Monster Wave, Toward Is End (3)

Elsewhere, where the final Monster Wave was unfolding, things were surprisingly quiet.

In particular, the western wall had even fewer monsters than the day before—no one knew why except the transcendent.

Trup, the transcendent in charge of the western wall and mercenary commander, took out a communication crystal and infused divine power into it.

—Who is this?

“It’s Trup. I’m half of the Black Oak on the western wall. Fewer than we caught yesterday.”

—…Really?

“Yeah. How about you?”

—Same here. We decreased even more than you did. So that means all the remaining monsters… headed east.

“That’s right.”

Trup, unsure, couldn’t bring himself to speak the thought circling his mouth: the ferocious presence that had pressed against the walls until yesterday—the Black Oak lord—was gone.

Fabrice, who received Trup’s transmission for the western wall, hesitated before trying to reach Kim Han. Kim Han didn’t respond—probably engaged in battle. After several attempts and forcing his racing heart to calm for no reason, Fabrice focused his senses beyond the wall once more.

‘Still gone.’

Gone. The Black Oak lord that had boldly shown itself until yesterday—the monstrous thing—was gone.

Other than that, Trup at the western wall had nothing more to report.

He prepared for combat, grateful at least that the lord on the western wall remained.

Even when he carefully scanned the familiar Black Oak again, he couldn’t tell; it would be unrealistic for a human to detect subtle differences in an orc’s appearance.

Shaking off the distraction, he pulled the Manga from his inventory and gripped it. The flexible blade—over five meters long—slithered across the ground with a rustling sound, asserting its presence.

Perhaps the strange weapon caught its interest. The Black Oak lord’s gaze briefly fixed on the silvery blade lying on the ground.

At that instant, with a snap of his wrist he fed chaos into it.

The Manga lashed out, punishing the leering Black Oak lord.

The Manga writhed like a snake through water, baring a poisoned fang aimed at the Black Oak lord’s heart.

Kwaaang—

Hide and sharp steel collided with a deafening crack.

The Black Oak lord stumbled back a few steps, stared at him in surprise, then, face flushed with excitement, raised its great blade and charged.

At first glance its stance looked brutish and full of openings, but its momentum was so threatening it couldn’t be underestimated.

The lord’s great blade—advancing faster than its bulk suggested—fell straight down with the intent to cleave him in two.

When he infused the Manga with chaos, the limp blade stiffened. The straightened longsword met the lord’s great blade head-on.

Kwang—!

The clash produced an unbearable sound and the lord’s great blade could not advance further.

He twisted his wrist, concentrating the chaos at the tip of the Manga.

The Manga coiled and climbed the lord’s great blade like a snake up a tree.

At the end of the blade, the Manga’s dark fangs bit into the Black Oak lord’s massive wrist.

Pook—

Kruaaaaah—!!

Unable to withstand the breaker, the Black Oak lord dropped its great blade and screamed in pain, clutching a wrist that was more than half severed.

As he moved to finish it, sharp killing intent approached from his left and behind.

He stopped and lashed the Manga—full of breaker energy—like a whip to shield himself.

Thud! Kwang!!

By the force and impact, the incoming strikes were also strong-energy attacks.

He let the Manga fall and surveyed the area: the two Black Oaks that had appeared were not ordinary.

“Lords…?”

Additional Black Oak lords had appeared. Two more had joined; with the one already there, three lords faced him.

“Kim Han!”

Lee Hyo-ju’s voice came from behind.

“Don’t come. Fall back. Tell the squad too. Tell them not to approach this area. Don’t get unnecessarily entangled.”

He had just seen it: the two new lords could emit strong-energy. If others lingered to help, they’d risk being hit by ranged attacks.

He snorted derisively as the three lords met eyes and fell into formation. Their behavior looked oddly human rather than monstrous.

The Black Oak lords took positions in front and on both his diagonals, intensifying their momentum.

These monsters resembled warriors on the brink of life and death—not a raw, untamed feral aura, but a sharpened killing edge as if they were fighters who had attained the Way.

“Ha! These things are now imitating people, too.”

He unleashed an attack with the Manga, infused with chaos and drenched in breaker energy.

The lords hurriedly tried to block the longsword’s long, supple, unpredictable movements.

Since when did monsters imitate warriors?

Even without Arun 2’s warning, the lords’ faces reddened—angered at being forced into purely defensive stances.

Finally, the lord that had faced him from the start roared and charged.

The lord hadn’t moved recklessly; a crude, force-like divine power wrapped its body—a rough kind of protective enhanced energy.

That was a mistake.

If it had been ordinary enhanced energy, the choice might have held up. The breaker, however, is a skill on another level.

Pook—

The Manga pierced the lord’s chest too easily and, with a brutal twist, slid free.

Chwarararak—

Green blood gushed like a fountain.

“Kraa, aaaaah—!”

The lord glared wide-eyed as if full of grievance, and then died. A Black Oak lord’s death was instantaneous.

Perhaps because that crude protective energy had been pierced so easily, the other two lords took a step back and assumed cautious stances.

Watching them, he remembered what Vioss always told him.

“Every weapon has its own domain. If it strays from that complete domain or gets too close, it cannot exert its full power.”

They may have thought stepping back was cautious, but the Manga is longer than a great blade; they should have closed the distance.

He finally understood the strangeness in the Black Oak lords’ movements.

Not strength born of experience but manufactured—mass-produced, a replica.

They might not have understood his words, but they clearly felt the change in his momentum.

Two Black Oak lords kicked off the ground and approached him.

These weren’t the bold, controlled strikes from before; they were hasty, flailed attacks.

The undulating enhanced energy suggested an over-infusion of force.

Whoo—! Whoo!!

In their urgency they were throwing every ounce of strength into the offense—an all-out attack that ignored defense.

Against another representative it might have been hard to block; the matchup might not even have been favorable.

Kwaa—kwang!!

He didn’t dodge. He wasn’t good at dodging, and fleeing after a dodge could cause unknown trouble, so he faced them head-on.

If anything had changed from his past life, it was that four years of getting beaten by Bioss taught him how to let strength flow.

The clashes rang with roaring, explosive sounds; each time, the lords wavered or grimaced.

The surrounding battles fell into a lull.

Perhaps Lee Hyo-ju and the warrior-type representatives had finished tidying up the wounded Black Oaks; the ones visible now seemed to number only in the thousands.

Did the lords sense that too? Likely even more so.

One lord stepped back quickly, then openly scanned the surroundings, resignation bitter in its eyes.

Chwarararak—

The Manga’s light swimming sound cut the air. The two raised their wrists and arms to block, but something was off.

‘They’re not dodging?’

The two lords simply watched the approaching Manga in silence.

Sereok— Puk—!

The left lord’s neck was cut; the right’s heart was pierced.

At the moment the Manga lodged in the heart, the dying Black Oak lord looked at him with eyes that seemed to ask, ‘Are you all right?’

The battle was over. Of the roughly thousand Black Oaks remaining, half fled and the rest charged in a frenzy before being swept aside.

If there hadn’t been three lords in the first place, the fight wouldn’t have dragged on so long.

Before the 60th day began, Fabrice announced that the Monster Wave was essentially over.

But it wasn’t completely finished. There were still tasks to handle, so they couldn’t withdraw from the eastern wall.

While quickly eating breakfast on Day 60, all the representatives suddenly stopped and stared at the air. He did the same.

“Huh?!”

“W-It’s over?”

“Wow! It’s over!”

What do soldiers feel when training ends early? Shouts erupted and breakfast turned into a drinking spree.

Finding the mood infectious, he joined in and opened all the alcohol rations they’d received.

Not thinking himself special like Benialis or Violentia, he wandered into a random tent and started drinking beer; a moment later he noticed members of the Rebound Legion seated nearby.

Their sidelong glances suggested they, too, felt the sting of parting.

“This isn’t… bad, I guess.”

“Huh?”

Lee Hyo-ju, sitting to his left, asked as if she’d heard his muttering.

He shook his head to indicate it was nothing, set aside the worry of how to spend this suddenly free month, and prepared to start the fifth year.

“Good work.”

A sudden silence fell. He’d wanted to tell them they’d done well even while he was away, but the mood felt strange.

“…You’ve had a hard time. Drink up.”

“Wow! Mr. Kim Han! No, Captain! That’s so lame! Ugh!”

Arun’s occasional goofiness, fortunately, broke the tension.

The mood brightened again, and they toasted the toil and comradeship of finishing sixty days of bloody combat with the monsters.