Chapter 197 : Chapter 197
Chapter 197
“Send all troops to the north.”
“But, if we do that, there will be no one to protect the center, Your Majesty.”
“From whom are we protecting ourselves?”
“That is….”
“In the end, if the continent falls, there will be no emperor. How much more burden are we going to let him carry alone for all of humanity? At the very least, if we are human, shouldn’t we share even a little of Duke Karl’s burden?”
Ellenhower looked at Jennings with a resolute gaze.
“…I will follow Your Majesty’s command.”
And Jennings could not go against Ellenhower’s will. He too owed him a debt or two.
Since receiving a hint from Karl upon entering the imperial capital, the central army had risked everything on strengthening its forces, so the quality and number of its troops had increased significantly compared to before.
And so, the well-trained central army departed for the north the next day, following Viscount Jennings' words.
***
“Your Excellency, no matter how much it is a request for help from Sir Karl, it is too much. To send the entire knight order and most of the domain’s troops to the north.”
“In any case, if we lose here, it’s not us, but this continent itself that will end.”
“No matter how much that is so, this is too much!”
“If you have a complaint, leave. You don’t have to go. In any case, it is I who will be leading this army.”
Duke Yevgeny declared that he would personally lead the troops to the north. The most dangerous battlefield. Having experienced the Gray Demon, they were trembling in fear, yet he declared that he would move himself, prepared for death.
“Your Excellency….”
“Sometimes, humans must be the most selfish, but they must also be the most altruistic. Especially those in positions like ours must be even more so.”
The vassals of the east, seeing Yevgeny’s firm eyes, realized that they could not stop their liege. And those who would participate in the war and those who would stay behind began to be divided.
And so, the support troops were quickly formed, and the next day, the eastern support troops began to move towards the north.
Just as the eastern army was moving, the western army, which had been the first to be saved by Karl, departed together. And the forces of the Order from the south and Count Vito’s support troops also began to flock to the Arthur Domain.
The dwarves and elves had also completed all their military power checks. And in the Arthur Domain, which possessed a more magnificent castle than ever before, the military forces of all humanity gathered.
And at some point, the Gray Demons also began to gather towards the Arthur Domain.
And so, when about a week had passed, the plain in front of the Arthur Domain was filled with Gray Demons. Their number was about 3,000. Considering the number of the monster wave, the number 3,000 did not seem so large. But considering the military power of each Gray Demon, it was an enormous number.
Among them, the number of creatures classified as stage 6 and 5 also exceeded 500.
***
Gulp.
The sound of a nervous soldier swallowing his saliva echoed on the quiet castle walls. Everyone’s hands were full of sweat, and their gazes were trembling with fear.
Even though nearly 20,000 troops were stationed in the Arthur Domain, the over 3,000 Gray Demons in front of them instilled fear in their military power.
Even though there were a whopping 4,000 knights gathered from all over the continent, the knights were also frozen stiff with tension.
They too had keenly felt how strong those gray monsters were in the last monster wave. Even the weakest, stage 1-2 Gray Demons gathered there, were beings that were not easy for ordinary knights to deal with.
Peeeeeeeee!
Just as everyone was swallowing dryly with tension, a clear flute sound echoed from above the Arthur Domain’s Lord's castle.
Peeeeeeeee!
It was when the flute sound echoed once again. The heads of the soldiers, who had been looking only at the front and had their gazes fixed on the Gray Demon, at some point went up to the sky above them.
“It’s a dragon!!!”
“It’s a dragon!!!”
Following someone’s shout, when they looked up at the sky, dozens of dragons with huge bodies broke through space and appeared in the sky above the domain.
The appearance of the dragons, who had appeared in their true forms, which seemed to be at least dozens of meters long, was so overwhelming that it brought a sense of relief to the nervous soldiers.
“The dragons are with us!”
“We will win!!”
Some of the soldiers shouted fiercely to overcome their fear. Then the other soldiers also shouted together and encouraged each other.
Just then, the dwarves and elves also put on their armor and weapons and took their positions on the castle walls.
A strange sense of reassurance enveloped each other. The Gray Demon was certainly a monster-like being, but with them, they could definitely win. The will to win, which had been disappearing with fear, blazed up.
Bwoooooooo!
Just as the sound of a huge horn echoed on the battlefield, the Gray Demons began to charge towards the castle walls.
Although there were 3,000 of them, the creatures, whose individual skills were so outstanding that it gave one goosebumps, quickly drew close to the castle walls.
Wooooooooong!
Kwaaaaaaaang!
Just before they approached the castle walls. A huge beam of light shot out from the mouths of the dragons floating in the sky and began to strike the ground hard.
The light of the colorful breaths, the moment it touched the ground, annihilated all the Gray Demons present. Many of the dragons that had spewed their breaths immediately transformed into humans and, clad in Dragon Aura, fell down.
There were many who were much more suited for combat in their humanized bodies than in their sluggish true forms.
“Block them!”
The 10-man shields, specially developed by the dwarves, were raised, and the attack of the flying Gray Demons was blocked by the shields held up by ten soldiers.
The shield, designed to defend against the opponent’s attack with a support, like a castle gate, was made of a special metal and was properly blocking the Gray Demon’s attacks.
“All! Fire!”
Just then, the super-large crossbows lined up in a row behind the castle walls were fired at the charging Gray Demons.
The arrows, 30 times the size of a normal arrow and boasting tremendous power, were loaded and fired by the strength of dozens of able-bodied men.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The charging Gray Demons were hit by the arrows, which were made of a special alloy of tremendous weight and even silver-plated, and had holes pierced through their entire bodies or parts of their bodies blown away.
“It works! It’s working!”
The soldiers, with the single fact that their response was working, shouted fiercely and conveyed hope.
Of course, in the process, many soldiers were sacrificed to the swarming Gray Demons here and there.
“The knights, in groups of 20. The Master-grade knights will focus on killing the stage 2 demons! The Pope and General Bastien will aim only for stage 3, and the elder dragon-grade for stage 5 and above! The adult dragon-grade will deal with the stage 3-4 Gray Demons!”
I, while dealing with the high-grade Gray Demons, was constantly coordinating the troops and giving orders.
“Keoook!”
“Dalfra! These sons of bitches!”
Although they were soldiers who fought well, in the midst of that, casualties were, of course, continuously piling up. Although there were 20,000 soldiers, the battle with the 3,000 Gray Demons was more fierce than ever before.
In the midst of that chaotic battlefield, I raised Laevateinn and was continuously cutting down the stage 5 and above Gray Demons.
Just then, a feeling that startled my senses rose up. I turned my gaze along the place where his senses were being sharply cut.
‘…’
There stood a gray being that looked completely human, not a Gray Demon. A monster with a human face, with no expression and only a gray color.
I, leaving all the other Gray Demons aside, flew towards that monster.
“So we meet.”
“…”
The lifeless being spoke. It was a perfect pronunciation and tone, to the point of being creepy.
“What are you?”
The most curious question.
What on earth was this monster in front of his eyes?
“Well, I don’t know myself well either. What am I.”
The creature spoke with an emotionless, expressionless face. It gave off a very incongruous and creepy feeling.
“I was like you too. I think I was human. But I also think I wasn't. What was I.”
I couldn’t tell what his emotionless questions were for. Whether he was confused, or genuinely asking, or answering Karl, I couldn’t tell anything.
“It’s not important. What I was. Just. I am here to destroy everything that is here.”
The gray being said so.
His story of destroying was not filled with anger or anything. He spoke like a machine transmitting input data values.
“Why are you fighting for them. You wouldn’t even be a human belonging to this place.”
As expected, the creature knew of Karl’s existence.
“What are you?”
At his question, I recalled old memories that had become hazy and blurred.
Lee Seo-jun.
That was his name.
[Mr. Lee Seo-jun! I told you to process this quickly.]
[Seo-jun, eat and then do it.]
The memory of people calling his name flashed through Karl’s mind. Why had he been living without remembering his name all this time?
Why was that?
Karl suddenly felt confusion coming over him.
Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer. He was definitely a human belonging to this place. He felt that for sure.
But the moment his original name suddenly came to mind, he felt a strange sense of distance from this world. Along with that, his physical reactions and the feeling of controlling his body also became strange.
“You’re confused. It’s understandable. I was too.”
What on earth was he talking about. The more the story from the mouth of that gray monster continued, the more Karl felt a strange confusion.
“When I came to this world, I forgot my name. I didn’t try to remember it, and I didn’t try to think about it. I just focused on adapting to this world. Isn’t it a strange thing? The me before I died definitely had a name. And I was living diligently there.”
Listening to his words, Karl also thought it was strange.
‘Why did I forget everything.’
As if it had been forcibly erased, Karl had forgotten the memories of Earth and the modern era from his memory.
[Seo-jun, I love you.]
“Ah..”
A woman suddenly came to mind from his memories. Why had these memories disappeared? Why couldn't he recall them?
The questions continued endlessly, and once the question was raised, it led to another, confusing his mind. Piercing through Karl’s steel-like will, thoughts and memories poured in as if a barrier had been broken.
“This world, you see, forced you and made you fit the character here. It means that everything you thought was yourself was actually a lie that they had set up.”
The gray one endlessly shook Karl. The creature’s words were sharper and stronger than the swords of any enemy he had ever faced, and they pierced Karl’s entire body.
“Don’t you get it yet? That you’re just a fool who was used by this trash game?”
Without even the capacity to judge whether the creature’s words were true or false, Karl was collapsing too easily at his words. Considering his steel-like will until now, it was an impossible thing.
Wooooooooong!
The moment Karl was collapsing in confusion, a current of energy that rose from the gray being’s body flew towards Karl. Karl, who was half out of his mind, instinctively raised his aura and blocked the creature’s attack.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The sword of Karl, who could not properly defend against the attack that contained an overwhelming power compared to the Gray Demons until now, broke as it was.
The scene of Laevateinn, the sword of the dragon, shattering into pieces, and in the process, Karl being sent flying back, was like an unbelievable lie.
The eyes of the numerous humans and dragons who were watching that scene were filled with astonishment. Karl, who was flying away, was not coming to his senses even in the midst of that.
That desperate scene, as if everything was ending, continued for a long time, as if a spell that slowed down the world had been cast.