Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Courage
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Linekal's Gigants began assembling one by one, forming up into formation.
Meanwhile, the Logot forces continued to crumble.
It had started when Kang Geohan leaped into their rear lines and smashed the core components of their Origin Furnace.
One by one, the wolves started pouring into the back as well. They wrecked the trailers and massacred the quartermasters and knights.
To the wolves, soaked in murderous intent to slaughter every last human, the rear-guard soldiers were nothing more than tasty snacks.
Logot's knights resisted in their exosuits, but it wasn't enough.
It took dozens of knights dying just to kill or injure a single wolf.
With the situation like that, even as Linekal's Gigants gathered in one place to form ranks, Logot's Gigants floundered about, unable to mount a proper response.
They had too many allies to protect, forcing them to scatter everywhere and engage in a drawn-out war of attrition with the wolves.
Countess Kali Stehold was taking in the whole scene.
Thanks to that, she felt a little relieved.
'The newbies are putting on an amazing show.'
But,
'The problem is me...'
Her own situation was utterly frustrating.
Grrrrr.
The Wolf Queen was slowly advancing, her eyes locked on the countess.
They had already exchanged dozens of fierce blows, yet the Wolf Queen's silver fur remained pristine. She didn't look the least bit fatigued.
Countess Kali Stehold gritted her teeth.
'This... she's way tougher than I thought.'
She had known the Wolf Queen was a tricky and dangerous foe. But facing her head-on, it was even worse than expected.
Kang Geohan was methodically demolishing one target after another, and under Helena's lead, their Gigants were gathering up and preparing to withdraw. Yet here she was, pinned down by the Wolf Queen with no opening to escape.
Kieeeeng!
'Space Refraction...!'
She hadn't been holding back. She had gone all out.
She unleashed Space Refraction, her unique ability that she only used when she intended to kill an enemy outright—from the very start.
But,
The warping, twisting landscape split into two, four, eight...
Crash!
It shattered under the Wolf Queen's fangs as they tore through the space itself.
Grrr!
The Wolf Queen wrinkled her muzzle and glared at the countess.
'Fangs that neutralize abilities...'
Even Space Refraction, the top-tier ability that had made one of Logot's Five Heroes panic in terror, crumbled like nothing.
If those fangs bit into her, the Gigant's outer armor—layered with defensive spells—would shatter like tofu.
Her heart raced with anxiety, the enemy was perilous, and her mouth was parched.
"Guess that means I have to settle this head-on..."
Boom!
With a sonic boom, the countess's Gigant, Fenrir, charged at the Wolf Queen.
But the Wolf Queen leaped gracefully like a shadow, aiming instead to sink her teeth into Fenrir's nape.
The countess ducked her head in a hurry and used inertial control to flip her body, swinging her flail.
Crack!
The flail was caught in the Wolf Queen's jaws and crushed.
Crunch, crunch.
The Wolf Queen chewed up the flail fragments and spat them out—ptui!
It was a magitech-reinforced flail that should never break, but the wolf's fangs dismantled the magitech structure itself, crumbling it like a rice cracker.
Then she lowered her body again with a grrr...
Killing intent and malice rippled through her mana.
It was so vicious that it even infiltrated the cockpit, protected by layers of defensive spells, sending chills down the countess's spine.
Cold sweat trickled down her back.
She had to shake this off somehow,
But no opening appeared.
No, far from an opening, the monster's killing intent was making her side shrink back.
She didn't recall ever feeling such vicious killing intent before...
The countess rubbed her trembling skin with her palm and bared her teeth.
She made up her mind.
If the enemy was cowering her with that brutal killing intent, then she had to respond in kind.
"You damn beast...!"
If no opening showed itself, she'd force one open!
She couldn't drag this out any longer.
[Berserker]
The countess's gift, Berserker, activated.
Her eyes turned red, her vision narrowed. In exchange, her mana boiled and amplified, her senses sharpened, and her animalistic instincts awakened.
The countess poured her surging mana into maxing out the Gigant's output.
It was a technique she kept off because it sharpened her power at the cost of clouded judgment. But this wasn't the time to be picky.
"Let's see who wins!"
She closed the distance in an instant and thrust her spear. The spear shaft snapped in the Wolf Queen's jaws.
But the countess didn't falter for a moment.
With lightning speed, she drew a new greatsword from her main armament spear and swung it.
The greatsword's blade crunched and shattered in her teeth.
She didn't stop.
Like a runaway locomotive, she kept swapping weapons and launching even faster follow-ups.
Hot steam billowing from Fenrir mixed with the cold vapor from supersonic movements, swirling into a vortex.
But,
'This bitch to the very end...!'
The countess grew increasingly anxious.
Even under this onslaught, the Wolf Queen showed not the slightest opening.
'Should I just use it? Fire it off?'
She hesitated.
In the countess's mind, there was only one weapon that could work on the Wolf Queen.
A single, inescapable barrage of devastating firepower over a wide area in one instant: Flash-Burst.
'But I only have one left... I have to make it count...!'
She had been saving it for a sure opportunity.
But even at maximum output, the Wolf Queen refused to show a gap.
The countess's eyes grew redder.
Berserker's side effect made unbearable rage surge up uncontrollably.
'Fuck it! Just use it! Fire! Kill her!'
The fury of a barbaric warrior
clashed with
'No. If I use it now, she'll dodge...!'
the cool judgment of an elite knight.
As she endured that agonizing internal struggle,
'Huh? Incoming!'
A ray of sunlight pierced through. Allied Gigants were approaching the countess.
Kang Geohan had finished destroying all the targets and joined them.
-Your Excellency! We'll help!
At Viscount Luke Heyend's shout, the countess grinned ear to ear.
With their assistance, she could definitely create an opening.
It was time to end this grueling battle with the Wolf Queen.
"Everyone, charge!"
The moment the countess issued the boiling command,
And as the seventeen surviving Gigants lunged at the Wolf Queen all at once—
Grrk.
The Wolf Queen let out a mocking growl.
Even staring down seventeen charging Gigants, she showed no hint of panic. Instead, she raised her head proudly.
And,
Awooooooo!
With a howl that shook the heavens, she unleashed strands of ferocious mana.
* * *
Awooooooo!
The moment that cry rang out,
Halt!
The seventeen Gigants charging in unison froze in place.
And,
Awooooo!
Awoooooo!
As the wolves scattered across the battlefield turned their heads toward the Wolf Queen and howled in unison,
As their cries echoed like waves crashing from all directions—front, back, left, right—colliding and shattering,
The riders in their cockpits began trembling uncontrollably without realizing it.
It wasn't just a howl.
-Fear...
It was mana thickly infused with killing intent and malice.
A power that only the rarest, most powerful monsters could wield.
Before it, even the bravest knight would feel their limbs lock up in sheer terror.
The Wolf Queen's Fear was especially unique.
Thanks to her ability-nullifying fangs, her mana infiltrated the Gigant cockpits even more easily.
It was steeped in the sticky savagery of the wild, amplified further as her subordinate wolves resonated with the howl, boosting the Fear's potency.
Even the countess, with Berserker maxing her rage, felt her fingertips quiver faintly. It was an overwhelming Fear.
The ground seemed to vanish beneath her feet.
She couldn't tell if the thing before her was the Wolf Queen or some unknowable horror. She didn't even dare lift her head to look.
Her limbs shook violently, her breath caught, tears welled up for no reason.
Deep in her soul, fear wailed endlessly.
While the seventeen Gigants stood frozen, the Wolf Queen's minions began closing in.
A crisis.
If they gave it any more time, Linekal's Gigants would get tangled up fighting the wolves again.
"Huuuup...! Hah!"
It was exactly then.
Kang Geohan dropped his diaphragm with all his might, drawing in and expelling a deep breath.
Thud!
While no one could move, he alone took a single step.
"Golem...!"
And when Kang Geohan called out to his golems in an unshaken voice,
Uwoooo!
Uwo, uwoooo!
The Blood Golems, trembling under the Fear's pressure, threw their heads back and roared at the sky.
These loyal golems, infused with direwolf spirits, wouldn't let their pack leader fight alone.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The three Blood Golems from Kang Geohan's Gigant broke the silence and charged at the Wolf Queen.
Was the Fear ineffective only on Kang Geohan?
No.
Kang Geohan was blue in the face, lips trembling under the Fear's crush, mumbling endlessly.
'Like always...! Just like always!'
What allowed him to endure the plunge into an abyssal dread was courage.
And courage wasn't some miraculous spark that appeared out of nowhere in isolation.
Courage was the essence of daily persistence, habits, and ingrained instincts.
In a word, routine.
Coolan Black's quip that Kang Geohan's muscles embodied "courage" wasn't a joke.
Courage was like daily savings deposits, building up to become the strength that carried you through crises like this.
Kang Geohan
had fought weights every single day, from his past life to now, without rest.
Even after devouring a balrog core and losing consciousness, he had shouldered the barbell.
'I fought even unconscious... Now, fully aware! No reason to hold back out of fear!'
Boom!
The giant's footfall shook the earth,
Whoosh!
And the giant-slayer, exceeding supersonic speeds several times over, plunged toward the Wolf Queen.