Ch.132Chapter 132. The Beginning of War (3)

“Should we go further down?”

“Hmm.”

Arte looked around while reporting to Satan with a triumphant voice.

The space that had been filled with humans just a few hours ago now contained not a single living person.

All that remained were countless corpses that had helplessly fallen victim to the monsters.

“From here, we’ll divide our forces.”

“Yes! I’ll command exactly as you direct.”

The invasion had begun a day earlier than they had announced to humans, following Satan’s orders.

The start had been good so far.

The monster army, strengthened by Satan’s power, was much stronger than Arte had anticipated.

Arte, who directly controlled the monsters, could feel this more acutely than anyone.

They not only followed orders without fearing death but responded instantly when commanded.

It felt like moving tens of thousands of monsters as if they were her own limbs.

For Arte, who normally derived immense pleasure from creating and handling creatures, this was truly the ideal environment.

“Divide the forces appropriately and advance in three directions.”

Satan seemed to contemplate something briefly before quickly making a decision.

Arte acted immediately upon hearing Satan’s command.

She mentally divided the monsters into three appropriate groups and arranged them accordingly.

Tens of thousands of monsters began to move in perfect unison according to Arte’s mental commands.

“We’ll continue to Crescen without stopping.”

“Yes!!”

Satan muttered while looking at the half-torn flag of the Peace Alliance lying on the ground.

The country created by Crescen, who had sealed him away.

Satan was secretly curious about what that country would look like.

**

“Haa, what about those who retreated?”

“I believe all the forces that remained above have been defeated.”

“So you’re the only one who escaped?”

“Not exactly. The news should have been delivered to all the reinforcements gathering in the north, including those from Crescen.”

“Hmm.”

Ordin of the O’Neil Kingdom frowned deeply as he listened to the report from the panting soldier.

According to the urgent messenger, Satan’s army had begun moving south faster than expected.

The alliance forces, completely unprepared for this, were literally annihilated in the sudden attack.

According to the plan, they were supposed to arrive in the north early tomorrow morning to begin proper preparations.

“Is there no way to contact the commanders of the other reinforcements?”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t at the moment. We had communication devices prepared, but the monsters probably…”

Ordin could easily guess what the messenger was trying to say without hearing the rest.

They probably didn’t have time to gather the alliance’s supplies while escaping in a hurry.

They had even witnessed in real-time a soldier being attacked by monsters while broadcasting the situation.

Ordin’s group had also tried to arrive as quickly as possible after seeing the real-time situation, but it wasn’t enough.

“Can’t we broadcast the situation globally through the communication device like before? This channel seemed to work well in the north.”

The northern part of the continent originally had irregular mana flow, making wide-range magic like long-distance communication difficult.

In particular, magical tools like frequency-based communication devices became virtually useless after entering a certain distance into the north.

That’s why there was no proper way to contact others before reaching their destination, but they were surprised when a real-time broadcast suddenly appeared on the communication device earlier.

“It was possible thanks to the special communication device made by Lady Yuria, but it seems the device was destroyed when the broadcaster was attacked.”

“Hmm.”

Ordin’s expression darkened further after hearing these grim reports in succession.

Judging from the monster forces briefly captured in the video earlier, advancing further north would be suicidal.

Even the brave O’Neil army had its limits.

“I think it would be best to return to an area where communication is possible!”

“…”

Ordin didn’t immediately respond to the messenger’s words.

Intellectually, Ordin understood the situation.

Moving forward in the current situation would be like walking into the fires of hell.

However.

‘If we go back to where communication is possible, we’ll reach cities where civilians live.’

This was what made Ordin hesitate.

If they headed south to contact the reinforcements from other countries, they would ultimately have to go down to the border of cities where civilians lived.

“Commander!”

“Haah, is there truly no other way?”

Ordin finally made his decision with a deep sigh.

They would turn back and head south again.

“We’ll return as quickly as possible!”

Just like Ordin’s O’Neil Kingdom forces abandoned their advance and turned back, reinforcements from other countries near the north were making similar decisions.

Everyone stopped advancing and returned to areas with stable mana flow.

‘We’ll need to establish a defensive line as soon as we get back down.’

Ordin hoped that commanders from other countries were thinking the same as he began to quickly descend the path they had come from.

**

“So I’m saying, can we just go faster today? Old man, you saw the video earlier, right? The world is in chaos, chaos!”

“What does that have to do with launching the boat earlier! And you’re not my only passenger! I need to take other passengers too.”

“Ughh.”

The red-haired man with his hair tied back sighed in frustration.

Despite his reaction, the old man arguing with the red-haired man didn’t budge.

The red-haired man touched the spear on his back briefly before taking his hand away.

“Sigh. I’m telling you I’m really in a hurry, old man.”

“Goodness, you’re so stubborn. I can’t break the schedule just because you’re in a hurry.”

The red-haired man, Felipe, wanted to argue with the old man but found himself without a retort.

Logically, the old man was right.

His urgency was his own problem, not anyone else’s.

‘I never thought things would get this serious.’

Black Shadow Corps 3rd Division Captain, Felipe.

He was currently on an island far to the east of the continent, extremely distant from the mainland.

When the captain assembly order came recently, he had ignored it, thinking it wasn’t anything serious.

But as soon as he saw the monsters pouring out in the northern part of the continent, Felipe instantly realized that the situation was far from “nothing serious.”

‘I felt like I was about to reach enlightenment too.’

That was why Felipe had come to this island so far away it could be called the end of the world.

Enlightenment.

A few years ago, when he asked the commander how he had become so strong, the commander had seriously told him:

There’s a legendary island in the eastern part of the continent.

Training there would not only make you much stronger in a short time but also help you reach a new level.

Since it was a known fact that the commander frequently visited uninhabited islands and other islands in the eastern part of the continent, Felipe believed those words completely.

After traveling around the islands in the eastern part of the continent, Felipe finally discovered the “legendary island” the commander had mentioned.

An island formed entirely of rocks, very far from any inhabited islands.

Felipe had been training intensively, traveling back and forth between the inhabited island and the legendary island.

And he had just begun to feel like he was approaching enlightenment.

‘There must be some way.’

Felipe pondered how he could leave the island as quickly as possible.

The best solution would be for the commander to come here using spatial teleportation to pick him up.

But that was practically impossible.

This place was so far away that even the wide-range magic applied to communication devices couldn’t reach here.

‘Wait, then how was that video transmitted earlier?’

A question flashed through Felipe’s mind as he stood there lost in thought.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just the video he had seen earlier.

The emergency assembly order for the Black Shadow Corps had definitely been transmitted as well.

Which meant…

‘Could this work too?’

Felipe reflexively looked down at his stomach.

Though nothing was visible from the outside, inside was a magical device installed for sending emergency signals in case of unexpected situations.

If this signal could reach the commander, knowing his personality, he would rush to Felipe immediately.

“Ah.”

Felipe turned around immediately, as if he had realized something.

“Hey, where are you going! Didn’t you say you needed to leave urgently?”

“That’s exactly why I’m doing this!!”

Felipe started running immediately, barely listening to the old man’s words.

The spatial teleportation the commander used wasn’t an ability that could move without restrictions just by knowing location information.

It was a special ability that allowed him to teleport only to places he had personally visited.

‘The legendary island!’

Felipe began running at full speed toward the legendary island.

A place the commander had visited once, or perhaps frequently.

The legendary island that the commander had personally told him about.

He thought that if he sent an emergency signal to the Black Shadow Corps from there, the commander would probably be able to come get him right away.

‘Why didn’t I think of this sooner?’

Tap-tap-tap-

Felipe clenched his fist as he ran, almost flying.

If he had realized this earlier, he wouldn’t have needed to go to the island where the old man was.

Swoosh-

Felipe began to infuse mana into the emergency signal device inside his body as he ran across the water surface without hesitation.

“Come get me quickly! Commander!!”

Felipe shouted loudly as he ran toward the “legendary island” in the middle of the sea.