Floor 16: The Battle of Pogoren Fortress (2)

Ha Heijeong's second regression. Floor 16.

The community of the dead.

The other non-humans who heard my words showed no particular reaction. Their faces were indifferent — but their eyes glittered with unmistakable interest. Were they thinking, you two sort it out yourselves? Or perhaps they were sizing up our abilities, planning to challenge us later.

In place of the silent non-humans, the Grand General shouted.

"Commander! What is the meaning of this? We stand on the brink of war!"

His face was furious — but his voice was consciously raised. It was deliberately staged; the outrage looked rehearsed, prepared in advance. Naturally, from the Grand General's perspective, us fighting among ourselves was the last thing he wanted. And yet he surely hadn't expected a group of total strangers like us to cooperate seamlessly, either… Most likely he was trying to defuse the situation by playing the angry mediator.

"Don't worry. I'll settle this without it affecting the war."

"What…?! Commander!"

He must have expected me to back down by now — the flustered look on his face was plain to see.

I turned my gaze away from the Grand General and looked at Turen. His mouth corners had climbed upward, his expression brimming with confidence. He seemed to think things were going his way.

The edge of my mouth twisted on its own. At best, this opponent was a little stronger than Alexei. Being looked down on by that made anger surge up from inside me — and yet, paradoxically, my mind grew colder. The Tower of Trials was a world where the strong reigned supreme. I would use this moment to cement my command, once and for all.

"Suhyeok, oppa…"

"Suhyeok."

Unusually, my party members were sending me worried looks. Hmm, this was the first time I'd seen such looks since Floor 7… They knew I was strong, of course, but these non-humans were strangers to them. The enemy was presumably the number-one party of another planet, so I understood.

Amid the party's anxious gazes, one pair of eyes remained perfectly calm — Ha Heijeong's. When our eyes met, she gave the faintest smile. Do whatever you want to do, it said. I raised my axe.

"You want to come to me? Or should I come to you?"

Ha Heijeong honestly hadn't expected things to escalate this far. In her first regression, the Koshak party of this floor had been poisoned before the battle even began — by the homemade potion Chloe Bennett had passed around. What's more, she and Kwon Suhyeok had been upper-tier, but not top-tier, on the 16th floor of the first timeline. They'd never once crossed paths with Turen's party. Which meant she had no way of guessing the Koshak party's temperament.

However warlike the Koshak race was supposed to be, they were ones you could talk to…

The Koshak she'd met in her first regression, however mad for strength they'd been, had accepted what the Tower decreed. So Ha Heijeong had assumed the same would hold on Floor 16. She hadn't expected them to raise open defiance against the Empire's decision like this.

No wonder they're the number-one party of the Koshak race.

Their belligerence bristled like a drawn blade. But Ha Heijeong did nothing to stop Kwon Suhyeok. She thought it was, if anything, for the best.

The Koshak obey without complaint once you make them acknowledge a difference in strength.

Better to settle it now than risk insubordination in the middle of a war. She and Kwon Suhyeok had even rehearsed how to handle battlefield defiance, after all. And of course, it never once occurred to her that he might lose.

And just as she expected —

Kwon Suhyeok caught the lance the Koshak came charging with on nothing but raw strength and agility, then hurled the centaur bodily into the wall. The whole thing was over in less than two seconds.

"What, want to go another round? Then I'll have no choice but to use a weapon."

I said it in the coldest voice I could manage, laced with a threat: next time, I can't promise you'll keep your life.

The Koshak I'd flung into the wall lay crumpled on the ground, head hung low. What — was he crying?

But contrary to my thoughts, a choked, snickering laugh drifted up from him.

"Heh heh… Yes. This is what it takes to slay a dragon, isn't it?"

A powerless murmur, spoken to no one. Turen sprang up from where he stood and bowed his head deeply. As if the helplessness of moments ago had never existed, his entire aura flipped.

"Damn it all! Fine! I acknowledge my defeat! My eyes were clouded. The Koshak recognize you as Commander."

His booming voice carried a flush of wounded pride — but it was unmistakably a clear concession of command authority. He'd accepted it so quickly that I was the one thrown off balance. He'd been sneering at me just a minute ago, and it ends like this?

He really was a race that prized true strength above everything else…

Turen approached me and extended a hand.

"Commander. My name is Turen, highest climber of the Koshak. May I know yours?"

"Kwon Suhyeok."

"A good name."

Turen shook my hand, then returned to his party. He'd come back trounced in spectacular fashion, yet not a single member of the Koshak party cast him so much as a sideways glance. The Grand General, lips pressed into a tight line, watched us with a complicated expression.

All that remained were the other non-human parties. Disputes like this had to end here, in this place, once and for all. I turned my head toward them.

"That should give you a rough idea of where everyone stands, even if it was brief. So — anyone still unwilling to accept it? If so, step up right now. Because if you ignore what I say later, I'm going to be very annoyed."

I made a show of sounding bored with the whole affair — as if fighting them was hardly worth the trouble. At my question, the ones who appeared to lead the Sbren and Turina parties shook their heads.

"No. The Sbren acknowledge your command."

"We have no intention of fighting either."

"Good, then we're done. Grand General — shall we?"

"Ahem…"

The Grand General cleared his throat unnecessarily and led the way forward again. As I followed behind him, Hosu gave my shoulder a couple of hearty thumps.

"Heh heh. Didn't know you had such a fiery streak in you, Suhyeok."

He spoke as if joking, but his hand was warm. It carried an unspoken you've been through a lot. He was clearly trying to thaw the stiffened air left behind by the duel. Come to think of it, I had been hamming up my anger on purpose, so I suppose he had every reason to read it that way.

I spoke quietly, pitched so only our party could hear.

"It's fine. I'm not actually angry. I did it deliberately — if that kind of insubordination crops up mid-battle, it's nothing but a headache."

"Oh. So that's what it was? And here I thought you were genuinely furious. No wonder I was watching my step for nothing."

Hosu wiped his mouth with an embarrassed chuckle, and Cole stole a cautious glance at the non-humans.

"A wise move. Without question, that display has solidified your standing as Commander. Judging by the non-humans' reactions, I doubt any serious problems will arise during the coming battle."

"Agreed. We share the same objective regardless. It's not as if we'd be issuing absurd orders. And honestly, if a real problem does come up, it'll mean the fortress defense is already on the verge of collapse."

"Impressive all the same. I expected you not to lose, but finishing the fight in an instant — in under three seconds — even I didn't see that coming."

"Right?! How did you even catch a thrusting lance? And then throwing a centaur that huge, on top of it!"

The wave of praise washed away the irritation from Turen's provocation earlier. Of course, I waved it off with modest deflections, acting as if it had been nothing… but the corner of my mouth crept up despite myself, and Ha Heijeong, trailing behind, smiled at the sight.

As we made our way toward the center of the ramparts, I could feel the non-humans' eyes on us. Curious, wondering looks. They were non-humans we'd never seen before either, so fair enough.

One of the Koshak called out to Turen.

"Hey! Turen! What happened?"

"The Earth-climber Kwon Suhyeok is our Commander."

I could feel Turen pointing at me with a jerk of his chin. The Koshak who heard it were aghast.

"What? Him? Commander?"

"No way! He looks like a spell-slinger!"

"Turen! Are you just going to stand there?!"

As the objections boiled over, Turen roared back.

"SILENCE! The duel is finished! I accepted my defeat!"

A brief silence followed. The Koshak's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turmoil came belatedly, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beat behind.

"What? He beat Turen?"

"Him?"

It wasn't as if I'd felled a dragon — I'd just beaten one guy, and they reacted like that. I tried to walk on with the most even expression I could manage, but I couldn't stop a thin sigh from slipping out.

And there, at the center of the fortress stretching more than four kilometers long, I met Katley Monaka again. She had been deep in serious discussion with her staff officers, but the moment she saw us she came running. After snapping a salute to the Grand General, Katley Monaka immediately extended her hand to me.

"Lord Kwon Suhyeok! It's been too long! I heard the news — you've taken command of the reinforcement army."

"Yes, it has. Somehow I've ended up as the reinforcements' commander. I look forward to working with you."

"Not at all — I should be the one saying that."

"Haha, weren't you in the middle of a council, though?"

At my question as we shook hands, Katley waved her head as if it were nothing.

"The critical matters were already settled. Ah, but first — allow me to explain how command works here. Using this…"

The walls of Pogoren Fortress ran over four kilometers long. That meant no commander, however powerful his voice, could possibly direct a battle by shouting. Even a voice saturated with mana struggled to reach the far ends of the wall amid the din of war. Which was why a separate implement was issued to commanders.

Of course, it was nothing like the microphones I knew. Not an electric, mechanical device like those used on Earth, but a magical tool — a microphone driven by mana. It bore the absurdly grandiose name of "command amplification rod," but we all took to simply calling it a mic. In any case, Katley Monaka kindly walked me through how to use it: hold it beside your lips, channel in a fixed measure of mana, and your voice could be heard anywhere along the walls.

"To be honest, I'll be controlling most of the field myself, so as commander of the reinforcements you won't be moving large numbers of troops very often."

"I understand. It's for emergencies, then."

Because the climbers and the Imperial army were deployed together across the fortress's entire perimeter, priority of command rested with the Imperial forces — provided Katley Monaka survived, of course. There was a reason Ha Heijeong had said the reinforcement commander was important. Under normal circumstances, the post was a purely nominal one. But during the battle, an assassination attempt would be made on the fortress commander. And after that assassination, neither the Grand General nor the Emperor nor any other authority would reappear — leaving the reinforcement commander to take charge of the defense. Naturally, it would be best to block the assassination outright, but even Ha Heijeong didn't know what form it would take…

Huh?

Just then, a horn blast thundered through the fortress from end to end. A long, low cry of the horn. At the same instant, Katley Monaka turned her head.

Beyond the far horizon, a black army was advancing, the crimson setting sun at its back. The enemy's numbers were beyond any hope of counting. As the moments passed, black dots gradually swallowed the whole line of the horizon. No — not dots. It was closer to a sheet. From the horizon onward, the land itself began turning black.

And the sky along with it. Black shapes wheeling across the crimson sunset soon packed the heavens above the horizon.

Dragons.

The dragon and wyverns the other non-human parties had failed to slay. One red dragon, and red wyverns beyond all counting.

That's something to be grateful for, at least.

Ha Heijeong had said her first regression saw two dragons — a red and a black. Some credit for the difference went to my interference. Watching the red dragon, the memory of Floor 11 drifted back unbidden. The black door and the red door. If we'd chosen the red door, would a red dragon have shown up on our Floor 14?

Probably. It likely would have.

The dragon's cry shattered my reverie.

"KRRRAAAAAAAOOOOR—!"

The roar tore across the plain like a storm and came hurtling toward the fortress. Some soldiers instinctively clapped their hands over their ears and ducked their heads. Immediately after came the pounding of war drums.

BOOM — BOOM — BOOM — BOOM — steady, rhythmic, keeping time with the lizardmen's advance. And that drumbeat announced the beginning of the Defense of Pogoren Fortress.