◈ Episode 404. Commander-in-Chief of the Holy War Alliance
A fledgling Proznax, huh.
When you thought about it, it wasn’t wrong.
Granfell’s self-centered way of thinking. ‘By dragon age, I’d be roughly three thousand years old, wouldn’t I?’ Considering the age difference……
Proznax was, at most, nothing more than an adolescent.
So fledgling wasn’t wrong either. ‘In any case.’ I thought of the weight of the burdens I had taken on.
Let’s see, there were too many to list one by one, and each was heavy. But recently, the weight I felt most keenly was undoubtedly the position of “commander-in-chief.”
With that vicious mouth shut.
Proznax expressed his rage through his blackened pupils.
Facing him, I thought coldly. ‘How many lives am I standing on right now?’ Before the Cataclysm.
Back when Arcana Continent Chronicles was nothing more than a game. I recalled the number of players when Arcana had been at its peak.
I vaguely remembered seeing an article saying the number of concurrent users had surpassed one hundred million…… ‘Wouldn’t the total number of players have been several times that?’ Not all of them had awakened as players, but I could say with confidence that most of those who had awakened as players were now part of the Holy War Alliance. ‘Whether out of pride or anything else, if only to set foot on the Arcana Continent.’
Yes, hundreds of millions.
Even limited to players alone, an enormous number of people.
They were under my command, as the commander-in-chief of the Holy War Alliance.
I don’t think it’s an appropriate comparison, but……
This brings back memories of my days as a working adult again. ‘Even when a single junior joined, it felt burdensome.’
Someone like me, a senior mentor?
What was I even supposed to teach a junior?
I myself was a newcomer to begin with.
The memory of being so flustered I didn’t know what to do with myself was still vivid.
However.
“Look carefully. Even if it is a dragon that has fallen after being tainted by evil, its hide remains unchanged. It is right to refrain from thinking you can cut through a dragon’s skin with silver, the softest of metals.”
The current me stood upright even atop the terribly heavy lives of the players.
Anytime, anywhere, before anyone.
Was it thanks to Granfell’s pride, which never bent? ‘Yes, it is thanks to that.’
But the same was true for me, Lee Hoyeol.
I had decided not to look away anymore.
Shall I be honest?
Until now, I had simply wanted to avoid it. ‘Calling me commander-in-chief at the end of every sentence is so burdensome……!’
Couldn’t they just call me Mr. Hoyeol like before?
There had even been times when the urge to grab Nam Taemin and ask him to do that welled up in me.
But the situation had changed.
I could not keep finding the title of commander-in-chief shameful forever.
Cold and heat.
Because of them, Nam Taemin’s shredded flesh was covered in wounds. Nam Taemin, who had been sent flying after being struck by Proznax’s tail, had at some point come to stand beside me.
“As expected, it’s different from Yunaxus.”
Hisagi, who barely managed to open his mouth, was also in a dreadful state.
He must have swung and held onto his spear desperately.
Several of his bent finger joints already looked fractured.
“……
Hoo.”
Leoni, the berserker, was also drenched in blood. And it was not just the three of them. The players belonging to the Holy War Alliance were looking only at me.
I smiled bitterly inwardly. ‘How long can I keep looking away from those gazes?’ I, Lee Hoyeol.
Since knowing my place was my specialty, I did not delude myself.
Most of the reputation and achievements I had built until now were thanks to Granfell. I knew that, in some cases, absurd luck had played a part as well.
That meant I was not so arrogant as to think it was all thanks to Lee Hoyeol’s judgment in allocating points to the [Luck] stat. ‘I know the bubble got inflated as I struggled.’
Even so, the current me was not alone.
Because there were people riding atop that bubble.
If the bubble burst, I would not sink into the underworld alone.
Players, reality, the Arcana Continent……
I was aware that I would sink together with them all.
My honest feelings?
If I had still been the ordinary citizen Lee Hoyeol, the pressure might have driven me mad.
In that sense, I was grateful once again.
“Your foremost task is to obtain offensive power capable of piercing a dragon’s hide. If you can cut through dragon skin, which is like armor, then even an evil dragon is no different from a demon.”
To Granfell, who never lost his composure in any situation.
Thanks to that constancy.
I observed the situation from the commander-in-chief’s perspective.
Proznax.
Twenty members of the Holy War Alliance.
And me.
As commander-in-chief, I considered the best strategy I could employ right now.
First, the conclusion of this battle would not change. ‘It ends with my death.’
The 『Extreme of Healing Magic』 that I had received from Bellier through telepathy.
The extreme of healing magic was the caster.
It meant that I myself would become the core of the healing magic. ‘In theory, it’s worth attempting.’
As I said, until then, I had intended to face Proznax with all my might. This was my second battle against Proznax. I had wanted to confirm just how much I had grown.
However, because I looked at the battle through the commander-in-chief’s perspective.
I opened my mouth.
“I ask you.”
“……?”
“At this moment, can you cut through a dragon’s skin?”
There was no answer.
It was not because their condition was so poor that they could not answer.
It must have been because they were keenly feeling the majesty of the king of all things, the dragon.
The situation was different from the time with Yunaxus.
It was safe to say the toughness of an old dragon’s hide and that of a vigorous ice dragon’s hide were worlds apart.
Moreover, back then, the magical bombardment unleashed by the senior mages of the Magic Tower had made Yunaxus’s dragon skin even more vulnerable to attack.
However. ‘You can’t become a good leader by only swinging the whip.’
I had not asked to interrogate them.
Shouldn’t I lead by example first?
It was a hardship I had experienced too.
It was a wall I had run into countless times.
As someone who had overcome trials, I meant to offer advice.
I spoke to the player beside me.
“May I borrow your sword?”
“M-My sword, sir?! Ah, yes! Here it is, Commander-in-Chief!”
The more item power, the better, of course.
But dragon skin could not be cut through by item power alone.
Dragons were beings of [『Anomaly』], freely crossing between reality and the Arcana Continent, two completely different worlds. Unless it was an Anomaly, it could not inflict meaningful damage on a dragon.
“What you need is sword energy.”
“……
Sword energy.”
“To be precise, the fusion of sword energy and skill. In other words, Anomaly.”
I looked at Nam Taemin and Hisagi. ‘Those two have already reached that realm.’
As proof, Nam Taemin had succeeded in tearing dragon skin and driving his greatsword into Proznax’s tail. Hisagi’s demonic spear art had succeeded in leaving a scratch on Proznax’s chest.
Flutter.
Perhaps he had grown tired of quietly keeping his mouth shut and listening to me.
Proznax spread his wings and soared into the sky.
Then he descended rapidly.
Shaaaak.
He charged straight toward me.
Considering his speed, this was a realm where instants mattered.
Even in the midst of that, I leisurely continued speaking.
“Anomaly is not the addition of different powers.”
Calling it addition would make the Anomaly listening feel slighted.
“Nor is it multiplication.”
Then, I slowly assumed my stance.
“It is exponentiation.”
It was not an imposing stance.
I merely stood with my back straight.
It was not as though I were taking the battle seriously.
Rather, it was as if I were giving a handicap to a low-level opponent far beneath me.
Swoosh.
I lightly raised the arm holding the sword.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
A collision, and its aftermath spread outward.
Crack!
The dense coniferous forest snapped and collapsed from the shockwave.
The accumulated snow rose into the air.
Swaaaah!
Suddenly, amid the raging blizzard.
Voices searching for me rang out.
“C-Commander-in-Chief!!”
I answered.
“As you can see, I am more than able to withstand it.”
“……!!!”
Ssssss.
Between the snowflakes settling once more, I answered perfectly fine.
How must I look to them? It was not an ego sword, merely a rare-grade weapon at best, and with it I had offset a dragon’s blow. Their surprised expressions were understandable.
However. ‘……Just how many things did I slap on top of each other?’
It was a veritable feast of Anomalies……!
Not only sword force, but my unique stat [Tenacity] had been converted into [Strength].
On top of that, in that fleeting instant, I manifested magic.
I reinforced the ground touching my pivot foot.
The shock applied to the sword was suppressed to the extreme with pure magic.
And needless to say, [Natural Enemy Relationship], which had been active since earlier, also played a part. ‘If I’d been even a little late…… My heart’s properly in my throat here.’
And yet, despite that, my mouth kept running smoothly.
“This is why I called the power of Anomaly exponentiation.”
A dragon really is on a different dimension after all……! It was difficult to face one without activating [Throughout Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am Supreme].
But it was no longer something I could not defeat, unlike before.
Thud—
My trembling arm.
At the end of the sword I gripped with all my strength stood Proznax.
His face—more precisely, the clear wound left between his brows.
Drip, dragon blood flowed down.
“!”
Flutter—!
Startled by the bleeding, Proznax shot up into the sky.
I returned the sword to the stunned player and continued speaking.
“For now, leaving a single blow is enough.”
Yes, I did not need to take everything upon myself alone like a certain fallen noble of a great family somewhere. Things were different from the days when we were heading toward destruction. If I looked around, there would surely be allies. ‘For example, like now.’
Kiiiiiik—The Quirnberg Machine Tower.
It seemed to have detected the scent of a demon from Proznax’s dragon blood.
It began firing countless silver needles at Proznax. They could not pierce dragon skin, but now that the flesh beneath was exposed, it was a different story.
Pupupupuk!
No matter how fast he was, he could not avoid thousands of silver needles.
Hit.
At the moment Proznax was writhing in pain from the silver needles.
I finished speaking.
“Let us end the instructional lesson here.”
In truth, Proznax was still perfectly lively.
To put it in Arcana terms.
Should I say he had not even passed phase one yet?
He hadn’t even let out a proper breath attack in the first place, had he? ‘Honestly, if I could have my way……’
I wanted to see it through to the end, as I had first resolved.
Ever since Proznax and I first clashed.
I had wanted to compete and see which of us had grown more.
But it came into view from the commander-in-chief’s perspective.
The firmly shut city gates.
The Arcana people who could not return to Antonium and were looking anxiously at the rampaging Proznax. The Holy War Alliance members, so battered that it felt like a miracle they were even listening attentively to my words. ‘Yeah, well, the start is what matters.’
There will be plenty of chances for instructional lessons from now on, won’t there, Granfell?
So let us wrap things up here for now.
I recalled the process of search and interference in my mind.
I manifested the extreme of healing magic.
Soon, light began to pour out from my body.
A message appeared before my eyes.
[Your body is transforming into vitality that has reached the extreme.]
According to Bellier.
The manifestation process would be painful.
When I examined the Magic Tower’s records regarding Leras Til, they said that in his final moments, Leras Til had cried out in pain and curled his body tightly. As though he had become a fetus. ‘Because of that, he became a sphere of vitality.’
But where would this stubbornness.
This uprightness go?
That was right.
Even at the moment the extreme manifested, I kept my back straight.
I did not lower my head, nor my gaze.
And so I saw it clearly.
It must have been thanks to the intense vitality pouring out of me.
The sight of everyone beginning to recover in an instant.
“M-My wounds?!”
I had long since designated Proznax as the target of the extreme. Yet with only the influence overflowing around me, it was spreading an effect throughout the area equivalent to the manifestation of top-tier healing magic.
The signs were obvious enough for everyone to notice.
“……
Commander-in-Chief?”
“Y-You. What are you doing right now……?”
“M-Mr. Hoyeol. Your legs are disappearing little by little……?”
Nam Taemin was right.
My body was burning into light. Starting from my legs, it slowly began to vanish into the radiance. As I have said repeatedly, it is right to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
I wanted to explain kindly, one thing at a time…… ‘There is no time for that, and there is Granfell’s stubbornness.’
All I could manage was to say something like the words I had left for Bellier. As the commander-in-chief, and with the meaning that there was no need for pointless worry.
I added in Granfell’s manner of speech.
“The next instructional lesson.”
“……?”
“Shall begin exactly four days from now.”
Soon, my vision was completely covered in light.
Leras Til.
They said he became a sphere because he had curled up tightly, did they not?
[You have died.]
[Death penalty will be applied.]
[Acquired experience points will decrease.]
…………
At least if I stay upright until the end, I won’t end up becoming a sphere....
Hoyeol’s guess was correct.
Hoyeol remained upright until his final moment.
Like “a single ray of light” shining down from the sky.
And that light pierced Proznax.
It pierced the sky.
It pierced the earth.
And further still.
It pierced the underground of the Antonium Imperial Palace.
The Library of the Former Emperors.
The revelations of the former emperors.
Tremble.
The emperor’s pupils shook.
Claudi will lead the Arcana Continent to ruin.
“W-What is this?”
The parchment spat out by the Library of the Former Emperors was engulfed in light.
The letters mixed together and began to be revised.
A completely new revelation appeared.
An endlessly deep darkness.
A single ray of light.
Then, the emperor’s lips trembled violently.
“They weren’t speaking of the same person……!”