CH 302.

At first, the flashes of light were small, insignificant twinkles. But as they piled up one by one, they became the ring of light separating the dark shroud from the darkened earth. 

Bang!

The explosions that had sounded so weak and faint that it had been unnoticeable unless listened for, suddenly resounded through the sky. 

“Ah…”

He couldn’t tell whether the thumping noise he heard was the roar of the flashes sent up from the ground or the sound of his own heart beating. 

But if there was one thing he could be certain of, it was that if he didn’t let loose the heat burning in his heart, he wouldn’t be able to endure it. 

“Edda!”

Kim Seon-Hyeok opened his mouth wide as he called out the name of his companion with the same feeling as spewing out hot fire. And from the depths of his chest, anger came rushing out.

Kughhhhh.

As if they had previously made an arrangement, Edda also exhaled a powerful flash of light.

Shake.

The veil shook and resisted the flashes of light and flames. However, unlike before, it wasn’t able to regenerate its body once it had been dispersed.

Kim Seon-Hyeok and Edda continued to batter at the veil. Fire, ice, and wind - they battered at the veil at will and tore apart the Darkness.

Kyaaaaaaaaa.

The veil screamed as if it was alive. However, it was soon engulfed by the Dragon and War Dragon’s breaths and disappeared without a trace.

Ky...aaa….

The veil’s screams slowly subsided. And with that last death rattle, it was silent.

It was around that time that the violently shaking Darkness hardened like a stone. 

Crack.

Inside it, something sounded like it was breaking apart.

Craaaack.

At first, it was only a small crack. However, that crack soon spread throughout the veil and after a certain point, the Darkness was covered all over with cracks.

[The lightweight added by the humans has finally upset the balance of the scale.]

Usually, the Dragon didn’t show any emotions in her voice, but for some reason, she sounded close to admiration. It was probably because of the amazing fighting spirit the humans showed at such an important moment. 

“That’s because humans aren’t the second fiddle.”

As soon as he finished talking, the cracked veil crumbled in the middle. And a ray of Holy Light rose from within.

It was the Warrior Park Joon-Min’s brilliance.

“So he’s alive!”

When Kim Seon-Hyeok, who had led the expedition, discovered the traces of the Warrior who had disappeared beyond the veil, he looked at the place where the pillar of light was reaching the sky with an excited face. 

[Just because the boundary has been broken, it does not mean that the Darkness that was within the veil is gone. That place is already the Demon Realm.]

When the veil started collapsing from the center, as if they had been waiting, countless beasts and demons rushed outside from the inside of it. It was the same scene as when the prisoners had been released when the storm of time and space collapsed. 

[If the source of not removed quickly, breaking down the boundary will be as good a giving freedom to the inhabitants of the Demon Realm.]

“I know.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok took a moment to catch his breath. Then, he looked in the direction of the now-disappeared ring of light and the center of the Holy Kingdom, alternating between the two.

“I believe in you. So please, hold on until I come back.”

After leaving behind that one sentence that had no chance of reaching the distant ground, he headed for the center of the Demon Realm where the Chaos would be.

***

The countless monsters and beasts lurking beyond the veil showed their appearance. Due to the sudden disappearance of the boundary, the beasts looked around with a bewildered expression before they finally saw the humans. The corner of their mouths rose.

“All troops! Get ready for the Wave!”

Seeing the beasts moving slowly as if they were in front of their prey, the commander shouted with a hoarse voice.

“The soldiers beat us to it earlier, but this time, we, the knights, will be the first to greet them!”

Having received their commander’s order, the knights intercepted the soldiers and grabbed their swords. However, they were completely exhausted from having attacked the veil with all their might until a while ago and the sword energy on the tip of their swords wasn’t as brilliant as before. 

Nevertheless, they didn’t hesitate to block the soldiers as they stood in front of them with the swords shining faintly with their sword energies. 

“We will buy some time, so in the meantime, recover your stamina.”

At this moment alone, nationality and affiliation didn’t matter. The knights who were ready to die were of the same mind - they said they would buy time for the mages to recover.  

Tired from their use of excessive magical power, the mages slumped down. The battlefield was too dangerous for them to recover, but just like the knights were prepared to die, the mages were risking everything to restore their magical power. 

“Lieutenant, I will ask you to lead on my behalf. Since you have experienced the Wave dozens of times, I don’t believe it’s a difficult request. 

The commander entrusted the command of the battlefield to a young lieutenant and stood next to the knights. 

“Although it may have gotten rusted because I haven’t used it in so long, I will lend you a hand with this a wretched sword of mine.”

When the commander brought forth his feeble sword energy that didn’t seem particularly special, the knights grinned even through their exhaustion.

“Do whatever you wish.”

“I’m feeling a bit tense; it’s been a while since I stood in the front like this.”

“Once your blood warms up, your tension will go away.”

Perhaps it was because they prepared to die, but the knights’ responses didn’t contain any dignity.

“If it gets any hotter, I’ll burn to death before we even fight.”

In the time the commander had been talking with the knights and getting used to the weight of his sword that he hadn’t held in a long time, other commanding officers popped out from all over the ranks. They had once dreamed of becoming a knight, so all of their swordsmanships were that of a trainee knight. 

“If not now, when would we have the opportunity to fight side by side with real knights?”

“Enjoy it to your heart’s content. As you said, this may be your last chance.”

While the knights were preparing for battle. The demonic beasts began to increase their speed. 

“All knights! Prepare for impact!”

In an instant, the demonic beasts charging towards them were right in front of their eyes. The knights raised their shields and grabbed their swords as they watched the demonic beasts’ approach.

Kaaaaaaaa!

“Ahhhhhhh!”

The moment the terrible roars and shouts mixed together, the beasts attacked the ranks of the knights. 

Boom!

With that deafening boom, dozens of demons died in the same posture they were in as they charged forward, mutilated. There were a hundred times more knights than the demonic beasts, but a large number of knights still couldn’t withstand the attack and were bounced back.

It was a melee. The knights might have been at the point of sheer exhaustion from dealing with the beasts, but they weren’t easily broken through. Instead, because they were willing to risk their lives, there was an aspect to them that overwhelmed the viciousness of the beasts. 

But that was it. The bright sword energies that were on the blades of the knights’ swords were quickly fading away. Some of the low-skilled knights were killed by the beasts when they became exhausted and their swords couldn’t pierce through the demonic beasts.

But they weren’t the only ones on the battlefield. 

“Heavy infantry! Step out!”

“Ha!”

In terms of armament, the heavy infantrymen weren’t any less than the knights. They stomped fiercely and shoved the War Dragon’s thorn shield. 

“Archers, volley!”

Thousands of arrows flew high and then fell. 

“Fire the catapults!”

“Charge!”

With a thundering sound, the catapults threw massive stones, and the heavy cavalry and light cavalry spears used the momentum from their charge and pierced through the beasts’ bodies. 

The infantrymen and cavalry had retreated because they couldn’t deal with the beasts without forming ranks and joining together, but now that they had finally finished preparing for battle, they jumped into the battlefield.

Of course, their participation alone couldn’t instantly turn the situation around. The spears and swords of the soldiers didn’t have the same destructive power the knights had, and the hide of the beasts was too tough for an order spear or sword to penetrate. 

However, there were also monsters on the battlefields who had a relatively weaker defense than the demons. And the soldiers in the defense line were elite soldiers who had been trained enough to face any number of monsters with their ordinary swords and spear. 

“We have always blocked the Wave! There’s no reason it should be different today!”

“Spear! Push!”

At the order of the infantry company commanders, the spearmen threw their spears instantly. The monsters that had been rushing towards the knights’ sides were pierced by the spearmen’s spears and were mutilated. 

Bang!

The spearmen who had successfully blocked the demonic monsters went to retrieve their spears. But before they could, a demon jumped into the middle of them. It was a beast-type demon and it held up a knight pierced through the tip of the sharp horn sprouting from the middle of its forehead as if the knight was a trophy.

“Guk!”

Countless spearmen were killed by the demon intruding into the midst of them. Pieces of flesh flew in all directions and blood splattered everywhere. Numerous battle experiences could not overcome the overwhelming difference in strength, and the spearmen were slaughtered by the demon in an instant.

Thud.

At the moment, the knight who was pierced and struggling on the horn of the demon grabbed it. The demon was engrossed in slaughtering easy prey and didn’t pay any attention to the dying knight.

“Eek.”

While the demon was having fun killing the humans, the knight tugged on the horn until he finally came close enough to touch the demon’s massive head. The wound in his abdomen became more serious as a result, but the knight raised his sword without hesitation.

He used his dying life as collateral and with his last bit of sword energy and cut off the demon’s eyes.

Gyak!

The demon wailed and went wild. Although the damage to the spearmen increased momentarily, the knight had bought the survivors enough time to retreat. 

“The wounded should leave, and the rest of you, grab your spears again!”

When the infantry company commander saw the beast, who had been running wildly in its spot, suddenly losing his sense of direction and running around until it was trampled to death by the other demons, he gathered his soldiers and jumped into the battle again. 

***

“Ughh…”

The commander had lost consciousness in the first collision, but now, he finally regained his consciousness.

“Huh…?”

The commander had been struggling to get up from the muddy floor when he realized that he couldn’t see his right arm. But surprisingly, he didn’t feel any pain.

He felt languid. 

How long had he been unconscious? Perhaps it was because he had shed so much blood, but it felt like his entire mind felt fuzzy as if he was still dreaming. 

He tried to get up several times, but eventually, the commander gave up and laid down. 

With great difficulty, he turned his stiff neck that didn’t want to move to look at the battlefield.

Not far away from him, he saw a high-ranking knight of the Empire jump on top of a beast and stab his sword through its head. The beast fell and another beast appeared to bit off the head of the senior head that was struggling under the corpse of the fallen beast. The second beast was defeated by the onslaught of the knights and a new beast appeared to tussle with the knights. 

After watching the knights’ battle for a long time, the commander belatedly realized that he couldn’t hear anything. It seemed like his eardrums had burst when he had been caught up in the demonic beasts’ assault.

They’re fighting really well.

The commander smiled. Although it was difficult, it was admirable that the Alliance was still able to block the waves of demonic beasts. 

At this rate, he felt like he could close his eyes without worrying about the past. 

It hadn’t been a bad life, and it was a pretty good death. Since he didn’t feel any pain, it was also a blessing.

His vision grew a bit blurry. Death would most likely come when the blurry world was completely gone. 

At that moment, someone approached him from beyond his hazy vision.

“......!”

They were saying something, but he couldn’t hear it. 

I’m sorry, but I’m going to rest a bit.

He could see the other person’s hazy form beckoning him somewhere, but it didn’t matter. He was going to die now.

Pah. 

A pure white light flashed in his now nearly invisible field of vision. And then, he felt warmth getting closer. His senses had disappeared, but he could still feel the warmth clearly.

Prickle.

Everywhere the warmth touched, tickled. And it quickly became a terrible pain.

“Kaaaaaaak”

As if all the pain that had disappeared returned all at once, the commander yelled out loudly.