Chapter 189: Showdown (1)
The next day.
The brief disturbance caused by Shadra and River sneaking into Kim Hyunwoo’s bedroom that morning quickly settled, and Lartania’s Lord’s castle regained peace.
When Merilda had spent her first night in Kim Hyunwoo’s room, the rumors had lasted for days, even weeks, but unfortunately, now they didn’t last long.
…Because such things had been happening quite frequently in the Lord’s castle recently.
Therefore, the servants, who had initially made a fuss, now just shrugged it off, as if discussing something that had happened today, and the same was true for the heroes.
“…Well, I kind of expected it.”
“I realized it was suspicious before I fell asleep last night, but I didn’t want to stop it out of shame.”
“Anyway, I’ll win, so whatever-”
“Wait, do you seriously still believe something so ridiculous?”
“Why is it ridiculous? I’m serious.”
“Definitely a bit too much overconfidence.”
The heroes’ reactions when they heard the rumor about Shadra and River spending their first night with Kim Hyunwoo were rather indifferent, and neither Elena nor Aria showed any strong reaction.
And the person involved in the incident, Kim Hyunwoo, was…
“……”
He was wearing a very subtle expression.
Of course, he didn’t want this situation to become an issue, but seeing the people of the Lord’s castle so accustomed to his scandal, he felt a strange emotion.
But just as Kim Hyunwoo was feeling those strange emotions from the attention of the castle, his face quickly turned into a frown.
“My Lord! The black figures are coming!”
“……”
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The beings from another world had arrived before Lartania.
The group of black figures that Kim Hyunwoo was about to face was even more overwhelming than he had imagined.
And it was no surprise, as the black figures, gathering from the north of Lartania just like when the angels came, had overwhelming numbers.
“Hah…”
Though they were far away, Kim Hyunwoo couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh as he saw the enormous number of monsters that seemed to be darkening the entire world.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!
Soon, the chilling screams from the black figures made him frown once again.
The grotesque screams, sounding as though a strange mechanical noise had been forced together, brought an eerie sense of fear just from hearing it.
However, more than the various forms of the black figures, Kim Hyunwoo’s attention was fixed on the two individuals at the very front of the group.
The pitch-black knight, Lancelot, with a hole in his chest, and
Arthur, walking forward with a half-broken sword.
‘…It does seem like the Arthur of Black and White…’
Looking at them, Kim Hyunwoo realized that the leader of the black figures was indeed the Arthur he had suspected, the one in black and white.
The face of the Arthur of Black and White, seen from afar, was identical to the one he had seen circulating in the community when he had quit Arteil.
However, Kim Hyunwoo made a slightly strange expression because the Arthur in front of him had some subtle differences from the Arthur he remembered.
‘…Her clothes are strange. The sword is too.’
The Arthur of Black and White he had seen online after quitting Arteil was simply known for her personal color being black and white, and didn’t have characteristics like wearing part of armor or wielding a half-broken sword, like the one he was seeing now.
…Moreover, the fact that her shoulder was pierced was even more unusual.
It was the same with Lancelot, who had been associated with the black-and-white Arthur, so after thinking about it for a moment, he quickly shook his head to dismiss those thoughts.
After all, regardless of what state Arthur of Black and White was in, she was someone Kim Hyunwoo had to deal with.
So.
“Aria?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Don’t summon now, wait a little longer.”
“Why?”
“There’s something I need to do first.”
“Eh… If a newbie says that.”
Kim Hyunwoo quickly stopped Aria, who was about to take out the censer, then turned his head to speak to Shadra and River, who were looking at the approaching black figures as if overwhelmed.
“Are you ready for what I told you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then fire immediately.”
“Got it.”
After hearing Kim Hyunwoo’s words, River and Shadra nodded and immediately turned around to head down below the castle wall.
And soon after.
Whoooooom-!
With a strong resonant sound that made the cochlea tremble, five missiles began to rise from the direction of Lartania, and Kim Hyunwoo smiled as he watched them.
Even though Kim Hyunwoo knew the black figures were coming, he intentionally waited for them to get closer instead of sending the heroes out, so he could fire the missiles.
The missiles River and Shadra made could hit the enemy from a distance as long as the coordinates were fixed, but they were too expensive.
However, if the enemy was right in front of them, Kim Hyunwoo could save on material costs, so he put all the material costs needed for fuel into explosives and managed to create five missiles.
As he watched the missiles take off with a bright resonating sound, soaring into the distance.
“Gather everyone. I have something to tell you.”
He gathered the heroes.
When it was time for Kim Hyunwoo to tell the heroes about the plan he had prepared.
Kwaaaa-!!!!!
The five missiles struck the black figures coming from a distance.
‘There are still so many.’
After giving a brief briefing to the heroes, Kim Hyunwoo clicked his tongue as he looked at the black figures, which, though clearly fewer after the five missiles struck, still outnumbered them.
“…It seems it’s still not enough.”
Naturally, Kim Hyunwoo didn’t think the five missiles would be enough to stop Arthur of Black and White.
After all, he knew very well that Arthur of Black and White was a hero who required 245 5-star heroes to deal with.
However, he had hoped the black figures behind the hero could be mostly dealt with by missiles, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
‘…It looks like more than half of them are gone, but there are still so many.’
Unlike the soldiers he had faced before, the black figures seemed to have no concept of fear. Despite losing their comrades to the missiles, they continued advancing without any sign of change.
Seeing this, Kim Hyunwoo let out a brief sigh.
‘If they were sentient beings, it would have been more effective.’
If the ones hit by the missiles had been sentient beings, there was a high chance they would have trembled in fear of the unknown.
They had never seen the missiles he was using.
And since an unknown force capable of taking life would have instilled great fear in sentient beings, Kim Hyunwoo felt a brief sense of regret that the black figures didn’t have sentience, but that thought was fleeting.
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Tell them to fire the last missile.”
“Got it.”
Kim Hyunwoo immediately instructed for the last missile to be fired.
‘I had split it into two phases in case the enemy was sentient, hoping to cause a little more panic, but it seems that’s pointless now.’
Along with Kim Hyunwoo’s brief regret, the missile began to launch again, soaring into the sky before heading straight for the middle of the black figures.
“…?”
Just before the missile struck the black figures, Kim Hyunwoo could only widen his eyes in shock.
The reason was that just before the missile hit the ground, it stopped in midair.
As if time itself had frozen.
“……”
Time had not stopped.
Everyone could feel it.
But the missile, which had been heading downward, was now halted in midair.
Kim Hyunwoo saw it.
He saw Arthur, who was at the front, quietly raising her hand toward the missile.
And then.
Squeak-!
With Arthur’s hand clenched, the missile, which had been furiously expelling fuel toward the ground just moments ago, disappeared as if consumed by the black figures.
It vanished, as if consumed and corrupted by the black figures in an instant.
“…That’s broken.”
Kim Hyunwoo stared in disbelief for a moment, but when he confirmed the black figures were still closing in, he spoke.
“…Aria.”
“Yeah.”
“You can do it now.”
“Perfect timing. I’ve been wanting to wipe them all out since they pissed me off.”
With those words, Aria lifted the censer.
And then.
Shhhh-zzzh!
The blue bones circling her body quickly multiplied, forming massive wings, and something akin to blue mist emanated from the censer, engulfing the entire castle walls of Lartania.
“…I’ll be back, Master.”
“I’ll be back, My Lord.”
“Me too.”
With the heroes’ leap, the battle began.