Chapter 146 – Warm words of hope (8)
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Fei Yan update:2022-07-25 14:23
There was a loud bang as the young man pounded on the desk with both of his hands. The veins on his arms were visible.
“I will never agree to it!” He retorted with bloodshot eyes. “Sifrid is still a child, and she’s Lady Sassa’s daughter. Are the men in our village going to trade a child’s life in order to survive? Can you really do it? Can you!”
His roars echoed throughout the Longhouse. Most of the men glanced at each other without answering the youth. Brynjar rocked his body back and forth with folded arms and said nothing. The Elder gave a soft sigh and raised his head, blinking his old clouded eyes.
“Who was that?” Brendel asked as his eyes went over to the direction of the Longhouse.
“Brother Thor.” The little girl said with her bell-like voice.
He nodded to acknowledge her words, and there was a short moment where no one spoke.
“.…… That’s enough,” The thin middle-aged man shook his head and sighed: “You said too much, Thor.”
“Uncle Klarr!” The youth protested with clenched fists.
“Enough! We understand your point all too well— But we’re Senia’s citizens. Do you understand? This is the destiny we carry and the choices of life and death are not for us to choose. Do you not recall the villagers who froze to their deaths in the forest?”
The young man’s eyes widened slightly and he bit his lips. He trembled a few times before he blinked his red eyes: “Of course, my father……”
“He sacrificed his life for yours.” The Elder sighed.
“I know.”
“Every one of us survived till this day because of the villagers’ sacrifices. You need to consider our circumstances, as well as the dead. They sacrificed their lives so we can live on, and we must not waste their efforts. Our folklore has a song dedicated to describe how our ancestors fought against the Dark Forest over generations, shedding blood and flesh and their lives for the sake of the Senia’s future. They did not sacrifice themselves to let us throw it all away for one reckless moment.”
Klarr paused for a moment, before he uttered the next few words one at a time. “Do you understand?”
A few men started tearing up upon hearing his words.
“I…… understand. But are we going to live on like this forever as cowards? Goddess Nia said we should not live just for the sake of living—” Thor wiped his eyes with chokes in between his words: “Should we throw away everything so we can live on?”
“At the very least we still have hope while we are alive,” Klarr shook his head: “If we are not able to see that day happen, then I hope your generation would be able to see it—”
“Elder, please make your decision.” He turned his head to the oldest man.
“.…… Very well. We have reached a consensus to this discussion. However, none of us have the authority to send one of us to their deaths. I hope to ask for Sifrid’s opinions.” The Elder’s eyes were dyed with sadness.
“But there’s no precedent to ask for one’s permission.”
“That is because the people before us have been adult men or the elderly. They have made their decisions through their judgments and understood what they were doing.” The Elder’s head was bowed as he spoke.
“But Sifrid’s a child. What would she know about our customs? Are we handing our entire village’s fate to a child? This is a foolhardy decision!” Someone objected.
Most of the men’s glares were cold.
“And do you not feel any shame on relying a child to save yourself, even if we have no choice?”
“Your words are not wrong but it is also true we have no precedent for this, and Sifrid’s also the Elder’s granddaughter……” That small voice filled the room again.
The men took a moment to absorb his words. When Thor realized what that bastard implied, he walked over to him, grabbed his shirt and forced him to stand up.
“Yes, she’s not your daughter, so you can fucking send her off like it’s none of your concern. You cowardly bastard, you’re not fit to call yourself a Senia, get the fuck out of this sacred building now!”
He threw him across the floor like a sack of potatoes. The men near the injured person retreated away from him.
“W-what are you talking about, I’m just stating it as a possibility, that doesn’t mean it’s true……” That man stuttered and groaned in pain: “And who’s to say there’s no possibility of that? Can you assure us that the Elder isn’t favoring his own kind? Are you the Elder?”
The old man stared at the cowardly man backing away from the ground as Thor lumbered angrily over to him. His fist was raised and ready to strike the bastard in front of him—
“Stop fighting!” A child’s voice pierced through the coward’s distressed whining and filled the room.
The front door had been pushed open without anyone realizing it. Sifrid’s had balled her hands into fists and shouted with her eyes closed, pouring every ounce of effort to raise her voice—
“Stop fighting, everyone……” She opened her eyes and tears quickly filled them before they spilled over. Her vision was blurry as she pleaded with pained eyes: “I’m sorry, father, grandfather…… It’s all Sifrid’s fault……”
The room was silenced and only Sifrid’s soft crying remained.
Klarr got up at once and walked over to hug her: “We’re the ones who’re sorry! Sifrid, we should be cursed and abandoned by Goddess Nia for our actions—”
Brynjar suddenly hugged his head as he bawled loudly while the others looked at the situation in bewilderment.
But the Elder’s eyes went to the scenery outside of the house—
“I have allowed you to see something shameful, my lord.” He stood up and bowed slightly at Brendel.
Brendel’s trembling hand was on his sword. He had to grip it tightly in order to stop himself from making a rash decision.
The Elder made his way before the youth, his cane striking against the ground with each step. He looked solemnly at him as though he made a difficult decision: He knelt down and bowed with his head on the ground.
“My lord, I beg you to help us! I know we shouldn’t force this trouble onto you, but……” He said.
The youth looked at the weak before him.
Sifrid was mewling with stifled sobs, while Brynjar was half-crying and bemoaning his uselessness. Lament filled Brendel’s heart and he licked his dry lips, preparing to open them. But a hand grabbed his own all of a sudden. The youth turned around in surprise and saw a pair of dark eyes staring at him.
Amandina’s expression was determined and hurt at the same time—
She glanced at the sight before her and hesitated. She was almost swept away by the emotions until she nearly forgot what she was supposed to here.
“My lord.” She shook her head. The words and her actions stabbed through her heart like daggers.
“Are you here to persuade me?” Brendel asked.
Amandina did not reply and merely looked at him.
“Do you really the heart to hold me back?”
Amandina bit her lips and glanced at the scene before her. Each second she took, made her face paler as though blood had left it entirely. But her fingers grabbed onto Brendel’s wrists till they were white.
“Resent me for all you desire, my lord.” The dignified aristocrat’s daughter said: “I cannot allow you— I will not allow you to do this; My Lord, you know who you will face. Graudin, Madara, Randner, possibly the entire Aouine’s kingdom. Your enemies are nearly endless. If you agree to help them, the only conclusion for you is death—”
“I know that my lord doesn’t care about the foes before you. You are the bravest and most honorable knight I have ever seen, and I feel like I’m bearing witness to the birth of the high nobles described in the legends again. I once thought that they were mere fiction, but my lord has shown me that they all ring true……”
“But I care about your fate!” She shouted.
“Because of that, I will not watch you head to your death. Even if I am to bear all the hatred from the entire village and your men, I don’t care—” She raised her head and stared at him: “But I must stop you.”
Brendel stared back at her for a long while. This was the first time she spoke her mind so freely. He bowed his head.
“Thank you.” He said.
He closed his eyes and exhaled once before opening them again. He then gently removed her fingers, walked over to Sifrid, patted her head and left.
“My lord?” Amandina looked on in surprise.
The villagers were slightly dejected as well. They had observed his back and had their hopes diminished with every passing second after his shoulders sagged. Amandina’s words had pointed out of the dangers he would face, and they had no right to have a stranger become their sacrifice.
They were even thankful for the youth’s anger and sadness. He truly cared about them, and it was not sympathy or altruism, but empathy.
[Mother Marsha, Goddess Nia, have you not punished the Senia enough?]
“Let’s go, Amandina” He called out to her in a low voice without turning back.
She finally gave a small sigh of relief but when she looked at his back she found herself at a loss, as though she had buried something important with her own hands. She lowered her head and felt her chest throbbing.
Behind her was Sifrid’s soft sobs—
volume 3 - c247
Battle of Light and Darkness
Once Ina’s summons appeared, the Pendulum Golem immediately stopped talking and commenced his offense.
It raised its bronze staff, and a curtain of darkness materialized behind him. Tendrils of shadows drifted within the darkness, emitting an aura of decadence. As it raised its chain-covered ar, a bolt of darkness shot towards Brendel.
“Careful,” Ina gave a quick warning. “That is his ‘Decay’ ability. It will cause us to lose our Cards quickly. The spell he cast is Assassinate. Can you deal with that spell?”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Brendel had already cast the Mana Loss spell. He obtained that spell, at the same time he saw the Cards’s information-
Assassinate (Paradise of Adversity XIII)-
Consumes 5 Dark EP-
Spell - Instant-
Targets one of the opponent’s Creatures or Artifact, and forcefully discards it. Assassinate deals damage equivalent to the spell’s cost.
This Cards is only useful against Planeswalkers. Brendel thought to himself. Brendel decided to cast the spell at the cog above the Pendulum Golem’s head, however, a shimmering barrier appeared around the cog, wasting Brendel’s counterattack. That was Anrolda’s Divine Ring. The cog must be very important if the Pendulum Golem was willing to use up a Cards to protect it. It stared at Brendel for a moment. It did not think that Brendel had such a Cards up his sleeve, so it dared not use any more similar spells.
At the same time, Ina expelled a ray of golden light at the curtain of darkness and destroyed it.
The two of them had the advantage in numbers as well as spellcasting.
However, the Pendulum Golem did not seem to worry at all, instead, it pointed at Ina and Brendel, commanding his Death Sentinels to attack. It was obvious that Ina and the Pendulum Golem were old enemies as neither were surprised at the other’s actions. Ina brandished her spear, and her Glorious Sentinels engaged with the enemy forces.
The black Death Sentinels wore the barest of armors, wielding swords that had hooks on it. One could obviously tell that they were tactical soldiers who were offense-oriented. The Glorious Sentinels were the exact opposite as they wore sets of white heavy armor while holding longshields in one hand and halberds in the other, marking them as battle-savvy soldiers who focused on defense.
The two forces of opposing colors clashed against each other, one defending while the other attacked, it was nearly impossible to judge who had the upper hand. Even though there were less Glorious Sentinels, the Grimoire played the role of a healer, constantly summoning halos of light over allies, allowing the Glorious Sentinels to push back the Death Sentinels through pure endurance. As they advanced slowly, the number of Cards in the Pendulum Golem’s Graveyard started to accumulate.
The Pendulum Golem did not seem alarmed at all. It pointed its finger, and another spell was cast at the oncoming Glorious Sentinels.
The spell was similar to Andrea’s Abyss Web, however, it was manifested in the form of a dark fog, blanketing the battlefield, causing the Glorious Sentinels to lose all their buffs, instead, they were now afflicted with Weakness, Slow, Blind and other various ailments.
“Drowning Sorrow, it reverses all buffs,” Ina explained while shooting a beam of cleansing light. The beam hit her soldiers and removed all status effects, both beneficial and detrimental, proving that it was an expelling spell.
However, Brendel noticed that Ina had never once explained her own Cards. Brendel smiled dryly to himself. What a shrewd woman.
The exchanging of spells by both sides caused all status effects to be removed. However, this meant that the Glorious Sentinels, who had fewer numbers, were at a disadvantage. Ina couldn’t hold in her nerves and started stomping her hooves. She turned to the teen with the trumpet and ordered, “Reno, sound the horn!” The white-robed teen stepped forward. He had beautiful curls on his head and a sweet face, like an angel straight out of the Bible. He puffed out his rosy cheeks and blew the horn. As the horn resonated through the area, the beating of wings could be heard. Soon after, a giant platinum dragon flew out of the darkness and landed on the battlefield.
“Shit, that horn can summon dragons?!” Brendel was startled by the dragon’s appearance. As if reading his mind, Ina looked at him and batted her eyelashes, not answering his question, as if she were teasing him. Brendel clenched his teeth. You damn demon!
After Reno finished blowing his horn, he sat down with a beat red face, completely exhausted. The summoned Platinum Dragon was not as intimidating as the actual dragon race, or perhaps it had yet to fully mature. Brendel guessed that its battle power was around level 60 to 70, which was around the level where it would develop its Elemental Power. Of course, its level was definitely sufficient to overpower the Death Sentinels, and soon enough the ground was littered with corpses of the Death Sentinels.
Brendel let out a sigh of relief. He had not expected Ina to be so strong, to the point where she could push back the Pendulum Golem. Despite that, he still did not think the battle would be won so easily. It turned out as he thought as Ina recalled her Platinum Dragon despite having the edge at the moment.
Brendel did not question her decision as he believed that both of them knew each other’s moves well enough to not make any dumb mistakes.
He saw the Pendulum Golem pull out another Death Sentinel Cards, and he saw the scene of the Death Sentinel summoning again. Every unit was replaced by a Death Sentinel, but now there were ten more of them. Had Ina not recalled her Platinum Dragon, it would have been trapped like Brendel had been before.
“Damn it,” Brendel wiped his brow. This Cards is extremely hard to deal with.
After the Death Sentinels had been summoned, the Pendulum Golem summoned yet another Cards. This time it was a Devil, who went on to engage in battle with the Platinum Dragon. It looked exactly like a Devil from Hell, but it had cyan skin instead of red, and its body exhumed cold flames that were turquoise. Brendel had never seen such a creature before, but it possessed tremendous power as it managed to fight the Platinum Dragon to a standstill. The Pendulum Golem started to summon more Ekronian Spellweavers. Soon there were another four more of those four-armed Spellweavers.
“What is he doing?” Brendel was not in a rush to join as he wanted to observe how Planeswalkers fought. He could not hold in his question after seeing what happened. He possessed the Ekronian Spellweaver Cards as well, but it was only level 25, so he could not think of how it could play a role in this particular battlefield.
Ina summoned another two more Glorious Trumpeters. All of them looked identical, having the same handsome face that made Brendel feel inferior to his own appearance. Hearing his question, she replied, “He is trying to filter the Light.”
“Filter the Light?”
“It means converting the Dark Element into Light Element. Hmph, without the Paradise of Purity, it has to resort to such crude methods to collect Light EP, the Adversity of Darkness is truly lacking.” Having its pride wounded, the Pendulum Golem let out a retort, “Aren’t you the same? The Paradise of Purity can only defend, all you are doing is delaying your inevitable defeat.”
Even as they fought the battle of words, their hands did not stop summoning creatures. Through the Glorious Trumpeters, Ina summoned another two powerful creatures. One was an Armoured White Elephant, and the other was Gleaming Giant Eagle. Only then did Brendel understand the role of the Glorious Trumpeters. It seemed that they could call upon any Cards from the summoner’s deck, and not that they had some sort of Planeswalking ability. Even so, it was an extremely valuable ability.
For example, the Platinum Angel in his deck needed nearly 100 EP to summon, which he had no way to obtain.
But if he had the Glorious Trumpeter, then he could summon the Platinum Angel for free. The only problem was that he did not know the cost of the Glorious Trumpeter. If it was too high, then it would rather useless.
Thanks to the Glorious Trumpeters, Ina’s creatures had the obvious upper hand against the Pendulum Golem. However, the Pendulum Golem still had some tricks up its sleeve. It summoned those beetle-like automatons, after a specific time it would duplicate itself, and these automatons had the ability to create extremely powerful balls of lightning. Every time one of those lightning balls were fired, one of Ina’s summons was finished off.
It was as the Pendulum Golem said, Ina had the superior defense, but she lacked offensive firepower. If this went on, defeat was imminent.
“What is that lightning ball? Why is it so strong?” After some observation, Brendel found out the answer. The beetle-like automatons actually have an extremely weak constitution, it was at most level 20, not even silver rank, it could be considered as trash among the trash. However, its attack power was off the charts, much more than what a monster at the peak of silver rank could attain.
Even though there are monsters whose attack power is extremely strong, none of them can skip so many ranks.
Brendel felt that it was similar to his Dragon Knight Battle Technique. The Wind Spirit Spiders were originally extremely weak, yet the Holy Sword Technique could make their offensive ability increase by several ranks.
“Those lightning balls are that Pendulum monster’s spells. As long as there are Nightmare Forges on the battlefield, then the lightning balls will continue to appear. It is one of the Pendulum monster’s two trump Cards.” Brendel wanted to ask what its trump Cards were, but instead, he asked, “Nightmare Forges?”
“They are those metal beetles. Known as Nightmare Forges, they were created using Ekronia’s Furnace of Adversity.”
So it’s like that. Brendel thought that the way these metal beetles worked was similar to his Dragon Knight Battle Technique, it was no wonder that they were so strong. At that moment, Ina had more bad news to share. “Not only that, but they can also create clones by consuming the Light Element. If we drag this out any longer, we are bound to lose.”
Ina let out a sudden cry of surprise as she realized that there were more Nightmare Forges hiding behind the Pendulum Golem.
“That damn metal head dares to use these underhanded methods against me!” Ina exclaimed with much anger in her voice.
volume 2 - 145
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