WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 72: Phase 2
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The Church of Light was known for receiving oracles more often than any other faith.
Priests with divine power equal to or greater than a bishop consumed that power to receive them.
God was omnipotent and omniscient, so an oracle could not fail to come true or be wrong.
At least, that was how it worked in principle.
Still, there were quiet rumors that the Church of Light's oracles were less accurate than those of other faiths.
Stories of incorrect oracles surfaced from time to time.
Gerard Martein did not believe such nonsense.
Receiving an oracle required an enormous donation to the church.
Oracle offerings made up a considerable portion of the Church of Light's annual income.
As the commander of the Holy Knights of Light and Marquis Martein, a man affiliated with the faith, he had no reason not to know that.
If an oracle was ever wrong, it was likely not a real oracle to begin with.
Some corrupt bishop had probably accepted money and delivered a false oracle.
But the oracle bestowed upon Gerard this time was real.
He would defeat the wicked snake and emerge victorious.
When he saw the horde of monsters surging beyond the horizon, the soldiers standing in formation trembled in fear.
Even the holy knights following the marquis were tense.
Gerard, however, felt exhilarated.
'So that's the wicked snake.'
The leader of the Monster Wave.
That monster was unmistakably a snake.
The oracle was coming true.
"Heh heh."
Marquis Gerard laughed.
The Monster Wave was enormous. Even with three thousand soldiers and knights gathered here, victory was far from certain.
His territory could soon be reduced to ruins, so why was he laughing?
The marquis paid no attention to the eyes fixed on him.
This was not the first oracle he had received.
Back when he was twenty, in a childhood that had long since faded, he had received one as well.
Its contents had been utterly ominous.
Marquis Gerard had told no one about that oracle. No one.
And today, it seemed he could finally cast off that ill-fated prophecy.
"Load the catapults."
The marquis gave his first order.
They had brought every one of the dozens of catapults used as siege weapons.
Martein Territory bordered the Empire, so these catapults, which had irritated the Empire simply by existing, would prove their worth today.
The soldiers loaded boulders onto the catapults.
"Prepare to fire your bows."
Marquis Martein was also a border lord.
His elite troops had gathered here.
Even the Empire's army feared the Horn Bows made from buffalo horns procured from the ‘Mountain Range.’
"The Holy Knights will break through the center with battering ram tactics."
Marquis Gerard rode before the soldiers.
Raising his famous golden spear high, he shouted.
"Mar-te-in!"
His grand voice, infused with Mana, thundered across the plains.
"Are there any cowards here who are afraid to die?!"
"No, sir!"
The soldiers answered in booming voices.
"Are there any greenhorns who have never faced a Monster Wave?!"
"No, sir!"
Martein's elite troops had experienced Monster Waves before.
Localized Monster Waves occurred regularly near the foothills of the ‘Mountain Range’ bordering their territory.
"If your territory is ravaged and your families are trampled, are there any cowards who want to run?!"
"No, sir!"
"Then I...!"
Whoosh!
Aura filled with flames burst from the tip of Martein's spear.
Every soldier stared at it as though bewitched.
Those fops in the capital might not know it, but Marquis Martein was a true hero who always stood at the vanguard.
"I will kill their leader!"
"Martein!"
"You only need to clean up the remaining rabble. You can do that, can't you?!"
"Martein!"
Even then, the monster horde continued to approach.
Unease could still be seen among the soldiers shouting with such spirit.
Now that the monsters were closer, they could tell.
There were not merely tens of thousands of them.
They were huge and looked powerful.
True monsters that had not left the Great Forest even once in hundreds of years were mixed among them.
Rumble-
The ground shook.
The frightened soldiers nearly fired their bows without thinking.
Their commanders stopped them by shouting them down.
The marquis raised his spear and yelled.
"Catapults!"
The standard-bearers raised their flags high.
"Fire!"
The flags came down all at once.
Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!
The catapults launched boulders into the sky.
* * *
This uncomfortable journey continued.
When we parted from Nanaruk, this stupid Chimera took the carriage where the humans were hiding.
Was it jealous that the humans could talk to me?
I'd thought this ever since it first kidnapped me, but maybe it was more possessive than I expected.
The Chimera wrapped the carriage in hundreds of vines and placed it on its back.
It wasn't a snail or anything.
Of course, the Chimera's body kept growing, so rather than a snail, it looked more like an adult wearing an elementary schooler's backpack.
"Oh no..."
The problem was that the carriage was not far from me.
I kept making eye contact with the humans through the vines.
They seemed to demand an explanation for what the hell was going on, which put me in an awkward position.
It wasn't like I told it to do this.
It had been three days since they were trapped in the carriage.
Like the frail humans they were, they occasionally vomited from motion sickness.
Fortunately, they had water, so they would not die of thirst, but they had to be terribly hungry.
I offered food to Knight Zain.
"Sssak."
"I-I cannot eat that."
I'd seen that they had not eaten a single meal, yet Zain refused.
Was that a knight's pride?
I offered the food again.
"Isn't that a bug...?!"
Come on.
There was a limit to the prey I could catch with Transparent Hand while riding on a running Chimera.
I'd caught an edible-looking camel cricket for them.
"Sssak!"
"...I cannot eat it."
The knight looked ashamed.
That was understandable.
Camel crickets were what I ate after falling into the canyon.
If you pulled off the legs, the body was fairly plump. With your eyes closed, it would taste something like half-rotten shrimp.
What a weakling.
Since Zain was being so fussy, I had no choice.
*「You use Magic: Transparent Hand Lv. 10.」
A huge giraffe ran beside me.
I pulled off one rodent that had been clinging to its body and sucking its blood.
"Sssak, sssak."
Then eat this, human.
It was a Mosquito Rat.
"Th-thank you..."
Unable to refuse even rat meat, the knight accepted the Mosquito Rat.
Beside Zain, Rania held her hungry stomach with a tearful expression.
You eat this.
I gave her several bird eggs I had kept in my Subspace.
"Thank you!"
"Ah, ah..."
Zain watched Rania slurp down the bird eggs with a complicated expression.
Right, now that she had eaten, she would have some energy.
Honestly, she needed to force herself to recover her strength right now.
-Oh, they're flying in.
That was right.
The catapults had fired.
Hundreds of boulders the size of human heads filled the sky.
Everyone, hold on tight!
"Sssaaaak!"
The humans trapped in the carriage screamed.
The boulders converted their potential energy into kinetic energy and smashed into the ground.
Kwakwakwakwaang!
The monsters hit directly were crushed to pulp.
Blood, chunks of flesh, and rock fragments sprayed everywhere.
A boulder fell onto the head of the giraffe beside me.
Its neck snapped, and the giraffe flailed as it rolled across the ground.
The boulder did not stop there. It rolled onward, crushing the bones of several more monsters.
I prayed inwardly.
There was nothing I could do against the falling boulders, so I only hoped the Chimera Snake would not act stupid and get us all killed.
My prayer was answered.
Stems burst from the Chimera Snake's nape like a lion's mane.
They wrapped around me and the carriage behind me.
It was no different from raising double and triple barriers.
Thud!
One incoming boulder struck the wooden stems and bounced away.
We were unharmed.
Though the deflected boulder crushed the monsters following behind us.
-Oh, arrows this time.
Look at Pelerian, acting so relaxed because he would not die again.
He was right.
The sky visible through the gaps in the wooden stems was black.
Thousands of arrows had clearly been fired.
Papapapapak!
They began piercing the running monsters.
Still, there was no need to worry about arrows.
Had the Chimera Snake's wooden stems not endured even the catapults?
Thunk!
An arrow embedded itself right in front of my nose, and that thought vanished.
It had somehow slipped through the wooden stems.
Stupid tree snake. It could not even block that.
Then another arrow nearly hit me.
*「You use Acceleration Lv. 7.」
I reacted instinctively.
Crunch!
When I came to my senses, I had successfully caught the incoming arrow in my mouth.
-How did you do that?!
'...I know, right?'
Without realizing it, I had reached the level of catching a blade with my bare mouth.
At this rate, I might really be able to react to incoming blades too.
The rain of arrows stopped.
Then the human soldiers let out a roar.
The catapults and bows had finished their turn.
Now, close combat would begin.
When we reached the plains, the human army was waiting for us.
I'd known this would happen someday, but I really felt like a Demon King.
A Demon King leading an army of monsters!
"Gwoooooo!"
Kibaemi roared too.
Well, the Demon King was actually this Chimera, while I was more like the shadowy mastermind behind it.
And the three people in the carriage did not need to get caught up in this battle.
"Sssak!"
I roared at Rania and the humans.
'I'll let you live, so pay the price for your lives later.'
Then I swung my dagger.
*「You use Iron Lion Standard Swordsmanship Lv. 1.」
*「You use Slash Lv. 4.」
I cut the wooden stems binding the carriage one by one.
When I had tried before, this Chimera bastard had wrapped the carriage even more tightly in its vines.
But it would not have the room to care now.
Snip, snap.
With only a few stems remaining, the carriage tilted and began to fall.
The humans screamed.
Just before the carriage hit the ground, I swung my dagger at the last remaining stem.
*「You use Slash Lv. 4.」
Boom!
The carriage, still wrapped in wooden stems, landed safely on the ground.
The lighter monsters stepped over it, while the others went around.
The humans were afraid, but they did not need to worry too much.
The wooden stems wrapped around the carriage were very sturdy.
More than anything, it was better than being attached to the back of a boss monster where all the firepower would be concentrated.
The Chimera Snake left the falling carriage behind and advanced.
Then it was my turn to escape.
'Goodbye, Kibaemi.'
Mounted knights were charging toward us ahead.
The massive holy knight in golden armor looked especially terrifying.
"Look at me!"
The knight's enormous spear aimed at the Chimera Snake.
I waited for the moment before impact.
There it was, the thread of an opening.
'Escaaape!'
I swung my dagger and cut around where I was embedded.
*「You use Slash Lv. 4.」
Then I chained skills and poured in Mana.
*「You use Black Scales Lv. 2.」
*「You use Acceleration Lv. 7.」
*「You use Heart-Eating Leap Lv. 3.」
*「You use Stealth Lv. 8.」
Whoosh.
I was free!
At the critical moment, I escaped the Chimera's body.
All I had to do was slip into the monsters and run away.
It was a perfect escape.
The Chimera Snake could not spare any attention for me with those charging knights right in front of it.
...It should have been that way.
-Look at that bastard.
Kibaemi noticed my escape and immediately turned around.
Then it looked at me with longing eyes.
"Mwaaaaaa!"
It cried mournfully and reached its wooden stems toward me.
It sounded exactly like it was calling, Mom!
'Aah!'
Was that why?
Why I could not shake off the wooden stems wrapping around me, even though I could have.
Because it turned its head, the Chimera Snake's nape was completely exposed to the knights.
"Die!"
The huge holy knight drove that golden spear into the Chimera's body.
Kwaaaang!
A roar even greater than when it was hit by a catapult rang out.
The mounted charge, with no thought for what lay behind the holy knight, was truly terrifying.
The lead knight's warhorse had its neck snap and died instantly, while the massive Chimera Snake was shoved far backward.
"Gwooo!"
For the first time, the Chimera cried out in pain.
Black smoke rose from the wound where the spear had lodged.
'You stupid idiot.'
Fury welled up inside me.
'I'm not even your parent, so why are you so obsessed with me?'
This thing was only a short-lived Chimera the World Tree had made in my image.
I ended up sticking tightly to the Chimera's nape again.
'And how could you just take that spear like an idiot?!'
The holy knights repeatedly driving their spears into the Chimera Snake's body were right before me.
I made eye contact with one of them.
The holy knight looked bewildered, then quickly raised a small crossbow and fired at me.
*「You use Acceleration Lv. 7.」
Thunk!
Again.
I successfully caught the arrow in my mouth.
Screw it.
My survival was on the line too.
Die!
*「You use Beam Lv. 2.」
"Aaargh!"
The Beam struck the holy knight's exposed face.
It was not an instant kill, but the holy knight fell from their horse.
Crunch!
The startled horse thrashed about and, unfortunately, stepped on the knight's face.
*「You have defeated Holy Knight of Light Lv. 23.」
*「Your level has increased.」
'Oh.'
Had seeing Beam again given the Chimera some energy?
Stems shot out from Kibaemi's body like thorns.
Pewpewpew!
Unlike the other stems, these tree branches gleamed black.
Since I had seen the Chimera's status window, I could guess what it was trying to do.
It had to be ‘Thorn Rolling Lv. 10.’
Kibaemi rolled across the ground, unlike a snake.
More than five holy knights were instantly crushed beneath it.
Crunch, crack!
They did not even have time to scream.
I raised my head again after ducking in surprise.
'I almost got crushed too!'
"Gwoooo!"
Several holy knights, pierced and mangled by the thorns sprouting from the Chimera's body, dangled from them.
This was undeniably the appearance of a boss monster now.
Then the enemy commander stared at us in shock.
──────────────
【Commander of the Holy Knights of Light Lv. ???】
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The old knight, who looked overwhelmingly strong at a glance, roared in rage.
"You bas-tard!"
My ears nearly burst.
Brilliant Aura streamed from the knight's spear.
Do not come closer!
*「You use Beam Lv. 2.」
Amazingly, the knight deflected the beam of light.
It was a feat only someone like Gunter had shown before.
"Gwooo!"
Kibaemi charged to meet them without losing heart.
Hero against Chimera.
The clash unfolded far more easily than I had expected.
Just as the knight's spear was about to bury itself in Kibaemi's body.
Rip!
The middle of Kibaemi's body split wide open.
It was a trick possible because its body was made of wooden stems rather than the body of a real snake.
The spear, blazing with Aura, pierced empty air.
A black thorny stem, forming the Chimera's frame, shot out from beneath Kibaemi's neck.
Likely the only high-level skill this Chimera possessed.
【World Tree's Thorn Lv. 1】
Thwack!
The thorn pierced precisely through the gap between the helmet and breastplate.
"Kugh!"
Blood burst from the knight's mouth.
Even the spear in the knight's hand fell to the ground.
Their body went limp and dangled from the thorn.
'U-uh!'
No way.
A one-hit kill?
It was supposed to be low-intelligence, yet Kibaemi's dodge and follow-up attack had been perfect.
The knight's throat had been pierced, so they should be dead.
That was when Pelerian uttered the cursed words.
-Did we get him?!
'You idiot.'
-...Why? What is it?
Then.
The Heaven-Defier mage truly was a great mage who defied the laws of heaven.
Twitch.
The knight who had gone limp moved.
The resurrection spell Pelerian had cast had succeeded.
Footnotes:
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