Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Overwhelming
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#12.
Overwhelming.
It was just a bug in name and appearance, but its size made it look like the Titanic.
It was so enormous that it was impossible to take it all in at a glance.
Instead, the knights charging toward it looked like insects.
“……Can we really defeat that thing?”
The emotion I felt facing Drakeas was fear.
The terror of death, the realization that I was going to die here!
But in front of that thing, all I could think was awe.
‘It’s a force of nature.’
No one charges at a typhoon or an earthquake to try to defeat it.
They’d just be called insane.
In Seo Woojin’s eyes, the knights rushing toward the ice worm looked exactly like madmen.
“……I don’t know.”
Airin had immense pride in the Blue Shield Knights.
She believed they were the best, the strongest knight order.
Even so, she couldn’t be certain.
That was how powerful the ice worm was as a monster.
It was the reason they hadn’t succeeded in subjugating it until now.
“But this time will be different.”
This time, they had an even stronger Ban Slein.
So she wanted to believe they could definitely take it down this time.
If only to honor the souls of the comrades and soldiers who had died.
Seo Woojin let out a quiet sigh inwardly as he watched Airin speak with a resolute expression.
He knew the knights were strong.
But the ice worm’s size made him doubt whether it was truly a living creature that humans could face.
Even with Ban Slein there.
Seo Woojin watched the front lines with worried eyes.
* * *
“Spread out.”
“Spread out!”
Testron bellowed Ban Slein’s short command across the field.
At once, dozens of knights fanned out to the left and right.
Each one was skilled enough to hunt a Tranga with ease.
The knights raced around the ice worm like blue winds taking form.
Their speed was so incredible it was hard to believe they were human.
Suddenly, the ground surged up before them.
No, it wasn’t the ground—it was massive tentacles.
The ice worm’s tentacles, hidden underground, had emerged to block the knights’ charge.
“First squad, block them!”
Those at the forefront swung their swords.
Compared to the tentacles’ size, their blades looked like needles.
But the result was unexpected.
The thin, small needles were slicing the tentacles to pieces.
Grrooooaaar—!
As one tentacle was shredded and fell to the ground, the ice worm let out a scream of agony.
Yet no one rejoiced.
Hundreds of tentacles remained, and the main body—larger than all of them combined—was still intact.
The tentacles came crashing down all at once.
The pressure was so immense it felt like even a knight’s grandfather couldn’t block it.
But instead of panicking or showing fear, they raised their swords.
Fwoooosh—!
Winds rose from their sword tips.
At first, they seemed insignificant compared to the tentacles, but soon they became a raging typhoon.
Kwaaang-kwak!
The tentacles were powerless before it.
Even those as thick as houses were torn to shreds.
“……Damn.”
But Testron’s expression wasn’t good.
“Too easy.”
Ban Slein also frowned, something bothering him.
“That’s right.”
It was too easy.
If the ice worm’s strength was just its size and tentacles, they wouldn’t have failed to subjugate it all this time.
“It seems like it’s luring us.”
“You mean…….”
“It was five years ago, right?”
At Ban Slein’s words, Testron’s face hardened.
The year after the Massive Guardian subjugation when they’d suffered the most casualties.
“There’s another one.”
“We need to halt the advance immediately.”
Testron said urgently.
If the same thing happened as back then?
He didn’t even want to imagine it.
He himself had barely survived death that time.
But Ban Slein shook his head.
“No need.”
The events of five years ago were an unforgettable scar for Ban Slein too.
Yet his demeanor remained composed.
“Just clear a path for me. Leave the rest to me.”
“My lord!”
To Testron, who served him, those were words he absolutely couldn’t accept.
“That’s an order.”
Obeying his lord’s command was also an absolute knightly precept.
Ban Slein patted the conflicted Testron’s shoulder.
“No need to worry.”
“I’ll follow.”
In the end, Testron compromised by vowing to guard his lord to the end.
Ban Slein smiled his usual benevolent smile.
“Clear the path!”
Testron’s shout shook the battlefield once more.
The Blue Shield Knights’ swords swung for their lord.
Tentacles were sliced apart, and black blood stained their blue armor.
But the knights didn’t stop moving.
They gritted their teeth to swing their swords one more time, staking their lives to open the way.
“Urk!”
One by one, two by two.
Knights began to fall.
None had lost their lives yet, but if this continued, casualties were inevitable.
Even so, the knights pressed on harder.
Solely to open a path for Ban Slein.
And then,
“For Sion!”
It was Gerald.
His uncle-like demeanor vanished as if it had been a lie, his shout filled with more knightly dignity than anyone’s.
“For Sion!”
The frozen earth heated up.
Sword lights flashed, melting the snow piled with the knights’ sweat and blood.
And finally……
“Go.”
Ban Slein moved.
* * *
“Crazy…….”
Seo Woojin didn’t blink once.
He couldn’t.
The knights’ struggle was enough to ignite a fire in his heart, which had been indifferent to everything until now.
Kkuuuk—
Airin beside him was the same.
Frustrated that she couldn’t be there with them, she clenched her fists and bit her lip.
“Knights really are amazing.”
“It’s us who are amazing.”
It was a valor the inland knights couldn’t even imitate.
Something only those who constantly staked their lives in battles with monsters could do.
Airin truly believed that.
“The cowards in the center probably can’t even hold a sword properly.”
Seo Woojin nodded.
The Blue Shield Knights definitely seemed different from the ones he’d seen when he was first summoned.
‘They just train brutally like idiots.’
That must be why they could show such power.
As Seo Woojin began to let go of his worries a bit at the knight order’s strength—stronger than he’d imagined—
“No!”
Airin suddenly screamed.
“W-What’s wrong?”
“It’s not just one!”
Airin began fidgeting as if she sensed something.
“Not just one?”
“Two. Maybe more!”
She had seen combat like this before.
Back then, at that place, she’d lost someone like a mentor to her.
That was why she’d wanted to join them there no matter what, to exact revenge……
The thought that the nightmare of that day might repeat made Airin dash out without thinking.
It was something she absolutely shouldn’t have done.
It was as good as abandoning the order to guard Seo Woojin’s side.
But that’s how urgent it felt.
“Huh? W-Wait!”
Seo Woojin, bewildered, hurriedly followed her.
“Damn it!”
He knew why she was doing this.
‘She’s trying to warn them of the danger.’
But he couldn’t understand it.
If it were him, he’d avoid the danger somehow.
They weren’t even participating in the battle, so staying put would keep them safe, right?
Yet Airin was rushing straight toward it.
It was utterly incomprehensible.
And what was even more incomprehensible was,
“Fuck, I’m running too!”
For some reason, he was following Airin.
It was just like when he’d faced Drakeas.
Before his head could think, his body moved.
He could stop his legs right now, stand still, and just watch.
Yet Seo Woojin kept running.
He’d even drawn the sword he’d stored away.
‘I don’t get it.’
Safety first, mind his own business.
He’d always been indifferent to others, prioritizing only his own well-being.
Back on Earth, he’d ignored high schoolers trying to mug people on the street more than once or twice.
He didn’t want to get involved and end up in trouble.
That was Seo Woojin’s personality.
Yet here, he was charging into a place where he might die without a second thought.
‘No, it’s not without a second thought?’
His heart was pounding like mad.
He didn’t know if it was from exertion or fear.
Airin ahead was growing distant, dizzyingly far, but Seo Woojin didn’t stop chasing her.
He must be crazy.
Not just Airin, but him too.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t act like this.
And not just once, but twice.
Seo Woojin kept cursing inwardly as he ran.
Until the ground surged up before his eyes.
“Uwaaak!”
He rolled across the ground.
The ground suddenly shook and shot up toward the sky, and Seo Woojin didn’t yet have the ability to withstand it.
He sprang to his feet and pointed the sword he’d luckily not dropped forward.
As expected, an ice worm had emerged from the ground there.
“……No way.”
Thanks to it, he’d been separated from Airin.
Not a single knight or soldier was in sight.
He was completely alone with the ice worm.
It was much smaller than the one fighting the knights, but still bigger than Drakeas.
Seo Woojin felt impossibly small.
The knights were managing somehow, but for him, it was impossible.
‘Should I run?’
There was zero chance of winning a fight.
No, a fight wouldn’t even be possible.
One swing of a tentacle, and he’d be mush.
No time to dodge or anything.
So running was the only option left, but even that seemed unlikely.
Because the ice worm’s gaze was fixed directly on Seo Woojin.
“Ah, I’m screwed.”
He uttered the same curse he’d said when he was first summoned.