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67. Ancient Gods! (4)

As the confederation’s army began its offensive, the Mobile Field Army also pulled together their troops and forces.

“The Commander?”

At Ariel’s question, Carl Stein glanced at where Iron was. Ariel looked too, gritting her teeth at the sight of Iron fighting the six other-worlders who had become much stronger than the last time Iron had fought them.

“We can’t stop that on our own.”

Ariel looked at the giant whose upper body disappeared into the clouds as she spoke. Yes, Ariel had advanced greatly and become stronger than she had ever been, but she had not yet become a master. Only a master could fight that giant.

“We need masters.”

“Yes. We need the Commander.”

Because of how big the giant was, even though it was taking slow steps forwards, it seemed it could reach the Command in only one step. Seeing that, Ariel did not wait any longer and took out a small flute from inside her clothing.

“Ppiiiiiiii!”

As soon as Ariel blew on the flute using mana, a man appeared right next to her.

“The target?”

“Those people. Only the Commander can stop the giant. We have to deal with the others.”

Gaon Temphet, captain of Raven, who had just appeared next to Ariel, nodded his head as if to say that Ariel had a point.

However, he was not the only one who responded to Ariel’s call. Cardro, who was in midair commanding the airforce, Nyx Cole, who was holding the rear as the head of the Rangers, the captain of the Storm Troops, Ludem Leonhart and captain of the Knights Order, Rodem Leonhart, also answered her call.

“We cannot send out Allan and Peter.”

Cardro said to Ariel, having figured out the situation in the aerial battle. Allan Reishor was in charge of the large scale magic; if he was missing, the strength of the magic unit would be halved. The same was true for the Spirit Unit. Recently, the skill of the spiritists had increased significantly, and there was now mutual resonance among them. Peter Marvio was at the heart of that increase in power.

Because the two individuals were the core of their units, they could not come. Ariel nodded to show that she understood.

“Things will definitely be hard for Saeridan.”

So said Ludem as he glanced at the Command. Saeridan had gone to great pains to build up the 23rd Corps to the same level as Ariel’s well-rounded corp and Cardro’s corp, and now the 23rd Corps’ specialty was defence. So it could be said that the defence of the Mobile Field Army’s Command depended on the 23rd Corps and the supervision of the corps’ leader Saeridan.

“The numbers are just right. One for each person.”

Ariel said as she looked towards the other-worlders. It seemed they were trying to eliminate any time that Iron had to recover by constantly attacking him. Once she saw that, Ariel disappeared from where she stood and appeared behind Kim Jungtae in the next instant, her sword drawn.

Kkakakakak!

Behind Kim Jungtae, Rovanov reacted quickly to block her quickblade.

“A surprise attack……that’s [playing] dirty.”

“How can there be any so-called dirty play on the battlefield?”

Ariel replied coldly, looking at Rovanov. Angry that he had almost died from her attack, Kim Jungtae tried to attack Ariel with his water power. But of course, his move was blocked.

“Hoo…… it seems you are my opponent.”

“Keuk!”

Gaon Temphet froze Kim Jungtae’s water attacks. He had awakened two powers, through the power of the Lord God and through some vestigial powers of the ancient gods. Unexpectedly, both powers were related to ice: one was a biting cold wind, and the other was a frost field that steadily decreased the ambient temperature. Gaon combined these two powers with the sword techniques from the two families that he had perfected, creating a great, imposing power.

Crackle!

Kim Jungtae’s expression turned ugly upon seeing Gaon’s ability to freeze even his water dragon.

‘He is definitely not inferior to me.’

This was what Kim Jungtae thought as he once again rallied all his strength.

He was not the only one who thought so either. As the commanding officers of the Mobile Field Army faced off one by one with the six other-worlders, the other-worlders found that the commanders’ strengths were in no way inferior to theirs. Nyx Cole seemed to be the most lacking among the commanders, but he made up for that insufficiency with his vast battle experience, using that know-how to torment Jamie.

With the other-worlders caught up in a fight with the commanding officers, Iron finally got some breathing room, allowing him to look around him.

The reason why his subordinates had come to his side, putting themselves in danger was so that he could stop the giant. Iron got on Two Moons, rising into the sky, and causing the giant’s eyes to turn towards him. Just by looking at the giant, he could feel the intense pressure it had. He, on the other hand, had consumed much of his strength while fighting the two masters and the six other-worlders.

But strangely, he didn’t feel like he would lose.

“Can you do this?”

–Hoot!

As Iron asked while looking at the intimidating giant, Two Moons responded confidently, as if wondering why Iron would even venture to ask such a question. The other divine beasts surely felt the same way.

–Tweet!

At some point, Baepsae had come to rest on his head; now the bird gathered all its strength to heal Iron and help him recover. In an instant, even the aura in Iron’s body was quickly replenished.

With Baepsae’s help, his aura and divine power had been brought back to their limits. But this recovery was only temporary. Quickly restoring master-level powers was a difficult task, even for Baepsae, so this recovery would only last for thirty minutes. Within that time, he had to contend with the giant.

“It is not exactly disadvantageous [to me]”

Iron mumbled as he built a large aura blade around his sword. The giant was moving slowly on purpose. It was because everytime the giant moved, even the power of the ancient gods was consumed considerably. Iron could clearly see that the giant’s body was being maintained at great lengths by the enormous powers gathered from all directions.

‘If I drag things out for a while, I will be able to win!’

If the giant were to be embroiled in an intense fight with him, it would not be able to maintain its large body for a long time; that was very obvious to Iron. As soon as he thought that, Iron gripped the sword he held even tighter. Frost could be seen covering the dark aura blade, and lightning flashed from all over it. He had to give it his all from the beginning of the fight.

Sensing that Iron who had blocked its path onward was a formidable foe, the giant stopped in its steps and made a fist.

Boom!

The large aura blade blocked the front of the giant. Following that, beams of light from Two Moons shot towards the giant’s eyes. However, the giant was more nimble than expected, and raised its arm to stop the beams from hitting its eyes.

‘It’s fast!’

Iron’s face hardened seeing that the giant was more agile than he had thought.

The giant was not only fast, but also flexible. But, the commensurate power it consumed was great too. Perhaps because it was not just moving with its physical power but was also using godly power, every time it moved so nimbly, it struggled to control its body. Even with the power that was flocking towards it from all directions, it could not manage its own movements. Seeing that, Iron once again felt thankful for the late Emperor’s sacrifice. It was a terror just imagining the giant being able to run around without any constraints on its power.

[Fusion Skill – Fire Storm]

From the sky, Thunderbird and Phoenix’s fusion skill began swirling, coiling around the giant. A huge storm of fire whirled around the giant, causing those around to hurry away. The fire was so hot that it caused even the faraway walls of the Command to heat up.

But the giant was able to withstand the fire storm.

Iron clenched his teeth when he saw that the giant was able to remain standing against the fusion skill that Thunderbird and Phoenix had created after stretching their powers to the limits.

‘Are Thunderbird and Phoenix about to retire?’ [1]

Having reached the limits of their strengths, Thunderbird and Phoenix turned small and came to rest on top of Iron’s head where Baepsae was sitting. The situation was already difficult with three divine beasts and now there was only one left, it would be even harder for Iron to hold on. On the other hand, even though there were now several holes here and there on the giant’s body, its form was still as large as before.

‘If this continues, I won’t be able to carry on.’

As if to prove that Iron’s thought was right, the giant that had only been defending all the while began attacking again. While Iron was getting ready to defend, it seized the opportunity to attack the Command, stepping one foot towards it. With just its toes, it collapsed a part of the Command’s walls, causing Iron to grind his teeth again.

‘Any further and it will completely crush the Command!’

Once he thought that, Iron turned to Two Moons and spoke.

“Owl. Five minutes, just five minutes please.”

–Hoot!

Two Moons briefly responded to Iron’s request and attacked the giant, attracting the giant’s attention towards itself. Meanwhile, Iron jumped from its body, landing on the ground before gathering his strength. On the side, Baepsae spared no effort to help him.

“Hoo……”

While Two Moons was buying him some time, Iron tried to draw as much strength as he possibly could, while he looked at the giant with cold eyes. After a short while, Two Moons had consumed all its power, becoming smaller and falling towards Iron.

–Hoot……

“You’ve worked hard.”

Iron gave a small smile while looking at the owl that had worked so hard for his sake. Then he put all his strength into his aura blade.

“Leave the rest to me.”

As he said that, he swung his large sword at the giant.

‘It is still not perfect, but……’

That was what Iron thought inside, but now was not the time to be fussy. Masters or warriors that were close to that level usually had battle end qi that was exclusive to them. But in Iron’s case, he had neither divinations that were passed down in his family nor did he have a battle end qi that was created using his own fighting style. [2] But because he had trained himself to the highest level in the basics, his basic swordsmanship itself was as good as a divination. So he created his own battle end qi.

Boom! Boom!

He cut the large foot of the giant, which it had been about to place down, then jumped high to block the interlocked hands that the giant was about to bring down [on the Command]. With just his sword, he fended off the attack of the giant that was soaring in the sky.

Up till now, Iron had ‘withstood’ countless attacks from strong individuals. He had taken attacks head on from people stronger than himself, and had advanced based on the experience of fighting such people. But in these days of the apocalypse, he could no longer get by by just ‘withstanding’ attacks.

Now, it was time for him to push forward. And to do that, he needed a technique that represented his determination to change things going forward.

[Imperial Basic Swordsmanship, Iron-style Battle End Qi – The Way of Steel]

It was an imperfect battle end qi, the basic swordsmanship, full of Iron’s hard resolve, blocked each of the giant’s attacks and forced the giant to retreat little by little.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The confederation’s army and the Mobile Field Army that had their swords crossed in battle saw the aura blade on the large sword force the giant back, and paused in the middle of their fight to stare blankly.

“Is he really not a monster……”

“So it wasn’t his full strength when he was fighting us?”

The two masters gritted their teeth as they watched Iron’s swordsmanship. Even when they had used their battle end qi, they had not been able to bring Iron to his knees, and now, even after they had seriously injured him, he was still able to fight against the giant.

“Pull yourselves together!”

“This is our chance! Everyone, seize the Command!”

The troops of the confederation’s army that had been staring vacantly began moving again at the roars of the two masters. At the head were those two masters, charging with their swords covered in aura.

However, the Knights Order and the Storm Troops, led by Saeridan, stopped their advance. As if that was not enough, the magic and spirit units blocked the two masters and the key figures of the confederation’s army that were following directly behind.

As the battle that had halted briefly because of Iron’s fight with the giant resumed again, on his end, Iron endlessly swung his sword to push back the giant. But it was only for a short while. The technique had not yet been perfected, but as was fitting to the name ‘battle end qi’, the aura it consumed was so great that even before ten minutes had passed, Iron’s complexion became grey. The giant that had been forced to retreat only a while ago began advancing yet again.

‘In this situation……’

Iron clenched his teeth as he watched the giant that was advancing. With his aura drained as it was, he could not afford to hold on any longer. Many parts of the giant’s body had indeed disappeared already, but it was still able to maintain its form. At this rate, it was very likely that the Command would be run over.

“Hoo…… should I take another gamble?”

Iron straightened himself as he thought. Having come this far by fighting people that were stronger than him, Iron decided to go all in, once again betting everything he had on this fight. He shook off the distracting thoughts running through his mind, and focused only on his drawn sword, the very thing he had the most confidence in.

‘Everything is contained in this one strike.’

He was going to bet everything he had gained thus far on a single strike. Flashes of lightning as well as cold qi permeated the sword. But Iron did not intend to stop there. To make up for his lack of aura, he put in all his holy power and the remaining divine power.

‘Hang in there!’

Iron clenched his teeth as he looked at the vibrating sword. This was the way of steel that he had chosen in order to withstand all, in order to survive. But this time, things were different. In order to move forward, the strength of steel had to be sharpened and refined. Now he needed a sword that was one level stronger than what he already had.

‘A sword that holds all.’

To become such, it needed to be as firm as the strongest steel.

Maybe the sword decided to fulfil Iron’s wishes. The small aura blade suddenly became brighter and bigger. Lightning entwined with flames gleamed in between the bright beams of light.

Finally, that great big sword struck at the oncoming giant.

Notes:

[1] ‘Retire’: The exact wording here is 리타이어, which is the transliteration of ‘retire’ in Korean.

[2] ‘Divinations’: 비기 ( 秘記); translated literally