Monster Wave, Toward Is End (2)

Monster Wave day 58, late at night.

There were figures moving stealthily from the eastern city wall.

“Use this as the reference. Circular, wide.”

Those who received the signal dispersed at once.

Clouds hid the moon, leaving a dark night. The number of faintly moving shadows in the Monster Belt opposite the eastern wall exceeded a hundred.

The flicker of dark silhouettes continued until just before dawn, until the first light began to pale.

Monster Wave day 59 — dawn broke.

From early morning, the area outside the eastern wall swarmed with Black Oak and mid-sized monsters.

“Mr. Kim Han.”

“I told you. That’s why those Black Oak are such a pain. They get reinforcements through organic coordination, and see over there? The large monsters. The only monster that can command those is the Black Oak Lord. Today we’re wiping them all out. Like I said: early on, hold the defense no matter what. Just defense.”

“Yes!”

Last night, Fabrice said that after today’s defense he would officially report to the gods using the scanned data from the Latens Cube.

His behavior and tone made it seem as if he already knew about the Latens Cube’s existence.

But I never expected there to be anything worth reporting to the gods.

Fabrice said today would be the last day of the Monster Wave.

He isn’t one to make empty boasts. Thinking of Fabrice’s serious face and his plea to believe him, I looked at the Black Oak horde that might be the last.

The murderous intent simmering outside the wall was ferocious.

Wild and animalistic, it swirled like heat haze — the concentrated predatory hunger and fighting fervor of wolves circling a deer before sinking their teeth into its neck.

“If the Black Oak are at least thirty thousand, let’s call it forty thousand…”

Arun’s voice carried across the tense wall; everyone’s gaze fixed on him.

“So forty thousand, and we have about two thousand, roughly calculating… twenty per person. Ugh~ twenty Black Oak? I should finish my share quickly and go eat…? Huh? Why are you all looking at me like that… sorry.”

Of course — Arun wouldn’t have any ulterior motive. He was just talking to himself; it was just that his timing was so loud that everyone heard.

“What are you saying? Arun, to atone for everything you’ve done so far, you must take care of at least a hundred. Bring back one hundred Black Oak ears. If not, you won’t get a single sip of water from now on.”

“What?! You cold-blooded witch!! That’s not fair…! Eek!!”

True to her Medical Arts background, Lee Hyo-ju caught Arun’s words, scolded him, and somehow made the forty thousand Black Oak and mid-to-large monsters sound trivial.

Arun did put on a genuine tantrum in the process, but as always I decided to ignore it.

“Here we go. If any representative from the Rebound Legion takes out fewer than fifty, I’ll specially ask Talis to give them special training. They might wish they were dead.”

“No to dictatorship!! Gah!!”

“Fifty. How are you going to count that?”

“Why would only the Rebound Legion get that treatment? What about the other representatives standing over there?”

“Whoa… Captain, you don’t like me, do you?”

Even though Black Oak were charging outside the wall, spitting and radiating feral malice, the Rebound Legion members on the wall kept joking.

The representatives, guards, and mercenaries seeing this for the first time couldn’t hide their bewilderment, while the representatives who had moved from the northern wall to the eastern wall just accepted it.

“If you take fewer than Arun, I’ll ask Bioss for a one-on-one sparring match.”

“Uwak!!”

“No!”

“Get at least one!”

“Mr. Arun! Kill Mr. Arun! Push him off the wall!!”

“…What, man?”

As mouths didn’t stop moving, the members’ weapons kept swinging and divine power flashed repeatedly.

For now I stood in the middle of the wall watching the situation, when a cute woman’s voice came from a distant corner.

It was Hippoly’s voice, laughing with her tongue slightly out while swinging a halberd.

“Does the captain count too?”

The Rebound Legion’s gaze focused on Hippoly’s cute voice.

Though their eyes were on her, they didn’t stop swinging weapons or casting spells, making others shake their heads.

“Ten times.”

Those who hadn’t understood at first suddenly seemed to realize and gasped “Ah!” as their eyes turned to Arun.

“Huh? Why?”

“Sigh… Arun, the captain said he’ll take ten times as many as you. Hurry up and step it up.”

The Rebound members who had just been shouting to kill Arun now urged him to do better.

Buoyed by the members’ “encouragement,” Arun said something he shouldn’t have.

“Is that so? Captain, I’ll accept that challenge. Bring it on.”

Arun’s absurd remark fell the representatives into silence. It was only natural that Hazel, Lee Hyo-ju, Naruan, and Mae Young-ryeong’s expressions hardened.

“Tsk tsk, he’s finally gone mad.”

“Mr. Arun, rest in peace.”

“Mr. Arun! Fight! Survive!”

Only then did Arun realize what he’d said and look at me with a pitiful face, but as always I decided to lightly ignore him.

Anyway, despite the chaotic atmosphere, the defense was proceeding steadily.

The defense at the eastern wall was different from the others.

We didn’t push away or block the ladders the Black Oak had propped to climb the wall. We simply waited and cut off the necks of any Black Oak who stuck their heads out of the ladders in an instant.

Like a whack-a-mole game, each person set their area according to their ability and simply snipped off the heads that rose onto the wall.

The warrior-type representatives did that, and the mages were playing, casting spells they’d wanted to try on the Black Oak piled on the ground.

The biggest reason it was possible wasn’t just the members’ rapidly increased skill, but the four top-tier elementals flying and moving across the wall.

―This is fun, isn’t it?

―Now there’s something else to boast about.

―As expected, our friend is…

―That’s why your king wants attention too.

Noeaden, the earth supreme elemental, created countless earth fists on the wall and threw any Black Oak attempting to climb off the wall.

Saleana, the fire supreme elemental, simply burned out the eyes the instant a Black Oak’s head appeared on the wall.

Silestin, the wind supreme elemental, cut Black Oak necks silently and effortlessly with wind blades.

Elestra, the water supreme elemental, engulfed Black Oak in a volume of water twice their heads’ size and drowned them.

For these supreme elementals, dealing with Black Oak was mere play and required little power, but thanks to the four elementals’ participation everyone could defend the wall while chatting leisurely.

With the situation like this, the things we’d been waiting for finally began to move.

Mid-sized and larger monsters and elite Black Oak warriors — even the shamans and the Lord positioned in the rear — were moving.

When the ranks of warriors caught up to the ordinary Black Oak, whose movement had slowed from being bottlenecked at the wall, the eyes of the five magic tower masters turned to me.

When I nodded, the five magic tower masters each roughly threw the red orbs they held onto the wall floor. The red orbs shattered when they struck the ground.

As the five spheres broke, the Monster Belt outside the wall shook violently.

It was like watching a meticulously planned fireworks display from the ground.

The explosions that started in the middle of the long line of Black Oak gradually widened their range.

The Black Oak’s disorderly movements to avoid the blasts made the chaos worse.

Above all, the explosions that started in the middle spread quickly, and when blasts met and magnified damage, you could see limbs of Black Oak flying up and being blown to pieces by the next blast.

Since elite Black Oak had also come close, the sorcerers, chieftains, and Lords among them couldn’t completely avoid the blast radii.

When the traps that detonated continuously for thirty minutes ended, the ground was utterly overturned and littered with Black Oak corpses.

Contrary to the gruesome sight, many had been nicely roasted by the fire, and the oddly delicious smell of grilled meat wafted up to the wall.

“Attack.”

Surprised though the mages who had set the magical traps were, under Lee Hyo-ju’s calm command the warriors hurriedly climbed down the wall.

The ground outside the wall was riddled with countless craters of all sizes, and the earth still gave off warm heat.

But any admiration was short-lived. Led by Rebound Legion members, the warrior-type representatives pushed off the ground and began to spread out.

Their targets were Black Oak stunned or injured by the peripheral explosions.

While those who scattered across the field finished off Black Oak too stunned or wounded to recover, I strode straight toward the Black Oak Lord who was bellowing angrily.

Occasionally some sturdier ones blocked my path, but several times they vanished in an instant, eliminated by supporting members before they could reach me.

It exuded overwhelming intimidation even outwardly. I faced a Black Oak whose presence was so imposing I wondered if it could truly be from the Orc species, supposedly the most common, weak, and stupid of monsters.

Did this Black Oak Lord know me?

At the moment it saw me, it screamed and swung a long, thick greatsword crackling with battle energy.

“Oh?”

But strangely, why did it feel like I recognized it too? Where had I seen it?