Chapter 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: A Struggle for Survival (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
*Just what...*
Screams and shouts echoed without end.
*How much longer...*
The blistering heat of the battlefield raged on, showing no signs of cooling.
But in this war, where two groups fought for their very lives, the screams and cries came from only one side.
"What in the world are you?!"
Felix, drenched in a cold sweat, could no longer hold back his cry.
There wasn't even a common whimper.
It was the same whether their necks were slashed or their bodies were pierced.
This silent legion attacked relentlessly, without a sound or a moment's hesitation. Witnessing their machine-like advance, Felix and his kindred began to feel a creeping dread, and they were slowly pushed back.
*We will not lose. There is no retreat. If we are pushed back here, we are defeated.*
But he quickly steeled his resolve.
They hadn't endured this long and searched for hope only to be pushed back and die here.
"Narian...!"
An arrow that grazed his face pierced an enemy's body.
Watching her aim her powerful bow, the markings on her body glowing, he gritted his teeth.
"We will never retreat!"
At his shout, his kindred also fought with all their might to steady their wavering hearts.
A fighting spirit and resolve capable of overcoming fear and anxiety united them.
Their Player helped them as well.
Gifts rained down upon them.
Even the inexperienced grabbed them and fired arrows, joining the resistance.
*This is our struggle, with everything on the line.*
Slicing off an enemy's head in a single blow, Felix suddenly laughed.
They were in a desperate crisis, but he was certain that they were stronger now than they had ever been.
The Divine Tree responded to him.
The power of the Divine Tree, resonating with them, grew even stronger.
"..."
The Legion pulled its legionaries back.
The expression beneath its mask was not pleased.
Especially when they let out cheers of joy, certain of their victory.
[Their fierce resistance has caused considerable damage. However, had the assault continued, victory would have eventually been ours.]
"Efficiency."
The Legion's judgment was simple.
Annoyance and anger aside, it concluded that pouring in troops like this would result in losses so great as to render victory meaningless.
[Then the solution is?]
"Endless despair. And pain."
Of course, the Legion already had a plan.
The objective was singular: the enemy's annihilation.
This retreat was merely one part of the operation to achieve that goal.
"Give them continuous hope through a war of attrition. Then, when true despair is delivered at the very end, their fighting spirit will shatter."
The Legion already had experience with this.
The war against the Cave Rats, who were another Player's Units.
One of the conditions that had led to victory then was the self-destruction of the rats, who were consumed by despair and fear when they sensed defeat.
The corner of the Legion's mouth twisted slightly.
The emotion of 'despair,' which the Legion had explored, contemplated, and newly defined for itself, was what emerged when an all-or-nothing attack was overwhelmingly crushed.
That sense of powerlessness and futility would soon turn to despair.
[...As you command, the legionaries that had retreated charged toward them once more.]
The Legion had already killed one of the enemy and knew they were Units.
But the enemy didn't seem to know that.
No matter how many legionaries—mere teeth and claws—they killed, the kill count wouldn't rise.
"Damn it...! They're coming again!"
"We can stop them. We can do this!"
Having hastily built a temporary barricade, they fired arrows at the swarming legionaries once more.
Though exhausted and weary, they did not despair or collapse.
In fact, their spirit of resistance only grew stronger each time they succeeded in repelling an attack after a grueling struggle.
"Khh... Hngh..."
The Legion released a gas.
The gas was laden with microscopic infectious cells based on the Ruin Fungus.
But for now, the infection was having little effect.
Their bodies, fortified by the power of the Divine Tree being drawn out to its maximum, left little for the small number of infectious cells to do.
"Hah... hah... We... won! Again!"
"But Rodison...!"
They had once again repelled the Legion's attack.
There was no time to celebrate.
Casualties were steadily mounting, albeit slowly, and there was no time to mourn them.
"Ugh, uwaah... Again! They're coming again!"
"This can't be."
"Everyone, raise your swords!"
Squeezing his eyes shut, Felix raised his sword once more.
No matter how many they fought off, there was no end.
Separate from their will to resist, there was no way to soothe their simultaneously exhausting minds and bodies.
"Stay strong. The end will come eventually!"
Felix encouraged his comrades, who were growing weary of the endless, intermittent assaults.
As they fought with all their might, they failed to notice the Divine Tree slowly withering, starting from the tips of its leaves and branches.
[The power they wield is connected to that tree in the center. That is their Form Power. Its potency is certainly impressive. It's difficult to compare to the city's wraiths. Moreover, they are growing rapidly by repeating these battles.]
"...Have they bet everything yet?"
The Legion's interest was singular.
The very moment they gambled everything—their energy, their lives, their all.
At that moment, it would be shattered.
That would be the most efficient way to break them.
"They look like they can squeeze out more."
In the Legion's view, the image of them fighting for their lives was crystal clear.
Each time a comrade died, they burned with fury and squeezed out power to the very limit.
[As ordered, the legionaries have retreated once more. They are letting out desperate cheers. With this, they have repelled a total of 32 invasions, killed 1,369 legionaries, and suffered 43 casualties.]
The exchange ratio was nearly 30 to 1.
But the value of each one was different.
The legionaries who died in this battle have already been restored in the nest.
In contrast, the warriors of the Moonlight Elves had been trained for decades.
This meant they could not be replaced, at least not before their people were annihilated in this battle.
The time was drawing near.
The Legion lured them toward a trap it had prepared in advance.
*
"W-what are you doing!"
"You should know."
While preparing the final blow to attack the Moonlight Elves, the Legion forcibly controlled Kang Do-yeon, rendering her immobile.
"Khh..."
Her face turned pale.
Because she already knew what the Legion was thinking.
[...He is asleep right now.]
"Then that's enough."
The Legion had been diligently keeping track of Shin-woo's activities.
Because what it was about to do involved laying a hand on his sister.
Of course, it had no intention of killing her.
But when he awoke and looked upon this place...
He would know nothing.
"I..."
"You'll know for yourself."
At the Legion's words, her mouth fell shut.
"Pity, sympathy, sadness. All are emotions harmful to the Legion. You know this. You harbored such feelings for the prey."
"Th-that's not true."
"No, it is. We are one. You are a part of me. I can see... everything."
The Legion's cells multiplied and divided, instantly creating something upon its hand.
It was the black mask it wore.
"No..."
"I'll let you keep your ego. In exchange, you will become a true sword of the Legion."
It was bolder and more drastic than she had imagined.
Its calculations complete, it slowly placed the mask on Kang Do-yeon's face without a shred of hesitation or mercy.
Horrified, she knew what it would do to her, yet she could not refuse.
"Ughk..."
Her facial skin and the mask began to assimilate, becoming one.
The mask was not merely for covering her face.
Kang Do-yeon's cells, under the Legion's control, began to move, enacting a specific function.
[You could have controlled her by force without this process. Is that the reason you insisted on placing the mask on her?]
"That would be meaningless."
The Legion truly intended to make her its own limb.
As a result of its development and introspection, it had concluded that it needed a variable that could bring it flashes of inspiration.
That variable was another ego within the Legion.
In exchange, it had to find a way to maintain that ego while making it completely assimilate and swear loyalty to the Legion's ideology.
"Go and kill them, Legion Commander. Slaughter and consumption will bring you pleasure. That is our nature."
"..."
Clutching the face covered by the mask, the staggering Kang Do-yeon slowly stood up.
The mask had already vanished completely into her body.
But the moment she entered combat...
The mask would emerge at any time to engrave upon her its true duty.
[The elves are slowly beginning to venture out to scout. Perhaps they misunderstand, thinking we have given up on them. How foolish.]
"Why do you cooperate with me, and not with him?"
[...What do you mean?]
"You are an observer who can see everything from both sides. Between the Player and the Unit, it would be easy for you to pick a side if you wished."
While the newly refined Kang Do-yeon and the legionaries swarmed forward, the Legion suddenly posed a fundamental question.
[That is not your concern.]
"...Is that so?"
A line had been drawn.
But the Legion already had a hunch.
No voice came after that, but the Legion paid it no mind.
In any case, it was not something that would harm it.
[They have noticed our intentions.]
*Break all their hope.*
In the meantime, Kang Do-yeon and the legionaries came face to face with the enemy.
To them, who had recharged their morale and were squeezing out all their strength to break through, the Legion moved to show them the despair it had planned.