Chapter 101: Invasion (5)

Merilda and Rin shot towards Lartania with all their might.

The reason was due to the story about another demon legion that Agares had mentioned.

Upon hearing that, they didn't even tend to their wounds before darting towards the Lartania territory.

Using magic powers they normally wouldn't, they moved at high speed, covering a distance that would usually take a day in about five hours.

Pant, pant.

The sweat all over her body and Merilda panting as if she would collapse at any moment showed how urgently she had run.

Rin, arriving shortly after, was in a similar state as Merilda, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

Having run to the vicinity of Lartania without properly managing their condition, both looked too worn out to continue fighting immediately.

They were visibly exhausted from sprinting to Lartania, and the wounds from the battle with Agares were worsening due to lack of proper treatment.

Despite their condition, upon arrival, they immediately prepared for battle upon seeing soldiers advancing towards Lartania.

Loriel and Ryu, who were checking on Lartania's status, tried to stop Rin and Merilda, but they ignored their warnings and prepared to dive into battle immediately.

If it weren't for that massive something flying from the Lartania territory.

And then.

────────── Beep!

Until they saw the aftermath of that massive thing dropping amidst the demons, creating a vast light.

"......"

Merilda and Rin unknowingly had a dazed expression on their faces.

Similarly, Loriel and Ryu, who were trying to stop them, also had dazed expressions just like them.

The enormous army of demons and humans they had been observing until just moments ago had more than halved because of that something that flew from Lartania.

And then.

"This is unbelievable..."

Ending with Loriel's murmur, who had a stunned expression.

"Ugh, aaaaah-!!"

"Run, run away!"

"Retreat, retreat! Everyone retreat!!"

The demon legion started to retreat.

Fundamentally, living beings possess a strong wariness towards the unknown.

Adding to this, the moment they truly realize that the unknown can directly cause harm, their inherent caution turns into extreme fear.

This fear stems from loss.

The thousands of actual damages caused by the unknown.

The anxiousness from not knowing anything about the unknown directly translates into fear.

"......"

Kairon looked behind him.

Behind him, he saw the corpses of soldiers.

Some were missing half their bodies, some only had hands remaining, and others were charred, still burning.

"─────!!"

"─────────!!!"

"───── damn it!!!"

Next, he saw the faces of soldiers screaming in agony, their cries barely audible as if his eardrums had burst.

Contrary to the earlier expressions of ease and mockery, their faces were now a complex mix of anxiousness, restlessness, and terror as they fled.

Seeing this, Kairon felt puzzled.

'How did it come to this?'

He recalled the events just moments ago.

A massive iron mass flew in and hit directly, and the legion disappeared just like that.

That was the end.

'...Was it some large-scale magic?'

Before he could finish his thought, Kairon, still dazed, turned to look at a mage in front of him who was panicking and shouting.

They had been using a Dispel field from the entrance of Lartania to minimize damage from large-scale magic spells of 6th circle or higher, clearly surviving the approach.

Additionally, seeing the staff shining indicated that the Dispel field was still in operation.

This meant that what had come flying from Lartania was not a large-scale magic spell.

After all, a large-scale magic spell could have been sufficiently blocked by a mage's Dispel.

Reaching that conclusion, Kairon became aware of the reality and fear started to spread across his face.

"Ru, run! Run!!"

"All the monsters are dead!"

"Now, we need to retreat now!!"

The sight of soldiers turning to flee without even a command from their leader was disgracefully similar to that of defeated stragglers.

However, Kairon said nothing to the soldiers showing such demeanor.

Instead, he turned the reins of his horse.

...He too, became a straggler.

Watching the demon legion turn and flee in an instant from afar, Kim Hyunwoo thought,

'It's as I expected, it's tough to kill them all with just this.'

Of course, the missile Kim Hyunwoo fired this time was obviously not something like a nuclear bomb.

Initially, if he had been a scientist, maybe, but unfortunately, Kim Hyunwoo was just an ordinary person in his previous world and didn't even know how radioactivity was produced.

However, the reason Kim Hyunwoo could inflict damage on thousands with just a single missile was entirely due to the immense power of the Red Stone.

'My initial estimate was around a few hundred people, after all.'

When Kim Hyunwoo first created the missile with River, the firepower they could muster by forcefully embedding Magic Stones was, at best, enough for a few hundred people.

But the reason he could increase the damage to thousands was precisely because of the item he purchased using the Red Stone.

"I didn't expect the Red Catalyst Stone to be of help."

What Kim Hyunwoo bought with the Red Stone was the Red Catalyst Stone sold by the Blue Merchant, who deals in gacha or materials.

This Red Catalyst Stone, sold by the Blue Merchant, can be simply explained as essentially a reinforcement stone.

Not the kind that enhances weapons, but one that probabilistically increases the level of a building by one.

So, the item Kim Hyunwoo bought was essentially a cash-grab item created by Arteil's BM team in a desperate attempt to extract revenue from a failing Arteil, but most users did not use this cash item.

In fact, they despised it.

This Red Catalyst Stone from Arteil's BM team was not called a Red Catalyst Stone by users, but 'Dynamite'.

It was okay if the enhancement succeeded, but if it failed, the building would explode.

Not just a large explosion, but the building being enhanced would be completely incinerated, causing damage to adjacent buildings as well.

Moreover, since the enhancement probability was only around 20%, users never dared to enhance buildings using the Red Catalyst Stone.

Since massive resources begin to pour into every building from Level 5, using the Enhancement Stone and blowing up a building at that point would result in huge expenses.

This led to a debate among Arteil users at one time.

They debated on why Arteil's BM team, always keen on breaking the users' heads, would create such a trash cash item with no positive reception whatsoever.

After days of debate between newbies and oldbies, the prevailing conclusion was that the BM came out that way due to friction with the 'territory team'.

One of the development departments of Arteil, the Character Development Team, was producing thousands, even tens of thousands of heroes without duplication, as if using a copier, while the Territory Team was truly dedicated to the game.

The prevailing opinion was that they clashed with the BM Team, and an item that should have been game-breakingly powerful for territory growth was nerfed in such an absurd manner before its release.

Indeed, as if confirming the users' speculation, from that point on, the BM Team did not release a single cash item related to territory, excluding those related to Labyrinths and other dimensions.

Anyway, according to the game settings, they were able to create such explosive power by wrapping up a Red Catalyst Stone, which explodes upon receiving a certain level of strong impact.

However, despite firing a missile of that magnitude, the number of demon troops was still quite significant.

About half remained, or maybe a bit more.

This means that in the current state, they could attack the Lartania territory if they so decided.

However, despite realizing this, Kim Hyunwoo maintained a calm expression.

Because the demon troops he saw had already lost their will to fight.

Morale, that is, the will to fight, played an extremely important role in war.

The higher the morale, the more efficiently the soldiers could fight, even in unfavorable conditions. Conversely, the lower the morale, the higher the likelihood of mass panic.

In that sense, the demon troops had already lost their morale with just one missile.

For Kim Hyunwoo, the missile was a one-time, all-in measure, but for the demon troops, it must have been perceived as an unknown threat capable of taking thousands of lives with a single strike.

Their minds were likely already filled with thoughts of avoiding another missile coming from Lartania.

Thus, as Kim Hyunwoo let out a light sigh, he suddenly saw the terrible corpses near the missile.

Their grotesque appearance was something that he, as a modern person, could not bear.

Furthermore, he was about to start contemplating the thought that he had killed those people by choice, but...

"...Ah."

Just as he was about to fall into contemplation, Kim Hyunwoo realized that his skill, Indomitable Heart, was activated, bringing him a sudden sense of comfort.

Feeling his emotions return to normal as if nothing had happened, Kim Hyunwoo wore a peculiar expression.

"Sigh."

Of course, Kim Hyunwoo didn't think he was a fool for not believing this situation was wrong.

If he hadn't attacked, he would have been the one to suffer; Kim Hyunwoo's choice was utterly rational.

If such a situation were to arise again, Kim Hyunwoo would make the same choice over and over, striving to annihilate the enemies as much as possible.

Victory in war would ultimately benefit the Lartania territory, and the achievements accumulated through victory would protect Lartania in unseen ways.

However, even remembering all that,

still, his heart was not at ease.

A few days later.

In the underground of Duke Landaron's castle, where the pulsating heart was located, Kelva's body was reconstituted and awakened.

"Kr..."

Kelva grimaced in endless pain.

With his special ability to resurrect a few times even without his main body present, he touched his neck, sighed deeply, and clenched his teeth.

In the blink of an eye, Kelva had been killed by those two heroes.

"Ha..."

Kelva sighed as if annoyed, but soon relaxed his irritated expression and let out a small sigh.

Ultimately, he had died due to an unforeseen accident, but it was clear that his goal had been achieved.

'Those two must have been related to Lartania.'

Through a brief reassessment at the time, Kelva concluded that it was the right choice for him and Agares to have encountered them at that moment.

If they hadn't encountered those two heroes, they wouldn't have been able to kill the outsider.

'Fortunately, the purpose was achieved.'

Therefore, Kelva, who had taken some rest and went up to the Lord's castle to hear the report, said,

"...What?"

"...We failed to destroy the Lartania territory. Moreover, all the soldiers were killed."

"......"

From Duke Landaron, he heard a report so aggravating that it stirred up murderous intent.