744. [STAGE 45] The Curse of Dawn
Cromwell was walking forward.
‘Oh…’
He crawled forward across the floor, holding his bloated arms like front legs.
I thought blankly when I found a group of dead ants crushed under my hand that had turned into the stump of my tree.
‘Where am I going?’
The torn pieces of thought slowly became tangled and pieced together.
‘Oh yeah.’
I was on my way to the Crossroads entrance to Royalty.
‘…why?’
Why were you going there?
‘To destroy royalties…’
Why should royalties be destroyed?
‘Because that was the last mission I received.’
Why do I have to carry out my mission?
‘That way… we can protect the honor of our corps.’
Our army…?
‘A great demon species… We left our distant home to conquer all dimensions…’
When my thoughts reached this point.
Cromwell was puzzled.
‘hometown…?’
Where is it?
I can’t remember clearly…
Cromwell had no memories of his hometown. Because he left there at such a young age, he did not have much attachment to his country or tribe.
But I liked the story the elder told about his hometown.
A legendary story about a star system that is the home of great demons who collect the Milky Way to create a road and gather the sun to illuminate the city…
‘Elder?’
Cromwell’s slow but unstoppable steps suddenly stopped.
‘Who was that…?’
Very slowly, the face of an old devil appeared in my mind.
‘Ah, Dad…’
Boom…
Cromwell’s steps completely stopped.
The army of zombie monsters that followed her also stopped.
‘Listen, Dad. I worked really hard.’
Cromwell opened her mouth and tried to spit out words,
but
her vocal cords had already mutated into a structure that made it impossible to produce words.
But Cromwell, unaware of even that, continued to speak.
Toward the image of an old demon species that he had followed like his father when he was young, flickering like a phantom before his eyes.
‘Like my dad said, I became a corps commander, formed an alliance with the Demon King, and tried to lead our corps well.’
‘But I failed. I served as the Demon King’s representative for the throne, but was defeated miserably. The royal castle fell and I was chewed up by a black dragon.’
‘I wanted to do well and I did my best… I wanted to become a good corps commander and lead our corps well.’
‘This was the only way for me and I completely ruined it.’
From the time when I was very young and became aware of my own existence.
Cromwell was educated as a corps commander and grew up that way. I grew up with expectations from everyone around me.
– Your Excellency is so talented that you will make a good corps commander.
– Lead our legion to victory.
– Your Excellency will succeed. We all believe that.
But but but.
No one told me.
After defeat, not victory. Behind failure, not success. What should I do?
After receiving a wound so big that it breaks my heart…
how can I overcome that wound and get back up again?
‘Help me, Dad. Please comfort me.’
‘I can’t breathe. ‘I feel like I’m going to die.’
Cromwell cried out to the welcome of the elder who said nothing.
‘Why are you just looking at me like that? ‘Because I couldn’t meet my father’s expectations?’
‘Would it be me who wanted to fail? ‘Do you think it was me who wanted to destroy our corps!’
‘But what should I do when this happens even though I tried my best…’
‘Please tell me… After failure and defeat, what could I possibly be good at?’
Cromwell cried out and stretched out his hand towards the elder who still did not respond –
Kwasik!
Quad, quack, quack! Wow…!
The next moment, the elder’s illusion turned into a piece of meat.
Only then, belatedly, did Cromwell notice the taste of blood and flesh remaining in his mouth.
‘Ah…’
I looked blankly at the traces of the elder who had disappeared, leaving only blood on the floor.
Cromwell slowly raised his head and looked around.
‘Where is everyone?’
Then, the image of the abandoned cathedral from a few days ago slowly appeared in my mind.
Cromwell slowly recalled that he had devoured every last one of his compatriots.
As if replaying a recorded video in reverse…
all the scattered pieces of flesh, bone, and internal organs that had been torn to shreds and entered his mouth came out, clumped together, and took on the appearance of corps members.
And they looked at Cromwell with their empty, black eyes, opened their black mouths, and spoke.
– This is the last chance we got by sacrificing our lives, Corps Commander.
– Royalty must be destroyed.
– I absolutely have to succeed this time.
A slow smile appeared on Cromwell’s dazed face.
‘Ah, I see.’
There is nothing behind failure. Once you are defeated, you are just dead.
This time, thankfully, he was able to survive again by sacrificing the lives of all of his compatriots, so…
‘Now all I have to do is succeed.’
okay.
That previous defeat was ‘something that never happened’. It is ‘invalid’. Didn’t it come back to life like this?
Capture Crossroads and destroy King Inse. All you have to do is get back on the road to success.
Raise the honor of your race and bring back Cromwell’s legions… again
…?
《Kaaaaaa-!》
Cromwell roared fiercely and began to take a step forward.
The monster, unable to acknowledge the defeat it had already experienced and choosing to resurrect as a corpse, roared and ran forward.
To never fail again.
To destroy royalties right before our eyes.
***
《Kaaaaaa-!》
At the head of the zombie monster army.
Cromwell, who was leading the army in the form of a giant reindeer, stopped for a moment and then let out a terrifying roar.
thud-! thud-! thud-!
The gigantic body approached at once, followed by an army of zombies. The mountains, rivers and trees trembled in response to their advance.
As I watched this, I stretched out my arms forward and shouted.
“Move the ‘wall’!”
I have been preparing continuously since the last Black Dragon battle.
It was the moment when the new walls of Crossroads were revealed.
Churrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
As soon as my command was issued, a magic rail was laid along the guide wire installed in front of the southern wall of the Crossroads.
The Iron Horse Legion we defeated earlier.
It was implemented by imitating their movement system using their magic core and parts… It is a magic railroad that can designate a new route every time.
And along this railroad….
Bang! Slam! Clap!
A nine-horsepower train that was waiting came out.
It had a simple shape that could be better called a long cart with wheels rather than a train, and each car had one black magic core installed.
The nine trains lined up as if surrounding the outside of the southern wall separated from each other and lined up at regular intervals.
Lily shouted after confirming that the train was in position.
“The ‘Castle Wall’ maneuver is ready and deployed!”
Next moment.
Clap…!
The nine magic cores installed on each train rose into the air at once.
All nine floating magical cores flashed with eerie beauty, but the central magical core was especially large and gigantic.
I smiled bitterly as I looked at the magic core emitting a strange black light. That’s something that stands out.
The magic core in the middle is an EX-grade dragon heart obtained from Night Bringer.
The remaining 8 magic cores are SSR grade magic cores obtained from the Night Bringer!
Charrrrrrr…!
The nine magical cores resonated with each other and spewed out magical energy to the surroundings, and at the same time, the ‘parts’ mounted inside the train were taken out and started to be assembled in a hurry.
The keel formed the framework, and Yongrin covered it densely.
On top of this gigantic structure, which was assembled according to design in the blink of an eye, the last nine magical cores sprinkled magical energy like ink to fill in the gaps and solidify the framework.
The explanation was long, but the actual installation time was only a few tens of seconds.
thud…!
When I came to my senses, there was a newly built black wall in front of the southern wall of Crossroads.
“….”
I smiled in satisfaction in front of the soldiers who were astonished with their mouths wide open.
A complex piece of equipment and artifact built by concentrating the maximum capabilities of the World Defense Front.
The first ever mobile fortress. The name is.
“It’s [Knight Bringer]!”
It means a bringer who carries a knight… but it’s a bit of an odd name. Honestly, the name was created with the intention of teasing that black dragon bastard!
I created a movement system by pouring in the Iron Demon King’s magic core and the materials of his army.
A combination and separation system was implemented by pouring in the ghost king’s magic core and the materials of his army.
All the magical cores and materials obtained from Night Bringer were poured into this to make it.
It’s as if all the ingredients of three corps were included. It is the product of a crazy feast of ingredients that even poured almost the entire black dragon.
‘I’ve been thinking about this since I saw that New Terra’s castle wall had a previous installation option…’ The
perfect monster army appeared one after another, making it possible to actually implement it.
chuck! chuck! chuck!
Soldiers stood in an orderly manner on top of the beautifully installed, strongest fortress wall in history.
This castle wall, which is a magical artifact in itself, has a protective power that nothing can match, but just by activating it, it consumes magical power. Of course, since Crossroads is a magic stone producing area, it is easy to use magic power, but it is still advantageous in terms of resources to deploy it as soon as possible before the battle.
“By the way, Your Highness.”
Lily, who had stayed up all night adjusting the Black Dragon Castle Wall until just yesterday, asked with a tired face.
“Wouldn’t it be okay to just build a wall in front of the Crossroads using this material? “Is there a reason why it was necessary to put all the combination, separation, transformation, and movement systems into the castle walls?”
Then Kelly Bay, who was looking at the castle wall with an moved face, shouted back instead.
“That’s because it’s cool!”
“….”
“Ash, this guy is really a genius. How could you even think of building this… shitty mobile fortress? He knows romance. “Romance.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed. No, that’s Kelly Bay’s opinion. Of course, it’s nice to be cool.
‘Because it is a wall that can be moved, separated, and combined, it has the advantage of being able to be installed anywhere.’
In other words, if the wall is installed forward, it becomes a forward base.
You can set up a small base by sending just three trains. It can be operated by creating an advance base at a strategic point from the Black Lake to this crossroad, then dismantling it and retreating.
This time, it was completed so narrowly that I wasn’t able to deploy it forward, but after this… I will be able to use it flexibly from Stage 46 to Stage 50, the final battle.
After hearing my explanation, Lily nodded and looked at the army of zombie monsters approaching.
“Everyone on the front line worked hard to create it together, so I hope it endures well in the remaining battles.”
“Just endure it well.”
The blood, sweat and tears of the people who went into building this grand gimmick wall are also amazing.
In addition to this…
‘Night Bringer, that bastard… Although they were enemies.’
He was really stupidly strong!
And this castle wall, made entirely from head to toe, is also ‘strong’!
Giiiiiiing…!
Inside the castle walls, nine magic cores resonated, emitting the sound of artifacts operating.
The black castle wall, itself a water-based artifact, stirred magical power as it prepared for defense…
Wow!
Ahhh!
An army of zombie monsters rushed towards the castle wall like a flood.
