Free Web Novel'If there is no such thing, and he still cannot answer.......'
In Corporal Seo Suhyeok’s mind.
An ominous imagination began to rise.
'No. Maybe anyone else, but there is no way that man would end up in that kind of situation.'
But.
Seo Suhyeok barely managed to suppress that thought.
“So.”
Then.
A voice came from behind him.
“What do we do now?”
When he turned his head.
A giant warrior stood there, covered in blood from head to toe.
Having suppressed the black energy rising from his body, Corporal Jeon Gwangil looked at him with a frown.
“......We cannot continue fighting here.”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok looked around.
While he had been interrogating the believer, most of the Church believers in this hall seemed to have either been subdued or fled.
However.
“Clearing out the people gathered here right now will not be difficult, but enemy reinforcements will be swarming in soon.”
“They will.”
Those people appeared to be nothing more than ordinary believers who had come to observe the coronation.
They had already fought several battles against the Church.
They knew the Church’s combat forces were not at this level.
'They must know a battle broke out here, so the ones who can be called their main force will be coming soon.'
They did not know the geography of this place.
And this place was in the heart of enemy territory.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok calculated the situation coldly.
......The conclusion that came from it was one thing.
“For now, we have to retreat.”
“Retreat?”
At those words.
Corporal Jeon Gwangil frowned and said,
“Sergeant Shin disappeared, and you’re saying we should just retreat?”
“I want to find him too.”
“Then.......”
“But do you know where he is?”
If they only knew his location.
Seo Suhyeok, too, would have immediately chosen to move there.
That was why he had been interrogating the enemy.
However.
“The ones left here do not seem to know where Sergeant Shin was dragged off to. They are clever. Anyone who might have known that location must have been moved with that light. To make sure they could not be captured by us and reveal it.”
“......It is not as if there is no method. We wipe this entire place out and search the whole territory.”
“With our current forces?”
“Why not?”
Looking at Jeon Gwangil, Corporal Seo Suhyeok let out a sigh.
It was true that they were strong.
But the people who had come here were, in the end, only an escort force.
'They are a force confident they can take Sergeant Shin and escape no matter what enemy they fight.'
......Even so.
They were not a force capable of wiping out an entire faction.
“I already reported to Corporal Lee Minjae that something has gone wrong. He should be bringing the troops deployed nearby. Even if we do it your way, after we link up with them.......”
“That method will be too late.”
“What if we get captured too?”
Even while Sergeant Shin Youngjun had been absent for a long period of time.
The Legion had somehow continued functioning.
There was [Vimarnar], which could take his form, and above all, the other officers were still intact.
But.
“If you and I disappear too when Sergeant Shin is already gone. Do you not understand what will happen to the Legion?”
No matter how outstanding Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok’s command ability was.
There was a limit to how long he could maintain that command.
Unless he could directly command every battlefield, the existence of strong individuals who could carry out the orders he gave was more important than anything else.
The two corporals had been the ones fulfilling that role.
If they disappeared, even Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok would inevitably struggle to keep the Legion intact.
“I know. But.......”
Even so.
Corporal Jeon Gwangil looked into the distance and said,
“I have a bad feeling.”
“A feeling?”
“There is no way they took Sergeant Shin Youngjun without thinking. They must have known that doing it that way would inevitably mean war with us. And yet they carried out such a reckless kidnapping?”
On his face.
A rare cold sweat was running.
“Something terrible is going to happen.”
“.......”
“Whatever it is, we have to stop it as quickly as possible.”
“......I told you. If we do not know the location, then even if we want to......!”
But at that moment.
“......I know.”
“......?”
Someone cut into their conversation.
“I can know.”
“......Team Leader Jeong Sua.”
A person who, until recently, had served as the Legion’s scouting team leader.
And who had now become the escort captain.
Jeong Sua was approaching them with a pale face.
After returning to the Legion.
It had not even been long since she had formally taken the position of escort captain.
And immediately after she had taken that position, Sergeant Shin Youngjun had gone missing.
“Q-quickly, as quickly as possible.......”
Perhaps that fact had shocked her that badly.
She had her head bowed low, biting her nails and trembling with anxiety.
“......You know his location?”
“How could you know a location even they do not.......”
Separate from that.
It was difficult to readily believe her when she said she knew Sergeant Shin Youngjun’s location.
She was already someone whose loyalty to the Legion Commander was excessive.
There was also concern that perhaps she was making up a lie in ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) order to remain here and rescue Sergeant Shin.
“......There is no time to explain!”
When she raised her head.
They saw her eyes.
......A clear light that did not seem human.
In those pupils.
Not they themselves, whom she was looking at, but somewhere else entirely was reflected.
Only after seeing those eyes did Corporal Seo Suhyeok realize.
'We were selected as the escort force this time, but...... originally, the one in charge of guarding Sergeant Shin was this woman.'
Because she had spent a long time away from the Legion, he did not know much about her in detail.
But.
There was no way Sergeant Shin Youngjun would have placed this woman in that position without reason.
“Guide us.”
......There must have been some other reason.
Something that suited that position.
***
And so.
The Legion members began marching toward the place she indicated.
Pabababababang.......
......Naturally.
The Church did not simply stand by and watch that happen.
“Kh......!”
“Artillery fire! Everyone, take cover!”
The closer they moved toward the place Jeong Sua pointed to.
The more they had to face defensive facilities of an incredible level, and believers counterattacking through those facilities.
And that was not all.
“......Enemies approaching from the rear as well!”
Combat forces spread throughout the Church’s entire territory.
They were surrounding the Legion members.
'......Kh.'
The Legion was originally an army specialized in defensive battles.
Even in this ruined world.
The truth that the defending side had the advantage had not changed.
The Church’s territory.
Breaking through the Church’s defense inside it was not easy.
All the more so because they were an escort force, not the main force.
“All personnel will take cover on this side. We will operate a detached unit to eliminate the bombardment position first, then.......”
Even so.
The Legion members tried to advance step by step using their combat know-how.
“No!”
At times like that.
The woman staring somewhere else.
Jeong Sua stepped forward and said,
“That will make us too late.”
“Are you saying we should keep advancing while taking that artillery fire head-on?”
“I know it will not be easy. But if we cannot, then we will be too late.”
“.......”
At those words.
The soldiers looked at her in silence.
'How many times has this been already?'
Already, in this manner.
The Legion had been advancing quickly while taking damage they normally would not have had to suffer.
They were a unit advancing to rescue the Legion Commander.
It was certainly true that speed was important.
'At this rate...... we cannot endure.'
Separate from that.
The problem was that too much damage was accumulating on the Legion members’ bodies.
“We will not be able to rescue Sergeant Shin like this.”
In the end.
At a certain point, Corporal Seo Suhyeok could not hold back and spoke.
“Even if we reach the place Sergeant Shin was moved to, we will have no combat power left to fight there. As things stand, we need to slow down and reduce the damage.”
“We cannot......!”
“What do you mean, we cannot? Whatever the case, we need troops left to find Sergeant Shin. Are you saying it is fine if we lose all our forces here?”
“It is fine, so continue advancing. At maximum speed.”
“.......”
At her words.
The soldiers looked at Jeong Sua with strange gazes.
'It is fine?'
'Is she saying it would be fine even if some of us die like this?'
Slowly, in their eyes.
Distrust toward Jeong Sua began to settle.
“......Understood.”
“Pardon? But.”
“It is true that Sergeant Shin is missing. So...... we also have to move as fast as we can.”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok, too, noticed that atmosphere.
Even so, he decided to advance according to Jeong Sua’s words.
Pububung.......
An advance carried out while accepting damage.
The more they advanced, the more fatigue began to build in the soldiers’ eyes.
Corporal Jeon Gwangil looked at them and thought.
'......The Legion is strong.'
But.
The cause of that strength was nothing other than the unity between the Legion members.
The comradeship formed while fighting on the same battlefield.
That sense of oneness was what allowed them to move as a single organization.
But.
'Team Leader Jeong Sua.......'
Corporal Jeon Gwangil.
Did not know much about Team Leader Jeong Sua.
As the scale of the Legion began to grow.
Not everyone fought on the same battlefield anymore.
That was only natural, since their branches and roles had become more specialized.
Scouting Team Leader Jeong Sua.
She mainly distinguished herself in scouting missions.
She herself scouted through spirits.
Her unit members scouted through covert movement so stealthy that even fellow Legion members could not see them.
......It was rare for her to directly participate in combat on the front line.
Back in the Legion’s earliest days.
They had lacked manpower, so every member of every unit had been mobilized to fight.
And Jeong Sua, too, had been included in that.
'But at some point, I stopped seeing her.'
While they went through Seoul and China.
She had operated in other lands while following Sergeant Shin Youngjun.
She had already been someone he rarely saw on the battlefield, since she mainly handled scouting missions.
On top of that, she had been away from the unit for a long time.
Even before this.
There were many who disliked the fact that she was someone operating a strange private organization within the Legion.
'Are they really.'
The people here were high-level awakened beings selected by Seo Suhyeok and Jeon Gwangil.
Since many of them had been together from the very beginning of the Legion, the number belonging to her private organization was also small.
Perhaps because of that.
As the forced advance continued.
And the damage accumulated because of it.
'Our comrades?'
That question.
Began to spread among the exhausted unit members.
***
“Next, next is...... that way.”
The unit members’ fatigue was accumulating rapidly.
But as if she did not even care about that.
“We’re almost, almost there...... just a little farther.”
Jeong Sua pointed to the next destination.
'......It will be all right.'
Even so.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok clenched his teeth and continued advancing according to her words.
'Once we get through this incident, we will have plenty of time to resolve this problem.'
With that thought.
For now, he had prioritized the most important issue: rescuing the Legion Commander.
......However.
That thought did not last long.
“Next is, over there......!”
While they continued moving under Jeong Sua’s guidance like that.
Ahead of them.
A strange presence began to be felt.
'......!'
An awakened being with senses sharper than other awakened beings.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok was able to confirm that presence before anyone else.
That was why.
“What...... is this.”
“Pardon?”
He could not help being horrified by that presence.
Because.
What had blocked them until now had, in the end, been awakened beings.
The believers of this Church.
Whereas.
Kooong.......
What was revealing its presence from far away.
Was none other than.......
Kwoooooooooooogh!!!
The presences of.
Countless monsters.
