Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Fanatic Legion Assault
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Enemies were swarming in from directions that made no sense for mere happenstance, without belonging to the same faction or even being allies.
The assault came in three prongs.
First, the Thunderbird horde advancing from the west. Then, the fanatics marching up from the south. And finally, the wyvern flock soaring in from the southwest.
Which of these posed the greatest threat?
'No way to know for sure.'
Common sense dictated that the two groups with special bosses would be more dangerous.
While I had been laying the foundations of the Human Empire and focusing on internal affairs, the monsters from the spawn points had claimed the outer edges of the board.
'No chance they've reached mythic grade, but... they're bound to be stronger than the Ice Queen, who couldn't even take ten castles.'
That said, the wyvern flock flying in from inland wasn't to be underestimated either.
'They're high-level on average.'
Even the trash mobs scattered across wyvern fields were hero-grade monsters. Elites and bosses aside, they were no pushovers.
And on top of that, they could fly. Meaning they could just soar right over the walls.
"They're coming! Monsters approaching!"
"Archers, ready! Hold until the signal!"
"Follow your training! The guns are upgraded—just trust them and fire!"
"Keep those sights steady!"
The walls were packed with soldiers. Not the most sensible tactic. Clustered like that, a single wyvern breath attack could wipe them out.
Sure enough, flames began gathering in the mouths of the wyverns streaking through the sky.
Each one hero-grade—monsters that could have massacred thousands of soldiers back in the day!
"Snipers in position—fire!"
But their fiery breaths never reached the troops.
Bang bang bang! Bang! Bang!
"Urk! The recoil...!"
"Grip it tight! How many levels have you gained? Quit whining!"
Four thousand sniper rifles roared to life.
Siege objects that dealt fixed damage regardless of player level or stats.
In the game, spatial limits prevented installing more than about a thousand, but here, they could be deployed as needed.
'If they weren't restricted to the walls, I could've made special forces units or something.'
A true shame, because...
The sniper rifles packed a punch.
Pew-pew-pew-pew!
"Kieek!?"
"Kyaaak!"
The wyverns filling the sky began plummeting in droves. It started at a dizzying distance—at least 700 to 800 meters out—like spraying insecticide on a bug swarm.
"Whoa, it actually hits."
Less the result of focused sniper training and more because the massive targets had conveniently clustered together, but the key point was striking from far beyond the enemy's range.
"Better than expected. Perfect for intercepting flyers."
Truth be told, hero-grade monsters had solid defenses and health pools. If these had been ground-based hero-grade beasts, it'd have taken dozens of bullets each to deal real damage.
But against ton-class behemoths airborne?
Ripping their wing membranes alone spelled disaster.
Boom! Bang! Crash!
"Kieeek!"
"Kek!"
Screeches erupted from the wyverns arcing through the air to crash below. Hundreds of meters up, even hero-grade monsters couldn't walk away unscathed.
The wyverns writhed, flapping useless wings from the absurd fall damage, barely rising. A few unlucky ones snapped their necks on impact and died outright.
'And when wyverns die like that...'
I shifted view to check the soldiers. As expected.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
Level-up effects burst across the walls.
No surprise—slaying high-level wyverns under a 200% EXP buff.
'That's why I held off on artillery.'
Might as well capitalize on the 200% EXP buff. Of course, it came with risks.
Namely, wyverns breaking through the barrage!
Whoosh!
Wyverns penetrating to 100-200 meters unleashed their breaths. Man-sized fireballs hurtled toward the clustered troops.
"Eek!"
"Defend! Shields up!"
"No panic! You doubting His Majesty's words?"
As someone shouted.
Of course there were countermeasures. This wasn't some ordinary castle.
Pew-pew-pew-boom!
A translucent barrier blocked the breaths. I eyed the numbers popping up on one side of the screen.
[Mana Shield]
998,176/1,000,000
The mana shield was one of the main functions tied to the guild tower's comprehensive control room (legendary). It couldn't block enemies directly like walls, but it handled ranged attacks reliably.
Best of all, unlike [Restore Points] that required diamond recharges, it refilled automatically over time—even mid-battle.
Of course, some wyverns still flung themselves onto the walls to assault the soldiers.
"Shield wall!"
"Don't tank alone! Group up!"
Thud!
Shield bearers surged forward to block them. Follow-up attacks finished off the ragged wyverns that had breached the fire net, or shoved them off the dozens-of-meters-high walls.
That wasn't all.
"Our time! Finish them!"
"All units! Charge!"
Thud thud thud thud!
Knights waiting outside the walls charged in, striking the downed, groaning wyverns. Collecting the drops was a given.
"Good. No issues."
Despite facing far stronger foes, soldier casualties were negligible. The mythic-grade castle's overwhelming advantages bridged even ability gaps.
"Roll the boulders! Loose arrows!"
"Keep them from climbing!"
"Guard the gates!"
The west gate was smoothly repelling the influx too. Unlike the all-hero-grade wyverns, these were mostly advanced and rare-grade monsters, vulnerable to rocks and arrows.
Though lightning-aspect monsters hurling bolts at the walls posed a problem.
Crackle!
The barrier stopped them cold.
"Roooaaar!"
Boom!
An elite monster, Thunder Giant (rare), bellowed and stomped the ground. An improbably agile leap for its massive bulk!
But even so, it couldn't clear the 50-meter-plus height—more skyscraper block than mere wall—in one bound.
The Thunder Giant seemed aware, slamming its right arm into the wall to anchor itself for another jump.
Crunch!
"Grreeek!?"
Its right arm shattered, painting the wall red as it slid down. Not a scratch on the stone.
Monstrous as they were... the mythic-grade walls' height and durability were murderously extreme.
Pitiful to challenge walls that could withstand missile barrages.
"They're holding well."
I surveyed it all slowly. Railgun-16 (legendary) and Meteor Cannon (legendary) were loaded just in case, but no need to fire.
No matter their power, a mythic-grade castle wasn't something to rush blindly.
"...Oh?"
Not every monster charged mindlessly.
Click! Click! Click!
Through the display in the guild tower's annex, the [Comprehensive Control Room], I watched the army approaching the south gate.
Unlike the hundreds of wyverns or thousands of lightning monsters, these foes looked anything but 'monstrous.'
'Humanoid monsters.'
Anyone who's played RPGs knows not all monsters are beastly abominations.
From basic thugs to story enemies like soldiers, knights, mages—they're all 'monsters' hostile to the protagonist.
The right-flank spawn point faction, Heavenly God Cultists and their fanatic horde, fit that bill.
By lore.
The Heavenly God Church was an extremist sect shunned even by the Holy Empire. It preached the Heavenly God as the sole true deity, all others false idols.
'They gained mysterious power while other humans died to monsters, building a massive force. Turns out their Heavenly God was a sealed ancient outer god.'
Leading them was the light-attribute spawn point's special boss, the Fanatic Edward.
The commander of this incoming legion.
Bang! Bang bang!
Wall gunfire rang out, but did nothing to the fully armored Heavenly God Soldiers (rare). Most wielded massive shields besides.
'Huh? Wait... something's off.'
I'd seen Heavenly God Soldier gear on homepages and fan sites.
'They weren't this heavily equipped...'
That wasn't the only oddity.
Toot! Toooooot!
Hundreds of massive elephants—dump trucks had nothing on them—advanced in orderly ranks toward the castle.
The problem? They weren't monsters.
"Wait, those features... Murder Elephants of the Great Forest?"
Demonic Beasts.
Creatures born from beasts devouring ten humans' worth. Commonly called Ten-Man Demonic Beasts, literally from eating ten people.
Demonic Beasts evolve over time by feasting on humans—sprouting horns, growing larger, thickening hides, and so on.
Reach a thousand devoured...
And they become horrors requiring armies to fell.
Thousand-Man Demonic Beasts.
My own territory came from slaying the Thousand-Man Demonic Beast nearby, the Wolf King Akalan, whose predecessors as lord had fallen one after another.
Pre-gate, pre-monster era, humanity's greatest foe.
'Now an endangered species.'
Reality. Post-gates and monsters, spotting even a Demonic Beast hair was rare.
Yet here they were... no Ten-Man or Hundred-Man, just hundreds of Thousand-Man Demonic Beasts.
Twenty-plus years in Ardania, and this defied logic.
"Guess I should check it out."
I stood. My body had been itching for action anyway.
"South gate."
Pressing a spot on the massive wall-spanning map in the control room auto-connected comms.
Incredibly handy now that I'd sold all stocks and couldn't chat.
[L-Loyalty! Iron Castle 1st Legion, 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Company Commander, Lieutenant Quickstep! Currently preparing for defense!]
The rapid-fire diction hit like a rapper's—crisp and relentless.
Like he'd drilled his rank and name daily.
"Yeah. Redirect the snipers prepping defense to wyvern support."
[...]
Quickstep faltered at my order. Pulling max firepower just as enemies closed in? Natural reaction.
[But Your Majesty! The enemy is...]
"I'm heading there."
His tone flipped instantly.
[Gasp!? Yes sir! Orders executed immediately! Loyalty!]
Click.
I cut comms and scanned the empty control room—newly built annex, no staff yet.
"Need permanent staff from now on."
Monitoring the whole castle, detecting stealth above advanced rank, broadcasting voice anywhere—priceless in war and peace.
Station commanders, advisors, merchants, admins—huge help.
"Now then..."
I ascended to the guild tower roof, pondering.
"Full combat set would be overkill, right?"
I'd bought a legendary +9 gear set from auction, options fine-tuned.
But no matter how I thought... suiting up in it was overkill.
Not complacency—reality.
"Fine then."
I equipped alternatives instead.
[Lucky Golden Crown+9 (Legendary)]
[Lucky Angel Wing Suit+9 (Legendary)]
[Lucky Black Suit Pants+9 (Legendary)]
[Lucky Radiant Light Shoes+9 (Legendary)]
[Lucky Radiant Light Gloves+9 (Legendary)]
Dressed, I checked my status window reflection.
"...Damn, even hand-picked and it's this."
A gleaming golden crown.
Top with angel wings.
Dazzling gloves and shoes.
At least the suit pants were subdued.
"Way too flashy..."
The ostentation crossed into excess. +9 auras only amplified it.
The finishing touch.
[Lucky Rabbit's Foot Hammer+9 (Legendary)]
"Hah."
I hefted the head-smashing-three-times-over hammer, its cute rabbit-foot design and fur rendering it oddly non-threatening.
Hand-picked gear, mind you.
The most subdued looks per slot.
"Better than Sprouting Sprout Set, Sexy Santa Set, or Heartthrob Nyan Nyan Set..."
Luck items were mostly event drops— all looked like this.
"Performance, just focus on performance..."
Burdened by aesthetics, but advantages were clear.
Luck: 47 (+590).
"Drop rate first."
I kicked off the roof into the sky.
"Pull some too!"
With a shout, I launched skyward.
"Rawr!"
Kasim materialized with a roar, snatching me mid-air and banking south.
"Ah, basic courtesy at least."
I removed the Frost Guardian Ring (rare)+9 to inventory, slotting in the Light Dominion Ring (legendary)+9.
Buffs shifted: Frost resist +90% gone, Light resist +90%, +10% damage vs. light monsters, blindness immunity added.
Me, matching even resistance rings to legendary +9.
Satisfying.
Swoooosh!!
A horse-and-carriage hour away, but Kasim arrived in seconds.
Bypassing the south gate, I dove straight into the monster throng.
And canceled Kasim's summon.
Boom!!
Rough landing cratered the ground.
No lightness skill, yet negligible impact—I rose satisfied.
"God..."
"Madman."
"The audacity..."
All eyes on me. Wall soldiers. Tens of thousands of fanatics.
The man shrouded in soft light.
Even the special boss, Fanatic Edward.