Ch.135Chapter 135. The Beginning of War (6)

Whoosh-

“M-monster!”

As someone shouted, the commanders from each country inside the tent rushed outside without hesitation.

The first thing Hans saw was a giant centipede with black, hard scales.

It was the creature he had seen in the livestreamed video.

“They’ve already reached here?!”

Shing-

Just as Hans muttered in disbelief while drawing his sword.

Boom- Screech!

Centipedes burst up from the ground everywhere.

In that instant, Hans counted at least ten with his own eyes.

“Damn it!”

Hans frowned deeply and charged toward the nearest centipede.

Having grown accustomed to black magic creatures during the war with Flora, monsters like these no longer frightened Hans at all.

In contrast, others were hesitating to charge forward.

Clang-

When Hans’s sword made contact with the centipede’s hard exoskeleton, it bounced off with a crisp sound.

Though he thought he had grown stronger after receiving Satan’s power, the giant centipede’s shell had hardened enough to deflect his sword.

Without panicking, Hans immediately infused his sword with mana to create a blade aura.

A normal sword might not cut through, but a sword infused with blade aura would be different.

Slash-

As expected, when the sharp blade aura made contact, the centipede’s black shell split cleanly as if it were paper.

Once Hans realized the blade aura was effective, he fearlessly dove deeper into the centipede.

Slash- Slash-

Each time Hans swung his sword, the centipede’s skin split effortlessly until the giant creature lost strength and trembled.

Thud-

“Everyone stay calm! Those who can use blade aura, engage! Everyone else, fall back!”

With Hans’s calm yet firm instructions, the soldiers who had been panicking in confusion gradually began to regain their composure.

The giant centipedes inspired fear by moving quickly underground and suddenly emerging, but once they surfaced, they weren’t particularly threatening monsters.

As long as one was careful of their initial attack when bursting from the ground, even a few skilled knights could handle them.

“Keep the centipedes from going back underground!”

Following Hans’s instructions, who clearly knew how to deal with giant centipedes, the situation gradually came under control.

The centipedes had boldly surged up, making him think other monsters might be with them, but that wasn’t the case.

Dozens of centipedes had emerged simultaneously, creating chaos in the camp, but that was all.

With no additional reinforcements coming, the centipedes that had surfaced were being hunted down one by one.

Thud- Thud-

“Uoooooh!”

Each time a centipede corpse fell to the ground with a thud, cheers erupted from the soldiers whose morale was rising.

Now there were far more dead centipedes than living ones around them.

Hans sighed in relief as he watched the situation being resolved surprisingly easily.

He had been startled when the monsters suddenly attacked.

These creatures weren’t unintelligent beasts but rather an “army” following someone’s commands.

When such creatures suddenly attacked, he thought there must be some strategy behind it, but fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Did they break free from control?’

Of course, this behavior was completely contrary to the habits of giant centipedes.

Originally, giant centipedes never acted in groups, traveling in groups of at most 2-3 at a time.

If they had broken free from control, they wouldn’t have all come here together but would have scattered to claim their own territories.

“Hmm.”

Thud-

“Waaaah!!”

As the last centipede that had invaded the camp collapsed, a meaningful sigh escaped from Hans’s lips while cheers erupted from the soldiers.

The sudden centipede attack ended rather anticlimactically.

The casualties among the soldiers weren’t particularly severe either.

Apart from the soldiers who were caught when the centipedes first emerged, quick responses prevented further casualties.

‘Huh?’

As this thought crossed Hans’s mind, another thought suddenly flashed through.

While it was fortunate that casualties were minimal, something felt strange.

Even for an army of gathered soldiers, was it normal to have so few casualties against dozens of giant centipedes?

His suspicion gradually turned into anxiety.

As Hans slowly surveyed the centipede corpses and the cheering soldiers, he hurriedly climbed onto the tent.

Then it became even more apparent.

The positions of the centipede corpses were strangely regular.

‘This is…’

“Ah.”

A voice close to a sigh escaped Hans’s lips as he surveyed the surroundings.

“Q-quickly, clear away the corpses! Set up the magic circle as soon as possible!”

The places where the centipede corpses lay were exactly where magic circles were being drawn.

Magic circles for creating barriers to block the southward advance of monsters.

Every single centipede had emerged and died around those areas.

At Hans’s shout, the other commanders seemed to finally grasp the situation.

As the commanders began to move, the soldiers beneath them also started moving quickly.

The cheering soldiers quickly swarmed the centipede corpses, and the mages who had been drawing the magic circles hurriedly began redrawing them.

But Hans instinctively felt it.

That it was already too late.

‘These were just bait.’

He had thought something was strange, but he never imagined that dozens of giant centipedes were all just bait.

“Retreat from here immediately…!”

Thud-

Just as Hans was about to shout to everyone from atop the tent, the ground shook.

It was a different kind of vibration than when centipede corpses fell to the ground.

The sound now was a living vibration.

Thud-

‘Too late.’

Hans’s instinct told him.

It was already too late to either flee or prepare defenses.

Beyond the low-built walls, he could see a black-skinned troll with a massive body.

A troll slowly moving its huge body with a club in each hand.

Everyone’s attention turned toward the troll at the sound of its footsteps.

At first, only one troll was visible, but soon other beings began to appear behind the troll at the front.

Other trolls and monsters that were smaller than the troll at the front but clearly threatening.

As Hans had expected, the giant centipedes were merely bait.

Bait to buy time until other monsters arrived here.

Gulp-

Watching the growing number of monsters, Hans unconsciously swallowed.

They would have to face those creatures without proper walls or even a simple barrier.

It was natural to be afraid.

Even Hans, who had fought countless black magic creatures, was scared, and others were even more terrified.

The soldiers all stood frozen, blankly watching the monsters’ advance.

Though fewer in number than the monster army seen in the broadcast footage, with some monsters missing, they were still sufficiently threatening and intimidating.

Especially the giant troll at the front was enough to break the soldiers’ morale.

Thud-

As the trolls’ footsteps drew closer, Hans felt his end approaching with them.

He had somehow survived the war with Flora Kingdom, but to end here.

Thud- Clunk-

Along with the troll’s footsteps, the quiet sound of Hans’s sword touching the ground was heard.

He knew very well what it meant for a commander to lower his sword in front of the enemy, but Hans had no choice.

He saw no hope whatsoever.

And that’s when it happened.

Slash-!

“Huh?”

Something changed with the black troll that was no longer very far away.

Thud-!

It was too significant to simply call it a “change.”

The troll that had been walking at the front had its head cleanly severed from its body, and then its body collapsed forward.

“Wh-what?!”

Hans rubbed his eyes to see if he had seen wrong, but he hadn’t.

The troll leading the charge had its head cut off with a single stroke.

And the one who cut it was.

“J-Jacqueline?!”

An incredulous voice escaped from Hans’s lips.

Clearly, the one cutting the troll’s head and shaking the blood off her weapon was Jacqueline.

The mercenary who had shown truly invincible prowess during the war with Flora.

Whoosh-

While Hans and most others were blankly watching the scene, a sudden chill swept through the area.

It was definitely cold, but somehow didn’t feel sharp.

“What are you all doing?!”

Along with the chill, the walls—which were so low they could barely be called walls—began to grow taller.

What was raising the walls was ice.

“That voice is…?”

Hans blankly looked toward where the voice had come from.

There, a recently famous woman was floating in the air with her hand extended.

It was Yuria Phrysis, the leader of the “Peace Alliance.”

“Everyone prepare for battle!”

At Yuria’s firm yet cold voice, Hans felt his mind snap to attention.

And it wasn’t just Hans who came to his senses.

The soldiers who had been staring blankly at the monsters as if entranced began to move one by one.

Following Yuria’s command, preparing for battle.

“Uaaaah!”

With someone’s battle cry, cheers erupted throughout the Western Alliance camp.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline continued to cut down monsters’ heads relentlessly.

‘This isn’t the end!’

Hope began to rise in the minds of Hans and everyone else.