“All personnel!!! Provide covering fire for Corporal Jeon and Corporal Seo!”
“Yes!”
It was obvious if you thought about it.
But the soldiers participating in the battle weren’t just that hulking warrior, or the ones firing from within the forest.
Legion-affiliated soldiers.
They, too, were continuing the fight—each gripping their own weapons.
‘Strong......!’
Warriors sweeping across the battlefield.
After seeing their strength, Junggu couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.
Each and every one of them was beyond even the Central Association’s elites.
They were powerhouses—strong enough that even he couldn’t handle them easily.
‘......Huh? That is.’
Then.
Something a little strange entered Park Junggu’s sight.
‘A kid?’
He could only see the back.
But compared to Junggu himself, it was a small soldier—barely half his size.
‘The Legion uses even kids as manpower......?’
Junggu had been feeling admiration for their strength.
But the moment he saw a child running around the battlefield, a trace of contempt rose in him.
No matter how strong they were.
If they were willing to use any means necessary to take that strength—
‘They’re not worth respecting.......’
Just as that thought crossed his mind—
“Squad Thirteen, forward!!!”
THUD!
‘Huh?’
That soldier—
Swinging a halberd at least twice their size—
...one that looked even larger than Park Junggu—
Charged out.
“Follow the squad leader!”
“Don’t fall behind!”
Soldiers with solid, sturdy builds
Struggled to keep up behind them.
And then.
That small-bodied soldier at the very front—
—KRAAAAGH!!!
The moment they cut down a massive monster,
Junggu became certain.
‘That axe work......!’
A small frame.
And judging by the voice, probably a young girl.
A figure that didn’t belong on a battlefield at all, and yet—
‘She’s a full tier above me!’
That little kid
Was a warrior carrying strength even greater than his.
“Hah, haha.......”
Feeling dumbfounded,
Junggu sat down with his back against a nearby tree.
‘So the Legion is a place where even brats like that are stronger than me?’
If that was true.
Then just like that hulking warrior said, there was nothing he could do.
Leaning against the tree,
Junggu stared out at the battlefield.
At the Legion’s fight.
*****
On one side of the battlefield.
-Our brothers are in danger.
-Retrieving the king’s soul is important, but...... we must deal with them first.
The giants who had been moving toward the Wall to reclaim the king’s soul.
Two of them turned their bodies and approached the place where the fighting was unfolding.
First, eliminate the native-species warriors with that strong power.
Then blow away the entire forest, wiping out the shooters hiding inside.
After that.
Reclaim the king’s soul together with the other lords—simple enough.
......That was what they thought.
“Senior.”
Toward those two giants.
“Those ice giants...... I don’t think we match up well against them.”
“They’re that big, so it can’t be helped. But Seo-hwan. Haven’t you cut down enormous magic beasts plenty of times back home?”
“That is true.”
“You’ll meet similar ones again in the future, so it’ll be good training. We only recently fully shook off the aftereffects of that seal ourselves.”
“Certainly. It’s perfect for reviving our instincts in real combat.”
“And besides.”
Walking with relaxed composure.
Two soldiers.
“This clothing and these weapons...... and even meals, all prepared. Excuses about matchups won’t mean a thing.”
“Haha. That’s true.”
Unlike the other soldiers.
There were two people wearing red hats.
Those two were
Subtly different from the others.
At a glance, they looked like ordinary humans.
But their fingers were oddly long, their nails sharp.
And even as they chatted casually, their teeth—especially their molars—were strangely developed.
Even the clothes they wore, unlike the other soldiers’, were slightly loose......
Almost like martial garb.
And on top of that.
The red hats they wore, unlike the others’,
‘......Are they doing that to look cute?’
Were like decorative hats.
They jutted up in the shape of animal ears.
-You two.
The two grand lords, with their keen senses,
Noticed one fact from that sight.
-You are not ordinary native species.
-This power...... yes. You are......!
The two lords cried out in shock.
-I can smell the trace of that seal.
-Beings in the same predicament as us!
Whether the giants were shocked or not.
“Then. I’ll take the one on the left, Senior.”
One of them.
The soldier holding a staff walked right up to the giant on the left,
Then clasped both hands together, bowed his head, and spoke politely.
“I am Seo Hwan, from Cheonsan, currently a Legion drill instructor. I ask for a bout.”
Then.
After the greeting, he kicked off the ground and leapt—
KWAHHHHHNG!!
-Kugh!
With overwhelming force packed into that staff,
He struck the giant’s head.
“Then I suppose I’m the right one.”
Next.
The soldier holding a sword approached the giant on the right, took the same posture, and said.
“I am Miho, from Cheonsan, currently a Legion drill instructor. May I request a duel.”
-......You should be in the same predicament as us. Even if you choose to oppose us, why would you protect those native species?
“.......”
At those words,
The sword-wielding warrior frowned for a moment,
Then shook their head side to side.
“I owe them a great debt. Isn’t it only right to repay it?”
-Truly foolish......!
PAANG!
The sword-bearing figure kicked off the ground and shot forward.
And.
Slice—
At the same time.
The giant’s wrist was cleanly severed.
The severed wrist flew through the air.
But in this vast battlefield, not a single person properly witnessed the scene of that arm being cut.
-Foolish, yes...... but that power is real.
Sssrrrk.......
The giant’s wrist had clearly been cut off.
But ice formed there, replacing the severed wrist.
The giant whose wrist had been cut snarled as it touched the ice-regenerated arm.
-I nearly felt kinship, thinking we were in the same predicament.
-But if you choose to oppose us and protect those native species, then we have no reason to hesitate either.
Two giants of tremendous size.
And compared to them, two warriors with tiny bodies—
Yet not yielding in strength at all.
-Die, you worm-like things!
“I will accept it as a duel to the death.”
And so.
They began a clash powerful enough to shake the earth.
*****
And on another battlefield.
A giant
Was staring down at the ground with a face close to horror.
-You......
That giant’s arm was gone from the hand to the elbow.
And on that missing section were marks like beast bite impressions.
-You...... ate me.
Bite marks so large they would’ve belonged to a gigantic beast—
Something like that white lion, now dead.
Yet standing in front of it was
Just one small-bodied soldier.
“A cool, sweet taste.”
A figure that didn’t seem capable of leaving bite marks like that at all.
“It’s kind of like ice cream. Not bad.”
And then.
In that moment.
Fssshhhhk.......
From that soldier’s body,
Cold chill swelled outward.
-What an insolent existence, daring to......!
Seeing it, the giant roared in fury.
-You eat me and imitate my power......!
THUUD!
The enraged giant launched an attack—
And from the woman’s body, the giant’s fist that had just vanished burst forth, meeting the blow head-on.
-Is this the power of native species?
At the tremendous force packed into that fist,
The giant was shaken.
A bizarre fighting method, and physical abilities powerful beyond reason.
But.
That alone wasn’t enough to defeat a giant.
......At that moment.
Somewhere else—
-The spirits of this land seem quite angry.
Because he was wearing something like a poncho draped over himself,
The hulking soldier’s face couldn’t be identified.
-The wraith-like souls twisted the law of nature...... no wonder they’re furious.
Holding a staff,
He had one hand pressed to the ground.
-Yes, yes. Ozrok and I will help you take your # Nоvеlight # revenge. So.
KWAHHHHHNG!!!
A part of the vast forest flipped over.
Those who, for countless years,
Had been buried under snow and unable to see the world.
Those who had to crouch in darkness, buried in cold damp.
-You, too, lend us your strength.
Earth and soil
Rose to their feet.
The spirits of the land rose in anger.
And the sprawling forest of the Demon Realm
Moved as if it had life of its own—
-......This!?
Not only the giant fighting the woman,
But every giant fighting in the forest began to have their movements bound.
-......Brothers, give us aid!
As their movements were obstructed by trees and soil,
They looked around and called for help from their other brothers.
No matter how powerful the bombardment from the sky was,
There were many brothers around them who had avoided it thanks to the defenses the giants had set up.
If those brothers stepped in, they could have crushed those trees and that soil easily—
But.
P-P-P-P-BOOOM!!!
-!?
The place the bombardment came from
Wasn’t only the fortress in the sky.
“Authorize unlimited fire! Sweep it all away!”
“They’re using some kind of strange barrier! Shells only—armor-piercing Mark 18!”
After that fortress first appeared,
The massive objects that had descended to the ground.
Gigantic self-propelled artillery and tanks
Roamed the battlefield, unleashing their fire.
“Combat vehicles, advance!”
"Collapse the enemy formation!!!"
KWAJIIIIIJIK......!
-KRAAAAGH!!!
-R-run......!
Combat vehicles with sinister-looking spinning saw blades on the front
Churned through monsters’ bodies—literally ‘grinding’ them—while tearing across the battlefield.
Because of that, the other Belsnickels aside from the giants
Couldn’t even establish a proper formation, let alone help the giants.
“The enemy formation has collapsed! Finish them!”
“For the Legion’s victory!!!”
Through the gaps of the shattered formation,
Legion soldiers surged in and smashed monsters’ heads to pulp.
“This is insane.......”
The Association’s people stared in shock.
A battle that would shatter the “common sense” they’d built up so far—
Was unfolding not in just one or two spots, but everywhere across the battlefield at once.
‘Enemies that even removing a single one would’ve demanded heavy losses with the Association’s strength alone.......’
And even then, only after gaining the support of the Demon Realm’s monsters
And the Demon Realm Queen’s aid,
Had they managed to bring down four giants.
With the Association’s strength alone, at best they could’ve killed two.
But.
On this battlefield now—
-Ah.......
-The king...... s-sir.......
THUD.......
Those enormous giants, one after another,
Began to drop to their knees under soldiers’ guns and blades.
“What we thought we knew all this time...... just what.......”
For the Association’s Awakeners,
There had always been a fixed image of what a “strong person” looked like.
‘The Chair...... and Shin Youngjun.’
The Chair, the symbol of strength since long ago.
And the man who took over after him and led the Association’s battles—Shin Youngjun.
Most members had always believed
There couldn’t be an Awakener stronger than those two.
But now—
‘No way. No. It can’t be. But still, what if......!’
A mage who manifested enormous lightning like divine punishment.
A hulking warrior who made a giant stagger.
A sniper who, without even showing themselves, shot the giants’ vital points.
An unknown woman fighting while leaving bite marks in a giant’s body.
Two martial artists wearing red hats, and that hulking soldier in a poncho holding a staff.
They...... maybe.
No.
Almost certainly.
“They’re stronger than those two......?”
They carried strength beyond what the Chair or Shin Youngjun
Had ever shown.
And what was even more shocking—
The Awakeners who held the name of “the strongest” in Gyeonggi.
Powerhouses who surpassed them by an unfathomable margin—
“For the Legion’s victory!!!”
“Victory, or death!!!”
Under a single name—
[Legion]—
Were tearing the battlefield apart.
