Bound To The Dead: The Deceptive Class-E Farmer-Chapter 75: The Reaping Begins

"Wh-What is he doing?!"

"What is that?!"

"He’s charging... alone?!"

The soldiers on the front line murmured in disbelief. Their voices were quiet, almost like they were afraid to speak too loudly and draw attention from the thing approaching.

General Lander stood on a raised platform behind the vanguard, his arms crossed. Beside him stood Vivek, an elderly illusion mage with silver hair tied in a knot.

"General Lander, am I seeing this correctly?" Vivek asked, his voice calm but strained. "There’s a swarm of bugs following him."

Lander narrowed his eyes.

"A mad farmer," he said with a half-laugh. Then, louder, so everyone could hear, he barked, "It seems negotiation isn’t the farmer’s intention, but suicide."

The soldiers chuckled nervously.

"Archers," Lander called. "Light your arrows!"

The command spread quickly. Flames sparked to life along the walls as archers dipped their arrows in oil and passed them through small torches.

The fire danced. The sky darkened.

"Ready!" Lander raised one hand.

Isaac kept running. His expression didn’t change.

"...Fire!"

The order echoed.

Dozens of bowstrings snapped in unison. The air filled with fire-tipped arrows, all aimed at one man.

Isaac didn’t flinch.

He simply smiled.

[Swarm Shield Activated]

The swarm behind him surged forward. Hundreds of locusts formed above his head, wings beating in perfect rhythm. They gathered into a dense wall in the air, thick enough to block the sky.

The arrows hit.

A wave of clinks rang out, sharp, fast, constant.

One by one, the arrows bounced off the swarm and fell harmlessly to the ground.

Some of the Rookheim soldiers gasped.

"He’s protected... by bugs?" freewёbnoνel.com

"It’s like a living shield..."

But Isaac wasn’t looking at the arrows.

He was watching the soldiers ahead.

Something felt off.

Their outlines... wavered. Their bodies shimmered slightly, like reflections on water.

Illusions from magic.

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. Then, he smirked.

"That won’t work against me."

He shifted his weight and, without hesitation, changed direction, charging toward the real enemy line."

Vivek’s breath caught in his throat.

"He knew...?"

His fingers trembled.

Isaac ran faster.

Each step was heavier than the last, but it wasn’t from exhaustion. It was power building. Waiting.

The ground trembled faintly beneath him as he pushed forward.

Then, he jumped.

High.

The army looked up, silent.

For a moment, the battlefield forgot how to breathe. The wind seemed to hold still. Even the sound of armor and weapons faded.

Time slowed.

And Isaac soared. Axe raised high.

[Skill Activated: Abyssal Smash]

The moment cracked.

And then, he dropped.

His axe slammed into the ground.

A heavy boom echoed through the air. Dust and soil exploded outward, rising like a wave. The shock alone knocked soldiers off their feet, their formations scattering before they even saw what hit them.

From the impact point, a deep crack split the ground, long and jagged, like the earth itself had been torn open. It stretched forward in a straight line, swallowing everything in its path.

Soldiers caught in the blast were thrown into the air, limbs flailing, weapons flying. And when they fell, they didn’t move again.

The vanguard had been broken in a single strike.

Screams echoed. Confusion spread.

Even the walls of Spawnhold felt the tremor.

And Isaac...

He was already moving.

The dust hadn’t even settled.

He threw his axe forward with all his strength.

[Skill Activated: Reaper’s Boomerang]

The axe flew, not in a simple arc like before but in every direction. It twisted and curved through the air like it had a mind of its own, tearing through lines of soldiers. Screams followed its path.

It didn’t stop after one turn.

It spun back, then curved again. For fifteen full seconds, the axe danced across the battlefield, carving through armor and bone, never losing speed. Like thunder, it cut through their numbers.

The soldiers shouted and broke ranks.

But then...

The axe suddenly veered upward, toward the enemy’s command unit.

General Lander’s eyes narrowed. He took one step back. That was enough.

The axe missed him by inches.

But the one beside him wasn’t so lucky.

"Vivek, move!"

Too late.

The illusion mage didn’t even scream. The axe passed clean through his neck. A clean cut.

His head dropped. Then his body crumbled next.

In that instant, the illusion army around Isaac vanished.

The fake soldiers, the flickering images, they all faded into smoke.

The battlefield was now real. And so were their losses.

Isaac didn’t wait.

He reached to his sides and grabbed both sickles.

[Skill Activated: Reaper’s Spiral]

He spun.

Once, his limit was six spins. But now, time answered to him.

Ten full seconds.

His body became a whirlwind, his sickles like blades of a storm. The wind howled. Limbs flew. Blood sprayed. Every turn brought more enemies down. The field turned red.

[Reaper’s Spiral — 00:00:59 Cooldown]

Isaac slowed to a stop. He calmly slid his right sickle into its holster.

Just in time... his axe returned, spinning like a comet, landing in his waiting right hand with a solid thud.

[Reaper’s Boomerang — 00:00:59 Cooldown]

He placed the axe on his back again.

Then he drew his sickle once more.

With fast, sharp movements, he began cutting down enemies one by one. Every slash was clean. Every step is precise. It was like watching a player in a game combo through a crowd, no wasted motion, no hesitation.

The enemy formation collapsed.

One of their commanders screamed.

"Kill the insect controller!"

But it was already too late.

Isaac had turned the battlefield into his stage.

But it wasn’t just Isaac.

The swarm moved like a sea of shadows across the battlefield. Locusts dove from the sky, biting and tearing at soldiers who strayed too far from their ranks. Others crawled under armor, slipped into helmets, and created chaos without needing orders.

It was coordinated. Like they had a will of their own.

General Lander stepped forward.

He was calm, but his eyes burned with focus.

He slowly drew his sword.

It was long and silver, shaped with precision. A weapon meant for both beauty and death.

As the blade left its sheath, flames lit across its edge.

He cut down dozens of locusts in a single arc. His movements were fast. Clean. Practiced. But even as he fought, he knew something was wrong.

He looked at the battlefield.

His thirty thousand troops, all of them were scattered. Infantry clashed desperately with Isaac’s wild slashes. Cavalry lines had broken, unable to charge. Archers were firing in every direction, unsure of their targets.

And overhead, the sky was dark, not from nightfall, but from the swarm.

Lander’s gaze shifted.

In the distance, Spawnhold Palace stood tall. Untouched.

He clenched his jaw.

"Turn the siege engines," he commanded. "Fire at the palace. Now."

The command echoed through the field. Soldiers rushed to follow, lighting fuses and loading massive iron balls. The siege weapons groaned as they moved into position.

Flames lit. Gears turned.

The command to fire was given.

But...

Nothing.

A strange silence followed.

Then, crack.

The ropes snapped.

The gears twisted awkwardly, metal bending out of place. Wheels came loose. One engine collapsed entirely with a thud.

Another burst into flames.

The soldiers stared in disbelief.

They hadn’t been sabotaged by men.

They had been eaten.

Tiny clicking sounds echoed faintly from the ruined machines. Anyone who looked closely would see it, dozens, hundreds of locusts crawling out from the inner workings. They had chewed through ropes, gears, everything.

General Lander gritted his teeth. His sword stayed raised, and the fire at its edge burned hotter.

"They’ve overrun everything," he muttered.