Chapter 119: Land Left Empty

Yulli’s cheeks, which had always been hollow and lifeless, were now faintly beginning to fill out.

It was not merely a physical change. Like a faint new sprout budding on a withered branch, it was visible evidence that a tiny spark of life had begun to dwell in her frozen heart.

Warm colors were starting to spread into her cold, bright world.

One day, Sang-woong found himself needing to leave the land for a while, as he often did. He said he had to go to a place called Earth.

“Aria, please look after the land while I’m gone.”

Sang-woong’s voice was directed toward Aria.

“Do not worry, Owner. I will keep this land and everything in it safe until you return.”

Aria’s clear, firm voice echoed across the earth.

“Right, thanks for the hard work.”

Sang-woong appeared to depart without much concern, as he usually did.

Since there were no cases of monsters invading in large numbers except when the Red Moon rose or the land expanded, he seemed to think the current military force would be sufficient.

Yulli watched his large silhouette from afar as he walked away.

She felt the absence of that great presence bring a very subtle trembling to the energy of the land. Peace remained, but a faint sense of anxiety seemed to settle beneath it.

A few days after Sang-woong left the land, an ominous surge of Magi rolled in like a tidal wave from the boundary of the once-peaceful land.

Rumble!

The earth vibrated with a roar that echoed to the very heart of the land. A disgusting and malicious energy swept over the clear land, choking the life out of it.

“W-What is this?”

Aria’s voice rang out, stained with horror. Yulli felt Aria’s emerald-colored energy fluctuate violently. Aside from the time when the Red Moon rose, such a massive and malicious invasion was unprecedented.

“Aria, what’s going on!”

Astilbe’s startled voice pierced through to Aria. As she ran while summoning the Elf Warriors, she also intuitively realized that this situation was anything but ordinary.

“Monsters… they are invading! The numbers… and the power they possess are beyond imagination!”

Aria’s cry rang out desperately along with the trembling of the ground. The clear air of the purified land was instantly covered by Magi and chaotic roars, beginning to emit a disgusting stench.

The earth twisted with a roar, vomiting out hundreds of massive figures. They were golems made of solid wood and rock.

Under Aria’s command, hundreds of Wood Golems and Stone Golems advanced to the very front of the defensive line with thunderous footsteps.

The Wood Golems carried heavy wooden clubs on their shoulders or gripped them in their hands, while the Stone Golems carried heavy stone clubs, becoming a steadfast wall protecting the heart of the land. Aria’s energy enveloped them, increasing their defense and activating their movements.

*Crrraaaack! Thoomp!*

As the battlefield drew closer, the thunderous roars shaking heaven and earth and the violent howls of the monsters grew loud enough to pierce eardrums.

When they finally reached the edge of the battlefield, the Elf Warriors and Yulli, who was in the rear, reflexively held their breath at the hellscape unfolding before them.

An endless wave of pitch-black monsters was surging toward the boundary of the land like a giant tide.

At the very front, a pack of Red Wolves with glowing red eyes swept across the ground with low growls.

Behind them, mountain-sized Ogres charged with heavy footsteps, dragging or swinging crude clubs.

Bizarrely, four-armed White Gorillas moved their massive bodies flexibly, leaping over trees and rocks to approach the defensive line.

The roar erupting from their disgusting Magi and hungry maws seemed ready to swallow even the sky. The air turned like poison, piercing the lungs, and the earth groaned under the weight of malice.

At the front line, hundreds of golems formed a massive wall of flesh and stone. Aria commanded them, fighting against the monster army alongside the land’s other defensive elements.

Fierce roots sprouted from the ground like lightning, wrapping around and crushing the packs of Red Wolves, while sharp fragments of earth surged to embed themselves in the tough skin of the Ogres.

The towering Giant Thorn Cacti incessantly fired curved thorns like spears, piercing the monsters’ bodies, and the Bomb Coconut Palms mercilessly showered the enemy lines with Coco Bombs, devastating them.

And in the most heated spots, the golems engaged in bloody melee combat, clashing head-on with the monster army.

The Wood Golems’ heavy wooden clubs struck the Orcs, crushing them flat, and the Stone Golems’ stone clubs sparked as they collided with the Ogres’ clubs.

*Crack! Crunch!*

Dozens of monsters were crushed or shrieked under the golems’ fists and feet. However, the number of monsters was overwhelming.

Every time the giant Ogres struck a golem’s body with a club, deep cracks appeared on the golem’s surface along with a heavy impact sound.

The four-armed White Gorillas clung to the golems’ bodies with incredible agility, focusing their attacks on the joints or attempting to destroy the heads.

White fur, red blood, broken golem fragments, and black Magi mingled together, making the battlefield even more chaotic.

The monsters struggled frantically to break through the golems’ defensive line, as if they didn’t care about the deaths of their comrades.

The Elf Warriors, who arrived late, drew their bowstrings from behind the defensive line and poured arrows into the monster swarm, while the Elf magicians held up their staves and chanted spells.

“Elf Warriors, aim for the Red Wolves! They are fast; it’s dangerous if they get close!”

With Astilbe’s sharp command, arrows poured from the Elf archers’ bowstrings.

*Sh-sh-sh-shew!*

As the arrows glowing with blue light pierced the bodies of the Red Wolves, their red fur, stained with Magi, burned away like ash as they collapsed with screams.

“Magicians, stop the Ogres and Gorillas! We must slow their advance!”

Fierce spells erupted from the tips of the Elf magicians’ staves.

Flame Storms, Ice Spears, and Lightning Chains exploded, causing hundreds of monsters to scream and fall, but it only created momentary splashes in the giant wave and failed to change the flow.

The number of monsters was overwhelming. The endless black tide only faltered for a moment; it did not stop.

Many golems began to fall one by one, their massive bodies shattering under heavy impacts and concentrated attacks, making thunderous noises.

The debris of destroyed golems that had stopped functioning piled up across the defensive line.

As the golems fell, a giant hole was punched into the defensive line, and monsters surged through it like madmen.

“Aria! The defensive line… it’s in danger!”

Astilbe shouted at the top of her lungs. She, too, was wounded in various places and bleeding. The Elf Warriors fought desperately, but they were growing exhausted before the endless wave of monsters.

Aria’s desperate cry, along with the trembling of the earth, directly struck the minds of the Elf Warriors.

“I am holding them back… but there are too many! It is difficult to handle at this rate! The land… the land is being contaminated!”

In her voice, instead of its usual clarity, there was a mixture of extreme pain and despair. It felt as if the land itself was screaming as it was being consumed by Magi.

“Aaargh! No! The defensive line is being breached!”

“Retreat! Retreat!”

“Stop that Ogre! The golem is falling!”

A Wood Golem’s wooden body shattered into pieces, and a Stone Golem’s stone arm was torn off. The packs of Red Wolves scrambled over the fallen golems, attempting to cross the defensive line.

The four-armed White Gorillas used their incredible jumping power to leap over the golem walls and lunge toward the Elves.

“It is beyond our strength!”

The Elf Warrior Ella shouted. She barely managed to dodge an Ogre’s attack, but she had to watch her comrade get trampled by the pack of Red Wolves right before her eyes.

“Owner… if only the Owner were here…!”

Aria poured out agony as if her whole body were being torn apart, watching the crumbling defensive line and the land groaning in pain as it was contaminated by Magi.

She resisted desperately, but her internal strength scattered helplessly under the black tide that surged without end.

As the land became more contaminated, her strength was exhausted, and that pain was transmitted directly to her. The frustration of failing to protect and the screams of the dying land clawed at her soul.

There were still several days left before Sang-woong was supposed to return. Hope was gradually fading.

The overwhelming number of monsters trampled the Elves’ desperate resistance, slowly and surely tearing down the land’s once-sturdy defensive line. The Magi covering the ground grew thicker, polluting the clear air.

Eventually, Aria’s light grew faint, and the land’s screams grew louder.

“No…!”

Astilbe’s cry of despair rang out. She was also wounded and bleeding in several places.

Yulli watched all of this with terror-stricken eyes. The monsters’ disgusting, fishy smell, the roars that shook her ears, and the Elves’ desperate screams pierced her eardrums.

The terrible fear she had felt from the Demon Tribe in the past was revived, making the blood in her body feel as if it were freezing. She could not even breathe properly.

The land was being consumed by Magi with painful groans. Aria’s fading energy, the shattering golems, and the falling Elf Warriors—everything seemed to be rushing toward the end. The shadow of despair covered the entire land.

It was precisely then.

In the kitchen of Sandeulbaram Bapjip, as Sang-woong was boiling Kimchi Stew, goosebumps suddenly broke out across his back as if cold ice water had been poured down his spine.

In a heart that had been peaceful until a moment ago, an extreme sense of anxiety suddenly rolled in like a tsunami.

It was a fear that seemed to shake the very root of his existence, for reasons he could not understand. The ladle in his hand trembled slightly.

‘What… why is this happening?’

Sang-woong tried to remain calm, but the ominous premonition grew stronger. Just in case, he called his parents and younger sibling.

Their voices were normal, and their answers indicated nothing was wrong. He felt relieved, but the anxiety did not dissipate.

Wondering if a Dungeon Break or a large-scale incident had occurred nearby, he checked the news and the Hunter Association’s announcements, but everything was the same as usual.

Everything was normal, so why did his heart feel so burdened? The anxiety soon turned into a conviction. This was not a personal sense of misfortune.

‘Don’t tell me… the land.’

The land he had left empty.

It was a powerful intuition that something—something very terrible—was happening there.

“Miju! Please take care of the restaurant! An urgent matter suddenly came up!”

Sang-woong threw off his cooking uniform and stepped out the door even before hearing Lee Miju’s response.

“Pardon? President!”

He heard Lee Miju calling him in a bewildered voice from behind, but he ran without looking back. His heart pounded like crazy all the way home.

In his head, he only thought of the land and the ones he had left there. As soon as he arrived home, he ran to the Gate.

The blue Gate was still open there, unchanged. He took a deep breath and stepped into the Dungeon Gate.

In the brief moment of passing through the Gate, messages filled his vision, constantly scrolling upward. Sang-woong intuitively knew that something massive had occurred.