Free Web NovelChapter 476: 477 (The Lullaby of Dawn)
The burrow was illuminated by the soft, green luminescence of phosphorescent moss. Upon a chair fashioned from sturdy, interwoven roots, a Valkyrie sat cradling a small life wrapped in spider-silk cloth. Her melodious voice drifted through the air, singing an ancient lay of silver wings piercing through storms, filling every corner of the warm subterranean room with a soothing melody.
♫ Hush now, darling, my little Asura The Creator’s voice is calling for you If the clouds refuse to leave our sky He shall tear them asunder with hands held high Mother gives you all she never knew Though the world outside is dark and cruel Fear not the shadows at the door For the Monster watches by my side forevermore ♫
She gazed down at the flushed face of the infant in her arms with eyes that radiated infinite love, yet possessed a fortitude born of grief. This baby was the firstborn of her husband—a gallant Asuran warrior whose blood had now merged with the soil of the Old Battlefield. In the adjacent chamber, two other wives carried the same seed, all of them bearing the weight of loss amidst the fires of war.
War had claimed a husband and a father, but in Wilwatikta, death in battle was not a thing to be lamented. The families left behind would instead cheer upon hearing that a loved one had fallen on the field. To them, it meant the soul they loved had achieved eternity in The One’s Heaven, fighting in an everlasting battle alongside the legendary monsters who had gone before them.
How could they not rejoice, when their loved one now fought side-by-side with heroes like Laya and Hoddurt? How could they not exult, when a battle beyond reason and imagination was now theirs to enjoy forever?
Because of this, the Valkyrie did not grieve, let alone mourn her husband’s passing. On the contrary, she felt that she was the unfortunate one, forced to remain in this mortal realm to await her time. She only hoped that there were still battles left in this world capable of sating her own thirst for combat. While it could never match the grandeur of the battles in The One’s Heaven, it would be enough to kill the boredom while she waited her turn.
She felt incredibly fortunate to have been chosen as a valkyrie, a destiny that none of her other siblings experienced. Long before donning the silver armor of a valkyrie, she had been nothing more than a lowly goblin. She knew all too well that in this world, the goblin race had no bright future, doomed to end up as construction laborers or civil project workers. To alter her bleak destiny, she took a desperate gamble and underwent the highly lethal process of Mana Cream Cultivation. Miraculously, she survived and emerged safely. That sacrifice bore fruit; she evolved into a hobgoblin, possessing far more massive strength.
Following her transformation, her father moved quickly to arrange matches for her with numerous young hobgoblins who were handsome and of attractive disposition. However, to her, becoming a hobgoblin was not the final destination. She was acutely aware that no matter how strong a hobgoblin became, they could never match the majesty of a valkyrie, who was capable of manipulating mana on par with high-level mages. Grounded in this principle, she flatly rejected every proposal and arranged match that came her way.
Her defiance turned her father and siblings against her, bringing heavy pressure to bear. Day after day, they lectured her relentlessly, boasting of the hobgoblin race’s greatness and their magnificent history of glory, while urging her to give up on her dream of becoming a valkyrie. She was well-aware of that history, but she also understood its dark underbelly clearly: at their core, the hobgoblin race was weak.
On a true battlefield, they could never enjoy the authentic essence of combat. They were merely cheap commodities deployed as cannon fodder, bait to lure the enemy, or simple trap-layers. For a hobgoblin to engage in a proper one-on-one duel with a powerful adversary was nothing short of a pipe dream.
Yet, her stubborn patience and unwavering resolve finally paid off in full. She managed to marry an Asura and after becoming pregnant with their first baby, she transformed into a valkyrie. From that exact second, she finally gained the grand stage of combat she had long yearned for. Now, her blood coursed with impatience for the next great war—a luxury of battle she could never have tasted had she resigned herself to fate and remained a hobgoblin.
For now, however, her most vital task was to lull the future warrior in her arms to sleep.
The mother’s voice rose again in a soft lilt, like a gentle whisper.
♫ Have I told you of the strongest monster? The King who carves fate, erasing all mana Waking the wretched Orcs, making them the Dawnmist Do you hear it? The vibration between the stone walls? That is the voice of Moku, binding us as one He built a kingdom, a blessed nation Where every dream becomes reality ♫
Behind the mother’s back, a massive ventilation shaft stared straight toward the sky of Bitter Maja. The sky, usually the color of burnished copper, was now choked by unnatural, somber clouds.
Rumble... The earth beneath their feet vibrated rhythmically. A wooden cup on the table rattled, and fine dust trickled down from the burrow’s ceiling. It was not a mere earthquake. It was the vibration of millions of marching feet and the leathery wingbeats of the Demon Legion parading above them, carrying an aura of death so thick it permeated deep into the soil.
Yet, the Valkyrie did not flinch. She did not turn toward the darkening window, nor did she allow her pitch to waver. Her fingers gently stroked the forehead of the infant, who had grown restless from the tremors of war. The baby’s eyes fluttered open, looking weary yet anxious, as if he too could sense the great peril drawing near.
Despite this, the mother’s voice continued to chant with utter tenderness.
♫ Hush now, darling, my little Asura... For the Monster watches by my side. ♫
Seeing her child’s eyes grow heavy, the mother’s smile softened further. Even so, her heart hammered against her ribs. The vortex of mana swirling nearby had brought forth a shroud of deathly clouds. She knew a great war was about to begin—a war against an enemy so potent that victory seemed an impossibility. They only needed to endure and buy time until their "KU" returned.
However, the mother was also aware that the kingdom’s internal state was fraying. The Hobgoblin strike that ended in Ez’s massacre had left a pall of gloom over the capital. Though she held no high rank, she was not blind; she saw that their kingdom stood on the precipice of collapse, squeezed by threats from both without and within Wilwatikta itself. freewebnoveℓ.com
As a Valkyrie, she did not know fear; she would welcome the chance to face a powerful foe. But what if that enemy was her own neighbor? As a Valkyrie of human descent, she knew the house next door was inhabited by a Hobgoblin whose wife had recently divorced him to marry an Asura. The hatred radiating from her neighbor’s eyes every time he saw a Valkyrie felt like a sharp blade against her skin.
The encroaching storm clouds seemed to be the personification of Wilwatikta’s looming destruction. The mother could only plead and pray to The One for Moku’s swift return. She was certain that if their King came home, everything would be alright. She did not care if she had to die, but as a mother, she wished to see her son grow into a powerful Asura. That was the greatest pride of a Valkyrie. But if Wilwatikta fell, there would be no place for her son to flourish. They would be hunted by the Mana Species like common game.
The mother’s prayer was answered instantly. A voice suddenly echoed directly in the ears of every inhabitant of Wilwatikta.
[To all monsters of the Wilwatikta Kingdom. I am KU Moku, the strongest monster.]
The mother slowly tilted her head toward the ceiling.
[I’m using the Pandava Power to address all monsters of the Wilwatikta Kingdom. I have mastered the power gained from opening the Sixth Evolution Gate, and with it, I have become the equal of a Level 9 Constellation Mage. My goal is to protect the monster species, my family, and my kind. However, the world wants to exterminate my people. They will not stop until every last one of the monster species is dead. I refuse to let them!]
The gentle smile on the mother’s lips widened, erasing every lingering doubt from her eyes. In her lap, the previously restless infant had now closed his eyes completely. He fell into a deep and peaceful slumber, his breath rising and falling in a steady rhythm alongside the echoes of the strongest monster’s voice resounding throughout the kingdom.
The mother looked down at the infant in her lap once more and sang the final verses of her lullaby.
♫ Sleep now... That sun shall arrive in but a moment. It belongs not to them, but to us. Wilwatikta... forever. ♫
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