Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Because You're Stronger Than Me
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The commander of the eastern border, Countess Kallishina, asked while puffing on her long pipe.
Despite the grueling workload that had continued day after day, her eyes gleamed sharply.
“How are the new recruits this time?”
Saxen Silver stood ramrod straight before the commander and replied.
“We’ll have to watch them to know for sure…… but I have high expectations.”
“Is that so? Then we need to hold the initiation ceremony.”
“Even in the current situation?”
“Yes. I know it’ll be tough for you, having to watch the rear alone…… but given how serious things are, we need to train them even harder.”
“Understood.”
“You know the method, right? Throw them in among monsters they absolutely can’t handle. Then pull them out just before they die.”
“Hoo, I’ll do my best.”
“Good. I’m counting on you.”
* * *
A week passed.
The border fortress remained in constant turmoil.
With signs of a major battle brewing in the Sea Maze region, most of the Silver and Gold Riders under Silver were preparing to deploy, while the White and Black reserve Riders below them were endlessly taking on missions to fill the gaps.
“Normally, with new Riders arriving, we’d have a welcome party and a group dinner, but things aren’t good right now.”
As a result, the group had spent the entire week without even greeting any Riders other than Saxen Silver, silently focusing on selecting weapons and test runs.
And right at the end of that exact week, their first mission came down.
“A goblin village has been spotted at the edge of the great forest, about 25 km from the fortress. The mission is to reduce their numbers.”
Under Saxen Silver’s command, Kang Geohan, Rafal, Helena, Gerot, Loen, and Hakrukus finished preparations and were deployed.
‘Real combat at last……?’
Kang Geohan boarded Femoral with a trembling heart.
The higher field of view than Pectoralis from training camp, and the powerful pressure enveloping his whole body, had become somewhat familiar now.
Tension? Nothing like that.
Their opponents were just goblins, after all.
If anything, they were too weak, which was dissatisfying.
‘To test this power to its fullest, they’d need to be at least ogres……!’
He wasn’t the only one thinking that. The entire group was brimming with confidence as they began takeoff.
Having grown a lot in the meantime, Helena and Kang Geohan achieved takeoff in the 30-second range, while the rest succeeded between 40 and 50 seconds. Rafal Black took 8 seconds.
Guuuung-!
The six Gigants stretched simultaneously, spewing steam in unison.
“Alright, let’s go do some cooking!”
With those words, Saxen Silver leaped into the cockpit and took off in just 4 seconds, leading the group from the front.
* * *
Cooking.
That’s what Saxen Silver had called it.
And now Kang Geohan was realizing its meaning all too well.
‘There’s so many…… way too many!’
The stench of blood filled his mouth.
Goblins leaped out from beside trees, jumped down from treetops, charged in, hurled axes from afar, clung on……
Goblins. Goblins. Everywhere he looked, nothing but goblins.
Kang Geohan mechanically swung his axe, thrust his fist, and kicked out.
Two or three goblins at a time were bisected by the axe, crushed by his fist, or burst by his kick.
It wasn’t so much fighting as endlessly chopping onions and crushing garlic and tomatoes…… It felt like a massive, messy cooking session.
[Mana: 63/85]
Having fully absorbed the golden nutrient supplement and spent the past week, his mana capacity had ultimately risen to 832 pindem. His mana had also broken past 80 to reach 85—a remarkable achievement.
But in the face of the endless goblins pouring in, only negative thoughts like ‘Is this really okay?’ clouded his mind.
Shaking off the blood and flesh chunks clinging stickily to the Gigant’s body, Kang Geohan shouted.
“How’s everyone’s mana recovery? Holding up?”
Loen’s response came first.
-It’s getting slower bit by bit……!
Helena gave a more precise answer.
-About 60 percent compared to full strength…… Mana consumption is speeding up. We can’t keep this up!
Like muscle strength, which recovers quickly after pushing to the limit and resting a bit, mana had the property of recovering rapidly.
But the more you used it, the slower the recovery speed became—just the same.
Hakrukus, who had the least mana capacity in the group, transmitted through ragged breaths.
-Hah! Haah……! No time to rest…… I’m tiring out too fast!
Gritting his teeth, Kang Geohan stepped forward. He gripped the axe long and swung.
Kwaduduk!
When tearing through the goblins’ tough hides, it sounded like ripping sheet metal. Followed by the squelching spray of blood.
Seizing the gap, he ripped off a goblin that had clung to the armor plate, trying to jab a spear or sword between the plates and pry them open.
“Hakrukus, catch your breath for a bit!”
At Kang Geohan’s shout, Helena quickly followed up with tactics.
-Everyone, form a circular formation around Hakrukus! Hakrukus, recover your mana for a moment, and the rest, switch to large shields and take a breather!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The group, who had been scattered in chaotic melee, gathered in one spot.
They slotted their main weapons—axes, greatswords, and such—into the main armament slot and took up shields instead.
The main armament slot, designed with magitech, had size-altering spells woven in: when a weapon was stored, gears meshed and turned to shrink it, and when drawn, the gears reversed to restore its original size.
The small shields instantly expanded to cover the Gigants’ bodies like large shields and forcefully vented steam.
Even Gerot, who was always full of complaints, followed Helena’s orders without a word. He knew well enough how dire the situation was.
“Ugh…… If only Rafal Black were with us, this would be so much easier…….”
Loen said in a breathless voice.
She was right. With Rafal Black’s exceptional skill and experience, it wouldn’t have been hard.
But Saxen Silver had deliberately separated the rookie Rider candidates from Rafal.
Kang Geohan’s group was to swing right into the goblin village, while Rafal Black went left alone to hit it.
It was supposedly to wipe out the goblins in one go, but considering goblins’ habit of not retreating with humans in front of them, it was just a tactic designed to make them suffer.
And Saxen Silver was hanging back in the rear, doing nothing but observing the fight.
Ting! Tatating!
Kang!
Grrr!
Kyaaah!
Goblin attacks poured down on the large shields.
The creatures, with thick tendons bulging even on their faces and steam billowing from their bodies, assaulted the Gigants with all their might.
The 150-160 cm tall foes charging at 9.5-meter-tall Gigants looked reckless, but the burden on the Riders blocking their endless assaults was no small thing.
If output dropped even slightly from fatigue, the arm joints would be pushed back, tilting the body, and the goblins that broke through steadily embedded weapons, prying the armor plates bit by bit.
That wasn’t all.
Some goblins wielded special weapons.
Pwoooong-!
Kwaaaang!
It looked like a lump of scrap metal picked up somewhere—a club—but the moment it hit the shield, an intense shockwave sent the body reeling back.
“Oparts!”
Remnants of ancient gods and demons from nature.
Goblins armed with such materials possessing intricate circuits and bizarre powers were scattered among the horde, increasing the Riders’ fatigue.
Helena shouted.
-This won’t do! Once we’ve caught our breath, charge out again before more goblins pile up! Gerot White Knight takes point with the highest firepower! The rest, follow fast once he sweeps the area and suppress the goblins!
Gerot White had a special weapon from his homeland.
Viper.
A magitech weapon with explosive spells engraved on a 25-meter chain and propulsion devices attached.
Whoosh-!
Gerot hurled Viper overhead and began swinging it around.
Hong hong!
The thick chain emitted increasingly menacing sounds, and at one point—papapang!—it exploded, sweeping the front.
Kwaduduk!
Goblins within the chain’s radius were torn apart by the blasts, and trees shattered, flying into the sky.
Viper, having felled dozens of goblins and several large trees in a single strike, came to a halt wrapped around an especially huge tree trunk.
-Haa…… haa…….
Gerot White’s ragged breathing came through the comms system, and the thick steam billowing from his Gigant proved his exhaustion, obscuring the view.
Gritting his teeth, Kang Geohan raised his axe.
“Let’s cook some more!”
-Uwaaaah!
Goblin red blood sprayed into the air. It clumped and smeared on the Gigant’s armor. Splinters from shattered trees and rocks battered the plates like a blizzard.
Kang Geohan and the group fought while advancing, then briefly raising shields to catch their breath, repeating the cycle to continue the battle.
In the meantime, mana recovery speed steadily declined.
[Mana: 41/85]
Now, even resting barely brought back half.
They must have already taken down over 1,000 goblins. Yet they kept crawling out of the forest endlessly.
The fatigued Gigants’ joints creaked, and the armor plates were bent and tattered in places.
Their entire bodies felt as heavy as full kit after marching 40 km—like a thousand tons.
He’d called it cooking, but at this rate, they’d be smothered and suffocated by the ingredients.
Loen muttered over comms.
-This…… isn’t working. Unless we all had special weapons like Gerot…… this number is beyond us.
Helena replied.
-What can we do? No retreat order yet, so we keep fighting.
-Damn…… why throw us into a massive goblin village like this?
-……Well, we won’t die. When it gets to that point, Sir Saxen Silver back there will rescue us, so let’s fight like hell until then.
-Is this part of the initiation too? Make the newbies fight till exhaustion and collapse, then fish them out?
-Bad taste, but…… no choice.
Hearing that comms exchange, Kang Geohan gritted his teeth.
‘Why do they all treat initiation like this…….’
At selection camp, they’d beat healthy candidates unconscious, and here they threw them into monster hordes to knock them out. The attitude of working them to death was the same. He really didn’t like it.
‘Training should be systematic, based on scientific data. Blindly beating and overworking them…… telling them to overcome with mental strength is just primitive!’
But complaints aside, there was no alternative. He just hated his own weakness, still forced to dance to their tune.
‘If I just had more rest time…… if the goblins swarmed a bit slower…… I could win this……!’
His chest felt tight. No solution in sight. All he could see was a future of tiring faster and faster, surrounded and toyed with by the goblins.
That was when it happened.
Chararak!
A thick bundle of chain suddenly appeared before Kang Geohan.
It was Gerot. He was offering the Viper he’d been wielding to Kang Geohan.
“……? What?”
In response to Kang Geohan’s question, Gerot replied through gritted teeth.
-Use it.
“Use it? Viper? Isn’t it yours?”
-Because…… you’re stronger than me.
Even saying it hurt his pride, as he paused briefly before gritting his teeth again.
-At this rate, no chance of winning. But I don’t want to lose. Use this to break the goblins’ momentum. Buy us some breathing room.
Kang Geohan turned Femoral’s gaze to Gerot’s Gigant.
The machine was soaked in blood and flesh, armor plates ragged and torn. The irregular steam bursts showed how exhausted Gerot was.
But……
The two red lights at the eyes blazed fiercely.
-Sweep them. I can only swing it once, but you…… twice in a row. No, maybe even three times. Break the goblins’ momentum!
Gerot, who had always treated Kang Geohan with disdain.
Whatever change of heart he’d had……
“Got it.”
Kang Geohan took Viper. He had no desire to go down without a fight either.