Chapter 200

A deafening roar echoed across the horizon.

Though the Wraith King was still over ten kilometers away, the oppressive heat emanating from its enormous figure was palpable. The shimmering heat waves distorted Vulcanus’s colossal form, which grew ever larger with each ponderous step. Those standing atop the train, staring at the approaching monstrosity, felt their mouths go dry.

The once cool breeze had transformed into a suffocating hot wind, and the clouds that once graced the sky had vanished entirely. It was as if they had suddenly been dropped into the heart of a desert.

...It’s like a walking natural disaster.

Leonard, gazing at the creature’s true form with his Dragon Eyes, instinctively rested his hand on his sword hilt. The entity was massive, towering over eighty meters tall. Even the massive Barricade Train barely reached his waist, a comparison that was as absurd as it was terrifying.

Vulcanus’s molten body radiated immense mass, and combined with his kinetic energy, his destructive potential was incalculable.

“L-Leonard...”

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Heather, a newly recruited knight of the Order of the Green Dragon, had never encountered a being like this before—a creature that embodied raw destruction. Confronted with the Demigod Tier entity’s murderous intent and the suffocating malice he exuded, Heather unconsciously clutched Leonard’s sleeve, her voice trembling.

Her reaction was understandable.

As the saying went, “Ignorance is bliss.” Having recently reached the Transcendence Tier, Heather could now see the world in ways she could not before. But that newfound awareness revealed the horrifying scale of an opponent so vast that even her greatly enhanced abilities seemed utterly insignificant.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t seem like he’s coming for us,” Leonard reassured her, his calm voice grounding her, even as his sharp gaze tracked the lava giant moving steadily eastward away from the train.

By the district map, it was heading toward Sector F. Recalling the defensive layout in that area, Leonard smirked faintly.

If he’s heading to Sector F... there’s no need for me to intervene.

As a Special Officer on this frontier, Leonard’s role was to engage unpredictable variables—like this Demigod Tier entity—when they appeared in regions where commander-level reinforcements could not respond quickly. In other words, if a commander-level individual could reach the area, Leonard’s job was simply to observe.

A sudden shift in the air drew Leonard’s attention. A frosty chill rose to meet the intense heat radiating from the lava giant, creating a clash of opposing forces. Turbulent winds swirled violently between the Barricade Train and the approaching colossus.

As the opposing elemental forces surged, the lava giant hesitated, startled by the unexpected resistance.

In that brief moment, the tide turned.

Nature Blade

Above the train, where the lava giant Vulcanus had been advancing, massive swords of ice manifested. Not just one or two, but dozens. Each blade was enormous, several meters long, and brimming with overwhelming power.

“Leonard! What is that?!” Heather exclaimed, her wide eyes fixed on the spectacle.

“That’s Commander Grace of the Order of the Blue Dragon. It’s her unique trait,” Leonard explained casually, his memory of Grace’s abilities coming to mind.

Volcanus bulked up to attack the train... But of all places, he had to wander into Commander Grace’s location.

Grace, who had ascended to the Demigod Tier with her mastery of the Five Elements Chaos Origin, was perfectly suited to this kind of enemy. To her, Vulcanus’s molten body was nothing more than a large target. Among the Knight Commanders, she was the most specialized in firepower-based combat, with unparalleled efficiency in circulating her internal energy for continuous engagements.

Simply put, she was the ideal counter.

Boom!

The moment one of the icy swords shot forward like an arrow and struck, it exploded on impact. The molten part of Vulcanus’s body at the strike zone was immediately ejected, cooling into solid rock and shattering on the ground.

Unlike conventional artillery, Grace’s attacks were devastatingly effective.

Groooaaarrrr!!

Realizing the danger, Vulcanus roared and pushed forward, determined to reach the train. Until now, no human he had faced had been like Grace. Against conventional artillery, he could withstand thousands of rounds without issue, and against someone like Commander Uluka of the Order of the Green Dragon, he could have endured an extended battle of attrition.

But Grace’s unexpected appearance spelled disaster for Vulcanus.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Booom!

The icy swords of the Nature Blade continued to manifest and launch in rapid succession. Each impact chipped away at Vulcanus’s form. His once-massive body, towering over eighty meters, was now noticeably shrinking, reduced to a height below that of the Barricade Train.

Though Vulcanus’s abilities were formidable, the gap between Demigod Tier beings was not as vast as it seemed. By inflating his size, he had sacrificed density, leaving himself vulnerable to Grace’s precise and overwhelming strikes.

“At this rate, she’ll subdue him without much trouble,” someone murmured.

As if hearing that prediction, Vulcanus’s behavior abruptly changed.

Rumble... Rumble...!

Vulcanus abandoned his advance on the train, and his molten surface began to bubble and shift, resembling a volcano on the verge of eruption—or an underground water vein about to burst.

Though the entity was still kilometers away, few could discern the ominous shift. Leonard was one of the few who did.

“Damn it!”

Realizing Vulcanus’s intent before anyone else, Leonard unsheathed all of his swords at once.

Blades spilled out of his subspace pouch, aligning themselves in a defensive formation, awaiting his command. Startled by his urgency, Heather drew her own sword, though she didn’t fully grasp what was happening.

Kaboooooom!!!

Vulcanus detonated.

Even in his damaged state, the heat and mass concentrated within his molten body were staggering. Had he exploded closer to the train, even with all of the protective arrays activated, the blast would have severely compromised the train’s power systems.

Fortunately, much of the shockwave dissipated over the kilometers it traveled. But the molten fragments—now cooled and solidified into volcanic rock—still rained down, hurtling toward the Barricade Train like deadly projectiles.

Few people realized that the most dangerous part of a volcanic eruption wasn’t the flowing lava—it was the volcanic bombs.

“Volcanic bombs!” Leonard shouted.

Propelled by the force of the explosion, the molten projectiles, now hardened by the cold air, became deadly missiles, far more dangerous than any catapult. Thankfully, this was not a real volcano, so there were no pyroclastic flows.

Five Elements Style, Five Swords Style

Black Tortoise Seventh Form: Ice Shell Barrier

Five swords moved in a dazzling dance, forming a protective barrier above Leonard. While he briefly considered redirecting the projectiles with a wind current, the sheer number of volcanic bombs made it impossible. Carelessly deflecting them risked collateral damage, potentially causing even more casualties.

The Green Dragon Knights reacted a beat late but swiftly assumed their roles. While they could not defend entirely on their own, just two or three of them focusing solely on defense managed to hold the line. A myriad of colored auras erupted, painting the top of the train like a vibrant fireworks display.

Among them, the one who stood out the most was Grace.

Thwack! Thwack! Boom!

Dazzling in their movements, nearly a hundred wind swords shifted positions in a blur, intercepting the volcanic bombs with unerring precision. Unlike her earlier offensive with the ice swords, her wind swords were now forming an impenetrable shield, deflecting and neutralizing the thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of projectiles. It was a display of absolute defense, protecting an area ten times larger than Leonard’s own.

Not a single volcanic bomb slipped through her defense. This level of skill was undoubtedly befitting a Knight Commander.

“Is... is it over?” someone murmured.

The hailstorm of volcanic bombs abruptly ceased. Those who had been sheltering under the protective barriers tentatively began to emerge. The towering figure of the lava giant, which had loomed so imposingly on the horizon just moments ago, was now completely gone. It was as if Vulcanus’s explosive retreat had been nothing more than a smokescreen to aid his escape.

“That thing... it really ran away, didn’t it?”

“Ha! They call him a Wraith King, but he just blew himself up and fled when facing our commanders!”

“This is it! We’ll finally put an end to those Spriggan bastards, once and for all!”

The effortless repulsion of the Wraith King sent morale soaring through the veterans who had been stationed on this frontier. Although favorable matchups played a part, they knew well that battles involving Demigod Tier entities often dictated the tide of war. The way this encounter had concluded—a decisive victory for the expedition forces—was cause for celebration.

The jubilant cries of the expedition members resounded.

“Woooooohooooooo!!”

“Woooooohooooooo!!”

Though it was hardly more than a skirmish, or even a mere probing attack, the victorious outcome lifted their spirits immensely. For the first time in centuries, they felt a renewed, albeit unfounded, confidence that they could finally push forward on this stagnant frontier.

...This isn’t a situation where we should be optimistic.

However, while the majority of the knights aboard the Barricade Train were caught up in the celebratory mood, Leonard alone remained subdued, his expression grim. His gaze was fixed on the location Vulcanus had once stood—the crater created by the massive explosion. He drew in a deep breath, as if trying to dispel an unease that lingered within him.

Heather noticed his expression and approached him cautiously. “What’s wrong? Did you overexert yourself trying to block all those attacks?”

“It’s just... Vulcanus retreated far too easily.”

Heather frowned in confusion. “Well, wasn’t that because Commander Grace was so strong? He must’ve realized he couldn’t win and decided to cut his losses, right? He even self-destructed to throw us off and escape.”

Leonard shook his head. “No. It doesn’t feel right.”

Despite Vulcanus’s overwhelming might and intimidating presence, the aura he projected felt strangely faint to Leonard—almost subdued. It didn’t match the scale of his actions or the intensity of his appearance. It felt more like a half-hearted probe rather than an all-out assault.

Even as a Spriggan commander-level entity, Vulcanus seemed to have appeared only in the capacity of a scout. The impression didn’t sit well with Leonard.

I hope my intuition is wrong, but if it’s right... this won’t be the last of the Wraith Kings’ surprise attacks.

Unlike the Knight Commanders, who would be permanently removed from the battlefield if they suffered a fatal wound, the Wraith Kings operated under different rules. As long as Yggdrasil remained, even significant injuries would not prevent them from resurrecting. It was similar to reusing captured chess pieces—a mechanic that defied conventional strategy.

Fighting such enemies while adhering to the confines of standard tactics was daunting.

“Tch.”

Even with tools like the Barricade Train at their disposal, they couldn’t underestimate the monstrous entities entrenched across the frontier. Leonard reaffirmed this harsh reality as his thoughts turned to the challenges ahead.

The relative calm they had enjoyed was over.

* * *

The very next day, Leonard’s suspicions proved to be correct. Across the Barricade Train’s expansive network which reached over a hundred-kilometer radius, the Wraith Kings began appearing one after another.

The second to strike was Boreas. Unluckily for him, Boreas targeted the area under the command of Wade, the Red Dragon Commander. Within minutes, half his mass was obliterated, forcing him to retreat. It was clear he would need several days to regenerate to his full form.

The third to emerge was Thetis. Rising from a lake that blocked the train’s path, Thetis summoned dozens of water-based duplicates and attempted to envelop the Barricade Train in her toxic mist. Audrey, the Black Dragon Commander, managed to strike at her main body with her glaive. However, Thetis evaded her by swapping places with one of her clones and then fled.

“...It seems it’s my turn,” Leonard muttered as the fourth Wraith King, Cybele, approached his position. Her glowing violet eyes gleamed ominously as she closed the distance.

Cybele’s authority was Decay. Her ability allowed her to rot and decompose all matter, reducing it to amorphous sludge. Though she appeared as a muddy, humanoid figure, her true form lay in the vast swamp that moved with her—a manifestation of her destructive authority. Even the strongest materials, like adamantium and orichalcum, would crumble to her Decay within minutes. Of all the Wraith Kings, Cybele posed the greatest threat to the Barricade Train.

“Heather, stay back,” Leonard commanded, drawing a dark-hued sword without activating the artifact on his wrist.

Golden radiance emanated from his blade, spreading outward to inspire courage and dispel the oppressive aura Cybele exuded. While Leonard was unaware of it himself, the effect of his celestial energy extended far beyond simply empowering him—it disrupted Cybele’s malevolent presence.

■■■■■■■——!!

The Wraith King roared in fury. The sight of Leonard’s light, evoking memories of a long-lost age of glory, ignited an uncontrollable rage within her. She began summoning her minions.

The Wraith King of Decay. As if proving her title, decayed, blackened sludge erupted from her swamp-like body, taking the form of countless monstrous creatures. These mud constructs glowed with the same violet light as Cybele’s eyes, and they surged forward, rushing toward the Barricade Train like a tidal wave.