The Song of Sword and Magic - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Sadova Bridge

[Translator — Asuka]

[Proofreader — Karane]

Fern had reached the bridge as he hid behind a pier to keep watch on the other end of the bridge. However, the moon was covered by the dark clouds at that moment, so he could hardly see anything in the darkness.

Nevertheless, he could faintly see that many things were piled up in the middle of the bridge on which some figures were crouching down. They seemed to be bigger than most zombies as they were wearing armor. A strange smell permeated the air, but it was hardly discernible in this frigid weather. After sniffing for a bit, Fern couldn’t think of anything. Could they be Sara soldiers? No. If they’re the survivors, they wouldn’t be keeping guard on this bridge as this is akin to asking for death. He tried to look again, but the figures were too vague, so he decided not to move forward.

Meanwhile, Niss was flustered as she couldn’t see the mercenary clearly from this distance. Furthermore, she was aware of the danger on the bridge, but she couldn’t inform him about it.

Even though Fern didn’t tell me to do it, I have to go over as this is what I should do. After some internal struggle, Niss followed his route and approached the bridge.

***

As the dark clouds went away, the moonlight once again cast its glow on the land. Seeing that, Fern stuck his head out in an attempt to find out what was on the bridge.

However, he regretted his action immediately—not only because of the sight before his eyes but also the fact that he had stepped onto the bridge. In front of him were a pile of limbs and corpses. The armors on their bodies suggested their identities. He estimated that there were more than a hundred people who had lost their lives on this bridge. What surprised him further were the figures on those corpses. They were not humans but bodies that were made up of different limbs.

What on earth are they? Fern suppressed his urge to retch and looked fixedly at his front. Just then, the head of a figure turned around without its body moving. Oh Lord. Why are there such monsters in Wallis? They’re more terrifying than zombies! Fern couldn’t believe his eyes as he gazed at them. However, he wasn’t aware that the turning head had discovered him.

The head turned around again and stared at Fern’s location. It was then he realized that he was in danger, so he quickly got up and tried to run away, but he soon realized that his legs had turned to jelly.

Damn it! He tried to thump his legs to get up and start running, but it was too late as two figures were already standing in his way.

Gazing at these uncoordinated bodies, Fern realized that they were randomly assembled with different limbs. His forehead was beaded with cold sweat as a chill went down his spine.

After all, he had fought with the corpses on White River before, so despite the fact that he was terrified, he pulled himself together quickly and unsheathed his sword.

Just then, two figures launched themselves at Fern, who wielded his sword and cut off their limbs. Just when he was relieved that these monsters weren’t hard to deal with, the limbs on the ground assembled again. The arm from a figure went to another corpse, so it had three arms on the same body now. Meanwhile, the other one had an arm that was cut in half.

Fern gasped and tried to destroy them with his sword again. This time, he made sure to cut them into many pieces before stopping. As he panted, he took a look at the limbs and tried to run away.

All of a sudden, a few withered hands grabbed Fern’s arms and legs. They were so strong that he couldn’t even take one more step forward. With difficulty, he tried to wield his sword, but he was apparently not as powerful as they were. Suddenly thinking of a solution, he twisted his wrist in an attempt to cut off the hand that was grabbing his right arm, but he realized that he was just hitting the air. What? He turned around and realized that the hand wasn’t connected to a body. Four hands were floating in the air as they grasped Fern’s limbs.

More and more limbs formed into new figures. Some of them even had deformed heads, but they were still trying to surround the mercenary.

Seeing that he was in a perilous situation, Fern shouted and tried to struggle out of their grip, but he could only move forward a little.

A few more arms flew over to grab him. One of the arms with chain mail on it clenched the mercenary’s neck and tightened its grip.

Fern felt a sharp pain in his neck, but the pain didn’t last long as he soon felt numb and couldn’t breathe. As the figures moved toward, he could feel he was losing his consciousness.

***

All of a sudden, the temperature around him rose sharply, and the darkness was cast away by a red light. What’s that? After the hand let go of Fern’s neck, he could breathe again as he regained his consciousness.

One more fireball exploded in front of him as the sparks burned the bodies around him. He raised his sword to fend off the sparks and put out the fire on his clothes. Behind those burning bodies was Niss with her hair and cloak swaying along with her movements.

“Fern, are you alright? I saw the danger on the bridge, but I was unable to inform you, so I quickly came over to help you!” Niss helped him put out the fire on his clothes as she watched the corpses.

“Thanks for your help. Otherwise, I’d be dead by now.” Fern touched his neck and still felt pain. Some bruises were left on his neck while he was struggling.

“What should we do now?” Niss looked at the limbs in the middle as they were still forming into hideous bodies. “I have to expend a lot of spiritual energy to cast a fireball of such a scale, so it’s not sustainable for me.”

“Can you cast a water column at them?” Fern pointed at a spot. “There seems to be fewer corpses. You can try to strike them away, then we’ll rush over and leave this place.”

“I’ll have a try.” Niss raised her magic cane and drew a half circle in the air. As she recited a spell, a water column rose from the river and reached above their heads. After she pressed her hand down, the water column launched itself at the corpses and cast them away. The splash caused by the water column rose as high as twenty yards. Niss didn’t stop using her magic as the water column continued striking the corpses. Eventually, the hurdle was cleared up as the water column disappeared.

Niss stopped her magic and staggered toward Fern, who helped support her weight. “Good job, Niss. We’ll rush over now. I’ll run first. Follow me closely!”

After Niss nodded in a weak manner, Fern dashed toward the gap and cut the corpses in his way into half. Before the limbs could assemble again, he rushed past the corpses.

***

Just when Fern was about to leave the bridge, Niss called out to him from behind, “Fern!”

He turned around and saw that a figure and a floating hand were grabbing Niss’s arms. Even he couldn’t struggle out of their grip, let alone the frail magician. After cursing for a bit, he ran back and severed the hand from its body before raising his sword to cut off the fingers of another hand. After that, he pushed the magician forward and shouted, “Run! I have your back!”

Without any hesitation, Niss darted toward the end of the bridge. When she stepped on the land, she whirled around and yelled, “Fern! I’m safe now!”

Hearing that, Fern tried to retreat, but the attacking corpses made him unable to run towards Niss. Left with no choice, he kept moving backward and parrying their attacks. However, the limbs formed into new bodies endlessly, so he was beginning to feel exhausted as he tried to fend them off.

Feeling flustered, Niss cast some smaller fireballs to help the mercenary kill the enemies. The fireballs hit accurately at the heads and arms that were trying to crash into Fern. Engulfed in the fire, the limbs fell to the ground. At that instant, the entire bridge shone brightly and lit up the area around it.

Just when Fern was caught up in the battle, another hand flew over and tried to grab him. Niss still attempted to cast a fireball to help him fend off the attack, but as soon as she recited the last syllable of the spell, she felt dizzy and fell on her knees, so the spell was interrupted.

She had used up her spiritual energy, and she couldn’t use her magic any longer.

The hand managed to grab Fern’s left shoulder, causing an immense pain to the mercenary. Fern raised the sword in his right hand to slice off the hand, but by doing so he exposed his right side to his enemies. As two corpses were about to reach him, he took a step backward and parried the attack. He managed to decapitate one of the corpses as its head fell to the snow-covered ground. However, there was no way he could ward off the strike from the other corpse. His mind went blank as he waited for the imminent pain.

***

It was at this critical moment that a red light flew from behind and crashed into the corpse, causing it to step backward. Fern came to his senses and saw that a burning arrow was jabbed into the monster. The entire corpse was engulfed in fire and collapsed to the ground.

After being saved, he readied himself for the following attacks. However, more burning arrows were shot from behind and penetrated the corpses accurately. In bewilderment, Fern turned around.

“Run now! What are you waiting for?” a girl was heard saying.

Fern regained his senses and dashed toward Niss. After helping the magician get up, they ran into the nearest forest.

More fire arrows were still shot at the bridge until Fern and Niss disappeared into the forest. A slender woman put out the fire on her arrow before sneaking into the forest as well.

***