Chapter 333: Let’s Go... To Blessed Land
The soldiers that had survived the catastrophic Lord War which was actually quite a lot of people in that regard were completely disarmed.
They were all seated heavily on the ground in the ruined field.
Hundreds of heavy infantrymen, scouts, and broken shield-bearers sat in the mud with their heads bowed in shame.
Sitting alone near the edge of a massive blackened crater was Hiro.
"I..."
The blind swordsman was entirely separated from the rest of his routed unit.
His dark high-tech uniform was shredded into ribbons and heavily stained with his own blood.
Hugging his knees tightly against his bruised chest, he was trying to cry while looking blindly toward the roaring heat of the funeral flames.
"I’m sorry..."
Tears leaked slowly from his scarred empty eye sockets, tracking through the soot on his cheeks as he was constantly apologizing to the empty air.
"I failed," Hiro whispered brokenly to himself. "I failed you, Lord Sky. I failed you, Elm. I wasn’t strong enough to hold the domain."
He felt completely and utterly useless.
He had been given the ultimate support battery and entrusted with the lives of the entire mobile fortress... and he still lost to Blessed Land.
Suddenly, a loud, heavy mechanical grinding sound echoed across the silent depressing field.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The massive reinforced steel-weave gates of the Blessed Land territory slowly began to open.
The surviving soldiers of the Unmovable Wall flinched collectively, looking up from the mud in sheer terror.
They fully expected a brutal merciless execution squad of Vanguard elites to march out and finish the job.
Instead, a completely different sight emerged from the fog.
Women riding on beasts stepped out from the open gates.
They were riding Blessed Wolves. The wolves were massive, standing tall at the shoulder with thick blond fur and glowing blue eyes.
About four of the women rode out onto the ruined battlefield.
They weren’t carrying drawn weapons, and they weren’t casting spells as they were carrying massive, heavy wooden trays stacked incredibly high with steaming food.
Riding through the ranks of defeated men, they began to actively distribute the trays of food to each and every single person currently left alive on the field.
The rich savory smell of roasted meat, fresh baked bread, and hot gravy completely overpowered the sickening smell of the burning pyres.
An alpha wolf trotted heavily toward the crater where Hiro was sitting.
Gunnhild was riding the beast.
Pulling back on the thick leather reins, the Vanguard’s Berserker stopped the massive wolf directly in front of the blind swordsman.
Gunnhild hopped down from the saddle.
Her heavy mythril boots splashed loudly in the mud as she marched straight toward him.
She held out a massive and incredibly hot tray of steaming food and shoved it firmly into his bruised chest.
"Here," Gunnhild grunted.
Hiro flinched violently with his blind face turning up toward her voice.
"What... what is this?" Hiro asked weakly.
"It’s food, idiot," Gunnhild told him bluntly. "Stop moping and eat."
Hiro slowly reached out his trembling hands and took the heavy tray.
The radiant heat of the fresh food warmed his freezing, blood-stained fingers.
He simply didn’t understand why the victors were feeding them instead of executing them.
"You did well... you weren’t going to beat us from the very beginning though but because of you, I can finally understand what war means so thank you."
A few dozen yards away in the mud, Kassandra slowly and painfully woke up.
The Unmovable Wall’s defensive tank groaned loudly as consciousness finally returned to her battered brain.
Her head was pounding with a vicious, throbbing ache. Fenna’s specialized knockout arrow had carried a remarkably potent sleep toxin that had completely paralyzed her nervous system.
"U–uh..."
Blinking her bright pink eyes open, she stared up at the gray sky.
Her heavy pink runic armor was completely deactivated and powered down.
A shadow suddenly fell over her face.
Kassandra flinched with her combat instincts flaring slightly as she tried to reach for a weapon that wasn’t there.
Looking up, she saw a young, incredibly beautiful woman wearing a pristine and perfectly clean black and white maid outfit standing directly over her.
It was Kaelia.
Smiling warmly, her bright eyes filled with genuine kindness, Kaelia knelt down softly in the mud, completely ignoring the dirt staining her white apron.
She offered her a large steaming plate of food.
"Here you go," Kaelia said sweetly.
"What... what is going on?" Kassandra asked with her voice raspy and dry.
"Our people won the battle," Kaelia told her gently. "Your people have lost the war."
Kassandra’s pink eyes widened in shock... They actually lost? The Unmovable Wall had fallen.
"But you should still eat," Kaelia continued, pushing the warm plate closer to her chest. "You must be very hungry after fighting so hard."
Slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position, Kassandra stared intensely at the smiling maid.
Inwardly, her heart thumped heavily against her ribs.
Her perception was screaming at her in absolute terror as she realized exactly how formidable this seemingly innocent woman actually was.
’Why is a maid so strong...?’
Kaelia’s aura was flawlessly suppressed beneath her maid uniform but the terrifying power of the mana hidden deep inside the maid’s core was suffocating.
’She is a complete monster.’
Kassandra realized that the Blessed Land was so insanely overpowered that even their domestic serving staff could probably level their forces and it made her a bit afraid but on the other hand...
’Ah, I feel so glad.’
It had actually taken a massive amount of convincing for Kaelia to convince Lord to finally let her leave the territory.
’Lord Silas worries over every little thing.’
She had begged Silas to allow her to join the girls in distributing the food to the wounded people.
Silas had eventually relented, and Kaelia was incredibly glad she got to help.
Not daring to refuse the offering, Kassandra took the food without much complaint.
She grabbed the wooden fork and took a large, hesitant bite of the meat and broth.
Her pink eyes instantly widened in pure shock as the rich, savory spices exploded across her tongue.
The meat practically melted in her mouth, completely saturated with refreshing stamina-restoring mana.
It was the best thing she had ever tasted in her entire life.
She began aggressively shoveling the food into her mouth, completely forgetting her pride and her defeat.
"This is incredible," Kassandra mumbled through a mouthful of rice.
Swallowing hard, she looked up at Kaelia. "Seriously, complimenting the chef. Whoever cooked this is a master."
Kaelia’s face instantly turned incredibly bright red. Gripping the edges of her white apron, she twisted the fabric nervously.
"I... uh... I’m the chef!" Kaelia stammered happily.
Kassandra blinked in surprise.
Leaning in slightly closer, Kaelia looked around nervously as if checking for spies.
"And don’t tell my Lord..." Kaelia whispered conspiratorially with a cute wink. "...but I gave you extra chicken."
Beaming proudly, Kaelia tilted her head. "How does it taste?"
Looking down at the massive roasted chicken thigh sitting in the center of her plate, Kassandra looked back up at the terrifyingly strong and incredibly sweet maid.
"It tastes like heaven," Kassandra admitted honestly.
Further down the line of defeated prisoners, Lupina slowly woke up from her forced slumber.
The wolf-girl Hero of the Unmovable Wall groaned loudly, aggressively rubbing her furry ears.
Sitting up in the mud, her tail drooped heavily behind her.
"Ugh..." Lupina whined loudly.
She looked around frantically at the massive craters and the burning pyres in the distance before spotting her partner.
"What happened?!" Lupina asked in a panic.
Morrighan was sitting quietly next to her on a shattered piece of bedrock.
The demoness Hero was calmly wrapping a clean white bandage tightly around her own bruised arm. She didn’t look panicked at all as she looked resigned to her fate.
"We lost the war, Lupina," Morrighan told her bluntly.
Lupina’s jaw dropped completely open.
"Lost?!" Lupina shrieked. "How did we lose?! Where is Lord Sky?!"
"Lord Sky surrendered," Morrighan explained calmly. "The battle is over."
Tying off the bandage with her sharp teeth, Morrighan let out a sigh.
"We are officially prisoners of war," Morrighan continued. "We will now be claimed by the Blesse—"
THUD!
They were abruptly interrupted by the heavy sound of massive paws hitting the mud.
Gunnhild rode directly up to them on her massive Blessed Wolf, staring down at the two defeated Heroes.
Reaching into her saddlebag, the Berserker pulled out two hot steaming wrapped packages of food and tossed them casually down into the mud directly in front of the girls.
Morrighan picked up the food package immediately.
"Thank you," Morrighan said respectfully.
The demoness looked up at the towering muscled blonde woman sitting atop the massive silver wolf.
Staring at her scarred face and her heavy armor, Morrighan felt a strange fluttering in her chest.
’She looks so incredibly cool,’ Morrighan thought to herself with her demonic heart skipping a tiny subtle beat at the intimidating presence of the warrior woman.
However, Lupina was not nearly as respectful.
Completely ignoring the food on the ground, Lupina began loudly complaining at the top of her lungs.
"This is completely unfair!" Lupina whined, pointing a furry finger at Gunnhild. "I didn’t even get to fight properly! I got knocked out by some stupid trick! I want a rematch! You guys totally cheated! I demand to speak to your Lord right now and—"
Gunnhild narrowed her eyes.
Reaching into her tray, she pulled out a massive and incredibly thick roll of freshly baked bread as she jumped down from the wolf with a heavy splash.
Before Lupina could finish her annoying high-pitched rant, Gunnhild shoved the entire roll of bread aggressively into Lupina’s open mouth.
"Mmph!"
Lupina’s eyes bulged completely out of her skull in shock.
"Eat," Gunnhild commanded bluntly. "You talk way too much."
Glaring furiously at the Berserker, Lupina slowly began chewing the massive mouthful of bread because she simply had no other choice.
Gunnhild snorted in amusement.
Turning around, she grabbed the heavy leather saddle of her Blessed Wolf and easily vaulted herself back up onto the massive beast.
Patting the thick soft gold fur right behind her saddle, she cleared a large space on the animal’s broad back.
Looking down at the two Unmovable Wall Heroes, a wide surprisingly warm and incredibly sisterly grin stretched across Gunnhild’s scarred face.
"Both of you are going to be my new sisters, right?" Gunnhild asked them loudly.
She patted the empty space on the wolf again.
"Come on," Gunnhild ordered cheerfully. "Let’s go."
Morrighan’s heart thumped heavily against her ribs.
Looking at the empty space on the wolf, and then looking at the towering open steel gates of the Blessed Land territory in the distance, she realized the truth.
They weren’t being dragged into a dark dungeon... They were being invited inside.
Grabbing the chewing, grumbling Lupina firmly by the collar of her armor, Morrighan forcefully dragged the wolf-girl to her feet.
Together, they climbed clumsily onto the back of the massive Blessed Wolf, sitting securely directly behind Gunnhild’s broad back.
Gunnhild snapped the leather reins.
"Hyah!"
The wolf howled into the morning sky.
Riding forward, they left the burning pyres of the ruined battlefield entirely behind them as they headed directly toward the open gates, ready to enter the Blessed Land.
’I can’t believe it but my dream... It’s going to come true right now...’
...
The heavy polished oak doors of the Keep’s primary dining hall remained firmly closed against the chaotic aftermath of the battlefield outside.
Inside, the atmosphere was completely different from the blood-soaked mud of the Umbral Basin.
A roaring fire crackled warmly in the massive stone hearth.
CRACKLE!
The large mahogany dining table was set with pristine silver cutlery and crystal goblets.
Silas sat entirely relaxed at the head of the long table.
He was out of his heavy combat gear, currently wearing a simple comfortable black tunic that highlighted his muscular frame.
Sitting directly next to him, pressing her soft shoulder against his arm, was Eluned.
The Nature Goddess looked absolutely radiant in her elegant green sundress, her emerald eyes glowing with quiet satisfaction.
Sitting on the opposite side of the massive table were the defeated commanders of The Unmovable Wall.
Evelyn was slouched heavily in her wooden chair.
She was still wearing her oversized soot-stained dark gray Earth traveler’s hoodie.
Her long black hair was messy, and her dark eyes carried the heavy weight of total exhaustion.
’Fucking hell...’
Sitting directly beside Evelyn while ignoring the luxurious surroundings, was Elm.
The white-haired Hero was physically clinging to her Lord.
Elm had her arms wrapped tightly around Evelyn’s waist, resting her head against the hoodie.
She was fully healed, her pale cheeks flushed with vibrant healthy color thanks to Silas’s healing.
Her crystalline silver eyes kept darting around the room, still completely terrified that she was going to wake up back in that dark freezing medical tank.
She squeezed Evelyn tighter, incredibly grateful just to be breathing fresh air.
"You can let go, Elm," Evelyn whispered softly, patting the Hero’s white hair. "We’re safe."