Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 128

The Great War (1)

The cold was so intense it felt like skin would freeze.

“Indeed, this is the land of demon worshippers.”

Small boats swayed as they gazed at the blizzard-swept island in the distance.

A frozen land.

It was known as the place where demons and demon worshippers lived.

They had come this far in small boats to avoid being noticed.

How many sacrifices had been made to get here….

The boats reached the island, and the missionaries disembarked.

They began to walk.

Some, unable to withstand the long voyage and the cold, collapsed on the ground.

They ignored their fallen comrades.

The place they reached was a small rural village on the island of Asgard.

“Huh?”

Woodcutters carrying firewood.

A woman hanging out blankets.

Children playing with toy swords.

They stopped what they were doing and stared at the people who had appeared from the forest.

“Purge the demon worshippers—.”

They took out vials from their pockets, opened the lids, and put them in their mouths.

The strangers’ appearances changed.

Their skin rotted and decayed, and worms wriggled through the gaps.

The faces of the villagers, who were watching this, gradually became filled with horror.

A woman fleeing with her child.

An old man screaming.

Men even taking up arms.

“E-Everyone, run…!”

The deathly undead descended upon them.

“What’s going on?”

On the frozen ramparts, a Nord soldier on patrol couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the screams suddenly erupting from the market street.

He looked down below the ramparts, paused in surprise, and turned around.

Black smoke was rising from all over the frozen land.

‘All of Asgard…!’

Was being attacked by something?

The Nord soldier swallowed hard and began to ring the bell to signal an emergency.

Ding-! Ding-! Ding-!

The bell echoed from the ramparts.

“E-Everyone, to the shelters!”

The Nord soldier shouted at the top of his lungs, guiding the people outside the ramparts as he had been trained in disaster drills.

But that was only according to Asgardian standards.

For people who had only received prior notice and no proper training, they had no choice but to panic.

Screams echoed, and right before their eyes, families and comrades were seized and bitten by wights [undead creatures], and they witnessed those families and comrades becoming wights.

Wights spread everywhere.

“The demon worshippers have unleashed a plague!”

A voice inciting the crowd echoed throughout the market.

“The judgment of Constellation Azellan has descended!”

Loki crushed the head of the wight he was holding.

Serut, who approached Loki, looked at the dead wight, her face pale.

“It’s the same.”

“……?”

“Like when the Hannes Empire was destroyed.”

The checkpoint gates of the ramparts opened wide.

Nord warriors in full body armor, wielding large shields, long spears, swords, and maces, appeared.

“Maintain formation!”

“Don’t let your guard down. The enemy is the plague that brought death to the continent!”

The Nord soldiers moved systematically.

They had been trained to deal with the continental plague.

They wore tough orc leather all over their bodies to prevent the Worm Fest [a deadly plague] from spreading, and on top of that, they covered themselves seamlessly with iron plates and scale armor.

Their faces were covered with leather masks and helmets.

「Kkyaaaaak!」

The wight sprinted, using its arms and legs to propel itself across the ground.

It leaped at the Nord soldier with a transcendent speed that no human could achieve.

Thud-!

“Ugh-!”

He blocked the wight’s attack with a large shield that could cover his body, but the force was so powerful that it made the Nord soldier groan.

‘What power…!’

As the Nord soldier blocked the wight with his shield, he slammed his mace down on its leg.

Crack-!

The wight’s leg broke, and it was forced to kneel.

As its movements slowed, long spears flew in from all directions, piercing the wight.

Toward the wight, whose movements were completely restricted, one of the Nord soldiers swung his sword and cut off its head.

The Nord soldiers raised their heads.

Infected individuals were spreading in all directions.

“…Damn it!”

The Nord soldiers formed a shield wall in formation.

Hundreds, thousands, and increasingly spreading wights spotted the Nord soldiers and charged.

“Hold the line!”

Crash-! Crash-! Crash-!

Wights collided with the shields, and the Nord soldiers in the front row blocked the wights with their shields. The back row pushed the wights away with their long spears.

“Fire!”

Bolts were fired from the ramparts, and archers shot arrows.

Crack-! Crack-!

“Damn it, their numbers keep increasing?!”

It was when the Nord soldiers were sweating bullets.

Thud-!

The shadows of a black wolf and a snake soared into the sky.

“What is that…?”

Soon, they plunged to the ground, opened their massive mouths towards the wights, and devoured them whole.

Thump-.

With each step Loki took, Jormungandr [a giant serpent] and Fenrir [a monstrous wolf], emanating from his body, devoured and consumed the wights.

Around him, Serut shot arrows, piercing through the wights as she advanced.

“Constellation Azellan has delivered judgment upon the demon worshippers!”

Behind the missionary, who was shouting at the top of his lungs, a black shadow fell.

The missionary turned around and saw the towering skull of a mountain goat.

“A-A demon?”

Loki reached out and grabbed him.

He had to hear from this person what kind of deeds they were committing.

“S-Sinful Constellation—.”

A Nord soldier rushed over, knelt down, and bowed his head.

“Report the situation.”

“…Asgard is under attack by a plague.”

“…….”

“Not only this frozen rampart but also fires have broken out all over the island. The plague appears to be spreading… simultaneously.”

The soldier giving the report was filled with bewilderment.

Unlike the invasion of Lonia, Asgard’s mainland was under attack, and the extent of the damage was currently unknown.

Soon, that bewilderment turned into anger.

He was furious that his country had been attacked by ‘some force’.

“U-Um….”

Serut carefully tugged at the hem of Loki’s cloak.

She wore an anxious expression.

“It’s a method the Holy Order often uses.”

“…….”

“This is just a smokescreen to divert troops. What they’re really trying to do is attack the heart of the country.”

The center and heart of Asgard.

“They’re attacking the capital.”

They were aiming to capture Valhalla.

***

‘What’s going on…?’

Valhalla Academy of Asgard.

Helga, who was tending the garden, sensed a strange presence.

As she raised her head, someone walked up behind her, knelt down, and bowed.

It was a follower of the Black and White Order led by Helga.

“Lady Helga.”

“……?”

“It seems a plague has spread in the capital.”

Helga’s eyes gradually widened.

“What should we do?”

***

In the capital, Valhalla, Nord soldiers were moving busily.

A plague had spread in the capital.

It was a race against time.

If it wasn’t suppressed in the early stages, the damage would be unimaginable.

“…Those demon worshippers are running around like their feet are on fire.”

Yuma, the leader of the Black Inquisitors and the Holy Emperor’s closest aide, smirked as he stared out the window of the Valhalla Palace.

He was in the guest room of the Valhalla Palace.

“H-How could this happen?!”

Yuma turned around and looked at the person opposite him.

The Lonia delegation, who had allowed him to enter this place, wore a bewildered expression.

They were also followers of the Azellan Church.

They had no complaints about Ash’s death and Eron ascending to the throne.

However, an incident occurred that could spark resentment.

It was the act of worshiping the Sinful Constellation called ‘Loki’.

Although they were not explicitly told to worship the Sinful Constellation, the followers of the Azellan Church could not help but feel uneasy as religious freedom was permitted.

The Azellan Church worships a monotheistic god.

Having grown up hearing only negative aspects of other faiths since childhood, they feared that their religion would be ostracized.

It was the Black Inquisitors who approached them.

They said.

They wanted to engage in missionary work in Asgard to increase the influence of the Azellan Church.

However, Asgard had forbidden their entry.

“This can be seen as a move to exclude the Azellan Church.”

They claimed religious freedom, but in reality, it was a move to secretly exclude the Azellan Church… sowing distrust in that way.

“Just take us to their imperial palace. We want to convey to them our heart, which sincerely seeks to spread the teachings of Azellan. They will understand and accept us too.”

Believing those words, they accepted them as servants.

They didn’t seem to have any intention of causing friction, as they didn’t carry any weapons.

Their bodies were even searched at the checkpoint, and since no weapons or significant threats were found, Asgard accepted them as servants attending to the Lonia delegation.

Someone interrupted the Lonia delegation’s words.

“We don’t know about that.”

An old man walked out and said.

He was a frail old man, so gaunt that his bones were visible.

He was dressed as a butler and had come as the person in charge of the servants.

“But something has definitely happened.”

The old man said, smirking.

His eyes were fixed on the window, as if he found it amusing.

Knock-! Knock-!

With a knock, the door burst open.

“Excuse me.”

Maids and Nord soldiers visited the Lonia delegation’s guest room.

“It seems there has been an incident in the city center.”

“W-What do you mean by an incident?”

The Lonia delegation said, seemingly flustered.

The maids exchanged glances and bowed their heads.

“The details are currently unknown. Just in case, we will guide you to a safe place.”

“Y-Yes, let’s go quickly.”

The timid Lonia delegation nodded.

The maids and Nord soldiers began to guide them.

Following behind them were Yuma and the butler, acting as servants.

“I sense a strange presence.”

Yuma stopped walking and looked at the old man.

The old man stopped walking, turned his head, and stared at the end of the palace corridor.

The end was just a dead end.

But it was a place that felt strangely eerie.

Only that place had a distorted atmosphere.

“Hey, Yuma.”

“Yes, Hellaus-nim [esteemed].”

Hellaus.

He was one of the twelve heroes who killed the Demon King.

He said, smirking.

“I’ve come to kill the constellation who rules this country. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And in return, I can continue to receive the ‘power of immortality’.”

“That’s correct.”

Yuma nodded.

And he looked at Hellaus.

He was aging, but rather than weakening, he had become far more powerful than during his prime when he was famous.

But even he, as a human, could not do anything about his ‘lifespan’.

Regarding that point, the Holy Order had promised ‘immortality’.

Hellaus had directly witnessed their immortality, and the fruits of that immortality had been implanted in his own body as well.

“But since there’s no one here calling themselves a constellation…, would it be alright if I do as I please?”

Yuma looked at Hellaus and nodded.

What they were doing was assassinating someone who claimed to be a constellation.

After killing him, they planned to escape using a prepared warp scroll.

“Please do so.”

But since there was no demon claiming to be a constellation, it wouldn’t be bad to eliminate its worshippers either.

In an instant, Hellaus snatched the sword from the Nord soldier guarding him from behind and swung it.

“…Huh?”

The Nord soldier looked at the old man.

A sword he didn’t know when he had taken.

And the posture he swung it in.

As he was looking at that, his upper body tilted and fell to the floor, and he could see his lower body standing tall in the corridor.

Not only himself but all the Nord soldiers guarding him had their upper and lower bodies neatly separated in half.

“Mu-.”

Before he could speak, blood burst out, and the Nord soldier died instantly.

The maids screamed at the sight.

“W-What are you doing?!”

The Lonia delegation shouted in panic.

“I became curious, you see. It’s hard to overcome this curiosity when you get old.”

Hellaus grabbed the Lonia delegation by the scruff of their necks and laid them on the floor.

The other Black Inquisitors did the same.

“I sense a strange presence in that corner. A chilling energy that makes my spine tingle. It’s a concentration of hatred and anger. It feels like a vengeful spirit who hates the world is sleeping there.”

Hellaus reached into his mouth and took out a glass bottle.

Inside, the Worm Fest wriggled.

“I want to see what it is.”

Hellaus opened the bottle and shoved it into the Lonia delegation’s mouths.