Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: Roktor's Command
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Dwarf General Roktor, who commanded the Paviran Union's army, immediately issued orders.
"Scatter!"
As Roktor pulled on the reins, the rubber-powered mechanical horse creaked and turned its body.
If the Oguri had created something somewhat crude and bizarre through their rubber engines, the Paviran Union's dwarves had crafted exquisite works of art—perfect replicas mimicking real existing things.
But that scatter command couldn't exactly be called swift.
No, it was already too late the moment Mobility revealed itself.
The barrage of cannonballs struck the Oguri sawblade tanks and Roktor's cavalry directly.
The cannonballs crushed the wooden rubber-powered machines, and the remaining kinetic energy ricocheted toward the flesh-and-blood soldiers of the Paviran Union.
Faces caved in from direct hits, while others had their skin torn and bones shattered just from glancing blows. Casualties mounted rapidly.
'The rumored mobility...!'
Roktor had already considered ways to assault the fortress based on reports from his god, the Winged Yellow Warbler, and its priests, as well as the methods Heukrin had used to target its mobility.
Unlike what the priests had said, Mobility didn't look battered from its battle with the dragon at all. Even so, General Roktor had only one thought.
'We must retreat now.'
Even if Mobility wasn't in perfect condition, they needed to launch a proper assault with the Spiralwings to stand a chance in battle.
A siege was the worst form of combat for the attackers against defenders.
How much worse if that fortress started attacking them?
There were no soldiers trampled underfoot yet, but that colossal Mobility with its twenty-three legs was a weapon in itself.
The reason a dwarf like Roktor—neither overconfident like the Oguri nor tangled in complex thoughts like humans—had become the Paviran Union's general was his dwarven knack for concise, swift decision-making.
'It's huge, but Mobility's speed isn't much different from a man's walking pace. Retreat while casualties are low.'
Roktor, his resolve firm, shouted.
"Retreat! Fall back!"
The Paviran Union's soldiers welcomed the retreat order.
The Spiralwing squadrons also spotted the flags waving from the main force and gave up further attacks, turning back.
But there was one who didn't welcome the order: RD, the god of the Paviran Union.
"No! You idiots!"
RD judged that retreating now meant no second chance.
Yet he harbored doubts about whether they could win even if they attacked Mobility, so he hadn't issued a divine revelation to press the assault.
In that brief hesitation, Roktor had given the retreat order.
In RD's view, with his support alone, capturing it was feasible.
The Spiralwings were still numerous, and unlike before, Mobility seemed relatively unprepared for them.
'Of course, we can't launch a proper attack either...'
But the Mobility assault training was already complete.
If he ordered another attack, Roktor would employ tactics based on that training.
'If they try to interfere with their creations then, I'll go all out too.'
Of course, with multiple players on the other side, RD knew he was at a disadvantage—but he trusted in the problems that arose from having too many players.
'More heads mean slower decisions and dodging responsibility. Common among allied players. No reason they'd be different.'
"Advance again!"
RD issued the command through revelation.
It was an absurd order to the priests, to Roktor who had already signaled retreat, and to the soldiers fleeing the cannonballs.
But Roktor hesitated, torn between obeying the god's will or not, before concluding that with the divine will made clear, he had no choice but to follow.
"Retreat order is void! Reform ranks! We're advancing again!"
Despite the internal conflict, when he actually issued the advance order, Roktor felt a strange relief. In that moment, he wasn't a general—he was merely projecting the god's will.
'Is this right? ...Even if not, there's no helping it. It's all the god's will.'
Despite the reversed orders, the Paviran Union army did their utmost.
The main force swiftly reformed their lines.
Roktor quickly assessed the situation and maneuvered his troops.
He judged that by removing co-pilots from the Spiralwings, they could carry one Oguri each.
And if Mobility climbed the low hill where it had been hiding, they could escape its firing arcs somewhat and loose arrows.
The rest of the forces would circle around to pin down Mobility's attacks, waiting for the Spiralwings' assaults to deploy rope ladders or halt it.
The Paviran Union moved organically under Roktor's tactics, which didn't seem improvised on the battlefield.
Seong-un, watching from not far away alongside RD, was impressed.
'Well, even if a player's skills fall short, outstanding individuals can handle things themselves. But...'
Teams deliberate slowly and shirk responsibility.
RD's thinking held some validity.
The problem was that Seong-un already knew that dynamic all too well.
He had even calculated how RD would move.
Something emerged from Mobility's inner citadel, the central hall.
RD inferred from the massive bulk.
"A creation? I knew it!"
RD summoned his most powerful creation.
It was a gigantic... crab.
Thanks to its long legs, the king crab climbed Mobility's legs with ease.
The weapon of RD's creation was its massive claws, and RD considered "Mr. President"—imbued with the 'Severance' skill—his greatest force.
"Go!"
But Mr. President had little chance to shine.
The colossal beast crawling from the inner citadel nimbly dodged the king crab's claw attacks.
What RD thought was a serpentine body was actually a long neck, with thick arms and legs below.
It was the body of the great Asurada, the dragon.
And Gordius, controlling that body, gained a neural system far more intimate, senses far sharper, and precision incomparable to Koprik's former form.
-Slow.
Gordius said that and mounted the crab's back.
Then he wrenched the right claw backward and yanked.
Mr. President spewed foam, growling in agony.
RD screamed too.
"Impossible! A dragon?!"
As RD's mind went blank, Gordius didn't stop.
He gouged out the crab's eyes, smashed the flailing left claw, and hurled it from Mobility.
Spiralwings shattered on impact with the debris or plummeted while evading.
When the massive carapace of the now-legless Mr. President flew toward him, casting a shadow, Roktor thought:
'It's over.'
It was already anticipated that the Paviran Union would attack once Mobility was seized.
And by Seong-un's predictions, defending Pangolian's city with timely consumption of Faith resources seemed easy enough.
"The problem is that the Paviran Union isn't the end of it."
The Paviran Union seemed unaware, but attacking Siol—Heukrin's current stronghold—wasn't their doing alone.
Seong-un learned this shortly after Gordius took the great Asurada's body.
Ozen, the crow divine beast and subordinate of the great Asurada who conveyed his words to Rakshasa tribes across the region, had come to Gordius.
Gordius had to receive Ozen pretending to be Asurada.
-You are safe, great Asurada.
-Safe, you say. I was just about to finish them off.
-Apologies for interrupting your busy moment, but I have urgent news.
-Speak.
Ozen said:
-The western fish have come quite close.
-Fish?
-Yes? Yes, the Deep Ones. They're ascending the river with stones that turn freshwater to seawater.
Ozen seemed puzzled for a moment, then continued.
-Per your words, great Asurada, we Rakshasas fought as best we could, but we've suffered repeated defeats. You must help now. In my view, these fish are more urgent than the outsiders.
At those words, Gordius looked to the sky.
Yacheon's reply came.
-Well played, Gordius. Checked—it seems true.
-What of this crow?
-Not that clever, but leaving it could be trouble. Reduce variables.
Gordius followed Seong-un's words.
The Deep Ones—army of the evil god Shacha—numbered nearly 30,000.
That was the real threat.
Wisdom spoke up on the matter.
"Trouble. Even if we use Mobility now, repairing the walls will take time. Dealing with the Paviran Union is secondary; Shacha's 30,000 could climb the legs somehow, or use creations to ferry troops. Losing Mobility to them would be bad."
Seong-un shook his head.
"We'll use Mobility."
"Without repairs?"
"We'll repair it."
"How?"
Seong-un pointed to the dragon.
Wisdom and the other players understood at once.
"Brilliant."
In Seong-un's view, the dragon held diverse value.
A powerful weapon against apostles, with high intelligence and magic for creating variables.
Regrettably, the original great Asurada was effectively erased, so Gordius couldn't use new magic, but spells already inscribed in the body—like breath incantations—remained usable.
Such an advantageous entity, yet dragons' noble nature overlooked one key point.
"Its raw strength."
To Seong-un, immense strength wasn't just for war and combat.
Even in modern civilization, great power had vast utility, and humans had developed technologies to harness it.
Excavators, trucks, cranes—heavy construction equipment.
And to Seong-un, the dragon's body was a bio-construction machine usable even at this low civilization level.
Moreover, since Mobility's chassis wasn't destroyed, they could load repair materials onto its base and conduct repairs while moving.
As Mobility advanced, the dragon compacted the ground for the walls and hauled bricks.
Seong-un maneuvered Mobility to first crush player RD's army.
He roughly accepted RD's surrender, then immediately directed Mobility westward.
Thanks to this, the evil god Shacha only spotted Mobility's true form at the tail end of its march on Siol.
What Shacha saw was a fully prepared Mobility and a dragon rumored to be dead.
-….
Shacha was a different kind of player from RD.
Shacha immediately issued a revelation to his priests.
-Retreat.
Feeling that wasn't enough, he added an explanation.
-You may lose half the army. Retreat at full speed.