Path To Godhood Begins With Marrying Wife And Gaining SSS Rank Skill-Chapter 382:The Board Of Heavens

The borders of Frontier were falling back.

Line after line of defense had been pushed inward. Smoke rose from burnt watchtowers, and the once strong walls now stood cracked and stained black. Siege engines lay overturned like broken toys, and shattered shields were half buried in mud mixed with blood. Soldiers fought with everything they had, and they bled, and they screamed, yet they held their ground until their legs gave out beneath them.

They were giving a tough fight, but it was not enough.

By the end of the fifth major battle, the commanders stood inside the war tent, with the armor still on.

Their eyes were sunken, and deep lines had formed at the corners. Their faces looked older than they had a month ago.

Maps covered the long wooden table before him. Red markers showed fallen forts. Blue markers had been moved back again and again. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He had realized something bitter.

The kingdom was still standing only because the enemy had not gone all out.

So far, there have not been many demonic beasts above King Realm. That small mercy allowed the army to breathe between waves.

Wounded men could be dragged back. Barriers could be repaired in haste. But the attacks never truly stopped. Day and night, the monsters came. They did not fear death, and they did not retreat. They simply climbed over the bodies of their own kind.

Scouts had reported something even worse.

Behind the horde, several demonic figures had been seen. They did not fight. They simply stood on ridges or broken towers and watched. Their presence was heavy and suffocating, like mountains pressing down on the soul. Their aura was close to the Emperor Knight Realm.

They were commanding the demonic monsters.

What their goal was, no one knew. That uncertainty was more terrifying than the battles themselves. If this was only the advance force, then what would happen when the real army moved?

And what chilled Alberetch’s heart the most was the response of the Empires.

Nothing.

No reinforcements nor any grand declarations.

Only polite messages filled with empty concern.

They stood still and watched as the Frontier was slowly destroyed, piece by piece, as if this war was a distant play performed for their amusement.

Alberetch stepped out of the tent. In the distance, funeral pyres were already burning. The flames flickered under the dark sky, one after another, like fallen stars returned to the earth.

Far away from Frontier, under a silent night sky, a man stood on a high stone balcony.

The sky above him was clear and deep. Countless stars glittered like scattered diamonds across black silk. A pale moon hung low, its light soft but cold, washing the land in silver. Thin clouds drifted slowly, and the world below looked peaceful, almost untouched by war.

The man stared up for a long moment. His hands were clasped behind his back. His expression was strange and unreadable, as if he was watching something only he could see.

"What do the stars say now?" he asked quietly.

"Is the situation still under our control, or has it slipped past our grasp?"

He turned his head toward an old man sitting nearby in a wooden rocking chair.

The old man’s body moved gently back and forth. The chair creaked in a slow rhythm. His long beard rested over his chest, and his thin fingers lay folded in his lap. One of his eyes opened slowly. In the moonlight, that eye reflected the stars. His pupil was a faint bluish color, almost empty, almost hollow.

His gaze moved across the sky, as if he could see something beyond the stars, beyond the world, beyond fate itself.

"I will repeat what I said before," the old man said calmly.

"Wait."

The middle aged man’s jaw tightened, and a muscle twitched near his temple. "I understand, but if I wait more, the opportunity will escape from our grasp."

The old man stopped rocking. The silence grew heavy. He looked at the man directly. "Just because an opportunity appears does not mean it comes for you."

"Who knows if it is for someone else."

Crack.

The stone railing under the middle aged man’s hand cracked as he gripped it harder. Small fragments fell into the darkness below.

"Someone else?" he said, his voice low and dangerous.

The old man’s lips curved slightly, not in kindness but in quiet amusement. "What? Do you think just because you are an Emperor, everything belongs to you?"

A thick vein bulged on the middle aged man’s forehead, but before he could speak, the old man continued.

"Listen. A large number of higher powers are at play right now. Threads are crossing one another. Boards are overlapping. If you step in hastily and destroy their pieces, you will suffer a worse fate than you can imagine."

The man cursed under his breath. "Bastards. Bastards. All of them are nothing but hypocrite bastards. Even after ascending, they still play these games and treat us as chess pieces just to fulfill their lofty plans."

"Scums in human clothing."

The old man suddenly started laughing. A dry, amused sound that echoed faintly in the night.

"What are you laughing at?" the man asked, frowning.

"I am laughing at you," the old man replied.

"You say all this, but the moment you stand at their level, you will be the same."

The middle aged man did not get angry. Instead, he smiled slowly, and there was something cold in that smile.

"Now that you say that, I remember something my old man once said," he replied.

"In the board game of the myriad heavens, the ones who hate the game are usually the chess pieces. But once they reach the end and escape, they change their stance and do everything to set their own board."

The old man nodded faintly. "At least you have some presence of mind."

"Now sit back. Watch. And do not move yet."

The wind blew softly across the balcony. The stars continued to shine, cold and distant, as if they had seen countless worlds burn before and would see countless more.