Chapter 66
The Most Brilliant Empire (8)
After Agon’s death. The Immortals split into two factions – the radicals and moderates.
The moderate faction, led by Bella Asas, operated with eastern China as their base.
The radical faction, led by Avin Asas, centered their activities around New Delhi
in northern India.
Avin Asas, who occupied New Delhi, tried to rapidly expand his influence based on India’s massive population. However, his plans hit obstacles from the very beginning. This was due to devastation from nuclear weapons. When the Immortals’ invasion intensified and the world faced a crisis. India was the first country to use nuclear weapons.
Then other countries also began using nuclear weapons, with Pakistan, located next to India, being a prime example. Due to indiscriminate use of nuclear weapons, most of Pakistan’s territory became contaminated with radiation.
India too, except for the area around New Delhi, mostly turned into uninhabitable wasteland. Land where no life could exist. Death overflowed everywhere. The survivors had no choice but to leave their homes.
All that remained were monsters that had adapted to the radiation and magic. Given this situation, Avin Asas turned his attention to China. Although Bella Asas was there, he seemed to have no intention of moving from eastern China.
If that was the case, he wouldn’t mind if Avin claimed western China. But here another problem arose.
To reach China, they would have to cross the Himalayan mountains. It was too difficult for weakened zombies and skeletons to cross the world’s highest and most treacherous mountain range. Even if they managed to cross the mountains, what awaited them was the Tibet Autonomous Region, the world’s highest plateau with an average altitude of 4,900m.
It was clear that hardship lay ahead, but the potential gains were too small in comparison. After much deliberation, Avin Asas gave up on advancing into China.
“This is ridiculous.”
As a result, he became trapped. Having taken India, he found himself unable to expand his influence. After continued contemplation, Avin Asas finally made a decision.
“We will establish a new stronghold here.”
The target was the Middle East. The plan was to pass through radiation- contaminated Pakistan and Afghanistan to establish a new base in the Middle East. If successful, it would make it easier to advance into Europe and Africa afterward. Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia. Any of these would do. Once a new stronghold was established, the possibilities for expansion were endless.
Avin ordered his subordinate Rellun Asas:
“Create a bridgehead for the Immortal Legion to advance.”
Following Avin’s orders, Rellun Asas led an Immortal Legion of over ten million toward the Middle East. After considerable time passed. Avin Asas received completely unexpected news.
“They were defeated…?”
Despite leading an invincible army, only a few commanders including Rellun Asas returned. It was impossible. Avin Asas asked urgently.
“Were the monsters in the contaminated lands too powerful? Or was there an attack from Chaos?”
Perhaps the monsters living in the radiation-contaminated lands were stronger than imagined. If not that, then massive dimensional rifts might have opened, allowing Chaos beings to attack.
Unless it was one of these two cases, there shouldn’t have been any force left on Earth that could stop the Immortal Legion. But what came from Rellun Asas’s mouth was something completely unexpected.
“It was goblins.”
“Goblins…?”
“Of course, we fought monsters while crossing the contaminated lands, and we did battle with Chaos attacks along the way.”
“But we succeeded in repelling them all without much difficulty.”
It was natural that there would be many obstacles given the vast distance they had to travel. Knowing this, they had sent more forces than necessary. As expected, Rellun Asas was able to reach the Middle East without much difficulty.
“When we arrived in the country called Iran, we still had hundreds of thousands of troops remaining. While scouting the area for a new stronghold, we encountered the goblins.”
“And you were defeated?”
“Yes…”
“I don’t understand. What was the reason for losing to mere goblins?”
Anger began to creep into Avin’s voice. His anger was justified. In the Harken dimension, goblins were truly a useless and pathetic race.
“They were somehow different. At first, we thought we could easily push them aside and take the territory, but they started gathering, and eventually became a massive army that came for us.”
“And a battle broke out? Were their numbers that great?”
“It seemed to be just over 100,000…”
“You led hundreds of thousands and lost to merely a hundred thousand goblins. Rellun. Do you think this makes any sense?”
At Avin’s rebuke, Rellun Asas spoke as if feeling wronged.
“They were truly different from ordinary goblins. Each one was a well-trained elite soldier, using systematic strategies and tactics…”
“Enough!”
Avin Asas struck the bone armrest of his chair. If he continued listening, he felt he might lose control of his anger and blow off Rellun’s head.
“Whatever the reason, the fact remains that you lost to mere goblins with an army of hundreds of thousands.”
“Focus on training for a while.”
Though he wanted to behead Rellun Asas immediately, he held back. Asas are precious. It’s a position that requires hundreds of years of effort even for those with talent.
There was a high possibility that no more Asas, let alone Kulsa, would appear in the future. At such a time, it would be foolish to kill a precious Asas in the name of accountability.
“Parth.”
Avin called for Parth Asas who was standing by.
“You can do it, right?”
“Of course. I will prove that I am superior to Rellun.”
Parth Asas left while making bold promises. After considerable time passed. Avin once again received news of defeat. Moreover, this time all the commander- class officers, including Parth Asas, had been put to eternal rest.
Two consecutive expedition failures. And to be blocked by mere goblins at that. Avin Asas felt like he might lose his mind from rage. Needless to say, he was mocked by Bella Asas, the leader of the moderate faction who could be considered his rival.
“We abandon India.”
Finally, Avin Asas made his decision. To personally lead all the Immortal Legions to the Middle East.
***
Ippotranslation
***
Back to the present. Avin Asas safely arrived in Iran after breaking through the radioactive zone. Although there were significant casualties in the process, it didn’t matter since there were more than enough legions. After establishing a new base in Iran, Avin Asas began fighting against the goblins in earnest. At first, he thought he could easily push back mere goblins, but his expectations were completely wrong.
The goblins’ resistance was unbelievably fierce, and a prolonged war of back and forth continued. Among all areas, Iraq was undoubtedly where the fiercest battles took place. The reason was simple. It was because Iraq was located between Egypt, where the goblins had settled, and Iran, where the undead had settled.
Whoosh…!
And in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq where Kang Hyeon was located. Today, as usual, the goblin army and the undead army clashed here. In the desert where sandstorms blow. The undead legion standing on it was so densely packed that their numbers couldn’t be estimated.
“Grrrr…!”
Clank! Clank!
Although most of them were low-level beings like zombies and skeletons, their sheer numbers made them extremely threatening. Moreover, the elite beings hiding among them. Their numbers alone seemed enough to overwhelm the goblin legion before them. The goblin side watching them was surprisingly quiet. All were uniformly equipped with the same armor and stared at the goblins ahead with stern eyes. The goblin who appeared to be the commander seemed to have a build twice the size of other goblins. He was wearing elaborate armor and wielding a massive greatsword.
“Keuruk!”
The commander goblin raised his greatsword high.
“For the Empire!”
Simultaneously, all goblins drew their swords and shouted as if on cue.
“For the Empire!”
The goblins’ shouts shook the desert sands. As if that was a signal, the undead began to run.
Kugugugugu!
When the enormous number of undead charged simultaneously, the ground trembled slightly and sand scattered. But the goblins’ eyes remained steadfast. As the approaching undead got closer, the stench grew stronger. It was the smell of death. All that could be seen were rotting corpses and bones. Finally, when the undead legion had almost reached the goblins.
Whoosh!
Magic began to fly from the undead ranks. Launching large-scale magic before armies officially clashed was a basic tactic.
Clang!
But the magic couldn’t reach them, disappearing at the swing of the commander goblin’s sword. The commander goblin, Kergo, who had cut down the magic, shouted.
“Kyaaaaa!”
A battle cry echoed across the desert, and the goblins began to run.
Thud thud thud thud!
Their only armament was the sword in their hands. They didn’t even have spears commonly used in human armies, or even basic bows. They charged toward the army of death relying only on a single sword. At last, the two legions clashed.
“Keeek!”
Crash!
“Grrrr!”
In terms of numbers alone, the difference was more than tenfold. Moreover, the undead legion instinctively inspired fear in living beings just by their appearance, and they knew no fear.
In other words, they would not retreat. For the goblin legion to win, they had to kill every single one of the undead that outnumbered them more than tenfold. It seemed like a completely hopeless situation. If they were humans, they would have retreated before even fighting. After all, any commander who would force combat in such a situation would be considered insane. But the goblins were different. Their charge, which seemed like they had given up everything at first glance. The result was overwhelming destruction.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Are those really goblins…?”
Kang Hyeon muttered unknowingly as he watched the battlefield. The goblins were literally massacring their opponents. Though it might not be appropriate to use the word massacre for the already dead undead, that’s how it appeared nonetheless. Each goblin was an excellent swordsman, and some possessed sword skills so impressive that even Kang Hyeon had to admire them.
Kang Hyeon suddenly remembered what Olien had said.
-Humans feared when goblins gathered together.
-Why?
-Well, simply put, you could call them a warrior race? Goblins were really good at fighting.
-Come on, how good could goblins be at fighting?
-I’m telling you it’s true! Usually, people don’t know because of their wild nature and tendency not to gather in large numbers, but once they start gathering, they’re really frightening.
-Hmm, I find that hard to believe…
-There’s even a saying that if there hadn’t been internal strife in the Kereton Empire, that is, if the one-eyed Emperor Kiron had lived just a little longer, they might have unified the continent.
-Haha. Goblins unifying the continent, aren’t you exaggerating?
-Ah! I’m really telling the truth!?
-Okay, okay, don’t get angry. Hahaha!
He had laughed it off then. Thinking how strong could mere goblins possibly be.
“This completely exceeds imagination…”
But the goblin legion he saw with his own eyes was beyond what he had heard. It seems it wasn’t an empty claim that the Kereton Empire’s army was the strongest in continental history. Moreover, the one who appeared to be the goblin commander. That goblin was powerful enough to make even Kang Hyeon tense.
Although he couldn’t see clearly from the distance, the number of undead whose heads had fallen to his blade seemed to be in the thousands already.
“Han Se-yeon. How do you think it compares? Compared to you.”
At Kang Hyeon’s question, Han Seyeon narrowed her eyes.
“It’s too far to see clearly.”
“Just based on your general impression.”
“They’re definitely above Choi Yeon-hwa… I’d have to fight them directly to know for sure.”
The fact that they were above Choi Yeon-hwa already meant they were far from ordinary. Even Choi Yeon-hwa was as strong as or stronger than the Knight Commander of the Heigran Kingdom. This meant that the goblin was at least at the level of what the humans of Harken called a ‘superhuman’.
“What would you like to do?”
Shin Seong-ah asked Kang Hyeon.
“I was originally planning to help them a bit, but it doesn’t seem necessary. Let’s wait until the battle ends.”
“Understood.”
It seemed that even if Kang Hyeon intervened now, it would only add to the confusion. Kang Hyeon decided to wait until the battle was over and then meet with the goblin commander.
