Ubermensch – Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Against the tide of large monsters flooding in, the tankers and melee combatants began to take their positions.

While they bought time by forming a human wall, Masika quickly signaled.

“Rear forces, stick to the wall with your backs against it!”

Regardless of their raid team affiliation, all the healers, mages, and ranged dealers started moving as Masika instructed. It was to gain even a bit of distance.

However, a group of monsters was bypassing the Holy Knights and charging towards the rear.

At the forefront was an Ogre with sharp thorns protruding from both hands.

“Kwaaahhhh!”

The ferocious intelligence gleaming in the Ogre’s eyes was focused on Masika. It was charging straight towards Masika, the commander of the rear.

At that moment.

Thud!

A silver flash pierced through the Ogre’s ear. The spearhead protruding from the other side of its face had a familiar shape.

“Liza-gongdaejang!”

She silently pulled out the spear and spun it.

Simultaneously, the Forest Guard, having subdued a group of monsters, distributed their members between the front and rear lines.

Then Liza and a group of elites stood firm in the middle.

It was a formation to intercept enemies bypassing the tanker line.

Not once had they discussed such a formation.

But they were all seasoned veterans. Simply by being in the positions they needed to be, a solid formation was completed.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a formation they could hold.

‘There are three problems.’

Seo Yeonhee sharply assessed the battlefield.

The first problem was the enemy’s numbers.

The enemies Seo Yeonhee had scouted alone were enough to bring down Castle. However, no one knew how many more enemies she hadn’t seen.

The second problem was stamina and energy.

The longer the battle dragged on, the more their core energy and stamina would deplete.

There was no telling how long they could maintain their fighting strength.

And the final, biggest problem was…

“Kwaaahhhhhhh!”

“Uwaahhhhhhh!”

The fight between two monsters unfolding in the heart of Castle, in the midst of the most intense battle.

Mason and Scar were engaged in a fierce brawl, neither backing down.

Whoever won that fight would determine the outcome of this battle.

Seo Yeonhee shouted at Oh Junghee.

“What about reinforcements? When are they coming?!”

“The air force can’t come until air superiority is secured! But…”

“But?”

“The Heavenly King is mobilizing all forces!”

Considering that teleportation was blocked, the travel time would be a little over an hour.

The variable, then, was how long it would take to gather the forces.

‘So, how will the enemies react?’

The unique characteristic of this wave was that the enemies were showing tactical movements.

It was probably because this army was assembled by Scar, a survivor of the Castle Defense.

‘Let’s think.’

Seo Yeonhee looked around.

‘What is the biggest weakness of this formation?’

Instinctively, before her rational mind could catch up, Seo Yeonhee raised her head and spotted a monster climbing the wall.

It was a Lightning Goblin with two daggers.

‘The rear!’

Fighting with their backs against the wall was a reasonable tactic. However, even small monsters that lacked the firepower to break down the wall could still climb it.

The Goblin, clad in rags, briefly scanned the battlefield. As if choosing who to eliminate first.

Its thought process was short, its decision swift.

The Goblin dashed down the wall, charging in.

‘Masika!’

Masika Karembe. Eliminating her, the commander of the rear, would be as good as collapsing this formation. And she was vulnerable in close combat…!

“Not a chance!”

Seo Yeonhee dashed towards the Goblin, climbing the wall.

Clang!

Seo Yeonhee’s dagger clashed with the Goblin’s in mid-air.

“Kerruk!”

Seo Yeonhee and the Goblin exchanged blows as they ran along the wall.

A fierce battle unfolded.

“Seo Yeonhee…?”

Witnessing this, Ronan finished assessing the situation.

He realized that small and medium-sized monsters were climbing over the wall from the other side.

“Liza.”

Ronan looked at Liza.

Liza nodded.

Immediately, a few melee combatants from the Forest Guard ran towards Ronan.

“Let’s go to the wall.”

Their objective was to stop and subdue the monsters climbing over the wall.

Atop the wall, an Insect Human wielding a large halberd had already taken position.

It was an opponent they had to take down to deploy troops on the wall.

“…Hmph.”

Ronan adjusted his grip on his Dragon Bone Greatsword.

Every direction was fierce, with no place free from chaos.

However, the most intense battle was, of course, the main battlefield where Mason was fighting.

‘He’s strong!’

Mason felt himself being pushed back, step by step.

Mason’s biggest weakness was his weight. He was light compared to his striking power, which resulted in a lack of grounding. But Scar, in addition to his weight, had the lower body of a horse, giving him a stable center of gravity.

Even when they exchanged the same blows, Scar experienced less recoil compared to Mason.

‘He’s not an unbeatable opponent, but…’

Based purely on specs, Scar wasn’t unbeatable.

He was definitely raid boss-level, but he didn’t possess the sheer weight of the Horned Gorgon or the flight capabilities of the Darkwing.

‘…He’s tricky!’

However, he knew how to ‘defend’.

He could block or grapple Mason’s attacks with his human upper body, and he could also kick Mason with his horse’s forelegs.

It wasn’t sophisticated enough to be called martial arts, but it clearly showed signs of having contemplated how to deal with humans.

And that was… making Scar an unusual and threatening enemy.

However, Mason couldn’t back down.

If he lost ground here, the entire front line would be pushed back. And if the front line collapsed, they would eventually be crushed.

Mason had to hold on.

He had to endure.

And, Mason was at his strongest…

‘For the sake of my comrades!’

When he fought for others!

Mason roared.

“Uwaahhhhhhh!”

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

Boom! Crash!

The fight between Mason and Scar was a back-and-forth battle.

Scar possessed a massive physique and strong defense, while Mason had his transcendental regenerative abilities and healers.

Mason had no vital points, and the areas that could be considered vital points on Scar were out of reach for Mason.

Either way…

‘The fight won’t end quickly!’

It was a war of attrition, where victory would go to whoever ran out of resources first.

However, if they let each other go, they would undoubtedly wreak havoc on the battlefield.

Both Mason and Scar had no choice but to be tied down in this exhausting brawl.

Both of them…

‘Someone has to create a variable on another battlefield!’

They could only glance sideways with anxious expressions.

Sung Kijun, commanding the front line, was equally anxious.

“Don’t fall back! Maintain the front line at all costs!”

The monsters outnumbered the humans in both quantity and quality. Their only advantage was the walls of Castle.

If they didn’t give up the entrance, they could face only the vanguard of the horde. The more they gave ground and the wider the battle area became, the more monsters they would have to fight.

It was a game of territory control.

A game with their lives at stake.

“Concentrate fire on one target! We have to eliminate them one by one!”

If Sung Kijun’s front line was the defensive wall in this game of territory control, the actual offensive power was handled by the ranged combat team led by Masika.

With her precise and sharp eyes, Masika scanned the front line and designated the enemies to be targeted first.

Then, a barrage of gunfire followed like a downpour.

“Thanks for saving me, Masika!”

The front line, struggling against the overwhelming force, could hold on thanks to the gaps created by the rear’s supporting fire.

“Kshaaahhhh!”

However, targeting the ranged dealers was the army of small and medium-sized monsters that had climbed over the wall.

“Don’t fall back!”

The ranger team led by Ronan was defending the wall, intercepting the climbing monsters. Ronan was overwhelmingly pushing back the Insect Human wielding the halberd, but every time he tried to deliver a finishing blow, he was repeatedly held back by the monsters that had climbed up.

Meanwhile, Seo Yeonhee was engaged in a speed battle with the Lightning Goblin that had infiltrated the rear.

“Kerruk!”

The Goblin was trying to evade Seo Yeonhee and attack the healers, the core of the defense, and Seo Yeonhee was chasing it to prevent it from doing so.

A balance of power was maintained.

Precariously, as if it could collapse at any moment.

‘If we can buy time like this…’

Reinforcements would come. They would definitely come.

At that moment, as if mocking Seo Yeonhee who held a sliver of hope, the tide of battle turned drastically.

Thud thud thud thud thud thud!

A dull roar, like heavy rain pounding on a slate roof, echoed continuously.

“Ugh!”

It was Ronan who gritted his teeth and endured the scream. A sharp stake was embedded in his forearm.

‘Giant Hedgehog!’

The Giant Hedgehog had launched a ranged attack on the wall defenders led by Ronan.

“Ugh…!”

Even with cover, defending the wall was impossible.

“Retreat! Get down from the wall!”

Ronan ordered his subordinates, and he himself used the Insect Human with the halberd as cover to buy as much time as possible.

Taking advantage of that gap, the small and medium-sized monsters that had climbed the wall began to charge down.

“Kieeeeek!”

Towards the weakest of the humans, the healers!

“Aah!”

The healers screamed and dodged.

However, among the healers, Eun Yuri was particularly slow on her feet.

A Skeleton swung its rusty sword at Eun Yuri.

At that moment.

Clang!

“Eun Yuri!”

Someone dashed in like a whirlwind, blocking the rusty sword with a shield.

“Yun Piljung…?”

It was Eric Yoon, no, Yun Piljung. He, who had somehow shielded Eun Yuri, spun around and swung his curved sword.

Slice!

The curved sword severed the Skeleton’s neck bone.

However, his momentum didn’t end there. Spinning around, Yun Piljung delivered a low kick, shattering the Skeleton’s knee.

As the Skeleton’s body crumbled, Yun Piljung kicked its head away.

Without looking back, he asked,

“Eun Yuri, are you alright?!”

“…Yes.”

“That’s a relief…”

Simultaneously, the ranger team led by Liza gathered at the bottom of the wall. It was to form a new defensive line there, merging with Ronan’s wall defense team.

Seo Yeonhee felt despair.

‘This won’t do.’

The front line was expanding…

That meant that the outnumbered humans were being pushed into the worst possible situation.

At this rate, defeat was inevitable.

‘If we don’t find a breakthrough somewhere…’

Both Sung Kijun’s front line and Masika’s rear line were at their limit. They couldn’t expect any more from them. Then, there was only one variable left.

‘Only Mason…!’

Mason had to defeat Scar.

But how?