Free Web NovelChapter 475: Chapter 474: Don’t forget your promise
Azar stood frozen in place.
At the front of the platform were hundreds of people, all staring at him with fury and hatred in their eyes.
Scars that refused to heal covered their bodies, every injury carrying a story of suffering.
Some were missing limbs.
Some had lost an eye.
Others were missing ears.
And so on.
Their faces were rough and weathered, many with white beards and short-cut hair.
These were veterans, people who had sacrificed almost everything.
Most no longer had families or anything left to lose.
Because of that, they could speak freely without fearing execution or retaliation against loved ones.
Some had contributed so much to the war effort that they believed even if the worst happened, the Federation would at least protect what remained of their families.
Their frustration...
Their anger...
Their grievances...
All came pouring out at once.
"What more do you want?!"
"You took my daughter from me and violated her until she couldn’t even breathe!"
"You tortured my family!"
"You broke my old bones!"
One after another, the veterans shouted.
Although they were not truly speaking to Azar himself, they were speaking to what he represented.
At that moment, Azar realized something.
To them, he was not another human being.
He was simply a noble.
His hands trembled slightly as a sharp pain gripped his heart, his face twisting with emotion.
Why...?
Why had the nobles done all this?
Were they not even worse than the mana-devouring beasts they fought against?
This was simply too cruel.
From their voices, Azar could hear their cries for freedom...
Their pleas for basic human rights.
Cries that had been suppressed and buried for countless years.
"I’m sorry..." Azar spoke softly as he watched some of the veterans burst into tears.
The ship trembled slightly as it moved alongside thousands of others toward the frontline.
The others comforted those who had broken down crying.
Eventually, they all ignored Azar.
After all, this kid was not personally responsible for their suffering.
At least... not yet.
But in the future, they believed he would simply become another noble who followed in his ancestors’ footsteps.
For now, however...
He was still just a child.
"I will... fix this," Azar said, his voice trembling slightly.
The veterans paused.
"Hahaha! Is this the joke of the century?" one of them asked.
His face was covered in scars and old wounds that refused to fade.
He only had one eye, and one of his legs was badly mutilated.
"A noble saying he’ll fix this?" the man mocked.
With the support of several injured comrades, the veteran slowly moved closer until he was eye level with Azar.
"Fix this...?" the man repeated with a self-deprecating smile.
"If this could have been fixed, your ancestors would’ve done it already."
"Go home, kid, and enjoy your miserable life," the man spat.
His saliva rolled down the expensive battle armor Azar wore.
"Tell me how..." Azar asked firmly.
"What can I do to prove to you that I truly want to change this world?"
The veterans fell silent.
"You still dare speak while wearing that?" someone suddenly shouted.
Then....
Clack. Clack.
Azar began removing his enchanted battle suit piece by piece, letting each part fall heavily onto the platform.
Everyone froze in shock.
After all, it was common knowledge that the battle suits given to nobles could withstand attacks from Tier 4 mana-devouring beasts.
For Tier 3 Magi, it was practically a second life.
Yet Azar removed it willingly.
Not only that...
He picked up the armor and threw it off the platform.
The expensive suit vanished into the sands hundreds of meters below.
"Look at me!" Azar shouted loudly.
"I’m one of you now!"
"I’m just like everyone else! Giving everything I have! No second life! No protection! We all bleed the same, and if this war turns bad, we’ll all die together!"
The veterans remained silent.
Perhaps they were too shocked.
Or perhaps they simply could not believe a noble would actually do something like this.
After all, if he truly wanted them to fight and die for him, he did not need to go this far.
---
The journey lasted an hour.
The entire ride was filled with silence until the ships finally began descending.
The hovering platform stopped several meters above the ground.
"Disembark!" a loud voice rang out.
The veterans glanced toward Azar before jumping down.
Across the thousands of ships, humans leapt down one after another.
Their feet landed not on sand...
But upon corpses.
The bodies of comrades and mana-devouring beasts littered the battlefield endlessly.
Blood flowed like rivers.
The growls of mana-devouring beasts echoed constantly while roars filled with agony rang throughout the battlefield.
Azar followed behind them.
The moment everyone crossed over a hill, the sight before him completely shocked him.
As far as the eye could see, countless corpses covered the battlefield like mountains.
Humans fought desperately against the mana-devouring beasts. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Once their mana was exhausted, they grabbed bones, broken weapons, or anything they could find and smashed the incoming monsters with sheer desperation.
Spells powerful enough to destroy entire cities were being cast far across the battlefield.
Every now and then, mushroom-shaped clouds rose in the distance as violent shockwaves and raging winds swept across the land, pushing humans backward.
"Welcome to the battlefield, kid," one of the veterans said teasingly as he looked at the shocked noble.
Not only him, the others also stared at Azar.
Now they were certain his true character would reveal itself.
Surely he would run back to the camp in fear like every other noble.
But unexpectedly...
Azar was the first to rush forward.
"Did we make a mistake...?" one of the veterans muttered as they watched the lone youth charge directly into the chaos.
"Gais bishi nikele... musacovelob..." Azar chanted as the mana in the atmosphere was pulled violently toward him.
Then Azar leapt into the air.
"Asamba!" Azar roared.
Dark clouds formed instantly as lightning as thick as a man descended from the sky, striking the mana-devouring beasts at the frontline.
The nearby Tier 3 Magi froze in shock, their expressions filled with disbelief.
One of the greatest differences between commoners and nobles was resources.
Nobles had access to the very best training, spells, and magical resources.
And most importantly...
They possessed terrifying talent.
The problem was that most nobles were cowards.
Yet at this moment, Azar shattered that image before their eyes.
One Tier 3 mana-devouring beast after another fell beneath his attacks.
Azar did not stop.
He continued charging forward while casting spell after spell relentlessly.
Advanced spells erupted continuously as devastating attacks rained down upon the battlefield one after another.
The ground trembled violently.
Massive craters spread across the battlefield while deep trenches carved through the earth.
Of course, they were only stunned for a brief moment before the veterans joined the battle.
Although they could not unleash destruction on the same scale as Azar, they complemented his attacks by wielding cold weapons as they charged fearlessly into the battlefield.
Azar did not know whether it was because he wanted to prove himself to them...
Or because of what he had seen.
The corpses.
The injuries and scars.
The missing limbs.
The determination burning within their eyes.
None of it could compare to what he had witnessed inside the nobles’ camp.
There, the nobles feasted, drank wine, and enjoyed themselves while the commoners marched onto the battlefield to die.
They entrusted their lives and deaths entirely to the kingdom’s hands.
Leaving behind their families.
Leaving behind everything.
If they could give up this much...
Then what about him?
Why could he not also sacrifice just as much?
With that realization, Azar intensified his attacks as the number of mana-devouring beasts being slaughtered increased rapidly.
Their corpses spread across the battlefield endlessly.
The earth cracked apart.
The skies darkened.
Blood flowed like rivers.
Even when his body trembled...
Even when his mind felt as though it were breaking apart...
Even through the unbearable headaches and blurred vision...
Azar continued fighting.
After all, beside him were people tearing apart the bodies of fallen comrades just to use the remains as weapons against the mana-devouring beasts.
Some even leapt directly onto the monsters, biting with their teeth and clawing desperately with their nails, all in hopes of killing just one more enemy before dying.
Azar no longer knew how long he had been fighting.
Nor how many mana-devouring beasts he had killed.
Eventually, his body became completely overdrawn.
He could barely see anything as exhaustion overwhelmed him and his body collapsed to the ground.
But on a battlefield where people died every minute...
There was no mercy.
Almost instantly, a Tier 3 mana-devouring beast lunged toward him.
"Is this... the end?" Azar thought weakly as he watched the creature’s massive jaws inch closer and closer.
His vision darkened further as his exhausted body slowly surrendered to unconsciousness.
"Kid!!"
A loud roar suddenly echoed through the battlefield.
Azar’s eyes widened slightly.
A massive shadow covered him as the mana-devouring beast was blocked by a giant sword.
"Don’t die on me!"
"You’ve got guts, kid!" the man shouted while laughing wildly.
Azar struggled desperately to remain conscious.
Pushing back the mana-devouring beast, the man charged at it.
But he was not alone.
Around Azar, the veterans surrounded him protectively, shielding him in the center.
Azar was so exhausted that he felt death could take him at any moment.
Yet those same veterans who had once glared at him with hatred...
Those same people whose eyes once burned with resentment...
Were now risking their lives to protect him.
Trying to stop him from being killed.
But they were not as strong as Azar.
And many of them were already heavily injured.
Their old wounds reopened.
Their bodies weakened.
Their mana was nearly exhausted.
One after another, they began falling.
"Kid... don’t forget your promise..." the man who had saved Azar earlier spoke as he smiled faintly toward him.
BAMMMMMMMMM!!
A deafening explosion erupted.
The man’s body was torn apart instantly.
"No...!"
And with that...
Azar finally lost consciousness.
