I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 314 : Climbing the Tower (2)

The Suicide Squad members who had successfully landed on the floating castle soon discovered the forces of demons that had set up camp and were waiting around the Celestial Tower.

"Demons."

"They were waiting for us."

The demon forces numbering over thousands.

It was a majestic, terrible, otherworldly scene.

Demonic beasts with enormous bodies that defied common sense.

Hideous demons that seemed to have heads, arms, and legs of all kinds of creatures attached haphazardly.

Even high-ranking demons, each of which appeared to be equivalent to S-rank.

Their alien and ominous appearance was enough to make humans' knees weak just by looking at them.

"Mortals, we have been waiting for you."

A humanoid demon with giant bat wings spread wide flew up above them.

"What is that?"

"It's strong."

"Is it a Great Overlord?"

"No. The Great Overlord in Africa was female."

"Let me introduce myself. I am Legion Commander Murmur, who has been honored with leading Lord Belphegor's forces."

The demon's voice, filled with magical energy, boomed through the sky.

He was a quasi-transcendent who boasted an aura and level nearly on par with the Great Overlords.

"On behalf of my lord Belphegor and his apostle Eligoss, I swear."

Murmur's voice was full of dignity.

"To climb this tower, you must overcome me."

"Yaaaaaaah!"

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

"Keeeeeeeeh!"

Sharp and unpleasant battle cries that seemed to tear eardrums pressured the 300-member Suicide Squad.

"...!"

Some members even hesitated and stepped back because of this, but.

"Special Operations Captain, here you should."

"Understood."

Su-hyeon, receiving Heo Sung-gyeom's gaze, lightly raised his aura.

Gooooooh!

But the weight contained in that aura was so enormous that the demons' battle cries stopped abruptly, as if it were a lie.

'So that's Jeong Su-hyeon.'

'The Transcendent who killed Great Overlords and challenges Lord Belphegor.'

'He has surpassed the dimension of strength. I can't even measure the power he possesses.'

Tension and shock circulated among the high-ranking demons.

"I will spare those who clear the way. If you want mercy, kneel and bury your heads in the ground."

But Su-hyeon's calm declaration made them bristle.

"What did you say!"

"How dare a mere human be so impudent!"

Looking at their outcry, Su-hyeon raised his hand.

"Let's begin."

[Captain Hwang Ji-su, forward!]

"I'm going!"

Hwang Ji-su, who had been waiting behind Su-hyeon, drew out her maximum power to create an enormous ice wall in the air.

Crackcrackcrack!

A truly massive ice wall was created in the sky.

"Destroy it!"

Just as the demons, following Legion Commander Murmur's order, were about to break the ice wall.

"No need for that!"

Pwhaaaaaah!

Seol Ji-yun shot ultra-high-temperature flames toward the ice wall.

Hissssssss!

With tremendous steam, the melted water became a wave that engulfed the demons.

"!?"

The number of demons who were drenched without knowing what was happening was around one thousand.

"Now!"

"Yes!"

Kim A-yun drove dozens of lightning bundles into them.

Kwararararang!

"Kyaaaaargh!"

Those who withstood the lightning were not even 10% of the thousand demons.

"That's quite a fiery greeting."

"Indeed it is."

Heo Sung-gyeom and Kim Cheol-han nodded.

"We can't just stand by and watch either!"

[Deputy Captain Hong In-hyeon! Support Volkov!]

"Understood!"

The Russian warlord Volkov stretched out both hands.

Pushhhhhhh.

What he created was a colorless, odorless nerve gas.

The deadly gas, which was unavoidable regardless of power level as long as one was a living being, rode the wind raised by Hong In-hyeon to become a whirlwind of death, poisoning hundreds of demons in the rear.

"Kerururuk!"

Demons who inhaled the gas died, foaming at the mouth and becoming stiff.

"Avoid it! It's poison!"

"Those bastards!"

"Catch and kill them!"

[Good, retreat immediately!]

Hong In-hyeon and Volkov quickly moved to the rear, avoiding the incoming sniper shots.

[Volkov, save your strength. There will be time to use it again.]

"Phuuu. I'll do that."

Volkov, who had spent a lot of energy in one attack, retreated to the rear with Hong In-hyeon's support.

"The effect is tremendous."

"The enemy's rear units are greatly disturbed."

But no one felt any remorse.

This was already a desperate battle with no luxury to choose means or methods.

It was truly an all-out war staking the fate of the species.

Pop pop bang!

Kwararang!

An Awakened from Europe instantly dropped bombs that he had stored in his subspace, pouring them onto the demons like a bomber.

"Uaaaah!"

"Kyaaaak!"

"Scatter, all of you!"

And thus, when the demons' formation was disrupted by three rounds of wide-range attacks.

"Now! Charge!"

"Waaaaaaah!"

Led by 'Divine Spear' Gong I-an.

Jo Sujin, Baek Seungyun, Min Hae-na, Lee Yu-jin, Go Seongjin, Jin Seong-geun...

Even 'Sword God' Lee Un-hak stood at the front line alongside his granddaughter Yu-jin, charging toward the demons.

They divided the demons with a multi-pronged formation where each captain stood at the tip of each prong, reminiscent of a mace.

"Aaaaargh!"

"Kyaaaah!"

Gong I-an and Min Hae-na's spear and staff drew brilliant arcs, stabbing and striking the enemy.

Jo Sujin, Lee Un-hak, and Lee Yu-jin's swords cut through the enemy.

Baek Seungyun, Go Seongjin, and Jin Seong-geun also used their specialties to collapse the lines of demons arranged in layers.

"Legion Commander! Our forces are being annihilated!"

"I know! Don't act rashly!"

Legion Commander Murmur watched their charge, biting his lip in anger.

'What are these bastards trying to do?'

His question didn't last long.

Before he knew it, the Execution Force members who had broken through to near the tower, and the foreign Awakened waiting in the rear, created an encirclement formation that blocked the demons' retreat from front and back.

"This is!"

"These crazy bastards. Just a few hundred people encircling an enemy more than ten times their number?"

It was a crazy idea even by demon standards, but.

[Pour it on again!]

At Heo Sung-gyeom's command, all kinds of area attacks led by Seol Ji-yun, Seo Jun-seong, and Hwang Ji-su rained down on the demons' heads.

"Encircle them, then concentrate firepower to annihilate?"

That must mean they were confident that their formation wouldn't collapse and could withstand.

"Catch those guys first!"

Several high-ranking demons, who had become extremely irritated, rushed in, but Hong In-hyeon and Seo Jun-seong quickly evacuated the captains and depleted the demons' forces with hit-and-run tactics, like mounted archers of old.

"You're using quite a bold gambling move, you humans."

But Murmur wasn't flustered.

"Such tactics are nothing but the surest evidence that they themselves are at a disadvantage."

He twisted his mouth and gave orders to his adjutant.

"Request Lady Levenna to sortie."

"Understood!"

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

Su-hyeon, who was watching the battle from the rear with Heo Sung-gyeom and Kim Cheol-han, said.

"So far, everything has flowed well according to our initial plan."

"Hmm. But the problem will be what comes next."

Heo Sung-gyeom said with a serious face, arms crossed.

"Battle is a series of variables. The enemy's response is just beginning."

It didn't take long for his prediction to come true.

"The sky is opening!"

"An ominous presence! Estimated to be Great Overlord level!"

"That's Levenna."

Su-hyeon said.

The tenth-ranked Great Overlord Levenna.

She was a demon riding a giant camel with red eyes.

Red hair, a crown, and a splendid outfit decorated with lace and velvet.

"That demon is the culprit who turned Africa into a continent of blood!"

Amir from Egypt, who was playing a support role from the rear, burned with hatred.

"Do you know why? They say she wanted to dye the continent the same color as her hair!"

"She's not in her right mind."

Heo Sung-gyeom clicked his tongue.

"Yes. She has a beautiful exterior, but her interior truly reeks."

Su-hyeon said.

"That's usually the nature of demons."

"I could never defeat that demon no matter what I did."

Amir pointed to his left face, hideously scarred and hidden under his mask.

"I had to be grateful for surviving after losing half my face."

"You mortals, do you wish to die so badly that you dare invade where Lord Belphegor resides!"

Eligoss and Belphegor.

With those two powerful backgrounds behind her, Levenna rampaged as if to wash away the humiliation of running away from Jeong Su-hyeon in fear.

Aaaaargh!

Kuaaaah!

Several Suicide Squad members died or were injured by that terrible onslaught.

"Ugh..."

Amir trembled his fist with two emotions: anger and fear.

No matter how much he sharpened his blade and joined forces, the overwhelming difference in level made even such a steadfast warrior feel helpless.

However.

[Special Operations Unit, stick to that demon!]

[Okay!]

The special operations members, receiving Su-hyeon's instruction, immediately poured a joint attack toward Levenna.

"How dare you impudently try to face me!"

Levenna's power, whipping from atop her camel and shooting powerful black magic, was indeed strong.

But for the special operations members who had been able to withstand even higher-ranked Great Overlords, Levenna's power was ineffective.

"They're really amazing."

"We can do it! If we can just block the Great Overlord, the rest is enough!"

The Suicide Squad members who saw this burned with morale, but.

The arrangement prepared by Eligoss and Murmur was not just this.

"Cover me. I'm going to summon Leviathan."

"Understood!"

Murmur, who had spread his wings like a cloak, chanted a spell.

"Mortal. Can you catch Leviathan with a fishing hook? Can you tie its tongue with a string? Can you put a rope through its nose and pierce its jaw with a hook? Would you think it would beg and plead to you with pitiful sounds?"

Kieeeeeee!

Kyaooooooo!

The demonic beast's howl heard from the sky grew closer and closer.

"...Who could face it and be safe? No one under heaven."

Kieeeeeee!

Leviathan, which came down wrapping around the Celestial Tower like a tree, howled.

Just its head alone was as large as a decent-sized large demonic beast, and its long snake-like body was so long that the end couldn't be seen.

"Behold the flames it spews from its mouth. Its nostrils, which pour out smoke abundantly, are rather like a blazing furnace!"

Murmur, intoxicated by the majesty of the mythical beast, spread his arms.

"Breaking iron as if it were straw, making deep pools boil like a pot, and making the sea bubble like an oil cauldron."

Enormous.

Ferocious.

That was already beyond such dimensions of monstrosity.

"Who on earth would contend with it? All authorities tremble before it, here is the king of all the proud creatures."

As Murmur's spell ended, Leviathan opened its mouth, and.

Kwaaaaa!

A breath that burst out like lava melted everything in its path.

Poowahk!

Not even the screams of death throes could be heard in front of it.

Seok Hong-jae and Koo Hyeong-min, two members from instructor backgrounds who had been standing where Leviathan's breath swept through, vanished without even leaving corpses.

"Hyeong-min!"

"Hong-jae-hyung!"

Not just them, but even Yukihisa from Japan and Brett Russell from the United States, two Awakened, died helplessly with more than half their bodies blown away.

"Aaaah!"

"This can't be, Yukihisa-san!"

"Captain Brett! Damn it!"

Also, about 30 out of 300 people died instantly.

"Hehehehehe! Did you see, mortals! This is Leviathan! The most terrible demonic beast serving Lord Belphegor!"

Its power even surpassed that of the tenth-ranked Great Overlord Levenna.

"Ah, no. Everyone will die!"

"Damn it! This was a battle with no hope!"

Confusion spread among the Suicide Squad in an instant.

The wavering was especially great among those from foreign countries.

"...This is disastrous."

"At this rate..."

Heo Sung-gyeom and Kim Cheol-han's gazes turned toward Su-hyeon.

With the special operations members tied up with Levenna, only Su-hyeon could stop that Leviathan.

However.

If Su-hyeon had to use his power before even entering the tower, it would be a situation practically equivalent to mission failure.

"Damn it."

Heo Sung-gyeom gritted his teeth.

'We can't even break through the entrance and we're in this state?'

But Leviathan's presence was too great.

First, it would be right to sort out this situation.

Just as Heo Sung-gyeom was about to say something to Su-hyeon.

"Special Operations Captain! Absolutely do not step forward!"

Gong I-an, returning hurriedly with Jo Sujin's help, shouted.

"But Commander!"

"Have you forgotten? Our mission is to safely get you into the tower along with the special operations members! If you step forward, our mission fails!"

"...!"

Su-hyeon bit his lip.

In previous iterations.

In the midst of such large-scale battles, he had used a method where only a few members of the Suicide Squad, including himself, would sneak into the tower amid the confusion.

'Of course, those left outside the Celestial Tower all died.'

Back then, there was no other way.

'And, it was just a game anyway.'

Su-hyeon bit his lip.

'Inevitable sacrifice. In the end, chess pieces for strategy. That's what they were to me.'

But not now.

If possible.

He wanted to save as many people as possible.

That's why he had led the alliance and tried to overwhelm them from the front and throw open the doors of the tower.

But.

Su-hyeon clenched his fist tightly.

'Leviathan, of all things. I've never seen such a creature appear before. Is this also Eligoss's arrangement?'

In any case.

Someone had to stop that monster to change the tide of battle again.

Looking at Leviathan preparing to spew out another breath.

"This is really fortunate."

Su-hyeon muttered.

'If I hadn't been able to recruit him, things would have become very difficult.'

Su-hyeon, taking out a crystal sphere from his breast pocket, said quietly.

"Belred."

Second-ranked Great Overlord, and man who dreams of revenge harbored for hundreds of years.

"It's finally time for you to step up."

It wasn't only Eligoss who exceeded the enemy's expectations.