For the Order—
Even if the Divine Army claimed to fight for them, those monster troops were, at their core, little more than slave soldiers.
At best, the Order merely granted those who should have died anyway a slightly more meaningful death.
Naturally, there was no reason to invest resources into keeping them alive, nor did they have the luxury to do so.
But the Legion was different.
Even if not every Legion soldier fully accepted that cooperative relationship—
'If we’ve decided to fight together...... then for now, they’re comrades.'
And if that was the case—
Then they gave the best possible support to those fighting beside them.
That was the Legion’s way.
Even in the past, when cooperating with unrelated human factions, the Legion had supplied them with food and equipment.
—KRRRRAAAK......!
Even now, while monsters fought monsters across the battlefield—
The reason the tide of battle overwhelmingly favored one side was precisely because of that.
***
There was something many people outside the Legion—
And even some Legion soldiers themselves—
Did not know.
The true core of the Legion’s strength did not lie in its combat personnel.
‘Production classes.’
The reason Legion soldiers appeared stronger than awakened individuals from other factions—
Was not because their combat classes were overwhelmingly superior by nature.
It was because of the equipment created by their production classes—
Equipment capable of elevating even slightly above-average awakened individuals into monsters incomparable to ordinary people.
The Legion’s strength did not come from the power of individuals.
It came from the strength of the organization itself.
And organizational strength was born not from personal combat ability, but from infrastructure.
In the early days of the apocalypse, most awakened individuals had been too busy focusing on individual survival.
Production classes, meanwhile, were weaker than combat classes until the proper conditions existed for them to fully utilize their abilities.
Most factions could only begin nurturing production classes after establishing a minimally stable environment.
The Legion, however, had aggressively cultivated production classes from the very earliest days of the apocalypse.
And through the transcendent stronghold known as [Bimana], they had created a foundation that allowed those production classes to mass-produce equipment beyond the limits of their abilities—
At extraordinary speed.
‘Among all occupational branches within the Legion, the highest average level belongs to the production classes.’
And among them, several individuals stood out even further.
One of them was Staff Sergeant Shin Youngjun, a cooking-type production-class awakened.
The blacksmith specialized in weapon crafting, Mr. Park.
The engineer squad leader Lee Gongwoo, who specialized in manufacturing war machines ranging from fortress walls to tanks.
And—
‘The fact that Squad Leader Lee Sanga was included in the expeditionary force was critical.’
The one specialized in armor crafting—
Was Squad Leader Lee Sanga, the overall leader of the production classes.
The vampires who had recently joined the Legion—
Most of them had originally been categorized as monsters throughout Gyeonggi Province and China.
Their natural weapons had always been their claws and fangs, and naturally, they were not suited for operating tanks.
If there was any type of equipment that could be effectively adapted for them—
It was armor.
And in that field—
Squad Leader Lee Sanga might well stand at the very peak not only of the Legion......
But perhaps among all awakened individuals in the entire world.
‘......Still.’
And yet—
‘Aren’t those pieces of equipment...... far too high-level?’
Shin Youngjun frowned as he looked at the gear covering the vampires.
It was true that the Lee Sanga he remembered had been a master craftsman.
But even accounting for that, the quality of those pieces was absurdly high.
The difference was great enough that even the Divine Army monsters who had consumed dishes he personally cooked were still being overwhelmed.
'Did Squad Leader Lee Sanga grow stronger while I was gone?'
Even considering the time he had spent absent, the effects were strange enough to border on unbelievable.
Still, that was the only explanation he could come up with.
And—
Why it happened did not matter.
What mattered was the result.
KUUUUUNG......!
“The third defensive artillery position has collapsed......!”
Protected by the vampires, the Legion’s advancing firepower swept through the Order’s defenses.
And—
It was not only the vampires.
Srrrrk.......
“......Huh?”
“The collapsed defensive structures......”
Buildings destroyed during the battle.
The rubble from those shattered structures suddenly began moving as though it possessed a will of its own, gathering toward a single point.
Then—
KUUUNG.......
In the center of the Legion forces—
Something that had originally been small enough to hide among the soldiers began swelling in size.
GROOOOOOOOO......!
A monster that had transformed into the shape of a gigantic bear.
A being made of black shadows and countless fragments of debris bound to them began rampaging through the enemy lines.
“What the hell is that thing......!?”
“Doesn’t matter what it is! Destroy it! Open fire!”
PUBUBUBUBUNG.......
Its massive size made it an easy target.
The Order’s bombardment poured toward the enormous creature.
But—
Tuduk.
“What......?”
Only the debris attached to the outer surface of its body shattered away.
The monster itself only continued growing larger as more wreckage accumulated from the battlefield.
‘It’s getting bigger......?’
‘That’s not something ordinary attacks can eliminate.’
Wooooong......
Massive quantities of mana gathered together.
The Order concentrated firepower in an attempt to destroy the creature before it could grow further.
PAAAAANG!
And finally—
That tremendous attack descended upon the iron beast.
“Please take care of this....... Ozrok.”
PHWAAAAAAASH!
At that moment—
A gigantic wall of earth appeared as though shielding the beast itself.
The Order’s attack was blocked by the barrier, and they failed to destroy the creature.
“That wall......!”
“That green monster created it!”
“Eliminate it!”
The Order’s elites immediately charged forward to kill the green shaman.
But—
Slash—
Their advance stopped midway.
“How did it......?”
“In a single strike.......”
They were elites even within the Order.
And yet they collapsed without successfully blocking even a single attack.
“The wounds aren’t fatal. Please remain unconscious quietly.”
“We merely came to reclaim our benefactor.”
The ones who had casually cut them down—
Were two beastkin wearing red caps symbolizing instructors.
And meanwhile—
Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok, who commanded the Legion forces, watched the scene and thought:
‘This battle was one where the Legion couldn’t fully deploy its power.’
Because of the message sent by their Commander—
Many Legion soldiers scattered throughout the occupied territories remained in place even after receiving requests for reinforcement.
They too appeared confused.
But in situations like this, prioritizing the Commander’s orders above all else was only natural.
However—
The circumstances were different for those stationed within Bimana alongside Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok.
‘We can’t completely empty Bimana.’
Even so—
He had brought every top-tier force he could mobilize from within Bimana.
Among them were numerous monsters that normally remained stationed only inside Bimana itself.
The Dragon Fang Soldiers and Bimanar bound directly to Bimana could not be brought along, since they obeyed only Shin Youngjun’s commands as lord of the territory.
Even so, the majority of monsters whose appearances made outside activity difficult had remained active within Bimana.
And every one of those forces was displaying overwhelming performance on the battlefield.
‘......Awakened individuals become stronger the more they gather together.’
Individually, they might not surpass powerful monsters.
But awakened individuals possessed countless diverse classes.
And when gathered together, those various abilities created synergy.
Diversity itself was the strength of awakened individuals.
Meanwhile—
‘Most monsters possess simple raw power and little else.’
Unlike awakened individuals, it was rare for monsters to possess diverse skill sets.
Their strength lay in the overwhelming might of each individual creature.
Both forms of strength possessed advantages and disadvantages.
Awakened individuals were stronger in groups.
Monsters were stronger acting individually.
But among them all—
‘The best result comes when both powers are combined.’
The Order—
Had separated the Divine Army into independent monster-only units alongside the Order believers.
Those monsters merely served as meat shields thrown onto the front lines to die.
The Legion was different.
The monsters fought mixed among the Legion soldiers themselves, creating an environment where they could fully utilize their abilities.
The powerful monsters absorbed enemy firepower at the front lines—
And in the meantime, the awakened individuals unleashed their diverse abilities.
‘......The overwhelming strength born from cooperation isn’t something limited to awakened individuals alone.’
Humans and monsters.
The same principle applied there as well.
“The first defensive line has collapsed......!”
“Everyone retreat to the rear!”
And the result of that—
Was unfolding directly before their eyes.
***
“The first defensive line has fallen!”
“Already!?”
The sheer speed and power of the Legion’s offensive spread unrest among the Order believers.
“I knew they were somewhat ahead of us, but...... to think they’re this overwhelming even in a defensive siege battle favorable to us......”
“So this is the true strength of the Legion. Now that they’re our enemy, I can finally see it clearly.”
“To possess such power and still rebel against the System that granted it to them. What fools......!”
In the past—
When the Legion and the Order had once held negotiations—
Lee Haein had displayed confidence that the Order would not lose even if war broke out against the Legion.
Of course, most of that confidence came from the various holy relics.
Especially [Maxim], which nullified awakened abilities.
But hidden beneath that confidence had also been the belief that the Order’s factional strength itself would not fall behind.
However—
‘And they probably still aren’t even able to deploy their full power because of His Holiness’s strategy....... They’re strong.’
The moment war against the Legion truly began—
Everything she had believed back then was overturned.
To begin with—
The power granted by their new Pope alone already surpassed most holy relics.
‘Even if the other holy relics still remained.......’
Other than [Maxim], she could no longer confidently say whether they would have been capable of stopping the Legion at all.
But—
“Everyone, calm yourselves!”
Even though most of those holy relics had already been exhausted—
And even though the Legion’s strength proved vastly greater than expected—
She felt no fear whatsoever.
“The possibility that portions of the defensive line could be breached quickly was something His Holiness already predicted!”
Because in exchange for losing those holy relics—
They had gained something incomparably greater.
“Your Holiness.”
“Mm.”
She looked toward that very treasure.
Their new Pope.
No matter how fierce the Legion’s assault was—
Their forces were still gradually being worn down.
Meanwhile, on the Order’s side, only defensive facilities had collapsed and the monsters of the Divine Army had perished.
The number of core Order believers remained intact.
‘There are still many defensive lines left.’
Every time the enemy broke through one—
Their strength would gradually diminish.
Ordinarily, the enemy would not want to engage in such an exhausting war of attrition.
But—
‘Their objective is to reclaim His Holiness.’
In other words—
As long as they failed to take the Pope back, the Order would win.
As long as the Pope was not taken from them—
Even if they suffered heavy losses in today’s battle—
Under his rule, the Order would quickly rebuild what had been lost and emerge even stronger than before.
As long as the Pope was not reclaimed by the enemy.
If that condition was met—
Then in terms of gains and losses, the Order would benefit far more from this war.
And if so, what they needed to do was simple.
“We will escort you to the Inner Sanctuary.”
Hide the Pope.
Inside the Inner Sanctuary, [Maxim] was currently active.
The power that stripped all unbelievers of their abilities as awakened individuals.
No matter how powerful the Legion became through cooperation with monsters—
Unless that queen-like being from before personally joined the battle—
It would be difficult for the Legion to maintain superiority within the territory of [Maxim], where awakened abilities themselves were suppressed.
They would gradually wear down the enemy forces through the defensive lines—
And then finish off the remaining troops inside the Inner Sanctuary, where awakened individuals could no longer use their powers.
“......Understood. Let’s go.”
At Lee Haein’s words—
Shin Youngjun nodded and headed toward the Inner Sanctuary.
After all, he could continue supporting the battle through cooking even from underground.
However—
“.......”
His steps toward the Inner Sanctuary suddenly halted.
And his gaze turned backward.
'At this rate, no matter how strong they are, reclaiming me will be impossible.'
And if that was true—
'Then...... is this really all they have?'
That suspicion lingered in his mind.
But as far as he knew—
There was no method capable of overturning the current defensive posture.
Praying that his suspicion was nothing more than needless paranoia, he stepped into the Inner Sanctuary.
***
“X coordinate 396, Y coordinate.......”
And—
At the exact moment he entered the Inner Sanctuary—
Not far away—
Figures wearing gray digital-pattern ponchos pulled over even their faces stood hidden nearby.
Five men and women with tails and ears—
And one woman holding a pair of scissors.
