Chapter 70
Death and Chaos (2)
A massive war broke out. Chaos poured down from the sky. And from the ground, death endlessly crawled up. Everywhere the eye could see was a battlefield. A terrible battlefield where the monstrous roars of beasts mingled with the rotten stench of corpses. It seemed like the end times had arrived beyond the fin de siècle…
However, the battle ended rather anticlimactically.
“He’s retreating.”
Avin Asas muttered. His bones were covered in dust and cracked. But within seconds, they perfectly recovered to their original state.
“His name was Quirin, he said…”
The figure of the one he had been fiercely battling just minutes ago came to mind. A powerful magical force reminiscent of Agon and Adraz. Moreover, the unfamiliar chaos magic was incredibly difficult to counter. He had no choice but to struggle considerably, but in the end, he was the victor.
‘No, to be precise, it was a half victory.’
Avin felt unsettled despite winning the battle. The chaos entity named Quirin. He was certainly powerful, but for some reason, Avin did not feel that he was giving his all.
‘He must have hidden cards.’
If he had played his trump card, would Avin have been able to withstand it? Why did he retreat without even trying his best? Everything was full of questions.
‘I simply cannot understand this.’
While Avin was lost in thought, other Asas approached.
“Avin.”
“What is it?”
“What will you do now? Are you planning to chase them?”
“How can we chase those who disappeared through a dimensional rift?”
“We continue to advance.”
At Avin’s words, the gathered Asas objected.
“Isn’t that too reckless?”
“The damage from this battle is significant. We should reorganize the legion before moving.”
“They are different from any chaos we have seen before. They have retreated for now, but we don’t know when they’ll return, so wouldn’t it be better to observe the situation from here first?”
“I also think there’s no reason to continue advancing by taking unnecessary risks.”
All the Asas said they needed to reorganize first, but Avin shook his head.
“No. If we stop here, what was the point of coming this far?”
“We’re not saying to completely halt the advance. We just need some time to reorganize the legion.”
“They will surely pursue us persistently.”
In response to the continued objections, Avin released his magical power strongly and shouted.
“I don’t want to hear it!”
“You fools. Do you think the goblins don’t know we’re coming? We’ve already entered their territory, yet there’s been no response. What do you think this means?”
“It means they know we’re coming and have pulled back their army.”
The current location of Avin’s legion was where fierce battles with goblins had been taking place. But so far, not a single goblin had been seen. This meant that they had withdrawn their forces.
“Even if they are just lowly goblins, if we waste time, who knows what variables might arise.”
“Send a reconnaissance team to the goblin capital. Don’t miss even the slightest movement and find out thoroughly whatthey’re preparing.”
“Understood…”
“We cannot tolerate even small variables. We still have sufficient strength, so our task is to strike them as quickly as possible.”
“But that would result in too many casualties.”
“We can easily make up for the lost troops by turning the killed goblins into undead.”
As Avin continued explaining, the other Asas nodded. Though they were displeased with Avin’s decision, his reasoning wasn’t exactly wrong.There was no justification to object here, and none of them were foolish enough not to understand that internal discord during a war with external forces would be detrimental. So the advance was decided, and just as the army was about to move
Kwagwagwagwa…
A commotion was heard from afar.
“What is that?”
At Avin’s question, one of the Asas left to investigate. After a moment.
“It’s humans.”
“Humans?”
“Two humans have appeared and are causing a disturbance.”
Was he saying all this commotion was caused by just two humans?
Avin, who had paused in bewilderment, continued.
“Deal with them.”
“Will do.”
As the Asas departed, Avin took a moment to recover the magical power he had lost in battle.
Kwagwagwagwagwagwa!
But far from quieting down, the commotion only grew louder.
“What on earth is happening!”
Finally, unable to contain his anger, Avin himself went to investigate. Shortly after arriving at the scene of the disturbance, Avin unwittingly dropped his jaw at the sight before him.
“What is this…”
What his eyes beheld were two humans wildly tearing through the undead legion.
***
Ippotranslation
***
After Yoon Na-rae and her companions departed for the Elven Kingdom. Kang Hyeon, together with Han Se-yeon, traveled through a portal to where the undead legion was located. Although they expected to wander, not knowing exactly where the enemies were, fortunately, that was not the case.
“They’re already engaged in battle.”
Despite the distance, an enormous magical wave could be felt. It seemed that Chaos and the undead were in combat. As they ran toward where the magic was felt, the battlefield quickly came into view.
“That’s an incredible number.”
“Indeed.”
Kang Hyeon and Han Se-yeon stared blankly at the battlefield. Tens of millions, perhaps even billions of corpses were swarming across the vast desert. And familiar beings of Chaos were fighting against the undead.
“What should we do?”
“For now, we should wait. They’re fighting and killing each other, so there’s no need for us to intervene, right?”
How many hours had passed? The battle, which seemed like it would continue for days, ended unexpectedly quickly. The Chaos beings suddenly began to retreat.
‘What’s happening?’
Kang Hyeon wondered why Chaos was suddenly withdrawing. Looking at the entire battlefield, the undead clearly had the advantage, but it didn’t seem like Chaos would be defeated so easily. Monsters were still pouring out from the rift. And in the most important battle between the leaders, Chaos was actually pushing back the undead.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
Kang Hyeon shook his head to clear his thoughts. What was important now was stopping the undead. It was unfortunate that Chaos was retreating quickly, but this certainly wasn’t the end. If that was the case, Kang Hyeon’s job was to buy time. He needed to persistently cling to the undead and prevent them from leaving this place.
“I was just starting to feel restless, so this is perfect. Let’s have some fun.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, Han Se-yeon nodded and drew her sword.
“Don’t die. This is only a reconnaissance mission.”
“You should be careful too. I don’t want to have to carry you because you lost consciousness.”
Kang Hyeon smirked at Han Se-yeon’s words.
“That won’t happen.”
Kang Hyeon and Han Se-yeon began running toward the undead legion.
“Grrrr…”
The swarming creatures, like a colony of ants, finally noticed Kang Hyeon. Gazes filled with hostility toward living beings flew toward him. At the same time, the putrid smell of corpses stung Kang Hyeon’s nose.
“Wash yourselves, you bastards!”
Kang Hyeon shouted as he extended his fist resolutely. Then, magical power spread out from Kang Hyeon in a fan shape.
Kwaaaaaaaaa!
Hundreds of undead were instantly torn to pieces and collapsed to the ground.
“That feels good!”
“Aren’t you overdoing it for a reconnaissance mission?”
“This doesn’t even count as overdoing it.”
Han Se-yeon, not to be outdone, swung her sword.
Swish!
Each time she swung her sword, dozens of undead were cleanly cut down and collapsed in heaps. Kang Hyeon and Han Se-yeon rampaged through the battlefield like wolves leaping into a flock of sheep.
“Foolish one. How dare a human like you come to this place…”
Crack!
Judging by its speech, it seemed to be a high-level entity, but before Kang Hyeon, it was just another undead. Those who stood in Kang Hyeon’s path amicably turned into bone fragments. How long had they been rampaging? Finally, the response Kang Hyeon had been waiting for appeared. Suddenly, the undead retreated in a mass, and from among them, a lich appeared.
“Is the boss finally making an appearance?”
The one who appeared was the lich who had been fighting Chaos just moments ago. Avin Asas.
“So you are Kang Hyeon.”
Avin immediately recognized who Kang Hyeon was. Although they had never met, he had received countless reports about Kang Hyeon and could identify him at once. As Avin Asas recognized him, Kang Hyeon grinned.
“How is it that wherever I go, there’s no one who doesn’t know me?”
“Put aside your pathetic jokes. What brings you here?”
“What a stupid question. Obviously, I came to smash your skulls, man.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, Avin clenched his teeth with a click!
“What an impertinent fellow hastening his death. I was planning to personally seek you out and kill you anyway.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Kang Hyeon said while picking his ear.
“I don’t know what stroke of luck allowed you to lay Lord Agon to rest, but miracles don’t happen twice.”
“I don’t want to hear that from a minion who doesn’t even reach Agon’s ankles.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, Avin shut his mouth firmly. For the first time in a long while, the emotion of genuine anger rose within him.
“You’re all talk…”
It seemed like words wouldn’t work anymore. Though fatigue from the battle with Quirin hadn’t yet subsided, it seemed he would have to push himself a bit.
“I shall decorate my staff with your skull.”
Avin raised his staff. Then, lower-tier undead like zombies and skeletons began to mass together. Clumping together like mud and writhing, they soon formed the shape of a massive dragon.
“That’s quite a disgusting technique.”
As if responding to Kang Hyeon’s words, the corpse dragon opened its mouth wide. Then all the zombies composing the dragon screamed simultaneously.
“Graaaaaaaaah!”
“Here it comes! Dodge!”
The corpse dragon lunged at Kang Hyeon and Han Se-yeon.
“It’s alright. I’ll handle this.”
Han Se-yeon didn’t dodge but stared directly at the dragon. In an instant, her sword moved so quickly it couldn’t be seen. After a momentary flash. The corpse dragon was cut in half and collapsed.
Rumble…
Watching this, Kang Hyeon scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.
“What? It wasn’t much of a threat; I got scared for nothing.”
Kang Hyeon had previous experience struggling against dragons, so he had tried to run away, but it didn’t seem particularly strong.
“No. This seems to be just the beginning.”
Han Se-yeon said while keeping her eyes fixed ahead.
Rustle…
The fallen bones were gathering again. This time, it was even larger than before. Tens of thousands of corpses massed together to form a gigantic tower. Its size was several times larger than the corpse dragon that had appeared moments ago. Watching as five such bone towers emerged, Kang Hyeon shook his head.
“This is a blockbuster-level scale.”
The five towers began moving like snakes, rushing toward Kang Hyeon and Han Se-yeon.
“Sigh… This is a reconnaissance mission. Remember that.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, Han Se-yeon smirked.
“Right. Just reconnaissance.”
Kang Hyeon and Han Se-yeon began running toward the bone towers.
***
Ippotranslation
***
After withdrawing the army.
Quirin was reviewing the battle from earlier.
‘His name was Avin, wasn’t it…’
That arrogant skeleton who rejected his proposal. His abilities were unexpectedly outstanding.
‘It was quite a troublesome ability.’
Although Avin’s magical power was exceptionally good, it paled in comparison to Quirin’s. So he thought it would be an easy victory, but contrary to expectations, the battle became intense. This was because of Avin’s legion.
‘He’s the type that gets stronger the more subordinates he has.’
Avin’s magic involved utilizing other corpses around him. From simply combining corpses to create monsters, to magic that explodes corpses, and various other extraordinary techniques using corpses – it was quite challenging.
‘What a shame…’
If he had persuaded Avin to help fight against the Lord, it would have been quite helpful. His endless army. And the ability to utilize it. Although Avin didn’t possess decisive power, he had the ability to change the battlefield itself advantageously. The reason for stopping the battle midway and retreating was also because Avin was too valuable to lose. If they had continued fighting, Quirin would certainly have been able to eliminate Avin. However, because his abilities were too valuable to waste, he decided to withdraw the army and observe the situation for now.
This decision was also influenced by Quirin’s cautious nature, which never let his guard down even in overwhelming situations. Quirin, who had been continuously thinking about Avin, shook his head.
‘I need to gather forces to eliminate the Lord…’
He was now tired.
At this rate, he would forever remain second-in-command, unable to eliminate the Lord.
‘I need to create a force as secretly as possible, without the Lord noticing.’
Quirin’s eyes gleamed as he thought about his future plans.
