It was a charge without hesitation with Roan Lancephil at the lead.

  Kwagwang!

  Every time the spear was swung, grounds would crack and hills would collapse. Orcs and dark elves that ran in without knowing what was good for them were either turned into ashes or balls of fire.

  It was an advent of the God of War. The cruel battlefields seemed to have become a playground of a god but Roan who was showing off the prowess of a god wasn’t wearing a good expression.

  ‘That pillar of dirt……’


  Others may not know but Roan had seen that before.

  ‘The General of Great Strength, Gorg of the Dark Regiments.’


  When that guy wreaked havoc near the Grain Mountain Range, a similar pillar of dirt had been created.

  ‘He mentioned that there were more generals apart from himself.’


  Roan made a frown.

  ‘But back then……’


  He said he was in charge of the east side of the Grain Mountain Range and even mentioned that he had volunteered for it.

  ‘Then who’s the one that formed the pillar on the other side of the hill?’


  Roan clenched his teeth as his feet moved slightly faster. Soon, when he reached the summit of the hill, a wide scene was visible before him.

  “Mhmm.”


  He let out a low mutter.

  “Huhuk. Huhuk. Huhuk.”


  The soldiers and knights including Romils Hotten gave out rough breaths but before they even collected their breaths, they gazed down the hill in fear that something had happened to Manus Persion.

  “Ah, how could this……”


  “Ah……”


  Groans of despair left their lips. It was an instinctive response as the scenery beneath the hill was horrible and awful.

  ‘The blood has coloured the entire land red.’


  Little rivers and creaks that flowed here and there were all coloured red as corpses filled the ground. The stacked-up corpses resembled hills themselves.

  ‘If there was hell, it would look like this……’


  Roan heaved out a deep sigh. Although he felt frustrated, it wasn’t time for leisure and thanks to Kalian’s tears, he could see the faraway scenery like it was right before his eyes.

  ‘Prince Manus……’


  Clenching his teeth, Roan stared at Manus standing in the middle of the cruel battlefield.

  ‘The person that had become the spear and shield along with Pierce in my first life……’


  To stop the vicious plans and ambition of Latio and save the Middle World, he definitely needed him to stay alive.

  “Mr Romils, it seems I must head off first.”


  As soon as his words ended,

  “Yes. Please, please do go first! Please go and save our prince!”


  Urgent voices hit his eardrums.

  “Please go!”


  “We ask of you!”


  “Please save our prince!”


  The soldiers requested with one heart and mind. With a faint smile, Roan nodded.

  Tat.

  He then kicked lightly off the ground as if his body was as light as a feather.;

  Paaaaaat!

  Roan disappeared from his spot and a rush of wind replaced him.

  “Ah……”


  Staring at the long strand of light continuing down the hill, Romils let out a sigh. In front of that speed which was unthinkable to belong to a human, the soldiers prayed on and on with stiff expressions.

  “Please, please.”


  “Please save the prince.”


  The desperate pleas rode the wind down the hill.

  ***

  “Kukukuk. It is indeed quite superb.”


  A general under the Northern armies of the Diez Kingdom with a border security regiment under him, Viscount Bayte Robaz held onto a letter while letting out a strange laugh.

  “As long as we have that communication tool or something, we can find out what happens in a faraway location in the blink of an eye. Kukuku.”


  He carried the letter next to a candle.

  Hwaruk.

  Red flames roared up as it immediately burned the paper into ashes. Standing up from the seat, Bayte rubbed his hands.

  “In any case, the border security of the Amaranth Kingdom has become weaker huh……”


  A strange smile appeared on his lips.

  “That’s very good. We can pay back the humiliation we had received back then.”


  The humiliation he mentioned was when the crown prince of the Diez Kingdom, Lukan Diez had become a hostage of Roan during the war for the throne of the Rinse Kingdom.

  “Alred!”


  In response to his summon, the door of the office was pushed open as a middle-aged man wearing an armour, Alred showed himself.

  “Have you called me, Regiment Leader.”


  “Form a shock troop.”


  He gave out a short command out of nowhere.

  “Sorry?”


  Alred couldn’t understand it in one go and asked back. Rather, he did understand but as it was such an unexpected order, he had no choice but to ask again.

  Bayte made a frown in response.

  “This stupid bastard.”


  After giving out profanities, he shook his head.

  “Right now, the Amaranth Kingdom is in a state of confusion due to the sudden summon of their king. Thanks to that, the defence of the southern part of the kingdom had become lax.”


  “D, did such a thing happen?”


  Alred stuttered his words with an expression that said that it was his first time hearing that to which Bayte responded temperamentally.

  “If I say so, then it is. Stop talking back and quickly form the shock troops!”


  “Ye, yes! Yes sir!”


  With a nervous expression Alred quickly left the office after a reply.

  The shock troops were formed rapidly.

  “Charge! We attack the fortress on the border of the Amaranth!”


  It was Alred that led the troops onward. They rapidly crossed the buffer zone around their borders and ran in towards the border fortress located inside the Amaranth Kingdom.

  “Ohh! They really are lax!”


  Alred made a grin. In a normal situation, the Border Defence Army of the Amaranth Kingdom would’ve shown themselves already but the fortress on the border of the Amaranth Kingdom kept its gates closed without doing a single thing.

  “Bring in the logs!”


  In response to his shout, the horsemen at the end of the troops ran up with a sharpened log. With force that could break the fortress gates in one go, they charged in ferociously, but it was then.

  Toooooot!

  A sound of a bugle rang loudly from the other side of the gates and at the same time, the gates that had been sealed tight were pushed wide open.

  “Uh?!”


  Instinctively Alred pulled back his reins and reduced his speed. His eyes trembled slightly.

  Kugung. Kugung. Kugung.

  Along with that, the ground quivered as well. From within the gates of the fortress that were wide open, large creatures appeared. Not one, nor two, but three.

  Gulp.

  Alred gulped in nervousness.

  ‘W, what is that?’


  Unfortunately, they were too far and he couldn’t see it clearly. On the other hand, the horsemen that came charging in to break through the gates according to his orders kicked their horses while glaring at the uninvited guests that had appeared.

  “Uhahaha! We’ll crush them into pieces with this log!”


  Their noisy shouts echoed away in the battlefield but,

  “We are the Diez Kingdom’s……”


  “Try to receive our swords……”


  They couldn’t help but close their mouths because after closing in towards the fortress, they could clearly see the appearances of the things that pushed themselves through the gates.

  “G, giants?”


  “N, no, they’re not humans! They’re made of, s, steel?”


  The three massive objects guarding the gates of the fortress – they were two times taller than a male adult and were steel statues that resembled humans. Without holding onto anything, they stood there still. At a glance they appeared to be all the same but after a closer inspection, one could tell that all their armours, helmets and protective gears were different.

  ‘Although they don’t have any weapons, they look exactly like a knight, a spearman and an adjutant……’


  The horsemen made frowns.

  “D, did they bring statues out here?”


  “W, what are they thinking?”


  They didn’t dare to move carelessly as they raised their heads to stare at the steel statues but it was then.

  “T h i s. i s. t h e. l a n d. o f. t h e. A m a r a n t h. K i n g d o m.”


  “D e f e a t. t h e. e n e m y”


  “W e. a r e. t h e. g u a r d i a n s. o f. t h e. A m a r a n t h.”


  Strange voices left the steel statues and at the same time,

  Uung!

  Large arms came crashing down.

  “U, uh?!”


  “Huhup!”


  The cavalry soldiers that had been staring blankly widened their eyes and gulped. In front of the sudden situation, their bodies had been frozen and they couldn’t move themselves.

  Slaaaam!

  Soon, along with a vicious sound, the large fists of the statues smacked the horsemen. The horsemen and horses became messes of blood as they were flicked to the sides.

  “Kuruk.”


  Death.

  With one hit, their lives had come to an end, and that proved the fierce and accurate attacks of the steel statues.

  “As expected, it’s prowess is amazing.”


  On top of the walls of the fortress, a voice of admiration was heard. A slender youth with his cheeks sunk in clicked his tongue as he stared at the steel statues.

  “I was worried since it was the first time we were using it in a real battle but there was no need for that I guess.”


  Wearing a bright smile, he folded his arms. He could see the shock troops of the Diez Kingdom approaching from further beyond but he wasn’t too worried.

  “With these guardians, it would be more than enough.”


  His expression and voice was full of confidence but soon, he shook his head with a deep sigh.

  “In any case, how did His Majesty defeat those monstrous guardians…… he really is amazing.”


  His eyes were filled with admiration. The three massive steel statues, also known as the guardians were the steel guardians Roan had met when he was going through the secret passage of the previous capital, Miller castle during the war for the throne.

  Back then, the guardians that had been rendered unusable were handed straight away to the Magic Tower of Leno. After that, in the hands of the minister of magic department, Macrum, it went through multiple researches and developments before being reborn in a more powerful state.

  Of course, during all that they had received lots of help from the Technical Department as well as the Alchemy Department.

  ‘There’s one more amazing person.’


  In the eyes of the youth, Macrum, admiration resurfaced.

  ‘How did the Strategist, sir Ian Phillips, know that the Diez Kingdom would be the one to move first……’


  It was something he could never understand. After Roan’s urgent summon, Ian had rapidly sent all the guardians over to the southern borders of the kingdom. From 3 days ago, he had been expecting the actions of the Diez Kingdom.

  “Huu. His Majesty is great and the officials under him are great as well.”


  His expression changed strangely.

  “At this rate……”


  A smile appeared on his lips.

  “Maybe we can unify the continent?”


  Expectation appeared in his eyes but he soon shook his head.

  “Aye, no, no. No matter what, that’s impossible.”


  Perhaps he found his own words ridiculous, he continued waving her hand but on his two eyes, there was a sense of expectation which he could not hide.

  “But what if……?”


  It wasn’t a baseless expectation. The possibility seemed so distinct in his imaginations that he could touch it with his hands as the expectation within his eyes grew thicker.

  ***

  “Kyyaaaaaaho!”


  A strange noise rode the wind as it resonated on the battlefield. A man as thin as a stick kicked off the ground and shot up into the air. He was much taller than a normal person but what was stranger was his abnormally long pair of arms and legs.

  He used those legs and arms which were longer than the height of a normal person as whips.

  “Kikikikikikiki!”


  With strange laughter, he waved his extremely long arms wherever he desired.

  Shrrrrrk!

  Sharp sounds etched into the eardrums.

  “Dodge it!”


  “Do not fight it!”


  The pale soldiers and knights shouted and jumped over to the sides.

  Kwaaang!

  The long arms slammed the empty grounds as pillars of dirt erupted out along with deafening sounds.

  “I’ll cut you into pieces!”


  A sharp voice was heard as a young woman swung her longsword. The blade travelled through the air as it drew an arc down towards the long arm of the man.

  “Kek! Laughable!”


  The man scoffed and greatly waved his long arm which then quivered like reeds.

  Slash!

  The blade touched the arm and then, something surprising happened. Like a sticky dough, the arm gently embraced the woman’s sword and let alone cutting, the sword was about to be taken away.

  “Tch!”


  She clenched her teeth. Kicking off the ground, she put more power into her grip and was aiming to cut off the man’s arm even at the cost of throwing her body forward. However, the man’s other flexible, quivering arm moved strangely as it flew towards the back of the woman’s head.

  “Kuk!”


  Since the woman had leaned her body forward, she was not in a situation where she could dodge it. And in that desperate situation,

  “No you don’t!”


  Along with a low, heavy voice, a youth stood behind the lady and guarded her back. His longsword slammed into the flying fist that was approaching rapidly.

  Kaaaang!

  Sparks flew along with the sounds of steel clashing. The man with long arms and legs was wearing a strangely shaped pair of gloves in his hands. At a glance, they seemed to be no different from normal leather gloves but its actual material was harder than steel. He was relying on these as weapons to throw those heavy fists.

  “Thank you. Prince Manus.”


  After barely making it out of the danger, the woman gave a wink towards the youth. The youth with an attractive low voice was none other than Manus Persion.

  “You’re welcome, Miss Aerea.”


  The woman was the so-called, Poisonous Spider of Meland, Aerea Britz whom Manus had left with in search of the missing citizens. They stared at each other and made faint smiles.

  It was then.

  “It’s dangerous!”


  An urgent voice reached their ears. It was from Peid Neil who was ordering the knights and soldiers at a slightly distant location. Manus and Aerea quickly turned their heads to stare at the long-armed youth.

  “Damn!”


  “Aah!”


  Their eyes were widened as they realised that the man’s long legs had reached the area right before them.

  ‘It’s too late to dodge!”


  Clenching his teeth, Manus pulled back his longsword and at the same time, he took a step forward and pushed Aerea behind him. All of that had happened in the blink of an eye.

  ‘Bring out all my mana and……’


  When his thoughts reached that point.

  Paaaaaat!

  A deafening roar was heard and at the same time,

  Kwaaaaang!

  Light flashed before him.

  Kugugugugugung!

  After that, a hill and a few rocks off to the left crumbled and collapsed onto the field. Manus made a surprised expression as he faced the sudden turn of events.

  “W, what is happening?”


  Aerea who was behind his back pulled her head out and asked carefully. Instead of giving a reply, Manus waved his hands to get rid of all the dust that appeared. As the dust dissipated, the scene before them was made visible as the man with long arms and legs who had been harassing them disappeared with a masculine youth replacing his spot.

  “Ah……”


  Manus let out a short mutter. It was an extremely familiar appearance that created joy as a smile unknowingly appeared on his lips.

  “Is it someone you know?”


  Carefully, Aerea asked and Manus replied with a nod.

  “He is……”


  His voice quivered slightly.

  “A man referred to as a god.”


  Hearing that, Aerea widened her eyes in shock. Right now, there was only one person on the east side of the Grain Mountain Range that could be called a god.

  ‘Roan Lancephil!’


  She stared directly at the youth in front of her and when their eyes met, the youth gave her an awkward smile. He was indeed Roan Lancephil as Manus had said.

  It was then,

  Shrrrrk.

  Along with a screeching noise, a long arm reached out from the collapsed hillside. A fist wearing a tough glove flew towards Roan’s face.

  “Be careful!”


  Aerea screamed with a surprised expression but with his eyes still facing Manus and Aerea, Roan raised only his right hand in reply to the flying fist. Roan’s and the man’s fist collided head-on.

  Kwaaaang!

  A deafening roar was heard.

  Swishhh!

  At the same time, a gust appeared as a result of the fierce showdown. It was a head-on collision of forces but the fists stayed like that without showing a single sign of movement. A strange silence befell the area for a while until,

  Crack! Craaack!

  Enormous cracks appeared on the glove worn by the man with long arms and legs.

  Tuduk. Tududuk.

  The glove that had been shredded into pieces fell on the ground. The hand that appeared from within the glove was no different from the man’s body and was as thin as a twig. With the fist still in front of his own, Roan gently opened his fist into a palm. It was a soft, lax movement but it was nonetheless fast enough to not allow a single movement from the other side.

  Squeeze!

  Roan strongly held onto the thin fist of the man and his fingers dug into the back of his hand and the palm.

  Crack! Crack!!

  Bones broke following some cruel sounds.

  “Kieeeeeeeek! It hurts! It hurtss!”


  A screech was heard from a distant location and hearing that, Roan whispered in a low voice.

  “Not a sound pleasing to the ears.”


  Cold killing intent filled his eyes.

  “I should break the mouth first, not the hand.”


  At once,

  Tat!

  Roan kicked off the ground and threw his body towards the collapsed hillside. He became a strand of light and dissected the dimension as he continued on.

  End.

  Translator: Lunargrasp

  Proofreader: Deathwing