Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 52

Player as a Constellation – 52

Episode 52

Those who had hoped to find a new haven were caught by wandering spirits. Their dreams remained unfulfilled as they were devoured, their flesh and blood torn apart.

The number of victims reached over a hundred.

But even that wasn’t enough; the wights merely smacked their lips, still hungry.

They even fought among themselves over who would eat whom.

Then, they turned their heads.

As one turned, the other wights also fixed their gaze in the same direction.

A large fortress wall was visible not far away. And though it was distant, they could sense the aura of ‘life’ there.

Delicious life forms with fresh blood and meat.

The wights discarded the bones they had been gnawing on.

There was no more ‘food’ here. Surely, more awaited them over there.

The wights began to move.

As one moved, two moved; as two moved, four; as four moved, eight… thirty… a hundred… five hundred…

Thus, over a thousand wights began to move.

***

The 15-meter-high fortress wall of the Harma territory was in disrepair due to the long-standing monster invasions.

Areas frequently attacked by monsters needed thorough inspection, and any damaged parts had to be repaired.

However, the Harma territory did not receive proper supplies, making it vulnerable in many aspects, including fortress wall repairs, and even in essential items like bows, arrows, and siege weapons for defense.

“Ugh! You crazy bastard!”

A soldier on guard duty on the fortress wall cursed.

The floor he had stepped on a moment ago had crumbled, nearly causing him to fall to his death below.

Given the height of the fortress wall, survival was unlikely if he fell, and even if he survived by some miracle, he would likely be left paralyzed.

“Damn it, I’m scared to death whenever I’m on watch here!”

At the soldier’s words, his comrades, who were sitting on the fortress wall floor, having discarded all their gear and playing cards, chuckled.

“What can we do? That’s just how it is.”

“Yeah, we don’t even have enough money to eat, how can we repair the fortress wall?”

“Besides, the number of refugees has increased, right? Thanks to that, not only is the fortress wall not being repaired, but our rations have also been reduced. What else can we expect?”

“Ugh, why do I have to accept this?”

“What can we do? It’s the decision of the knights. They say things like, ‘Even refugees are citizens of Lonia!’…”

“I wonder if they know that while they’re having luxurious meals, we’re digging in the dirt, pulling up tree roots?”

“Maybe it’s a good thing in a way. If they send soldiers from the west or east, they can just pick from the refugees to send, right?”

The soldiers laughed.

As they said, there was a high possibility that their safety would be guaranteed.

“Ugh, damn it! At this rate, I won’t even be able to retire and live properly. I was planning to live in the countryside when this damn war ends… but I don’t even have the money for that! I even found a pretty good village.”

“Where?”

“Over there, not far from the Harma territory. There’s a monastery, about a five-day walk?”

“Ah, that place… it burned down.”

The soldier’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“It seems like it was attacked by bandits.”

“…There’s no safe place! And I thought I had found a village with kind people.”

Other soldiers, feeling curious, asked.

“Where are you talking about?”

“The one in the mountains.”

The soldier who had almost tripped earlier grumbled and pointed towards the mountains when.

“Huh, uh…?”

A group was approaching.

Usually, a group of refugees would be about ten people, or at most a hundred. But what they saw now was easily over a thousand.

“Refugees…?”

As everyone wondered, one soldier shouted.

“No! That’s an army! They’re wearing armor! If it’s armor with a blue background… the Eastern Lonia Army! But why here?! This is neutral territory!”

“Da, damn it! Since they’re short on troops, they’re going to invade even this place to conscript…”

“No.”

A soldier, frozen, pointed towards the group approaching the Harma territory.

“……?”

“Look closely. That’s not the Eastern Lonia Army…”

The soldiers looked in the direction he was pointing.

Someone was running towards them at high speed.

He was also wearing armor with a blue background, but his face was grotesquely rotting.

“That’s… all wights.”

***

The sun was setting, being swallowed by the mountains.

As darkness fell, everyone quietly prepared to sleep, extinguishing candles and locking their doors.

“Everyone, wake up!”

“It’s an emergency!”

“Those who can move, grab your weapons!”

“Gather everything you can use as a weapon!”

The soldiers hurried around with torches, waking people in each house and dragging refugees from the streets.

The sudden commotion left the territory’s residents bewildered and anxious.

Soldiers also burst into the inn where Loki was resting, studying a map of the continent.

“……?”

“You, you were an apothecary, right?”

“…I’m a herbalist, but?”

“Whatever, you can at least assess the condition of injured or sick patients, can’t you?”

Loki didn’t like the soldier’s rude tone.

Seeing many soldiers rushing past the inn’s entrance behind the soldier, Loki asked out of curiosity.

“What’s going on?”

“…A horde of plague is coming here. You guys prepare too.”

“A horde of plague?”

He had heard of a horde of rebels, but what did a horde of plague mean?

As Loki remained still, looking bewildered, the soldier groaned and said.

“It’s Worm Fest [an outbreak of wights infected with parasites]. Wights infected with Worm Fest are coming here. We need to mobilize everyone we can right now.”

***

Fewer than 800 people gathered on the fortress wall.

They were nominally soldiers without proper weapons or armor. The only weapons on the fortress wall were hot water, stones scattered on the ground, and bows and arrows.

Even among those conscripted were elderly people and young boys.

Neither in terms of equipment nor the quality of the soldiers was this a winnable battle.

“This… shouldn’t we run away? The enemy is a plague! Ordinary people can’t handle that!”

“Can’t we go out through the back door?”

“It’s impossible. Look at their speed! No matter how hard we run, they’ll catch up soon enough.”

At the refugees’ desperate voices, the commander shouted.

“It’s okay! Even if the enemy is a terrifying plague, they have no combat experience! They’re less than monsters with intelligence! Besides, our numbers aren’t that different from theirs! To capture a fortress in a siege, you need twice their numbers! There’s no way we’ll be captured!”

It was a statement made by one of the few knights on the fortress wall to raise morale, but it was not convincing at all.

If anything, the refugees had even less experience.

Above all, they had no proper weapons, and the enemy was a monster whose body itself was a sword that couldn’t be cut and a shield that couldn’t be blocked.

Moreover, they carried a deadly infectious disease that could increase their numbers with a single bite.

If there were no fortress wall, they would become the enemy’s food without even resisting, let alone winning.

Loki came up to the fortress wall to observe the situation. As he went up, Salrut and Ash followed.

Loki muttered as if mocking the commander’s words.

“…Even with the fortress wall, we can’t win.”

Salrut’s face turned pale as he hid behind Loki, seeing the black horde running from afar, and Ash’s reaction was not much different.

Ash, his face pale, asked Loki, desperate to survive.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to stay here!”

“That’s right. We shouldn’t get caught up in unnecessary trouble. We’re leaving this place.”

At Loki’s words, Ash pointed his finger at the thousand wights running towards them, terrified.

“Leave this place? Are you saying that after seeing that! The moment you or I leave, we’ll become their food!”

“Not me. Maybe you.”

At Loki’s joking words, Ash gaped. Then, he turned his gaze back to the wights and stepped back.

“We… have to stay here. It’s safer that way! They’re not human. But they’re not like monsters with intelligence either. They won’t be able to climb up here!”

That was true.

Wights were beings created by the parasite ‘Worm Fest.’ There was no way they could conduct a siege.

However, they knew how to use ‘weapons.’

When Loki was in the village where he met Salrut, the wights wielded swords and spears.

If so….

‘They can use ladders. But they don’t seem to see them.’

Most of them are empty-handed.

Usually, if the enemy is empty-handed, there is no chance of winning a siege. No matter how powerful the monster is.

Loki narrowed his eyes, observing such wights.

‘But they have incredible physical abilities.’

Loki sensed it.

This defense was… humanity’s defeat.

The wights looked at the soldiers on the fortress wall, their eyes reddening and their mouths gaping open.

The skin tore so much that their jaws dislocated. Black blood and Worm Fest flowed from the gaps.

-Kreeeeeeeek!

A terrible screech flowed from their mouths, and one of them ran towards the Harma territory with all its might.

The wight, which had been running on two legs, ran like a beast on all fours.

They had human forms and even wore armor, but they ran at a speed that humans could not achieve.

As one took the lead, the rest also ran quickly.

“Hey! Fire the catapults!”

At the knight’s command, the soldiers carried stones.

Even if it was a catapult, the ones in the Harma territory were small, at most gathering and throwing stones the size of an adult’s head.

Usually, such weapons would be effective against a large army, but….

“Fire!”

As the knight drew his sword and shouted, the head of the catapult swung forward violently and bounced. Then, the stones contained within spread out, and numerous stones fell like meteorites on the wights.

Most of the stones fell among the wights, but the ones that hit knocked the wights away with heavy sounds.

“It’s effective!”

The knights wore bright expressions, but Loki clicked his tongue.

“…It’s not effective.”

The wights that had been hit by the stones and fallen twitched and stood up after a while. The ones that had their heads smashed by the stones had broken heads, but they charged forward at high speed as if they had no trouble moving.

They were monsters whose entire bodies were armor and swords. Above all, they were tough like the undead.

“……?!”

“They’re not dead?”

“Keep throwing!”

The stones continued to be thrown.

But the wights dodged the stones or charged back as if nothing had happened even when hit.

Their speed was comparable to that of trained cavalry.

They had human forms, but the sight of them running on all fours, drooling black blood and maggots from their mouths, was reminiscent of the demons of hell.

“O, they’re coming?!”

The soldiers were terrified.

They were terrified by the wights running at a terrifying speed. But everyone was startled by the heavy sound that followed shortly after.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The wights reached the fortress wall and jumped towards their prey, but the height of the fortress wall was 15m.

No matter how monstrous they were, it was a height they could not jump over.

The wights rammed their entire bodies into the fortress wall as if they were ignorant, but they could not overcome the impact and were bounced back.

“…Ha, haha… what?! These guys are stupid!”

At one person’s shout, those who had been terrified all cheered.

They thought it was a winning game if the guys didn’t know how to climb the fortress wall.

But….

That hope slowly disappeared.