"In every world, there are monsters."
Thud! Thud-thud!
A low murmur echoed. It wasn't so much directed at anyone as it was a lament spoken to himself. The lips of a man, hidden beneath a shaggy beard, quivered.
"But the monsters that exist in our world are... different."
Boom! Thud!
The sound of something approaching in the distance—more like something being destroyed than simply struck. The shabby-looking man pulled his knees up into his arms.
"They are the demons of the Abandoned Land. Have you ever encountered them?"
Clang! Thud!
Vibrations shook the fortress in succession.
This wasn't a polite knock.
It was the toll of invasion.
The man's voice grew heavier with fear.
"I have… met them before. No, rather than a meeting—it was an abduction. Yes. I was taken by them."
"......"
No one in the shelter could easily respond. Over a hundred people were gathered in the ramshackle shelter, and the atmosphere was suffocatingly silent and still.
The only sounds were the quick, low breaths of people trying to suppress their fear.
And through those sounds, the man's murmuring seeped in.
"It was… it was an experience like hell. The Abandoned Land is hell itself. Those who live there are creations of that hell—no, calling them living beings would be too generous."
"… But for someone who was captured by them, you look fairly intact."
For the first time, someone reacted to the man's ramblings.
The shabby middle-aged man lifted his gaze.
He saw a young man who had just responded to his muttering. Handsome—so incredibly well-formed that the man felt he'd never seen someone so sharply attractive in his life.
Perhaps the youth was embarrassed by the man's stare. He smiled awkwardly.
"I just got a little curious while listening."
"My story, you mean?"
"Yes, how you managed to survive and escape after being captured by those demons. If someone has been through that, their experience might be helpful in 'this situation.'"
The moment Reivaj mentioned "this situation," the rumbling from afar, which had briefly subsided, surged again.
Boom! Thud!
Everyone was reminded.
This situation.
The demons from the Abandoned Land attacking the fortress. A large-scale invasion unprecedented in the past twenty years.
Can this fortress truly hold out? Against that vast army of demons filling the horizon? How long can we hold them back?
And after that, will we survive?
"Help? Me? Survive?"
The shabby man twitched his beard. Then he raised his right hand.
"Does this look 'intact' to you?"
"....."
Reivaj couldn't respond.
Only then did he realize it.
The man's raised right hand was nothing more than a prosthetic, carved to look like a hand.
"It's not just the right arm. I lost my left leg too. Eaten by them. While I was still sane."
"It must have been… incredibly painful. But…"
"You want to know how I escaped like that? After losing my right arm and left leg, bleeding all over, I crawled. While they slept, I threw myself down a cliff-like slope and passed out. And this is the result."
Perhaps the painful memories came rushing back.
The man twitched his nose for a while before finally adding another word.
"Guess I just got lucky. But that luck seems to have run out."
"........"
This time, even Reivaj couldn't respond. The man's words—that his luck had run out—were not something easily refuted.
'What's going to happen to us...?'
A soft sigh escaped.
Honestly, the situation was grim.
So grim it could hardly get worse.
He whispered quietly to his companion.
"Aged Kimchi, we may need to prepare ourselves."
"....."
"You've heard from others already, but this is the largest invasion in twenty years. If the worst happens, this fortress may fall."
"Then this place…"
"Everyone will die. Except for the rare lucky few."
Reivaj said.
"As you know, this fortress blocks a narrow isthmus with seas on both sides. Behind us? A sheer cliff that drops into the sea."
"That's what I'm wondering, young master. Instead of just hiding out in this shelter and whining, wouldn't it be better to cross the cliff in the back and escape while the fortress walls still stand?"
His servant, Dyoll, asked.
Reivaj shook his head.
"Impossible."
"Huh? Why?"
"By now—or rather, the moment the demon corps' invasion was detected—the only bridge that crosses the sea behind us must have been destroyed."
"Destroyed? Why?"
"This place is the shield of the kingdom. If this falls, the entire kingdom is at risk. In fact, 320 years ago, during the invasion recorded in the history books, the fortress fell in two hours, and the bridge that hadn't been destroyed in time was seized by the demon race."
"Ah… I've heard about that."
"Yes. The Great Invasion of Melody. They left the bridge intact for supply and evacuation purposes, but it cost them dearly. When the fortress fell, the demons crossed that bridge and ravaged the kingdom, bringing about the fall of the previous royal dynasty."
"So… to prevent such a disaster from repeating, they destroy the bridge behind the cliff the moment the demons invade, regardless of whether the fortress still stands?"
"Exactly. That's it."
"… That's insane. So, we're all just supposed to die here?"
"Better than letting the whole kingdom be sacrificed. Besides, while this front-line fortress buys time, the second fortress on the other side of the bridge will have more time to prepare."
"Shouldn't the ones making those decisions be the ones living here?"
"I don't entirely disagree… but that's not how the world works."
Reivaj gave a bitter smile.
Dyoll's complexion turned pale.
And once more, the thunderous boom came.
Boom! Thud!
Was it louder than before? The impact hammering the walls. The tension squeezing their hearts with every wave of sound.
"We may really meet our end here."
No one could respond to Reivaj's final words.
So Aged Kimchi thought.
"....."
Should I be the one to step forward?
Will I eventually have to stain my hands with blood again?
"......."
Honestly, he hated it.
In his past nineteen lives—faint memories of lives filled with nothing but slaughter and battle.
This time, he had wanted to live differently. That's why he turned his back on the Abandoned Land and the duty forced upon him. That's how he drifted here.
But… now, must I once again shoulder that duty?
'Is it truly my fate… to fight only, to reap every life in the Abandoned Land in death…?'
A wrinkle formed on Aged Kimchi's brow.
It was then.
Kuuuuung…!
A slightly different roar than before echoed. Then, a cheer that made the entire fortress shake followed.
"… was defeated!"
"Uwooooooh—!"
…Was that a cheer of victory? It certainly sounded like it. Aged Kimchi, with his slightly sharper hearing than others, tuned into the cries of the defensive soldiers.
Thanks to that, he knew.
The massive beast that had been hammering the walls had been repelled. The demon forces, having failed their assault, were retreating. And so, the soldiers raised a victorious cry.
Hearing that, an involuntary smile of relief spread across his face.
"....."
Yes.
There was no need for me to step in.
Truly, thankfully so.
A bit of relief settled in.
And he quietly hoped.
That the fortress would continue to stand. That nothing would happen so terrible that he'd need to step forward, that many would die or be injured.
He wished, and prayed—and days passed.
But contrary to his hopes, the situation grew more dire.
…Boom! Thud!
Less than thirty minutes after their first retreat, the demon corps regrouped and launched another assault. A beast larger than the last struck the walls.
The defenders fought valiantly. They drove back the vile demon race. Again, cries of victory echoed.
But before the cheers could even settle, the demons launched yet another assault. Once more, the desperate battle resumed. Gasping breaths, killing intent. Invaders and defenders alike, locked in struggle.
A third victory was granted amidst the countless blood, sweat, and tears. But now, no one chanted in joy over the victory anymore.
Everyone had begun to sense it.
That this alone would not stop the onslaught of those fiends. That the demon legion had chosen a rotation strategy to wear down the fortress.
Indeed.
The demon army was not pouring in its full force. They split the army into several units and attacked the fortress in succession. The units not engaging in the siege all rested.
In contrast, the fortress defenders had to go out in full force every time. Otherwise, they couldn't hold the line. They couldn't rest. Getting even twenty minutes of sleep was a luxury.
As a result, in just six days, everyone in the fortress was exhausted. People, equipment, even the walls themselves.
…Boom!
"The, the wall's been breached!"
A tearing, desperate scream rang out on the afternoon of the seventh day, since the fortress had begun to endure the demon assault.
Through the collapsed wall, the demon army surged in without hesitation. Cruel laughter and helpless fear rapidly spread throughout the fortress.
The shelter where Aged Kimchi's group had been staying was no exception.
Crash!
The moment the shelter door was smashed open, the people inside all squeezed their eyes shut. A sense of inevitability. The terrifying fate ahead. What will become of us now?
There was no time even to cry.
The embodiment of fear granted no mercy to the helpless.
"Kkhaaaak!"
Five 4th Star legion soldiers burst through the broken shelter door. A grotesque appearance that was a mix between snake and turtle. Their eyes, bloodshot with hunger, gleamed. The moment they rushed into the shelter, they reached out for prey.
Whoosh!
The target the legion soldier chose was a child who didn't seem even five years old, and the young parents shielding them.
".....!"
The young parents clenched their eyes shut.
The child looked up in confusion.
And because of that, the child was able to see it.
Someone, the back of a man in a tattered cape, stepping forward to block the way. The shocking sight unfolding behind him.
Crunch—!
Aged Kimchi stood before the young couple and the child. The sharp, tainted claws of the legion soldier slammed into Aged Kimchi's crown.
Or rather, they didn't pierce, but bounced off and slid past. By his ear. Down to his shoulder. And then—
Rip...!
They tore through Aged Kimchi's cape.
And so, it was revealed for all to see.
Beneath the cape was a fluttery, sparkly, pink magical princess outfit.
"… Huh?"
A stunned noise escaped from the legion soldier's mouth.
The fact that an ordinary human had dared to interfere with his attack. The fact that he couldn't lay a finger on this seemingly ordinary human. And that this human, for some reason, had a… rather unusual (?) fashion sense.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.
That sensation would become the last emotion that legion soldier ever felt.
…Thwack!
A flash of light.
The next moment, the torsos of the five legion soldiers who had stormed the shelter were gone. In their place, massive splashes of blood decorated the walls and ceiling of the shelter.
As if someone had deliberately splattered them.
And Aged Kimchi, too, had vanished. Before anyone even realized it, he was already sprinting through the fortress.
Rampaging demon legion soldiers.
Defenders fighting to stop them.
He dashed through them all.
Leapt over the broken wall.
Exited the fortress.
Cast his gaze outward.
And there, he found him.
The demon leading the legion.
The 4th Star Master, Tartu.
"......"
He had tried so hard not to fight. Had wanted so badly to live this life in peace.
But perhaps that had been wishful thinking.
So long as those vile demons of the Abandoned Land existed, peace and rest were nothing but a luxury in this life. Was he, then, truly incapable of escaping the duty placed upon him?
Doubt and lament.
But Aged Kimchi shook his head. At the same time, he understood. That this was his fate. That it could only be his fate.
Thwack—!
The lament was brief, the resolve unwavering.
He kicked off the ground.
Locked onto his target.
That demon over there.
The one commanding the legion.
That bastard.
That bastard was the head of the legion. If he took him down, the demons attacking the fortress would lose their momentum and retreat.
With firm determination, he struck the ground.
And at that exact moment, the 4th Star Master Tartu also saw Aged Kimchi charging toward him.
"...!"
The 4th Star Master instinctively sensed it.
That's the one.
That's the strongest human in the fortress. If I eliminate him, the defenders will lose their will and collapse completely.
He felt it with certainty and focused his murderous intent. Unleashed it. Charged straight at Aged Kimchi.
"Kaaaahhh!"
For the future of the Abandoned Land.
For those lost in the grief of starvation.
Today, I shall lead this glorious battle to victory!
The moment he heard the 4th Star Master's warcry, Aged Kimchi's charge accelerated.
Thwack!
For the fate that chose me.
For a world that wishes to purify the Abandoned Land.
Today, I will take up this sorrowful duty at last.
'…Willingly!'
Even if I don't want to.
Even if the path is soaked in blood and slaughter.
Even if it means a life of endless solitude.
I will,
Today—!
Thwaaack—!
The demon commander was approaching rapidly.
He gripped his magic wand.
Pulled it close.
He would end this in one blow.
Resolving so, he gathered power.
And just as he was about to strike—
"Ahh, sorry for butting in all of a sudden—!"
"....!"
An unexpected shout rang out.
And at the same time, someone came dashing in from the side with rapid steps. They leapt up. Toward the demon commander. Delivered a crushing blow.
"Heyyy you bastard! I told you! We wouldn't invade the human world! That we'd be friends—!"
Crack—!
".......!"
In a flash, Kim Jangcheol flew in and delivered a spinning sideways hectopascal kick to the 4th Star Master.
The moment he saw him, Aged Kimchi's eyes flew wide open.
And he instinctively understood.
Ahh.
My mission.
My fate.
Its sorrowful ending… was you.
[T/L: I am not getting any support from webnovel platform, so please support me and read ahead chapters on my ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]