Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: We Are the Remnants
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The countess's territory was actually quite far from the eastern border.
She had always found it stifling there.
The vast wheat fields, textile factories, and bustling cities were all sources of pride, but what truly set her heart racing were her grandfather's legendary tales.
The founder of her house, who had tamed the untamed wilderness teeming with monsters and anomalies to build a city.
Her father had spent his days bedridden.
The only moments his eyes sparkled amid the pain and exhaustion were when she achieved a new milestone in her swordsmanship.
He would stroke her head and urge her to become a great Gigant Rider like her grandfather.
She loved seeing her father smile, and dreaming of the vast frontier, she honed her sword and manas without rest, day after day.
But by the time she truly reached that milestone, her father had already passed.
That was when she turned her gaze to the eastern borderlands, where the Destor Marquisate had been wiped out.
Fear? She felt none. She simply needed a target to redirect the aimless edge of her blade.
And so she came east, fought the Logot Kingdom, and began reclaiming the frontier.
She remembered every single one of the countless battles.
Among them, the one etched deepest in her memory was her duel with the Balrog.
A terrifying beast, true to the legends of being the vanguard of the ancient demon legion.
It spewed scorching heat, unleashed explosive manas to upheave the earth and roar at the heavens.
She lost three Gigants of her house and battled day and night for three days to slay it. At the end of that fight, she ascended to the new realm that made her who she was today.
She remembered every moment.
The Balrog's unique combat style, chaining manas explosions like a cascade. Reconstructing her house's manas conversion method entirely to match that explosive speed.
Gripping the reins of the accelerating Gigant like a madman.
The moment she severed its neck and cleaved its chest, discovering the writhing core infused with the Balrog's distinctive manas.
And so,
the object now in the wooden box she offered to Kang Geohan.
To her, the Balrog core held deeply personal significance.
"It's a core brimming with Balrog manas. Eating it should enable explosive growth in your manas."
Gulp.
Kang Geohan swallowed hard.
A Balrog. A monster from legends. And she was offering its core... to him?
"It was something I had set aside to consume myself. But I couldn't. My manas had already solidified close to completion—introducing such an alien essence risked shaking its very foundation. But you should be fine. You're just starting out. Take in the new manas and build your structure from the ground up. I'll help you."
Kang Geohan knew this was an opportunity that wouldn't come easily.
"You'll consume it under my watch. Abandon any thought of absorbing it all at once—even I couldn't manage that. Break it into pieces and absorb it over multiple sessions. If it feels like too much, expel it without regret. Of course... don't expel too much. It'd be a waste. Aim to absorb at least thirty percent."
His flesh trembled.
The red core quivered with a krurrr, forming an impossible hexahedron that blurred inside and out.
The thick steam it emitted made its power palpable.
Kang Geohan was moved. Loyalty surged toward the countess for offering him such a treasure.
But,
[Balrog Core]
The mighty manas nucleus once held by the Balrog.
Consuming it and enduring its power grants a massive amount of manas.
As the entire core forms a single mystical structure, effects vary by consumption method.
However, failure to control the power may result in death.
-Consuming all at once fundamentally alters manas quality and grants up to 2,000 manas.
-Dividing into two parts alters manas quality overall and grants up to 1,500 manas.
-Dividing into three parts partially alters manas quality and grants up to 1,200 manas.
-Dividing into four parts slightly alters manas quality and grants up to 1,000 manas.
-Dividing into five parts subtly alters manas quality and grants up to 850 manas.
-Dividing into six or more parts grants up to 800 manas.
'She wants me to divide it up?'
After seeing the nutritional info, how could he? The benefits dropped sharply with each split.
But there was no time to argue with the countess now.
Thud!
Handing the Balrog core to Kang Geohan, the countess shouted down at the base of the wall.
"To those who fought bravely, there will be rewards befitting their valor! To Sir Jaxen Gold, who rescued me this time, three Golems! To Sir Rapal Black, Sir Kaltz Black, Helena White, Gerot White, Loen White, and Sir Harkrux White, one Golem each!"
Waaaaah!
The people below the wall roared at the lavish rewards, as if to drown out the looming dread.
"Now! The rewards are done. Next, about our path forward!"
The eastern wall, filled with fervor, fell silent in an instant.
A wind blew suddenly. It carried the acrid scent of gunpowder. The smell from buildings collapsed and burned in the last raid.
Everyone knew the situation.
The expedition led by the countess had suffered a crushing defeat in the Sea Labyrinth.
Of the 67 Gigants and over 400 Golems that marched out, only 21 Gigants and around 100 Golems returned.
Factoring in losses from defending the fortress, the damage was near annihilation.
The eastern border fortress originally held over 150 Gigants and 800 Golems, but in days, it dwindled to 56 Gigants and 180 Golems.
When Logot invaded again, it would all be over. So what now?
Countess Kali Stehold announced the countermeasure.
"Their goal is our total annihilation. Then we must cling to survival with everything we've got!"
Her voice was firm and heavy.
"Scorched earth tactics. Guerrilla warfare. We'll abandon the fortress completely and scatter across the frontlines. Use terrain they don't know to inflict continuous damage and ensure our survival. Therefore..."
She paused, surveying the twenty thousand assembled below, then delivered the final word.
"As of now. We are remnants of the defeated."
Remnants of the defeated.
Murmuring the words,
Kang Geohan gazed at the Balrog core in his hand.
The hyper-hexahedron, pulsing crimson and emitting heat with a 'krurrr'.
* * *
Krurrr—
The flames flowed with a roar.
Crimson flames originating from a breathing volcano scorched the plains, merging into a river.
And there was another river.
Splash, splash.
A blue river, waves lapping gently like the sea, crossed the plains and met the crimson flame river.
Fortunate, perhaps?
The flame river and blue river didn't mix at once.
The flame river spread like capillaries across the plains, cooling and hardening gradually. The metallic rocks formed from the cooled flames exposed blue strata, creating angular hills.
The blue river wove through the complex capillary hills, slowly mingling with parts of the flame river not yet fully cooled, then flowed out to the plains.
Sizzle—!
Even after the flame river had cooled somewhat, their border produced massive steam like a cloud factory.
Rumble, rumble.
Kang Geohan boarded the Sleipnir, which the Countess Kali Stehold used alone.
Its eight wheels pounded the ground, passing the spectacle where flame and water rivers converged.
The countess spoke.
"See that 'Coolfire' over there?"
Where she pointed was a mysterious sapphire stream born from the confluence of the flame and blue rivers.
Gazing into it, it seemed to hold flames or an aurora—an emerald glow shimmered within.
The converging rivers were vast, but the resulting 'Coolfire' stream was less than half their size.
"That's called Coolfire?"
"Yes. It's the substance formed where the flame river from Gevelruk Volcano meets the Senya River. The flame river cools first, forming those blue Coolfire Iron strata you see, then mixes slowly with the lingering heat in the water to become Coolfire. When used in metal refining, it greatly boosts strength and elasticity, and its exceptional heat absorption and dissipation make it ideal as a coolant. Among the eastern border's resources, it's one of the best."
Anyway, she refocused attention.
"Absorb the Balrog core the same way. If the Balrog manas in the core is the flame river, your existing manas is the Senya River. Understand?"
"Cool it delicately like capillaries... and mix slowly over time, right?"
"Exactly. Hand over the core first—I'll slice it up nicely. Three parts? No, three might be tough... four?"
Gulp.
Kang Geohan swallowed.
The moment of choice had arrived.
Of course, he could divide it into four and eat.
But he couldn't expect peak efficiency.
"Your Excellency. A question."
"What?"
"If I mix it hastily instead of slowly?"
"What do you mean, 'what'?"
She pointed alternately at the flame river and Senya River.
"Use your head. If the flame river didn't spread wide to cool and mix slowly, but poured straight into the Senya River—what then?"
"...The Senya River would evaporate entirely."
"You got it."
So swallowing the core whole was dangerous.
That's why she offered to help with three or four parts.
But,
[Consuming all at once fundamentally alters manas quality and grants up to 2,000 manas.]
Kang Geohan couldn't give up the benefits of consuming it in one go.
The manas gain differed vastly, and it fundamentally changed manas quality?
He didn't know exactly what that meant yet, but he couldn't let it go.
And,
'I have the Full-Body Mirror ability too, right?'
He could observe and control his body so precisely he could feed mana to desired manas spots.
So, worth a shot?
Why not try?
Kang Geohan steeled himself and spoke.
"Your Excellency."
"What? Scared?"
"Please don't be surprised."
"What?"
"Trust me."
"What are you on about? Nothing surprises me—not even a hundred Logot Gigants appearing right now."
Instead of replying, Kang Geohan pulled the wooden box from his bosom.
He opened the lid.
The core emitting a krurrr.
As if snarling, Dare you eat me? You?
The countess gave a wry smile.
"Ha... So it's really going down your throat after all. Give it here. I'll cut it nicely. Really... the ordeal to obtain that thing..."
As the countess indulged in nostalgia,
Kang Geohan's movement was swift, utterly defying her expectations.
Gulp.
"Huh?"
At first, the countess didn't realize what he'd done.
She had warned him repeatedly from the start—divide it up.
Even she had never considered devouring the Balrog core whole.
No, just looking at it screamed 'eat rashly and die'. Any ordinary knight would break into cold sweats under its aura.
Yet this greenhorn, barely a White Knight,
"...You swallowed it? Whole?"
The countess's face paled.
"How could you swallow it like that! Spit it out! Spit! No, doctor! Doctor!"
A junior she finally liked, perhaps the first with talent that met her eyes, with the makings of a hero,
was about to die!
Sizzle—!
Steam began erupting from Kang Geohan's eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and his entire body.