◈ 483. [STAGE 23] Playing tag (4)
That was the moment.
«Kiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh-
!
It was the deathbed of Euryale, one of the three Gorgon sisters.
A terrible roar reverberated through the city, and all the living had to shrug their shoulders at the overwhelming deceit.
《… ?!”
And.
Hearing that scream, Steno, who had just run towards the blacklist survivors, stopped charging like a lie.
Steno, who braked on his own right in front of the humans, hurriedly turned around.
The monster’s face was boiling with intense emotions like never before.
lamentation.
It was the face of one who felt sorrow.
«Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh
Steno started to run toward the direction where he heard Euryale’s scream.
thud… ! thud… ! thud… !
Shaking the ground, the monster’s back figure moved away.
Torkel and the blacklist 3 who survived right before death broke out in a cold sweat.
“What is… .”
“It’s nice to buy… .”
“Where is he going?”
“… .”
Thorkell quietly let out a sigh of relief.
The ‘last characteristic’ of the three Gorgon sisters that Lucas told us in advance.
Because I noticed that it was activated.
***
“Heo-eok… Heo-eok… … .”
Lucas let out a heavy breath.
Medusa stood in front of the knight as strong as a fortress. Unlike Lucas, who had his armor dug up and fell off here and there, Medusa suffered no significant damage.
‘I never thought it would be such a headache not being able to face the sight… … .’
Lucas gnashed his teeth.
Of course, eye power is very important in a match between masters.
You have to watch the opponent’s entire movement, catch the opponent’s gaps, and react to the opponent’s sudden movement.
Opponent’s muscle movement, minute change in complexion, blink of an eye – it is
the role of the eyes to comprehensively acquire all this information, and based on that information, Lucas has been fighting by moving his body.
However, Medusa possessed the Mystic Eye of Petrification.
Since he couldn’t see his eyes, Lucas had to fight while looking at his opponent in a mirror.
And this was a significant handicap.
Because Lucas has excellent eyesight, Medusa, who had to fight while sealing her eyesight, was a difficult foe to defeat.
And this was the result.
In head-to-head, Lucas couldn’t defeat Medusa.
It is just endlessly consumed and barely holds Medusa in place.
Whoosh—Medusa laughed, licking her lips with her long, forked tongue.
“You’re really not normal, man. To fight with me this far by relying on that mirror.》
“… .”
“If you had been born in the Age of Myth, you could have remained a legend. However, now that the world is coming to an end and the seemingly endless light is also coming to an end… … Who will remember your futile resistance?”
Lucas clenched his tongue and held out his sword.
“You have a long tongue, monster.”
“Oh my, this long tongue is my pride. Thank you for the compliment.”
“I gradually adapted to your movements. Don’t talk nonsense and attack one more time. This time, I will cut your throat with this sword.”
《Regardless of all times and places, articles are always bluffing like this.》
“It is a discriminatory statement.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? I’m a monster.]
A short chatter ended.
The knight and the monster kept their mouths shut at the same time as if they had promised each other and assumed a combat stance.
Both Lucas and Medusa prepared a lethal move to finish off their opponents this time.
And just before the crash-
《Kiya Ah Ah Ah Ahh-!》
On the other side of the city, the terrible screams rang out as if to tear the eardrum.
Medusa’s eyes widened in astonishment, and she glanced in the direction of the scream.
Medusa spat out in a trembling voice.
《… Sister Euryale?]
Taat!
Kicking off her seat, Medusa was shot at her side. Lucas didn’t seem to care.
“No sister! Unni!”
Lucas tried to stop Medusa, but to no avail. Looking at Medusa’s back, Lucas let out a light sigh.
“… You succeeded, Evangeline.”
A scream just heard. that… It must have been the sound Euryale made as she died.
***
An alley on the corner of Crossroads.
Euryale was shattered and dead.
The monster whose wings had been ripped off turned his whole body into a stone statue right before his breath ran out.
And Evangeline coolly smashed even this stone statue.
“after… It was pretty dangerous.”
Taking off her helmet, Evangeline wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Thanks to the success of the first surprise attack, despite putting the monster to death and starting a battle, Euryale resisted with tenacious vitality until the end.
Still, in terms of toughness, Evangeline was formidable. I finally succeeded in knocking it down.
More than I thought, Evangeline also had to use up most of her strength… … .
thud! thud! thud!
Then I heard heavy footsteps running this way from the other side of the city.
Frightened, Evangeline hurriedly left the place.
Soon, the other two sister monsters arrived in front of Euryale’s corpse.
Steno opened his mouth and looked down at the corpse in a daze, and Medusa cried out and sat down in front of Euryale.
“AA AA AA! sister! Sister Euryale! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
material material in Medusa’s eyes that did not control sorrow.
Steno also let out an incomprehensible scream and shot a demonic eye.
Kugoong! Kugoogu Palace… … !
Buildings collapsed, raising a cloud of dust, raising a cloud of dust, and then being hit by the Gorgon sisters’ demonic eyes and turned to stone.
All the streets in the area were petrified, shattered, petrified and hardened.
After a terrible scream and a storm of petrification swept over the area again and again… … The alley had changed shape like a bird’s nest.
In the center of the nest Medusa muttered in a melancholy voice, caressing Euryale’s corpse.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I will never lose my sister. never… .》
Medusa took the broken piece of Euryale in her hand, lifted it up, and
sighed!
put in the mouth
Kwadeuk! Quadduk! Hard!
The sound of Medusa chewing on the stone statue that was her sister echoed in all directions.
As if to protect Medusa, Steno bulged his gray eyes and glared at the surroundings.
Couduk! Knock! far… … !
And while frantically digging up the remains of her sister, Medusa’s shoulders
shook!
It cracked and opened like an old stone statue, and then
Chow ah… … !
Wings protruded from the cracks.
It was Euryale’s skin-covered wing, which was broken and cracked.
***
“The final trait of the Gorgon Sisters. that… ‘Sister-feeding’.”
Barracks at Crossroads. rooftop.
When Evangeline returned, Lucas, standing on the edge of the roof, opened his mouth slowly.
“In the event of a death among the three, the surviving entity ‘eats’ the deceased’s corpse.”
“… .”
“In this process, the surviving entity inherits some of the abilities of the deceased entity.”
A day of intense fighting was drawing to a close.
Twilight was creeping into the sky as evening passed through the late afternoon.
Looking at the setting sun, Lucas continued.
“If it is possible to interrupt the predation, it would be best to do so… The three Gorgon sisters build a ‘nest’ for their safety during sister predation.”
“… .”
“Construct a rock nest where sister predation can occur in a place with enough rocks and enter a base defense state.”
Evangeline just listened in silence. Staring at the nest built in the corner of the city.
“And that nest is impossible to attack with our current strength. Because the Gorgon sisters, who have entered the base defense state, have a tremendous increase in combat power. I have no choice but to wait for it to come out on its own after the sister prey is over.”
“… .”
“In other words… Every time the three Gorgon sisters are killed, the surviving entity is strengthened, and the battle ends only when the last entity that absorbs all the other sisters is defeated.”
It’s still a powerful monster, but it’s equipped with such a terrible gimmick.
“Ehh.”
Evangeline, who stretched her shoulders with a frown, opened her mouth.
“The fortunate thing is that sister feeding takes a lot of time. Was it 12 to 24 hours? So there is at least a 12-hour grace period.”
“… .”
“So, what will tomorrow’s operation be like, acting commander?”
“It’s like today.”
Lucas answered mechanically.
“After separating the remaining two with a tag operation, one of them is killed.”
“And waiting while you mate again? Defeat the third and last object?”
“… .”
“Think calmly, Uncle Lucas. Do we have that much power left now?”
Lucas slowly turned to Evangeline. Evangeline nodded.
“Right now, while dealing with the three entities separately, I took a lot of damage. The party of heroes who were mobilized for the decoy operation were either dead or petrified, and we who dealt with them individually… … I am not whole.”
Most of Lucas’s armor was destroyed and he had no visible but minor injuries.
Evangeline was also violently consumed.
The damage to the hero party that was mobilized in the hide and seek operation was much more serious than expected.
They took a certain amount of damage and lured the three of them apart, but in the process, casualties occurred several times more than expected.
To the silent Lucas, Evangeline continued.
“We need to understand what senior Ash meant by this strategy.”
“… .”
“Senior Ash didn’t leave this ‘tag’ operation to kill the three Gorgon sisters.”
Evangeline stepped in front of Lucas and made clear eye contact with Lucas.
“If the 3 Gorgon sisters appear, it is left as ‘a way to buy time until senior Ash returns’.”
Why did he bother to give up the walls and leave the strategy to open the gates and bring the monster inside?
Ash left this strategy in order to switch to a delayed battle and wait for his return rather than taking damage by hitting an opponent who is difficult to win anyway.
Citizens and ordinary soldiers are taken out of the battlefield and elite heroes constantly run away from the city to buy time.
If you’re lucky enough to get rid of the Gorgon sisters in the process, you can still wait while the nest is formed and sister prey.
‘The reason why I intentionally opened the castle gate was to give up the fight in the first place and just waste time.’
If one of the 3 Gorgon sisters is killed while fighting along the wall, the remaining Gorgon sisters have a high chance of destroying the wall and building a nest there.
Because it is the most rocky place.
If Ash was going to give up this battle anyway, he left the desperate measure of opening the gate in order to maintain the wall for the next defensive battle.
Operation hide and seek was not a strategy to fight and win from the beginning. It was just a way to pass the time until Ash’s return.
Lucas twisted this strategy excessively and tried to continue the battle with the three Gorgon sisters.
“… I cannot send a request for assistance to the ecliptic.”
Even as Evangeline said this, Lucas shook his head.
“I can’t burden my lord… … !”
“Why not?”
“what?”
“Why can’t I put pressure on you?”
Evangeline raised a finger and stabbed Lucas in the chest.
“You are thinking straight. Senior Ash doesn’t believe in himself and we push through the strategy by ourselves, and the bigger the damage, the more sad we will be later.”
“… .”
“Senior Ash is the commander of the frontline here. Someone willing to take on that ‘burden’.”
Lucas kept his mouth shut. Evangeline continued.
“The person who will suffer the most from your injury is the senior.”
“… .”
“If Lily unnie’s child is in danger, the person who will blame herself the most later is the senior.”
“… .”
“The person who will suffer the most in front of the graves of those who died today is senior Ash! Why doesn’t Daddy know that?”
A brief silence passes.
Lucas sighed and opened his mouth.
“I don’t want to obstruct the path of my lord… .”
“Right here!”
Evangeline whispered confidently.
“This is the path of His Highness, Prince Ash.”
“… .”
“Old man, believe in senior Ash a little more. He must have already won the ecliptic. And he will come to rescue us.”
Evangeline gave a mischievous smile.
“Like a prince on a white horse.”
“… .”
“To Acting Commander Lucas McGregor. Evangeline Cross makes a formal request as the heir to the Margrave.”
Evangeline, who had grown as fast as her height, confidently demanded from Lucas.
“Please allow me to send a request for salvation to the ecliptic.”
Lucas pursed his lips a few times to retort, then said
“… Haha. I was stupid.”
He let out a bitter sigh and lowered his head.
and raised both hands.
“… Permission Evangeline. You are right. Let’s send a request for help.”
When the deputy commander’s permission was granted, Evangeline grinned, baring her fangs.
“Actually, I already sent it.”
“… what?”
“On the day the 3 Gorgon sisters started their advance, I sent a message to the ecliptic without the knowledge of the old man.”
Evangeline shrugged.
“Inflated a little by saying that the city has already been captured. What was actually captured? Just look at the nest built inside the castle wall.”
Stunned, Lucas opened his mouth.
“you you… ! Commander’s deputy ignoring me… … !”
“I was just helping a man who was so honest that he was about to break. You don’t have to thank me so much.”
Lucas opened his mouth and tried to say something, but eventually gave up and covered his face with his hands.
In the end, it happened as Evangeline said, and in fact, it was because the judgment was right.
Evangeline glanced at the far north.
“Ash senior will come to save us. please. So, just hold on until then.”
Although he had sent a request for help without Lucas’ knowledge, it was actually too late.
A few days until Jeon Seo-eung reached the ecliptic.
And it was also a few days for Ash to lead the troops from the ecliptic and head south.
Exactly when Ash will return, and in the meantime, whether he will be able to survive the monsters in the nest… … nothing is certain
‘Come quickly, senior.’
I could feel the evil wriggling in the nest set up in the city. Evangeline clenched her fists.
‘Quickly before our city is over… … !’
***
Ecliptic. New Terra.
“… Prepare to return immediately.”
After reading the urgent message I received from Serenade and crumpling the paper, I exclaimed urgently.
“We must return to the Crossroads immediately!”
