Chapter 312 – Clash! (1)

[Enemy Ambush!]

A Hyena Tamer, concealed behind a corrupted bear soldier, shouted to alert the army. However, it was already too late, as the entire battlefield was now covered in blood. Everyone was aware of the situation, even without explicit communication.

[W-What?!]

[These stragglers dare to fight us?!]

[Prepare for battle!]

[Yes, Haschio-nim!]

Under Han-Yeol’s leadership, the Bastro Warriors dealt a significant blow to the hyena army. Nevertheless, even the sharpest sword was bound to break before successfully eliminating its target if it lacked durability.

While the hyena army consisted mainly of low-ranking sorcerers tasked with cleaning up survivors, they commanded a massive force of two thousand corrupted soldiers. Two thousand was a formidable number that couldn't be overcome with a mere ambush, regardless of the elite status of the attacking warriors.

The morale of the Bastro Warriors remained high due to their early success in eliminating five Hyena Sorcerers.

‘Did the felines still have sorcerers among them? No, is it even possible for a Feline Sorcerer to execute such a deadly attack from such a distance?’ Haschio could not help but wonder.

Then, he simply shrugged and thought, ‘Well, I’m not complaining since I’ll get my hands on better puppets. Kekeke!’

The Hyena Sorcerers had one special rule among them, and that was they got to keep whichever creature they managed to corrupt. This was the reason Haschio could not help but feel excited at the prospect of obtaining a long-range caster as his puppet.

‘Good! Excellent!’

Haschio looked quite satisfied as he began to focus on casting a spell.

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol and the others observed the battle unfolding from atop the ravine.

‘The start was good, but…’ Han-Yeol thought as he observed the remaining Hyena Sorcerers. ‘Their skills are similar to that of a Necromancer. That means this will turn into a battle of attrition if we don't eliminate those sorcerers first, and we will definitely lose if it comes to that.’

Whiiiing!

His shoulder cannons aimed at where he was looking.

In recent days, Yoo-Bi had been immersed in upgrading the shoulder cannons, and she would send an improved version to Han-Yeol whenever she completed one. She used to only concern herself with the functions and efficiency of the shoulder cannons, but that was no longer the case after Han-Yeol jumped into the weapon industry.

Jason Kim decided that aesthetic designs were just as important as the efficiency of a weapon, so he hired the best weapon designers in the industry to assist Yoo-Bi in the design aspect of the shoulder cannons. Thanks to his efforts, the shoulder cannons on Han-Yeol’s shoulders looked like they had three cannons combined, just like a Vulcan Cannon. Unfortunately, the rapid fire Yoo-Bi had been dreaming of was still not possible.

Han-Yeol fired his shoulder cannons three times at the swarm of corrupted soldiers.

“Gwuuu Ooooh!”

A corrupted soldier grabbed the leg of a Jaguar Warrior.

[T-This is the end for me…!]

The Jaguar Warrior had failed to notice the corrupted soldier creeping up behind him as he was occupied fighting against three large corrupted soldiers.

It was then.

Boom!

The corrupted soldier who grabbed the Jaguar Warrior was hit by a mana shell.

Psshht… Thud…!

The corrupted soldier fell and stopped moving after having its life force depleted by the blast.

‘Thank you,’ the Jaguar Warrior expressed gratitude to whoever had helped him before aggressively charging at the corrupted bear soldiers in front of him.

Chwak! Chwak! Chwak!

[Haaaaap!]

Meanwhile, Riru joined the fray as well, and this was the first time she was able to fight to her heart’s content after a long time. She specialized in speed and possessed eyes that could identify her opponent’s weaknesses.

Her ability to pinpoint her target’s weakness and strike with her speed was deadly against the corrupted soldiers. The reason was that the corrupted soldiers were quite simple, and they did not attempt to protect their weaknesses.

Tak! Tak! Tak! Chwak! Chwak! Chwak!

Numerous corrupted soldiers fell dead whenever Riru passed by them.

‘Rest in peace…’

She might be killing corrupted soldiers right now, but they were once proud Bastro Warriors too. She did not feel good about having to kill her old comrades, but she had no choice, as that was the only way to grant them rest.

Then, the Hyena Sorcerers spotted her.

[T-That bitch is…!]

[That is Harkan’s right-hand warrior, Riru!]

[I need her alive! Catch her alive at all costs!] Haschio screamed while pointing at Riru.

‘Oh! The stars have aligned for me today!’ he thought with a smirk.

Slurp!

Then, he licked his lips while ogling Riru’s figure. A hyena was still a Bastroling, and he could not help but be mesmerized by Riru’s beauty and figure.

He was not able to get his hands on Riru in the past as she was Harkan’s right-hand warrior, thus she was always under his protection, but that was no longer the case. Harkan was now their loyal slave, so nothing was going to stop him from getting his hands on her.

[You must capture her alive! Do you understand?!]

[Yes, we understand!]

The low-ranking Hyena Sorcerers replied in unison before they went all out to capture Riru.

‘I can finally get an intermediate-ranking sorcerer’s favor if I catch that bitch and offer her up!’

‘This is my biggest chance to become the subordinate of an intermediate-ranking sorcerer!’

The Hyena Sorcerers commanded—or rather, threw—their corrupted soldiers at Riru.

[Go!]

“Gwuu Oooh!”

“Gwuoh! Gwuoh!”

The corrupted soldiers disregarded everyone else and focused solely on Riru. Thanks to that, the wall of corrupted soldiers set up to block the advances of the Bastro Warriors started to crumble bit by bit.

However, that did not mean it was enough to shift the tides of the battle, as there were simply too many corrupted soldiers on the battlefield.

[Keke! Arise!]

Seuk…!

“Gwuu Oooh!”

[W-What?!]

The corrupted soldiers that were already on the ground suddenly came back to life after a Hyena Sorcerer cast a spell and attacked the rear of the Feline Warriors.

[This is the end for you!]

One hundred corrupted soldiers were behind the Bastro Warriors. They might be brave warriors capable of fighting one against one hundred, but it was hopeless even for them when they were completely surrounded by the enemy.

The hyenas turned an ambush into their own ambush and completely swung the tides of the battle. Unfortunately for them, the mastermind behind the Bastro Warriors was still standing.

‘Divine Judgment of Horus.’

Krwaaaaang!

“Gwuu Oooh!”

“Gwuook!”

[What was that?]

Tayarana flew through the air and unleashed the improved version of Judgment of Horus at the corrupted soldiers behind the Bastro Warriors. The precision of the attack could only be described as marvelous.

Krwaaaang!

“Gwuoh…”

The one hundred corrupted soldiers that rose up behind the Bastro Warriors were instantly reduced to a single one, and even the last remaining corrupted soldier was...

Sukeok!

Beheaded by Tayarana in one clean slash.

The corrupted soldiers might be extremely resilient, but they were not able to come back to life after having their bodies cut up into pieces and beheaded. No, it was more like the hyena sorcerers could bring them back to life, but it would just be a waste of mana.

[T-Thank you…]

The Feline Warriors were saved not only by Han-Yeol but also by Tayarana.

Tayarana and Mariam had their second awakening after arriving in the Bastro Dimension, and hunting in the dungeon had helped her become familiar with her newfound powers. She was no longer the same awakened being from the first dimension.

“Mariam,” Tayarana whispered under her breath.

Surprisingly, Mariam was nowhere around her, but she immediately responded.

[Yes, Tayarana-nim.]

Distance was not a problem for them, as Tayarana was always connected to Mariam.

[Go!]

Mariam had her second awakening as well, and she was now on par with combat-type Hunters after gaining a second class.

Krwaaaang…!

“Gwuu Ooh?”

A corrupted soldier tilted its head in confusion after noticing that the ground it was standing on started trembling. However, this was not an earthquake.

Chwak! Tak! Kwachik!

“Gwuu Oooh!”

An arm suddenly popped up from the ground and grabbed the corrupted soldier’s leg. Then, the arm yanked the corrupted soldier’s leg until it got dragged into the ground.

The corrupted soldiers were dragged underground one by one.

[W-What?!]

Both factions were surprised by the sudden turn of events.

The ravine was quite narrow, making it difficult to defend the Hyena Sorcerers.

It went without saying that Han-Yeol was not going to miss this golden opportunity.

Tak!

Han-Yeol jumped down the ravine. “Kandir! Riru!”

[Yes yes!]

[Krwaaaaah!]

Awooooo!

Kandir howled and transformed into a large wolf after Han-Yeol called his name.

Tak!

Han-Yeol landed on the large wolf’s back, and the large wolf rode the walls toward where the Hyena Sorcerers were gathered.

The Hyena Sorcerers were shocked at what they were witnessing.

[T-Those dogs!]

[Stop them!]

“Gwuu Oooh!”

“Gwuok! Gwuok!”

There were still a lot of corrupted soldiers remaining, and they prevented Han-Yeol and Kandir from getting anywhere near the Hyena Sorcerers.

“Get lost! Mana Explosion!”

Shwooong! Boom! Shwooong! Boom! Shwooong! Boom!

Han-Yeol sacrificed the mana stones he had obtained from the anthill to amplify his mana to the maximum possible and fired three shots of Mana Explosion.

The three Mana Explosions triggered huge explosions, and a thick cloud of dust covered the base of the ravine, hampering everyone’s vision.

Cough! Cough!

[Sweep the dust away!]

[Yes, sir!]

The low-ranking sorcerers replied, but they couldn't help but grumble inwardly, ‘How? With what?!’

The only spells they could use were corruption spells. It would have been easy for a Bastroling Sorcerer from the Light Faction to cast wind magic and sweep away the cloud of dust, but that was not possible for the hyenas as they specialized only in corruption magic.

Of course, it was possible for a select few high-ranking Hyena Sorcerers to use other magic aside from corruption magic, but it was not possible for the low-ranking ones that were currently present in the ravine.

[What are you doing?! Hurry up, fools!]

Haschio was not raging just because he could not see what was going on.

‘I can’t keep my eyes on that strange creature!’

Haschio knew that this cloud of dust was one of the tricks prepared by the enemy forces, and he was absolutely spot-on.

Sukeok!

[Kwaaah!]

[What was that sound?]

[W-What?!]

[Haijun?]

[Haijun?!]

Chaos broke out among the low-ranking sorcerers as they recognized the scream as the voice of Haijun, who was another low-ranking sorcerer.

But that was not the end of it.

Sukeok! Boom!

A powerful explosion was triggered this time.

[Krwaah!]

Followed by another scream.

[W-Where’s the enemy?! Enough! I’m going to deal with them myself!] Haschio screamed in anger and prepared to use his contamination spell.

Puuuk!

An intermediate-ranking sorcerer possessed their own ultimate spell, and Haschio’s ultimate spell was to corrupt himself to enhance his physical combat prowess.

Kwachik!

He stabbed himself with his hand, and dark mana started to envelop his entire body. Two meters, three meters, four meters, six meters, and seven meters…! He grew at least seven meters tall.

“Krwaaaaaah!” Haschio let out a roar after turning into a gigantic monster that towered above everyone else, and his roar unleashed a powerful gust of wind that swept away the cloud of dust covering their vision.

Whoooosh!

[It’s clear!]

[I can see now!]

The low-ranking sorcerers, trembling in fear, finally relaxed after the cloud of dust cleared, and they could see again.

“Tsk… I only managed to kill two of them…” Han-Yeol grumbled and clicked his tongue in frustration after failing to kill the sorcerers he initially planned to.

[H-How can this be?!]

[Two of us are dead?!]

[How did that happen in the blink of an eye?!]

[T-Those insolent…!]