ALL NOVEL Chapter 119: Monster Army (3)
TL/Editor: Rungir
Schedule: none
Illustrations: none
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In the heart of the capital Hubris stood the Imperial College's Mage Tower.
Within this tower, known for its massive capacity, was the Practical Magic Training Ground, where currently a multitude of people had gathered.
These individuals varied in appearance, gender, and age, seemingly having nothing in common.
Well, there was one similarity.
They were all professors teaching students at the Mage Tower.
“What could be the reason for this sudden gathering…”
One of the professors, Gedner, looked around at his equally puzzled colleagues.
“Does anyone know why we're assembled?”
“I'm not sure myself. I only know that the Tower Master summoned us…”
“Could it be something serious? It's unprecedented for the Tower Master to call all the professors together like this, aside from annual events.”
“That’s true. Normally, we’d at least be informed of the reason, but this time, there's nothing.”
Gedner’s words resonated with the others, and they nodded in agreement.
They couldn't fathom why they'd been summoned, suspending their lectures to gather here, especially in the Practical Magic Training Ground instead of a regular meeting room.
“Does anyone else feel a strange magical energy coming from the ceiling?”
A professor pointed upward with a puzzled expression, drawing everyone's attention to the ceiling.
“Indeed... there's an odd magic energy that I don't usually sense.”
“Could the reason we're here be related to that magic?”
“Let's take a closer look…”
Their curiosity piqued as they stared at the ceiling.
“It seems everyone is here now.”
A grizzled voice broke the silence, and the Tower Master, Ahmad Ozlima, appeared before them.
Thud, thud.
Ahmad approached the professors with emotionless eyes.
However, he wasn't alone.
Behind him followed blood mages and his direct disciples.
“Tower Master, may we ask why you have summoned us?”
“And those mages behind you…”
The professors asked with curiosity in their eyes, but Ahmad did not answer their questions, instead, he simply opened his mouth.
“Let's begin.”
Bang!
The sound of the training ground door closing.
And in that moment.
Gedner and the other professors realized what the strange magic from the ceiling was.
Whoosh!
It was a magical circle.
A massive one that covered the entire ceiling, emitting a bizarre and ominous red light.
“What in the world…!”
Gedner’s voice was filled with confusion and shock, having never seen such a formation.
Just as the light from the magic circle reached its peak.
In the next moment.
Gedner could see.
Kiiaaaak!
The professors at Gedner's sides transformed into monsters in real time, and with a thunderous crash, the blood mages fired prepared spells at them.
And then,
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Akellis Basin.
This terrain lay on the outskirts of the Aisis Mountains in the northern part of the Empire.
On the basin stood a large temple, its origins unknown.
It seemed as if the temple was carved out of a single massive rock.
This was also where the monster king Horrible resided.
Horrible usually enjoyed sitting on the floor of this temple, lost in thought, feeling a mysterious power emanating from the ground.
But now,
“What are they doing?”
He wasn't sitting or lost in thought. He stood upright, gazing at the distant end of the basin.
Reflected in Horrible's eyes were humans.
The human legion of the Steel Fortress, which had so far thwarted his continental invasion, was now emerging under the rising sun.
"Have they gone mad?"
Doubt clouded Horrible’s eyes.
It was an utterly incomprehensible sight.
These humans had never ventured out, hiding in their fortress like rats.
And weren't they too weak, barely managing to fend off attacks?
‘And now they abandon the advantage of their fortress for a frontal battle? Even when their forces are diminished from yesterday’s assault?’
Was it a surrender?
If it was an attempt to catch Horrible off guard, it had succeeded. He hadn't anticipated this at all.
But it was meaningless.
Changing the time and place wouldn't alter the outcome.
“After all, they probably guess that tomorrow night will be the end… trying to rebel before then, I suppose.”
As if convinced, Horrible murmured and looked at the wyverns flying in the sky.
He was fundamentally arrogant but also tried to be cautious.
That's why he always spread out scouts around his base.
As if sensing his gaze, the wyverns screeched.
Their cries indicated that apart from the humans appearing on the other side, there was nothing else in the vicinity.
A smile spread across Horrible’s lips.
Prey had come to him willingly – how could he not be pleased?
The monsters around him, as if resonating with their king’s emotions, also began to snort excitedly with fiery eyes.
The atmosphere naturally intensified.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Some monsters, unable to contain their excitement, began to stomp their feet.
“Right, since they’ve come all this way, it’s only proper for us to go out and meet them.”
Muttering so, the monster king casually raised and waved his hand, Krurur!
The previously disorganized monsters began to align themselves as if forming a legion.
At the instant all were arranged,
“Trample them all.”
With Horrible's low voice, the monster legion finally moved.
Kwaaaaaaa!
With a deafening roar filling the sky, the monsters surged towards the 7th Agnes Legion, engulfing the basin in a frenzied charge.
The ground itself seemed to quake like an earthquake under the monsters' steps.
Had the 7th Agnes Legion anticipated Horrible and his monster legion emerging like this?
“Prepare!”
Cher-cher-cher-cher!
The 7th Agnes Legion, instead of advancing further, erected large shields to form a dense wall.
Long spears protruded sharply between the shields.
Above them, magical shields created by the mages' chanting began to cover the formation.
A formation specialized in repelling enemy charges.
Indeed, the elite legion lived up to its reputation, leaving no gaps in their arrangement.
However, Kwaang!
This formation was shattered in an instant by the five-horned rhinoceros unit at the forefront of the monster legion.
Even with support, the soldiers could not withstand the initial charge of the monsters.
“Aaahh!”
“Form the second shield line!”
“Hold them off at all costs!”
The 7th Agnes Legion struggled to reform their lines, but it was futile.
The human legion was quickly penetrated and losing momentum.
Species difference.
There was an insurmountable gap between humans and monsters from the start.
Monsters could crush rocks with sheer strength and snap trees with a single kick.
Their power was incomparable to that of humans.
The reason they were not the dominant force in the world was merely due to their lack of unity and intelligence.
Gwaaaaaaa!
What if these monsters, like humans, formed a perfect system and were controlled as a legion?
The result was now revealing itself to the world.
The monsters, relentlessly attacking without ever disrupting their initial formation.
Facing them, the human legion, unable to use their fortress's defensive weapons, was being pushed back relentlessly.
“Still, they aren’t collapsing at once?”
Horrible, sitting atop a giant elephant-like monster, looked down at the scene with a laugh in his voice.
Annihilation.
It was the inevitable outcome they had brought upon themselves.
Yet, their desperate resistance was utterly ridiculous.
“The more they resist, the greater the despair.”
Muttering so, the monster king’s eyes gleamed.
“Knights of the 3rd and 6th units, deal with the monsters that have breached inside! Other mages, focus your bombardment on the monsters at the rear, ensuring our troops don’t get caught in the crossfire!”
Commander Yornan of the 7th Agnes Legion frantically issued orders.
The urgency and confusion distorted his face.
‘How long can this last…’
As he thought this, the conversation he had with Prince Zion last night came to mind.
What was Prince Zion thinking when he issued such an order?
Of course, the 7th Agnes Legion was capable of holding their own against the monster legion for a while.
The plan was to hold the front line while the mages at the back bombarded the enemy.
But,
‘That’s only possible as long as the ‘front line’ holds.’
Now that it was breached, it was incredibly difficult to hold on, even with high-level knights and mages.
The only silver lining was that they were naturally being pushed back without making a conscious effort.
‘At this rate…’
Yornan’s eyes grew darker.
His gaze then shifted to the being sitting atop the giant elephant-like monster.
A being with blue skin and violet eyes, appearing almost human.
He knew instantly that this was the monster king, Horrible, although he had never seen him before. The presence was so powerful it radiated in all directions, despite being motionless.
If that monster were to move, the annihilation of the legion was merely a matter of time.
“Where are you, Prince Zion, and what are you doing?”
The commander muttered resentfully, imagining Zion watching over the battlefield with the 7th Agnes Legion’s elite knights somewhere.
Had he been wrong to act on Zion’s word that another one of our legions had already arrived?
Kwaaaaaa!
“Block them!”
“Aaahh!”
Even now, the legion’s strength continued to dwindle.
To the point of becoming unsustainable.
Additionally, Drdrdrdr!
The monster king, who had been still until now, was also preparing to move.
Despair filled Yornan’s eyes.
‘In the afterlife, I will bear the full brunt of your sins.’
As he looked at his soldiers, a final resolution formed in his eyes.
And at that moment, the elephant-like monster carrying the monster king lifted its massive front leg.
“Kyahahaha!”
A high-pitched laugh echoed loudly across the battlefield.
Chills ran down the spines of both humans and monsters, involuntarily turning their gaze to the source of the sound, behind the monster legion.
There, a woman with red eyes, scattering terror in all directions, was visible.
It was Liushina.
She smiled, revealing her teeth, as if enjoying the attention.
Kraa…!
Before the nearby monsters could even react,
Liushina clenched her outstretched hand lightly.
At that moment, Fwahahahahak!
Hundreds of monsters around her instantly turned into blood mist, exploding in all directions.
The overwhelming spectacle sent shivers down everyone's spine, momentarily silencing the battlefield.
But then, screech!
What the Witch of Thousand Deaths was about to show was just the beginning.
With a sound like nails scratching a chalkboard, all the blood mist falling towards the ground abruptly stopped in mid-air.
Then, coalescing together, it formed a massive, blood-red gate.
The Hellgate.
The sight was so eerie and bizarre that it immediately brought the image of a hellish iron gate to everyone’s minds.
Creeeak!
The gate slowly opened on both sides, and then, Kiaaaaak!
Grrrrr!
From within, innumerable evil spirits began to crawl out.
From hundreds to thousands.
From thousands to tens of thousands.
Continuously emerging, these evil spirits formed a legion, just like the monsters.
The Army of Evil.
One of Liushina's ultimate powers, specialized in mass warfare and slaughter, was being unleashed once again, borrowing the blood of other beings to reveal its presence in the world.
Her eyes filled with ecstasy in anticipation of the upcoming feast.
“Devour them all.”
At her command, resonating across the now-silent battlefield, Kiaaaaaaak!
The Army of Evil erupted into ghastly screams as they clashed with the monster legion.
And then,
“Now, we break through the center.”
From atop the basin, Prince Zion, watching the monster legion being split into two by the Army of Evil with his elite knights, spoke with cold, shining eyes.