Episode 22/Chapter 4: Saga (4)

TL: Tsubak

ED: Ren

Katren, which was the name of the first port in Kalik, had been attacked several times by those that sought its fortune and its flourishments.

Every time it was attacked, Katren’s defenses became sturdier, and they even built a fortress in all the land.

Blotan, who was the son of Eric the defense commander of Katren, looked down the fortress with a stiff expression. The evacuees that had flocked over there were shouting, telling them to open the gates.

The walls of Katren, which were ten meters high, were hard for the invaders to cross. The evacuees, who couldn’t even take care of their own bodies, must have felt that they were facing a cliff.

The number of evacuees was a thousand. In addition there were a lot of women, children, and elders among them.

However Blotan didn’t order the gates to be opened. The rookie soldiers looked at the evacuees and Blotan alternatingly while not being able to stay calm and the veteran soldiers just closed their mouths and forced themselves to look in the distance instead of below the fortress.

The dead ones were approaching. It was certain that they had died with ‘Hella’s curse’, which was the most terrifying among the epidemics.

He couldn’t open the gates easily. The evacuees that weren’t controlled were a calamity themselves. The dead ones would surely reach the evacuees, even before they could accomodate them and if even one of them entered the fortress, then hell would unleash in Katren. And there could already be some infected people among the evacuees.

The ones that had died by the ones that died through Hella’s curse would also fall under the same curse. As the speed it spread at was really like thunder, if they made a mistake they would be accommodating a thousand dead people instead of a thousand evacuees.

There were tens of thousands living in Katren. In addition, Blotan was the defense commander of Katren.

“Go to another place! We can’t open the gates!”

Katren himself knew that what he was saying was absurd. Where would they go to when the dead ones were right behind them?

The evacuees that heard those words, as if telling them to die, shouted even fiercer. Some of them ran towards the sea, as if there was no answer. It seemed like they were planning to enter Katren, even if they had to swim.

‘Right, that would be better.’

That was because the dead ones weren’t able to swim. They would have more chances to survive then.

But it wasn’t easy. Now was when the sea was at its coldest.. In addition there were many that were accompanied by babies and children. It was doubtful if small kids would be able to endure the swim.

“Prepare to fight.” Blotan ordered the warriors. They weren’t attacking the evacuees. The dead ones were flocking over.

The evacuees hit the gates and there were some that tried to climb it. The cries of the kids shook their heads.

But it was then that it happened.

A light shone in the sky and everyone turned to look at it reflexively. The evacuees that were crying in tears all shut their mouths, like a lie.

It was a beautiful swan, covered in blue light. The swan, that seemed more valiant than graceful, turned its body in the sky. Then it transformed into a beautiful woman and stood in the sky with dignity.

“Valkyrie!”

“It’s a Valkyrie!” The people that were above and below the fortress all yelled. The Valkyrie – Ingrid, who was still covered in blue light, looked down at Blotan.

“I’m Valkyrie Ingrid. What’s your name?”

“I’m Blotan, son of Erik.” Blotan looked up at Ingrid and said with a hardened expression. Blotan faced the business-like and cold face of Ingrid and then she said with a hard tone, “Blotan, son of Erik, Valkyrie Ingrid orders you. Open the gates and receive the evacuees.”

“Ohh!”

“Ohhh!” The evacuees cheered. And some of the soldiers that were on the fortress also raised their voices unconsciously.

“Bu, but!” Blotan yelled hurriedly. Even if it was the order of a Valkyrie, there were orders which he should and should not follow. The most important thing for Blotan was the safety and the lives of the people residing in Katren.

Some soldiers expressed concern at Blotan’s resistance and some of the evacuees started to criticize Blotan.

However Ingrid was different. She showed a faint smile that hadn’t been seen until then.

“Blotan, son of Erik, you are a brave one.”

The evacuees got bewildered and put on a difficult face.

Ingrid was speaking sincerely. It wasn’t easy to deny the orders of a Valkyrie in this world where everyone knew that God’s and Valhalla existed. However he wasn’t acting that way out of selfish desire.

That was why Ingrid didn’t dislike Blotan. She said with an eased voice as if comforting him, “Open the gates. The thing you are worried about won’t happen.”

Ingrid turned to look at the evacuees. She put on the dignified face again and yelled, “Humans of Midgard! Don’t fear! Keep in line calmly! The warriors of Valhalla have come to protect you!”

Everyone turned their eyes. Then they saw a big flying ship crossing through the dead ones. They all held their breaths at the grand appearance of the flying ship.

“Open the gates Blotan, son of Erik.” Ingrid said lastly and Blotan didn’t resist any further. He opened the gates of Katren himself.

“Valhalla!”

“Valhalla!”

“Ohh Odin!” The evacuees yelled and entered the fortress. It seemed like it was because they had witnessed the miracle of the Valkyrie and the warriors of Valhalla, as no one was fighting to get inside first. So there was obviously no one that got crushed to death.

Ingrid let out a sigh of relief and then turned to look at the battlefield and ended up smiling unconsciously.

“It’s really eye-catching.”

It was because it was the combination of a coolly armed gryphon and a big army flag.

Ingrid mistook it as being a sacrifice for the Goddess, instead of being a struggle to get more newcomers, and smiled. Looking at how hard he was working she also got the heart to help others as the one that served a God.

“Look! The one at the front is the warrior of Idun!”

“Idun?”

“The Goddess of Youth?”

“Idun-nim also had warriors?”

The evacuees and the soldiers all became confused and looked at the direction Ingrid pointed at. The ones that had good eyesight could recognize that the army flag had a golden apple engraved in it.

‘This much should be enough.’

Was it pushing his back a bit?

Ingrid looked at Tae Ho’s back along with the thousand evacuees.

&

Tae Ho didn’t fight randomly, but checked the terrain. At first glance it seemed like a wide plain, but that wasn’t the case. There were several obstacles like small forests, rivers, etcetera, that impeded your movement.

What Tae Ho had to do now was to protect. It was to not let the dead ones reach the evacuees.

[The Faintly Burning Morning Runefang]

Tae Ho took out Runefang for the first in a really long time. It was because the fire was more effective against dead monsters.

“Let’s go, Rolo!”

Rolo, which got dragged while eating, fought roughly, as if wanting to take it onto the dead ones. Although he didn’t use his beak; his claws were already enough.

The dead ones weren’t warriors. They were normal people that died because of a disease. Tae Ho tried hard to get colder. When a kid that was half rotten showed his teeth and charged towards him, he still swung his sword calmly.

The fire that surged from Runefang covered the dead ones. As the warriors of Valhalla jumped down from the flying ship, they were able to stop the charge of the dead ones even though there were only eight of them.

The warriors of Valhalla didn’t group up, but fought scattered. As there were more dead ones trying to get past the gates, they had to attack without resting.

Tae Ho created the fifth fire with Runefang and then looked at the dead ones with the ‘Eyes of the Dragon’. It was to grasp how many there were but he saw an unexpected thing.

He saw really small green letters among the red letters, as if it was covered by them. After focusing more, he saw that there were people defending themselves on top of a broken house. They were facing the dead ones that were gathering in their direction in an isolated place.

“Captain Siri! I will entrust it to you!”

“What?!”

Siri, who was firing her crossbow and swinging her sword without resting, turned to look at Tae Ho. Tae Ho just glanced into the distance without explaining and then departed with Rolo.

SIri didn’t know what Tae Ho was about to do. But she still chose to trust in him. She fought more fiercely to defend her spot, which had widened twice more.

Tae Ho counted the number of the dead ones. Although Rolo was fast, they were still far away. It seemed as if the ones that were surrounded would be cornered by the dead ones at any time.

He had to increase his speed. As he was already using ‘The One That Controls Dragons’ and ‘The Charge of the Warrior’, he only had one method to do it with.

“Rolo! I’m sorry! I still couldn’t test it on another being!”

Rolo flinched when Tae Ho yelled. Although he couldn’t understand what he was saying, those words were really ominous.

“If it doesn’t turn out well I will take res…Let’s go!”

Tae Ho couldn’t finish saying that he would take responsibility. Rolo wanted to yell at him to explain properly but he couldn’t speak in the first place, and in addition Tae Ho was faster.

[Saga: The Warrior That Rides on Valkyries]

Tae Ho activated his saga. Then a feather decoration appeared on Rolo’s head just like what had happened with Adenmaha. Idun’s blessing and the strength of a Valkyrie was added to Rolo.

Rolo trembled while increasing his speed. Tae Ho turned to look at Rolo with ‘The Eyes of a Dragon’.

[The First Male Valkyrie(Temporary)]

[Rolo]

He was glad. Tae Ho laughed refreshingly and Rolo let out a roar that was like a curse and flew with more strength.

The distance shortened in a blink. Tae Ho arrived at the peak of the broken house and then swung his sword to burn down the dead ones that were climbing the house. Looking at it more closely, he could see that the ones that were trapped were a beautiful woman and three children.

“Are you okay?!”

“I, I’m fine!” The woman, who was estimated to be a shield maiden, and who was fighting fiercely to protect the children, yelled. It was a black haired woman, which was seen rarely among Vikings. Tae Ho could know how much she had suffered just by looking at her half-destroyed shield and her dirty armor.

Tae Ho swung his sword once more and landed Rolo on top of the house. He made the children , who were wearing high-quality clothes, although a bit ripped, ride on Rolo and then turned to look at the woman.

“Get on, the gryphon will take you to the fortress.”

The woman put on an absent-minded expression at Tae Ho’s words. However she then hit her cheeks and asked hurriedly, “And wa, warrior-nim?”

Although Rolo was big, he wasn’t able to carry three children and two adults. After making the woman ride on him Tae Ho had to inevitably stay behind in the house.

However, Tae Ho shook his head onc,e as if telling her not to worry and emphasized the most important thing.

“I’m Idun’s warrior.”

“And I,Idun’s warrior-nim?!” The woman said again with a bewildered face. He liked the fact that she worried about the benefactor that saved her instead of fleeing first and also that she had protected the three children when it was even hard to protect herself.

However, there was no time to explain one by one and it was embarrassing to keep speaking in this acting tone. Because of that Tae Ho just placed his lips on the forehead of the woman, who still had childish features, instead of explaining any more.

“Let Idun’s blessing accompany you.”

As he had used the power of a God, a golden light shone on the forehead of the woman for a moment. She looked back at Tae Ho with a really surprised face but then flushed and nodded. She hurriedly got on Rolo and grabbed the reins.

“Go Rolo!”

“I will be waiting for you in the fortress! Idun’s warrior-nim!” The woman yelled with a moved expression and the children behind her also yelled something. While only Rolo wore a dissatisfied expression, Tae Ho waved his hand once and turned to look at the dead ones.

Actually, escaping wasn’t that hard. He could just transform into a hawk.

But he had already entered deep into the forest. Charging towards the fortress and getting rid of the dead ones at the same time would also be of help to the other warriors.

[Saga: The Charge of a Warrior is Like a Storm]

Tae Ho was accompanied by lightning and storm and jumped down the tower. He spread fire with Runefang and charged between the dead ones. No one could stop Tae Ho, as if it really had become the original story of the saga.

And there were eyes that were looking at Tae Ho from a far place.

They were eyes filled with anger and hatred, rather than amazement.

< Episode 22 – Saga (4) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~

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