CRUNCH, BANG. KABOOOM.......
A fierce battle was unfolding across all of Gangnam, which had turned into nothing but ruins.
Hideous composites that looked like they’d been stitched together out of all kinds of monsters.
And monsters with red eyes, facing them head-on.
“Heh heh.......”
In that clash, the one that seized the upper hand—
“Did you really think you could stop a noble’s army with toys this shoddy?!”
Those red-eyed monsters......
Were my retainers.
‘As expected.’
The forces I’d just drawn out of the shadows—
Setting aside assets like the vimana, their overall strength was comparable to every awakened fighter in the Legion put together.
Even back in Seoul, in the fight inside the city that Matron had created—
The reason we’d been able to hold off the soldiers pouring in was thanks to this shadow-held force.
But.
It wasn’t as if this force had no weaknesses.
‘They’re powerless against the sun.’
Everything here, except Mountain, was a “night noble.”
They carried the racial weakness of being vulnerable to sunlight.
In reality, this force had blocked the soldiers with ease—
But the instant the sun rose, they’d had no choice but to withdraw.
Daylight lasts for about half the day.
Being helpless for that long was a massive drawback, but—
‘Not right now.’
I looked up at the sky.
Seoul had become packed to the brim with monsters.
And in that Seoul, for whatever reason—
‘That black smoke.......’
Pitch-black smoke filled the heavens.
It was blocking out the sun.
Even so, it did seem to weaken somewhat during the day—
But in a Seoul where sunlight couldn’t reach, the forces in the shadows were still strong.
The reason I’d picked a fight with that bastard in the first place, too—
Was because I’d calculated it was at least worth trying.
And in fact—
Right now, my forces were literally butchering the monsters that had filled this land.
If things stayed like this—
Even if it took some time, wiping out every last one of those countless monsters wouldn’t be difficult.
The only real thing I had to consider was if other monsters in Seoul heard the noise and barged into the battle......
{Ha ha. As expected—you really are impressive.}
Right as that thought crossed my mind—
A voice rang out inside my head.
{I thought so when I saw the blood circulating in the Legion Commander’s body, but you truly are a mighty species. Judging by your disposition, I’d guess it originated from demonkind...... though your potential is probably superior to most devils.}
“.......”
{But.}
The moment I heard that voice—
I couldn’t help but frown.
{No matter how great the potential is, there’s a defect.}
“What?”
{That level of strength.......}
And honestly.
Even though its forces were being ground down at an incredible speed—
In its tone—
{That’s still far from enough, Legion Commander.}
There wasn’t—
Even a hint of tension.
‘......Dangerous.’
It felt like the hair on my head was standing on end.
Come to think of it—
That bastard had said that while examining me, it had also learned about the forces inside my shadows.
At the time, I’d thought it only knew that some “guardians” existed, not how large the force was......
‘That wasn’t it.’
It knew about the army inside my shadows.
And even so—
It had declared it would kill me without pain.
{I may not be confident in a fight, but.......}
In that instant—
PAAAAAK!
Across this vast expanse of Gangnam, unknown mana began surging up.
{I’ll show you there are fields I am confident in.}
And then—
When that mana reached the monsters being hunted down by my retainers......
......A change occurred.
-Guh...... WAAARGH.......
“......H-huh?”
“Master’s master! Something’s wrong with these things!”
It isn’t a combat class.
But that doesn’t mean it’s incapable in battle, either......
{I am a doctor.}
And if you asked what a doctor is best at—
‘Healing wounds.’
The monsters that had been torn apart into a miserable mess by my retainers.
The ones I’d already considered nothing but corpses......
-UWAAAAAAARGH!!!
Stood up perfectly fine—
And resumed the fight.
*****
Monsters I’d been sure were already dead.
Seeing them stand up perfectly fine and restart the battle.
This unidentified, overwhelming mana that surged up from the ground—
And completely surrounded all of Gangnam—
Had healed that bastard’s experimental subjects.
‘Insane!’
And—
I had no choice but to break into a cold sweat at that fact.
It wasn’t just because the monsters were standing back up.
“Click. No matter how much they recover, they’re still inferior, lowly breeds that aren’t worth anything.”
One of the [Elite Vampire Knight] commanding Ariella’s army.
Im Beomseok.
Even when the monsters raised their bodies, Im Beomseok kept fighting without concern.
“Brothers, keep driving them back......!”
And then, in that exact moment—
CRUNCH!
“......!”
From behind Im Beomseok—
The arm of a massive experimental subject shot out and stabbed straight into the abdomen.
“This...... inferior.......”
Stabbed through the gut, Im Beomseok glanced down at the huge arm that had pierced through the body.
Unable to swallow the disgust, Im Beomseok shouted—
“You worm-like thing......!”
CRUNCH!
Im Beomseok reached out.
And the monster’s head exploded.
“Click. To allow an attack from a filthy lowly breed.”
Im Beomseok was an Elite Vampire Knight.
At minimum, a monster with combat power on par with a squad leader in the Legion—along with recovery beyond that.
If you tossed that thing into ordinary awakened fighters, it would practically be treated as a boss monster.
Just like those monsters had been healed in an instant and stood back up—
Night nobles also had overwhelming recovery that restored most wounds in moments.
Getting stabbed through the abdomen was a wound that meant nothing.
And the monster that attacked could be blown open with a single strike.
But......
-Guh...... WAAARGH.......
“......?”
-Guh...... WEK.
“Click. So even if I burst its head, it regenerates.”
The monster whose head had popped in one blow.
Its flesh regenerated in an instant, and it lunged at Im Beomseok again.
“So what......!”
Even so, the difference in strength was obvious.
Im Beomseok went to strike again and finish it off—
CRUNCH!
“......!”
But that intent couldn’t be carried out.
Because another monster, appearing from somewhere—
Stabbed into Im Beomseok’s side.
“Damn it—where did this one come from!”
After bursting that monster’s head as well, Im Beomseok looked around, leaving the regenerating skull behind.
And then—
“......This.”
At the scene spread out before the eyes—
Even a powerhouse like Im Beomseok had no choice but to frown.
“When did the formation become like this......?”
The noble army had been forming up and purging the experimental subjects.
But between the ranks—
Monsters that endlessly recovered were standing back up and stabbing the brothers in the back of the head.
‘That bastard......!’
And—
That was one of the reasons I’d broken into a cold sweat.
‘It could’ve healed them faster, but it didn’t.’
That bastard waited until its experimental subjects had suffered a certain amount of injury before activating that power.
If it was because of a condition.
If it was because activation took time.
I wanted it to be something like that......
But it wasn’t.
‘It was aiming to collapse the formation.’
Its experimental subjects had been gathered deeper inside Gangnam.
And I, trying to leave this Gangnam, had been positioned at the outer edge of where the monsters were clustered.
That was the state the battle had begun in.
Centered around me, the retainers that emerged on the surface had packed together and pushed inward, driving into Gangnam’s core.
And the doctor’s experimental subjects had clumped up to fight back and stop that army.
But now—
‘The ones we thought were corpses stood up.’
This was a frantic battle.
There was no time to gather the corpses of downed monsters into one place.
My army trampled over the experimental subjects that had become corpses and advanced forward.
So the place those corpses would rise again......
......Was between the very ones that had been stepping on them as they advanced.
‘Under my army’s feet.’
Between the ranks—
The revived experimental subjects began to rampage.
“......Hmph. Even so, they’re just shoddy toys!”
Even Ariella, seeing that, seemed to realize the formation was compromised and lightly frowned.
“It’s gotten a bit annoying, but there’s no way a noble’s army would los—”
Ariella still looked like Ariella believed her army would never be defeated.
And certainly, as Ariella said—
No matter how absurd their recovery was.
Night nobles weren’t a species that fell behind in recovery, either.
And from the start, with such a large gap in combat power—
Even if the formation became unfavorable, they could keep trading blows somehow.
But......
‘This isn’t all of it.’
Because—
That bastard...... said there was a defect in my army.
My army’s strength.
And even that defect.
A bastard that knew all that—
Wouldn’t have said something like that without a reason.
RUMMMMMMMMMBLE.......
*****
SLICE.......
In the frantic battlefield—
The one making the biggest contribution was the powerhouse receiving not only boss-monster strength and martial arts, but also the system’s support.
Mountain.
SHWAAAAAK!
Every time Mountain swung the greatsword—
Monster heads flew.
“......Recovery.”
Even when the monsters suddenly stood back up,
And even when their heads burst only to regenerate in moments—
[Curse of Weakness]
[All healing effects toward a target afflicted by this curse are greatly reduced.]
THUD!
“I’ve killed monsters like that more than once.”
Black energy coiled around the blade.
And the experimental subjects cut by it couldn’t rise again.
KRRRRAAAGH!!!
And even when dozens—
Hundreds—
Of monsters rushed at Mountain alone—
“Click.”
Mountain clicked the tongue and flicked the hand once.
And in that moment—
SHRRRRRRK!!!
An ice wall of enormous scale formed in midair.
The monsters charging in were skewered on sharp spikes planted °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° like skewers along the wall.
‘Ahh...... this. This power.’
Back in Gyeonggi—
Strength gained while serving lords that didn’t even compare.
So strong that even Mountain got intoxicated by the terrifying power in the hands.
‘With this power......!’
With this kind of strength—
It felt like anything could be accomplished.
But......
‘I can produce results that will satisfy Master......!’
Right now—
The only thing that mattered to Mountain was nothing else.
‘Then Master might grant even more grace than promised!’
By racking up as many achievements as possible—
To look good to the one who had become master, and receive more grace......
In other words: food.
That was all Mountain wanted.
SLICE.
CRACKLE.
CRUNCH.
KRRRKK.......
And so—
Mountain cut down, froze, shattered, smashed, and tore apart countless monsters,
Radiating an unrivaled presence on this battlefield like no one else.
And then—
‘If all I had to do was keep cutting these monsters down, I could do it for tens—hundreds of hours.’
After fighting for some time, Mountain—
Like an existence that had once led an entire combat group—
Grasped the battlefield situation in own way.
‘No one knows how long the power healing those monsters will last. It’s doubtful the viscount’s private troops can hold out until then.’
Night nobles and the doctor’s experimental subjects.
Both were beings with exceptional recovery.
If this continued, the battle would be forced to drag on until one side’s recovery finally ran out.
‘The viscount’s private troops are competent, but...... they weren’t monsters that couldn’t be killed.’
And—
From Mountain’s view, the chance that ending would belong to the viscount’s troops looked slim.
‘What I need to do now isn’t to kill these scraps.’
If so—
What needed to be done was obvious.
‘The monster controlling these scraps...... I need to strike the commander, not the soldiers.’
With that thought—
Just as Mountain gripped the weapon and was about to move—
BOOOOOOM.......
“......?”
A sudden vibration rang out.
A massive quake that went beyond the immediate area—
Shook all of Gangnam.
“What is this?”
At that unknown quake,
Mountain frowned—at least as much as a face frozen stiff could still frown—and looked down.
CRACK, CRA—
What Mountain saw there was—
The ground swelling up in a strange way.
And then—
CRACK!
From the swollen ground—
Something burst out.
KWAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!
“Keuk......!”
The dark knight cloaked in freezing air, who had been dominating the battlefield—
Was thrown up into the sky.
