Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 54

The Player Who Became a Constellation – 54

54

The Wight, having pierced the castle wall, landed on the ground, rolling.

As if proving he had overexerted himself, the muscles all over his body were torn, and his shoulder was sunken and drooping.

However, the damage was being repaired as the Worm Pests inside his body filled the torn areas.

“It’s, it’s them!”

“Run away!”

“No, don’t run! Fight! Stop them!”

With a grotesquely distorted face and a mouth torn to his ears,
the people in the territory began to flee, abandoning their weapons.

-Kueeeeek!

Hundreds of cockroaches seemed to be crawling out of the hole in the breached gate as the Wights disgustingly poured out.

The narrow hole gradually widened, and the gate eventually collapsed.

“The gate has been breached!”

“Damn it!”

“Who was it! The guy who set fire to the gate…!”

The soldiers on the wall were horrified and stepped back.

The moment one of the soldiers leaned his back against the wall’s railing, his body was pierced through.

“……?!”

The soldier looked at the hook-like claws that had pierced through his body. And with a desperate effort, he looked at the being that had pierced him.

There was a Wight with a huge maw.

The Wight devoured the soldier’s head whole.

“Ugh?!

“How did these bastards get up here?!”

Hundreds of Wights continued to slam their bodies against the wall. There were Wights who used their leaping comrades as stepping stones and jumped again, and Wights who jumped again using those Wights as stepping stones.

As this was repeated, the Wights unintentionally formed a staircase and climbed up the wall.

Most of the soldiers had fled, and only a few remained, holding weapons and resisting.

They swung swords and wooden spears, but they couldn’t inflict a fatal blow or even a small wound on the Wights.

Rather, it only fueled the Wights’ cruelty.

The Wights rushed in and overwhelmed the soldiers.

They bit their necks, cut off their limbs, or threw the soldiers over the wall.

The soldiers bitten by the Wights were transformed into Worm Pests on the spot.

The dead gradually moved, opening their maws and rushing towards those who had been their comrades just moments before.

The 800 people who had been defending the wall were quickly surrounded and hunted by the Wights.

A battlefield swept by plague.

For the soldiers, the weapons and armor they held were nothing more than baggage.

“Damn it! It’s useless to even hold a weapon!”

“Everyone, run away!”

“To, to the back gate! Let’s go to the back gate of the territory!”

Not only the soldiers but also the residents of the territory began to flee.

The Wights chased after the scattering prey and gradually spread out.

Roki, who had come down below the wall, picked up a sword that a soldier had dropped nearby.

Then, he cut the body of a rushing Wight in half.

Watching the Wights disappear, spewing flames, Roki stepped on their corpses.

They disappeared without leaving even ashes.

“Annoying bastards!”

Serut, who was behind Roki, cowered and looked around for something that could be used as a weapon.

Various weapons were scattered around, but she couldn’t find a weapon that she could handle well. She found a bow and arrows and picked them up.

“D-don’t come!”

Ashi also picked up a sword that had fallen nearby and swung it at a Wight.

However, his resistance was easily blocked, to the point of being futile.

Ashi’s sword, swung to strike the Wight’s neck, was simply stuck in its neck, unable to cut or be pulled out.

“……!”

-Kieeeek!

The Wight screamed at Ashi.

It grabbed the sword with its hand and crushed it.

Human weapons were broken down far too easily in the face of the Wight’s overwhelming strength.

Ashi froze with a look of despair as the Wight opened its mouth wide.

As he stepped back, an arrow pierced the eyes of the Wight that was about to rush at him.

“……?!”

Ashi was startled and turned around, and he could see Serut, not far away, pulling the bowstring.

“Coward. Get out of the way!”

Being called a coward by an Ain [a member of a specific race or group] was humiliating, but now was not the time to worry about such things.

Ashi forgot even his dignity as royalty and awkwardly stumbled back on his butt.

The Wight, who had been hit by the arrow a moment ago, wriggled, pulled out the arrow, broke it, and shook its head from side to side.

Serut was intimidated by the sight of the Wight moving perfectly fine even with its eyes pierced.

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

Serut asked Roki anxiously, nocking another arrow.

“…Well.”

Although some had scattered, a considerable number of Wights were around them.

There were no survivors visible around them.

The dead eat the living and give birth to the dead.

The number of Wights, which had reached a thousand, had not decreased but had increased further, and they had infiltrated various parts of the Harma territory, hunting the scattered, weak life.

Those with blood are sucked dry, those with flesh are torn apart, and those with bones are chewed.

The Wights, having eaten without leaving a single drop of blood, looked like demons searching for food, as if they were still not satisfied.

Roki frowned as he looked around.

There was a conspicuous corpse not far from him.

‘The general store owner.’

The general store owner, Yuan.

He was being eaten by a Wight, tears streaming down his face. His face was distorted in pain, as if he had been alive until just now.

Roki used his sword to cut down the Wight that was feasting.

The Wight turned to ashes and disappeared, and the Worm Pests wriggled on the body of the dead Yuan. A small piece of paper could be seen inside.

“…….”

A letter stained with blood.

It was the one Yuan had said he would send to someone a while ago.

Roki picked up the letter and examined it.

The contents inside may have been ruined due to the stained blood. Perhaps the recipient will also be troubled.

‘Poor guy. He was a kind person in his own way… Come to think of it, didn’t he say he had a wife?’

Roki looked around.

The Wights had already completely taken over the Harma territory. Unless they were hiding, most would die as their prey.

‘She’s probably dead. What a truly unfortunate thing.’

At that moment, something grabbed Roki’s leg.

It was Yuan, who had become a Wight.

His face had not yet been infected, and his tearful expression seemed to be pleading.

It was as if he was saying, ‘It’s not too late!’, but Roki didn’t feel any particular emotion even as he looked at it.

Roki looked down at him with a consistent expressionless face. There was disgust in Roki’s eyes.

“That’s that, and this is this.”

Roki lifted his leg and crushed his head.

“Please go to a better place. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to help others.”

Roki turned his gaze.

There were dozens of Wights on the wall, and about a hundred below, surrounding Roki and watching the situation.

“There are many.”

Roki looked at Ashi.

After awkwardly falling on his butt, he soon gritted his teeth, stood up, and picked up a weapon nearby.

He was glaring at the surrounding Wights with a will to live and a murderous intent towards the Wights in front of him.

“Then shall we sweep them away properly?”

It was time for Roki to reveal his true power as well.

Behind him, the space blurred, and something walked out.

An undead covered in shabby rags.

It was the Skeleton Assassin that Roki had sent to Aum for contact.

“……?”

Roki tilted his head as he looked at the suddenly appearing skeleton. The skeleton knelt on one knee and bowed its head, paying respect to its lord. Then, it conveyed its meaning through sign language.

“Reporting only now? Did Aum send you?”

The skeleton shook its head. And began to sign again.

“Aum… is coming here?”

Roki was startled and closed his mouth.

He never expected that Aum Linia would come here.

Serut, who was watching from the side, was also startled and distanced herself from the skeleton.

She had seen it in the forest in the past, but only from a distance, and she never knew it was an undead.

Ashi was frozen as he looked at the undead.

“Un…undead? Node, you! Were you a necromancer?!”

Roki ignored Ashi and asked the skeleton.

“When is he coming? Where is he?”

The skeleton conveyed its meaning again through sign language, and Roki, who understood the meaning, stiffened and twitched his mouth muscles.

“…Now… here?”

***

A hill not far from the Harma territory, surrounded by a group, could be seen.

Dressed in dark brown armor and wielding huge weapons and shields, with beast bone heads, they all looked down at the Harma territory, fiddling with their favorite weapons.

They were not ‘soldiers’ because they were not regular or in formation, but it seemed unreasonable to call them ‘mercenaries’ who moved for petty money.

Fully armed, they smiled and breathed roughly inside their helmets.

Their breathing was not disturbed by heavy weapons and forced marches.

They were excited.

Because of the hungry pleasure of being able to slaughter something soon.

They are the Node [a group of plunderers].

Plunderers who trample and steal the happiness of others!

For them, battle was a game and a way to prove their existence to the world.

Above all, they were those who enjoyed hunting beings far superior to humans.

“Oh! It’s burning splendidly!”

Aum Linia enjoyed the land of the continent, which he had set foot on after a long time, and looked at the Harma territory, which had turned into hell.

Parts of the walls were broken, the gates were burned, and Wights were seen eating corpses on the gates.

The territory residents who were lucky enough to escape the walls were quickly caught and eaten alive, like weak herbivores being hunted by predators.

“…It’s just a bit gruesome.”

Kudan frowned.

He was also armed with armor like the Berserker warriors. A huge object covered with cloth was draped over his shoulder.

“What does it matter? They’re not our Node. Then it doesn’t matter.”

Aum Linia was the type to not pay attention to anyone other than his own clan. Except for Hans, who had become a comrade, he felt no emotion even if the continental people were all killed.

“But it’s troublesome? If we leave it like that, the number will increase rapidly… Then it’s a bit 불안하단 말이지 [unstable, uneasy].”

“It’ll be fine. If it’s me, Cancun, or the Berserker warriors, we can take care of ourselves.”

Aum smacked his lips at Kudan’s words.

“What about me?”

“Protect yourself.”

“Don’t treat me like you guys. I’m different from the perverts who laugh off wounds that would instantly kill ordinary people as if they were finger cuts. In the first place, the Berserker Warriors are my bodyguards. If you scatter and fight, I’ll be in danger. Or is there someone else to protect me?”

Aum turned his head and looked to the side.

There was a woman wearing blue and white armor.

“What does the priestess think?”

The woman, Cancun, bit her lower lip and drew her sword at the sight of the burning territory and the fleeing territory residents being hunted.

The pure white sword, engraved with rune letters, shone and pointed towards the Harma territory.

“It is not good for more victims to come out. So… we must drive out those terrible demons.”

Aum laughed at the stiff voice.

“Haha! I was asking if you were going to protect me… I guess not at all. By the way, drive out? Kudan, your niece is strong-willed. She’s drawing her sword to drive out that terrifying plague horde.”

“Even if he says that… he seems to be quite enjoying it.”

“Who? Me?”

Aum was tilting his head.

He didn’t know what kind of expression he was making.

He was smiling with hungry eyes and a smile full of joy.

He was only interested in cooking, but he was also a Node.

He couldn’t hide the excitement of the battlefield that was rising from his blood.

“Ah, I won’t deny it. To be honest, I’ve been stressed out so far. So let’s relieve some of that. So…”

Aum curled up the corners of his mouth.

“We have to enjoy it.”

Aum also drew his sword and-.

“Berserker Warriors. This is your first battle. The power of you, blessed by the constellation-.”

He pointed it towards the Harma territory.

“It’s time to show it.”

***

They tear, chew, crush, and drink, and feel a thrilling pleasure intoxicated by the bitter iron smell felt on the tongue and the tip of the nose.

Wights felt the meaning of existence by devouring life. Even if they eat their fill, the Worm Pests inside their bodies constantly consume magic power and crave to steal life again.

They had no reason to feel ‘pleasure’ and ‘hunger’, so they became monsters who did everything according to instinct.

Because of such existence and such characteristics, they were able to reign as a terrifying existence on the continent.

They have become the top predators that transcend humans and monsters.

-Kkirik? Kkirik?

…Even such predators were feeling a different sensation now.

The Wights gave up eating their prey and turned their heads to look at the approaching strangers.

It’s human. Delicious and nutritious… and fresh meat that can give birth to seeds and reproduce.

That was the perception that Wights had of humans. But they felt a different feeling from the ‘Berserker Warriors’ in front of them.

A feeling that was so ‘heterogeneous’ [dissimilar; different in character].

It felt like they were the same ‘kind’ who were hungry.

The group covered in beast bones muttered as they looked at the Wights.

“Good prey.”

The Berserker warriors.

Their eyes flashed with a burning light.