“Why!?”
Boksul’s eyes widened as he was refused. More than anger, it was the bewilderment of not understanding the reason. However, a beast of the feline family, no matter the expression, always looks like a predator burning with rage.
‘Scary.’
That look on the lion’s face was like the terror of a prey facing a predator.
“Calm down, you have to listen to what people say until the end.”
Eugene calmed the excited knight and continued.
“It means it can’t go on like this.”
It didn’t mean they wouldn’t help at all. But still, if it stayed like this, they’d be trapped inside the castle anyway, so whether they liked it or not, they had to remove the obstacles outside the walls.
“Because you can’t be tied down forever.”
Just as Ilu said, now that the existence of competitors aiming for the fragments was confirmed, the longer they delayed, the more fragments would fall into the hands of some ruthless bastard. When that happens, it would be even harder to achieve their goal.
“Can’t go on like this?”
To Boksul, who still didn’t understand, Eugene spoke bluntly.
“I don’t fight under orders from anyone.”
He was the type who acted if given orders, but fighting while being ordered was against his nature. From the start, battles against monsters were his specialty.
‘I’ve killed so many monsters with my own hands.’
Leading a bandit group a hundred years ago, hunting monsters; leaving the bandits and fighting alongside heroes; even personally taking down subordinates of the Demon Lord after his defeat.
‘Even the Empire’s Seven Swords wouldn’t stand a chance against me.’
Furthermore, news of the third wall’s collapse was a sign that this battle was too dangerous for amateurs. When lives were at stake, a seasoned expert should take charge.
“The command of this battle,” he declared loudly enough for even the rangers present to hear, “give it to me.”
“What are you saying!”
The one who exploded was Major Anderson. So this guy could get angry too. Was he mad that someone wanted command over them?
“What I mean is, hand over command to an expert.”
This time, Rachel snapped at Eugene.
“You talk nonsense. You think you’re some monster hunting specialist?”
“Don’t believe me? Want me to show you?”
Since they were rangers, he had to at least show some skill. It was a hassle to have to prove himself to these green rookies, but to gain authority, you have to break the opposition. And the best way to break opposition is to show your skill.
“Hey.”
“…What?”
To Boksul, who had been silent after hearing the demand for command, Eugene said,
“We’re going to the site where the wall collapsed.”
“What do you plan to do there?”
“What else? See the site for myself. How else can we estimate how to handle the monsters?”
Every place of destruction contained clues—power, methods, even the physiology of the destroyers. Every tiny fragment at the site was an important clue to exploiting the enemy.
“I’ll come up with a strategy based on those clues.”
If the strategy is good, I’ll take command; if not, you can all do as you please. Either way, it’s a proposal that won’t cause you any loss.
“How about it? Will you try?”
After making the proposal, he waited for a response. Boksul crossed his arms and fixed his gaze on the ground, while Rachel glanced nervously at the small amount of snow around her, unsure what to do.
“Hmm… command, huh.”
The first to speak was Boksul. He was the highest commander present. And being a knight, it was awkward to hand command over to a mercenary like him.
“I accept that proposal.”
Oh.
The surprisingly willing agreement caught Eugene off guard. Knights were proud, and solving problems on their own was what satisfied them. During knight training, they were taught to have such attitudes, so flexible acceptance like Boksul’s was rare even among knights.
“Unexpected.”
“My men died. What do I care about knightly pride?”
Boksul snorted and turned away. He obviously didn’t like the idea of handing over command. But the very act of making a decision despite disliking it showed greatness.
“Well then, let’s go.”
They had to leave while the sun was still in the sky. Monsters were most active when there was no sun, which is why night had traditionally been a time of fear for humans.
“I’ll guide you.”
With Boksul leading, everyone left Cheongsa. Since the distance from Cheongsa to the outskirts of the village near the wall was considerable, they rode in a carriage provided by city hall to the wall.
“It’s cramped, but please bear with me.”
“119.”
Thanks to that, Rachel was pressed into Boksul’s broad chest. After ten minutes of being squeezed by his bulk, the carriage stopped and the door opened at their destination. Shaking off the crushed clothes from Boksul’s frame, they stepped out.
Whoosh….
‘This place hasn’t changed one bit.’
The First Wall loomed majestically before them.
‘The sun never reached here.’
The pure white stone wall rose nearly a hundred meters high, towering toward the sky, and with a thickness of ten meters, it separated the human domain from the monsters’. And this was just the first of the three great barriers.
‘Now it’s the last defense line among the remaining two.’
Soldiers guarding the First Wall were visible. Unlike other walls, no single sentry was stationed here. A full company was deployed in preparation for monster invasions.
“Salute! Here for inspection?”
An officer wearing a captain’s insignia came out to greet them. Judging by the scars on his face, he seemed experienced in actual combat. Of course, they wouldn’t assign random people to guard humanity’s borders. Boksul responded to the salute with one of his own and said,
“Today, we’ve come to inspect the site.”
“Site?”
The captain raised his eyebrows at the knight’s reply. The mere word “site” was enough to indicate the place. The collapse of the Third Wall must have been a shock for the commanding officer there.
“Yes. I want to see it for myself and plan a countermeasure.”
“In that case…”
The captain glanced at the group accompanying them. The rangers were familiar faces to him, but this was a military area with no entry allowed to unauthorized personnel.
“That’s fine, they’re reinforcements for this operation.”
This explanation eased the captain’s suspicions toward the newcomers.
“Follow me.”
The captain relaxed and led the way. Following the group, they arrived at the gate—the only entrance through the wall. A massive door, befitting the grandeur of the wall, barred their path.
“Communications soldier!”
The captain gestured, and a soldier with communication equipment on his back hurried over. The soldier set down the equipment, operated it, and handed the receiver to the captain. The officer spoke into it, “Lord Boksul is heading to the Third Wall. Open the gate.”
After giving the order and handing back the receiver to the comm soldier,
Kugugu…
The gate began to open slowly. To open a massive door tens of meters wide, it required mechanical force from gears, not human strength. The intricate locking mechanism disengaged, and the heavy door slid inward toward the wall’s interior.
Thunk!
As the gate opened, the Second Wall came into view beyond it. Between here and the Second Wall, even more troops had set up camp. This was where the core of the Empire’s elite forces guarding the farthest border was stationed.
“Salute! Have you arrived, Lord Boksul?”
“Salute! All is well today, too!”
“Salute…”
Soldiers on the road to the Second Wall saluted Boksul as he passed.
‘Even though Boksul is temporarily in military command, to see the Empire’s regular troops treat a knight as a legitimate commander…’
The Empire’s military was largely made up of the regular army, the knights, and the rangers. Among them, the regular army was a modern force created around the same time as the rangers, and so they didn’t really trust the knights.
To the regular army, the knights were outdated relics of the medieval era. The knights fought with a focus on individual superhumans, whereas the modern regular army fought with coordinated group tactics. Their styles just didn’t mesh. Knights were unfamiliar with the weapons and tactics of the regular army.
‘That’s why when a knight takes temporary command, they usually don’t obey well,’ but these soldiers were following Boksul sincerely as their commander. If others saw Boksul’s character, they’d understand why.
“Our forces number 2,220… or 2,225, I think.”
Even this foul-tempered fellow recognized Boksul as capable, and at the same time had already sized up the forces stationed here. Boksul’s eyes widened at the words.
“How did you know!?”
Looks like he guessed it right. Instead of a long explanation to the surprised lion, Eugene just pointed with a finger.
“The number of barracks.”
When the Empire formed the regular army, they standardized military logistics, especially the size of barracks, designed to hold five soldiers each. By counting the number of barracks, you can estimate the total troop count.
“Wow…”
While Boksul marveled at that, Rachel asked, “Major, did you know that?”
“Why would I care about something like that!”
“Eek!”
Anderson smacked her head for asking an unnecessary question. Everyone knew his reaction was just an attempt to hide embarrassment. As the founder of the rangers, he gave his juniors one piece of advice.
“Combat is observation and strategy. Remember that.”
“Hmph!”
The major’s reply was a snort. After some small talk, they finally reached the Second Wall. After explaining their purpose to the person in charge, Kugugu…
The Second Wall also opened, revealing what lay beyond. Unlike before, beyond this gate there was no visible wall. Only shattered debris and pitiful stumps remained.
“Dreadful.”
“The collapse cost many of our men’s lives who were defending the upper line.”
Hearing Boksul’s words, Eugene roughly guessed what kind of disaster had occurred. The wall, damaged and unrepaired, had reached its limit under the monsters’ assault, and small cracks eventually spread and caused the wall itself to crumble.
“The rest of the troops must have died during retreat.”
The time when casualties spike most in battle is not during fierce fighting, but retreat. When the stalemate breaks as one side falls back, it often ends in slaughter of the retreating forces.
“An unavoidable choice.”
“Indeed.”
If they hadn’t retreated, even more would have been monster fodder. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past. It was time to learn from the disaster and plot their revenge.
“Enough regrets. Let’s do what we have to do.”
They headed toward the collapsed wall site. No corpses were visible, so perhaps they had been cleared, but here and there dried, dark red bloodstains painted the scene. While surveying the area, they found a fragment of the wall.
“Oh. Lucky.”
Bending down, Eugene picked up the shard.
“Hm?”
“What’s lucky about that?”
“This is the clue.”
He showed the shard to Boksul and Anderson. The material was the same white stone as the other walls, but this fragment had one foreign substance attached. The knight raised an eyebrow at it.
“This is…”
“A monster’s bone fragment.”
Long and oval-shaped with a slender protrusion, judging by its shape, it was a projectile fired from the monster’s body like a bullet. But that wasn’t the only information it revealed.
Snap!
Eugene plucked the bone fragment from the white stone shard. Judging by the force needed and the length pulled out, the monsters had firepower capable of penetrating about 5 cm into the stone wall.
“The monsters attacking the wall are like ant-like creatures moving as a colony,” he explained.
With firepower strong enough to shoot bone fragments through stone, one trade-off had to be accepted. The recoil from shooting bone fragments must also tax their bodies. Even monsters aren’t free from trade-offs.
“So those guys have low rate of fire?”
At most, probably three shots per second.
“How do you know that!?”
“Take that as my answer.”
No time to deal with Boksul’s surprise. Monsters with low rate of fire but higher firepower were attacking, and just in case, Eugene licked the tip of the bone fragment embedded in the stone.
“What the hell are you doing!?”
Rachel frowned, annoyed at his fuss.
“Calm down. I’m testing for poison.”
Back when he wandered the eastern continent, he stayed in a region called Sacheon, where he owed a local lord named the Dang family.
“In exchange, I was subjected to all kinds of poison experiments.”
An immortal body made a tempting test subject for a family that used poison as their weapon, so he endured decades of agony there. Thanks to that, he developed immunity to most poisons.
“And I also developed a taste for detecting poison.”
Poison has a distinctive sting when it touches the tongue. With that sense, he neutralized most poisoning attempts. Fortunately, this bone fragment appeared to be free of poison.
“Or maybe the poison is maintained in some stable form.”
Just in case, he brought it closer to Rachel.
“Did any of the wounded who fought that day die from poisoning?”
“No.”
“Good.”
If they used poison to win, preparation would have been tricky. Poison penetrates the body just by contact, so antidotes would have to be prepared as well.
“Got a rough estimate now.”
A way to deal with the monsters outside the wall. It was simpler than expected, almost ridiculous. If there had been a true monster hunting expert, the damage would have been minimal.
“Hey Boksul,”
Eugene spoke while discarding the wall fragment and bone shard.
“I’ve found the answer.”
That single sentence caused a stir.
“What?”
“Already!?”
“No way!”
Among the mixture of anticipation and disbelief, Eugene raised his index and middle fingers.
“There are two things we need to prepare.”
They were none other than
“Hydrochloric acid and a hot air balloon to carry it.”