Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 18

The Player Who Became a Constellation – Episode 18

18

“Per-!”

Seeing that from afar, Aum tore at his hair.

He knew that a commander shouldn’t leave their post. But seeing his brother being sacrificed before his eyes, he felt like his insides were churning and he was going crazy.

“Calm down… calm down…!”

That’s what he told himself, but the anger boiling inside him gradually clouded his judgment.

Aum frowned as he looked at Loki, who was in a haughty pose on the chariot, and the transparent barrier around him.

“A barrier…? Then I need to rethink how to break it…! Before that, the approaching undead legion…! But how?”

Aum kicked the platform nervously.

“Damn it!”

‘In the end, attacking the enemy’s main camp is the only way to get meaningful results. But I can’t just charge in blindly!’

If they just charged recklessly, they would face certain death against the gradually advancing undead legion.

“Keep our distance and fire… no, is it too late?”

Ballistas [large, ancient crossbows] have a longer range than throwing spears, so if they had fired from a distance from the beginning, they would have had a chance of winning.

But the big problem was that the chariot unit that was supposed to move the ballistas was lost.

Aum’s hands trembled.

He felt anger rising in his head.

On the other hand, Loki stroked his chin as if he was interested in watching the battlefield.

“…Indeed, the skeletons seem to have learning abilities… Throwing spears and crossbows were used effectively. With this, I can make them all-around soldiers without having to divide them into separate classes, right?”

However, since the skills used for their specialties were fixed, simply switching to other classes would mean they couldn’t utilize their specialties. But conversely, they could enhance their specialties.

An example of this was the Skeleton Longbowmen.

They were given crossbows because their specialty was long-range attacks. Since they had high accuracy in long-range attacks and could use related skills, their power increased even more.

Loki was currently ‘testing’ the extent of his skeletons’ learning abilities by clashing with the army led by Aum.

So far, Loki could see that his skeletons were not just simple ‘undead’.

He heard from the shaman that undead follow the orders of the summoning sorcerer and have no ‘will’ or ‘ego’. But the skeletons Loki had seen were an exception.

There was no sorcerer who summoned them, and they were only those who were resurrected in Valhalla [Norse afterlife for warriors] and were subordinate to Loki.

When they received Loki’s orders, they often read the situation and acted independently.

In other words, they had a will and an ego. And they even ‘learned’ on their own.

‘This means that the individual combat ability also increases significantly. Moreover, since they don’t feel fatigue, they can learn various fields without resting.’

However, the downside was that all skeletons except the Skeleton Sorcerers had poor learning abilities related to intelligence, while conversely, their learning abilities related to combat were excellent.

Skeleton Sorcerers tended to show the opposite tendency.

“Still, if these guys learn sign language, they’ll be able to communicate.”

Loki smiled and crossed his arms.

He was sure of ‘victory’ even before fighting. He didn’t need to go all out, so he deliberately separated the formations.

“But it’s not fun. You’re not thinking of ending it with this, are you?”

Loki looked at Aum standing on the platform far away.

***

Aum gritted his teeth and racked his brain.

The chariot unit was almost wiped out. Even if they kept their distance and fought now, he didn’t know how much more damage they would take.

Since ballista attacks didn’t work, using ordinary arrows was out of the question.

“…I regret not having experience commanding large-scale battles at times like this.”

In Aum’s case, he had only commanded a force of a few hundred when traveling in the Southern Continent.

At that time, he was a mercenary, but the people of the Southern Continent discriminated against the Nordics, so he had no command even if he was skilled.

“If it were the old days, I would use this as experience to get back on my feet, but this battle is the last.”

If he lost this battle, it would be difficult to survive.

The demon in front of him would surely get the answer he wanted from Kudan and dispose of him.

Not many people would want to keep someone who was troublesome to resist alive.

‘There are still enough troops. Should I disperse the troops and strike the king?’

In fact, Loki’s main camp was empty. There was a chance of winning if they attacked that place, but….

‘The sacrifice would be enormous. But if we continue like this, we’ll only be slaughtered unilaterally. The way to minimize sacrifices…!’

Aum sighed softly.

“I wanted all of the enemy’s forces to get caught… was that too greedy? I have no choice. The last resort….”

Aum shouted to the Nordics he led.

“Everyone… drive stakes into the ice!”

The Nordics quickly began to drive stakes into the ice.

Huge stakes were hammered in with a thud-! Thud-! sound.

But the thick ice sheet remained unmoved even as the stakes were driven in, and the water that filled the gaps in the stakes froze solid in a matter of minutes.

“This… it’s being driven in….”

“It’s too hard!”

The Nordics hurriedly drove in the stakes, but they began to flee in a hurry as they saw the approaching undead legion.

“…What are you thinking?”

Kudan, who had been watching the situation silently, asked Aum.

Rather than an attack or defense command, he was telling them to drive stakes into the ground?

“What am I thinking?”

Aum smiled as he looked at the puzzled Kudan.

“I’m just trying to rebury the dead who should be in the ground. So….”

Aum came down from the platform and grabbed Kudan’s shoulder.

“I need your help. Bury those dead, Kudan Ragnal!”

Dawn passed and morning gradually arrived. The land covered in darkness retreated in the light of the sun, announcing the morning to the frozen lake.

Although not widely known, the morning on the frozen lake was the most beautiful time on the continent.

There were no people or monsters, only clear energy and frozen ice, so there was no filth at all.

But now the ice was stained red by humans.

Hundreds, thousands of Nordics shed blood, soaking the ice and freezing it due to the cold, creating a dark red lake.

Over that blood-stained ice, the undead legion was advancing.

“Everyone! Hurry!”

“D, damn it, they’re already close!”

“Fall back! Retreat!”

The Nordics who had been driving stakes into the ice were busy running away from the approaching immortal legion.

The undead ignored the stakes driven into the ice and advanced as they were.

They were passing through the central path of the ice where countless stakes were 박혀 [Korean: 박혀 means 박히다 which means to be 박히다].

Soon they would arrive at Aum’s main camp formation, which had started the war.

For some reason, they were turning their backs on the defenses they had worked so hard to create.

The huge, semi-circular defense structure had become a trap that eliminated their escape route.

The skeletons laughed at the Nordics who were leaning against the ramparts in despair, unable to escape.

The bony jaws moved up and down, and the sinister laughter narrowed the red eyes.

It was almost over.

The flames of life before their eyes would be extinguished by their hands.

“T, they’re coming!”

“D, damn it! It’s kill or be killed! Everyone, prepare for battle! Let’s hold on!”

The Nordics’ desperate cries sounded like a very pleasant sound to the skeleton undead.

What an exciting moment this was!

Having received the order from their master, the result that he would be satisfied with was about to appear.

They were undead.

But they were different from the puppet dolls who only followed the summoner’s orders, stained with hatred and anger for the living.

They were only listening to the master’s orders, obeying, and truly taking it as ‘joy’, a ‘self’ with a ‘life’.

Their reason for existence was to understand and act on his will with just one word from him, or even just the atmosphere, and to make that the standard of ‘life’.

Therefore, they would give ‘victory’ to the master as soon as possible!

-Kyak!!

When the skeleton at the head stopped, all the advances stopped at once.

The spears aimed at the Nordics were raised high into the sky. And then they were slammed down to the ground.

쿵-! [Sound of impact]

The sound echoed through the earth, and the skeletons stopped as they were.

The Nordics were startled by the sight.

The distance between them was only about 150m. At a short distance, the skeletons stopped attacking and stood still.

“What are those guys… doing?”

“Maybe… they stopped attacking?”

The Nordics’ whispers spread, and some were relieved. But Aum, seeing that, shook his head with a cold sweat.

“No, that’s… they’re preparing to attack instead!”

The skeletons, who had been silent like the calm before the storm, opened their mouths and screamed in unison.

-Kuaaaaaaak-!

The shield wall they were holding tightly cracked.

Through the gap, the skeleton warriors began to charge with greatswords in their hands.

Accordingly, the skeleton shield soldiers with spears and shields also began to run at once.

Now there was no need for formations.

Only ‘massacre’ would begin before the overwhelming force!

The iron-clad formation disappeared, and now a storm-like attack began.

They made huge footsteps without fatigue, and mysterious red currents flowed from their eyes, nose, and mouth. They rushed towards their prey with all their might.

The Nordics, feeling fear, lost their will to fight and tried to escape, but they were blocked by the ramparts and couldn’t.

“Ugh! You want us to fight those guys?!

“Damn it! H, how can we beat those monsters!”

“We can’t win in the first place!”

“It’s over now!”

Aum smiled deeply at the Nordics’ desperate words.

“Yes, this tiresome war is over now. Kudan!”

At Aum’s cry, Kudan began to move.

Holding a heavy warhammer, he ran towards the direction the undead were rushing.

The skeletons laughed at Kudan’s reckless charge and threw their spears at him all at once.

Countless throwing spears flew at him, but….

They were deflected by the warhammer he was holding.

The skeletons, seeing that, widened their eyes and hurriedly created a shield wall and raised their spears.

A dense formation of 5 in the first row and 5 in the second row.

But the shield wall formation that looked solid…

“Get out of the way!”

The shield was shattered as if a cookie had been broken by the warhammer Kudan was holding. The undead were thrown out.

A single blow.

The skeleton’s shield wall, which had even blocked siege weapons, collapsed too easily.

-Keuk?

The skeletons all looked at him.

And the undead, seeing him running towards… the center where countless stakes were 박혀 [Korean: 박혀 means 박히다 which means to be 박히다], widened their red eyes.

Only then did the undead realize what he was trying to do.

The skeletons stopped running towards the Nordics all at once and rushed to stop Kudan.

Hundreds of immortal legions rushed fiercely to stop a single man.

Kudan ran against the tide.

Numerous spear blades flew and greatswords flew.

Kudan narrowly avoided them.

In the process, his cheeks were cut by the blade, and his arms and legs were grazed by the spear tips, causing blood to pour out.

Kudan, who had avoided hundreds of blades, reached the center of the undead, the center where the stakes were 박혀 [Korean: 박혀 means 박히다 which means to be 박히다].

At the same time, he was surrounded by the undead, and spear blades and sword blades flew at Kudan all at once, but―.

Kudan ignored the weapons rushing at him and slammed the warhammer down on the ground with all his might.

“Now, fall into hell, you dead―!”

쾅-! [Sound of impact]

A huge roar echoed through the earth.

The wind pressure created by Kudan’s single slam repelled the undead who had rushed in with weapons, and at the same time, the ice collapsed.