Ch.38[Episode 38] Preliminary Skirmish

“Damn.”

Strelch was lying on the castle wall, feeling the vibrations of the explosions directly.

Whenever the bombardment briefly stopped, he tried to escape his position, but the surrounding walls had already begun to collapse, blocking all his retreat paths.

He considered just jumping off, but the fortress interior below, neatly organized for quick resupply, had only frozen ground—meaning he’d have to wait for resurrection if he fell.

Strelch took out a hand-rolled cigarette and put it in his mouth.

The moment he lit it, a firework flew directly toward his section of the wall, exploding with a sparkle.

The wall began to collapse.

He waited calmly for his death.

…

The Giant of Hundread Hands surveyed the battlefield from beyond the horizon.

Anyone looking up from the battlefield would see fifty heads observing the entire combat zone, but those focused on fighting didn’t look at the sky.

The Giant of Hundread Hands stroked his fifty chins with his fifty left hands.

He thought this was the perfect opportunity to stop The Tentacle Explorer’s offensive.

The giant declared he would use his divine power by spending points.

[(ALL) Stacy(Blue): “It’s not too late. Stop the bombardment and fall back.”]

[(BLUE) Stacy(Blue): “The western wall has collapsed. Personnel in that area retreat to the secondary defense line.”]

[(ALL) Stacy(Blue): “If you don’t stop the bombardment immediately, um… something terrible will happen.”]

Stacy continued bluffing while never ceasing to monitor her allies.

Her pupils moved constantly, gathering information, while her mouth chattered incessantly, conducting information warfare by mixing fake and real information for the enemy.

But what use is a bluff that no one believes?

Stacy was growing tired of keeping up the pretense.

“I wish something would really happen.”

Information should always mix truth within lies, and lies within truth.

Pure truth and pure lies are useless on their own.

Stacy squeezed her eyes shut.

Should they abandon the fortress and move to another hill? Or continue focusing on the fortress?

All kinds of alternatives were running through her head.

As if sensing Stacy’s desperation, God bestowed great help upon her.

…

Sir Dominic, after capturing the enemy’s position, headed toward Hill 5, newly created by the expansion of the allied war effort.

Having occupied Hill 5 without any enemy interference, Sir Dominic wiped his blood-stained sword in the nearby snow and surveyed the battlefield.

Two red lines were drawn across the white snow.

The battlefield situation couldn’t be called good.

The fortress on Hill 3 was now the central focus.

The personnel below Hill 3 continued firing, gradually accumulating damage to allies on the walls, while enemy artillery forces occupying Hill 4 caused the walls to crumble with each barrage.

v.a.l.l.o.c. was trying to block them by swinging his massive rusted blade whip, but the enemy cowardly divided their forces, hitting and retreating to toy with him.

The already fierce face of the demon twisted into something even more grotesque.

[(ALL) Star Giant of Hundread Hands uses divine power [Meteor Shower]!]

Sir Dominic looked up at the sky, now gray from black ash swirling among the white snow.

In the sky, the giant held a hundred stones in his hundred hands.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

When the announcement of divine power activation echoed across the battlefield, chaos erupted on Hill 4.

Plagius, looking up at the sky, visibly paled even through the bandages covering his face.

Divine power at this timing.

Just a little more and they could have destroyed the fortress and swept up the disorganized enemies.

Plagius clenched his fist around his censer so tightly that blood stopped flowing to his hand.

A hundred stones—no, boulders—fell to the ground.

Each boulder, accelerating as it fell from the heights, began to burn.

The first boulder landed in the center of Hill 4.

Not with a thud, but with a BOOM! that sent earth flying in all directions.

The enemies on Hill 4, already struggling with limited visibility from blowing snow and ash from the fortress, had their vision completely blocked by the additional dirt and dust thrown up by the impact.

If only their vision had been blocked, it would have been manageable, but the thunderous noise of the boulder hitting the ground temporarily deafened them.

People become anxious when their sight and hearing are cut off in a chaotic situation.

Fear and confusion erupted.

All because of a single boulder.

“…! …!”

Plagius bit his already chapped lips harder and issued new rally orders, but those fleeing the area of divine power couldn’t hear him.

The bad news for the enemy was that the divine power was dropping boulders ‘randomly’ within the area, and they were still falling ‘haphazardly.’

Plagius raised his head between the noise of falling boulders.

Fortunately, no boulders had fallen near him, but then a massive shadow appeared at his feet.

Plagius looked up.

A house-sized boulder was growing larger as it approached him.

Plagius sensed his imminent death.

[(ALL) Star The Tentacle Explorer activates divine power [Enlightenment]. Designated targets and random surrounding targets within range will be ‘enlightened’!]

Just before Plagius was crushed by the boulder, The Tentacle Explorer activated his ability.

Plagius clutched his head as ‘truth’ flooded in, nearly melting his brain.

His bandage-wrapped body bulged and writhed, then tentacles burst from his back.

Horrible purple began mixing with his ominous green pus.

Muscles and skeleton twisted as he screamed in agony, facing the truth.

Plagius realized all truths.

This wasn’t the first time, but through The Tentacle Explorer’s enlightenment, Plagius was reborn as a superior being.

“Once you know the truth, you can’t believe in any laws.”

The mass of tentacles that was now Plagius declared, dripping plague from his mouth full of teeth.

The boulder that was about to crush him was stopped by Plagius’s overwhelming physical abilities and literally melted under his power.

Truly a scheme within a scheme.

When all the boulders had finally fallen and the upturned dust settled.

The Tentacle Explorer’s forces, though reduced to half their number but all ‘enlightened,’ stood unharmed.

…

Damn it. Damn it all.

The Tentacle Explorer must have mentally killed the Giant of Hundread Hands at least a hundred and thirty times.

He had used more points to activate his hidden card, but hadn’t gained any advantage yet.

Rather, he was at a disadvantage because of that anachronistic variable.

When the Giant of Hundread Hands, now flush with points, used his divine power, The Tentacle Explorer cursed out loud.

The Man in Black standing behind The Tentacle Explorer issued a warning.

“Warning. One more curse and you’ll be immediately disqualified.”

The Tentacle Explorer could only nod cautiously.

The judges from the Executive branch were beings above even Stars within Garland.

Instead of cursing, The Tentacle Explorer began thinking as hard as possible.

He needed to find a way to counter the divine power, using as few points as possible.

His scattered forces had managed to occupy another hill, but they were still short on points.

No choice. The Tentacle Explorer activated the divine power [Enlightenment].

This proved to be the correct answer.

The enlightened personnel completely blocked the damage from the boulders with their evolved physical abilities.

These individuals were at least two or three times stronger than normal personnel of the same tier.

However, these forces weren’t enough to pressure the fortress.

The Tentacle Explorer bent his tentacles to look down at the battlefield.

The Giant of Hundread Hands’ reinforcements were about to arrive.

…

Withdraw for now and prioritize other hills. Then regroup and attack the fortress again.

Plagius nodded at the Star’s strategy.

With his enhanced vision, Plagius saw the enemy reinforcements arriving.

The battlefield was currently unfavorable to them.

Plagius extended his advanced tentacles to issue orders to his comrades.

Retreat and regroup for now.

The enlightened ones nodded and headed back to their base.

Following behind the enlightened ones, Plagius suddenly looked back at the fortress.

Before leaving, he could at least show some ‘appreciation’ for the enemy.

Plagius raised his hand.

The plague censer, now fused with his melted tentacle hand, burned with a faint green and sticky purple light.

[(RED) Enlightened Commander, Plague Bishop Plagius activates traits [Curse], [Plague].]

[(RED) Plague breaks out in the Blue team’s fortress. Temporarily decreases enemy stats. This effect increases until the plague is contained.]

In war, fighting isn’t everything.

Sometimes what happens outside the framework of war can be more serious than the war itself.

For the tired and weakened, plague is undeniably dangerous and serious.

Plagius smiled widely with his two mouths full of teeth.

Satisfied with the knowledge that the enemies were exhausted, he gazed for a long time at the fortress where the plague had begun to spread.