That Is the Way of the Northern Warrior
The legion commander’s mind spun at blinding speed the moment he understood what it meant to be a northern warrior. He unleashed his aura on the demons under his command, who were still reeling, and roared, “All of you, to the walls! Do not let those bastards cross the ramparts!”
The shout snapped the demons back to their senses. They scrambled up the walls in a frantic rush. The arrogant swagger they had shown earlier was gone; now they stood in formation like any other tense northern defender. Satisfied with their disciplined appearance, I flashed a thumbs-up at Neon, who was busy chugging mana potions like they were water.
“As expected of you, Neon. I knew I could count on you.”
Clack. Neon answered with a thumbs-up of his own before he was loaded onto a stretcher and carried off to the infirmary. Once I confirmed every demon was in position, I turned back to the legion commander.
He wore the expression of a man who had bitten into something foul. The situation was clearly not what he had anticipated. After shooting me a quick glance, he let out a heavy sigh and asked, “Are you the commander of this city? Do you have any plan to stop those monsters?”
“Of course. You think I summoned all of you just to poke them for fun?”
“Then I suppose we’re lucky. After being summoned here, I had zero interest in getting ripped apart and sent straight back to Hell.”
Because they had been called through a summoning ritual, these demons wouldn’t truly die even if they were killed. Still, no one wanted a meaningless death. Seeing my confidence, a hint of relief finally appeared on the legion commander’s face.
“So what’s the plan?”
“Simple. We fight them head-on and win.”
“......?”
My cheerful tone left him completely lost. He made a stupefied face, then asked again. “Sorry, my ears must have failed me for a second. What did you just say?”
“We clash with them directly and win.”
“God… damn it.”
He barely swallowed the curse that nearly flew out. Veins bulged on his neck as he forced a smile. At this point, simply not swearing made him worthy of sainthood. He pointed a finger at the city.
“You want to stop those things with our current forces? Do you honestly think that makes sense?”
“Why wouldn’t it? We have twelve layers of wide-area barriers, walls engraved with reinforcement magic, twelve magic cannons, seventy-eight defensive siege weapons, a thousand northerners, and hundreds of monsters all working together.”
“Of course it doesn’t work! You’ve been active in the North—you know better than anyone! What makes those creatures truly terrifying isn’t their numbers, it’s their quality!”
His patience finally snapped. The legion commander exploded, listing a hundred and one reasons why this city could never hold back a monster legion and urging a strategic retreat. He even explained in detail that if we pulled back now, warriors would swarm in from across the North like ants, allowing us to win with minimal losses.
I was genuinely surprised by how well he understood the North. “You know a lot about the North.”
“Obviously! I was once summoned here without knowing anything and got torn to shreds by an adult Nepentula dragging along hundreds of its young! Three separate times!”
“For real?”
Whoa. Today was the first time I actually wanted to hear someone else’s horror story. I barely resisted the urge to pour drinks and grill him for every detail.
As I clung to my sanity, I finally realized why the legion commander was so obsessed with information about the North. After an unforgettable nightmare, he must have studied every scrap of knowledge he could find so he would never have to deal with the North again once he returned to Hell.
Unfortunately for him, there was one fact he still didn’t know.
“Sorry, but we’re not retreating.”
“Why the hell not?!”
“There are still people who haven’t evacuated.”
Only a single day had passed since news of the monster legion spread. Behind the seven cities, countless people were still fleeing. There were even villages caught between our defensive line and the oncoming horde that hadn’t managed to escape.
We hadn’t summoned the demon legion just to take reckless risks. While the monsters’ eyes were fixed on us, we intended to buy time for the civilians to get away. If not for that, I would have prepared a far more efficient strategy—summoning the demons at a designated location and using them as living bait to scatter the enemy forces, for example.
My idea made the legion commander shudder. “You’re more demonic than I am.”
“I was planning to reward you properly. The North doesn’t treat people who help us stingily, you know?”
The North was littered with cursed artifacts. For demons who grew by feeding on negative human emotions, those would be the ultimate elixir. A perfect win-win.
The legion commander looked utterly fed up. “Do you actually believe that?”
“Throwing away a life that revives anyway in exchange for one supreme elixir? Sounds like a good deal to me.”
“…This is why they call you northerners.”
Wait, why are we the ones being treated like incomprehensible monsters by actual demons? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
I wanted to protest, but the legion commander neatly ignored me and changed the subject.
“Anyway, this can’t be all your preparations, right? Even if we fight with everything we have, we still can’t hold them back.”
“I know. Of course I’ve made arrangements for that.”
The moment ground-shaking footsteps rumbled from beyond the horizon, I snapped my fingers as if I had been waiting for it. With a crisp sound, hundreds of fissures opened across the city—both inside and outside the walls. Massive ants with glossy black exoskeletons poured out.
Most were simply oversized ants, but some had slightly different features, and a tiny fraction had evolved beyond insect form into bipedal humanoid monsters. Their total number reached five thousand. Following the commands of their two queens, they swiftly moved to designated positions on and below the walls and formed neat ranks.
The defensive force had multiplied several times in an instant. The legion commander stared with clear displeasure before letting out another sigh.
“Fine. The odds of successful defense have risen from one percent to two percent.”
“That’s practically optimistic.”
“Bullshit.”
While the legion commander finally spat out the curse he could no longer contain, the monster army—now in an extreme rage—reached the city’s territory. Beyond the horizon, the silhouettes of enormous monsters appeared. The specks dotting the sky swelled rapidly as flying monsters let out thunderous roars.
Every last one of them had bloodshot eyes. Their murderous intent was so clear it seemed to say, Even if I die, I’ll make sure to kill you first. The demons’ faces turned deathly pale. The legion commander was no different. He was probably regretting how passionately he had argued during the meeting Krisnain held to decide which legion would descend.
Regardless, I stood on the wall watching the approaching monster horde and grinned. My heart was still pounding like it wanted to explode, but the moment I faced the monsters, fighting spirit surged through me. The northerners standing on the wall seemed to feel the same; each of them wore a smile as they fought to shake off their fear.
Deciding morale needed a boost before combat began, I shouted, “Everyone, listen up!”
Infusing mana into my voice, the words slammed into every ear on the wall. After confirming everyone had heard me, I spoke to the warriors who were still staring fixedly at the monsters.
“We are facing a danger that comes once in a lifetime! To those things, our walls will be less than paper, and we are overwhelmingly outnumbered!”
The despairing facts pouring from my booming voice were hard to accept.
“There is a high chance we will all die! Even I cannot guarantee survival in this battle!”
The situation was so hopeless that not even a Gold-class adventurer could promise they would live, yet—
“Many of us will die! Every bit of resistance we offer might prove completely useless!”
Despite my words, the northerners only gripped their weapons tighter, as if to say such talk could never break them. Reading the atmosphere, I chuckled and made a mental note to practice speeches later. Enough with the unsuitable dramatics. I spoke from the heart.
“But behind us are people who still haven’t evacuated! People we swore to protect when we chose to become warriors!”
"""……"""
The people standing on the wall came from many walks of life—hunters who had visited the city by chance, guards patrolling as usual, adventurers who had come to subjugate waves, mages dispatched to the local magic tower branch. For all their different reasons for being here, they had all become the same kind of warrior, carrying the same resolve.
Thud!
The warriors on the wall beat their chests.
Thud! Thud!
They pounded in rhythm. Even as they stared at the monsters covering the horizon, their fighting spirit refused to dim. I beat my own chest and brought the speech to a close.
“Isn’t that single reason enough to throw our lives away?”
"""Yes!"""
“Yes. That is what makes a northern warrior.”
The warriors answered my sly words with a powerful shout. As if in reply, a spine-chilling roar erupted from within the monster ranks.
“Krararararara!”
A dragon with rocky skin oozing lava advanced at the head of the legion, radiating overwhelming presence. I glared at it sharply from the wall and muttered under my breath, “I knew you’d show up like this.”
A named monster would despise black mages more than any other creature. Especially a mountain dragon deeply tied to the earth—it would be more sensitive than anyone to the environmental corruption caused by black magic. Naturally, its servants would react violently to it as well.
Anticipating their fierce response, I quietly raised my hand. I was about to give the half-crazed monsters charging toward us a taste of what was coming. Warriors capable of long-range attacks on the wall raised their weapons toward the sky. They had finished all preparations to fire the moment I gave the signal and now waited silently for my order.
I stared with wide eyes, searching for the perfect timing to meet their expectations. The moment the lead monsters entered effective range, I swung my hand down and shouted, “All units, open fire!”
Countless weapons launched from the wall, filling the sky in an instant. Arrows enhanced with various magics soared upward. Colorful spells streaked across the air. The demons’ black magic took form. Talismans were thrown, spirit magic activated, and secret powers handed down through generations were unleashed. Acid shells fired from the rear of the war ants’ special acid artillery unit. Fully charged magic cannons and defensive siege weapons roared. The first bombardment—calculated meticulously for a long battle—drew perfect arcs as it rained down on the monsters.
When the prepared firepower struck and massive explosions erupted, I confirmed the thick cloud of dust rising and shouted, “From now on, all long-range warriors will focus on intercepting aerial monsters!”
Ground monsters at least had the wall as an obstacle, but the flying ones had nothing of the sort. Although anti-air magic had been laid down, the sheer number of aerial monsters made it insufficient. Therefore, I set the long-range troops’ top priority to aerial interception and jumped off the wall without hesitation.
Silver-rank warriors and above followed me down. I landed lightly on the ground and drew a summoning circle in the air, calling forth every one of my summons.
Ikelos. Rune Golem. Umbra. Calor. Yotun.
The highly individualistic summons radiated their presence and finished their battle preparations.
“Everyone ready to fight like absolute lunatics?”
“Krrrk, there are plenty of things around here that look good to burn.”
“This is exactly the battlefield I wanted! You truly are the greatest contractor!”
Satisfied answers came from the half-dragon Calor and the frost giant Yotun. I smiled at their reliable responses and prepared to intercept the enemy. Simply waiting on the wall for them to attack was the worst possible choice. To keep the wall from collapsing under a single fierce charge, we needed to break their momentum midway. Of course, even with only the city’s elite forces it would have been dangerous if that was all we had, but below the wall stood reliable meat shields that would hold the line while we retreated. We would be fine.
“Kiiiiiiik!”
“Kieeeeeeek!”
The four thousand ants clacked their mandibles below the wall. Fearless, they finished preparations to charge at their queens’ command. As we dashed forward, the two queens observing the battle from atop the wall issued their orders.
“All troops, charge!”
“My children! Erase the enemies threatening our colony!”
"""Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!!!"""
At the two queens’ command, the ants surged toward the monster legion as if they had been waiting for this moment. They wouldn’t inflict meaningful damage, but they would serve as an excellent anvil. Together with them, we charged as well.
I ran at the very front, fusing with Ikelos, and locked eyes on the servant of the mountain dragon leading the enemy charge. The dragon-shaped servant glared at me with eyes burning with rage and revealed its killing intent. I gave the creature—who looked thoroughly irritated by the black magic—a mocking smile, then poured every last bit of saved experience into one of the new skills I had just unlocked.
Crackle!
“Congratulations on becoming the first sacrifice of my new skill, you miserable bastard!”
“Krararararara!”
An enormous amount of lightning gathered along my spear-sword, forming a gigantic blade resembling aura. The mana cost was staggering, fitting such an extraordinary phenomenon, but the skill was worth every drop. I lightly ignored the Fear pouring from the mountain dragon’s servant, activated my boosters to accelerate, and swung the spear-sword as I collided with the creature head-on.