The Second Coming of Gluttony Chapter 167:
The day the army arrived at the fortress went by without much to note, but when the next morning dawned, the fortress became busy .
Haramark’s soldiers were absorbed in latching the fortress gates, inspecting the participating Earthlings and assigning them to different positions, and checking to see whether everything else was in order .
If Teresa was the Chief Commander of Haramark’s forces, then the right to command the Earthlings belonged to Cinzia .
Under the request of the Haramark Royal Family, Cinzia summoned Magicians and Priests without leaving even a single one behind . As these classes were more effective in greater numbers and played a pivotal role in any war, the Royal Family and Cinzia had agreed to manage them together .
Cinzia even selected skilled snipers and placed them around the wall . During this process, Maria and Marcel Ghionea had to leave the team .
Seol Jihu was a little sour about losing two of his reliable comrades, but it wasn’t anything unexpected .
This wasn’t a small battle . An intense battle of an immense scale was bound to erupt, so it was only proper for people to be positioned based on their classes .
And since Maria promised to prioritize Carpe Diem’s members, Seol Jihu quickly lost all feelings of regret .
Next, Cinzia ordered the Earthlings to form groups of ten .
Earthlings weren’t trained soldiers who were proficient in organized warfare . Not only did they lack formal military training, but they were also unfamiliar with formations and rules .
Rather than going for a half-baked attempt at forming a military, both Cinzia and the Haramark Royal Family agreed it would be much more efficient for familiar people to form teams and fight independently .
The allied team of Carpe Diem and Blood Line originally consisted of 14 people . However, with Maria, Marcel Ghionea, and two members of Oh Rahee’s team being repositioned for the same reason, they were left with exactly ten members .
The group consisting of three High-Rank Warriors and seven Level 4s was one of the strongest groups among the Earthlings .
Then, after they organized themselves a little, a scouting report arrived a few days later .
The Parasite army had apparently increased their marching speed toward Arden Valley .
Word by word, the scout reported, ‘The Parasites are advancing toward Arden Valley as if to devour it!’
The moment of battle was quickly approaching .
“Eat to your heart’s content while you can . ”
At dawn with chilly air flowing about, Chohong spoke as she placed ham and cheese between two slices of bread .
Seol Jihu, who was blankly staring at the walls the entire time, flinched .
“When the war begins, you will barely have time to breathe . The Parasites always employ a do-or-die method . When you begin killing them one by one, you start getting hungry quickly . ”
“She’s right . Even if you don’t have an appetite, it’s best to fill your stomach . That will loosen up your body a bit . ”
Huu, huu . Hugo chimed in as he blew air on a spoonful of soup before drinking it .
Chohong finished making her sandwich and handed it to Seol Jihu . When she gestured at him to take it, Seol Jihu took it and put it into his mouth without a word of complaint .
Chohong hummed and began to make more sandwiches .
Once breakfast ended, Seol Jihu led his comrades to their assigned position on the wall . Eventually, the dimly lit dawn melted away as the sun peaked its head over the horizon .
The sun slowly climbed up the sky until it hung in the middle and was directly above the fortress . Even though several hours had gone by, Haramark’s infantry stood in straight lines and stared outside the fortress walls without the slightest hint of movement .
The thousands of spears pointing toward the sky reflected the light of the sun and shone brilliantly . This magnificent sight would certainly cause anyone watching to marvel in awe .
It was then .
Seol Jihu’s eyes that were quietly observing the distance, twitched .
He could see a faint dot that rose up a dust cloud, expanding in size in the blink of an eye until it filled his entire view .
An invisible vibration reached the fortress through the air, causing it to shake .
BBOOOO-! The sound of a horn rang out from the watchtower .
It signaled the appearance of an enemy . Immediately, the bustling grew louder .
Soon, black seawater erupted in the distance .
Between the valley and beyond the mountain, the Parasite army began to appear in all directions . Turning the sky and the earth black, they rushed in like a tidal wave .
“Here they come . ”
Phi Sora muttered, and Seol Jihu could hear it as well . Just hearing the rumbles from feet stomping on the ground sent shivers down his spine .
The horn resounded again . It was signaling everyone to prepare for battle .
The distance between the two armies reduced to several kilometers in just a blink of an eye . Thanks to eating the Golden Wind Phoenix, Seol Jihu’s eyesight had improved tremendously, allowing him to distinguish each entity clearly .
He could see Bugs and Cockroaches .
But there were Parasites he had never seen before and even ten Medusas built with all kinds of corpses .
The most noteworthy one, however, was the elephant-like creature that was the main source of all the rumbling . To be precise, this odd mammoth-like monster had nine serpent heads attached to its humongous body .
“Fuck… there’s even a Hydra . ”
“Hydra?”
“They’re high-ranked species even among the Parasites’ high-ranked species . They’re difficult to kill and use something similar to magic… . ”
Chohong scratched her head with an annoyed look .
Just like Arbor Muto said, the Parasites had no tactics or strategies . They put forward an army easily surpassing ten thousand heads and were rushing in like an angry wave .
Right . The war had already begun . From the moment the enemy entered the valley .
Seol Jihu swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth and looked around . Teresa was standing on the fortress wall, staring out at the enemy coldly .
Why was she standing still even though the enemy had entered their range of fire?
At that moment, the unpleasant sound of Cockroaches flapping their wings rang out .
Seol Jihu was familiar with this noise . After flying at a low altitude, the Cockroaches shot up to the sky simultaneously .
Like a swarm of locusts wanting to devour everything in their path, they stormed forward intensely .
It was as clear as daylight that the castle walls would become chaotic if they got any closer .
‘At least fire some arrows!’
“Target the Cockroaches! Everyone, load!”
A familiar voice struck his ears .
Kiririk—!
The sound of bowstrings being pulled rang out from the new weapon Arbor Muto talked about .
Six of seven soldiers were stationed around each colossal ballista, operating the pulleys .
Arbor Muto stared at the sky and shouted at the top of his lungs .
“From the left! In order! FIRE—!”
Tong, tong, tong, tong! Heavy noises resounded, and giant boomerang blades shot out starting from the left .
The blades spun like a windmill fan and drew arcs in the air . The moment they sliced through the swarm of Cockroaches rushing in like starving beasts, Seol Jihu’s eyes brightened .
Kagagak—!
The unpleasant sound only lasted a moment .
The Cockroach swarm became sprinkles of flesh as if they had been put through a grinder .
There was no other way to put it . The violently spinning blades had broken through the Cockroaches carapace and torn them apart .
It was mind-blowingly refreshing to see such a massive swarm of monsters being ground up completely .
But that wasn’t the end . After flying through the wall of Cockroaches, although the boomerang blades lost a bit of their rotational force, they still spun and descended diagonally to the ground .
Then they cut through the dense army of Parasites flooding in until they struck the ground or ran out of power .
Remnants of Cockroaches rained down on the severed bodies of grounded Parasites .
Waaaaaaaaah!
A loud roar erupted . Screams from the fortress shook the entire land .
“Uhahaha! Amazing! That was amazing!”
“Woaaah! Woaaaaaaah!”
Chohong and Hugo exclaimed loudly, waving their weapons, and even Seol Jihu screamed at the top of his lungs .
Kiyaaaaaaa!
On the other hand, the Medusas grew enraged . They were irritated that the advance party they sent in had been decimated without any result .
Next, the ten Medusas opened their mouths, and scarlet sparks of light flickered inside .
“Flamebreaths!”
Along with this shout, ten adult-sized fireballs shot out of the Medusa’s mouths .
They flew forward, leaving behind a long trail of fire in the air . However, the Priests, who had their spells prepared, created barriers that blocked the fireballs before they could even reach the fortress .
“FIRE!”
Meanwhile, the ballistas had finished reloading .
The second round of attacks was aimed at the monsters on the ground . Boomerang blades hurled toward the Parasites like a fierce storm .
Seol Jihu could not hide his joy as he stared at the blades sweeping through the battlefield .
He couldn’t help but wonder how the Empire could fall so soon when they had created dozens of such powerful, effective weapons . However, he didn’t have the time to think about such questions .
The terrifying Parasite army was being swept away helplessly .
Seol Jihu felt the doubt in his heart asking ‘Can we win?’ slowly tilting towards ‘Yes’ .
The hope that everyone could win and return alive welled up in his heart .
On the other hand, the Medusas glaring at the fortress hatefully screamed once more . Then the central troops that had faltered for a moment stepped on the corpses of their kins and marched forward .
It was then that Teresa’s complexion changed .
“Damn it . ”
She should be happy at the power of humanity’s new weapon, but she cursed angrily and tightened her grip on the crystal ball in her hand .
“What’s wrong?”
When Ian asked, Teresa let out a short sigh before murmuring with a hoarse voice .
“…Nests have been found . ”
Ian’s eyes widened . As Teresa knew about the Parasites’ nature, she had ordered the scouts to search the valley once more rather than return .
And sure enough, the scouts belatedly discovered several Nests camped in a gorge . They must have taken root secretly during the march .
“Didn’t the scouts not find anything before?”
“The Parasites hid them well . After all, the Nests are the Parasites’ treasures . ”
Hearing this, Ian clicked his tongue and asked .
“If we form a detached force and task them with eliminating the Nests—”
“They’ll get devoured as soon as they get near . The Nests already have incredible fighting power . But what’s more worrisome is that the Parasites wouldn’t have left the Nests alone . ”
Teresa spoke sharply .
“Then what should we do? Focus on defending the fortress? Or—”
Teresa became conflicted . At that moment, light flickered in her communication crystal . A report came in that more Nests had been found .
With this, a total of nine mid-ranked Nests and one high-ranked Nest were confirmed .
“Ah, fuck!”
Teresa’s fair mouth finally spat out a harsh curse .
“Those crazy fuckers! A high-rank Nest!?”
The number of mid-ranked Nests was surprising enough, but the bigger problem was that a high-ranked Nest had taken root .
In the worst-case scenario, in just a few days, they might lose the fortress that took several months of painstaking effort to construct .
If the Medusas were the pregnant mothers giving birth to low-ranked species, then the Nests were like the mothers of those mothers .
Giving birth to mothers, area control, land decay, corpse absorption, and parasite production… as the Nests had all sorts of abilities, they were like trustworthy mothers for the Parasites . Of course, that wasn’t the case for anyone facing them .
According to the rumors, even Tigol Fortress, which withstood the onslaught of five of the Seven Armies, could not withstand the power of 200 Nests and fell .
Ian made a bitter expression .
“We have no other choice . ”
Teresa glared at the Hydras standing tall at the backline of the Parasite army and spoke .
“Damn it! I was wondering why they were standing still… . It was to protect the path to the Nests . Ian, how is the spell going?”
Ian glanced at the five Magicians standing above a star-shaped magic circle .
“Given the scale of the spell, it will take some time . ”
Teresa grit her teeth .
“Fuck, I guess we have no other choice then . We’ll have to do it the textbook way . Sanctus!”
“Yes, I’ll get ready immediately . ”
A man wrought with stab wounds who was standing next to Ian and Teresa the entire time gave orders immediately .
The wall grew louder . The firmly standing infantry marched down in an orderly fashion and gathered in front of the fortress gate .
It was the same with Earthlings who were assigned to the interception group . Upon hearing the order, Seol Jihu went down with his comrades .
Leaving a little distance from the soldiers waiting in front of the gate, he waited along with other Earthlings .
‘What happened?’
He did not know what was going on, but the situation had suddenly fallen into disorder .
Two commands had been passed down . One was for them to wait until the infantry cleared a path . The second was to take this path to eliminate the Medusas .
Other commands would supposedly be passed down depending on the situation .
Although he heard that the fortress would cover for them as much as possible, he couldn’t help but tilt his head .
“All Archers, LOAD—!”
At Teresa’s shout, the Archers standing on the fortress wall all nocked their arrows and aimed their bows high .
“FIRE—!”
When a clear, ringing voice resounded, hundreds of arrows shot up simultaneously .
Looking up at the arrows disappearing beyond the fortress wall, Seol Jihu snapped out of his daze at a loud resounding sound coming from the front .
The soldiers had lifted the latch and were opening the sealed gate .
As the gate slowly opened, Seol Jihu saw the continuation of arrows raining down and Parasites rushing towards them through the rain .
Seeing the battlefield from the ground and not from above gave him pressure on a different level .
“CHAAARGE!”
Jan Sanctus roared, and the infantry raced forward . As soon as they left the fortress gate, they split in two before charging at the enemies on two fronts .
The moment the two armies collided, Seol Jihu furrowed his brows .
The recoil from the clash was so great that he saw soldiers fully equipped in heavy armor fly up to the sky .
Even so, Haramark’s elite infantry managed to stick their shields on the ground, stabbing their spears forward and forming a battlefront .
Of course, as long as they didn’t receive further reinforcement, they would not be able to last forever .
Seol Jihu gripped his Ice Spear .
Seeing the **** battle unfolding before him and realizing that he would have to jump in the middle of it, his heart began to pound .
“Wait . Don’t jump out on your own . ” Chohong placed her hand on Seol Jihu’s trembling shoulder and said, “It’s not our turn yet . ”
“Why? Are you nervous?” Phi Sora cracked her neck from side to side and asked . Then, she spoke confidently, “Don’t worry . Just stay behind me, Dear . ”
Oh Rahee smirked, “Don’t get scared . ” She fiddled with the ends of her hair as she usually did . The corner of her mouth curled up . “You lose a war when you get scared . ”
All three women spoke to help the youth relax, but unfortunately, Seol Jihu was busy letting their words in through one ear and out the other .
After all, what he was thinking was completely different than what they were expecting .
‘Ah . This feeling…’
A strange sense of déjà vu welled up .
At this moment, Seol Jihu finally realized the identity of the emotion that had been bothering him since he entered the valley .
His blood curdled, and his lower abdomen tensed up . His mouth clattered, causing his teeth to strike against each other . Unable to withstand the ecstasy, his arms and legs shook .
His entire body heated up and seemed ready to erupt .
This was it .
Seol Jihu was wanting this .
After the first murder he committed in Stage 3 in a fit of rage, something inside of him that had been released from its shackles subconsciously consumed his entire body .
Soon .
Cinzia’s sortie command fell . At the same time, Seol Jihu subconsciously kicked off the ground harder than he needed to .
When he left the fortress gate in the blink of an eye, his restricted field of vision widened instantly, and the vast battlefield entered his view .
Feeling a mysterious sense of freedom, Seol Jihu shot forward with enough intensity to make his hair fly backward .
He had no idea that his Ice Spear was emitting a golden aura .
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