The Duke’s Eldest son Escaped to the Military (224)
Translator: Master of Djinn
71. Victory! And the 2nd War for the Southern Confederation (1)
Looking truly disappointed, the Godly Sword family head raised his sword. Before they knew it, the surroundings that had been dyed black by the corrupt energy began returning to normal.
“Since I’m late, I should at least handle the small things.”
As the Godly Sword family head, looking unhappy, raised his sword, the fallen god roared with rage. Absorbing what was left of the destroyed power, it let loose thousands of tentacles, created an eye inside of the floating black sphere and released a beam.
“What……”
Iron’s eyes widened when he saw the sharp beam that had just been released destroyed. The fallen god was no different. The beam had been destroyed by a sword stroke so fast that even a master’s eyes could not follow. Even though most of the strength in the black cloud had been destroyed by Iron, it was still a great feat to have destroyed an attack from a god without stretching one’s capacities. Add to that a speed that was out of this world, and it was even more amazing.
“It’s quite useful.”
The Godly Sword family head looked at the light that had formed around his sword and smiled radiantly.
“What…… what is that?”
Iron looked at the family head that had approached him when he was unaware, and asked.
“It’s called Star power or something like that. Well…… I find it quite handy. Thanks to it, I was able to focus on just the speed of the sword.”
The destructive power came from the star power, and all he had to focus on was the speed of his sword. If the enemy was a human, it was enough to attack at a basic speed, but if a monster or some other unknown creature appeared, thinking that just speed would work was too naive. That was probably why the Godly Sword family head’s level had not developed at all, as if it had fallen into a swamp. However, after he gained a new ability thanks to the Lord God, his power became much stronger, and it was clear to all that his swordsmanship had gone one level higher.
As if to prove that, everytime the family head swung his sword, the fallen god’s power was destroyed even more.
“You received something too, didn’t you…… did you find your path?”
The Godly Sword family head asked, and Iron gave a slight smile.
“Interesting.”
The family head laughed, before drawing on all his strength to destroy what was left of the fallen god’s power once and for all. But then, at that moment, the fallen god disappeared from one end and appeared at the other.
-……so the Lord God trusted someone other than his Messenger?
Terrion and Iron looked at the fallen god at the same time.
-But you are still not strong enough.
Because they were not at the level of Grand Master, the fallen god knew that they could not do much damage to it. Terrion’s brow furrowed at those words. But he had also realised something with the attack he had just dealt the god.
‘There’s been almost no damage to the root.’
Terrion pursed his lips as he thought. His pride was hurt. If the dimension gate had not closed, all that power would have returned to the main body of the fallen god. The rest of the fallen god’s power was being destroyed slowly because the Lord God’s power had filled the entire area.
Seeing Terrion’s crumpled face, the fallen god smiled in the same bizarre fashion.
-Next time we meet, we can go for another round.
After saying that, the fallen god’s body disintegrated into black powder and disappeared. Terrion, still looking annoyed, lightly shook his sword and placed it back in its sheath.
“You think there will be more bastards like that showing up from now on?”
Terrion asked as he approached Iron.
“Who knows? One thing I am sure of is that things will be much more difficult going forward.”
Iron replied, and then told Terrion what the ancient gods had said. All of this happened because the ancient gods wanted to leave a name for themselves when the era of destruction came. That meant that the End was going to be an exceedingly difficult time.
The first story of the Apocalypse had just started,, which meant that the appearance of this fallen god was only the beginning. Going forward, humankind would be threatened by even more creatures, and every one of them would have to be killed for humankind to survive.
“Sounds like fun.”
Having listened to everything Iron had to say, Terrion smiled. For a soldier, death was a steady companion, ever present. If one feared death, then they could not move forward. In a sense, Terrion looked forward to fighting with strong opponents more than he feared the loss of his life.
“Next time, I will join you early, so please leave some for me to handle.”
“……yes, sir.”
The look on Terrion’s face seemed to bemoan the loss of a great opportunity for a good fight this time. Iron tried his very best to reply as he answered.
For Terrion, the war was nothing more than a game, a game to improve his skills. The same when for Ryan, the Lion Family head, although his case was less severe.
‘These sword-crazed men.’
The two warriors who coveted the position of Grand Master were both crazy. But they were not the only ones like this. Looking at the records of those that became Grand Masters in the past, they were all crazy too, with the exception of one that was called the warrior. It was said that only the warrior advanced in strength because of a blessing from the Lord God; he did not go crazy and safely crossed the barrier to become a Grand Master.
Of course, there was no way of knowing whether the warrior was truly a good person.
What was certain was that all those that became Grand Masters were crazy, living for just one thing, and many of them had something distorted in them.
It seemed that one had to be obsessed with one thing in order to become a Grand Master.
“Do I have to become crazy too?”
Iron mumbled to himself, looking at his sword.
Was he already crazy about his sword? If not, was he crazy for his divine beasts?
It seemed neither was the answer. In order to prevent the coming of the era of destruction, he had been completing quests, fighting off enemies one after the other. In order to keep those enemies at bay, he had had to focus all his thoughts and attention on fighting. All the battles he had fought, starting with the northeast, then the east, north, centre and then south, flashed through his head.
Then suddenly, he remembered the battles he fought in his previous life.
He walked on this very land in order to live, and from that moment, Iron’s life itself became like war. He moved only to live, and fought off the opponents that came.
“Ah……”
For a very brief moment, something flashed through his thoughts. He sensed what direction he needed to go to reach the next level, but could not clearly grasp what it was.
“It isn’t wrong.”
He sensed that there was a way to get to the level of Grand Master, but it stopped at that. But he had gained something though, however small. Because of the thought that came to his mind, he realised that the path he was currently on was not wrong.
“That’s good enough.”
It was enough to gain confirmation that he was on the right path. At some point, the key to becoming a Grand Master would come again, and when that time came, he would be able to cross that barrier. So all he had to do was open the door and go to the next level.
Having reached the end of his contemplation, Iron looked around him. The key members of the Mobile Field Army had gathered around him and were protecting where he stood.
“Thank you.”
The commanding officers bowed at Iron’s words. Then the eastern and southern commanders who had been watching from afar came towards them.
“Are you planning to go somewhere even farther this time?”
The eastern commander chatted Iron up as he came closer. The southern commander, on the other hand, looked at Iron with a grave expression on his face. He remained quiet for a while before he carefully asked.
“Uh…… did you find a clue to get to the next level?”
At the southern commander’s question, those who had been laughing because of the eastern commander became silent and looked at Iron. Terrion, who was watching from afar, also turned to Iron.
“Nothing like that. I only found out that I am on the right path.”
Iron lifted his sword as he spoke. Some of the people listening thought it was a let-down, while some others, like the eastern and southern commanders, envied him. Both of them knew how great a deal it was to find out that one was walking the right path. The biggest reason for being unable to advance after becoming a master was trying to find another path to grow one’s strength out of conceit. Not the invisible and thorn-filled road to becoming a Grand Master, but some easy, quick path. But Iron had found his path, even though it was a difficult one to thread. All that was left was for him to walk that path.
“That is cause for celebration!”
Just as the eastern commander spoke, a notification came. It came the moment the Empire’s forces subdued the few people who had been resisting and arrested the leaders of the southern confederation who had run away.
[You have won against the southern confederation! Rewards will be distributed according to the level of contribution!]
[You won against the fallen god. This was your first victory over a god-level being. A reward will be added accordingly.]
-Because of this victory, the territory of the Lord God will expand to include the south.
-The ancient gods have become servants of the Lord God.
-Because of the victory over the ancient gods, the Lord God’s power with respect to the continent has greatly increased. Quest levels and rewards will increase significantly as a result.
Everyone got caught in a frenzy, checking the notifications that appeared on the translucent board in front of them. They were busy checking what rewards they received, paying no attention to maintaining order. But neither the eastern nor southern commanders punished them for that. Afterall, they too were checking to see what reward they received.
Iron checked his own rewards too.
[You played the biggest role in the war.]
[You had the highest level of contribution in fighting the fallen god.]
[As you already possess the intrinsic skills of the highest level, your reward will be changed.]
[Confirming new reward……]
His reward was being deferred once again. But having experienced it before, Iron accepted the matter and rose from where he was seated.
–Tweet!
Baepsae appeared by Iron’s side and breathed healing power into his body. His body, which had felt so broken a moment before, recovered a little bit.
“Hoo…… your vitality breath is still the best.”
–Tweet! Tweet tweet tweet!
Baepsae told him to cut the nonsense and focus on recovering smoothly, before continuing to heal Iron’s body. While Iron focused on recovery at Baepsae’s rebuke, the people around him finished checking their rewards one by one. The southern and eastern commanders had played a huge role in the war, and they had big smiles on their faces after checking their rewards.
“Satisfied?”
At Iron’s question, the eastern commander, who had been smiling so brightly, cleared his throat, as if in reply. The same went for the southern commander. The other people cheered, satisfied with their rewards. Those who had their rewards deferred like Iron tilted their heads instead, including Terrion.
As some cheered in delight and some remained wondering, the notification they thought had ended came again.
[The first story of the Apocalypse is not yet finished. Conquer the Great Forest to end the first story of the apocalypse in complete victory.]
-Completely destroy the fallen ancient gods in the Great Forest.
-A fallen god is attempting to descend completely in the Great Forest. Stop the god.
-Upon victory: Top 100 Contributors = Blessing of the Lord God; Top 101 ~ 1000 = 2X Reward; Great rewards for the rest.
-If defeated: descent of part of the fallen god’s true body, corruption of the Great Forest.
Everyone looked dumbfounded at the suddenly announced quest. They had thought they could rest after having defeated the southern confederation, but the Empire’s troops were even more shocked.
But they had no choice but to carry out the quest. It was impossible for them to remain still after finding out that a creature that had just shown such overwhelming strength was descending.
“This…… it seems we’ll have to hold off on celebrating our victory.”
“There is still the Great Forest to deal with.”
The two commanders laughed and flew off to command their troops. On the other side, Iron gave orders to the commanding officers around him.
“Get ready.”
“Yes, sir!”
One word from Iron. That was all the Mobile Field Army needed.
