Chapter 78: The Battle (2)
Some time later…
Near the city of Talabek.
A river over a hundred meters wide surged,
several large ships flying the imperial flag,
tilting, angled towards the sky,
emitting black smoke, adding a layer of haze
to the leaden gray sky.
Dozens of the Empire’s soldiers’ corpses
lay on the riverbank’s shallows,
surrounded by a swarm of flies.
Beneath the water, a long spear emerged, exuding
white steam; the spear’s blade turned red as
the river water continuously crashed against it,
constantly evaporating. The spear pushed aside
the floating corpses, one, two, three,
creating space between them.
The spear floated to the surface,
followed by a twisted weapon
covered in a layer of flesh, and finally
a suit of armor adorned with glowing marks.
A row of chosen ones walked up from the riverbed, their
red weapons steaming; water dripped
from their iron armor as they stepped onto the riverbank,
crushing a rotten corpse’s head underfoot,
causing maggots and flies to scatter in panic.
“Bad thing! Bad thing!”
Little Green ran over and shouted
at the chosen one who had stepped on the decayed head.
The chosen one turned his head, his
bright red eyes glaring at Little Green,
raising his foot, wanting to crush this
ungrateful little spirit.
At that moment, a funeral bell rang.
“Ding dong, ding dong,”
the Unsanctified One shook a rusty
funeral bell, sitting solemnly in his armchair like a
mountain of rotting flesh; his chair had no wheels, and beneath it,
a layer of little spirits raised their hands, lifting
his heavy and colossal body.
The funeral bell in the hands of the Unsanctified One
was almost as tall as a chosen one, casting its shadow over him.
This was a warning.
Thus, the chosen one lowered his foot and spared
Little Green, the little spirit.
“You are reinforcements?”
The Unsanctified One spoke; the flies on him, in
swarms, resembled black clouds buzzing loudly,
adding a buzzing background to the Unsanctified One’s presence.
One hundred chosen ones halted their steps, their bodies
already dry from the water.
“Yes,” a centurion among the chosen coldly replied:
The Eternal Chosen specifically ordered us to
accelerate our crossing to assist you, especially
with your putrid legion. Why haven’t you moved?
He has been waiting for the head of the false king.
“We decided to participate in the siege.”
The Unsanctified One split his mouth open,
spreading the love of the Father through the city.
“There is no discipline, no authority.
The Eternal Chosen should really set your
green, fatty flesh ablaze with divine light,
cleansing you thoroughly.”
“You are too hasty, too hasty.” The Unsanctified One chuckled,
not the slightest bit angered by the challenge from the chosen:
“Did the Eternal Chosen hear rumors? Or did you
hear rumors and develop doubts?”
“Do not question the one true King of Kings,
Lord Eternal Chosen.”
The centurion of the chosen raised his spear,
the pointed end leaning, aimed at the Unsanctified One.
Even though the Unsanctified One was as
fat as a three-story building, there was no barrier
between them; a hundred chosen ones could strike him down
and turn him into minced meat in one swing.
“The rumors are false; they must be the scheme of the false king.”
At some unknown time, rumors spread among the doomsday army.
One rumor claimed that the Eternal Chosen was the false king,
that the crown on his head was fake, and thus he dared not confront
the self-proclaimed demon king Jima, whose crown was real.
Fakes meet the real, and disaster is certain.
The Unsanctified One chuckled several times and said:
“Then it’s decided, we will take down Talabek City;
it shall become the Father’s garden, he loves it dearly.”
Dozens of corpses flowed downstream on the river,
their heads swollen, maggots crawling out of their rotten eye sockets;
in some eye sockets, even a mushroom had sprouted.
The Unsanctified One twisted his massive head and neck,
glancing toward the direction of Talabek City.
In the city, black smoke rose in several places.
He disliked this smell because it was the scent
of burning the dead. Talabek City had been plagued for months.
“They’ve run out of resources to burn the bodies,
starting to abandon the Father’s blessings,” the Unsanctified One laughed:
“Do not be unhappy, little ones; you won’t have to wait long,
Talabek City shall become a garden of suffering,
from now on it will flourish.
“I hope your sense of time is not as slow as your movement speed.”
“Don’t hurry, don’t hurry.” The Unsanctified One lifted Little Green,
who had climbed into his hand, “Don’t be as impatient as Beast King Bloodhoof,
he is eager to behead the false king, ha ha ha.”
Little Green sat on his palm, his chubby little legs
swinging in the air, happily shouting: “Go make friends!
Go make more good friends.”
“Others will join our peaceful and friendly family.”
The Unsanctified One waved his rotting long sword, pointing it at
Talabek City.
A siege battle had begun.
A legion of foul magic was attacking their newly claimed
city of filth.
Disease twisted their bodies and also warped their souls;
under the torment of disease and the drive for survival,
they forsook their faith in Sigma and turned to the
Father of Filth.
They, one-eyed, with long horns, stared at the imperial soldiers
on the city walls.
On the walls, flies swarmed everywhere. A young soldier swatted
the flies from his face, pointing below, where a plague bearer
shouted in astonishment: “Isn’t that Old Jack?”
Old Jack still bore remnants of imperial armor; his illness had
not yet distorted his face completely.
Upon hearing his name, Old Jack raised his head and
smiled at his fellow soldiers on the walls; several maggots
fell from the wounds on his cheeks.
“Yes, it’s him.”
“He, he taught me swordsmanship; how did he end up like this,
betraying the Empire?”
“No, I don’t understand; he was clearly a war hero.”
“That’s the fate of a traitor!”
Even heroes struggle against disease; this is the
fate of opposing filth.
Everyone’s morale dipped slightly.
Old Jack laughed louder, his shoulder bones warped,
emerging a single deformed bone that hung a small yellow bell;
he rang the small bell, opened his mouth, and sang the song of the Father.
“Swoosh! Bang!”
An arrow struck his mouth, blowing his entire head apart.
The tall knight Erin, with silver hair,
lowered her bow and coldly said: “This is the fate of traitors;
may their souls forever rot! Prepare for battle! Soldiers!”
She had come to provide support but got trapped in the city;
the situation in Talabek City was worse than reported.
One person’s song stopped.
But more voices began to rise.
Many soldiers of the foul magic army began to sing,
the song was a widely popular funeral hymn among the Empire.
Riders on gigantic rotten mirrors began to play
the suona, and the foul magic troops danced like little swans,
with the ringing of death bells providing a harmonious accompaniment.
Among the green, decaying foul magic army.
A rotting and grotesque siege tower
slowly approached the broken city wall.
It looked as if it had grown a snail shell on top of the siege tower,
with no wheels beneath; instead, there were snail-like pseudo-feet,
crawling onward to advance the siege tower.
The damaged imperial towers fired back,
a bright white lightning shattered the snail shell,
and the bits of the shell revealed the brain-like structures within.
With insufficient manpower and firepower, Talabek City was like
a dying and critically injured patient.
Only one siege tower of filth was crushed and toppled.
The rest of the foul siege towers approached the imperial
city walls, the face of the King concealed within
causing soldiers and civilians on the wall to gasp in terror.
Their mouths opened as if to vomit, expelling
plague bearers that had been stored in the earth within.
Under the foul siege tower, there were organs
similar to chrysanthemums, continuously contracting,
devouring the foul magic soldiers below, then vomiting up
onto the city walls…
“How disgusting.” From a distance in the sky,
Jima personally came to scout, pinching her nose: “This Talabek City is finished.”
Although it was bad news, despite being outnumbered,
she steadied her mind, surveying everything, seeking any opportunity
to secure a chance for herself; after all, she had come.
