Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72. Range Is Truth
Inside the central command tent of the Demi-Human Empire.
The Cult Bishop stood before one hundred elite followers with his arms spread wide, his voice trembling with fanatic fervor.
“My Lord’s most loyal believers!”
“Those demi-humans whose brains are stuffed with nothing but muscle fear mortal steel! They have forgotten that true power comes from devotion!”
Flames burned in his eyes as his gaze swept across the fanatical faces before him.
These were the elites of the Corruption Cult.
One hundred black-robed assassins and zealots, the weakest among them already at the Third Realm.
This was the bishop’s final trump card.
“The Dragon Mountain Range that the demi-humans fear will, under the guidance of our Lord, become the open road to our glory!”
“We will strike from the enemy’s most unexpected flank and rain divine wrath upon those blasphemers! Their blood will cleanse this filthy land!”
“For our Lord!”
“For our Lord!”
One hundred zealots raised their weapons and roared in perfect unison, the sound nearly lifting the entire tent.
The bishop had been completely dazzled by Kane’s words about an “unparalleled achievement.”
His mind was now filled with the image of himself conquering Winter City and receiving the worship of thousands.
He waved his hand.
“Move out!”
…
Dragon Mountain Range.
Its reputation as a “forbidden zone of life” was not an exaggeration.
Near-vertical ice walls towered above.
Biting winds strong enough to throw a person off a cliff screamed across the peaks.
For a conventional army, this place was a dead end.
But to the cultists, it was the perfect infiltration route.
A black-robed commander led the hundred-man squad forward through knee-deep snow with great difficulty.
He glanced back at the exhausted but still fanatically determined team behind him, and pride filled his heart.
Look at this.
This was the power of faith.
The insurmountable natural barrier that ordinary mortals could never cross was merely a slightly inconvenient slope beneath the feet of the Lord’s believers.
As long as they crossed the highest peak ahead, they would be able to circle behind the Northern Territory army.
When that happened…
A cruel smile appeared on the commander’s face.
…
Meanwhile.
On the other side of the Dragon Mountain Range, inside an outpost built from steel and stone.
“Captain, my armor is so polished it could work as a mirror. When are we finally going to do something?”
A three-meter-tall “steel giant” yawned while wiping his gleaming Magitech armor with a cloth.
The other members of Sylvia’s personal guard looked equally bored.
Some were tossing stones back and forth.
Others were competing to see who could hold their breath the longest.
This place was too safe.
And far too boring.
Only their captain, Akash, sat perfectly still at the control console of the ultra-long-range Magitech cannon “Truth Mark I.”
The barrel of this terrifying weapon was ten meters long.
Complex runic inscriptions covered the cannon body—so intricate that any mage would feel their scalp go numb just looking at them.
Akash’s eyes were fixed firmly on the massive crystal screen before him.
Displayed on the screen was a real-time three-dimensional map of the Dragon Mountain Range.
“Stay alert!”
Akash barked without turning his head.
“Professor Logaris said that even one second of carelessness on the battlefield can cost you your life!”
The team members curled their lips.
Although they stopped talking, their expressions clearly said, “I’m so bored I might die.”
Suddenly—
“Beep! Beep! Beep!”
A sharp alarm shattered the silence of the outpost.
On the crystal screen in front of Akash, the previously empty mountain map suddenly lit up with a dense cluster of glaring red dots in one area without any warning.
“Holy—!”
The team member who had been polishing his armor jerked his hand in shock, and the cloth fell straight to the ground.
Every member of the personal guard sprang into action like machines whose switches had been flipped.
They jumped up from whatever position they had been in and grabbed the Magitech explosive rifles beside them.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized.
The sleepy eyes from moments ago were now sharp as an eagle’s.
“Enemy contact!”
Akash’s voice was calm and powerful.
Excitement surged through him.
“All units enter combat readiness!”
Finally, something to do.
On the screen, those one hundred red dots slowly moved across the map, completely exposed beneath their surveillance.
Akash waited patiently.
His finger hovered over a red button.
He watched as no additional red dots appeared, confirming that all enemies had emerged.
Good.
Not a single one would escape.
After confirming that no more red dots appeared, Akash pressed the launch button without the slightest hesitation.
“Range is truth! Fire!”
A deep hum of energy filled the air.
The runic arrays on the cannon base lit up layer by layer.
A ferocious shell nearly two meters long was violently launched from the cannon barrel by an invisible force.
However, something strange happened.
The moment the projectile left the barrel, it vanished into thin air.
There was no visible trajectory.
No exhaust flame.
It was as if space itself had swallowed it.
“Huh?”
Akash blinked and scratched his head.
Although Professor Logaris’s operation manual had stated that this was a normal phenomenon, seeing it with his own eyes still felt ridiculous.
Where exactly did that thing go?
However, as a member of Sylvia’s personal guard, he possessed near-blind trust in Logaris West.
He immediately turned around and pointed at the red-dot area on the screen while issuing an order to his team.
“Squad One, prepare to move out! Clean up the battlefield!”
“Yes!”
…
Dragon Mountain Range.
Highest peak.
The cult commander had finally led his men across the final natural barrier.
Standing on the summit, he bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath while violent winds whipped his black robe wildly.
He raised his telescope.
In the distance, the outline of the Northern Territory army camp could already be faintly seen.
Success.
They had actually done it.
A twisted, fanatical smile spread across the commander’s face.
He could already imagine himself leading a divine strike force descending from the heavens and tearing the unprepared Northern Territory soldiers to pieces.
This would become a great achievement recorded in the Church’s history.
He raised the staff in his hand, preparing to give the order for a full-speed assault.
At that moment—
“WHOOOOOSH—”
A piercing scream suddenly came from the sky above his head.
He instinctively looked up.
A massive metal object nearly two meters long suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Carrying the momentum of utter destruction, it plunged straight toward the center of their formation.
What was that thing?
Where did it come from?
The commander’s fanatical smile froze instantly.
The next second—
The missile struck the crowd with perfect accuracy.
A deafening explosion echoed across the valley.
A blinding white light instantly swallowed everything.
Dozens of cultists standing at the center of the blast did not even have time to scream.
Their bodies and equipment were instantly reduced to ashes within the white light.
The commander’s mind buzzed.
His thoughts went completely blank.
But this was only the beginning.
“WHOOOOOSH—WHOOOOOSH—WHOOOOOSH—WHOOOOOSH—”
The second, third, fourth, and fifth missiles appeared out of thin air one after another.
Like divine hammers of judgment, they smashed precisely into every corner of the formation.
The mountain trembled.
The earth wailed.
Terrifying explosions engulfed the entire peak.
The solid rock was blasted apart into fragments.
The entire mountaintop was literally shaved down by a massive chunk.
The violent shockwaves triggered a catastrophic avalanche.
A vast white torrent carrying tens of millions of tons of snow, ice, and shattered rock roared down from the summit.
Everything was buried beneath it.
…
No one knew how much time had passed.
Within the chaotic ruins, a hand slowly struggled out of the snow.
A Fourth Realm cultist had miraculously survived.
He had been standing closer to the outer edge and had desperately held up a defensive barrier.
He awoke from unconsciousness and coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
He looked around in confusion.
The mountaintop was gone.
His companions… were gone as well.
All that remained was flattened ruin and endless snow.
What exactly… had happened?
Terror seized his heart instantly.
He struggled out of the snow, desperate to escape this hell.
But the moment he moved—
Crunch. Crunch.
A set of synchronized footsteps echoed from nearby.
He slowly turned his head.
Five three-meter-tall giants clad in steel armor were walking toward him step by step.
The muzzles of their strange black rifles glowed with dangerous Magitech energy.
All five weapons were pointed directly at him.
The cultist’s pupils immediately lost focus.
The last trace of color drained from his face.
Despair completely engulfed him.
The leading member of the personal guard activated a Communication Crystal.
“Reporting to the captain.”
“We captured one survivor.”
“Judging from his appearance, he is not an elite soldier of the Demi-Human Empire… he should be a cultist from the Corruption Cult.”