What Do You Wish For With Murky Eyes: Record of Highserk War - Chapter 35

After eliminating a small group of encountered enemy soldiers, Walm headed straight for the sixth bastion. Assisted by the wind attribute magic, he climbed the slope, leapt over the walls, and swiftly killed enemy soldiers in passing. His body, covered in wounds, surprisingly moved with agility. The overall pain in his body was numbed, possibly from surpassing a certain threshold, and even the broken fingers and ribs felt inconsequential to the current Walm.

A soldier running warned the surrounding troops, and as Walm vanished into the darkness, an archer shot an arrow, which missed its mark. Although the sixth bastion was absurdly vast, the space to deploy troops was limited, and Walm, well aware of the layout of the area, its material transportation zones and excess dirt discharge, knew where the soldiers would be concentrated.

There was no need to engage every soldier. Having obliterated the assembly point of troops near the walls, attention was dispersed. Unluckily, Walm had to separate the upper and lower halves of a Craist soldier who obstructed his path. Finally, he spotted his target.

The camp was densely populated with troops. Under erected tents, supplies and officers rested, while common soldiers lay on the ground under their cloaks. Walm even identified soldiers who were probably enjoying a drink by the remaining campfires. Though some astute non-commissioned officers and veteran soldiers promptly reacted to the commotion, putting on their equipment in haste, more than half of the soldiers remained without armor. Walm witnessed the scene he desired.

“What’s going on? What’s the disturbance?”

“Undead, no, enemy sabotage.”

“Wake up, prepare for battle!”

If it were during a battle, most soldiers would have reacted quickly, but the wear and tear from consecutive intense battles, coupled with the supposed safety of their sleeping quarters within the bastion, dulled the movements of the soldiers. As Walm entered the camp, he overflowed with magical power throughout his entire body. The chilly night air transformed into unbearable heat in an instant.

“Stop him!”

The anguished cry of the Craist soldier echoed, but Walm’s lamentation overshadowed it. Soldiers wielding only swords, spears, and daggers approached Walm in slow motion, but their figures disappeared in an instant.

“Aaargh!”

The swelling azure flames burned the surroundings, riding on the hot air and spreading out. Generals engulfed in flames ran frantically, and soldiers who inhaled the azure flames had their trachea and lungs burned, drowning on the ground. Walm was well aware of what he was doing. Yet, he couldn’t stop himself. The emotions he had suppressed overflowed like a breached dam.

A naked man and woman burst out of one of the tents, consumed by the fire. They were likely in the midst of an intimate moment. Whether it was due to the excitement before the assault or a lapse in judgment, Walm didn’t think it mattered. In a battlefield where tomorrow’s life was not guaranteed, and desires were common among both soldiers and officers, such acts were to be expected.

However, the timing was unfortunate. The battlefield was always unjust. Before you knew it, those around you would die, and then it would be your turn. Walm had experienced that too.

“It’s an attack! It’s an attack!”

“It’s not an ordinary fire; it’s the ‘Ceremonial Bonfire to the Underworld!'”

Continuing to expel the ghostly flames, Walm kept burning the camp. The Craist soldiers, without being able to identify the enemy to fight against, succumbed to the flames, and those out of the reach of the fire tried to escape. The combat skills they had honed, the weapons they relied on, the expected chain of command—all were absent. In the face of the primal fear of fire, everyone was equally terrified.

“Shit, get away, it clings to you, idiot, don’t grab me, stop!!”

“Don’t roll on the ground, the fire is clinging, run, get some distance!!”

Those attempting to extinguish the flames on their comrades, those trying to let their subordinates escape—scenes that would normally make Walm let up, but he continued to unleash the ghostly flames. He was just burning one of the goals he had set in his mind—

—————

Yuuto wandered in the realm between sleep and wakefulness on the cot set up in the tent, tasked with supporting tomorrow’s magic. The immense burden on Yuuto’s mind was evident, having used his skill to bury a vast number of people in the past week.

He managed to get through the days somehow. However, at night, when he was alone, the scenes from the battlefield inevitably haunted him. They were seared onto his eyelids.

Limbs being blown away, blood splattering with screams, and the dense killing intent and hatred directed towards him. When he unleashed magic that left nothing of the enemy, not even the extremities, he was sure that, behind that mask, there were eyes that would never forget Yuuto. He didn’t think it was a wrong judgment. If he didn’t kill the enemy, it would harm many comrades and the Rehauzen Knights he was indebted to.

“Get a hold of yourself. What’s a man going to do with that kind of mindset?”

For the sake of his comrades and his place among them Yuuto couldn’t afford to run away. After several turns that he lost count of, he pulled the thin bedding over his head. When his consciousness finally began to fade, Yuuto’s ears caught a commotion.

“Did the undead manage to break free?”

Sometimes, human corpses turn into undead. Yuuto was a proficient light attribute user and had engaged in the subjugation of undead multiple times. They were magical creatures with significant individual variations, much like humans, and the power fluctuated greatly depending on the original body in which they were based. The resistance of the Highserk Empire soldiers after Yuuto tore open the breach in the rampart was formidable.

“Kill the Three Heroes!!!” With their guts spilled, and limbs severed, Yuuto was genuinely chilled to the bone by the approaching enemy soldiers. Even after a week, that voice still echoed in his ears.

Furthermore, when he heard that the soldiers had turned into an undead, he was reminded of the terrifying aspect of human will. Yuuto sat up from his sleeping cot. If there was trouble, he might lend a hand. Without any prior notice, the entrance of the tent was forcefully thrown open.

“Yuuto!!!”

Makoto rushed in. Even during battles his childhood friend never lost her composure, but now she showed an unusual state that could only be described as panic. Yuuto held his breath.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“The section with the camp and the command post is under attack!”

“Are Ayane and Johanna-san safe!?”

The first person that came to mind was his other childhood friend, and the female knight who had trained Yuuto.

“I don’t know. The area from the third bastion to the sixth bastion is burning extensively, and the information is chaotic.”

Yuuto couldn’t believe that they allowed the enemy to infiltrate to such an extent. At the same time, with the word “burning,” Yuuto felt an ominous premonition and threw open the entrance. It looked as if the walls were on fire. The smell of burning flesh and screams of pain filled the air. Above all, the flames were a sky-like blue.

“I can’t believe it’s a user of «Ignis Fatuus».”

“I don’t want to believe it, but with this blue flame, there’s no mistake, it’s the ‘Ceremonial Bonfire to the Underworld’, right?”

Yuuto voiced the true identity. Undoubtedly, it was the person he had killed. The azure flame that clings and burns to whatever it touches. There was no way he could have mistaken it. At the same time, he wondered why. The words “the one I killed,” the burning of the third bastion, and the words connected, and Yuuto understood. Over the course of a week, he had revived as an undead.

“Makoto, let’s go. Ayane and Johanna-san are in danger.”

With the minimum equipment, Yuuto rushed out.

TL Note:

FYI I’m not switching around Walm’s nicknames because lazy translating, he really just has multiple titles now:

冥府の誘い火 (Meifu no sasoi hi) – Beckoning/tempting fire of the underworld

冥府への送り火 (Meifu e no okuribi)– Ceremonial Bonfire/Send-off Fire to the Underworld

Both seem like a mouthful to yell when your about to die imo.