The Gratis Fortress, a haphazard construction of wooden planks and iron plates crudely lashed together.
It looked extremely shoddy from the outside.
But its interior was incredibly complex and sophisticated, flowing with energy converted from demonic energy by the Gratis’ unique technological prowess.
The sheer amount of energy was enough to annihilate a small dimension several times over.
“Cut it all down.”
Durutali landed with a thud on the deck of the Gratis Fortress.
The appearance of this four-meter-tall monstrous creature drove the Gratis into a frenzy.
“Enemy! The enemy has broken through to here!”
“Send up the blocking units!”
Doors located all over the upper part of the fortress slid upward and opened.
Gratis crawled out through the narrow passages.
They were larger and better armed than the average Gratis.
While ordinary Gratis were just given a spear and shoved into battle, these were equipped with breastplates, shields, and swords.
True to a race that could multiply quickly as long as there was food, their numbers were staggering.
Over ten thousand had already poured out, and tens of times that number were waiting inside the fortress.
Choi Kangjoong summoned the Battle Titan and the Central Cannon Giant.
It would have been nice to sweep the area with Apocalid World from the Central Command Giant, but since all the Pajijik Cannons on the fortress’s upper section were targeting them, he sent the sturdy Apocalid first.
Pajijik! Pajijik! Pajijik! Pajijik! Pajijik! Pajijik!
Every Pajijik Cannon that had a firing angle opened fire.
The Central Cannon Giant shielded itself with the shield transformed from its Scythe Claw and returned fire incessantly with its triple-barreled cannons.
The Battle Titan, trusting its sturdy Chitin Gauntlets, charged at the Gratis gun emplacements or rushed toward the fortress’s main gun.
KOOOONG!
The Battle Titan latched onto the long gun barrel, blocking its movement.
It then hacked wildly at the trembling barrel with its Scythe Claw.
The cylinder warped severely, and smoke began to billow out.
The Gratis inside the fortress, unaware, fired the main gun.
A massive amount of energy concentrated into the half-destroyed gun, and the result was predictable.
KWAAAAAAANG!
A colossal explosion occurred.
One-fifth of the fortress’s upper section was blown away.
The Battle Titan nearby lost its upper body.
The Lutals, with their Gratis-derived evolution code Survival Sense, had evacuated in time and were fine.
Choi Kangjoong summoned more Walkers, Scouts, and Warriors.
The small Apocalids spread out in all directions, eliminating the Pajijik Cannons.
Walkers waited at the exits, killing any Gratis that emerged.
As the upper fortress was being taken over, a Gratis Dimensional Ship approached.
It presented its side, lined with Pajijik Cannons, to begin bombardment, so Choi Kangjoong moved to its rear and summoned Kuongi.
The sudden appearance of the massive creature made the Gratis Dimensional Ship rock.
Kuongi immediately unleashed a Great Mana Storm and fired the Mana Cannons on its flank.
The Gratis Dimensional Ship was riddled with holes, split in two, and began to drift.
“Half of you keep the demons in check, the other half come over here.”
*The demons, who hadn’t been fully dealt with, were moving toward the Titans, bringing magic beasts with them.
Some swam, others used Chaos Magic to tow dimensional ships.*
Fifty Super Titans and four hundred Titan-class creatures turned their bodies. The demons, though startled by the rain of shells, did not stop their advance.
The Titans that approached the Gratis Fortress poured on the bombardment.
The Super Titans fired their Breath attacks. With fifty of them, the barrage was relentless, shattering the Gratis Fortress and its dimensional ships.
“Good thing we destroyed all the demon ships earlier.”
“Krrrk.”
Lutal agreed.
If they hadn’t, they would have been attacked from both sides.
“I doubt these are the only ones that came.”
Choi Kangjoong scanned the surroundings.
Just then, a Dark Elf Dimensional Ship was approaching.
It was a dark color and under a stealth spell, but it couldn’t evade the senses of Choi Kangjoong, who controlled all Apocalids.
Dark Elves flew from that ship and landed on the upper section of the Gratis Fortress.
They approached Choi Kangjoong without hesitation.
“I am Semallen, Captain of Executor Silvius’s personal guard. Has your choice remained unchanged?”
“You keep attacking, yet you ask the same thing again.”
“Because force is the best way to enlighten the ignorant.”
“So your so-called Prince goes around killing the weak who have no power?”
“Where did you hear such nonsense?”
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
“You must have seen an illusion. He is not one to waste even a moment of his time.”
Choi Kangjoong saw no further value in conversation.
The Lutals flew past Choi Kangjoong.
With their four Scythe Claws, they sliced through the Dark Elves surrounding Semallen.
“What the…!”
Semallen was taken aback.
On the way here, he had meticulously analyzed Choi Kangjoong’s military strength.
The number of troops he could deploy, the forms and abilities of his main forces, Choi Kangjoong’s own skills, etc.
He was confident he knew more about Choi Kangjoong than Choi Kangjoong himself.
His intel did include those two, but they were different from what he knew.
There should clearly have been only one with wings.
At that level, he could have won.
But why were there two, not one?
The difference in combat power between one with wings and one without was at least threefold.
In the Dimensional Sea, it was even greater.
Thus, the difference in military strength was at least three times, and up to ten times, greater than Semallen had anticipated.
“Deploy Binding Magic! Capture them first!”
Binding Magic could cover a wider area with the same mana compared to attack magic.
The original plan was to use it to hold the Lutal and finish it off with arrows.
If they were arrow spirits created solely for shooting, they could pierce even hard shells.
But that plan only worked if the Binding Magic was effective.
The two Lutals severed the magic binding each other with Death Blades and slaughtered the Dark Elves.
“Re… retreat!”
A Dark Elf whose waist had been severed managed to say.
Semallen looked up.
The dimensional ship he had arrived on was moving away as his defeat became apparent.
Choi Kangjoong found Semallen’s situation laughable—arriving so confidently, being instantly defeated, and even abandoned by his comrades.
If this was the way of that ‘Prince,’ there was no way he could work with him.
Not that he wanted to anyway, since it was almost certain that Silvius was the main culprit behind the Gate Incident that Choi Kangjoong had been caught up in the past.
“Capture that one alive.”
“Krrrk.”
Before they knew it, Semallen was the only Dark Elf left on the upper part of the Gratis Fortress.
The two Lutals gradually tightened their encirclement and swung their Scythe Claws.
They didn’t use Death Blades, not wanting to kill him.
Still, the Scythe Claws had a basic psionic blade deployed, which was enough to cut through Semallen’s armor and limbs.
Skritch-skritch.
Semallen drew his sword and resisted, but his limbs were severed futilely.
The Lutal pressed the friction-heated Scythe Claw against the severed stumps to cauterize them.
They were copying what the Elf Knights had done before.
“I am merely the vanguard! The Executor will kill you and save me!”
“Looking at that, I really don’t think so.”
Choi Kangjoong pointed at the fleeing Dark Elf Dimensional Ship.
It soon rejoined the Dark Elf fleet formation and began an attack.
They didn’t cluster together but spread out in all directions, firing Mana Ballistae.
They didn’t forget to use their high mobility to maintain distance.
Because of this, even when the Titans fired their Mana Cannons, the accuracy was poor.
“I need to quickly create a fleet specialized against Dark Elves too.”
“Ku-eong.”
Kuongi, who had taken the most hits from Pajijik Cannons and Mana Ballistae, snorted in irritation and fired its Breath.
The Dark Elf ships swiftly scattered to minimize damage.
“The ones dealing with Dark Elves need to go on a diet.”
Choi Kangjoong sent the Light Titans.
Thinner, lighter, and faster than regular Titans, the Light Titans moved at speeds comparable to the Dark Elf ships, exchanging bombardments.
“Let’s go.”
“Krrrk.”
The Gratis Fleet was more than enough for just the Super Titans and Titans.
Choi Kangjoong headed toward the Dark Elf ships, which were twisting their entire bodies to evade Mana Cannon fire, accompanied by the Lutals.
KWANG! KWANG!
The Mana Cannons fired by Choi Kangjoong passed straight through the Dark Elf Dimensional Ships.
They used lightweight materials to reduce weight, so the shells, enhanced by Death Mana’s penetrating power, pierced right through the ships.
Choi Kangjoong reduced the amount of Death Mana and fired again.
KWAANG! KWAANG!
They exploded inside, and the Dark Elf ships split into three pieces.
“You two, hurry up and destroy them too.”
“Krrrk.”
“Krrrk.”
The two Lutals, using the powerful thrust of their Boosters, chased after nearby Dark Elf ships.
The Dark Elf ships panicked and increased their speed.
“Fire quickly!”
“It’s a close-combat unit! Kill it before it gets close!”
Arrows shot by the Dark Elves flew toward the Lutal.
The Lutal spiraled, dodging them all, and swung its extended Death Blade.
Swish.
The Dark Elf Dimensional Ship was cut in two.
The Dark Elves inside panicked at the suddenly visible Dimensional Sea.
Skritch.
The Lutal severed the Mana Engine.
The Dark Elf ship, having lost propulsion, moved on inertia.
Mana Cannons were fired at it, now an easy target.
As the two Lutals pressured one side, the evasion directions of the Dark Elf ships became limited.
The Skyeye Giant calculated this and predicted their evasion paths.
This information was relayed to Kuongi, and all Super Titans and Titan-class creatures became aware of it.
KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG!
The Apocalids’ accuracy improved dramatically.
A single hit almost guaranteed catastrophic damage, making Biological Torpedoes unnecessary.
With each flash of light in the Dimensional Sea, the number of Dark Elf ships decreased.
“Feels like someone did the delivery for us.”
Choi Kangjoong felt a tiny bit grateful to Silvius, who had sent Semallen and the Gratis.
As the Dimensional Sea was somewhat cleared, he checked the dimensional status.
The Conditional Archduke, in pieces, had entered the Soil Pit.
Its armor and even its flesh were so hard they weren’t melting easily.
Still, it was only a matter of time before it became nutrients and Evolution Points.
“It’ll give me five hundred million, right?”
Choi Kangjoong waited eagerly for the Conditional Archduke to be digested quickly.
The Varangt Capital was also mostly stabilized.
Most of the demons and magic beasts that had invaded through the tunnels had entered the Soil Pit.
The magic deployed by Duke Trefan was also destroyed, and the Barents Beastmen regained their senses.
Kuongi and the Super Titans roamed with their mouths open, swallowing everything in the Dimensional Sea.
Dark Elves, Gratis, Chimeras, demons, magic beasts—all were digested into Evolution Points.
The wreckage of the dimensional ships faithfully became nutrients.
Finally, the Conditional Archduke was completely digested.
Choi Kangjoong quickly checked his held Evolution Points.
[Held Evolution Points: 1,243,132,542]
“The last time I checked was seven hundred million, so reaching twelve hundred million means it really gave five hundred million. Delicious. So delicious.”
Choi Kangjoong grinned from ear to ear.
It wasn’t as much as swallowing all twenty billion Barents Beastmen, but he still gained a considerable amount of nutrients and Evolution Points.
If I digest the rest, I should get another five hundred million. I made about one and a half billion from this battle. If I fight Silvius, will she give me five billion?”
Imagining Silvius in the Soil Pit, Choi Kangjoong swallowed his saliva and descended into the dimension.
Akila saw him and immediately dropped to all fours, bowing his head.