Chapter 1107
Episode 257: The Demon Army’s Assault (11)
Something unseen was aiding the Balmel Alliance.
Rondo recalled what Silin had said and let out a deep sigh. At this point, he was beginning to seriously wonder if, as Silin suggested, some transcendent force was truly supporting the Balmel Alliance.
Otherwise, given the overwhelming disparity in power, the battle couldn’t possibly be unfolding like this. And Rondo wasn’t the only one thinking this way.
“What is it that they believe in to fight so desperately?”
“They should be pushed back, yet they don’t falter… they don’t fall. How is this even possible?”
The terror of an enemy that seemed infinite.
Until now, it had been the Balmel Alliance suffering under that fear. The Demon Army had lost thousands of fleets and dozens of Changsung warriors, yet they kept sending out even more troops.
But now, the soldiers of the Demon Army saw no fear on the faces of the Alliance’s members.
Even as their throats were pierced by staves, their bodies torn apart by beams of light, their entire beings ravaged by magic, the Alliance’s forces never stopped advancing.
“Our stars are fighting up ahead—hold the line!”
“Brothers, we will never forget this day!”
Roars echoed relentlessly, both in the skies and on the ground.
“Push them back! They’re definitely wearing down!”
“Sniper squads, keep targeting Jin Runcandel and the Changsung! Don’t let up for a moment—pour it on!”
Before the battle even began, the Demon Army was certain of the outcome.
They believed that having conquered entire dimensions, there was no way they could be defeated in a single one. No matter how fierce the resistance, the result would never change.
But this wasn’t a shallow will built on obedience or blind loyalty. It was desperation to protect their world, a fierce determination to choose their own future, and bonds forged through that struggle.
That resolve gave them the strength to endure battles they should have lost. Like the Changsung who overcame fate, or the power of existence that Jin possessed, it was a force that made the impossible possible.
In other words—it was infinite.
And so now, the Demon Army was feeling fear. Fear of an endlessly advancing enemy, and perhaps even the terror that the tide of battle might turn against them.
“You think you’re special, don’t you? Belief? Pride? Those are all illusions!”
“We’ll crush you all…!”
The Demon Army roared back in defiance. Without denying the enemy’s conviction, no matter how advantageous their position, they couldn’t fight with a clear mind.
Both sides’ Changsung clashed in the deepest part of the Demon Army’s stronghold, while superhumans and the Holy Water Corps battled fiercely in front of them.
At the center of the battlefield, the Balmel Alliance held the line with Runcandel and the Pluto clan at the core. Some of the imprisoned Du-wang and Mary, pushed back while performing the Holy Water Corps’ sealing, led the Alliance forces.
“Ugh…!”
“Lord Daytona!”
“It’s alright, hold your ground! We have to support Lady Mary! If we fall back, the fleet won’t be able to back the Changsung!”
“Gahhh!”
“Truly, the blood of the Jin brothers—the knights of Runcandel—are brave indeed!”
“Lord Linpa! Left flank!”
Shraaak!
At Mary’s command, Linpa’s greatsword unleashed a crackling blue lightning. They deflected every magical beam flying in from the left, but the ground beneath those holding the center suddenly split in two.
‘The Black Sea should be moving according to Father’s will!?’
Even now, the Black Sea was swallowing the White Fleet and the Demon Army’s forces, following Siron’s intent.
But it wasn’t as fierce as before. Maintaining the secret technique for so long had drained Siron’s mental energy, and he was now under heavy pressure alongside Jin.
Because of this, Siron couldn’t fully control the Black Sea. Meanwhile, the enemy was adapting to the battlefield over time.
Mary, the knights, and the Pluto clan scattered, trying to escape the fissure. But suddenly, thousands of green hands sprouted from the cracked earth, grabbing at the knights.
“Arrgh…!”
It was a dark realm chain magic never before seen in this world. Not everyone could escape its grasp. Over twenty of Runcandel’s guardian knights were caught and dragged into the darkness, disappearing without a trace. Two Pluto warriors also fell victim.
“Brother Shul!”
“Scatter! Evade!”
The Magic Knights hastily tore their scrolls, attempting to suppress the magic, but the Demon Army was a gathering of the most powerful mages across all dimensions. They easily countered the Magic Knights and expanded the dark realm magic.
In an instant, the knights defending the center were being wiped out.
‘Father must be fine—it’s a feint! But if the front line collapses like this, the fleet won’t be able to support the Changsung on the battlefield…!’
Mary clenched her teeth, deciding to move forward and hold the line again.
“You’re nothing without someone like Jin Runcandel. Not afraid of death? No, that’s a blessing only those who transcend fate, like us, can have!”
Just as the Tona brothers prepared to throw themselves into the fray alongside her, someone surged forward first, wielding dark realm magic.
“…Teto!?”
Teto, the twelfth Du-wang, extended his spear, creating a lightning barrier that blocked the rising green hands.
Chiiik…!
“Ugh…!”
But he couldn’t block them all. Five hands broke through the lightning, grabbing Teto’s limbs and melting them away.
“I’m the sturdy one here. Go! Take their heads! If we fail here, everyone will be melted!”
The three of them rushed past Teto, charging toward the mages hiding beneath the White Fleet’s shield. The Tona brothers’ swords struck the shield first, creating a crack, and Mary’s Divine Serpent pierced through.
Thunk! The serpent’s blade pierced a mage’s head, pinning it to the ground. But he wasn’t the core of the chain magic, so the siblings tried to penetrate deeper to attack other mages.
At that moment, a sniper beam that had been targeting only the Alliance’s Changsung cut off Haytona’s right arm.
Haytona thought: I’ve only lost an arm. Behind me, a far greater warrior is risking everything, waiting for us to succeed.
“I’ll open the way! Sister and Daytona, follow me!”
“You can’t go alone—!”
“I can!”
Even after colliding with Daytona at full force, the shield had only a small crack. But perhaps because he was prepared, Haytona swung his lone remaining arm with all his might, tearing a section of the White Fleet’s shield completely open.
“Go!”
Finally, Mary and Daytona fully entered the shield and cut down the core of the chain magic. The heads of the fallen mages rolled like balls across the ground, crushed by the shockwaves of the battlefield. The siblings glanced back.
The green hands that had surged from the cracked earth vanished in an instant. And Haytona was no longer there. Only the shattered remains of his chain sword lay behind, broken while blocking the enemy’s attacks flying toward Mary and Daytona’s rear.
Teto’s voice was nowhere to be heard. He had borne the full brunt of the dark realm magic’s poison alone and had passed on.
As Mary and Daytona returned to the front lines, Beliz picked up Teto’s spear, kissed it once, and drove it into the ground.
“Cry later, Runcandels.”
“Yes, later.”
“We will never be pushed back behind the spear of the Teto brothers again.”
“Of course. Even if we die, this is our ground. No one will pass!”
Though the cost was great, they had held the central front. They focused solely on that fact, pushing aside the grief of losing their brothers.
Thanks to this, the Golden Fleet could still firmly support the Changsung. The swords of the Changsung who had just lost their children and brothers stood as unwavering as Teto’s spear planted firmly in the earth.
However, even on the Changsung’s battlefield, bodies were beginning to pile up.
The fact that the enemy’s corpses didn’t scatter like dust meant Siron was growing weary. After more than two days of fighting the enemy Changsung, even Siron couldn’t maintain his initial strength.
Yet the enemy still dared not face him and the Balmel Alliance’s Changsung head-on.
Not a single group of five or more had managed to hold a position together.
‘Have they still not pushed back the central front? There’s only Murakan from the Alliance’s Changsung there—what on earth are they doing…!’
The Demon Army’s commanders facing the Alliance’s Changsung were at their wits’ end. Even the Holy Water Corps was being sealed in the same way as the Changsung, so no reinforcements could be expected from the troops already on the battlefield.
‘Until the center is pushed back, Lord Rondo won’t send out the main force. These Changsung are just buying time…’
Rondo was scheduled to deploy only after the Demon Army’s Changsung secured the front and after confirming that Laprarosa’s main guns were all spent.
But then, in the next moment—
From the dimension gate closest to the Changsung’s battlefield, the White Fleet’s third flagship, Ridel, began emerging.
At the same time, the first and second flagships, which had just joined Rondo, also passed through the gate. They had already gathered the Changsung inside the gate and were ready to send them all out onto the battlefield at once.
“Lord Rondo!?”
“Why is the main force coming out now?”
Jin immediately made a quick decision upon seeing this. They had to fire the Pluto cannons here and now, even if it meant he and the allied Changsung would be caught in the blast.
Otherwise, the number of Changsung boarding the White Fleet was simply too great to handle.
“Raflarosa, ascend and fire the Pluto Cannon here!”
Rondo watched as Raflarosa climbed higher, a bitter smile tugging at his lips before he turned his gaze to Jin.
“Now, Jin Runkandel, it’s time to unleash the main gun of the airborne fortress. Let’s see who survives till the end—and who will be left standing to crush the rest of the enemy.”