“What... what is this? Is it a person?”
“We don’t know either. But if you look at the shape with blood on it... it does seem like a person.”
When I finally managed to come to—
I heard murmuring voices around me.
‘This is...?’
When I cracked my eyes open—
I saw the canvas ceiling of a tent that had been put up in a hurry.
It looked like I’d been laid on a temporary cot inside that tent.
‘...A makeshift clinic.’
A clinic rushed together inside the Wall.
Because the [Architect] had been obsessed with building as much of that wall as possible, the “clinic” was basically just a big tent thrown together.
When I shifted my eyes—
I could see people running around in a panic.
There must have been plenty of wounded besides me.
“So you’re saying it seems like a person. What if it’s some monster those bastards sent?”
“R-right. Those things are ghosts that can take over other people’s bodies. Isn’t it more likely they stole the body of a monster with an invisibility ability?”
“But if that were the case, it was dying after taking the enemy’s attack...”
I looked back at—
the people talking near me.
Then I looked over my own body.
‘So that’s what they meant... [Environmental Assimilation] is still active...’
My body was still transparent.
Only the massive amount of blood pouring out of me made it possible to guess I was human-shaped at all.
‘At least that’s lucky. Looks like I only passed out for a bit.’
Since [Environmental Assimilation] didn’t provide any stat buffs—
it lasted longer than other Cuisine effects.
Still, it never stayed active for more than two days.
So at most, it had been about a day since I went down.
I looked like something closer to a monster than a human, no matter who saw me—
so it made sense they’d misunderstand.
I was about to speak up and reveal who I was right away, but—
‘...No. That’s not it.’
I changed my mind.
Then, modulating my voice as much as I could, I spoke.
“I don’t care who....”
“M-m... it spoke!?”
“Bring me... one leader-class person... from a Branch.”
At my words—
the three people near my cot muttered in flustered confusion.
“That voice... have you heard it before?”
“No. I don’t know who it is.”
“Someone we don’t even know is asking us to call a Branch leader....”
“What if it’s a monster they sent to assassinate a key person?”
I had my reasons for disguising my voice—
but they immediately turned suspicious.
“It’s not... malicious intent. If that’s not possible, then even a chef from the kitchen is fine....”
“Even if you say it isn’t.”
I tried to speak gently—
but their suspicion didn’t fade.
‘...So it won’t work, huh?’
I was starting to get a headache from not knowing how to solve this—
when, at that exact moment—
“...Bring a leader, you say.”
“Huh?”
“Wait. I’ll bring one.”
“!?”
One man nodded at my words—
and moved outside the makeshift clinic.
“W-wait!”
“You’re going to bring one!?”
The other two panicked and grabbed his shoulder.
“Don’t tell me you—!”
“You’re going to believe this invisible man!?”
It was about me, but—
I couldn’t help agreeing with them.
Even I was thinking—
Why would he believe something this suspicious?
But—
“I’m not believing him.”
“What?”
“Even if that guy has bad intentions... at this point, it won’t matter.”
Unfortunately—
it wasn’t because he trusted me.
Everyone knew.
“Everyone’s half noticed it already, right? This war. We can never win.”
“.......”
At the man’s words—
the other two were left speechless.
“...But the Demon Realm monsters joined too. If we fight well—”
“If we fight well, then what.”
A woman clenched her teeth and pushed back.
And she wasn’t wrong—those Demon Realm monsters were the reason our side could keep fighting without giving up.
It was a reasonable objection.
But—
“You all saw it. Even that giant snake that looked so strong got taken by those things.”
“.......”
That was something even she couldn’t refute.
Only then did I realize—
‘So one of them got taken down while I was out.’
They wouldn’t kill it, since they needed its body—
but those things seemed to understand tactics and strategy.
“The Assault Team elites—those nightmares we used to replay in our heads—they played with them like toys, then ripped them apart alive!”
That monster must’ve been put through something truly miserable.
A powerful being that had raised allied morale—
the more brutally it got crushed, the easier it was to crush our morale, too.
“Ugh—”
Someone looked so shocked that—
the moment they pictured it, they started dry-heaving.
“Right now it’s only the Demon Realm monsters dying. Next, it’ll be us.”
“Who knows? Last time at the Wall, it was similar, but Shin Youngjun stepped in—”
“That was the beginning of the battle. Now there are so many wounded we don’t even have enough tents. When the hell is that man supposed to step in?”
When the other two fell silent—
the man turned and stepped out of the tent, speaking as he went.
“Even if that guy is an enemy the monsters sent, all it means is we lose a little faster.”
“.......”
“It won’t change anything if we go down a little earlier. So I’m going to believe he’s just a pitiful person dying, and I’ll grant a dying man’s wish.”
He wasn’t doing it because he trusted me.
He was doing it because even if I was lying, nothing changed—
because of the thick despair he was drowning in.
“...That way, even if he dies, he can at least die a little easier.”
Watching his back—
I felt complicated.
*****
“I heard you asked to see me. What is it?”
A little later—
that man actually brought a high-ranking Awakener, just like he’d said.
I wondered who would come.
‘Of course. Han Iseo.’
Han Iseo was a non-combat Awakener.
She’d already spread buffs through a ritual at the beginning, before the fighting fully ignited—
so even during a fierce battle, she was the only leader with even a little room to spare.
“Other people... out....”
“What?”
“Only you....”
When I spoke like that, keeping my voice hidden—
Han Iseo answered as if I was ridiculous.
“You want me to stay alone? How am I supposed to trust you?”
“.......”
I was deliberately hiding my voice.
And my body, due to [Environmental Assimilation], was invisible except for the blood.
Even if she was a shaman, in this state, it’d be hard for her to connect me to anyone.
“If you really want me alone... then you need to answer my question.”
She looked deeply suspicious—
and as if she was about to use [Read Soul – Discriminate Truth],
I spoke flatly.
“Kalrajind... Soul Guardian.”
“......!”
Her face went pale.
“......?”
“Kal—what?”
The others had no idea what I was talking about—
but—
“Could you all step outside for a moment?”
“Pardon?”
“I have something I need to discuss with this person. Alone.”
“Uh... okay?”
With a serious expression, she sent everyone out.
“...They’re all out, like you said.”
“.......”
“You... no—who are you!”
As soon as the others left—
she pulled a butcher’s blade from inside her clothes and raised it.
“What are you, that you would toss around the name of the great spirit who protects me so lightly—!”
“It’s... me.”
“Huh?”
“Me.”
I hurriedly spoke, seeing she was about to do something dangerous.
Her expression twisted.
“That voice... don’t tell me!”
She shouted with a pale face.
“Youngjun!?”
“......Shh. I finally got them to leave, and you’re being that loud....”
“I—when you suddenly disappeared, I thought you were executing some operation for a reversal again, but what is this state—!”
...She thought I wasn’t in the middle of an operation.
At that, I couldn’t help laughing inside.
‘This is why I had to hide my voice.’
In the smallest voice I could, I said to her.
“So you need to be quiet.”
“What?”
“Other people... can’t know I ended up like this.”
“......!”
No matter what—
I’d become a man with significant influence in Gyeonggi.
-You never know...! Last time at the Wall it was similar, but then Shin Youngjun stepped in—
-I thought maybe you were running a reversal plan somewhere again—
Those three people earlier.
Han Iseo now, too.
‘Even among the people fighting right now... there are probably some who still expect that I’ll show up later and flip this around.’
Less than inside the Legion, sure—
but people did place hope in me.
Hope that maybe I’d solve this mess.
That hope was probably what kept them fighting, even now.
‘If they find out that even I came back as half a corpse.’
That fuel disappears.
Or worse—
it could fall straight through the floor.
So—
“Please... help me up....”
“What?”
“I have to... move. While I’m still transparent....”
While [Environmental Assimilation] was still active—
I needed to move somewhere with no one around.
“You should be getting treated here, not moving!”
“If [Environmental Assimilation] breaks here, they’ll find out I ended up like this.... If we want to maintain allied morale even a little... I can’t be here.”
“.......”
I wanted to walk out on my own, if I could.
But there was only one reason I’d called someone.
‘Because I truly can’t move.’
I couldn’t escape alone.
So I had no choice but to call someone I could trust, at least somewhat.
“Whew... give me your arm. I’ll support you.”
“Thanks....”
She looked like she was lost in complicated thoughts—
then she supported me.
“So where do we go?”
Even if she was non-combat—
an Awakener was still an Awakener.
She supported me lightly and asked.
“To the farthest place... from the enemy.”
“The farthest place...”
The monsters were approaching from the southwest.
So “far” from there meant—
“Near... the Black Wall.”
“......Whew.”
Han Iseo let out a sigh—
and began supporting me that way without another word.
“We’ve brought more wounded! Healers, hurry—!”
“Again!? Everyone’s on the critical ones right now—we don’t have the capacity—!”
As we moved with her support—
I could see people inside the Wall rushing around, frantic.
“The battle situation looks bad.”
“......It does.”
I didn’t know how long I’d had my eyes shut—
but it was clear things were going poorly.
“The monster numbers are one thing, but we didn’t have enough force to deal with those giants.”
“.......”
“There was a moment in the middle where the Demon Realm monsters suddenly got stronger, and the giants got weaker, so we held out until now... but after the big snake got taken yesterday, even holding out became impossible.”
She spoke with a dark expression.
“After that, the line started collapsing fast. Not just because we can’t block the giants... but allied momentum—ours and the monsters’—got crushed too.”
“.......”
“They were unbelievably cruel. Honestly, it’s a relief you didn’t have to see it.”
By the time we reached near the Black Wall—
she kept talking as she stared at it.
“At least under General Jo Beomseok’s command, we’re holding out as much as possible... but I think everyone’s half realized it. At this rate, we can never win.”
“Is that so.”
“There was talk that we should try to escape in another direction. But General Jo said we have to hold out here as long as possible.”
So General Jo really had gone into a holdout strategy, just like I asked.
Thanks to that, maybe the deaths weren’t too high—
but—
“Ghk....”
“Damn it. Even Yunchang—!”
A large number of Awakeners—
badly wounded,
were being carried into the clinic.
PUM-PUM-PUM-PUM!
“We’re almost out of shells!”
“We don’t have the luxury of thinking about later! Fire first!”
The main battle tank and artillery batteries didn’t stop.
They kept pouring fire without pause—
but the faces of the people hauling shells looked just as bad.
‘The defeat is already in the air.’
Even so—
the living kept fighting to survive.
“General Jo said to hold out!”
“If we hold out... something might change...!”
Clinging to the faint hope—
that if they endured, something might change.
“...Here, other people won’t see you well.”
“Thank you....”
Thud.
Supported by Han Iseo, I sank down onto the ground near the Black Wall.
But then—
“...This is?”
Something pressed against my backside.
Han Iseo picked it up and said—
“Looks like... burned scraps of clothing.”
“Ah.”
“Maybe it’s what’s left after someone else who was in the Demon Realm threw themselves beyond that Wall to escape monsters....”
She looked down at the half-burned cloth and spoke gloomily.
But—
“That’s... not it.”
“What?”
I knew what it was.
“It’s similar, but it’s different.”
“...?”
Only then did I realize—
this place we’d reached, by sheer chance as she supported me,
was somewhere I’d been before.
With a bitter, breathless laugh inside—
I sat there on the ground, staring out at the battlefield—
when—
KWAAAAAANG!!!
“!?”
Far away—
a tremendous sound exploded, and a massive tremor like an earthquake rolled through.
And right after that—
SPLAAAASH!
“Ghk...!?”
Humans moving around inside the Wall—
were suddenly splattered from above with an unknown liquid.
“W-what is this!?”
They didn’t know what it was and stared in confusion—
but I was at the very back, with a clear view of everything.
I knew exactly what it was.
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Blood of a Powerful Magic Beast]
[Freshness - Best]
‘Blood.’
I looked toward where the sound had come from—
and I understood, immediately, who that blood belonged to.
CRACKLE...!
The wall Kim Jongdu had built—
was half-collapsed.
And—
what broke it wasn’t an enemy attack.
“Th-the white lion....”
-krk....
In the gap where the wall had crumbled—
a massive beast lay fallen.
The one that had been blasted away by an enemy attack had slammed into the wall—
and collapsed it.
-krk....
Stagger...
Its whole body drenched in blood, to the point you could barely call it a white lion anymore—
it still hadn’t given up, trying to force itself upright.
But—
CRUNCH.
-KWOOOAAARGH!
There were those who climbed onto the broken wall—
stepping down and crushing its body.
-Truly, you are stubborn creatures.
Giants.
Massive giants, cold pouring from their bodies.
The giant that stepped on the lion reached out,
pried its jaws open by force,
grabbed its teeth—
and—
RIIIP!
-KRWOOOAAARGH!
ripped every last tooth out.
-Do not fear too much, beast. We are those who know mercy.
-krk... ghk....
-Even your flesh, nothing more than a beast’s, will be put to use inside our embrace.
The white lion, completely stripped of will, writhing in agony.
The giant lifted it casually with one hand.
THUD....
Behind that giant—
other giants approached, slow and unhurried.
“...The Man-Eating Bird, and even the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Queen’s vassals.”
Drag... drag....
The giants coming from behind—
were dragging [Torn Wing], unconscious, along the ground—
and [Black Claw], and [Light Scale], too.
“Until just a little while ago... I thought maybe we could win.”
“.......”
“Maybe if we just kept holding out like this, maybe there’d be hope. But not anymore.”
After seeing that—
she looked down at me.
“That last hope... turned into this.”
“.......”
“So I guess we have no choice but to accept it now.”
As if she’d let everything go—
she smiled faintly.
“We... lost.”
She said it—
with a light laugh.
