Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 83

83.

A quiet room.

Loki was fiddling with a pen in the warship’s lounge.

He was creating a ‘Navigation’ skill book.

Knock, knock.

With a soft knock, the door opened, and Ruran bowed. As he stepped back, a familiar woman appeared in the doorway.

Wounded cat.

That image instantly flashed through Loki’s mind.

Indeed, the Miaowkin [a cat-like humanoid] in front of him was panting, her body covered in wounds.

She forced her heavy eyelids open, struggling against the urge to close them, and spoke.

“Hu, Hun…”

“…….”

Loki stared at her silently.

“Ah, Father said…”

“…….”

“He’d give you the Nodrian Kingdom. So…”

Karen collapsed forward.

“Save… Father.”

Thud….

Loki looked down at the fallen Karen with indifferent eyes. Then, he quietly closed the skill book.

“Ruran.”

“Yes, speak.”

“Heal her and inform the warriors.”

He stood up from his seat.

“It’s time for battle.”

***

“What are you doing?!”

A centurion commanding 100 men of the Forman Kingdom shouted from horseback.

“Why aren’t you attacking?!”

They had followed the fleeing Nodrians to the coast but were unable to hunt them down, paralyzed by fear.

“…B-but those are the Norse! They’re not ordinary! Hundreds have already approached them and died!”

“…Shoot them with arrows. Just keep your distance and shoot!”

“If we shoot arrows… they’ll fire ballistae at us!”

The centurion swallowed hard, looking at the ballistae installed on the warship.

The white warriors stood in a line before them.

They stood tall, protecting the Nodrians.

‘What on earth are they thinking?!’

Didn’t they come as reinforcements for the Nodrian Kingdom?

But they didn’t seem willing to fight.

‘Those guys captured and killed Prince Chaser.’

And they had been standing guard here on this coast for half a day without leaving.

Were they participating for the sake of the Nodrian Kingdom? Or were they just bystanders?

It was impossible to know what they were thinking.

‘I wish they would just leave-!’

They couldn’t just leave them alone like this.

“The beast unit is coming this way. They will either seize or sink that warship.”

If they left them alone like this, King Potor wouldn’t stand still.

Drrrrrrr-!

The sound of chains winding around pulleys echoed.

The Nodrians and Forman soldiers flinched.

The lower part of the warship’s second level began to split open to the left and right, and a wooden bridge lowered from between them.

Thump-!

A cloud of smoke billowed out, and the Forman soldiers tensed up.

Clang-. Clang-.

The sound of armor echoed.

Fluttering-.

The snorting of a horse could be heard.

From the darkness of the ship, a massive horse stepped out, one step at a time.

“…The horse’s legs… ?”

“Six?”

A horse with six legs and a golden mane, and on it, a man wearing a raven mask, holding a golden spear, looked up and stared down at them with wild eyes.

Behind him, Norse warriors in white armor, their vivid blue eyes gleaming, held the reins of their horses.

In their hands were long spears.

The White Cavalry of Asgard.

A dwarf riding a horse raised a flag.

A flag with the symbols of a snake and a wolf.

“Spare those who surrender.”

The Forman soldiers hesitated.

“Kill all who resist, even once.”

“W-what?!”

The Forman soldiers were flustered.

“E-everyone, form ranks-!”

The centurion shouted. An unknown fear made his spine tingle.

“This land, from now on…”

Loki raised his spear from low to high.

“…is Asgard’s land.”

***

Hundreds of soldiers raised their shields and formed ranks.

They raised their spears, forming a pike formation [a military formation using long spears].

A typical formation against cavalry.

But the pike formation they had painstakingly created was split in half by a single swing of a spear.

Kwakwakwang-!

An intangible slash shattered the shields and obliterated the soldiers’ bodies.

“Uwaaaagh-!?”

“What?!”

The Forman soldiers screamed at the sight of their comrades disappearing right next to them.

A shadow fell over their heads.

A horse with six legs, the steed of the chief god Odin.

Sleipnir.

Its hooves crushed the soldiers.

Bang-!

With an explosion, the surrounding soldiers were blown away.

“For Asgard-!”

Behind him, the cavalry of Asgard trampled the Forman soldiers.

The pike formation collapsed in an instant.

“…M-my god?!”

The centurion shouted in panic.

“B-beast corps! Beast corps-!”

He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Then, with the sound of whips, the Forman Kingdom’s trainers and minotaurs appeared.

“That’s it!”

The centurion’s face brightened.

No matter how strong the Norse were, no matter how skilled the cavalry were, they couldn’t possibly face minotaurs who were 5 meters tall.

The minotaurs roared at the Norse and raised their hand axes.

“Oooooooo-!”

The Asgardian cavalry charged.

One of the Norse warriors threw his spear.

Thwack-!

The minotaur’s helmet shattered, and the spear pierced its forehead.

「……!」

The minotaur’s eyes rolled back, and as its whole body staggered, the Asgardian cavalry passed to the left and right of the minotaur, stabbing and pulling out spears from its legs.

「Kuaaaaaaa!」

The minotaur collapsed forward.

Loki swung Gungnir [his magical spear], and with each swing, an intangible slash blasted the minotaurs, killing them in a single blow.

“…….”

The centurion’s mind went blank.

He could see crimson auras erupting from the white cavalry.

That ominous energy, visible to the eye.

‘M-mana?’

But it wasn’t just simple mana! If it were simple mana, it couldn’t envelop not only the Norse warriors but also the warhorses they were riding!

As if the horse and soldier were one, their movements were extraordinary.

The Forman soldiers had no way of knowing that they all possessed the ‘Rider Skill.’

With their unstoppable charge, the Forman soldiers were slaughtered and screamed.

***

Bang-!

The gates of the Nodrian Palace were breached.

“Hold them back-!”

The Forman soldiers poured in through the gates like a tide.

The Forman infantry advanced with their shields, infiltrating the ranks of the Nodrian soldiers.

The Forman cavalry joined in late, using their advantage on horseback to thrust their spears.

The infantry of the Forman Kingdom tied up the feet of the Nodrian soldiers, and the cavalry used the distance to stab with their spears, gradually occupying the Nodrian Palace.

Thwack-!

“N-Nodrian Your Highness?!”

A spear pierced the side of the Nodrian king, who had been struggling at the forefront of the battlefield.

His side throbbed, burning as if seared by fire.

“Am I going to die like this?!”

The Nodrian king raised his sword and split the head of the soldier who had stabbed him.

He took a ragged breath and raised his head.

“I am a Norse and the king of this Nodrian-!”

He roared and raised his sword, striking down once more on the already dead soldier, splitting his body in half.

The Forman soldiers who had entered the palace hesitated at his spirit.

Before them were the Nodrian king and his subordinates, and behind them were the survivors of this kingdom.

“…I only knew the daughter was a beast, but indeed, blood doesn’t lie. The father was also a beast.”

The king of the Forman Kingdom, King Potor, faced the Nodrian king on horseback.

He raised his halberd and pointed it at the Nodrian king, saying.

“King of Nodrian. It is over. Surrender! Then I will spare your life!”

The Nodrian king knew very well that it was a lie. How could he not know their cunning methods?

He had watched from the palace balcony.

The Forman Kingdom army was cruel.

The Forman soldiers faithfully carried out King Potor’s orders, killing all visible life in this kingdom and piling their corpses in the square.

They really had no intention of sparing even a single person.

‘Karen….’

From the palace terrace, he saw his daughter fighting desperately and going to the Norse to ask for help.

That image came to mind, and the Nodrian king could only despair.

Too many deep wounds.

Even if Karen safely reached the Norse, she would not survive.

And now, he himself, fatally wounded, was in the same situation.

‘Everything I have built is being destroyed.’

The Nodrian king’s eyes gradually dimmed.

‘I will sleep in this land that I have built.’

His legs gave way.

‘Hope is disappearing.’

Karen would die, and his son had also had his arms cut off and was in a terrible state.

Even alive, he was not living.

The Nodrian king had been losing everything in the past few days.

‘But….’

Yes, he was only ‘losing’ it still.

There was hope.

He couldn’t necessarily say that Karen was dead. The unique tenacity of the beastkin might save her.

His son, Thorsen, was a man of great courage.

He was not a man to despair just because his arms were cut off.

And now.

Behind him, his subordinates and people who believed in him were ‘alive.’

“Oooooooo-!”

He straightened his bent legs, letting out a roar.

“Not yet. Haha! Not yet. You damn beasts!”

The Nodrian king took a ragged breath and straightened his back.

“Don’t underestimate this Nodrian.”

He spread his arms.

His Norse-specific blue eyes flashed as he strained his neck.

“Come in! This Nodrian will take you on!”

This feeling was truly long overdue.

The battle full of the scent of death that he had felt in the north.

He felt that nostalgia from that time.

Die fighting. That is the Norse!

“Y-Your Highness!”

“Nodrian King!”

The Nodrian soldiers’ morale rose at the Nodrian king’s spirit.

Even in a desperate situation, their king had not yet collapsed.

The Nodrian soldiers and people also knew.

There was nowhere to retreat.

They had no intention of sparing them. If so, at least they would take them down with them!

“Waaaaaaaaaa-!”

The Nodrian soldiers roared and grabbed their weapons.

Those who were exhausted and on the verge of fainting, those who had suffered fatal wounds just before death.

All were determined to fight.

As the Nodrian king took a step forward, King Potor and the Forman soldiers stepped back.

“…You cockroach-like bastard.”

It was then that the Nodrian king was about to fight to the death.

“H-hope-!”

A soldier widened his eyes through the palace window.

“I see hope!”

The Nodrian king turned his head and looked at the soldier.

“P-Princess Karen-!”

And the Nodrian king moved his steps to that soldier.

To be exact, it was the window.

And he could see outside.

The screams coming from the coast. A different roar from that.

The white cavalry galloping from the coast to the city.

“The Princess has done it!”

The Asgardian cavalry was galloping.

For this Nodrian kingdom, no, for their land that had become ‘Asgard,’ they had participated in the war!

“Hahahahaha-!”

The Nodrian king burst into wild laughter.

The white wave pushed back the Forman soldiers, and behind it, only a sea of ​​blood remained.

Yes, I knew it would be like this!

‘Indeed, she is my daughter!’

She had safely met the King of the Norse.

My daughter is still alive!

“Who said it was the end?”

The Nodrian king no longer needed to maintain his dignity as a king.

As a barbarian from the north, he mocked King Potor and said.

“It’s just the beginning.”