Episode 190

3.

'What is it this time?'

With one coincidence piling up after another, he couldn't help but feel the pattern was getting boring. At the same time, when he remembered he'd just spent an entire week hiking, it seemed a bit much to call this a calculated coincidence.

Even if they had been dropped into the same general area, the Forbidden Mountains were so vast it would take years just to circle them. The odds of two tiny specks like them running into each other without a plan had to be astronomically low.

Which was why he was both amazed and curious. Why did they look both relieved to see him and desperately anxious?

His muttered question received no answer.

Kim Buja didn't bother to ask for a verbal explanation.

Because he saw it.

'You've got to be kidding me.'

The princess's group was sprinting toward him, and behind them, a Holy Knight Order at least dozens of times their size was in hot pursuit.

"Kyuuuuu!"

Hwangdo let out a harsh roar.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

But the little dragon's cry was quickly drowned out by the thundering march of the army.

Kim Buja didn't hesitate. He turned and ran, faster than anyone.

He was the one who had demonstrated back in Chapter 1-3 that wars weren't won by numbers alone, which was exactly why he knew better than anyone else.

'How the hell are you supposed to beat that?'

Unless you had a special strategy, there was nothing more important in war than numbers.

His long-awaited chance to escape the Forbidden Mountains, his first in a week, had instantly turned into a frantic chase through the Forbidden Mountains.

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Overturning such a large numerical difference was impossible, but getting away wasn't all that difficult. Besides, the princess's fleeing group was so small it made him wonder how they were ever supposed to fight that army with so few people.

"Where did everyone else go?"

"They're scattered all over, running for their lives. A lot of them died, too."

The princess bit her lip, her tone flat, but her words were filled with anger and helplessness. She couldn't help it. They had been doing so well. Even in the worst of circumstances, she hadn't given up, fighting to the very end for the best possible outcome. And she had succeeded, turning public sentiment against the Temple.

Objectively, the situation wasn't bad at all. It was what they had intended, and while things had gone further than expected, one could even say the result was better for her.

The problem was the guilt over the countless innocents sacrificed in the process.

"You did well."

The princess wasn't going to stop. So he pulled her into a tight hug. As they moved forward, more people would die, and the continent would gradually fill with those who revealed their hideous, evil nature. But it was a necessary trial.

All he could offer was comfort.

Behind her, the saintess, her face hidden by her hood, looked just as grim. While traveling with the princess, she must have been forced to witness the raw, ugly truth of the Temple she had refused to acknowledge.

You didn't have to be the saintess to see the situation for what it was. The Temple was no longer the institution they had known. It was nothing but a den of devils, ruled by the logic of power, ignoring the will of God while using His name as a front to fill their own coffers and bolster their authority. If anyone disagreed with them, they were branded heretics and massacred. Instead of offering a single word of apology, the Temple declared that the dead had defied God's will and launched a Holy War in judgment. They were worse than devils.

"Haah…"

After listening to everything the princess and the saintess had to say, Kim Buja let out a long sigh. The state of the continent and its ugly realities were, for the most part, things he had already anticipated, so they weren't particularly shocking. He had expected this, and he had spent his week of hiking and meditation formulating plans for this very scenario.

That deep sigh was for the plans he now had to make.

'What am I supposed to do?'

When someone is driven into a corner and decides to throw everything away, charging in with the resolve to destroy all they have built, they are not easily stopped. All the more so when that someone is an organization—a religious one that ruled the continent. They were now unleashing all the power and authority they had accumulated, without caring what anyone thought.

Who could stop them?

The only option was internal strife, but even that was difficult with the Allied Forces involved. The two powers that had toppled the Empire had now united in God's name, cutting down anyone who dared to raise a hand against them.

He had to defeat such enemies with force. He could no longer rely on a small, elite group to exploit their only weakness—their masks—the way he had before.

Rise up with those who had seen their ugliness and been disillusioned, and win the war?

'It'd be faster to just assassinate the Pope and the head of the Allied Forces.'

When the Empire fell, it had collapsed so quickly and helplessly, partly because of traitors within, but also because the people had turned their backs on it. It wasn't because they couldn't trust the Emperor or because they were disappointed by rumors of the princess falling to evil. They were afraid for their own lives as the Allied Forces poured in from all sides.

Who was good and who was evil didn't matter to the powerless.

It was the same this time. Even if the Temple had massacred innocents just like the Allied Forces, who would step forward to fight when there was a sword at their own throat?

Some would, but they would all die.

And once there was no one left to raise their voice, the Holy War would end in the temple's victory.

There was only one thing Kim Buja had to do. No, there was only one thing he could do to clear this quest.

'Whether it's a battle or a war, I need to win at least once before I can do anything.'

He glanced sidelong at Hwangdo.

"Kyuu?"

Not a chance. Hwangdo had grown enough to puff out his chest against the scavengers of the Forbidden Mountains, but against knights who had held swords and honed their mana for decades—hundreds, thousands of them—he didn't stand a chance.

So his gaze shifted to the man beside him.

The pinnacle of such knights. Kallis.

He was still alive, still serving the princess, and had played the biggest role in bringing things to this point. If they gathered Kallis and all the surviving knights, then combined that with the power of the gold Shop, maybe they could form a viable plan.

"We've already tried a frontal assault. It's impossible."

"Hmm."

"We're far too short on knights."

Perhaps sensing the meaning in his gaze, Kallis answered coolly. Even when Buja added a glare full of distrust, doubting his skills, the answer didn't change. This was not the time for pride. Kallis knew that, which was why his assessment was so cold.

"And the Allied Forces also have a knight who has reached the realm of a Grand Sword Master. In single combat, it might be different, but in a war, we have no chance."

A bitter smile tugged at Buja's lips. At the same time, he noticed the sword mark carved into the side of Kallis's armor. It was proof that this judgment hadn't been made without crossing blades.

He didn't press further and looked away. He had known. He had only checked on the off chance. No matter how strong a knight was, one person couldn't sweep a battlefield alone. People might talk about one man fighting a hundred as a figure of speech, but you never heard anyone say one man against a thousand, or one against ten thousand. There was a reason for that.

Of course, things might change if he supported them from behind. His own abilities were nothing special, but as he had already shown in the canyon, he had enough gold to shake the battlefield.

The problem was, he had already shown his hand once. The other side would be prepared. He couldn't afford to underestimate them. The moment you assumed you were at an advantage and your opponent was an idiot, you would lose battles you should have won.

He needed a way to be sure he wouldn't be overpowered. Just once. He needed power that wouldn't just result in another one-sided rout like the battle in the canyon.

"Mmm…"

"Kyuu?"

"If only you were fifty levels higher."

He found himself indulging in ridiculous fantasies—things that were impossible in the current situation. If he was going to go that far, there was no need for Hwangdo to become a giant dragon. In his imagination, he could just as easily assume he himself was level 80, with a spare twenty million gold to throw around. At that point, he wouldn't even need Hwangdo. He could buy a Meteor-like skill with gold, wrap himself in Legendary items that boosted mana, and spam magic to become the battlefield ruler he had always dreamed of.

But dreams were just dreams. It was fine to dream in everyday life, but in a situation like this, where he had to face reality, those dreams were poison.

"Isn't there a real dragon lying around somewhere?" he grumbled. Dozens of eyes turned toward him. It was a story more fantastical than any dream.

"Since this is the Forbidden Mountains, maybe a dragon lives here?"

"Right?"

"If you became a Dragon Slayer and rode a dragon into battle, it might work."

"Good grief."

The princess cheerfully voiced what everyone else had kept in their hearts but had not dared to say. It was utterly absurd.

"Finding a dragon is the problem. There are even rumors now that there are no dragons left on the continent."

On top of that, it had been so long since a dragon had appeared in the historical record that the Forbidden Mountains had long since become just another mountain range that might, possibly, be home to one. That was why they could so casually toss around the name of dragons—beings more terrifying than God himself to the people of the continent—and talk about becoming Dragon Slayers.

And hadn't Buja himself spent seven days wandering this range, secretly hoping for the same thing?

'Though, why would they care? No matter how humans bash each other's heads in, it probably looks like bugs fighting to them.'

He clicked his tongue and decided to look for another way.

That was when it happened.

Grrrrrrr—!

A chill ran down his spine. Goosebumps erupted all over his body in an instant. His body shook uncontrollably. He clutched his trembling legs and looked around, but he couldn't find the source. All he could see were people in the same situation as him.

Even Kallis, who had reached the level of a Grand Sword Master, was no exception. No, he was the only one barely holding on; the rest had simply collapsed to the ground, shaking with fear.

All this, from nothing more than a monster's roar, something they had heard countless times before.

He couldn't see it, but he could feel it.

"Kyuuuu?"

To humans, it might have sounded like just another roar, but to Hwangdo, it was something deeply familiar.

'It's a dragon.'

A being that could create this level of pressure and fear with its sheer presence alone. He had never felt anything like it, not in a game, not in reality. Of course he hadn't. In reality, he had never entered a dungeon with such a massive level gap, and in a game, the developers themselves had probably never experienced this kind of terror.

Words couldn't do it justice.

Absolute fear.

Submission.

WHOOM—!

A fierce wind slammed down as a legendary being appeared above their heads.

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