CH 189

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (189)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

60 The Growing Field Army (2)

After receiving the communications, the Raven started a battle at the monsters’ rear. 

The Ravens, who were riding on a small airship extremely high up in the sky, immediately informed the rangers before moving based on the information in their hands. They also contacted the storm troops to help with places where it was difficult to break through. The storm troops charged towards a single place and destroyed one of the temporary fortresses that the monsters had built. 

The rear units were thrown into chaos thanks to the Field Army troops’ linked play as they smashed the area to pieces. 

― Hidden move…

The manticore’s expression turned solemn the moment he heard that their rear had been smashed. 

Just one move from Iron and he lost his rear. 

They wouldn’t be able to dream about having a battle with the giant armored worm if they continued to drag the battle in a situation where their logistics and rear units were being destroyed. 

― That’s right. It wouldn’t be fun if it’s easy.

There was a smile on the manticore’s aged and weathered face.

For a creature like itself, there was nothing as boring as things going as planned. Their victory would only be sweet like the sweetest honey if they gained it over hardships and adversities. 

― Call everyone.

The sound of the monster corps’ horns and trumpets rang loudly at the manticore’s command. All of the monsters attacking Command immediately retreated the moment they heard the sound. 

The humans also retreated back to Command. 

The troops who created a disturbance in the monster corps’s rear also retreated immediately until they were out of the monster corps’ range. However, since they did not fully retreat back to Command, they could still immediately attack the enemy’s rear camp at any moment in time. 

So, the manticore made an extreme decision. 

“They threw away their supplies?” 

― Yes, sir.

Iron looked at the communication tool incredulously after hearing Raven’s report. 

Abandoning the supplies and logistics meant that they would go for a quick end to an extremely short-term battle.

After retreating the monsters immediately gathered around the manticore. It seemed like the manticore gathered all of the monster units that remained from the rear together with the others to try and end the battle in one shot. 

“Return first.” 

― Yes, sir!

Iron immediately contacted the other units after giving his return order to Raven, the rangers and the storm troops. 

“All troops, gather at Command.” 

― Yes, sir!

All of the troops gathered at Command at Iron’s orders. 

On the other side, the monsters began to cast buffs on each other, overlapping them together to answer to the manticore’s strong desire and will to end the battle in one shot. 

The corrupted drakes spread the void energy all over the place to create a suitable environment for the monsters while the giant ants moved to corrupt and pollute the land. Even the giant water buffaloes cried lowly and stimulated the monsters to get ready for the fight. As a result, a very powerful monster wave was created.

To answer to the manticore’s desire and will, the monsters all boosted their strength and betted their all in this one shot. 

The Mobile Field Army also entered the state for an all-out war.

“Don’t save anything!” 

“This will end in one shot. Bring out everything that you have!” 

“Don’t think about what’s behind you!” 

The logistics officers took out all of the supplies in the warehouse, including the decorative supplies, and sent them out to each unit. The sheer number of supplies that the soldiers were about to carry made them feel intimidated. They also refilled the supplies that the 21st and 22nd Corps, who were all outside of Command, had consumed. 

However, despite the sheer amount of supplies that they sent out, they still did not have enough, so they had to borrow from the factories and the merchants that were staying in the Command. Huge amounts of supplies flocked to each unit with the promise that they would be paid back later with either money or benefits. They had no one to rely on in this battle but themselves so they had to gather their resources and strengths from the ground up themselves. 

Vwoooooooong―

The sound of the horn at night signaled the start of the monsters’ movements. 

The sight of their horrifyingly vicious red eyes in the darkness of the night as they flocked to Command was terrifying. 

However, Iron’s troops were elites. They had veterans who fought and were active ever since the Northern War and even their rookies had become elites after fighting countless battles in the Southeast. There were no scared soldiers among their ranks. 

The sound of artillery and bombs as well as the explosion of magic rang loudly as the battle began in earnest. But this time, the monsters were determined and prepared so their counterattack was fierce. 

All possible attacks, from sorcery to contaminated energy, were thrown straight at Command. The moment the airships approached even just for a bit, the corrupted drakes would fire void energy towards them with a loud cry, stopping them from bombing the ground freely. In addition, the buffs that they overlapped on the entire monster wave had caused a resonance with the void energy, making the monster corps’ camp a void stronghold. 

But Iron did not just sit still and watch everything unfold. 

― Tweet!

The tiny Baepsae flew up and shone brightly like a tiny sun in the night sky. The light shone brightly that anyone who saw it would think that it was still daytime, and this bright light began to purify everything with the monster camp as the only exception. 

Crack, crack!

A shockwave spread from the collision of the void energy and the sanctuary. 

The monsters immediately dug through the gaps and cracks created from the collision of the two opposite powers. 

With the fierce and violent charge of the monsters, the wizards immediately casted their magic through their magic circles and twisted the terrain while the fortress cannons fired and swept away the incoming enemies.

However, compared to before, the monsters were able to endure the strong firepower of the fortress cannon. The giant soldier ants gathered together and used their tough outer shell to resist the fortress cannons’ fierce fires while the trolls casted their sorcery to counter the magic. 

“Did they grow?” 

Iron looked at the monsters solemnly. 

It seemed like they were growing while they fought them. They were beaten on their first encounter since they did not know much about their enemies but from the second encounter forth, they could not be easily beaten anymore since they started using their heads.

Iron sighed and pulled his sword out at the thought of the difficult fight ahead. 

The sword was just pulled gently out of its sheath with a light ‘Shiiing!’ sound when a powerful power wave from the monster camp crashed at Command. 

Thud!

The power wave was so powerful that it made the Command and the surrounding area tremble and shake. 

It seemed like the manticore had willingly put a strain on its body as it amplified its strength and put everything on the line.

Seeing this, Iron also released his entire strength. He looked like he was showing his enemy that he would not lose at all.

Thunderbird appeared in the sky and swept the surroundings with lightning while Phoenix glided smoothly in the air while breathing out fire. 

Seeing this, the manticore immediately condensed its purple breath and shot it towards Iron. However, the attack did not reach Iron. This was because Two Moons’ ray of light had already disintegrated the breath before it could approach Iron. 

“Hoo… Is this the second round?” 

Iron let out a breath as he swung his sword lightly to calm down his tensed nerves.

The simple swing of his sword was no different than a warm up but the soldier ants in his vicinity were slaughtered with just this single swing.

In a blink of an eye, Iron’s sword’s aura appeared and condensed into a gigantic sword.

The manticore also flew up as it released void energy from both of its wings, showing off that he would not lose in terms of momentum.

It was just a simple flap of its wings but because of its amplified strength, the air waves that the flap of its wings created became powerful enough to break several of the airships in the vicinity. 

“Are the monsters going to start their fight now?”

Iron and the manticore began their battle the moment Carl57665 finished muttering to himself. 

Their collision created a powerful shock wave that swept away the surrounding area.

After the shockwave died down, a corrupted giant drake and a gray-winged harpy flew out and casted spells to keep the divine beasts in check. The giant water buffalo with purple horns on its head charged towards Two Moons while the soldier and male ants that acted as the manticore’s guards flew up. The battle between Iron and the manticore as well as the guards and the divine beasts devastated the area around them.

The domain of these two beings were created in an instant.

However, the battle was not yet over. The battle between the remaining monsters and the Command continued, leaving the fight between these monstrously strong beings behind. 

No one knew when this battle would end. It did not matter if the moon was sitting high up in the sky or not, their battle still continued on.

The monsters strengthened by the void energy seemed oblivious to the word exhaustion.

Even the humans were able to continuously recover and heal thanks to Baepsae’s power supporting the sanctuary. Even their magic and strength were amplified.

Both sides continued to fight using their inexhaustible physical strength. Even their injured recovered and returned to battle quickly.

The monsters with fatal injuries were able to recover to their peak strength in less than an hour with the help of the void energy while the humans recovered even their lost limbs by attaching the cut-off part with Baepsae’s power. Because of this, the battle did not stop despite the moon waning and the morning sun rising high up in the sky.

Bang! Bang!

“We’ve run out of cannon shells!”

“Climb the walls and throw the bombs!”

Dominic Stone shouted furiously but the artillery unit officer was embarrassed.

“That… We’ve also run out of it!”

Only then did Dominic Stone look around. He saw all of his men looking at him except for some who were putting the last cannon shell on the cannons. Seeing them like that, Dominic pulled out his sword.

“Raise your guns! If your bullets run out, then pull out your sword! Do what you can until this battle ends. Understand?!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Everyone climb up the wall!”

Every member of the artillery unit began to climb up the walls with their guns at Dominic’s orders. 

And this event did not only happen to the artillery unit. 

Cardro had also ordered a similar order to his troops. He ordered them to lower their airships the moment their bombs and cannon shells were consumed. On the other hand, Ariel’s 21st Corps were already using their spears and swords to kill their enemies, their bombs and magic bullets long consumed by the endless battle in front of them.

“Don’t get pushed back!”

“Stab your spears deep inside!”

“Don’t be afraid of getting injuries!”

“Stop them from climbing over the walls!”

All of them tried their hardest to stop the monsters from trying to climb up.

Thanks to their efforts, the walls of Command were able to barely hold out. Their gates were broken through twice but they were still able to hold out and stop their enemies from going inside. 

But the monsters still continued to rush more fiercely. It seemed like they knew full well that their future and lives would end here if they got pushed back at this point in time. They fought more recklessly knowing that they wouldn’t receive any more support from their rear.

However, there would always be limits.

As the sun continued to rise, both the humans and the monsters began to get exhausted. No matter how much the humans recovered with vitality and the monsters with the void energy, they would still face the limits of their mental strength and fortitude. The soldiers’ expression looked blank as they swung and stabbed their spears on reflex. Even the monsters were just mindlessly wandering and attacking.

Iron and the manticore both realized this fact. Even though the two of them could fight more, they knew that their men had long reached and exceeded their limits. So, they both tried to back down.

But at that moment…

Thud, thud, thud!

― Kieeeeeeeek!

Gigantic worms suddenly popped out from the ground.

“How did these bastards get here!” 

― No way…

Both Iron and the manticore were shocked at the sudden appearance of the giant worms. 

“I did not feel their presence…” 

― Where the hell…

They both clearly have the master’s senses but they weren’t able to sense anything. No matter how much focus they put on their fight, their senses as a master would definitely not go anywhere. However, they realized the reason not long after.

The giant worms had appeared at the edge of their battle zone while the others dug deeply underground. They could hide from a master’s senses if they were far enough and someone at the same level hid them.

― Captain Worm…

“Is it… the imoogi?” 

A gigantic black worm suddenly appeared and devoured a huge number of monsters. It’s gigantic size was already comparable to the imoogis from the Eastern Continent. And this colossal monster was looking at Iron and the manticore as unknown and dirty fluids dripped down from its body. 

In just an instant, the giant worm corps had surrounded both the monster and human forces. 

“Did we get caught?” 

― Ha… This is a humiliation. I can’t believe I’ve been caught unaware by an earthworm.

The imoogi burst into a strange and creepy smile. It was as if it had been waiting for Iron and the manticore to fight and consume their strength for a long time. 

“Did you know that a worm could smile?”

The manticore tilted its head in thought at Iron’s question. It seemed like it hadn’t seen anything like that before. 

However, they were both sure of one thing… The fact that the worms went further up north was a lie. They deliberately pretended to go to the north to blindside them. But the moment their battle began, they turned around and rushed to come here. Because of this, the imoogi’s giant worm corps was sitting in an advantageous position.

“I believe… we should hold hands at this moment, right?”

― There’s nothing I can do. We have to do it even if we don’t want to if we want to survive and not get killed.

The battle between the humans and the monsters stopped after Iron and the manticore said these words. There was no need for them to issue orders. This was because even their men knew what choice they had to make. 

“Hoo… Come, you worm bastard.”

***