagle.

Sen Hostanio swallowed the raindrops filling his mouth.

It tasted fishy and salty.

“……You came out well. This Sen Hostanio welcomes you…….”

Saying that, the Two-Flame Grand General drew his sword.

That blade was, enough to chill one to the marrow, bluely sharp.

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