The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

37 – EP3. Fading Glory

From Noble mtl dot com

He let out a rough breath. Then, he bit his lips, lowered his head, and chuckled softly.

What a damn situation. Dying alone like this is a first.

He quickly regained his composure. He had to pretend to be fine for now. He couldn’t afford to make his allies anxious.

“…It seems the plains are not an option for now.”

“Yes, I agree.”

The commander also mentioned that the plains were dangerous. Despite knowing that the plains were safer, he had to speak as if the plains were dangerous because of that witch.

“In that case, it might be better to take the mountain route… The problem is, we don’t know what to do if the undead launch a surprise attack.”

“Yes, it’s hard to use large-scale magic in the mountains.”

Ainz began to ponder. Going to the plains was out of the question anyway. So, what other options were there?

“…Peria, cast a spell on me.”

“What kind of spell?”

Peria asked him. He closed his eyes tightly and then said,

“Enhanced senses spell. For 24 hours.”

“…What?”

Peria asked as if she couldn’t believe her ears. But he was serious.

“Are you crazy? Then you won’t be able to sleep. You’ll go crazy!”

“…I can handle it.”

Compared to the pain of death, the pain of not being able to sleep was nothing. He thought to himself.

“No, it’s going to be tough. Even someone who can endure pain well finds it difficult to not be able to sleep.”

“And what about just a few days without sleep?”

“Sure, that might be true. If we were staying in a comfortable mansion in the city. But we’re in the middle of marching, and we’re even climbing a mountain. How can you go without sleep for a few days? Huh? Does that make sense?”

“…Then is there no other way?”

“The sensory amplification magic itself is a magic that increases one’s fatigue level significantly. It’s meant to be used only once as a short-term effect.”

“…Then what about combining it with an alarm magic?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just cast sensory amplification magic on me, and when I sleep, use alarm magic to be able to sense enemy movements, can’t I?”

“No, sorry, but sensory amplification magic is not meant to be sustained for a long time. All senses are amplified by dozens of times, and just standing still makes you dizzy.”

“…It’ll be fine. Isn’t it much better than before? I can endure it.”

“…Really?”

Ainzel nodded his head.

“Alright. But if you’re even slightly uncomfortable, you have to tell me immediately. Ah…where did you learn to be so stubborn…”

“Thank you.”

Peria’s face flushed as she said that.

“Quiet! Get ready to go quickly.”

Ainzel called together the soldiers.

“Everyone! We are currently trapped in the enemy’s clutches. However, we have shining determination, spirit, and the desire to live. We will break through the enemy’s clutches and meet our families again to say ‘I’m back.’ We will definitely survive and escape from here!”

He spoke words that lifted the soldiers’ morale, different from last time. It was because traversing the mountain range was arduous. And the words he spoke were also spoken to himself.

“Waah!”

A cheer erupted, and he began walking at the front with the holy sword tightly gripped in his hand.

This time, he would definitely survive. Just like always.

The trees reaching towards his dangerous touch began to engulf them into a mountain where not even the starlight of the night sky could be seen.

After a few hours, he and his soldiers decided to set up camp. They didn’t light a fire. The risk of the enemy discovering them through the light and smoke was too great. Their meal consisted of only dried jerky and biscuits, and they couldn’t even eat their fill.

That’s how they managed to safely get through the first day.

And after how long had passed since most of them fell asleep, the alarm magic began to ring.

“What the f*ck!”

Lena was the first to react to the sound. The fairy had sharp ears.

Everyone quickly stood up and grabbed their weapons, and Angel also got up.

“What is it? They seem a bit too fast to be undead.”

Sein said.

Angel hardened his expression.

He used a small miracle to illuminate the surroundings with a faint light.

“… What is that?”

The people looked at the strange enemies who were neither undead nor could be called living creatures.

And when the people expressed their doubts about the identity of the enemy, he knew their identity.

Clearly, they were the gray soldiers who had tormented him during the siege.

He started sweating. As he realized what the enemies were, those memories came back to him.

The gray soldiers who took advantage of the fatigue of their allies to climb the walls and open the gates. The commander of the enemy who showed a strange obsession, only looking for him as his army followed. And the fire that followed. That agony.

“What a headache.”

Beatrice said.

“Well, should we try using a miracle first?”

“No.”

Angel said. If his expectations were correct, those creatures did not have a significant weakness to divine power like the undead.

“Lena! Try shooting at them once.”

“… It may be difficult because it’s too dark.”

Angel signaled to Peria, and Peria used sensory amplification magic on Lena.

Lena aimed her bow towards the source of the rustling sound and started shooting arrows.

Lena felt the sound of one of the enemies collapsing.

“What is it? It fell.”

However, even when the enemy fell, strangely, it made no sound.

“It doesn’t seem like they are undead.”

She said that while systematically taking care of the enemies one by one. After killing a few, Lena put down her bow.

“… Did they run away?”

Undead creatures don’t run away unless they receive the commands of a high-level monster. The fact that the enemies were not undead became even more certain, and the soldiers began to tremble at this realization.

However, Angel paid more attention to another fact. The fact that the gray soldiers ran away. Through numerous experiences of death, he knew that the longer the fight against the gray soldiers dragged on, the more it would deplete the stamina of his allies. Therefore, the fact that the enemies ran away was a very alarming news for him.

“… Let’s rest and recover our strength for now.”

The enemies didn’t even sense their presence. They moved faster than the undead, and they showed no signs of fatigue. Ainzell had been contemplating the inevitable nightly encounters with them, and it was giving him a headache.

They resumed their march. The foes that appeared every night were enough to wear out their allies. However, marching at night was not an option either. Walking on mountain paths at night was a highly perilous endeavor, and as a result, they depleted their stamina night after night.

“…Is there no other way?”

Ainzell began to ponder. Going around the mountain range like this felt like being hunted down no matter how he thought about it. Being surrounded by the undead forces, dying without anyone knowing, was one thing, but this time, it felt like slowly tightening a noose around his neck.

“…Alright.”

He came up with a plan, an incredibly risky gamble.

“We’re going this way.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

Peria looked at him with a strange expression. He remained silent.

“Is it because the journey has been too strenuous for you, Sir Ainzell?”

Beatrice started to genuinely worry about him. He spoke up.

“No, I just think that at this rate, we’ll run out of stamina and become prey.”

“No matter how annoying the enemies are, it’s still better than heading here to avoid gnats, right?”

Lena also began to voice her opinion.

“But going this way to avoid gnats is… isn’t it a bit too much?”

Ainzell shook his head. It was a carefully considered plan.

“No, going directly into the territory of the ‘Catastrophe,’ who is considered a calamity in this continent, to avoid a few enemy units… It’s a bit…”

Lena said.

The place Ainzell suggested going to was the territory of the Lich King, who held a place among the top three catastrophes in the continent.

“Do you have any idea how many countries have fallen because of that lunatic? You might not know, but the Lich King has killed more people than the Demon Lord, probably.”

The undead army led by the Lich King was the embodiment of terror.

Unlike other undead, they were like ‘running’ death itself.

They pursued the enemy by riding skeletal horses and through the ‘Night Eyes’ with giant wings and huge eyes, they would definitely kill them.

Those who were killed in this way would turn into undead, and the undead themselves would trample the land they had once loved.

A black ocean that hides a city under its shadows, and a monster that can build a house in one step, rivaling a Titan.

From Noble mtl dot com

Ainzell had declared that he would go into the maw of the Lich King.