Once the session of the World Parliament that took place in view of the Yellow Boundary was complete, the attention of the continent became focused on what was going on at the northern parts of the continent.
The Barbarians who individually could match the thirteen Champions of the Continent.
They had emerged from the demon realm, broke through the frontlines of the demon realm, and now conquered more than half the northern regions.
And in that process, they had completely overwhelmed the last bastion of the frontlines of the demon realm, and captured the Trowin regions previously ruled by Ga Xi Ong of the Seven Heroes.
Through enormous cost and sacrifice, the people slowly learned how to tell apart the Barbarians.
The Barbarians were not a unified force. They were a confederacy of many bloodlines and were largely divided into two tribes.
One of them were the tribe of Open Bloodshot Eyes.
These were the ones responsible for the conquest and the destruction of the Varan-Aran Alliance in a week, and settled on the border of the elvan confederation of kingdoms.
The reason why they were called the Open Bloodshot Eyes was because the flag they used had the fear inspiring image of yellowed bloodshot eyes.
The other tribe was called the tribe of Intestines.
These were the ones that conquered the Trowin region. With everyone watching on, they had grabbed a hold of the previous ruler of Trowin, Ga Xi Ong, and tore him to pieces with their bare hands.
Using the viscera that were flung all around, they wrapped the intestines around blasphemous fetishes as decorations.
And thus they came to be called the Tribe of Intestines.
Both of these tribes represented immense threat to humanity, but the World Parliament as led by Sungchul decided to first address the tribe of Open Bloodshot Eyes that were camped outside of the Elvan lands.
The closest nation to the lands of Trowin were the absentee nation of Osyria Republic, and beyond that was the Human Empire.
Following the long-unspoken rule of the World Parliament, the absentee would have to figure out their own solution to the impending Barbarian crisis.
“…”
Sungchul who was chosen as a potential king by the World Parliament was now standing at the northern borders of the Elvan Coalition of Kingdoms.
At first glance, the border appeared to be peaceful.
But this peace would not last.
With each passing day, there were mounting reports from all over from scouts and mages that the Barbarians were mustering in great numbers.
The observed numbers of Barbarians across the border surpassed ten thousand.
But the gathering horde had more than just Barbarians.
The Barbarians enslaved demons, elves, dwarves, and humans of the north and used them as slave soldiers and these auxiliary forces exceeded twenty thousand, and were continuing to rise in numbers.
Facing them were forty thousand elvan soldiers. They were reinforced by powerful unicorns and wood elementals, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that they had orders of magnitude higher combat potential than what their numbers would suggest.
But if the practically untouchable Barbarians were to join the fight, then it was a completely different story.
According to Varan-Aran survivors, the Barbarians had no tactics or strategies to speak of. They simply ran head first into the fray and engaged in melee, taking advantage of their superior physique to crumble everything in their path, like a lightning striking the mountain peak.
“To be very clear, they aren’t on the level of a Transcendent.”
The King of the Ancient Kingdom and one of the key players of the World Parliament was also standing at the frontlines.
Though he had been terribly disgraced by his utter loss against the Barbarian in a raw contest of strength, he was able to recover somewhat afterwards after being able to relatively easily defeat a Barbarian during a battle.
Of course, the fact that he was fighting an unarmed Barbarian did make the fight unfair. But as King Arcanite had claimed, despite having such a high individual status points, they had a rather glaring lack of skill and strategy.
An easy analogy would be to call them ‘rather strong children’.
And the Barbarians themselves were only ever found to have been using primitive clubs and, at best, axes. Let alone knowing how to use ranged weapons, it was a common observation across survivors who have seen the Barbarians up close that it seemed as though they knew nothing of magic.
If these reports were to be believed, then a war against them weren’t doomed without hope.
After all, in a war between large number of combatants, the winner was decided by those with superior discipline.
If the raw power of the Barbarians can be mitigated by strategies and tactics and somehow a frontline could be maintained against them, then it was not an impossibility that they could be bested in battle.
This was the conclusion Sungchul arrived at after examining the frontlines and checking all the gathered intelligence.
And for that reason, top warriors from various member states of the World Parliament arrived to join the frontlines.
Though he was a rather difficult person, Arcanite was a noble knight with strong pride as a swordmaster, so he brought his most elite swordmasters with him to the frontlines.
McRaed, too, came to participate in the war, accompanied by Archmages of the Coalition of the Eastern Regions.
However, Dragoman of the Seven Heroes’ participation was something not even Sungchul could have predicted.
“Don’t look at me like that. To begin with, I apparently count as a King in the first place.”
He had gained considerable weight since they had last met.
Sungchul and Bertelgia gave a piercing glare at Dragoman who had brazenly showed up.
‘Just how much is he indulging himself.’
According to the rumors, Dragoman apparently frequently rode on a boat made of crackers floating on a pond filled with alcohol, surrounding himself with nine hundred ninety nine carefully selected beauties from all over the continent, enjoying unbelievable luxuries and decadence.
“We don’t need you. All we need from you is a signature on the treaty, so get lost.”
Sungchul said to Dragoman who had shown up without a single soldier.
Even though the Second Calamity was over, Dragoman was originally one of the members of the Seven Heroes. He could not be trusted.
More than anything, Sungchul disliked that this man had sold out the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of his allies to safe his own skin.
Once a traitor, always a traitor, as the saying goes.
To this, Dragoman looked sincere for once as he tried to convince Sungchul.
“I’m not here because I want to be. You can tell if you just check the map.”
Dragoman’s kingdom was located in the buffer zone between the Ancient Kingdom on the western part of the continent and the Elvan Kingdoms of the northwest.
Considering that the other Seven Heroes had chosen to settle in the north or the east, his choice of locale was an odd one, but there was a reason behind it.
Back during his era, the current day Ancient Kingdom was his homeland.
This is why when the Colossi first emerged, Dragoman had brought his to launch several small invasion into the Ancient Kingdom’s lands. But the Ancient Kingdom was not so weak that it would fall to a single Colossus. Eventually Dragoman gave up and began to indulge in unspeakable luxuries.
“If the elves are broken, I’m next. Well, if I am going to go down, those descendants of peons are going to go down too.”
Dragoman muttered as he glanced towards Arcanite.
He and Arcanite had a worse relationship than is commonly known.
“If I’m going to have to fight anyway, might as well do so by borrowing the strength of others, right? So just give me any job. I’ll at least pull one man’s worth of weight.”
Sungchul deliberated after hearing this.
Yes, Dragoman was an untrustworthy man, but his motives checked out and, more than anything, his skills were undoubtedly good.
He was probably one of the top five most powerful fighter present here.
Though he had put on some weight, if he were to pull out his sword, he would at minimum be able to protect the soldiers in his immediate viscinity.
Sungchul assigned Dragoman as far as he could possibly place him away from Arcanite.
Meanwhile, the Wandering King chose not to participate in this war.
Shortly after the session of the World Parliament came to an end, the King stated he would be back when he’s needed and dissapeared.
Considering that he had gained nothing of what he had set out to gain, perhaps it was the only natural outcome.
With the deployment of Dragoman, the forces were now ready for a fight.
Sungchul arranged for a strong defensive formation that could respond and withstand any kind of attack the Barbarians could potentially launch and waited for the Barbarians to come attack.
‘We need to knock down their morale by one notch at least once.’
All the preparations were going smoothly.
What Sungchul wanted was a battle.
But there was an issue that haunted the back of Sungchul’s mind like a ghost all throughout the preparation process.
Were the Barbarians truly as simple as everyone seemed to believe?
At the very least, the few Barbarians Sungchul had captured as prisoners did seem to show intelligence and behaviors that befit their title as barbarians.
Ninety percent instinct and one percent intelligence.
And what little intelligence these Barbarians did seem to possess seem to merely exist to better satisfy their desires.
Sungchul’s own observations as well as the scouts’ reports agree on the fact that the level of sophistication the Barbarians exhibit were not too different from that of primitive Trolls or tribes of Orcs.
All Sungchul could do was pray that these observations hold true.
Thus, a month had slipped by in a blink.
When the signs of spring had begun to paint the elf forest with a lush green hue once more, the sound of a horn echoed from beyond the woods.
An elf knight riding a Pegasus appeared in front of Sungchul’s tent to calmly report the Barbarians’ advance.
The long-awaited offensive from the Barbarians had finally begun.
Sungchul ordered this news to be relayed to the rest of the army and send a message to the Elvan lords.
The lord of all Elves as well as the Eighth Champion of the Continent, Elvan King Signus, used the necessity of his presence for recruitment to excuse himself from battle and ordered that the command and control over the elvish army were to be granted to Hesserdein and the chairman of the World Parliament, Sungchul Kim.
Although it was a shame to not have the renowned archer Signus participate, his absence or presence would not determine the outcome of the battle one way or another.
Instead of condemning the cowardice of the elf lord, Sungchul silently accepted the sacred cherry blossom branch bow given to him by the Elvan Confederation of Kingdoms.
It was a divine item of the elves, known as the Fallen Leaf of Spring.
It was a symbol of the command of the Elvan army.
All the elves and their allies saluted Sungchul once he held the Fallen Leaf of Spring.
“Ooh… It’s finally starting!”
Bertelgia, who had shrunk and slipped into his pocket, seemed to shake with excitement as she spoke.
“Indeed.”
Marakia, who had been growing bit by bit, spoke confidently while interlocking his fingers.
Over the past month, Marakia had grown overall, but especially noticeable was his elongated neck.
If it could be considered a problem, it was that it now made him look no longer cute, but rather brow-raisingly awkward and unsightly.
Bertelgia began to call Marakia with the disgraceful name of ‘Puberty Chicken’.
Judging by the fact that the Arcanite, who had initially shown interest in Marakia, now pretended not to see him after Marakia’s appearance changed, it was undeniable fact that Marakia’s cuteness had greatly diminished.
However, Marakia himself was satisfied with his growth. After all, his strength had increased and his overall abilities had become stronger.
‘Kekeke… with this rate of growth, I might end up becoming incomparably more powerful than the last time! Ascension might not be out of reach for me!’
Sungchul, who saw through Marakia’s wicked heart like looking through a glass window, however, did nothing.
Although Marakia was fundamentally sinister, Sungchul was aware that Marakia was not rotten to the core like the human ruling elites.
Moreover, Marakia had even planned to visit his kingdom once after the battle was over and the Barbarians were driven out.
He, too, was feeling uneasy.
He was worried if the Barbarians would invade his kingdom and kill all the cave-elves, along with the rest of his people.
According to intelligence, it seems that the Barbarians have not found the Avian Kingdom. But the fact that the entrance to the Avian Kingdom was within the territory occupied by the Barbarians was a source of great discomfort.
Marakia, for one reason or another, had plenty of motivation to give it his all in the upcoming fight.
‘He isn’t all that likable, but among everyone under my command, no one comes close to the combat prowess of he.’
If he had to choose a worthy adversary to Marakia, only Dragoman would come close.
Sungchul handed over the responsibility of escorting the auxiliary forces in the rear to Marakia.
Though unlikely, if the Barbarians’ shock troops were to infiltrate to the rear, it could cause unspeakable damage.
Sungchul, together with Bertelgia, took his place at the very front of the defensives.
It was one thing if the attacking forces were limited to the Barbarian slave soldiers, but if the Barbarians themselves launched a full-scale attack, he would be needed to fight them head on in the frontlines.
After all, the one most capable of dealing with the Barbarians quickly and decisively was Sungchul and Sungchul alone.
His new weapon, Chain Lightning, would likely become the deadliest in his arsenal.
‘That old man. His age wasn’t just for show.’
He had reluctantly mastered Chain Lightning, but now it has since risen to the position of his primary combat spell.
Once the battles begin, it would likely become his most frequently used spell.
Buuuuu–
The sound of the Barbarians’ horn came again, closer than before.
Sungchul looked around at the faces of his soldiers.
Though fear was present, a powerful sense of duty and honor to protect their homeland and country was also resolutely present in the eyes of the Elven soldiers in spite of it.
The horrendous atrocities committed by the Barbarians in the Varan-Aran alliance would also have contributed to the Elven soldiers’ determination.
‘Morale’s good.’
Standing in front of the Elvan army was the envy of the world, the Living Wood forming a palisade.
Though not as mature as tree spirits, these were similar in nature to the Tree Mother that Sungchul had faced in Panchuria. They moved or built barriers according to the will of their allied elves. They could release living vines to entangle approaching enemies or lay poisonous fruits like landmines to harm the enemies of the elves.
It was a wall that should prove difficult to pass for even the mighty Barbarians.
After the wall, there was a bit of empty space, and beyond that was the Unicorns.
Unicorns were powerful creatures that resided in secrecy deep within the forest. Most monsters were helpless before the combat prowess of the Unicorns, and the Unicorns possessed such high intelligence they could communicate effectively with humans and the like.
If one negative thing had to be said about them, then it would be that they disallowed anyone to mount them save virgin maidens, but this was not all that big of a deal, because the Unicorns were also aware that some of their fellow Unicorns had become appetizer served alongside alcohol by the Barbarians and were deeply enraged.
Behind the Unicorns were giant Tree Spirits who have lived through Aeons of time, who were protecting the elvan archers that formed the core of the elvan army.
And between the units of elvan army were the powerful reinforcing warriors from the various member states of the World Parliament, preparing to deal with any eventualities.
With the battle imminent, Sungchul looked up at the sky and felt the direction of the wind against his hand.
Clear skies, wind were blowing south west.
Even the heavens was on Sungchul and the elf’s side.
‘This battle. We can’t lose.’
Sungchul secured the Fallen Leaf of Spring on his back and the Fal Garaz materialized in his hands.
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“no one comes close to the combat prowess of he” >>> no one comes close to his* combat prowess
I’m not sure if the first version is wrong, but it is odd for sure.