Chapter 184

Whooosh!

A wind carrying the scent of war swept through the Dungeon.

After a brief rest, the moment dawn broke, the troops began moving in earnest.

If you asked who the commander-in-chief of this army was, a hundred out of a hundred would say it was me.

But the one handling the details of Idam’s forces was clearly Vladimir.

“Ranged dealers, gather around Bone Five! Melee dealers, spread out to the flanks!”

“All hunters who consider themselves tanks, move to the front! Just coordinate with the shield-bearing skeletons!”

With the help of each faction’s leaders, Vladimir split the troops up based on their Unique Abilities.

It was far more efficient for similar roles to be grouped together.

And in war, control mattered above all.

He meant to manage them as one.

[Space Mage: Yo, team leader.]

[Space Mage: That skeleton of yours—Kayden, was it? He’s amazing, isn’t he?]

[Space Mage: His grasp of warfare is extraordinary. Thanks to him, controlling everything will be much easier.]

The one assisting Vladimir at his side was none other than my subordinate.

Creak!

Kayden.

“Friend of the Master. Place the healers under Dana’s command, and gather those with special abilities unrelated to combat at central headquarters.”

“Special abilities unrelated to combat?”

“Abilities like yours. I see your world has an astonishing variety of abilities. If we place such individuals where they’re most effective, the war will become much easier.”

With Kayden acting as a strategist, the ranks took shape in no time.

[Guide: Vladimir.]

[Guide: I also created a chat room and invited the heads of each faction.]

[Guide: It should make controlling them a little easier.]

Capu did his part as well.

He created a second chat room and added Idam’s executives and rankers.

A way to command everyone at once, even from a distance.

With preparations complete, we marched toward the central area.

How much time had passed?

[Skeleton King: Stop here.]

At my simple command—

Thud! Thud thud thud!

The Skeleton Legion, lined up in neat rows and columns like they’d been measured with a ruler, came to a halt.

Thud! Thud!

Vladimir’s forces, having checked the chat, also stopped in unison.

[Water Witch: Are we there already? I can’t see anything.]

[Judgment Spear: Don’t look. Feel. It’s true there’s nothing visible, but can’t you feel the killing intent?]

Judgment Spear was right.

Because of Dang Hwipyeong’s Formation or whatever it was, nothing could be seen.

But after enduring the trial with the Shadow Shepherds, I was different.

‘I can feel it.’

My brows twitched.

I couldn’t see them, but I could smell them.

The immense hostility pouring off certain beings shimmered like heat haze.

– “Heh heh, now you know without me having to say it.”

The Elder muttered with a smile.

– “However, those bastards over there…”

‘Yes.’

– “They feel tougher than I expected. Hmm.”

‘Is that so?’

– “I can’t say for sure, but one thing’s certain. They’re different from before. More advanced. Back then, it was like turning a third-rate into a first-rate… but now it feels like they turned a first-rate into a supreme master. Hah.”

The Elder let out a short sigh.

But contrary to that sigh, his eyes sparkled brightly.

No.

Why are you saying it’s bad, yet looking so excited?

– “Heh heh. Was it not that bastard, Dang Hwipyeong? Or has he advanced with time… Either way, I want to see it quickly.”

‘Your disciple could lose. Why are you so carefree?’

– “That disciple is the kind of guy who’d recklessly charge an otherworldly dragon. Do I need to worry?”

‘……’

I had nothing to say to that.

No matter how intense things got here, it probably wouldn’t be as insane as Aranvalon’s battle with the Great Demon Dragon.

Thump thump!

Rumble rumble rumble….

Sensing the atmosphere, our troops stomped the ground.

Weapons were drawn everywhere, each person bracing for a command.

– “You brat. Don’t worry.”

The Elder smiled faintly.

– “So what if that Vile Dokgo has advanced? As much as he advanced… our Ten Thousand Arts has advanced too, you punk.”

‘Yes?’

– “If you’re ready, release it.”

‘You mean the Toxin Mist?’

– “Yes. Send it straight into the center. Just that alone will shatter that bastard’s Formation instantly.”

‘Understood.’

Woooong!

Closing my eyes, I slowly began releasing the Toxin Mist I’d been holding inside me.

Sssss! Sssssss!

The green smoke started as a tiny speck, then swelled in an instant.

Gush, gush!

From where I stood, creeping over the undergrowth, slipping through valleys and gullies—

The Toxin Mist slithered like a snake.

[Water Witch: Ugh.]

[Water Witch: To see that horrible thing again here….]

[Absolute Unrivaled: And it feels even bigger than before.]

Sssst! Sssssst!

Kiiieeeee!

The Toxin Mist reached the center before anyone noticed and immediately ran rampant.

It exploded outward in every direction, colliding with something shimmering.

And soon after—

“I can see them.”

No sooner had Ki Soyul murmured beside me than they became clearly visible to my eyes as well.

Countless monsters, red light burning in their eyes, growled.

Krrrr!

A sight that sent chills down your spine just from looking at it.

“Wh-what are those?”

“Monsters. I’ve heard the rumors. Gotham experiments on human bodies to create chimeras.”

“……Chimeras?”

“They lose their sanity, but their power gets amplified. Nearly two or three times stronger, they say.”

“Crazy. Aren’t they just trash?”

The families they’d lost.

The children who’d gone missing.

Bodies mortgaged to the devil, condemned to endless torment.

“So that’s where they were hiding. Those sons of bitches… I want to chew them to pieces.”

People seethed.

“I can’t stand it. I’ll fight those devil bastards even if it kills me.”

Whoosh! Whoong!

They brandished their weapons, waiting for the order.

As I watched the battlefield, I met the Elder’s eyes.

– “Heh heh, can’t you feel it? They’re flustered by your Toxin Mist.”

‘Is that so?’

It did seem that way.

No matter how I looked at it, the Formation they’d deployed wasn’t meant for an all-out frontal battle.

– “What are you doing? Go and crush them before they regroup.”

‘Understood, Elder.’

– “But don’t be careless. They may be stronger than you think. Even in our world, that vile Dokgo was terrifying.”

I nodded and raised my hand.

At once, every gaze locked onto my fingertips.

Finally—

“Hup.”

I filled my lungs with air, then brought my arm down with a roar.

“Chaaaaarge!”

The war began.

—

“Waaaaaah!”

“Woooooah!”

Watching the army surge forward with thunderous shouts—

“H-hey, Andrey. What’s going on?”

A bewildered Zima muttered.

“……”

But Andrey stared ahead, lips sealed tight.

No—more precisely, his gaze was fixed on Dang Hwipyeong, fuming like a volcano in the air above him.

》“No, how! How can the Formation I painstakingly created collapse so easily! Why! Why! Why!”

His usual cross-legged posture was gone.

The hopping elder, Dang Hwipyeong.

》“It’s the same as back then. That bastard, Ten Thousand Arts or whatever!”

Dang Hwipyeong recalled the past.

In the midst of raising a force to unify the world, an elder had appeared like a bolt from the blue.

Eh? People were right?

A bug was raising other bugs.

Tsk. Pests must be exterminated.

When the elder who called himself Ten Thousand Arts attacked, he honestly thought he was no one.

Just another human trying to stop his plans.

And in a way, that was true.

At first, he retreated, unable to even use his power properly against the Formation he’d deployed.

However—

‘It was the same back then, too.’

Grit!

Dang Hwipyeong ground his teeth as memory surged.

How did he know Dokgo’s gas was Dokgo’s natural enemy?

He’d come with his body full of gas and shattered the Formation.

‘Damn it…!’

Dang Hwipyeong’s eyes turned bloodshot.

That nightmare from then unfolded vividly in his mind.

The sight of the elder approaching—tearing apart troops he’d painstakingly raised in a single breath—was terror itself.

Swish! Swish!

Every time he waved a hand—

Boom! Boom!

His troops exploded.

Before that overwhelming martial power, even the vile Dokgo—wicked enough to dye the world in fear—had no choice but to kneel.

And so came a futile death.

The scent of the cold blade embedded in his heart.

》“That will absolutely not happen this time…! I can’t let this chance I got after dying be wasted!”

Dang Hwipyeong had two regrets.

One was the bitterness of dying without fulfilling his grand plan.

The second was his thirst for revenge against the elder of Ten Thousand Arts who had ruined that grand plan.

That second one—

He’d thought it was something he could never resolve, even in death.

‘No way.’

The foul stench he’d been smelling for the past few days—

Was that the scent of that damn elder?

Was that the scent of death?

If so—

》“Right.”

This was better, in a way.

Hadn’t he also advanced the vile Dokgo precisely for a moment like this?

》“Andrey, you bastard. What are you doing.”

Dang Hwipyeong coolly assessed the approaching army.

Judging only by the aura they gave off, their combat power was—

An overwhelming advantage for Andrey.

》“Instead of killing those idiots charging at you…”

Dang Hwipyeong’s command came coldly.

》“There is no retreat. And no carelessness. Use all your strength to annihilate those bastards. If you can do that for me…”

Dang Hwipyeong’s voice sank low.

》“I will give you the world.”

—

“Woooah!”

“Waaaah!”

The war had begun.

A macho, head-on clash with the Formation gone.

No terrain tricks. No guerrilla tactics.

They simply surged forward like a raging wave, fielding over ten thousand.

Krrk!

Krrrrrrk!

The monsters on the opposing side charged too, drool hanging from their jaws.

Eyes flashing as they searched for prey, they were grotesque beyond words, but—

Boom!

Kayden, standing at the very front, slammed his shield into the ground.

In response—

Thump! Thump! Thudududududung!

The 1,110 skeleton shield bearers spread out in a line, planted their shields, and braced their feet.

“Fire over the shields!”

Whoosh!

Bone Five lifted his staff with graceful control.

At once, fire erupted from the staves of 1,110 skeletons.

“Unleash your ranged skills!”

Whoosh! Swish swish swish! Whoosh!

Thousands of hunters layered their attacks atop Bone Five’s fire magic.

Fireballs arced through the air.

And the moment they fell on the monsters like a fire demon—

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang!

A deafening explosion shook the world.

[Water Witch: This… truly is a magnificent sight.]

[Spring Apostle: Seriously. I’m so glad the Skeleton King is on our side.]

A combined strike from over ten thousand was worthy of the word [beautiful].

The satisfying impact of magic and arrows.

And that wasn’t the end.

[Judgment Spear: I’m running too.]

[Absolute Unrivaled: Then I’ll show them what true martial arts are.]

The melee troops, led by Zhang Wei, Ki Soyul, and Im Sujin, swept around both flanks of the shield line and charged.

“Waaaaaah!”

“Kill them all!”

“Kiiiill!”

Shouts so fierce they cleared your head as they surged forward.

Kieeeek!

Krrrelek!

The monsters, unable to withstand the ranged barrage, were inevitably cut down.

At the surprisingly easy fight—

“Waaaaaah!”

A roar erupted from the ranged troops.

The battlefield itself seemed to tremble from that roar alone.

“This is the best!”

“Skeleton King! All hail!”

“We’re beating Gotham!”

The fearsome Gotham—

The mafia that had been eating away at Russia—was being swept aside.

Tension snapped, blood boiled, and thrill surged through them.

However, the cheering didn’t last long.

Kwaaaaaang!

Something slammed into the midst of our surging melee troops like a meteor.

“Kuaaak!”

“Uwaaaak!”

Dust billowed, soldiers screamed.

And through that dust—

A figure emerged, walking forward with killing intent pouring off him.

“Th-that’s…!”

“Crazy…”

Kwon Soye and Im Sujin, watching, went pale.

“……”

I bit my lip.

Because the figure roaring with his fist raised was far too familiar.

‘Steel Fist…’

That’s right.

The one attacking us was—

A ranker from the Republic of Korea.

The world’s 101st-ranked Steel Fist, Bong Jaeyoung.