Chapter 252
“Huff. It’s endless….”
The pillar of the kingdom’s army at the front lines.
Black Wing Duke removed his helmet, drenched in sweat.
“Father, we are still on the front lines.”
“My daughter, Lucia. Haven’t we already killed all those that dared to attack?”
“No.”
Shwack! Boom!
With a blank expression that was clear even through her helmet, Lucia imbued her arrow with aura and fired, exploding the skull of a troll fighter lying in wait.
“It seems someone didn’t know that troll warriors possess vitality far surpassing that of ordinary trolls.”
“Uhm… These slackers. I need to retrain them.”
The Black Wing Duke, who had inadvertently exposed a critical point to the enemy attempting to ambush him, cleared his throat.
Though the aura he constantly maintained would protect him from a single surprise attack, Lucia was reminding him to recognize his role as the pillar of the kingdom.
More than anything, as his daughter, Lucia couldn’t help but worry about the excessive burdens her father was carrying.
“But don’t worry too much. Since the ‘incident’, my body feels like it’s returned to its prime.”
Lucia frowned at her optimistic father’s words but soon turned away without a reply. She had witnessed the truth of his words up close.
‘Mrs. Roswell… she did something, didn’t she?’
During the Golden Dragon revival turmoil in the royal castle, the Black Wing Duke had lost consciousness due to Mrs. Roswell. When he awoke, it was as if he had been reborn, reclaiming his robust physique.
While this was good news for the kingdom, Lucia couldn’t take joy in it.
‘Who knows what tricks that woman might have up her sleeve?’
Leaving the Black Wing Duke behind to oversee the battlefield, Lucia returned to the command tent at the rear of the front lines to sort through the backlog of reports.
There were plenty of competent strategists and officers with administrative skills attached by the royal family. There were also commanders sent by noble families aiming to earn merits.
In fact, some families had even sent their heads to the front lines. Lucia, the deputy commander of the royal guard, was acting as the chief commander in place of the Black Wing Duke because there was no one else trustworthy.
‘Maintaining the front lines is reaching its limit….’
The Argon Kingdom had previously lost its border. It was recovered thanks to the immense efforts of the Black Wing Duke, who had grown stronger, and the comrades of the Dragon Slayer. Now, to maintain the hard-fought front lines, the Black Wing Duke had barely gotten any sleep.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough. The number of Greenskins flooding in from the Land of Warriors was endless, while the skill of the kingdom’s soldiers was gradually declining.
There weren’t many competent commanders or strategists, and desertions among the soldiers were quietly increasing. Given the disturbing movements of the Greenskins recently, it seemed likely that the northern front would have to be abandoned.
‘Then, the next line of defense will be Ro-Elpellan….’
“Deputy Commander Lucia, urgent report from the rear!”
“What is it?”
A dispatch had arrived for Lucia, who was crafting contingency plans for how to move if the front lines were breached, in place of the Black Wing Duke who had no interest in commanding.
If it was an urgent report from further back than the command tent at the rear of the front lines, it meant it was from the Karuna Plains where King Orion resided.
‘Suddenly?’
With curiosity and concern, Lucia sent away the subordinate who delivered the dispatch and quickly read the opening lines, only to gape in shock.
“A detachment?!”
Although it bore the seal of King Orion, making it authentic, the contents were hard to believe.
The northern front was supposedly under complete control by the kingdom’s forces, so how could Greenskin warriors, including ogres, have descended to assault the Karuna Plains?
However, the latter part of the dispatch held even more shocking news.
‘The Dragon Slayer… has he returned?!’
Dragon Slayer Gordi Khan had reappeared, resolved the crisis, and planned to march north with a dragon to secure the front lines. The dispatch also revealed that a demon was the instigator, urging a strategic revision to minimize casualties.
“What on earth….”
Lucia’s face turned grim as she finished reading the report.
Detachment, ogres, dragon Slayer, dragons, demons…
Each of these words alone carried enough weight, but all together in one dispatch made maintaining composure almost impossible.
“This is something father must know.”
Lucia immediately set out to find the Black Wing Duke, who was busy organizing the battlefield. On her way, she tossed the dispatch bearing King Orion’s seal to the commanders and strategists who had come to discuss tactics with her.
However.
“Gaaaah…”
“Monster!”
Lucia’s efforts were in vain.
“Lucia! Run!”
A single monster had burst onto the scene.
“Father…?”
The Black Wing Duke’s side was hollow as if a giant crocodile had taken a bite out of him. The battlefield was strewn with the bodies of soldiers and knights, some missing parts of their bodies, and fewer than twenty survivors remained.
Nearly a hundred or two hundred people had been cleaning up the battlefield, but now—
“Lucia—! Get a grip!”
The Black Wing Duke’s shout brought Lucia back to her senses. But no matter how mentally prepared she was, the situation could not be changed by one person’s clarity alone.
“Keek. Kik. You taste pretty good. Wonder what flavor you are?”
The monster that had rampaged through the battlefield, grievously wounding the Black Wing Duke and devouring hundreds of soldiers and dozens of knights, spoke while drooling.
Surprisingly, it used the Argon Kingdom’s language, albeit somewhat slowly but fluently.
“What are you?”
“Krik! I asked. first!”
Though rare, it was not unheard of for monsters or Greenskins to learn human languages. Occasionally, highly intelligent individuals mastered human speech to hunt their prey.
But Greenskins—
And especially goblins—could not learn human languages due to their low intelligence.
Yet, the norms had long been shattered.
“A goblin… how…?”
The mere idea of a single goblin causing such a massacre was unbelievable. That a single goblin could inflict such serious injuries on the kingdom’s strongest, the Black Wing Duke, was inconceivable.
“Not. a Gob. lin! Kih.”
At that moment, the monster sneered at Lucia. Its expression was not clear due to its grotesque face, but the upward curve of its mouth revealed it was mocking her.
“I am. the Little Giant!”
A demonic tattoo emblazoned on its slender arm, smeared with bits of flesh, glowed crimson.
“King of Warriors. And. Apostle of the God of Battle!”
Wham.
The Black Wing Duke’s aura-forged sword slashed at the Little Giant, slicing off a chunk of its side. As soon as Lucia saw the cut hit the target, she drew her bow.
‘I just have to kill it here!’
What did it matter if the King of Warriors was a goblin, or if it attacked the front lines alone?
She just needed to kill it now. As Lucia’s eyes narrowed fiercely, she infused a steel arrow as long as a spear with her aura and fired.
“Lucia! Run away…!”
But then, her father’s face, screaming till his eyes seemed about to burst, filled her vision. Lucia couldn’t understand why her father was telling her to run.
“Kik. Human woman. Doesn’t look tasty. So I’ll just. kill you.”
It was only when darkness that filled her vision was revealed to be the gaping maw of the Little Giant that she realized.
Too late.
Crunch!
***
The Black Wing Duke screamed until his throat tore. The moment he saw the Little Giant’s grotesque maw consuming his daughter’s head, his heart pounded fiercely, and his blood boiled as if on fire.
Somehow feeling his armor was too small, he shredded it with his suddenly elongated claws. He ‘flew’ towards the Little Giant, who remained unmoving with his daughter’s head in its jaws.
Crackle!
The aura-infused claws slashed the Little Giant’s back. Despite being unscathed by the aura-forged sword strikes, the Little Giant bled and was flung aside, as the Black Wing Duke carefully cradled his daughter’s body. His eyes shook as if there was an earthquake.
“Lu…cia…?”
She wasn’t dead.-Despite having her entire head swallowed—
“When did you learn that?”
“……!”
The familiar voice shocked the Black Wing Duke. He realized why Lucia was unharmed.
“Well, it’s quite an amusing sight, but not as interesting as that monster. Black Wing Duke.”
“Ludmilla…!”
“To think it could bite through a spatial barrier. It’s definitely a servant of some demon.”
The witch of the Reversed Cross Forest and the Duke’s daughter, Ludmilla, had protected Lucia’s head with spatial magic.
“Th-Thank you….”
The Black Wing Duke’s snake-like slit pupils reflected a complex guilt—guilt from knowing about Ludmilla’s mistreatment by her family since childhood and not intervening.
But Ludmilla, seemingly uninterested in such trivial past matters, snapped her fingers.
“This isn’t the time to reminisce.”
Crack─!!
The Little Giant, with a mouth double the size of its body, lunged at Ludmilla, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier, gnashing its teeth in frustration. The Black Wing Duke, his side wound already healed, lunged at the Little Giant with his clawed feet, covered in scales.
The battle between the goblin adorned with demonic tattoos and the knight with hard scales and elongated claws looked more like a territorial fight between monsters.
But to everyone’s surprise, the Little Giant gained the upper hand.
Bam─! Thud!!
Within less than ten exchanges, the Little Giant sent the Black Wing Duke flying with its bare hands. It was unbelievable strength from such a small frame, even smaller than a typical goblin.
But the speed was even more astounding. Before the Black Wing Duke, who was flung into the air, could hit the ground, the Little Giant caught up and opened its maw wide.
“Gotcha.”
At that moment, Ludmilla clenched her fist while looking at the Little Giant. The space surrounding the Little Giant instantly morphed into a prison, trapping it.
Even though the Little Giant tried to break free with its tremendous strength, it couldn’t escape and began gnawing at the space itself to destroy it.
From behind, suddenly—
‘This is my chance to impress the boss!’
Alejandro, who had concealed himself with godlike stealth techniques, stabbed a magical awl into the Little Giant.
“Die, you monster!”
Squelch─.
Until now, Alejandro’s ‘Magical Awl’ had penetrated everything with ease. This time, it effortlessly pierced through the back of the Little Giant’s head, emerging from the other side’s head.
It was undeniably a fatal blow, and Alejandro was certain that he had successfully assassinated the Little Giant. At that moment, the Black Wing Duke, who had been knocked down by the Little Giant, rose to his feet and uttered the worst possible line one could say in such a situation.
“Cough! Cough… Is it… over…?”
“Damn it! The boss said never to say that during a fight!”
Alejandro recoiled in horror, quickly backing away from the Little Giant, as did the bewildered Black Wing Duke.
And then.
“Kik. Kikik! The God. does not. permit death!”
The Little Giant, expelling dark magic from every pore of its body, heralded the beginning of a second phase.
‘Boss! Hurry up and come deal with this… before we all get killed here!’
TL’s Corner:
My heart skipped a beat when I read Lucia died. No side characters have died, so it came as a surprise.
