Chapter 50
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Breaking the Eggshell (1)
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[Using all means necessary, protect the Ogre Sanctuary.]
Choi Kangwoo stared at the blinking information window.
[The invasion will begin in 5 minutes.]
A week had passed since Kim Hanul left for the god's chambers.
He had not yet returned.
But he could no longer afford to worry about that.
“……”
Choi Kangwoo looked back.
Left alone, he had to do what needed to be done.
“Groooar.”
The ogre chieftain, meeting his gaze, nodded.
The massive body turned around.
And it raised the warhammer in its hand high.
““Graaaah!””
At the same time, the air vibrated.
Before the Ogre Sanctuary.
On the land where the snow had melted to reveal bare earth.
300 ogres raised their weapons and let out a monstrous roar.
The listless beasts who had first wandered aimlessly in the faint snowfall were gone.
In their place stood giant warriors with fire burning in their eyes.
He had succeeded.
Choi Kangwoo had fanned the embers Kim Hanul had sparked into a roaring flame.
This was the result.
“……”
A surge of emotion welled up in his chest.
It was a strange feeling.
He, who had slaughtered more monsters on the front lines than anyone, never imagined he would one day stand at the vanguard of a monster army.
[The invasion is beginning.]
From the hazy mountains beyond, where snow was still falling, countless figures began to appear.
The ones Kim Hanul had called ‘dark elves.’
Gray-skinned creatures, reminiscent of dirty ice, were crawling out in endless numbers.
“……”
Countless gazes from behind were fixed on him.
Even the chieftain was looking at him.
They were ready to follow him.
Choi Kangwoo, once again, said nothing.
Strategy? There was none.
Considering the unique nature of the dungeon, a pre-planned strategy was meaningless.
Their numbers, their preferred formations, their overall strength—with no way to confirm anything, it was even more so.
*Thud.*
So, this time too, he communicated through action.
“?!”
The figure of the hunter in the black suit seemed to shrink,
then vanished.
The bewildered ogres blinked once.
And the human was already at the vanguard of the distant dark elf formation.
[Ink Blossom Divine Sword]
Though the ogres' and dark elves' eyesight was keen, they couldn't dare to track the human's movements.
So they blinked once more.
[Bloom]
A single, chilling flash of light pierced through the curtain of snow.
It was a swift, righteous draw.
But neither the earthen warriors nor the pale strangers could comprehend the series of events that had just unfolded.
That in an instant, the human had closed a distance of over a hundred meters as if folding space.
That before they could even perceive his approach, he had drawn and swung his ink-black sword just once.
After a fleeting moment passed.
“……!”
The limbs of the dark elf knight at the very front scattered, mixing with the falling snow.
Upon the canvas of piled snowflakes.
*Thump.*
As the severed limbs of the first victim sank into the freshly fallen snow, the trail of blood gushing from them bloomed like a magnificent flower.
“—Keek?!”
Only then did the warriors of both sides barely begin to understand what had happened.
The first strike determines the flow of battle; the fallen are silent, and the victor seizes the momentum.
The eyes of the invaders who had lost their vanguard widened.
While the eyes of the earthen warriors, fighting alongside their god of war, blazed with fighting spirit.
And then.
“Groooaaar!”
With the chieftain’s monstrous roar, the ogres began to charge.
“Kieeeek!”
The dark elves, having lost one of their vanguards, ignited their remaining fighting spirit and raised their swords.
*CLANG!*
The savage cry of blades and maces, shattering skulls, dented armor, harsh screams, tumbling heads, arms, and legs. Dark red blood, snow. The two races clashed on the half-melted earth, turning it into a battlefield.
Thus, the prelude to war had begun.
* * *
[Rising Blossoms]
The snowfall swirled like waves.
The killing intent imbued in his sword path snuffed out the lives of the last remaining dark elves.
*Thud.*
As the gray-skinned soldiers, their heads severed, collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
Choi Kangwoo let out a quiet breath.
The first battle had ended.
It had been five hours since the blades first clashed.
They had fended off a dark elf force nearly a thousand strong with only 300 ogres.
The ogres, now capable of wielding weapons, had more than enough power to overwhelm the physically inferior dark elves.
Nevertheless, there were sacrifices.
The chieftain had a large gash on his stomach, and only about 150 ogres remained unharmed.
Just then, for the first time in a long while, his Divine Seat spoke to him.
[The Divine Seat, 「Guardian of the Divine Tree」, gives a quiet warning.]
“I am fine, Divine Seat.”
Choi Kangwoo thought simply.
He had expended a great deal of mana slaughtering over 600 monsters by himself.
He assumed it was just worried about him.
But that wasn't it.
[Prepare yourself. The great invasion will begin shortly.]
“What…?”
Choi Kangwoo’s mouth fell open.
A great invasion. That was right.
Come to think of it, the dungeon had labeled the previous assault merely as an ‘invasion.’
*RUMBLE!*
And then, the ground began to shake.
“Groooar?!”
The ogres, who had been supporting each other, froze.
North, south, east, and west.
Giant rifts were opening up across the snow-swept dungeon field.
*THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD!*
The sound of stomping feet echoed.
Countless dark elves began pouring out from the scar-like rifts.
But that was only a small part of the despair.
“Graah, ahh…”
The chieftain beside him let out a mournful cry.
His single eye was fixed on the massive rift that had appeared directly in front of them.
A rift nearly a hundred meters in diameter.
From within that rift, so large it was magnificent,
*Thrust.*
A gigantic head emerged.
He had seen something similar before.
A turtle.
It was like a turtle’s head, magnified hundreds, no, thousands of times over.
*CRUNCH!*
A foot large enough to crush an ogre with ease stepped onto the snowy ground.
As the monster, over thirty meters tall and nearly sixty meters long, emerged from the rift.
The ogres were already frozen in place.
“That’s…”
Choi Kangwoo’s eyes wavered.
A bone-chilling cold emanated from the turtle’s maw.
As it settled, the soft snowflakes turned into sharp shards of ice.
“————————!”
The beast opened its maw and roared.
The monster's cry resembled a dirge echoing from the depths of a cave.
And the moment its high-set, blue eyes turned toward them.
Choi Kangwoo knew instinctively.
That was, at minimum, an S-rank.
A cataclysm-level monster, or even higher.
[Defeat the Ice-Ear Turtle and stop the great invasion.]
A new mission window blinked.
A look of anxiety crept onto Choi Kangwoo’s face.
It might have been possible if he hadn't lost any combat power, but he had already expended a great deal of energy fending off the first dark elf invasion.
The new elf army, which looked to be well over a thousand strong, was also a problem.
A desperate situation.
“Groooar!”
Just then, a roar filled with fighting spirit rang out.
It was an ogre, unusually small for its kind.
Ak-katum. He stood with a mace in his arm, which had not yet fully healed.
“Kik, keek.”
The surrounding dark elves laughed as if finding him pathetic.
But the small warrior did not back down.
Instead, another ogre stood beside him.
“Groooar!”
The warriors, including the chieftain, beat their weapons and shouted.
A war cry. A shout of courage, choosing death over submission.
Choi Kangwoo also steeled himself.
If they couldn't stop it here, the dungeon would go berserk, and that S-rank monster would escape to the outside world.
There was no other choice.
*Shing.*
The ink-black longsword radiated a ferocious aura.
Then, the Ice-Ear Turtle.
The monster, revered by the dark elves as the incarnation of Paractus, looked down upon them.
*RUMBLE!*
Its frozen carapace tilted, and a foot large enough to crush a mammoth was lifted high.
A giant shadow blotted out the dim sky.
And just as Choi Kangwoo, gripping the hilt of his sword, was about to dash forward.
“Ki, keeek?!”
A ripple spread across the battlefield.
The ripple, starting from the dark elf soldier who first spotted ‘it,’ spread in all directions like a wave.
“Ki, kieeek!”
“Kik…! Keek?!”
Following one soldier, countless dark elves looked up at the sky.
Fear consumed their pitch-black eyes.
“—————!”
The Ice-Ear Turtle, raising its head, let out a monstrous cry from deep within its throat.
Then, from the other side.
From behind Choi Kangwoo.
“————————!”
A cry far clearer, sharper, and more intense than the turtle’s tore through its roar.
The dim sky began to brighten.
Only then did Choi Kangwoo slowly turn his head.
[Eyes of the Divine Tree]
He activated the skill and gazed at the light approaching from far away, over the high cliffs.
The statue of the torch-bearing ogre.
Floating above it.
The sun.
A burning sun was ascending.
* * *
It was a close call.
[The Sage informs you that the ogres and dark elves have begun their engagement!]
Even as the warning window flashed, as the invasion finally began, and as the clash of blades echoed from below.
The egg had not hatched.
“How much longer do you think it will take?”
[The Sage reports that there is still a little more time until the egg hatches.]
Nevertheless, after a long wait.
Fine cracks had begun to appear on the egg’s surface, and the life within stirred and moved more vigorously.
It just needed a little more time.
“It’s okay, let’s wait a little longer then.”
Choi Kangwoo was holding the line down below.
He would be more than capable of dealing with the likes of dark elves.
However.
*RUMBLE!*
[Defeat the Ice-Ear Turtle and stop the great invasion.]
The moment the ground shook and the giant monster tore through the rift, I could no longer afford to be patient.
Even from the top of the dizzying cliff, the monster’s form was clearly visible.
A turtle covered entirely in ice.
That was the monster the dark elves called Paractus.
Just then, I heard a sound.
*CRACK!*
I went down to the nest and turned my gaze to the egg, surrounded by firestones.
The egg was shaking violently.
The cracks were much larger than they had been five hours ago.
It was on the verge of hatching.
But there was no more time to hesitate.
“Odolph, let’s go down.”
Right at that moment.
“——.”
A cry escaped the phoenix’s beak.
“Ru?”
Ru’s pitch-black eyes were fixed on me.
It didn’t take long to understand its intention.
“You want to fight with me?”
*Nod.*
Its elegantly extended neck moved up and down.
But I hesitated.
The egg had not yet hatched.
Ru was still having its life force drained.
If it took a single blow in this state, it would become a handful of ash, impossible to revive.
I even considered sending it back to the Lord's Castle and then reviving it through summoning.
[The Sage warns that if the connection with the mother is severed, even temporarily, the phoenix in the egg may die. Furthermore, it informs you that 「training」 a divine beast-class monster in the Lord's Castle requires a considerable amount of time.]
The Sage warned.
“——.”
Ru let out a low cry.
It had made its choice.
To help me, with the resolve to burn its last remaining life force.
In that case, I had no reason to refuse.
“Thank you.”
The other summons, however, grew somber.
But Ru was serene.
As befitting the spirit of a phoenix that had overcome countless deaths.
“——!”
A clear bird cry shook the clifftop.
It lowered its body with a look of joy.
“You want me to ride on your back?”
*Nod.*
This was the only way to get to the battlefield immediately from here.
Without hesitation, I climbed onto its red-feathered body and settled between its shoulder blades.
Then, miraculously.
*Rustle.*
Large feathers rose up to embrace and secure me firmly.
At the same time.
[From now on, the divine beast 「Ru」 will follow you. You are the first master of the divine beast that governs flame.]
[You have met the first condition to clear the hidden mission 「■■■」.]
The dungeon’s voice echoed.
I was curious about the hidden mission, but now was not the time to worry about it.
Most of my summons had already returned to their orbs.
I checked the egg left in the nest one last time and then spoke to Ru.
“It’s okay. It’ll have hatched by the time we get back.”
Ru’s eyes glanced toward me once.
And right after it turned back to face forward.
*FWOOSH!*
Flames began to erupt from all sides.
The red feathers were now wreathed in fire.
In an instant, Ru’s entire body was engulfed in blazing flames.
And yet, cocooned by the feathers, I was completely unharmed.
“———————!”
*RUMBLE!*
A monstrous roar echoed through the gray sky.
This wasn't Ru, but the cry of the Ice-Ear Turtle down below.
The beast had sensed the divine beast’s presence.
In that case.
“Let’s go, Ru.”
It was time to answer its call.
“——!”
And the phoenix, with its wings spread wide, took flight.
The sound of the wind tore at my eardrums.
The turtle below became a mere dot.
The gray sky drew closer.
Soaring higher and higher toward that sky, we broke through the thick clouds.
And there, a blue sky awaited.
After floating for a moment, Ru’s body tilted downward.
And then, at a speed incomparable to before.
It began to plummet downward.
Piercing through the clouds once more.
Amidst the fiercely blowing snow.
Down, down.
*WHOOOSH!*
The sound of the wind tore at my eardrums.
“——!”
The Ice-Ear Turtle opened its massive mouth and let out a monstrous shriek.
A blue energy began to gather at its razor-sharp maw.
[Frost Cannon]
Suddenly, the energy gathered in the turtle’s maw spread out like a wave and rushed toward us.
The fan-shaped spray of ice shards froze the air and hardened the snowflakes as it came.
But Ru did not slow down.
Instead, its beak, holding fire, opened.
[Flame Wave]
A torrent of flame, surpassing the turtle’s Frost Cannon, spread out like a fiery fan.
*FWOOOOSH!*
The conflicting energies collided in mid-air, scattering rainbow-colored fragments.
From a distance, it must have been a spectacular sight.
The dark elves and ogres were just staring blankly. Even Choi Kangwoo.
That was how much the phoenix carrying me and the behemoth below transcended their understanding.
‘This isn’t the time to be spacing out, Guild Master.’
But this was reality, and this was a fierce battlefield.
With the phoenix, I had the ice turtle locked down.
That meant it was time to take care of the remaining soldiers while their commander was neutralized.
I flicked the things I held in my hand downward, one by one.
“Here are some presents for you, kids.”
Colorful orbs, mixed with the falling snow, began to rain down on the elves who were frozen in a daze.