Chapter 136: The Invisible Vanguard

Whether Akila found Choi Kangjoong or not, the Barents had joined the Union well.

Serad offered his congratulations, and even Iselin called Choi Kangjoong to say he’d done a decent enough job with Akila.

After that, performances, parties, and other celebration events for joining the Union continued.

Akila was delighted by the abundance of meat, and the other Barents Beastmen were also having a blast.

“You didn’t get an invitation there?”

“Of course I did.”

“Then why didn’t you go?”

“Too much hassle. Putting on makeup, wearing uncomfortable clothes, forcing smiles… it’s so draining.”

“Han Junghwa seems to be having fun, though?”

Han Junghwa, laughing and chatting, appeared on TV from time to time.

“That unnie has incredible stamina. She could party for a week straight and be fine.”

“A week? I’d be completely drained and feel like dying after just an hour in a place like that.”

“That unnie probably trains her stamina specifically to party longer.”

“Is she a different species than me?”

Choi Kangjoong felt more at ease watching from home.

Seeing the results of his actions while eating chicken with his family also put him in a good mood.

“Kangjoong, are you going to take a break now?”

Choi Jooyoung asked.

“No. There’s one Duchy I haven’t finished sorting out yet. I plan to handle that too.”

“Take a rest after that. You have a truce with the Demon Realm, don’t you?”

“I need to prepare for when the truce ends.”

“Are you going to fight again then?”

“Even if I don’t want to, they’ll likely come at me. That’s why they proposed a truce in the first place.”

“Ah, so it’s like kneeling to gain momentum.”

“Exactly. How’s your company doing, Father?”

Choi Jooyoung gave a kind smile.

The Jaeun Trading Company was now expanding rapidly, again and again.

It was, of course, all thanks to Choi Kangjoong.

With his father as the president, the company’s credibility skyrocketed, and orders poured in like a tidal wave.

They didn’t even have to worry about cargo being stolen by pirates.

The story of how the Derrael Family’s Elf Knights rushed to recover a cargo ship pirates had hijacked a few months ago was famous.

“Look at how much your father’s filled out lately. He says he has no stress and is loving life.”

Yoo Haein said.

“It’s all thanks to the Healing Stick and Magic Coat Kangjoong bought for us.”

“The coat is really nice. I was thinking of getting one for your aunt too. Can you get more?”

“Should I get one for each of our relatives?”

“If you can, that would be wonderful.”

“I’ll place the order.”

“I heard you have to wait months even with a reservation. How long do you think it’ll take?”

“If I place the order under my name, it should come out quickly.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

Yoo Haein beamed.

With both her son and daughter doing so well, she felt she could die without regrets.

She did want to see a grandchild, but she held back, not wanting to pressure them.

They were both at an age where they were very active.

After sleeping at his parents’ house and returning home, Choi Kangjoong ordered the Magic Coats through Arthil.

As a result, other people’s reservations were pushed back, and production began on Choi Kangjoong’s order first. The people who received their products late and the Elves protested, but when they heard it was Choi Kangjoong’s order, they all understood.

Akila, who returned to Bartrang, recruited warriors to join the Allied Forces, and the number reached a staggering one hundred million.

This was because every Barents Beastman who was not too young or too old could become a soldier.

Simply providing armor and weapons to an adult Barents Beastman made them comparable to a C or D-rank Human Hunter.

For the honor of Bartrang, Akila selected only the strongest warriors from among them.

Even then, there were one hundred thousand, to the point where there wasn’t enough space on the Expedition Fleet’s Dimension Ships.

Only after Serad urgently built ten Assault Ships for the Barents Beastmen and sent them to the Expedition Fleet could the Barents Beastmen join it.

The Elves welcomed the Barents Beastmen.

While Elf Knights were quite skilled with swords, they naturally preferred bows more.

Picking up a sword was more of a necessity.

Since not everything could be solved with just a bow.

If the Barents Beastmen took the vanguard, situations requiring swords would decrease, which properly scratched an itch for the Elves.

Even Elves who disliked Barents Beastmen for their wild nature acknowledged that much.

Humans were similar.

They often felt goodwill towards Barents Beastmen, who oscillated between beast and dullard.

Surprisingly, Metra was the first to get close to the Barents Beastmen, and did so the most.

For Metra, who valued logic and efficiency over personality and appearance, Barents Beastmen were simple, easy to understand logically, and a race that increased combat efficiency.

And Barents Beastmen lacked technical skills, which Metra perfectly complemented.

With just a few lumps of metal, she could whip up equipment that fit a Barents Beastman’s body perfectly, so how could they not like her?

Thus, Serad and Akila also quickly became close and stuck together.

Their shared experience of receiving help from Choi Kangjoong also played a part.

“Did you see Bluestone Fortress? It was huge!”

“Observation experience exists. Also observed Bluestone Fortress being consumed.”

“Really? I’m jealous! I want to see it too!”

“Combat footage stored. Viewing possible at any time.”

“I want to see it! Play it quickly!”

“Starting video playback.”

Serad projected the video onto a wall.

It showed Kuongi and the Super Titan clinging to and chewing up Bluestone Fortress.

Akila wagged his tail, focusing intently on the video.

“Look at you all playing around here. We’re departing soon, so hurry up and prepare!”

Dielka tried to interfere, but Akila stubbornly watched the combat video to the end before getting up.

“Where are we going?”

“The Oropon Duchy.”

It was the last of the three Duchies that Slein, Commander of the Greed Legion, had abandoned.

“I’ll wipe out all those demons.”

“Strongly agree. The only place for all demons is death.”

The Expedition Fleet, its maintenance complete, set off.

The Demon Eater Fleet, led by Kuongi, swam through the Dimensional Sea ahead of them.

“Did Semallen die knowing just that? How useless.”

Silvius said.

Her presence was immense, even sitting cross-legged.

It felt like the vast space, over three hundred meters in every direction, was filled by her.

The Dark Elves, kneeling under her violent, ferocious pressure, held their breath in silence.

“You. You’re the new Guard Captain from now on.”

“I will be your faithful sword, Executor!”

“Go to Duke Oropon and tell him to cooperate with me.”

“Yes, Executor!”

The Dark Elf designated by Silvius boarded a Dimension Ship and headed for Duke Oropon’s mansion.

For Duke Oropon, a Demon of Greed, only two options remained.

Be devoured by the Outer Mind, or abandon his territory and flee.

In that situation, he welcomed this new third option with extreme delight.

Duke Oropon actively cooperated with Silvius.

He revealed the locations of usable Gates and even helped set up ambushes.

He believed all of this was proceeding in secret.

He thought Choi Kangjoong could never know.

However, there was a presence hiding, unbeknownst to Duke Oropon.

“Keeek.”

Kai relayed Duke Oropon’s every move to Choi Kangjoong.

That information was stored flawlessly in the Apocalid’s brain, and Kuongi and the Dark Eater established efficient strategies using the data inherent in their nervous systems.

Knowing the approximate troop deployment and the enemy’s main forces, inefficiency was impossible.

“The demon forces aren’t much. They’re just for buying time.”

Duke Oropon himself, being a Demon of Greed, wasn’t that strong either.

Over half of his subordinate demons had already fled.

The remaining demons were only here because they had no choice.

Either they were battle-crazed like the Demons of Ruin.

There were quite a lot of Magic Beasts.

There were twenty million of them, a result of the Oropon Duchy serving as a forward base for attacks on Bartrang.

Because Magic Beasts were bred and sent from here, their numbers far exceeded other Duchies, and they were still desperately increasing that number.

“By the time I arrive, it’ll probably have grown to thirty million.”

“Keeek!”

“Silvius’s forces are peculiar.”

There was an enormous number of gunboats carrying between ten and one hundred Dark Elves each.

Silvius’s Dark Elves were called Arrowheads, and there were roughly over ten thousand of these ships.

“So they move between the Dimensional Sea and dimensions, firing arrows.”

Among the artificial spirits created by Dark Elves, there were also spirits of Dimension Ships.

These spirits generated propulsion like a Mana Engine, allowing Dimension Ships the size of gunboats to perform sharp maneuvers that seemed to ignore inertia.

“A formation of Fighter Giants and Fighter Warriors should be able to handle them.”

Although the gunboats were fast, their durability was pitiful; a single hit from a Fighter Giant’s Chitin Cannon would disable a ship.

“I should create a Central Sky-Eye Giant.”

The Central Sky-Eye Giant wasn’t just for collecting and relaying information; it was an entity that would actively command combat.

Until now, that role had been handled by the Central Bomber Giant.

This was possible because large-scale aerial battles occurred or battlefields weren’t that wide, but that was no longer the case.

“The frontline will likely be three to five hundred kilometers long, so it would be difficult for a Central Bomber Giant to command alone.”

Choi Kangjoong sent one Sky-Eye Giant to Kuongi.

It was the first unit ever produced, the oldest among them, and had the most experience.

Kuongi connected a biotube and sent nutrients.

The Sky-Eye Giant grew and evolved into a Central Unit.

[The Central Sky-Eye Giant specializes in detection attributes.]

[The Central Sky-Eye Giant has acquired .]

“What’s Wave Radar?”

Information was immediately relayed.

Wave Radar was a skill that used Apocalid Waves to detect objects.

It worked by sensing when something affected the widely dispersed waves.

“So, even if it’s outside the visual range, if it’s within the Apocalid Waves, it can be detected. Good.”

Choi Kangjoong tested it right away.

When he spread the Apocalid Waves, the Central Sky-Eye Giant detected everything within them.

It could locate things in the Dimensional Sea, and even the positions of creatures deep underground.

However, for inanimate objects, it could only tell that something was there.

“Apocalid Waves don’t really affect inanimate objects.”

Choi Kangjoong was satisfied with this much.

Inanimate objects weren’t particularly important to the Apocalid.

And since it was rare for inanimate objects to have no biological presence at all, it wasn’t a big problem.

Even a pebble floating in the Dimensional Sea would have bacteria.

“Gratis should be handled well by the Dark Eater.”

Since the Dark Eater was a Hive-Class Apocalid based on the Claw Devourer, if the collision trajectory was set correctly, it could smash Gratis Fortress with a single ram.

Without the fortress, Gratis would have no means to stop the Dark Eater, so after that, it would be the Dark Eater’s world.

Furthermore, the Corrosion Spores spread by the Swarm Apocalid would also be useful for blocking Gratis’s Pajijik Cannons.

“I wonder how many Evolution Points swallowing all that will give?”

There would be over thirty million Magic Beasts alone, and combining the Dark Elves and Gratis, the headcount would exceed one hundred million.

On top of that, Silvius and her elite Dark Elves would undoubtedly give a particularly large amount of Evolution Points.

Imagining the Evolution Points rapidly increasing, Choi Kangjoong swallowed his saliva and shared Silvius’s forces with Iselin, Dielka, and Serad.

Iselin said it was better to be cautious, as Silvius might be hiding something.

Dielka agreed.

She said Dark Elves like that were sinister and vicious, and you should never judge by appearances alone.

Serad concurred, and the Expedition Fleet decided to remain entirely in reserve.

Akila wanted to fight, but when Choi Kangjoong told him to stay back, he obediently followed the order.

“Did you get anything from Semallen?”

“No. He called himself the Guard Captain, but he didn’t know anything.”

“Does Silvius just pick anyone randomly?”

Unknowingly, Choi Kangjoong had made the closest possible guess.

Not long after, the Demon Eater Fleet, the Dark Eater Fleet, and the Union’s Expedition Fleet entered the Oropon Duchy.

From that moment, the Dark Elves’ guerrilla attacks began.

The Apocalid and the Expedition Fleet, without getting entangled, endured the damage and doggedly advanced all the way to the capital dimension of the Oropon Duchy.