NOVEL NEXT Chapter 199
Chapter 199 – Internal Enemy (9)
‘For now, I’ll save the points and observe the situation.’
A war with the local forces, not the bugs. I decided not to worry too much.
The residents had already proven their abilities. The various support poured into fighting bugs had been absorbed by the residents, who were now walking a new path, free from the old civilization and order.
Of course, I couldn’t let my guard down since I didn’t know what variables would pop up in the future, so I chose to conserve my important resource, points, instead of spending them aimlessly.
“—, —!”
It seems the main forces are finally about to move.
They had been hiding and guarding the portals I had opened, but now they were ready to charge into the portal.
At that moment, I turned my head to another screen. There, I saw the enemy advancing into the Land of the Elves.
‘At least tens of thousands.’
The dense numbers on the screen appeared similar to the soldiers that Chieftain Luke had mustered with all his might.
What’s terrifying is that this is only a small portion. They were merely one expeditionary force.
“—!”
They advanced, destroying the forest as they clustered together. Though the Elves’ ambushes and guerrilla tactics were inflicting damage, they withstood it with their massive force.
A real war, unlike anything from movies or dramas, spread across the magnified screen. Both allies and enemies were pushing themselves toward death with resolute expressions.
It’s sad and infuriating. The anger and determination that they exude should rightly be aimed at the clear evil bugs.
On the battlefield, countless people were sacrificed under the orders of a few hypocrites who didn’t even show their faces.
“Shouldn’t we make them focus as much as possible over here?”
Seeing that scene, I bitterly smiled and began to intervene in this war properly. While it was unfortunate, once the war started, my priority became the protection of my allies.
“—!?”
As I drew out my weapon through the destruction of the desktop, the enemies were astonished and flustered, looking up at the sky.
Their reaction was entirely different from that of the bugs, who rushed in without a care. They had survival instincts, which is why they felt fear.
It was only natural for them to crumble and shake under that fear.
‘It’s not the first time, but to them, I must be the Evil God itself.’
The bullets I fired from the machine gun struck them. They resisted with crude gunpowder weapons and magic, actively using magical defense barriers to block the Elves’ bullets and arrows; however, unfortunately, the trajectory of my bullets was different from theirs.
“—…!”
“–, —!”
Countless people were falling, spraying blood as they tangled together… Unable to look closely, I minimized the screen.
It was a short time, not longer than 20 seconds, but during that time, the machine gun, moving with my mouse, decimated the area.
A horrific disaster that killed hundreds, possibly over a thousand, with a single blow.
[Achievement Unlocked: Descent of the Evil God (1)]
“Ha. I followed the orders, and why does it feel like I’m the Evil God?”
The Master Program mocked me with an absurd achievement certification. It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t argue against it.
To the enemies fighting against the residents, I must certainly look like the Evil God itself.
*
“C-Commander…!”
“What on earth happened? What is going on right now?!”
Even the elves, who were now familiar with the situation, flinched and stammered when witnessing the scene firsthand. It wouldn’t be strange if newcomers got scared speechless.
Commander Royce was no different. As an elite noble who had climbed the ranks and now led an army, he found himself sitting on the ground, tears welling up uncontrollably.
If he had been a bit older or more delicate, he would have had to change his pants.
“Truly, divine punishment has fallen from the sky. Hundreds of soldiers have died!”
With the commander in such a state, how could his subordinates keep their cool? Similarly panicking, one of his aides babbled as he pointed to the sky.
The disaster that showered them with bullets, causing them to pop like ants, had now vanished without a trace.
“C-calm down. Surely the Emperor had something to say…”
“If such divine punishment falls again, we will be annihilated, Commander!”
“No. That’s impossible. It can’t be that divine punishment falls continuously. Absolutely not!”
Royce recalled Rihir’s words. Even if miracles like divine punishment existed, they had limitations.
Being too powerful causes constraints in projecting that power. In this world, that’s what gods were meant to be. And his speculation wasn’t completely wrong either.
“But Commander, the soldiers are already paralyzed with fear. There’s no way to advance properly when we don’t know when or where this will happen again!”
“Shut up! We must fulfill the emperor’s command. Hurry and urge the soldiers forward! And quickly request reinforcements. If we have the God’s favor, it may not be enough with just us.”
For the success of his mission, or rather, to save his own neck, Royce pushed his men into peril.
Adding the request for reinforcements at the end was the last remnant of his conscience.
‘Hmm, I suppose just chasing them away won’t suffice? But it seems I managed to draw their attention well.’
Instead, that was what Junyoung had been aiming for.
To make the enemy focus as much as possible on the war with the Elves, while the main force crossed the grassland and struck them from the opposite side like the wind.
“They are still advancing despite the divine punishment.”
“Don’t worry. Their morale has already hit rock bottom. Those who are walking just to avoid death from poison won’t have any fighting spirit.”
And the elves had already picked up on that fact. Eve, who was directly leading the Elf guerrilla troops, took her eyes off the scope and smiled faintly.
“Your Majesty, that place is indeed land tainted with the Evil God revered by the Elves.”
“Indeed. I worry that the curses from that place might spread!”
The news from the battlefield was crucial enough that it was sent to the Imperial Palace using the fastest communication magic the moment it occurred.
Since there had already been occurrences of divine punishment falling right in the middle of the Imperial Palace, the ministers were stirred into a panic, beginning to plot how to subtly withdraw from the situation.
No matter how you think about it, the Land of the Elves has much more to lose than to gain.
“Consider changing your perspective. What if it’s not divine punishment, but a last-ditch effort? To me, both the Evil God and the Elves look like they are desperately struggling against our allies.”
However, Rihir calmly shook his head in response. His arrogant eyes were so resolute and filled with conviction that they could silence others.
“As soon as the reinforcements gather, support the rear of the vanguard. The number of Elves who fought against the Black Monsters won’t be that great, and the Evil God’s divine punishment has a limited number of times it can fall, so they can’t just unleash it recklessly.”
‘How on earth…? Could it be those hounds again?’
Moreover, Rihir oddly knew a lot about the Elves and the ‘Evil God.’
The ministers could only guess that the information had come from a secret intelligence organization that Rihir had cultivated.
‘This time, I will definitely trample them. They are those who must be punished, even if I risk everything.’
But in truth, Rihir did not know how he came to know such things. After all, all the information injected into him was information that the bugs had naturally collected.
Just like a snail infected with a parasite unknowingly crawled up to high grass to throw itself to the birds, Rihir, too, was slowly changing into something different without any conscious awareness.
His ambition to achieve accomplishments that no one else had achieved gradually transformed into a strong hatred and obsession towards a specific target, consuming him.
“And hurry to contact the neighboring countries. We must clean up the Barbarian Tribes of the grasslands that have been an eyesore since time immemorial.”
“R-right now?!”
“The ones causing disputes there are brazenly disregarding us. If they don’t surrender, we’ll crush them and hand the throne to those tribes who cooperate with us.”
His animosity towards the tribal groups in the eastern grasslands also stemmed from that.
The cunning bugs that infected Rihir plotted to move the Emperor of the Empire to eliminate their nemesis.
This was the last gambit selected by the bugs, who had lost in direct confrontation. Unlike them, they had accurately targeted the human groups intertwined with numerous interests.
This was the one variable that differed from Junyoung’s expectations.
Now that Rihir had been consumed by the bugs, his target was the entire Arin tribe.
“The Emperor seems to be in quite a hurry.”
And that intention-filled communication soon began to spread in all directions.
Utilizing the powers that had dominated the order of the continent for a long time, he intended to change the tides of this fight.
Naturally, this news also reached the king of the Kingdom of Baruk, which had secretly formed an alliance with the Arin Tribe.
“It does seem a bit strange. There’s no reason for him to act so aggressively at this time.”
“Rumor has it, he’s offering tremendous rewards for participating in the war. The Emperor I know is a calculating and rational person. This hurried handling of the situation isn’t typical of him, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor seemed off. Surprisingly, it was the ministers of the Baruk Kingdom, who were farther removed from the Emperor than the ministers of the Empire, who first noticed this.
Of course, at this point, it was only a trivial suspicion, but it was a meaningless concern nonetheless.
They had already firmly decided which side to align with.
“They have already made up their minds to attack the Empire, haven’t they? It’s unexpected that they would retaliate as if they knew in advance, but from what I can see, it seems to be too late the moment the Imperial Army turned its forces to the west.”
Watching from across the river. It was just the right expression for them. They had no need to place any bets.
“Let’s just buy time in case of unforeseen circumstances.”
The best strategy was to say they understood and drag out the time. After all, results would come during that time.
The ones who had reigned as hegemons until now wouldn’t be directly intervening to see if they would be trampled by the horrifying enemies known as bugs, whom they had ignored, or if they would ultimately uphold the order.
“W-what is this?! What’s happening?!”
And as predicted, the main forces of the Arin tribe were now charging across the portal into the border.
The merchants from the Imperial side, active in the western grasslands, were stunned as countless soldiers galloped toward the west without warning, not knowing when they had appeared.