Chapter 36 – Lord (1)
“The enemies are swarming. They seem to be charging straight at us!”
“Mad monsters. They don’t seem to hesitate at all!”
The allied forces of the lords gathered on the plain in front of the city gritted their teeth as they spotted the black wave approaching from afar.
The queen’s soldier insects didn’t waste a single moment and immediately charged ahead. With no trace of tension, as if the very act of war was second nature to them.
“Charge!”
It wasn’t the ferociously charging soldier insects but the steadfast allied forces that initiated the attack. Cannonballs propelled by magical energy and arrows imbued with mana rained down upon the insect soldiers.
Many soldiers were killed with a single explosive spell from the cannonballs, and their exoskeletons were pierced effortlessly by the mana-laden arrows, yet the soldier insects did not halt.
As if they cared little for death, they simply continued to charge forward.
They could even trample over the bodies of their comrades if necessary. Some even used their wounded allies as shields as they advanced.
“Ugh, ugh…”
It was as if the very concept of morale did not exist for them. Their cold, mechanical demeanor struck fear into the allied forces.
Once they realized that the enemies they fought so desperately against were nothing more than lifeless puppets devoid of emotion, their morale could only go down, not up.
“Shut up and fight! They’re coming!”
It was the job of officers and comrades to press such soldiers.
Ultimately, numerous soldier insects, undeterred by the allied forces’ firepower, rushed the frontline together.
Equipped with shields and spears, and protected by defensive barriers cast by mages, the allied soldiers resisted with all their might, clashing against the soldier insects determined to bring them down.
“Bombflies!”
Then, another swarm of countless monsters appeared in the distance – it was the moment the allied command had been waiting for.
“Gargoyles! Intercept them immediately!”
The total commander, Delu, who had brought the largest number of troops, shouted as he leapt, and immediately the awaiting gargoyles spread their wings and took to the sky.
“Hm, time for the hunt.”
Gargoyle captain Merba, armed with a stockpile of spears, crossed the sky with his troops, determined to properly punish these seemingly defenseless insects.
“Captain, there sure are a lot of them!”
But as the gargoyles approached the bombflies to eliminate them, they couldn’t help but be taken aback.
The vast plain was filled with an overwhelming number of bombflies, far exceeding the spears they had brought.
“I, attack anyway!”
Though surprised by the unexpectedly large numbers, the enemies on the ground were still incapable of attacking them in the airs.
Merba ordered to attack whatever came into sight.
No matter how many there were, if they focused on reducing the numbers, they would not take much damage.
However, Queen Syla had no intention of simply throwing her precious soldiers as bait.
“What are they planning to attack?”
“Wh, what are these things?!”
As Queen Syla smirked and Merba prepared to throw his spear, they were startled to see the bombflies suddenly vanish into underground tunnels.
Digging was a skill these creatures had since their time as black rot insects.
Moreover, with the help of workers, they’d already dug tunnels beforehand, deep enough to hide even the massive bodies of the bombflies in a short amount of time.
Meanwhile, other bombflies were still launching their explosive projectiles into the air.
“Hurry up and kill them! As fast as you can!”
Realizing something was going wrong, Merba urgently directed his troops to fly around the area, but the bombflies skillfully minimized their losses with their tunneling tactics. They continuously hurled poisonous biological bombs, inflicting heavy damage on the allied main forces.
“Dammit, what’s the deal with these gargoyle bastards!”
“It looks like things are going awry. This shouldn’t take so long!”
The main force hastily donned masks to counter the poison or used purification spells, but their combat effectiveness was still wavering.
The relentless tide of soldier insects kept pressuring them unceasingly, and unknowingly, they were gradually being pushed back, with their formation on the brink of collapse.
‘This situation is getting chaotic.’
The queen’s clone accompanying the mercenaries felt the same way.
While internally chuckling about the paradox of fighting her own soldiers, the queen watched with satisfaction as the surrounding demons succumbed to panic.
“Breaking through! Hold your position! If we retreat, we’re done!”
“Ken! No!”
The scythe flies deployed among the mercenaries were pushing their way in like bulldozers with their large bodies, hard exoskeletons, and enormous, crisscrossing scythe-like appendages.
A moment of carelessness would result in bodies being chopped in half or crushed under the massive feet of these creatures. The only ways to stop them would have involved powerful firepower or creating obstacles to block their advance, neither of which they were managing to accomplish now.
The mercenary band aligned with the queen was also falling apart one by one, their initial confidence in mission success fading as they collapsed onto the ground.
‘They were seasoned veterans, but ultimately, this is where they end.’
Looking at Captain Kron lying on the ground, the queen sighed softly.
It was all predetermined. Even giving them a clean end was a final act of mercy for those who had unknowingly divulged all their information.
“The front line has collapsed.”
Things took a turn once the gargoyles failed to eliminate the bombflies as planned, but the fundamental problem stemmed from the unexpected disparity in numbers.
The area was already shrouded in thick poisonous fumes from the relentless biological bombs and poison.
With weaker fighters succumbing to the poison and unable to fight effectively, there was no way they could hold out.
The queen observed from the soldiers’ eyes and her clone’s perspective, confident in another victory as her plan unfolded, ensuring the total annihilation of the enemies.
She never expected those trying to pick up crumbs or leftover territory without putting up a proper fight would actually stand a chance.
“Hm?”
Amidst this chaos, one particularly noticeable figure caught the queen’s attention.
While strong soldiers directly under the lords, including Delu, were being overwhelmed and defeated by the attacks of Syla and the alpha type insects, there was one person who had originated from mercenaries and was still holding their own against the soldier insects.
Legions of soldier insects charging at him were falling apart and collapsing at his feet, decimated by the swings of his greatsword.
“Who is this?”
Through the clone’s eyes, the queen became intrigued.
Though his actions resembled those of a typical orc, closer inspection revealed something different about him.
Having fully mastered and freely controlled the power of the hive mind, she instinctively realized this was some form of mental resonance – meaning this orc carried the potential to connect with the collective consciousness.
*
“No. Enough. Fall back! Retreat!”
“What are you talking about! Hold yo… gurk…”
The battlefield had become a cauldron of chaos. When Commander Delu’s throat was pierced through by Syla’s spear as he yelled in astonishment at the desertion of other territorial forces, it shattered what remained of the command structure entirely.
Desperation to flee became the majority sentiment, but escape was no simple matter. The enemies had already surrounded them from all sides.
‘What a waste of soldiers.’
He was one of them as well. No matter how skillfully he fought against the enemies, he could do nothing about the collapse of morale among those beside him.
A single hand cannot handle ten after all – and this was far beyond that; tens of thousands.
Thus, he too attempted to hastily retreat with the others surrounding him.
“Hurry, clear a path! Ah, it’s blocked up ahead!”
But even retreating safely was a task in the chaos of retreat. Once the central army collapsed, the mercenaries lost control and became more unruly in their desperation to survive, which only increased their chances of death.
‘Damn it. I can’t even get a proper revenge, and now I’m dying in this ridiculous place.’
He too was caught between the advancing enemies and panicked allies with nowhere to go, about to be crushed like the rest.
“This way. If you wish to live, follow this way.”
“…!”
And yet, in that moment, a miraculous event occurred for him.
In the midst of the chaos where friend and foe were indistinguishably mixed, someone unexpectedly approached him and revealed a way out of this hell.
“Who are you?”
He stammered, dumbfounded. The radiant white-haired human woman standing before him with a sinister smirk had her crimson eyes gleaming.
