[You are merely a tool.]
After descending from the Sky Palace, the frequency of the voices had increased.
Sungchul dismissed them as mere hallucinations, not worth his attention.
Their fleeting nature meant he barely remembered them before they faded away anyway.
Instead, Sungchul focused on the movements of the Barbarians who were now prepared for battle.
The formation of the Barbarians was crudely assembled.
It seemed they did their best to try and imitate humanity in creating the right and left wing and the center. But to an experienced leader like him, their arrangement seemed merely for show.
He thought to himself,
‘The enemy commander has probably never handled a large-scale battle before.’
However, considering the overwhelming force they possessed, perhaps tactics and strategy might have truly been a pointless thing entirely for them.
Each of the Barbarians were powerful enough to take on dozens of elite soldiers alone.
A mediocre foe would have been simply crushed by their brute strength.
But not anymore.
They would soon realize.
There exists enemies that cannot be conquered by mere physical strength and courage alone.
A messenger hurriedly approached Sungchul and reported,
“The Wandering King’s troops are changing their formation.”
Sungchul turned to observe the Wandering King’s forces, stationed on the right flank.
Composed of Soldiers of Salvation, frontline soldiers, and mages, the legion had shifted unexpectedly from their original position to move further to the right. This movement created a significant gap between the central army and the right wing.
“Is it fine to let them be?”
One of the staff officers asked worriedly to Sungchul.
Sungchul did not seem particularly concerned.
Instead, he highly rated the movements of the Wandering King.
‘He must have understood the quality of the enemy leadership from the disorderly ranks of the enemy. With that kind of a frontline, an organized penetration of the frontline or an envelopment should be impossible. By intentionally creating a gap like that, the battleships on the right wing are able to hit a larger bombardment area.’
Although there was no known record of the Wandering King’s military prowess, assuming that Kromgard stood at the heart of the history that had once conquered the continent during the early days of the Holy Kingdom of Rutheginea, his strategic acumen was likely extraordinary.
Before the battle began, the Barbarians sent an envoy to Sungchul.
The man had been so abused and tortured he barely looked human anymore.
With his lips torn off and all his teeth extracted, he breathed out repulsive rugged breaths and conveyed the Barbarians’ demands in an almost unintelligible slur.
“Surrender the city and disband your army. Otherwise, we will show you what true pain is.”
The officers of the Human Empire looked upon the ghastly appearance of the envoy and suggested he remain in their camp.
However, despite the abuse he had suffered, the envoy intended to return to the Barbarians’ camp.
Standing at a distance, he glanced briefly at Sungchul and said with a strained voice,
“These Barbarians are a race chosen by the gods. You cannot oppose them. Thus, joining your side would only lead to a miserable death, and I would rather live as a dog among the Barbarians.”
Ultimately, the envoy returned to the Barbarians.
Yet, upon his return, the Barbarians tore him apart alive in front of everyone. They then immediately used his spilled intestines for divination.
An ecstatic roar erupted from the Barbarians’ camp.
Apparently, the divination from the intestines was quite favorable.
The eerie sound of a bone-chilling horn echoed from the midst of the Barbarian army.
It was the signal to attack.
The first wave of Barbarians began to move.
Initially, they walked stealthily, but soon they broke into a jog. Finally, like enraged beasts, they charged. The kicking of thousands of Barbarian feet raised a cloud of dust so massive it resembled a sandstorm.
In response, the Imperial Armada of the Human Empire at the vanguard began a terrifying barrage of magical bombardment.
Flames soared into the air, and explosions loud enough to burst eardrums covered the ground.
The Barbarians who looked down upon the humans were knocked down and burned to death en masse.
It was a spectacle that vividly demonstrated why the Empire’s fleet was once considered the strongest military force on the continent.
Standing on the ground, Sungchul observed the Empire’s fleet’s precise shelling and focus of firepower, contemplating internally.
‘The Emperor hasn’t lost his touch.’
The efficient and deadly bombing by the Imperial Fleet left the first wave of Barbarians in a near-death state, obliterating them even before they reached the defensive barriers.
The number of Barbarians that reached sturdy defensive lines of earthwork and log were very few, and the ones that did were already halfway out of their minds, easily picked off one by one by the defending soldiers.
Although there were not nearly as many enemies rushing towards the right flank, the right wing of the army under the command of the Wandering King likewise disintegrated the first wave of the Barbarian invaders with relative ease.
As the Wandering King likely predicted, the Barbarians were unable to take advantage of the gap between the right wing and the main army of the defending Coalition forces. The Barbarians didn’t know which way to run, hesitating between which army to attack before they were disintegrated by the focused artillery barrage by the air fleet of the Floating Archipelago.
Though this was but the opening move in the war, it was an overwhelming victory for the coalition forces.
‘This are favoring us greatly. If it continues this way, there might be no need for me to step in at all.’
Sungchul gazed at the wyvern knights circling in the distant sky.
They were aerial scouts.
They were in real-time communication with the mages on the ground, searching for the leader of the Barbarians.
Once the leader of the Barbarian could be identified and located, Sungchul planned to lead the army standing at ready to charge forward to take out the leadership.
Meanwhile, from within the dust cloud raised by the first wave, the sound of a second horn pierced the air.
The second wave was coming.
‘What will the Barbarians try next?’
Sungchul thought, his eyes sharply focusing through the dust cloud.
Shhhh-.
Something burst out of the dust cloud at a breakneck speed. Sungchul instantly realized that it was literally the Barbarians.
An unknown force had launched the living Barbarians into the sky like cannonballs.
With a terrifying speed, the Barbarians pierced through the dust cloud and ascended high enough to look down upon the Imperial fleet, then eventually stabilized their posture in mid-air and descended toward the fleet’s deck.
“Uaaaaaaaah!”
While a few Barbarians missed the deck and plummeted into the abyss below, a significant number of the Barbarian warriors smashed onto the deck of the Imperial airship, landing with a large impact.
Fear flickered in the eyes of the crewmen of the Human Empire’s Imperial armada.
“Benagu! Ino!”
The Barbarians, grinning wickedly, advanced towards the crewmen of the Imperial airships, who had brutally killed their comrades.
“Ssacklechenji!”
Soon after, an Imperial airship was engulfed in flames and crashed.
Amidst the cloud of dust, Barbarians erupted into the air like cannonballs, targeting another Imperial airship.
Sungchul instructed the aerial reconnaissance team to find out how the Barbarians were launching themselves into the air without any magic.
The answer came back quickly.
“It’s through catapult, sir. The Barbarians are using primitive catapults to launch themselves.”
Upon hearing those words, Sungchul couldn’t help but let out a laugh of disbelief.
However, upon reflection, the Barbarians were simply making the most efficient use of their overwhelming abilities, given their absolute technological and tactical disadvantage.
Although it might seem comical at first, the Barbarians were indeed making the best use of what they’ve got.
Several warships were either abandoned or crashed to the ground following an explosion due to the Barbarian’s aerial assault.
Soon, a message arrived from the Imperial Armada.
[Due to the Barbarians’ aerial assault, the fleet will reposition to a safer location. Expect supporting fire to weaken. May fortune smile upon your men.]
Upon receiving the message, Sungchul instantly recognized that it was personally written and sent by the Emperor himself.
Meanwhile, Sungchul watched a Barbarian who had misjudged his direction in the air came crashing down to the ground near him.
Though the Barbarian that missed the ships died instantly, the overall assault was successful.
They had managed to strike a powerful blow to the Imperial fleet’s formidable aerial warships, forcing them to retreat to a more defensive position away from the front lines.
As the dust cloud from the first wave settled, Sungchul could observe the next movements of the Barbarians.
Murmurs arose among the soldiers.
Monstrous that were not previously visible now appeared within the ranks of the Barbarians.
There existed many creatures and monsters in this world
But even for Sungchul, with his vast experience and knowledge of this world, had never seen these before.
In the midst of feeling at a loss, Sungchul’s Transcendent Senses activated.
Divine Beast
Sungchul’s eyes widened in surprise.
‘A divine beast?’
“Krrrrrrrrrrraa!”
The third wave of the Barbarians began with roars of monsters that had never been seen in this world before.
Urgent messages from the aerial reconnaissance team soon came through.
“The Barbarians are summoning monsters through a strange ritual!”
“From the rear, a message! A large number of new Barbarian reinforcements have appeared, and their numbers… it’s an impossible number!”
“The Barbarians are creating a giant magic formation in the center of their army. The purpose is unknown.”
The Barbarians had begun to mobilize in earnest.
Upon hearing about the scale of the newly arrived Barbarian reinforcements, Sungchul rescinded his previous statement that the enemy leader was incompetent.
While they might lack in tactical nuances, their capability to strategize on a grand scale was in no way inferior to humans.
Perhaps in some ways, it even surpassed the humans.
‘They deceived their numbers.’
From the rear, a horde of roughly 30,000 strong was approaching. This was roughly the same number of enemies as the number of enemies in front of them in formation on the planes.
That horde couldn’t have simply sprouted out from the ground.
They must have remained hidden from the aerial reconnaissance all this time, biding their time to make an appearance at the right moment.
In order to trick the old humanity to come out to face them in a decisive battle after underestimating the Barbarians’ true numbers.
Just as Sungchul had wanted to eliminate the majority of all the Barbarians in one go, the Barbarian leadership, too, must have sought to eliminate the old humanity’s capacity to resist in one go.
Sungchul flew into the air to take a look at the horde of Barbarians charging towards them from the distant horizon.
‘At that speed, they should be able to reunite with the main army within 2 hours.’
Sungchul had to finish the fight before then. Before the two unstoppable waves merge and overrun everything in their way.
Sungchul glared at the third wave of Barbarians charging towards them as he shouted at the recons for update.
“Have we still not located the enemy commander?”
The roar of the Imperial fleet’s cannons filled the air, igniting several columns of fire and explosions across the front lines.
Although the firepower of the Imperial fleet remained formidable, their increased altitude and position closer to the rear compromised their accuracy.
Several divine beasts and Barbarians had fallen, but the main force was still intact and closing in rapidly.
They were only moments away from disaster.
Just then, a piece of invaluable news reached Sungchul.
“The location of the enemy’s leader has been identified. The Wyvern knight who discovered the leader will soon send us a signal light.”
One Wyvern Knight held up a luminous stone in the air to indicate their location.
Sungchul recognized the face.
“Hmm? That woman. Isn’t it her? The one who was named after food…the one who’s kind of an air head?”
Bertelgia also recognized her and quivered,
“Was it Stew? It must have been Stew. It would be strange for a girl to be named Steak after all.”
“They’re both weird names for a girl!”
Even the clumsy girl they met at the Tower of Recluse seemed to have joined this battle. That must mean that the Airship captain he had met briefly along with her must be present somewhere on the battle field as well.
It was always greatly motivating to fight alongside those who you knew.
Sungchul looked up at the red airship, which stood out prominently amidst the fleet of gray Imperial airships.
It was his airship, Sylphid.
2 more chapters are out!
Thank you!
“This are favoring us greatly”
Should be either ‘Things’ or ‘is’.