The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 168

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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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Episode 168. Preliminary Skirmish (3)

The Fortress Courtyard was consumed by fierce combat.
Haramag’s Heavy Infantry, composed solely of veteran soldiers who had survived years of frontline warfare, skillfully repelled the enemy’s relentless charges.
The first rank drove their shields deep into the earth, standing firm, while the second rank stacked shields atop them, forming an impenetrable wall without a gap.
Yet those attempting to break through were no less formidable.
Under the influence of a frenzied Medusa, the Parasite pressed forward with grim determination—jabbed and pierced by spears, yet still hurling themselves against the shields, scrambling to vault over.
As dead wolves piled high became a launching point and a creature hurled itself forward, Yan Santus drove his long spear with all his strength, casting it down as he roared:
“Hold! Grip with everything you have and hold! The moment those shields part, we all die—remember that!”
He continued urging them forward when he suddenly sensed an ominous shift in momentum and spun around.
Earthians were pouring forth.
“Earthians incoming! Hold just a bit longer!”
“Damn! They’re moving fast!”
A grizzled veteran, gripping his shield with every ounce of strength, let out a harsh cry. Several nearby soldiers twisted their faces and let out stifled laughs.
One mistake meant death, so they couldn’t laugh freely—yet these men possessed the mettle to snicker even in the face of oblivion.
“Keep your mouth shut! Save your breath!”
Yan Santus barked sharply and turned back again to gauge the distance.
His sharp gaze flickered.
One unit pressed forward with particular force, drawing his attention.
“Clear the way!”
A woman with tousled reddish hair charged forward, raising a Triangular Shield as she cried out.
Yan Santus called out calmly.
“Lat! Zimmer! Ready!”
The two named soldiers glanced back.
The gap closed in an instant.
“Now!”
The two soldiers drove the enemy back hard, then pivoted their bodies ninety degrees.
“Hrraaaah!”
Pi Sora, shield at the fore, charged through the sudden opening with the force of a rampaging war machine, shaking the earth itself.
Crash! The explosion shattered eardrums. The Parasite, caught by the unexpected impact, tumbled through the air in a shower of bodies.
Some even scattered skyward in a spray of sparks.
Yet when Pi Sora’s forward momentum ceased, her stance remained remarkably stable and controlled.
The only peculiarity was the pale steam rising from her skin and armor.
“Ah.”
Pi Sora lifted her head, drew her chest open, and bared white teeth in a smile.
“Now I’m finally warmed up.”
She kicked the jaw of a creature trying to scramble up, then drove her heel down, slamming it back into the earth.
Parrying a Parasite lunging from the side with her shield, she hurled her Reddish Longsword wreathed in flame.
Several others followed in support, joining the assault.
Yan Santus’s gaze fixed on the young man wielding the Blue Spear.
His spear tip, gleaming with golden light, stabbed relentlessly through enemies stunned by the sudden offensive.
His Spear Technique grew faster by the moment, to the point where one might mistake the target for melting away.
Watching Seol Jihoo lead the Interceptor Unit through the Parasite ranks at devastating speed, Yan Santus nodded.
Those protecting this unit might actually survive, he thought.
It was a common joke soldiers made before heading into battle—that survival depended entirely on which Earthian one cooperated with.
It was a quip too grounded in reality to dismiss as mere jest.
Some treated soldiers as meat shields or expendable resources, and in extreme cases, there were instances of commanders abandoning soldiers as they fought to clear the way, fleeing without a backward glance.
From that perspective, this young man’s conduct was exemplary by Paradisean standards.
‘Hm?’
As Seol Jihoo, having thoroughly crushed nearby enemies, suddenly turned forward to advance, something flickered in Yan Santus’s eyes.
He seized Seol Jihoo’s shoulder as he forced his way between his subordinates toward the front, and though considerable resistance transmitted through his grip, he hauled him back with brute force.
Seol Jihoo turned sharply. Yan Santus simply raised his arm, pointing to the sky.
Seol Jihoo’s brow furrowed, and he tilted his head back.
Blade Boomerangs launched from the fortress descended in diagonal trajectories, sweeping through the swarm of enemies dozens of meters ahead as if cleaning a floor.
Arrows arced through the sky, thudding into the closer ranks in a steady stream.
“Your enthusiasm is appreciated,”
came a low, solid voice as Yan Santus stood watching.
“But throwing yourself in from the start and burning out isn’t a sound strategy. It strains not just you, but us and your comrades as well.”
Seol Jihoo blinked slowly.
A man’s face suddenly caught his eye—the general who had come to guide him personally when Teresa extended the invitation.
Which meant he’d been so absorbed that he hadn’t even noticed.
“You’ll grow weary of fighting as you advance further, mark my words. Wield your spear with heat, but keep your heart and mind cold as ice.”
It was a splash of cold water on his mind. The flush that had risen so deeply in Seol Jihoo’s face receded somewhat, color returning.
Being on the battlefield, the general said nothing more.
Seeing that his companion had truly steadied himself, Yan Santus thundered out an order with commanding force.
“Again—advance, forward!”
Soldiers kneeling on one knee rose as one. They trampled the corpses still twitching beneath their steel-shod boots and pushed forward with strength.
With this, they had achieved their objective: securing space for the Earthians to emerge. Now they had to deal with the Medusa controlling the current battlefield forces.
The soldiers’ role here was to clear a path as much as possible until the Earthians reached the Medusa.
With ten Medusas scattered sparsely across the battlefield, the formation that had maintained a horizontal line gradually began to unfold into a fan shape.
The moment Seol Jihoo thought there weren’t many enemies blocking them, thanks to the supporting fire from before, new foes emerged.
Even after sweeping them aside and raining arrows, the Parasite’s numbers remained as staggering as ever.
The soldiers running ahead thrust long spears forward with powerful shouts. The sound of collision was sickening.
Most of the enemies were pierced on spear points or struck by shields, but a considerable number broke through regardless.
A ghoul-like monster—certainly once human in life—came charging with both arms flailing loosely.
Seol Jihoo’s spear cut through the air keenly and pierced its brow. Extracting the weapon upward in a sharp motion, blood vessels burst crimson across the creature’s forehead.
Simultaneously, golden electricity crackled and scattered.
Not only did ice spread across the wound, but the ghoul’s head inexplicably charred black.
“Grrrrr!”
Next, three or four stocky creatures of unknown race rushed forward in a line, raising hammers.
Seol Jihoo gripped the spear shaft with both hands, ran forward, and extended his arms.
Thwick. The sensation of driving deep into rotting fruit was transmitted through him.
Seol Jihoo drove his spear into the creature’s chest and pushed through. The spear point that emerged through the first one’s back pierced the chests of those following in sequence.
The stocky creatures convulsed as if struck by lightning, then collapsed limp.
When he withdrew the spear, the chest cavities spilled dark crimson fluid in a rush.
Then a fierce gust struck his neck. A half-man, half-beast whose body was half-decomposed kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
As if it would come crashing down upon him.
The force of descending claws was sufficiently murderous that Seol Jihoo’s throat tightened.
‘Keep the heart cold.’
He leaned his upper body back sharply and retreated; the filthy claws grazed his vision perilously. A few strands of what might have been bangs tickled his eyes.
‘Wield the spear with heat.’
Seol Jihoo’s eyes snapped open. The moment his opponent landed, he spread his power and aimed for its head, but the creature deftly caught the spear blade in its maw.
It immediately seized the shaft as well, biting down hard with teeth as if to shatter it.
But Seol Jihoo did not panic; he lifted it together with the spear. Then, driving down with sudden fierce force, the half-beast was hurled aside helplessly.
Seol Jihoo stepped on the sprawled enemy’s chest and struck downward at its neck. The half-beast’s limbs, thrashing spasmodically, lost their strength.
Seol Jihoo twisted the spear free and drew breath to recover. The reek of decay filled his mouth.
Just as he was about to spit it out rather than swallow—
“!”
His nape prickled with sensation.
Without turning around, Seol Jihoo thrust his spear behind him urgently, acting on pure instinct.
The satisfying sensation of shearing flesh transmitted through his hands.
As he spun around quickly, he saw three wolves losing their balance in mid-air and plummeting. The beasts that had been writhing like insects charred at their wound sites, and their convulsions ceased as well.
Fighting in the chaos, he’d felled nearly ten Parasites in no time.
Seol Jihoo’s body trembled with astonishment. The more he fought, the more surprises kept coming.
Normally, Parasitized monsters, regardless of species, differ only in degree but are fundamentally difficult to kill.
Unless the parasite controlling the body dies, even if only a head remains, it will snap and bite with such vitality that one would think it indestructible.
Yet every time he thrust his spear, one creature died without fail.
It might be called an instant kill.
‘This is—’
“Help us!”
A desperate cry suddenly pierced the air.
A human—no, a soldier’s scream.
Thump, thump! Now that he heard it, an ominous sound was steadily drawing closer.
Seol Jihoo’s eyes narrowed as he looked toward where the soldier was.
Four massive creatures, each easily over two meters tall, were charging forward with faces bristling with horns.
What would happen if those mindless monsters overwhelmed the front line was crystal clear.
Seol Jihoo stopped himself from rushing forward immediately, hesitating. With a premonition, he took his stance and raised his right arm at an angle.
Soon a radiant golden Mana Spear materialized in his clenched right hand.
Seol Jihoo finished his approach and drove his arm forward with a powerful thrust, his upper body bent low.
A sharp crack split the air like lightning striking. The creature, sensing the momentum, twisted its body as far as it could.
But it couldn’t dodge completely, and the Blue Spear grazed its left arm, sending a tingling current through its limb that left it paralyzed.
“Grrrraahhh!”
The massive creature staggered, and without hesitation, tore off its own left arm. It fixed its gaze on Seol Jihoo and let out a bone-chilling roar.
The four monsters crouched low as if enraged, their legs coiling with tension. They sprang forward like compressed springs releasing, charging at tremendous speed.
‘Let’s try cutting again, shall we.’
As the creatures rushed straight at him with their horns lowered like charging bulls, Seol Jihoo conjured four Mana Spears simultaneously and hurled them all at once, then generated more the instant they left his hands and sent them flying in rapid succession.
And once more.
Though each individual spear was weaker, the ability to fire them in volleys was its true advantage.
And now that Soma’s power had been added to the mix, dozens of Mana Spears battered the creatures relentlessly, forcing them to break off their charge and stagger dangerously.
Seizing the moment, Cho Hong, O Ra-hee, Pi Sora, and Hugo rushed in and severed their necks. The moment four of the powerful giant creatures fell simultaneously, the ground trembled.
‘Not bad at all.’
At this level, the Mana Spear Throw could just as well be called Lightning Thrust — it was a formidable auxiliary weapon.
Seol Jihoo clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly while nodding, while Cho Hong gave him a thumbs up, her expression asking silently what on earth he was doing and how this was even possible.
But Seol Jihoo himself hadn’t known Soma’s power extended this far, so he had no real answer to give.
Besides, there was no time for explanations.
The soldiers stared at Seol Jihoo with awe before quickly turning their gaze forward. Just as they thought they’d weathered one wave, a new swarm filled their vision and surged toward them like a tidal wave.
The soldiers gritted their teeth and charged forward, and combat erupted anew.
The battle pattern was simple: when enemies appeared, the soldiers served as a buffer, holding the line while the Earthians engaged and eliminated them.
As they repeated this cycle, fighting through multiple encounters, the vanguard soldier suddenly sensed something amiss.
The advance was progressing far more smoothly than expected. Looking back, their forward momentum had rarely been stalled in one place, and even when forced to pause, the situation would clear up almost immediately.
If this wasn’t a trick of perception, then far fewer enemies were actually rushing toward them compared to how many appeared to be emerging from the depths.
It couldn’t be explained by the fortress’s covering fire alone. They’d come this far, and the survival rate of his fellow soldiers remained remarkably high.
Of course, he was aware that the interceptor unit following close behind possessed incredible fighting power, but….
‘Hm?’
Between the woman driving a Steel Mace down to cave in an enemy’s chest and another woman cleaving throats with invisible blade strikes, the soldier’s eyes went wide.
‘Smoke?’
If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, Black Smoke was flowing through the battlefield.
And at an incredible speed.
Weaving between enemies like a dancer, ripping off heads and shredding bodies with terrifying velocity, it culled their numbers at a truly horrifying rate.
Struck speechless by a phenomenon beyond comprehension, the soldier finally managed to understand.
‘Magic. It must be magic.’
Now that he thought about it, he’d heard that the Haramag Royal Family had invested a fortune to secure one High-rank Mage.
The moment he realized—or rather, came to believe—that such a mage possessed power to turn battlefields upside down was providing cover for them, the vanguard soldier’s courage surged tenfold.
The Earthians were already fighting beyond imagination; with such cooperation assured, he pressed on without hesitation, leading his comrades forward with renewed vigor.
Yet such is the way of human fate.
Fortune and calamity are ever intertwined.
The soldier, whose gaze had been fixed unswervingly on their objective, suddenly felt his face contort with shock.

(Continued in the next part)

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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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