Chapter 707: Barrier

“Spirits of the covenant!”

BOOM!

As the young shamans chanted their spells.

In response to those spells, enormous giants rose from the earth.

The earth spirits swung their rocky fists toward the zombies.

“Guard the spirits’ flanks!”

“KWOOOOOOOOOR!!!”

As the enormous spirits took the lead and received the enemy attacks.

The green-skinned warriors moved beside them and fought together.

The areas they took charge of were the parts the Legion had originally failed to defend.

They were thoroughly blocking the gaps that had inevitably appeared because the front line was far too wide.

“Krk......!”

“Brother!”

Of course.

Some of them suffered fatal wounds from those zombies.

The awakened fighting nearby watched that sight and thought.

'I don’t know how that many Green Mane came to help us, but.......'

A tremendous number of warriors.

Their numbers and momentum were certainly impressive, but.

'Those guys’ movements are clumsy.'

Unfortunately.

The newly born tribe was still lacking.

Their bodily growth had been forcibly accelerated through spells, and Borjin had hurriedly taught them with his knowledge.

The combat techniques engraved into their genes were certainly powerful.

'They have less experience than the ones we fought.'

But they were severely lacking in experience to polish those techniques.

No matter how powerful a technique was, without experience, it could not be used effectively.

Perhaps.

More of them than expected might be swept away by the zombies.

Just as they were thinking that.

“I am fine. Rather.......”

Krk.

The wounded orc shook off the hand of his comrade and shouted.

“I can hardly endure how much more I want to fight!”

“......!”

The orc threw himself toward the enemy even while injured.

SHWAAAAK!

His glaive cut down the enemy.

And he continued fighting, ignoring even his wounds.

The Legion members watching that orc could not help feeling a strange sense of incongruity.

'......What is with that guy?'

'Unless I’m mistaken.'

Right.

The Green Mane orcs who had first appeared on the battlefield had definitely been weak.

But for some reason.

'He seems stronger than before.'

Their strength.

Was growing at a tremendous speed.

***

The ten eggs Borjin had kept safe.

They were the children of the greatest being in the tribe, the Great Chieftain.

A prayer-spell had been placed on them so they would be born with outstanding talents.

And even among the children born that way, only the ten with the greatest talent in each field had been selected.

Talents that ranked among the very best in the tribe.

Those young Green Mane warriors were only the third generation.

Outstanding talent had met outstanding talent and given birth to children.

So their bloodline and talent had been passed down almost without loss.

Every single talent they possessed was brilliantly dazzling.......

[You have acquired experience points.]

[Your level has risen!]

Talents that might have fallen asleep without ever properly blooming.

A power that would make those talents blossom at high speed was protecting them.

'It’s not a mistake. Those guys are growing.'

'And at an incredible speed!'

As they experienced battle.

The Green Mane tribe was growing stronger by the moment.

Originally, although their specs were stronger than humans, they had only been capable of handling a few zombies at most.

[Active cooking effect - 1]

[Due to the effect of Absolute Taste, the cooking effect increases!]

Sergeant Shin Youngjun’s cooking.

It targeted all awakened.

So they, too, had eaten that cooking as awakened.

[You have defeated an enemy stronger than yourself!]

Through the power of that cooking.

The tribe members were able to hunt even zombies far stronger than themselves.

And.

It was only natural that defeating stronger enemies would bring greater rewards.

[You have acquired a large amount of experience points!]

The more they defeated strong enemies they would originally have been unable to bring down.

The faster their growth became.

“What the young tribe members lacked most was experience.”

They were still not at a level comparable to the Legion members.

However.

They were more than capable of eliminating the enemies flowing through the gaps the Legion members had failed to block.

“Through this battle, the children of the tribe will grow even stronger.”

“Good grief.”

Thanks to that.

The battle situation, which might have turned unfavorable, reversed in an instant.

The number of enemies still seemed endless.

'But our side’s loss of fighting strength has also become almost nothing......!'

And.

The person who had made such an incredible thing possible.

“Now tell me, Legion Commander.”

The teacher of all those young tribe members.

And a being no different from their parent.

“What should we do?”

Borjin looked at me and spoke.

“Should we keep fighting until all of them are eliminated?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It will not be easy, but if the Legion Commander orders it, we will obey.”

A voice overflowing with confidence.

Hearing °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the “taste” contained in that voice, I could be certain.

'This guy is serious.'

They really would keep fighting that tremendous number of enemies if I told them to.

Even if the result was the destruction of the tribe that had only just sprouted again.

“On the day we first met. If not for the mercy you showed me, I would have died. Even if I had somehow survived there, if I had not received the Legion’s protection, I would not have lasted long in this world.”

“.......”

“If not for the land and food you provided, and the protection of the Legion members, even after hatching those children, they would have become monster feed before they fully grew. So.”

To keep the promise made with them.

And to keep faith with the Legion that had revived their tribe.

“Say anything you wish, Legion Commander.”

A resolve to obey any order.

“......I understand your resolve.”

Of course.

I could not throw those who were trying to offer this much loyalty into enemy lines and tell them to be destroyed.

“I appreciate you being prepared to go that far.”

Looking at the number of those enemies.

It was true that no other method came to mind easily, but.......

Fortunately.

“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“Hmm?”

“The situation changed a little because you fought that hard for us.”

The battle had gone on for quite a long time.

Even after the Green Mane tribe joined the war, the battle continued for several more hours.

And if this much time had passed.

FWAAAAASH.......

'It’s about time we got word.'

A small sound came from behind.

When I turned my head.

I saw yellow signal flares rising into the sky from the rear.

***

“All units!!!”

Yellow signal flares rose into the sky.

The moment they saw those flares.

Every commander on the battlefield shouted loudly.

“Retreat at maximum speed while minimizing damage!!!”

Like that.

All awakened who had been fighting the zombies began retreating.

It was not simply because those enemies were too strong.

As we ran toward the rear.

I saw a line in the distance.

A place that had originally been the boundary of the DMZ.

The ground there had been overturned, as though some kind of construction had been done.

And on the dirt was a long line roughly drawn across it.

Near that line.

“Hurry this way!”

A figure was shouting at us.

I saw the Architect, Jongdu.

When monsters had begun flowing into the rear.

I had thought that itself was unavoidable.

But even then.

'What I was most worried about wasn’t the rear facilities collapsing or anything like that...... it was something else.'

Right.

It was none other than.

'The zombies going to Jongdu, of all people.'

The Architect had fallen back to the rear.

I was worried those zombies might rush at him and stop his work.

And.

'The Green Mane solved that problem for us.'

If so.

There was nothing more to worry about.

“Cross that line!”

The soldiers who had retreated.

All awakened, including those orcs, crossed the line.

And as the soldiers crossed it, they looked down at the ground.

'Something is buried there.'

The white line drawn on the ground.

Beneath that line was a long rod.......

A huge wedge-shaped pillar was buried there.

“Deploy the barrier!!!”

Once all the soldiers succeeded in crossing the line.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

Some kind of device activated.

And pulled the wedges buried in the ground up to the surface.

Enormous pillars around fifty meters long.

Those pillars appeared with roughly one hundred meters of distance between each one.

When they first emerged, nothing happened.

Because of that.

The zombies that had chased the retreating awakened tried to rush toward them through the spaces between the pillars.

But.

“Begin activation!”

The very moment all those pillars were raised.

FWAAAAAAASH......!

A tremendous light rose from behind.

Beneath the pillars were enormous, thick lines.

Huge pipes that extended southward to the rear.

[High-Grade Mana Conduits Crafted with the Utmost Devotion of Master Artisans]

[Trait: Mana Transfer]

[Trait: Increased Transfer Efficiency]

As if drawing power from somewhere far away.

Those pipes shone intensely.

And through the power transferred from those pipes...... through that enormous mana.

CRRRRZZZZT!!!

From the pillars, an immense.......

A scale of lightning that could only be called divine punishment surged.

THUD.......

A wall of lightning filled the spaces between the enormous wedge pillars.

The zombies near that wall scattered into dust.......

“......Did it succeed?”

Watching that sight.

Our unit’s Architect, Jongdu, muttered blankly.

'......I did hear a report that they were making something like that.'

I also.

While catching my exhausted breath, sat down on the ground and looked around as I thought.

'I didn’t think it would really work.'

No matter where I turned my head, I could see the enormous pillars of blue light.

If someone looked down from the sky, then probably.

Blue light would be sparkling across the entire area once called the Military Demarcation Line.

Not long ago.

When I realized the System was humanity’s ally.

I also learned that even that barrier, which had initially caused people such suffering.

Was actually something made for humanity.

Powerful enemies that could appear in unknown regions.

By isolating each region from those enemies and making them a little safer.

It was a wall designed so that as many humans as possible could survive.

'The more occupied territory we have, the stronger the System becomes, so the Conquest Wars have to be carried out as quickly as possible.'

But.

Even so.

'Isn’t it kind of a waste for the barrier to disappear......?'

Apparently, quite a lot of people had thought that.

The reason the barrier disappeared was that, if humans had ended the Conquest War in victory, it meant humanity’s growth had progressed that much.

And by removing the barrier that required a great amount of power.

The System could support the surviving humans with more strength.

Still, wouldn’t it be nice to have a safe wall if possible?

That was what they had thought.

And.......

The result of the idea that began there was precisely that wall.

“Ha, hahah. We did it!”

The Military Demarcation Line...... in other words.

The enormous area dividing South and North Korea.

A wide border line dividing nations.

A vast wall of blue light large enough to cover all of it.

“We recreated the ‘barrier,’ Legion Commander!!!”

The thing that had blocked our path until only a little while ago. Was a perfect imitation of the “barrier.”