Chapter 400

The place where I sat.

It was the operations room.

The place where, as the overall commander of this plan, I issued real-time operational directives.

To do that, information was naturally needed.

Riviera took on that role.

There was no one more suitable than her, as she could survey the entire unfolding situation from a high position and had the ability to transmit it immediately.

A small earring was currently on my left ear.

Through that earring, our words were being conveyed to each other.

– I took care of the giant at the North Gate.

“Well done. So, there are three giants left now?”

– Yes, one at each gate, so three is correct.

My hand, holding a pen, moved quickly, crossing out the giant mark at the North Gate on the Holy City map with an X.

It was important information.

Because the giant was a troublesome entity that made our defense seriously difficult.

“Then the North Gate should be fine now?”

– Yes, so I told Miss Top Student to go to the academy.

“Well done.”

Her mind might be eccentric, but Riviera was smarter than anyone.

The problem was that she was too laid-back and lax, but when she was focused on her tasks like now, she was more reliable than anyone.

I marked a large X over the northern route on the map with my pen.

Because I was confident that the enemy would not enter that way.

“Tell the personnel waiting in the north to return to the central waiting room.”

“Yes, yes.”

Ran, who was assisting me by my side, immediately raised her voice into a round magic sphere.

It was a voice-amplifying communication magic sphere that reached the entire underground.

“Ah, ah, those waiting in the north, please return to the central waiting room immediately! I repeat! Those waiting in the north…”

With this, the dispersed personnel gained some leeway.

It meant that operations could be carried out more effectively in other areas.

My mind continued to race.

Now, excluding the north, there were east, west, and south.

The risk level and response methods would inevitably differ for each direction.

Because the enemies were different.

– East side breached.

Riviera’s notification.

My gaze quickly turned to the east side of the map.

The place where the names of the undead army, giant, messenger, and Natasha were written.

If we could cut down the giant with a surprise attack, there would be no better result.

But my eyes caught something.

The presence of the messenger and Natasha.

Among them, I knew Natasha’s strength painfully well.

An opponent who would bring death immediately if there was even the slightest sloppiness.

Besides.

She wasn’t the only dangerous one.

“You said there’s a high probability that the Heavenly Lord is where the messenger is, right?”

– Yes, I think so. The messenger is the Heavenly Lord’s mouth.

Riviera’s answer.

Here, I had no choice but to absolutely trust Riviera’s judgment.

Because everything she had seen, heard, and experienced directly in Red Rain until now would be the basis for her judgment.

‘I must avoid clashing with the Heavenly Lord right now, no matter what.’

Too dangerous, far too dangerous an entity.

Even as a human, his power was equal to that of the legendary Saint.

Now that he had accepted the power of the Dark God, I couldn’t even fathom how strong he might be.

We absolutely had to avoid him until our strongest forces were properly gathered.

“Where are the giant, the messenger, and Natasha located?”

– At the rear.

Well, she did say they had the undead army at the forefront and were positioned at the rear when attacking the East Gate.

If so.

‘I’ll have to cut off only the front and let them go.’

My decision was made.

“Ran, tell the personnel waiting in the east to launch a surprise attack, cut off only the enemy’s vanguard when they reach two-thirds of the central plaza, and then return.”

“Alright!”

Ran quickly relayed my instructions again.

“Ah, ah, those waiting in the east…”

In the meantime, another notification from Riviera came in.

– South side also breached.

If it was the south.

Undead army, Holy Knights, giant, and an executive with mental manipulation abilities.

Staring at the map, I quickly confirmed.

“You said the mental manipulation ability doesn’t work if you block your ears, right?”

– Yes, because sight and hearing are necessary conditions.

In the end, it meant a response was possible.

Since sight couldn’t be blocked, hearing had to be.

The problem was.

If hearing was blocked, it would inevitably hinder our own forces as well.

It was natural, as they couldn’t hear.

However.

‘It’s fine.’

My eyes gleamed.

The grueling training up until now would absolutely not betray us.

We could communicate simple intentions with just eye contact.

Crucially, we also had hand signals prepared for times like this.

‘The southern enemies will be crushed here as much as possible.’

The strong force of the Holy Knights.

One giant.

And finally, an executive with the troublesome ability of mental manipulation.

They, at least, had to be prevented from reaching the academy unscathed.

*Grit.*

My fist clenched tightly.

“Commence crushing operation in the south.”

“Ah, ah, those in the south, commence crushing operation!”

Ran immediately relayed my instructions.

I turned my gaze elsewhere.

“Senior, please.”

The most reliable force in this underground.

And one of the beings I relied on the most.

I asked Elf Senior.

Because now was the time her strength was needed.

“Hmph, I understand.”

Elf Senior smiled.

I returned the smile.

That alone conveyed all our mutual feelings.

“Then, I’ll see you later.”

Elf Senior left the operations room without hesitation.

Without worrying, I focused on the current situation again.

– Enemies are also pushing in from the West Gate.

Riviera’s words.

My expression tensed.

Because I had already heard information that a poison master was at the West Gate.

An absurdly dangerous entity capable of mass slaughter.

Not even the slightest mistake was permissible.

Because it would immediately lead to enormous damage.

I stood up.

“Brother Max?”

Now was the time for me to move.

“I’ll go to the west myself.”

* * *

East of the Holy City.

The undead army was marching majestically.

However, their numbers were clearly smaller than before.

The final, glorious, suicidal attack of the Holy Knights and Holy Soldiers who had defended the East Gate was by no means meaningless.

However.

Their prestige was still high.

Victory must have boosted their morale even further.

*Clank, clank, clank, clank!*

Unstoppable advance.

The streets were empty.

Because the residents had already finished evacuating.

The fact that they had bought enough time for the evacuation was also thanks to the sacrifice of those who had already died gloriously.

If they eventually won this war, their precious sacrifice would be remembered forever.

But if they were defeated.

It would simply disappear as a futile death.

To prevent that futile death, humans moved.

No, not just humans.

Elven warriors too.

*Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!*

A storm of arrows rained down on the undead from the front.

It was the elves.

*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!*

The bodies of the undead shattered under the sudden arrow attack.

The undead also possessed intelligence.

They quickly realized that it was the elves in front of them who had attacked them.

*Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!*

As soon as they did, the undead charged forward at high speed.

The sound of bones rattling on the ground was chilling.

It looked like a perilous situation for the elves.

It was then.

Human figures leaped out from both sides of the road and formed a shield wall.

“Hahahat, come at me as much as you want, you skeletons!”

Dunken’s confident roar.

And his Turtle Squad was the same.

“We are the ones who withstood the charge of the Eastern Army that hunted pirates!”

“Do you think we’ll be breached by skeletons with no flesh to boil?”

As if to prove their confidence, they stood firm like a mountain against the charging undead.

*CRASH!*

*CRRRRAAAAAASH!*

A heavy sound of impact.

Yet, the Turtle Squad did not budge.

Rather, the charging undead were pushed back.

A veritable human wall.

That wasn’t the end.

“Thrust!”

Dunken’s powerful command.

Immediately, long spears thrust out powerfully from between the gaps in the shields.

*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!*

The bodies of the undead were miserably shattered by the spear attacks and tumbled to the ground.

It was that powerful of an attack.

And as if in rhythm, the Elven warriors behind them rained down another volley of arrows.

*Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!*

*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!*

The undead army, unable to cope with the attacks stabbing from the front and flying from the sky.

The plan Max had meticulously prepared for over a year was bringing clear results from the very beginning of the battle.

* * *

“Huh?”

The messenger tilted his head.

Because the hitherto unstoppable advance seemed to be slowing down from the front, as if blocked by something.

Since he hadn’t given an order to stop, there was only one reason.

“It’s the enemy.”

Natasha, as if realizing the same fact, spoke first.

“Hmm, well, it seems so. They must have set up a defensive wall in the city center as well.”

“I suppose so.”

“But there’s no need to worry. The main force must have been the ones defending the city walls anyway. We’ll break through them soon.”

It was a plausible assertion.

Since the main force would have been deployed to the city walls, which had a geographical advantage, the remaining forces in a city center like this would be nothing more than small fry.

Therefore, the messenger waited leisurely.

Confident that the defensive wall would soon be breached.

However.

“…”

As time passed, the advance stopped completely.

It meant that far from breaking through the defensive wall, the front was completely blocked.

Eventually.

The messenger exploded.

“These idiotic bastards, what the hell!”

The messenger’s figure shot up like an arrow.

He was climbing onto the head of the giant next to him.

To secure a wide field of vision.

And soon, the messenger saw.

The farce unfolding before him.

“What are those bastards?”

The messenger frowned.

They weren’t Holy Knights.

They weren’t Holy Soldiers either.

Nor were they academy brats.

Bastards completely clad in armor, their identities unknown, were forming a shield wall and thrusting long spears, massacring the undead army.

On top of that.

“Elves?”

Bastards raining down arrow attacks from behind the shield wall.

They were definitely elves.

“Why are elf bastards here?”

The messenger’s expression turned to one of utter disbelief.

It was natural.

Because he had never once thought that there would be elves in the Holy City.

Even less so that so many of them would pop out and even launch organized arrow attacks.

“Ha, this is ridiculous.”

The messenger shook his head.

The appearance of an unexpected obstacle.

It was definitely not pleasant.

“Insolent bastards who don’t know their place. They’ve found their own graves.”

It was unforgivable.

Those moths who didn’t know their place had to be burned to death without exception.

“They really looked down on us because we’re skeletons.”

The messenger snorted.

There was no way the Heavenly Lord’s army, which would purify the world, would have come with only skeletons at the forefront.

The messenger’s eyes glinted with madness.

“Go forth and slaughter the enemies without exception, Knights of Death!”

* * *

“Heh, is this all you’ve got?”

“I know, right? I feel like I could hold out for a lifetime.”

The Turtle Squad, acting nonchalantly and leisurely.

Dunken, leading the squad, was no different from them in his nonchalance.

However.

He was not letting his guard down in the slightest.

Because he clearly remembered Max’s instruction to cut off only the front and then return.

That meant there was a formidable enemy that they couldn’t handle.

They had to retreat appropriately before those bastards appeared.

Therefore, Dunken’s eyes were constantly and vigilantly observing the situation.

That action made him discover something unusual.

“What are those bastards?”

Skeletons.

But while they were skeletons, they weren’t just skeletons.

Giant skeletons, several times larger in build.

Moreover, they were completely clad in ominous black armor.

Something was amiss.

They didn’t look like the desperately strong enemies Max had warned about, but they felt fundamentally different from the skeletons they were currently facing.

“Retreat for now!”

“Pardon?”

“Retreat for now, you brats!”

Dunken made a quick decision.

Those bastards were dangerous.

Holding out against them head-on was not good.

But there was a way.

The reason they had trained until their mouths were dry was for this moment.

“Everyone, scatter! Lure those black skeletons!”