Chapter 771: Invasion (1)

After finishing that trip to [Cheonsan Martial Hall].

The soldiers and I immediately returned to the Legion.

“The treatment of the squad leaders and instructors is finished with this.”

The military doctor, Luca, came to find me and reported.

We had gained many things from the trip to the martial hall, but the injuries suffered by both the unit members and the beastkin had also been severe.

Normally, even with the Legion members’ strength, those wounds would have taken several weeks to heal, or as long as a month.

But once Luca became involved in the treatment, it took less than a week.

“How is your condition?”

“I’m fine.”

“It feels like I finally got a proper rest after a long time.”

The soldiers who had suffered those injuries also looked to be in good condition.

“Is that so? If you rested well.”

Therefore.

I looked at those unit members and said.

“Then let’s get back to work.”

At those words.

The unit members’ gazes all turned toward the map in the corner of the conference room.

“According to the Demon Hunters’ report, the being that appeared in the north, the ‘demon’, is strengthening its body by devouring the zombies.”

The unit’s magic squad leader.

Sergeant Lee Minjae began the briefing.

“As you know, our Legion’s specialty is defensive warfare. The royal guard captain’s vampire forces and the shaman chief’s Green Mane tribe warriors have been deployed along the barrier perimeter in enormous numbers, so if we continue reinforcing our defenses like this, we should be able to hold the enemies back for a while without suffering major damage. But.......”

“We need to join the humans in other regions as quickly as possible, and if we drag this out, we’ll only be giving the enemy more time to grow stronger.”

“Exactly. The problem was that we had no way to suppress them on their side.”

Sergeant Lee Minjae grinned.

“But that is no longer the case.”

Then.

The unit members’ gazes turned toward one place.

“......It seems this concerns us.”

The ones there were the beastkin.

The martial artists we had brought from Cheonsan Martial Hall.

Even excluding Seohwan and Miho, who had already belonged to the Legion.

There were as many as twelve beastkin.

They awkwardly endured those gazes.

“I am Cheonho, who recently joined as a new instructor.”

At those gazes.

Cheonho, who had been called Eldest Senior Brother and seemed to feel responsible as their representative, stepped forward.

But.

Poke.

Someone jabbed him in the side.

“Didn’t I tell you to make all your sentence endings formal? You can start speaking a little more freely after six months.”

“Mm, hmm. I apologize....... No, I apologi...... ze?”

“Not that ‘ze’...... and it’s instructor, not master.”

The one watching the newly joined instructors from beside them.

Was Seohwan, one of the existing instructors.

Once, they had operated as the beastkin of the martial hall.

Their relationship with the Legion had only ever been one of cooperation.

But now they were no longer beastkin of the martial hall, but instructors of the Legion.

And since they now belonged to the Legion.......

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to the officers.”

They had also become part of the Legion’s hierarchy.

Seohwan had originally been the youngest.

But as a Legion instructor, Seohwan was now one of the most senior, together with Miho.

Seohwan, who had once been the youngest, had ended up in a position where he had to teach Cheonho, who had once been the Eldest Senior Brother.

'......The funny thing about those guys is that they accepted the situation surprisingly obediently.'

It was practically the ultimate reversal of rank.

Yet unexpectedly, the beastkin accepted the situation without complaint.

'They said that since they had decided to join the Legion under Master’s orders, they had to do it properly.'

The Legion’s hierarchy followed that of the former Republic of Korea military.

The relationship between seniors and juniors was absolute.

......Well, it was not necessarily always like that, but they were practically brand-new recruits.

The words of their direct seniors were absolute.

At least, since they had joined as instructors, they belonged to a different organization from the ordinary soldiers, so it was fortunate they were not treated as juniors by the soldiers as well.

And as I watched that scene.

“......Are you enjoying this?”

“Pfft.”

I looked at the woman beside me who was holding back her laughter.

The woman sat leisurely in the conference room, wearing palace robes made by Squad Leader Lee Sanga.

[Awakened : Mirinae]

Once.

She had been the master of those beastkin who had now become instructors.

“You would have trouble holding back your laughter as well if you were in my position. Cheonho always carried himself with such dignity in the martial hall. And now he is being scolded by the youngest.”

When we left Cheonsan Martial Hall.

The dragon in the form of a Milky Way...... Mirinae had said it had also prepared a gift for its disciples.

At the time, I had wondered what that meant.

'Calling yourself the gift. Is this person a little too self-absorbed......?'

The gift was none other than itself.

Of course.

Naturally, that woman was not the true body of the Milky Way dragon.

[Race - Beastkin (Avatar)]

The current Mirinae was in a state where countless souls had blended together and become one.

In essence, it was a different being from the former master of the martial hall.

Therefore, Mirinae had copied and separated only the part within itself that had once been the master of the martial hall.

It was a form I had also seen in my dream.

The beautiful woman in palace robes who had first shown me the ‘outside’ and revealed the ropes within me.

'When I saw her at the entrance to [Dragon Heaven Pavilion]...... she was clearly corrupted by black energy.'

Come to think of it.

The first soul that had come out to greet me at Dragon Heaven Pavilion had belonged to the Heavenly Emperor.

The one who appeared afterward had been that woman.

Now that I thought about it, it seemed the largest soul had appeared first, followed by the original owner of the body.

At the time, her soul had been the one suffering from wounds.

In contrast to the souls of the many immortals and the Heavenly Emperor, who had at least retained their reason.

She had devoted herself to stopping that invasion and suffered for a long time, so in the end, her soul had probably fallen into corruption.

But.

'In the final moment, she ultimately came back.'

When I shouted at the souls to seize control during the process of integration.

That woman had definitely responded to my call.

Put another way, if she had not regained her senses at the very end.

Even after the souls were integrated, control might have been seized by one of the other stars.

Or by that woman while she was still corrupted.

The soul of an invader, or a berserk soul raging in fury and trying to devour everything.

If either one had taken control of Mirinae’s body, it would truly have been the worst possible outcome.

“Pfft. Pff.......”

And.

The reason the soul that had lost its reason and done nothing but scream in pain had ultimately been able to return to normal.......

“Do you see Hyeonchuk’s expression over there? That child was always so quiet and dignified, but now he looks completely dazed.”

“.......”

“Myojeong looks outright terrified. She is pitiful, but also adorable.”

Well, there could only be one reason.

[Class - Martial God of the Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts]

[Lv.19]

The unfortunate part was.

She, too, was difficult to consider the complete former master of the martial hall.

The reason Mirinae could not directly help us in the first place was because it was too enormous.

It was so vast that merely existing in this world could have a harmful effect on it.

Therefore, the strength of the avatar sent as a gift had also needed to be limited to a level that would not affect the world.

Her body was weaker than that of most Legion members.

......Of course.

That did not mean she was weak.

[Martial Arts Level - 96]

Instead of suppressing her physical strength to the absolute limit.

Mirinae had filled the avatar with the former master of the martial hall’s memories and experience in their ‘complete’ form.

'Knowledge and experience sufficient to qualify for ascension.......'

That knowledge and information also affected the size of the soul.

If it had strengthened the body, it would have had to remove part of that experience and memory.

Rather than filling both body and knowledge only halfway.

Mirinae had chosen to weaken the body and include as much knowledge as possible.

“Still...... I feel a little guilty just watching them struggle so much.”

Unlike before, when our relationship had been cooperative, or when I had been the one helping it unilaterally.

Mirinae was now the one who had only helped me.

Moreover, that martial arts knowledge was truly transcendent.

The advice about the ‘left hand’ that I had once given Gwangil.

Advice powerful enough to let Gwangil beat even me one-sidedly was now pouring down on every unit member like a literal bombardment.

“I shall explain that part, Squad Leader Lee Minjae.”

“......!”

Most of the beastkin had joined the Legion as instructors.

But no matter what, a figure like her could not be treated the same as the other instructors.

“......Very well. Combat Advisor.”

Her position was Combat Advisor.

She oversaw all instructors and also offered advice on every other aspect of combat.

It was a position equal to that of the unit’s officers.

“The enemy’s main forces will be handled by me and my disciples...... the instructors.”

Originally, most of their power had been sealed by the System.

That seal disappeared when they became part of the System.

Experts on the same level as Sarin, whom I had faced, were now able to display their full strength.

The number of elite troops the unit lacked had suddenly increased.

Moreover.

“We should also have sufficient forces to support us.”

As the number of beastkin instructors increased.

Not only the vampires under Royal Guard Captain Ariella.

But also the Green Mane tribe under Shaman Chief Borjin.

Many of them had begun learning martial arts.

There was no need even to mention how much stronger the existing Legion members had become.

“And.”

Mirinae looked at me and spoke.

“While the squad leaders and instructors were resting...... our Legion Commander must have prepared plenty of cooking.”

Beginning with Mirinae’s gaze.

Many of the unit members’ gazes fixed on me.

“......Hm.”

Receiving those gazes, I looked outside.

Following my gaze, the unit members also looked outward.

Beyond the barrier.

They stared at the land glowing golden for some reason despite the darkness of night.

“We have assembled the greatest force available to us at this time.”

Only veteran Legion members of squad leader rank or higher could participate in this meeting.

Many of them had gone north to escort the Legion Commander and then returned.

They could not help but know about the strange supernatural power contained in that golden light.

“Therefore...... it is not a method I particularly like, but there is only one answer.”

If we dragged things out like this, the enemy in the north would only grow stronger.

Therefore.

There was only one best option available to us at this point.

BAM!

I slammed my hand down in the center of the map and said.

“We launch the invasion from our side.”

***

The dark night sky.

But despite that dark night.

When viewed from space, there was one stretch of land glowing with a strange golden light.

A land that had remained dark even when human civilization shone brilliantly.

But now that the destruction of that civilization had come.

Only now did that land shine more brilliantly than any other place.

At the center of that golden land stood an enormous city.

And also.

SHWAAAAK.......

Countless forms.

Were flying toward that city.

As though forcibly seized by something.

The forms flew through the sky, dragged toward the city.

The moment some of them arrived above the city.

THUD!

They fell from the sky and struck the ground.

Having fallen from such a great height, the forms were mutilated so horribly that they were difficult to look at.

But.

“Hmm.”

The face of the one looking at those gruesome remains was filled only with calm.

The reason was simple.

As he continued staring at the shattered form.

CRACK.......

The body split apart along the broken seams.

And from within, an insect revealed itself.

Right.

The monsters had never been what he needed in the first place.

What he coveted was only the fruit inside them...... the insects.

{Trai...... traitor.}

Just as one broke a hard shell to devour the fruit inside.

Once the shell was broken, it was actually easier to extract the fruit within.

{To think you would devour members of your own kind who have not evolved enough.}

And.

The mind of the insect forcibly dragged out screamed.

{Even though you know the possibilities for evolution they create are the future of our kind......!}

The insect’s body was unusually swollen and plump.

An insect possessing enough intelligence to shout with reason despite being nothing more than an insect.

{I wondered what you hoped to gain by siding with the native species and even persuading the others of our kind, but in the end, this was your goal.}

But.

No matter how much the insect shouted.

GURRRRRGLE.......

Those were only cries of the mind.

The resistance of its body held no meaning.

{Because of you, the fate of our kind......!}

The insect twisted its body and flailed its many legs, as though resisting with all its strength, but it meant little.

The insect’s body was pulled toward the man.

CRUNCH.

“So noisy.”

Before long.

It was crushed between the man’s teeth and passed down into his throat.