Chapter 298 – The Back of the Neck (1)

However, the majority of the people were not looking at Choi Han.
The beings on the battlefield were beyond the limits of human imagination to focus on a regular human.

"…Why are the swordsmen? No, are they knights?"

The people of the Empire could see the people wearing white armor on top of the white skeleton birds.

There were tens of these white skeleton birds.
Although they were smaller than the original five, they were all at least 3 meters in length.
It was obvious what they were aiming for.

They were most likely aiming for the golems.
The Vice Tower Master motioned to the Tower Master's disciple Honte with her eyes and Honte immediately gave the order to the alchemists and the mages.

"Everybody, attack those birds, no, attack the controllers!"

The Empire's mages immediately started their casting. They were trying to attack the white skeleton birds and their controllers.
One of the nobles looked toward Imperial Prince Adin and blurted out at that moment.

"Your highness, that person has white hair! Is it possible that the Paerun Kingdom is getting involved?"

The largest white skeleton bird at the center of the formation. The brown-robed man with white hair and blue eyes was holding the reins of this bird.
It naturally made them think about the Paerun Kingdom's Guardian Knight Sekka household who were famous for their white hair as well as the Wyvern Knights Brigade.

"It is suspicious that the white-haired man is wearing a mask and that the controllers are all wearing armor with no insignia!"

Anybody would think that they looked suspicious.
The noble raised his voice after seeing Imperial Prince Adin not saying anything.

"Furthermore, the Bear tribe and the Dwarves who were part of the Indomitable Alliance are all with the Whipper Kingdom. Is, is it possible-"

The noble started to frown. He suddenly thought about a terrible possibility.

"Is it possible that the Indomitable Alliance and Breck Kingdom are planning something? Did they decide to side with the Whipper Kingdom?"

The faces of everybody around the noble started to become gloomy. They were worried that the war may grow to reach the continental level if things went awry.
It was at that moment.

"I'm not so sure about that."

Imperial Prince Adin responded as he turned around. He looked toward Cale and Valentino who were standing at the end of the dirt wall away from the soldiers. He was especially focused on Cale.

'Is that white-haired man really someone from the Paerun Kingdom? Is it really someone from the Sekka household?'

He had no way to tell.
However, although the nobles didn't know about it, the Imperial Prince and the Empire's leaders all knew an important piece of information.

'Clopeh Sekka is a fake Wyvern Knight. Arm made people believe that.'

In addition, Adin believed that Clopeh had chosen to side with the Roan Kingdom after his defeat at the Henituse territory.

'The Breck Kingdom and the Paerun Kingdom. The two of them could be planning something.'

However, the Roan Kingdom could be leading the two of them as well.
That made more sense when you considered the strength of the respective kingdoms.
Which was the truth?
He had no evidence to back either theory.

Imperial Prince Adin and Cale made eye contact.

'If that is the case, why did the Roan Kingdom send their hero to the Empire knowing his life may be in danger?'

The Roan Kingdom's crown prince cherished the Roan Kingdom's hero.
And that Roan Kingdom's hero did not care for his own life to help the Empire.

Adin's mind was a complicated mess. It was at that moment.
Piiiiiiiiiiiiii-

A chilling sound of a flute cut through the air.
The Imperial Prince looked up to the sky after seeing Cale look up with genuine shock.

"…Hmm?"

The Imperial Prince could see a brown robe falling to the ground.

The white-haired man had taken off his brown robe. His appearance was clearly visible now.
Imperial Prince Adin's eyes opened wide.

"…A priest?"

It was a spotless white priest robe.
Cale became anxious the moment he saw the robe.

'That bastard…'

Clopeh Sekka had happily thrown away the brown robe.
Cale had not told Clopeh that it was fine to take the robe off or given him the permission to show that he was a priest.
That was the reason for it.

'You intelligent crazy son of a bitch!"

Cale had to work hard to prevent the corners of his lips from moving up after suppressing his shock.
He could hear Rosalyn's voice quietly coming through the video communication device in Hilsman's pocket at that moment.

– Activating voice changing and amplification magic.

'Ah, they're all so smart.'
Everybody else was focused on the white priest robe and the white armors. Cale was full of admiration for Rosalyn's decision-making abilities. The reason for that soon filled the battlefield.

"Look to the sky!"

Clopeh's voice was changed to an eerie voice.
It was the type of voice that gave you the chills and made it hard to forget.

Cale could see Clopeh Sekka raising his hands up. He had let go of the reins.
The others soon followed.

The white-armored knights raised their hands up as well. They then pointed to the highest spot in the sky.

They were pointing at the sun.

Their empty hands were pointed toward the sun similar to how the believers of the Church of the Sun God pointed to their god. Clopeh shouted out at the same time.

"We will head toward the light!"

That was a famous phrase left behind in the Church of the Sun God.
Necromancer. It was what the Church of the Sun God had shouted as they cleared the world of the necromancers and the darkness.

'This bastard!'

Cale truly liked what the crazy Clopeh was doing right now. Of course, none of this was planned in advance.
However, the golems weren't in their plans either.

'If they throw us a curve ball, we'll throw one right back.'

The people who cause chaos on the battlefield are likely to be the ones to win.
Cale, Clopeh and Rosalyn all knew this to be the case. Their experiences as commanders had allowed them to experience it in the past.

Clopeh was sitting on the bird above everyone else as he looked down.

'They're all so small.'

He had felt something similar when he had led the Wyvern Knights Brigade as the fake Wyvern Knight. Humans looked so small when you looked down from up here.
They looked so useless.

'That is why I thought I would become a legend.'

Clopeh felt as if he would start to laugh. He had repeated what the Church of the Sun God had said toward the necromancer as he was worried that he would start to laugh like a maniac.

"We will obliterate the darkness in the name of our lord!"

'Yes, obliterate them!
All of them!'

Of course, Clopeh did not believe in a god.
He did not believe in religion.
However, there was just one thing he believed in.

Clopeh then looked down once again.
He could see the red hair.
His sword master's eye sight allowed him to clearly see Cale's face. He could see Cale's relaxed expression. Clopeh was so excited that he said something that the Church of the Sun God had not said.

"We will become legends!"

'I can see the legend! I can follow behind him!
I can survive!'
That was the only thing he believed in.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiii-

The sound of the flute filled the air again and the knights clenched onto their swords while the Dwarves grabbed onto the reins. The Wyvern Knights who managed to live but never had the chance to fight shouted out loud after getting the chance to fight in the air again.

"We will become legends!"

The Guardian Knight Clopeh Sekka.
The loyal knights who followed his orders started to move.

"…The Church of the Sun God?"
"Did they really say the Sun God? The ones that fought against the necromancers in the past?"

Chaos was present on the faces of the Empire's forces. Some of the nobles as well as the majority of the soldiers could not hide their anxiousness.
No matter how much the trust in the church had fallen because of the past few incidents, it was still their religion.

People who looked like a priest and Holy Knights of their religion were pointing their swords toward the Empire's forces.
Imperial Prince Adin started to speak.

"Metelona."

The Vice Tower Master shouted out.

"Attack!"

Tens of magic spells shot out into the air toward the white skeleton birds.

Baaaaaang! Bang! Bang!

The spells started to explode in the air.

"Ugh!"

Some of the white skeleton birds shook from being hit, making the Dwarves and Knights almost stumble.
However, none of them were hit properly.

"…Commander Rosalyn!"

Vice Tower Master Metelona looked toward the Whipper Kingdom's castle wall where Rosalyn should be located.
However, Rosalyn was calmly giving orders to the Whipper Kingdom's mages. Cale could hear her voice through the video communication device.

– We will focus on defending against the Empire's spells. Use our spells to explode theirs in advance before it can touch the white skeleton birds.

Baaaaaang! Bang! Baaaaaang!

The sky was covered in explosions from the two side's attacks.
The entire sky was filled with explosions. They then led to dark grey smoke filling the air.

"Attack! Keep attacking!"

Vice Tower Master Metelona continued to shout. The white skeleton bird controllers will not be able to see because of the smoke from all of the explosions and it might even be more difficult to control the white skeleton birds because of the aftershock of the explosions.

Spells that seemed to number in the hundreds more than the Whipper Kingdom covered the sky. Nothing was visible in the grey sky because of that.

"…Shouldn't we be o, okay now?"

It was the moment the soldiers and nobles blurted out what they were thinking.
Vice Tower Master Metelona was dutifully observing the sky. She heard the Imperial Prince's voice at that moment.

"Not yet. These bastards-"

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-
Vice Tower Master Metelona could hear the wind.
She could see the white birds cutting through the grey smoke as if they were arrows.

"- These bastards are strong."

It was the moment they heard Imperial Prince Adin's oddly heated voice.

Boooooooom!

Tens of the white birds that cut through the magic explosions crashed into the black golems.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang!

The white birds' beak and wings aimed for the golem while the golem's large hands aimed for the white birds. They crashed into each other over and over.
Neither side worried about being destroyed.

"…A battle of giants."

One of the nobles commented in fear. The ground continued to shake and their ears were numb from the loud noises. There was no room for humans to get involved.
However, the people controlling these large objects were fiercer than ever.

This was especially the case for Clopeh whose voice was back to normal who continued to crash toward the golem's controllers without caring about how his white hair was fluttering in the wind.

"Ke, keke, kahahahahaha!"

He could not stop laughing. However, his eyes were cold.

"You're so strong! You've got such a strong body!"

The golems' bodies were strong.
They were so strong that they could laugh at the sturdiness of the white skeleton birds that were fortified by a necromancer.
However, Clopeh shouted without any hesitation.

"Crash into them! Knights, take out your swords! Destroy the cockpits!"

They had no reason to fear.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang!

The battle of giants continued to intensify.
No, it was just the white skeleton birds that were flying around as if they were crazy.
The golems were trying to swat these white skeleton birds away. Their goal was destroying Maple Castle and not these white skeleton birds.

"…So annoying."

Contrary to what he was saying, Imperial Prince Adin was smiling. He then reached his hand out toward Honte. Honte quickly took out a grey orb and handed it to the Imperial Prince.
Adin started to speak. His voice was delivered to the cockpits of the Golem Brigade.

"The Golem Brigade will ignore those birds."

Those birds were probably trying to delay the golems than to destroy them.
Why?
It would be hard to find the golem's core even if they managed to destroy the cockpits. How could they find the hidden golem's cores in this chaotic time?
Furthermore, the golem's body was extremely sturdy that it would be hard to destroy pieces to get to the core.
The Imperial Prince gave the order.

"The Golem Brigade will quickly move forward. Your number one priority is taking down Maple Castle's walls."

Screeeech.
The golems' movements started to change.
The large golems started to ignore the attacks of the white skeleton birds.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The smallest golem was 10 meters tall while the rest of them were taller than that.
They started to run toward Maple Castle without any hesitation.

It was at that moment.
The Imperial Prince started to speak again. He was speaking into the grey orb.

"…What is going on?"

15 meters. The largest and darkest golem at the center that was leading all of the other golems suddenly stopped.

Cale quietly mumbled so that only those right next to him would manage to hear him.

"Help Choi Han."

The young Dragon responded back.

– I understand, human! I'll come back after destroying it!

Cale looked toward the largest and darkest golem.
He could see a tiny person climbing up that golem's body.

It was Choi Han.
The swordsman wearing a black helmet effortlessly climbed up the golem's body.

This was a fight between giants.
However, a single human suddenly became involved.

Choi Han heard the voice of a reliable partner in his ear.

– Choi Han! Our human said to help you!

Choi Han started to smile.
He lifted his head up. He could see the large golem's body. He could feel how sturdy and strong this black body was as he climbed up.

However, his reliable partner, the young Dragon told him what to do.

– The back of the neck. Aim for the back of the neck.

Ooooooooong-
Choi Han could see the golem's hand moving to catch him. It was so big and scary that he could hear it cutting through the air.

– Choi Han, the source of its power is there.

However, Choi Han did not stop.

– Our human said to destroy that!

He had no reason to stop.
He only had reasons not to stop.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]