by Park Saenal
“Waaahhhhhhhh!”
The leaders engaged in propaganda through the barracks, and the empire’s momentum rose to the sky. They literally stepped foot in the desert. It was hot sand that their feet sank into. The Overgeared army that had been camped there just yesterday was gone.
The imperial army marched in without a hitch. They continued to move forward, keeping the high spires of Reidan Castle in their vision. Of course, the march wasn’t easy. Giant worms popped up all over the desert and destroyed the formation of the imperial army, eating hundreds of soldiers. Due to the poisoning of every oasis, they couldn’t get an independent supply of water and were forced to wait for the supply unit. The marching rate gradually slowed down.
“I resent the Rebecca Church.” Marquis Fulbas clicked his tongue.
Why had the empire sponsored and respected the Rebecca Church for hundreds of years? They felt deep respect for the supreme goddess, Rebecca, but they also coveted the divine power of the Rebecca Church. The divine power of the Rebecca priests who ‘cleansed’ curses and ‘healed’ wounds was the greatest strength in wartime. Look at this war. The casualties would be greatly diminished with the presence of priests.
However, the Rebecca Church had denied the request for support by using the pretext of the war with the Yatan Church. It was a natural attitude for Pope Damian, the man who was seated beside Overgeared King Grid.
‘Pascal’s failure influenced this…’
It was regrettable. The worst mistake the empire had made was not taking over the Rebecca Church. His Majesty the Emperor was too comfortable. The death of Empress Aria and the betrayal of Piaro robbed the emperor’s willpower and weakened the empire.
“There is something strange.”
“…?”
Marquis Fulbas, who was marching at the head of the army, stopped in place. The expressions of his deputy and staff didn’t look good.
“All contact has been lost from the scouts.”
“…!”
Night had come. The hot sand of the desert cooled down. They had to speed up the march before the night got darker. Then why did he get an ominous feeling at this timing?
“Give the whole army a break and send new scouts.”
“Yes!”
100 horsemen were swiftly selected by the deputy and rode away. They had an obligation to identify and report in advance the hazards of the main route. Yet a report didn’t come back. The newly dispatched 100 people also disappeared like ghosts.
“Prepare for battle!”
Marquis Fulbas read the situation as strange, and the 250,000 soldiers took their formations. During the cold desert night, the muscles of the soldiers contracted as their tension was heightened. Their nerves were sharpened as they gripped their weapons.
However, the desert was calm. The enemy’s approach wasn’t detected at all. There weren’t even the cries of beasts.
“…”
The more tightly pulled the thread was, the sooner it would break. As time passed and nothing happened, the tension of the soldiers dispersed. At this moment, there was an explosion from the center of the formation. “…?!”
The earth shook, and the sand of the desert vibrated. The surprised Marquis Fulbas and the imperial forces turned their eyes toward the source. Then they were dumbfounded.
“A young child?”
It was a 13-year-old child. The beautiful boy rose from the ground and looked at the crowd with arrogant eyes that weren’t suitable for his age.
“Prey has arrived after a long time.”
“…!”
Marquis Fulbas witnessed the teeth protruding from the smiling boy’s mouth and was astonished. With transcendent beauty, long pointy teeth, and eyes that looked at humans like they were cattle… this boy wasn’t a human.
“Vampire!”
Vampires were a species that had been expelled from hell. The empire knew that their home was underneath Reidan’s desert, but the vampire species had been cursed strongly by God Yatan. It was the Curse of Idleness. They didn’t wake up easily from their sleep. There were few cases in history of them rising aboveground. So, why was a vampire boy in the desert? How had he overcome the Curse of Idleness and come up from below the ground?
Marquis Fulbas was filled with an ominous feeling and the leaders of each unit quickly commanded the soldiers. The heavy armored infantry raised their shields and surrounded the vampire boy, while bows and spears aimed at the boy. There was only one vampire. Even a true blood vampire was just an ant in front of the 250,000 imperial troops.
“Kill him! Punish the demonkin who don’t know themselves and go stepping on human land!”
The leaders remained calm, and the courage of the soldiers increased by a hundredfold. They had no fear as they fired their bows and stabbed their spears. Hundreds of infantry rushed with their weapons. The vampire was destined to be stabbed to death like skewered meat. Even so, the boy didn’t feel any fear. He just gave a smile that was full of ridicule. No, it was closer to a laugh. “Piggish bastards.”
Magic power exploded from the boy. It was a bloody magic power that cleared the darkness of the night. Stretching over the desert to the extent of swallowing it, the bloody magic power corroded all the arrows and spears before rushing at the imperial army.
“Kuaaaaak!”
“H-Hik!”
The soldiers’ screams echoed. The massive bloody magic power ripped at the armor and flesh of the imperial soldiers, absorbed all their blood, and then expanded further.
“W-What?!” The faces of the dying soldiers were like mummies and the leaders paled. Filled with terror, the soldiers who had trained for many years died without swinging their weapons.
Some of the nobles shouted, “T-That isn’t a true blood…!”
“…?”
What? It wasn’t a true blood vampire but the strongest warrior directly created by Shizo Beriache…?
“…!”
The people felt it didn’t fit the description and were taken aback. A direct descendant… A long time ago, Marie Rose was described as the greatest disaster of humanity in the empire.
“Don’t tell me…!” Cries of shock burst out everywhere.
“W-Who are you?” Marquis Fulbas gave a small roar as he asked the question.
“Me?” The vampire boy swept away his silver hair and replied, “An earl.”
“Earl!”
There were fewer than 10 vampires who could be classified, and they were the direct descendants. Yes, the boy in front of them was in the same class as Marie Rose. He was a disaster of humanity. How had this monster overcome the Curse of Idleness?
…And why did he appear at this time to interrupt their march? Marquis Fulbas’ body trembled as he was filled with all sorts of doubts, confusion and anger.
“An earl of the Overgeared Kingdom, Noll.”
“…!”
“…?!”
The vampire boy introduced himself, and Marquis Fulbas and the imperial army couldn’t close their mouths. An earl of the Overgeared Kingdom…? It was difficult to interpret. The turmoil started to worsen.
“L-Lord Marquis!”
Then an absurd report was heard.
“2nd Cavalry Captain Dellua was killed!”
“1st Chariot Captain Collina has was killed!”
“Three chief staff members of the 2nd army were killed!”
“A diversion?”
***
The emergence of the direct vampire sent the imperial army into turmoil, and Shay’s group didn’t miss this gap. They had been lurking within the imperial soldiers for 10 days and finally assassinated the chief staff members. It was an assassination with a tremendously high difficulty.
How hard was it to stay undetected for 10 days? They really did everything and suffered from major crises many times. Shay’s group felt like they were going to pull their hairs out from trying to memorize the troop deployment plan. Every day was full of tension and pain.
“Still, we did
it in the end.”
“Phew, that’s right. It has been a while since I’ve felt such a rewarding assassination.”
“My skill experience has gone up tremendously.”
“…Yes.”
Shay’s group was still disguised as imperial soldiers. They were glad to return to their original positions, only to feel emptiness. It was because of Grid that they were suffering like this. They swore at Grid every time they suffered a crisis. Then they disliked their actions because they thought it extended Grid’s lifespan by 20 years.
“Viscount Dellua and Count Collina were assassinated!”
Due to the extreme chaos, the empire’s leaders couldn’t properly handle the soldiers. The news that the nobles were assassinated spread like flames and agitated the soldiers.
“Eh?” Shay’s group was also perplexed. It was because they didn’t kill Viscount Dellua and Count Collina. In the first place, they were targets that Shay’s group couldn’t assassinate with their abilities.
“…Is it Faker?”
“It can’t be anyone other than Faker.”
“How scary…”
“Look. The best monster of the Overgeared Guild was Faker, not Grid. If Faker were the enemy of the Overgeared Guild, wouldn’t Grid have been assassinated several times?”
“…”
Shay’s group reached a point when they thought they had done well by accepting Grid’s commission. After all, what if they had refused Grid’s request and received the kill order? They really would quit the game.
***
In Reinhardt’s smithy, Grid used the Legendary Blacksmith’s Creation skill after a long time. Beside him were the blacksmiths of the East Continent and Panmir. He intended to get their advice when creating a new item.
[What item do you want to create?]
“A cannon.”
That’s right. Grid planned to create the largest siege weapon, mass-produce them, and then deploy them throughout the kingdom. He was determined to win the war with the empire unconditionally. The experience of making the Cannon Aiming at the Battlefield in the National Competition was a great help.
Chapter 1006
“Wow, this is really scary.”
“He bought me 43 seconds more than I required.”
2 minutes and 23 seconds—this was the amount of time it took Noll to break in and out of the middle of the enemy camp. There were at least tens of thousands of attacks that struck Noll at the same time, but he didn’t die.
He had an excellent tanking ability and recovery ability, while the Valhalla of Strong Trust that Grid had made for him increased his health, reduced the damage he received, gave him additional defense against multiple enemies, and strengthened his physical defense and magic defense in dark places. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call him a zombie.
“He is almost immortal because of his blood-sucking and tanking ability.”
Noll’s defense and recovery were overwhelming and unique, beyond a fraudulent level. The attack power of ordinary soldiers who had yet to receive their third advancement couldn’t damage him. Of course, among the 250,000 imperial troops, there were a large number of third advancement elites and fourth advancement nobles, but most of them were at the forefront. They couldn’t immediately respond to Noll breaking into the center of the formation, allowing him to slaughter the enemies without hesitation.
Noll proved that the saying about direct descendants being a ‘disaster’ wasn’t an exaggeration.
Simultaneously, it proved the limitations on the concept of military force. He was active for 2 minutes and 23 seconds. It wasn’t a short amount of time considering that he fought alone against 250,000 soldiers. However, from a general point of view…? It was shorter than the time it took to go in and out of the bathroom once.
In other words, even such a strong Noll could only be active for that time. During that short time, Noll only fought 2,000 enemies, but those 2,000 out of the 250,000 soldiers turned to dust. That’s right. There was a clear limit to the number of armed people that could be fought at once.
“…”
It was a play that made time for Faker and Kasim to assassinate enemy targets. Euphemina watched Noll’s fierce and desperate battle from beginning to end and was greatly inspired. She once again realized the truth behind the power of her duplication. Although she had been focusing on slaughtering as many enemies as possible by copying great magic, she decided this time should be different.
‘This time, there are too many enemies.’
No matter how massive the high-level magic she copied was, the number of enemies she could kill by herself was limited. She wasn’t able to demonstrate her full strength against hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were thoroughly prepared.
‘I needed something other than force.’
Aside from military force, the most important strength in a war was having abilities. What was the power? How could she use it to gain the advantage in this war? Euphemina, who had gained full trust from Grid and her colleagues, thought and thought about it. She didn’t want to disappoint her trusted colleague and worked hard to defend the Overgeared members and Overgeared Kingdom that were now the most precious things in her life. In the end…
“Huroi.”
Euphemina recalled one man—an orator who only looked at Grid’s back, thinking and acting for Grid’s sake. He was a loyal speaker who came forward every time a big scandal occurred. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the reason why Reidan’s soldiers had been able to fight against the imperial army without becoming frustrated over the past month was due to Huroi’s verbal skills. Indeed, it was easy for him—the first-ranked orator who could save and kill people with his words—to boost the morale of the soldiers.
“Excuse me. Huroi?”
“What?”
On one of the oasis trees, the person who was looking at the imperial army in the desert with a telescope turned his head. The hen sitting on his shoulder stiffened, but Euphemina ignored it. She just stared at Huroi.
It was quite awkward. Unlike his colleagues, Huroi was only dedicated to Grid and didn’t care about others. Euphemina didn’t talk to him too often and didn’t have much experience being alone together with him. In particular, his gaze toward her had become thornier and thornier ever since Euphemina started associating with Agnus. Euphemina barely managed to shake off the awkwardness and opened her mouth, “Have you ever heard of the disguise class?”
“I’ve heard of it. It is a hidden class that disguises the subject with excellent makeup and molding skills.”
“I was interested since I first heard rumors about it two years ago. Thus, I checked its identity.”
“Just like you dug into Agnus’ background and approached him?”
“…Huhut.”
This man was too intolerable. Euphemina smiled awkwardly as her thin eyebrows wrinkled. The girl with twin ponytails only looked cute when she was angry. Euphemina was one of the few people Grid was afraid of, and that was precisely why Huroi didn’t like her. She was a colleague that his liege—Grid, the master of the Overgeared members and Overgeared Kingdom—felt fear toward. Consequently, Huroi could only see Euphemina as a less popular personality.
‘In the past, she committed sins against My Liege…’
Of course, it was a thing of the past. Euphemina had countless achievements since joining the Overgeared Guild. Still, Huroi didn’t like Euphemina. He really hated her. It was particularly annoying that she had a relationship with Agnus, whom Grid had an aversion to.
Huroi clicked his tongue and urged Euphemina, “So why did you bring up the disguise class?”
Euphemina had no intention of talking for a long time with Huroi. She quickly suppressed her irritation and explained, “I’ll copy the Disguise skill. Then I will disguise you as a member of the imperial army. I want you to infiltrate the enemy’s camp, incite them, and destroy them.”
“Is this Lauel’s plan?”
“No. It is a plan I thoug
ht of myself, and I need your cooperation in this plan. If you say that you will cooperate, I will go back and explain it to Lauel.”
“Hrmm.”
Propaganda and fabrication, swearing and talking about people’s parents, chaos and collapse—these were all Huroi’s specialties. However, the empire had already figured it out. During the war, Huroi wasn’t given a chance to say anything. Huroi failed to play a significant role and had to be satisfied with encouraging the troops from the rear. It was a different story if there was a disguise skill. There would surely be a chance for him to use his mouth.
“It sounds like a good plan.”
“Is that so? The problem is that Disguise lasts for up to three days. After three days, your original state is restored and Disguise will be released. If your makeup is erased within the three days, the details of the disguise will disappear and the chances of it being discovered will increase.”
“Three days…”
Was it possible to spread lies, incite the enemy, and cause trouble in three days? Moreover, in an army of 250,000…? Wasn’t it impossible even for the 1st ranked orator? Huroi made an upset look. Meanwhile, Euphemina laughed, “You can’t do it? Then give up. What can I do if you don’t have the ability?”
“…What?”
It was annoying. He was so angry that he almost asked about her parents. The ‘Swearing’ and ‘Spiteful Tongue’ skills of the orator were all expressed as language. He had already talked too much about people’s parents that the words naturally fell from his mouth. It was a habit. This was truly a dangerous phenomenon. If he talked about other people’s parents in his daily life in reality, he could be sued…
“…Umm.”
If this continued, it might become a hobby to write malicious comments on the Internet like Peak Sword. Huroi had a great deal of respect for Grid. Grid controlled his strength and dexterity while walking in the middle. He was a good man who would never appear again in history.
“…” Huroi thought about his liege and controlled his thoughts.
‘Let’s aim to resemble his liege,’ Huroi vowed and regained his composure. Then he responded to Euphemina with clear eyes, “I’ll do it, but the premise is that your disguise is perfect.”