Chapter 169: The Defensive Battle at Command (4)
Chapter 169: The Defensive Battle at Command (4)
With the arrival of the 2nd Team, the troops were finally able to be at ease and operate well. However, Iron remained busy. After all, his army’s overall level was still insufficient so he still needed to move and block most of the monsters that came their way.
― Tweet, tweet. ( Tired? )
“I can still endure.”
― Tweet… ( Sigh… )
Baepsae did not nag as much as before since he knew that there was nothing else that they could do in this situation. However, Iron could feel the growing concern of the small birds gathered in front of him. He could feel their emotions and worries more clearly especially after they had assimilated.
“Let’s do our best for a bit longer.”
The divine beasts in the form of small birds nodded their heads at Iron’s request.
Baepsae also relieved Iron’s exhaustion with its power of healing and vitality to some extent but no matter how many times Baepsae did this, the fatigue that he had accumulated could not be completely relieved. Just like with magic or heal, the first time would have wondrous effects but if it was repeatedly used then the effect would inevitably be reduced. What Iron needed the most right now was rest. But the situation right now kept Iron on stretching himself thin.
At first, the attacks only came every few days but now they would attack every day. This meant that until Command was completed, Iron would have to go out himself and prevent most of the mutant monsters’ attacks. Even after the 2nd Team had arrived, he still stood at the forefront alone for a month straight and swept away the enemies. The Field Army Troops also tried to help Iron and lessen the burden on him since they were gradually getting better from the repeated battles daily.
They all had eyes so they could see how much Iron was overdoing things right now… So, they gritted their teeth and fought.
The 3rd and 4th Teams arrived while all of this happened and they gradually grew in numbers. The army finally started to take the shape of the Field Army that he had envisioned. Although the airships had to move back and forth busily to continuously transport the newly established Field Army’s troops, their efforts helped hasten the process and the military system gradually began to take shape. The newly arrived troops also began taking up useful positions and building camps around the site of the collapsed castle where their Command was going to be built on.
After countless twists and turns, they were finally able to secure the minimum safety of the site which allowed the construction workers and administrative officials dispatched to Command to come in.
The first building that they focused on was the Command Center. They also started building defense facilities around the still intact walls of the castle to ensure and maintain stability. Thanks to the hard work of the 1st and 2nd Teams, who did the basic construction of Command despite their grueling schedule, the construction was proceeding smoothly.
With the construction workers, focused solely on the infrastructure, taking over the shoveling and construction work, the soldiers were finally able to focus on fighting and blocking their enemies. In fact, they found their schedule much easier than before.
“Is the system finally in place?”
Iron sighed deeply as he looked at the field army troops gathered together.
Although there were still a lot of temporary field camps, a lot of facilities for their convenience had already been built which brought ease to the expressions of the soldiers. Especially the 1st Team. They were the team who suffered the most and was given as much rest as possible to make up for it and their expressions were now more relaxed and at ease.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Ariel sighed and looked at Iron when he told her that after she came in to report.
“Please… take a bit of rest.”
“Hmm? Do I look that tired?”
She replied lowly after seeing Iron rubbing his face.
“…Yes.”
“Hmmm… But I get revitalized by Baepsae every time…”
“It has already been a long time since you exceeded your limits, right?”
Iron gulped down the words that he was about to say after hearing her question.
“You need to take a real rest right now.”
Iron smiled bitterly at Ariel’s words.
He also wanted to take a rest. However, that was something that only he could do after his army was well-organized.
Even though the 1st and 2nd Teams had become more experienced and proficient after experiencing a lot of battles, the other teams were not the same. In addition, the 1st Team, who experienced the most battles, still came up short in Iron’s eyes. There were still places where they were as clumsy as ever and there were still soldiers who acted quite comfortably despite the situation.
“Please trust us. We’ll do our best to stop them even without the Commander.”
“That’s just a gamble.”
Iron shook his head firmly.
“This weapon was made thanks to the Commander so it’s… possible.”
Ariel tapped her sheathed sword.
They tried to find a way to efficiently make use of Iron’s holy power, which was being released every day. And the method that they found was making holy water. This holy water was then used during the smelting process which created holy weapons, albeit weak in holy power. They applied his holy power into their weapons and injected it into their bombs in preparation for hunting the beings of the void. This was the reason why their airships’ bombs could effectively kill thenemies now.
However, that was clearly not enough for their situation right now.
“They are completely different from the Death Corps. We are not their bane now. We have to approach them differently.”
“But aren’t they still beings of the void?”
“That might be true. But they had already gone beyond mutating and had already started accepting the energy of the void. They’re not just simple mutants.”
Ariel tilted her head in confusion after hearing Iron’s words.
She was not aware of this since she stayed in the Northeast with Cardro until the end to help Iron manage the troops. However, the officers of the 1st Team had been with Iron from the very beginning so they were fully aware about the meaning of his words.
“They have achieved their own evolution through the energy of the void and have already gone beyond a simple mutation.”
The most powerful mutant that Iron and the 1st Team had seen was the giant armored worm. It was a being that could freely use the energy of the void and use their mutated outer shell as a weapon. In addition, their outer shell also consisted of several layers and was much harder than any other ordinary mutants. They knew that the void energy that it could harness was no joke after confronting it in just one battle.
“Giant armored worm. I’m sure you’ve heard about it, right?”
“…Yes.”
“To kill that bastard I need to have at least Thunder or Phoenix or even both of them together with me.”
Ariel’s expression hardened ever so slightly after hearing Iron’s words. Her expression finally became solemn after realizing that Iron could not deal with the opponent with his power alone.
Excluding the power of the divine beasts, Iron was already at the peak of the 6th Stage. The swordsmanship and physical prowess that he had shown in all the battles that he had participated in was beyond any other on the same stage. This made everyone assume that his power was already infinitely closer to the power of a master.
But this person said that he can’t deal with it alone?
That meant that the giant armored worm was extremely close or was at least at the master level.
“Is it a master-level?”
“That’s not it. If it’s a master-level monster then all of my divine beasts had to stick together to kill it. However… it just means that it’s more complicated than that.”
She nodded lightly after hearing Iron’s words.
“I don’t know how many more of those guys will be here. With the wide area of the blackened forest, there is a high possibility that more than one of these creatures are lurking in here. According to the results of the reconnaissance… There are three places that have been discovered including the place where the giant armored worm is currently living.”
They had only scouted 100km around the Command but they had already discovered three such places. However, there was a chance that there were many more forests like this blackened forest that existed in the Southeast.
“We will be at a disadvantage as time goes by.”
The more they feed on the void insects and the more void energy they consume, the stronger they would become. This meant that they had to start and finish this battle at some point in the near future. They needed to deal with them soon otherwise, a lot of time would pass and they wouldn’t be able to handle them anymore.
“We have to save as much of our ranks as possible and cultivate them into elites. Once they reached a certain level… we will see what happens.”
Ariel could only nod heavily at Iron’s words.
“The mutant water buffalos, giant ants and giant wasps are still difficult to fight with our army’s current capabilities.”
Casualties still appeared even after the divine beasts had swept most of their enemies away. Iron knew that they would have no choice but to suffer enormous damage the moment he collapsed or was tied up with some other powerful opponent.
“But… you can’t stay like this forever.”
Iron looked extremely worn out. He might think that it was still alright since he had experienced and suffered through something worse in his previous life but that wasn’t what it looked like to the people who saw him.
During the Northern War, Iron still looked relaxed even at the most difficult situation. However, that wasn’t the case right now.
After fighting in battles, he would listen to the reconnaissance units’ reports and issue the orders personally. However, if it was just that, Ariel wouldn’t have to be so worried. He even inspected the new Command 0 and the defense facilities that were being built. It was safe to say that it was not enough for him to have two bodies with the amount of work that he was doing.
“If you’re really worried then hurry up and improve the knight order.”
“…Yes.”
Ariel looked apologetic as she answered Iron. Seeing this, Iron told her…
“If the Knight Order plays their role properly then I can think of taking a bit of a break. Besides, it wouldn’t be that hard since Cardro and Carl are here now.”
“I will make sure to fulfill our part as soon as possible.”
“Good.”
Iron smiled and nodded his head at Ariel’s answer. He finally breathed out and stretched his body.
“Uhhhm! But you don’t have to worry that much, I won’t overdo it. Since all of the key figures have arrived, I think I’ll have some time to relax.”
“…Yes? Relax?”
Ariel’s eyes widened.
Is there any room for Iron to relax and reduce his work under our current situation?
The more she thought about it the more likely she knew that it wouldn’t decrease.
It was only natural. After all, the more the Command was set on track, the more work he would face.
“Yeah. I’m going to let Carl experience administration and I’m going to let Cardro experience the work outside of Command. The two of them will be in charge of coordinating and managing the materials and supplies that we will receive. So, I can finally have some time to relax.”
“….The two of them… are going to be busy.”
Ariel shivered when he saw him smile while talking about relaxing and making time for himself. Iron looked at her and smiled as if he found her expression fun. Then, the emergency bell rang loudly.
“This… they’re back again, I see.”
Iron stood up.
His expression screamed that he was extremely tired of dealing with them. He came out of his office with his sword after hearing the report of the reconnaissance unit that there was a group of monsters flocking towards Command.
Iron nodded lightly when he saw a large number of troops rushing towards the area where the enemies were flocking to.
“The system is definitely in place.”
Iron smiled in satisfaction when he saw the soldiers running and scoping the area without waiting for any special orders. Then, he jumped on top of the approaching Phoenix.
Just like that, a sanctuary was once again set to prevent the monsters from invading. This had already become a daily occurrence.
‘I just need to endure a few more months… then it will be worth it.’
This thought flashed in Iron’s head as he checked his troops’ movements through the air.
Just like he thought, the soldiers had become more proficient. Above all, their overall level had risen sharply thanks to their frequent battles against monsters and their constant mana management practices.
There were huge amounts of void energy in the Southeast which basically turned all of the monsters here into mutants. However, this enormous amount of void energy was purified and turned into mana via Iron’s sanctuary so the concentration of mana in Southeastern Command had risen steeply over the course of their stay here. In fact, there was a chance that even ordinary people would be able to sense mana if this trend continued on.
With this kind of environment, the soldiers’ skills would naturally improve. After all, they were continuously running their mana and fighting in actual battles while being exposed to holy power everyday.
The entire field army was now even able to hold out on their own, albeit only a short period of time, after repeatedly practicing and fighting every day. As proof of this, an entire unit was able to survive despite one of the soldiers committing a fatal mistake.
“Hey! Are you someone who just fought once or twice? How can you make such a mistake?!”
“Ah… Sorry. I made a mistake because I felt a bit stiff today.”
The soldier apologized as he cracked his stiff neck.
“Stop lying. What bullshit, we’re all recovering in real time…”
“Hey. Hasn’t it been a week since we last took a break? The recovery magic has already reached its limit the day before yesterday.”
The soldier, who made a mistake, looked awkward after receiving the other soldier’s scolding.
The entire squad was left in danger because the soldier who was supposed to aim for the giant ant’s weakness accidentally attacked its outer shell. However, this was not something that they only experienced once so the soldier was able to skillfully maneuver and aim for its weakness again.
“Stop being so hard on him. He was still able to take care of it well.”
“Sigh… It’s because we have to suffer if someone makes a mistake. Look at the youngest. His movements have already gone stiff.”
“Ah! For real… I’ll buy you a drink. Alright?”
“Call!”
The soldier, who was being scolded, readily accepted his proposal as if he was waiting for this. Then, all of the members of the unit cheered loudly.
There were times when an entire unit could take a break. On such days, drinking alcohol was allowed. Those days were the days when the soldiers’ wallets were robbed clean. And the soldier who was being robbed clean was still happy, after all they had won.
“They’re now relaxed.”
Iron smiled as he watched the cheering unit from afar.
Half a year later, the army finally exceeded the minimum standard that Iron had set for them. Iron could now believe in his army’s skills and could finally begin expanding his Command’s influence in the Southeast.
“It’s worth a try now.”
An officer suddenly rushed in just when Iron uttered those words to himself.
“The great worms are moving!”