The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest son Escaped to the Military (222)

Translator: Master of Djinn

1. 1. A Fallen God (1)

The dimension gate, several times larger than the one the apostles came out from, filled those who looked at it with a sense of terror. In just a few minutes, the area surrounding it was polluted with black air.

The problem was what came after. Some creature came out of a hole that was so large it dwarfed the dimension gate that the apostles came out from. The hole was a dimension gate that the ancient gods had sacrificed themselves to create.

“Could it be a god?”

Iron frowned at the oppressive energy he felt rolling off the dimension gate. The only thing that could instil such fear despite being behind the barrier of the gate was a god level creature. In order to exit from the gate, it was gathering its powers.

-Is it…… impossible?

The ancient god inside the toad apostle asked in self-deprecation, as it looked up at the sky. Even though the ancient gods had sacrificed themselves, they’d only managed to make the dimension gate a bit wider. It was impossible for them to summon a high level god.

-Have our powers become so weak that we cannot even summon a thing that has 10% of our former strength?

The ancient gods, who had once been in the ranks of true gods, now found it impossible to draw part of the real strength of a ‘god’ even though they had sacrificed themselves. A fallen god was still a high-rank god. Now they realised how futile it was trying to call on such a god even with their sacrifice.

“That’s a relief.”

Iron said as he looked at the toad that was disintegrating slowly. When the ancient gods had opened the dimension gate at their own expense, at first he had been worried that they were summoning the external gods from the West. He had no way of knowing if the existence he had sensed from beyond the dimension gate was the same as the external gods. But one thing he was sure of was that if the ancient gods brought it out, it would spell the end of the continent.

“Ancient god.”

-……speak.

At Iron’s call, an ancient god that was on the verge of vanishing replied.

“Since you would all become extinct anyway, why would you attach yourself to a fallen god?”

Iron looked at the ancient god, his face fraught with incomprehension. Since they were going to disappear, wasn’t it better to stand on the side of the continent they had once threaded on? The right thing to do at the moment was to ask for forgiveness from the Lord God, but the ancient gods were instead working together to summon the fallen god by sacrificing themselves. It made no sense whatsoever to Iron.

-A name……

“What?”

-We are doing this to leave a name for ourselves.

Iron looked at the toad who most of its had vanished, and ground his teeth.

“You summoned that thing just for that reason?”

Sensing the overwhelming presence of the fallen god, Iron stepped on what remained of the toad’s body. But the toad only smiled as if it didn’t feel any pain.

-The End cannot be stopped. Ancient god? External god? What is happening now is only kid’s play. If I could leave a name for myself when the true End begins…… it would all be worth it.

With those words, the toad vanished completely. Iron frowned when he saw that. The ancient gods had given up because they thought there was no way to stop the End. And the result of such thought was what was behind the dimension gate. They had attached themselves to someone stronger in a bid to leave a name in the annals of history. It was no different from what the people of the South had done when they chose to follow the ancient gods.

-!%$^$&$*@#$!@

An unintelligible sound came from afar. Strangely enough, when Iron heard the bizarre, terrifying sound, he could understand all of it.

-Stop resisting, and beg for mercy. Then I’ll leave you with your life.

It was a very arrogant statement, but it was uttered by the existence behind the dimension gate, then it made sense. Afterall, it possessed immense strength. For it to be chosen by the ancient gods who had once been high-ranking themselves, then it could not be some measly spirit.

But if it was so powerful, why was it unable to appear here at the moment?

“Cut the bullshit and piss off.”

Iron said as he concentrated on his holy power.

“Mobile Field Army!”

At Iron’s roar, the Mobile Field Army standing in the distance stopped the battle and looked towards Iron. Not only did the Mobile Field Army stop fighting, but everyone else stopped as well, as Iron’s voice spread through the entire city. Then a brilliant light shone from between the pillars of black light.

“From now on, protect me!”

The troops of the Mobile Field Army that had been focused on occupying the city immediately flocked to the centre. They did not care why he gave such an order. Since their hero had given an order, they just had to follow through. His abilities, demonstrated countless times in several battles, now possessed the same power as those of a god in the Mobile Field Army.

“Protect the commander!”, shouted Saeriden.

At his shout, the 23rd Corps began sweeping through the soldiers that were around them. Following that, they broke through the centre with the Storm Troops. Then the Knights Order from the defence troops moved in and formed a barrier around Iron. In no time, all the air forces of the Mobile Field Army, including the 22nd Corps, surrounded the area and created a solid formation so that no one could reach where Iron was. This included the airships, and even the drake knights joined in, creating a fortress in an instant.

As a result, the direction of the war changed.

“Break through!”

As soon as Muradin gave his order, his soldiers tried to head for the centre, but their way forward was blocked by Ariel and Gaon.

“You are trying to stop me with such bodies?”

Both Ariel and Gaon had wounds all over, and even a few internal injuries, but the firmness in their eyes indicated that they would not back down.

“Tsk! I don’t want to kill you young folks here but……”

As he spoke, Muradin swung his aura blade, ready to finish them off. Then he paused for a moment, as a lightning spear flew down towards him.

Crack! Crackle!

“A master is truly a master, as expected.”

Peter Marvio said as formed a lightning bolt with both hands. Muradin immediately tried to swing his sword at him, but his attempt was futile as his body was suddenly tied up by a formless energy, which also created a storm all around.

“It’s hard to keep him tied up, so hurry up and attack!”

As Allan Reishor grumbled, Peter created a lightning spear again and attacked. Ariel and Gaon who had gotten time for a breather also drew their swords. Now that the four commanding officers who were in charge of the Mobile Field Army had joined forces to fight Muradin, it had become difficult for him to get through them despite being a master.

Nevertheless, a master was a master. No matter how highly skilled and talented they were, fighting a master was a difficult task.

“We cannot let him go!”

Ariel stood firm and blocked Muradin, even as tears of blood flowed from one of her eyes. Allan and Peter displayed their great powers, ready to attack at any time. Gaon too released all of his power and stood before Muradin.

Muradin ground his teeth as he saw their resolve. If even one of the six other-worlders was there to help him, he would be able to cut through them quickly. But he had no idea where the other-worlders had gone off to. Jaime and Harry Williams were busy fighting with the Southern Command Army, and Al-Assad was stuck fighting Nyx Cole and the rangers. Hikardu and Rovanov were attacking the centre with the southern confederation’s troops, but they were blocked by the Mobile Field Army’s Storm Troops and Knights Order.

Having taken a lay of the battlefield in a short moment, Muradin sighed.

“Hoo…… this has become tricky.”

Muradin looked towards the east as he said. Kim Jungtae had created an enormous water dragon. Muradin wished Kim Jungtae would come over to his side, but there was someone who was preventing him from doing so. Kim Jungtae, who was said to be the strongest of the six, was unable to help Muradin as he was entangled in a fight with Daniel Cevaior, the genius of the Eastern Command Army.

“Kkeuk! Just get lost, why don’t you!”

Kim Jungtae used his water dragon to attack, an annoyed look on his face, but Daniel remained in his way, swinging his sword silently. Having reached the beginning of 5th stage, Daniel’s swordsmanship was imbued with the spirit of water, possessing great strength. Everytime he swung his sword, it created a powerful water whirlwind that attacked the water dragon from all sides.

“Stop horsing around and come at me!”

As Kim Jungtae spoke he drew water from the surrounding sea and attacked Daniel. Kim Jungta had prodigious talent in anything that had to do with water, and it was clear even to Daniel, that Kim Jungtae’s talent surpassed Daniel’s. When Kim Jungtae attacked Daniel with his formidable might, Daniel dashed this way and that to avoid getting hurt, as much as he possibly could.

“If you aren’t going to fight, then just piss off!” Kim Jungtae said to Daniel, annoyed, but Daniel only remained silent as he continued with his task, which was to keep Kim Jungtae tied up. He did fall short in terms of ability when compared to Kim Jungtae, but put his life on the line to complete his mission. Yes, when it came to water, Kim Jungtae was talented enough to make one despair. But both Iron, who was the hero of the Empire, and Matteo, who had gone with the mermaids, were just as formidable as Kim Jungtae was.

‘Compared to Matteo, this is doable.’

The mermaids had recently appeared to help them resist the End. Daniel remembered meeting Matteo, who served as the bridge between the mermaids and humans. Daniel had learnt to control and become in tune with water from Matteo who had become much stronger after learning the powers of the merpeople. Because of how powerful Matteo was, the primary emotions he had felt at that time were frustration and discouragement. Having gone through that, he could calmly admit the difference in strength between him and Kim Jungtae, and could endure all kinds of indignity just to keep Kim Jungtae entangled.

“Damn it!”

Kim Jungtae scowled as he looked at Daniel who was in his way. While he was being held off by someone far weaker than he was, Iron at the centre was gradually releasing light while inside the huge black pillars. The light broke through the black manner that was coming from underground and began breaking the summoning circle bit by bit. [1]

“What are you doing?! Stop them! Are you going to let those vermin get to the commander?!”

As Saeriden roared, he cut down the assassins that had come within close range.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Saeriden stood in the way of Al-Assad, who had come to attack under the cover of darkness. He made a fire lion and dispelled the darkness around him. Then Al-Assad tried to throw off Saeriden’s senses and pass by him.

“Where are you going? You want to play with me?”

Saeriden cut through the darkness and charged at Al-Assad. Al-Assad, who had been flung outwards glared at Saeriden with a murderous look on his face. Saeriden smiled as if that was what he’d wanted.

“The commander is busy, so you want to play with me instead?” [2]

Saeriden licked his sword as spoke. Seeing him like that, Al-Assad scowled and rushed at him. Then Saeriden clashed swords with him with all his power.

While Saeriden dealt with Al-Assad who had broken through the defence of the Mobile Field Army, Iron stopped releasing his power for a moment and focused all his attention on his holy power again. Because he had been using his holy power to the fullest, the circle that had summoned the dimension gate was splintering, and Baepsae who was blocking the dimension gate released even more holy power.

-You are quite arrogant, apostle of the Lord God.

With those words, a terrifying eye appeared and filled all the space in the dimension gate

Notes

[1] Summoning circle: 소환진; 소환 means a summon or a call; imagine a magic circle (which is 마법진, if you were wondering).

[2] The commander: the word used here is actually 형님 (hyungnim), an honorary word used by a younger man to address an older man that he is close with. I took it to be referring to the Iron and used commander instead.