Chapter 135
Boom—!
“M-Monsters!”
At the shout of someone from outside, the commanders from various nations inside the camp hurried out without hesitation.
The first thing Hans saw was a massive centipede with black, hardened scales.
It was the same creature he had seen in the live broadcasted footage.
“Already here?!”
Srring—
Hans muttered in disbelief as he unsheathed his sword.
Boom—! Kieeek!
Centipedes erupted from the ground in multiple places.
Even in the brief moment Hans had to look, he counted more than ten of them.
“Damn it!”
Hans frowned deeply and charged toward the nearest centipede.
Having grown accustomed to fighting dark magic creatures during the war with Flora, Hans no longer feared monsters of this caliber.
The same could not be said for the others, who hesitated to engage.
Clang—!
Hans’s sword struck the centipede’s tough carapace but rebounded with a sharp metallic sound.
Even though he knew the centipedes had grown stronger due to Satan’s influence, Hans had not expected their armor to be this tough.
Without panicking, Hans immediately infused mana into his sword, producing a sharp blade of energy.
Though his ordinary sword couldn’t cut through, the mana-infused sword might work.
Ssslash—
As expected, the sharp energy blade sliced through the centipede’s black carapace like paper.
Realizing his sword could work, Hans dove deeper toward the centipede with determination.
Slash—! Slash—!
Each swing of Hans’s blade tore through the centipede’s flesh without resistance, and soon, the massive centipede shuddered before losing its strength.
Thud—
“Stay calm! Those who can use energy blades, step forward! The rest, fall back!”
Hans’s calm yet firm orders snapped the panicked soldiers out of their confusion, and they began to regain their composure.
While the massive centipedes were frightening with their sudden appearances and rapid movements underground, they were not particularly threatening once they emerged from the ground.
As long as their initial attack was avoided, a few skilled knights could handle them.
“Stop them from burrowing back into the ground!”
Hans’s accurate understanding of how to deal with the centipedes quickly helped stabilize the situation.
Although the simultaneous emergence of dozens of centipedes had caused initial chaos, they were alone. No other monsters appeared alongside them.
Without reinforcements, the centipedes that surfaced were gradually hunted down.
Thud—! Thud—!
“Uwooooh!”
As each centipede corpse crashed to the ground, the soldiers’ morale soared, and cheers erupted across the battlefield.
Soon, there were far more centipede corpses than living ones.
Hans sighed in relief as he observed the situation resolving more easily than he had anticipated.
The sudden attack had startled him, but it appeared to be under control.
These monsters weren’t just unintelligent creatures; they operated more like a well-organized “army” under someone’s command.
Given this, Hans had expected a more calculated move, but fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.
‘Are they creatures that escaped control?’
Still, Hans couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
Massive centipedes were not known for group behavior. At most, two or three would move together, never dozens.
If they had truly escaped someone’s control, they would have scattered to claim their own territories instead of gathering in one place.
“Hmm.”
Thud—
“Waaaaah!”
When the final centipede collapsed inside the camp, Hans let out a contemplative sigh while the soldiers erupted in victory cries.
The sudden centipede attack had ended rather anticlimactically.
Casualties among the soldiers were minimal.
Aside from those who had been caught off guard by the initial emergence of the centipedes, quick responses ensured no further significant losses.
‘But…?’
As this thought crossed Hans’s mind, a realization struck him.
While it was fortunate that there had been so few casualties, something didn’t sit right.
Even for an organized army, the lack of significant losses against dozens of massive centipedes seemed odd.
Hans’s suspicion turned into unease as he scanned the centipede corpses and the cheering soldiers.
Rushing up to the top of the camp for a better view, Hans began to piece things together.
The positions of the centipede corpses formed an unsettlingly precise pattern.
‘This is…’
“Ah.”
A sound of realization escaped Hans’s lips as he surveyed the area.
“Quickly, clear the corpses! Draw the magic circle immediately!”
The locations where the centipedes’ corpses lay were precisely aligned with the spots where a magic circle was being drawn.
To block the southern advance of the monsters, a magic circle was being drawn to create a barrier.
The giant centipedes had all emerged and died around that magic circle.
At Hans’s shout, the other commanders seemed to finally grasp the situation.
Once the commanders began moving, the soldiers under their command also moved quickly.
The cheering soldiers rushed to the centipede corpses, while the mages who had been drawing the magic circle hurried to redraw it.
But Hans could feel it instinctively.
It was already too late.
“These were bait.”
Although he had sensed something was off, he never imagined that the dozens of massive centipedes were all bait.
“Evacuate this area immediately—!”
Thud—
Just as Hans tried to shout his command from atop the camp, the ground began to quake.
This was different from the vibrations caused by the falling centipede corpses.
This was a living vibration.
Thud—
“It’s too late.”
Hans’s instincts told him so.
It was too late to escape, and too late to set up a proper defense.
Beyond the shallow walls stood a massive troll with black skin.
It carried a club in one hand, lumbering forward with its hulking frame.
The thundering steps of the troll drew everyone’s attention.
At first, only one troll could be seen, but soon, others began to appear behind it.
They were smaller than the lead troll but no less menacing, accompanied by various other monsters.
As Hans had suspected, the massive centipedes had only been bait.
They were meant to buy time for these other monsters to arrive.
Gulp—
Hans swallowed dryly as he watched the increasing numbers of monsters.
There were no proper walls, not even a simple barrier, to face them.
It was only natural to feel fear.
Even Hans, who had fought countless dark magic creatures, was terrified. The other soldiers were worse.
The soldiers stood frozen, staring blankly at the advancing horde.
Though smaller than the monster army seen in the broadcasted footage, and missing certain types of monsters, the sight was still overwhelming and intimidating.
Especially the enormous troll leading the charge—it was enough to break the morale of the soldiers.
Thud—
With each step the troll took, the monsters drew closer.
Hans could feel his own end approaching with every step they took.
He had somehow survived the war with the Flora Kingdom, but now it seemed his time was up.
Thud— Clang—
As the troll’s footsteps echoed, the quiet sound of Hans’s sword dropping to the ground followed.
He knew very well what it meant for a commander to lower their sword before the enemy.
But Hans had no choice.
There was simply no hope in sight.
And then it happened.
Ssssslash—!
“Huh?”
Something changed with the massive troll, now not far away.
Thud—!
It wasn’t just a small change; it was something huge.
The head of the troll, which had been leading the charge, suddenly separated cleanly from its body, and its massive frame collapsed forward.
“W-what?!”
Hans rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things, but he wasn’t.
The troll leading the charge had indeed been decapitated in a single strike.
And the one who had struck it down—
“Jacqueline?!”
Hans’s voice trembled with disbelief.
Standing there, wiping blood off her weapon after beheading the troll, was none other than Jacqueline.
The mercenary who had been practically invincible during the war with the Flora Kingdom.
Whooosh—
While most people, including Hans, were staring blankly at the scene, a chilling coldness suddenly swept through the area.
It was cold but strangely didn’t feel sharp.
“What are you all doing?!”
Along with the cold, what had been a barely-there wall started to rise higher and higher.
The wall was made of ice.
“That voice is…?”
Hans, stunned, turned toward the source of the voice.
There, floating in the air with an outstretched hand, was a woman who had recently become very famous.
The leader of the “Peace Alliance Army,” Yuria Prisis.
“Prepare for battle!”
Yuria’s resolute and icy tone snapped Hans back to his senses.
It wasn’t just Hans—soldiers who had been dazed and frozen began to move one by one.
Following Yuria’s command, they prepared for battle.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
With a shout that was more like a war cry, cheers erupted throughout the western coalition camp.
Amid the commotion, Jacqueline continued cutting down monsters without pause.
“This isn’t the end!”
Hope began to spark in the minds of Hans and everyone else.
—
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