Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 162

Preparing to Hunt Monsters

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I killed Ginok and paused for a moment.

Ginok was a mediator. With him gone, the conflict between the baptized and unbaptized Orcs would escalate. I waited, watching for that moment.

“The hunt has begun. The Steel Mist Tribe was ambushed and is being unilaterally pushed back, as expected.”

Upon receiving the report, I immediately crossed the northern border.

Across the Oroko Great Plains, past the Nerup Plains, to Pantonia.

It was a rapid advance. There was no resistance in Nerup at all.

Because there were no groups settled in what could hardly be called a ‘plain’.

“Usually, Pantonia is saturated, so they get pushed out to Nerup, right? Seeing Nerup so empty, the conflict with the Elves must have been quite damaging.”

“Not receiving breeding slaves is another reason.”

“There’s that issue too. The Empire cut off the supply of slaves years ago, and there hasn’t been a moment of peace during that time… It’s only natural that even Orcs and Goblins can’t handle it.”

Even in that situation, groups of tens of thousands frequently descended south.

The capabilities of the Orcs and Goblins had to be acknowledged as truly remarkable.

Bang! Thud!

Those capabilities were not to be ignored.

Even with their forces diminished, battles occurred almost daily from the moment we entered Pantonia. All sorts of tribes were scattered throughout Pantonia, both large and small.

“The Southern Expeditionary Force? How far have they come?”

“The report says they will arrive in Pantonia soon. Gerhard took some time to join with the newly formed divisions, and the Theocracy with its priests.”

Orcs and Goblins are not settled people.

They are nomads who move their settlements several times a year.

Even when attacked, they simply flee instead of fighting back.

Of course, Orcs have a strong fighting spirit and don’t like to retreat.

The old gods who rule them were more than capable of doing so.

“Titus, divide Pantonia into 11 districts, and deploy each army in all but one of them. You and I will each conquer one district.”

“Ah, herding the prey.”

I nodded.

“But will it be alright? The baptized ones are strong. If we divide our forces into many, the damage will increase as much as the speed increases.”

“No, it won’t be that great. Because Ginok is missing, a conflict has broken out, so their strength will be reduced from fighting with the unbaptized.”

Nothing is easier than facing an enemy in civil war.

“Again, this is a herding operation. The annihilation will take place after the herding is successful. So, tell them not to try to fight recklessly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Ending it with a single battle.

That was my plan, and the plan succeeded.

###

The sky over Pantonia was gloomy.

It wasn’t a natural phenomenon. It was because of the collision of magical power.

The day turned strange as my magic collided with the old god’s magic.

Rumble—

Magic, an invisible force.

The struggle of power occurred fiercely.

– Heir of the Lord.

The old god’s thought reached me.

Beyond the enemy’s forces stationed far away, there were the old gods.

– I may not have punished the Lord with my own hands, but I will resolve my resentment through you.

The number of old gods here was four.

The number of old gods who infiltrated the Empire before was seven.

Compared to then, the number is insignificant.

– Don’t be careless. You’ve never faced four at once, have you?

Tiamard warned from the pendant.

As she said, I had never faced four at once.

Catching the seven old gods was catching them one by one.

It was rare for the old gods to act as a group like now.

Whoosh—

The magic raised by the four old gods collided with my magic.

A typhoon’s eye appeared as each other’s magic intertwined in the void.

A typhoon blew outward from the place where both sides’ forces gathered.

Kaboom!

With the sound of thunder, a tornado appeared, overturning the ground, heavy rain poured down, and flames rose from the rain, riding the tornado.

A phenomenon that could not naturally exist was achieved by the wind of magic, an infinite power.

Kaboom!

Lightning struck the middle of the enemy.

In an instant, I pierced through the tense magical confrontation.

The lightning made of magic turned a radius of several dozen meters to ash.

“Lord Edar.”

The old gods, enraged by this, tried to counterattack.

I turned my body while confronting their magic.

The vassals gathered behind me knelt on one knee, receiving my gaze.

“Your Majesty. 14 divisions of the Imperial Army, 51,000 soldiers. Assembled.”

Minister of Military Affairs Gerhard said.

And following him, three vassals spoke in turn.

“1st Regiment, Regiment Commander Kodekivitz, a total of 871 men have gathered at the call of the Father.”

“2nd Regiment, Pirolini, a total of 915 men.”

“3rd Regiment, Karakorum and 845 others. Assembled.”

A special unit composed entirely of vassals.

Administratively belonging to the Imperial Army, each regiment commander had authority second only to Gerhard. They could report directly to me as needed and request support from the Imperial Guard.

————————————

Battle Monk

Kodekivitz

Lv. 83

Grade: A

Cavalry Commander

Pirolini

Lv. 80

Grade: A

Political Officer

Karakorum

Lv. 81

Grade: A

————————————

– Many have come.

Tiamard laughed.

It didn’t end here.

“Father, 2176 monks from our Theocracy have also joined the war.”

Rachel and Mersephone, who had reached adulthood, bowed their heads.

The people behind them were not vassals but humans. Among humans, they were devout enough to borrow the magical power of my soul even though they were not vassals.

Unbefitting of the gentle name of monk, they carried large maces on the right side of their waists. On the left, I also carried the Theocracy’s scripture.

“······.”

I turned back to look at the enemy again.

The enemy’s forces consisted of Orcs, Goblins, and Undead.

The scouts reported that their number reached 360,000.

– There are many *heosu* [cannon fodder]. There are countless undead that are worse than useless.

Tiamard scoffed, but still, the enemy’s numbers were six times ours. Also, within that group, there were variants born from baptism and four old gods who had performed the baptism.

It was an enemy that should never be taken lightly.

Rumble——

Magic boiled again.

The old gods, having been hit by me, were trying to counterattack.

The dark clouds surged and flashed several times.

Swoosh——

However, instead of lightning, rain fell.

Heavy rain poured outside the eye of the storm so that it would not reach the lined-up army.

The collision between the old gods and me continued, and the fact that I was trying to drive out the magic residing in the variants and the enemy was trying to curse my army conflicted and became scattered.

– Push them away. You can do it, right?

There was nothing I couldn’t do if I gave it my all.

The problem was that the Imperial Army would also be affected if I did so.

It was too early for humans to face my soul.

They were still weak.

“Fire!”

The start of the battle came from the artillery’s bombardment.

The artillerymen who stepped forward lit the fuses.

Psss···

The number of cannons mobilized for this expedition was about 600.

It wasn’t easy to array so many cannons.

One of the reasons why this place was chosen as the herding location among the divided areas was that it was a space where the array of cannons was smooth.

Bang! Bang! Kaboom!

The sight of 600 cannons spewing fire.

Also, the sound was so loud that the thunder was drowned out.

“Kuaaaa!”

“Cowardly monkeys!”

The shells fired from the 12cm field guns pierced through the chests of the Orcs, and after piercing through six Orcs behind them, they were embedded in the dirt floor.

The firepower of the Imperial Army came from both quantity and quality.

There were 3 types of field guns and 3 types of siege guns, a renewal from the previous situation where there was only 1 type each. The number of skilled workers also increased, so the performance also increased uniformly.

“Don’t stop! Keep firing until the infantry passes!”

The level of operational personnel was also the highest due to years of accumulated practical experience.

They fired up to 3 rounds per minute, and the effective range reached 1km.

How scary would it be if there were 600 such cannons?

Thousands of Orcs and Goblins died in the first bombardment.

“The location is very good.”

Titus, the vassal in charge of artillery command in this expedition, whistled.

While Gerhard and Army Chief of Staff Zekt were in charge of administration, he, who had been in charge of field command, received a job change for the nth time as the two vassals participated in the expedition.

“It’s an exquisite place where our army can be stationed but the enemy cannot.”

Gerhard nodded, laughing next to him.

This place was a fairly wide plain, but it was not a good terrain for deploying hundreds of thousands of troops. Because of this, the enemy had to gather densely, unlike the Imperial Army, and suffered a fatal blow to firepower projection.

“Reload!”

The first bombardment was very successful.

In terms of the Imperial Army, half of a fully formed division was dead.

Even Orcs and Goblins familiar with gunpowder weapons were surprised by the results.

Look, their faces are clearly flustered.

– What are you surprised about!

But such surprise disappeared with a shout.

There were four beings called gods behind them.

“Kill!”

“Human! Eat!”

Hundreds of thousands of monsters charged all at once.

It was like a huge wave crashing.

“Riflemen! Forward!”

14 divisions, 51,000 soldiers.

The Imperial Army had completely removed spearmen from its *byeonggwa* [military organization].

About 40,000 infantrymen, excluding the artillery, were all riflemen.

“Aim!”

The infantrymen took their positions in their respective locations.

Kneeling on one knee, spreading their legs, or standing straight.

They aimed their guns at the approaching enemy, gathered without gaps, and

“Fire!”

They started firing in unison.

“Kuaaaaaaak!”

The wave stopped for a moment.

The front row collapsed, and the group right behind them fell over.

It looked like the wave had stopped for a moment.

Tap! Bang—!

Tap tap tap tap tap!

It was said to be a volley, but because each division, regiment, and battalion had different locations, they also faced the enemy at different times. So, the gunshots continued non-stop instead of just once.

It was like repeatedly sweeping the piano keys from beginning to end and then returning.

Whoosh—

I waved my hand to blow away the faint gunpowder smoke.

“Ughhhhh!”

The wave surged again.

The enemy had been baptized and was familiar with firearms.

The mental shock from the volley was not very great.

“Brothers!”

1st Regiment Commander Kodekivitz shouted.

Before shouting, his body was running with his horse.

His regiment passed through the central infantry of the allied forces and headed towards the enemy.

“It’s time to prove our worth!”

“Father! Punish the unbelievers!”

There were 6 vassal regiments.

Of these, 3 regiments were mobilized for the expedition.

Other than that, they were either Imperial Guards or units temporarily *gakchul* [drawn] from other regiments, so they did not have the size of a regular regiment.

These vassal regiments had not been created long ago, but their characteristics were already revealed.

“In the old days.”

“Yes?”

“There was a cavalry unit called Hussars.”

The 1st Regiment was characterized by wearing wing decorations on the back of their armor and using particularly large lances.

Among the vassals, they had little aversion to the Theocracy and actively used the faith of the Imperial people, so they made decorations based on Mersephone’s wings.

Because of this, they were sometimes ridiculed among the vassals as fake angels who could not fly. On the other hand, they were sometimes regarded as real angels among the Imperial people.

“Charge!”

878 vassals plunged into the middle of the *haeil* [tidal wave].

878 humans charging into a *haeil* created by 360,000 creatures.

Wouldn’t they collapse more easily than a candle in the wind?

But they were vassals.

Thud!

Kodekivitz’s lance was really big.

Usually, a large lance is about 4~5m long.

However, the 1st Regiment’s lance was 8m long.

Therefore, they pierced dozens of enemies during the charge, but the lance could not withstand it and broke after that one time.

“Fight and die for the Emperor!”

The 2nd and 3rd Regiments were a little late compared to that. No, rather than late, the 1st Regiment was too fast. The two regiments started fighting when the 1st Regiment was breaking through the center of the enemy lines.

As mentioned earlier, the characteristics of each regiment also showed differences in weapons.

If the 1st Regiment preferred charging with large lances, the 2nd Regiment preferred checking with javelins before charging, and the 3rd Regiment carried pistols, fired volleys, retreated, and thinned out the enemy several times before charging.

“Charge!”

“Deliver the Father’s judgment to these *sseuregi* [trash]!”

It was the same to finish with close combat in the end.

They were vassals, so they transcended ordinary humans.

However, the process to reach the end showed considerable differences, so the tactics were also different.

“For now, Kodekivitz’s 1st Regiment is showing an overwhelming performance, but in the future, Karakorum’s 3rd Regiment’s performance is likely to stand out.”

Gerhard nodded at Titus’s words.

“They have no aversion to using gunpowder weapons. No matter how much we are, we tend to overestimate our *yuksin* [physical] abilities, but they don’t have that at all.”

“Yes. Look there.”

Behind the 3rd Regiment, the artillery battalion followed. The horses pulling the field guns ran with all their might and aimed their cannons at the 3rd Regiment, which had entered close combat.

“It is one of the characteristics of the 3rd Regiment. They assign Imperial artillery battalions to the regiment and use them as supporting firepower when close combat breaks out like that. It is a unit that is expected to see what will happen if more firearm improvements are made in the future.”

Bang! Bang!

Listening to Titus’s report, Gerhard laughed.

That’s because they fired field guns at a close range of only a few dozen meters.

“Closer! Shoot closer!”

Of course, there were cases of friendly fire as the mobs missed by the vassals ran to the artillery and the reckless act of shooting first was taking place, but no one cared.

– Are those guys vassals, right?

“That, we should fix it a bit, shouldn’t we.”

I smiled wryly at Tiamard and Gerhard’s words.

The reason why the 3rd Regiment uses such ignorant tactics was because of me.

Because they believed that I would save them from death.

It was to ignore the pain of friendly fire.

– That’s amazing in its own way.

Whirr!

I stretched out my hand immediately after the vassal regiment passed the infantry.

The magic emitted from my fingertips caused the sunlight to shine through the clouds.

So that intense heat that would melt flesh would pour down in front of the infantry.

“Kuaaaaak!”

The enemy mobs running towards the infantry melted down.

No matter how many vassals there were, their number did not reach 3,000.

On the other hand, the enemy was a large mob more than a hundred times the number of vassals.

It was impossible to attract the attention of all of them and protect the infantry and artillery.

So, I had to block their way to protect them.

Kaboom!

The old gods also poured out their magic.

They poured everything they had as if they could not lose to me.

– Fight even in death!

– The moment you drink our blood, you are our slaves.

– Fight! Kill! Until your souls turn to ash!

The damage to the vassals who had penetrated into the old god’s forces was great.

Flesh rotted, the enemy became monsters, and the ground collapsed.

All sorts of *goeui* [strange phenomena] covered the vassals to lead them to death.

“Get up. It’s not time yet.”

I rescued the vassals just before death came.

I couldn’t save everyone, but I saved many and sent them back into the war. The fight between the old gods and me was a competition of giving and taking life and death.

“Father! Father who calls life and drives out death!”

“······.”

In the meantime, Calliope led the Imperial Guard, and Mersephone led Rachel and the monks, joining the melee.

“Mo, monster!”

“Human! No! Fake, human!”

Calliope wielded a sword forged from the old gods on the ground.

Even though not a single flame was formed on the blade, as the blade moved forward, drawing an arc, the life that touched the blade melted as if burned by fire.

With a single swing, 40 Orcs and Goblins died, and the Undead spat out the old god’s magic as they touched the golden light emanating from her armor and collapsed.

Swoosh——

Mersephone poured light from the sky.

Every time she pointed the spear she held to the ground, the clouds were pierced and light poured down, so the enemy on the ground had to steal a glance at where she was pointing while facing the vassals in front of them.

Otherwise, the pouring sunlight would burn them.

“Advance!”

“Don’t wait for firing instructions, shoot!”

“After shooting, retreat and reload!”

When I erased the heat in front of the Imperial Army who had finished reloading, the Imperial Army slowly took steps and fired individually.

The enemy thought this was the time and ran towards the infantry, but they were dealt with by the Imperial Guard and vassal battalions *baechi* [deployed] in between.

– Human! Our enemy!

– Even if you win against us now, we will win in the end!

The old god roared and gathered strength. But it didn’t mean much. Because the forces they put forward had begun to collapse. It was just *buntong* [resentment] that they were shouting because they could not admit defeat.

Even if they tried to raise their magic, the old god’s magic could not cover the Imperial Army. I was protecting them, and I saved them several times so that their souls would not fall out of their *yuksin* [physical bodies].

– They’re fools. Why don’t they think about running away?

Tiamard, who did not know the high pride of the old gods, scoffed.

“It’s over. What are you going to do with them, Your Majesty.”

“Take away their strength and capture them. I will deal with them when I return to the Empire.”

I could swallow them and kill them in this place, but I shouldn’t.

Because there are many eyes watching, I have to make them think that I sealed them.

– That’s right. The secret must not be revealed.

Calliope ran, defeating the enemy, and Mersephone began to glide. Thousands of vassals rushed to capture the 4 old gods.

Swish—

At that time, another magic intervened.

The space behind the old god was distorted, and an ax popped out.

Flick!

The ax flew towards Mersephone, who was going down.

She flicked her hand to deflect it and stopped in the air.

– Again, it’s as you expected, Edar.

A huge monster appeared, *beolligo* [tearing] space.

With red skin, horns, wings, and sharp teeth and tail.

A monster that was no different from a demon appeared, tearing through space.

Following it, monsters of all sorts of bizarre shapes followed.

– You still have terrible taste.

Tiamard spat out *yokjigeori* [curse words].

Because that monster was a work of the old god she knew well.

– Disappointing.

The old god with the crow’s face came out last and *heulryeotda* [uttered] his thoughts.

– I thought you would take away some of their strength. You’re not helping at all.

The words seemed to contain disappointment and ridicule, but the thoughts were *damdam* [calm]. Just as I expected his appearance, it was as if he had expected this *kkol* [state of affairs].

– I think there is a *geup* [level] even between us. Don’t you think so?

Etemos laughed and looked at me.

쿵, 쿵— [onomatopoeia for thumping]

The demon-like monster stood in front of Etemos.

He rolled his three eyeballs while breathing roughly.

His gaze was directed at the five old gods and the vassals surrounding their creations.

The vassals I created were preparing to hunt the monsters created by the old gods.