I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 702

Mev’s eyes twitched.

Screech— Roar—

A jumble of shrill shrieks and guttural roars burst from the dust cloud as monsters surged forward like a flood released from a shattered dam. Purple eyes flared to life in every direction in an instant.

"It’s breached!"

"They’re coming! Move it, you bastards—"

Gasps and shouts erupted among the legionnaires behind them, voices tangled with tension and fevered excitement.

"So this is why it’s called the Godmother of Ten Thousand Beasts...," Thesaya murmured with a sigh.

Moro puffed out a hot breath beneath her, and Thesaya tightened the reins looped around her wrist.

Mukapa, standing beside them, showed no change in expression. He simply adjusted his grip on the battle hammer, squeezing the handle more firmly with both hands.

Rumble, boom—

As the sky flashed once more, Mev looked back. Her gaze swept calmly over the legionnaires wrapped in red divinity, their backs warmed by the sacred flame. As always, her eyes were calm and steady.

"Don't rush out! Hold your positions!"

"Run! Move faster, you slug! Form the battle line!"

With preparations still incomplete, the legion remained noisy and chaotic. Gaps in the formation closed rapidly as soldiers poured in from both flanks, locking themselves into place.

"I'll fall back to the rear, Redhead," said Thesaya.

Mev turned forward again. Ahead of them, the tide of monsters spilled across the ground like oil spreading over water, swallowing the landscape as it advanced.

Screech!

They weren’t merely charging straight toward them. They fanned outward as well, flooding toward the inner fortress, the wall, and the far side of the field in an endless surge.

"Let's go back. Moro. ... Moro? Are you seriously doing this again?"

Thesaya frowned and shook the reins, but Mev was already scanning the faces of the oncoming swarm.

Goblins, kobolds, ogres, trolls, mutated beasts, and all manner of monsters were mixed without order.

Just as Thesaya had said, it was a sight that perfectly explained why Akihatara was called the Godmother of Ten Thousand Demons.

How can it command that many vassals?

The thought crossed Mev’s mind only briefly. No matter how powerful an archdemon was, controlling so many creatures at once should have been impossible.

She had no way of knowing that this very impossibility was the reason Akihatara was being consumed by madness. In any case, there was no time to dwell on it.

"Assembly complete!"

"All units assembled, Vice Commander!"

Urgent shouts rang out behind her. Lucas, Nasser, and the other centurions were calling out in unison. Without sparing so much as a glance toward Thesaya, who was still wrestling with Moro, Mev pulled on the reins.

As Selim turned sideways, Mev reached back and gripped the hilt of the sword strapped diagonally across her back.

Schwing!

Beneath the long crossguard, a snow-white blade emerged, thin for its length yet radiating a sharp, resolute presence.

Mev raised the sword high above her head. "Raise your weapons, Legion of the Demigod!"

Before her stretched a long line of warriors wrapped in crimson divinity. Behind them, sacred flames surged and flickered, forming what looked like a wall of red fire across the field.

"We will defend Calbrook Gate right here, according to the will of the Great Demigod!"

As her voice cut through the din, a faint divinity seeped into it. Her stigmata pulsed, slowly releasing a thick, blood-like sacred power.

Swoosh...

It was vengeance burning deep in her chest for those who had fallen in the battles.

Crimson divinity leaked faintly through the gaps in her armor as Mev leveled her sword toward the advancing horde.

"Form ranks and follow me. Not a single one of those cursed monsters will pass us."

She lowered the blade and yanked the reins. Selim reared slightly, then twisted forward.

Mev lashed the reins down and shouted with all her strength. "All troops— Charge!"

Selim surged forward toward the purple-tinged darkness. Ignoring Thesaya’s shouted protests, Moro followed. Mukapa charged alongside them, battle hammer clenched tight.

The long ranks of the Crimson Legion thundered forward almost as one.

"Charge—"

"Follow the brave First Consort!"

"Oh Karha— Witness us—"

"For the Demigod of the North!"

Their voices roared like thunder. The heat of their shouts felt as though it were pressing against Mev’s back. Some of the cries were strange, even borderline absurd, but unlike before, she did not care in the slightest.

"Why on earth are you running? Are you just going to do whatever you want now that Ian isn’t here, you damn beast?"

Thesaya’s scream-like shout echoed from behind. Even so, Mev’s gaze remained fixed on the tidal wave of monsters surging toward them through her visor.

Screech! Roar—

Even after blackening the darkness beyond the field, the monsters continued to pour endlessly through the shattered gate. Some had already reached the inner fortress, slaughtering supply soldiers and troops as they forced their way inside.

Rumble! Crash!

Mev didn’t spare them a glance.

It was not only because she trusted the garrison and the reinforcements she had dispatched to hold them back.

As thunder rolled again and the area briefly brightened, a massive silhouette emerged beyond the gaping gate, half-swallowed by the rushing darkness.

It was enormous, easily twice the size of the other monsters, and moved at a slower, heavier pace as it passed through the gate.

The creature’s form was grotesque. It looked as though countless monster corpses had been crudely stitched together, forming a patchwork giant of flesh and bone.

"Make sure I don’t die, Moro!" Thesaya’s magic-laden screech echoed across the field. "If I do, I’ll come back as a vengeful spirit and haunt you for the rest of your life!"

Even as darkness swallowed the battlefield once more, Mev could not tear her eyes away from the patchwork giant.

What in the world is that?

Its entire body, stitched together from burned and shredded monsters, glistened as though coated in sticky mucus. Long, spear-like shafts jutted out from its flesh at irregular angles. Mev quickly recognized them as bolts from the ballistas.

It had clearly been targeted from atop the wall as well, and not merely because of its size.

So that’s what smashed the gate.

The creature’s right arm resembled a gigantic club, crudely bound from flesh and bone. Unlike its other parts, it had been pulverized so thoroughly that its original shape was impossible to discern.

Yet the most striking feature of the monstrous being lay elsewhere.

Goooo...

A massive eyeball was embedded squarely in the center of its chest.

As the area around the gate sank back into darkness, the violet glow of that eye stood out all the more clearly. It was unsettling precisely because it resembled a human eye, provoking an intense sense of revulsion and alienation.

The color’s different... it must be one of Dharmaraja’s vassals.

It was the moment Ian’s foresight proved true—but Mev’s thoughts ended there.

Screech! Growl—

The tide of monsters, staining the darkness purple, had already closed in upon them. The area felt especially dim beneath the looming shadow of the wall.

The sacred flames illuminated the immediate surroundings, making everything beyond them appear even darker by contrast.

Mev rose slightly in her stirrups and lifted her sword to the side. "Let's pierce through, Selim."

Selim lowered its head and surged forward with renewed force. Sticky red divinity flowing from her was faintly forming on it as well.

Just as Mev, leaning forward, gripped the reins tightly in one hand, Selim slammed straight into the center of the rushing monsters.

Thud, thud, thud.

Its speed dropped sharply, but it neither fell nor faltered. Instead, it forced the colliding monsters back with brute strength.

It was no sacred steed, but thanks to its fine bloodline and long exposure to divinity, its power far surpassed that of any ordinary warhorse. With divine energy now coursing into it, even more so.

Swoosh—

That was when Mev swung the sword she had raised. A dark red arc carved through the air, tearing straight through the mass of monsters.

Crunch!

The creatures caught in the path were torn apart. As a wave of nauseating stench and shrieks surged outward, Mev halted the blade with both hands gripping the hilt, then swung her arms once more.

Crackle!

Crimson arcs filled the space around Selim as it drove forward, bloody trajectories dragging everything they touched toward death.

At that moment, spikes of blood-red ice erupted around Mev, skewering the monsters in all directions. It was Thesaya’s spell, cast as she closed in behind her.

"Keep your distance! I need room to cast!" Thesaya shouted, extending her left hand, where a jewel gleamed brightly. "Once my magic runs dry, then you can go berserk!"

Moro growled like a beast, but it did not draw alongside Mev. Whether that was due to Thesaya’s command or not, it was impossible to say.

Whoosh, crunch!

The battle hammer that dropped beside Thesaya crushed the monsters below as if flattening them into the earth before slamming into the ground. The one who sprang back up, still gripping the haft, was the gray-skinned orc warrior.

"------!"

Letting out a resounding roar, Mukapa twisted his waist in mid-air. The war hammer in his hands swept out with its broad side exposed.

Crash—

Everything caught in its path was either pulverized or hurled aside. Purple-tinged blood mist burst outward, thickening the air.

Clatter— Thud!

Mukapa spun as he landed and immediately broke into a run, charging after Mev. Between the folds of his cloak, spell circuits embedded in his armor flared into view.

Zap! Crack, boom—

Crimson arcs and massive trajectories ripped through the horde. Ice crystals mixed with monster blood formed and detonated in rapid succession as they plunged deeper into the swarm.

Screech! Scree—

The monsters surged toward them just as fiercely. In moments, Mev, Thesaya, and Mukapa were completely surrounded.

"By Karha!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Rip them apart!"

"Leave not a single one alive!"

The barbarian legion crashed in behind them, wrapped in blazing crimson divinity and heat-warped light. Monsters that collided with the charge were torn apart and scattered.

It wasn’t only the Blessing of Battle at work.

Sizzle...

The instant the monsters touched the light of the sacred flame, they burned, releasing acrid smoke. The barbarian warriors butchered the writhing, burning creatures without mercy as they pressed forward.

Screams, roars, the sounds of bone shattering and flesh tearing echoed chaotically across the battlefield.

Slice, crunch—

Even as she drove straight through the center of the monstrous tide like a spearhead, Mev could still faintly register everything around her.

It wasn’t merely immersion in battle. The divinity flooding through her stigma had awakened something beyond ordinary perception.

Yet what Mev was most aware of was not the barbarian warriors behind her, nor the monsters being forced aside, nor Thesaya chanting spell after spell, nor Mukapa charging alongside her with his hammer.

Thud... thud...

Ahead of them, the ragged giant was drawing closer, its heavy footsteps pounding the ground. That was the true reason Mev was driving straight through the monster tide in a single line.

I can’t let that thing reach the legion.

No matter how she looked at it, it was clearly a demon. If it reached the front lines, the damage would be catastrophic. And given its grotesque, utterly alien form, it might well be a being summoned from the void by the archdemon Dharmaraja.

So—

Forcing out more divinity, Mev swung her sword hard, then shifted the sword into her left hand. At the same time, her right hand closed around the hilt of another blade at her waist.

The ragged giant’s ominous violet gaze snapped toward her.

Crack!

Spikes of bone erupted all at once from the massive club of flesh that served as its arm. The creature stepped forward and raised its chaos-laden limb high.

Shing—

Mev drew the Blazing Judgment from its scabbard. Above the scale-shaped cross-guard, a blade imbued with bluish light revealed itself.

As the light of the blade became blindingly bright in an instant, Mev swung the divine sword with all her strength.

Fwoosh—

An azure trajectory burst forth, sweeping across the battlefield. It carved through nearby monsters and slashed diagonally across the giant’s torso, all the way to the center of its raised club.

Just as the monsters, the giant’s body, and the massive eye embedded in its chest were about to be cut apart, the azure arc transformed into dancing blue flames.

The flames of judgment spread outward in an instant, incinerating everything they touched.

Whoosh...

The patchwork giant, a vassal of Dharmaraja, was no exception.

As Selim skidded to slow its charge, Mev extended the divine sword fully to the side and lifted her head. Monsters caught in the blue flames were reduced to ash, and the giant itself split cleanly apart, burning as it toppled backward.

Boom—

The heavy tremor was soon obscured by the heat of the dancing and swirling azure flames.

As the azure flames, which spread thickly while continuing to burn the monsters, finally subsided, Mev, panting as she returned Blazing Judgment to her waist, froze.

Rumble, boom!

Beyond the dying flames, light from the sky revealed another massive shape approaching the gateway.

It was not alone. Behind it, yet another ragged giant approached, its baleful eyes glowing ominously.

How many more are there?

Mev tightened her grip on the divine sword’s hilt, her hand trembling for just a moment.