Chapter 179: Frontlines (2)
TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk
‘My target is all 13 Exalted Wings.’
Chu Youngjin mulled over those words. This was what Choi Hyuk had said when they t on the Blue Ocean Planet, and Chu Youngjin had accepted his plans since he didn’t really have anything else to do and detested the world.
‘Event Horizon Troop. There must be at least one Wing behind them. That Wing... if it isn’ Fla-Rain, then they’ll end up as my enemy.’
The Event Horizon Troop was the troop Chu Youngjin was a mber of, and it had made significant contributions to the defensive battle in the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters. Chu Youngjin looked around at the warriors who were in formation, ready for another battle.
While he was used to it now, they were clearly different from other troops. This elite troop was indiscriminately made up of young masters and ladies from the top four tribes and people from the borders like Chu Youngjin. Be it from aliens with outer appearances similar to humans to furry ones that looked like beasts, or aliens that floated in space like a fish or a jellyfish to aliens that squird like snakes or worms and aliens that were composed of liquid or gas, these aliens, these warriors of the alliance, were so diverse in appearances that they were indistinguishable from monsters from a human’s perspective.
Chu Youngjin had beco used to this strange sight. Now, when he looked around, he saw many familiar faces, many of whom he could put a na to. Even though he had only been here for a short period of ti, they had already gone through a countless number of life-or-death situations together.
Filling his vision with their faces, Chu Youngjin calmly thought,
‘So I’ll betray them eventually.’
He was to figure out who was behind them, obtain and use their trust before killing them all. That was Choi Hyuk’s goal. As long as he planned on walking this path, Chu Youngjin couldn’t avoid his inevitable betrayal.
“It’s reasonable.”
Shiro had, at so point, arrived. She stood next to Chu Youngjin and looked at their troop mbers while saying,
“While I don’t know how much you knew before joining, but this place is different from the alliance. We don’t discriminate warriors by where they ca from. Since we only prioritize skill, we always achieve the greatest results.”
For so reason, it seed her expressionless face was shining with pride.
With his gaze still on the troop mbers, Chu Youngjin asked,
“Is it similar to Exalted Wing Fla-Rain’s aim?”
He was answered with a sharp reply.
“No. Exalted Wing Fla-Rain is too much of an idealist. She wants harmony amongst species and gives opportunities to the weaker species. It’s not effective.”
‘So Fla-Rain isn’t behind them?’
While thinking this, Chu Youngjin mulled over Shiro’s words.
“What I’m saying is, rather than vague concepts like harmony and risky investnts, we prefer concrete battles and warriors who are useful right away.”
Shiro nodded her head. A subtle, almost indiscernible smile spread on her lips.
Chu Youngjin t her gaze and asked,
“Is that the world you want?”
At his question, her cold, hard eyes lted like thin ice and wavered. She seed to be reminiscing.
“No. What I want is simply war... I am the creation of a species that beca extinct due to the monsters. I was a battle puppet that fought against monsters in my masters’ stead. However, I couldn’t complete my mission. My masters were all slaughtered by the monsters, and because of that, I was reborn by succeeding their fate. While my present self is a completely different existence from the past... Still, my heart is engraved with resentnt towards the monsters. I... I don’t know what kind of world I want. Only, I know what kind of war I want very well.”
He looked into her eyes, which seed to shimr with light, looking almost tearful, before turning away and mumbling,
“... Sounds lonely.”
Shiro’s eyes rippled.
“What did you say?”
When she said that, Chu Youngjin t her gaze once more and simply said,
“I an if that’s the kind of war you want, then that’s also the kind of war I want.”
“...”
Shiro’s frozen eyes shook. She turned her back towards him and said,
“Just what are you...? No, so that’s it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
While Shiro’s electronic brain was calculating at incredible speeds, all her thoughts ended up as errors and she couldn’t calculate anything.
‘What does he an? Is he agreeing with ? If that’s the case, then won’t it be fine to bring him into our grand sche? No, no. Then what did he an by ‘sounds lonely’? And what about, ‘if that’s the kind of war you want’? Rather than agreeing with about our cause, maybe he- No, what am I saying? ? What does that an? Anyways, why is my gear heart overheating? But did I just say that ‘I’ll keep that in mind’? What did I an by ‘keep that in mind’? As expected, the great cause? No, Chu Youngjin’s... feelings. No, just what are his feelings?!’
When she tried to co to a rational conclusion, she didn’t like it for so reason, and when she tried to co to a conclusion emotionally, she couldn’t comprehend her emotions.
Shiro disappeared after saying that ‘she would keep that in mind’ without another word.
Chu Youngjin watched her leave before smiling bitterly and mumbling,
“Those words ca out easily.”
Feeling awkward, he looked out at the troop mbers again as he recalled a word again.
‘... Betrayal.’
**
War was glorious and full of hope.
While the frontlines receded and there were superclusters that were completely subjugated by the monsters due to their sudden invasion, there was still hope because of the actions of heroes in various places.
Transcendent warriors, who raised their nas onto the alliance’s ranking, quickly erged, and the nas of heroes who had won consecutive victories spread rapidly.
As the war waged longer, warriors, either knowingly or not, beca nervous.
‘No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think the monsters are using their full strength. How will it look when the monsters invade us at full strength?’
When this discussion broke out, people concluded that ‘they could take them on’.
While the monsters were strong, the warriors of the alliance didn’t lose out to them. They achieved as many consecutive defeats as they did victories.
This gave hope to the warriors.
And the one who gave the biggest hope among them was Choi Hyuk and his ‘Fla Army’.
The Fla Army fought on the most intense battlefield, the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters, and their performance made them quickly exceed the Event Horizon Troop, which Chu Youngjin was a mber of, in fa.
The obvious na ‘Fla Army’ was of course assigned to them by Fla-Hell. He strengthened their military power with the Blue Manes punitive force as their core, and they beca a leading troop in terms of power.
The ‘Fla Army’, which was filled with many promising rookies of the top four tribes, especially those of the Fla Wing Tribe who were the leading power in the alliance, gave a new hope to alliance mbers.
Of course, the war was cruel.
It was especially cruel to species that possessed the ‘Consumables’ fate.
However, to those who had already beco alliance mbers, this didn’t concern them much.
“Ahhhck!!”
“Heuuuuk! I... I can’t die like this!”
Screams filled a distant area in the universe.
A wall made of blood and flesh to block the pouring monster army. The Consumables fulfilled their duty by being horribly crushed. These lives, who had endured the hardship of the alliance as Consumables and had, at tis, betrayed their own family and friends to survive, were dying powerlessly.
Choi Hyuk and the Fla Army motionlessly watched the mass of deaths. During this ti, an endless number of new Consumables poured out onto the monsters’ formation through the military gate system, and the monsters beca drunk from the amount of karma and blood they had consud.
“Now.”
Choi Hyuk, who had been coldly watching this scene, finally opened his mouth.
The technique, officially known as ‘monster armor’, where two monsters combined into one, with one of them becoming a weapon, was created in order to resist karma weapons and was very effective. Because of this technique, various galaxy clusters collapsed, and multiple galaxies were subjugated. However, it wasn’t like the alliance was standing still since Choi Hyuk first reported the existence of this ‘monster armor’.
The thod the alliance found in nullifying ‘monster armor’ was throwing Consumables as bait. Since monster armor was made up of two different monsters fighting as one body, it beca easier to face them once they broke their cooperation. As they continued to easily slaughter their prey, the monster that had transford into the armor and weapons began to beco imrsed in the slaughter, tossing its command to cooperate to the side. Then the ‘monster armor’ effect of ‘1 1=2.5’ beca ‘1 1=1.7’, making it worse than fighting separately.
So sacrificing Consumables was the simplest and most effective tactic in dealing with monster armors.
Of course, there were drawbacks.
Those with monster armors were normally elites, therefore, if they slipped up, the battle could end in their loss, rendering the consumption of Consumables useless. They couldn’t use this tactic if they weren’t certain of their victory. However, Choi Hyuk’s Fla Army always used this tactic to slaughter elite monster armies. It would be the sa this ti as well.
The mont Choi Hyuk said, ‘Now’, flas erupted to devour the universe. The Consumables, who were groaning as they were being ripped apart by the monsters, and the monsters, who were drunk on blood as they devoured the Consumables, were both erased by the flas.
The flas the countless Fla Wing Tribe warriors spewed made the battlefield feel like their holand, which was now blazing with the Flas of Beginning, flas that had never ceased to burn since the Big Bang.
The most eye-catching thing in those flas was Choi Hyuk’s dangerously surging black flas.
The battle, which waged in the flas, ended in half a day and would be added as another victory for the alliance.
Even though they were exhausted from fighting, the warriors were happy at their consecutive victories.
“Wow... To be honest, while the other top four tribes are amazing, as expected, aren’t the warriors from the Fla Wing Tribe the best?”
“Of course! They’re fiery! While the Dark Tribe warriors, who are skilled in one-on-one fights, and the Armored Soul Tribe warriors, who lead the battle with their diverse set of skills, are amazing, it’s so refreshing to see the Fla Wing Tribe warriors push forward with their strength!”
“Amongst them, Leader Choi Hyuk’s black flas are... Wow, I’m at a loss for words. Whether they were highest-ranked monsters or whatever, they would all beco ash in one second.”
“But Choi Hyuk isn’t a mber of the Fla Wing Tribe, right?”
“Hey, hey. While I can’t say for much else, those flas are clearly more like the Fla Wing Tribe’s than anyone else’s.”
The Fla Army’s fa beca Choi Hyuk’s fa, and Choi Hyuk’s fa beca the Fla Wing Tribe’s fa.
Even the young Fla Wing Tribe warriors, who arrogantly said things like, ‘The best we can do is act like we’re fighting before retreating,’ during the Blue Manes expedition, underwent a drastic change and now praised Choi Hyuk ahead of anyone else. It was to the point where there were even so who called him ‘Fla-Hyuk’.
While he could be considered as a sweet hope for so, to others, he was also a source of frustration.
“What? You want to back off after providing you with Consumables again? Look here... I am the commander-in-chief of this place and the operational authority lies with ! Are you ignoring the chain of command?”
Armor-Phantom, who was the commander-in-chief of both the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters as well as a transcendent warrior who ranked 71st in the alliance ranking, didn’t hide his displeasure. Rather, he intentionally vented his anger.
Yet, Choi Hyuk didn’t give him the opportunity to vent.
“Then what? Are you going to block the monsters with your newly recruited Armored Soul Tribe novices? Don’t embarrass yourself and just send Consumables as you’ve been doing.”
After saying this without even the slightest change to his expression, Choi Hyuk left the eting room. Yet, there was nothing Armor-Phantom could say since Choi Hyuk and his Fla Army were achieving consecutive victories that no one else could. If not for him, they couldn’t hope for the safety of the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters.
Creeeeak!
While emitting a piercing sound as the tallic pieces of his body rubbed against each other, Armor-Phantom could do nothing else but glare at Choi Hyuk’s disappearing figure.
**
“It seems Choi Hyuk is doing well...”
Dark-Sound had a smile on his face as he gathered the reports brought up from various parts of the universe. As planned, Choi Hyuk obtained Fla-Hell’s trust while accumulating the malice of the other top four tribes.
The sword known as Choi Hyuk was almost complete.
“It’s really close now...”
He felt like he could finally see the fruits of the humiliation and sha he had endured while smiling all this ti.
“We will complete the grand sche before this war ends. To do that... I need another hero who can replace Choi Hyuk...”
Tapping his fingers, Dark-Sound beca imrsed in his thoughts. Quiet footsteps suddenly resounded in the dark, dreary space in which he was alone. The footsteps beca quicker, and at so point, they were in front of him.
“Exalted Wing Dark-Sound.”
It was a voice without any big deviations in pitch. However, he could tell that she was very happy to see him by her slightly higher tone.
Dark-Sound friendlily greeted the woman, who was his trusted, reliable subordinate and was like his child as he had taken care of her since young.
“You’re here? I guess you’re doing your job well, Shiro?”
One of the rising heroes of the Event Horizon Troop, Shiro. Her eyebrows, which looked like they had been drawn on, slightly rose, indicating her delight.
Reviews
All reviews (0)