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The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (172)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

55 The Defensive Battle at Command (7)

In order for his divine beasts to exert their full strength, Iron had no choice but to not use his divine power. So, all he could do was stop the attacks of thousands of steel-like outer shells that encircled him with his swordsmanship alone.

However, he was still a human and no matter how hard he tried to block all of the attacks there was still a chance that he could make a single mistake that would result in irreversible injuries. In fact, ‘completely’ blocking all of the attacks was literally impossible but he could only live and survive if he could do that feat.

Reason clearly told him that he should retreat and bide his time. But his heart was telling him that he could do it.

And what he followed was his heart. He gripped his sword tightly as he increased the release of steel mana.

‘I can do it.’ 

Iron alertly looked at his surroundings as he continuously deflected the shells that flew at him from all sides. 

From the very basic movements that he was most confident in to all of the killing moves that he had used both in his past and current life, he showed all of his skills and left no outer shell intact.

Blocking thousands of shells might have been impossible for others but Iron was different.

‘It’s possible!’ 

He made it possible with his own swordsmanship. The very same basic swordsmanship that he had obsessively trained until all of the movements had been turned neat and clean. Compared to others who focused on mana the moment they reached a certain level, he had only focused on this swordsmanship. That was why he could do it.

The result of training his swordsmanship for tens of thousands of times was sharp movements devoid of mistakes. And these sharp and perfect movements coupled with his abundant experience allowed him to block the steel-like shells that flew at him.

The giant armored worm felt a huge sense of crisis when it saw him blocking its attacks.

― Kkiiii…

In fact, from what it had assessed during their fight before, it firmly believed that it could win if Iron was the only one blocking its path. That was the reason why it deliberately reigned in its appetite to feed and raise its subordinates. 

The giant armored worm’s plan was to use the hundreds of great worms to distract the divine beasts and separate them from Iron. Then, it would take that opportunity and kill Iron by itself. It looked forward to eating a human alive for the first time in a long while, just like a kid looking forward to dessert. 

It was confident that this was the perfect plan. But the human in front of it was more persistent than what it had initially assessed.

“Hoo… Is this the end?”

Iron grinned as he wiped his sweat off. 

The giant armored worm roared loudly as it released shells, which were far larger in number than the previous attack, again. But the attack still failed. 

The number of shells that it released may have increased from the previous attack. However, it also meant that Iron only needed to swing his sword faster and more neatly to deal with them. And the current Iron was more than capable enough of this feat.

“Will you come by yourself now?”

The giant armored worm continued to release its shells as it rushed towards Iron. He was already busy maintaining his stance to get rid of the speeding shells so he had no time to avoid the charging giant armored worm.

‘I have to take this head on.’

Iron swung his sword the moment this thought flashed in his head.

Invisible sword light that was made out of his steel mana exploded and stretched out in all directions. This attack temporarily deflected the speeding shells and allowed him to receive the giant armored worm’s charge head on.

Slide, slide, slide!

His feet were buried deep into the ground as he slid from the strong push. However, Iron was still able to block the giant armored worm.

Meanwhile, the giant armored worm opened its huge mouth as it tried to devour him in one bite. But everytime its huge mouth moved to devour him, Iron would be able to avoid it with his strange foot movement. 

‘It won’t be easy.’

Iron grinned as he lifted his sword. 

The giant armored worm cried loudly after it saw his mocking smile. It obviously had the upperhand in both physical body and mana. But despite the obvious advantage in overall power, it still could not win. 

It thought that everything would be over once he left the annoying divine beasts to its subordinates. That was why it persevered in enduring its greed and desires. But no matter what it did, it couldn’t eat the insignificant human in front of it. 

So, it became furious. 

So, it became more annoyed. 

So, it wanted to eat the human in front of it more. 

― Kkiii!

With a loud roar, enormous mana erupted from the giant armored worm’s body. 

The mana was so enormous that it transformed the black fog encroaching the surrounding area more substantial to the point that anyone who saw it could feel that it was a bit sticky. Even the nearby areas had been completely contaminated with the advent of the enormous mana. 

“Hoo… I’m in trouble.”

The bastard had realized during the battle just now that it had to risk everything to kill Iron. So, it stopped thinking that this was an easy feat as it let out everything that it had to try and kill Iron. 

But Iron wasn’t scared. 

If he couldn’t withstand this bastard’s attack, then he knew that he wouldn’t be able to withstand the upcoming fights. He was the core of the Mobile Field Army so he had to become stronger. 

“Hoo…”

Iron let out a short breath as he squeezed out all of his mana. 

His entire body heated up the moment he squeezed out his mana to the limits. And his body, which had reached its limits, was barely able to cross that restriction. 

Clang, clang, clang!

“Let it fly at me more! More! More!”

The giant armored worm released all of the steel-like outer shells covering its body as it continued to charge towards Iron. It twisted its body and slammed on the area where Iron was going to jump on to evade. It wanted to literally dominate the space and crush Iron with its gigantic body. Even the sticky and cloying contaminated mana was pressing on Iron. 

But Iron still held out.

“Kgghhk!”

Iron grinned widely when he vomited just a mouthful of blood after successfully enduring the giant armored worm’s charge and the tens of thousands of steel-like shells. He stood firm despite the injuries that littered his body.

He looked at the giant armored worm with firm and determined eyes. It was as if he was telling his opponent that he would never collapse. 

What he was most confident in was not his divine beasts, his swordsmanship or his tactics. He was most confident in his perseverance, the perseverance that kept him alive in his previous life and in this current life. This same perseverance allowed him to survive until the very end in his previous life despite his trashy talent and it was also the same perseverance that had made him into the field army commander in his current life. 

“Hoo… Good.”

His internal and external injuries were being healed in real time while his vitality was beginning to increase thanks to Baepsae’s help. The feeling that washed over him was so amazing and good that he thought that he could enjoy this fight despite the pain. 

The giant armored worm’s attacks stopped after seeing his injuries heal. It thought that it had already pushed Iron to the limits with all of its might but it saw him recover.

Although the mana that Iron had consumed would take a long time to recover and his momentum was not as strong as before, the same was true for itself.

But the shrewd human was able to block its attacks with just a minimal amount of mana. 

The attacker was going at it and attacking with all its might but its opponent was just focused on blocking so the difference in the consumed mana was huge. So, even if it had an enormous advantage on the amount of mana, it would eventually be similar in situation with Iron with the amount of mana that it had consumed. 

But above everything, what made the giant armored worm hesitate was Iron’s growth. 

“Why? Not coming anymore?” 

Iron nodded his head mockingly at the hesitating giant armored worm. He smiled after seeing that the giant armored worm did not react to his provocation. 

The giant armored worm hesitation gave Iron room to breathe. It was afraid that Iron would grow even further the more they fought like this. The great worms and the giant worms, who were fighting fiercely, also took a step back and took a breather. 

In just a blink of an eye, the great worms and the giant worms surrounded the giant armored worm while the divine beasts gathered around Iron. 

Iron’s opponents seemed like they were taking a breather after their fierce battle, but he knew that the greedy giant armored worm would not give up like that. 

The giant armored worm instinctively felt that it would be in danger if it let Iron grow further. So, it would definitely rush straight back at him the moment it regained its strength. 

Iron also noticed its careful thoughts so he did not return to the Field Army Command and stood there confronting the giant armored worm. 

While Iron and the giant armored worm were at a standstill the Field Army Command had entered another fierce battle. 

They had only barely been able to block the huge herd of water buffaloes but they now had to fight a bigger battle against the giant ants’ corps.  

Bang, bang, bang! 

“Stop them as much as you can! We can block them!” 

Ariel shouted loudly to encourage the soldiers before going out of the gate and cutting down the giant ants. 

She was able to stab the giant ant’s weakness and kill it in one go with her talent in the sword. However, the opponents were still swarming. 

Thanks to the water buffaloes’ deterrent, only a few members of the giant ant corps were able to come to the castle. But even if there were fewer opponents, they were still struggling. Their opponents were not even at the corps-level so it was disgraceful that their Field Army was struggling. 

“Keuk! There… there are so many enemies!” 

“It’s getting harder and harder to maintain the battle line.” 

Ariel’s eyes turned bloodshot after hearing the knights’ words. 

“The Commander went alone to fight against the giant worms! So, how can we even face the Commander and help him if we fall in front of these bastards?!” 

The knights gritted their teeths at Ariel’s scolding. 

They had often heard that the master level individual was more powerful than a corps. They were monsters that could show stronger force than an entire corps combined.

That was also the reason why Iron went alone to stop the giant worms. Since he could show a force and power that was far more complete and proper than their corps, he went alone to stop the corps of giant worms. Iron made that choice after considering his role as a master and a commander. After all, they would have no solution once the giant worms flocked to the Command Center. 

That meant that they had to do their part too. 

“Protect Command no matter what. That is the only way that we can repay the Commander’s trust.” 

Ariel clenched her fists gloomily when she saw the knights remaining quiet with heavy expressions on their faces. 

The only way that they could repay his sacrifice was to protect Command. She might not be as good in strategy and tactics as the Commander but that did not mean that she did not have other abilities. The reason why she was assigned as the chief executive officer in charge of defending this place was because Iron believed that she could at least protect Command. So to repay his trust in her, Ariel squeezed her remaining handful of mana and made sure to keep the gate. 

Was it because they saw her trying to keep that trust? The struggling troops stood firm and cut down the giant ants that broke into the gate and advanced forward. The knight order once again created a defense line around the gate as the soldiers climbed up the wall and blocked their enemies with all their might. 

While they reorganized their defense line, the soldier ants were able to successfully bite through the water buffaloes tough hide and rush towards the gate. 

Ppiiiiiiii―

Seeing the soldier ants rushing forward, Ariel immediately blew the small flute in her hands and called for the knight order with the unique tone of the flute. 

“The knights will take care of that!”

“What a joke.”

Saeriden looked at Ariel hatefully as he led the storm troopers. 

The two units, the knight order and the storm troops, rushed towards the soldier ants as if they were competing. 

They deliberately created a competitive atmosphere to let the soldiers overcome the fear of the incoming gigantic soldier ants. 

“Well go on ahead and take care of it first!”

“Are you going to lose to those dumb knights of the knight order?!”

Ariel and Saeriden shouted loudly as they cut down the soldier ants and made it look like they were competing. 

But despite their efforts, their situation remained to be at a disadvantage. 

At that moment, special bullets flew all over the place and tore holes through the soldier ants’ thick skin.

“We, rangers, will be the one to take 1st place in military merits!”

Nyx Cole, who had become a part of the rangers, appeared on top of a soldier ant with a wide grin on his face. 

Then, Cardro fell down from the sky as if he couldn’t lose. 

“You’re discussing merits without us?”

The aerial assault units dropped down and slashed the necks of the soldier ants as soon as Cardro’s words ended. 

All of the Field Army’s special forces had appeared to stop the soldier ants. Thanks to that, the tough and resilient soldier ants began to die one after the other. 

The moment the soldier ants died, the other giant ants stepped back for a bit. 

The special forces went and attacked the soldier ants’ weaknesses, successfully stopping their advance. They even used their momentum and killed the other giant ants while driving them backwards. 

Seeing their momentum, the captain of the soldier ants had no choice but to order for a retreat. And with the retreat of the black mass of corps in the distance, the soldiers finally relaxed their stiff shoulders as they shouted in unison. 

This was their first battle without their Commander. And the victory that they claimed in the worst situation that they were faced with was extremely valuable. 

“I feel ashamed to go and see the commander.” 

“He might probably get angry if he saw that we had a lot of casualties…” 

Ariel smiled bitterly after responding to Cardro’s words.

“Uhm…” 

Cardro couldn’t refute her words at all. So, he just turned his head silently. 

***

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