Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 134: "Overrun"

Winter is approaching and it is a little colder around the Tiadras Mountains.

It will snow in a little while.

I ride ahead on my Savage. A little behind me walks Trust.

Fatima wanted to come, but she had to work, so she gave up.

By the way, Savage came here in three days after I contacted him.

Apparently, he had to use up all his energy and strength, and collapsed on arrival and slept for a day, but what was this guy doing in such a desperate hurry?

Well, I don't really care. It's fine that he's motivated.

Our destination is a base a little further into the Tierdras Mountains.

As we passed through the orchards, zombified trolls and orcs were busy carrying our cargo.

The plants here are still producing healthy fruit despite the cooler temperatures, but what's going on? I was thinking about such unimportant things, and reminiscing about the scenery around me.

...I remember there was a barrier around here.

It feels like a long time ago when I went through disguise with mud and rags.

Back then, I still couldn't remember how to manipulate my body.

I've changed too. Whether I have grown up or not is another matter.

The barrier has been rebuilt and is now a magnificent supply station.

Me and the guys I brought with me enter the base.

Inside there was a large collection of food and weapons.

How could they have collected so much?

There are humans mixed in with the zombies, but they are probably slaves I bought sometime ago.

When they saw me, they began to greet and serve me reverently.

I don't care about that.

After giving the people I brought with me weapons as I saw fit, I proceeded onwards.

It seems that the front line base had already been conquered, so we were able to proceed without any particular problems.

The base we arrived at is surrounded by stone walls and looks very sturdy.

Once inside, we saw golems and fully armed soldiers guarding the perimeter.

Some of them see us and approach us.

Two of them are not equipped like the others.

One is the 'white armour' of a Knight of the Holy Temple, and the other is the equipment of a Cathedral Knight who lent it to Rick one day.

I think it was Alex and Dylan.

"We've been waiting for you. I have heard from Fatima."

I nod.

"Are those the reinforcements behind you?"

"Yes, I'm going to give them a bit of work to see what they can do."

Well, this is my first battle.

I've never been in this kind of fight before, will I do well?

We'll see how it goes.

The sun is setting and the night curtains are falling.

Then it's our time.

I - Quoc, goblin warrior second class - smile with my mouth hanging open.

I'm here today to kill you all, you stupid humans.

It all started a couple of seasons back.

One day, the wilderness down the mountain turned into a forest.

I don't know what I'm talking about, but as the saying goes, it suddenly changed.

The forest bore a variety of fruit and we rejoiced in the bounty that had fallen on us.

We goblins are numerous.

If there are many, that means there are many people to eat.

Naturally, we have to compete with each other for food.

That's why the food we get regularly is more important than anything else.

According to those who have eaten it, the taste is unimaginably delicious.

- but the forest was poisonous.

The plants and trees would attack.

The horror of that forest did not stop there.

The forest would bring dead comrades back to life and use them as messengers.

I only heard about it, but the guys who saw it said it was a nightmarish sight.

A man who used to be one of us attacked us with grass growing out of his body.

The guy went crazy and started attacking allies, so they got rid of him.

After that, we couldn't go into the forest.

It's dangerous.

But as soon as we pulled out, the humans started to invade us, led by their dead comrades.

The forest was a trap set by the humans!

It seems that the humans were not only attacking us, but also the trolls and orcs, who became the common enemy of all the races living in these mountains.

But the humans were on the offensive, and we were beginning to be pushed back, albeit slowly.

That's where we, the grade-holders, come in.

10 second-class warriors, 40 third-class and 150 ungraded.

All of them are led by me, Kwok.

If I kill all these people, the king will remember me and I may become first class.

First-class warrior. The highest-ranked warrior in this Shudras.

A smile escapes my lips as I imagine my success.

Then I'll have money, food and women at my disposal.

I'll have a big house and a life with an elf woman.

The mere thought of it is enough to make me swell with emotion.

The current location is on top of a hill overlooking their stronghold.

Humans are an inferior race that can't see in the dark, so they need to light a fire to move at night.

But it's a good landmark for those of us who can see at night.

It's like they're asking us to attack them.

But we must not let our guard down.

If we hit them head-on, it will be a hard fight.

They have iron giants in addition to their reanimated comrades, trolls and orcs.

They are few in number, but they are a difficult enemy that cannot even be wounded by ordinary attacks.

But I know.

I know that the Titans are used by humans.

Then, if you kill the one controlling it, it's just a lump of iron.

The people who have been beaten back so far have been careless.

But not me.

In a few moments, the clouds will cover the moon and true darkness will envelop them.

That will be the end of them.

My men are waiting for that moment.

It's almost time...

Suddenly, my ears catch the sound of multiple footsteps approaching.

If I look closely, I can see several shadows approaching us.

There are about 50 of them.

I laugh.

They're stupid. They came all the way here to be killed.

The humans underestimate us. I'm going to get to the bottom of that, and first I'm going to make them bleed...

"Gah!"

A subordinate who was standing by screams.

When I looked next to him to see what was going on, I saw that my subordinate had taken a hatchet to the forehead and was dead.

They spotted us at this distance!?

I look back and see that the enemy is already close to us.

That's ridiculous! It's too early!

I hurriedly give orders to my men.

"Kill them!"

This is at the same time as the lead enemy jumps into the middle of our huddle.

Screams erupt everywhere.

What the hell is going on...?

They can't see us, so why are they doing this?

The questions are endless, but now is the time to kill the enemy.

I grasped the qatars on my arms and deployed my blades.

I attack the nearest enemy.

The enemy easily repels my attack with his sword and leaps backwards. They move so lightly, are they really human!?

They reveal themselves in front of me.

It was a bizarre figure.

It was human in form, but its head was that of a beast and its legs were black with thin glowing red streaks.

The upper half of its body was naked and the lower half wore only minimal armour.

Several short hatchets hung from its waist.

What is this... human...?

I'm surprised, but I'm on my guard, I'm a first-class warrior...

The moment his eyes seem to glow with a mysterious light, my vision is tainted with darkness.

I cannot see...

The sound of a small wind whistling, the feel of a small wind blowing on my neck, the wind on my cheek and the ground on my cheek, and finally my consciousness was swallowed by the true darkness.

Shrigala's prowess was a great feat.

As soon as they spotted their prey with their high sense of smell, they pounced on them and laid waste to the rest.

They easily killed everyone, despite a several-fold difference in mass.

...The others didn't have a chance.

Well, there will be more prey to catch, and there will be opportunities to play an active role.

The people who went while thinking about that came back.

Riley is in the lead, and several of his former subordinates, the Shrigaras, have returned.

"Gau!"

Riley barks a little and kneels down on the spot, and the others follow suit.

"Good job."

"Gau."

He shakes his head in humility as I exert myself, and reverently offers me the head of the goblin he has brought with him.

It is difficult to see the expression on his face because of the beast's face, but he seems pleased with himself for killing all those goblins, and the corners of his mouth are turned up in the shape of a smile.

"Are you sure it's the head of a grade-holder?"

"Gau."

"Right. What else, by the way?"

"Gau-Gau."

"Equipment stripping? Yeah, I see. Well, then, you'll have to pack up everything you've stripped."

"GauGau?"

"Collecting corpses? Let the corpses deal with the corpses. You go back and rest. We've prepared a meal for you."

"Gau-Gau."

It's good that we can communicate with each other even if we can't speak because of the [communication].

Riley whispered something to his men, then bowed to me and left.

Now, let's extract information from the severed heads they recovered.

I'll pull out the memories from the heads and gather information on the goblin side.

It's easy because I don't have to interrogate them.

Let's see, did the goblins join forces with orcs, trolls and dwarves after all?

The best way to do this is to use the best equipment available.

The footing is also ...... well prepared for them.

However, as usual, the goblins are devoting their main efforts to attacking the elven forests, so the quality of the people who come out is low.

And the grade-holders have only recently started to show up in glimpses.

From the looks of it, it's probably better to deal with the goblins later.

We'll clear out the orcs and trolls first, then deal with the dwarves.

I looked at the doorway to the base and saw Riley heading out to collect the bodies, with plant zombies in tow.

In turn, the Shrigaras return with a large amount of equipment and magical tools.

The loot is stacked in an empty space, and the servants, all former slaves, immediately start checking and listing the items.

What can I say, the roles are so tightly divided that I ...... don't have any room for myself.

...I'll find something to do.

I decided to look around the base at random.

First, there are two golems outside the surrounding stone walls.

They are 5m class iron golems.

I can see some barrel-like objects buried in the torso.

Ah, they have batteries... built in?

There is also a collection point for supplies, a food ration station and even a watchtower.

Incidentally, at the ration station, Shrigala were queuing up and waiting to be handed out food.

Finally, the corpse recycling area.

Slaves were planting seeds in the lined corpses and transforming them into plant zombies.

When the zombies got up, they moved about gingerly and dispersed to their allocated places according to the slaves' instructions.

"This way, Master Rothfeldt?"

Dylan, equipped as a knight of the cathedral, called out to me.

He is carrying his helmet, which he has taken off, under his arm.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry to rush you, but I need you to provide me with any useful information on the enemy."

"Ah, just as well. You're in charge here, aren't you?"

"That's right."

"I've learned some things, and I'd like to discuss our movements from tomorrow onwards."

"Roger that. We're building a temporary hut. We'll talk to you there."

"Okay."

I followed Dylan, thinking about tomorrow's fight, wondering how he'd move about tomorrow onwards.