The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 179

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Academy Weapon Replicator — Episode 179
Chapter 57: Sacrifice (4)
The battle at the Barrier continued, and the sun hanging high in the sky gradually began to tilt.
The front-line situation appeared stable, but as time dragged on, it was the human forces who found themselves at a disadvantage.
Compared to the seemingly endless reserves of Monsters who could be replenished no matter how many fell, human troop strength was finite. This was not merely a matter of numbers, but of morale.
An endless sea of Monsters, comrades dying one by one beside you, uncertainty about victory. If these continue to accumulate, the battle is lost before the final blow—simply through the breaking of resolve.
There were three reasons why the soldiers and knights of the Barrier could hold their ground, apart from their accumulated experience and training.
First was the presence of Angen.
Standing alone against countless foes, holding the Gate of the Barrier firm through sheer will. His overwhelming strength anchored the center of the Barrier, allowing other troops to endure this fight.
Even if the immediate battle before them was grueling and merciless, a mere glance toward Angen revealed an incomparable sight—a tidal wave of enemies carved apart without hesitation.
Second were the Roach Knights and their commander, Silbain.
Silbain gave orders to each knight under him, and the knights in turn relayed tactical directives to the soldiers with precision. Those soldiers exhausted beyond measure were sent to the rear; those still whole were encouraged onward. Silbain ensured they had no time for idle thoughts, rapidly crafting and communicating the next course of action. The staircase to victory was steep, long, and treacherous, but climbing the single step immediately ahead was not so difficult.
And the third.
“……That thing over there. It’s on our side, right?”
Some of the soldiers who had withdrawn for a brief respite to manage their strength were watching a strange sight. In the thick of battle, there was no time for observation, but in these moments of rest, the state of the battlefield became visible.
And what they saw then differed greatly from what they had imagined while swinging their weapons in the heat of combat.
“……It’s killing Monsters. So it must be on our side.”
“Are you sure it’s not just another Monster?”
“…….”
The fact that one soldier could not immediately deny this was proof enough that the sight before them was decidedly strange.
Upon the Barrier was something black.
It resembled the Black Monsters that had plagued them until moments before, but it bore the form of a human, and in the flesh and face occasionally revealed, there was an almost familiar quality.
One.
Shriek!
Whether they fled or madly charged forward, the moment that man extended his hand, every Black Monster lost form and was drawn into him.
And what became that black liquid remained around the man—armor-like at times, weaponlike at others, or like a cloak.
The soldiers fell silent at the sight: the Black Monsters that had threatened mankind mere moments before were liquefied within seconds and used to strike down other creatures.
Angen, who fought before the Gate, spared a glance at the man who had absorbed so much liquid that he’d grown massive, but soon returned his focus to cutting down the Monsters that poured forth.
As for Frontdier, the true identity of that black thing:
‘Such a waste.’
He lamented his inability to control every fragment he absorbed.
While it was true that Mana was replenished through Black Monsters, as the quantity of fragments he needed to handle grew larger, more Mana was required than what he regained. Beyond a certain threshold, the fragments simply had to be discarded.
‘If a new Black Lotus had arrived, I could have consumed it all.’
But that would likely not be completed until several days after Selena’s arrival.
Today’s absorption of Black Monsters was an unexpected gain. Today, Frontdier had come to the Barrier simply to participate in the battle and save as many lives as possible.
The countless Helheim Fragments waiting beyond this Barrier, in places yet unseen like a distant Lake, would be a concern for later.
‘I must manage my Mana carefully.’
Frontdier’s primary attacks were being executed through Heukcheon. Without needing to craft anything special, since the quantity of Heukcheon had grown so vast, even simple spikes or blades fashioned from it could easily slay Monsters.
More than anything, what fundamentally distinguished Frontdier’s position from the rest of the Barrier was that the Monsters avoided him.
Whether primal terror had been kindled in their instincts, or whether they judged that attacking elsewhere was more advantageous, the Monsters kept their distance from Frontdier. The Black Monsters in particular outright fled.
Thunk! Splurt!
Of course, since Frontdier’s immediate focus was the Black Monsters, most of their escape attempts failed, and they became his prey before vanishing.
Flying Monsters were eliminated through Void Weaving; Black Monsters were absorbed; those from the Outer Darkness were destroyed using the absorbed Heukcheon. Since Mana was being replenished through the Black Monsters, theoretically this cycle could turn endlessly.
‘……Ugh, it’s getting worse.’
Yet theory and reality do not always align.
Frontdier found himself struggling against the nausea rising from within his body.
It was a sensation he would likely never feel easily again in his life—the act of accepting something from another world. Moreover, this sensation came only after a mental battle to seize initiative of Mana from the Black Monsters, so the cost to his spirit was immense.
Now, Frontdier’s struggle was not a matter of physical strength or Mana, but of his mental state. It was the first time since arriving in this world that such a thing had occurred.
‘It feels as though I’m accumulating sin.’
Whether or not such a sensation truly existed, Frontdier was aware that he had crossed a forbidden threshold.
What butterfly effect this might later become, what tempest it might bring upon him, he could not know. But to hold the Barrier at this moment, there was no choice but to proceed.
“Breath. I must endure.”
Frontdier lifted his pallid face and cast his eyes toward the distance.
Even after fighting this hard, the Monsters showed no sign of ending.
And it was not merely that. As Frontdier confirmed the shapes of Monsters approaching from afar, his expression darkened.
“……Cyclops.”
The giant form visible in the distance—confirming the shape of that one-eyed creature, Frontdier clenched his teeth.
The Monsters of the Outer Darkness grow stronger the deeper one ventures. The horrors that erupt from the deep darkness beyond human sight, from the abyss itself, bring despair to humanity with each singular form.
The Monsters directly before the Barrier, for all they come from the Outer Darkness, are largely the same species as those from within. More ferocious and powerful for dwelling in that realm, perhaps, but goblins, orcs, and such—creatures found even in the inner regions.
But venture further out, and only then do true children of the Outer Darkness emerge.
The Cyclops—or as some call them, the one-eyed giant—was one such creature. They were like signal flares, revealing what true Outer Darkness Monsters truly were.
Frontdier swept his gaze across the surrounding soldiers, taking in their condition.
‘No one else has spotted it yet.’
Most of the soldiers were too occupied with the battle before them to notice what lay beyond. The commanding knights were no different. Only Frontdier and perhaps Silbain had detected the Cyclops’s arrival. Angen faced the most monsters, so the lack of awareness didn’t seem a matter of line of sight—though his sharp martial instinct might have caught wind of it.
‘For now, ignorance is mercy. Better they don’t panic and fail to finish the monsters right in front of them.’
But that reprieve would be brief.
If that giant reached the Barrier, it would be far more catastrophic than a handful of Ogres of comparable size crashing through. Ogres were creatures of folklore, but the Cyclops belonged to myth. That distinction alone set them worlds apart.
“That bastard……!”
Just as Frontdier had anticipated, Silbain—who had been surveying the battlefield—soon caught sight of the Cyclops and his face darkened.
To bring down even one of those things, the entire Roach Knights would need to form a mounted charge formation and strike in unison. Only then could they hope to fell the Cyclops with minimal casualties.
In this chaos, that was impossible. Worse, mounting and leading horses out was out of the question entirely.
‘It’s fine. The Gate Commander stands before the Barrier now. The moment that thing approaches the Gate, one strike will—’
So Silbain thought.
Thud-thud-thud.
But the Cyclops stopped mid-stride and abruptly walked elsewhere. What lay ahead was a massive boulder. The instant Silbain registered it, the blood drained from his face.
The Cyclops lifted a boulder the size of its own head. It hoisted it onto its shoulder, and the muscles of its arm bulged grotesquely. Each thunderous step of that colossal foot sent the earth trembling. Then—
Whoooosh!!
A boulder so impossibly massive it seemed unreal tore through the air at an equally impossible speed, compressing the wind itself.
‘……No.’
Silbain watched as though the sight were a nightmare. That boulder would shatter the Barrier on impact—no question. The moment it did, this battle would cease to be combat and become slaughter.
Yet all Silbain held in his grasp was a single sword.
There was no way to—
Void Weaving, Simultaneous Replication
Imperial Palace Armory
Spears, Same-Type Replication, five pieces
In an instant, something erupted from empty air toward the boulder. Wickedly sharp spears shot forth with brute force, shattering the stone into rubble. As the boulder exploded, its shards scattered across the space before and above the Barrier.
“Aaaaghhhh!”
“Craaahhhhh!”
Screams erupted from atop the Barrier. Though it didn’t collapse, the fractured remains still dealt damage to the fortification—and soldiers fell.
‘Just now—was that Frontdier again?’
If they hadn’t shattered the boulder, the Barrier would have been done for in that instant. Silbain’s eyes found Frontdier.
And Frontdier was already looking back at him.
“Captain!!”
Frontdier called out to him.
“Leave the boulders to me! I’ll handle the shards—please cover the scattered pieces!”
“……!”
In that moment, Silbain snapped back to his senses and bit down hard. He gripped his sword tighter and immediately stepped forward before the Barrier.
Silbain had no means of shattering boulders. He could cut one if he targeted it directly, but he had no way to intercept a boulder aimed at the Barrier itself.
Long-range sword attacks—without a gift like Angen possessed—were the Absolute Technique of those who had refined their Aura to its absolute limit, and even then required innate talent.
But handling the shattered fragments? Even Silbain could manage that. Yet moments ago, seeing the boulder hurtling toward him, he’d given up and lowered his guard. Despite Frontdier breaking the stone, the shards had still scarred the Barrier and taken soldiers’ lives. Silbain deserved every bit of rebuke Frontdier could throw at him.
Just now, he was in no position to protest.
“Breath…….”
Silbain drew up his Aura. He wouldn’t know exactly where the Cyclops would aim until the moment it threw. So he had to stay light and ready no matter which direction the next projectile came.
The Cyclops picked up another boulder from the ground. This one was larger than before. Perhaps it judged Frontdier’s shattering as insufficient.
The giant’s foot took another step forward,
Craaaaaahhhhh!!
This time, an even vaster boulder tore through the air at even more terrifying speed, shearing the wind apart.
Boom!!
The stone shattered once more against the streaking spears, fragmenting into pieces. This time, Silbain moved.
“Huh!”
As Silbain’s blade slashed through the air, the rock fragments lost their momentum and fell. He wove his Aura to extend his sword’s reach and broaden its surface, dampening the fragments’ velocity.
Though he couldn’t fully project and discharge his Aura, Silbain possessed more than sufficient mastery of the technique for this.
And his true prowess lay not in his Aura, but in his swordsmanship itself.
“Woaaahhh…….”
The soldiers marveled at the boulder shattering in mid-air under Frontdier’s spears, but they gasped in awe watching the scattered pieces lose all force the instant Silbain’s blade touched them, tumbling harmlessly to the ground.
The subtlety of reading a stone’s rotation and velocity in a single glance, then neutralizing its momentum—that was no mere product of raw Aura strength.
The Cyclops hurled more boulders after that, gathering every rock in sight and flinging them relentlessly.
But each time, the pair of Frontdier and Silbain intercepted them with minimal damage.
‘Good—this way we can hold!’
“Frontdier! Well done——.”
Just as Silbain was about to praise Frontdier for his efforts, watching him fight.
“……!”
Frontdier had both hands pressed to his knees, his back trembling.
“……Frontdier?”
His head hung low, his face hidden from view.
But Frontdier felt as though he were drowning in the Sanzu River.
‘Mana, I’m running out….’
Until now, he’d been sustaining himself on the Black Monsters’ mana. But there was no margin left. He’d spent every drop in killing them, managing only to keep fighting.
He’d already suffered Mana Depletion once before absorbing the Black Monster. Since then, he’d pushed himself further still.
Without recovering, without fainting, he’d forced himself to endure—and now it had come again.
A second Mana Depletion.
“Ugh, gah, ha—hag…… huh……!”
He couldn’t breathe properly. His muscles had seized, preventing him from drawing air or expelling it. Spasms wracked his muscles and organs, his breathing rapid and shallow, his blood pounding in his ears. Nothing obeyed him—it was all chaos.
Every convulsion was a reflex born of the will to survive, yet his body’s uncontrolled rampage was driving him toward death instead of away from it.
Silbain’s voice calling his name—Frontdier, Frontdier!—sounded distant. There was no time to answer, no capacity to hear, no room in his mind to think.
The Barrier’s winter was bitterly cold, yet his body burned as though aflame. No—something inside him was definitely burning. Through it all, Frontdier’s mind held only one thought.
Just before the next boulder comes, somehow—
“……My lord.”
In that moment.
The cold of the Barrier vanished. The scorching heat that had consumed him from within cooled.
He’d been drowning in silence, thrashing for survival.
But a clear voice reached Frontdier’s ears. And he lifted his head.
Before him.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
Her eyes bloodshot, her face slick with sweat, her breathing as ragged as his own.
“I would protect you with all my life.”
The one he’d believed would only arrive after sunset had come.
“Selena has arrived.”
She wound the cloth clutched in her hand around his neck, her face wet with tears yet smiling.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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