Chapter 139   – Lord of Pestilence (2)

Alandal was under intense pressure.

“W…what should we do?”

Haesol was flustered as she asked the question. The Wyverns were using Namsan as a base.  The Wyverns were spread wide across the sky, and they had started an indiscriminate hunt.  Unfortunately, the sky wasn’t the only place with monsters.  There were several times more monsters gathered on the ground.  Every time the Dragon let out a rough roar, the monsters spread outwards with Namsan as the center.

The soldiers had formed a rough battle line, while the monsters had been gathering.  The army started their bombardment.

“What do you mean what should we do.  We do what what we can.”

Sunggoo’s word allowed Haesol to control her feelings. He usually looked few cards short of a full desk, and at times, he looked like a simpleton.  However, when an urgent situation like this cropped up, Sunggoo’s words had a profound effect on her.

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He wasn’t simple, because he was lacking in terms of intelligence.

He had been trained to be like this by Woojin.

“We just have to block the monsters that come here. We just have to do as much as we can, and hyung-nim will be here by then.”

Sunggoo raised his sword, which had been gifted to him by Woojin.

Hwah-roo-roo-roohk.

His sword was covered with flame.  No, his weapon weapon wasn’t the only thing covered in flame.

Sunggoo’s entire body was swept up by fire.

“Holy Maiden. If I’m about to die, please save me.”

“…leave it to me.”

He could entrust his life to her.  The ever reliable lifeline of Woojin wasn’t present, so the only person he could trust was the Holy Maiden.

“I’ll be heading out first.”

The Man of Flame Hong-sunggoo charged forward.

His battle style wasn’t conducive to fighting with allies.  He was most effective when he burrowed into the enemy line and fight.  The flame he spread didn’t differentiate between enemies and allies. He might unnecessarily harm his allies.

Basically, he was a specialized Roused in drawing aggro from a large group.

“We should get ready too.”

Haesol readied her Tamed Monsters.

Koo-roo-roohk.

Kee-ehhhhk!

She mobilized the Black Panther Jackson, the Knife-beak Crows, Iron Armored Alligator, and other monsters. There were Alandal emblem printed on their body, so everyone could differentiate them from the normal monsters.

“Let’s show them our fighting spirit.”

Koo-roo-roohk.

Che-haesol was nicknamed the Safari Owner. She would show today that her Tamed Monsters weren’t just ornaments.

Koo-oh-oh!

The monsters took their place with high spirits.

[My soldiers!]

The three Death Knights summoned the Skeleton Soldiers under their command.  They had already reached level 50, and they were allowed 10 soldiers per level increase.  Each Death Knight had 500 Skeleton Soldiers under them, so in a flash, a large army of 1,500 suddenly  appeared.

Keh-keh-keh!

Accompanying a bizarre cry, the Skeleton Warriors appeared. As if they had choreographed their actions beforehand, they started to get into formation as they avoided getting close to the Holy Maiden.  The Holy Maiden realized what was going on, so she retreated to the back.

“I’ll take care of the wounded.”

She was of no help to the Undead monsters. She could only work synergistically with Sunggoo and Haesol.  However, the two of them were used to fighting in a reckless style, so they didn’t even think about receiving a Buff from her.  They had immediately charged into the battlefield.

[Charge!]

[Maintain the battle line!]

The Skeleton army divided it self.  A portion of the army charged forward, and the rest maintained their rear ranks. Sunggoo had returned after causing mayhem, and he had to hold the location until the Skeleton army could reorganize.

Hwah-roo-roohk.  Kwah-kwahng!

Sunggoo was like a fish that had found water.  He was everywhere.

Every one of his move caused a trail of fire, and the buildings exploded and burned as he swung his flame sword.

Still, it wasn’t as if he was attacking without any plan or thought.

Hwah-roo-roo-roohk!

He raised walls of fire in between buildings, and he skillfully changed the routes taken by the monsters.  He was restricting the battlefield, so the Skeleton units could cope with the monsters.

“Hoo-oooooh.”

His magic was being quickly expended, so Sunggoo let out a deep breath. His breath was full of hot air. The monsters were endless even though he kept burning them all.

Was he getting tired or nervous?

“Hue hue hue.”

Sunggoo laughed.  His body was shaking.

It wasn’t from fear.  His body was shaking with pure joy.

“This feels incredible.”

He hadn’t been officially measured by the Roused Association, but he did get a rough estimate from within Alandal.  Sunggoo was of the 7th Circle.  He was judged to be a Rank AA Roused.

He didn’t need to needlessly limit himself to Korea in this comparison.  There were only a handful of high Rank Roused like him in this entire world.

He had free control over fire when he waved his hand.

His family had evacuated into Alandal’s underground bunker.  He felt a lot of responsibilities on his shoulder, but the fact that he had enough power to protect them spurred him on.

He wasn’t powerless, and he didn’t have to run away.  He had the power to fight, and he would boldly protect his family.

“Bring it on!”

Kwak-kwahng, kwahng!

Every time Sunggoo swung his Flame sword it caused an explosion.

Kee-ehhhhhhk!

At that moment, a Wyvern dived towards Sunggoo.

Pah-ah-aht!

Sunggoo raised his hand towards the sky, and flame exploded forth from his palm.  The white hot flame turned the Wyvern into a blackened coal, but the corpse fell on Sunggoo.

“Oohk.”

Sunggo had been flattened by the enormous monster, and he tried to crawl out from beneath the corpse. In terms of strength, he was strengthened to the point where he was on par with the Physical Roused.

“Ooh-rah-cha!”

He stood up, and he pushed off the Wyvern’s corpse to the side.

Kwahh!

Countless number of monsters were attacking him, but Sunggoo’s eyes were overflowing with confidence. He had soloed 6 star Dungeons quite often.  He had a limited amount of magical energy, but he learned a method to repartition his Stamina to his magic.

‘They can all come at me. I’ll be wildin on them.’

With Sunggoo’s active role in the battle, he had broken up the advanced party of monsters.  Now the Skeleton army under the command of the Death Knights took control. At strategic points in the battle, one could also see Haesol’s Tamed Monsters doing their share of fighting.

At that moment, the Dragon on the tower let out a roar.

Koo-oh-oh-oh-oh!

The sound wasn’t just loud.  It contained some unknown power within it, and the shockwave interfered with the army’s communication devices.  Moreover, the Fear’s effect didn’t just end there.  It simultaneously gave Buffs to the monsters, and the monsters rampaged more crazily.

“What should I do?”

Monsters were acting crazy as they charged towards Sunggoo.  The number of monsters seemed to swell, and he briefly thought about retreating. His instincts were correct. The monsters had been unruly and disorganized, but the Golden Dragon’s roar had directed all the monsters towards where Sunggoo was defending.  The Dragon had sent the monsters toward Alandal.

The human soldiers, who were defending from the other side, now had some room to breathe.  However, Sunggoo was losing his strength as the monsters launched a series of attacks.

‘I need a little bit of time to recover.’

A battlefield was different from clearing Dungeons.

During his hunts, he could go to a safe place to recover his strengths.  However, he couldn’t step back an inch in a war.  If he fell, his allies behind him would be in trouble.  Moreover, his family was in the rear, and they had put their trust in him….

‘What should I do?’

Had he been too overconfident?

He had been squeezing out the last of his magic, and it was about to bottom out. A lot of thoughts were passing through Sunggoo’s head, and his movement was becoming chaotic.  At that moment, a slab of concrete fell from the sky.

[Goo-ohhhhhhhh!]

Accompanying an energetic roar, the pile of concrete rose up, and it started to clear out the monsters. Bibi appeared as she flew towards Sunggoo’s side.

“Heh heh.  You did well, Sunggoo-jjing.”

“Bibi!”

Sunggoo was very happy to see Bibi.

When he turned around, he saw that the Skeleton Army had increased in number by several times.

‘The other Knights are here.’

Sunggoo had received lesson from the Death Knights.

He knew how strong they were, so he felt a sense of relief.

“Is hyung-nim back?”

“Master isn’t here yet.  Go rest for a little bit.”

“Yes. I’ll leave everything to you, Bibi.”

This was the final stage of the battle.  There were still plenty of monster left.  Instead of getting in the way, it would be better for him to go recover his strength from the back then rejoin the battle later. Sunggoo quickly moved to the back, and he saw an exhausted Haesol lying down next to the Holy Maiden.

“Come here.  I’ll heal you.”

“Ho-ooh. Yes.  I’ll be in your care.”

There were scratches on various parts of Sunggoo’s body.  Moreover, he had squeezed out every ounce of his magic, so he felt nauseous and he had a headache.  When the Holy Maiden’s hand touched him, his wounds started to regenerate quickly, and his magic stabilized.

He felt his magic recover much faster than his normal recovery rate.  He asked her a question.

“When do you think hyung-nim will get here?”

“He’ll be here within 10 minutes.”

The Holy Maiden hadn’t answered Sunggoo’s question.  It was Do-jaemin.  He was late to join the party, since he had to take Soolgi to Alandal’s evacuation shelter.  Jaemin was a vassal of the Dimensional lord, and he was one of the three people, who could speak to Woojin through his Will.

To be precise, none of the three people were human.  There was a vampire, a small devil and a Death Knight.

“Uh? Student Jaemin.”

“It’s been a while.”

“Ha ha. How have you been?”

“I’m fine now.”

“Yes. You have to keep up your spirits.  Who care if you aren’t human?  Student Jaemin is handsome.”

“…….”

“The sunglasses is really cool.  Ee-yah.”

The conversation felt incongruous with the heated battle going on around them.  Sunggoo weirdly reminded him of Woojin, so Jaemin smirked.  Why did he feel so relaxed when he thought about Woojin?

“Anyways, what should we do with all of them?  We’ll defend our territory, but Seoul would become decimated.”

This wasn’t even comparable in scope to the previous Dungeon Breaks.  There were a lot more monsters here now.  However, the biggest problem was the fact that the monsters worked in an organized manner.

“Do you think Woojin-hyung can sweep them all away once he comes here?”

Sunggoo was being treated as he nodded his head at Jaemin’s words.

“If hyung-nim gets here, he’ll pull it off.  I heard not too long ago that he’ll be able to summon his Lich soon.”

Melody flinched in surprise at Sunggoo’s words.

There was a big fluctuation to the warm energy that had been helping him recover his magic.  Sunggoo turned to look at her.

“Uh? What’s wrong?”

“Ah.  It’s nothing.”

“Your body is shaking a lot….”

Melody’s body was mildly shaking.  It had been a reflexive response, so Melody calmed her heart.

“You said the Lord of Pestilence is coming…”

“What? Pestilence?”

“Amongst the Immortal’s army, it was the nickname given to the infamous Lich Jaenis.”

Melody shook as if she was vexed.

“That nickname is a bit….”

“Do you know how many people died when the Black Death swept over Alphen?”

History had always been a weak subject for him, and this was regarding the history of a planet in a different dimension.  How would he know anything about it?

“…how many?”

“Twenty million.”

“That’s a lot….”

“Do you know how many people Lich Jaenis killed for the past 200 years?”

It was getting uncomfortable for him to ask her the question.

“How many?”

“Thirty million.”

“…….”

“His appearance was basically treated as a form of pestilence. It isn’t that farfetched to call him the Lord of Pestilence.”

Sunggoo’s face turned serious.

What should he do? Hyung-nim said to learn magic from the Lich…

Hyung-nim had called such an incredible mass murderer his teacher, and he was currently Woojin’s familiar.

“Haha.  Jaenis-nim sounds like a more incredible person than hyung-nim.”

The Holy Maiden frowned when she heard Sunggoo’s words.  Her fists were shaking.

“Do you know how many people died during the 20 year war fought against the Immortal’s Undead army?”

He was afraid to ask when he saw the Holy Maiden’s serious expression.

Hong-sunggoo started counting his fingers.  If the Lich killed 30 million in 200 years, 20 years should net….

“Three million?”

It was an incredible figure, but….

“One hundred million.”

“…….”

Ah.  Hyung-nim always exceeded his imagination.

Apparently, there had been only three powers left on Alphen.  It was Trahnet, Alandal, and the allied coalition….

It seemed Woojin had been conducting a world war.

“T…that is a bit on the high side.”

“This is only an estimate.  The actual number might be much higher.”

Sunggoo had a complicated expression on his face.  He now understood why Melody acted like a scared dog, which was in front of a tiger.

“Catastrophe.”

“What?”

“The Immortal’s steps itself was a catastrophe.”

“Mmmm….”

Sunggoo’s expression turned serious.

Hyung-nim.  Is it okay for me to continue to revere you?

“Is someone talking smack about me?”

“Aigo. That surprised me!”

Sunggoo had been focusing on the story, so he hadn’t scanned his surrounding.  Woojin’s face was suddenly thrust forward, and Sunggoo was very surprised.

“Hee-ggook, hee-ggook.”

The Holy Maiden had rabbit eyes as she started hiccuping.  She didn’t know what to do.

Woojin smirked as he looked at them.

“If you guys had your fun, let’s go hunt now.”

“Y…yes, sir!”

Sunggoo immediately got up. He had to be faithful to his duty.

“Excuse me, hyung-nim.  So how much time is left before you can summon the Lich you spoke about last time….”

Woojin grinned.