Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 173 - Lone Survivor

"Holy shit. Scarlet was right." Medrauta whispered, her eyes widening at the terrifying sight before her.

She and Viviane had managed to ascend the mountain rather quickly and expediently. After steering their mounts away from the allied army, the two managed to make their way far from the planned engagement zone, leaving their horses at the foot of the rightmost mountain. They had chosen it due to the setting sun, hoping that the light would manage to obscure their figures should the commander somehow look in their direction once they'd reached the peak.

Viviane crouched next to Medrauta, nodding slowly with a grimace. She winced as she dusted off her hands, the delicate skin of her palms stinging as a result of the arduous climbing she'd just experienced. Despite her strength, Viviane still possessed the dainty hands of a noblewoman apart from her calloused index and middle fingers.

"But to think there would be so many..." Viviane frowned. "This just doesn't seem possible, especially with how we just took one of the shield towers a few days ago."

"Yeah. I might not be a witch, but I'm pretty sure creating this many witchspawn in a matter of days is just ridiculous." Medrauta agreed.

Viviane nodded silently and pursed her lips as she and Medrauta continued observing the enormous mass of writhing monsters assembled far below in the rear of the mountain pass. The shield tower stood at the very back, covered in the same squirming black material that the witchspawn were composed of. Above the tower hovered a large orb of black-red mana, no doubt the fuel source for the foul creatures.

"It's weird though, isn't it? This army combined with the one we managed to wipe out three days ago was rather sizable already..." Viviane frowned. "Can Amelia really sustain so many witchspawn and the behemoth with just a single source of mana?"

"Y'know, you might be onto something." Medrauta said, her gaze sweeping through the massive witchspawn army in the hopes of spotting something like a secondary power source. "I don't see anything, but let's keep our eyes peeled. It's likely not placed in the open, after all."

With that, the two of them sat themselves behind a set of assorted boulders as they waited for Scarlet's signal. Occasionally, Viviane would peek out from their hiding spot and sharpen her vision, looking for any signs of the Sworn commander at the exposed top of the shield tower. The tower was still a good distance away and it'd be a tough shot to make, but she wasn't going to pass up a chance at sniping the commander from her hidden position.

Even if the Sworn commander possessed the same kind of immortality as the Walpurgisknight, she still wasn't sure how it'd interact with the power of the Lake. Plus, she was anxious to test out a couple of tricks she'd learned from Emrys.

"It's starting." Medrauta said, her previously relaxed muscles tensing as they prepared for imminent combat. She and Viviane had been busying themselves for the past thirty minutes by coming up with contingency plans and chowing down on some rations before battle, and it was only now that Medrauta's sharp hearing managed to pick up the distant sounds of the human army's approach.

Their steel-laden footsteps were heavy as they marched onto the rocky terrain around the mountain pass. A lengthy and deep burst of sound from one of the war trumpets carried through the air, causing both Medrauta and Viviane to peek out from their concealed position.

The witchspawn beneath them stirred in response to the noise and the approaching soldiers, but otherwise remained stationary. Were they not under the control of a commander, Medrauta was fairly certain the monsters would have already begun swarming out of their fortified position to meet the shield-bearing soldiers on a much wider front.

As the soldiers drew closer to the mountain pass, the behemoth rumbled, emitting a sound reminiscent of a bleating goat, albeit at a much, much lower pitch that Viviane would've thought terrifying to hear in the dark. It took one titanic step forward, driving a cloud of dust and debris into the air as it splattered its comrades against the ground, their misshapen black bodies becoming nothing more than splotches on the rocky terrain before their twisted bodies regenerated completely.