Dragon's Beacon's North-South Divide
The path leading up the ridge split into two.
On the southern one, a hunter let out a long, drawn-out yawn.
“When’s the shift change?”
“In an hour.”
“Geez, this is boring.”
“Before the dimensional barrier goes up, it’s still pretty tough, right?”
“Since we’ve been grinding, isn’t it okay to ease up a bit now?”
The senior hunter muttered under his breath.
Half a year.
The time they had spent building the base at the summit of a thousand-meter mountain.
How much suffering had it been?
While the alchemists etched arrays in every nook of the mountain slope, I stood guard.
Before the Gaia Former was installed, I was thrown into leveling the ground.
Whenever monsters popped up, I clashed with them in bloody battles.
If I summed up everything I had endured in those half a year, it would have filled a dark historical drama.
Through sweat, tears, and blood, we had built this base!
Now that the dimensional barrier was fully functional, we no longer needed to guard the entrance.
“This dump of a base we created… isn’t it time we enjoyed some comfort?”
“You don’t know the personality of Director Xiaozai Guanwu, do you?”
As he said, because Director Xiaozai Guanwu, the base supervisor, was a man of strict principles, even the underlings had to suffer.
The senior hunter let out a frustrated groan, “Huh…”
“I’ve been here since the ground leveling. When is the shift change going to come?”
“They’re saying more manpower is coming soon, so shouldn’t we just wait a little longer?”
“Are you going to take every word at face value?”
“If you say something like that, you should do a self-criticism, right?”
The senior hunter shook his head and looked around, lowering his voice.
“Hey, I heard one company from Turang got wiped out in South Korea.”
“Really?”
“I’m a comrade of Wang Darei’s.”
Wang Darei, the supervisor of the military department, was the second-highest hunter in Dragon’s Beacon base.
He managed all kinds of equipment—vision distortion magic, communications, and so on.
“Credibility… there’s a chance!”
“Our national hunter power has a huge hole. We’ll have to circle back more too, won’t we?”
“Ugh… I don’t like that.”
“That’s why I’m complaining. If you’re not going to supplement the personnel soon, at least keep the stamina the same.”
“Senior.”
“Stop criticizing from afar.”
“Senior!”
“Eh? Why? You want me to do a self-criticism?”
“Look over there!”
The junior hunter pointed his right hand toward the mountain slope.
Clop… clop…
A golden-haired woman with blue eyes slowly approached.
Five Abyss Revenants followed menacingly behind her.
Behind them, ten Death Warriors radiating terrifying auras, and a Death Giant.
Despite the distance, the aura was enough to make two hunters shrink back.
“Those undead… they’re all Aura users.”
“Jokes, right, senior?”
“Shit… I hope it’s a joke.”
The junior hunter swallowed his saliva.
The man’s territory was B-grade.
The senior hunter had reached A-grade.
That must be why.
I could quickly gauge the level of the approaching undead.
“Raise the alarm! Hold the line until readiness….”
[Magical Soldier — Long-Range Cannon Mode]
[Hyper Mana Beam]
[Magic Boost]
[Overdrive]
A mana amount enough to freeze the bones.
Instinctively drawing my sword.
[Aura]
I imbued my will into the mana and materialized it.
Flash!
The blue ray that rushed in right after destroyed the base entrance.
[Attack. Completed.]
A ten-meter-tall golem.
The three Death Giants’ left arms smoked out.
[ Mana Remaining: 70%. ]
Fired at maximum output.
Clang.
A sword and an arm fell onto the cracked base entrance.
Sir Isra hummed, measuring the destructive power.
“It’s a shame it can’t be used continuously.”
Aftereffects from Overdrive.
Her left arm needed to cool down for a full minute.
Waaaaang!
After the magic cannon blew up the entrance, emergency alarms blared across the area.
[ Hunter response is still underway. ]
Sir Isra quickly scanned the battlefield.
Gaining the advantage from the surprise attack.
When the enemy was slow to move, I had to minimize the factors for counterattack.
“Twenty-five Tigers, charge into the enemy camp!”
“GRRRROOOAAARRR!”
[Fierce Charge]
[Dead Dopping]
The Tigers charged right past the gaping hole.
Magic towers installed throughout the base reacted to the intruders.
[Shock Wave]
[Lightning Burst]
[Icy Spear]
Magic attacks poured down on the Tiger group.
Bone armor absorbed most of the damage.
“Now!”
“Kill!”
[Mana Release]
The Death Warriors who had entered late split left and right.
Using the concentrated firepower on the Tigers to approach the towers with almost no resistance.
[Aura]
[Judgment Blade]
They easily cut through the barrier and smashed the towers.
Starting with the magic attacks from the Death Giants.
In less than a minute, they had neutralized most of the base’s defense.
“Intruders?”
“Who the hell are you!”
The Chinese side hunters came out in a hurry.
“Don’t spare a single one.”
A chill spread over Sir Isra’s eyes.
* * *
Xiaozai stood up.
“What’s the size of the enemy?”
“I’ve identified them, but something’s off.”
Wang Darei’s voice trembled slightly, as if he was surprised.
“Scouting magic has been nullified.”
“Nullified?”
“Someone’s interfering with the array.”
“Exclude it.”
“That’s it. There’s a bigger issue.”
Crack!
Sparks flew wildly from the machines that were the axis of the barrier.
Simultaneous overload.
It wasn’t random.
“Intruders?”
“Impossible. Our nation’s technology is the highest level. How could they interfere?”
“You said it yourself.”
“That’s true, but…”
Wang Darei’s eyes shook left and right violently.
His mind couldn’t sort through the confusion.
China possessed the second-best technology in the realm of magic science after the United States.
All the forged arrays installed near Dragon’s Beacon had undergone thorough verification.
Unless the set pattern was followed and mana was released, the arrays would react and give feedback to the opponent.
If neutralized by force, a signal would definitely come to our side.
It was strange that the intruder could get this close without us noticing.
“Snap out of it. Report the current situation.”
“Vision disruption and scouting impossible. Communications are also blocked.”
“You planned this.”
Xiaozai closed his eyes tightly, then opened them.
He couldn’t solve anything while sitting in place.
Who attacked the base.
The size of the enemy and countermeasures.
He needed to assess the situation on site and respond quickly.
[Declaring Level 1 Emergency.]
The alarm sound spread across the entire Dragon’s Beacon.
Level 1 referred to the highest danger situation.
“You, recover communications from here.”
“Understood.”
Armed and equipped, Xiaozai grabbed one hunter.
“Where did the intruders come from?”
“From the south!”
The gaping hole.
Even the magic towers set up around the ridge were half neutralized.
Dududududududududud!
White-armored heavy cavalry were tearing through the base.
Xiaozai immediately realized who commanded the undead cavalry.
“Park Minho.”
The hunter he had learned about in the recent reports and even planned to kidnap.
Among the people he knew, only Minho could control the undead cavalry in heavy armor.
“All the intruders are undead. Suppress them with holy spells.”
As Xiaozai’s order was given, the shamans knelt.
And that was the preparation posture for the ritual chant group that Minho’s side had also seen before.
“Saint Roan.”
[Black. Sun.]
[Holy Spell — Black Sun]
A black mist rose from behind Roan and covered the entire ridge.
A half-step late.
The Chinese-side shamans who had received the unique holy aura used the chant.
[Holy Spell — Lexio Divina]
A wide-area spell to expel the unholy aura.
It was the holy spell used even when one company from Turang attacked Minho.
At that time, Roan had faced the opponent, but suppressing the effect of [Lexio Divina] was all he could do.
It was different now.
[The effect of the Black Sun nullifies the effect of the Holy Spell.]
[The effect of Lexio Divina is reversed.]
[The power of the unholy being increases by 10%.]
“Kyaaaaak!”
The shamans who were chanting the holy spell fell screaming.
The talent inherited from Minho, [Saint of the Black Sun].
Beings loved by the Dark God held an advantage in attributes when clashing with all holy abilities.
If the holy spell was cast first, the opponent’s spell could be used in reverse.
【……】
Roan knelt on the spot.
[While maintaining the Black Sun, he cannot move from his position.]
“Three Death Warriors guard Saint Roan.”
“Kill!!”
“Tigers, turn around and join the main force!”
“GRRRROOOAAARRR!”
The Tiger group that had ravaged the hunters near the entrance turned around immediately after Sir Isra’s order and returned near the entrance.
Grit.
Xiaozai ground his teeth.
“Form the formation.”
To counterattack, first clean up our own formation.
Hunters who had come out after hearing the Level 1 signal.
If they rushed in recklessly, it would only worsen our damage.
‘There is one thing I must be careful about.’
Lance charging of the Tigers.
Including the Death Warriors and Abyss Revenants who seemed to be Aura users.
Each and every one of them was a monster that couldn’t be underestimated.
Since there were no long-range response options, the plan was to set up a wall with the tanks and receive only offense, allowing a one-sided damage exchange.
Even as the Tiger group finished the lance charge and turned,
That was the reason they didn’t dive into the clearly exposed gap.
“Hmm. They’re not being fooled.”
Sir Isra, who had been preparing for a full-force charge, relaxed her leg strength.
She deliberately showed the gap.
To use the finesse of the surprise attack, cause greater damage,
And hit the enemy who was about to counterattack too hastily with even more damage.
‘It’s no problem even if it goes like this.’
The initiative still belonged to her lord.
It was within the expected range for the Chinese-side hunters to quickly form up.
While the Tigers were turning sharply, Xiaozai urged the hunters.
“Move to the front! Wizards, form the arrays!”
A significant portion of the defense system installed in Dragon’s Beacon was neutralized.
That said,
The base’s defense hadn’t dropped drastically.
The core of defense was ultimately people.
The hunters waiting at this base.
‘A decent number left because of the surrounding search, but it’s fine.’
Sixty percent of the total power.
Only sixteen A-grade hunters.
B-grade exceeded one hundred.
We couldn’t utilize the defensive advantage,
But it wasn’t a power that would lose to a mere B-grade Necromancer’s minions.
‘Is the word “mere” appropriate?’
Among the undead in front of me, many possessed power comparable to A-grade hunters.
An overwhelmingly powerful force that even one hunter could not possess!
Still,
It didn’t seem like it would lose.
‘Quickly suppress the enemy in front and find the spell-caster too.’
Capturing Minho would mean a promotion was guaranteed!
While Xiaozai was running the happy circuit,
Boom!
A huge explosion erupted from behind.
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