Episode 194

8.

Piercing shrieks and guttural howls blanketed the Forbidden Mountain Range.

This was not a struggle for dominance between monsters, nor was it a conflict born of the food chain.

It was a one-sided massacre.

For no reason and with no purpose, the monsters of the Forbidden Mountain Range were hunted down simply for being in the army's path.

At first, they ran. This was their territory, but when an army of over three hundred thousand marched forward, even creatures that lived purely by instinct felt fear. In fact, it was precisely because they lived by instinct that they fled so quickly.

But that didn't last long.

The monsters, who had thought they could just lie low and wait for the intruders to pass, soon realized their mistake. An army of three hundred thousand was larger than they had imagined. It mercilessly slaughtered any of their kin who failed to escape in time and trampled their homes without a second thought.

This wasn't some leisurely human stroll.

This was war.

Although the army's primary purpose was not to wage war on monsters, the Allied Forces didn't shy away from any encounters, using the pretext of "winning back the people's hearts." That alone was enough to instill terror in the monsters of the Forbidden Mountain Range.

More than enough. The monsters had to choose.

Retreat or advance.

Stand and fight, or run.

"Idiots. The only reason we never cleared out this place was because we thought there were dragons. Look at them, charging at us like they stand a chance."

"Kill them! Let's cleanse the Forbidden Mountain Range!"

"Woooooaaahhh!"

Even as the soldiers mocked them, the monsters charged. Species that normally couldn't even look at each other now banded together to resist the invaders. All across the Forbidden Mountain Range, monsters gathered. Even the rarely seen rulers of the wild—ogres—began to emerge one by one.

But it was not enough.

Those three hundred thousand were not just a random rabble. Thirty thousand were elite knights, and ten thousand were priests of the Temple. The rest were not conscripted peasants but professionally trained soldiers and battle-hardened mercenaries from across the continent.

They hadn't declared this the final holy war for nothing. In their current state, the Allied Forces could have easily raised an army of a million if they had truly wanted to. The only reason they hadn't was because they judged that too many troops would only hurt their efficiency in the vast expanse of the Forbidden Mountain Range.

That judgment was not wrong.

They dispatched the ogres with practiced ease and efficiently cut down the swarming monsters. The grand army's march never stopped, halting only for brief rests. Even then, the monsters attacked without pause, but the number of monsters dying compared to the number of soldiers falling was worlds apart.

"At this rate, we really could cleanse the Forbidden Mountain Range."

"Maybe we'll end up killing a dragon, too."

"Don't even joke about that."

"They already said there are no dragons."

"True."

The soldiers were excited. They understood the significance of this war, and they knew how the public currently saw them. Many of them were conflicted, but at this moment, none of that mattered. For an ordinary soldier, what could be more important than taking part in a turning point in history?

The truth didn't matter. And even if they knew the truth, how could a single person speak up when they were just one among three hundred thousand?

The slaughter continued.

One day, two days, a week.

Time passed, and they still hadn't caught even a glimpse of the princess's group, but they were overflowing with confidence. It was the ease of a predator at the absolute top of the food chain.

Time was on their side. In this vast mountain range, the ones who would grow anxious were the princess's small, poorly supplied group, no matter how far they ran. Even if they somehow managed to slip past three hundred thousand pairs of eyes and escape the mountains, it wouldn't matter. They would only be fleeing into the lion's den.

The Pope and the Allied officers let their attention drift from the princess. There was no harm in basking in their own power for a while. At some point, their focus had subtly shifted toward conquest, and no one tried to stop it.

"The people's hearts are returning to us."

"If we conquer the Forbidden Mountain Range, our names will go down in history once again."

The Dragon Mountains had rejected human footsteps for thousands of years. The sheer thrill of becoming the first humans to set foot there—no, the first to conquer it—made it impossible for them to spare any thought for the princess, who was clinging to life somewhere behind them.

Even the Pope, who had insisted they commit their full strength, could not directly suppress the Allied Forces' greed. He understood their position.

"It is not as if we are not searching. We are simply taking care of this along the way, Your Holiness."

"Our top priority must be them. No exceptions."

"Of course. We must not forget the purpose of the holy war. It is God's will, after all. Ha ha. Still, is securing peace for humanity and stability for the continent not also something God desires for His people?"

In the end, while the Temple and the Allied Forces were working together, they could turn on each other at any moment. Until the Temple reached absolute power, they had to maintain a basic level of mutual respect.

And as the officer said, it wasn't as if they weren't searching. They simply hadn't yet found any trace of, at most, a hundred people in this vast mountain range.

It was displeasing, but what could he do?

"Report! A massive horde of monsters has gathered ten kilometers ahead!"

For now, they had to focus on the war in front of them. Once they were in the same boat, they had no choice but to see it through together.

"We have found their trail!"

And along the way, they would achieve their objective as well.

The grand army advanced toward the place where the monsters were waiting.

* * *

An incredible variety of monsters had gathered, from ogres, orcs, and goblins to gargoyles that blotted out the sky and subterranean beasts that churned through the earth. It was enough to make one wonder if every monster in the Forbidden Mountain Range had assembled here.

At a glance, they didn't seem outnumbered by the humans at all.

"There are about a hundred and twenty thousand of them."

"A hundred and twenty thousand monsters… So it was true that all the continent's monsters live in the Forbidden Mountain Range."

Driven from their homelands, they had been forced into the one place free from humans. The fact that a hundred and twenty thousand of these creatures—now rarely seen elsewhere—lived here was proof that humanity and monsters still coexisted. And if this many had gathered here, there were surely even more scattered throughout the rest of the range.

It was an enormous number. Even though the humans outnumbered them by nearly two and a half times, considering the monsters' raw power and unique traits, this might not be an easy fight. The terrain didn't help, either.

But the Allied Forces and the Temple did not shrink back. The weapons and armor they wore were not the cheap gear handed out to common soldiers.

Their thunderous roar seized the initiative.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The monsters answered in kind, refusing to be outdone, pouring out their will to protect their home.

The standoff did not last long.

The humans charged without hesitation.

The monsters rushed in without fear.

The clash was like something out of a painting: a war between monsters and humans. Any notion that the humans would be routed was shattered by a barrage of spells and holy power.

The ones being pushed back were the monsters.

They tried to surround the humans from the sky and from underground, but the army's formation was solid. The synergy of mages and priests, protected by countless knights and mercenaries, was beyond imagination.

With a single clash, countless monsters were sent flying. Ogres and trolls, beings that could throw their weight around anywhere else, fell one by one before the blades of the continent's strongest knights. Their astonishing regenerative powers crumbled before holy power and magic, and the humans exploited every known weakness with ruthless precision.

They were being crushed.

There was no universal rule that humans were good and monsters were evil, but in this clash of strength against strength, the monsters were being utterly destroyed.

"We should have cleared out these mountains ages ago! Ha ha!"

"They're nothing special."

"If not for the dragons, this place would have been human land long ago."

It was something people had always said. The Forbidden Mountain Range, a place where humans dared not set foot. Why were monsters allowed here, but not humans? Were dragons really that powerful? Would it be possible if there were no dragons?

The theories they had debated, researched, and imagined for centuries were now becoming reality. Drunk on the joy of victory, the humans spoke freely.

"At this rate, I feel like we could handle a dragon, too."

Under normal circumstances, that was something you should never say, even outside the Forbidden Mountain Range. To mention dragons in the Forbidden Mountain Range? Even if a real one didn't appear, it was the kind of remark that would earn you a sharp rebuke from your comrades.

Yet now, no one stopped them. They even nodded along.

"While we're at it, maybe we should hunt down a dragon and become Dragon Slayers…"

History books are honest. People say the victors write them, but for the most part, they record the facts. It is a kindness from the ancestors to their descendants. Based on their experiences, they hope their descendants will not make the same mistakes. They hope their descendants will not have to relive the bitter regret that follows such errors.

History must not be taken lightly.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

They realized, in that moment, that this was no empty saying.

A low, guttural growl suddenly rumbled through the battlefield, a chill crawling down every spine.

The battle, the war, stopped.

Halted by a single cry that echoed not in their ears, but through their very bones. It was different from the thousands of monster cries they had heard since entering the mountains. It wasn't a sound that pierced the ears; it swept through their entire bodies. It was not the desperate roar of monsters facing an army of three hundred thousand.

It was overwhelming power.

Presence.

A being that could halt the movements of all present simply by announcing its existence.

The few hundred who had not collapsed to the ground instinctively raised their heads.

"No way…"

Their legs trembled. Just remaining on their feet, fighting against instinct, was all they could manage. But they saw it.

High above, blotting out the blazing sun, was a being they hadn't even noticed until now. A body so massive that its size was impossible to gauge from such a distance. Golden scales so radiant they seemed to shine with their own light, even as they eclipsed the sun.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

Even the few hundred knights who had managed to stay on their feet dropped to their knees.

Dragon Fear.

But it wasn't just the dragon's overwhelming presence, which seemed to gnaw at their very souls, that brought them down. It was what they had seen when they raised their heads.

Behind the colossal dragon, they saw a second sun—one that was falling.

"M-Meteor!"

Before long, a sun was plummeting toward the heads of the three hundred thousand.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

A roar that sounded like a dragon's pent-up rage exploded across the land.

In the instant before the Meteor struck, every human felt the same thing.

And they understood.

'We should never have come here.'

* * *

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