The spirit began to spread in all directions, and Iselin expelled her mana.
The spirits stopped moving and looked at Iselin.
“It’s a Spirit of Decomposition. Also called a Spirit of Deletion. If this many spread out, it will cause a major accident.”
It was a special spirit that only a very few in Marsala could handle.
It was mainly used in industrial sites or waste disposal, but accidents often occurred.
No matter how careful you were, just touching it would decompose your body, so there was no way to completely block it.
“I’ll have to eat it all and get rid of it.”
Choi Kangjoong gathered the Spirits of Decomposition and began to digest them.
It was the same technique he used to digest the Giant Kuragal from the inside.
The Spirits of Decomposition were digested quickly, and the Evolution Points gained from them were a whopping 500 million.
With Silvius’s self-destruct ending in failure, the Expedition Fleet regained stability.
Choi Kangjoong approached Silvius.
“The Prince will punish you.”
Silvius glared at Choi Kangjoong and gathered mana in her head.
The wildly rampaging mana expanded explosively.
Bang!
Blood splattered.
The body with its head gone fell with a thud.
Choi Kangjoong frowned and summoned an Air Walker.
The Air Walker took Silvius’s corpse and returned to Ku-eong.
“Silvius is dead! Surrender!”
Iselin shouted.
Even so, none of the Dark Elves surrendered.
They continued the battle silently, as if they wanted to die.
The Allied Forces pushed the Dark Elves back.
Even though they were elite troops, Silvius had used up all the Artificial Spirits, dropping their combat power to less than half.
The Dark Elves on the Life Spirit deck as well as on other dimension ships were quickly wiped out.
“We’ll help with the Maelstrom.”
Iselin said.
Even though Silvius was dead, the battle wasn’t over.
In the dimension, demons, magic beasts, Gratis, and Dark Elves still remained.
The Gratis Fleet and the Dark Elf Fleet were still intact.
“Take care.”
“You too, Lord Outer.”
Choi Kangjoong and the Lutal flew into the dimension.
The Expedition Fleet surrounded and supported the area where the Apocalid and Dark Elf dimension ships were entangled.
Titans that were dangerous inside moved away from the battle zone and approached the Expedition Fleet.
Then Akila and the Barents Beastmen jumped in and drove out the Dark Elves.
On the other hand, the situation in the dimension was not good.
Most of the Titan-class and above Apocalid had been mobilized to stop Silvius.
The Gratis dimension ships and Dark Elf dimension ships bombarded the dimension without much interference.
“Let’s stop those first.”
“Keurk.”
Choi Kangjoong and the Lutal plunged into the middle of the Gratis Fleet.
Choi Kangjoong destroyed Gratis dimension ships with his Mana Cannon, and the Lutal sliced them apart with Death Blades.
“Shoot those first!”
“Throw poison bottles!”
“Run!”
“They’re monsters!”
With just three entities intruding, the Gratis fell into chaos.
The clan leader urged them to catch those things quickly, but the Gratis, who were mere slaves, had no means to do so.
As the Gratis dimension ships exploded, the Dark Elf dimension ships moved away from that area.
Whenever Kangjoong or the Lutal approached, they tried to flee.
But something else was targeting them.
A 10km-long giant Apocalid charged toward the Dark Elf Fleet.
At a tremendous speed that didn’t match its size, the Dark Elves turned pale.
The Dark Eater opened its mouth.
The dimension ship that entered inside got caught on its teeth, staggered, and collided with the wall, being destroyed.
Most of the Dark Elves inside were turned to mush.
The survivors, before they could even come to their senses, were attacked by Walkers and dragged to the Soil Pit.
Kwaaaang!
The Dark Eater rammed a 3km-sized dimension ship, splitting it in half.
It passed straight through the Dark Elf Fleet, turned around, and charged again.
Kwaaaang!
The Dark Elf dimension ship was split in two without fail.
The Light Titan clung to it, preventing it from escaping.
“The dimension should be fine now, right?”
After starting to suppress the enemy dimension ships, the dimension’s battle situation improved greatly.
The Apocalid, which had been pushed back, pushed the demons back again.
As the proportion of Apocalid in the Dimensional Sea increased, the advance speed also quickened.
Soon, Ku-eong joined the battle.
That was like a death sentence for the demons.
It smashed the Devil Cannons with its Breath, and the demons couldn’t even lift their heads under the brutal bombardment.
Demons that wanted to live burrowed into the ground.
Since the Dimensional Sea was dominated by the Apocalid, the only place to go was underground.
“Don’t chase them, leave them be. They’ll all be digested by Dimensional Erosion anyway.”
Fighting in narrow spaces by digging tunnels was several times less efficient than Dimensional Erosion.
Choi Kangjoong sat on Ku-eong’s head and watched the battle.
Since the Expedition Fleet and the dimension had stabilized, there was nothing to do.
There were no powerful demons either, to the point where the Lutal entered hibernation.
When Iselin asked for medical supplies, all he did was take them out of Ku-eong’s stomach.
“All I have to do is wait like this.”
“Ku-eong.”
“Since you do everything on your own, it’s way too easy. But it’s a bit boring.”
Six hours had passed, but they hadn’t even conquered half the dimension.
That was because Duke Orphan and Silvius had fortified the dimension.
All he had done during that time was watch, and even Kangjoong couldn’t stand it.
“I’ll send the Expedition Fleet and go home. You can manage on your own, right?”
“Ku-eong.”
The Expedition Fleet was treating the wounded and repairing dimension ships.
The Barents Beastmen had the highest injury rate.
Beastmen with arms or legs cut off, arrows stuck all over their bodies, or their entire bodies melted down were sitting on treatment tables.
Choi Kangjoong also went to the hospital ship and sprayed Life Mana generously.
The Barents Beastmen, who had been gloomy because parts of their bodies had disappeared, quickly regained their vitality.
The Metra filled the holes in the dimension ships and connected broken mana engines to intact dimension ships.
They did it all in the Dimensional Sea without any heavy equipment.
Once the emergency repairs were done and they could move, Choi Kangjoong opened a Gate.
Iselin also helped with the Gate Stone.
Thus, the Expedition Fleet, having finished months of voyage and numerous battles, returned to Derrael.
At Derraelen, which had become the largest harbor in Marsala thanks to his connection with Kangjoong, a huge crowd gathered and cheered.
The Expedition Fleet stayed as close to the dimension as possible to receive the greetings.
Choi Kangjoong watched from a distance.
Iselin and Dielka had suggested he stand at the very front, but that was enough.
Even if Kangjoong wasn’t there, there was no way the coalition members wouldn’t recognize his military merits.
“Time to go home. I need to rest for a whole month.”
Choi Kangjoong missed home terribly.
Ever since Iselin asked him to go to Barents, he had spent more time outside than at home.
The Demon Realm had quieted down with the truce, and Silvius was dead, so he planned to stay in a corner of his room like a dead mouse for a while.
Swoosh.
Choi Kangjoong came out of a Gate opened in a dark room.
“I’m home!”
He quickly washed, changed clothes, and lay down on the bed.
After enjoying the cold, rough feel of the blanket, he called his mother.
“Kangjoong! I heard you’re back?”
“How did you know?”
“Yoonsoo contacted me from Derrael right away. Are you okay? Any injuries?”
“No. I’m the most fine.”
“Thank goodness. You did well. Always take care.”
“I will.”
“Want to have a meal together after a long time? How about this Friday?”
“I’m fine with that.”
“I’ll talk to your father.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have food at home?”
“No. I was going to order delivery.”
Choi Kangjoong answered Yoo Haein’s questions and only hung up after 30 minutes.
“A friend to tell I’m back…”
He scrolled through his phone.
“None.”
Everyone he knew was in the Expedition Fleet.
“Should I make more?”
There were plenty of ways to make them.
He could go to some gathering or pick up one of the invitations that flew in every day.
He might make more if he hung out with the social butterfly Han Junghwa.
As Kangjoong imagined socializing like that, a wave of annoyance washed over him.
‘Having a lot of friends doesn’t matter anyway.’
He put down his phone and slept for a while.
Even while sleeping, part of his consciousness was awake, observing the Apocalid.
When the time came for the Outer Mind’s power, his entire consciousness would awaken.
That didn’t happen, so he woke up after sleeping for 12 hours.
The battle was still in full swing.
However, the Dimensional Sea was quiet.
That was because the Gratis and Dark Elves, realizing they couldn’t win the fleet battle, had landed in the dimension.
They were putting up a final resistance, joining forces with the demons.
Knowing that the Outer Mind left no prisoners, everyone was desperate.
For a species with emotions, they might have stopped their offensive at their desperate state, but…
The Apocalid simply devoured their prey.
There was no hope for them.
After 12 hours, the Dimensional Erosion was complete.
The Dimensional Sea was clean, and all the demons and Gratis that had entered the dimension were completely digested.
[Dimensional Devouring complete.]
[Held Evolution Points: 9,841,112,534 points]
“What?”
Choi Kangjoong rubbed his eyes and looked at the held Evolution Points again.
“9.8 billion?”
Nearly 10 billion Evolution Points had increased.
He searched the Skyeye Giant’s memories to check why it was higher than expected.
“Each Dark Elf was worth quite a bit. The Artificial Spirits too. Above all, the Spirit of Battle was a jackpot.”
Each Spirit of Battle gave 500 million to 1 billion Evolution Points.
“Then if I had also devoured the Spirit of Battle that was on the Life Spirit, I would have had over 10 billion!”
Kangjoong regretted not being able to digest the Spirit of Battle that Iselin and Dielka had decomposed.
“If there’s something like that next time, I’ll tell them not to break it and give it all to me. How much did Silvius give?”
Ku-eong’s memories held how many Evolution Points Silvius was.
“1.5 billion! She gave hardly any nutrients, but a huge amount of Evolution Points.”
Dark Elves also gave few nutrients, so only enough nutrients were stored to make 50 Hive-class units.
“With this, I should produce a lot of Special Individuals.”
It would still be a long time before Ku-eong evolved to Colony Class.
He could unlock Colony Class and produce Colony-class Apocalid, but he didn’t feel the immediate need for them.
“I’ll produce one more Kai and send him back north.”
Production of Kai began immediately.
In 100 hours, the second Kai would be created.
“Better to just do the Species Evolution and save up to decide what to produce later.”
As Kangjoong was looking through the Special Individual list, his phone rang.
It was Iselin.
It was surprising, given that she must be swamped with the return of the Expedition Fleet, needing ten bodies.
“Hello?”
-I received word that Lagan is coming to Marsala.
“Lagan?”
-A Crystal that comes to Marsala occasionally. He had requested an audience.
“Ah, that Crystal?”
-Yes. Lagan will know more about a man named Salika.
“Perfect timing. When is he coming?”
-A month from now. I’ll set an exact time and let you know.
“Got it.”
-Then I’ll hang up.
Iselin hung up urgently.
“A Crystal…”
Choi Kangjoong searched for Crystals on the internet.
They were described as a long-lived race with a highly advanced civilization.
In appearance, they walked on two legs like humans, with their entire bodies being translucent and sparkling.
“An interesting species. They give a lot of Evolution Points, right?”
The condition to add the Special Individual Production function required Crystals.
For other species, you had to devour a strong individual of that species, like a Demon Duke or Dragon Lord.
But for Crystals, just devouring any Crystal fulfilled the condition.
That meant a single individual was that powerful.
“I hope they come soon.”
Choi Kangjoong spent time eating with his family, sending Apocalid to scout the surroundings, and devouring dimensional monster hordes.
A month passed, and Lagan arrived in Marsala.