Meanwhile, in the Chamonix Mountains’ Itaracia Fortress... 

“A blitz tactic… advancing our army rapidly is the only solution.” 

Lee Ji-Tae arrived at the best conclusion he could at the moment. 

“Signaller!” 

“Yes, commander-in-chief!” 

“Send an order to the main force to head east.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

Lee Ji-Tae had yet to conquer Zolushka completely, but he had no intention to dilly-dally. Time was precious. Atal Ramanujan’s soldiers were poorly trained, and supplies were running low. He couldn’t afford to drag the war on any further.  

Zolushka, Iota, Gothika, and Shen… if we conquer these four territories and claim their farming land and mines, we will still be able to sustain the military expenses, albeit not by much. 

However, he also didn’t want to cut off more than he could chew. If he could conquer Shen, which possessed fertile lands along the Khartoum river, Atal Ramanujan’s financial outlook would be much better. In addition, Lee Ji-Tae could form a ‘super defense’ across the triangle connecting the borders of Iota, Gothika and Shen. 

I have to be careful. Both Valhalla and Gullveig are fighting for supremacy. They want a 1v1 situation, not an emergence of a third superpower.   

Lee Ji-Tae had a sharp intuition.  He knew how to see the big picture. 

Silently… let’s conquer the Shen territory and then stay low. We have to increase our strength. 

A perfect strategy. Well, almost perfect at least. Lee Ji-Tae had failed to take into account a huge variable called Kang Chul-In. His strategies were bound to go amiss.

Why was that? It was because the deal between Kang Chul-In and Lily Sephardi was something that even a genius like Lee Ji-Tae couldn’t possibly predict. 

                                                ***

“Lord Lily Sephardi, you protect the Lord’s hall.” 

Kang Chul-In spoke. 

“Don’t step a single step out of this land.” 

“Yes, oppa!” 

At that moment, Rooibos suddenly interrupted. 

“H-However, Your Majesty! Her Majesty Lily has already lost all her soldiers. The two of us can’t defend the hall alone...” 

“It’s not just the two of you.” 

“What? Are the reinforcements…?” 

“Not yet.” 

“I can’t comprehend Your Majesty’s intentions at all.” 

In the end, Roobios gave up trying to understand Kang Chul-In. That man surpassed everything that Roobios had expected, leaving the latter dumbfounded at every step. 

“Come forth, specters!” 

Kang Chul-In roared. 

Sssssss!

The spectre knights revealed themselves through a curtain of black mist. Riding on the backs of their phantom steeds, they were known as the spectre cavalry. 

“Wow… t-these high-class undead monsters!” 

“They will protect you two. Now, Atal Ramanujan’s weak soldiers will never penetrate the Lord’s hall.” 

“T-That’s right!” 

“Well then, focus on protecting your master.” 

“Yes, Supreme King of the West!” 

Rooibos bowed. 

“Also.” 

Kang Chul-In turned around to face Lily. 

“Just to reiterate, don’t ever leave the Lord’s hall.” 

“Okay!” 

“You know what I mean?” 

“If a Lord… abandons the Lord’s hall… he or she doesn’t deserve to be one...”  

“Ok, as long as you understand that.” 

Kang Chul-In nodded. A Lord must never leave the heart of the territory. Whoever did had to suffer the wrath of his or her people, not to mention the loss of authority. A classic example could be found in Korea’s history books, in which a nation’s king fled to another country during a barbarian invasion. He was then criticized for generations and more to come. 

“Well then, see you later.” 

Kang Chul-In turned his back.

“A-Are you going alone?” 

“Certainly not.” 

“W-Who else?” 

“Two more people.” 

“...” 

“That’s more than enough.” 

He was right. Kang Chul-In had brought Nilus and Kim Sung-Hee along just in case. 

Let’s hope there are many potions in my inventory. 

Of course, he still had to rely on some drugs to reduce the potential strain on his body. 

                                                ***

“Nilus!” 

“Yes, Your Majesty?” 

“Reinforce this building’s durability!” 

“Certainly, Your Majesty!” 

Nilus chanted a spell which caused Zolushka’s inner castle to radiate a brilliant silver light. 

“How’s the durability now?” 

Kang Chul-In asked. 

“With this spell, this infrastructure could even withstand Hecate’s bombardment!” 

Nilus promised with confidence. 

“Excellent.”

“Haha! I’m flattered, Your Majesty! It was only possible due to the small range!”  

“Still, this should be enough to last until the reinforcements arrive.” 

“As long as you are happy, Your Majesty!”

Nilus didn’t like being in charge of the bombarding. Thus, he appeared extremely delighted to be summoned by Kang Chul-In. 

“Kim Sung-Hee!” 

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

Once known as a chaebol family’s tomboy – no, crazy bitch – Kim Sung-Hee kneeled in front of Kang Chul-In with respect.

“Show me what you are capable of.” 

“I will do you proud, Your Majesty!” 

“Yes, take this opportunity to upsize your troops too.” 

“Certainly!” 

Kim Sung-Hee always complained about having too few soldiers. 

Although she had upsized her army significantly during the battle at Deathwin, it was still not powerful enough. 

“Nilus, the Royal chief magician, and Kim Sung-Hee, the commander of the first unit of the Imhotep Immortal army. Here are my orders.” 

Kang Chul-In commanded. 

“Yes, Your Majesty!” “Yes, Your Majesty!” 

Nilus and Kim Sung-Hee kneeled down. 

“I will handle this arch-shaped passage myself. You two deal with any enemy that infiltrates from the rear.” 

It was a crazy plan. The passage was wide and led straight to the inner castle. How could one defend this alone? However, Nilus and Kim Sung-Hee left without any objection. Why? Because the King could do no wrong. 

Tap tap tap!

All of a sudden, Kang Chul-In could hear the footsteps of the enemy soldiers. 

“Game, start.” 

Crack! Kang Chul-In cracked his neck left and right. 

                                                *** 

“How’s the situation in Zolushka?” 

Lee Ji-Tae inquired. 

“The outer castle has already fallen, but there’s still some resistance from the inner castle.”

“Resistance? Hasn’t it been more than 10 hours since the frontlines infiltrated the inner castle? Are you telling me that the inner castle is still standing?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Who is the enemy commander?” 

Lee Ji-Tae realized the issue immediately. In fact, it was a simple deduction. Zolushka had more or less perished. But for the inner castle to still stand, it could only mean that there was an extremely strong general blocking the path. 

Just like Zhang Fei, who single-handedly stopped Cao Cao’s army at a narrow bridge. 

“That is...” 

The signaller hesitated, with the report in his hand. 

“Commander-in-chief...” 

“Hand that over.” 

Lee Ji-Tae took the report from the signaller’s hand. 

It read as follows: 

Enemy cannot be identified. 

Impossible to pass through. 

Enemy’s strength, immeasurable. 

Many of our soldiers’ corpses are piled up. 

Attacks commenced, but to no avail. 

The message indicated that nobody who entered the arch-shaped passage survived. 

A monster… no, this man shouldn’t be as powerful as ‘that’ man. 

‘That’ man obviously referred to Kang Chul-In. Truthfully speaking, Lee Ji-Tae was right. Assuming that the arch-shaped passage remained unscathed, any good general could fight against the poorly trained Shatyameba soldiers. Moreover, why on earth would Kang Chul-In be in Zolushka? 

“Send more soldiers.” 

Lee Ji-Tae commanded. 

“That man is bound to be defeated sooner or later. He is a human after all. Continue to attack the inner castle.” 

He had countless soldiers under his command, anyway. To begin with, Atal Ramanujan had too large a population to handle, which led to a severe scarcity of food and resources.  A decrease in the number of soldiers wasn’t that big of a deal. In fact, it was to his benefit. 

                                                *** 

Meanwhile,

Gulp, gulp! Kang Chul-In leaned against the wall of the passage and gulped down his potions. 

Roll. 

Under his feet were countless scattered bottles that once contained top-class potions. 

“Tastes awful.” 

Kang Chul-In muttered. Consumables like potions usually didn’t taste too great. 

“When is that bastard coming?” 

The ‘bastard’ obviously referred to Kwak Jung. 

He needed the strong army that he had cultivated personally. 

He couldn’t defend the arch-shaped passage for eternity, after all. 

Tap tap tap!

Suddenly, Kang Chul-In could hear the footsteps of the enemy soldiers again. 

“Aren’t they tired?” 

He smirked. These bugs were truly relentless. 

                                                *** 

In the west of Pangaea, to the north of Ishtar... 

Wiiing, wiiing!

Analyzing 89,112th video footage out of 291,234 damaged ones. 

The needle of the compass-looking video player rotated continuously. 

“Hmm...” 

Desdemona, who was beating up passing mountain bandits for fun, narrowed her eyes as she stared at the video player. 

“When can I catch ‘that bastard’?”

Desdemona was talking about the sinner who had destroyed her lair. In other words, she was referring to Kang Chul-In, who had smashed the roof of her house with Laputa, the flying fortress. 

Desdemona gritted her teeth. 

“I will...” 

It was at that moment. 

Analyzing 89,112th video footage out of 291,234 damaged ones. 

Analysis complete!

Recovery complete!

One video footage available!

“...!”

Ah, what good timing! Desdemona was extremely delighted to be able to catch a glimpse of the hit-and-run criminal. She was about to hit the roof. 

“Now, shall we take a look at his face?” 

Desdemona played the recovered footage. 

Wiiing!

The video player began to project the footage on a wall. 

Thump!

With an incredible sound...

Ooonng!

A castle could be seen smashing against her lair. 

What’s going on!?

In the video, a disrespectful-looking bastard shouted. He was obviously the leader. 

Nothing serious, Your Majesty! The lower part of the castle seemed to have scraped against a rock on the top of a mountain!

A soldier shouted back. 

I see!

The leader replied. 

I will raise the altitude, so make sure everyone stays indoors!

He paid no attention to the fact that he had destroyed Desdemona’s lair, and instead drove his castle away casually. 

A clear hit-and-run case. 

“Right… so you are the bastard...” 

Desdemona grinned cunningly, having identified her perpetrator.  

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