Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: D.D.L
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Chapter 14: D.D.L
“The alpha and omega of any raid, no matter what anyone says, is the ground. The ground. Watching the ground is the most important thing. I’m telling you, I’ve played a ton of games with raids, you know?”
On the plains where they had decided to face Andras and its legion of monsters.
Yang Jun-gyu raised his voice inside a hastily pitched barracks tent. Choi Yu-ra, who was sitting beside him with an arm around his shoulders as if he were a cute younger brother, lightly flicked his forehead.
“The ground? You need to know the patterns to even know what to look for on the ground. And do you really think Andras is going to kindly show you its attack range or telegraph its strikes? This isn't a game, kid.”
“Uh, um. W-well, I guess not.”
Although the game he happened to be playing during the Great Summoning was Gigantes Down, when it came to gaming experience alone, Choi Yu-ra was a hardcore player who would rank among the very top of all Players.
Choi Yu-ra stroked the head of an abashed Yang Jun-gyu, who grinned foolishly, just as Oh Su-min had done before.
Kim Kang-san spoke.
“According to the legends, Andras breathes fire from its mouth. It is said to have burned down Aachen two hundred years ago with that very flame.”
Kim Kang-san, who had left Park Han-yeong behind in Aachen, had spent the entire journey with Abigail instead of Kang-seok's party. It seemed he had heard about the old records of Andras then.
A colossal monster that breathes fire.
It was a common enough tale to be considered a stereotype, but because it was reality, it only felt daunting.
Seong Yu-jin gently tugged on Kang-seok’s arm.
“Kang-seok, here.”
“Yu-jin?”
What Seong Yu-jin held out was the Rune of Flame, strung on a cord to be worn like a necklace.
“I have Arnark, so I’ll be fine. You should have this.”
As the team's tank, Seong Yu-jin had been the one carrying the Rune of Flame. Indeed, she had used it several times to become the team's steadfast shield.
But not this time.
Though there was a monster army, the main enemy was the Earth Dragon Andras.
Against such a massive beast, Seong Yu-jin's role as a shield was inevitably diminished.
While not as effective as the Rune of Flame, her magic armor, Arnark, also possessed resistance to various status ailments. In that case, it was correct to hand the Rune of Flame to Kang-seok, the team's main damage dealer, even if it meant her own defense would be somewhat lowered.
With the Rune of Flame, which could block a significant amount of the fire's heat, even if not completely, Kang-seok would be able to launch a more aggressive assault.
Logically and rationally, Seong Yu-jin’s action was the right one.
But from the perspective of her own safety, it was certainly not something just anyone could do so easily.
“Thank you.”
Kang-seok accepted the Rune of Flame with a serious expression, and Seong Yu-jin offered a faint smile to ease his burden.
Choi Yu-ra pouted slightly before speaking.
“In any case, there has to be a pattern. Even if this isn't a game, patterns emerge in reality too.”
They couldn't recklessly guess its attack patterns before fighting Andras directly. However, there were certain patterns they could anticipate.
Kang-seok looked around at the Players gathered in the tent—Hunt, Yang Jun-gyu, Kim Kang-san, Choi Yu-ra, and Seong Yu-jin—before speaking.
“First, the most important thing to consider is the type of attack.”
“The type of attack?”
Yang Jun-gyu asked. Kang-seok, once again, answered not just him but everyone.
“Andras is with a monster army. In a typical game, you’d fight the boss, Andras, only after defeating the entire monster army. But as Yu-ra said, this isn't a game… Andras might attack alongside its army. That ‘pattern’ would be the worst-case scenario for us.”
Andras alone was trouble enough, but to have its subordinate monsters attacking at the same time.
Yang Jun-gyu and Hunt grimaced at the horrifying thought. Kang-seok continued.
“Of course, Andras might join the fray later. In any case, we just need to prepare countermeasures for all possible patterns.”
Unlike the previous quests where they had to face enemies abruptly, this time they had ‘time to prepare.’
By establishing a basic strategy and sharing it not only with the other Players but also with the adventurers, they could formulate a proper plan and lead the battle more efficiently.
“The first thing to consider here is the worst-case scenario—Andras attacking together with its monster army.”
If they came in waves, it wouldn't be much of a problem. The real issue was if they all came at once.
But even if they did swarm them, the enemy could be broadly divided into two groups.
The Earth Dragon Andras and the monster army.
“We’ll need to divide our forces into those who will face Andras and those who will handle the monsters.”
A division of roles. It would naturally be more difficult than focusing all their strength on Andras.
But as Iris had said before, just as the enemy was numerous, so were their allies. They had a good chance of winning.
Although Abigail and Curious had shown strong support for Kang-seok, he couldn't organize the entire force by himself.
After relaying the general plan to his party, Kang-seok headed to Abigail's tent with Kim Kang-san.
***
The morning sun rose.
The Andras subjugation force, numbering over a hundred in total, finished a simple breakfast of dried rations and prepared for battle. Scouts sent ahead reported that Andras and its army had begun their advance.
Kang-seok and Abigail had grouped the Players and adventurers into several small parties based on ‘similar types.’
A front-line unit centered on heavily armored warriors like Kim Kang-san and Curious.
A support-fire unit with ranged attackers like Choi Yu-ra.
Independent mobile units led by Kang-seok and Abigail respectively.
The roughly seventy regular soldiers from Aachen already had their own unit composition, so they were left untouched. In this battle, the regular army was expected to contribute with their siege weapons and sheer numbers.
[A monster army, primarily composed of goblins, is swarming you.]
[I wish you all the best of luck.]
The letters of light faded, and a thick cloud of dust filled their vision.
Goblins, larger than children but smaller than adults, shrieked as they charged, with medium to large-sized monsters like ogres and giant wolves mixed in among them.
All together, their numbers easily exceeded two hundred. Moreover, five drakes flapped their large, black wings in the sky, making their presence clear.
Even for adventurers who made a living fighting monsters, facing such a large number at once was a rare occurrence. They had no intention of retreating, having been paid handsomely by Mayor George II of Aachen, but they couldn't help but feel tense.
The distance to the monster army was closing.
The battle would soon begin.
The one-star and two-star adventurers were completely absorbed by that fact alone.
But Abigail and Curious were different.
Kang-seok, who had been thinking about the battle as a whole rather than just the enemy before him, sensed something strange about the monster army.
‘Andras is gone?’
Andras was a creature far larger than any other monster present. Yet, it was nowhere to be seen. It was such a colossal being that it should have been visible just by standing tall behind the monster army.
The scouts had clearly reported seeing Andras advancing with the monster army.
So what happened? Did Andras break off somewhere along the way?
“Iris! Where is Andras?”
There were other Players nearby, but this was no time for such considerations. As Kang-seok shouted urgently, a voice, rather than letters of light, answered.
[I-I can't track its exact location due to information restrictions! But I'm certain it's not far from here!]
It hadn't detoured to attack Aachen.
Then where could it be hiding? In a place like this, with nothing but low hills and a small forest?
“They’re coming!”
Abigail had also noticed Andras's absence, but the situation was progressing regardless. It was time to clash with the monster army.
The regular soldiers of Aachen drew their bows in unison.
The archery unit itself consisted of only about thirty men, but that was more than enough to create what could be described as a rain of arrows.
There was no need to aim precisely at the charging horde, so it was closer to a volley fire, which allowed for a faster rate of fire.
Several goblins, foaming at the mouth as they ran, were struck by stray arrows and fell. The city's regular soldiers, armed with spears and shields, shouted back and advanced to the front. Now, it was the adventurers' and Players' turn.
“Let’s go!”
“Don’t push too deep! Maintain formation!”
Individually, the adventurers overwhelmed the city's regular soldiers in combat prowess, but they were accustomed to small-scale skirmishes. If they broke formation and got surrounded by the enemy, even their superior fighting skills wouldn't save them.
Avoid a chaotic melee.
Create a battle between units, a war.
Kang-seok could no longer worry about Andras. He drew Durandal, charged forward, and looked up at the sky.
The flying troops, the drakes, were truly difficult opponents. Although Choi Yu-ra had her anti-materiel sniper rifle, guns were precious weapons with limited ammunition.
To attack the ground, the drakes had to descend from the sky.
He would aim for that opening. He would strike at the altitude they believed was a ‘safe position.’
“Uwooooh!”
Kang-seok charged. His target was an ogre swinging a massive club among the goblins.
The beast saw him too. It brought its club down, putting the full weight of its three-meter-tall body into the swing.
It was fast and heavy. But Kang-seok had been running with his eyes fixed only on the tip of that club. He not only dodged it lightly but also used the momentum to leap. He ran up the ogre's arm and, as the creature reeled in surprise at the sudden turn of events, kicked off its head to launch himself into the air.
The height gained from the ogre.
Kang-seok’s superhuman jumping ability, based on God of War Online.
And one more thing.
Kang-seok kicked off the air. He shot up a total of ten meters, bringing himself eye-level with a drake that was flying low to attack the ground.
Drakes were creatures with emotions too. It froze in shock, and Kang-seok showed no mercy. He brutally plunged Durandal into the drake’s neck.
“Kieeeaaak!”
He ignored its scream. He landed on the body of the drake as it began to twist and fall, then turned his gaze. He spotted another drake and, without hesitation, kicked off the first one's back.
He stepped on the air. He performed an air dash and drove Durandal into the second one’s head as well. Another drake charged at him, but it posed no threat. A large, sharp arrow pierced its eyeball.
“Kiaak!”
The creature lost its balance in pain and plummeted. Kang-seok didn't bother looking in the direction the arrow came from. It was undoubtedly Choi Yu-ra, who had picked up a greatbow specially crafted for this battle.
Three out of five drakes.
The remaining two were too far away to reach with a leap.
Kang-seok pulled out Durandal and looked at the ground. The drake whose head he had struck flapped its wings erratically, but it was in what could only be described as a nosedive. If he lingered, he would share its fate.
The battlefield came into Kang-seok’s view. The fight between the regular soldiers and the goblins armed with bamboo spears. Abigail and Curious displaying the strength of one-man armies among the monsters. The Players and adventurers holding their own.
That wasn't all he saw.
A sense of wrongness that he couldn't quite pinpoint, having only glanced down for a fleeting moment.
Only after leaping from the drake and landing on the ground could he be sure.
The ground was shaking.
Faintly, but unmistakably.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Kang-seok’s eyes widened.
He cast his gaze toward a place he would target if he were Andras.
CRRRRAAAAAASSSSH!
With a tremendous roar, the ground split apart. The earth where the regular soldiers of Aachen stood shattered, and the ‘Earth Dragon’ Andras revealed itself.
Its very appearance was a catastrophe. The moment Andras erupted, about half of the densely packed archer unit of the city's regular army was flung into the sky. Most of them fell to their deaths or were severely injured, and those lucky enough to avoid being caught in Andras’s emergence soon faced another disaster.
Andras, shaped like a mix between a feline predator and a lizard, thrashed about. Planting its hind legs firmly, it swung its front legs and tail wildly. It was a beast so colossal that simply rolling its body could cause a disaster.
Twenty, perhaps even thirty, regular soldiers lost their lives in an instant. But Andras was not satisfied. It swung its ten-meter-long tail as if to sweep the very ground.
They were swept away.
Like a sandcastle collapsing against a mighty wave, the goblins and the city's regular soldiers crumbled together. Screams and shrieks filled the battlefield.
Dozens were dead.
The thrashing of the giant monster filled their vision.
Everyone fighting forgot their respective enemies. For a moment, they forgot everything and stared only at Andras.
Andras did not respond to their gazes.
The intelligent monster coldly aimed for its next target.
With its first attack, it had crushed the city's regular army, which constituted the largest portion of the subjugation force.
So, what was its next target?
Those who could attack the enemy without getting close.
Amidst Andras's silver scales, its yellow eyes gleamed. Having chosen its target, the monster roared and charged across the ground.
The ranged dealer unit, which included Choi Yu-ra.
A wave of flames spewed from Andras's mouth.