WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈
Chapter 46: The End of the War (3)
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After a brief discussion, we headed straight for where we expected the enemy to flee.
We took up positions along their escape route and laid an ambush,
then ordered the scouts to reconnoiter and confirm whether the enemy would truly come this way.
Max, hiding beside me, muttered in an odd tone.
“I never thought we’d be fighting those barbarian bastards here again.”
“Neither did I.”
We were hiding in the canyon shaped like the number 11, the very place where we had wiped out Hakal and the barbarians at the end of the Frostfire Operation.
Max had lost an eye protecting me here, so he must have had mixed feelings.
“You all right?”
“Haha, what’s there not to be all right about?”
Max replied in an easygoing voice.
“We won a great victory then, so won’t we do the same this time?”
“...Yeah, you’re right.”
We had to win somehow.
Only by capturing Kantulan could we finally end this damned war.
As I clenched my fist and renewed my resolve, Jackson returned from scouting with the other scouts.
“Commander, they’re coming!”
I had worried I might be wrong,
but fortunately, no such disaster came to pass.
“Everyone, get ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
It was time to greet the enemy.
＊＊＊＊＊
As the sun set and darkness fell,
the barbarians retreating from the subjugation force moved swiftly along a gloomy forest path.
Astonishingly, they had already crossed the Elnes Mountains and left the Empire behind.
Kantulan looked over his people and spoke with difficulty.
“...We will soon reach a canyon. Once we pass through it... those Imperial bastards will no longer be able to pursue us.”
“Great Chieftain, your wounds are too severe. You should rest a little before moving again...”
As the subordinate said, Kantulan’s condition was dire.
The enemy’s relentless assault, tightening around Kantulan like a sticky swamp, had cost Kantulan his right arm. Several arrows were lodged in his back, and wounds large and small covered the rest of his body.
They were injuries that would have killed an ordinary person several times over.
It was doubtful whether Kantulan could ever rise again.
“No. We cannot waste time when the enemy may strike at any moment.”
There was no time to rest if Kantulan wished to plan for the future, if Kantulan wished to save even one more of his people.
It was also atonement for his fallen kin.
Crunch!
‘Blame me.’
The battle from earlier that day remained vivid in his mind.
Tens of thousands of Imperials closing in from every direction, Kantulan’s kin falling one by one at their hands. Kantulan could not stop here if he wanted to ensure their deaths were not in vain.
If Kantulan could create the ideal they had sought, an empire for the Huran Tribe, Kantulan could endure this much pain hundreds of times over.
“We’re almost there.”
As Kantulan forced their creaking body onward, the canyon they had spoken of eventually came into view.
The canyon was shaped like the number 11 and so narrow that only ten grown men could barely pass through at once.
“Is this where the warriors of the Kalnamu Tribe were all wiped out?”
“Yes. I heard they pursued too recklessly in an attempt to strike back at the Imperials and were defeated here instead.”
“...What an irony.”
The Kalnamu Tribe had been annihilated by the Empire here, and now they themselves had been defeated by the Empire and were fleeing through this place. Could that truly be a mere coincidence?
It was all the more unsettling considering that the Kalnamu Tribe had been their rivals when its power was at its height decades ago.
As Kantulan stared uneasily at the canyon, the subordinate beside him spoke up.
“Great Chieftain?”
“...I was entertaining pointless thoughts. Let’s go.”
Kantulan led his people into the canyon.
Whooooo...
The night wind passed through the canyon, making an eerie sound.
‘Something about this feels wrong.’
It felt as though he were standing atop a sharp blade.
Another person might have dismissed it as needless worry,
but the senses of one who had reached a lofty realm were different from those of ordinary people.
With every step, the sense of unease grew stronger.
“Something is wrong. Everyone, stop...”
Then,
Whizz!
An arrow flew down from above.
“Waaaaah!”
With a thunderous roar, Imperial soldiers began to reveal themselves.
＊＊＊＊＊
“Waaaaah!”
“Subjugate the barbarians!”
“How did the pursuing force get here...?!”
As our soldiers poured in from all sides, the barbarians cried out in shock. I looked at them and shouted.
“Drive them back in one push! We must kill them here!”
“Yes, sir!”
There were thousands of soldiers and me in front of them.
Jeg’s cavalry stood behind them.
Archers lined the canyon above.
With every side blocked off, all they could do was make one final desperate struggle.
‘Of course, that doesn’t mean we can take them lightly.’
I looked toward Kantulan, who was fighting the cavalry in the distance.
As Kantulan swung the great axe, aura like blazing flames swallowed the cavalry at the front.
The sight of soldiers in iron armor being cut in two alongside their horses with a single strike was enough to chill anyone to the bone.
The battle was leaning in our favor due to the ambush and the terrain,
but if we left Kantulan alone like this, our casualties would grow.
After thinking it through, I gave the soldiers an order.
“We’ll deal with the enemy commander. Focus on the other barbarians in the meantime!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Marcus, Peiron!”
“Understood!”
Together with Marcus and Peiron, I hurled myself toward Kantulan.
To reduce our soldiers’ losses and fight him efficiently, I had decided to send in our strongest fighters.
“You bastard!”
Drawing his attention, I gripped Black Axe with both hands and swung it with all my strength, using my power and momentum.
Bang!
However, Kantulan casually deflected it as if it were laughable. The recoil alone drove me back three steps.
‘Damn... He casually blocked that with one hand?’
As I stared in shock at his strength, which far exceeded my expectations,
Marcus and Peiron thrust their weapons into the opening.
“Hup!”
“Die, you barbarian bastard!”
“Pathetic insects...”
Whoosh!
Kantulan swung the axe like lightning, smashing Peiron into the canyon wall, then pulled it back to attack Marcus.
One second.
All of it happened in less than a second.
“Heh heh... Yes. If Great Nature wishes to test us to the end, then accepting that test is the duty of a warrior.”
Kantulan laughed like a madman.
Now that things had come to this, Kantulan seemed intent on taking as many of us with him as possible before he died.
To stop Kantulan from approaching the fallen Marcus and Peiron, I aimed for his back and brought Black Axe down with all my strength.
It was a decisive strike,
but Kantulan blocked even that with ease.
“You keep trying such futile things.”
I tried to force him back, but he did not budge.
‘But...’
What was this?
Kantulan was looking at me warily.
“That chilling dark crimson energy. Could you be a descendant of Ymir?”
Ymir?
‘Lapkin said something similar. What are they talking about...?’
I frowned, unable to understand Kantulan, and Kantulan clicked his tongue.
“Tch. Are you such a halfwit that you do not even know your own bloodline?”
Kantulan swung the axe as if cutting down weeds.
I blocked it with Black Axe, but I could not withstand the force, and my body was sent flying.
Crash!
The impact felt as though it had twisted my insides.
I braced a hand on my knee, struggling to keep my fading consciousness together and rise.
‘Ugh, I still... need to hold on longer.’
At the very least, I had to keep him occupied until Jeg and the soldiers finished off all the barbarians.
“Die, foolish descendant of Ymir.”
Before I could even get up, Kantulan swung his axe down at my head.
But then,
Clang!
Two swords blocked the blow in front of me.
“Ghk!”
“...Are you all right?”
They were the Howard brothers, Jeg’s right-hand men,
who would later be called his fierce hounds.
Having barely blocked the great axe and rescued me, the two spoke between ragged breaths.
“Whew, we came at Jeg’s request.”
“He told us to assist you since the remaining enemies have nearly been dealt with.”
The Howard brothers were knight-class combatants with exceptional skill.
Their arrival was like rain after a drought.
Marcus and Peiron had already risen to their feet, their will to fight burning in their eyes. Looking at them and the Howard brothers, I warned them.
“Even if he’s practically a corpse, he’s still a Master.”
“...”
“None of you die.”
With that, I charged at him together with the four of them.
Kantulan’s remaining strength was beyond imagination.
“Get lost, Imperial!”
“Gah...!”
As Kantulan scattered aura around him, a tremendous blast sent Marcus and Peiron rolling across the ground, bleeding.
Anton and Seton used that opening to strike at his sides,
but they too were thrown back by an aura-laced kick and fist.
Crack! Crunch!
“You brute... Ghk!”
I gritted my teeth as I barely blocked Kantulan’s great axe.
“For a descendant of Ymir to be this weak, it is truly lamentable.”
“You invading bastard... What the hell have you been babbling about this whole time...?”
“Invader? What would we not do for survival?”
He slammed his head into my face.
Thud!
“Ghk!”
“We have struggled to survive in barren lands since the day we were born.”
He followed with another swing of his axe.
I raised Black Axe with both hands and barely blocked it,
but the overwhelming weight forced me to my knees.
Creeeak...
“Spilling more blood here will change nothing.”
“You fucking lunatic.”
There was madness in his eyes, beyond mere venom.
It seemed he had already accepted death.
‘Damn it...’
As time passed, Kantulan’s great axe steadily pushed Black Axe aside and drew closer to my head.
Just as I thought I could not hold on any longer,
Clang!
Marcus and Peiron, who had hurriedly recovered, intervened to help me.
“Ghk! Hold on!”
“I know without you telling me!”
Their halberd and spear sword crossed, adding their strength to block Kantulan’s axe. With that momentum, we poured out every bit of our strength...
Clang!
We knocked his great axe aside.
As the recoil and his severe injuries made him stagger,
Thwck! Thwck!
Two arrows struck his back.
Jeg and the soldiers had finished dealing with the other barbarians and begun providing covering fire.
“Only the enemy commander remains! Archers, focus your fire on him!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Fire! Give him everything you have!”
Kantulan tried to block the arrows, but just as one hand could not stop ten, it was impossible to block hundreds of arrows alone in the narrow canyon.
“Graaah!”
As arrows embedded themselves in Kantulan’s body one after another until he resembled a porcupine, Kantulan cried out in a desperate voice, as if burning away every last bit of life within him.
“I am Kantulan, chieftain of the Red Axe Tribe!”
At Kantulan’s cry, my body stiffened for a moment.
The same was true for the other soldiers.
Even soldiers who could not understand Kantulan’s words could still feel the pressure behind them.
“For the future of the Huran Tribe, for survival, the struggle is my duty.”
Kantulan’s gaze blazed like a fierce flame.
“Even when the time comes for me to return to the embrace of Great Nature!”
Whoosh!
Kantulan’s gaze turned toward me.
“I will never stop.”
Kantulan kicked off the ground and charged like a beast.
His target was none other than me.
‘This madman...!’
I hurriedly assumed a stance without even having time to panic.
The soldiers had all frozen before Kantulan’s terrifying momentum.
Only Marcus, Peiron, and the Howard brothers moved to help me.
“Block him!”
The five of us combined our strength and met Kantulan’s strike together.
Craaaack!
Kantulan’s great axe broke the Howard brothers’ swords, completely crushed Peiron’s halberd, and then split Marcus’s spear sword in two.
“Damn it!”
“Lord Ubel!”
The four were thrown back, leaving me alone against him again.
Perhaps Kantulan still had strength left.
Kantulan’s great axe bit into the blade of Black Axe and slowly drew closer to me.
Rumble...
‘At this rate...’
I would be cut in two along with Black Axe.
I squeezed out every last bit of strength, pushing past my limits to cast Kantulan off.
Then, an aura the color of blood wrapped around the axe blade.
‘This is...?’
It resembled my usual aura, yet somehow felt different.
It was denser, more intense.
I had no idea what this was,
but this could work.
Kantulan’s great axe, which had been tearing through Black Axe like paper, was stopped by the red aura and could no longer advance. I did not let the opportunity pass and poured in even more strength.
“Raaah!”
“Y-you bastard!”
Creak, craaack!
I heard the sound of my palms splitting and my muscles tearing, but I kept pushing forward without a care.
Finally,
Clang!
I knocked aside his great axe.
I had blocked Kantulan’s final, all-out strike.
“How...?”
Thud. Crash!
Kantulan sank to his knees as though collapsing.
Having drawn out every last bit of strength, Kantulan no longer had the power even to stand.
“Heh, truly... Descendants of Ymir, then as now... you always hinder us.”
Watching Kantulan mutter emptily, I struggled to lift the broken half of Black Axe.
“I don’t know who Ymir is... but if you meet them in hell, make sure to tell them.”
Then,
“Tell them it seems they have an excellent descendant.”
I cut off his head.
Slice!
His head rolled across the ground.
The life returned to the soldiers’ eyes as Kantulan died, and before long,
“Waaaaah!”
“The barbarian leader is dead!”
A tremendous roar of cheers filled the canyon.
The Great Invasion had been brief but intense.
At last, that tiresome war had finally come to an end.
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