43
“We will follow you even in the face of death!”
One of the soldiers shouted at Minhyuk.
Then all the soldiers shouted the same words in unison.
[We will follow you even in the face of death!]
It’s very common for soldiers to follow their commanders.
However, the current cries of Asdel’s strongest elite troops were not clichés.
They already knew very well who their master was.
So the master himself shouldn’t get confused about that.
‘How much has it been right?’
The 4,000 elite troops were the product of the effort and sincerity that Minhyuk had poured out during that time.
He was the one who put on the armor they were wearing and chose each crossbow bolt.
‘They’re like children.’
Minhyuk had already decided a long time ago.
He would become the emperor of Asdel.
The contract he received from the current emperor stated that he would hand over the throne only if he married the princess.
But now, such clauses couldn’t hold Minhyuk back.
Whether he’d inherit the throne peacefully or usurp it was all up to Minhyuk.
In any case, 4,000 elite soldiers were already his followers.
And Minhyuk would continue to increase the number of loyal subordinates in the future.
That’s why he intended to seize Melbeck.
The reason Minhyuk hunted monsters was to accumulate return time.
And their nests were scattered all over the continent of Rania.
To accumulate return time quickly and in large quantities, it wasn’t enough to rule just the Asdel stronghold.
The most ideal situation would be to get his hands on all twelve strongholds of the continent of Rania.
***
In the darkness, Melbeck’s great army was on the move.
In the middle of the procession was a large carriage.
More than 30 soldiers were pulling the carriage by manpower instead of horses.
Inside the carriage rode the king of Melbeck and his favorite concubine.
“Your Majesty! Will you really be able to extend the territory of your domain to the Heart of Teidon?”
“Yes, Melbeck’s territory will be several times larger than it is now.”
“Wow! Then next spring, I’ll be able to go flower viewing with Your Majesty in the expanded territory!”
The king answered, holding the concubine in his arms.
“Why go outside to view flowers? My flower is right here.”
“Oh my, Your Majesty…”
The king of Melbeck was already feeling elated as if he had already gotten his hands on the Heart of Teidon.
He knew that Asdel’s expeditionary force had weapons made of star metal, but their armor was ordinary.
‘Even so, there are only 4,000 of them. It’ll be easy to burn them all to death.’
The king of Melbeck planned to launch a large-scale fire attack on Asdel.
He would burn down all of Asdel’s expeditionary force, who would be drunk with victory after getting their hands on the Bead of Teidon, and take the bead.
And he planned to search through the pile of corpses of the enemy soldiers burned to death and collect the weapons made of star metal.
If that happened, the next course of action was set.
He would strengthen his national power with the resources obtained from the expanded territory of his domain and the star metal, and invade and conquer the other strongholds of the continent of Rania one by one.
‘I will become the emperor who unifies the continent!’
Kukuku-
Just imagining it made him so happy that a frivolous laugh escaped his lips.
The king of Melbeck became impatient.
He gave an order to the subject outside the carriage.
“Call the general!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Poof-
The subject blew a horn.
A moment later, an old general with snow-white hair and beard came running.
He was the one who had taken over as general in place of Tarman.
“Why is the marching speed so slow?”
“The path is rugged and dark, making it impossible to increase our marching speed. And with the constant attacks from the beasts, our wounded are piling up.”
“How are you handling the wounded?”
“Those who are still able-bodied are being supported by their fellow soldiers, while those who are too weak to walk have been loaded onto wagons.”
“I see.”
The king looked at the general with pity in his eyes.
Then he pointed to the general’s military sword at his waist.
“Let me borrow that for a moment.”
“What?”
“Are you losing your hearing in your old age?”
The general handed the military sword to the king.
The king then turned to the concubine and asked her, “Can you use this sword to increase our marching speed? If you succeed, I will reward you handsomely.”
“What kind of reward?”
“When our territory expands, I will grant you a vast fiefdom.”
“How vast?”
“What if I gave you a fiefdom ten times the size of your father’s land?”
Her father had originally been a poor noble.
But now, he had risen to power on her back.
“Alright!”
She took the military sword and stepped out of the carriage.
.
.
.
After a while,
The speed of the carriage the king was riding in increased.
A short while later, the concubine returned to the carriage.
The king asked her with a look of admiration, “Our marching speed really has increased! How did you do it?”
“I removed the wounded from the ranks.”
This meant that she had abandoned all of the wounded.
But that wasn’t all.
“I stripped the wounded naked and threw them to the beasts as bait.”
With thousands of wounded to feast on, the beasts greatly reduced their attacks on the main force.
This allowed them to march much faster.
“Well done! I would have done the same!”
The king pulled the concubine onto his lap and stroked her hair.
The general, who had heard her words, had a gloomy expression on his face.
The king returned the military sword to the general and said, “My flower is sharper than your blade, don’t you agree?”
The old general gritted his teeth for a moment before bowing his head in agreement.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
***
Minhyuk called out to Jeria, the representative of the elves.
“Take your kin who are in the fortress.”
“Yes? But we haven’t gathered the promised amount of Pookari fruits yet.”
He had set a condition of 70,000 Pookari fruits in exchange for handing over their kin.
However, he only actually needed 50,000.
They had already gathered more than 50,000, and more than half of them had been juiced.
So, he didn’t need any more fruits.
If he were to pile up the rest, they would just rot as they got older.
Well, he could use the refrigerator to turn the Pookari fruits into 5.56mm ammunition for long-term storage.
But who in their right mind would keep something like that hidden in their house?
“We have enough fruits now. You don’t need to bring any more.”
“Really?”
Jeria’s face lit up.
Minhyuk instructed his adjutant to hand over all the elves in the fortress to Jeria.
“Thank you so much!”
Jeria handed Minhyuk a bracelet made of stones and jewels.
“This is a symbol of eternal friendship between Asdel and the elves of the Cono Forest!”
Jeria led the elves back into the forest.
Minhyuk looked at the bracelet she had given him and murmured.
‘Friendship, huh…’
.
.
.
The day of the operation finally arrived.
Minhyuk led the special forces deep into Teidon’s territory.
Thump, thump-
A fragrant smell was carried by the wind.
Minhyuk followed the scent.
And finally, he reached Teidon’s liquor tank.
The center of a rock much larger than a house was hollowed out.
Fruit wine was stored inside it.
“Let’s begin.”
“Yes, sir!”
The special forces soldiers were all carrying wooden boxes hardened with sticky sap on their backs.
They were filled with Pookari juice.
Gulp-
The special forces took turns pouring Pookari juice into the liquor tank.
Then they hid nearby and waited for Teidon to appear.
Time passed and the full moon rose brilliantly.
Thud-
Thud-
The ground shook as a giant bear approached the jug of alcohol.
It was Taydon.
He had awakened from his nap and come to enjoy some alcohol.
The Special Forces members were astonished by Taydon’s overwhelming size.
The largest beast they had ever seen until now was the Giant Duck.
The Giant Duck was over 4 meters tall.
But compared to Taydon, it was like a baby duck.
‘It’s huge!’
Minhyuk was also surprised.
Seeing Taydon up close was like watching a scene from a monster movie.
He seemed to be over 20 meters tall.
‘Its Magic Stone must be incredibly large as well.’
If Taydon’s Magic Stone was similar in size to the Giant Duck’s stone, he could put it in his refrigerator and see what it would transform into.
But judging by his size, it seemed like it would be much larger.
Taydon dipped his front paw into the jug of alcohol and pulled it out.
Then he licked his paw.
He seemed to be checking the taste of the alcohol.
Splash-
He plunged his snout into the jug of alcohol.
Gulp, gulp-
And he began to guzzle the alcohol.
That was when it happened.
A group of Elves suddenly appeared from somewhere and shouted at Taydon.
“Forest King Taydon! You must not drink that alcohol! It has been poisoned!”
Minhyuk frowned as he looked at them.
‘What are they up to now?’
Roar-
The bear, who had been drinking the alcohol, lifted his head.
And after looking at the Elves for a moment,
Swish-
He swung his front paw at the Elves.
The Elves’ torsos were ripped apart like sheets of paper by Taydon’s claws.
From Noble mtl dot com
Roar!
Taydon, whose fun had been interrupted while he was drinking, became angry and began to rampage.
It didn’t seem like he would obediently go back to drinking.
‘There’s no other way.’
Minhyuk signaled to his adjutant.
Thud-
He blew the horn.
It was a call to summon the main force waiting nearby.
We will confront Teidon head-on.
Rumble-
4,000 elite soldiers came running and surrounded Teidon.
“Fire.”
Thwack-
The soldiers fired crossbow bolts at Teidon simultaneously.
However, the crossbow bolts did little damage to the giant monster.
Led by Minhyuk and the special forces, the soldiers charged at it with spears and swords drawn.
Whoosh-
Teidon breathed fire at the soldiers.
However, the armored soldiers ignored the flames and broke through the wall of fire.
Swish-
Despite Teidon’s stomps, the metal plates of the Star attached to the armor protected the soldiers’ lives.
“Die!”
Thousands of soldiers clung to it, stabbing and slashing with swords and spears made of the Star metal.
It was like a fight between a giant beast and a swarm of fire ants.
Time passed like that.
And as it did, the odds of victory began to tip.
Teidon’s wounds accumulated over time, but the Asdel soldiers kept recovering by taking potions.
Thud-
Finally, Teidon’s heavy body collapsed on the ground.
The soldiers climbed onto its head and stabbed its eyeballs, crown, and temples, its vital points.
Clang-
A man jumped onto Teidon’s chest with a huge greatsword in his hand.
It was Minhyuk.
The sword in his hand had a blade twice as long as a normal greatsword.
It was a monster-dismantling sword specially made at Valin’s instruction.
Swish-
Clank-
As Minhyuk swung the greatsword, Teidon’s chest was split open.
Blood spurted everywhere, revealing its magic bead.
As expected, it was much larger than the Giant Ori’s bead.
It seemed to be over 2 meters in diameter.
<Giant Intermediate Magic Bead>
– A giant bead where magic power is concentrated.
– Magic tools can be imbued with magic power using the bead.
Minhyuk joined forces with the soldiers nearby and pulled out Teidon’s magic bead.
Then, a message appeared before his eyes.
<You have slain Teydon. 24 hours of Return Time have been credited as a reward.>
Just by killing Teydon, he had earned one day of Return Time.
But that wasn’t all.
<You have succeeded in the mission to retrieve Teydon’s heart. 24 hours of Return Time have been credited as a reward.>
<Restore the Altar of Protection in Asdel Stronghold with Teydon’s heart. If successful, 72 hours of Return Time will be credited.>
Completing the mission would grant him an additional 24 hours of Return Time.
By killing Teradon, he had earned two days of Return Time in one go.
Furthermore, if he transported the Magic Bead to Asdel Stronghold and restored the Altar of Protection, he would earn an additional three days of Return Time.
‘Alright!’
Minhyuk descended to where Teradon’s corpse lay.
The soldiers dragged the surviving elves from earlier before Minhyuk.
Because of those scoundrels, what should have been an easy task had required the deployment of the entire force.
As a result, an enormous number of soldiers had been injured, and the consumption of potions had been immense.
They had caused astronomical damage to Asdel, so executing them on the spot would have been justified.
However, Minhyuk did not execute the elves.
“I shall hold the entire elven population of this forest responsible for their crimes.”
He would bind the elves not with friendship but with a master-servant relationship.
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