Meanwhile, in the Esmeralda territory...

“S-Stop them!”

“Those sons of bitches... we won’t hand this place over!”

“You guys can only pass over my dead body... got it? You assholes!”

“Come at us, come!”

The Valhalla Kingdom soldiers taunted the Ancient Empire soldiers.

“You sons of bitches...!”

“Try to kill us if you can!”

“Die, die, dieeeee...!”

The current soldiers of the Valhalla Kingdom acted as if they were possessed by ghosts crazed for war, the reason being that the undefeated army that had never once lost after being established were continuing to lose. They were frustrated. Their pride couldn’t accept the fact that they were losing. It was what kept them going.

But...

“Ack!”

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Kuk!”

The odds were against them. There were just too many enemies. It was 20 to 1, and even in that situation, the enemies continued to come.

“Hmm... is this the end of the Valhalla Kingdom?”

Kwak Jun watched the scene high above the base of the Gullveig Alliance. His face was relaxed because the current authority of the Ancient Empire was in his hands.

The reason was simple. After Saturnus killed Mei Ling, he took over the military, and because it was annoying, he left it to Kwak Jun. He had unintentionally given away his authority.

“Well, it’s not bad.” From Kwak Jun’s perspective, it was actually better. “Kang Chul-In has that bastard... no matter how much I contribute I’ll only be known as the other one, so it might be better to rule the empire under Saturnus...”

It was true. Kang Chul-In had Kwak Jung and Lucia. No matter how much Kwak Jun worked, he wouldn’t be treated better than them. But what about under Saturnus? Saturnus was a complete psycho, but Kwak Jun could accomplish many things under him. With his wit and brains, he is able to appease Saturnus, so his chances of being killed by him is lower than other people’s. Saturnus might’ve been the best Lord for Kwak Jun to serve.

“Although, I’ll have to kill him in the end...”

Of course, he didn’t plan on following Saturnus until the end. He was already thinking of a coup, because that was the shortcut to living a long life. Saturnus was like a bomb that would explode at any moment; Kwak Jun would rather not spend the rest of his life waiting for it to go off.

“That’s not bad either... if Saturnus can topple the Valhalla Kingdom for me, and the coup is successful...” Kwak Jun daydreamed. “Me... a mere adventurer...!”

His ambition began to squirm.

“Becoming the emperor of this continent... isn’t just a dream...”

It was definitely possible. If Saturnus was successful in defeating Kang Chul-In and Kwak Jun succeeded in the coup, he would become the ruler of this world.

Sadly, that dream was already gone for good because Kang Chul-In had beaten Saturnus to death. However, Kwak Jun didn’t know this. Saturnus wasn’t registered in the running system, so it was impossible to check if he was alive or not.

And to begin with, Kwak Jun was only an adventurer, so there was no way he could confirm it anyway.

“I see that you’re day-dreaming?” Just then, a cold voice pierced his ears.

“Who are you!?” He whipped his head back.

“You don’t know me?”

“Y-You’re...!” Kwak Jun was shocked out of his wits. “Assassin commander Niu...!”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Niu was looking at Kwak Jun with a cold face.

“How did you get here? We got rid of all the moles...”

“Yeah, I saw you working hard on that.”

“...!”

“But you know...” She looked straight at Kwak Jun in the eyes. “Look.”

“...!”

“Who do I look like?”

Kwak Jun was shocked once more. Niu’s face transformed into one of an old man’s.

“I was always next to you.”

“...!”

“Sometimes as the operator of the Gullveig Alliance, sometimes as a maid, other times as a guard, and even as a messenger who frequented your office.”

“B-But how... I was so careful...!”

“Because it was a mess? Blood was always spilled whenever things were quiet, so it wasn’t that hard for me to hide.”

She was right. After Mei Ling was killed by Saturnus, Kwak Jun loosened his aim of catching the spy that Kang Chul-In planted. Who would be able to focus on that when incidents were happening every day? Even if Kwak Jun was smart, he couldn’t take care of everything at once.

“So... were you watching me?”

“Always.” Niu answered.

“What are you gonna do?”

“Why do you ask something so obvious?”

“I see...”

“But it must be nice.”

“...?”

“You can continue to dream...”

Kashing...! She brandished her shining blade.

“When you’re dead.”

“Kek!”

Kwak Jun laughed.

“Do you think I’ll go that easily...”

“No? You’re already dead.”

“What kind of...!”

It was then. Someone approached Kwak Jun from behind.

“Overlord Vito Clemenza’s tactician, Kwak Jun.”

“Huk...!”

“You have to die.” Podolski whispered in Kwak Jun’s ear with a keen flash in his eyes.

“N-No...!”

“Yes.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Kwak Jun’s head rolled on the floor.

Puak! Blood spurted up from his neck.

“Good work, director Podolski.”

“It’s nothing.”

Niu and Podolski smiled at each other.

“Tactician Kwak’s strategy is amazing as expected. To think killing Kwak Jun alone will shake up the Ancient Empire...”

“It’ll be reality. The reason why that Saturnus demon was able to gain the Gullveig Alliance so easily is because he had Kwak Jun’s help. But not anymore. With Kwak Jun dead, the Ancient Empire will crumble. When the commander falls, everyone falls with him.”

“Is that so?”

“I don’t know about the situation in the long-run, but for right now, yes. If the current Ancient Empire isn’t taken care of internally, they’ll collapse.”

Podolski was correct. The Ancient Empire wasn’t an empire; they were merely an alliance, so there were many internal problems. It was because all of their leaders had passed away. There was no way the Ancient Empire would be able to function properly.

“Then now...” Niu spoke up. “We just have to wait? Until the Ancient Empire is unsteady?”

“I suppose so.” Podolski nodded. “But it won’t be easy. We have to wait at least 24 hours...”

“That’s true...”

“We just have to focus on our duties. Infiltrating and assassinating the enemy command. That’s what we at the Bureau should do.”

“You’re right, director Podolski.”

“Then, let’s get a move on.”

“Yes, sir.”

Podolski and Niu quickly dashed away from the location of the assassination.

It was an effective attack on their enemies because they were struggling internally at the moment. This was all from Kwak Jung’s head. He had thought of a solution to the best of his abilities, even fainting to do so.

***

Meanwhile, at the same time.

“Ack!”

“Aaack!”

“Shitt!”

The Valhalla Kingdom soldiers were falling. They were at their limits. No matter how strong they were, they had constraints like any other human. Obviously, they would be exhausted.

“Secretary Lucia!” Drakan frantically shouted at Lucia. “We can’t go on anymore! We should throw the territory away and...”

“No!” Lucia was firm. “This is the land that his Majesty has promised. He announced that he wouldn’t let his place be taken by enemies again. We have to keep that promise in his stead!”

“But the entire kingdom will fall into danger at this race!”

“Retreating right now will produce the same results!”

“T-That’s...!”

“The moment this place is taken over, there is no future to this war. We have to endure until his Majesty gets here!”

The situation would’ve been better if news of Kang Chul-In’s return and Saturnus’s death was relayed to them, but it was a shame it wasn’t.

“This oldie...” Just then, the old child magician Nilus stepped up. “It must be time for this oldie to play his part. Everyone, please move.”

Nilus began to head for the center of the castle walls.

“S-Sir Nilus!”

“Hey, kiddo!”

“Do you want to die? Huh?”

The generals of the Valhalla Kingdom tried to stop Nilus, but,

“Kuku!” He laughed in a way that didn’t fit him and proceeded forward.

Your Majesty. Nilus thought of Kang Chul-In. I am your cane. I will protect this land. Please watch!

There were many loyal people in the Valhalla Kingdom, but he was the most loyal of all. He was probably the person who believed in Kang Chul-In the most because Nilus was the subordinate of the Emperor of Blood and Iron from a thousand years ago.

“You fools...” Nilus looked at the empire soldiers that were hoarding over. “Why are you running into your destruction?”

A white light began to wrap around his body.

"...مجموعة العشرین · قانون جدید لتحسین تجتمع مع نظیره المصري على ھامش قمة الاخبار قراءة تفاصيل أكثر · الرئيسة بارك"

He began to recite a spell.

"...عة العشرین · قان"

Nilus slowly began to transform into an adult while he was wrapped around by the light.

“Ah!”

“T-That’s!”

“S-Sir Nilus...!”

Everyone who was looking on was surprised.

“H-He became older..?”

The child magician was a child no more. There was only an old magician of 190 centimetres with white eyebrows, white hair, and a white beard.

But...

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"...الصحف الیوم"

Nilus’ aging didn’t pause and he continued to recite the spell. It was a shame that his youth was disappearing, but that didn’t matter. If they could win the battle and he could protect the Valhalla Kingdom, his youth was nothing. It was a sacrifice that could only come from true loyalty.

جنوبية في المركز السابع في العالم من حیث واطي لدى صندوق النقد الدولي ووحدة المالية والودائع بالعملات الأجنبية"

[1] "...بالإضافة دائع تكون احتياطي النقد الأجنبي من الأوراق ال

Meanwhile, the spell seemed to be reaching its end. He raised the Epic-rank staff that Kang Chul-In presented him high into the air.

“Meteor...” He gave the command word. “Summon.”

Meteor Strike! The most powerful spell that magicians could use appeared for the first time in a thousand years.

[1] Cuppynote: As always, more gibberish from a newspaper. Truly, the most powerful of spells.