Chapter 775

Chapter 775

The battle had ended.

While damage elsewhere was minor, the forces that fought against the Blue Knight unit at the 3rd forward base suffered considerable losses. This was due to being caught in the enemy's attack before they could retreat when the front line collapsed.

I personally came with soldiers and workers to recover the 3rd forward base.

Corpses frozen to death by the Blue Knight's cold attacks were everywhere.

"...May you rest in peace."

An unnamed soldier had died frozen in the very pose of charging at the enemy with his sword raised.

I recovered his body and closed his eyes.

Fortunately, amid the misfortune, Blue Pearl, which had fallen during the battle at the 3rd forward base, succeeded in an emergency landing, completed repairs on its own, and rejoined us.

The two Pirate Kings driving Blue Pearl, the Rompeller siblings, stuck out their tongues.

"Wow... I'd heard a lot about the monster front, but I didn't expect this."

"You're saying this is considered minor damage? They looked like they were about to end the world! And this is considered a relatively easy defense?"

We all smiled bitterly as we loaded the fallen soldiers' bodies into the prepared hearse.

The two Pirate Kings, who had briefly squeezed their eyes shut, also participated in recovering the fallen.

Blue Pearl, having completed emergency repairs, flew off carrying all the recovered bodies of the fallen.

Following that, the airship La Mancha flew in, picked up the three damaged mobile walls from the 3rd forward base, and returned to Crossroad.

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Sitting on the bridge of the returning La Mancha, I leaned my forehead against the window and caught my breath.

Crossroad soon came into view.

The city was busy, wrapping up the forty-eighth defensive battle while simultaneously beginning preparations for the forty-ninth.

As I surveyed the cityscape that now moved on its own without my specific instructions, I thought:

'The next defensive battle, Stage 49, is essentially the final stage we need to clear.'

In the game, Stage 49 is the last defensive battle Crossroad can withstand.

The final defensive battle that follows, Stage 50, is in the realm of 'impossible to clear'.

When Stage 50 begins, the final boss 'The Sleepless Lake Princess' pours out of the Black Lake, leading an infinite number of monsters.

There is no possibility of victory against an infinite enemy army led by the strongest monster.

So the method proposed in the game is for a suicide squad to enter the dungeon before Stage 50 begins and defeat 'The Sleepless Lake Princess'.

To kill Nameless, who has become a monster, her who has become the embodiment of nightmares, with our own hands.

If we succeed in this, we'll see that ending we encountered in the game.

That final scene where Lucas stands alone on a field of enemy and ally corpses...

...But now I know.

Going towards that ending isn't the proper strategy.

'The ending I desire, and the strategy I've devised... lies elsewhere.'

The 'true ending' that Aider and I sought to reach together cannot be attained by following the existing route.

If we want to break free from being actors manipulated on stage and truly become masters of our own fate.

We must change our perspective on the world.

We must break the rules from outside them, dominate them, and establish new ones.

The puzzle pieces for this have all gathered in my hands, and I've decided to move forward on a new path never attempted before in this endlessly repeated apocalyptic game.

But to be truly honest.

'I'm afraid.'

It would be a lie to say I'm not anxious.

Is the path I've chosen, the strategy I've found, really correct?

If we go this way, will we really reach the true ending we desire?

What if, due to my mistake, my wrong judgment, everyone following my flag meets a painful end...

'...How amusing.'

I pushed aside my complicated thoughts and wiped my forehead with my hand.

Looking back, my battles have always been like walking a tightrope. They've always been last stands. They've always been life-or-death struggles, always the final showdown.

This anxiety creeping up on me now must be because the true end is near.

'Let's focus on the imminent defensive battle.'

To head towards the final battle, Stage 50, we must clear Stage 49.

And in this Stage 49, there's a high probability that the current acting Demon King - Crown will make some move.

He's praying for salvation for his sister Nameless, but currently, perhaps due to the curse placed on him by the Demon King, he's clearly turned into an enemy commander.

And as an enemy commander, he must have been trying to find ways to attack us while going through Stages 46, 47, and 48.

Whether he's really found our weakness, or if he'll try something else without clear results, is unknown at this point.

One thing is certain though - Stage 49 will be incomparably more difficult than the previous three stages.

'Let's continue reconnaissance... and prepare thoroughly.'

I examined the magic cores stored in my inventory, recovered from the previous three stages.

5 magic cores recovered from the Great Rat God. 3 magic cores recovered from Tamjinchi. 4 magic cores recovered from the Apocalypse Knights.

'The Great Rat God's magic cores are quite unstable. Let's use these to make relatively simple missiles. The Tamjinchi and Apocalypse 4 Knights' magic cores are too high-grade materials... Even if the schedule is tight, it's better to make equipment with these.'

And we also need to open the boxes that have accumulated, speed up the process of modifying La Mancha into a dimension-shifting ship, and urgently repair the 3 damaged mobile walls...

In Lilly's arms, Sid smiled innocently.

The people watching this scene could no longer hold back and all rushed in.

"Me, call me too! Say Uncle Lucas!"

"Sid! It's Sister Evangeline! Sister!"

"Me too! Say Sister Verdandi! Hurry!"

"No, if you have a conscience, say Auntie..."

"It's Uncle Kellibey, baby! Come on! Say uncle!"

"Uncle? More like grandfather!"

I too shouted, squeezing in between the people acting childishly.

"G-Godfather!"

The baby's clear gaze turned towards me.

I smiled brightly back and shouted.

"Call me Godfather, Sid!"

Before Stage 49 began.

It was a peaceful and miraculous moment that came to our front line.

And...

***

...

***

...And what happened after that?

***

My consciousness...

As if filled with noise, it's not clear.

***

...I.

***

I am...?

***

"Godfather."

Suddenly breaking through my hazy thoughts, a young and blunt voice was heard from beside me.

"Godfather. Pull yourself together."

"Huh...?"

My clouded consciousness gradually awakens.

From a dream of the distant past, of happier times, I return to reality.

I came to my senses in a cold that felt like it could cut through flesh.

This place is the entrance of a cave in some mountain.

I was crouched at the cave entrance, wearing an old and dirty winter coat covered in matted fur, having just woken up from a light sleep.

Outside the cave, snow is endlessly falling from the sky.

No, no - this is not snow.

This is ash.

In the distance, the white frozen earth is visible, burning black and splitting, surging up into the sky as if in a whirlwind. This earth that has surged up into the sky falls back down as ash.

A black storm burning the completely frozen earth.

And a rain of falling ash.

"..."

For a moment, I blankly stared at the ruined world.

Yes, after losing the final battle against the Demon King...

The human world was completely destroyed.

It's been 15 years since then.

"Godfather."

At the voice calling again, I turned my head towards the inside of the cave.

There stood a young boy.

With red hair like his mother's fluttering in the cold wind, eyes mixed green and brown like his father's, gazing straight ahead...

The last great mage of humanity.

Sid, with a clear gaze just like 15 years ago, looked at me and said bluntly.

"Just now, Mom died."

--TL Notes--

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