Chapter 77
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Invasion and Corrosion (6)
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"What the. They're not as tough as I thought..."
"Don't get careless, Jack. Everyone, regroup. There are definitely more of them."
The knights, victorious in their first clash, gathered around their commander to reform their ranks. Meanwhile, the young mage, the core of their formation, dismounted and was examining something.
"What are you looking at, Ares?"
"It's just a little unusual."
"Unusual?"
"The old records of the Ruin Fiends are all preserved, even as video recordings."
The mage straightened up, his expression grave.
Then he began to recount the old tales he had studied.
"The Ruin Fiends were said to take the form of their victims, corrupted while still alive. That includes beasts, of course. But from what I can see, I don't think a creature like this ever existed in this world."
he said, lifting the head of one of the Legion soldiers.
Indeed, its form—clad in a black carapace like a knight's armor, impossible to identify as beast, insect, or crustacean—was unlike anything seen before.
For a moment, everyone fell silent. The memory of those red eyes, filled with murderous intent, charging at them with all their might, flashed through their minds.
"They first appeared in an ancient labyrinth, or so the records say. Perhaps something has changed. We won't lose to some outdated ancient creatures."
The knight commander, who had just been urging them to stay vigilant, suddenly laughed heartily, dispelling the tense atmosphere.
But Ares, the mage from the Stas Academy, remained skeptical.
*'In a single night, the entire region was struck simultaneously. Of course, if they're just simple beasts like these, they'll be suppressed soon enough.'*
As a promising graduate of the academy, he had overheard things. That included the situation from that night, when countless calls for help had flooded in through communication spheres.
The city hall governing the attacked city of Rielheim, the director of the Blakel Academy's local branch, as well as individual mages in the city and those in nearby villages.
His senior had described the scene, with everyone crying out in despair, as a horrifying vision of hell, something he had never witnessed before.
*'Are these even the Ruin Fiends that were declared extinct in the first place?'*
"What's this? Everyone, on your guard!"
Just as Ares, his mind filled with unanswered questions, was about to mount his horse again.
The knight commander, sensing something, stowed his magic lance on his saddle and drew his sword.
*'They're coming.'*
"The ground is shaking!"
Ares's eyes widened as he felt the earth tremble. The other knights, alarmed, struggled to control their frantic horses.
They knew it was too late to flee.
All they could do was desperately grip the reins and hold on.
"Below us!"
someone shouted, pointing out the disturbance in the ground.
Something was tunneling through the churning earth, moving toward them at incredible speed.
"Damn."
With the commander's low curse, a deafening blast erupted, and the ground beneath them exploded.
Ares squeezed his eyes shut from the impact. Thrown into the air with his horse, he soon crashed back to the ground with a heavy thud.
Through his ringing ears and blurred vision, he could see other horses and knights flung even higher.
*'Gah...'*
He tasted the thick, metallic tang of blood in his mouth.
Something appeared, casting a shadow over his body.
Another monster, massive and heavily armored, had emerged halfway from the ground.
One of its two powerful arms, built for shattering rock and digging through earth, was raised, claws extended, ready to strike him down.
He knew he had to move, but his throbbing body wouldn't obey.
"Snap out of it!"
It was the knight commander, who had thrown himself forward, that saved him from the crushing blow.
Sent rolling by the shockwave, the commander repeatedly slapped the dazed Ares's cheek.
"You are the core of our formation. If you don't come to your senses now, everyone here will die."
"Yes... yes!"
Overwhelmed by the commander's blazing eyes, he nodded frantically.
"Everyone, to your positions!"
The commander rallied the surviving knights. Clenching their jaws, they all took their places, swords at the ready.
The attack that had led the charge came at them again. But the knights hadn't taken their positions for nothing.
*'Using the knights with mana as an axis. I draw the circuit. Defensive Formation Eight.'*
Ares, the central axis and core of the formation, broke into a cold sweat as he cast the spell.
In response to the knights' seamless movements, he deployed the most powerful barrier a single mage could create using them as conduits.
"Hrk!"
"We held!"
They had all held their ground, even on the brink of death.
The result was the enemy's attack being repelled with a powerful shock.
"To the offensive formation!"
Simultaneously, the knights shifted their positions once more.
It was a movement etched into their very bones, practiced and synchronized hundreds, thousands of times.
This time, instead of a barrier, flames of mana engulfed their bodies.
"Chaaarge!"
The commander led the charge, surging forward. He had to cut down the enemy before the enhancement effect on his body faded.
*'It's working!'*
Ares, remaining in the rear, clenched his fist.
The massive, thick armor, which would have been impervious to ordinary blades, was being sliced open, spewing blood.
With the help of his comrades, the commander leaped into the air and plunged his sword into the monster's head. Finally, the creature's body began to slowly collapse.
His face brightening, Ares rushed over to the knights.
"Prepare your magic. It's not over yet."
But the commander only grew more tense, pointing ahead.
"What in the world is that..."
Ares muttered blankly, unaware he was even speaking.
After growing to a certain point, the Legion had ceased mass-producing its all-purpose soldiers for reasons of efficiency.
Instead, the all-purpose soldiers were upgraded into superior-class Legion soldiers with a greater investment of resources.
Their versatility was augmented, and their lack of firepower was compensated for with Form Power.
Now, a trio of these superior-class Legion soldiers appeared before them, just as they had barely secured victory.
The one in the center had a slender build and short, flowing black hair.
"Positions! Escort formation!"
The knights, with no time to analyze or assess their new opponents, moved swiftly once more.
This time, it was a formation designed to fight while protecting a target.
A suffocating tension and silence. The enemy began to move.
The Legion soldiers on either side slowly drew swords with their four arms.
Kang Do-yeon, standing in the middle, also raised her sword. Everyone was horrified by the crimson-black glow of her blade.
"I'll strike first!"
Though there were only three opponents, Ares sensed something ominous and launched a spell.
It was a hastily prepared spell, but not one to be ignored.
"Impossible."
But the spear of blue magic he had fired was effortlessly blocked by a crimson-black barrier they generated.
As if their turn had come, the Legion soldiers moved.
"Here they come!"
The knights assumed a defensive formation to meet the enemy.
The two superior-class Legion soldiers kicked off the ground, charging toward them, brandishing four swords and their tails.
"These bastards..."
The knights rushed in from all sides, swinging their swords with all their might to punish the enemies who had seemingly been drawn into their pre-arranged formation.
But not a single sword strike landed. They hadn't been drawn in at all.
In a fleeting moment, as they brushed past each other back-to-back, a mere swing of their swords and tails sent the knights' limbs flying, spraying fountains of blood.
"Guh... ghk..."
The knight commander clutched the tail that had pierced his chest, coughing up blood.
His body was lifted, and he met the superior-class soldier's gaze—its six gleaming eyes from within its armor, and his own, filled with fading, furious life.
"That combined attack... it's definitely..."
As he died, he recognized the combined attack the enemies had used. It was incomparably more advanced and precise than the original, but it was unmistakably the same technique his own knightly order practiced as their specialty.
Of course, the Legion had no reason to answer his question. Judging there was no more information to extract from him as life faded from his wide eyes, the superior-class soldier flung his corpse aside with a flick of its tail.
Even as he flew through the air, dead, he did not release his tight grip on his sword.
Now, only the mage, Ares, their original target, remained.
"I won't die alone."
The moment all the knights had fallen, Ares, having steeled his resolve, began to manifest a spell with the intent to self-destruct.
Seeing this, the superior-class soldier aimed its arm at Ares.
And in the blink of an eye, a large poison spine shot from its forearm and embedded itself in his chest.
The Legion, having already been hit by self-destruction twice, had planned this to ensure it wouldn't happen a third time.
"Gaaah..."
Unable to resist the infection spreading through his body from the poison spine, Ares collapsed forward.
The Legion collected his immobilized body.
Unaware that unless he cooperated, he was doomed to suffer, unable to die or go mad, he thrashed about in despair.
*'Your body is no longer your own.'*
Then, a whispering will drilled into his mind through the infection that had seized his body.