Night of the Soulless Heathens – 340



#340. Heart of Destruction 6

“I’m sorry I’m late Sir Azadin.”

Whether he knew Azadin’s feelings or not Lord Sok flew from the wyvern and landed next to Azadin slyly.

“The cult mutants went berserk after Griselda withdrew. For now I’ll block them with the undead. They’ll self-destruct after a while so I don’t want to shed the blood of precious people. Isn’t that right?”

Sir Sok spoke as if he had read Azadin’s mind. Griselda withdrew sending the cult mutants into a frenzy to secure her retreat.

The mutants become berserk charging forward without pain or fear of death wielding their awesome power.

But this kind of recklessness will inevitably have a price. If you don’t fight back and just let time pass it will end in self-destruction.

But it’s easier said than done. Ordinary soldiers can’t stop the mutants from going wild. Sir Sok was simply using his necromancy to do it.

By possessing the mutants whose minds were weakened by the rampage of the spectres led by Lord Sok and making them fight each other everyone was able to catch their breath.

As time passed the rampaging mutants began to push themselves out.

Those who overused their power suffered necrosis and collapsed while those who did not suffered from it wandered around as if they had just woken up from a deep sleep unable to determine their current location.

“Good. Now that the fighting is somewhat over. How is it? Did it help you at all?”

“Ah. Of course… it was a great help.”

If I say now that Sir Sok was a great help it will be difficult to refuse his request later. However no matter what it was an undeniable enormous contribution.

The cult mutants were not actually enemies that regular soldiers would be called upon to fight.

It has tentacles that can break horses and knights at the same time with a single blow and it spews out cursed language and magical power.

Even the most trained soldiers would have been slaughtered if they had faced such monsters. The front line was held together by Triodana and the Celestial Knights but Lord Jarod and his Caracoles would have melted away in an instant.

In such situations the undead became a great force. They charged at the cult mutants without fear of death literally.

How much blood would have been shed if this had been stopped by people?

The fact that Azadin’s warlords have been able to continue to rise to power so far is because the casualties on Azadin’s side have been minimal. If many people die and the casualties increase no matter how great Azadin’s performance the people’s loyalty will also fade.

“I see you are worried that I might want Ashajit’s eyes. Don’t worry too much. I intend to leave Ashajit’s eyes in your care for the time being.”

“…yes?”

“If Fimbulbert becomes harsh anyway you will hand me Ashajit’s eyes yourself.”

“….”

Azadin felt uneasy at the confident and generous attitude of the Sok-kyung. How cruel must Fimbulbert be for him to be so confident about the future?

In any case Azadin was able to breathe a sigh of relief since he was not immediately pressured to hand over Ashajit’s eyes.

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“Rather than that since Griselda ran away we should come up with a plan for that first.”

“First we need to collect the refugees here and retreat to Sandokar. Then Lord Sok. Now….”

“I see. It wouldn’t be nice to be seen with the undead.”

We’ve broken the enemy’s lead and it doesn’t look like any more mutants will attack so I’ll let you escape while I return to Sandokar.

Sir Sok said and climbed back onto the wyvern.

Sir Sok’s army retreated as mysteriously as they had appeared heedless of the cold of the blizzard overhead.

“….”

Azadin watched the back of Lord Sok as he left lost in silence.

‘He’s an ally but he’s a huge burden. This. I might have to deal with him someday. What should I do? That author doesn’t even feel pain like Aurelia Dawn like a vampire.’

Azadin hesitated so much but outwardly he seemed calm so others could not help but admire him seeing that he was ruling over Lord Sok the legendary leader of the Fimbulhorde.

*********

“Huh! It’s the captain! Captain Azadin! Are you okay?!”

Selim was waving his hand. On the way back to Sandokar Azadin encountered the second corps including Selim.

The second corps including Selim and Bernard Wilde the druids were riding hippogriffs and horses when they encountered a cold wind and gust of wind unable to gain enough speed and fell behind.

“Okay. Let’s camp here. Let the soldiers rest after pitching their tents and replace the horses in the carriage with horses in good condition.”

Azadin said this and prepared his own tent. He set up an awning between two caravans and made the space underneath his tent his own tent. Then he called Bernard.

“…I heard the story. You said you met Griselda.”

“Yes. I took Asajit’s eyes from Griselda.”

“That’s surprising. I heard that Lord Sok helped but didn’t he want it?”

“He said he would leave it in my care for a while. He assured me that if Fimbulbert got worse he would naturally hand it over to me.”

“Huh. As expected you are a man. Sir Sok.”

“Tell me about Griselda. You know.”

“…She is a vampire who operates in Banreung. She was originally a member of a witch group.”

“Witch’s group?”

“Followers of the primordial magic who practice twisted mercy on widows and grieving women. Shade Hag is a leader of the coven. She was a member of the coven and a famous adventurer alongside Lord Sok.”

“Are you saying that you were a colleague of Sir Sok?”

“Yes. They say they obtained the relic called the Eye of Ashajit and the powerful black magic book Blood Magic Book from the Batma Ruins which is now Banryeong Academy. With it Lord Sok became a lich and created the Fimbul Horde and Griselda after becoming a vampire joined forces with the dwarven sorcerers to form Banryeong Academy.”

“I thought the history of Banling Academy was much longer than the emergence of Sir Sok and the Fimbulhorde?”

“It’s commonly called the Banreung Academy because it dates back to the time when the dwarven sorcerers formed an organization. Do you know how much the dwarves value history and tradition? Do you think that the time when they started cooperating with vampire women was the origin of the academy? They even brag that before the Naga Empire there was a dwarven empire in Hybris and that an ancient dwarven civilization ruled the entire world and that time went back to 40000 years ago.”

“So what’s your relationship with her?”

“She was a bloodthirsty monster and every night she would lure attractive men from all over the place to play with her. To my shame I was also kidnapped when I was young.”

“….”

“It may sound funny to say that I was once a handsome man with my body now twisted. However dealing with vampires is hard labor that ages you by several years in an instant. Most people die before they can hold out for long but I had to do everything I could to not die.”

Bernard said this and took off his clothes revealing the upper half of his body.

There were countless wounds traces of those wounds being healed and magic circles to prevent the curse.

“I survived because I was in love with Griselda but when I think about those days the pain is too much to bear. So I forgot that I had a daughter with her and that she was also a suffering soul. Now I can’t say anything about it.”

“I understand completely. I mean Niselda… are you okay?”

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After hearing Bernard’s confession Azadin could understand his pain to some extent.

Although he was technically Niselda’s father and should be responsible for her life in reality this was violence.

Every time Bernard looked at the child born that way his own pain and trauma came back to him and he handed Niselda over to the Mercy Order.

“I don’t know. I still don’t have the courage to talk about it. Anyway I’m glad you got Griselda to give you a blow. Can I see Ashajit’s eyes? I’ve been studying blood magic… It might be helpful.”

“Well I was going to show you anyway.”

Azadin took out Ashajit’s eye and handed it to Bernard.

When Bernard used blood magic to touch Ashajit’s eyes Ashajit’s eyes began to bleed.

Bernard concentrated his mind and began to control the blood.

The blood flowing from Ashajit’s eyes moves according to Bernard’s will and changes into various forms.

“… Amazing. It would be something a blood mage would want.”

Bernard stopped the blood from flowing from Ashajit’s eyes.

“Would this blood help cure the Elemental Wailing? Well I think it would be a good idea to give it to Giacomo.”

Bernard suspected that Asajjite’s blood might have been used to create the Elemental Wailings.

Since Griselda was the one who spread the Elemental Wailing it was easy to imagine that the Eye of Asajit that she possessed would be connected in some way.

“I’ll keep it for now. Griselda will definitely chase after Ashajit’s eyes.”

“Maybe it would have been better to hand it over to Lord Sok.”

“Okay. Hmm?”

Azadin felt footsteps approaching his barracks.

Sir Triodana had come to see Azadin.

“Lord Azadin. Our investigative team from the Order of Wisdom has confirmed your innocence at least in the murder of Prince Kalzmati of Banling.”

“Thank you. But you are not going to leave all these refugees behind are you Lord Triodana? Even now vampires and cult mutants are roaming around the Kingdom of Banrung. You never know when they will come out. Regular soldiers have their limits. We desperately need the help of our Celestial Knights.”

Azadin noticed why Triodana had come and struck first.

Triodana said clicking his tongue.

“I will return to the Order of Wisdom and call for reinforcements Lord Azadin. If you need the assistance of the Celestial Knights I can call upon the Celestial Fire Knights.”

“Hmm?”

Azadin tilted his head at Triodana’s remark.

“If I were the upper echelon of the Knights I wouldn’t send the Celestial Fire Knights to Sandokar. I would rather abandon Sandokar and retreat to the Knights’ Commandery. And above all doesn’t Lord Triodana think so too?”

The Sandokkar Gate is a very important strategic point on the border where the Banreung and Arangi Knight Commanderies intersect but it is a fortress on flat ground.

Its defenses are inevitably limited and sending the Celestial Fire Knights here will inevitably result in casualties.

It’s easy to replenish the regular Knights but what if there’s a vacancy in the Celestial Fire which is made up entirely of Celestials?

Of course people like Triodana were the reserve force for just such a time.

However Triodana’s affiliation is closer to the Northern Qi Assander forces than to the Salvation Knights.

Would Triodana Assander’s spy be allowed to be consumed by Sandokar? That was Azadin’s question.