Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: A Draw Leaves Both Sides Dissatisfied
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Whish! Slash! Thud!
“Phew, is it over?”
Geon-woo let out a long breath as he muttered to himself.
The humanoid creature that had just been decapitated by his sword and collapsed was the last one.
It was the final enemy still moving.
Geon-woo looked up, glaring at the distant mountain peak.
Even without his awakening ability, the superhuman prowess granted by the Cheonnoe Bunsim Je ryeong Gangsi gong allowed him to clearly make out the thumb-sized peak.
The Helparis demons who had been there were no longer visible.
“They’re gone.”
= The creatures were nearly wiped out when they vanished from sight.
Ilryeong replied astutely, realizing Geon-woo was referring to the Helparis demons.
“We can’t catch them?”
Geon-woo asked, looking at Ilryeong.
= It appears they used a space-transfer ability. We have no idea where they went, so pursuit is impossible.
“So they beat us up as they pleased, then bolted when it wasn’t working out?”
Grrrrrind!
Geon-woo ground his teeth harshly.
His top-grade magic armor was in tatters, having lost all function, barely covering what needed to be covered.
During that onslaught, Geon-woo had single-handedly slain thousands of creatures and demons.
In that bloody battle, neither the creatures nor the demons had inflicted any real damage on him.
So in the end, aside from the jiangshi he’d lost early on and the armor, Geon-woo had suffered no significant losses.
In contrast, the Helparis forces had lost tens of thousands of creatures and over a hundred demons—a far greater toll. That much was clear.
“I’ll track them down and crush them for sure.”
Even so, Geon-woo couldn’t suppress his boiling rage.
Even without taking damage, he’d spent half a day getting stabbed here, slashed there, and battered all over.
Of course, everything that had stabbed, slashed, or struck him was now dead and sprawled out—but those were beneath his notice.
The problem was the one leading this raid.
The one who had brought the Helparis back to Onbiroad.
The very bastard atop that peak who had severely restricted Geon-woo’s abilities.
= Please calm down, my lord.
Ilryeong spoke in a soothing voice to settle Geon-woo’s agitation.
“Phew. Yeah. I need to cool off. Losing it here won’t change anything.”
Geon-woo forcibly steadied his breathing, opened a dimensional space, stripped off the rag-like magic armor, and pulled out casual clothes to wear.
“Guess I shouldn’t bother with armor anymore. My bare body’s tougher anyway.”
= But wouldn’t it be better than ruining clothes every time? You have your dignity to consider, my lord.
Geon-woo claimed he didn’t need armor, but Ilryeong insisted it was necessary for appearances, if nothing else.
“You think so? Well, yeah, showing up all torn and embarrassed isn’t ideal. Won’t happen often, though.”
With Geon-woo’s skills, attacks rarely even grazed him, but still, something with a bit of defense was preferable to everyday clothes.
Geon-woo seemed to agree with that logic and accepted Ilryeong’s point.
“Let’s clean up the battlefield first.”
From the same dimensional space where he’d retrieved his clothes, he summoned his Royal Guard jiangshi and White Corps jiangshi.
It had been half a day since the battle began when he’d stored them away.
Even with the Royal Guard and White Corps, breaking the encirclement to catch the Helparis on that distant peak would’ve been impossible.
That’s why Geon-woo had stashed them in the dimensional space and fought solo.
His four great jiangshi, along with the Royal Guard and squad leader living jiangshi, had started falling to the human-wave tactics, leaving him no choice.
Jiangshi weren’t infinitely durable; even their tough bodies accumulated damage and broke down eventually.
He’d lost a fair number over that half day.
From midday onward, Geon-woo had faced the creatures and demons alone.
The grueling fight had finally ended just as the sun began to set.
= Still, we gained a ton of soul stones from this battle. We came out ahead quite nicely.
Soon after, Ilryeong flew over from overseeing the jiangshi’s battlefield cleanup.
“No losses? Even after dropping so many jiangshi?”
= If we’re nitpicking, we lost time. But purely in terms of resources, it’s definitely a profit.
“Really? That many soul stones?”
Geon-woo hadn’t yet calculated how much it’d cost to remake his lost jiangshi.
He’d assumed it wouldn’t be cheap.
But a profit aside from time?
= I double- and triple-checked because it seemed off, but yes, definitely a profit.
“Off how?”
= Exactly. The number and quality of dead creatures and demons shouldn’t have yielded this many soul stones.
“You mean we got an unusual haul of soul stones?”
= Perhaps the system judged this battle differently than usual.
“Since the system assigns soul stones and their fragments—solpi—anyway, you’re probably right. And if it did, there’s some reason we don’t know about.”
Geon-woo’s mind grew tangled trying to guess that unknown reason, but he couldn’t pin it down.
And at that moment.
The new Helparis leader who had attacked Geon-woo.
“Our losses are catastrophic.”
He muttered with a frustrated expression from his throne in the grand hall.
His frame was three times larger than other demons.
Just sitting there exuded an intense pressure.
Dozens of Helparis demons stood in two lines before him.
“Your Excellency.”
One at the front right called out to the leader.
“Definitely beyond specs. Heavy losses.”
But he ignored his subordinate’s summons and continued muttering to himself.
“…….”
The subordinate who’d tried to console him ended up clamping his mouth shut, unable to find the right words.
“I thought it would be simple. Me! With this body personally coming to such a pathetic battlefield!”
As his subordinates fell silent, the Helparis leader’s voice rose in a surge of pent-up frustration.
He was a marquis—a grand noble among Helparis nobility.
His arrival in Onbiroad was for restoring honor.
The first expedition shattered here had been Helparis’s—a stain on their record.
Others had followed similar paths to failure since, but it didn’t erase the disgrace of being first.
So this grand noble marquis had stepped forward magnanimously to reclaim their honor.
Confident he could crush a mere sub-dimensional expedition with ease.
Yet their triumphant first assault upon crossing to Onbiroad had ended in failure.
A grand noble marquis like him—what immense price had he paid to come here?
His status as marquis demanded compensation threefold that of lesser nobles, leading to even greater losses to cover it.
The system had demanded three times more from him alone.
Because he was a marquis.
“Grr, what the hell is that guy? Is there anyone among our current expedition who can even scratch him?”
Unable to contain his frustration, he finally barked the question at his subordinates.
But only silence answered.
His subordinates could think of no reply but “no.”
If even the marquis’s personal assault had failed, what could anyone else do?
“How long will it take to conquer this wretched dimension like this?”
The marquis sighed in exasperation.
“I’m paying an enormous price just to stay here, and there’s no end in sight. Ha ha ha!”
A hollow laugh escaped the marquis’s lips.
He shook his head, recalling the human who’d endured the creature and clan assaults bare-handed.
They needed a stronger offensive, but the system’s restrictions in this dimension made it impossible.
So they’d thrown overwhelming numbers at him—only for that barrage to be shrugged off effortlessly.
And from some point, he’d even pulled back his minions and held out alone.
“We need a different approach.”
“Your Excellency, that guy isn’t from this dimension—he’s from Earth, bound to this expedition. Why not have them handle it?”
“What? You’re saying I should bow my head to that count?”
His subordinate offered a suggestion, but the marquis bellowed in rage.
And rightly so—the Earth expedition’s overseer was a mere count.
Not even deigning to go to Earth himself, just coordinating from afar.
For a marquis to plead with such a one? Unthinkable.
“Your Excellency! How can you say that? You could simply order Count Jullon.”
“Grr.”
The subordinate jumped in protest, but the marquis only groaned.
The count overseeing Earth, Jullon, belonged to the rival Bekavok faction, his political enemy.
Even if Jullon wanted to obey, Bekavok would block it.
“Summon all the commanders of the other tribes in Onbiroad. We need a meeting.”
“Pardon? All the other tribes?”
His subordinates looked up in shock at the marquis’s words, then hastily bowed again in fright.
“I hold authority above the supreme commander—what’s the problem? Those mere barons and viscounts dare defy my orders?!”
“N-no, Your Excellency. We’ll contact them immediately.”
Demons often turned hostile across tribes, but lesser nobles wouldn’t rebel against a grand noble marquis.
Especially with his commander pretext—they had to come crawling when called.
Any fallout at the full tribal council later could be dealt with then.
“Tell them to gather as quickly as possible. And have each research ways to capture that Earth human and bring them.”
“Y-yes, Your Excellency.”
The assault had failed even under the marquis’s lead.
Lesser nobles from other tribes succeeding? Unlikely.
The marquis knew it but issued the order anyway, hoping a collective brainstorm might yield something.
* * *
“It’s here! We finally did it! This might just be the breakthrough we need.”
Geon-woo cheered as he opened the stone wall of the underground cavern and stepped inside.
The space featured beams of light extending from the six-sided walls, intertwining to form a three-dimensional magic circle.
At its center stood a demon just shy of three meters tall, rooted in place.
The second Molti recalled from the demon dimension.
= You mean a way to catch that new Helparis leader?
“Yeah. If I can get even stronger using this Molti recalled from the demon dimension, I might be able to take that bastard down. No—definitely will.”
= Of course. I believe it’s possible.
“Good. Then let’s hurry. Maintaining this semi-ability field is burning through massive resources already.”
= Yes, my lord. I’ll do my utmost, however little it may be.
“Yeah. Sorry, Ilryeong—you’ll have to handle the middle part. Tough job.”
= Don’t say that. Even if something goes wrong, I’d gladly protect you if I could.
“Grr. I wish there were another way, but leaving this to you... feels wrong.”
= It’s fine. Even if problems arise, as your subordinate, I can avoid the worst outcomes. So let’s begin quickly—time’s ticking, and the magic circle’s draining huge resources.
“Alright, it’s what we planned anyway. Better to get it over with. Let’s do it!”
Geon-woo nodded reluctantly, and Ilryeong flew straight to the forehead of the demon-dimension Molti, attaching a talisman.