Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 184
Chapter Title: Gotham (2)
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Whoooosh!
A tense air hung over the dungeon amid the blowing wind.
After a brief rest.
As soon as dawn broke, the troops sprang into action.
If asked who the overall commander of these forces was, a hundred out of a hundred would say me.
But it was clearly Vladimir directing the "Idam" forces in detail.
“Ranged dealers, group up around Boneau! Melee dealers, scatter to the flanks!”
“Hunters who think they’re close to tanks, all gather at the front! Team up with the shield-bearing skeletons!”
Vladimir sorted the troops by unique abilities, with help from each organization’s leaders.
It was more efficient to group similar classes together anyway.
And war was all about control, wasn’t it?
The intent was joint management.
[Spacian: Hey, team leader.]
[Spacian: That skeleton of yours, Kaden, right? He’s impressive.]
[Spacian: His insight into warfare is on another level. This’ll make control a breeze.]
Assisting Vladimir from the side was one of my subordinates.
Creak!
It was Kaden.
“Friend of the Master. Have the healers fall under Dana’s command, and gather those with special abilities outside of warfare at the central headquarters.”
“Special abilities outside of warfare?”
“Abilities like yours. Your world has a truly diverse array of powers. If we utilize those people in the right places, the war will become much easier.”
With Kaden helping as a staff officer,
The ranks formed up in no time.
[Guide: Vladimir.]
[Guide: I made a chat room for the faction leaders and invited them.]
[Guide: Should make control even smoother.]
Kapu pitched in too.
He’d created a second chat room and added "Idam" executives and rankers.
A device to control everything at once, even from afar.
With preparations complete, we marched toward the central area.
How much time passed?
[Skeleton King: Stop here.]
At my simple order,
Snap! Snap snap!
The skeleton legion halted in perfect, ruler-straight ranks.
Clack! Snap!
Vladimir’s forces checked the chat and stopped as well.
[Water Witch: We’re already here? I don’t see anything.]
[Judgment Spear: Don’t look—feel. It’s true there’s nothing visible, but can’t you sense the killing intent?]
Judgment Spear was right.
Whatever formation Dang Hwi-pyeong had set up, nothing was visible.
But I was different, having trained with the Shadow Shepherds throughout the trial.
‘I can feel it.’
I twitched my eyebrow.
It wasn’t visible, but I could smell it.
The massive hostility emanating from some existences writhed like heat haze.
“Kekeke, now you sense it without me saying.”
The old man muttered with a smile.
“But those guys.”
‘Yes?’
“They feel tougher than I expected. Hmm.”
‘Is that so?’
“I’m not sure exactly, but one thing’s clear—they’re different from before. Much more advanced? Back then, they could at best turn third-rate into first-rate... but now it feels like they’ve elevated first-rate to the peak. Sigh.”
The old man let out a short sigh.
But unlike his sigh, his eyes sparkled brightly.
No.
Why are you looking so expectant when you say it’s a bad situation?
“Kekeke. Was it not Dang Hwi-pyeong? Or has that bastard advanced with time... Whatever it is, I can’t wait to see.”
‘Aren’t you too relaxed, even if your disciple might lose?’
“That disciple of mine charges at otherworldly dragons without a second thought—should I worry?”
‘……’
No argument there.
No matter how intense things got here,
It wouldn’t get as insane as the Giant Dragon versus Aranbalon fight.
Thud thud!
Rumble rumble……
Sensing the ominous mood, our allied troops rolled on the ground.
They drew their weapons, bracing for any sudden orders.
“Boy, don’t worry.”
The old man smiled faintly.
“So what if that Wicked Poison Stronghold has advanced? We’ve advanced our Poison Mist just as much. Lad.”
‘Yes?’
“If you’re ready, release it.”
‘The Poison Fog?’
“Yes, send it right into their central position. That alone will shatter their formation in an instant.”
‘Ah, yes.’
Whoooong!
I closed my eyes and slowly began releasing the Poison Fog I’d stored in my body.
Hiss! Hisss!
The green smoke started as a small dot, then ballooned in size in the blink of an eye.
Gurgle, gurgle!
From my position.
Riding the undergrowth, valleys, and ravines on the ground.
The Poison Fog slithered forward like a snake.
[Water Witch: Ugh.]
[Water Witch: To see that horror again here……]
[Absolute Invincible: Moreover, it feels even bigger than before.]
Hiss! Hisss!
- Kiiiiieee!
The Poison Fog reached the center unnoticed and began rampaging wildly.
It spread roughly in all directions, clashing with something rippling.
And soon.
“I see it.”
As Gi So-yul muttered beside me, it became clear in my sight too.
Countless monsters emitting red glows from their eyes, growling grrr!
A sight that sent chills down the spine just looking at it.
“W-what is that?”
“Monsters. I’ve heard rumors. Gotham experiments on humans to create chimeras.”
“……Chimeras?”
“They lose their reason, but their power amplifies—nearly double or triple.”
“Crazy, aren’t they total scum?”
Their lost families.
Their missing children were in there.
Pledged to devils, enduring endless torment.
“So that’s where they were hiding. Those bastards I’ll chew up.”
People grew furious.
“I can’t hold back. Even if I die, I’ll fight those devil bastards.”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
They swung their drawn weapons wildly, awaiting orders.
Looking over the battlefield, I turned my gaze to meet the old man’s eyes.
“Kekeke, don’t you feel it? Their panic from your Poison Fog?”
‘Is that so?’
It looked that way.
No matter how I saw it, their formation.
Wasn’t meant for a frontal clash.
“What are you waiting for? Process them before they regroup.”
‘Understood, Elder.’
“But don’t get careless. They might be stronger than you think. Even in our world, Wicked Poison Stronghold was horrific.”
Nod.
As I nodded and raised my hand,
All troops’ eyes fixed on my fingertips.
Then.
“Hup.”
Filling my lungs with air,
I swung my arm down and roared fiercely.
“Chaaaarge!”
The war had begun.
* * *
“Waaaaah!”
“Uwaaaah!”
Looking at the approaching forces with their massive roars.
“W-what, Andrey? What’s going on?”
Ji-ma muttered in panic.
“…….”
But Andrey just clenched his lips, glaring ahead.
Making no response.
No, precisely,
He was watching Dang Hwi-pyeong, who was furiously excited in midair.
“No, how! How did the formation I painstakingly set up crumble so easily! Why! Why! Why!”
His legs uncrossed from the usual lotus position.
The old man, Dang Hwi-pyeong, jumping up and down.
“It’s just like back then. That damned Poison Mist bastard or whatever!”
Dang Hwi-pyeong recalled the past.
While building forces for world unification, a thunderbolt old man appeared out of nowhere.
- Huh? The rumors were true?
- Bugs raising bugs, huh.
- Tsk, pests must be exterminated.
When the old man who called himself Poison Mist attacked, he’d honestly thought he was just another nobody.
One of the many humans blocking his plans.
And it was true at first.
He’d retreated without properly challenging the formation he’d set.
But.
‘It was the same back then.’
Grit!
Dang Hwi-pyeong ground his teeth, reminiscing.
Somehow knowing the gas was the nemesis of Wicked Poison Stronghold.
He’d come stuffed full of it, breaking through the formation.
‘Damn……!’
Bloodshot eyes bulged.
The nightmarish moment replayed vividly in his mind.
The old man tearing through his painstakingly raised forces in an instant was terror incarnate.
Swipe! Swipe!
Each swing of his hand.
Boom! Boom!
His troops exploding with sounds.
Before that overwhelming force,
Even the dread Wicked Poison Stronghold that dyed the world in fear had to kneel.
Then came the hollow death.
The cold blade piercing his heart.
“This time, it absolutely won’t happen……! I won’t waste this second chance at life!”
Dang Hwi-pyeong had two regrets.
One.
The injustice of dying without achieving his grand plan.
Two.
Vengeance against the Poison Mist old man who ruined it.
The second one,
He’d thought impossible even in death.
‘No way.’
That foul stench from days ago.
Was it that damned old man’s scent?
The scent of death?
If so.
“Yes.”
Better this way.
He’d prepared for this exact scenario anyway.
By advancing Wicked Poison Stronghold.
“Andrey, you bastard. What are you doing.”
Dang Hwi-pyeong coldly assessed the charging forces ahead.
Judging purely by the aura they emitted...
Unconditional superiority for Andrey.
“Instead of killing those idiots charging in.”
Dang Hwi-pyeong’s order.
‘……You mean we can fight outside the formation?’
“No fleeing. No carelessness. Use your full power to annihilate them. If you do that……’
Dang Hwi-pyeong’s voice dropped low.
“I’ll give you the world.”
* * *
“Uwaaaah!”
“Waaaaah!”
The war began.
A brute-force frontal clash now that the formation was gone.
No terrain exploitation or guerrilla tactics.
Just over 10,000 strong crashing in like raging waves.
-Grrr!
-Growl growl!
The enemy monsters also charged, drooling from their maws.
Their eyes flashing as they hunted prey—it was quite grotesque.
Thud!
Kaden at the vanguard slammed his shield into the ground.
In sync,
Thud! Thud! Thud rumble rumble boom!
The 1,110 skeleton shieldbearers in a line drove their shields into the ground, bracing their feet.
“Fire over the shields!”
Fwoosh!
Boneau’s staff moved gracefully.
As expected, fire spewed from the 1,110 skeletons’ staves.
“Launch your ranged skills!”
Swoosh! Swoosh swoosh! Swoosh!
Thousands of hunters’ varied attacks fused with Boneau’s fire magic.
The fireballs arcing through the air.
The moment they engulfed the monsters like fire demons.
Kaboom rumble crash!
Earth-shaking explosions filled the space.
[Water Witch: This is…… a real spectacle.]
[Spring Apostle: For real. Thank goodness the Skeleton King is on our side.]
The combined assault of over 10,000 troops was truly [beautiful].
Satisfyingly embedding attack spells and arrows.
But that wasn’t the end.
[Judgment Spear: I’m charging too.]
[Absolute Invincible: Time to show them true martial arts!]
The melee forces led by Jang Wei, Gi So-yul, and Im Su-jin bypassed the shieldbearers’ flanks and charged.
“Waaaaah!”
“Let’s kill them all!”
“Kiiiill!”
Troops sprinting forward with exhilarating cries that cleared their chests.
- Kieeek!
-Growl rek!
Monsters helpless against ranged attacks were cleanly sliced apart.
With the fight easier than expected,
“Waaaaah!”
A massive cheer erupted from the ranged troops.
The battlefield trembled from the roar alone.
“Awesome!”
“Long live Skeleton King!”
“We’re beating Gotham!”
That fearsome "Gotham."
Even the Russian mafia they’d nibbled at was being swept away.
The tension hidden in everyone’s hearts snapped free, blood boiling.
Shivers ran through them.
But.
The cheers didn’t last long.
Why?
KABOOOOOM!
Something flew into the midst of our charging melee forces, crashing like a meteor.
“Argh!”
“Gaaah!”
Amid the billowing dust and screaming troops.
That’s when a figure walking through, radiating killing intent, came into view.
“T-that’s!”
“Crazy?”
Kwon So-ye and Im Su-jin watching it gaped in shock.
“…….”
I bit my lip too.
- Kaaaaah!
The figure roaring with a solid fist thrust forward—it was awfully familiar.
‘Iron Fist…….’
Yes.
Attacking us was none other than.
Korea’s ranker.
World ranking 101st, Iron Fist Bong Jae-young.