"What... What is this?"
"Something is falling from the sky!!!"
"What?!"
Julian, who was at the vanguard of Serphina's army, froze in shock as he looked up at the sky.
A boulder... was falling.
A burning boulder.
A massive boulder so enormous it could rightfully be called divine punishment, as religious people might describe it.
And that boulder—
It was gradually blocking the sky above Julian as he stared upward.
'...!!!!'
At that moment, Julian quickly realized how dangerous his situation was. Putting aside all thoughts in his mind, he yanked hard on the reins in his hand.
Simultaneously, his horse began galloping at full speed.
He had to avoid it!
Command be damned—if he didn't escape now, he would die!
Death!
Even for a general who had taken countless lives on the battlefield, how could death ever be something trivial?
If he were to die valiantly fighting on the battlefield, he could at least console himself that it was a meaningful death.
But.
To be crushed by some boulder suddenly falling from the sky?
His name would certainly go down in history. As the general who died crushed by a boulder from the sky.
Not as a general who fought bravely until the end in an impossible battle.
Not even as a general who died in an unfortunate accident during preparations.
But as a general crushed by a random boulder that suddenly fell from the sky!
"Absolutely not!!!!"
Julian shouted as he raced forward, desperately trying to escape the impact zone.
Because their commander had panicked in that moment, the chain of command fell into chaos.
What if he had ordered, "Everyone, flee as far as you can!"?
But it was already too late.
And then.
"Aaaaargh!!!"
"Save me!!!!"
The massive meteorite—as if it couldn't care less about the situation of Serphina's army—
Fell directly onto the area crowded with soldiers and siege weapons.
BOOM-------!!!
What followed was a thunderous sound that seemed to tear the earth apart.
And between the sounds, the wretched screams of Serphina's soldiers leaked through.
As the sound of spreading flames reached their ears, thick smoke immediately obscured everyone's vision...
Then, one or two raindrops began to fall—before turning into a downpour that soaked the ground.
How much time had passed?
Julian slowly raised his head as he became aware of the raindrops striking his forehead.
"Ugh... Urgh."
Thrown from his horse by the meteorite's impact shockwave, he had been flung sideways. Now he wiped away the blood flowing from his head and sat down on the ground.
Though he was in quite a pathetic state, the fact that he was still breathing held tremendous significance.
He could feel pain. He could breathe. A deafening ringing continued to throb around his eardrums.
All these things proved one simple fact.
'I'm alive...!!'
Despite the pain that instantly dominated his body, he could still manage a smile of relief.
Pain was fine. Pain could be endured somehow.
But death couldn't be endured. Death meant the end of everything.
It would mean everything he had lived for until now would become meaningless.
However.
Julian couldn't hold onto that relief for long.
'W-wait... What happened?!'
Only then did the scene before him come into view.
A massive boulder that had fallen right in the middle of his army's formation.
The ground, deeply cratered.
...The remains of soldiers who couldn't escape and were crushed beneath it.
'H-hiiik...!!'
He had cut down countless soldiers on the battlefield.
He knew better than anyone that if he didn't kill, his life and the lives of his comrades would be in danger.
On such battlefields, he thought he fully understood how lives—including his own—could be treated as disposable as flies.
But.
An unknown power.
Something fundamental, something completely incomprehensible.
To be suddenly crushed by a giant boulder falling from the sky.
In the face of this mysterious terror—something he couldn't control no matter what he did or how he behaved...
Even Julian, hardened by countless battles, couldn't help but be terrified.
After all, he was just a commander who was good at fighting. Not some superhuman.
At that moment.
"...!!"
Feeling a subtle gaze, Julian slowly turned his head to look behind him.
The wall.
He could see the fortress's not particularly high wall.
Because he had galloped away on his horse, he was now somewhat closer to it.
And.
On top of that wall—
A white-haired man stood with his hand outstretched.
He was looking at the boulder.
Though he was too far away to clearly see his expression... at least he didn't appear to be disturbed.
He was just calmly looking at this scene without showing any sign of surprise.
'W-what is this?!'
If such a boulder fell from the sky, any normal person would naturally be shocked.
But why... could he remain so detached?
As if he had known from the beginning that this would happen...?
Come to think of it, that man.
He had been building some strange altar on the wall and behaving oddly.
Beating drums, shouting at the top of his lungs.
The memory of him performing some kind of ritual was still vivid.
At first, Julian thought the man might be insane.
But now that something impossible had happened... he couldn't simply dismiss the man's behavior.
'Could it be...?!'
Magic...?
Was it magic?
Was that ritual... some form of magic?
Magic couldn't possibly exist. Magicians only existed in legends.
Besides, even the magic described in legends wasn't this absurd.
But if not magic, how else could this situation be explained?
Everything he had witnessed with his own eyes, not something he had heard from others!
How could a boulder suddenly fall from the sky without warning?
Wasn't it more plausible that the man's actions had summoned the boulder!
And then.
The man on the wall... slowly lowered his head to look down at him.
And then, he looked directly at where Julian was.
"Wh... What...!"
Overwhelmed by the man's expression, Julian unconsciously flailed his arms and stepped backward.
He felt like he would be devoured by those cold, gray eyes.
And at that moment.
The man looked at him with an extremely displeased expression.
As if saying, "Why are you still alive?"
"H-hiiik...!!"
He was certain.
This man was responsible for making the boulder fall from the sky!
Whether it was magic or not didn't matter.
Once the result was evident, the process became irrelevant.
If so, the identity of the man who did this—
'G-god...??'
Just moments ago, he had dismissed religion as weak and mocked the idea of performing rituals to non-existent beings.
Now, looking into the man's cold eyes, he was thinking of gods that couldn't possibly exist.
At that moment.
"General Julian!!!"
From behind, a soldier on horseback approached where Julian was.
Apparently, he was a soldier who had been at the very rear of the formation and had escaped the damage.
He quickly approached Julian and supported him while asking:
"Are you alright, General?!"
"I... I am."
He wanted to stand up.
But because of those cold eyes, his feet wouldn't move, as if he was being forcibly held down.
This was fear.
A very primal fear of an unknown power.
The reason humans fear death is because they can't even imagine what lies beyond it.
In this realm, there was no one to ask. It was impossible to revive the dead to question them.
That's why humans rely on the power of religion to overcome that fear.
The fear he felt now was very similar to the fear of death.
"S-save me...!"
"General Julian...?"
Only then did Julian realize again that there was a soldier beside him, and he said:
"R-run... Run away! All troops! We must retreat! God... God has appeared...!! We must flee!!!"
"What? What are you...!"
"Can't you hear me? Quickly! We must flee!"
The soldier was also at a loss for what to do after seeing a boulder fall from the sky.
Therefore, there was nothing he could do now except follow his commander's orders.
"Understood...!"
The soldier supported Julian and handed over the horse he had ridden.
Somehow managing to climb onto the saddle, Julian began to ride, swallowing the pain he felt throughout his body.
He had to escape!
That thought alone was the driving force that allowed him to move his body in this situation.
And so, Julian rode away on his horse to save his life, without even attempting to rally his collapsed army.
* * *
'...I can't see well.'
I wanted to check the face of a man who appeared to be an enemy soldier near the wall.
Even squinting, I couldn't see clearly.
I thought about getting closer to check, but abandoned the idea. My body felt weak.
Still, as I expected, it seemed the Serphina army had begun a full retreat.
They were fleeing in a hurry, abandoning even the siege weapons they had brought with such effort, showing how terrified they must be.
Well, it would be stranger not to be scared when a meteorite suddenly falls from the sky.
"...Phew."
I'm glad things worked out well, though I was actually really nervous.
There was absolutely no sign of lightning striking.
The sky was churning, but no rain or wind came. In this game, lightning—or thunderbolts—only struck when it was raining, so I was really worried when it didn't rain even as the enemies reached the fortress.
It was a bit scary when the siege weapons approached so close... but I wasn't extremely anxious.
"Hold the fortress" was the correct answer, so something was bound to happen.
Even so, I never imagined a meteorite would fall.
In the 10,000 hours I played this game, I rarely saw meteorites.
To see a meteorite in the world I was possessing.
How astronomically low would the probability be?
Actually, when the meteorite was falling, I worried the fortress might completely collapse from the shockwave.
Fortunately, it seemed to cause only the amount of damage set within the game.
Although I could predict the outcome by observing the battle pattern, it was quite fortunate that this world faithfully followed the rules of the game.
For reference, when hit by a meteorite, regardless of the number of soldiers, about 90% of the entire force is instantly vaporized.
I let out a small sigh.
Even though the result turned out as I predicted, I couldn't control the tension.
Now that the tension had eased, my body felt extremely languid.
If I turn my head slightly after feeling a gaze...
There was Irene, frozen with a pale face, staring at me.
"Swen... what... what on earth... did you do...?"
Right.
From Irene's perspective, this situation must look like I built an altar, spouted nonsense about "communicating with the sky," shouted at the heavens while doing strange things—
And suddenly a meteorite fell from the sky.
After pondering how to explain this, I decided to answer simply.
"...Fortunately, I succeeded in... drawing out the distortion... of the sky..."
Huh?
Somehow my words weren't coming out properly.
My vision was also becoming blurry, and I felt like I might lose consciousness at any moment.
Ah, I see.
Low Strength means low basic stamina.
Even though I knew things would work out, I had been performing bizarre actions while witnessing death before my eyes, so my body must have been under tremendous stress.
Now that it was all being released at once... it seemed I was experiencing an overload.
"Swen!"
As I staggered and was about to fall, Irene quickly ran over and caught me.
I couldn't be more grateful that she was nearby.
If I had fallen straight down, I might have been injured.
"Lady Irene... as I told you... Lady Irene..."
After saying that much, I continued to mumble something more—
And then lost consciousness.