325. The Hawk, the Wolf, and the Sea Serpent (2)
-Clang!
It was almost a stroke of luck that Fernandez managed to block the creature’s claws. Even with night vision that could see through the darkest night, Karadskar’s claws lunged at his throat without any warning.
-Clang! Clang! Crack!
Every time he swung his sword wildly to fend off the air, the creature’s claws bounced back without fail. If it were an ordinary steel sword, it would have shattered ten times over from the sheer force. Fernandez realized that his arms were starting to dislocate after just five exchanges.
-Duck!
‘Got it!’
-Swish!
Thanks to years of experience and a well-trained body, Fernandez barely managed to duck his head. The sound of air being torn apart accompanied the handful of hair that was cut and scattered.
[Was this all? Was this all it was!]
Karadskar roared roughly, swinging his arms repeatedly. The sharp claws at the end of his massive talons tore through the air, aiming for Fernandez’s head and chest.
-Clang!
“Ugh!”
Blocking both strikes at once threw him off balance. His feet, which had been firmly planted on the ground, lifted into the air, and Fernandez flew backward, taking the full impact.
-Damn it, here it comes!
‘Got… it!’
There was no time to recover or strategize. As he flew through the air, he saw Karadskar pouncing like a beast, baring its fangs.
-Boom!
Fernandez twisted his waist, kicked off the ground, and flipped mid-air to quickly escape. The chilling sound of the creature’s jaws snapping shut echoed from where he had just stood. It was like the sound of an agricultural press colliding.
‘Is this why Daryan failed?’
-What are you talking about? The Karadskar Daryan faced wasn’t like Yekaset’s apostle. We’re in a tougher situation.
‘If we kill that guy, does that mean we’re better than Daryan?’
-Can we kill him?
‘Were you planning to die?’
Fernandez joked to shake off the pressure and adjusted his stance. The creature didn’t charge immediately, standing still and looking down at him.
Karadskar’s four pairs of red eyes glowed, glaring at him as if to devour him. He didn’t know what it was waiting for, but it gave him a moment to catch his breath.
‘I can’t match him physically. Even Tyban’s apostle wouldn’t be able to handle that level.’
-Injuries?
‘Some internal damage, and my right wrist is slightly dislocated. A bit more strain and it’ll break.’
-Any alternatives?
‘As always, do my best.’
Defeating him in close combat is almost a fantasy. The ruler of beasts, the incarnation of the full moon, the hunter of seven nights, the wolf with a horned crown, Yekaset. The fact that he could withstand such power and still maintain his sanity meant that he had become an apostle of the Great Demon.
A monster that even a true hero should never face alone. Fernandez clicked his tongue. Blood briefly showed from his internal injuries.
A monster that should never be faced alone. The apostles of the Great Demon or those equivalent to them. The so-called Fifteen Evils. Fernandez briefly smiled nostalgically.
[……Are you enjoying this?]
“It’s ridiculous.”
[What’s so ridiculous? Self-deprecation? Resignation?]
Fernandez switched the greatsword to one hand and lightly flexed his empty left hand. His wrist ached, but he could still move his fingers. And that was enough.
A monster that should never be faced alone.
The Fifteen Evils?
If there’s a name at the very end of that list, written in bold, large letters, unmistakably and threateningly, it would be Faijashi Wildcast. The name of Faijashi, the ‘Traitor.’
The sword was just a means to an end. Fernandez briefly reflected. Confusing means with ends is the folly of fools. And a warlock always considers using every possible means a virtue.
“Karadskar, I respect your anger. It won’t take long. So……”
The dark greatsword in his hand spun once and then straightened. Fernandez extended the sword and gazed at the creature’s glowing face.
A rage akin to madness, like that of a wounded beast. The raw pain and sorrow were palpable. Unlike anyone else, he empathized with the man’s madness.
It was an unavoidable choice. But it was also just an excuse. From the moment he chose to kill the man’s son for his own son’s future. Even if time were reversed, he would make the same choice, and even if the same events repeated, he would still pity the man.
For he too was someone who had lost a child, shattered the world, and marched toward the heavens in sorrow. If history had flowed as before, the man would not have faced such sorrow.
But if history flowed as before, the pain of that day would once again burn his own heart. That could never be. Contrary to the priests’ grand proclamations, the scales of life are never equal for all. At least for him, his son’s life weighed as much as the world itself.
If a sacrifice must be made, it should not be my child. Though it may be childish, selfish, and immoral, that statement had been Fernandez’s top priority until this very moment. So, even if he were to turn back, he would do the same.
“I’ll pray for you.”
I will pity the man’s plight. Though it may also be childish, selfish, and immoral self-comfort.
“Sincerely.”
-Awooo!!
Under the swollen full moon, amidst the scattering of black ink-like raindrops, the wolf and the priest, no, two fathers who had lost their sons, charged at each other.
* * *
-Awooo!!
“Great Clan Leader!!”
“Ugh!!”
The beastman cavalry was now entangled with an unidentified enemy force. Key…
Kirhas was swinging her sword frantically in the pouring rain, blocking the enemies.
Unknown? No, their identity was clear. They were the cavalry of the White Demon Tribe. At least, that’s what they were until tonight. They were ordinary soldiers who could communicate and knew fear.
But now, right after their assault began, they could no longer be called human. Even for her, who had faced countless demons and even gods from other worlds, it was hard to define what they had become.
“Ugh… Aaah!!”
“Don’t look at the sky! Don’t look at the moon!”
“Aaah!!”
“It’s too late! Cut his throat!”
Kirhas growled as she looked at the soldiers. The elite soldiers who had been following her were foaming at the mouth, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
The moment she saw the moon, even Kirhas felt her mind burning away. The only reason she could maintain her sanity was because of Kadán’s power.
[Impressive indeed.]
‘Now is not the time for admiration!’
[The God of Hunt and the Demon of Hunt. Haha, would they have competed before? Well, I don’t know. I know him. A demon born from the screams of the first prey hunted by the first beast before the Celestial War. A demon named from the fear mortals felt when they saw the glowing eyes of beasts in the dark night. He has already become the concept itself.]
Kadán laughed self-deprecatingly. The difference in their status as beings was clear. Kadán inherited the concept of “hunt” entirely due to Vaitas’s arrangement. His original concept was balance and judgment, and his divine authority over the gateway to the afterlife was swallowed by Mumto.
But Yekaset was a conceptual being born from the first hunt of ancient times. A being close to a phenomenon embodying the fear of wildness and the madness within beasts.
If it had fully manifested, the situation would have been worse, but fortunately, it wasn’t at that level yet. Kadán clicked his tongue as he looked at the beastman soldiers. The full moon. The beastmen entangled in his concept were transforming into beastly forms one by one.
-Crunch!!
Under the soldiers’ skin, muscles writhed like snakes, and their skin tore like paper. Soon, they became forms that could no longer be called human, like the other soldiers of the White Demon Tribe, rampaging and craving blood and flesh.
In terms of physical ability, there was no comparison, and morale was meaningless. They were beasts of madness, unafraid. The hunting dogs of the moonlit night. They had become Yekaset’s demons.
[Whether human, beastman, or anything else. In the end, the primal wildness can never be completely eradicated. The roles of hunter and prey have reversed, and the time of the hunt has begun.]
“Shut up!”
Kirhas grabbed her mask as if to crush it and growled. She too was barely keeping her rising temper in check. It felt like her eyes were burning and her brain was boiling. Violent impulses, the urge to kill and devour, surged within her.
But no. Not yet. Deep in her heart, she whispered to her lord. Fernandez Sernerd. She recalled the actions, words, and demeanor of that man, who seemed like the embodiment of reason and rationality.
“Ugh! Chieftain! We must retreat!”
“We can’t hold on any longer!”
Looking at the soldiers who still held onto their sanity, Kirhas surveyed her surroundings. Everything was dyed in vibrant colors, shimmering. A meadow strewn with blood and red peonies, the burning yellow moon, and the black rain…
There was no sign of victory anywhere. That couldn’t be. No matter how terrible or desperate the moment, there is always a chance of victory somewhere. As long as you don’t give up, there is always a possibility.
“…Ha…”
Kirhas finally found that slim possibility and let out a short sigh. There it was. The path to victory. A distant, seemingly impossible path faintly shimmered before her eyes.
The moon. That celestial body, swollen like a rotten tumor in the sky, spreading its corrupt veins and scattering the magic of madness, was the only chance of victory in this battle.
Perhaps that was its origin. As a conceptual being, its true form, where its concept was concentrated, must be that moon looming above. While it wasn’t entirely nonsensical, from her perspective, it was nothing but a sigh-inducing problem.
“Everyone, run away.”
“Chieftain…?”
“I need one more day, just one more day…”
It would take about a day for the Empire’s main force to arrive. Assuming they prepared for battle and engaged immediately, it would take at least a day and a half. Her army, already demoralized with deserters fleeing every moment, was no longer meaningful with over ten thousand tails.
So, someone had to buy that day and a half. Somewhere far away, perhaps somewhere more intense than here, her lord was fighting. Alone, as always. So, she too, as always, had to protect his side.
She would never abandon him alone. Kirhas shook her head and bared her teeth. Your Excellency, if I have one last wish, it is to die even a day before you. She stroked her stomach with a troubled heart and spoke.
“Everyone, go! Gather those still alive and report the situation here to the Emperor of the Empire! At least deliver the minimum information they need to prepare for battle!”
“But, Chieftain! How can we just…?”
“Someone has to buy time for others. Who do you think I am?”
At her words, the beastmen who had been curling their tails and bowing their heads suddenly looked at her. Facing the madly raging moon and the beasts below, Kirhas’s turquoise eyes shone brightly.
It was a sublimity that couldn’t be expressed with lowly words like madness or wildness. At that sight, the beastmen unconsciously whispered.
“The Shield of the Wilderness…”
“The Undefeated…”
A fierce strength that burned brightly even in the face of the overwhelming presence of the demon covering the sky. Like a small lighthouse shining beyond the blurred horizon in the face of an ocean storm. Faint and insignificant, yet firm. In other words, it was hope.
Before her, the beastmen, despite the surrounding chaos, simply bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Regardless of her martial prowess, her command, her charisma, or the achievements she had built. Every beastman with reason here sincerely paid their respects to her.
“We will definitely return, Chieftain.”
“Let’s meet again alive.”
“Yes, Hearttaker. Definitely. I hope to see you alive.”
As the beastmen left, pursued by the beasts, Kirhas bared her teeth and charged in.
![[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TS-Obsessed-Gamer-The-Ultimate-Return2.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return")
