Chapter 268

Chapter 268
## Chapter 268

Defense Game (2)

The periphery of Tarak, fully converted into an active zone of war.

Kaboom—!

Slash!

A terrible medley of detonations reverberated across the combat theater as profane sorcery, sacred energy, martial aura, and sanguine magic collided.

Clatter— Clatter!

[Kyaaa—!]

Like a boundless ocean wave, the Immortal Army, guided by their skeletal and phantom officers, pressed relentlessly toward the battlements of Tarak.

Meanwhile, those who had previously labored to defeat the titan unified with the municipality’s garrison, striving desperately to anchor the perimeter.

“In the name of the Supreme Deity, I shall cleanse these corrupted entities!”

“May the departed find everlasting serenity!”

Cardinal Donovan, his entire form radiant with celestial force, spearheaded the Church’s auxiliary vanguard, flanked by a Paladin and a pair of Archbishops.

“Hurry! Shift positions!”

“Restrain your impulses! Restricting our losses is the primary objective!”

A master-ranked warrior, deployed by the sovereign court, barked instructions at the militiamen, his personal squadron of elite combatants trailing right behind him.

“Engaging these corpses is highly counterproductive. They possess no vital fluids to drain.”

“…We managed to halt the colossus, but is our participation in this metropolitan defense truly required? This region lies beyond our jurisdiction.”

“The High Lord undoubtedly possesses a grand strategy. He likely intends to amplify his leverage within the adjacent realms.”

These words belonged to the Hybrid vampires, commanded by the Sacred Bloods Heinz the Second and Briki, accompanied by five True Bloods—a compact yet extraordinarily potent contingent.

Despite the profound caliber of these supplementary forces, meeting tens of thousands of corrupted ghouls head-on remained an exercise in futility.

For this reason, the champions who had encountered the titan beyond the perimeter had swiftly fallen back, blending with the rampart sentries.

Their goal was to wage a more calculated, sustainable war of attrition.

Unsurprisingly.

Among the gathered protectors, the undead-hunters from Talia commanded the greatest attention.

They had been hostile adversaries until quite recently.

[“Have you truly committed to this path? Aligning with humanity and explicitly defying the Immortal King?”]

As Briki fluidly obliterated an advancing ghoul, she drifted closer to Heinz, initiating a conversation through their private psychic link.

She had adopted her customary relaxed cadence, now that they were shielded from external ears.

[“Correct. We cannot share a world with the Immortal King. Furthermore, since we have participated in the grand assembly and exposed our existence to the global stage, we cannot broaden our dominion by maintaining our former isolationist policy.”]

He offered a nod, a casual sweep of his arm cleaving the atmosphere and vaporizing a cluster of skeletal soldiers.

Bolstering the Tulk Kingdom served as an excellent method to solidify their alliance, ensuring the kingdom would not seek pacts with rival empires.

It would likewise provide secondary advantages to Hubert’s Trading Company.

Even more critically—.

‘With this distribution of force… We can safeguard the municipality without immense difficulty, while maintaining the illusion of a desperate struggle.’

He possessed no desire to witness the ruin of Tarak.

He had expended considerable capital to minimize structural devastation during the colossus’s siege; he had no intention of flattening his own stronghold now.

He was intentionally magnifying the conflict to elevate the geopolitical anxiety across the continent.

‘The divine Karma I have been accumulating has begun to dwindle of late. It appears the populace is growing accustomed to the persistent peril.’

Naturally, the widespread devastation credited to the Immortal King remained catastrophic.

This included not only the direct incursions of the unliving legions, but also the dispersion of feral beasts and the emergence of ancient titans.

The core issue lay in humanity’s growing numbness to the perpetual state of emergency.

‘Even the exploits of the champion’s retinue and Heinrich’s milestones are being greeted with complacency. A paradigm shift is required.’

The specific method was irrelevant.

So long as it generated a profound realization of jeopardy, compelling mankind to unify against the Immortal King and prompting coordinated action.

And that consolidated coalition shattering itself against the Immortal King and the Champion was the intended zenith of the narrative.

The ultimate sequence of his grand theater.

‘Neutralizing the Revolutionary has extracted a volatile element from the equation. Events ought to flow with greater predictability from this juncture. Naturally, the resolution will not manifest instantly, even if we pick up the tempo.’

Even if they initiated the final movement this very hour, navigating toward the conclusion would require significant duration.

It was the definitive crisis, after all. He could not simply accelerate through it.

‘Incrementally intensifying the dread, coalescing the factions of mankind, carving a passage toward the Northern Mountains where the Immortal Fortress stands, and ultimately confronting Hans… Should that span roughly half a year?’

He could elongate the friction to harvest every drop of utility, but he could not permit the devastation to spiral upward indefinitely.

He had to remain mindful of the orchestrators above.

His divine benefactors.

[“Is that the strategy? In that case, I ought to elevate my own participation.”]

Just as Heinz concluded his internal calculations,

Briki, seemingly satisfied by the logic, offered a nod and retreated a few paces.

In the succeeding heartbeat,

As he detected the redirection of her intent,

Goooo—

She dissolved from her position, and a titanic deluge of crimson fluid tore through the advancing unliving frontline.

Slash!

Multitudes of skeletal infantry were instantly pulverized into ash.

A clean avenue was carved through the opposing formation.

Briki was a creature of the night, fundamentally ill-equipped for combating non-living targets, yet as a Scion of Sacred Blood, such a trivial limitation proved negligible.

“What… What sort of magic was that?”

“Mmm… I failed to anticipate that her capabilities reached such a height.”

The neighboring defenders, shocked by this exhibition of raw dominance, shifted their gazes toward her.

Though they stood as confederates for the moment, deep-seated biases against the vampire race could not be discarded overnight.

Furthermore, another Scion of Sacred Blood walked among them.

“Hoho, remarkable indeed.”

Yet not every observer responded with trepidation or distrust.

Certain individuals were actually stimulated by the vampires’ exploits, their professional pride thoroughly provoked.

“It is commendable that the children of the night have seen the light and joined our cause, but as disciples of the Supreme Deity Church, we cannot permit ourselves to be eclipsed.”

“Quite right. Especially when our adversaries are the unliving.”

“We must not remain passive observers. Construct the sacrificial platform.”

These were the adherents of the Church, who had maintained a bitter vendetta against the vampire race until Heinrich intervened.

The elite echelons of the Picaol Temple, under the direct stewardship of Cardinal Donovan.

They rapidly achieved unanimity and clustered together, erecting a temporary altar to channel a grand celestial incantation.

As the Cardinal spearheaded the invocation, their vocalizations rising in harmonious resonance,

Wooong— Kaboom—!

A supernatural phenomenon manifested across the warzone.

A blinding shaft of celestial radiance erupted from the firmament, vaporizing the unliving caught within its diameter, while its residual shockwave rippled outward, repelling the advancing tides of necrotic essence.

A magnificent exhibition of consecrated authority.

“Waaaa—!”

“Deliverance is at hand! The day is ours!”

The conscripts, who had been paralyzed by dread, their countenances pale as winter, experienced a profound rebirth of optimism.

They had been utterly demoralized by the unyielding progression of the monstrous unliving hosts, but now, a trajectory toward triumph materialized before them.

‘The reality will prove far more complex, however.’

The temporarily suppressed necrotic aura reasserted itself with a vengeance, reinforced by the swelling malice of the unliving legions.

High-tier unliving entities, such as Death Knights and Liches positioned strategically across the ranks, alongside the high officers who had previously observed from afar, began to plunge directly into the fray.

‘And… ’

Heinz the Second, methodically neutralizing the oncoming threats while analyzing the shifting tides, redirected his focus toward a coordinates deep within the opposing vanguard.

Precisely where the sanguine tempest that had been devastating the enemy lines had ground to a sudden halt.

‘If I depart my post at this juncture, the battlements may crack… I shall monitor the situation a moment longer.’

The Immortal Army was not merely absorbing punishment passively.

Though only a fraction of their total numbers had deployed here, they remained the most formidable and merciless military machine on the continent.

[A child of the night.]

[Ha! It presumes to challenge us openly, precisely as its ancestors did three centuries ago.]

[Khehehe— A Sacred Blood vampire! An exquisite specimen for our laboratories has delivered itself!]

Indeed, numerous officers who had remained cloistered within the Immortal Fortress had been assigned to this theater of operations.

Drexler the Doom Knight, Trev the General Spartoi, Kellypa the Arch-Lich… They coalesced around Briki, their malicious auras ascending into the sky.

Their necrotic energy, fortified by their absolute fealty to the Immortal King, harmonized with the ambient death essence, anchoring their tether to this world.

Concurrently, their blasphemous sorcery, amplified by their interconnected consciousness as unliving entities, swelled exponentially.

“…My, perhaps I overextended myself?”

Briki, who had boldly pierced the enemy formations relying on the auxiliary power of her “Refined Blood Essence”, offered a strained smirk as she realized she was encircled.

She maintained absolute certainty that she could best any singular adversary in isolated combat… but the enemy possessed no intention of granting her a chivalrous duel.

Kaboom—!

Thus, deep within the heart of the Immortal Army, a Sacred Blood vampire traded blows with their high generals.

In adjacent sectors, the Church’s consecrated energy and the necrotic essence of the unliving ground against one another, and the struggle upon the battlements reached a fever pitch.

Detonations, martial shouts, agonizing cries, incantations, primal roars…

The theater devolved into absolute pandemonium.

Meanwhile, Heinz the Second, precisely calculating every variable while dismantling the immediate opposition,

‘The time approaches to conclude this demonstration.’

…signaled his agreement internally, his features settling into a solemn mask.

The state of chaos was absolute and flawless.

—

A great distance from the conflict enveloping Tarak,

An independent struggle was unfolding, situated even further from the resting place of the fallen colossus.

Goooo—

A suffocating miasma of mortality, vastly eclipsing the malice of the standard unliving forces, smothered the landscape.

“Hrrrragh—!”

A titanic physical power, capable of splintering structural reality, rent the very atmosphere.

“Haap!”

In response, a colossal column of luminescence, resembling a mythic broadsword, cleaved through the absolute gloom.

Rumble—!

Immediately following that strike, a torrent of elemental spells, ethereal spirit strikes, and consecrated blessings descended like rain.

The Immortal King and the champion’s retinue had locked in mortal combat.

Benefiting from Harley’s newly awakened capabilities, the confrontation burned with even greater ferocity than their historical encounters… yet those who had recently clashed with the colossus recognized the truth intuitively.

Triumph was beyond their reach.

Nevertheless, they clamped their jaws tight and battled onward, expending the final reservoirs of their vitality, until…

[It appears I have extended this visitation sufficiently. My initial design was merely to offer a greeting, yet I allowed myself to become overly engaged.]

…The engagement concluded without warning.

The Immortal King, who had been systematically overwhelming their defenses, abruptly disengaged and glided backward.

The champion’s retinue maintained a defensive stance, but the monarch merely smiled mockingly, indicating he had no desire to pursue the slaughter.

[Khehehe— We shall suspend our activities for the evening. It would be a profound disappointment to extinguish your lights while you languish in such a diminished state.]

“…Are you fleeing the field, Immortal King?!”

[There is no requirement for haste, Champion Heinrich. We have merely initiated this grand amusement; terminating it prematurely would lack artistic merit.]

The Immortal King, releasing a chilling chuckle wrapped in absolute arrogance, drifted upward into the celestial expanse.

The depleted group of heroes, drained from their consecutive trials, could do nothing but observe his ascent.

[I shall watch with immense curiosity to see how long your resolve endures. And precisely when, and by what means, you shall breach the perimeter of my citadel!]

“…Do not look away, Immortal King! I shall personally cast your soul into the absolute abyss!”

[Khahaha! That promises to be magnificent entertainment!]

Snap—

He produced a sharp click with his fingers, sending a ripple of dark resonance through the air.

Instantly, the high generals who had been waging war near the fortifications, recognizing the withdrawal signal, began to disengage from active combat.

The operation had functioned as a grand declaration of dominance, a prelude of tribulations to come. There was no logistical reason to extend it.

[I shall anticipate your arrival with profound eagerness, Champion Heinrich Saint Landguard.]

As abruptly as he had manifested, the Immortal King dissolved into nothingness.

Abandoning the remaining contingents of the unliving horde to continue harrying the defenses of Tarak.

It stood likewise as—.

A flawless exhibition, executed before an audience of uncounted witnesses.