Chapter 105
Episode 105 - Individual Purpose (3)
'How far can I go?'
Kang Do-Yeon, crossing the dark night sky, did not slow down.
Higher, towards the vast sky and the brilliantly shining stars, she accelerated even more.
As oxygen gradually decreased and the temperature sharply dropped, her body reached its limit, and a dark crimson barrier based on formative power automatically enveloped her body.
Formative power is the miraculous energy that can become anything. Furthermore, she could manipulate her body at will, so if necessary, she didn't even need to breathe or make her heart beat.
Replacing all that energy with formative power, Kang Do-Yeon finally placed this world beneath her feet.
A blue planet similar to Earth. However, there were no artificial satellites around it at all.
She stopped her actions for a moment and gazed at the spectacle.
'Is there a reason for that action? Don't stray from the orbit. The energy required to rebuild your body is enormous.'
Eve didn't particularly like that action. It was inefficient.
'Someday, won't we go into space too?'
'If there's an enemy to devour in space, of course.'
'It was just practice. For that day.'
Kang Do-Yeon, with a bitter smile, turned her body again. The coordinates of her destination were already imprinted in her brain.
With the same speed at which she had soared into the air, she began flying toward that place. With less air resistance, her speed increased even more.
Along with the gradually approaching sun, she traversed the continent in an instant.
After reaching her destination, she descended at the same speed, and flames began to rise from the barrier surrounding her body.
'As always, kill them all.'
'...Got it.'
Finally, the city she had set as her destination came into view.
Part of the skin on her face twisted as a mask covered it. Of course, her mind remained sharp.
Since the day she acknowledged herself as a monster and chose her path, she had carried out Eve's massacre orders with such clarity.
The number of humans who had already died at her hands exceeded three digits.
"Ugh, ugh!"
"Kyaaah!"
Accelerating sharply, she broke through the city's magic defensive line with her body, pierced the tallest tower, and landed with a massive impact that shook the ground.
The shattered and burst ground spewed dust, and the people nearby who were caught up in it screamed and fell to the ground, rolling over.
The defensive line, which had been the last bastion of this rural small city, shattered as it collided with her barrier, and the massive clock tower she had broken through with her body wobbled and slowly collapsed.
'Where is the enemy commander?'
Ignoring the surrounding people who were horrified by her, she looked for the commanders or warriors of this place who would charge at her.
She thought it was hypocritical herself, but in the end, this was the minimum defensive mechanism she attempted for her own ego.
The reason she voluntarily stepped into battle was ultimately to become stronger.
Therefore, the ones she killed were always commanders or warriors wielding weapons. The massacre of civilians was left to the other legion soldiers who had come with her.
"M-Mayor!"
"Don't hesitate, hurry and evacuate the people!"
The rural city's mayor, who had been hurriedly evacuating residents to a rear city through the gate after hearing news from Menas, was silenced by the sight before him, as if she had known and come to find him.
In the distant field, amidst the dust, it appeared. A pair of fluttering black feathered wings.
"The wings that bring despair..."
The mayor gritted his teeth as he saw it. With detailed information about the Legion already spread, the being with those wings was also included.
Surely, beneath that grotesque hide and carapace was a beautiful female body, but its core was a monster without mercy, slaying knights and mages alike.
However, those wings were just the beginning. The wings never moved alone.
It always moved with a horde of monsters under its command, and the true crimson calamity began then, as the terrifying rumors went.
"Mayor, we'll go and buy some time."
"But Sir Randolph!"
"I've heard that those wings, unlike other monsters, don't care about the weak and only kill knights and mages. Therefore, it will surely come here to kill the representative of this place, the mayor. Please evacuate the people. We'll draw its attention and buy some time."
The escort knight guarding the mayor led his subordinates and stepped forward with a determined face.
The mayor's face twisted, but there was no way to stop them now.
"Come back alive, no matter what."
"Of course."
Knight Commander Randolph shook hands with the mayor for the last time with a resolute expression and shared a warm embrace. Then he pressed his helmet firmly onto his head.
"Let's go. Let's show that Monster of the Abyss the strength of our knights."
He, along with his subordinates, crossed through the citizens who were screaming and gathering here.
Running across the ground, they drew their swords in unison as if they were of one mind.
The enemy was now standing, having killed several soldiers and mages, trampling on their corpses.
As if the rumors were true, it didn't even glance at the young child trembling on the ground nearby.
"Monster who knows the honor of a warrior! Fight us!"
Randolph, gripping his sword tightly, shouted to draw the enemy's attention.
He, along with his subordinates, kicked the ground with all their strength.
And without the slightest carelessness, he poured everything into his sword strike.
It was a strike filled with a sense of mission, fighting spirit, passion, and rage.
*
'This one is special. Is it the same type of unit as that one?'
"Kuh... ugh..."
The plaza was strewn with the corpses of knights.
Kang Do-Yeon, unknowingly stepping on the bisected corpse of Randolph, grabbed the neck of the last survivor, whose legs had been severed, and lifted them up.
Through her eyes, Eve immediately noticed the foreign elements in the survivor's body.
The components were identical to those of a unit from the same faction as Darque, which had already been analyzed in a previous battle.
'The blood flow carries formative power, and they use it to perform various tricks.'
However, Eve's reaction was indifferent. That ability couldn't be replicated. It was a unique system of formative power, akin to magic, that couldn't be obtained by replicating a lifeform.
Moreover, even learning it had not been successful.
The common testimony from the captured prisoners was that Darque was the only one who had received the pure-blood divine authority called the 'Progenitor,' and only he knew the secret of this blood magic.
'So, what should we do?'
'Except for that Darque guy, just kill them all. Even though they're tough enough to survive being dismembered and smashed to a pulp, they'll eventually die if left alone. Behead them.'
'Got it.'
Kang Do-Yeon casually let go of her hand and swung her wing, beheading the survivor lying on the ground.
Then she spread her wings and flew toward the gate where people were evacuating. In just a few minutes, the legion soldiers would arrive.
This city, whose defensive system had already been destroyed, couldn't stop even a handful of legion soldiers.
"Ah..."
"The knights..."
As she glided swiftly over their heads, the evacuating people fell into despair and panic, causing a great commotion.
'Look at these stupid and primitive beings pushing, trampling, and killing each other in their attempt to escape.'
'...'
Kang Do-Yeon didn't pay any attention to such sights from the beginning.
She simply advanced forward to destroy the gate she had set as her objective, finally arriving at the gate in the middle of City Hall, where people were hastily passing through.
"Stop her... Don't let the knights' sacrifices be in vain!"
The city's last remaining mages, including the mayor, began resisting to protect the people. They hastily deployed a defensive line and fired magic at her.
Kang Do-Yeon, who halted in midair to receive their resistance, spread her wings wide.
The core engines embedded in the joints of her wings began to glow and heat up.
"Ah."
Immediately after, two beams of light shot out from her wings, striking them and causing a massive explosion.
It was an attack made possible by absorbing the Dragonkin's Heart, which increased the output and efficiency of the core engines.
The mayor, who let out an involuntary gasp, had his head severed and half-burned as it flew past her body.
"Anyway, Darque wasn't here either."
'It doesn't matter since we secured the testimony.'
Kang Do-Yeon, soaring into the sky, turned her gaze away from the people being massacred by the legion soldiers.
This time, Eve had obtained more detailed information.
It was information that the humans, who had lost the continental capital Menas, were gathering at another strategic point at the eastern edge.
Of course, many of those who couldn't make it there were still scattered across the continent.
They had become small groups of survivors, fleeing deeper into the frontier to avoid the Dragonkin, who were taking over the continent's center.
"Shall we move immediately?"
'Do that. I'll even send Reina with you. Go and finish off Darque, and completely crush the humans' hope.'
Having obtained the information, there was no reason to hesitate. Eve moved all the remaining troops to avoid the Dragonkin.
To snipe the opponent, who was barely clinging to life.