Chapter 3: The Third Force (2)
“Blocked…?!”
The wolf that threw its spear glared at the wings hovering in the air, grinding its teeth. These wolfmen, walking on two legs with hunched bodies, were one of the tribes from the demonic realm that maintained a close relationship with the goblins. They had secretly contacted the goblins’ player for support, not wanting to inform the Demonic Alliance Headquarters of the situation.
“Is that all you have?! It can’t be!”
“Cough, prepare everything!”
At the wolf’s panicked shout, more goblin mages gathered this time. The combination of the racial trait of collective action with the group’s magic was undoubtedly powerful. They were not facing the Earth Alliance without reason, even mobilizing nuclear bombs.
“Oooh… the power!”
Moreover, the players added strength to the mix. The goblins, having temporarily gained the racial traits of other races through items purchased from the shop, began to feel their magic burning fiercely.
They aimed their staffs at Kang Do-yeon, who was in the sky. At that moment, a barrage, equivalent to a battleship’s laser cannon, was aimed at her.
‘…’
Kang Do-yeon concentrated her strength in her wings, exploding with instantaneous propulsion as she faced the ship targeting her.
The aiming systems of the ship, designed to counter attack aircraft, immediately reacted to her dizzying evasive maneuvers that broke the sound barrier, continuing to bombard her. However, the goblins, being living creatures, could not react in the same way.
“Ah.”
The moment one goblin mage sighed, Kang Do-yeon plunged toward the ground without slowing her momentum.
The shockwave was so powerful that the nearby ground shook, and the goblins within a certain radius were crushed and mangled by the resulting wind pressure.
As the stunned goblins struggled to rise, fear filled their eyes. And the same was true for the wolfmen, who were poorly informed of the situation.
Even with the strongest warrior coming, they instinctively knew they could not block those wings that spread through the dust.
‘Focus on killing the mages, as many as possible.’
On the other hand, Kang Do-yeon, who had single-handedly charged into the enemy camp surrounded by countless enemies, had a glint in her eyes. Having confirmed that the magic directed at her was anything but weak, she planned to reduce the number of mages as quickly as possible before her main force was harmed.
“Kieeeek?!”
She struck the ground and charged at the goblin mages again. The goblins, who had already lost their fighting spirit, scattered in a panic, unable to think of confronting the player’s command.
Though she was alone and her opponents numbered in the tens of thousands, if they had lost their fighting will, all that remained was slaughter. The slashes emitted from her wings cut through earth and sky, killing dozens of goblins in a single blow.
At this rate, she could dismantle the enemy forces completely before her main force arrived.
“This is…”
However, the goblins’ player made a decision.
Kang Do-yeon watched as her body staggered and fell to the ground, her strength draining away against her will.
‘Execution Authority…’
‘Don’t worry. We’re almost there.’
Of course, for a member of the Legion who had to sacrifice their soul, the Execution Authority was not a major threat. The moment Kang Do-yeon fell, the main force led by Oh Yu-na had already reached the stunned goblins.
“She’s dead! So focus on your surroundings! There’s more than one of them!”
[Retrieve the corpses. We might need them for research.]
The goblins, who had narrowly escaped the crisis with the Execution Authority, felt flustered but hurried to regroup. Meanwhile, the players coveted the now disconnected body of Kang Do-yeon.
However, just as a few goblins were tying her body up to drag it back, a voice shouted.
“The sky!”
Oh Yu-na and several higher beings, who had revealed themselves from hiding, launched an assault directly from the sky.
Before the goblins could even cast a spell, the ground exploded. Oh Yu-na caught the lifeless body of Kang Do-yeon and held it in her arms.
“The resources that went into this body amount to several ships, right?”
‘…’
The incensed goblins naturally unleashed their magic and charged at her, but the quaking ground was not solely caused by the higher beings’ spells.
“Monster! Monsters!”
From the ground emerged massive monsters alongside small legionnaires based on goblins, properly equipped to attack the panicking goblins.
While the numbers still favored the goblins, the living goblins had not managed to unite the other goblin tribes completely.
As the unit of living goblins was relentlessly hunted down, order and discipline shattered in an instant. The legionnaires did not bother with goblins who chose to flee or gave up fighting.
[This can’t be.]
The goblins’ player realized something was wrong as they watched the collapsing goblin horde. Only now did they understand that this was beyond their control.
However, it was already too late to change the outcome. Their army was being trampled and chewed up by the bigger monsters, and sending additional forces was impossible.
[Contact the Alliance Commander, Kalthas, immediately! Right now!]
Ultimately, the best they could do was to request help from the alliance they belonged to at this critical moment.
“Goblins in the south attacked by an unidentified enemy?”
Kalthas, who had been diligently establishing a direct contact network across the demonic realm, received that report on the same day. Accompanying it was a video evidence attachment.
“…No way.”
Upon receiving the goblins’ request for assistance along with the video, Kalthas’s eyes widened. He already had prior knowledge of the legionnaires.
However, he could not even begin to fathom why the monsters fighting the rebel alliance in the far-off space had appeared here now.
*
“They were undoubtedly terrible monsters. And they were strong. The one I faced myself was a big guy wielding a sword.”
“Do you recognize any of them?”
“Cough?! This one!”
The orc, called upon to view the video data presented by Kalthas, snorted. The footage sent by the goblins included images of both Kang Do-yeon and the legionnaires.
“I’ve definitely seen that one! Back there!”
The orc pointed to someone among them. The one it recognized was none other than Oh Yu-na. Though he hadn’t seen Kang Do-yeon, who was in outer space at the time, he had seen Oh Yu-na alongside Shin Woo as they fought on the planet Latis.
He also recognized several types of legionnaires.
“Y-You mean those guys have come to this land?”
“Looks like it.”
“No way.”
The orc’s complexion paled. This was an interesting reaction for Kalthas. What had this orc seen that made the usual arrogant attitude vanish, replaced by genuine fear?
“I think so, and the humans there certainly said the same. They called them world-devouring monsters.”
“Do they truly think they can devour this demonic realm?”
“They’re not an enormous power that has seized multiple worlds for no reason.”
The orc’s demeanor was grave. Kalthas’s expression soon hardened as well.
“However, we must also withstand the attacks from the Earth Alliance forces. We cannot divert our troops elsewhere.”
“…Honestly, I must say it’s incomparable.”
Kalthas, who had only heard fragmentary evidence and had not seen or experienced it firsthand, felt his mind becoming cluttered. Their primary enemy at the moment was the Earth Alliance forces, which have been soaking the area with bombs, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Moreover, there were also reports of alliances being formed and receiving support from outside. He had no time to spare on this newly emerging third force when he needed to concentrate on the growing and intensifying war.
“If we fight them half-heartedly, those monsters will swallow the entire world like cancer…!”
“On the other hand, does that mean we could use them to attack the humans?”
Kalthas frowned. Unlike this orc, who could simplify that statement, Kalthas himself had to devise a plan for victory.
“Working with the rebel alliance is our chance. We must not miss it.”
Additionally, Kalthas was also working diligently to facilitate relations with the external forces of the rebel alliance that sought to take the strong players and units into the demonic realm.
As the players’ interests shifted outward, Kalthas’s influence within the alliance grew even more.
Much like Mikhail, the commander of the rebel alliance, Kalthas viewed players, units, and even the game itself as unwelcome factors encroaching on his domain. Ultimately, his main goal was to regain dominance within the demonic realm.
With the knowledge acquired from them, he had strengthened his subordinates among the demon kind and simply needed to lure the players into venturing outward, and his plan would be fully realized.
‘I cannot leave them be. But eliminating them right now would also be problematic. I’ve heard those alien monsters attack and devour anything indiscriminately. After all, I cannot possess everything, so for now, they might serve as a means to keep the humans in check.’
Had he directly witnessed the obliterated planet due to the legion’s attack or experienced it himself, there was a high probability he would have made a different choice. Nevertheless, Kalthas believed he could control that calamity.
