I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 441 Unexpected
When that emerald green flare, like an ominous will-o'-the-wisp, tore through the dim sky above the swamp horizon, turning an area into an eerie, ghastly green.

Atos, a former officer of the Kingdom of Minicia and now the commander of the First Battalion of the Bagnian Railway Corps, rushed out of the simple wooden door of the outpost almost at the same second the signal flare exploded.

"Everyone, follow me, quick!"

His roar pierced through the gas mask's filter canister, carrying an undeniable urgency.

Without needing further orders, the Bagnya railway soldiers, already fully equipped and ready to go, these men in uniform, mud-stained dark gray overcoats, wearing gas masks, and armed with flintlock rifles and spears, followed their battalion commander silently and swiftly into the death-laden swamp.

As they left the fortified ground of the outpost, the mud quickly reached their calves, making each step heavy and difficult, but Atos did not falter in the slightest.

His eyes were fixed on the area shrouded in green light. Atos knew exactly what that emerald green flare meant; he hadn't forgotten what the officers had said during the training session.

The cold mud and water kicked up by running splashed against my waterproof pants, and the stench unique to the swamp, a mixture of rot and unknown toxins, stubbornly seeped into my nostrils through the gaps in my mask.

But that familiar, nauseating smell acted like a fuse, instantly igniting the simmering, molten anger and hatred that had been building up deep within Athos's chest.

Snake Man!

The word exploded in his mind, instantly overwhelming all other thoughts.

Bagnia, Minicia—those identities that once bound his soul like shackles were as fragile as paper in the face of deep-seated hatred!
His thoughts were uncontrollably drawn back to a few days earlier, to that same dusk filled with the stench of the swamp.

The first words Ivira spoke when she found him at the logging camp.

The word "revenge" was like a cold dagger, piercing precisely into Athos's numb heart.

He remembered how he felt at the time; a torrent of humiliation, anger, absurdity, and... a sliver of base hope overwhelmed Athos's heart.

Atos thought Ivira had gone mad.

However, he still accepted the latter's summons.

Because at that moment, what flashed through his mind was not the portrait of the king, nor the palace of the capital, but the common people being dragged into the depths of the mud by the snake people, screaming in agony.

They were the young soldiers whose bodies swelled and turned black rapidly after being pierced by the venomous fangs of the snake-men at the outposts on the edge of the swamp.

It was those burned-down villages; the air was filled not only with the smell of burning, but also with the unique, nauseating stench of snakes and decay emanating from the snake people.

Ultimately, it was the burning, almost tangible hatred for the snake people that overwhelmed everything.

At this moment, he wanted to unleash all his anger on those slippery, cold, and foul-smelling snake-men! He wanted them to pay a bloody price!
Tenfold, a hundredfold repayment!

Athos led three hundred railway soldiers, a squadron-sized force, like a gray torrent of vengeance, struggling through knee-deep mud.

That ghastly green flare was their beacon, guiding their way and foreshadowing the bloodshed ahead.

When they finally broke through the last stinking reeds and reached the core area shrouded in green light, even a battle-hardened, vengeful former officer like Atos couldn't help but pause abruptly.

The three hundred soldiers following behind seemed to have run into an invisible wall, instantly falling into a deathly silence from their rapid march.

Only heavy breathing and the gurgling sound of mud being stirred echoed in the air filled with the stench of burning and blood.

What lay before them was no longer the bitter battle scene of the black and white bear being besieged by the snake people that they had imagined.

That was a... slaughterhouse.

The ghastly green flares shone like spotlights on a stage, coldly illuminating the chilling masterpiece at the center of the stage.

The corpses of hundreds of snake-men lay scattered across the scorched, blackened swamp.

They came in all shapes and sizes, and died tragically.

Some were burned into curled-up charcoal by the high-temperature flames, their scales bursting open to reveal the thoroughly cooked dark muscle inside.

Some were severed in half by immense force, their dark green blood mixed with mud flowing into disgusting streams from the cuts.

Some skulls were shattered and dented, clearly from being struck by a heavy blunt object.

Others had their hearts or throats precisely pierced by some sharp instrument, and thick fluid was slowly oozing from the wounds.

The air was filled with a mixture of burnt protein, the eerie sweet smell of roasted meat, the strong stench of blood, and the distinctive stench of snakes, creating a foul stench that could make even the most resilient stomach churn.

Above this scene of devastation, a small hill stands, piled high with the corpses of snake-men.

This mountain of corpses is irregular in shape, yet it carries a savage and awe-inspiring sense of ritual.

Twisted limbs, a broken snake tail, and a charred torso were crudely piled together, with the highest point more than three meters above the muddy ground.

At the summit of the mountain of corpses, a figure stood steadily.

It was Monokuma.

His heavy fireproof suit and gas mask were covered in mud, dark green bloodstains, and charred ash, making it almost impossible to see their original color.

The flamethrower's huge fuel tank was slung diagonally behind him, with a thick nozzle hanging at his side. Dark red embers seemed to remain at the nozzle, and a wisp of almost invisible blue smoke rose from it.

What he was holding tightly in his hand was no longer a signal pistol, but a long-handled entrenching tool covered in sticky filth. The edge of the blade gleamed coldly in the green light, and a few broken scales were still stuck to it.

He stood there quietly, like a demon emerging from a pool of blood in hell, with mountains of spoils piled up at his feet.

The ghastly green beam of the flare slanted down from behind him, elongating his steely figure and casting it onto the more twisted corpses below, adding to the chilling and terrifying atmosphere.

The entire scene was eerily silent. Only sporadic strange noises came from the distance of the swamp, and the occasional "whoosh" sound from the pile of corpses, whether it was the twitching of nerves from those who were not quite dead or the escape of internal gas.

The three hundred fully armed soldiers were completely stunned by the hellish scene and the silent figure atop the mountain of corpses.

They gripped their flintlock pistols and spears tightly, their knuckles turning white from the effort, their eyes behind their gas masks filled with unbelievable horror.

Is this... something one person did?
Atos's heart pounded in his chest, not from fear, but from a complex mix of extreme shock, disbelief, and even a hint of... awe.

He had anticipated the ferocity of the battle and the price he would have to pay to support the Bagnians, who were his allies, but he never imagined he would see such a scene.

This had transcended a battle; it was a one-sided, efficient, almost artistic massacre! He took a deep breath, trying to calm his turbulent emotions, and trudged forward with his leaden legs, walking unsteadily until he was about ten meters away from the mountain of corpses.

He raised his head, gazing up at the figure atop the mountain of corpses, his voice hoarse with excitement and shock as he shouted through his gas mask.

"Are you... alright?! We've come to your aid!"

The figure atop the mountain of corpses moved.

Monokuma slowly turned its head, and the blurry observation window of the gas mask turned towards Atos.

It seemed to take him a second to focus his gaze on the crowd below and Athos, who was shouting.

There was no sense of relief at surviving a disaster, no excitement at seeing reinforcements; aside from some fatigue, Monokuma didn't feel much.

He was silent for a few seconds, as if confirming something, or perhaps reliving the battle just now.

Then, his metallic, emotionless voice, coming through the gas mask filter, echoed clearly in the dead silence of the swamp filled with green light and corpses.

"Well, you're here."

He paused, seemingly feeling that the answer was too simplistic, or perhaps simply stating a fact that had just been verified.

He lowered his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over the layers of snake-man corpses at his feet. The remains of those monsters, each with its own unique shape and tragic death, seemed to him as if he were looking at a pile of insignificant trash.

Then, he raised his head and looked again at Athos and the three hundred dumbfounded soldiers, and in a tone as calm as if discussing the weather, he uttered a sentence that sent chills down everyone's spine.

"The snake-man has become weaker."

The sound wasn't loud, but it struck like a thunderbolt, hitting everyone's heart.

It's gotten weaker!?

The hundreds of corpses at your feet, each with a different shape and a gruesome death, are proof that you've "become weaker"!?
These few words, spoken so casually, set against a backdrop of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, instantly brought an indescribable, almost chilling atmosphere to its peak.

Atos opened his mouth, but found that he could not make a sound.

He looked at the rock-like figure atop the mountain of corpses, then at the hellish scene below. The words "weakened" echoed repeatedly in his mind like a demonic whisper.

This is what they call getting weaker?!

Is this some kind of monster judging other monsters?!

……

To end the Snake Man Swamp event as quickly as possible and escape the Holy Army and the torment of the players, Rem worked swiftly.

The apprentice sea goddess priestess, with the full support of Diu Ni Rem, has an astonishingly high rate of recruiting soldiers.

She first gathered all the surviving Minieses in the Holy Crusade's camp and, with a speech on the theme of revenge, successfully recruited all the men and women who were still able to take up arms.

Whether he or she is sixteen or sixty, as long as they can still lift flintlock pistols and are willing to fight the snake people, they are on the railway guard regiment's conscription list.

In just one day, Ivira had recruited a large contingent for Diu Ni Rem... twelve hundred warriors who wanted to take revenge on the snake people.

The next day, Ivira rode off from the Holy Expeditionary Army camp, carrying the railway flag and the officer's armor given to her by Diu Ni Rem, heading northwest.

The first battalion she recruited remained behind and was placed under the leadership of her comrade, Athos.

Atos led the first battalion to the Holy Army's camp, where they received three days of training from the King's Guard. These Minisian men and women learned only one thing in those three days... how to fire a flintlock musket.

The stronger Miniese men in the first battalion donned breastplates, took up spears, and served as melee soldiers, while the weaker men and women took up flintlock muskets and became musketeers.

On the fourth day, the first battalion left the Holy Expeditionary Army's camp and followed the players into the depths of the swamp to escort the Bulldozer Project, cover the rear and flanks of the frontline players, and undertake logistical supply transportation.

Sending ordinary people who have only been trained for three days to the battlefield to face the threat of the snake people is an extremely immoral act... although among these 1,200 people, there are many former Minisian veterans and survivors who fought their way out of Suvanone.

However, this still cannot conceal the fact that the First Battalion of the Railway Corps was a newly recruited unit.

However, Rem had no other choice.

Little Knife Stabs Buttocks has already led the Mountain Tiger Battle Group away. He and his battle group were the largest of all the battle groups. Their departure basically took away half of the players in the Holy Expeditionary Army.

This inevitably affected the Bulldozer program and the progress of Operation Burning Snakeman Swamp.

On the fifth day, Ivira returned, bringing with her even more Minisian recruits.

These new recruits were in poor condition. They were thin, timid, and dressed in rags, looking like displaced peasants. They were nothing like soldiers, but more like refugees who had nowhere else to go and had come to the Holy Expeditionary Army camp to beg for food.

However, when Diu Ni Rem questioned each of the more than three hundred people, he discovered that these people had indeed come voluntarily to kill snake people, driven by a very simple belief... revenge.

The Minisians that Ivira brought all hated and were hostile towards the snake people; all of them had relatives or friends who had encountered the snake people.

The harm that the snake people posed to the Kingdom of Minicia was several times more serious than Diu Ni Rem had anticipated.

After delivering these new recruits, Ivira reported to Diu Ni Rem that there were more recruits on the way.

Ivira sent many people who harbored hatred for the snake people in other directions; these three hundred were just the first batch to arrive.

More and more Minisians, like moths drawn by the scent of blood, walked along the main roads and weaved through the side streets, converging on the Holy Expeditionary Army camp.

After the fall of Suvano, the strategic abandonment by the Kingdom of Minisia played a significant role, leaving the local people along the entire eastern coast heartbroken by the lords.

To Diu Ni Rem's surprise, on the sixth day, some Minesian fishermen in their fishing boats came to join the Holy Expeditionary Force. They had heard of Ivira's call to arms and had come all the way from the island where they were hiding.

Fishermen are also victims of snake people.

Their defection did not fundamentally change the railway guard regiment, but they brought news that Diu Ni Rem had not anticipated... These fishermen knew the location of the secret port where the Minisian royal fleet was anchored.

They are located on a secluded island in the nearshore waters of Suvano.

(End of this chapter)