The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 36
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 36 Stopping That?
Week two of enlistment. The morning's grueling training
session had ended.
"I think I'm going to pass
out......ahhh......."
Recruit No. 33, Park Dae-gil, was covered in blood and felt
like he was going to die. He was on his way to eat his lunch of sugar water
when he heard an irritated voice from behind him,
"Hurry it up!"
"What the f**k?"
Park Dae-gil reacted agitatedly to the insignificant
words.
The men had been beating each other like crazy, and they
had a lot of bad feelings toward each other. Even if they were healed, they
would still be swinging their fists at each other, so no good feelings could
arise.
"You want to die, asshole?!"
"Try it, motherfucker!"
Things were looking precarious, like they were about to
unleash a firestorm. But the recruits stiffened when they heard the cold,
clicking sound of machinery.
-Dispute. Military law in effect.
"Hic......."
"Si- Sir Yappy, it- it's not like that......."
-Dispute. Military law in effect.. Corporal punishment by
whipping is being considered.
"Hic!"
This was the thing. No matter how much stress the
recruits were experiencing, they couldn't relieve it in the presence of a
non-human, mechanical overseer.
And no one dared to stand up to the machine now that
they'd seen the first recruit who'd rebelled really get his calves whipped by
Yappy.
The two recruits were frozen as they thought they were
going to get whipped. Then a savior appeared.
"Sir, Sir Yappy, the King would like to see
you!"
-Recognized.
At Hari's words, Yappy turned around just as he was about
to carry out the punishment. The machine disappeared. Hari breathed out a sigh
of relief.
"Huu, are you all right? Hunter Park Dae-gil, Hunter
Han Jong-hyuk."
"Tha- thanks to you."
"Ha... He, he is
such a cold-hearted fellow."
The hunters' grievances were naturally directed at Yappi.
Yappi, who doesn't have compassion and only acted
according to the strictly formulated principles, was disliked by all of them.
On the other hand.......
"Geez, I wonder what would have happened if it
weren't for you, Deputy Han."
"I keep thanking you every night. Sob...!"
Everday, Hari brought a night meal to the hunters, who
were starving and fed only sugar water.
If it weren't for the sweet potatoes and potatoes she
brought, the hunters would have been wiped out long ago──
'I
won't give up!'
'Only
because of Miss Hari, I'm barely alive!'
Han Hari had been an angel, saving them from the tyranny of
the unkind and harsh Yappy. Without her, this grueling training would have been
even more agonizing.
Looking at the hunters who each expressed their
gratitude, Hari smiled awkwardly.
'Uh...
I can't say that I'm doing this with the King's permission.'
Leon divided the roles of Yappy and Hari, who were
essentially two officers of the training grounds.
Good officer, and bad officer.
Appeasement and intimidation, carrots and sticks. It was
an old psychological tactic.
Yappy whips the recruits and Hari gives them carrots. If
there were only harsh instructors, there would have been only complaints, but
Hari's presence kept the men's frustrations in check.
"Hmm, have you finished your meal?"
""Yes, Your Majesty!!""
After the meal of sugar and salt water, Leon began the
afternoon's training with his usual pep talk.
"The water, sugar, and salt you drink come from the
sweat of the labor of the workers. Always eat it with gratitude."
""Yes! Thank you!!!"
What was Leon's role between the good and bad officers?
The Untouchable.
He was the commander of the internal affairs division.
In the presence of a higher power, men freeze and dare
not show their displeasure.
"Rejoice, cadets. You have eaten well, don’t you?
The king is pleased to see you guys eat your fill."
-Eh?
-No way... he didn't catch us eating late at night, did
he?
"For you, this Lionhearted King will provide a
special tactical training session. Since you ate like a pig, you should have
plenty of strength!"
-I don't have strength though.
-Save me.
The hunters fidgeted. Tactical training? Although glad to
not have to beat each other up for the afternoon, the prospect was strangely
foreboding.
"Ah, but before we do that, I've prepared a reward
to motivate you."
At Leon's command, Yappy and Hari brought in red lumps
and displayed it in front of the men, and their identity was easily recognized.
-Oh, Warrior's Heart of orcs!
-That's what they're giving away as prizes?
Orc Warrior's Heart. An item from a powerful monster,
judged to be at least a Class A monster.
It was a unique enhancer worth hundreds of millions of
won that can increase strength and stamina so much that it was a favorite among
low-level hunters.
There were five of them.
"We will conduct tactical training in groups of ten.
At the final test in two weeks, a gate raid, I will select one person from each
group who is the most outstanding and give them these as prizes."
-Oh oh!
-Oh my god! Amazing! Great!
Their spirits, chipped away by two weeks of hellish
training and sugar and salt water, instantly soared. As if he'd seen it coming,
Leon gave a satisfied look and began to speak again,
"Your role on the battlefield is to be an iron wall.
A wall that must not be broken under any circumstances!"
In other words, tankers. The cadets' primary weapons were
shields and either spears or swords.
"Raise your shield! Get in formation! And you will
have to block my charge!"
"......Yes?"
The afternoon training was done in groups of ten.
On the vast plains of Naju, where the harvest had just
been completed, a group of ten men huddled together with thick shields. Behind
them, about forty recruits sat and waited.
"Most fights at the gate are close combat, except for
special cases. What are the basics of close combat? It is a no-brainer: break
down the opponent's formations and hold your own."
“All of you will receive shield training except for those
with an aptitude for long-range attacks. These days, you called it
tankers."
At those words, the trainees stirred. Gu Dae-sung asked a
genuine question,
Gu Daisheng asked a genuine question.
“Um, Your Majesty… Are you saying that all but
long-ranged soldiers would be tankers?”
"Yes."
At that, the commotion grew louder. No surprise there.
There were two recruits with bows in the first group.
Which was fine, since they were originally specialized for ranged combat... but
the other eight remaining recruits were all given shields.
"Uh... if we all act as tankers, who will deal the
damage?"
"Archers alone would not deal enough damage..."
Gu Dae-sung was familiar with the hunter raid team
system.
The strategy of modern-day hunters is very much based on
the gate.
A handful of tanks will draw the aggro while damage dealers
will steadily chip away at the monster numbers.
The ranged fighters were good for killing mobs, but they
weren't much more than a stop-gap from mid-boss onwards.
Obviously, they need damage dealers who can put in a lot of
damage instead of more low-damage dealing tankers.
'You
have to possess the skills to be a tank in the first place, that way you can
take all the damage from powerful monsters.'
How in the world would low-level hunters with no unique
skills supposed to be tankers?
"Don't question it. Your job is to hold off the
enemy charge, and that's all you need to do. Focus on that."
Nothing else matters. Just keep the enemy's charge at
bay. Only that.
"I will charge. Of course, it won't be at full
strength. So brace yourself and block it."
Leon mounted his horse and sat upright before ten
shield-bearing hunters.
The Divine Stallion. The hunters had witnessed the
horse's ridiculous maneuverability, but they were relieved to see that Leon
wasn't going to use that.
-It's that horse.
-Even an orc could get decapitated with its hind hooves.
-Its not going to do that to us, right?
It was then.
【 Aura of Lion's Heart 】
◆Effect
: Grants enhanced defense to army.
: Grants enhanced mental and physical stats to army.
: Grants enhanced large-scale type fortifications to
army.
: Grants enhanced valor to army.
: Grants enhanced weightless armor to army.
: Grants enhanced tough skin to army.
: Grants enhanced heavy blow to army.
: Grants magic empowerment to army.
: Grants enhanced resistance of ranged attacks to army.
: Grants enhanced keen gaze to army.
: Grants enhanced anti-infantry slaughter to army.
: Grants enhanced contamination resistance to army.
The overwhelming sense of omnipotence they felt at the
orc gate. It was now bestowed upon them.
The amount of buffs was overwhelming, to the point where
they wondered if they were really going to train while being granted all of
these buffs? Will that even be training?
"Defend! A horseman will charge!"
These buffs seemed like a lot to confront a single
knight. What would a single horseman do with such a large group of people
defending themselves with shields?
"Let's go, Stallion."
At Leon's command, the white horse began to trot.
Clop, clop, clop. The sound of hooves could be heard. Gu
Dae-sung and the other hunters of the first group braced themselves, arms
gripping their shields. And then... it picked up speed.
It took less than a second for the sound to turn into a
loud rumble. Even a sports car's speed-changing wouldn't be this impressive.
"Huh?"
From what must had been thirty meters away, the tiny
figures of Leon and Stallion filled their field of vision in an instant.
The momentum was so crazy that the hunters felt like they
were facing a dump truck charging at full speed.
-Bam, bam, bam, bam!
The sound of the horse's hooves was deafening, and the
vibrations from the ground bombarded their entire bodies.
The arrogant idea of the modern men on the horse,
accustomed to cars, trains, and airplanes, had long since flown out the window.
They have only one common feeling.
'Stopping
that?'
'This
is crazy!'
Even the valor granted from the [Aura of Lion's Heart]
did not enable them to act recklessly.
"Aaaagh!"
"Sa- save me!"
The foremost recruit threw himself, followed by another
recruit, who dodged.
Unfortunately, Gu Dae-sung, who was keeping his shield
upright behind them, was unable to dodge and was hit head-on.
"Uh?"
At the moment of the collision, Gu Dae-sung saw that 'enhanced
defense', 'enhanced strength', 'enhanced fortification', 'enhanced valor',
'weightless armor', and 'enhanced tough skin' had been triggered simultaneously
in the system messages. Nevertheless──
'Enhanced keen gaze' had captured this instant moment. A
fleeting moment in which his teammates, who had been weaving defense together
just a split-second ago, appeared to become nothing but a blur.
It won’t be until three hours later that Gu Dae-sung, who
had fallen under the impact of the force, opened his eyes.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Even with the protection of the
Lion's Heart, you're still this terrible. How pathetic. Next group, step
up!"
The recruits who had witnessed the crash turned pale.
-What the hell?
-A man just got blasted.
-We're supposed to stop that?
-I, I don't want to die yet.
That day, not a single one of the group managed to block
Leon's charge.
* * * *
It had been a month since the capture of Cheongju Gate.
Reynald Shelman, Lord of the United States Magic Tower,
was still praying to the jewel enshrined there today as well.
"Great One! Please, I beg you, speak to your lowly
servant once again!"
Since the capture of the Cheongju Gate, the voice that
had been imparting knowledge through the Jewel of Wisdom had disappeared.
The only person who could have caused this was Leon
Dragonia Lionheart, a survivor who made it through the Cheongju Gate in Korea.
Reynald tried to investigate what prompted the
disappearance of the voice in the Jewel of Wisdom, but the information on the
man was extremely limited.
‘Should
I have him killed? Will the voice of the Great One return if I deal with him?’
But even the Great One feared him and fled. He was said
to have overwhelmed the Yakt Spinner, the killing machine of the Cheongju Gate.
Against such a man, even he had no choice but to be
cautious.
'Damn.
When are you coming back? Will you ever come back?'
How many sacrifices had been made so far?! After a month
of patience, Reynald Shelman became frustrated.
"F*ck, you devils are fucking expensive──"
-Chijik!!
"Great One! I knew you would return!"
Reynald, who had displayed a masterful change of
attitude, turned to stare at the Jewel of Wisdom.
[Shit... In the end, I got caught up......]
"Great One?"
[Cough...! Get down on your knees, you fool!]
"Aye!"
Reynald immediately fell to his knees. It seemed that the
voice had changed for some reason, but he knew that the evil energy emanating
from the orb was just as intense.
[I will teach you the truths and wisdom of Samra. Of
course, you should honor me and offer a fitting sacrifice.]
"Of course, Great One! What shall I have ready?
Shall I prepare a living sacrifice? Or shall I make the hunters into servants
at a gate as I did last time?"
[No, for the time being, you'll just have to do what I
tell you to do.......]
Shortly after, a voice came from the Jewel of Wisdom
again,
[Place space transfer magic on the jewel. In case of
emergency, shoot it into space.]
"Yes? What do you mean......."
[Goddammit! Just do as you're told!]
That was... cheaper. Reynald did as the orb told him and
cast a transfer magic on the box the orb was stored in. The coordinates are
outer space.
[Good, you did as instructed.]
"Is, is this all right? I am aware that the orb...
is supposed to be a tool for the descent of a great being, but in an emergency,
I believe it would be better to open a gate than to shoot it into
space..."
[Are you crazy? I will walk into the heavenly pit!]
"Yes?"
[Listen carefully. I have no intention of ever leaving my
head on a planet where that bastard is alive and breathing.]
"But who is he......."
[.............]
For a moment, it was silent. A pair of lips was pursed,
as if recalling some terrible memory.
[I will tell you how to kill him. Now is one of the few right
times when the Holy Grail Knights and his legion are not present! I will enter
the same gate as him somehow!]
"Ah, I see!"
Reynald listened to the voice from beyond the orb.
The knowledge imparted by the great demon was
astonishingly great, and once again he marveled at the wisdom he got.
[Please just die.......]
However, the voice from beyond sounded very unconfident.
***
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