Chapter 30

Chapter 30 – Chapter 4: Awakening #5

Kill, die, break .

There were screams and shouts as both armies engaged with each other and magic power poured out .

Swords moved blindly all over the place . A spear entered the back of an orc warrior and killed the enemy in front of him, while the spear owner was being trampled by a swamp mammoth .

It was difficult to breathe . It was much harder to think rationally .

In-gong clenched his teeth and focused . He only listened to Carack’s voice and raised his aura like flames .

He had to survive . In order to do that, he had to mobilize everything he had .

In-gong activated the mini-map as his fist slammed into the orc in front of him . The flow of the fight was obvious .

In-gong guided Carack along the flow while Carack protected In-gong . In this dizzying battlefield, he’d grabbed the best position .

His fists were bruised and bloody while his ears pricked at every loud noise . In-gong cast a recovery spell on Carack and restored his breathing .

The battlefield was changing as the Red Lightning tribe started to push and the expedition withdrew .

On the battlefield, where swords wete swinging blindly, there was no way for everyone to survive . In-gong moved with the flow once again . Finally, he saw Carack’s legs stop moving .

Once he stopped, it meant the battle was over .

The expeditionary army had been completely defeated .

&

The Red Lightning tribe didn’t pursue the expedition . Due to the nature of the swamp mammoth, they had strong attack power but a limited range of movement per day .

The damage to the expedition forces was enormous . As a result of a single day of battle, approximately one third of the troops were killed or injured and unable to fight .

In fact, it was a miracle that the damage wasn’t larger . Without Vandal and Chris, as well as Felicia’s magic support, the troops would literally have been wiped out .

"We were complacent . ”

Chris said to the small gathering of key personnel .

They had laughed at the Red Lightning orcs .

They never imagined that swamp monsters would have joined them . They didn’t even think that they would have the magic and ability to hide the huge swamp mammoths .

They had been too drunk on their victory .

"Well, it is lucky that none of us were seriously injured or killed . ”

Felicia shrugged and replied . Due to her desire to lighten the mood, she kept her voice upbeat .

At Felicia’s words, Chris bit his lip and couldn’t say anything . It was because he was reminded of his words when arguing about rescuing Felicia .

Chris was clearly stumped by Felicia . He never thought he would be made to feel like this .

Caitlin, who had always wanted to be close to Felicia, gazed at her with a touched expression in her eyes . Meanwhile, Felicia turned her gaze away like she wanted to avoid the pure light from Caitlin . In-gong was able to smile at the sight of both of them .

However, that didn’t change the fact that they had been defeated . Both the lycanthropes and dark elves had suffered great damage .

"We can’t win in this state . ”

Vandal said . His voice wasn’t filled with hopelessness or defeat . It was just a cold evaluation .

"We must either physically test our troops or ask for reinforcements from the Demon King’s Palace . ”

It was a default declaration of defeat .

The expedition force had been defeated . This meant that all the merits of the Demon King’s children would be buried . Rather, they were likely to be blamed for the defeat .

Achievements were important for the children of the Demon King, due to the fact that they were assessed on all activities and their treatment varied according to the outcome . If this expedition ended in defeat, the children of the Demon King, including Chris, would be hit with a considerable political blow .

“It can’t be helped . I can’t kill my subordinates just because of my irrational ambition . ”

Chris said with a bitter sigh . Right now, there was no way to overturn the situation without receiving bigger losses .

“I’m sorry, Shutra . ”

In-gong was the one with the most merits on this expedition . It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that his treatment in the palace would have changed drastically due to this battle .

In-gong shook his head at Chris’ words .

“No, it is okay . ”

It would just return In-gong to his starting point . Moreover, he had built an alliance with Chris and Caitlin and learnt many things through this expedition . The fact that he couldn’t use the library in the Demon King’s Palace for a while was painful, but it was unavoidable .

"I understand . Then I will dispatch some troops and get the opinion of the Demon King’s Palace . ”

Vandal declared and Chris and Caitlin nodded toward him with gloomy expressions .

It was at that moment…

“Excuse me, I have an idea . . . ”

Felicia raised her small hand . She sounded a little unsure .

"Speak up, 6th Princess . Tell me directly . ”

At Vandal’s request, Felicia coughed lightly . Everyone, especially Chris, was looking at her .

"The reason I came here in the first place was to explore some ruins . ”

“So?”

Chris asked immediately . Felicia removed the models on the battlefield map and pointed to the edge of the Jishuka Mountains .

“Originally, my destination was here at the edge of the Jishuka Mountains . I was doing research on the lair of the wyrm Enkidu that was here 1,500 years ago . ”

In the first place, Felicia’s achievements had not been based on combat . Her specialties were in non-combat areas such as research and exploration .

"Enkidu used many methods to protect his treasures . The theory that the swamp mammoth is a combat chimera made by Enkidu is widespread in the academic world . It is the reason why the swamp mammoths only exist in this area, when there are many swamps in the Demon World . ”

Felicia’s slender fingers moved gently over the map of the entire Jishuka Mountains .

“The dwarves who lived in the Jishuka Mountains are also among Enkidu’s treasure keepers . Enkidu made weapons for the dwarves to protect his treasures . ”

After speaking, Felicia pulled out a piece of parchment from a small bag .

"Thunder Light Anvil . ”

The yellow parchment depicted an octagonal altar surrounded by eight dwarf stone statues with large bases .

“Not only can it be used to control the chimera, is is also a weapon capable of destruction . I came here to look for it . ”

There was nothing more to explain . Vandal asked .

"There is a weapon like that around here?”

“According to my research, yes . And I am almost certain of it . I joined the expedition in the middle because the Red Lightning tribe was interfering . ”

Felicia looked at Chris who seemed to be thinking .

Worrying about it, Chris shook his head .

"It is too much . We can’t hang the fate of everyone on a sudden treasure hunt . ”

He wasn’t ignoring Felicia . Chris just needed a little more incentive .

“There is the Thunder Light Anvil . ”

“Shutra?”

In-gong was convinced . In the past, he had encountered the Thunder Light Anvil before .

When he played Locke as the main character in Knight Saga, his goal had been to defeat the Demon King and regain peace .

Due to this, there was an event where they had to travel through the Jishuka Mountains and the swamp area to enter the Demon World .

'It was horrible . ’

The combination of the swamp mammoths and Thunder Light Anvil was vicious . As the passage was narrow, there was no way to avoid an enormous amount of damage when passing through .

‘I thought it was a weapon mobilized by a magician, but it was actually built around an ancient ruin . ’

If so, they had to use it . Like Felicia said, if they obtained the Thunder Light Anvil, they would be able to overturn the situation .

'But I can’t say that I saw it in a game . ’

He had to convince them in some other way .

In-gong swallowed his saliva and opened his mouth .

"When I was studying dwarf characters, I came across this story . A similar story was told among the gandharva . Moreover, I don’t think Felicia noona would do a fake study . ”

The words poured out . If he had told this story the first time they met, he would have been seen as crazy . However, it was different now .

In-gong had proven it by reading the dwarf characters and through his own performance . The bit about the gandharva, that nobody could confirm, was a convincing argument .

After In-gong’s words, Felicia pointed to an area on the map and said,

"The entrance to the ruins is likely to be in this vicinity . If we get our hands on the weapons, we can shatter the swamp mammoth . ”

Felicia finished talking and laughed at In-gong . In-gong laughed along with her .

Vandal frowned at the map before turning towards Felicia .

"6th Princess, I can’t give you much time . At most, the limit is a day or two . ”

"General Vandal?”

Chris was amazed . Vandal declared without any hesitation,

"I will try the path of the 6th Princess and 9th Prince . Even if there is no way, I don’t want to run away like this . ”

Despite there being four Demon King’s children here, Vandal was the one in charge .

Chris sighed .

“Felicia noonim, how many troops are required?”

"I don’t need a lot because we are exploring ruins . Rather, a minor group of 10 or less will be better . ”

Felicia replied quickly . Chris had no choice but to look at In-gong beside Felicia .

"Shutra, find the ruins with Felicia noonim . ”

Chris believed that In-gong was his man as In-gong had demonstrated that he would be a big help through his performance in the dwarf cave .

In-gong nodded .

“I understand . Can Caitlin noona come along?”

It wasn’t because he wanted her to go with them or because she was strong . It was because Caitlin’s power was necessary to find the Thunder Light Anvil .

"I will go with you . ”

Caitlin answered instantly . There was a strong will in both of her eyes .

Chris had no choice but to allow it .

"Okay, I will hold on as long as possible with Vandal . They won’t be able to commit the swamp mammoths to every battle . ”

The weakness of the swamp mammoths was revealed in today’s battle . The distance they could travel was limited, so there were many difficulties in using them for aggressive raids .

Vandal asked Felicia,

"There isn’t a lot of time . Can you start right now?”

"But do you want to go?

Felicia shrugged and turned towards In-gong, who responded .

“I have to go . ”

Everyone’s gaze moved to a point on the map .

TL Note: Just a small edit to the last chapter . 'Dozens' of monsters appeared rather than thousands .