Chapter 133: The Tip of the Iceberg (1)
Kang Do-yeon, having passed through the gate, immediately held her breath. The cold water immediately enveloped her body.
It didn’t matter; after all, she could hold her breath for hours on end with her own capability, or use her power core to substitute breathing, allowing her to endure in places like outer space for hundreds of hours without breathing.
Eve had opened the gate right in the middle of the continental shelf underwater. By opening the gate in the middle of the enemy’s position, their firepower would be concentrated, leading to greater losses. Moreover, the enemies had deployed not only warships but also small satellites that scanned and monitored the ground thoroughly, which led to the conclusion that this was the only way to move troops stealthily on a large scale.
With Kang Do-yeon in the lead, legionnaires began to emerge from over a hundred gates.
The sight of several hundred thousand legionnaires lined up under the dark seawater, heading for the surface, was intimidating enough that even the largest sea creatures dared not approach.
Of course, despite the endless stream of legionnaires pouring out, the one-way gate did not spill water to the opposite side.
‘Judge for yourself. Is it enough?’
‘Yes.’
Eve had used the maximized vision of an eagle-type scout drone sent to the surface to scout the surroundings and shared the information with Kang Do-yeon.
Even the nearest beach had a city built on it.
This was a city that had survived the past attacks of the Legion intact and now served as an important stronghold for the locals in this part of the eastern continent.
Thanks to this, the rebel alliance attempted to disembark equipment from their ships and fortify the area, ultimately succeeding.
The large stone fortress and the mismatched mechanical weapons scattered around created a sense of alienation.
‘There’s no reason to delay.’
Kang Do-yeon judged that their current strength would be enough to assault that place.
Spreading her wings, her head broke through the cold seawater and appeared above the surface, glimmering under the moonlight.
Even the legionnaires requiring air floated, exposing only their faces. After all, the enemy’s AI satellites managing movement in real-time wouldn’t pick up on this much.
The massive army slowly headed for the coast, both at the surface and underwater.
‘Honestly, is this something I couldn’t do alone?’
Just as almost the entire force of the Legion reached the shoreline.
Kang Do-yeon, who stepped onto the beach for the first time with water dripping from her body, revealed her glimmering eyes from behind her mask.
The newly activated hearts inside her body, from her limbs, her wings, and her chest, began to glow faintly.
Feeling that explosive power, she suppressed her racing emotions and soared into the sky in one breath.
The output was several times stronger than before.
‘They’ve noticed.’
At that moment, Eve transmitted information to the excited Kang Do-yeon.
The opposing side was also on guard. As soon as she made any noticeable movement, they detected it, sounded the alarms, and went into a state of readiness.
“I’ll go ahead and stir things up.”
While the troops were landing on the beach, Kang Do-yeon flew swiftly towards the city center. The sight of people moving frantically and fearfully caught her eye.
“Enemies! They’re enemies! Everyone, move!”
“What the hell… why here of all places!”
As the monitoring satellite in the far sky detected the strong energy reaction and captured movement, an emergency alert was issued across the entire city even in the dark of night.
Usually cautious or uneasy about the dispatched rebel alliance members, the locals joined forces and moved as one at this moment.
“Mages, to your positions… snipers, get to your posts and prepare your gear!”
A commanding officer from the rebel alliance, overseeing the situation, shouted desperately into the megaphone with a trembling voice.
Even the proud mages complied without a word, moving according to the orders given.
If they had experienced combat even once, it meant they had learned through blood, flesh, and bones that they must not let their guard down.
The local skirmishes the Legion had initiated over time had been extremely stressful for them.
“What’s going on? What the hell is this?! Just say it’s an ordinary Level 1 Type 3 or 1 Type 5!”
A middle-aged mage stationed on one side of the city wall shouted nervously at a rookie soldier operating the energy cannon beside him.
He had already experienced a battle once. Although they barely managed to repel the enemy then, the terrifying creature that relentlessly sliced through soldiers with overwhelming firepower still haunted his dreams.
“I-I don’t know. All I can say is that it’s an actual situation…”
The rookie soldier manning the energy cannon trembled as well. Having never seen combat before, he was overwhelmed by the surrounding atmosphere, heightened by fear.
“Everyone, listen carefully. It’s likely they’ll be few in number. So we just need to hold our ground. Remember, they are now the enemies of us all.”
From the back, the slightly trembling voice of the overall commander came through clearly via the amplification magic.
The overall commander was a male mage named Sain, who had once served as the vice president of the Stars Mage Academy.
Next to him was the commander of the rebel alliance unit currently stationed in the city.
“Some among us volunteered out of anger towards them. Conversely, there are those who would want to avoid fighting them. But at this moment, on this night, we must unite and fight together.”
“…You sure know how to talk.”
Hearing Sain’s words, which calmed the fearful, the mage forced a smile while tapping his staff on the ground.
The rookie soldier piloting the energy cannon, seeing this, couldn’t help but chuckle as well.
“You still look young; what’s your name? I’m Zuben.”
“Just call me Paul. Private Paul.”
“Alright, Paul. Next time we meet, at least give me a nod. Otherwise, we might just share a drink later.”
The two exchanged names, feeling that any kind of communication was necessary to endure the situation.
‘Honestly, it’s not impossible. If the enemies are just a bunch of ordinary Level 1s…’
Still trembling, Zuben continued to reassure himself internally. Having faced combat, he understood.
The enemy was terrifying, but it was not impossible to confront.
“There! In the sky! That’s…”
‘Ah.’
However, upon someone’s shout and looking up at the moonlit sky, seeing the two pairs of wings silhouetted against the moon, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
Estimated level of above Type 8. The most fearsome and formidable enemy that had achieved another level of growth since the last battle that decimated a city’s defenders.
In the end, some people, driven by fear, referred to her as the black-winged angel.
The testimonies about her were nothing but disastrous.
No soldier or mage who had fought her and lived to tell the tale remained. The only reason such testimonies could exist was that she did not harm unarmed civilians.
“Fire!”
“I surrender! We surrender! We’ve dropped our weapons!”
People’s reactions were split under the overwhelming terror.
Some fired spells and energy cannons in a panic at the reflexive shooting order, while others quickly discarded their weapons in surrender.
Of course, she wasn’t a fool.
Having blocked all attacks directed at her with a crimson barrier, she spread her wings wide and resonated the glowing power cores.
“Evacuate… everyone, flee!”
Someone cried out desperately, but the massive flash of energy shot toward the wall overshadowed their escape.
Zuben, present at the scene, didn’t even comprehend that his body was being enveloped and evaporated, nor that he was already dead, vanishing without a trace.
‘I’ve cleared a path.’
Seated amidst the debris of walls that had completely vanished, as if someone had eaten a whole ice cream, Kang Do-yeon prepared for the impending battle ahead.
“We hold our ground until the fleet arrives!”
With a clanking noise, a group of knights equipped with reinforced exoskeletons drew their heavy swords and crossed the street.
Their target was Kang Do-yeon, who had landed from the sky. If they were going to fight, now was their chance.
“Commander! What’s the tactic…”
“Just like before, we’ll proceed as we did!”
The commander at the front shouted ferociously, gritting his teeth.
The rebel alliance and the locals, who had decided to join forces, had to painstakingly organize their tactics for unfamiliar small-unit maneuvers.
A system created to deal with enemies that appeared suddenly and struck down key personnel while damaging equipment.
The knights of the locals currently running toward the fight were the core of this system, and the data and experiences they had forcefully accumulated heightened their responsiveness to the limits.
“Strike!”
As the knights formed up and charged, the mages cast enhancement spells on their bodies.
Kang Do-yeon wielded her four wings freely against these attacking forces.
“Stop!”
“It’s too late. Stab!”
In the process, three knights who failed to respond were sliced in half in an instant, dying on the spot.
The commander, gritting his teeth, seized the opportunity of their sacrifice to stab forward.
“Ugh…”
However, Kang Do-yeon caught the blade glowing with blue magical energy, which had broken her barrier, with her bare hand glowing crimson.
The sword didn’t budge. In that moment, the commander instinctively realized the absolute difference in overwhelming power.
“Ugh! Just shoot!”
As Kang Do-yeon twisted the sword, she stabbed her pointed hand into his chest.
Coughing up blood, the commander screamed, gripping the hand that had pierced his heart.
Immediate bombardment followed. Energy cannons, large-caliber armor-piercing shells, railguns, and so on.
The only strategy was to hold the agile small enemies down and deal with them with high-powered weaponry.
“…No way.”
Amidst the thick dust and smoke, the knights present, along with other forces and commanders, held their breath and watched the scene in that fleeting moment.
Thanks to the sacrifice of the commander, they miraculously managed to concentrate all their firepower, hitting everything.
“Ah…”
But a powerful shockwave blew away all the dust and smoke, and as her wings spread wide, despair washed over them all.
‘Now, let’s deal with the commander.’
Kang Do-yeon, having already boosted her output further, quickly took off again, regenerating the injuries on her exoskeleton.
