“It hurts... it hurts!”
Karghul, the Greenmane Tribe’s high priest, screamed in pain. As one who practiced shamanic arts, his body was inevitably frailer than those of the warriors. This was why the shamans only moved after the warriors had set up a barricade.
“Hah! They seized that brief opening. Impressive skill.”
The attack, timed to strike the moment the warriors' defenses opened, had cost them dearly—half of the valuable shamans were killed outright. Karghul himself, the leader of the shamans on this expedition, had lost his entire right arm and shoulder.
“You’re mad to praise the enemy!”
“Serves you right, shaman.”
The words silencing the shaman’s protests came from Haraval, a warrior towering over his peers, and one of the tribe’s honored chieftains. Even with his arm blown off, Karghul had no retort. The chieftain’s words weren’t wrong.
“If what you said was true, we shouldn’t be facing a fortress like this.”
Karghul gritted his teeth.
“If we’d known a fortress was here, we’d have prepared differently.”
To the shamans, though, the situation felt like a betrayal of fate itself. “How could a fortress like this just appear out of nowhere!”
Until recently, their tribe had been at peace. But the shamans had been working relentlessly, engaged in a fierce battle to see past an entity that sought to obscure their vision and hide celestial secrets. It was the shamans who had ultimately won this battle, allowing them to divine information about the forces and fortifications around their territory.
Based on this intelligence, the Greenmane Tribe had prepared for war. And yet...
“We knew there was a city here, and we knew it had a sizable population...”
Because of that, the tribe’s expeditionary force was almost excessively prepared. They’d delayed their invasion just to gather overwhelming force. But all that preparation had been for dealing with a city’s natives—not a fortress with artillery on the river.
“An immense fortress, as large as any I’ve ever seen, just sprang up out of nowhere?”
The chieftain’s rumbling voice grew suspicious. “And yet it’s here. Shamans, your mistake led us here. You’ll have to pay for it.”
It was maddening for the shamans, who had verified the intelligence multiple times, but from the tribe’s perspective, they had clearly failed.
“Fine, we’ve paid the price with our own bodies.”
Haraval gave a low chuckle, not hiding his amusement at Karghul’s injury. “Losing an arm isn’t such a bad look for you.”
The shamans had risked their lives to create a bridge across the river because they knew they had to clean up their own mess. If they hadn’t missed the fortress’s presence, they wouldn’t have needed to risk everything.
“Anyway, you’ve done well,” Haraval remarked, his tone more serious. “You’ve made us a path across the river. Leave the rest to us.”
The fortress on the river posed a threat, but with the path in place, the warriors could handle it. Their invasion force, built to penetrate deep into enemy territory, was more than sufficient. The fortress was unexpected, but otherwise, everything was going according to plan.
“The fortress intelligence was wrong, but the rest holds up?”
Karghul scoffed. “Of course. There are many natives, but no more than 300 pose a significant threat.”
Haraval laughed, his voice booming. “Then we have no reason to lose. Warriors, advance!”
At Haraval’s command, the warriors pressed forward toward the fortress. Their war chant rang out, dulling the impact of enemy attacks, while the enslaved humans manned the tanks that fired alongside the tribe’s siege engines, pounding against the gates.
No matter how high the fortress walls, the Greenmane warriors were seasoned in siege warfare after countless battles. And now...
The fortress gate began to splinter and crack.
There was only one task left: storm the fortress, slaughter everyone inside, and then raze the city beyond.
Or so they thought.
In a swift, sudden motion, a sword slashed.
“What...?”
The lead warrior trying to enter the fortress was cut clean in half by an unseen force.
Emerging from within were figures clad in pitch-black armor.
“Not like the native forces...”
These knights, as large as even Haraval, swung their swords with lethal precision, cutting down warriors in mere moments.
“Shaman, didn’t you say all the other intelligence was accurate?”
Karghul struggled to respond, his jaw clenching.
“Because I don’t remember hearing about anything like them.”
“I... I...”
Karghul tried to explain, but there was no time. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control.
“We’ll discuss this at the next tribal council.”
The shamans were helpless to do anything but curse their luck.
---
The Lesser Dragon Soldiers were not quite as powerful as the original Dragon Soldiers, of course. But that was only in comparison.
“Unbelievable...”
The soldiers of our own unit watched the Lesser Dragon Soldiers with astonishment, beads of sweat forming on their brows.
The Greenmane warriors were strong, emitting a yellowish aura—a testament to their inherent power. But with each slash of the Lesser Dragon Soldiers’ swords, these monsters were cut down effortlessly.
Although the gate had been breached, it wasn’t wide. Only a few dozen Dragon Soldiers were enough to hold the line.
With each soldier taking three hours to summon, I’d managed to produce 80 of them by now. Against thousands, it might not seem like much, but in a narrow choke point like this gate, their numbers sufficed.
“How strong are those things?” Su-hyeok asked.
“Hmm...” I took a moment to consider. “I’d say they’re almost as strong as Corporal Gwang-il.”
“Wait... what?”
Sergeant Seo Su-hyeok, usually calm, looked genuinely shocked.
“You’re saying we have 80 soldiers that strong?”
“Well, relatively speaking, yes. But there are still differences.”
The black-armored soldiers were undeniably powerful. Yet when I examined them closely during testing, I saw that they were nothing more than human-shaped skeletons inside.
“In other words, they don’t eat.”
“Oh...”
Lieutenant Kim’s buffs would still apply to them, but they wouldn’t receive any bonuses from my cooking. While I’d tested giving food to monsters and even trees, I hadn’t yet figured out how to feed bones.
“With all our buffs, Gwang-il is still stronger. And there are other soldiers who might match up, like Han-il.”
“I see...”
“But even so, it’s impressive, right?”
Indeed. Even without the enhancements of my cooking, few in our unit could match them. They were just shy of being our strongest soldiers.
“Hard to believe these are the weakened versions.”
If these were the lesser forms, the original Dragon Soldiers would be twenty times as powerful. No wonder this was a “first achievement reward.”
“And they’re more than just strong.”
Even if Corporal Gwang-il was stronger, would 80 of him be able to hold a choke point against thousands of monsters?
Of course not. Even if he didn’t fall to them, Gwang-il would eventually tire.
But the Dragon Soldiers weren’t human.
[The Dragon Soldiers do not tire.]
[They will fight until destroyed.]
As long as they weren’t physically destroyed, they would never wear out. In this narrow space, numbers alone meant little; the only way through was to bring something stronger than a Dragon Soldier.
“These monsters are numerous and strong, sure, but that’s it.”
“Come again?”
They were born for war, with fast reproductive cycles and rapid growth. At first, they seemed like an ideal warrior race. But my analysis through the power detector revealed their limits.
“They’re all strong, but very few stand out as exceptional.”
While many of them reached a certain threshold quickly, they didn’t grow much beyond it.
“Even though there are thousands of them, very few could actually break through the Dragon Soldiers.”
Maybe none at all. And with the narrow gate limiting their numbers, their numerical advantage was meaningless.
“They probably thought they’d won when they breached the gate.”
But that’s where the Dragon Soldiers stood firm. All their efforts to breach the gate were for naught, as the monsters found themselves stopped cold by our tireless soldiers.
And our forces weren’t limited to the Dragon Soldiers.
“Keep firing!”
[The Battle Cry - Command to Fire reverberates across the field.]
Our artillery continued ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) to rain down on them. Although their war chant dulled the damage, it couldn’t completely negate it.
As long as the Dragon Soldiers held, we maintained the advantage. The enemy had only two choices: retreat or break through somehow.
“Time for a big move?” I muttered, watching.
If they chose the latter, they’d soon attempt something drastic.
And just as I’d expected...
“Something’s approaching!”
“A catapult?”
In the distance, siege engines were rolling forward, resembling massive catapults.
“They think they can breach the walls?”
Failing to get through the gate, they must have decided to make their own opening elsewhere. It made sense strategically, but...
“That won’t work.”
[Fortress Vimana Lv.1]
[Durability: 91,873/100,000]
The fortress’s gate might have been vulnerable at only Level 2, but the walls were ridiculously sturdy. Even their tank shells hadn’t scratched the surface.
Those catapults were likely more advanced than medieval ones, but I doubted they’d do much damage.
“Huh?”
To my surprise, the objects loaded onto the catapults weren’t massive stones.
“Well, damn.”
*BOOM!*
The cat
apults launched, and something shot through the air, not toward the walls, but over them, falling into the fortress’s interior.
“Kruagh!”
“Roarrr!”
[Greenmane Warriors]
[Greenmane Elite Warriors]
“Bold move.”
The monsters themselves had boarded the catapults, launching themselves straight into the fortress.
