1.
Eom Gil-dong, with a foolish expression and a red face, watched Ha Eung Eung quickly hide the cigarette pack back into her sleeve.
[It was a joke. Why are you taking it so seriously?]
“Sigh. Teacher, you really are... a devil. It's been a long time since I met a streamer worse than me.”
How could a woman, who didn’t even smoke during her broadcast, offer to teach someone to smoke? Was she really this fearless?
Separate from her power, her personality was so unpredictable and eccentric.
“Well then, you've destroyed everything as you wished, so is it time to go back now?”
[We have to finish what we started. If we don’t do something so simple, Azisahab will be upset.]
‘When did erupting volcanoes become such a simple thing?’
Ha Eung Eung headed towards the volcanic peak, carrying the burnt remains of an Armored Soldier. There was no way any resistance would work against such a monstrous human, and if she wasted time, she would only end up being attacked by the reinforcements.
Eom Gil-dong, reluctantly, boarded one of the remaining Armored Soldiers that still had its power unit working and helped fill the remains into the vehicle as fuel.
- The Armored Soldiers suffered a crushing defeat.
Upon hearing the news, Armored Taesong stroked his neatly trimmed beard and nodded solemnly.
“As expected, the Demon King was as feared by the Grand Minister. This is a true catastrophe, a danger beyond what the strike force can handle. It’s a foe only the Ilgun can deal with.”
“Shall we order a sortie?”
“I approve the sortie of the Eorimgun.”
The elite force led by General Eojun began their march towards the volcano where the Demon King had appeared.
“Sir, isn't it a bit hot here?”
“It seems the morale of our troops is quite high. Even the soldiers’ burning resolve is reaching you, Commander. Hahaha.”
“No, that's not it. The observed temperature is too high. The geothermal activity is unusual.”
The commander noticed signs of something being wrong, but it was already too late.
With a loud rumble, a flash of crimson light erupted from deep within the volcano.
Volcanic rocks and ash began to pour down like rain, causing soldiers to fall on all sides.
“The volcano—it's erupted!”
“It’s the Demon King! The Demon King’s attack!”
“Oh, my God...”
Trained elite soldiers, A-class military equipment, well-maintained mechas, and skilled pilots were all meaningless before the overwhelming force of nature.
Volcanic boulders, falling with immense mass, crushed elite soldiers along with their shields and armor, while volcanic bombs melted the Armored Units.
“We’ve been had. The Demon King was waiting for us to enter the volcanic region!”
The damage from the hail of airborne volcanic debris was severe, but the greatest damage was made clear by the sudden collapse of the soldiers.
“It’s gas poisoning! Commander, we need to evacuate immediately!”
“What about the infantry?!”
“It’s already too late. If this continues, the pilots in the mechas will die as well!”
Five thousand of Daehan Cheolguk’s elite soldiers fell without even having a chance to fire their weapons.
As carbon dioxide gas, traveling at 50 km/h, swept the ground, the soldiers lost consciousness and quickly suffocated.
The SIGNAL LOST notifications filled the air like a graveyard, and the commander cried out, fighting back tears.
“Every unit, ascend immediately to at least 50 meters! Get above the carbon dioxide layer and escape the falling debris!”
Despite the order, it was impossible to avoid the falling debris.
Even General Eojun, aboard the command unit, lost 30% of the energy reserves just from the impact of debris hitting the barrier. What about the others?
“Please, save us, Commander! Argh!”
“No, we can’t! At this angle, there’s no way to avoid it... Ahhh!”
The successive signal losses of the 3rd-generation Armored Units with low barrier energy reserves were just the beginning.
As if to prove the point, a massive cloud of volcanic ash shot up into the sky, descending rapidly towards the ground.
Crash!
[The sensors are malfunctioning.]
[Unable to locate the signals of subordinate units.]
[Visual sensors are paralyzed.]
[No danger can be detected.]
[Evacuate immediately from the danger zone.]
With a series of warnings and emergency lights, the volcano's debris swept the units, scratching the barrier surfaces and increasing the terror.
In the ash-filled hell, the sounds of the heavy debris passing through the mechas only added to the dread.
“Waaaaah! Even the Pony Kingdom that was once called the Thousand-Year Kingdom fell before our Daehan Cheolguk! I’ll never lose to a mere volcano!”
General Eojun concentrated the barrier’s output in the forward direction and attempted to break through with all his might.
Boom! Crash!
The mecha shook with successive impacts from behind, but its speed didn’t falter.
If they were to be buried in the ashes now, the heavier ash would stop the mecha in its tracks. The only way to survive was to push forward.
“Woooooahh!”
With a roar, like a beast, he instinctively dodged the volcanic debris.
Finally, General Eojun’s mecha, united with the force of the machine, broke free from the ash-covered region.
“Is everyone safe? This is the command unit. Survivors, respond immediately!”
The communication channel was restored, and the sensors functioned normally. As General Eojun read the survival signals, he was overwhelmed by a despair he hadn’t felt even amidst the volcanic ash.
“Destruction... is this what it is?”
There were only five remaining units.
Only five mechas had survived the disaster.
But even that wasn’t the end.
“Commander, a second volcanic eruption is incoming.”
“It was an honor, Commander.”
“Ugh... To think such power could not be resisted... Is this the Demon King?”
“Commander... this is a pointless death, isn’t it?”
“Daehan Cheolguk, humanity... are we supposed to survive against this terrifying Demon King?”
A massive wave of volcanic gas and ash rushed down the collapsing volcanic slope.
The pyroclastic flow, moving at 600 km/h, spread in all directions.
The five remaining mechas were quickly lost.
In the hellish descent, the mechas, drained of energy, ran on foot before being swept away.
The mechas that had raised their flight altitude to the limit couldn’t rise high enough and were swallowed by the dust clouds, never to rise again.
“Commander, I’m finished here. I wish you luck.”
With the energy drained, even the mechas that had attempted to ascend couldn’t stay airborne. Their signals were lost, and General Eojun was left alone.
If there is hell on Earth, it unfolded beneath General Eojun’s feet.
“Hah, haha. Hahaha. Thousand-Year Kingdom? Pony Kingdom? Magical Flying Pegasi? None of that matters.”
The cursed Magical Flying Pegasi would kidnap a young human from the fields, but once they brought him home, they treated him as a husband, provided food, and took care of him.
Even if they couldn’t have their own profession or live in human society, they could still live as a family in devotion and pure love.
But the Demon King had no mercy.
What loomed here was not breeding, nor one-sided desire, but only death.
The earth burned, and the traces of life vanished, covered in gray ash.
This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.
[Energy levels of the unit are below 1%.]
[Decreasing altitude.]
[Energy reserves below 0.1%.]
[Landing on the ground.]
[Energy reserves are critical.]
[Barrier cannot be maintained.]
[Barrier has been lost.]
[Rescue signal has been sent.]
[Please wait for 48 hours in your current location unless there is immediate danger.]
[We wish General Eojun luck in his survival.]
Under the faint emergency lights, the dust settled.
With labored breaths, Eojun sobbed.
The dark clouds of humanity’s future loomed.
He was frustrated and angered by his helplessness, unable to do anything before it.
After so much sacrifice, he was powerless.
Even the Demon King’s claws hadn’t ended yet.
[Volcanic seismic activity detected.]
[Magnitude 8.2]
The earth sunk.
In the tilting mecha, General Eojun’s scream was transmitted clearly to the rear command.
When that dreadful scream ceased, the command center fell into an extreme silence, paralyzed by fear.
“Is this... the Demon King?”
The Armored Taesong, receiving the late report from the command center, finally realized the unprecedented crisis that humanity faced.
This was the Demon King.