Chapter 169 - The Newcomer

The Cult of the Sacred Demonic Realm aimed to turn the continent into the Demonic Realm.

Why?

"What is wrong with the Demonic Realm? Why can you not consider that it holds the form we should evolve and change into? Fearing the unknown is natural. But avoiding it will not solve everything."

A load of Ghoul-blown nonsense.

So why turn the continent into the Demonic Realm?

"Because it is right."

Had the word fanaticism ever fit anyone better?

A reason? None.

Justification? Not a trace of that shit.

They simply believed. It simply had to be done.

Groundless, boundless faith. Fanaticism.

In short, Cultists were genuinely crazy motherfuckers. That was why Inquisitors hunted them down and killed them with such zeal.

Cultists had indeed made several attempts to spread the Demonic Realm, and something similar had happened here. Using a hundred freshly slaughtered young goats as sacrifices, they had gathered Knolls, intending to transform the whole region into the Land of the Monsters and Beasts.

The Cultists had begun gathering monsters before the Pioneer Village was established, so no one could have foreseen it. At first, they had intended to assemble monsters and establish a Knoll kingdom here. That plan had turned into a village assault midway through.

With its palisade and watchtowers, the purpose-built Pioneer Village had the makings of a small castle. Such splendid prey had walked right into their hands.

"God has aided us."

The Cultists truly believed it. Was this not a revelation telling them to fatten their monsters and increase their size at once? Right before them, sacrifices were cutting off their own flesh and offering it up to be eaten. Thus began the undertaking to swallow a Pioneer Village whole.

This was not a task to be taken lightly. The Cultists poured their hearts into it. They joined a mercenary corps under false identities and gathered more Knolls.

The evil cult's spells had deep ties to monsters. Those skilled at brainwashing and beguilement went to work. Low-ranking followers and even priests took part.

Knolls, monsters whose habits mirrored those of hyenas, always fought and traveled in groups. Their instincts made forming colonies easy. All they needed was a leader.

Curses and enhancements were imbued into a single Knoll. That was how they created their Knoll army.

Expanding that colony into the hundreds could not be done in a mere day or two. This undertaking was steeped in the Cultists' blood, sweat, and tears.

"We shall create a holy land!"

They shouted their resolve in the middle of the wilderness. They poured Krona into arming the Knolls, created a leader, and enthralled it with spells. The resources they actually committed exceeded what it would take to run a Pioneer Village.

It was worth it. Great returns required a stake, after all. This was the beginning of what the Cult of the Sacred Demonic Realm sought to accomplish.

While the evil cult invested time and resources, the pioneers erected their palisade. That was the truth behind it all.

These events had unfolded beyond Encrid's knowledge. Naturally, they were unexpected.

So what?

None of his business. Knowing would change nothing.

Encrid did not concern himself with the backstory. He did not ask why. Monsters had come pouring in, and all he thought about was killing every last one. They were monsters and demonic beasts. Killing them would settle it.

"What kind of demonic-beast horde..."

Only Krais had a vague inkling of what lay behind this. A horde like this had simply sprung up in the wilderness and fields? Fully armed, too? With spies planted inside the village?

That was absurd.

He had held a blade to the headman's throat, heard the howls beyond the palisade, and given Pin rudimentary treatment amid it all. Then he had hurried up a watchtower to assess the monsters' numbers. Throughout, his mind had been racing.

'The evil cult.'

This was the Cultists' doing. They were the biggest troublemakers on the entire continent. Creatures united by malice, flaunting their hostility.

Just look at that monster horde. What words besides malice and hostility could describe it?

Though only roughly, Krais surmised that the horde was the product of the Cultists' blood, sweat, and resources. But that was all. Knowing would change nothing, so he left it at that.

'What does that matter?'

Surviving mattered. From that point on, his mind worked even faster. He reached a conclusion.

'No trebuchets. No mangonels.'

They had no catapults. Large siege engines were out of the question. Did they have many troops? Fewer than the monsters and demonic beasts. Far fewer, certainly.

It would be nice if the palisade held forever, but the Knolls and hyena demonic beasts numbered well beyond several hundred.

Could it hold?

Could they hold out like this?

Several hyena demonic beasts were raking the palisade with their claws, trying to climb it. If they kept clawing like that, wouldn't something eventually come loose? A small crack would become a hole, and a hole would become a passage, an entrance.

Many Knolls were wielding weapons, too. They pounded the wall, and plenty were hacking at it with axes. Countless scars were accumulating on the palisade.

Was there some little gap anywhere? Could they stop a breach?

'I don't think so.'

At the very least, this looked like a battle with a time limit. They could not hold them off for long. That was the conclusion. Which meant waiting for reinforcements.

He had seen a few birds being kept: blue-feathered pigeons commonly used for close communication. But even if they sent one, he had no idea how long reinforcements would take to arrive.

It came back to the same thing.

Could they hold out?

Krais had a bad feeling. When he had praised the palisade's strength, he had been picturing an ordinary colony. Thirty to fifty at most. This was roughly ten times that.

"This isn't good."

Foreboding surged within him. Instinctively, he sought out his Platoon Commander. He spotted Encrid on the move, but there was no hint of anxiety about him. If anything, he seemed rather at ease, walking silently up onto the palisade.

Krais knew his training-obsessed Platoon Commander was quite sharp; he simply paid little attention to his surroundings. Seeing him act like that did make Krais wonder whether he had something to rely on.

In any case, there was nothing Krais could do now. He had treated Pin and taken a look around from the watchtower.

"Hey, I'm in pain."

Pin called from below.

"Coming down."

Krais descended again. He had roughly bandaged her, but there was a hole in her belly. It seemed to have missed her intestines by the narrowest margin.

"I used the Eilkaraz-style gut dodge," Pin said.

Was that really a technique?

"That was a joke."

If she could joke at a time like this, Pin definitely had a few screws loose, too.

"You sound like Rem's wife."

"An insult. I challenge you to a duel."

"Yes, by all means."

Krais answered absently as he examined the wound again. Strenuous movement seemed out of the question. Still, it was not a fatal injury.

"You won't die."

"For now, you mean."

Pin had realized it, too. The anxiety over how long this palisade would last.

"Well, yes."

Krais brushed it off. He did have a way out if things went wrong. It would just be cruel to those left behind.

He had not worn out his feet walking around the village for nothing. Krais always prepared for the worst. He had already scouted an escape route.

* * *

A long firing walkway ran along the top of the palisade. Below it teemed a mass of Knolls and hyena demonic beasts, bellowing hideously. It was practically a field of monsters.

"What the fuck is this?"

"What is this? Why are there monsters? Why so many, why, no, there's too many!"

"Pam? Pam's dead. Wait, Ralph too?"

Monsters, and their comrades' bodies, not yet cold.

When Encrid climbed up, the militia still had not acted. Not one of them was drawing a bowstring. They were panicking. Perhaps it was fortunate that none were wailing or pissing themselves.

BOOM!

GROOOOOR!

With their peculiar Knoll cries, they hurled their bodies against the palisade and gate. The walkway shuddered underfoot, but not enough to collapse. That was Encrid's assessment.

They rammed it with their shoulders, kicked it, and hacked at the gate and palisade with their weapons.

THWACK! THWACK!

Still, it was all right for now. This much would not bring it down. The palisade was sturdy.

The militia's nerves were not. Overwhelmed by the Knoll horde's ferocity, they had all succumbed to fear.

"... What the hell is all this?!"

That came from one of the militiamen. This was nowhere near the center of the kingdom. Border Guard itself lay at its northern tip, and this place was even farther out. This was also the northern part of the Penn-Hanil continent, a land where monsters and demonic beasts were common.

That did not make those numbers normal. This was not a sight one saw often.

Fear. Pressure.

That was the effect of the monsters' ferocity.

Several Knolls that appeared to be mutants picked up rocks scattered across the ocher earth and hurled them. Rocks only slightly smaller than a human head flew into the palisade with heavy thuds. Smaller ones reached the people above.

"Eek!"

The militiamen ducked below the walkway's parapet at the mere rush of flying stones.

The thought kept recurring: they had built one sturdy palisade. Hadn't Krais assured him that an ordinary monster colony would never bring it down? Still, left alone, it would eventually be breached. It could not have been built to withstand numbers like these.

The creaking gate, the militiamen holding before it—this would not do. If fear consumed them, it was over. If they simply waited for the breach, only death awaited them. Then all the uproar he had caused that morning would have been for nothing.

"If you're not going to shoot, give it here."

Into this scene came Encrid, stepping up the steep stairs and holding out a hand.

"Huh?"

"I said give it here if you're just going to watch."

He all but snatched the bow from the bewildered militiaman beside him. A shortbow. Short arrows. It lacked range, but there were monsters everywhere. All he had to do was shoot. Even a careless shot should do.

'It's been a while since I used a bow.'

He had learned the basics of archery. After plucking the string a few times, he recalled the motions and set his hands to work.

He gripped the bow in his left hand, extended his arm to aim, then nocked an arrow and drew. The bow creaked as it bent. He had no shortage of strength. Taking rough aim at a monster, he loosed.

BOOM!

A Knoll happened to ram its shoulder into the palisade again.

TWANG!

The impact coincided with the bowstring's release. The arrow hissed through the air and struck home—into the ground, missing every one of those Knolls and hyena demonic beasts. It promptly snapped as the Knolls kicked and trampled it on their way past.

'How did that miss?'

He had aimed properly.

"You fight well enough. First time with a bow?"

The man called the squad leader spoke as he climbed up behind him. The fellow who had tried to stop the others despite his confusion, who had worried about what lay behind him even as he attacked. Over several todays, Encrid had also confirmed that he had a decent amount of nerve. That held true now, too.

As the squad leader climbed, another impact sounded.

BOOM!

Then another cry.

GROOOOOR!

It was hard to hear unless you raised your voice. Encrid cupped a hand to his ear.

"What was that?"

"Pretty sure you heard me."

He already knew the fellow had more nerve than one might expect. That was the sort of man this squad leader was.

"I didn't hear you."

At that reply, the squad leader looked away from Encrid and walked past him. Then he sucked in a breath, braced his belly, and shouted.

"DO YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIIIIE?!"

The squad leader had a magnificent set of lungs. His shout, his enormous bellow, hammered into the militia's ears.

"Forget Pam being dead! Is this the time to be distracted by a dead comrade? Can't you see what's urgent? Get your heads straight! Bows up!"

Krais had said the discipline here was solid. Just then, Deutsch Fullman climbed up the ladder on the opposite side.

He had once led a mercenary corps. What was his nickname again?

One-Armed Glaive? No, One-Eyed.

Deutsch's eye-patched face came into view. He shot Encrid a fierce glare with his remaining left eye, then roared.

"Shoot! The palisade won't fall! Shoot the bastards before you get hit by a rock!"

Encrid did not know how many militia there were, but they seemed to have plenty of arrows. There were twenty archers, too.

"Um, my bow, please."

The soldier whose bow Encrid had taken approached with his hand out. Encrid readily returned it. A bow felt thoroughly unfamiliar in his hands. That was something else he would need to train with later.

Soon, twenty archers—no, a little over twenty, to be precise—presented arrows to the creatures below.

GROOOOR!

The Knolls' ear-splitting cries mingled with the impacts as they hurled their shoulders and bodies against the palisade.

BOOM!

TWANG-TWANG-TWANG!

The bowstrings joined the din.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

Unlike Encrid's shot, these arrows struck the charging monsters and demonic beasts right below, piercing heads, arms, and legs alike. Some wore crude studded leather armor, but many Knolls were unarmored.

Where had they gotten all those weapons? There looked to be well over five hundred. Equipping five hundred soldiers like that would strain the finances of most lords.

Something had gone seriously awry here.

Someone's plot?

Well, that was none of Encrid's business. What mattered now was that the militia had pulled themselves together.

Watching the monsters and demonic beasts die beneath the arrows, Encrid cast his gaze farther afield. He had not been able to find his target while being hounded among them, but now he had breathing room. He had a palisade, he had time, and he did not have to dance away from hyena demonic beasts' teeth. Finding his target was therefore easy.

A small Knoll stood calmly alone among the oddities, atop a low rise. A colony leader naturally needed such a position. To dominate through strength, it had to lead from somewhere higher and more conspicuous.

Amid a horde shouting, racing about, and brandishing weapons in a frenzy, it alone stood aloof. That bastard had killed him any number of times already. Encrid had reached the point where he could tell Knolls apart, so recognizing it was not difficult. A few more deaths and he would be distinguishing the pretty Knolls from the ugly ones and those with distinctive looks.

"I'll leave this to you."

Encrid spoke and headed down again. Simply leaving felt like something was missing.

GROOOOR!

Encrid shouted loudly enough to be heard over the Knolls.

"Whatever happens, don't panic! Keep shooting! If you see an ally, don't hit them!"

What kind of bullshit was that?

Deutsch, who had been shouting himself hoarse ordering shots into the heads of the creatures at the gate, looked at Encrid. The man had barked something and gone down, but it made absolutely no sense.

Apparently, he had cut down several of Deutsch's men, but the squad leader claimed those men had been acting strangely. Meanwhile, another subordinate was nowhere to be seen. A sharp fellow, that one.

Of course, now was not the time to settle it. Deutsch was a fine mercenary. When things took a turn for the worst, he set his priorities straight.

First, the monsters.

Then he intended to take that crazy bastard's head. He would have to ask with his blade what the man had been thinking, cutting down his subordinates.

* * *

Encrid could not read Deutsch's mind. In truth, he would not have cared even if he could. He had just descended among the people rolling timber and stones over to pile in front of the gate.

"Esther."

The panther, who had been guarding the gate all this time, trotted to his side. Encrid asked politely,

"You can watch my back, can't you?"

One of the soldiers stacking obstacles before the gate glanced over.

Why was that guy talking to a panther?

"Mrr."

But the panther nodded as though she understood.

What the fuck was that?

Even in a situation like this, it was a sight that drew the eye.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

His comrade called to him.

"Coming!"

Back to filling the space before the gate with obstacles. If the gate broke, they would have to hold the breach. From then on, it would be hand-to-hand combat.

He swallowed hard.

Could he fight? He had trained, but had only seen actual combat twice. He was nervous.

'Ugh.'

His knees went weak at the thought of the monster horde beyond the palisade. That was the situation when he heard,

"From now on, everyone follows my command."

The newcomer, the Platoon Commander sent here on orders, the man who talked to a panther, had approached without him noticing and spoken.

"Can you open this gate a little?"

Then he barked that out. Well, that was not even worth listening to.