Chapter 99: Invasion (3)
A day later.
"...The mercenaries have started to leave."
"How many... there's no need to ask, really."
Kim Hyunwoo stopped mid-sentence and subtly turned his gaze beyond the territory.
There, numerous mercenaries were leaving the Lartania territory as if they had been waiting to do so.
It was as if all the people in the territory were lining up to leave.
"...After receiving all the benefits they could...!"
Elena, who was looking at the same scene, seemed to feel a sense of betrayal watching the mercenaries leave, but Kim Hyunwoo, on the other hand, spoke with a calm expression.
"There's nothing we can do about it. From the mercenaries' perspective, while Lartania is a good workplace, it's not worth risking their lives for."
"Still...!"
"Of course, I'm not saying I don't find it regrettable."
Kim Hyunwoo responded that way to Elena, who seemed to feel a great sense of injustice.
He too felt regret about the mercenaries leaving.
In fact, after finishing his conversation with River the day before, he had intended to spend money if necessary to use the mercenaries as temporary forces.
Unfortunately, by the time the rumor that the demons who had already conquered the Norba Kingdom were coming spread, the mercenaries were not taking commissions from Lartania.
The mercenaries knew.
That there was no chance of successfully defending the current Lartania territory against the demons.
"If the Labyrinth City had been more activated and more mercenary groups had come in, the situation might have been different."
The reason mercenaries could leave the Labyrinth City was that Lartania was simply a good place to work.
But if Lartania became more than just a good workplace, essentially becoming a home? Then it would be a different story for the mercenaries.
However, that was the ideal scenario Kim Hyunwoo had in mind for when the Labyrinth City had progressed to a certain extent, so now it was irrelevant, and he just watched the mercenaries.
"My Lord. Perhaps it's best to prepare to flee now?"
Elena, seeing Kim Hyunwoo appear surprisingly calm, expressed her frustration.
Of course, she knew Kim Hyunwoo well and had seen many things while being by his side.
That's why she also knew he was more exceptional than other lords.
After all, he had single-handedly stopped a Catastrophic Disaster that everyone else thought impossible to avert.
But this current issue was of a completely different dimension than the Catastrophic Disaster.
Currently, it was the demons targeting Lartania, and slowly spreading news indicated that not one, but two legions were sent to deal with Lartania.
In other words, with only about 400 soldiers, Lartania couldn't possibly withstand a proper siege.
But Kim Hyunwoo, who was as well aware of the situation as Elena, said,
"No. We will not leave Lartania."
He said so.
"Then, are you planning to confront those two legions?"
In response to Elena's question, filled with frustration, Kim Hyunwoo pondered for a moment before speaking.
"To be honest, it's a bit odd to say we're going to confront them."
"...Odd, you say?"
"Yeah, once the demons arrive, and if things turn out the way I want, their reaction will be one of two possibilities."
"What does that mean...?"
"Well, for now, just trust me... Oh, and have you done everything I asked?"
In response to Elena's question, Kim Hyunwoo smiled reassuringly and asked.
"I've done everything so far..."
"Then that's settled. Now that things have come to this-"
Following her answer, Kim Hyunwoo smiled and looked towards the resource window floating to one side.
Red Stones:
15,770
Blue Stones:
6,023
Gold Coins:
45,422
Magic Stones:
30,231
He laughed, checking the 15,000 Red Stones and the slowly decreasing number of Magic Stones.
"Let's see if the demons can even stop something like Little Boy."
For the commander of the third legion Agares, most beings in the human world were nothing more than insignificant creatures.
If demons were allowed to exist in the middle realm without expending magic, most of them would be nothing more than playthings or livestock for the demons.
However, the reason he liked humans was purely because he enjoyed tormenting these insignificant beings.
He enjoyed playing with humans - no, with all beings in the middle realm - and liked seeing the emotions they showed.
The emotion of an insignificant creature trembling in overwhelming fear.
The emptiness felt when, after mustering all their courage, they were decapitated in a single attack.
The despair shown when a creature, deluded into thinking itself strong, was dealt with with a single finger.
Agares found this immensely enjoyable.
Therefore, Agares was thoroughly enjoying the middle realm.
He destroyed every village and territory he saw, playing with and killing each of the creatures there.
Even just a while ago, Agares was raiding a village, playing with and enjoying the creatures there.
That was, until two women appeared before him.
"You're planning to go to Lartania?"
"Do you think we'll just stand by and let you?"
The two women who suddenly appeared before Agares openly showed their hostility.
"Hmm, you seem fairly strong for creatures, but do you think you can stop me?"
At first, Agares ignored them. After all, he had easily killed even the greatest heroes prepared by the middle realm, so to him, these beings were merely insignificant creatures.
But after just five minutes,
"Kahak-!?"
Agares spat blood, unable to hide his incredulous expression.
The two women who appeared to stop him were strong enough to be unparalleled in the middle realm.
"What..."
Agares frowned as he looked at the two women facing him.
The white-haired beastfolk and the half-demon wielding a sword were displaying a powerful force that Agares had never before felt in the middle realm.
...A power that simply couldn't be described as belonging to the creatures of the middle realm.
"These bastards..."
Unknowingly, a curse slipped from Agares' mouth as he coolly assessed the situation and reached a conclusion.
'If it were one-on-one, I could win.'
But the problem was-
"Kuk!"
The women clearly had no intention of fighting alone.
"...!"
In an instant, the beastfolk, moving faster than Agares' dynamic vision could follow and practically invisible, lunged forward and swung a punch. And just as Agares managed to block it, the half-demon sliced at his leg in the brief opening.
Swoosh!
Purple blood spurted out.
However, since Agares could easily regenerate any severed part of his body, he quickly healed and swung his blades in an attempt to attack.
"Tch...!"
Agares' blades did not reach either of them at all.
A one-sided, tiresome battle of attrition continued endlessly.
10 minutes.
20 minutes.
30 minutes.
As time passed, Merilda and Rin began to accumulate wounds.
However, Agares, who fought against them, reached a point where he could no longer regenerate and heal his from injuries.
"These bastards...!"
Shocked at the prospect of being defeated by creatures he had always mocked and despised, Agares started attacking recklessly without concern for his magical energy reserves, yet his attacks never hit them.
In that final moment.
"Kuk-!"
Agares realized.
That he was about to be defeated.
The moment he realized this, overwhelmed by shame and humiliation, he gritted his teeth.
Swoosh-!
A shield appeared in front of Agares.
A shield made out of living people.
And, as soon as the shield made of living people appeared, their attacks ceased as if by magic.
"I came just in case, but it seems you did show up after all. It would have been a disaster if I had been late."
"Kelva!"
Kelva spoke.
Merilda and Rin couldn't help but frown at Kelva's sudden appearance.
At first glance, he seemed ordinary, but Merilda and Rin, who were already among the strong, recognized his true strength as soon as they saw him properly.
That man, there was something about him.
Realizing this, they braced themselves for battle.
Retreating from this place was never an option for them in the first place.
The beings before them were the demons marching towards Lartania, and retreating here would put Kim Hyunwoo in danger.
Even though they realized that the situation would turn unfavorable if that man got involved, they did not retreat.
"Let's make a deal."
"...What?"
Merilda asked without realizing it, taken aback by Kelva's unexpected proposition, and he answered.
"I don't know why you're stopping us, and I don't particularly care to know. But I do know what you want."
"What?"
"You want to get rid of your infamy, don't you?"
Kelva continued.
"I'll help you remove your infamy. No, not just help; if you let us go peacefully right now, I'll ensure you can remove more infamy than if you fought us."
He offered them a condition that seemed reasonable from the perspective of a demon.
"We are heading to the Lartania territory now. We intend to destroy the territory and kill the lord. After accomplishing our goal, I'll hand over all the soldiers who participated in the massacre of Lartania territory to you."
"Additionally, I'll hand over the soldier who beheads the Lord of Lartania. Killing him will likely accumulate a lot of infamy, so if you handle him, you can significantly reduce your own infamy. If you wish to reduce your infamy further, you could kill him more cruelly."
To Kelva, it was a condition that seemed reasonable, at least to him.
If this condition were accepted, Kelva and Agares could easily finish their task without the hassle of killing demons to erase their infamy.
Afterwards, they could eliminate the accumulated evil deeds by killing the monsters and soldiers, thus reducing their infamy.
However, Kelva's mistake was.
Creak-!!
"Now-"
That they mentioned 'Lartania' and arrived here minutes later.
"-what did you say?"
Crack-!
"Definitely, in this place-"
And that the reason they wanted to remove their infamy.
"-will kill you!"
Was because of the Lord of Lartania, of which Kelva had no idea.