Invasion of Bradon Territory

Human priests were desperately using healing magic to barely maintain the front lines, but the human soldiers were on the verge of annihilation due to the countless Giant Ents pouring in.

Human priests, mages, and archers were diligently supporting the melee soldiers from the center.

Suddenly, the ceiling in the center of the human soldiers began to tremble slightly, and holes appeared everywhere, with Giant Ents falling down with their spears pointed downwards.

A Giant Ent’s spear pierced a priest’s crown and came out through his groin.

The Giant Ent swung the spear, shaking off the corpse.

Another Giant Ent swung its spear powerfully, shattering an archer’s head with the shaft and scattering fragments of his brain.

Priests, mages, and archers were massacred and screamed everywhere.

“Kkeuaaaak! My shoulder!”

“Save me!”

With the priests and ranged support gone, knights and soldiers began to die one by one.

Andra and the knights ran around like crazy, killing Giant Ents, but even the Giant Ents had strong ones, and they couldn’t withstand the sheer numbers.

The human soldiers were isolated in various places due to the Giant Ents.

Only Juseup and a few soldiers remained around Andra.

Andra shouted while fighting.

“Shibal! Is this going to be my last dungeon raid!”

Juseup replied in a desperate voice.

“I’m going back! If you want to die, die alone, Commander-nim!”

“Just kidding! Why would I die!”

Every time Andra threw a punch, a part of the Giant Ent shattered.

When Andra struck a Giant Ent’s stomach, its waist exploded, creating a hole.

It seemed like the small group led by Andra could escape this hell.

Something with a massive presence was rushing towards Andra from the front.

It was Fifth Corps Commander Hanipa.

Hanipa wore gold-plated armor and a helmet, holding a long spear in his right hand and a shield in his left.

Hanipa raised his long spear and swung it at Andra’s head with tremendous speed.

Andra blocked the long spear with his Aura-clad left gauntlet, and with a Kwaaaang, the cave shook with noise, and his left gauntlet shattered.

Andra was taken aback.

“Jeez! How can he be so strong!”

Juseup’s Aura arrow split into 20 strands and was fired at Hanipa, but the Giant Ent shaman cast a spell, causing the ground to rise and block all the arrows.

Hanipa roared again, thrusting his Aura-clad long spear at Andra, and Andra matched it, throwing a straight punch with his Aura-clad right gauntlet.

When the gauntlet and spear blade collided, a Kuaaang sound overwhelmed the cave.

Hanipa swung and thrust his long spear, attacking Andra relentlessly.

Hanipa’s face was that of a demon, something he had never shown to Kyle, the King of Tentacles.

Andra, already having exhausted much of his stamina, began to be pushed back.

A human soldier secretly tried to stab Hanipa’s left side with a sword, but Hanipa swung his shield, causing the struck area to explode and kill him instantly.

Suddenly, Juseup’s scream was heard.

“Kkeuaaaak! My hand! Aaaak!”

A Giant Ent had grabbed Juseup’s hand with its own and crushed it.

Another Giant Ent ended Juseup by smashing his head with a shield.

Andra let out a mournful scream upon seeing the death of Juseup, a comrade who had been with him since his adventurer days.

“No! Juseup!”

Out of 24 knights and 1,000 regular soldiers, only about 50 humans remained, including Andra.

Giant Ents, giant mole rats, and human corpses were scattered everywhere, but the human corpses were overwhelmingly numerous.

As Andra was fatigued, a cone of earth created by a Giant Ent shaman pierced his foot from below, causing Andra to scream and twist his foot.

In that gap, Hanipa’s long spear pierced Andra’s head, and Andra’s consciousness was severed.

Humans were massacred in all the caves.

There were four legions of Giant Ents in this cave.

The humans, unaware of the existence of the Giant Ents, had entered their home ground, and the Giant Ents, fully prepared, ambushed them.

Various traps for humans were prepared throughout the tunnels.

In some places, there were traps where the ground would collapse, leading to a fall onto spear blades.

Not a single human who entered this cave escaped.

A few humans fled from the battle, but they were killed by Giant Ents waiting in the tunnels near the entrance.

The humans suffered the annihilation of 20,000 Dungeon Knights and regular soldiers, while the Giant Ents suffered approximately 3,500 deaths.

---

It was nighttime and dark in the Bradon Village on the surface.

Jegal rested in the village chief’s house in front of the plaza.

The soldiers were camping in tents set up in the village buildings and streets.

Soldiers stood guard on the roofs of buildings and the walls of the village that had not been destroyed.

Jegal waited anxiously for news from the cave, but not a single messenger had come to report any findings.

Jegal considered sending soldiers, but decided to trust the Dungeon Knights and went to sleep.

An enormous number of Giant Ents, painted black all over their bodies, gathered around Bradon Village.

These were the 30,000 troops directly under Great General Muheuja, who had departed from the entrance of the Barain City forest.

Humans find it difficult to walk in the forest, but for wild Giant Ents, it was like a stroll.

Muheuja’s troops, without holding torches, moved through the darkness with familiarity and surrounded Bradon Village.

When all the troops had surrounded the village, Muheuja gave a signal.

The signal was quickly transmitted to the entire legion, and the Giant Ents charged into the village.

The human guards had not yet noticed the Giant Ents painted black all over.

Giant Ent javelin throwers threw their javelins from afar, accurately piercing the necks of the guards.

Climbing walls was not difficult for the Giant Ents, and there were many places that had been destroyed in the daytime battle, so the Giant Ents easily entered from all directions.

However, it is impossible to kill all the guards at once.

The guards in the center saw the guards around them dying and shouted.

“It’s the enemy! It’s the enemy!”

Bells rang from all directions, announcing the enemy’s invasion.

Dding dding dding dding

Human soldiers, fully equipped and camping, poured out into the streets.

Muheuja and the Giant Ent officers shouted.

“Exterminate all humans! Advance!”

The Giant Ents charged with their long spears in a mounted stance, piercing the human soldiers coming out into the streets.

Giant Ent javelin throwers threw javelins, and shamans caused cones to rise from the ground, piercing humans from their groins.

Battles broke out everywhere.

There were 30,000 Giant Ents and only 10,000 humans.

The Giant Ents came prepared, and the humans came out of their sleep, unaware that the Giant Ents even existed.

Furthermore, Giant Ents began to emerge from the five tunnel entrances in the village.

Human soldiers were massacred and screamed everywhere in Bradon Village.

“Kkeuaak! What is this!”

“It’s a monster! Euaaaak!”

Jegal, who had been snoring and sleeping in bed, heard the bell and jumped up.

Jegal quickly went outside.

It was dark and hard to see, but the sounds of weapons clashing and screams were heard everywhere.

Jegal thought he needed to assess the situation.

Jegal summoned the Wind Spirit King Silphid and rode the wind to the roof of the village chief’s building.

When Jegal summoned the Fire Spirit King Ifrit, a woman made of fire appeared in the dark sky.

Jegal shouted with a desperate face.

“Ifrit! Light up the night!”

Ifrit replied.

“Alright~ Little brat.”

Ifrit transformed into a giant fireball and floated in the air, illuminating the entire village like the sun.

Now Jegal could see everything.

What Jegal saw was that the black waves of Giant Ents filled the outskirts, plaza, and streets of Bradon Village, and in the center, his soldiers were fighting.

In this unbelievable situation, Jegal’s thoughts momentarily stopped.

But Jegal was a person who had experienced all sorts of hardships.

Jegal, with Silphid’s help, gave an order that the entire army could hear.

“All troops gather in the plaza! Break through to the Gail Kingdom!”

Human soldiers screamed and frantically swung their weapons, trying to move towards the plaza in the face of the countless pouring waves of Giant Ents.

However, the plaza was already covered with Giant Ents, and Great General Muheuja, wearing a large scythe and mithril armor, was also there.

It seemed like no one could get out, and Jegal sensed that fact.

When Jegal summoned the Earth Spirit King Noahs, the ground in the plaza suddenly rose, and a giant earth golem, about 60m tall, appeared, causing the Giant Ents to fall down.

Noahs asked Jegal.

“Hey. Are you fighting ants again this time?”

Jegal shouted.

“Put me on your shoulder!”

Noahs extended one hand and placed Jegal on his shoulder.

Below, human soldiers begged to be carried.

To conserve Jegal’s mana, even if it meant using Silphid’s wind, he could no longer take any more soldiers.

Jegal also made Ifrit small again and had her follow beside him.

Jegal shouted impatiently at Noahs.

“Please go east quickly!”

The giant earth golem walked east with a Koong Koong, and the Giant Ents clinging to its legs fell and were crushed.

In the village, human soldiers cursed at Jegal as he fled.

“You son of a bitch!”

“That guy isn’t even a commander! Euaaa!”

The human soldiers, who had lost hope, were slaughtered by the Giant Ents.

There was no way Great General Muheuja would just watch as the commander of the human army fled.

Aura gathered on Muheuja’s scythe.

Muheuja swung his scythe horizontally at Noahs’ ankle, and a huge, compressed Aura flew, cutting off Noahs’ ankle like tofu.

Noahs suddenly staggered as his ankle was cut, and six officers who had been riding on his shoulder fell down, screaming.

“Euaaaak!”

“Save me!”

Jegal, trying to conserve mana, could only watch blankly.

The fallen officers shattered with a thud.

One was strong enough to land on the ground, but Giant Ents rushed in and buried him.

When Noahs recovered his ankle, Jegal shouted.

“Noahs-nim, run!”

“You sure want a lot. I’ll listen to you just this once.”

Tsundere Noahs began to run.

Muheuja swung his scythe again, and a huge compressed Aura flew towards Noahs’ ankle and cut it off.

Noahs staggered, and two more officers fell, screaming again.

“Kkeuaaaaa!”

Noahs recovered again, but Jegal could no longer stand idly by.

Jegal asked Ifrit.

“Ifrit. Launch dozens of fire spears at that Giant Ent to stop him. You can’t kill him anyway, so just hinder him!”

“Our little brat is in a very dangerous situation.”

Muheuja was about to swing his scythe again when dozens of fire spears poured down on Muheuja from above.

Muheuja swung his scythe at an incredible speed, and dozens of crescent-shaped Auras flew out with a Shasha shashak sound, colliding with the fire spears and annihilating them as they went.

Jegal used mana, and a giant earth hand emerged from Noahs’ back, colliding with the flying Auras.

With a Kuaaaang sound, the earth hand shattered and fell down, but it blocked the Auras.

Jegal screamed.

“Euaaaaa! That’s a monster! How could something like that be in a place like this!”

The seven surviving officers were holding tightly to the protruding rocks on Noahs’ shoulder and screaming along.

Fortunately, Noahs ran quickly, and Muheuja began to look like a dot, and Jegal was able to escape from danger.

Muheuja considered following Jegal, but decided that it wouldn’t be a decisive battle and just let him go.

On that day, the only humans who survived the Tentacle Removal Operation in Bradon Village were Jegal and seven key officers.

When the news of the annihilation of the Dungeon Knights and 30,000 soldiers spread to the kingdom, people were shocked.

To make matters worse, the necessities and food that had been coming through the Mermaid Sea stopped coming, and the food and raw materials that had been coming from South Gail also stopped.

The Mermaid Sea was due to the Sahagins sinking merchant ships under Kyle’s orders, and in the case of South Gail, each territory and city had blockaded food due to the war with the Tentacles.

North Gail is a place where commerce and industry flourished, and because of its large population, it was bound to be hit hard by the food shortage.

Prices in North Gail soared, and hoarding and riots over food and necessities broke out everywhere.

A lot of food is needed to maintain the army, but the amount of food was decreasing.

King Bashir wanted to hold Jegal responsible for the defeat, but if he killed Jegal, an excellent military strategist and spirit master, there would be no one to fix this.

Therefore, King Bashir had no choice but to entrust Jegal with resolving this situation.

For Jegal, solving the food problem in North Gail was now a higher priority than the Bradon Village problem.

Without food, the army and the kingdom would collapse.

Jegal ordered Navy Commander Rimaxwe of Birkenhead Harbor to risk his life and go to Krampos Harbor in the Hamel Empire to buy food and find out why the ships were not coming.

The Gail Kingdom’s Mermaid Sea Navy consists of 40,000 marines and 160 ships.

Rimaxwe set off for Krampos Harbor with a total of 100 ships, carrying 20,000 marines and gold coins to buy food.

Rimaxwe vowed to return to the Gail Kingdom with all the gold coins exchanged for food.

If this operation also fails, North Gail will only lose gold coins and suffer a huge blow.

Jegal sent the army in the south of North Gail to the west, increasing the number of troops blockading the west of North Gail to 80,000 to check the Giant Ents.

He maintained 30,000 troops in the southern blockade of North Gail.

And Jegal led the Vanguard Knights and the remaining 60,000 troops across the Loire River into South Gail to assess the situation in South Gail and obtain food.

Along with rumors that Tentacles were massacring people in South Gail, refugees were constantly coming up to North Gail.

Now, readers will go see Kyle’s situation.

While Tentacles were being discovered and massacred in North Gail, Kyle and his party left the Mermaid Sea and set out on a journey to Minji Barony in the west of South Gail.

While Bradon Village was having a fun time fighting with the White Wolves, Kyle and his party were passing through the Beastman Village east of the Bohark Forest and getting closer to Minji Barony.

Now, let’s go see the situation in South Gail.