madnovel Chapter 632
Chapter 632
Chapter 632
Crunch! Craaack!
As the two beings, unmatched in weight and size, collided, a space naturally formed around them where no one could approach.
“A mere human dares contend with me?”
Krudu was genuinely enraged.
Not once had he ever acknowledged the existence known as humans.
A race with no real ability, yet one that loved to gather in groups.
A primitive species where the individual was insignificant, able to display strength only as a collective.
That was Krudu’s perception of humans.
But contrary to his beliefs, the power of humans when united was tremendous.
Tasks that would take a single giant months of grueling effort were completed by humans in mere days.
At least in terms of efficiency, they could never compare to humans. Yet Krudu could not bring himself to acknowledge such potential.
That was why humans in El Harun had been especially discriminated against.
And because Krudu was so hostile toward humans, he could not help but be even more furious at Oh Mujin, who had dared challenge him head-on.
He swung his massive sword and attacked Oh Mujin.
Oh Mujin did not confront Krudu directly and instead slipped behind the golem.
There was no reason for him to step in personally when he possessed the ultimate weapon known as the Steel Golem.
Boom! Baaang!
With explosive crashes, the bodies of Krudu and the Steel Golem shook violently.
In terms of destructive power alone, the Steel Golem was in no way inferior to Krudu.
Its body’s toughness and durability even surpassed Krudu’s.
Because of that, the battle between the two did not easily tilt to either side.
And while Oh Mujin and the Steel Golem kept El Harun’s strongest warrior, Krudu, occupied, the other Numbers steadily reduced the enemy’s numbers.
The one displaying the greatest might was none other than Grain, the Master of Gravity.
His ability to manipulate gravity over a wide area demonstrated overwhelming power in a large-scale battle like this.
“Hyaaat!”
He unleashed a wide-area gravity increase skill over a place where many demi-humans had gathered.
In that instant, the demi-humans felt as though their bodies had become three or four times heavier, and breathing grew difficult.
The gravity had not increased enough to kill them, but it was more than enough to temporarily slow their movements. Naturally, their reaction speeds dropped as well.
As humans charged into the slowed demi-human ranks and attacked, the demi-humans fell without even managing proper resistance.
The battle between the two sides was utterly brutal.
Already countless people had died or been wounded, yet neither side had any intention of stopping the fight.
The battle dragged on endlessly.
The fighting that had begun in the morning still had not ended late into the night.
Neither side intended to retreat until victory or defeat had been decided.
But around midnight, the scales of battle finally began to tilt to one side.
“Kraaagh!”
“Kehk!”
More screams began to erupt from the demi-human side.
It was only natural.
Even when wounded, the demi-humans could not receive proper treatment, while the awakened of the Steel Fortress recovered quickly from most injuries.
Those who were healed returned to battle, and from that point onward, the gap between the two camps began to widen.
The Steel Fortress had begun to dominate the battlefield.
Once the scales tipped, El Harun’s situation deteriorated rapidly.
Above all, what drove El Harun’s demi-humans into despair was the fact that despite making so many sacrifices and fighting so fiercely, they still had not taken even a single step into the Steel Fortress.
Even though the fortress stood so close it felt as if they could reach out and touch it.
“Damn it!”
“We only need to go a little farther!”
Despair gradually filled their faces.
They, too, had finally reached their limit.
The thought drifted through their minds that if they failed to conquer the Steel Fortress this time, they would never possess it.
The Numbers and the commanders of each district did not miss the unrest among the demi-humans.
They encouraged their subordinates.
“They’re wavering. Press them even harder!”
“If we push just a little more, they’ll collapse!”
“Don’t hold back. Fight! If you get hurt, they’ll patch you up in the rear.”
“Let’s show those bastards who the true masters of Earth are!”
At their encouragement, the subordinates fought even more like madmen.
It was like pouring oil onto a fire.
Exhaustion was written all over everyone’s faces, but not a single person retreated.
They truly pushed themselves to their very limits.
“Uwaaaagh!”
“Kraaah!”
They screamed wildly as they squeezed out even the last drop of mana.
“Ugh!”
“Y-you crazy bastards!”
At last, fear appeared on the faces of the demi-humans.
They had become terrified by the momentum of the Steel Fortress awakened, who charged in prepared to die.
“Fuck! I can’t die like this.”
“There are plenty of places to live besides the Steel Fortress. I’m getting out of here.”
At last, deserters began to appear.
They quietly slipped backward before fleeing in haste.
Those who saw the deserters felt their hearts waver uneasily. As more followed suit, the number of deserters increased exponentially.
It was as though a hole had formed in a dam.
Like water pouring out through a breach, deserters streamed away.
“Don’t run!”
“Fuck! You’re abandoning us and running away? And you still call yourselves our comrades?”
The demi-humans who still burned with fighting spirit fiercely condemned those fleeing.
But no matter how much they shouted, they could not stop the deserters.
A few were executed as examples, but the number of deserters only continued to rise.
Seeing that, the Steel Fortress leadership shouted:
“Leave the deserters alone. Kill the ones still shouting first!”
“Yes, sir!”
“We’re winning. Just a little more!”
“Uaaaaah!”
The awakened of the Steel Fortress squeezed out the very last of their strength as they attacked El Harun’s demi-humans.
Crunch!
At last, the dam that had barely been holding collapsed completely.
Even those who had fought desperately could endure no longer and chose to flee.
“No!”
“Everyone, come back!”
The leaders of the demi-humans shouted until their throats tore, but it was useless.
Their authority no longer held.
“My God!”
“Is it... over?”
In their eyes, it seemed as though they could already see the destruction of El Harun.
---
From atop the Steel Fortress, Levin looked down at the battlefield and spoke.
“It looks like it’s over.”
“Seems that way.”
Beside him, Zeon nodded.
As with any fight, wars were won by the side with stronger momentum.
When forces were evenly matched, the side with greater momentum was more likely to win. Moreover, the Steel Fortress far surpassed them in military strength and also possessed the advantage of terrain.
There was not a single reason for the Steel Fortress, which received tremendous support from Neo Seoul through the portal, to lose.
Levin plopped down where he stood and spoke.
“But is it really okay for us to just stay here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean... I could help if I joined the battle...”
“Are you dissatisfied?”
“Not really, but it feels strange...”
Levin scratched his head awkwardly.
Yesterday, Seo Taeran had asked Levin to refrain from intervening in the war if possible.
The reason was to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.
It also meant she held Levin in extremely high regard.
Now everyone knew Levin was an S-rank awakened.
Even among S-ranks, Levin possessed a completely broken ability.
What made him especially remarkable was that he could freely fly through the sky.
Because of that, he had secured air superiority and prevented flying-type demonic beasts from infiltrating. Without Levin, they would have suffered tremendous damage from the flying beasts.
Seo Taeran had evaluated Levin as an asymmetric force.
Someone who could display overwhelming power by directly participating in battle, but whose mere existence intimidated enemies and prevented them from even considering other options.
Through this war, Levin’s status had risen vertically.
Zeon smirked.
“The moment when you need to step in will definitely come.”
“You think so?”
“Del Roa isn’t someone who’ll collapse this pathetically. Once cornered, he’ll definitely lash out.”
At Zeon’s confident words, Levin’s expression stiffened slightly.
“You mean a final struggle?”
“Right. A person with nothing left to lose will do anything. Someone as greedy as Del Roa will throw caution aside and cause trouble. Watch carefully, and if everyone seems to be in danger, you step in.”
“What about you? Wouldn’t it be more certain if you intervened?”
“I have to keep Dantal in check.”
“Dantal is still nearby?”
“He’s hiding somewhere and watching. The moment I show an opening, he’ll attack.”
“What a headache.”
“That’s why I can’t move carelessly. So you need to watch the battlefield in my place and respond to any variables.”
“I will.”
Levin nodded.
Only then did he realize just how great his responsibility was.
Zeon smiled as he looked at Levin.
When they first met, he had been a rebellious boy who only looked forward. Now he had grown into a dependable companion.
He had evolved into someone Zeon could trust with even the most dangerous tasks.
Because he trusted Levin, Zeon was able to focus on keeping Dantal in check without worrying too much about the battlefield.
At that moment—
“Uwaaaah!”
A tremendous cheer suddenly erupted from the battlefield.
When they looked toward the source of the cheers, the awakened of the Steel Fortress were charging through the demi-human formation with unstoppable momentum.
In an instant, the waist of the demi-human army snapped apart, splitting into two sides.
The demi-humans panicked, unable to respond.
Even while united they had been pushed back by the Steel Fortress awakened, so once divided into two, it became even harder to respond.
At a moment like this, Krudu should have done something, but he was tied down by Oh Mujin and the Steel Golem and could not command the troops.
“Kraaagh!”
“Kugh!”
Giants collapsed amid desperate screams.
As the giants holding the front lines fell, the formation that had barely held together rapidly collapsed.
“Damn it!”
Del Roa’s face twisted hideously.
Countless people were dying before his eyes.
A mage of the Zela race, a magical species, collapsed bleeding from all seven orifices, while a member of the Ashil race, descendants of fairies, died with their neck severed.
A beastman warrior had all four limbs cut off by the blades of the Steel Fortress awakened and screamed as he fell, while Abyssal warriors were torn to pieces by elves.
“Elves...”
Hostility filled Del Roa’s eyes.
Leading the elves who killed the Abyssal warriors was none other than Hera.
She had joined the war with the elves under her command.
And it was not only the elves who had joined the battle.
The human awakened led by Riala were also participating in the war and achieving tremendous feats.
“How could you...”
Blood vessels burst across Del Roa’s eyes.
His bloodshot gaze resembled that of an evil spirit.
In truth, a demon was awakening within his heart.
They had once been under his command.
The two greatest pillars supporting El Harun had been humans and elves.
Especially humans, who had firmly supported the very bottom of the pyramid, allowing El Harun to prosper.
The departure of the humans and elves dealt a fatal blow to the already-collapsing El Harun.
That was why he hated them even more.
The awakened of the Steel Fortress had been enemies from the start, so he could understand why they fought so desperately. But Riala and Hera should not have done this.
Their actions were no different from stabbing a knife into their family’s backs.
Because of their participation, everything had collapsed.
El Harun had suffered irreparable wounds.
Already countless deserters had fled, and even at this very moment many more were escaping.
It was impossible to unite them again.
He could already see the end of El Harun, which had endured for over a hundred years.
At that moment, something snapped inside Del Roa’s head.
The thread of reason he had desperately maintained had broken.
“I will never forgive you.”
“I think that’s our line.”
People were walking toward Del Roa.
It was none other than Sung Hoyeon, leader of the Numbers, along with Grain, the twin sisters, Old Man Go, and the others.
The Numbers, excluding Oh Mujin who was dealing with Krudu, had gathered to face Del Roa.
“You vermin...!”
Kwaaaaah!
Along with Del Roa’s roar, a storm of mana erupted and swept toward the Numbers.