Chapter 107

〈 Episode 107 〉 Assault

Based on the information Asha scouted, the Steel Regiment slightly altered its course from the original direction towards the capital. Their advance, now heading along a new path, was directed towards the Alsace territory.

Having left the relatively wooded Lorraine region and entered the territory of the Tentacles in earnest, the ground was entirely covered with something pulsating and purple. The Soldiers shuddered at the visceral sense of disgust.

“Disgusting…”

“Keep your wits about you. We’ve entered their lair.”

Asha felt a strange gaze from the Viscous Fluid covering the ground.

‘These things… they’ve definitely noticed us.’

Instinctively, she realized the Tentacles had detected them.

“Get ready! The Tentacles are coming soon!”

The Soldiers didn’t take Asha’s words lightly and immediately formed a battle formation, preparing for combat. Lucia, watching them, sensed the approaching presence and her face hardened.

‘More… numerous? Completely different from other creatures or Tentacles.’

Having watched the battles unfold, Lucia wondered if the Soldiers present could handle the Tentacles swarming from the other side.

‘Mom could get hurt or captured, and there’s no need to consider uncertain things. Then…’

Lucia, unwilling to tolerate anything that threatened Asha, decided to use her power in earnest. A radiance swirled in Lucia’s eyes beside Asha, and soon the surrounding space began to distort.

She repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists, and when the black pendant around her neck vibrated intensely, she threw a punch at a speed invisible to the eye.

Kwachachang-!!

Lucia’s punch passed straight through the Soldiers and swallowed the plain. The space in the sky tore apart with a chilling sound, and a whirlwind raged, causing the Soldiers who were just forming their ranks to cower in horror.

“What the hell! What is it!”

“We’re getting swept away, be careful!”Screech!”

The Tentacles that were covering the plain and swarming in were all swept away by Lucia’s full-powered strike, crushed without leaving a trace. The attack, which tore through even the surface of the earth covered in purple Viscous Fluid, brutally gouged the land, revealing its insides.

Everyone shuddered at the terrifying sight. Only Asha noticed what Lucia had done. Lucia, having smashed all the Tentacles in front of them, relaxed her furrowed brow. She casually dusted off her hands as if it were nothing and clung to Asha with a nonchalant expression.

“There were too many. It would have been dangerous if we hadn’t dealt with them now.”

“Good job, Lucy.”

Lucia felt happy after hearing her mom’s praise.

‘As expected, anything that could harm Mom, even a little, must be completely eliminated.’

It was the moment Lucia’s principle became firmly established in her mind.

Lucia’s attack brought about another problem, which was that it terrified even the Soldiers who were supposed to fight the Tentacles. The Soldiers, having witnessed an attack beyond common sense, trembled with anxiety.

“Ugh, ugh…”

Seeing the Soldiers’ morale plummet, Asha shouted.

“It’s only possible once! I’ll sweep them away again if necessary, so don’t worry!”

Asha thought it was better to say she did it than to explain Lucia’s ability here. The Soldiers, who had been fearful of an inexplicable disaster, heard Asha’s words and their morale soared as if by magic.

“Uwaaaaa!!”

“As expected of the Wizard!”

Only Maximilian and the Count knew that what they had just seen was something that could not be explained even with Magic. However, the two were not foolish enough to pour cold water on the current situation where morale was high.

“Now, the swarming Tentacles have all been dealt with, so we just need to take care of the remaining ones! Maintain formation and advance!”

““Yes!””

The Soldiers slowly advanced, maintaining their formation. They were a little nervous as they saw the chilling traces of destruction as they got closer, but they were even more encouraged by the fact that the person who could cause this terrifying disaster was an ally.

Although the Tentacles on the ground had been annihilated by Lucia, the Tentacles were not only on the surface. The Tentacles soon crawled out of the ground or nearby Tentacle Nests and attacked the Soldiers. The number of remaining Tentacles was enough to threaten the Soldiers. Lucia’s prediction was correct.

Asha, dealing with the swarming Tentacles along with the Soldiers, realized that Lucia’s attack had not been in vain.

‘As expected, the amount coming from the base is on a different level! We would have been in big trouble if we had gone straight there.’

Asha’s hands became busier with twice as many Tentacles pouring out than usual. She thoroughly and efficiently crushed the Tentacles.

‘Even a slight imbalance will lead to annihilation… There must be no waste.’

The Tentacles also targeted Asha, who was the most threatening, and attacked her through the Tunnel several times, but Asha heightened her senses and did not allow a single attack.

“Haaat!”

Asha quickly avoided a giant Tentacle attacking from behind by stepping aside, and then she bounced her body up and slammed her knee into its torso. The Fire that was circling around Asha as if to protect her was soon sucked into the Tentacle through her knee and burst out from within the Tentacle as if boiling.

Bang-!

With a blast that made the air tremble, another Tentacle turned to ashes. While burning the Tentacles in close combat, Asha tirelessly created Fireballs on her hand and compressed them into marble-sized spheres using Wind Magic.

As she threw the incandescent Fireball, reduced to its limit, towards the distance, the Fireball, fired like a bullet, became a giant dome of flames and devoured the Tentacles.

Kugugung–

“Ugh!””

As the air burned and the Wind raged due to the aftermath of the explosion, Asha shielded her eyes from the Wind and braced herself. She was slightly taken aback by the unexpected power.

‘Was it too strong?’

It was a situation where even Asha had to be careful not to fall, let alone the Soldiers.

“Uwaaa!”

“Kyak!”

Some Soldiers were lucky enough to just fall backward, while others were caught in the aftershock and rolled away. Seeing the formation in disarray centered around the epicenter, Asha hurriedly rushed out to support them.

“S, sorry!”

Although the surroundings were in chaos, there was one person who was not swept away at all and was slicing up the Tentacles. Asha was impressed to see Maximilian helping the Soldiers and constantly cutting down the attacking Tentacles.

‘The Prince is really strong.’

In the past, even while training, she just thought he was strong, but now she could accurately see how strong Maximilian was.

‘If you only consider Swordsmanship, he doesn’t seem to be much different from Georg.’

Of course, the physical difference between the two was enormous, but even considering that fact, it was truly amazing. In fact, even now, it seemed as if there was a line around him that no Tentacle could approach. The Prince was appropriately supplementing the formation that had been disrupted by the aftermath of Asha’s attack.

“Haaat!”

Asha, slightly regretting pouring out too much power just now, adjusted her strength and rejoined in dealing with the Tentacles.

Asha and the Soldiers succeeded in annihilating the Tentacles that had poured out after Lucia swept away the Tentacles on the ground. She lit the pile of Tentacle remains that were piled up like a hill on fire, and approached the Count, leaving behind the crackling corpses.

“Not many people were hurt, right?”

“Fortunately, the initial attack was effective in breaking down the majority of the Tentacles. If we had faced them head-on, we would not have avoided fatal losses. But… I couldn’t ask earlier, but what was that?”

‘Oops…’

Asha recalled that she had never explained Spell to Count Avenue.

“It’s not Magic, it’s Spell. The ones I usually use are too.”

The Count showed an admiring expression at Asha’s explanation.

“Hmph… truly amazing. Anyway, there are wounded, but it’s not much different from usual. However, healing is good, but save your strength for now. We don’t know what might happen as we enter the Nest.”

Asha nodded at the Count’s request.

“Count is right. We don’t know what the Tentacles will do, so we should keep a closer eye on their movements now.”

“A wise choice.”

Finally, the Steel Regiment entered the Tentacles’ base. The Tentacle Nest, which had swallowed up and grown over the places where human buildings once stood, was pulsating and spewing out something thick.

“Ugh…”

The Soldiers felt nauseous as they looked at the giant mass of flesh wriggling in front of them. However, the emotion that dominated them was not nausea, but anger at the source of the suffering they had endured so far.

“Smash them all!”

““Uwaaaaa—!!””

Having received Asha’s (or rather, Lucia’s) confirmation that there were no Tentacles inside the Nest, they rushed out with fierce momentum and began to destroy the Nest. The Tentacle Nest splattered Viscous Fluid everywhere each time it was broken by a hammer or sword, but it collapsed helplessly without resisting the Soldiers.

Squeak!

In the meantime, when Lucia, who was next to Asha, glared at the place where the Nest was, the Tentacle Nest collapsed powerlessly as if the air had been let out, and then compressed with a chilling sound. Seeing the attack that seemed to have a personal grudge added to it, Asha sweated slightly.

‘Is Lucy in a bad mood?’

Asha had been told by the Count to save her strength, but the Soldiers who were breaking down the Tentacle Nests one by one were also doing a lot of hard work. She softened the ground under the Nest, causing the Nest to sink deep into the ground.

“Hooo…”

They had already destroyed dozens of Nests, but there were more Nests left than the ones they had destroyed so far. Asha felt like she knew where the Tentacles had been coming from all this time. But even while destroying the Nests, she felt uneasy.

‘We’ve dealt with the Tentacles in the Nest now, but where are the women?’

If they couldn’t rescue the women, no matter how much they destroyed the Nests now, the Tentacles would soon restore the same group as before.

“Lucy, do you sense any other presence?”

Lucia was frowning, which was rare.

“It was strange that I couldn’t feel it properly until now, but those Nests have been constantly interfering with my sensing.”

“Ah…”

Asha realized why Lucia was not in a good mood. The source that had been interfering with her sensing during the journey so far was the Nest in front of her, so she had every right to be angry.

“Now that it’s a little clearer, I think I’ll be able to see more clearly if I destroy everything there. Hmph!”

As she spoke, Lucia seemed to burst with anger and crushed another Nest. Lucia, who had been constantly crushing the Nests, suddenly flinched.

“Mom, it’s not here. It’s underneath.”

“Underneath?”

“I can feel Tentacles and people deep under my feet. They’re there. It’s quite deep.”

“W, wait a minute!”

Asha hurriedly ran to the Count with the newly discovered information.

“Count! There are Tentacles and people deep underground!”

The Count was taken aback by Asha’s words.

“Underground, what kind of underground are you talking about?”

“It’s not just a little deep, it’s to the point where you have to dig into the ground. At least 40 feet (12m) or more…”

“Terrible…”

The Count’s face hardened at the unexpected news. Maximilian approached the two, sensing the unusual atmosphere.

“What’s wrong, you two?”

“There are Tentacles and people deep underground. Digging the ground is also a problem, but I don’t know how to deal with the Tentacles who can easily dig Tunnel…”

“Hmm…”

The Prince also hesitated to speak easily about the problem that was difficult to deal with rashly and began to worry. All three fell into silence at the crisis where they might not be able to accomplish even half of their purpose after coming all the way here.