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Chapter 83. A dirty, underhanded tactic (2)

Editor: Arya

Translator: Leyy

Kang Chul-In, who was riding on a horse, was like the grim reaper, bringing death wherever he went.

"C-Crazy bastard!"

One of the officers of the army looked at Kang Chul-In, who was like a one man army, killing everyone that dared to get close to him.

"Don't engage him in a 1 on 1 fight! Group up and surround him!"

This particular officer tried to take the commanding role after the commander of the army here was killed by Kang Chul-In. However…

"Kuk…"

The officer, who tried to group up the soldiers was immediately pierced in the heart by Kaiforce, which had turned into a sharp talon.

CRASH!

The officer fell off of his horse, and rolled on the floor, lifeless.

"M-Monster!!"

A certain soldier mumbled. He could not fall out of the stupor he had fallen into since Kang Chul-In had started slaughtering the army.

"It's murder, it's murder!"

"The adventurer has killed the soldiers! Run!"

"W-Who the hell are you, and why are you doing this in our territory?"

"Didn't I tell you? This is my territory now."

It was a ridiculous statement, something that would be made by someone like a daylight robber, not the Lord of a territory.

"You're insane."

An old soldier said.

"I admit that you have amazing martial prowess and that you are truly very strong, but how long do you think you can last with your body?"

It made sense.

"Maybe 3 hours from now?"

Kang Chul-In answered back.

"3 hours?"

That old soldier retorted, full of ridicule.

"You wish."

"Why don't you see for yourself, then?"

And saying this, Kang Chul-In kicked the side of the horse that he was riding on.

NEIGH!!!

And neighing out loud, the horse started to run very quickly.

'It's been a while since I've fought while riding a horse.'

And thinking this, Kang Chul-In rode on his horse, and went around massacring the enemy forces, while leaving their horses behind.

"Argh!!"

"ACK!"

But he only killed the soldiers, not the horses that they were riding on.

'I'll take these horses with me after the war is over'. He thought.

… As the Lord of a poor territory, he needed to be able to save as much money as he could.

'Run… Got to run… The enemy is too strong…"

The old soldier realized that they had no hope in this battle, and tried to retreat.

The enemy as too strong.

Not only was the enemy able to split a person in half with his ridiculous capability of destruction, the fighting that he showed while on horseback left any soldier speechless with awe.

It was impossible for these plain soldiers to stop someone like this.

And not only this… some 'black things' were also rushing towards them at a very quick speed.

'…Spectre Knight!'

That's right.

The 'black things' that were rushing towards them while gliding through the air like ghosts were Spectre Knights, existences that were a level beyond the infamous death knights.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

The old soldier shouted.

"We have no chance of winning! Split up and get back to the territory! Don't look back, and just run!"

Due to the old man's shouting, the remaining 250 soldiers (50 of them had already been slain by Kang Chul-In), started to run away in a panic, running as fast as they could.

It was obvious that they had been waiting for someone to signal or tell them to retreat.

'You can't run.'

But Kang Chul-In wouldn't let them retreat easily.

Riding on the horse, Kang Chul-In killed all of the soldiers that he met with Kaiforce.

"Split up! The plains are wide here! Don't group up and… Huk!"

The old soldier who had been directing the retreat order with his loud voice suddenly faltered. This was due to the fact that a Spectre Knight had suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Kuk…"

And with one blow from the Spectre Knight, that soldier fell. It was difficult for even veterans like him to stand up to a single blow.

"Give chase, and try not to leave a single one of them alive."

Kang Chul-In ordered to the Spectre Knights.

Suuu…

The Spectre Knights, like ghosts, started to glide towards the fleeing soldiers.

"Agh!"

"ARGH!"

And the fleeing soldiers died out easily and quickly.

Compared to the Death Knight which lacked mobility, the Spectre Knights were much more superior.

***

"Tell me! Does this make sense?"

BANG!

The Lord of the Absilon Territory, Gonzales slammed the elbow rest of the throne he was sitting on.

"You spend 2 hours, 2 whole hours to chase just 51 enemy soldiers, and can't even catch them? Are you guys still human!!"

Gonzales was currently extremely angry.

But it made sense for him to be so angry.

Not only did the enemy forces manage to kill over 100 of their soldiers, the most infuriating part was that 200 cavalrymen and 300 foot soldiers were currently chasing them down, and had been chasing them down for the past 2 hours, without any success whatsoever. He was about to explode from rage.

"M-Milord… Please calm down… The enemy here is too sinister and dirty…"

Although Gonzales's secretary tried to calm him down…

"Sinister and dirty? What damned sister and dirty! Just catch him!"

"He runs away for a while before suddenly ambushing and attacking us, and when we think that we are going to fight again, he starts to run again. And like this, he doesn't give us an opportunity for our soldiers to surround him. And not only that, if he thinks that the horse that he's riding on is too tired, he just kills one of our cavalrymen, and takes their horse."

"Is that an excuse? Are you making an excuse after failing to capture just 50 soldiers with over 10 times their number?"

Gonzales's rage could be understood. No matter who saw it, it could be seen as the fault of the men in the Absilon territory.

But it wasn't really their faults either.

The ghost-like Spectre Knights were extremely mobile, and could use the hit and run tactic as much as they wanted, gliding through the air extremely quickly.

"Milord!"

It was at that moment.

"I will go out myself, and take the enemy's head for milord!"

A human's

body, an eagle's head, huge wings at the back of the body. It was a bird-man.

"Oh! Captain Amaru!"

Gonzales nodded his head.

This bird-man, Amaru, was the captain of the Eagle Knights, comprised of 20 bird-men. The Eagle Knights would be able to suppress and capture or kill the enemy, as they could attack from the air.

"Very good. If you do manage to chop off his head, I will definitely give you a hefty reward for it."

"Yes, milord."

And saying this, Amaru spread his huge wings out wide, before flying up, followed by the 20 other Eagle Knights.

10 minutes later.

"M-Milord!"

A messenger went up to Gonzales, his face apprehensive due to fear.

"W-What is it? Speak."

Gonzales felt a sort of indescribable fear and worry.

"T-The thing is…"

"It's okay. Just speak."

"Captain Amaru… Was beaten up by the enemies… his wings were broken and his feathers also forcefully taken out…"

"W-WHAT?!"

"And has died."

Gonzales felt his blow flowing backwards from rage, and could not speak for a while due to shock.

"Milord!"

And this time, someone else stepped forward.

"I knew we shouldn't have left it to a stupid pigeon like him. This time, I will go out and kill him!"

This time, it was a dog-man, who had the head of a bulldog.

"Oh! General Damian!"

This General Damian's strength was very well known throughout their territory, with very few people in the territory being stronger than him. Maybe him, along with his 50 dog-man subordinated could finally put a stop to this unknown enemy's rampage.

And 10 minutes later.

"Milord…"

Once again, the same messenger came.

"Don't tell me…"

"General Damian…"

It seemed that the messenger found it difficult to speak anymore, which made sense.

"Has been… beaten up to death."

And this time, Gonzales was truly rendered speechless. What kind of fist did this guy have to kill every single high ranking official that he sent?

Gonzales, who had just lost 2 extremely valuable and powerful subordinates in under 30 minutes, was about to erupt from anger.

"Milord."

And again, someone else decided to step up.

"This time, it seems like this servant has to step up against the enemy."

And to be honest, this was the final card that Gonzales had. It was General Drakan, a drake-man, who was half dragon and half human, making him one of the strongest demihumans out there.

"The enemy uses his excellent mobility strike before pulling out immediately, causing damage to our forces, slowly but surely. Milord, as long as you grant me an extra 200 soldiers, we would have 700 soldiers. With this amount, I can be sure that we will be able to surround and kill the enemy."

This General Drakan didn't have thoughts to fight against Kang Chul-In and his army of Spectre Knights alone. It was an intelligent decision.

"Fine, I will trust you, Drakan."

Gonzales nodded his head.

***

At the same time.

'I think it's about time to pull back now'.

Kang Chul-In, who had unfortunately(?) had his share of fun, was getting ready to retreat any time now.

A chicken and a dog, he had killed two of his enemy's high ranking officers. If he tried for a little more fun out here, there was a real chance that he and his Spectre Knights would get surrounded.

Since he had made enough of an impact here, he decided that it was finally time to pull out.

"Where are you running!"

And just as he was thinking that, a drake-man who seemed to be at least 3m tall appeared, and started to chase Kang Chul-In and his Spectre Knights ferociously.

"Catch them!"

And as the foot soldiers caught up…

Dagadak! Dagadak!

And the cavalry split up into three, before going to surround Kang Chul-In and his Spectre Knights.

'Retreat!'

If the enemies didn't chase Kang Chul-In and his forces with their full strength and force due to pride or miscalculation, this time it was obvious that they were doing so with their full power, and without any reservations.

If he fought here, he would be the one taking the loss.

Although he and his Spectre army was truly powerful, it wasn't a good idea to have a frontal collision with 700 soldiers. What would he gain from fighting an enemy that had finally decided to take things seriously?

"Retreat!"

Kang Chul-In didn't have 'any' intention of fighting here, and now.

"Stop right there, despicable human!"

Although Drakan shouted, Kang Chul-In didn't pay him any heed, and pushed his horse into a gallop, and ran away. And following him, the Spectre Knights glided away gracefully.

Was there any reason to fight?

Soon, his army would arrive, and he was about to take the farmlands here. Since he had already bought enough time, there was no reason to stay here.

"Chase! Chase them!"

Drakan encouraged the Absilon army to chase Kang Chul-In, who was retreating quickly.

"They won't have infinite stamina…"

And at this moment, Drakan turned his head due to an extremely large sound that he heard from behind him.

"Dear god."

From far away on the horizon, one could barely make out the silhouette of an army that was marching towards the farmlands, creating dust clouds as they marched onwards.

BANG!

And suddenly, some shells from a cannon started flying, before hitting the walls of the Absilon Territory's castle.

BANG! BANG!

It was the firing of the Magic Cannon.

'Don't tell me… he was actually just planning to chase him for 3 hours, to buy time?'

Drakan felt like he was hit from the back.

Who in the world would think of using just one Knight Squadron to invade someone else's territory? No matter how strong that person's military might was, only someone that was insane would do that.

'We… got completely outsmarted.'

Although he was angry that they had been played by the palm of the enemy's hands, there was nothing he could do.

They should have brought their entire force from the beginning.

No, that didn't make any sense either.

Who would take out their entire army just to capture 51 men?

… It was a truly difficult decision.

How many people would decide to bring out their entire force without any hesitation to capture a small group of men? No matter how elite or strong they were, it was only 51 of them.

But to think that this was all a bait… The enemies were moving completely opposite of how they logically would.

"… Retreat, Retreat now!"

And Drakan had to give up on chasing Kang Chul-In due to this.

They had to get back to the Absilon Castle as soon as possible.

It seemed that the enemies had set up their army already in the farmlands. Since their front door had already been taken, they had to get back as quickly as possible.

***

Kang Chul-In, who had managed to shake of the people chasing them, went inside the camp for high-ranking officials.

"Milord!"

And there, Lucia was waiting with bare feet, and welcomed Kang Chul-In back.

"Stay back."

But Kang Chul-In didn't try to keep Lucia near him.

"I need to wash first."

Since he was covered in blood, he seemed to be a blood crazed maniac. After all… he had killed almost 200 of the enemy forces without rest in just 3 hours.

"… Dear lord."

When Kwak-jung stared at the current Kang Chul-In, he was absolutely oppressed by his current vibe.

Blood, blood, and… blood.

Kang Chul-In's current appearance was akin to that of a demon, or an asura that had just crawled out of hell. He was currently covered in blood, and there were also bits of flesh stuck inside his army, and it was obvious that it was flesh taken from the body of his enemies.

'I… tried to stand up against this man?'

Kwak-jung recalled the day where he was in Park Doo-sik's office, and smoked right in front of Kang Chul-In, showing himself off. The arrogance of him back then…

'Oh god.'

He felt lucky that he wasn't beaten up to death back then.

One couldn't express Kang Chul-In with a word right now.

Mass murderer? Demon? Asura?

Kwak-jung felt how foolish he was now that he saw how Kang Chul-In truly was like.

"Your majesty… how could you go in by yourself against their army?"

Nilus was very depressed, as he felt that Kang Chul-In could also be injured.

"It's okay. I just repeated hitting and running over and over again."

Kang Chul-In answered simply. It was true though, because Kang Chul-In had only gotten shallow cuts.

"Lucia, prepare some water, and towels for me."

"Huk!"

Lucia coughed dryly.

"L-Like last time?"

Thinking of the event(?) back when they had gone hunting for Peacock Dragons, Lucia blushed. Lucia recalled admiring(?) Kang Chul-In's half naked body.

"No, just tell the servants to get ready. I can't let someone of your status do some small, and insignificant things like this."

"N-No. This girl will…"

"No."

Kang Chul-In shook his head.

"I will leave it to the servants, so you should just get ready for the 'harvest plan'."

And due to this, Lucia became depressed.

'Dammit… I shouldn't have picked these servants…'

And Lucia, who had missed the greatest opportunity(?) started to regret bringing the servants here.

That night.

Gonzales, who was preparing to lead his army against the Laputa army himself, got a strange report.

"Milord!"

A soldier reported.

"T-The enemies… Apparently they're harvesting in our fields!"

"T-These crazy bastards!"

And listening to the report, Gonzales's face stiffened, before showing a hideous, and terrifying expression.

"These despicable scum… how dare they try to take the crops that we have been growing for so long!"

And it wasn't just Gonzales, but the majority of the high ranking officials of Absilon were all absolutely fuming from anger.

"Immediately assemble all of our soldiers…"

"No, we can't do that, sir."

It was Drakan who spoke.

Chapter 84. A dirty, underhanded tactic (3)

Editor: Arya

Translator: Leyy

"W-Why not?"

Gonzales shouted in anger.

"Now is not the time, milord. If we go right now to attack them, there is a possibility that we might get ambushed by them. Instead, why don't we wait it out, until the day breaks out, and there is no more darkness to empower the Spectre Knights? After all, when it is night, they will become even stronger, being able to blend it with the night and all."

Since it made sense, Gonzales nodded his head, trying his best to suppress his rage.

"So basically, all I need to do is wait for the sun to rise, before attacking them?"

"Yes, and if we do that, not only will we be able to win the war, they will have harvested all of our crops for us."

"Hmm… okay, I will follow your idea then."

"Thank you, milord."

And just like Drakan had said, Gonzales decided to wait until the sun rose. However…

"Milord, milord!"

Maybe when there was still one hour left until dawn, a bird-man scout barged into the room, and made Gonzales almost go crazy with rage with the next sentence.

"What is it?"

"T-The enemies…"

"The enemies what?"

"After harvesting our crops, they have left…"

"WHAT!"

Gonzales's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

"Uuuuuuu…..!"

He was so angry, that his body started to tremble, and his eyes were flipped over.

Tremble…

Tremble, tremble…

And Drakan's body also shook.

'Their goal wasn't to invade us, but to take our crops instead?'

"Drakan!"

And the angry turned towards Drakan as a source for him to distress.

"Yes, milord."

Since Drakan also had his own conscience, he couldn't hold his head up high.

"How are you going to be responsible for this? I trusted in your words and waited, and now all of my crops are going to be harvested by the enemy."

"T-That…"

"I asked, how are you going to be responsible, huh? You were the one who kept on arguing that I should follow you, but now, huh? The whole territory is screwed because of you, screwed!"

"DRAKAN! Answer me! Speak with that well-educated mouth of yours, and give me an answer!"

Gonzales shouted at Drakan.

"..."

"Why, got no more words to speak anymore? I told you, be RESPONSIBLE, you stupid lizard!"

Flinch!

Drakan's whole body shook.

To a drake-man, the word 'lizard' was a sort of taboo to them, as their race carried the sacred blood of a dragon, and the fact that others compared them to lizards truly scarred them.

"… When the day comes again, I will chase them, and take back all of the crops that they have taken."

Drakan spoke, with his eyes closed tightly.

"You irresponsible lizard. You've already screwed me over twice, and now you're thinking of doing it a third time?"

Gonzales still retorted with anger.

"One more… If you gave me

one more chance…"

"SHUT UP!"

"..."

"Not only do you have no real ability, but you are also shameless."

Gonzales stared at Drakan with disgust and hatred in his eyes.

"You will stay back here, and wait for your punishment when I get back. I will chase him with the army myself."

And Drakan, who had lost the trust of Gonzales, had to be treated as a traitor and a criminal.

"Open the gates, and ready all of the soldiers! As soon as the sun rises, we will go and chase that damned army that took our food!"

Gonzales ordered.

But unfortunately for him, there was absolutely no fighting.

"T-T-These RAT BASTARDS!!"

Grit… Grit…

Although Gonzales was gritting his teeth in frustration, the Laputa army was already well beyond their territory and reach, and had already set up camp within a forest, where the camp was set up for it to be very difficult to reach and attack.

"M-Milord…"

The Secretary of the Absilon Territory spoke to Gonzales cautiously, afraid when his anger was going to erupt.

"I-I think that we should get ready to retreat now… If we try to attack against their army when they are set up like that…"

"I know! I know…"

Gonzales sighed in frustration.

"****… ****… I will leave you guys this time, but… ****… These dirty, underhanded, cheeky, ****ing little bastards! I will crush you the next time I see you…"

And saying this, the Lord of the Absilon territory, Gonzales, had to retreat back into his own territory.

***

At the same time.

"Milord."

"I've heard that Nilus could use a spell called 'Megaphone' that could allow sound to be extremely loud by amplifying it."

"If you lend Nilus to me, I guarantee that I will be able to lure the enemies back to us."

Kwak-jung's face was full of conviction and self-confidence.

"Fine. But if you fail to do so…Hmph… Get ready for a beating."

Gulp.

"I-I will definitely keep my word, milord!"

***

That afternoon.

Kwak-jung, with the help of Nilus, spoke towards the Absilon territory.

"Hey, you stupid, idiotic peasants of the Absilon Territory!"

The start was a taunt.

"Are you guys still serving that stupid, idiotic Lord of yours?"

"Well, thanks to you guys, we'll definitely have a good time in winter, and be able to stuff ourselves! Thanks, thanks! I really have to thank the ones who had to pour in their blood and sweat in for this."

"HEY! ARE YOU GUYS EVEN HUMAN!"

Curses rang out across the Absilon territory, but Kwak-Jung didn't care.

"Curse! Curse at me all you want! But it doesn't matter to me… After all, you guys will all be dead when the winter is over."

"Well, take a look at each others faces before winter. Because I reckon that it will be the last time you'll be able to see yourselves at all."

The effect was immediate.

"H-He's right… The shortage of food is definitely…"

"I-It's winter… And we d-don't even have enough food…"

"Wait a minute, everyone. I'm not finished speaking."

Kwak-Jung suddenly spoke up.

"But… well, our merciful and angelic Lord Kang Chul-In has been nice, and decided to give you guys a chance. Alright? So listen up carefully if you want to live."

"First, if you want to serve that stupid Lord of yours, fine! Just starve to death, and that'll be the end of it. However. If all of you guys decide to surrender, then our merciful Lord will allow you to have the food of our territory, and even become a citizen of the Laputa area."

"Oh… and I heard that your Lord is incompetent, and only has interest in women? Is there a reason to follow someone like that? Our Lord has spoken, if you are able to bring the head of your Lord, then 1000 gold, along with 20 years worth of food enough for a 4 person family, as well as status as a noble in the territory will be given. Okay. Everybody, dismissed."

***

"Milord… I'm afraid that if we do not take our food back quick enough, the citizens will start a rebellion."

"…Dammit."

"Milord… How about we send in our assassins tonight, and see if we can assassinate our enemies?"

"Assassination? Hmm…"

"Do we not have a 10 man squad of the best assassins in the land?"

"OH…"

Gonzales, who had the ability of 'Friends with Different Races' had many different races under him, and among them were the Cat-Humans, who were specialized in assassination.

"Okay, then send them off tonight."

"Yes, milord!"

And that was how the first squadron of Cat-humans were sent. To assassinate 'the infamous' Kang Chul-In.

Chapter 85. Conquering the Absilon Territory (1)

Editor: Arya

Translator: Leyy

The cat assassins that were sent by Gonzales were like ghosts.

Tip toeing just like cats, they were unable to sneak into the Laputa territory without taking even 2 hours.

'Their guard is very lax. As expected, these humans…'

Looking at the state of the guards in the Laputa territory, Nieu clicked her tongue in disapproval.

Although the defense wasn't even that bad, to someone like Nieu, a very well trained assassin, the defense wasn't very good.

And Nieu, who was walking in the Laputa territory as if she were at home saw a tent that was much bigger than others in size, and was decorated beautifully. It was clearly the Lord's tent.

Jumping up lightly, Nieu got onto the top of the tent, and motioned for the rest of the group to follow.

Stepping lightly, stepping lightly.

The assassins were able to make no noise at all when they jumped onto the top of the heavy cloth that made up the tent.

Nieu told her subordinate assassins to get ready to strike.

With who sneaky and cautious the assassins were, it wouldn't take them very long, just a couple of seconds to take the head of the enemy Lord.

Tzzt…

And as Nieu and her assassins took out their daggers, and started to rip out the ceiling of the Tent.

It was at that moment.

"Be quiet, I can hear everything."

"This? There's no way a human can…"

Nieu answered unconsciously to the voice that spoke to her suddenly.

'Wait a minute…'

Nieu was completely, and utterly startled.

"You guys are still far away from being able to assassinate me."

And at the voice, Nieu and the assassins turned their heads towards a man standing there.

"H-How…"

And standing there, smirking at them was Kang Chul-In.

"There were quite a few assassination attempts on me before, after all… I think… this is the… 78th attempt so far? And well… you should be able to guess by the fact that I'm still alive about what happened to the assassins."

And as soon as Kang Chul-In's words were finished.

"How dare you little cats…"

Standing there were Kang Chul-In's reinforcements, and backup.

Lucia, Captain James, Billy Halford and his fellow adventurers.

"You dirty, little, robbing cats."

And Lucia seemed particularly angry out of the people standing there.

"Lucia. Just properly educate them for me."

"The cat-humans will be very useful under me, so try not to kill them, alright?"

"Oh also, they will have poisonous tablets in their molars, so make sure that they don't swallow them and commit suicide."

Saying this, Kang Chul-In left, as if he was taking a stroll, leaving the rest to his subordinates.

Cat-human assassins?

There was no reason for him to step up himself, when he had his subordinates to teach them a lesson.

—

And after Kang Chul-In left, he headed directly to Kwak-jung's tent, where he was staying.

"Why didn't you just kill the assassins?"

Kwak-Jung asked, curious about Kang Chul-In's decision.

"They're very useful to me."

"Are they really that capable?"

"No, not that much."

Kang Chul-In shook his head.

"But they do

have a lot of uses."

"Uses?"

"We can use them for assassination attempts like this, and more importantly, use them to attract the attention of male Adventurers."

"Attract their attention?"

"Although I'm not sure why, it seems like the human males seem to be very attracted towards these Cat-humans."

"Oh…"

Kwak-Jung gasped, realizing Kang Chul-In's plan.

Due to the fact that the Cat-Human race were exceptionally beautiful, they were very good for attracting the attention of human males.

"Hmm… now that I think about it, that is actually a very good idea."

"Oh, and that boy called Rok. How… will we reward him?"

Rok was the young teenager who had his fiance taken away from him, resulting in him joining the Laputa army to take revenge against his former Lord, Gonzales.

"Well, he was the one that gave information about the fact that the enemy Lord has control over the demi-humans. Well, we'll give him land, food, as well as a job after the war is over."

"Yes, milord."

"Well then, let's go finish off this war."

—

Twang! BANG!

Fireworks flew high in the sky, and lit up the night sky.

"As expected of our assassins."

Gonzales was smiling in his castle, happy that his assassins had 'succeeded' in taking the head of the enemy Lord.

"Soldiers of the Absilon territory, hear me! The enemy Lord is dead!"

"Huh? He's dead?"

"H-How do you know that…."

"QUIET!"

Gonzales's secretary shushed everyone into silence.

"The proud assassins of our territory have succeeded in assassinating the enemy Lord. Do you see the fireworks over there? That's the sign that they had been ordered to send if the assassination was successful."

"Right now, we will immediately head to that damned territory, and take back the food, as well as land that they have."

"Go! Go!"

And while Gonzales, as well as the soldiers of the Absilon territory were absolutely frenzied with excitement for the upcoming war, Drakan felt uneasy.

'Something isn't right here…'

Their enemies this time didn't follow logic.

They were absolutely dirty, and underhanded. There seemed to be no way that their Lord would go down this easily.

But Drakan couldn't speak up.

He had no rights to speak after the events that had transpired last time, and it wouldn't be surprising for him to be cursed at by his Lord.

And… Drakan's worries weren't unfounded, as the war went on.

—

It seemed as if the Absilon Territory had the upper hand at the beginning of the battle.

"Kill! Kill them all!"

Gonzales, who was absolutely confident in winning the war with the absence of the enemy Lord, sent out his vanguard, who was comprised with 10 Cyclopes (the one eyed giants from greek mythology).

But… as the firing from the Laputa army began, the situation began to turn around.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

3 Magic Cannons that were hidden from sight in a forest near the Laputa territory fired off their shells with extremely large sounds.

"Kukuku!"

And when the firing from the cannons stopped, it was Nilus's turn to pour his lethal, wide-ranged magic onto the forces of the Absilon territory.

"Kuhahahah! You stupid idiots! Prepare to die!"

Billy Halford, leading his group of adventurers flanked the left side of the Absilon army.

"Kill them all!"

And Michael, along with the White-Lion Knights, circled behind the enemy, launching an attack from behind.

"W-What the…"

Gonzales cursed at the unexpected situation he faced.

"A-A-A-A-AGAIN! I've been tricked again! Noooooo!!!!"

Gonzales despaired, and nearly spat out blood.

"WHY! WHY! WHY?!"

The furious Gonzales despaired and despaired, but nothing happened.

The only that he could do while his allies were being decimated was curse.

"Milord!"

Drakan, who was swinging his greatsword against his enemies, went to the side of Gonzales.

"Quickly, milord! You need to retreat!"

Although Gonzales wasn't a good Lord to Drakan, he still had loyalty for him, as a citizen and proud general of the Absilon land.

"Milord! Quickly!"

"What, you want me to retreat like this! Do you have an inkling of just how angry I am right now?"

"But… you will be killed if you stay."

"K-killed?"

Gonzales's face turned pale at those words.

"Yes, milord. We already have no chance of winning this war. The only way we have turning this around is for you to run, milord, and take revenge in the distant future."

"Quickly, this way! I will lead you there!"

"The enemy Lord is running away!"

"Catch them!"

And the soldiers of the Laputa territory tried to chase them.

"OUT OF MY WAY!"

Swinging his greatsword, Drakan killed everyone that stood in his way.

"Agh!"

"D-Drake… He's half dragon…"

But… Drakan didn't go far before coming face to face with another man.

"Welcome."

Crack. Crack.

Cracking his knuckles, Kang Chul-In smirked at Drakan.

Chapter 86. Conquering the Absilon Territory (2)

Editor: Arya

Translator: Leyy

'This man…!'

Drakan could recognize what kind of man Kang Chul-In was.

How could he not?

The image of Kang Chul-In riding around his horse on the battlefield was still deeply engraved in her mind.

Leading the Spectre Knights and making their farmlands into a complete wasteland.

The appearance he had when he was taking care of 500 soldiers single-handedly in the Absilon territory.

The appearance he had when he ripped out the feathers of the Bird-man general, Amaru.

… And the appearance when he beat the life out of the Bull-dog general, Demian.

To Drakan, who had seen Kang Chul-In fighting, he was an existence who was basically unstoppable.

"You guys are later than I expected."

Kang Chul-In pretended to look at his nonexistent wrist watch.

"You… were waiting? You knew that we would come over here?"

Drakan asked.

"Of course I did."

Kang Chul-In answered nonchalantly.

"We… have been played around by you the whole time."

"Well, maybe if your crops and your farmlands weren't stolen by us, you wouldn't have been led around the nose by us."

And at this, Drakan blushed in shame.

"Think of this as the price that you are paying for not thinking enough about your crops."

"Price… don't you think we've already paid enough of a price?"

"Could you let us go this time? We have already lost basically everything. We have already lost the food for this winter, and our army has already been exterminated. So please, let some of our soldiers go. Or at least, please let our Lord go."

It was a very surprising.

It was almost unheard of for the half-dragon race to beg to their enemies, but it seemed that Drakan cared more about the life of his Lord than his pride.

"Send your Lord away… Well, descendant of the dragon race, what is your name?"

Kang Chul-In spoke to Drakan as if speaking to a subordinate.

"Drakan, my name is Drakan."

And Drakan answered back, as if he was compelled to talk back to Kang Chul-In.

"Drakan, huh…"

Kang Chul-In engraved the name into his memory.

"That is a good name, fitting for a descendant of the dragon race."

"Thank you."

"Then, may I ask for your name and position?"

"I…"

Kang Chul-In opened his mouth.

"Am the Lord, the Lord of the Laputa territory."

"….!"

"And my name is: Kang Chul-In."

And as Kang Chul-In revealed his identity, Drakan's golden eyes were filled with shock.

'T-This man is the Lord? Dear god…'

"It seems your surprised?"

Kang Chul-In smirked.

"Isn't it obvious that I'm surprised?"

"Come to me."

And Kang Chul-In offered a surprising deal to Drakan.

"If you come over to

me, I will save that useless Lord of yours."

"R-Really?"

Drakan was tempted, and really thought about it for a while.

"Milord."

Drakan spoke.

"This Drakan while block this man's way."

"I will block this man to the best of my ability, so please run away while you can."

Rather than picking the easy way out where both of them could live, Drakan decided to cling on to his pride, and sacrifice himself for the sake of his Lord. It was a decision that was befitting of a Drake-man like him.

"Block them?"

"Yes, milord."

"N-No… no. Just go to that man… I can only live if you decide to serve him!"

"Milord…"

Drakan, who was calling Gonzales, had no strength left in his voice.

"Go… You can go, so just… go! Go! Please, just go!"

"Drakan! If you are loyal to me, just follow that man. Isn't saving me the most important thing? I don't really mind, so just follow that man! Please, go!"

Although a faithful servant was throwing his life on the line to protect the life and the honor of his Lord, Gonzales was just dirtying the pride of his servant, Drakan.

'This guy is no better than a dog.'

Kang Chul-In thought.

"Oi."

And from Kang Chul-In's voice was cold, and absolutely terrifying to hear for Gonzales.

"If you do something like that again, to dirty Drakan's pride, I will put you inside a mixer and make you into a human smoothie, you disgusting bastard."

"Now get lost. You don't have the qualifications to die by my hand."

"Drakan."

And Kang Chul-In judged Drakan, who unlike Gonzales, was not running away frantically right now, as a great warrior.

"I will respect your decision."

'I… want to serve him…'

Drakan thought to himself.

'Sigh… Lord Kang Chul-In… how wonderful would it have been if you were milord from the beginning?'

'Please… if there truly is a chance at reincarnation, let me serve you in my next life.'

It was at that moment.

As if understanding Drakan's thoughts, Kang Chul-In stared deeply into Drakan's eyes, and spoke.

"Drakan."

And with those words.

Shing!!!

He changed the Soft Sword Kaiforce's shape into that of the most basic sword.

"You are pretty good."

Kang Chul-In's weapon was a sword, and Drakan's was also a greatsword. This gesture meant that Kang Chul-In wanted them to fight in a battle between sword and sword.

"Strength, and speed. You don't lack both of these things. I can tell that you have been practicing for a long time. Therefore… Come. Let me send you on your way."

"The way to the underworld, I will not leave any of my strength behind in this fight."

And saying this, Drakan's blood began to boil in anticipation.

Kang Chul-In, who was standing before his eyes, was undoubtedly powerful.

Although he hadn't seen the man in front of him going all out, his instincts were telling him.

… That this man was someone that exceeded his imagination, and that he couldn't win this upcoming battle.

"Are you ready?"

Drakan, who was nervous, spoke.

"Anytime."

Kang Chul-In nodded his head.

—

Although Kang Chul-In and his subordinates mainly didn't care where Gonzales was running to, it was different for some other people.

"Huk… Huk… T-That bastard…"

Rok, who was exhausted at this point, looked around in all directions. Although his surroundings were covered in darkness due to it being night, Rok's eyes were brighter than ever.

And… Rok, who had completely gone out of the battlefield while chasing Gonzales looked up, and stared at a silhouette not so far away from him.

'G-Gonzales!'

Rok could tell who it was right away.

How could he not?

It was the one that had taken away the woman that he had loved, no, still loved away. It was impossible for him to forget. And no matter how dark it was, Rok's eyes stared at Gonzales with a man's eyes that had terrifying emotions lurking behind it.

'Kill… I'm going to kill you…'

And thinking this, Rok began to run at the fastest speed that he had ever ran in his entire life.

Chapter 87. Conquering the Absilon Territory (3)

Translator: Leyy

Editor: Arya

"Huk…Huk…"

Gonzales kept running.

'Let's return to Earth immediately.'

The only thing that Gonzales thought of was the Magic Circle in the Lord's hall of his territory that could lead him back to Earth.

It was called 'dining and dashing'.

This was a common occurrence in the land of Pangaea, where death and slaughter were very common things.

There were a lot of adventurers in Pangaea that enjoyed a one night stand with a Pangaean Woman, before either running away from their responsibilities into another region of Pangaea, or back into Earth.

And for the case of Lords, if their territory was in danger after losing a war or about to be destroyed, a lot of them just ran off into Earth, to avoid being slaughtered. Gonzales was like this right now.

'To the Lord's hall! I'll make it out alive as long as I get to the Magic Circle!'

Although Gonzales felt that it was a shame that he couldn't stay here and play around as a king, it was better than dying.

He could live in Earth, playing around for the rest of his days.

He had already taken out money from Pangaea and bought a luxurious villa, and a lot of Supercars in the U.S. Although he wouldn't be a Lord anymore, he could still spend the rest of his days in peace, and playing around with his money.

And as Gonzales got out of the battlefield, he started cursing at Kang Chul-In.

"Huk…Huk… In this stupid continent… I hope you… AGH!"

Gonzales, who was cursing at Kang Chul-In suddenly screamed in agony, before collapsing on the floor with pain.

"AGH!! My legs! My legs!"

Stuck in Gonzales's thighs was a long spear. Someone had thrown the spear at his thighs, piercing it.

"You bastard!"

And Rok ran towards Gonzales like a crazy bloodhound.

"Y-You…"

POW!

Gonzales was smacked in the face by Rok's fists.

Not only was his lips bleeding, even his Nasal Bone was broken, and his eyes were also swollen up like crazy.

"Kuk… stop… please…."

"Huhu…"

But the only response was Rok's maniacal laughter.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this day?"

Rok, who was full of anger and hatred, started laughing again.

"The day that you dirtied Lowena, this is the only thing I've been waiting for."

Saying this, Rok held up a huge stone nearby.

"Now d… Kuk…"

Rok, who was holding the stone grabbed his chest in pain, and fell to the ground, groaning.

Although Gonzales couldn't react due to the state of extreme fear he was in, he was still a Lord, and a Lord could beat up an Orc barehanded.

"You arrogant prick. You try to kill me for laying a hand on that b****? Die… Ugh…"

"There you were."

Gonzales wobbled, before falling to the ground. It was due to a stone that hit his head.

"Where are you going to go now? Are you that naive to think that we'd let you go so easily?"

"Oi, Rok. Stand up. Otherwise, how are you going to beat this guy up?"

And Rok stood up from the ground, grinning.

———————————————————–

Meanwhile, the battle between Kang Chul-In and Drakan was at a climax.

After all, the Absilon army was absolutely decimated by the Laputan forces.

And due to this, the battle between Laputa's 'absolute', and the 'strongest demi-human' was able to garner so much attention.

Two swords collided in the air.

Strength against strength!

But…

Drakan realized that this fight wasn't exactly about how strong Kang Chul-In was.

'Such technique… such precise control… there was a man as powerful as this?'

While Kang Chul-In looked as if he was recklessly swinging his sword all the time to tire down Drakan, that wasn't true. He knew when to approach, and when to retreat during the fight, and this frustrated Drakan.

"Not bad."

Kang Chul-In stepped backwards, and nodded towards Drakan.

"Kuu…"

And from Drakan started roaring, like a dragon normally would.

And looking at him, Kang Chul-In stared expectantly as to what would come next.

Kuuuooooo!!

And as Drakan roared…

Hwaruruk!

Crimson red flames began to approach Kang Chul-In. It was the minor version of 'Dragon breath', a dragon's greatest weapon.

'Gotta be careful here.'

Kang Chul-In knew that if he was hit directly from those flames, he wouldn't be able to escape the fate of becoming a barbecued human.

Tat!

Kang Chul-In launched off the ground, and the flames hit the ground, where Kang Chul-In was standing a second ago.

And after that, a ferocious battle took place.

Kang Chul-In, who was armored with his ferocious and unstoppable battle techniques and skill, fighting against Drakan, who had awakened his strength as a member of the drake-man race.

By using his superior strength as a half-dragon, and using 120% of his skill, Drakan finally seemed to grab the upper hand…

Until of course, the air around Kang Chul-In started rippling with an invisible aura.

"Pretty good. Now, it's my turn."

And saying this, Kaiforce started glowing.

This was Overdrive phase 1, combined with 'Sword Light'.

Pang!

And Kang Chul-In suddenly appeared before Drakan, as if he had teleported.

Kang!

Although Drakan raised his sword as fast as he could, it wasn't enough.

Crack!

With one strike, Kang Chul-In had completely shattered the sword of Drakan, and injured him severely.

"Huu… I have no regrets after fighting such a good battle. Now, finish it."

Drakan spoke, as if he wanted Kang Chul-In to chop off his head.

"Finished?"

Kang Chul-In snorted.

"Then, are you going to spare me?"

"No, but it won't be an easy death."

"D-Don't tell me…"

Saying this, Drakan reminisced of what had happened to his subordinates, the bulldog general Demian, and Amaru.

It seemed like Kang Chul-In would beat him to death.

———————————————

The next time Drakan woke up was a few days later.

"Kuk… Am I not dead yet?"

"Count, have you woken?"

Looking at the Drakan that had woken up, a maidservant spoke to him, and addressed him as 'Count'.

"Where am I?"

"We are in the Absilon territory, of the Laputa kingdom, sire."

"Laputa Kingdom? Absilon… territory?"

"Yes, count."

"Count? I am not a Count, just a mere soldier."

"No, sire. A few days ago, our majesty Kang Chul-In has addressed you as a count of the Laputa territory."

"W-What? Well, tell me! Where is your Lord, Kang Chul-In?"

"Calm down, sire. Our Lord has left just a few hours ago to conquer another territory with his army."

"Left? He has left?"

Although Drakan was wounded, he stood up easily, and got ready to leave immediately.

"Tell me, what direction did he go in! I must see him at once!"

And he followed the way that Kang Chul-In had left, all the way from the Absilon Territory.

Chapter 88. Capturing Drakan's heart

Translator: Leyy

Editor: Arya

"Milord."

Kwak-Jung, who was by Kang Chul-In's side called him.

"Well, this time around we have captured 10 cat demi-human, right?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"Umm… Are you going to use all of them as assassins?"

"For now, that is the plan."

"Ehem…"

Kwak-Jung coughed, and his face reddened.

"Milord… the thing is…"

Due to Kwak-Jung's embarrassed expression and quietly spoken words, Kang Chul-In started to get annoyed.

"Say what you want quickly. I do not have much time to waste."

"Oh… yes… The thing is… Is it possible… to put one of the cat-women as… my Secretary? Ehem… I am the Tactician of Laputa, afterall… One secretary should…"

"Hehe… I think a secretary would definitely allow me to work better, and focus more on my tasks."

"No."

"Is it not possible…?"

Kwak-Jung's expression showed dissappointment.

"I know for a fact that if I let one of them be your secretary, you definitely wouldn't work faster, or focus on your task. It's obvious that you would spend your day trying to flirt with that 'Secretary' of yours."

"N-No! That's not true…"

"I think it would be better entrusting a cat with a fish."

"…Then why not entrust a cat to Kwak-Jung?"

POW!

As he said that, Kwak-Jung's face fell to the ground from shock. Kang Chul-In had flicked him on the forehead.

"Ow…."

"Kwak-Jung.

"Yes, milord…"

"They're not objects."

"…."

"If you really want a secretary like that, then go ask them yourself. If they agree, then I'll allow you to keep one as your Secretary."

"R-Really?"

"You know that I do not go against my words."

"T-Thank you, milord!"

And as soon as Kang Chul-In gave permission, Kwak-Jung scurried off, looking happier than ever.

"Hmph… What terrible personality he has."

Lucia stared at Kwak-Jung's back distastefully, as he scurried off quickly.

"Ehem… I can't say that I do not sympathize with Soldier Kwak, though."

Billy Halford spoke, embarrassed.

"Cat-women are probably every man's dre… Cough. Never mind."

"Milord… As expected."

"Huh?"

"I'm just saying it's like milord to not be enchanted by the looks of those foolish cat people. Hoho."

Lucia seemed satisfied that Kang Chul-In, unlike the other men, was not that excited about capturing the Cat-women.

It was at that moment.

Along with a pained scream, the sound of a loud cat came from elsewhere.

"Uuu… Why can't they just say no if they don't want to…"

And Kwak-Jung appeared, his face looking crest-fallen.

"Hohoho! It seems like Soldier Kwak has learnt a lesson

from those foolish cats? Those cats have a feisty personality, and they do not appreciate people that are weaker than them… Like you."

Lucia laughed, as if she felt that it was pleasurable looking at Kwak-Jung's pain.

"What, are all demi-humans like that?"

Kwak-Jung asked, full of bitterness.

"No, but those cats are just a special case. Those Cat-women… you can just think of them as angry, female cats. Umm… I think maybe the Ho-people (Fox-humans) would be a good fit for you."

"W-What? You want me to go with people that have tiger heads on them?" (Ho translates to either 狐=fox, or 虎=tiger in ?? or Han Zi, the traditional korean letters based on chinese)

"Those are the other Ho-people (Humanoid Tigers), and I was talking about the Fox-humans."

"Fox Humans? Do they have tails too?"

"Tails, ears. They have both of them."

"No way…"

"If they cat-women have a girl-like charm that exudes cuteness, then the fox-women have a sort of mature-woman like charm."

"I-Isn't that a legendary Kumiho that comes out in mythology?"

"And what's that…"

"Y-You don't know? Y-You know, the 1000 year old fox demons. The ones with the Nine tails!"

"That's a Ninetails."

"Ninetails?"

"Yes. They also come out in the mythology of Pangaea, but they are closer to Gods and legends. But no-one is sure. Whether they truly exist or not. After all, Ninetails existing are just legends."

"They exist."

Kang Chul-In suddenly spoke.

"Really?"

"Are you sure, milord?"

Kwak-Jung and Lucia both asked in surprise.

"Ninetails… are real."

It was at that moment.

"Milord!!!!"

From far away, Drakan could be seen riding a horse, and galloping towards Kang Chul-In at full speeds.

"Milord~~!! Wait!!! Just a moment!!!"

"What is it."

But Kang Chul-In didn't seem surprised, and spoke calmly.

"Milord… how could you just leave me after all you've done for me? At least let me serve you!"

"Hmph. You didn't listen when I asked you nicely. Do I really have to give you a beating to let me listen?"

"T-The thing is…"

"Milord… Sorry. I beg you to forgive me, for my insolence. Please. Let this useless one serve you from now on!"

"Stand."

Kang Chul-In spoke.

"Stand, and go back to the Absilon territory."

"B-But…"

"Do I have to give you another beating to make you listen?"

"You will rest today, and come back when you get better. I don't want the loyalty of someone that is injured."

"B-But…"

"Do not worry. I am going to use Absilon as a temporary base of war, and use it as a tactical fortress, going back and forth. It won't be long. You better be healed by then."

"Kuk… Yes, thank you, milord!"

"Oh. And. Don't ride horses from now on."

"…Huh?"

"Look at it. It's dead."

And Kang Chul-In pointed at the poor horse that Drakan had ridden on the way here. The horse… was dead, it's tongue sticking outwards from exhaustion.

—–

'Ninetails, huh…'

After the conversation with Drakan, Kang Chul-In's mind drifted to the queen of the foxes, the Ninetails.

Was it because of how beautiful it was?

Of course not. Although Kang Chul-In had heard rumors of it before, he hadn't actually met one before. He just remembered the war between the Ninetails and Aleister, the traitor that had betrayed him before.

'You. I will beat you up first, Aleister.'

'3 months after the first Lord meetings. Lord Aleister begins the war with the Ninetails.'

Kang Chul-In recalled the past. It was the war between the Fox-humans and the undead, later titled the Graveyard War.

'The Graveyard War was the starting point of you becoming an Overlord. But… this time, you won't succeed, you dirty traitor.'

Kang Chul-In ground his teeth, and spoke.

Chapter 89. Kang Chul-In under attack

Translator: Leyy

Editor: Arya

A month and a half had passed by, and Kang Chul-In had succeeded in conquering two territories, and was looking to head back.

Out of the two territories, the Lord of the 'Linguini' territory had run away back to Earth the second that he had heard of his army's defeat, and the Lord of the 'Schiaparelli' territory had offered a one on one fight, where Kang Chul-In easily defeated him.

And now that Kang Chul-In had conquered these two territories, his overall territory had expanded, and he now controlled over 60% of the eastern plains in Pangaea.

And as he was looking to get back to the Laputa territory, a letter came from his

'adopted daughter', Arshelly.

—-

Dear beloved father,

How are you doing, father?

I have heard the news that you have been winning consecutive battles, and that you have succeeded in conquering other territories!

I have heard that you are returning soon, and cannot wait for your arrival, I wish to see you soon, father. I am well, and I hope you are too.

I miss you, father.

I love you.

Yours sincerely, your daughter, Arshelly.

P.S: The Altaica has grown to the point where it is now larger than a fully grown tiger.

P.S: I have learnt the ways of making honeyed water or wine from another, other girl called Lana Lovely. I wish to let you try some when you get back.

—–

And looking at this letter, Kang Chul-In smiled unconsciously.

Although Kang Chul-In was someone who hated whiny kids, Arshelly was so sensible that it was hard to see her as a 9 year old child.

At that moment.

"Milord, we are ready to march back to our territory."

Lucia reported.

"Good, it's about time to head back."

And night fell.

'There are still 6 months before the first Lord

meetings, and 3 months will be hard for war, since it's winter. Now… what to do with those 3 months?'

There were a lot of options that he had open to him.

He could start leveling up like crazy with his fellow explorer Dorian, he could start doing special exercises and training for his army, or do some self-training too. Winter was a good season to develop his forces, as it was hard for a war to break out.

'No. But first, I'm going to take a look at Valhalla.'

Kang Chul-In decided on a long journey.

"No-one has taken control over it, right?"

Kang Chul-In whispered to himself, as he thought of his old Secretary, Alfred, as well as his generals: the dark elf Bellatrix, and the elf Lucy.

But at that moment, his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shake in the ground.

"Emergency! Emergency!"

"Enemies!"

"Get ready to fight!"

Lucia ran into Kang Chul-In's tent, and spoke to him.

"Milord! There are five approaching Atlases approaching us at high speeds!"

'Atlases? No way!'

Even Kang Chul-In, who remained calm at almost all times was startled this time. It was because of how strong Atlases were.

"We will stop 3 of them here, and let our main army defend against 2 of the Atlases."

Kang Chul-In stared at the Atlases that were still approaching them, now barely a kilometer away from them.

Suuu….!

Starlight shone on Kaiforce, which had turned into a broadsword.

And as Kang Chul-In fought one on one against one of the Atlases, Lucia led herself, along with a group of Battle Ogres, and Troll Shieldmen to defend against two of them. And a ferocious battle took place afterward.

—–

"Oh? Look at them!"

The Lord of the Mechan Dome, Franz Waldstein spoke to himself, looking at Kang Chul-In and Lucia's battle prowess.

"Maybe I should have sent all of them instead…"

"Milord…"

His secretary, a steel marionette spoke.

"I don't think there is a reason to do that. Isn't it just a practice run anyway? Take a look over there."

And the marionette pointed at where two Atlases were wreaking absolute havok in the Laputa force's main army.

"Run!"

"Hmm.. I guess you're right."

Franz said, satisfied with himself.

"Well, how many Atlases can we further make?"

Franz asked his secretary.

"I think… the maximum should be 12 for now."

"Only that much? Ah… If I had just 100 of those things, I would be able to easily conquer this continent. Anyway… I'm satisfied with their performance right now."

Franz nodded.

"Milord, since we've started our attack, why not just decimate their entire army?"

"That seems like a plan to me. Hmm… the booster button… where is it…"

But it was at that moment, when Franz was looking to boost the potential of the Atlases, a massive explosion shocked him.

"W-What? How even…"

The Atlas… the expensive magic weapon that he had designed with his ability… was lying on the floor, now a huge hunk of scrap metal.

Chapter 90. I'll make you like this.

Translator: Leyy

Editor: Arya

The blast was massive, and a battle ogre, along with two troll shieldsmen fell down, taking the brunt of the impact.

"Huu…"

Kang Chul-In took a deep breath, regaining his composure.

Although his state was a mess, he wasn't really injured.

"Good. Lucia, get ready. We will go again."

Kang Chul-In stared at his, showing his faith towards Lucia's defense.

'Milord… milord… He's relying on me!'

Lucia was absolutely blissful at this moment, and felt like she would fly away.

But she didn't have time to daydream, and she quickly regained her focus.

"Let's go."

And saying this, Kang Chul-In lept towards another Atlas, Lucia right behind him.

'It's only a low level Atlas.'

Kang Chul-In laughed in anger.

And he had the confidence to laugh. Although the Atlas was a terrifyingly strong Magic Weapon, it also had its weaknesses. Otherwise, it would have been invincible.

And the reason that he had been able to destroy the Atlas earlier was because he had used the Atlas's own weakness against it.

Unlike normal Golems, an Atlas had joints that connected its main body to its' 'arms and legs', in order to let it move more freely. But these joints were also the weaknesses, as they were vulnerable to attacks.

And knowing this, Kang Chul-In stabbed Kaiforce, which he had transformed into a sharp claw. And then he used Intraburst.

And if he used mana which would explode to contact a Magic Gem, which was the fuel for the Atlas, what would happen?

A big explosion like earlier.

And using this method again, another Atlas was broken, and the impact of the explosion tanked by Lucia's shield, Aegis.

'Hmph… Let's see how good you feel now, bastard.' Kang Chul-In thought to himself, quietly smirking.

—-

And just like Kang Chul-In thought, the owner of the Atlases, Franz, was trembling in rage.

"M-M-My precious Atlases…"

Although the price to keep an Atlas running was astronomical, the thing that hurt him the most was the Magic Gem, which was the engine of the

Atlas. And he only had two remaining Magic Gems in his territory.

It was the first practice run too.

It had only been a week since he had succeeded in designing an Atlas, and this was the practice run in which he would reassure himself and his confidence. But…

BOOM!

As another Atlas blew up, Franz felt like something also blew up in his mind.

"Uuuu… Uuu…"

"Milord… If we go on like this… it's possible that we may lose all of…"

"I know!"

"Please make them retreat. We will not gain any benefits by continuing our attack against them."

"Fine. Retreat."

And Franz sighed, as he made the correct decision, to retreat using his Soul Core.

—-

"Chase."

Kang Chul-In had no intention of letting the enemy go so easily after what they had done.

"B-But milord… the Atlases are too quick…"

"At least we should try, though. Don't you think?"

And saying that, Kang Chul-In lifted Lucia in his arms, before chasing the Atlases that were running away.

And as they were chasing…

"Milord! Look over there!"

Lucia pointed to where the Atlases were running towards.

And standing there was a man riding something that looked like a Motorbike, along with a Marionette. It was the Lord who controlled the Atlases.

Cr-Crack…

But suddenly, around 700 meters away from them, the ground started splitting open, before an Igloo-shaped building rose out of the ground.

"We'll stop here."

It was at that moment.

"Hey, you stupid bastard! Come a few steps closer, I dare you! We'll smash you to smithereens with our turrets if you do, though."

"T-That… Milord… what shall we do?"

"Today, we retreat."

"But… just retreating here isn't good enough."

"Lucia. Can you lend me your blade for a while?"

"Of course, but… May I ask why?"

Lucia asked, as she handed her sword, Zenith to Kang Chul-In.

"Sorry. I'll return this to you in a month."

"…Sorry?"

Swish!

And the Sword started flying towards Franz in an absolutely fearsome speed. It was impossible to dodge for Franz, and it headed towards him like a bullet.

At that moment!

"Milord!"

His secretary, the marionette shouted, and launched her body towards Franz, in an attempt to save him.

Puk…

And the sword pierced through her head.

Bang!

The marionette didn't fall.

Instead… She hung across the wall like skewer, due to the fearsome power and speed that it travelled.

"Marionette!"

Franz shouted, in shock of the situation.

'I… nearly died…'

Franz realised the severity of the situation, and gulped.

How painful and depressing would it be to die, hanging on the wall like a skewer?

"You there!"

A loud voice interrupted Franz's thoughts, and he looked at Kang Chul-In, still in a daze.

"Look carefully."

Kang Chul-In said, walking towards a boulder that was nearby.

"If you get caught…"

Kang Chul-In swung his fists, aiming it at the rock.

BANG!

And the rock, which was the size of an adult bull, cracked into nothing but dust.

"Like this…"

"I will break your skull."

Kang Chul-In spoke, and Franz's mouth opened in shock.

Chapter 91. Franz, swearing revenge.

"M-M-Monster…"

'I… I picked the wrong person to mess with…'

Looking at Kang Chul-In, who had just shattered a boulder with his bare hands, Franz realized that he had messed with the wrong person here.

And as he thought that…

"Milord! Quick! Get back inside the hall!"

Schneider, the leader of the Mecha Knights in the dome, spoke.

"Quickly, sire! Come inside!"

And helping Franz over, the Mecha Knights and Franz went past the dome's sturdy, iron gates.

BANG!

And after Franz, and the Atlases came back in, the gates started closing, and the Mecha Dome started disappearing, going back underground.

"Hmm… a magical fortress that is good for magic engineering and guerilla warfare, huh. Interesting."

Franz had made a mistake.

The Atlases were the only saving grace of the Mecha Dome, as they were limited with the small amount of people and resources that they had.

And using the Atlases to fight against Kang Chul-In? That was a crucial mistake.

'I will kill you, and take away all of your magical engineers.'

Whether it was an Pangaea or Earth, good technology and science was a must. And the Lords that possessed the skilled magical engineers were the ones that could build and/or upgrade artillery that helped immensely during war.

"Let's head back to our territory."

Kang Chul-In turned his back, after staring at the now-underground Mecha Dome for a long while.

"We'll go back to the Burrow Lands, and prepare special forces that can deal with those stupid Atlases that they posess."

There were many ways to fight against or around an Atlas, even without going for the joints.

"Yes, milord."

Lucia followed behind Kang Chul-In.

"Umm… Can I ask you just one thing?"

"Of course."

"My weapon."

Maybe it was Kang Chul-In's imagination, but he thought Lucia sounded quite depressed.

"…Was it a precious one?"

Kang Chul-In spoke, looking over the horizon.

"Zenith… is a Soul Weapon. Along with Aegis over here, it grows with me as I get stronger."

Kang Chul-In had borrowed a sword because he didn't want to throw away Kaiforce, but it seemed like that sword held significant importance to Lucia.

"Cough, cough."

Kang Chul-In could do nothing but cough in embarrassment.

"Of course, I completely believe in milord's words. I also believe that milord will be able to take that stupid, cheeky Lord's head within a month. But… the only worry that I have is whether or not that Lord will throw away Zenith into a furnace and melt it, or break it."

Listening to Lucia's voice that was full of worry, Kang Chul-In felt his conscience being hurt.

"… I'm sorry. I promise that I'll give it back to you within a month. Of course… if that bastard destroys the sword, I can't do anything either. I'll find you a better sword if that happens."

"No, sire. It's okay. But… I have a request."

"Request? Speak."

"Uhh… Well, the princess…"

"Arshelly?"

"Yes, milord."

Lucia spoke without directly looking at Kang Chul-In.

"She has said that she wanted to visit your hometown."

"…Did she?"

And Kang Chul-In's face stiffened in anxiety.

"And… I thought that I too would like it if I had the opportunity to go. This is my request… Will you let me, and the princess go to your hometown?"

It was a request that was hard for him.

"It… It's not a difficult request, but…"

"For someone of Pangaean birth to go to Earth, they need a rainbow colored 'Recall Stone'…"

"That's fine, sire! That useless wom… I mean, the Lord of the Dorado territory has given us some, as compensation for us helping them last time."

"Oh, and also. Princess Arshelly has said that she also wants to go to a school, or an academy back in your hometown, sir."

School?

'Dammit.'

Although Kang Chul-In had nothing that he was jealous of, and was a greatly accomplished man, becoming a parent of Arshelly for when she went to school even though he was still unmarried?

"About that… we'll decide later."

"Then what about visiting…"

"That's fine."

Kang Chul-In said.

There was no reason for him not to bring his secretary, as well as his adopted daughter and show him around Earth.

But allowing her to stay there, and study, was a completely different matter. Kang Chul-In felt that that he would rather fight 10, no, in 100 battlefields if he didn't need to do that.

"But about her going to school there… Hmm… I'll need to give it some more thought."

—-

Meanwhile, as Lucia and Kang Chul-In were talking about their future plans, the Magic Engineers of the Mecha Dome territory were working hard, repairing the 3 Atlases that had been damaged and broken by Kang Chul-In.

"Dammit… Dammit! That bastard! That rotten bastard!"

Franz stared at the working engineers, and cursed Kang Chul-In.

"Who's in charge here… Director."

The engineers stiffened, as they heard Franz's angry tone that seemed to make him look like he was growling at them.

"Yes…milord…"

Bashular, the leader of the Engineers, answered, his head down.

"The enemy took down two Atlases before we could even turn on the boosters. Do you know what this means?"

"N-No, sir."

"He found the weakness of the Atlases, and stabbed a 'claw-like' thing inside, making it explode. Bashular. I want to take revenge on him. Is there any method? To protect the Atlases from being exploded like that again, and to beat that man?"

Saying this, Franz's eyes were filled with madness. It was an obsession for him to beat Kang Chul-In.

"Well… the best, surefire way to do that… is to cover up the joints with not just steel, but with a harder, more durable substance."

"Well, do that, then."

Franz commanded.

"But… if we want to do that, the cost won't be small. If the opponent is skilled enough to take down an Atlas with their bare body, then it won't be cheap to find a metal that can stand up against him."

"Still, do it."

Franz didn't care. All he cared about was his revenge against Kang Chul-In.

Although it was a completely inefficient and foolish choice, Franz didn't care.

"It doesn't matter how much resources are used to fund this project. Use up all of the funds in the territory to fund this project, and for the two remaining Magic Gems…"

Franz laughed maniacally.

"… Put them into one Atlas! HAHA!"

He was prepared to make a secret weapon that could defeat Kang Chul-In.

Chapter 92. Let's fight, you stupid bastard!

Kang Chul-In returned to the Laputa territory quickly.

"Hooray for Lord Kang Chul-In!"

"Hooray! Hooray!"

"As expected…"

Captain James was the first one to come, and greet Kang Chul-In.

And the other leading figures of the Laputa Territory came shortly after.

Kwakjung, Michael, Nilus, Billy Halford… all of these people came and praised Kang Chul-In for his martial prowess, and strength.

"Milord!"

Nilus ran in front of Kang Chul-In, and knelt down.

"This humble one, even being a Mage, could not protect and defend against those stupid Atlases. Please your majesty, kill me!"

Nilus despaired.

"Your majesty, this humble one… Should have been stronger… This one without the Power of long time ago… has become so weak…"

It made sense.

Nilus was originally an SS ranked unit, and being a C+ unit right now, it made sense that he was frustrated.

If it was Nilus back then, he would have single-handedly destroyed all of those Atlases, so his frustration made sense.

'I know that feeling too.'

Kang Chul-In could 100% understand how Nilus felt.

If it was Kang Chul-In from before, 5, no even 50 Atlases could not withstand his strength.

"It's alright. James. How are our casualties?"

"100 dead… and 50 have been severely wounded…"

"Is that all?"

"And if we think of the food, and tents that we didn't properly collect before leaving, the financial…"

"No, no."

"Those resources, it doesn't matter how much we lose."

This wasn't Kang Chul-In speaking nonsense, but what he actually felt.

"Our soldiers come first. My soldiers are the ones that have been fighting tooth and nail the past month, to conquer the territories that we have conquered. They are what is important, not those disposable resources."

"Milord!"

James suddenly shouted.

"Please, kill execute me! This one, even though he

had heard the retreat call, could not even save everyone, allowing 100 of our precious soldiers to die, and 50 more to be injured! This is all this one's fault, so this one should definitely take a punishment befitting of that."

James couldn't lift his face due to embarassment, as just as Kang Chul-In was about to speak again…

"Milord!"

Kwak-Jung also knelt down.

"Please punish me!"

"Milord, allow me to be punished!"

All of the leading figures of the Laputa territory knelt down in quick succession, and started speaking of their 'crimes'. It seemed like it was an execution ground at this point, and it became more so when all of the soldiers also started kneeling down, begging to be punished about how weak they were.

But…

"Everyone, stand up."

Kang Chul-In spoke with his typical, charismatic voice.

"Everyone, be proud. Look at the reality. You, no we have only lost 100 men when retreating against two Atlases. This is an incredible feat that no other Lord's army would have been able to achieve. Be proud of yourselves! Rather than being punished, I believe that you guys should be rewarded instead! HOWEVER!"

There was something before that.

"Those. Damnable. Bastards. They made us lose our valued, precious comrades in arms. We'll show them what happens if you end up crossing swords with the Laputa territory. For our dead brothers!"

And listening to Kang Chul-In speaking, the soldiers regained their ferocity and vigor, and were pumped up for fighting again.

"That's right!"

"REVENGE! REVENGE!"

"For our dead brothers! For Laputa!"

"You guys too. Stand up."

Kang Chul-In spoke to the still-kneeling leaders of Laputa.

"Do you guys want to become stronger?"

And as everyone except Kwak-Jung nodded, Kang Chul-In smiled, satisfied.

"Good."

Kang Chul-In nodded his head.

"I will give you guys 'special training' when winter comes, so be prepared for that."

Listening to Kang Chul-In's warning, everyone's eyes flared up. Everyone except for one.

"Of course, you're included too."

Unfortunately for Kwak-Jung, he was included.

"M-Me? B-But I'm just a tactician, right?"

"Tell me if you don't want to. Instead, I'll give you some mental…"

"I'LL DO IT! I'LL DO THE TRAINING!"

Before the terrifying 'mental-training', Kwak-Jung spoke as quickly as possible, afraid that Kang Chul-In might change his mind.

Two weeks from that.

Kang Chul-In didn't stop continuously looking at the Mecha Dome territory, looking for any changes.

But it seemed like they had no plans whatsoever for coming above ground. Even though Kang Chul-In had finished his preparations, not a single ant was found.

But at that moment, an adventurer came, and delivered him a letter.

"…This bastard. I'll crush your skull."

Kang Chul-In growled, looking at the contents of the letter. The start of it went like this:

- Let's fight, you stupid bastard!

Chapter 93. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread

Let's fight, you stupid bastard!

…was what the letter started with, and it taunted Kang Chul-in, while giving off the message that Franz wanted to fight.

- If you're a man, then we'll fight fair and square at the plains.

- The fight will be 3 days later, 1km in front of my territory, in the plains. The time will be at 10 am.

- Like a man, we'll finish this off in one bout.

- I will only activate 8 of my Atlases, and use 21 of my Mechanic Knights, and will not use 'any' underhanded tactics whatsoever.

- You are allowed to bring up to 2000 of your soldiers.

- However, you're not allowed to bring in any other Lords to this fight. Only fight with the power of you, and your territory. My 8 Atlases are the full strength of my territory, and if you are a 'true man', then I believe that you wouldn't resort to calling in help from other Lords.

- How are my conditions? Do you like them?

- And do you dare fight against me?

- If you do have intentions of fighting, then put your thumbprint on this Soul Contract.

- If you do not agree to my conditions…

- I'll call you a coward for eternity.

- From the Lord of the Mecha Dome territory, Franz.

- To: ****ing b*tch

"This… he dares to talk in front of me about being a man?"

Crack!

The whiskey bottle that Kang Chul-in was holding cracked to pieces, unable to withstand Kang Chul-in's wrist strength.

"Milord!"

Lucia, who was looking at this, hurriedly wrapped a white handkerchief around Kang Chul-in's hands, afraid if they would bleed.

But they didn't bleed.

Leveling up 2 more times during the past few weeks he had been conquering and fighting against other territories, Kang Chul-in had the strength to shatter glass, and come out unscathed.

"Milord… this guy… is he a madman?"

Kwak-Jung laughed, looking from the side.

"This madman wants to crawl in front of us when we were thinking of ways to get him to come out of his small hole?"

It was as Kwak-Jung said.

While the Laputa territory was trying their best to try to make Franz come out of his territory, Franz himself invited Kang Chul-in to a frontal battle. It couldn't be any better for Laputa.

"It actually makes sense."

Kang Chul-in said, and didn't laugh at Franz for being stupid.

"I'm guessing that he has probably upgraded his Atlases, and found ways to protect the joints of them. Or… maybe he has even done something stupid enough like putting 3 magic crystal into a single Atlas to amp up its power."

And Kang Chul-in had unknowingly read what Franz was thinking.

"Anyway… limiting my army to 2000 in numbers, and getting rid of artillery too?"

Kang Chul-in laughed.

"And taunting me just in case I don't respond to this fight of his… He's tried to use his brain here. Going easy on me, before backstabbing me and my army?"

Kang Chul-in was confident, knowing of Franz's thoughts.

Kang Chul-in himself had just bought enough trolls and minotaurs to join his anti-Atlas army from the Lord shop, and had used the head of blacksmithing in Laputa, Vulcanus, to make armor for the 'anti-Atlas' army.

"Lucia."

Kang Chul-in spoke.

"Quickly, go get the Soul Core of Laputa."

"Yes, milord. I will go immediately."

Lucia didn't care about the terms of the contract, and left to go get the Soul Core of Laputa; showing the trust and faith she had in Kang Chul-in.

"Nilus."

This time, Kang Chul-in called on Nilus, who was the head of the mages and magicians in the territory.

"Yes, milord?"

"Are you able to use the spell: Blizzard?"

And at this, the other leading figures of the Laputa territory took

in a deep breath, startled.

Blizzard was a 5 circle magic spell that caused a literal blizzard by causing the surroundings to freeze up and the temperature to drop, and was the spell amongst the 5 circle spells that was hardest to pull of, requiring lots and lots of mana.

"Of course, milord. Even if this lowly one is to sacrifice his life for this task, I am still willing to do so for milord's conquest!"

"… I don't remember asking you to sacrifice yourself."

And saying this, Kang Chul-in looked at Michael, the head of the White Lion knights.

"Michael, you've picked up the scraps from the destroyed Atlas, right?"

"Yes, there was absolutely nothing left over."

"And you should have picked up some Magic Crystal fragments too, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then give them over to Nilus. They are of not much use to me, and Nilus using it to perform his magic will be much more effective."

These Magic Crystals were a very important item to magicians and mages. Even if they had lost some of their power, they still were extremely useful.

"But… milord."

The leader of the White Lion Knights, Michael asked.

"Is there a special reason that you ordered sir Nilus to use the spell Blizzard? If used in battle, there might be a real chance that it could do more damage to our allies rather than the enemies…"

But the answer came from Kwak-Jung, rather than Kang Chul-in.

"Uh… isn't the spell blizzard one where it literally causes snow, and hail?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Well, then it's probably not going to be used in battle at all. It is going to be used as a smokescreen before the battle even starts. Am I right, milord?"

And Kang Chul-in nodded at Kwak-Jung's words.

"Not bad."

"Kuku, it wasn't much."

And at Kang Chul-in and Kwak-Jung's conversation, the other leaders of the Laputa territory cocked their heads to the side, not fully understanding what they were talking about.

"Milord, the Soul Core."

And while they were still confused, Lucia handed the Soul Core of Laputa to Kang Chul-in.

BANG!

And using the Soul Core, he stamped it onto the Soul Contract that Franz had gave him.

"3 days, 3 days left."

And Kang Chul-in spoke.

"3 days later, we will feast on our lunch inside their territory."

It meant that he would take down Franz under an hour.

————-

The day of the fight, 9 in the morning.

As the frozen ground started ripping apart, a golden igloo-looking structure started rising from the ground. It was the appearance of the Mecha Dome, the territory that Lord Franz controlled.

First, the hangar of the Dome opened.

And inside were 7 Atlases that looked even bigger, and more upgraded than the Atlases that Kang Chul-in had fought before. And even the joints were covered with steel, meaning that the critical weakness it had before was now no longer there.

It was obvious that the Mecha Dome had spent almost all of its resources into upgrading these Atlases.

BANG!

And soon after, the front door to the Mecha Dome also opened, and Franz, allowing with his personal guards in the Mecha Knights came 'strutting' out, with pride.

"Huhu… just you wait, you stupid bastard."

Franz walked into the middle of the plains with his Mecha Knights and his 7 Atlases. The last Atlas he had was nowhere to be seen, and was to be used as his Trump Card.

"First snow, huh…"

Looking at the snow-covered plains, Franz muttered.

It seemed like the night before, the first snow of the year had come.

And no, it wasn't the kind of snow that just poured down softly, but it was the kind of snowstorm that would happen once in a while.

"This snow-covered plains… will be reddened by the blood of our enemies by the end of the fight."

Franz swore to himself.

The first to arrive to the battlefield was Franz.

"This rotten bastard… he wants me to wait?"

Franz swore in anger.

"Milord, please calm yourself. It is still 40 minutes before the promised time. But that doesn't really matter though, does it? After all, we will be the ones that will triumph in this frontal battle."

"Y-Yes, of course. You're right."

Nodding his head, Franz pretended that he still had patience. Of course, inwardly, he wanted to start the battle as soon as possible.

10 minutes passed.

The Laputan army didn't show up.

20 minutes.

Again, not a single ant showed up.

30 minutes.

Only a wild dog meandered around the snow-covered plains.

And… another 5 minutes passed.

"T-There! They're coming!"

Schneider, the leader of the Mecha Knights, pointed far away, to the horizon. And over there, there was something, something that was rushing towards them with terrifying speed.

"W-What the hell?"

And where Schneider was pointing there was a tiger the size of a whole house. It was the Altaica.

"W-Wait!"

"The one riding on top of it then…"

Kuoooo!!

The Altaica, that had found its enemy, started roaring at Franz. And the killing intent of the Altaica found its way to Franz, startling him.

"Eek…"

Startled and forgetting about his position as Lord, Franz hid behind Schneider, to protect himself.

"Hey, coward who can't stand even my mount."

"Y-You… do you honestly think that even with that tiger of yours, you can win with just the two of you?"

"Hmm… I don't know? Do I really need a large force to beat a coward like you? Someone that pisses his pants just by looking at my mount?"

"Y-You… do you really think you'll be fine with taunting me like that!"

"Seems like you will live a long, happy life."

And those words were the final nail in the coffin.

"K-Kill him! Go, go and bring his head to me!"

Franz shouted, losing his patience.

BANG! BANG!

And the Atlases, followed by 10 Mecha Knights started stomping their way towards Kang Chul-in and Lucia at a frightening speed.

90m… 80m… 70m… and 50m!

"Those pieces of scrap metal…"

"Crush them."

And with those words, the ground suddenly split apart, revealing a hole. And the monsters waiting inside the hole came out, and started fighting the Atlases.

Chapter 94. Franz, taking out his trump card.

Translator: Leyy

Editor: Arya

"W-What the hell are those?"

Franz was so startled and surprised that he could not speak properly.

'Don't tell me…'

Franz recalled the report that he got from the sentries standing guard last night.

Because of the hard snowstorm that had occurred last night, even with the periscopes in the territory, it was impossible to see more than 5 meters away.

'Have they set up an ambush while the snowstorm was raging?'

Franz understood what Kang Chul-in did, but only half of it.

Though it was true that Kang Chul-in had his army hide while the snowstorm was raging, Franz didn't know that the snowstorm itself was caused by Nilus's blizzard. They had been played from 12 hours ago.

'It's okay. The Atlases are powerful.'

Franz was surprised but didn't despair.

Although the enemy's monsters were strong, could they be any stronger than his Atlases?

But…

The problem was that Franz wasn't the only one that had upgraded his 'troops'.

Krrrrr….

Coming out from the underground first were a pack of trolls. 30 trolls launched themselves immediately towards the Atlases, fighting with their superior numbers.

Wiinnnggg… Click!

Bang! Bang!

The Atlases tried to rotate their body parts around 360 degrees in order to get out of the grasp of the trolls, but failed.

Although it was true that the power output of the Atlases were enough to win against the trolls…

Grrrr?

The trolls, already equipped with the finest armor made from the Laputa territory withstood the attacks of the Atlases, and hung onto them.

"T-Those damned trolls!"

Though Franz raged…

Moooooo!!!

The trolls weren't the full force of Kang Chul-in's arsenal.

Cr-Crack…!

The frozen ground cracked once again to reveal monsters that rivaled the sizes of the Atlases, standing at 4 meters. There were 10 minotaurs that appeared.

The 30 trolls that had been deployed were just meant to be a meatshield, and was not meant to be used to attack or damage the Atlases in the first place. The real monsters that would be facing these Atlases were the minotaurs.

Snorting loudly, the 10 minotaurs made its way towards the Atlases, in preparation to beat it up.

And what occurred after that was a mess.

3 trolls ganged up to fight against one Atlas, and the 3 trolls each held onto the Atlas's back, feet, and hands. With the Atlases now restrained, the minotaurs had free rein over the Atlases.

Mooooo!!

The minotaurs wearing gauntlets made from the blacksmiths of the Laputa territory, smashed their fists towards the Atlases, as if they were doing boxing.

Bang! Headshot!

Bang! Body-blow!

Bang! One more body-blow!

The minotaurs became like gangsters beating up the 'weak main-character' in a story, and beat up the Atlases with no mercy whatsoever.

No, it was a little bit of an understatement to say that they just 'beat up' the Atlases.

The minotaur's fists broke through the steel coating of the Atlas's armor, and even crumpled the iron heads of the Atlases.

"Huhu…"

And looking at this, Kang Chul-in smiled evilly.

——

"T-This…!"

Meanwhile, Franz was about to faint out of anger.

And not only that…

For the 10 Mecha Knights that had followed the Atlases in the fervor of battle, they fell into the hole with the Atlases and had to struggle in there.

And not only that.

Like the (korean) saying that 'the shrimp pops during the fight of whales', all that was waiting for the Mecha Knights that fell into the hole was death.

"Aghh!!!"

"S-Save me!"

Unable to perform as the 'best' of the territory, the Mecha Knights met their tragic end. It was a very tragic, and futile end.

"Milord, the booster!"

Schneider said to Franz.

"Won't it be okay if we use the booster?"

"T-That's right! The boosters!"

Hope once again filled Franz's face, as he recalled the existence of the boosters that he had temporarily forgotten about due to how startled and angered he was.

"You bastard!"

Franz growled, staring at Kang Chul-in.

"See what happens now!"

Saying this, Franz pressed a red button that he had received just now from Schneider. Although there was a real danger that the Atlases could run out of fuel extremely quickly, there was no real alternative for him here.

Vroom…. Vroom!!

As soon as the button was pressed, the Atlases started showing newfound, greater power and pushed back the monsters, emitting a pale black gas from it's pipes.

POW!

One troll fell.

BAM!

And following that, another minotaur fell back from the impact of the Atlas's punch.

It was the effect of the booster.

The Atlases that had gained a 15% increase in power temporarily started showing its strength against the monster army of Laputa.

Although 30 minutes was the limit, it was possible that during this time period the Atlases could allow for a change in the outcome of the war.

Of course, that was until Kang Chul-in held up his wrist, that was wrapped by a bracelet.

Woosh!

A dark current started to disrupt the surroundings, before 50 Spectre Knights appeared behind Kang Chul-in.

"Go."

Kang Chul-in ordered.

"Go and break the joints of those hunks of metal."

7 Atlases and 50 Spectre Knights.

Like ants fighting an elephant, 7 Spectre Knights ganged up on 1 Atlas each and aimed at the joints of the Atlases.

"How could this be…"

Franz murmured, and couldn't believe the situation.

Not only had he upgraded his Atlases, but he had also overcharged them by turning on the boosters.

However…

The result was this.

The Atlases were unable to fight a single favorable battle, much less come out victorious.

"Arrogant, haughty bastard."

Kang Chul-in stared at Franz with a cold gaze.

And just as Kang Chul-in stated, Franz was haughty and arrogant.

"Lucia, let's go."

"Yes milord."

Kang Chul-in then led his Altaica and charged straight where Franz and the remaining Mecha Knights were.

Roar!!

The godbeast Altaica rushed towards the enemies at a terrifying speed, jumping over holes and straight into the pack where Franz was standing.

'Let's see how long he holds out before revealing his trump card.'

Kang Chul-in knew that 7 Atlases weren't the entire force of Franz, and that Franz would have another one left as a Trump Card.

"S-Stop him!"

Franz shouted, noticing Kang Chul-in rushing towards him.

"Mecha Knights, protect our Lord!"

Schneider and the 10 remaining Mecha Knights tried valiantly to stop Kang Chul-in.

However…

Rip!

"Aghhh!!!"

The Mecha Knights that were ripped apart by the Altaica's teeth screamed in agony.

Grrr!

And the Altaica didn't stop.

"Aghh!! Arghh!!!"

A terrifying scene occurred.

The Altaica, and Kang Chul-in who sat atop it started to brutally murder all of the Mecha Knights that tried to protect Franz.

Even Schneider, the leader of the Mecha Knights was unable to stop the combination of Kang Chul-in and the Altaica, so it was naturally impossible for the other members of the Mecha Knights to be able to stand up against Kang Chul-in.

'A-Am I going to die?'

Franz felt that his life was over.

He knew that it wouldn't take even 5 minutes for his head to fall on the floor if this continued.

"Titan…How about Titan?"

Franz's gaze headed towards the Mecha Dome territory that stood out atop the snow.

The only hope that Franz had remaining was Titan, the Atlas that he had put 3 Magic Crystals into.

It was then.

At the top of the Mecha Dome territory, a signal flare lit up the sky.

"T-Titan! Thank god. Stop them! Stop them at all costs before I get onto Titan!"

It was a difficult order to keep though.

Kang Chul-in had already killed most of the Mecha Knights, and Schneider was also on the floor, bleeding out to death.

But suddenly, something grabbed Kang Chul-in from the back. It was Schneider's hand. He was trying to protect his Lord, even in the face of death.

"Your undying loyalty to your Lord… Is something to be proud of."

Kang Chul-in spoke.

"What a waste."

Kang Chul-in truly thought that it was a waste. After all, for a Lord like Kang Chul-in, it was impossible to not think of someone with undying loyalty highly.

"However… Your Lord's defeat is inevitable. And your loyalty is but a lost cause."

"…No."

Schneider shook his head.

"Mecha Dome… will not lose… Our pride… our trump card… Titan… Titan will come… for the glory of the Mecha Dome… For Lord Fran… Kuk!"

Schneider suddenly spat out a bunch of blood, before going stiff, and turning still. It was because he had been split in half from Kaiforce.

"Haha. Bull****."

Kang Chul-in smirked.

—–

"Huk… Huk…"

While his subordinates bought him time, Franz ran like a madman towards the Mecha Dome.

And as the Garage opened from a press of his button, a Steel Colossus standing at over 7 meters tall was revealed. It was the final card he had left, Titan.

"Huhu… I'll make you into mincemeat for this!"

And whispering this, Franz used the Soul Core he had in his hands to open a small door that was made specifically for him inside Titan. On top of the engine was a small seat made for him to control the Titan. (Kind of like D.Va in Overwatch)

Thud!

And as the door closed again, Franz's eyes who sat on the control seat gleamed with killing intent.

"Now it's time for the real fight, you damned bastard!"

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