Chapter 825: Land of Extremes (2)
“Chairman.”
Deep within the continent famous for its winter lands, a young man spoke to an old man.
“They say the Witch has awakened.”
“Hmm...... Is that so.”
Hearing those words, the old man raised his heavy body.
The wrinkles on his face and his snow-white hair showed the years he had lived through.
The scars engraved all over his body showed the life he had lived.
And his height, well over 2 meters, along with the muscles filling out that frame, showed his strength.
And the old man called Chairman opened the door and stepped outside.
What spread before him was.
Wheeeeeee......!
A land swept by a cold wind that seemed to pierce straight through the bones.
And people hurriedly walking around that land.
“Are the materials still not here!”
“They’re coming now!”
“That wall over there looks like it’s starting to collapse little by little too, so we need to begin repairs.......”
“The food warehouse.......”
“Looks like more of those monsters are gathering at the northern wall.......”
This land of extreme cold.
The apocalypse had come to Russia without exception.
Once, it had been one of the great powers competing for global supremacy.
Its leader in particular had been both an iron-willed ruler and a dictator who had completed one of the strongest systems of iron-fisted rule among the monarchs of the modern age.
‘......That’s an old story now.’
It had not even taken a week for all the military power of such a great nation to disappear.
In the end, those who survived were nothing more than civilians.
Among them, there were those who distinguished themselves.
The survivors gathered around those people and managed to survive.
There had been all kinds of twists and turns...... but in the end, they united into a single force, and the person who came to stand at its very peak was this old man.
[Awakened : Vasily Sergeyevich Volkov]
[Occupation : Great Warrior of Winter Lv.45]
An old man who had lived on battlefields as a soldier in his youth.
He had distinguished himself on battlefields filled with the smell of blood, but the trauma from those wars tormented the old man for the rest of his life.
After the war ended and he returned to society, the old man withdrew deep into the mountains and began living alone.
Perhaps, considering that he had survived that war until the very end as well, he simply had an unusually long life.
Even as all the others who had fought in the war succumbed to old age, the old man remained alive.
But even that long life eventually approached its end, and with his lifespan finally exhausted, he lay in bed waiting only for the day he would die.
[You have awakened!]
Until he stabbed the monster that barged into his cabin to death with the axe beside him.
Vitality returned to the body of the old man who had been destined to die of old age, and the old man took up a weapon once again.
After that, there were many times when he nearly died...... but he was blessed with an almost bizarre amount of luck.
Thanks to that, quite a large number of people managed to survive in this land.
Until just a short while ago, hundreds of thousands of awakened had even gathered beneath a single banner.
Considering the survival rate in this apocalypse and the population of this land, it could only be called a miracle.
Of course.
‘......If only it hadn’t been for those servants of the demon.’
That was already an old story.
The force that had [Occupied] half of Russia’s vast territory and exerted influence over even more land no longer existed.
All that remained here were defeated soldiers.
Vasily moved forward with a bitter smile.
The place where those defeated soldiers were now staying was a fairly small village.
The awakened were building walls around the outskirts of the village, while inside they were hurriedly putting up the residential buildings they lacked.
And Vasily entered one of those buildings and spoke.
“I heard you awakened, Witch.”
When the old man’s dry voice called out to someone.
Inside the house stood a strangely enormous bed.
“Yes, you’ve come. Little one.”
A gigantic woman, large enough to make even that huge bed look small.
Raised only her upper body and spoke softly.
***
Vasily was an old man, but he was a giant over 2 meters tall.
After awakening, he had grown even further, reaching nearly 2.5 meters.
But the woman leaning against the bed with only her upper body raised was taller than Vasily even while seated.
Her skin was dazzlingly white, and cold air poured from her body.
The reason the survivors of Russia had been able to form such a large force.
Was because they had been strangely fortunate.
And...... more than ninety percent of that fortune had come from meeting that woman.
‘A being from another world.’
A being who was friendly toward humans while possessing great power.
The awakened of Russia had survived in this land using the knowledge she had bestowed upon them.
And as he looked at her, Vasily lowered his head.
“I’m sorry, Witch.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“Even though you warned us about the danger, we failed to deal with it...... and ended up in this situation.”
They were no longer the ones occupying Russia.
Monsters with soft, jelly-like bodies.
Monsters multiplying at an incredible rate.
Despite their tremendous numbers, the strength of each individual monster was not weak either.
There seemed to be no answer at all when it came to how they could be dealt with.
But...... it was not as though there had truly been no answer whatsoever.
‘If we had suppressed them in the beginning, they could have been cleaned up easily.’
The power contained in each one of those monsters grew stronger the greater the number of divided individuals became.
In other words, as their numbers increased, the strength of each individual increased as well.
But when their numbers were small, the strength of each individual was not that great either.
They were an enemy that became increasingly difficult to deal with as time passed.
But if they had acted before enough time passed, they could have exterminated them.
The regrettable part was.
That golden time had already passed long ago.
-The ones sleeping in the northwest...... in the central region of this land, have awakened from their seal. They are ominous beings, but if they are eliminated now, I do not believe they will leave behind any great future trouble.
The gigantic woman before the old man.
The ‘Witch of Snow’ had sensed the appearance of those monsters very quickly and informed the awakened.
After hearing that information, Vasily gathered skilled people he trusted and dispatched them to eliminate the monsters that could become a threat.
And.......
Grit.
‘They were betrayed by those who had made contracts with demons and were all offered up as sacrifices.’
Among the awakened of this land, they had been especially skilled and trustworthy.
Perhaps the more capable such people were, the more valuable they were as sacrifices as well.
The followers of the demon who had been hiding their identities only then revealed who they truly were.
“It isn’t something you need to apologize for, little one. Didn’t you do everything you could?”
“Even so...... if it were anyone else, perhaps, but I should have noticed Andrei’s betrayal beforehand.”
“Demons are masters at secretly eating away at a world and making its gates open. There is nothing strange about you failing to notice.”
Even now, Vasily could not forget it.
A man who had held a position that was practically second-in-command among the awakened of this land.
Andrei, a man Vasily had especially believed in and trusted, and because of that, the man to whom he had entrusted the important subjugation operation.
The sight of that man swinging his weapon at him while shouting, ‘For Lord Ashanat!’
Traitors had appeared without warning.
And their numbers were by no means small.
They attacked the unsuspecting awakened in an instant and offered them as sacrifices to the demon.
The awakened suddenly found themselves fighting a civil war out of nowhere.
In the process, the Witch was also gravely wounded and had remained unconscious until now.
‘In the end, we did manage to defeat those followers of the demon with the Witch’s help...... but the result was disastrous.’
It was not because of the forces they had expended fighting those followers.
It was because the subjugation operation that should have been easily resolved had failed because of those traitors.
***
By the time the civil war against the demon hunters ended and the number of those monsters had increased far too much.
Their numbers had already reached a level the awakened, still suffering from the aftermath of the civil war, could not handle.
With even the Witch having been rendered unconscious by those servants of the demon, there seemed to be no hope.
In the end, they had no choice but to abandon the territory they had reclaimed and flee.
And the land they eventually reached was this place, Oymyakon.
The reason those who had been driven back gathered near this small village was simple.
“How is your strength, Witch.”
“Hmm...... It certainly seems better than before.”
This place, Oymyakon, was the coldest place in Russia.......
No, among every region inhabited by humans.
......It was the land where the awakened of this land could exert their greatest strength.
And the place where the Witch, who had collapsed after the battle against that demon, could recover her power the fastest.
Just as they had hoped.
In this cold land, the Witch rapidly recovered her strength and was finally able to awaken.
But.
“Even so, I don’t think I can handle those sticky things. I still haven’t recovered even half of my power.”
“......So that is the case after all.”
Even after moving to the terrain most advantageous to them.
Handling those monsters still seemed like a distant prospect.
The monsters that had multiplied at an incredible rate had already devoured seventy percent of Russia’s vast territory.
Before long, they would probably leave Russia and spread into other countries.
‘This place was our last hope. Is even this land not enough for the Witch to recover her strength.’
Vasily regretted it with a dark expression.
“Perhaps we should have fled south instead.”
When those monsters began swallowing all of Russia at a terrifying pace.
The awakened had headed toward Oymyakon as their final hope.
But looking back now, perhaps there had been a better way.
‘If only we had known the borders between countries would open.’
The black barriers existing along national borders emitted intense heat.
For awakened who made use of the knowledge taught by the Witch, they were the worst possible location in terms of compatibility, so the south had not even been considered as somewhere they could flee.
But...... if they had known those barriers would disappear.
Then perhaps they could have led the people south instead.
And headed toward another country such as China.
At the time it had been the best choice, but now he could not help regretting it.
“In the end, this place will become our grave.”
Even now, an enormous number of monsters were overflowing beyond the walls.
They were only managing to hold out because the awakened continued pouring attacks into them.
Before long, those walls would collapse as well.
Even those who had succeeded in their desperate escape would not be able to endure when that happened.
“Don’t blame yourself too much. You’ve done more than enough.”
“.......”
“Rather, from my perspective, it’s almost unbelievable.”
When they fought those followers of the demon.
She had poured out all of her strength to help the awakened.
Even as she lost consciousness afterward...... she had privately thought.
“Even if you defeated those traitors...... you failed to quickly eliminate ㅡ the enemy that needed to be eliminated. I thought your fate would end there.”
“......Ah.”
“I cannot even guess what you did to remain alive until now.”
At those words.
Vasily shook his head and said.
“That was not because of our own strength.”
“Hmm?”
After the civil war against the demons ended, when those monsters filled the area around them.
Vasily gathered all the remaining awakened and attempted one final escape.
It was called an escape, but it was an operation whose chances of success approached zero without limit.
In truth, it was practically no different from asking the awakened to die together with him.
And yet they survived.
[Stats]
[Strength : 450]
[Agility : 450]
[Mana : 450]
[Luck : 450]
[Martial Arts]
[S - Ice Soul Divine Art Lv.3]
[Blessings]
[Recognition of ‘Noble Honor’]
[Raindrops of ‘Merciful Heaven’]
[Flames of ‘Blazing Passion’]
[Protection of ‘Daring Courage’]
[Affection of ‘Holy Love’]
[Gaze of ‘Eternity’]
In that battle where their deaths had seemed certain.
[Management of ‘———’]
Someone unknown.......
Had helped them.
‘That light back then was probably.’
Vasily stared at the words engraved in their status windows.
‘The Legion.’
And.
Realizing that fact, Vasily opened his mouth blankly and thought.
‘In the end, we probably won’t survive.’
But.
Somewhere in this land, there were people who had given them that light.
He felt ashamed that they had received that light and still failed to overcome destruction.
......But even after they perished, there would be those who would somehow continue trying to live.
“I think I’ve changed my mind a little.”
If so.
“......I don’t think this place should become our grave.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those monsters will become more difficult to eliminate as time passes. And...... most people probably know nothing about the existence of [Demons] either.”
Although they had ultimately won the civil war against those demon followers.
Vasily had ultimately failed to hunt down their leader, Andrei.
Andrei had fled somewhere while carrying the power of the sacrifices he had hunted.
Even if he had lost his other subordinates, he was surely gathering more sacrifices somewhere and offering them to a demon again.
‘Although he betrayed us, Andrei was frighteningly capable.’
There was no way he would have stopped acting simply because he had lost a few subordinates.
He was probably attempting similar atrocities somewhere else.
Others who knew nothing about beings like demons would inevitably be deceived by someone as capable as Andrei.
Therefore.
“It seems...... we need to let others know.”
That there was a threat growing through division in this land.
And that there were those trying to sell this land away by making deals with beings from outside.......
They had to let others know.
“Let them know? How?”
“We’ll have to head toward where other awakened might be.”
“And you know where surviving awakened are? Didn’t that traitor Andrei say the same thing? According to the demon, very few survivors remain in this land. Demons are wicked beings, but they do not tell lies.”
“There was once a strange rumor among awakened from the southeastern region that radio transmissions seemed to be coming from an area believed to be near the Korean Peninsula or China.”
Perhaps because the distance was so great, they had been unable to hear the actual contents.
Only a strange rumor that someone seemed to be transmitting radio waves.
Considering that communications had been paralyzed at the same time as the apocalypse, it was an unreliable story that could only be called a strange rumor.
“But we’ve already come east anyway. If we simply continue south from here, we should be able to reach China or the Korean Peninsula.”
Even so.
If there was only one possibility worth betting on, that was it.
“You’re saying you’ll break through those monsters and head south? That would practically be the same as going out to die.”
“I’ve already asked the others once to die together with me. Asking them twice should not be difficult.”
“......Even if you succeed, many will die. Are you truly fine with that?”
“If even a single person survives and tells others what we discovered, it will help those who continue living from now on.”
“Little one...... you truly mean it.”
“Yes.”
Vasily looked at the Witch with a serious expression.
Although they had ultimately been defeated, thanks to the help of that light they had been able to survive even a little longer.
If so, it was only right to use the lives that had been saved in order to repay that debt.
“......If you truly mean it, then it cannot be helped.”
And.
The Witch of Snow looked at his face and gave a faint smile.
After her homeland was destroyed, she had suddenly fallen into this world.
Fortunately, this land was among the colder regions, so she had not immediately melted away and died, but she had lost much of her power and had been left in a state where it would not have been strange for her to die at any moment.
If she had not cooperated with humans like this little one, she too would not have survived for this long.
Her life was practically something she owed to them.
“If we want to send even one person away alive, we’ll have to make the very best preparations possible. We need to start preparing immediately.”
“......Thank you, Witch!”
“It’s nothing. And...... I have no intention of dying such a meaningless death.”
The Witch closed her eyes.
The stories carried by the falling snow, the vision of ice crystals.
She intended to use those eyes to find a place where the monsters’ defensive lines were thin.
“For some reason, your strength has become incomparably greater than it was before I fell asleep. And I have recovered at least some of my power through the strength of this land. If only a little heavenly fortune favors us.”
And like that.
When she looked around with the vision that allowed her to observe the nearby winter lands.
“Perhaps many of you might be able to survi.......”
The Witch of Snow saw the scene reflected in that vision.
“ve...... maybe......?”
Her mouth slowly fell open in a daze.
“Witch?”
There was a reason for that.
In the vision she had sent out to observe the movements of the monsters.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.......
“......What in the world is that?”
“What?”
Those monsters.
Were being torn apart beneath a fierce artillery barrage.