Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Who Did You Pick a Fight With?
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He had given it his all.
But Kang Geohan quickly realized.
‘Giving it my all isn’t enough.’
The chain actions of pushing and pulling each other were definitely effective. They blocked a few more javelins and allowed for stronger counterattacks.
But even so, ten, twenty javelins they couldn’t block came raining down. The Sleipnirs charging in terror were smashed to pieces without mercy.
They threw javelins in retaliation, but the enemies’ reactions were improving, and out of 40 units, they only managed to destroy 4.
No matter how hard they tried,
it was like being stuck in a swamp,
pulling them deeper and deeper.
His body grew heavy.
His breath came in ragged gasps.
Death probably wasn’t far off.
But,
it was infuriating.
Who the hell are you...!
Who the hell are you to decide our fate?
We’re the ones who’ve been fighting to survive, so why the fuck are you drawing the line whenever you feel like it?
Malice and murderous intent boiled up.
And he realized. There was no going back anyway.
If giving it his all wasn’t enough,
‘Then I’ll squeeze out more than my all...!’
Huuuuuuh!
Kang Geohan lowered his diaphragm to its limit, inflating his belly.
He activated his full-body mirror ability.
He twisted his mana core. It bounced back five times.
Then, he gathered all the mana accumulated in his body and jammed it into the mana core.
Just as blood laden with sugar and oxygen floods the muscles to cause pumping, the mana flooding in caused the mana core to explode outright.
A surge of mana power.
In this way, the mana power Kang Geohan could mobilize at once was 154 points.
That was his all. But it wasn’t enough.
‘More...! More!’
Even though there was no mana left to jam into the mana core, Kang Geohan forcibly drew out more mana power using his willpower.
[Willpower: 298 / 453]
[Willpower: 17 / 453]
As his willpower was greatly depleted, his vision shook.
The scenery melted away like a Gogh painting.
The mobilized mana power kept increasing.
200 points. 250 points. 300 points.
Far beyond the limit of what he could draw at once.
His stance collapsed. His body twisted this way and that from drawing out power beyond the limit.
His muscles and mana core began to necrotize from exceeding the limit.
Rhabdomyolysis.
A condition that mainly occurs when untrained people engage in intense exercise, where muscles necrotize due to insufficient energy supply.
That was happening in Kang Geohan’s muscles and mana core. That’s how much he was exceeding the limit.
Normally, he would never have allowed it.
Letting his stance collapse, pushing his body to the point of rhabdomyolysis—
Was there anything more horrific for a former trainer?
But,
‘This is the end anyway.’
If it’s the end, who cares?
If there was one thing he wished for,
“Not a single one...! I won’t let any of you bastards live!”
He just wanted to etch into the minds of those disgusting Logot scum that he was alive.
Kwaaaaaang!
Steam exploded in a donut shape along the javelin’s trajectory.
Jeeeng!
A Logot mountain gigant tried to block with its greatshield, but the javelin pierced through the shield and skewered the mountain gigant.
A normal gigant wouldn’t have taken that much damage.
But because it was a particularly small and light mountain gigant, Kang Geohan’s desperate attack landed perfectly.
“Loen!”
-I’m here!
Loen pulled javelins from the main and reserve armament slots and densely laid them out around Kang Geohan.
Kang Geohan threw them relentlessly.
Boom!
Kwaaang!
Javelins shooting out one every two seconds. Each time, a mountain gigant shattered and rolled across the ground.
Now, they couldn’t ignore Kang Geohan anymore.
The javelins pouring toward the transport Sleipnirs changed direction and targeted Kang Geohan.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
He didn’t dodge the javelins slamming down like lightning bolts.
“Yeah! Throw them! Throw them at me instead!”
Attacks had to concentrate on him so even a few more allies could escape.
Noble self-sacrifice? Nothing like that. He was just pissed off to the max, and figured this was the end anyway.
Crack! Kwa-jik!
Kang Geohan deflected incoming javelins with his shield and bent them with his arms to hold out. But he couldn’t avoid the ones embedding one by one in his shoulder, his knee.
-Kang Geohan!
The sub-tank Harklux raised his shield to guard Kang Geohan’s left side,
-You mad bastard...
And the main tank Gerot guarded his right.
-Master. After throwing the javelin, hide behind the shield.
Kaltz Black raised his shield in front,
-I’ll throw javelins too to keep the enemy in check. I can’t match your insane power right now, but...
Rapal Black took a javelin at Kang Geohan’s side. Helena and Loen held shields in front of him.
They all realized it. Whether they liked it or not, this was the last stand.
“Uwaaaah!”
Kwaang!
Kang Geohan seized the gap his comrades provided and threw another javelin.
A Logot mountain gigant was skewered and fell off the cliff. The 11th gigant to fall to Kang Geohan’s javelin.
‘Keep going.’
Keep killing, kill all 40!
But,
Zzzt!
“Kuuk...!”
A hot, sharp pain surged like a red-hot skewer piercing his body vertically.
His mana core and muscles, having exceeded the limit, were collapsing faster and faster.
His legs buckled like he’d collapse any second.
But Kang Geohan endured. He batted away and bent the enemy javelins raining down and grabbed another javelin.
“Come at me!”
Kwaaaaaang!
The 12th enemy fell from the cliff.
Bang!
The 13th!
His vision blurred. His ears rang, sounds fading.
Seizing the gap, enemy javelins poured in.
Bang!
His comrades desperately blocked, but one they missed blew off half of Diaphragm’s head.
The massive impact shook Kang Geohan, nearly toppling him. But he didn’t fall.
-Master!
Kaltz Black’s shout tore through the air like a scream,
Kwaaaang!
This time, another javelin embedded in Diaphragm’s chest. A blow that barely missed the cockpit.
Sparks flew inside the cockpit with crackling electricity, and acrid smoke from a fire filled the air.
Kang Geohan bared his teeth and stepped forward instead.
“Come at me!”
His momentum was like that of a vanguard who dies standing.
The Logot riders throwing javelins froze in shock for a moment, and even the people huddled in the full-speed Sleipnirs reflexively turned to look back, trembling.
And in that moment, the Logot riders realized.
‘That guy has to die no matter what.’
That Kang Geohan would be a massive threat to their nation.
The Logot riders gritted their teeth and prepared their next javelins.
But they didn’t know.
...!
Dozens of javelins silently plummeting from above their heads.
Kwa-gwa-gwang!
The heavens and earth shook.
A section of the cliff where the Logot gigants stood crumbled with a roar.
Fragments of mountain gigants skewered and shattered by the sudden javelins rained down the cliff.
Explosions boomed here and there, flames rising.
“What... the hell?”
Kang Geohan was dumbfounded. Like he’d seen a ghost.
“SPU didn’t detect anything?”
The SPU that nonchalantly detected hypersonic bullets had missed those massive javelins. Did that make sense?
Loen said,
-Kang Geohan! You didn’t sense anything either? What the hell? Those javelins? Where’d they come from all of a sudden?
“I don’t know... I don’t get it...”
Then, a transmission came over the kingdom’s public channel. An unfamiliar voice he’d never heard.
-This is the Royal Guard Knights. As of now, we are commencing ally rescue and enemy suppression.
A calm yet reassuring voice.
Helena White let out a deep sigh.
-Reinforcements... Reinforcements are here.
It had been three months since abandoning the eastern border fortress and becoming stragglers.
‘We survived...?’
Kang Geohan blinked.
We really survived? But then...
The moment he thought he’d survived, what filled his mind was,
‘Then... what about my muscles and mana core?’
Ah... muscle loss...
Aaaah... mana loss...
A profound sense of loss.
* * *
Enemy suppression was swift.
After the battle, Count Kali Stehold supported the staggering Kang Geohan as they sought out the Guard Knights’ commander.
The 2-meter-tall, bear-faced, rugged commander welcomed the count with joy.
No, too casually.
“Kid! You did great!”
“...Kid?”
“Haha! I knew you were impressive, but I didn’t expect this much. How’d you fight this hard all by yourself! Come here! Let’s hug it out!”
“...Get close and I’ll smack you. No, why is the commander here in the first place? Why’s the kingdom’s guardian sword away from the palace?”
Royal Guard Commander Cedric Crescendo. He was His Majesty’s first blade, the hero known as the kingdom’s guardian sword.
“The best defense is offense, they say. The best guardianship is conquest.”
“...What? Conquest?”
“Yeah. Not just me—the uptight executioner’s on the move too. He’s joining the main force.”
“There’s a separate main force?”
“We’re waging a war of conquest. 750 gigants strong.”
750 gigants.
At those words, Kang Geohan, barely standing on trembling legs from exhaustion, was stunned. Linekar Kingdom had that much power?
Then why send reinforcements so damn late?
The count seemed to think the same, narrowing his eyes at Cedric Crescendo.
“No, with that much spare manpower, why come now? Do you know how many near-death experiences we’ve had?”
Cedric Crescendo scratched his head.
“Well... wars broke out everywhere at once.”
“What? More wars?”
“Yeah. Right before Logot invaded, Luna Kingdom provoked us from the west, and our ally Crete Republic requested aid against the Misos Empire’s invasion from the north. We handled them in order, so we ended up late. Kid. I’m really sorry to you.”
“...Luna Kingdom and Misos Empire too? ...That’s weird. Wars breaking out simultaneously across the continent?”
“Exactly! Freaking lunatics everywhere. Except Crete Republic.”
“They’re okay now?”
“Yeah. Luna’s provocation wasn’t that big, and we gave Misos a proper smackdown. So now...”
Cedric Crescendo’s bear-like fierce face twisted even fiercer. Thick killing intent rippled on mana waves.
“It’s time to let those Logot bastards know. Who they picked a fight with.”