Chapter 116: Worst of the Worst
The five allies, led by Wisdom, gathered at the top of the Anapacshio volcanic arc.
The scenery was beautiful, and there weren’t many people around as it was a cold highland where monsters lived, which made it the perfect meeting place. And additionally, it was located at the center of the third continent, so it was convenient for the five allies to get together here.
“Wisdom.”
“What is it?”
As Wisdom didn’t have a normal head to turn and look, he turned his shoulders to face Crampus.
Then Crampus hesitantly asked the question, wondering if he had misunderstood something.
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“What are you referring to?”
“I heard that the king of Asbestos has changed. That the son killed his father and became king before it was time.”
“Ah.”
In Crampus’s perspective—no, even if it weren’t Crampus, anyone would consider it unusual for a king to be replaced when a war was on the horizon. In actual history, the preparation for war did sometimes become the cause for treason, but here, it was the players who made the actual decisions. It was normal for Crampus to be concerned in the context of the Lost World.
Wisdom lifted his palms and lightly shook them.
“It was intended. There’s no problem.”
“Really?”
Someone with keen eyes would’ve noticed that Jang-Wan was sneaking glances at Wisdom through the lion mask, but no one here was that observant. Unless the players used a particular skill at the moment, they only existed as characters that controlled a system and status window.
‘It isn’t really necessary to say.’
Jang-Wan thought their strategy didn’t have many problems, but there certainly was a shortcoming. Jang-Wan’s current Divinity level was only at eight. It was the result of her XP being used to raise Wisdom’s Divinity level. On the other hand, the other players apart from Wisdom were all over level 16.
Even if there was no problem with the troops, it was possible for Jang-Wan’s existence to become a weakness in a battle where Divinity could play an important role.
‘Nebula… No, it’ll be fine as long as Choi Sung-Woon doesn’t know.’
Mangul was the last frontier among the five allies warring with Sung-Woon. If Nebula reached Mangul, the five allies were pretty much already defeated, and if Sung-Woon didn’t reach Mangul, no battles would take place there.
‘Other than that, I can just assign and send more troops.’
After Mangul was Danly, which belonged to Hegemonia, but before the war began, the five allies as well as Sung-Woon had come to the conclusion that Hegemonia had stopped paying attention to the third continent.
Danly’s territory wasn’t small per se, but there hadn’t been any movement even while the five allies and Black Scale prepared for war, and there was no contact from Hegemonia either.
‘It’s rather a good thing.’
Jang-Wan’s concern was that Sung-Woon would ambush them from behind with ships, but there was no telling whether he would do that. Jang-Wan was not Sung-Woon, and she wasn’t as good at the game as Sung-Woon was. She could never figure out what kind of strategy Sung-Woon would employ. However, since there was a coast, there was the possibility that Sung-Woon could attack from behind. Thus, there was a need to be wary.
‘Fortunately, Danly’s merchant ships pass by Mangul and Danyum to come and go to Black Scale. So even if Mangul and Danyum get blocked because of the war, it would be difficult for Black Scale to block Danly too. Then we should be able to find out whether any ships are coming through our spies.’
In the beginning stage of the game, the first goal in war was to scout with the Small Areas the players each had, but that changed starting from the middle of the game. The world that had been filled with only a scattering of tribes would gradually become crowded with people, so it would become more difficult to miss obvious things.
However, hiding something in the most common place was sometimes the best strategy. Due to the overwhelming amount of information that the players received, they would miss things that they should actually notice more often, and skills like Divinity Block allowed for deception. That was how they had figured out it was Sung-Woon’s doing that the three players lost their Wizards; because they didn’t know the specifics of how that came to be.
Jang-Wan thought her low level wouldn’t cause harm to the alliance as long as she was able to defend the coast. Additionally, she believed that Wisdom obtaining an apostle more than made up for it.
‘Since apostles are the trump cards of The Lost World.’
Like other creations, Faith points were consumed for apostles to manifest in the world. But apostles were able to generate Faith points on their own. Compared to the creations that constantly consumed Faith points, individuals that existed on their own and could raise Faith levels were a completely different asset.
Of course, in Wisdom’s opinion, Redin BR Oser didn’t have much eminence or any special skills, so he couldn’t confront Lakrak face to face. However, after becoming an apostle, Redin would gradually increase his influence as the king according to his plan. That was why Redin was driven to commit the extreme treachery of killing his own father.
Apart from his own value as an individual, Delmardin BR Oser had legitimacy. Asbestos then had to immediately overpower rebel forces before going against Black Scale.
‘But of course, Redin the apostle will overpower all rebel forces. Then, his eminence will grow. And by the time he confronts Black Scale’s army, even if he won’t be able to beat Lakrak, he would have grown enough to at least face him.’
And that would be enough.
‘Sung-Woon will actively use Lakrak. If Lakrak, who has all kinds of skills, stands at the front line…’
Jang-Wan furrowed her eyebrows underneath the lion mask.
It was terrible to even imagine that. Comparing Lakrak to a tramcar walking on two feet would still be selling him short. If low-ranking Wizards were able to play the role of hundreds of soldiers, Lakrak could face an entire country by himself.
‘Even a single country isn’t enough to face him. A character like Lakrak would be able to fight creations a god makes in real time. No, that still doesn’t cover it.’
The moment Lakrak became an apostle, he was able to defeat a player that used Hierophany.
So the five players shared the thoughts that they needed to deal with Lakrak somehow, and that would be the deciding factor for victory or defeat.
“Then Crampus, are you okay?”
“What?”
“Don’t you have to directly face Nebula?”
All of them had had spies in each other’s countries for a long time. And even if that hadn’t been the case, it would be hard not to notice the movement of ten thousand soldiers, as resources and supplies matching or even exceeding the number would be moved as well.
Nebula was for some reason targeting the Satyrs of Danyum instead of the Renards of Red Fruit. Lunda was concerned that Sung-Woon would perhaps abandon her, but the other four players considered his choice a reasonable one, just as Sung-Woon intended.
Renards had always been a bad match for Lizardmen. Renards would aim for a guerilla war using forests and mountain terrain, and that would be a toil for Lizardmen since they needed to carry heavy machinery such as cannons.
And as long as they went to war, it was obvious to expect short decisive battles, so everyone thought it made sense that Nebula would target Danyum rather than Red Fruit, which was closer to Black Scale.
Crampus nodded.
“All is going well. I figured that I would be the first to face Black Scale from the start.”
“Really?”
Lunda thought it was a relief that Crampus believed so. She still hadn’t decided which side to stick with at this point, but even if she ended up choosing Sung-Woon, she would still have to put on an act of fighting Black Scale.
‘Even if it’s an act, I don’t want to suffer a loss.’
It could be argued that acting in order to deceive others was in itself a cost. In Lunda’s opinion, she suspected Sung-Woon could be bullying her for no obvious reason.
‘I’m sure he has a sadistic hobby.’
Crampus continued to tell them how he was preparing for the war and how much effort he had put into the preparation. At a glance, there didn’t seem to be any apparent problem with his plan.
“So, I don’t necessarily think that this thirty thousand will surely defeat Black Scale’s ten thousand. I won’t underestimate Nebula’s abilities.”
“Are you saying that you also have in mind the possibility of losing?”
“Yes. You need to think about the worst case scenario.”
“And what is the worst case scenario?”
“...Um. My army could be wiped out.”
Wisdom and the other players fell silent as if they were a little surprised.
Crampus waved his hand.
“I’m not overestimating Nebula. I’m just trying to apply the logic I’ve learned from my past experience.”
“Hm, in that case, isn’t your preparation all meaningless?”
“Not necessarily.”
“How so?”
“Because I would have bought time. During that time, you all would be able to prepare more troops, and wouldn’t things become more advantageous for us the more Faith points we make Nebula consume?”
“...Hm.”
It seemed that Wisdom wanted to say something, but before he could even bring up his next question, Crampus looked at his status window and reacted in shock.
Lunda, who hadn’t ever seen him so surprised, asked, “Is something wrong?”
“Oh, well, that is…”
“What?”
“Hold on. I’ve gotta go.”
Crampus disappeared with a pale face. And the rest of the players soon found out the answer to their question in their own ways.
***
At Danyum’s capital, Deimerit.
King Obonem was sitting on the throne and trembling in fear.
The endless sound of cannons firing and screams were enough to instill fear in anyone, even a king.
Obonem shouted to the captain of the royal guards as the man busily commanded the phalanx.
“The cannons! What happened to the cannons?”
The captain shouted back while sweating profusely, “They have just arrived, Your Majesty!”
A great noise followed. Then an object that seemed out of place in front of the throne emerged. It was a cannon with wheels.
The captain of the royal guards then said, “The enemy is near! Load all the cannons at the same time!”
Boom!
The wall of the inner castle collapsed with a roar.
Obonem looked out of the window at the rising dust as it obscured the sun.
“...Torch, light the torches!”
Then a sound came from outside the door.
“There’s no need for that.”
With the sound of a kick, the hinged door made of three-meter-tall wooden boards assembled with metal broke down, and fragments of the door flew all the way to Obonem’s feet.
There was no need to light a fire, just as the owner of the voice said.
The black-scaled Lizardman was wearing golden armor decorated with red silk, and electric sparks were constantly crackling along his body, illuminating the wide grand hall.
Obonem then screamed, “A-Apostle Lakrak!”
Immediately, the captain of the royal guards yelled, “Now! Fire!”
At once, the line of cannons were all lit. And the royal guards circled Lakrak from both sides with spears so that he wouldn’t be able to get away.
Lakrak sighed.
“There’s no need for that.”
Boom! Boom boom!
Almost at the same time, electric currents flashed several times through the cannons, and white smoke burst out from the black gunpowder.
Lakrak emerged through the smoke without a single scratch on his body.
.
The captain of the royal guards then realized that there was no other way to stop Lakrak.
“Your Majesty! Run away!”
And as he yelled so, the royal guards and the captain all charged at Lakrak.
Lakrak balled his hand into a fist and greeted the captain of the royal guards. What proceeded to happen could hardly be described as a fight. One punch. That was all it took for each guard to be thrown into the walls or the ceiling of the grand hall.
And witnessing all that, Obonem said with a dispirited voice, “Oh, you fool. Where are you telling me to run away to?”
Obonem fortunately didn’t have to wait for long.
Lakrak didn’t delay even one step as he walked toward Obonem. He then stopped in front of the throne. With his tail, he threw the sword belonging to the royal guard who had collapsed behind him into the air and grabbed it with one hand.
King Obonem then said, “As king, I would like to say that things have gotten to this point due to not being able to sit back and watch Black Scale’s impunity, but personally, I have no regrets.”
“I agree.”
“Oh, did you know about me?”
“Ah, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Lakrak waved his hand. “I meant the part about not having any personal regrets about my work.”
Obonem’s expression turned disappointed, and that became the face he died with.
The sword in Lakrak’s hand cut into Obonem’s neck.
***
From far away, Sung-Woon murmured, “That’s why you should have kept the meeting short.”
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