Chapter 999: You Reap What You Sow (6)

The type of demon they encountered was completely different from us. I was worried that perhaps he was Genny, but it was highly likely that the demon before them was one of the remaining Templars whom I had yet to meet.

The towering demon had a head that seemed to be a cross between a bull's and a snake's head. Unlike Templar Simon, the snake-headed and bull-headed demon appeared to be pretty sturdy, so I assumed its stats were more Endurance oriented.

Just like Templar Simon, the demon kept shouting Bahamut's name, and his gaze was filled with fear for his master.

The demon roared loudly as he stood up, and the expedition members who encountered him all looked nervous.

I was sure they could feel his strength, as they were competent and were aware that he was on a different level compared to the monsters they had encountered so far. I was kind of worried, but I wasn’t

too

worried.

The way Jin Cheong sat on that chair with an arrogant look while tapping his finger made me feel a bit annoyed, but the villain demon summoner was never incompetent.

'Moreover…'

Hyun-Sung was with them. If the demon's attack pattern was predictable, it wouldn't be that hard for them to defeat him. They couldn't make a mistake here, as this was a high-level raid.

Fortunately, I couldn't imagine that psycho, who was a self-proclaimed perfectionist at the same time, making any absurd mistakes.

“

Rooooooooooar!

”

The raid was going smoothly.

The monster charged like a bull, and protection spells were instantly stacked before it.

The spells shattered, but they were effective.

The spells that took the brunt of the demon's attack in their place allowed them to withstand the demon’s attack. Buffs were instantly applied on the main tank, and debuffs were cast on the bull.

There was a

boom

, and the bodies of one of the tanks cracked open in an instant, but his injuries recovered as quickly as they appeared.

‘This won’t be easy.’

It was impossible for mages to cast attack spells, as offensive was not their priority.

They probably thought that casting protection spells to stop the demon’s charge was their priority.

As expected, the mages started channeling their next spell.

Yoo Ah-Young, the Blue Guild's sub-tank, fixed her helmet and stepped in front of the demon. When the demon saw Yoo Ah-Young, he moved and swung his fist toward the latter, but like earlier, barriers manifested before Yoo Ah-Young, protecting her.

The demon summoner moved his finger arrogantly as a warrior from the Republic moved forward.

They were creating an environment that would allow the tanks to keep recovering while stopping the enemy’s attacks. Jin Cheong dispatched vanguards capable of withstanding the demon's attack even once, and he didn’t hesitate to invest spells in them.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

It felt like several matadors had surrounded the bull.

Jin Cheong's tactics seemed inhumane, as it was like he was treating them as mere chess pieces, but it was an organized assault. The empty spaces that the vanguards had left behind were filled in by the assassins.

Kim Ye-Ri stood before the demon bull.

'Are they using her as an evasion tank?’

It seemed that the demon summoner's assumption was correct. Kim Ye-Ri dodged the demon bull's attack by just a hair's breadth. Kim Ye-Ri looked really nervous, as she knew that one mistake would instantly kill her.

Every time Jin Cheong moved his finger, the troops would move. Every time the stupid bull wasted his turn, the allies made a meaningful turn. Every single move was calculated, and not everyone could do something like this.

Jin Cheong was maximizing the tiny advantages gained at every turn while moving one step farther.

The sight reminded me of the Republican War.

The expedition group looked like they were sweating out of exertion.

The demon bull ran wild while roaring, and the allied troops were busy regrouping because they were being pushed back.

However, the reality was different. In my eyes, the monster looked like he was slowly falling into a trap. Of course, there was a difference from earlier. Earlier, the demon bull had a sword that he could swing.

Unfortunately, the formation that Jin Cheong had created, the turns that he had maximized, and the tiny advantages that he gained during the fight were all for the sake of the expedition's sharpest sword.

Kim Hyun-Sung walked down the path created by the gap between the tanks, mages, vanguards, and the troops. Jin Cheong made use of the top DPS during this turn to retaliate against the demon bull.

The archers shot their arrows in support while the vanguards attacked the demon bull's armor to attract his attention.

Eventually, Kim Hyun-Sung joined the fight and swung his sword.

When I saw him nod, I became convinced that he was satisfied with this situation.

‘He’s having fun for no reason.’

It was always worth it to create space for a close-combat DPS like Kim Hyun-Sung. He probably hadn't received any orders, as all he had to do was get in place and just swing his sword.

‘It’s pretty annoying.’

Jin Cheong looked really smug right now as if everything was going according to plan.

"Commander?"

— …

"Commander."

— What’s wrong? I’m busy right now. If you have something to tell me, tell me.

"Please save energy and save the ordinary troops."

— I don’t understand what you’re saying.

"It’s like I said. Don’t reveal our forces, and don’t make Hyun-Sung waste his energy before the main event. Of course, the same goes for the Blue Guild members.

"You know that you need to have troops for the fight with Bahamut, right? Exclude the ordinary troops unless it is necessary. Anyway, I'm sure you’ll need some time to organize this, so I’ll give you five minutes to do it."

— I don’t understand why you’re making that decision. I’m the field commander here. My choices are—

"I’m the one in charge. Even if you don’t want to do it, I can just proceed with it. And you have to know that I gave you five minutes because I know that you need some time to organize this."

— …

"Please keep me updated."

I felt slightly better when I saw Jin Cheong slamming his fist into his armrest.

There would be some variables during the restructure.

‘If it’s an emergency, he’ll either dispatch Kim Hyun-Sung or jump into the battle himself.’

He wouldn't be able to act arrogantly in that chair anymore.

— Hyung? Hyung?

"Please do it yourself, Mr. Rafael."

—

Ah…

okay.

Saving Kim Hyun-Sung's stamina was a wise decision. I couldn’t help but think that way as we were taking our sweet time with our hunt here.

“Save meeeee! I don’t want to die!” The monster was pretending to be weak, but it was furiously swinging its legs. His attack patterns were changing nonstop. He spat out spider webs while moving around on the ceiling, and he didn’t hold back on inflicting damage on the expedition group.

Despite dispatching Park Deok-Gu and the guild members, the battle remained the same. Of course, we were inflicting damage on him as well, but…

‘They’re slow.’

Draktaris was strong, but he couldn’t deliver his finishing blow due to the priests.

“Bahamut! Bahamut!”

I didn’t want to look anxious, but I couldn’t help it.

The slower the raid became, the more uncomfortable I felt.

Rafael was anxious, looking like his mouth was dry, and I was sure he felt frustrated by my reaction. At first, he thought that they were driving the monster into a corner, but the hunt wasn't going well at all.

‘It’s not enough.’

If they were struggling with a spider, how would they face Bahamut?

I had prepared one more insurance, but…

‘Where is Templar Gen?’

“Please send reinforcements,” Rafael requested.

“Rafael?”

“Priests, please send reinforcements!” Rafael exclaimed.

And that was when a large spear of light manifested above the priests…

The spear streaked across the air, piercing the monster’s outer shell.

“

Ahhhh!

” the monster screamed.

Rafael spread his wings and flew toward the monster with his sword in hand. A gray light burst out of the sword as Rafael thrust forward, stabbing the monster.

A grotesque noise echoed as a green liquid gushed out of the wound.

Cha Hee-Ra nodded as if it was okay, but…

“I like him,” Cha Hee-Ra said.

‘It’s a mess.’

If it hadn't been for the fact that the priests here were competent, they would have already suffered severe injuries.

I wanted to compliment them for landing a powerful blow, but a compliment here wasn't going to be helpful.

The monster's figure was rapidly melting and recovering with a sizzling noise.

Rafael swung his sword relentlessly as if he was desperate to drive the monster into a corner.

“

Ahhhhhhhhh!

It hurts! It

huuuurts!

” the monster roared. He swung his large legs in the air and was trying his best to get out of this place. He used his legs to destroy the walls to create an exit route…

“Don’t let him escape! Damn it!” Rafael swore, becoming anxious for some reason. He bit his lips and swung his sword rapidly. Anyone could tell that the situation was a mess, but we had the advantage, which was why we could control the situation.

Boom! Kaboom!

“Bastards! Bastards! It huuuuurts!”

The end was near, but it was painful to watch any longer.

Draktaris sent wave after wave of holy power toward the spider.

Meanwhile, the spider and Rafael were wasting their stamina in a meaningless game of tag. The spider was using his legs to break down our barrier in a desperate bid to escape his predicament.

BOOM!

“

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

” The struggling and afraid monster cackled. “

Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!

”

‘Shit…’

“Bahamut… will—

Argh!

”

An enormous hand popped out from the other side and grabbed the spider’s head.

“Bahamut… I’m sorr… Save—”

C

rack!

The spider's head shattered into a grotesque lump.

My heart started pounding wildly against my chest.

There was a thunderous boom, and the wall was destroyed.

Moments later, he finally showed himself.

“What the hell… is that…” Some expedition members mumbled while hugging their trembling figures. “Monster… a monster…”

‘Shit… shit… shit…’

I saw Cha Hee-Ra baring her teeth. I was worried that she'd charge, so I turned around and hugged her. I grabbed her collar and looked as if I were about to collapse at any moment. Otherwise, she’d run at it like a lunatic.

“Darling?” Cha Hee-Ra said.

I obviously looked frightened. Most importantly, I looked like I could not accept this reality.

“...”

“Noona, run…” I muttered.

“Wait…

“Hee-Ra noona, run… Right now, I…” I trailed off.

“...” “Run…” I repeated.

And there was a deafening noise. "

Roaaaaar!

"

The newcomer was Bahamut, and the both of us shared a heartwarming friendship tens of thousands of years ago. It had been many, many years since then, but I still hadn't been able to forget him.

Tragically, he had become a disgusting… and dirty monster.

“T-That disgusting monster…” I said.