In retrospect, the reason we were able to defeat that monster was…
Of course, there were many factors, but I think luck played the biggest role.
I’m not doubting the skills of the comrades who fought alongside me. But the countless tentacle attacks that left us disoriented, the powder attacks that allowed no room for even a moment’s carelessness, and the monster’s ability to prevent any approach or counterattack from us—it was truly overwhelming…
—Excerpt from the “Steel Mountain Range Campaign Memoirs,” Ancient Library of Atlanta, New Continent.
By the narrowest margin, we managed to save Han So-young.
As I sliced through the tentacles with my bladeless sword, I caught a glimpse of her staggering just beyond the falling limbs. I immediately rushed over and supported her.
“Istantel Low Lord!”
Han So-young slowly turned her head in response.
Her usual expressionless face was there, but her eyes were different. Unlike before, those eyes fixed on me with a strange intensity, shimmering with an unmistakable lustful gleam.
“Haa…”
A breath escaped from her slightly parted lips, warm and sweet.
“Istantel…!”
Then, suddenly, Han So-young threw herself into my arms. Her arms quickly wrapped around my neck. Lowering my gaze, I saw her clinging to me with a pitiful expression.
“Mercenary… Lord…”
Her voice clung to my ears like thick honey, dripping with a desperate longing and a sensual weight that pressed down on my entire body.
For a moment, my head spun, but I barely managed to steady myself. I must have bitten my tongue at some point because I tasted the metallic tang of blood in my mouth. But it didn’t matter.
I took a couple of careful steps back and gently placed my hand on her solar plexus, channeling the power of Hwa-jeong.
“Ugh…!”
As expected, the power of Hwa-jeong was irresistible. Han So-young’s eyes instantly regained their normal light.
After a moment, she relaxed and stepped back with a calmer demeanor. I quietly spoke.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine now. There’s no problem at all. Thank you for helping me.”
She quickly shook her head and bit her lip tightly. It seemed she didn’t want to discuss it any further, so I nodded calmly and averted my gaze.
The pressure that had weighed on us since Father’s arrival was slowly lifting. The users around us were gradually regaining their senses. But the monsters that had been worshipping Father were also rising one by one.
…So nothing’s really changed. Except for that new Father who just appeared.
“Ah, ahhh…!”
Suddenly, anguished cries echoed. They were the moans of the women who had been captured by Father and doused in that powder.
“Ah~ Ahhh~”
Among them was a woman who had already stripped off her clothes, frantically pleasuring herself. Seeing the blood trickling between her legs, I frowned. If that powder could make a woman break her own virginity, it wasn’t just an aphrodisiac. It was essentially a poison… This is bad.
Though my thoughts weren’t fully organized, I was able to make one decision.
“Istantel Low Lord, we should retreat for now.”
“Retreat?”
Han So-young raised her eyes slightly, questioning. I shook my head gently.
“Fall back to the rear and command the fight against the remaining monsters. There are quite a few left, so cleaning up the stragglers is urgent.”
“Then who will handle that monster in the meantime… Mercenary Lord!”
Her voice rose sharply as if she’d just realized.
—Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh!
—H-How dare you even think about it, you crazy bastard!
At that moment, Father let out a monstrous roar, and for some reason, Hwa-jeong suddenly flared up in anger. The monsters all stood, their fighting spirit reignited as they stared at us.
There was no more time for persuasion.
That thought made me speak immediately.
“If we can take it down, we will. If not, we’ll at least buy time. Leaving that monster as it is would be the worst possible choice.”
In other words, I was telling them to quickly deal with the remaining monsters and send reinforcements. Then, without hesitation, I charged toward Father.
“N-No, wait!”
I heard Han So-young’s desperate voice behind me, but I didn’t look back. Because I trusted her. If she had truly awakened as the Iron-Blooded Queen, she wouldn’t make a foolish choice.
So now, the situation rested on me.
The monsters’ behavior as I passed was strange. I had hoped to reduce their numbers before reaching Father, but they politely moved aside as I ran through. Or rather, they seemed to be clearing a path—as if inviting me to meet Father.
Finally, I stopped abruptly with some distance left between Father and me. A strange feeling washed over me. It was a subtle discomfort I couldn’t quite put into words.
—Be careful. That guy is targeting you above all else.
At that moment, Hwa-jeong, who had shouted earlier, spoke to me.
‘He’s targeting me above all else?’
—Yes. He’s focused on you… Ah, anyway! All his attention is on you. You can’t lose!
So that was it.
In that case, it was actually good. I’d been worried about how to draw Father’s aggro, but if he was already fixated on me, there was nothing to hold back.
—Be careful!
Whirrr! Whirrr!
Whirrr! Whirrr!
But as Hwa-jeong’s warning continued, I had to revise my thoughts. Suddenly, hundreds of tentacles surged at me like a tidal wave. Startled, I tried to respond with my bladeless sword but quickly decided to dodge after seeing their numbers.
Bang!
The tentacles slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash, shaking the earth beneath me.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The attacks didn’t stop. Father relentlessly struck the ground where I had just been, swinging his tentacles without pause. I prided myself on my agility and dodged skillfully, but Father’s tentacles pursued me wildly, obsessively—as if determined to catch me no matter what.
The area where I had stood moments ago looked like it had been swept by a tsunami. I swallowed hard and stared at Father. It was good to face him one-on-one without distractions, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had to stay alert.
After a moment, the tentacles split into three groups and began creeping toward me, as if plotting how to trap me.
Watching the three advancing clusters, I summoned the Glory of Victoria. Not three lines of tentacles, but three distinct groups. If it were a magical attack, it might be manageable, but each group likely contained two or three hundred tentacles moving together. The physical force they could exert was not to be underestimated.
Whirrr!
Here they come again.
This time, the attack was different from the previous wild flurry. One group aimed to strike from above, another targeted my side, and the last swept low along the ground.
The first to arrive were the tentacles sweeping low, aiming for my feet. I leapt up, pushing off the ground, then lunged forward with my upper body leaning far ahead. The moment my hands and feet touched down, I calculated the direction of the remaining tentacles and kicked both legs high, flipping through the air.
My vision flipped upside down, and I felt a sharp sting brush past my back and neck. A victorious smile crept onto my face. As I fell, I crossed my two swords toward Father’s rapidly approaching torso. Then—
Paang! Paang! Paang! Paang!
“Kugh?!”
Just before my blades could strike, as I neared Father, the tentacles nearby suddenly swelled, and with a burst of wind, a powerful pressure slammed into me. It felt like being hit by a compressed violent storm. Pushed back by the force, I barely landed on the ground, and suddenly, my body wobbled.
—Kim Soo-hyun!
Hwa-jeong’s voice snapped me back to balance. The burning energy swirling through me felt like something melting away inside. I must have been poisoned by that unexpected attack earlier, but Hwa-jeong had come to my aid just in time. Still, the aftereffects of the pressure attack lingered, and a faint dizziness tingled at my forehead.
—Hey, you idiot! How could you just rush in like that? You almost died!
‘Almost died?’
—Didn’t you see the powder attack earlier? The tentacles sucked in the air, compressed it tightly, and then exploded it with the powder just as you charged in!
‘So… that pressure was both a defense and an attack aimed at me?’
Now that I think about it, I recall a similar note in the records…
Hoping for the best, I summoned my magic with Hwa-jeong and slammed my right foot hard into the ground.
Hwaruk, hwaruk!
In an instant, dozens of blazing swords materialized around me. It felt like it had been quite a while since I last used them—since the last war, in fact.
But there was no time to overthink. I immediately launched every single blazing sword straight at Father. At that moment, the tentacles drifting nearby began to move swiftly.
Had they sensed the threat of the blazing swords? The tentacles quickly gathered in a tight circle in front of Father’s body. Then, swelling up their stems to full capacity, they expelled air with a sharp paang! just as the swords came flying in.
As a result, every blazing sword veered off course and scattered in all directions. For a moment, I was left stunned.
The power of a swordsmanship master who can cut through anything.
The fire energy that can burn everything to ash.
And yet.
Setting aside the deafening roar ringing in my ears and the fluttering of my clothes, the fact that neither my power nor the fire energy had any effect…
“What?”
“Then why…?”
“……”
I fell silent. She was right.
Each tentacle alone wasn’t much, but the pressure from over a thousand of them acting in unison was impossible to ignore. The force beyond the reach of my power and the fire energy was something I simply couldn’t counter.
And since the compressed air they expelled counts as physical force, my famed anti-demon resistance was useless here.
I understood the situation, but no solution came to mind.
Keeping my guard up against Father, I quickly sorted through my thoughts.
…Declare a domain?
No. That’s impossible too. Father wasn’t a creature of fire attribute.
Then, cut down the tentacles one by one to reduce their numbers?
Also impossible. Unless Father was a Marvolo—an artificial mechanism fused with the city itself—I doubted that severing tentacles would disrupt his system.
In other words, no matter how many tentacles I cut off, they would just keep regenerating.
“……”
After a moment, the tentacles began writhing and slithering forward again like a mass of snakes.
A sudden wave of frustration washed over me. I’d understood Father’s ability, but I’d naively thought my power and the fire energy would somehow be enough. Now I was facing an unexpected obstacle.
Of course, I was confident I wouldn’t lose if things stayed like this. Just as Father’s numbers prevented him from touching me, my own abilities were nullifying his attacks.
But what I truly wanted wasn’t to hold out—it was to win outright.
Then—
“Hyung Suhyun! I’m coming to support you!”
I heard Hangyeol’s shout. Support? Had he already finished dealing with the monsters? Or was he coming to back me up?
“Defensive Matrix!”
Before I could finish thinking, a strong wind began to blow around me.
The Defensive Matrix. It was a visible, blue wind that suddenly accelerated, swirling upward to form a protective sphere around me. It looked like a defensive barrier.
“Reflection!”
At the same time Hangyeol’s voice rang out, the blue wind began to glow with a pure white light. The sphere slowly shrank until it formed a space about two meters in diameter around me. The smaller it got, the louder the rushing wind became, as if the barrier itself was alive.
Defensive Matrix, and Reflection.
“……!”
Muttering those words to myself, I suddenly snapped back to focus. A thought flashed through my mind—an idea that could counter Father’s ability.
With the defensive space formed, the tentacles that had been inching closer now hesitated, slithering around the perimeter, waiting for an opening.
Had Hwa-jeong read my mind? Her voice was softer than before.
Instead of replying, I gripped the Mu Sword and the Glory of Victoria tightly and calmly bent my knees.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Wow, I just took a short break and suddenly there were tons of new fan arts in my garden!
Yoo Jeong, Jung Ha-yeon, Cha So-rim (Changchang), Nam Da-eun (Sword Girl), Kim Han-byul (Jewel), Seon Yu-woon (Flame), Woo Jeong-min, the truly beautiful and feminine Baek Han-gyeol, Ahn Hyun, Go Yeon-ju in a swimsuit, and even an angry Kim Su-hyun! I was honestly surprised to see them all. :D
I’m really grateful for every single piece of fan art, but as you all know, I’m a rough, wild guy at heart. So I guess I can’t help but keep glancing at Go Yeon-ju in her swimsuit. Hahaha.
I want to take this chance to sincerely thank Broken Fan (고장난선풍기) for the amazing artwork. (__)
All the pictures are up in my garden, so I recommend you all stop by and take a look. :)