Iron’s expression turned serious. He did not expect that one of the worst situations that could occur during a dimensional crack had occurred right now.

“A link was established even with an incomplete crack?” 

―I don’t know.

Iron frowned. 

This was something that did not happen in his previous life. But it was not happening.

Although he failed to prevent the dimensional crack from opening, that did not mean that what he did was entirely useless. Thanks to his intervention, the dark elves failed to open it completely which led to an incomplete dimensional crack. Because of this, the dimensional gate was prevented from being completely fixed in place while the dimensional crack was prevented from fully opening. 

Distinguishing whether the crack was incomplete or not was simple. As long as the space opposite of the crack was invisible and swaying the dimensional crack was considered to be incompletely opened. This meant that there was an unstable connection between the dimensions. If any being came over in that state, they would either be lost between the dimensions or their bodies would disintegrate while trying to cross over.

But the Hell’s Gate was still connected despite those obvious risks. 

“Company commander, please send me the coordinates of the hell cows.”

―Do you have a method?

“I think there is.”

Iron recalled the hell cows from his previous life.

Usually the hell cows, angler fish, and hellhounds would appear in abundance from the Hell’s Gate.

The hell cows were particularly known for their mindless charge. In terms of charging capabilities, the hell cows were among the top 3 among all of the monsters ever known to mankind. They usually charged in a straight line, a trait that was somewhat similar to bulls and cows and because of such a simple charging attack, numerous tactics that dealt with them appeared in his previous life. 

―Eumooooooo~

Iron turned his head to look at the direction where the sound of a cow came from.

There, he saw a blazing red cow rushing forward while melting the snow in the Winter Mountains. He couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of the hellcow that breathed fire through its nose. 

Although these hell cows had cute spots all over their bodies, they were quite terrifying especially in terms of reproductive capabilities. In addition, as if to honor their namesake, they also secrete milk-like fluid. However, instead of creamy milk, hellfire would pour down and devour the ground.

In other words, they were as troublesome as the void insects if they were left alone. 

“Listen carefully from now on.”

Iron called his soldiers as he explained his new plans.

“First, set up some bombs at this point and prepare to stop them from rushing forward mindlessly. Then, tell the others to get ready to fire at these coordinates.”

The soldiers hurriedly nodded their heads. 

“Hoo… From now on, we will only keep 2 squads. Sergeant Sean’s squad will join me and Corporal Charles’ squad will join with the vice outpost leader. Go and call them.”

“Yes, sir!”

“We’ll be the ones in charge of the hell cows so it will be several times more dangerous.”

The soldiers gulped dryly when they heard Iron telling them to be prepared. 

“The first artillery attack will be used to agitate them. Once the attack is fired, I will lure them myself here. Make sure to set off the bomb as soon as I pass by. If you do it correctly, we’ll be able to stop the hell cows even for a moment.”

“But even if we stopped them, wouldn’t they just move again? If that happens, then we wouldn’t have enough firepower.”

“Yes. That’s true. That’s why we’re going to feed them.”

Iron continued to speak as he opened up a map. 

“From now on, we will be driving the hell cows around to clean up the monsters and the void insects.”

Iron suddenly had a wicked smile on his face.

“Our cute hell cows are omnivorous so they wouldn’t care about what they would eat. All we have to do is throw a lot of food at them until they feel full.”

Iron explained the operation in full to his soldiers. 

They were fortunate that the hell cows were characteristically lazy. They tend to remain in a place for a long time after moving for a bit. They would not move until the surrounding area had turned into lava by their hellfire. 

Their operation was an operation that took full advantage of such a characteristic.

To follow this plan perfectly, two squads needed to move seamlessly. 

“The vice outpost leader should search for the location of the hell cows, the monsters and the void insects. In addition, you must continue to receive and send real-time information with the company commander and me.”

“I’ll report it right away.”

“Good. Then, our squad will drive the hell cows around with the real-time information that we will receive. To make up for the hell cows that will be killed through the artillery fire and combat, we will need to bring over the hell cows that come over from the gate.”

Hell cows always lived in groups. To prevent having a large group of hell cows forming, they needed to continue gathering and dealing with small numbers of hell cows more often.

“Did you understand everything?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. We’ll start the operation now.”

Iron assigned the soldiers that would take the mission before moving to the coordinates that the company commander had given him. 

“Did you understand it, sir?”

―It might work, but…

“We need a platoon that can take over my duties, preferably an outpost leader.”

―Uhm… Do… Do you think it will work? It’s a bit hard for me too.

Iron frowned when the company commander spoke without confidence. 

“Then please report it to Command and ask them to send over a person who can take over the mission.”

―Ahem, ahem…I’ll report it right away. 

Iron sighed when the company commander spoke quickly. 

“I haven’t fully recovered yet but it seems like I have to roll hard again.” 

Iron’s voice was tinged with a bit of helplessness as he moved to where the hell cows were located.

He hid in the vicinity and watched as the hell cows turned the area into their territory. They were turning the cold Winter Mountains into a lava zone by spraying their hellfire milk on the ground. 

Iron watched this scene for a while before sending a flare out in the sky. Not long after, bombs dropped one by one on the ground. 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

―Eumooo!

―Eumoooooo!

The cutely spotted hell cows began to jump around in panic. Anger suddenly surged when they realized that some of them had received serious injuries. They quickly looked around to find the culprit that put them in such a situation. Their big eyes were filled with viciousness that anyone who received their stare would feel like they were being crushed with just their eyes alone.

Iron felt somewhat unbalanced when he saw them look around viciously like that. After all, they closely resembled the cute cows that he had seen before. He did not know if he should laugh or not at the scene that he was watching.

―Eumoo?

When one of the hell cows found a boy looking at them from afar, it couldn’t help but tilt its head in confusion. However, its confusion was easily swept away by its anger as it recklessly rushed towards the boy. 

―Eumoooooo!

With one of them angrily rushing towards somewhere, the others also quickly followed. It did not matter whether the leading cow was mistaken or not, since it moved, then they would follow. This was how naive and stupid they were. 

However, even if they were mindless and naive, the strength and brute force of their bodies were things that couldn’t be ignored. Their fertility, hellfire, and fearsome physical abilities made them uniquely powerful against other monsters. A single one of them was already scary enough, what more if a crowd rushed towards you. 

―Eumoooo (Catch that bastard)!

―Eumoooo (Screw that bastard over)!

The hell cows ran like crazy to kill the young boy in front of them.

But before they could do that, laziness suddenly started to kick in as they slowly stopped in their tracks. Then… Prey came in front of them.

The prey that came in front of them were none other than the void insects. Normally, they would ignore them. However, the hell cows could not afford to be choosy especially when they were feeling the pangs of hunger after running so hard earlier. So, they rushed like crazy towards their prey.

The void insects, who gathered together to spread contaminated mana, quickly resisted and fought against the hell cows.

Iron looked at the scene from afar with a wicked smile on his face. 

“Yeah. You should charge like some kind of crazy dog.”

The hell cows used their overwhelming physical abilities to bite on the void insects. But the void insects did not die. They even resisted fiercely which allowed them to kill the hell cows one after the other. But no matter how tenacious and fierce the void insects were, their strength still couldn’t compete with the hell cows. In the end, they became fodder that entered the hell cows’ empty stomachs.

Iron fired up another flare when he saw this. 

Pop!

At the flare’s signal, bombs began to rain down again.

The fed hell cows turned angry once again as they rushed towards Iron once more.

The Northern Commander, who received this report, couldn’t help but laugh dumbfoundedly. He couldn’t believe that someone dared to lure the hell cows around the Winter Mountains to feed them with monsters of every level.

“Does it work?”

Crimson burst out laughing when he heard Jayden Wicks’ words. He was surprised when he first heard about Iron’s achievements in the academy but now all he could do was laugh helplessly. 

Cleaning up the monsters and the void insects with hell cows might not be a normal method but using the hell cows without taking a break was extremely unusual.

And that was not the end of it. He used the hell cows that came out fresh from the Hell’s Gate to supplement the hell cows that were killed in the battle. He was working the hell cows like the non-stop rotating machine in the Wizard Tower as he constantly agitated and fed the hell cows while the participants changed along the way.

At first, it was a rather unique tactic to the people staying in the Winter Mountains, but after they travelled all over the Winter Mountains and showed off tremendous results, all of the units in the Winter Mountains began to use the tactic one by one. 

The name of the strategy was ‘Hell Cow Teasing Hunt’.

As this tactic, with a strange and unique name, spread all throughout the Winter Mountains, the gloomy and reserved atmosphere in all the units began to get reversed.

At the same time, the Center, who received reports of the dimensional crack opening and a dimensional gate being established, sent a huge amount of support and supplies. Because of this, the units that were stationed in the Winter Mountains began to feel relaxed. 

A few weeks later, another piece of good news came to them. 

“The dimensional crack has been reduced!”

“You heard it! As expected of my hypothesis! I’m right. Hahahaha!”

“You have to say it correctly. Lieutenant Iron’s hypothesis is right.”

Crimson frowned and corrected Mailte Preston’s words after hearing the officer’s report. 

“Hoo… I’m glad Lieutenant Iron is correct.”

Crimson sighed as he left the barracks and checked the situation of the dimensional crack with Mailte Preston. 

“When will we be able to seal it?”

“Two years… No. I think we can seal it earlier than that.”

Crimson nodded when he heard Mailte’s estimate.

“Two years…”

He turned to look at the dimensional crack as he mumbled those words to himself. 

“Is it only two years because the crack is incomplete?”

“If we study this further, then we’ll be able to find a better way. Since we’ve experienced it once, we’ll be able to find a more definite method to seal it next time.”

“Is that so?”

Crimson looked up at the sky bitterly when he heard the words of his friend. 

This meant that for that entire two years, all of the Northeast’s power would be focused on this place. 

“We’re going to be busy these days.”

“We’re all old. What kind of thing do we not find troublesome?”

Mailte Preston clicked his tongue at Crimson’s bitter smile. 

Just like he said, he was already old. He found these things to be troublesome. But for those who had the power and the position, they had to weigh the consequences. This was their responsibility. Knowing that, the two old men endured their exhaustion and did their best to prevent and seal the dimensional cracks. 

It was not only the commander and the Wizard Tower’s heir who did their best, everyone in the Northeast gave their all to prevent the dimensional crack from bringing in more harm.

Over time, they were able to gain the know-hows from the experience that they had accumulated when dealing with the contaminated monsters as well as the void insects and hell cows. Eventually, they were able to block and kill them with only a few small damages here and there.

These feats were considered to be unimaginably amazing considering that they dealt with a dimensional crack. 

After everyone’s efforts and sacrifices, the dimensional crack was now finally completely reduced. This meant that the dimensional crack could now be finally sealed. With the reduction of the dimensional crack, even the Hell’s Gate was closed. 

Winter Mountains’ peace and safety was finally returned. Because of this, the tremendous power that gathered in the Winter Mountains prepared to return to their own places. 

The talks about the postponed awarding for their meritorious deeds had also resumed. 

The most surprising thing here was the fact that it was neither the Northeastern Commander, a master, nor the Wizard Tower’s successor, Mailte Preston, who received the best meritorious award.

The protagonist who created the highest and biggest contribution was none other than a young lieutenant who was brimming with youthful energy. And the people had called this lieutenant ‘Winter Mountain’s Hero’.