Chapter 145: Chapter 145 - Trap
"Let’s document everything first," Maxim suggested.
Even with the king’s personal guarantee, they knew promises meant little without proof. If this was a trap, evidence would be their only defense.
Lucien summoned a swarm of Gargoyle Drones.
Stone wings whirred as they scattered across the sky, recording every detail.
– the barren stretch of land beyond their kingdom’s border.
– the endless tide of monsters massed behind the opposite wall.
– the conspicuous absence of the federation’s stationed soldiers.
"This will stand as evidence," Maxim said grimly. "Proof that we acted only if forced."
Just then... the earth shuddered.
The horde stirred and began to march in eerie unison. Dust trembled with each step.
"Ready the airship ballistae!" Edric barked.
The airships climbed higher. The massive bolts angled down, ready to strike.
But the monsters halted again.
Edric slammed his fist on the railing. "Damn it! They’re toying with us!"
Lucien’s eyes narrowed. That pause wasn’t instinct. It was command.
And then he saw it.
The Black Tortoise of the North emerged. Its colossal shell was bound by a living serpent of shadow. It floated in the air and its crimson eyes burned with madness.
Lucien’s chest tightened.
"Uncle Ed," he said, "I haven’t recorded it in the notes. But that tortoise is dangerous. If we fire, it’ll turn every shot back on us."
Edric’s eyes widened. "You’re certain?"
Lucien nodded.
He had fought alongside this creature before in the world inside the murals. Long-range weapons would only spell disaster.
He exhaled a bitter laugh.
"This feels like we’ve wandered into a cursed tower-defense game."
The airship dipped and settled close to the wall.
Lucien tightened his grip on his new weapon. It’s a masterpiece forged by Seren herself.
Morphis. Born of living alloy essence, it could become anything he willed.
But before he could ready it, the air shifted.
A thunder of wings split the sky. Flying chariots burst through the clouds.
"Reinforcements?" Lucien asked.
Edric’s frown deepened. "Those aren’t ours. I don’t recognize them."
Soldiers along the wall straightened in uncertainty.
The chariots descended as if to land beside them. A ripple of relief passed through them... until the formation suddenly veered, streaking past the wall.
Maxim’s face drained of color. "No... stop them! They’re trying to break the treaty!"
Too late.
The chariots crossed the border.
And then... they dropped their cargo.
Lucien’s eyes widened. "Bombs—!"
The horizon erupted in light and thunder. Shockwaves tore through the monster ranks. The detonations swallowed the beast and earth alike.
But Lucien’s heart sank. These weren’t ordinary bombs. He felt it. They were crafted for something worse.
And he was right.
The horde roared and their discipline shattered. A frenzy overtook them and bloodlust burned in their eyes.
The monsters descended on the chariots in a ravenous surge. The riders never stood a chance. they... were shredded to nothing but screams and ash.
Maxim’s face hardened in horror. "They were sacrificial pawns. Sent to die."
"To make it look like we broke the treaty," Edric’s fists trembled.
Lucien clenched his jaw.
The truth was undeniable now. Every step had been arranged.
As if on cue, the monsters turned as one and charged. Their collective roar rattled the very stones beneath the wall.
The trap had been sprung.
...
The monsters roared and the earth quaked beneath their charge. Dust and ash rolled across the horizon like a black tide of bloodlust.
"Loose everything we have!" Edric bellowed.
The walls erupted in flame and steel. Arrows hissed downward. Spells flared like falling stars.
Above, airships groaned as soldiers cranked massive ballistae and unleashed bolts as thick as tree trunks.
The volley struck—
BOOM!
The Black Tortoise’s shell flashed. A ripple of force burst outward and every bolt curved back in midair.
"Down!" Maxim shouted.
The redirected projectiles slammed into the wall. Maxim created the perfect barrier just in time.
Edric spat. "That thing’s a fortress unto itself!"
"Told ya."
The horde howled louder, emboldened by the failed strike. The true clash had begun.
Lucien didn’t hesitate anymore.
He jumped over the walls.
Lucien’s expression hardened and his eyes narrowed to blades. The calm Lucien was gone.
What stood there now was something else. Something honed by ninety-nine lifetimes of war.
He stepped forward with Morphis in hand. His aura rolled across the battlefield like a gathering storm. For a heartbeat... the monsters faltered.
Lucien opened his eyes fully and drew a slow breath.
The scene before him was all too familiar.
The battlefield thundering with chaos. Thousands of monsters surging like a living ocean. Each step shaking the earth.
Lucien stood unmoved. His gaze was steady.
Morphis pulsed in his grip. The steel became alive beneath his fingers.
The weapon stretched, bent, snapped into a new shape. A bow now gleamed in his hands, etched with runes that hadn’t existed a moment before.
Lucien inhaled again. His vision sharpened. His heartbeat slowed.
He remembered.
The 5th life.
He had been an elf called the Bowmaster of the Verdant Glades. They had taught him the secret of conjuring arrows from raw mana. Arrows that carried the will of the caster.
The will to protect... or the will to annihilate.
He drew back on Morphis. A shaft of divine energy shimmered into being, glowing with unstable power.
Lucien let go.
The divine energy arrow screamed through the air, splitting into dozens mid-flight like a storm of comets.
They slammed into the horde, exploding with devastating precision. Shockwaves tore through claw and fang as it shredded monsters in swathes. The ground was left cratered as black smoke billowed where they once stood.
But he didn’t pause.
The bow rippled, reshaping. The bow melted into a massive, jagged axe. Fit for a barbarian.
Lucien smirked faintly. ’The 12th life... A barbarian chief among the northern tribes.’ He spun the axe and cleaved through a beast twice his size. He severed its limbs with brutal efficiency.
A spear followed. Then a whip. Then a twin-blade.
Each transformation called forth the echoes of the mural-world he had endured. Every strike carried the weight of ninety-nine lifetimes of mastery.
The monsters staggered.
One man... yet he felt like an army.
From the walls, soldiers watched in stunned silence as fear turned to a roar of hope.
Lucien stood amid the corpses. Morphis was dripping with blood and divine energy.
His breathing was steady and his eyes were alight with grim exhilaration.
"More." he muttered to the sea of monsters still advancing.
And with that, he charged forward...
Instinct. Intelligence. Strength. Tactics. Etc.
He wielded them all.
He dodged attacks he never saw. He struck at blind spots a heartbeat before they opened.
He became a machine built for slaughter.
A sovereign born to dominate.
"It’s either you kneel," he said, "or you die by my hand."
Suddenly...
The Black Tortoise loomed before him in an instant. Its vast shadow swallowed the battlefield.
It struck.
Lucien slipped aside in instinct.
Something was wrong.
The creature’s movements lagged behind its intent as if its body and mind were at war.
Then—
’Please... kill me.’
The voice echoed directly in his head.
Lucien froze.
The tortoise lunged again. He dodged.
’I can’t control this body. My soul is corrupted. The only way to end it... is to kill me.’
A blinding light seared his vision. Memories not his own poured in like a flood.
Four ancient guardians.
Protectors of the land.
When their lifespans ended, they would die and return as eggs, reborn to guard the world again.
But then...
Ashreth.
A phoenix who had learned to cheat death. He possessed bodies, leaping from host to host whenever his time ran out.
The Azure Dragon of the East had fallen first. Its essence was devoured by him and its rebirth was denied.
The White Tiger of the West discovered the betrayal and prepared for it. It ended its own life and sealed itself as an egg that vanished into the unknown.
The Black Tortoise had done the same...
...but Ashreth found the egg.
He took it.
He bound it.
Now the guardian’s soul was chained and its body was now enslaved.
And Lucien understood. The mighty creature before him was not an enemy at all but a prisoner begging for release.
The only reason the Black Tortoise could reach his mind at all was because it housed two consciousnesses.
The tortoise...and the serpent coiled around its shell. Separate, yet bound as one.
That entwined snake was more than ornament... it was a second soul.
And in this brief moment, it was the serpent’s mind that pushed through the corruption, letting the tortoise’s true voice reach Lucien.
...
Lucien exhaled. The weight of the vision pressed on his mind.
He believed the tortoise’s plea.
How could he not? After all, he had seen their species before in the world inside the murals.
The Guardians.
The protectors of the land.
Pity stirred in his chest.
A noble creature... enslaved.
He raised Morphis.
And he moved.
Their battle shook the earth.
Elsewhere, Viper rallied the soldiers. Their blades flashed as they cut through the remaining horde.
Edric and the others waded into the chaos, holding the line.
Steel met fang.
Magic split the sky.
At last, Lucien struck the final blow.
Morphis which transformed into a long staff broke its shell.
’Thank you...’ The Black Tortoise’s voice whispered in his mind as its colossal form shuddered. Light spilled from the cracks in its shell.
Lucien heard kill-confirmation from the system.
Then the Black Tortoise’s Body collapsed inward. It glowed brighter and brighter until all that remained was a single obsidian-streaked egg.
Lucien snatched it before it could drift skyward. He slid it into his MONSTERDEX.
Lucien sighed.
"The White Tiger. It must be Byakko. And the Azure Dragon. Its essence had become a drop. He was alive once more in the name of Seiryu. And now, the Black Tortoise rests in my hands. The Phoenix... that’s the only one left."
He let out a low laugh.
"What a twisted fate," he murmured.
Across the battlefield, the horde wavered.
With their guardian dead, the monsters began to break and scatter.
Lucien’s eyes hardened.
Retreat would not save them.
Morphis shifted in his hands, lengthening, thickening until... It became a heavy cannon etched with runes.
Divine energy gathered at the core as it hummed like a captive star.
He took aim.
The first shot ripped the air apart.
Then another.
And another.
Each blast found its mark with surgical precision. Explosions rippled across the fleeing ranks. Shockwaves turned the day into a storm of fire and ruin.
But then—
Something changed.
The blood of the fallen monsters began to rise.
At first it was a trickle. Then, all at once, every crimson drop is lifted into the air... streaming together in a swirling torrent.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed. "What—"
The blood spun faster and it was dragged toward a vast magic circle etched deep into the battlefield’s soil.
It’s something he hadn’t sensed until now...
A sudden pulse of dark light flashed across the plains.
Then came the explosion.
Far off, beyond the wall... A column of fire blossomed on the horizon, right where the federation’s villages lay.
The shockwave carried the stench of scorched earth.
Lucien’s heart lurched.
A cold dread crawled up his spine.
He understood instantly.
"Oh... shit," he breathed. "We’ve been had."
His gaze hardened.
"What a ruthless move. They’ll think we destroyed those villages. The perfect frame."
The wind howled over the silent wall, carrying the echo of distant screams.