Conquest (1)

Every time a massive boulder came flying toward them, the dark mages’ faces grew grim. They were blocking the attacks with magic, but it was consuming considerable mana.

Belitas’s face twisted viciously.

“Those vermin...!”

Leaving the fortress would be suicide. That did not mean they had no way to strike back.

“The magic circle?”

“Ready!”

“Begin!”

Mana surged into the magic circle. Dark mages could summon creatures too, and they had just the summon for a situation like this.

A monster with an enormous body materialized beneath the ground.

“Snort! The ground is shaking!”

“Snort?”

The orcs guarding the catapults felt tremors beneath their feet.

Just then, the ground caved in like a sinkhole. Two catapults and a group of orcs plunged helplessly into the pit.

CRUNCH!

An enormous monster gaped wide and chewed up the catapults.

A sandworm. A monster that lived in tunnels it burrowed underground.

‘A dark mage must have summoned it.’

The enemy had played a troublesome card right from the start. After poking its head out to gobble up the catapults, the creature tried to burrow away.

‘You’re not getting away that easily.’

Minwoo reached toward it.

[Curse of Aging (D) +9 activates!]

[Failed...]

[Curse of Aging (D) +9 activates!]

[Failed...]

[Curse of Aging (D) +9 activates!]

[The sandworm has been cursed!]

[The target is enormous! The curse’s effects and duration are halved...]

A 10% reduction in speed. The creature’s movements instantly grew sluggish.

“Urkan!”

“Snort! Kill the monster!”

“Snort! I, Dekum, am coming too!”

The two high chieftains leaped into the underground tunnel without hesitation. Slowed by the curse, the creature failed to retreat into its burrow in time, and enormous axe blades sank repeatedly into its body.

SKREEEE!

The sandworm screamed. Meanwhile, another two catapults were sucked into the ground.

‘So they summoned two.’

Each sandworm possessed tremendous power, making it a real mana guzzler. He had already drained a huge amount of the enemy’s mana at the outset, so even losing every catapult would leave him ahead.

Once again, he cursed the creature as it tried to hide, then jumped in with Cedric.

[Rend (D) activates.]

The skill activated over his Rare-grade weapon. He drove his sword down into the creature’s head with all his might.

SHUNK!

Brutal force tore through the sandworm’s hard carapace and shattered its skull.

SKREE!

Cedric struck the screaming creature’s torso.

[Dragon Strike (S) activates!]

Adding to the acceleration and weight of his fall, the skill that multiplied his damage sevenfold slammed home.

BOOM!

The sandworm’s flesh was pulverized. Cedric, too, had reached level 101, raising Spear Master from S to SS. Wounded by his even sharper thrust, the sandworm writhed in agony.

A group of skeletons was summoned right into its exposed innards. The instant they appeared, they stabbed and mangled its organs. Under their relentless assault, the sandworm soon went limp.

Minwoo looked up at the surface. Bracing his legs, he leaped with all his strength. Tremendous power propelled him aboveground in a single bound. Cedric did the same.

“Snort! Killed the monster!”

Urkan and Dekum were also drenched in green bodily fluids.

Only one catapult remained. Even a single one was an unrivaled tool for wearing down the enemy’s strength.

“Fire!”

WHOOSH!

After a few more boulders flew, the defensive magic shattered. Part of the fortress wall crumbled. Perhaps the enemy had finally recovered enough mana for another summoning, because one more sandworm burst out and destroyed the catapult.

It paid with its life.

‘A good start.’

Unless they carried loads of top-grade potions like he did, their mana would be running dangerously low.

“Let’s go!”

The orcs charged without hesitation. The fully equipped skeletons did the same.

The elves’ arrows were the first to reach the breach in the fortress wall. As the Wraith Knights and Chimeras scrambled to respond, Kim Minwoo and Cedric plunged into their ranks. Curse of Aging spread among the enemies, noticeably slowing them.

“Snort! Follow the Chief Senior!”

The three high chieftains and the orc horde followed them in.

That was not the only front of their advance. Hundreds of ladders were being set against the still-intact stretches of wall.

Stabbing.

Slashing.

Severing.

Killing.

The clash of weapons erupted on every side.

This was war.

* * *

The Apostle’s forces held on with desperate tenacity. With an endless stream of summoned undead at the front, they fought frantically to keep control of the battlements.

Belitas, too, resisted desperately. He drank mana potion after mana potion and thrust out his hand. Corpses exploded in rapid succession, killing hundreds of charging orcs.

Against an army thirty thousand strong, Belitas put up an admirable defense. He fought valiantly for nearly two days.

But there was no answer to such overwhelming numbers.

One by one, the orcs began taking the battlements. The encirclement tightened its grip. Driven back from the outer fortress into the inner keep, the defenders made their last desperate stand.

“Hold on! Hold on a little longer, and our reinforcements will arrive!”

That was the sole hope sustaining them. They waited desperately for the Order of Undead Knights.

Then Kim Minwoo stepped forward.

“Sorry, but I don’t think they’re coming.”

“Bullshit! Don’t let his nonsense sway you!”

“Isn’t it strange? After you’ve held out this long, they should have arrived ages ago.”

“...”

The mood among Belitas’s forces plummeted. For hours now, that crafty human had kept chipping away at their resolve. At first, they had vehemently denied his claims. But as time passed, the demon of doubt gnawed ever deeper into their hearts.

Belitas himself was no exception. He knew it too. The Order of Undead Knights was long overdue. At the very least, they should have arrived before the outer defenses fell completely.

But they had not come.

Nor was there anything that could have blocked the order’s path. There was no reason for them to be delayed.

“You’ve been abandoned.”

“... N-no.”

One dark mage sank to the ground.

Even after the outer defenses fell, they had still had the inner keep. They had the knights who would arrive before long. They had their comrades.

But now things were different.

Once the inner keep fell, nothing would remain. Their comrades had been slaughtered. The Order of Undead Knights was not coming.

Outside the small inner keep, orcs already surrounded them on every side. No matter how powerful the Apostle was, he could not break through that army.

They were going to die.

The humans felt fear. So did the Chimeras and Wraith Knights. They, too, were capable of thought. The orcs would tear them limb from limb. Their will to fight steadily faded.

Just then, Belitas leaped down from the battlements. Fixing his pitch-black eyes on Kim Minwoo, he spoke.

“You crafty human! If you’re more than just talk, come out! Face me, and let us see who is stronger!”

[Apostle Belitas challenges you to a duel of commanders!]

[Refusing will reduce your entire army’s morale by 20%!]

“Oh.”

Kim Minwoo was impressed. He had thought the man nothing but an opportunist, but he had some backbone after all. It was also a very well-timed move.

At this rate, all that awaited him was being swept away by the orc army. Rather than let that happen, he intended to seize the momentum through a duel between commanders.

“Snort! He’s an enemy, but he has spirit!”

“The Chief Senior must step up!”

Orcs, incidentally, went wild for this sort of thing.

‘Well, this works too.’

He had intended to kill Belitas himself anyway. The boss rewards had to be his. As long as he won, taking the inner keep would be a piece of cake.

Drawing his sword, he stepped forward with his skeletons. A circular clearing opened around them.

“You, at least, I will kill without fail.”

“Try it. If you can.”

At that moment, Belitas’s body stretched grotesquely, growing nearly three meters tall. Sinister energy streamed from his body, which had transformed into something like a Chimera. At a glance, he looked several times stronger than an ordinary Chimera.

Minwoo had thought summoning a few undead was all he could do.

‘Was he actually a physical fighter?’

[Apostle Belitas, the boss of the Northern Fortress, reveals his true form!]

“Die!”

Belitas swung his pincer hand in a wide arc. As Minwoo rolled across the ground to evade it, Cedric’s spear battered the creature’s shell.

BANG! BANG!

The shell dented slightly, but did not break easily. Kim Minwoo thrust his sword at the pincer as well.

CLANG!

‘That’s tough.’

Hunter of the Strong was in effect. Even with his damage increased by 10%, his sword would not penetrate. Clearly, the creature was a boss monster for a reason.

He cast his curse. After twenty failures, the creature’s movements grew sluggish.

[Apostle Belitas has been cursed!]

[The target possesses powerful magic resistance! The curse’s effects are greatly reduced!]

His speed and defense had dropped by roughly 7%. Not bad. Skeletons swarmed in from all sides and battered Belitas’s body.

“Get lost, you vermin!”

One swing of his pincer hand reduced more than fifty skeletons to dust. His shell was deflecting every spell from the mages as well.

The only exception was...

[‘Miles’ uses Static Cloud (E)!]

RUMBLE!

Miles, who wielded a fairly decent staff, managed only to leave a few scorch marks with his spell.

Normally, there was a specific way to deal with enemies with high defense: keep pounding the same spot. Eventually, the accumulated damage would break through.

‘But right now...’

There was no need to take the long way around. He looked at Cedric.

Cedric nodded in understanding. The skeletons, who had nothing going for them but numbers, latched on from every side. Even if they could not deal meaningful damage, they could certainly hamper his movements.

Then Cedric closed to point-blank range and opened his jaws wide.

[Cedric uses Mini Breath!]

Dark crimson flames gathered in his mouth. At the tremendous heat, Belitas’s eyes widened in apparent horror.

“What is this...!”

BOOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted. Belitas staggered into view. One arm, struck directly by the breath, had been blown apart. Worse still, his flank was melting away.

‘That’s incredible.’

Enough power to wreck the boss of a B-rank gate.

The gaping holes where his arm and flank had been were fatal weaknesses. Kim Minwoo was not such a mediocre swordsman that he would miss them.

The mages aimed their spells at his flank. The skeletons clung doggedly to his remaining arm. Cedric kept harrying him too, striking his body with his spear.

[Rend (D) activates!]

The Sword of Judgment plunged deep into his side.

“Gah!”

Black blood streamed from Belitas’s mouth. He hastily swung his arm, but Kim Minwoo was already gone.

‘One more hit.’

He pulled another sword from his inventory and stabbed him again.

“N-no...”

Was his strength gradually fading? His body began reverting to human form—from a monster stronger than anything else to an utterly frail old man.

THUD!

Belitas collapsed on the ground, wheezing for breath.

“Cough...!”

“Goodbye.”

So that he could go peacefully, Minwoo severed his head with a single stroke.

[You win the duel of commanders!]

[The gate’s boss, Apostle Belitas, has fallen!]

[The morale of enemy forces within the inner keep decreases by 50%!]

[The resistance force’s morale increases by 50%!]

[Your level increases by 5!]

[Your title, ‘Hunter of the Strong,’ changes to ‘Slayer of the Strong’!]

[The skeleton army’s combat experience...]

[You have fulfilled part of the gate’s clear conditions! (1/2)]

[The ‘Fragment of Winter’ still remains!]

Messages scrolled up one after another. Only one step remained before clearing the gate. He just had to destroy the fragment responsible for this cold.

‘It should be in the inner keep.’

He looked at the orcs. They stared back at him with bloodshot eyes, their blood seemingly boiling. He pointed to the inner keep.

“Go.”

“Snort! Kill them!”

The frenzied orc horde descended upon the despairing defenders of the inner keep.

Meanwhile, Minwoo examined the items dropped beside Belitas.

One ring. And one bound skill book.

It was loot time.