There was no particular preparation needed before entering the Toulon Gate.

I had all my equipment ready, and for Jeanne, most armor was meaningless.

Her sacred power’s recovery and protective abilities surpassed that of armor.

I saw Jeanne tying a cloth to a small iron rod and asked.

“Jeanne, what is that?”

“It’s a flag. I’m more familiar with this than being empty-handed.”

In Jeanne’s hand was a dainty, pure white flag.

==
[Rough Saint’s Flag]
[Grade: Rare]

A flag made by Saint Jeanne d’Arc.

‘So this turns out like this.’

Even though she had merely tied a flag to a rod, the moment Jeanne held it, it became a holy relic.

Of course, it was a holy relic because Jeanne held it; if anyone else did, it would just be an ordinary piece of cloth.

Naturally, it was different from the past saint’s flag, which was based on sacrifice.

It was simply a familiar form for Jeanne to hold.

“Are you done?”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“Let’s go then.”

As soon as Jeanne completed her flag, we immediately entered Toulon Gate.

==
Entering Toulon Gate.

Swoooosh…

A cool sea breeze blew.

The refreshing sea of Toulon harbor filled my vision.

‘It’s been a while.’

Not much time had passed in reality, but my memories of Toulon felt distant and nostalgic.

I had experienced many things—helping Yi Sun-sin, meeting Jeanne, and more.

I thought I heard the firm voice of a man echoing in my ears like an illusion.

— “Sorry, but could I get something to drink?”

The first great figure I ever met and the one who awakened my abilities.

— “Napoleon de Bonaparte.”

Napoleon.

To me, he was not just a historical figure but someone deeply significant.

If I hadn’t met him, I might still be struggling as an E-rank hunter.

‘I miss him.’

Though I could never meet him again, seeing Toulon Harbor suddenly reminded me of Napoleon.

==
[You have entered Toulon Harbor.]
[This battlefield holds the myth of France’s revolutionary hero, Napoleon.]
[Napoleon’s Rifle efficiency increases by 80%.]
[Accuracy increases by 90%.]
[Battlefield Charisma is unlocked.]

A flood of system messages appeared, adding new traits to Napoleon’s Rifle.

==
[Battlefield Charisma]

• France’s revolutionary hero Napoleon intoxicated his people with military glory.
• Those who fight alongside him will not fear death.
  ==

‘So it’s a courage buff.’

As I processed my new trait, Jeanne spoke.

“Who is Napoleon?”

She must have seen the status messages, as she asked with curiosity.

To Jeanne, who lived in the 15th century, Napoleon, an 18th-century figure, was completely unfamiliar.

“He was a hero. He started as a low-ranking officer and rose to the position of Emperor.”

I looked around Toulon Harbor as I spoke.

“This was the first battlefield where he made his debut.”

“You seem to know him well.”

“I met him briefly.”

“…Ah, did he also visit the Universal Shop?”

“Yes, he was the first customer.”

I didn’t say any more.

Toulon Harbor was too dangerous for a leisurely conversation.

Boom!

The sound of cannon fire rang out as the fortress at the entrance connecting Toulon Harbor and the sea was bombarded.

Fort Mulgrave.

The iron fortress that Napoleon had seized from the royalists stood intact.

As if someone had rebuilt it.

Boom!

A barrage of attacks from the dead rained down upon Fort Mulgrave.

It was as if the Toulon Siege had been recreated exactly.

However, the situation was entirely different.

The bombardment did little damage to the fortress, only producing a futile, deafening noise.

Of course, that was expected.

The key figure of the Toulon Siege, “Napoleon,” was absent here.

The reason the siege had succeeded in history was because of Napoleon’s brilliant military tactics.

That’s why there was a common joke about the Toulon Gate in modern times.

“Unless Napoleon himself returns from the dead, conquering Toulon Gate is impossible.”

No modern hunter had ever been able to replace Napoleon.

Of course, this wasn’t just a matter of tactics and strategy.

The revolutionary army here was not an ally to hunters.

On the contrary, they saw hunters as enemies and fired indiscriminately.

‘And when they die, they assimilate.’

If a hunter died to the royalists, they became a royalist.

If they died to the revolutionaries, they became part of the revolutionary army.

As undead.

To hunters, both sides—royalists and revolutionaries—were nothing but monstrous foes to be eliminated.

But that was only true for an average hunter.

“Jeanne, let’s head over there.”

“Won’t it be dangerous?”

“It’s fine. I have a plan.”

The place I pointed to was the revolutionary artillery battery shelling the fortress from the hill.

As we climbed the hill, the eerie figures firing at the fortress turned to look at us.

[Ah oh oh—]

Just as they were about to fire at us—

[Battlefield Charisma is activated.]

The trait of Napoleon’s Rifle triggered, and the creatures froze in place.

Hundreds of pale eyes simultaneously fixated on Napoleon’s Rifle in my hands.

Then—

Muttering incomprehensible words, the creatures saluted me.

As if welcoming a superior officer.

Now holding command over the first artillery battery, I moved around the hill, systematically absorbing the revolutionary troops.

From “Jacobin” to “Fearless Ones” and “The Brat Purge.”

A total of three artillery batteries fell under my command.

But even with the revolutionary army under my control, conquering the gate was not yet possible.

The revolutionaries were outnumbered compared to the royalists, and the enemy had a fortress.

However, I had personally witnessed Napoleon’s war tactics.

I knew what he prioritized and exactly how he had conquered Fort Mulgrave.

“Advance deployment.”

[Ah oh!]

The creatures promptly moved their artillery at my command.

The three batteries surrounded and began to pressure Fort Mulgrave.

It was Napoleon’s encirclement strategy.

And I didn’t just have a strategy.

Boom! Boom!

The artillery fire from the creatures now had an entirely different level of power.

==
[General Grapeshot Napoleon]

• This trait turns ordinary cannons into devastating artillery.
• Combined with [Battlefield Charisma], it applies uniformly to all revolutionaries firing artillery.
  ==

Boom!

A section of Fort Mulgrave crumbled under the bombardment, sending chills down my spine.

‘So this is the true power of Napoleon’s Rifle.’

The ability unlocked at Toulon Gate far exceeded my expectations.

As I marveled at its power—

“Jeosun.”

“Jeanne, what is it?”

“There are people over there.”

“People?”

I looked in the direction Jeanne was pointing and widened my eyes.

In the middle of the harbor, where the Royalist monsters roamed, a group of ‘people’ was hiding in a deep trench.

‘I was careless.’

Rachel Bonaparte felt a sense of frustration.

Rachel, the current head of the Bonaparte family and an S-rank hunter of France, had entered the Toulon Gate to conquer its rampaging state.

Now, she was stranded in the middle of the gate, having lost many of her fellow hunters.

She hadn’t been careless.

Rachel had meticulously prepared for this raid, and under normal circumstances, she would have already succeeded in clearing the Toulon Gate.

That is, if the Toulon Gate had remained in its ‘previous state.’

But the now-unstable Toulon Gate was different from before.

“I never heard anything about having to capture commanders.”

The monsters moved like an actual ‘army,’ systematically organized with officers leading each group.

Unless these officers were eliminated, the monsters would keep resurrecting.

It was only after twenty hunters had perished that they finally uncovered this information.

“Lady Rachel, we need to get out of the harbor immediately.”

“I know.”

Rachel peeked out from the trench, observing the roaming monsters.

Just then—

Boom!

The harbor shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Rachel’s eyes widened when she checked the source of the explosion.

Fort Mulgrave.

A part of the iron fortress, which no hunter had ever managed to conquer, had collapsed.

The thunderous sound was from its destruction.

But what shocked her even more—

“Why are the artillery batteries…?”

The Revolutionary Army’s artillery had surrounded Fort Mulgrave.

‘Are the monsters actually using strategy?’

The previously immobile artillery batteries had suddenly changed formation, encircling and pressuring the fortress.

‘This doesn’t make sense.’

Rachel felt a deep sense of confusion at the monsters’ intelligent, human-like tactical maneuvers.

“L-Lady Rachel! The monsters are closing in!”

Rachel turned her head at her subordinate’s urgent cry.

“!”

The Revolutionary monsters were breaking through the Royalist monsters and flooding into the harbor.

To Rachel, they were all just monsters, meaning their numbers had only increased.

“We have no choice. Let’s break through.”

She decided they had to escape the harbor before it was too late and stood up.

At that moment, an unusual sight caught her attention.

Among the incoming monsters, there were some who didn’t look like monsters.

‘…Humans?’

They were clearly human.

A young East Asian man with his lower face covered by a mask and a blonde girl.

Even more shocking was the fact that the monsters were following the young man.

“The m-monsters are following a person!”

“That’s impossible…”

Monsters following a human?

She couldn’t comprehend the absurdity of the situation, but the two people were approaching them.

“We’re here to help.”

Rachel vaguely understood that the young man was speaking in Korean and that they intended to help.

Then, a familiar language reached her ears.

“Are you hurt?”

The blonde girl was looking at her right arm.

“Yes, my arm is…”

Rachel winced as she looked at her arm.

Her broken and swollen arm seemed unusable.

“May I heal you?”

“Ah, yes. That would be a great help.”

The girl gently placed her hand over Rachel’s swollen arm.

A warm light spread, and the swelling vanished instantly.

Rachel’s eyes widened in shock.

‘…It doesn’t hurt at all.’

Her skin and bones were completely healed, as if she had never been injured in the first place.

At this level, the girl had to be at least an A-rank light-attribute healer.

Rachel watched in awe as the girl healed the other hunters’ wounds.

Then, gunshots echoed in the air.

Bang—! Bang—!

Rachel turned and saw the young man expertly hunting monsters with a musket rifle.

“Target the officers!”

She wasn’t sure if he understood her, but the young man was eerily precise, shooting only at the commanding officers.

Bang!

Bang!

Every shot hit its mark.

As the officers fell one by one, the surrounding monsters collapsed with them.

‘He’s taking down monsters this easily?’

His accuracy and firepower were astonishing.

As Rachel watched his almost supernatural shooting, something caught her eye.

Bang—!

Bang!

The musket rifle the young man was using.

Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the emblem on the stock.

The ‘Golden Eagle’ was engraved on it—a symbol Rachel knew all too well.

Of course, she would recognize it.

That golden eagle was the symbol of her family, the Bonaparte lineage.

Her ancestor, Napoleon.

Moreover, the rifle the young man was using was a ‘smoothbore musket,’ known to have been Napoleon’s personal favorite.

There was no doubt about it.

That was Napoleon’s rifle.

And yet, the young man wielded it freely, without any restrictions.

‘How…?’

Rachel couldn’t comprehend it.

To properly use one of Napoleon’s relics, one’s ‘mana wavelength’ had to be compatible.

Even Rachel, Napoleon’s direct descendant and the head of the Bonaparte family, couldn’t wield his relics this effortlessly.

Unless… Napoleon himself had reincarnated.

Rachel’s gaze wavered as she stared at the young man, Choi Jeosun.