He watched helplessly as the Windswordsman charged toward him.
Even as the blade pierced his chest, there was no hatred, fury, or confusion in his eyes.
Only relief.
Yes, yes... At the very last moment—when all the alchemical weapons were blown back by the gale and struck his own men, he suddenly understood everything...
He understood Commander Emystan's intentions.
The commander must have known that alchemical weapons were no match for the Windswordsman... The commander... had another purpose...
From the beginning, the commander had never expected him to capture the Placidium Plains... Yes... There had been another purpose all along...
Heh...
Pfft—as the blade twisted and was pulled free, the Overseer fell straight to the ground.
Yet even as he lay dying, a faint smile still tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Summoning the last of his strength, he struggled to shout out the great slogan:
"Noxus... will prevail...!"
Late that night, on the day of the great victory at the Placidium Plains, off the coast of western Ionia, in the strait east of Feilor.
The largest warship Noxus had deployed since invading Ionia was slowly drawing near.
The local garrison immediately readied flaming arrows to fire. The reinforcements recently arrived from Placidium had taught them that these could ignite some kind of substance aboard Noxian warships.
The guards at the various straits had been reinforced lately, all to prevent those explosive substances from being brought ashore.
"Fire!" At the Centurion's signal, countless flaming arrows shot toward the largest warship.
But... the ship didn't catch fire as they'd expected.
All they saw on its enormous deck was a massive shadow... Something had blocked every flaming arrow.
The light of the flames gradually revealed the true shape of the colossal figure.
It was...
A pitch-black figure, with something like a furnace embedded in its middle, glowing a faint red...
A person...?!
Then, the sound of countless chains snapping rang out at once, shattering the silence of the night.
And after that came an even more terrifying roar...
"Vermin!"
Chapter 56: One Chop! Two Chops! I've Still Got Zombies, Brothers!
If you asked the Noxian soldiers who they feared most right now, they would all answer with the same name without hesitation: Sion.
[Sion]
This hero from an earlier age wasn't some high-ranking general in the present day, nor could he command the lives and deaths of countless soldiers like the current Hand of Noxus, Darius.
He was merely a brutal warlord from a bygone era, "resurrected" through dark magic by the Black Rose, Noxus's dark-magic cabal.
But that was precisely why the fear he inspired ran so deep.
If a Noxian official wanted to put a soldier on trial and take the life of an honored Noxian warrior, they needed good reason. If that soldier had happened to earn some great distinction, the official might even meet considerable resistance during the trial.
At the very least, even if those officials insisted on killing someone—using their power to ignore the rules, or whatever—they would have some reason for doing so.
In short, even the Grand General who ruled the Noxian Empire, Braum Darkwill, wouldn't kill someone for no reason.
But Sion was different.
He never needed a reason to kill, and Noxus's high command would never punish him for it.
Because he was now nothing but a terrifying siege engine... a killing machine that knew only slaughter.
Anyone who dared stand in his way would be mercilessly crushed.
And would Noxus's leaders punish a machine? Would they say something as foolish as, "You've broken the law and must be punished," to a cold machine devoid of reason?
Obviously not.
He could kill anyone he pleased.
So long as he wanted to, and was able.
As at that very moment, when he had been summoned back to life through dark magic and took out his "waking-up grumpiness" on his allies first. The Noxian soldiers who had freed him from his shackles and chains were smashed into pulp by his great axe in a single encounter.
Then he burst out of the cage that had held him—the damned, enormous iron cage, as dark and miserable as a kennel.
With him blocking the flaming arrows, the warship had already drawn very close to shore. Unable to wait any longer, he simply leaped into the sea.
The water, more than three meters deep, barely reached his chest.
He stood well over four meters tall, and his shoulders were nearly two meters across. From a distance, he looked like a terrifying black cube.
He hadn't been this enormous before. Dark magic had remade his body.
After his death, the Black Rose had used some terrible dark magic to make him monstrously huge. His muscles, which had been stiff with rigor mortis for years, had begun moving again—and had become as hard as steel.
He no longer needed food or air. Only one thing kept his body going: flesh and blood.
Under the influence of dark magic, he could produce an endless supply of energy by consuming flesh. Even if he was killed again, the Black Rose could use its dark magic to "resurrect" him a second time.
He was like a machine.
When it stopped, give it fuel; when it broke, replace a part.
Over and over, without end.
"Vermin!"
Even in the sea, Sion ran at a terrifying speed when he went all out.
The moment he reached shore, the earth seemed to tremble beneath his powerful strides.
The Resistance Army troops guarding the strait drew their bows and fired. Their arrows struck him, but it was like scratching an itch.
When ranged attacks failed, the Resistance Army switched to spears and greatswords, shouting as they charged the terrifying monster.
But... that was even more pointless to Sion.
His stride wouldn't stop for anyone. Any "insect" who dared stand in his way would be mercilessly crushed.
He had only one target: the walls, or any other defensive fortifications.
He was the Noxian Empire's most terrifying killing machine, and its most powerful battering ram.
Boom!
Rumble...
The barrier around the strait's encampment was smashed open in an instant, leaving a massive hole. The Resistance Army soldiers nearby were all killed—some crushed beneath the falling rocks, others struck head-on by Sion as he charged.
Sion himself didn't slow down at all.
Crash!
Crash!
One after another, nearly ten watchtowers were smashed to pieces by Sion in just a few minutes.
And that wasn't even the most terrifying part.
The most terrifying thing was... every one of his impacts triggered a violent explosion, unleashing chemical flames and deadly poison gas.
Yes, he had numerous alchemical weapons strapped to his body.
The clay jars were hidden behind him. Flaming arrows couldn't set them off from the front; they would only explode when he crashed into something and the impact shook them violently.
And he—a killing machine who was already dead—wasn't afraid of being burned or poisoned.
This was the true purpose of the Undead Champion, Sion, in war...
This was the true weapon the Pale Lady had given Emystan...
It was a slaughter with no suspense whatsoever...
Everyone would die...
"Blood... war... slaughter!"
Twelve hours after the strait east of Fae'lor Island fell, the next morning, in Placidium, Navori.
Irelia studied the two reports on her desk, her elegant brows drawing tighter and tighter.
Two reports, and both brought bad news.
The one on the left had come from Chen Ce. It said that the Noxian warband he'd intercepted at Reef Strait hadn't been carrying any alchemical weapons. They had most likely fallen for a trap.
The one on the right was an urgent report from the strait east of Fae'lor Island. It had arrived half an hour after Chen Ce's report.
It said... the garrison at the strait had fallen.
Noxus had sent a colossal warship unlike any they'd ever seen, along with at least five ordinary warships.
And the largest warship concealed a terrifying giant—a creature that was neither human nor monster.
He... or rather, it, wasn't afraid of alchemical weapons. It had strapped the clay jars containing them to its back and launched "suicidal charges," destroying every Resistance Army encampment in the area in just a few short hours.
By the time this letter had been delivered by carrier pigeon, the person who wrote it was very likely already dead...
At that moment, Irelia was consumed with regret.
She knew that both she and Chen Ce had fallen for the trap.
Yasuo had already been sent to the Placidium Plains. Even if she sent word now for him to hurry back, the carrier pigeon's flight and his journey would take at least three to five days...
But the Noxian Legion led by that monster could reach Placidium in just two days at full speed...
There was no one left in Placidium who could stop those alchemical weapons...
Things had come to this. They absolutely could not let that monster get anywhere near Placidium...!
With that thought, Irelia rose decisively and threw on her battle robe.
"Karma, help me write to Chen Ce and Yasuo. I'm going to face that monster!"
At this, Karma first nodded, then shook her head.
"We only need to write one letter."
"Hm?" Irelia looked puzzled.
"I have a faster way to contact Chen Ce."
"What?"
"Through the Spirit Realm. He has connected to the Spirit Realm too, and when I gave him a magical shield earlier, I left a mark on him. That means I can send him my thoughts... But I can't reach Yasuo that way."
With that, Karma closed her eyes. Wisps of green Spirit Realm energy, symbols of thought and serenity, gradually shimmered around her.
She didn't need to speak, or even to put the report into words in her mind. This was communication through thought.
Soon, she opened her eyes again. "All right. He's received my thoughts, though I can't guarantee that he'll be able to send his thoughts back to me."
"Good." Irelia nodded gratefully and prepared to leave.
But just then, the Spirit Realm energy around Karma suddenly changed. The wisps turned into brilliant butterflies, which arranged themselves in an orderly fashion before the two women.
Like two short lines of text.
[Don't worry]
[I'll handle everything]
Chapter 57: The Gale Is Coming
Irelia and Karma led Placidium's most elite Resistance Army soldiers toward the battlefield at full speed. As the two forces raced toward each other, it took them just one day to spot a terrifyingly huge figure on the horizon.
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