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67. Ancient Gods! (3)

In the time that Iron had been entangled with the key figures in the confederation’s army, his subordinates had been leading the Mobile Field Army beautifully. Ariel had defeated the enemy that had messed with the knights, and Cadro had put his life on the line to fight the bat god. [1]

This was only possible because both commanding officers believed in the troops they commanded. Of course, the other commanding officers were also carrying out their roles brilliantly. The knights division of the defence troops and the storm troops focused their attention on attacking the incarnations, while Saeridan restrained his desire to go out and fight, and instead stayed back as defence. The rangers swung from the rear, creating chaos among the enemy army.

The confederation’s army had greater numbers. However, in all the time that the Mobile Field Army had been fighting battles, there had been several times when the enemy army had been larger than theirs. They had always used their small number of troops to produce the best results, so fighting this time around felt, to them, like they were on home turf.

Having fought monsters until now, they found fighting humans slightly awkward, but that was all.

–Cough!

“One of the incarnations to the east has been dealt with!”

Gaon nodded at the report from the Ravens. Although their group was not entirely made up of high-ranking knights at 5th level and above like Ghost was, they had more numbers. All of them would soon reach 5th level in no time, each one an outstanding talent. They provided much help to the army troops by scouting the areas that were most dangerous.

“Their morale is increasing.”

“We must eliminate as many of the enemy soldiers as possible.”

“Stop them! Make sure they can’t run away!”

“This time, wipe them all out!”

The seasoned Mobile Field Army could not let the morale of their enemy forces increase.

A “moderate” victory?

There was no such thing. Those who survived will again become their enemies, another threat that they would have to face. Instead, it was better judgement to face the danger now and annihilate the enemy. Now that the apocalypse had fully started, they had to deal with the South as soon as possible, clean it up so they could face other threats.

Of course, the confederation’s army did not just remain standing at the ready to be attacked. Knowing that they would be in danger if they kept being forced to retreat like this, the ancient gods of the confederation’s army gathered all their powers, just like the incarnation that Ariel had fought.

“Cough! These crazy……”

A woman brandishing a blazing whip and a gigantic turtle flew down from the sky towards the troops on the land. Both the power of the woman’s fiery whip and the turtle’s size had been amplified greatly. An enormous elephant appeared, spraying water that had mana coiled around it, while several stone golems crept out of nowhere.

Watching all these appear, Iron turned to ask the other-worlders.

“Won’t you all do the same?”

The six strongest other-worlders stared at Iron. Then Kim Jungtae laughed as he looked at the ancient gods who were creating incarnations all over the battlefield.

“That’s something only people with no abilities do.”

The rest of the other-worlders nodded at Kim Jungtae’s words. The ancient gods were only able to make their incarnations at the price of the bodies of those that had made contracts with them. The power that was given to those contractors was a seed, a seed that sprouted, bloomed and grew at the cost of the contractors’ lives. Then the ancient gods would take that increased strength from their contractors in order to make their incarnations and descend. That was why they needed so many contractors, and that was how the powers that the ancient gods displayed were made stronger.

The problem was when they needed to instantaneously increase their power, like the incarnation with the lance had had to do.

“Heuk…… heuk……”

“Cough!”

Sweat poured down the bodies of the contractors; in more severe cases, some even coughed up blood. The contractors were being made to pay part of the price for the descent of the ancient gods. The ancient gods had tried not to overdo things as much as they could, but they were forced to amplify their powers when they were being forced to retreat by the Mobile Field Army.

On the other hand, the six other-worlders who had materialised ancient gods using their own power faced no problems or limitations. They had chosen ancient gods that matched their strengths, and had advanced by their own strength. They were strong enough to bring the extremely weak bodies of those gods to the continent. They were yet to become masters, but that was only a matter of time. They were so close to becoming masters, that if they were given just a little time, six more individuals would be added to the list of masters on the continent.

However they had just watched Ariel fight, and even though it had not been that long since she awakened, she was able to marry her sword technique and her powers, becoming a 6th level with such overwhelming power that could not be replicated.

Despite that, the steel wall before them named Iron was as great and as insurmountable as ever.

“This monster-like punk.”

Kim Jungtae frowned and mumbled as he looked at Iron. Even when Iron had been cornered by two masters and six people who were right on the threshold of becoming masters, he had been able to escape and prevail over them.

Because of his title effects, he possessed explosive physical power and mana that was greater than those of most masters, divine beasts that were themselves strong enough to be called masters, deep reserves of holy power, and even his own sword technique.

All this power at the fingertips of one person.

But different from what it seemed like on the outside, Iron did not feel so relaxed. No matter how strong he was, he was indeed standing against two masters and six almost-masters. His holy power could be constantly replenished, but the same was not true for his aura or his divine power. He could at least make up for the divine power using the nature power he had been given by the World Tree, but the speed at which his aura was decreasing was frightening.

All the while he had been fighting, he had pretended to be at ease, but he was unable to overwhelm them and was only holding on because he did not have the power to execute an attack.

“Prince Carlos.”

Carlos turned his head at Muradin’s call and looked at him. Able to understand each other’s intentions by the look in their eyes, they both gave a small nod.

“Hoo……”

“Phew!”

Suddenly, Muradin and Carlos drew all their strength. The six other-worlders watched them, their eyes wide with surprise. They found it strange that the two masters were suddenly attacking with all their might. Just a minute ago, they had obviously been planning to retreat, but now they were giving it their all and charging at Iron.

‘Did they realise it?’

Iron fought back against the two masters with a hard, bitter look on his face. His aura was in serious short supply, and now his divine power and his holy power were being consumed rapidly. Although the characteristic feature of his holy power was that he could use it infinitely, the more he fought, the more excessively his mental strength was consumed, and the more his body was damaged. Since he had to constantly restore those, he would inevitably show that he was at his limits.

Crash!

Carlos came with a surprise attack. Iron stopped the attack with a light shield, but unlike before, he could not block the all of the attack. The shield was unable to withstand the wave attack filled with the power of the ancient gods, and cracks had formed on it.

‘Is this Battle End qi?’

Iron thought, as he tried to restore the shield. However, the next instant, the shield was shattered by a sword attack from Muradin who was following right behind. As if to say that that was not the end, thousands of steel swords containing aura came flying, creating aura blades that attacked Iron haphazardly.

This was the showdown Muradin and Carlos had left for last, a technique that could be called mysterious or even divine, and contained the essence of the swordsmanship of each clan. Right now, that technique was being used to attack Iron.

Kwoong!

“Did he… withstand that?”

Muradin blankly mumbled to himself, while his sword flew into the air.

The two masters had used the battle end qi technique but Iron was still standing, his momentum still strong.

“Cough!”

“Keuk!”

His steel-like momentum weighed down on the two masters, and on top of that, he released more and more holy power. The two masters could no longer hold on and fell to their knees, unable to sustain the Battle End Qi technique any more. But that was all. In the end, the two of them were able to endure the continuing attack from Iron.

‘They were able to endure even though they’ve run out of energy?’

The moment they say that the two masters were still relatively safe, the six other-worlders realised something.

‘This is not normal!’

They were certain that something was wrong with Iron’s body. There were bloodstains around his mouth, as if he had sustained internal injuries, and even his divine beasts had much weaker powers than they’d had at first.

Now that Iron had taken some damage from the attack of the two masters, the other-worlders would never miss this opportunity that had been offered to them on a gold platter. Immediately, they gathered their strengths that had also hit rock-bottom. Seeing that they were about to attack, Muradin, who had barely survived Iron’s attack, approached Kim Jungtae.

“I ask that… you only capture that monster.”

Even though Kim Jungtae’s expression looked like his pride had been insulted, he still nodded to Muradin’s words.

Having left Iron to the six other-worlders, the two masters stepped back and headed to where the comms officer was.

“We had prepared it just in case… but I never expected that we would have to use it in that last attack….”

“He is truly a monster.”

Neither the southern commander nor the eastern commander had even come. Only the Mobile Field Army was fending off the army that they had led to the south. It was true that Iron was a monster, but even the troops under his command had surpassed the general level of troops.

“Co… commander!”

When the comms officer stood in a hurry to salute him, Muradin stopped him and took the comms device away.

“Begin the final operation.”

For a while, everyone was silent at Muradin’s order. They had never expected that they would execute this operation now. This operation was supposed to begin when the southern commander or the eastern commander came to aid the Mobile Field Army, or when many commanders had come. That was how late they had expected to use this. But now they were pulling out this strategy to win against just the Mobile Field Army.

“……do we carry it out immediately?”

Muradin replied to the voice that came from the comms device with a grave look on his face.

“……yes.”

-Understood.

All the commanding officers responded to Muradin, amd immediately began preparing to execute the plan.

“So complicated.”

“Were we too conceited?”

Carlos asked, his words filled with self-ridicule as he looked at Iron. They had thought that they could easily defeat the Mobile Field Army with this many troops. Afterall, their army included two masters and several other-worlders. It was almost impossible for their army to be blocked by just one field army.

But despite that, this army from the empire, full of monsters with freakish strength, had done just that. They had not only stopped them, but had also forced them to retreat. Maybe that was why the contractors from both their side and the other-worlders’ had overstretched themselves to call the incarnations of the ancient gods.

But despite that, forget having the upper hand in the battle, things had been too close to call for them at many points in the battle.

The incarnations could only use their amplified powers for a short period of time, so as time passed, the Mobile Field Army had the upper hand. The moment the incarnations were defeated, the confederation’s army would fall prey to the Mobile Field Army.

And so the final operation started.

Kwoong!

With a loud sound, a giant appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Its body reached up into the clouds, its size so big that a single step it took could crush all of the Command. As soon as the giant appeared, everyone who had been fighting fiercely in the battle stopped and stared blankly at it.

At the same time, all the people of the Empire heard a notification sound.

[The ancient gods have sacrificed their own powers and created an amalgamated body. Stop them.]

-Reward for completion will give a significant increase in abilities.

– When stopped, the Mobile Field Army will receive an exclusive buff.

– Stopping them will significantly reduce the recovery of those who have made contracts with the ancient gods.

The quest had come out of the blue. But it meant that stopping the giant was a truly important task.

The people of the south also received a similar quest.

[The ancient gods sacrificed their ranks to summon the giant. To justify their sacrifice, exterminate the Mobile Field Army!]

-Upon extermination, all penalties will be erased and power will be recovered instantly

-Only one part of penalties will be dropped for limited victories.

-If defeated instead, abilities will be restricted and powers cannot be used for a stipulated time period (complete abolishment of abilities for incarnation amplifiers)

All the people of the confederation’s army froze when they heard the quest. The giant had been summoned at the risk of many soldiers and commissioned officers losing their abilities, and now they had been made the sweet offer of having all those penalties against their name being written off. This quest had appeared when they already had their backs to the wall and couldn’t see their way forward. It made their eyes glow with fervour.

“We must be victorious!”

“Take up your swords once more!”

“Get in formation!”

As the commanding officers gave their loud cries, the troops of the southern confederation’s army began getting in formation again.

Finally, as the giant they had summoned began its move forward, they walked in the giant’s footsteps, once again ready to attack.

Notes:

[1] ‘…fight the bat god.’: Raws say ‘초월체’, which means ‘transcendental’, and is actually a type of zerg. You can read more about it on this wiki page (in Korea, but the Google translation is okay).

[2] ‘Is this battle end qi?’: 결전기. The ‘결전’ in this word means ‘showdown, play-off, a deciding match’ etc. But the author means for it to be a tangible item or technique (a few sentences down says that Muradin and Carlos had hidden it). So we’ll use this name for now. Sometimes ‘showdown’ may be used instead, if it matches the context better.