Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Illusion Festival (4)
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“Lord Count Bukaku! A legion of dragonkin monsters is marching toward the great city of Baran!”
“The number of dragonkin monsters looks to be at least fifty thousand!”
The scouts dispatched in advance returned one after another with their reports.
“All troops, prepare for battle!”
At Count Bukaku’s shout, the forces gathered in the great city of Baran sprang into action.
Since they had already been placed on combat readiness, there was no major confusion.
“Send an immediate request for additional reinforcements.”
“Additional reinforcements, sir? But...”
Even the Muran royal family had taken Count Bukaku’s words seriously and scraped together every available soldier to send.
Excluding the royal guard protecting the Muran royal family and the border defense forces, they had sent virtually everything they had.
In simple terms, they had no more troops to send.
“Isn’t there the Rokto Empire?”
What was the point of a suzerain state?
Wasn’t it the duty of the overlord nation to aid its vassal in times of peril?
‘They’ve been taking tribute money all this time under the name of suzerain. They should help out big now.’
The fifty thousand dragonkin monsters were a problem, but...
What worried Count Bukaku more was the colossal demon dragon behind that roar he had just heard.
The immense mana carried in that roar was beyond even Count Bukaku’s ability to gauge.
At that level?
‘Unless a player with the Urgent title comes to our aid, it might be impossible.’
Tension colored Count Bukaku’s face.
‘Can we hold out until then?’
Muran Kingdom’s forces were currently concentrated in the great city of Baran.
Even so, he couldn’t be sure they could hold until the Rokto Empire’s reinforcements arrived.
‘We hold.’
They had to hold no matter what until reinforcements came.
If they failed?
The citizens of Muran Kingdom residing in the great city of Baran would be massacred.
And that wouldn’t be the end of it.
The great city of Baran was the final shield guarding Muran Kingdom’s western border.
Moreover, all of Muran Kingdom’s main players were gathered here.
If such a great city of Baran fell?
‘The entire Muran Kingdom would turn into a sea of fire.’
Even if it meant everyone dying here in a last stand.
They had to defend the great city of Baran at all costs until the additional reinforcements arrived.
Kuuung! Kuuung! Kuuung!
The advance of the fifty-thousand-strong dragonkin monster legion was so overwhelming it took the breath away just to watch.
“The dragonkin monsters have entered firing range.”
“Full barrage!”
At Count Bukaku’s command.
Fwoosh!
Crackle!
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwanga!
All sorts of ranged attack skills flew toward the dragonkin monster legion.
At that moment, the Dragon Turtle unit at the forefront took on the role of tanks.
Kwaaaaang!
With a massive explosion, the Dragon Turtles began to die.
No matter how tough their shells were.
Even Dragon Turtles couldn’t withstand the concentrated fire from the players gathered in the great city of Baran.
However.
‘The damage is lighter than expected.’
Dragon Turtles were mid-tier dragonkin, but their shell defense rivaled that of top-tier dragonkin.
Thanks to those Dragon Turtles at the vanguard, the damage from ranged attacks wasn’t as severe as thought.
‘Dragon Turtles are hard to take down with ranged attacks.’
The standard way to hunt Dragon Turtles was for melee dealers to target their heads or limbs.
But.
‘Ordering melee dealers to go there and hunt Dragon Turtles would be the same as sentencing them to death.’
He couldn’t afford to waste valuable melee dealers like that.
Jjeoeok!
At that moment, the higher-tier dragonkin opened their mouths wide in unison.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwanga!
Breath attacks erupted simultaneously from the higher-tier dragonkin’s mouths.
Kwaaaaang!
An immense shock rippled through, shaking even the walls.
“Aaaah!”
“Keuk!”
Some of the soldiers on the walls perished.
But only a few.
And the walls didn’t crumble.
They had repaired the walls in preparation for a massive monster wave and layered them with defensive skills.
All thanks to the warning from that mysterious group.
‘If they hadn’t warned us?’
They wouldn’t have reinforced the walls.
If so?
‘That last attack would have shattered them.’
He was inwardly glad he hadn’t dismissed that group’s warning as a joke.
But the crisis wasn’t over.
It was just beginning.
The dragonkin monster legion continued marching toward the walls.
At the same time, flying dragonkin monsters like wyverns took to the skies and rapidly closed in.
“Prioritize the flying dragonkin monsters!”
At Count Bukaku’s order, the ranged dealers unleashed a barrage of attack skills into the sky.
Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang!
Explosions rang out in succession.
The flying dragonkin monsters couldn’t enter the interior of the great city of Baran.
The defensive skills layered thickly on the walls had turned the entire great city into a massive fortress.
But there was inevitably a difference in defense between areas with physical walls and the open sky.
That was why they had to prioritize the flying dragonkin monsters.
“Let’s go!”
The birdkin players soared into the sky all at once.
The birdkin players came in various forms.
Eagle beastkin, owl beastkin, barn owl beastkin, pigeon beastkin, crow beastkin, sparrow beastkin, and so on.
Their greatest strength?
They could engage in aerial combat despite being melee dealers.
Kwaang! Kwaang!
Fierce dogfights erupted in the sky between the flying dragonkin monsters and the birdkin players.
Meanwhile.
Breaking through the ranged dealers’ concentrated fire, the dragonkin monsters reached the base of the walls.
Kuooh!
Kuuung! Kuuung!
Higher-tier dragonkin monsters like drakes and basilisks charged toward the gates.
Kaooo!
Lower-tier dragonkin monsters like lizardmen used their hook-like claws to climb the walls.
“Die!”
“You’ll never breach these walls.”
The melee dealers who had been waiting unleashed attack skills on the dragonkin monsters scaling the walls.
The problem was the higher-tier dragonkin attacking the gates.
No matter how many defensive skills were layered on.
The gates were weaker than the walls.
Especially under focused strikes like that?
The gates could shatter.
“Let’s go.”
Named players and rankers leaped down from the walls.
They engaged in fierce close combat with the higher-tier dragonkin assaulting the gates.
‘So far, so good.’
But Count Bukaku didn’t relax his tension.
He knew this was merely the opening skirmish.
The colossal demon dragon floating in the air, showing no particular movement.
The moment that thing moved.
‘The real war begins.’
* * *
‘They prepared well.’
Kang Hyun-soo was inside the great city of Baran.
Having volunteered for the defense force and fighting from the walls, he had a better grasp of the battlefield than anyone.
‘It must be furious by now.’
Kang Hyun-soo had made full use of his one-man army advantage when attacking the demon dragon Karas.
He had left Song Ha-na, the Beast King, and the other summons behind, then detached himself from the battlefield alone.
Afterward, when Song Ha-na, the Beast King, and the summons unleashed a fierce assault and Karas tried to counterattack.
Song Ha-na and the Beast King were recalled to his side via squad summon, while the rest were reverse-summoned back.
Karas was left like a dog chasing chickens with nothing but the demon dragon itself.
‘So I thought it would charge right in.’
It was more cautious than expected.
Instead of stepping forward itself, it was thoroughly deploying only its subordinate dragonkin monsters onto the field.
‘Well, given its personality, it wouldn’t rush in first.’
Karas was a demon dragon with tremendous power.
Thus, whether passing through the dimensional gate initially or attacking the great city of Baran, having it step forward personally was the surest path to victory.
However.
‘Even before regression, it was overly cautious with its own body.’
Demon dragon Karas treated its subordinate dragonkin monsters as expendables while cherishing its own body above all.
‘Its defeat before regression was ultimately because it was too cautious.’
Probing the enemy’s forces with dragonkin monsters.
Or using them as meat shields for hit-and-run tactics wasn’t a bad strategy.
Before regression, many players had their formations broken because of it.
But demon dragon Karas took it too far.
It wasn’t hit-and-run for strategic victory, but prioritizing its own safety above all.
As a result, its dragonkin monsters were depleted too quickly and ultimately wiped out.
If demon dragon Karas had acted aggressively without holding back before regression?
Muran Kingdom would have fallen outright, and even the Rokto Empire would have been in danger.
‘If it keeps being that cautious, it’ll collapse even faster than before regression.’
Why?
Because Kang Hyun-soo’s Illusion Festival had drastically reduced the number of its troops, the dragonkin monsters.
Kukukuku!
At that moment, he felt immense mana condensing.
‘It’s not stupid.’
The one condensing mana was demon dragon Karas.
‘Breath attack?’
They had prepared thoroughly, but.
Whether they could block a full-power breath from demon dragon Karas was uncertain.
‘But something’s off from what I remember.’
By Kang Hyun-soo’s knowledge, demon dragon Karas had eight horns and four pairs of wings.
Yet now, in Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes, Karas had only two horns and a single pair of wings.
‘Disguised or something?’
It was possible.
‘Well, that’s not important right now.’
No matter its appearance, the fact it was demon dragon Karas hadn’t changed.
“Pour all your mana into defensive skills!”
“We have to block it no matter what!”
The players poured everything into reinforcing the gates.
The named players and rankers guarding the gates panicked.
Some fled, while others stayed to block the higher-tier dragonkin’s body slams.
At that instant.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwanga!
The breath from demon dragon Karas slammed into the great city of Baran’s gates.
Kwaaaaang!
With a massive explosion, the gates shattered to pieces.
Not content with that, the nearby walls collapsed as well.
The one named player and four rankers who chose to defend the gates instead of fleeing, along with the higher-tier dragonkin, were incinerated on the spot.
‘Incredible.’
The walls had taken damage from the higher-tier dragonkin’s attacks, but.
To shatter the gates in a single blow.
It was truly an attack of monstrous power.
Kaaaak!
Krurrung!
Dragonkin monsters surged toward the breached gates like a tidal wave.
“Hold the line!”
At Count Bukaku’s shout, the players threw themselves to block the gates.
“Aaaah!”
Kyaaang!
A brutal melee of killing and being killed unfolded.
‘Time for me to step in.’
He couldn’t let the gates stay breached.
‘The Beast King and Flame Knight should be sufficient.’
Kang Hyun-soo had no intention of revealing his identity personally.
He planned to provide appropriate aid through his summons.
‘If Count Bukaku has any brains, he won’t turn hostile.’
With the Beast King’s firepower and the Flame Knight’s defense?
They could more than substitute for the shattered gates.
The moment Kang Hyun-soo summoned the Beast King and Flame Knight to block the breach.
“Awooooo!”
With a long howl, a ronin beastkin player appeared on the battlefield.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
The ronin beastkin player, enveloped in blue aura, instantly slaughtered the dragonkin monsters pushing through the gates.
At that moment.
“Waaaaah!”
All the players erupted in massive cheers.
“Muran’s Guardian Saint!”
“The strongest warrior of the beastkin!”
“Duke Kalmus himself has come here!”
The players’ morale skyrocketed.
“I’ll take this place. Support elsewhere!”
“Yes, sir!”
The surrounding players jumped in surprise and saluted at the ronin beastkin player’s shout.
‘Muran’s Guardian Saint, Duke Kalmus.’
One of the players bearing the Saint title, equivalent to Emperor.
‘There were some who called it hype.’
That was why in Muran Kingdom they called him Muran’s Guardian Saint, while abroad he was Muran’s Protector.
But even limited to his own country, holding a Saint title was tremendous.
Why?
Because it meant all named players with titles in Muran Kingdom acknowledged him as their superior.