The Shadow Army

The 130,000 elite shadow soldiers who had survived under the Shadow Monarch until the very end were hidden in the shadows of humans, suppressing every trace of their presence as much as possible. This was a trap. The Monarch of the Strong Body, who had suddenly found himself face-to-face with the Shadow Army, felt a dizzying sensation, as if being sucked into a swamp. 'I've been had.' The western army he was currently leading had no strength to match the Shadow Army. On top of that, the fact that Belion and Igrit were at the vanguard of that Shadow Army meant this was a crisis where he had to worry about his own safety. The Shadow Army—no, the Shadow Monarch—must have been aiming for this. '...I have to let them know.' The Monarch of the Strong Body hurriedly attempted to communicate with the Dragon Emperor. However, some power was blocking all outward communication. 'Could it be...?' Had the Shadow Monarch planned this far ahead? Desperate to find the source of the power disrupting his communication, the Monarch of the Strong Body hastily activated his sensory perception. That was when he spotted a High Orc shaman next to Igrit, clutching something in his hand and diligently casting spells. '...!' His spell was blocking all communication. Fangs—a general-class soldier reborn as a true shadow soldier, borrowing even the power of the 'Greed Gem'—possessed that level of magical potency. Fangs, upon meeting the gaze of the king he had once served, shyly flushed red. Yet he never stopped reciting his incantation. Feeling himself mocked by Fangs' smile, the king of the rulers, the Monarch of the Strong Body, felt a surge of fierce anger erupting within. [How dare you, of all beings!] No, this wasn't a strategy that the shadow soldiers—or even the Shadow Monarch—could have conceived. It wasn't the way of the Shadow Army, who had always delivered inevitable death to their enemies on the battlefield. This was. 'The human way.' The Shadow Monarch, who had once been human, was warping the very nature of warfare. Did he have no pride as a Monarch?! The enraged Monarch of the Strong Body expanded every muscle in his body. Veins bulged grotesquely from muscles swollen to the point of bursting. The Monarch of the Strong Body let out a roar. [He is not worthy of being a Monarch!] Before he could leap all the way to Fangs in an instant, Beru stood in his way. Kwoong—! Beru caught both of the Monarch's hands and began a clash of strength, glaring right into his face as he spoke in the language of magic beasts. [Take back what you just said. The crime of insulting the sovereign is a heavy one.] But the Monarch of the Strong Body applied force as if he would twist Beru's arm clean off and shouted. [How dare a mere soldier stand in a Monarch's path!] And then— Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! An earth-splitting roar erupted, and simultaneously, Beru's frame ballooned to more than double its size.

* * * The Dragon Emperor saw it. In the brief moment he had hesitated, the countless fallen soldiers of his army of chaos—and the shadow soldiers that had grown in number equal to every one of his troops that had died. Fire blazed in the Dragon Emperor's two eyes as he stepped through the gates. At the end of that gaze. There was Jin-Woo, who had become a single massive storm, swallowing the entire army of chaos whole. He must. He must kill him! Without revealing his true form, the Dragon Emperor, still in human shape, rapidly fired a breath of destruction from his mouth. Kwaah—! In the brief flash of light, Jin-Woo—who had been pushing forward against the army of chaos in a frenzy—did not miss that fleeting moment. 'It's him!' Jin-Woo's body vanished, and. All the soldiers of chaos and shadow soldiers that had been nearby were exposed to the breath and disappeared without a trace. Kwaahhhhhh—! Jin-Woo, who had leaped away, landed a short distance off. The Dragon Emperor, having ceased his breath, was staring him down. Behind the Dragon Emperor, ancient dragons, dragons, and the dragon-people emerged from countless gates that had opened. The king of the light dragons, the Monarch of Destruction. This was the main force of the army of destruction that he led. A force capable of annihilating the entire world in a single day had been mobilized to capture a single Shadow Monarch. And at the very front of them all. The king of kings, the Monarch who ruled over Monarchs—the Dragon Emperor. '...' Jin-Woo swallowed dryly at the boundless, overwhelming power he sensed from the Dragon Emperor. Instantly, on Jin-Woo's orders, the shadow soldiers who had been locked in fierce combat with the soldiers of chaos swiftly pulled back. Just as the army of dragons had stood behind the Dragon Emperor, the shadow soldiers took their stand behind Jin-Woo. The Dragon Emperor sneered. [Are those worthless soldiers all you have?] Shadow soldiers in the thousands, hastily conjured by killing the enemy's troops. But over there stood nearly ten million soldiers, hundreds of dragons, and the most threatening existence of all—the Dragon Emperor. Jin-Woo was not ignorant of the disparity in their forces. That was why he had chosen this method. "Go!" Jin-Woo launched the shadow soldiers he had gathered in one place back into battle. Doubt arose upon the Dragon Emperor's doubt. 'You see my soldiers and still choose to face them head-on?' Madness! But despite the Dragon Emperor's skepticism, the shadow soldiers charged straight ahead. The dragons spat fierce flames at them. Hwaaaaaa—! But. The shadow soldiers engulfed in flames vanished like consumables, without going through any regeneration process. The Dragon Emperor quickly realized these soldiers were stalling for time. 'He's...?' The Dragon Emperor expanded his sensory perception. The Shadow Monarch was escaping through his own shadow, fleeing to somewhere else. The Dragon Emperor let out a derisive laugh at such a pathetic trick. He had intended to repeat these hit-and-run tactics, slowly grinding away at the army of chaos—but there was one critical flaw in that plan that he hadn't considered. Namely, that the Dragon Emperor could follow him. The Dragon Emperor noticed that Jin-Woo's shadow was connected to the western battlefield. 'Over there!' He would absolutely not let him slip away. The Dragon Emperor created a gate toward where Jin-Woo had vanished and leaped through it. The moment he stepped out of the gate. '...' He could see an army of 130,000 surrounding him on all sides. And that wasn't the end of it. Jin-Woo, who had been waiting for the Dragon Emperor, spoke softly. "...Arise." And then. The entire western army—which had been wiped out by the real Shadow Army before Jin-Woo's arrival—rose up, every last one of them reborn as shadow soldiers. Surveying the nearly 200,000 shadow soldiers that now surrounded him, the Dragon Emperor spoke. [So this is what you were aiming for?] Luring the enemy to a battlefield of his choosing to seize the advantage. For the Shadow Army, which was vastly outnumbered, this was a necessary step if they wanted to win the war. But the Dragon Emperor's face was filled with derision. [How laughable.] At last. He understood what the Shadow Monarch's intention had been. Even though he had lost the entire western army in the process, if it meant he could capture the Shadow Monarch in exchange— 'I wouldn't even regret losing half my soldiers.' Fear arises when you cannot see what lies ahead. But the opponent was now laid bare. [Shadow Monarch.] The Dragon Emperor turned toward Jin-Woo with a smile. [You must have thought that only I would follow you...] But you were wrong. Behind the Dragon Emperor stood the most magically gifted Monarch in all of chaos. Before long, the Monarch of the Astral Plane—who had been on guard against a surprise attack from the Shadow Army—created an uncountable number of gates connecting the two battlefields. An endless torrent of soldiers from the army of chaos was pouring through against a Shadow Army of barely 200,000. How about it? Your plan has been utterly crushed. A miscalculation will drive you to your death. The Dragon Emperor looked at Jin-Woo with a triumphant expression. [You have lost.] But. Jin-Woo smiled. Facing the triumphant Dragon Emperor staring him down, Jin-Woo returned a grin. 'He took the bait.' Just as he intended. The Dragon Emperor made his move. The Dragon Emperor, too, had not missed the smile that flickered across Jin-Woo's face for the briefest of instants before disappearing. '...He's smiling?' Sure enough. The summoning of the shadow soldiers was released in an instant, and they were all sucked back into the Shadow Monarch's shadow. What on earth is he thinking? Recalling the shadow soldiers now was practically suicide. Without soldiers to buy him time, he couldn't even flee somewhere else. No matter how unwilling he was to lose his shadow soldiers, the Dragon Emperor had never imagined he was stupid enough to turn his back on the enemy and run! The Dragon Emperor closed the distance before Jin-Woo could take any other action. At the same time. All of the army of chaos charged after the Dragon Emperor, straight at Jin-Woo. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of soldiers stumbling through the gates fixed their gazes on a single person: Jin-Woo. And then. Just as the Dragon Emperor, who had reached right in front of Jin-Woo, extended his hand toward him—in that instant, Jin-Woo's eyes transformed into the eyes of a dragon. Only then did the Dragon Emperor realize that something had gone terribly wrong. [You...!] A brief silence ended, and. '...' A savage roar erupted from Jin-Woo's mouth. A scream of the soul that plunges into despair all beings weaker than himself in the vicinity! [Kraaaaaa—] Dragon Fear. The worst skill of the dragon race, obtained through 'Kamish's Rune Stone.' He had never shown interest in it before, because its power made no distinction between ally and enemy. 'But now it's different!' That very skill—which had sent hundreds of top-tier Hunters plummeting into despair when they had gathered to slay a dragon—was now fired in the opposite direction, at the dragons. [-AAAAAA—] Just as Kamish had stunned the Hunters into a paralyzed state, the Shadow Monarch had frozen the dragon soldiers in their tracks. The only being who could remain free from the Dragon Fear that radiated from the Shadow Monarch's deep mana was the Dragon Emperor alone. Having immobilized every enemy in his surroundings in an instant, Jin-Woo grabbed the Dragon Emperor's arm. [You...!] The Dragon Emperor's brow furrowed. Gripping the arm that held his own, Jin-Woo grinned. "Come with me."