714. [STAGE 41]
The day of Ghost King Stage 41.
Our army, which had marched out in advance, set up camp not far from the Black Lake.
There are several reasons why we decided to meet the enemy here.
First of all, during the last Black Dragon invasion, all teleportation gates in the area were blown up, so there are not many teleportation gates that are working properly. The lakeside ferry is the only place where passage is secured. This is the first reason.
‘If possible, we must defeat them near the Black Lake.’
The remains of the fallen are still being recovered in the valley that comes to the north from here. This is the second reason.
Regular personnel and volunteers, not soldiers, are working there, and the remains must also be recovered intact. So, if possible, we need to annihilate the Ghost King’s legions before we get there.
For this reason, as we continued to advance the battle location, we came to the area near the lake where they appeared.
“Ugh….”
“The atmosphere is scary….”
“Gulp.”
The soldiers who dispatched this time were heroes, some experienced soldiers from Crossroads, and volunteer troops.
Although the volunteer army had been continuously trained, this was their first time participating in actual combat. I was frozen solid in front of the majesty of the black lake. Everyone seems to be nervous and keeps swallowing dry saliva.
“….”
And the elite heroes and soldiers were equally nervous. Since I had just defeated the Black Dragon just two weeks ago, it seems even more strange that I am not nervous about the monster.
Everyone is staring at the rippling surface of the black lake with sunken eyes. I also closely examined the black lake with the soldiers.
Since the last battle, the Black Lake has been refusing entry to all outsiders. All roads from Inse to the Black Lake are blocked.
At a time like this, today is the first time a monster is spewed out from the side of the Black Lake. If there’s anything unusual, we’ll have to look into it all.
“Are you okay, my lord?”
Lucas, who was examining the black lake next to me, asked cautiously.
“We have set up a camp, but we lack proper defense equipment. “Is it okay to face an army of monsters like this?”
Lucas always acts as my brake. It points out things I didn’t notice and helps me check if I missed anything.
We have already shared the strategy and development direction of this stage with all the heroes and soldiers deployed here, and have even conducted retreat training in case of an emergency.
Nevertheless, Lucas asked to make sure I had missed something and whether it would be okay to proceed with the operation as is since the defensive battle is about to begin.
I nodded.
“No problem.”
“I understand, my lord.”
Lucas bowed his head and moved away from me to the front of our group.
In fact, it is natural for Lucas to be worried.
As Lucas said, there is no fence in front of us now, let alone a castle wall. Volunteer soldiers stand at the front, forming a wall with their bodies, and behind them, elite troops and heroes prepare means of attack.
At the very least, it is completely different from the existing defensive battles that were fought against low stone walls at forward bases.
But I had an idea and I was confident. That’s why we formed this reckless camp. As a volunteer soldier who is just entering his first battle, cold sweat may be on his back…
‘I hope you gain a lot of mental experience from this battle.’
One thing I ordered from the volunteer army.
Stay in place.
Whatever happens, don’t run away. This is all I ordered. And this may be much more difficult than you think.
Bubble, bubbling….
The surface of the black lake boiled violently and
boom!
The waves surged upward with enormous foam. and.
thud! thud! thud! thud! thud!
Through the thick gray fog between the cracked lake surface… monsters appeared.
“What is that…”
“It’s big… It’s so big…!”
The volunteer soldiers all panicked when they saw the shape of the monster that had stepped into Inse.
It’s worth it. Even though the vanguard of the monster army that has now appeared is an ordinary monster, it boasts an enormous size.
‘Ghost knight…!’
A huge, animated armor.
It was the boss monster during Stage 1 and was the monster that split the crossroads wall by swinging its great sword.
This powerful enemy is just an ordinary monster in the Ghost King’s army.
The number is almost one hundred.
thud-! thud-! thud-! thud-! thud…!
Monsters the size of houses came out of the black lake one after another and raised their feet on the ground.
The Ghost Knight at the time of Stage 1 was slightly larger than the normal entity due to the boss monster correction. At that time, it was comparable in height to the Crossroads main castle walls.
Perhaps because the ghost knights that have landed now are ordinary monsters, their size and power are much smaller than those of the time. But in comparison, these guys are big enough and threatening enough. It seems bigger than the frost giants I saw before.
“Huh?!”
“It’s big… and there are a lot…!”
As he looked at the crowd of people lined up, not only the volunteers, but even the heroes and elite soldiers turned pale.
The senior soldiers were especially agitated. If you are old enough to remember what that monster did during Stage 1, you can’t help but be shaken.
‘I put a great sword in our castle wall…’
I managed to defeat the ghost knight who approached the Crossroads main castle, but in his last struggle before dying, he swung the great sword in his hand and brought it down on the castle wall.
At that time, the walls were greatly damaged… and the damage has been a terrible torment to us ever since.
The ghost knight who single-handedly cut down the crossroads wall at that time has now appeared for 100 years. If you are calm, that would be strange.
‘Because of this, I deliberately came forward to meet them.’
Yes.
The final and biggest reason was to try to meet the Shadow King’s legions from as close to the front as possible, rather than from the advance base or the walls of the Crossroads.
Because each one of them is like a siege weapon.
Even if you just hit the body with that ignorant weapon, not a great sword, the castle wall will be damaged. You can’t see that twice. Even so, our side of the wall has been overthrown several times by bastards like Lord of the Flies and Black Dragon. No more than this!
Eventually, the ghost knights who lined up in front of the lake all glared at us and boom
!
They kicked off the ground and began to advance at the same time.
thud…! thud…! thud…!
The large monsters stomped their feet all at once, emitting clear hostility. A short scream burst out from the lips of the volunteer soldiers, unable to hold back.
But I still felt relaxed. A smile formed on his lips.
‘Living Armor is the worst enemy in the beginning.’
When these guys showed up on Stage 1, I really felt like the world was ignoring me. I felt like a huge evil force was grabbing me by the collar and shaking me in an attempt to somehow get me to end the game.
But not now.
Because I chose these guys. Because I deliberately brought the army to the front to fight against these guys.
Because I have come personally to punish you.
‘The reason Living Armor is a killer at the beginning is ultimately because of its powerful physical defense.’
Living Armor is a ghost wearing armor.
The heavy armor reduces physical attack damage, and the main body, the ghost, also does not take much damage from physical attacks. It is a very difficult monster to deal with in the early stages as it lacks various attack methods.
Instead, these kids. Weaknesses are also clear.
Their armor is thick, but it is dry, rusty, and poorly shaped. In other words, the magic defense was thinned out.
Moreover, the body inside the armor is a ghost.
This means that it is very, very vulnerable to magic. Living Armor’s natural enemy is, after all, a wizard.
‘Even during Stage 1, Jupiter ate a lot of fried food by himself.’
The Ghost Knight is a combination of those living armors. That characteristic continues intact.
In other words, these bastards… you just have to use magic to get rid of them!
“Dearmuddin-!”
As I shouted, Diarmudin, who was preparing behind me, nodded loudly. Then he turned to the wizards under his command and shouted.
“egg plant!”
As Diarmudin spread his arms, wings made of magical power sprouted from the backs of the waiting wizards.
It was the wide-area flight effect of Diarmudin’s equipment [Old Phoenix]. The wizards soared into the sky all at once.
At the same time, the magical wings sprouting from the wizards’ backs began to connect with each other and draw a geometric magic circle.
A new function awakened by the purified [Old Phoenix].
It is a three-dimensional magic circle drawn in three dimensions in the air. I’m not sure, but it is said that the performance is overwhelmingly improved compared to the existing 2D magic circle drawn on the ground.
“Fuuuu…”
In the center of the three-dimensional magic circle, Junior closed his eyes and gathered his magic power.
Living Armor is a ‘ghost’ wearing ‘iron armor’.
It is said that the ‘lightning’ attribute ‘magic’ is literally the weakest of weaknesses.
And Junior is the heir who inherited Jupiter’s thunderbolt!
Flash!
With a flash, Junior’s eyes opened and the wizards floating in the sky, connected to each other, stretched out their wands forward at the same time –
Kugwagwagwagwang!
Hundreds and thousands… countless thunderbolts poured out and fell on the heads of the ghost knights.
The ghost knights who were advancing at the front melted so miserably that their shapes were unrecognizable. I clenched my fists.
Living Armor is the worst enemy in the beginning.
In other words, it means that it is not difficult to deal with as long as you get out of the ‘early stage’!
‘In the beginning, we had a hard time because we didn’t have enough wizard troops, but now that we have a lot of wizard troops… we can just fry them up and eat them!’
It is possible to push it away with firepower!
“Make them popcorn!”
As soon as I gave my order, the elite soldiers waiting behind fired their cannons.
pop! pop! Bubble bubbung-!
All kinds of artifacts capable of magical attacks, including the mana cannon, were fired at once. Additional strikes rained down like a bomb on a field where lightning struck one after another.
Ahhhhh –
the ghost knights roared in pain. Anyway, since they don’t have decent magic defense, there are only two options for them.
Either dodge the magic or run forward while getting hit.
But how on earth can you avoid lightning with that big, heavy body?
‘Plus, I applied a custom dark event…!’
The dark event I applied to them using the Lake Kingdom scepter is ‘Crouching’.
The effect is to drastically lower movement speed instead of transcendently increasing physical defense.
It made their already slow movements even slower.
Physical defense? What if I increase it further?
This side is only going to fire magic bombs!
Flash! Flash! Flash!
Kugwagwagwang! pop! Burbububbung!
The huge ghost knights melted helplessly, just like the regular living armor from Stage 1.
Seeing this scene, the faces of the frightened volunteer soldiers gradually filled with relief and joy. I smiled contentedly.
okay. No matter what adversity is in front of us, we can and have overcome it. Recruits, I hope you too learn that confidence.
But that was then.
Kyaaaaa-!
A ghost knight with half-melted body jumped out of the thick smoke.
With an indomitable will and hostility toward humans, it broke through the scene of the bombing and ran toward us, with a torn and torn body.
“Huh! Oh here it comes!”
“Aaaah! oh my god?!”
“Still, stay where you are!”
Volunteer soldiers screamed and disrupted the camp. However, even though everyone was crying and covering their heads with their arms, they did not turn around and run away.
It was because of the only order I gave them: to stay in their place.
You can win this war only if you don’t run away. Because I’ve said that over and over again.
“That’s right.”
I snapped my fingers as I looked at these amazing new recruits.
“They protected me well.”
Churrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Before I knew it, the magic wall I had summoned had risen in front of the volunteer soldiers. The volunteer soldiers were dumbfounded as they looked at this gray wall that had suddenly appeared.
I smiled shyly. No matter what, there’s no way you can fight against an army of enemy monsters without setting up a barricade.
‘Why should I say this with my mouth…’
Now, the castle wall I summoned on the spot is stronger than any fortress.
thud…!
The ghost knight who rushed forward crashed into the magic wall, but my magic wall, built in layers, did not budge.
I muttered to the ghost knight who was embarrassed and retreated.
“It’s not Stage 1 now, and we’re not beginners anymore.”
Since then, 40 stages have been played and three years have passed.
The Living Armor Corps, which is slightly larger than before, is not a threat to us.
I waved my hand lightly. Then
it flashed!
Junior’s thunderbolt burned the ghost knight cleanly.
