Chapter 134
“Kieeek-!”
With a sharp sword strike, a black goblin let out a wretched scream and lost its life in a single blow.
True to his title as the “Ironclad Knight,” there wasn’t a single goblin corpse behind Royce Sinclair.
The only place corpses were piling up was directly in front of him.
At first, the goblins, confident in their own strength, recklessly charged forward, but as time passed, they grew frightened and hesitated to approach Royce.
“Hmmm.”
Although he was effectively halting the goblins’ advance, a concerned sigh escaped Royce’s lips.
‘There’s no end to them.’
Royce wasn’t focusing on the goblins hesitating in front of him. Instead, he was looking far beyond them.
Only dozens of goblins were visible right now, but they were merely the beginning.
If he were to make a comparison, they seemed more like scouts.
In truth, the goblins charging forward weren’t even fully armed.
They only carried short swords for speed and wore no proper clothing or armor.
‘They’re probably using these goblins to gauge our situation and prepare an attack accordingly.’
Royce calmly deduced the enemy’s intentions.
The troubling aspect was that the enemy also had flying wyverns.
The fact that they sent goblins as scouts instead of using the wyverns implied one thing.
‘They can’t send their wyverns over here. If that’s the case…’
Royce’s mind, honed by extensive battlefield experience, worked faster than ever.
Among the monsters beyond the goblins, there were no airborne creatures.
‘They’re spreading out their forces.’
Though he lacked concrete evidence, Royce’s instincts told him this was the case.
If the current opponents were ordinary monsters, he wouldn’t need to overthink.
Monsters with low intelligence typically relied solely on instinct and wouldn’t employ strategies.
However, these weren’t ordinary monsters.
They were under the dominion of Satan, a demon, and were being commanded by a former human princess.
In other words, these monsters were capable of moving strategically.
‘I must maintain the frontlines at all costs.’
Boom—!
Royce slammed his sword into the ground, and with a thunderous roar, the earth trembled.
At the same time, mana radiated from the blade, materializing into a massive shield that firmly blocked the front.
‘If one side gets breached, the others will become vulnerable in no time.’
In Royce’s mind, the battlefield layout naturally formed.
The allied forces were advancing toward the northern continent from multiple directions.
Meanwhile, the monsters had divided their forces to individually crush each advancing group.
If even one sector failed to hold and was pushed back, the others would inevitably collapse.
“Tch.”
Royce grudgingly acknowledged Satan’s cunning strategy.
Even announcing a three-day window before attacking was part of that strategy.
Attacking before the allotted time demonstrated just how deceitful Satan was—true to the name “demon.”
“Everyone, fall back to the camp!”
Standing in front of the massive shield, Royce called out to his knights behind him.
The knights of the Sinclair Family, without any objections to their lord and commander’s orders, began to retreat.
The black goblins still didn’t rush forward and merely watched from afar.
“I’ll take care of these creatures and return.”
Muttering to himself, Royce pulled his sword from the ground.
As if declaring that such opponents weren’t even worth his time, he prepared to deal with them alone.
***
“Hmm.”
Arte Flora had her eyes closed, sharing the vision of the monsters under her control.
Through the eyes of a goblin sprinting rapidly through the forest, the wings of a wyvern soaring in the air, and the vibrations sensed by a giant centipede burrowing underground, she observed everything.
‘This side is solid.’
Through the goblin’s vision, Arte stared at the massive shield.
The golden, radiant shield was a sight Arte recognized all too well.
It was the “Ironclad Defense” of Royce Sinclair, the head of the Sinclair Family—one of the Six Great Houses of the Crescent Empire.
Ordinary attacks wouldn’t be able to break through that.
Arte quickly shifted her view to observe other areas.
Through the eyes of a wyvern, she saw soldiers who were just beginning to form their defenses.
The mages were still drawing mana and preparing magic circles for barriers, while the knights were building walls.
It was a scene where, if attacked now, a massacre would be inevitable.
‘But they’re too far.’
Though it would be ideal to attack immediately, the distance was frustratingly long.
Even if the fastest wyverns were dispatched, it would take at least an hour to reach them.
By the time any other monsters arrived, the defenses, including the barriers and walls, would already be complete.
Moreover, the commander on that side wasn’t an opponent to be underestimated.
Ordin, the Grand Commander of the O’Neill Knight Order, was leading them.
The O’Neill Knight Order was always mentioned among the strongest knight orders on the continent.
Although the First Elder had almost annihilated them before, their leader, Ordin, had survived.
Arte, knowing firsthand how formidable Ordin was against monsters, understood the challenge well.
“Not someone to challenge recklessly.”
“Hmm, this side is the only one left.”
Muttering to herself, Arte Flora shifted her shared vision again.
The giant centipede, which had been dashing underground without hesitation, seemed to realize that Arte was watching through its eyes and soon surfaced.
Suddenly, the dark underground was replaced by the bright world above.
This time, the soldiers in view were not from a single nation.
They were soldiers sent as a coalition force from various nations.
Perhaps because of this, flags from different countries fluttered across the camp.
“Here it is.”
Arte smiled as she saw the flag of her homeland, the Flora Kingdom, among the many others.
These coalition forces appeared to be the western troops dispatched from the western continent.
Compared to the Crescent Empire and O’Neill Kingdom, their soldiers were less skilled, and their commanders were comparatively weaker.
After thoroughly analyzing the state of the western coalition forces through the centipede’s vision, Arte finally opened her eyes.
“Haaa…”
As she opened her eyes, dizziness overwhelmed her, almost causing her to collapse, but Arte managed to steady herself.
Sharing the vision of the monsters under her control was convenient, but it wasn’t a skill she had mastered yet.
The disorientation was so severe that she could barely keep her balance after using it.
“Satan.”
“So, have you decided?”
“Yes. I’ll head out now!”
Meditating in mid-air, Satan opened his eyes briefly in response to Arte’s words and replied.
Ever since his battle with the leader of the Black Shadow Corps, Satan had been meditating whenever he had the chance.
This was the reason he wasn’t directly participating in the current attack.
Satan had ordered them to take care of the matter themselves while he focused on regaining his full strength.
“Go on, then.”
With those short words, Satan closed his eyes again.
Even though Satan had resumed his meditation, Arte bowed her head respectfully.
Then, she gave orders to the wyvern she was riding.
She instructed it to move toward the area where the centipede was scouting.
“If only I were more capable…”
Clenching her teeth, Arte turned away from Satan.
Although Arte could mentally command tens of thousands of monsters, her control wasn’t perfect.
This was most evident in her inability to separate monsters of the same species too far from one another.
Wyverns, for instance, had to stay grouped with other wyverns, and the same rule applied to other monster species.
If they were spread too far apart, Arte’s control would weaken.
This limitation was why she had to divide her forces by species rather than distributing them evenly.
“Haa…”
As she moved in the direction of the centipede’s reconnaissance, Arte let out a short sigh.
She already felt guilty for not being able to fully control the monsters under her command, but she vowed to make this operation a success.
With Arte’s determined resolve, the wyvern carrying her began to fly even faster.
***
“Let us prepare to defend against the monsters’ invasion here.”
“Understood.”
“We’ve also established contact with the Crescent and O’Neill forces.”
Hans, the general commander of the western coalition forces from the Lorelai Kingdom, nodded as he saw everyone agreeing.
Leading a coalition army was never easy.
With so many parties involved, each with their own interests, even a single decision took a long time.
Even choosing the defensive positions to block the monsters’ invasion had been a lengthy process of negotiation.
Had they not managed to establish contact with Royce Sinclair of the Crescent Empire, they might still be arguing over where to position their forces.
“The Crescent and O’Neill forces report significant monster sightings. It seems we have little to worry about on our side. Haha!”
Hans flinched momentarily at someone’s overly relaxed comment but decided to let it slide.
The priority now was not to address such remarks but to quickly establish defensive lines.
“Then, ensure all assigned zones are fortified!”
Everyone nodded at Hans’s order.
Despite the unprecedented crisis, the expressions of the people weren’t overly grim.
After all, the northern continent currently housed the most elite forces from various nations.
The western coalition forces were joined by the mighty armies of the Crescent Empire and the O’Neill Kingdom.
Although they were spread out for now, they would all converge by the next day.
Their locations had already been shared through recent communications.
With three of the Six Great Houses of the Crescent Empire and Ordin, the commander of the O’Neill Knight Order, coming together, no matter how powerful the monsters were, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Then, everyone return to your positions—”
Boom—!
Just as Hans was concluding the temporary meeting, a deafening explosion resounded from outside.
—
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