Chapter 152

The next day, as foretold, the soldiers and Guardians under the General’s command gathered and sought out Padrik’s forces.

When the final ultimatum was rejected, the two formations immediately clashed, and a fierce battle began.

“Leave no one alive among these treacherous wretches who have turned their backs on the Empire!”

“Kill the General’s dogs—!!”

Though they fought with great vigor, Padrik’s soldiers were well aware that their overall strength was significantly inferior.

Just as the momentum was about to shift in an instant, massive tree trunks and rose vines erupted from the ground, tearing through the General’s ranks and beginning to blanket the battlefield.

“Then, I shall move according to plan.”

“Ha, see you all again alive.”

Taewoon’s party scattered in an instant, spreading across the battlefield and joining Padrik’s formation all at once.

Dominico the Druid, Hum the monk of the Berheim Order, Cherish the wandering Noble and Bollak the Mercenary, Leon the Paladin and Arbina the Elf martial artist, and Biwen the Alchemist from the Central Academy.

The strength of the Sanctuary—which had gathered only the most exceptional members among the contemporary Exploration Team members who had visited the island—showed a prominent edge, enough to shift the tide even against the General’s elites.

“Kh-ugh!”

“What are these things!”

“Fugitives! The fugitives from the Sanctuary have joined them!”

Yerin, who had summoned the Divine Moon before anyone noticed, began attacking the Guardians—the elite force—to assist the group, while Seoyoon followed suit, picking out only the most skilled opponents for one-on-one duels.

Fearing that the battle situation would waver due to these simultaneous attacks, the Empire’s Special-Class Guardians began to move.

“You brats! Stop making a scene and come here to receive this old man’s blade!”

Darren, the Special-Class Guardian who had previously allowed Taewoon to tail him, shouted boldly as he blocked the group’s path, and other Guardians, whom they had not encountered before, emerged one after another to support him.

Similarly, a purple-haired youth holding a long staff appeared before Taewoon, beginning to emanate a characteristically sharp Aura.

“This energy… You’re the one who infiltrated the undersea laboratory last time. I suffered quite a humiliation thanks to you. I shall repay that debt clearly here and now!”

Soon, the youth took a low stance and swept the floor once; a strange circular Magic Formation appeared and began to synchronize with the movements of the iron staff in his hand.

Taking the initiative, he unleashed a barrage of consecutive strikes like a raging torrent.

However, even with the help of two comrades, he had ultimately failed to stop Taewoon’s escape, and unlike him—who had forgotten all memories—Taewoon remembered that day’s battle vividly.

“I’m sorry, but you’re no match for me.”

After barely a dozen exchanges, the youth’s heart was pierced by Taewoon’s Barata, and he collapsed onto the cold ground in utter futility.

From the perspective of Taewoon, who had even clashed with the General, a Special-Class Guardian of the Empire was no longer an object of interest.

And the same likely applied to the opponent.

‘Is she still not moving…?’

Even now, the General’s forces held the upper hand on the battlefield, but frankly, they possessed no power that ranked immediately below the Special-Class Guardians.

If she continued to leave her subordinates unattended, the side with the increasing casualties would be the General’s.

Yet, for some reason, the General remained silent, merely observing the situation without revealing herself.

‘I don’t know what she’s plotting… but if that’s how she wants to play it, I’ll drag her out quickly!’

There was no point in being swept up in the opponent’s movements. Taewoon resolved to draw Kaira out on his own terms and began traversing the battlefield, striking down the enemy’s strong points.

“Wha—what is this?”

“Kha-ack!”

“It’s a pincer attack! Stop the enemy’s spearman!”

Utilizing the Flying Ring Step and the power of The Red Man, Taewoon targeted the gaps in the battlefield like a ghost; there was no one in the General’s forces capable of blocking his Spear Strikes.

Furthermore, as Padrik’s soldiers began to fight harder, emboldened by the achievements of their allies, the tide of the battlefield slowly began to turn.

‘Still not moving? Why…?’

Clearly, if things continued this way, the situation would be favorable for Taewoon’s party, but it was also true that Kaira’s attitude was extremely suspicious.

Was she confident enough to flip the battle situation alone? Or did she have a goal she wanted to achieve even at the cost of sacrificing many of her own allies?

In Taewoon’s opinion, both possibilities were plausible.

‘But…’

If he failed to seize the gains before his eyes because he was too busy guarding against an uncertain scheme, there would be no future for Taewoon regardless.

Ultimately, Taewoon chose to deplete Kaira’s forces as quickly as possible, and only after numerous soldiers had fallen by the hands of Taewoon and his companions did Kaira finally begin to reveal herself on the battlefield.

“The resistance of the insects is quite fierce. It seems you have worked hard to gather your strength to face me.”

“…”

“But the time has finally come. Now, I shall swallow the entire Empire and open a new era. And this place shall be the starting point.”

In an instant, a light flashed from Kaira’s grasp, and a massive vibration began to envelop the entire island.

Then, the screams of the island’s creatures and a thick aura of Magical Power began to echo from all directions.

With that alone, Taewoon was able to immediately realize what Kaira was plotting.

‘Could it be… she used the countless lives falling on the battlefield as the final ingredients for the Seed?’

If that were true, it explained why she had allowed the opposing Padrik forces to roam the island, why she hadn’t actively pursued the fugitives from the camp, and why she had given both forces ample time.

From the beginning, Kaira had intended to use all of that as nourishment to make the Seed Bloom and mass-produce the island’s Creatures.

“Hey! What’s happening?”

“The Seed has begun to Bloom. If we cannot find a way to stop it, it will use the victims of the battlefield as fertilizer to explosively accelerate the evolution of the island’s creatures.”

“Damn it! That was her plan from the start. Is there any way for us to stop the Bloom?”

“We’ll have to find out starting now.”

It probably wasn’t impossible.

It would take a considerable amount of time for Kaira to achieve her desired result using the Seed’s power, and if they could find the Seed’s location and destroy it in the meantime, they might be able to prevent the worst outcome.

The problem was that this would only be possible if they could overcome the Creatures under the Empire’s control, as well as the General herself.

“Damn… they’re starting to swarm.”

Along with massive footsteps, predators of the forest, their skin covered in thick, rock-like hide, began to appear.

Simultaneously, powder imbued with strange Magical Power began to scatter from the other side of the battlefield, infiltrating Padrik’s ranks, and monsters they had never seen before began to appear one by one near the battlefield.

‘Gorgo, Telemos, and other Creatures they hadn’t identified beforehand!’

Padrik’s camp, which had been surging with momentum just a moment ago, was now visibly panicked at the sight of monsters that didn’t seem like enemies humans could possibly face.

Indeed, to them, the island’s creatures were merely insignificant beings within their control; they could never have imagined a day when they themselves would be hunted by them.

“…Bollak, Biwen, and I will take care of Gorgo. Since we have experience fighting it, we should be able to overcome it.”

“I leave it to you.”

The only saving grace was that Taewoon’s party had shared the Traits of the Creatures they had encountered and had pre-designated personnel to oppose them.

If they deployed personnel with an advantageous compatibility, there was no fear of a crushing defeat.

However, there were as many as four enemy Creatures visible before them, and even if they managed to block them, gaps would inevitably open up on the battlefield.

“Could you perhaps lure them away and intentionally stir up the battlefield?”

“…You’re suggesting we engage in a chaotic brawl. It will be unavoidable for our allies to suffer casualties, but that is likely the only way right now.”

Since it was clear they would suffer losses regardless, they had no choice but to meet the enemy’s aggression with their own desperate counter-strategy.

Moreover, Taewoon’s party had the additional task of finding the Seed’s location in a short time and destroying it after overcoming the General.

‘…Come. I’ll end this in an instant.’

Leaving the liquid-form spiders and the moles that spat bizarre bubbles—both seen for the first time in this battle—to his companions, Taewoon began to charge fiercely toward Telemos, whom he had already defeated once.

Seeing Taewoon, Telemos scattered glowing powder in all directions, but Taewoon quickly swung his spear, creating a powerful wind that blew it all away.

The patterns engraved on its wings glowed, and the corpses of the General’s forces began to move, but Taewoon, who could clearly perceive this, did not waver in the slightest.

‘Your movements are as predictable as can be!’

An intense light flashed, and the dark night forest vanished from sight.

Telemos’s most powerful technique—an absolute Hallucination that deceived a creature’s perception—had revealed itself.

“Th-this is…”

“Hey! Where did everyone go?”

The soldiers caught in the Hallucination became agitated and lost their bearings, but Taewoon, who had already overwritten all sensory data onto his body through Aquila, shattered the Hallucination deceiving his brain and tore apart both of Telemos’s wings.

Telemos let out a dizzying shriek, and even as the Hallucination faded due to the loss of power, Taewoon did not stop his movements.

Eventually, seeing Telemos hacked to pieces and crashing to the ground in an instant, the soldiers of the General’s forces and the other Creatures began to be conscious of Taewoon’s movements with eyes full of fear.

At the sight of him overwhelming one of the most powerful creatures on the island, they instinctively felt a sense of overwhelming pressure.

‘The location of the Seed and the General… I have a rough idea.’

The monster of the lake.

Where the final Creature, which had not yet appeared, resided—that was where the second Seed would also be.

Finally making his decision, Taewoon relayed the rendezvous point to his party and began to soar toward the lake region a step ahead of them.