Tears of unspoken patriotic devotion, my sincere heart, and the romance and passion of a man…
After a grueling process of persuasion filled with all these emotions, our General Cheok finally made up his mind to take on the challenge of a career change to become King Cheok.
…It actually worked.
It felt like I had lightly twisted the original story, but in the end, the result was extremely satisfying.
Originally, to dismantle the barrier surrounding the entire Nanhwan Fortress, we would have had to travel to multiple locations to gather parts and build a massive laser beam. But…
“Haaaaaa——!”
A spiritual pressure far beyond anything I had ever faced surged from his sword, and then——
Kwa-gwang——!!!
With a single strike, he split the barrier clean in half.
…Ignorance is bliss.
If I had seen this scene beforehand, I probably wouldn’t have gambled with something as trivial as a revolver…
“This should be enough. …Still, the Emperor is my comrade. I have no desire to point my sword at her, so this old man will take his leave now.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
I bowed deeply, pouring every ounce of respect from the depths of my heart.
Clatter—!
With missions from Zones 2 through 7 cleared in an instant, divine stones poured out as if a duplication glitch had been triggered, and I scrambled to collect them.
Perhaps my behavior seemed unbecoming, because—
“A man shouldn’t busy himself with such trivial tasks.”
Old Man Chuck clicked his tongue and tossed a casual remark my way.
“Haha… I’m not as strong as you, General. I have to do what I can.”
“If you manage to wrap everything up safely, come find me. I’ll teach you a thing or two about swordsmanship.”
“…?”
Leaving behind words that could either be a joke or deadly serious, General Chuck vanished without another trace.
Swordsmanship.
Swordsmanship, huh?
Honestly, after what I just witnessed, it sounds incredibly tempting, but…
Could I even pull off something like that…?
Probably not…?
For now, I’ll set that aside.
“Let’s move in. Our objective is to secure the Emperor.”
By now, it was late into the night.
Dawn was approaching.
It was time to bring this night to an end.
* * *
Unlike the pattern seen so far.
The final boss of the 25th floor, 10th zone, is not a demon.
The form of the Witch Queen won’t be properly encountered until the 30th floor.
But the fact that the administrators now appear every 10 floors instead of every 5 means, in other words, that they possess even greater power.
Although the early stages were smoothly cleared using Cheatkey.
The battles that followed were anything but easy.
“Saha! Another large robot is coming from the left!”
The endless waves of mechs pouring out made me wonder just how many were stashed inside the castle.
“Krrrk! For the Emperor!”
“We shall restore the Draconians to greatness!”
As the saying goes, even a cornered rat will bite a cat.
With no retreat left, the lizards’ resistance grew increasingly fierce.
Moreover, unlike the enemies we’d faced before, they were quite adept at countering our tactics.
“Deploy EMP defense barrier!”
“If you don’t look at their eyes, you won’t be bewitched!”
“Seriously, they’ve got everything covered…”
Even charging in head-on was proving difficult.
If we had stalled for even a little longer, we would’ve been forced into a far more disadvantageous and troublesome fight.
Of course, the tide had already turned.
Even without debuffs, Tina and Alice’s firepower was more than enough to crush the enemies, and the rest of the heroes were in a league of their own.
But the one standing out the most was—
“This thing is seriously amazing!”
Ari, who had forsaken her origins, was landing godly shots with the rifle she received from Rua.
Even though bows and guns should have completely different aiming methods and mechanics, she handled the rifle as if she’d been skilled with it from the start.
Was she originally designed as a gunslinger in the planning stages or something?
Who knows— maybe she’d mega-evolve like Rumi and make a grand return someday.
By now, it was no longer surprising.
The battles in the 9th and 10th zones were continuous.
Without any time for maintenance, we immediately received a notification upon entering the 10th zone, followed by—
“Krrk– hahaha, it’s already too late— Gwak!”
“Quiet, you!”
Before the captive lizard Prime Minister could finish his words, Johanna’s scripture smashed into his head, silencing him.
Then, the entire mountain fortress shook violently, as if caught in an earthquake.
It was an ominous sign, but in proportion to the unease, my heartbeat grew stronger.
And then—
As one of the central pavilions of Namhwan Fortress collapsed entirely—
A machine far larger than any robot we’d seen before emerged.
It was less of a “robot” and more of a “mecha”—a colossal bipedal tactical weapon.
“What is that……?”
“How can something that big even move……?”
“……The Emperor. He’s been secretly siphoning off technology, and now he’s built something like this.”
“Is that the legendary…… Emperor’s personal unit……?”
Commonly known as.
Armored-Taejo.
Clad in an outer shell reminiscent of a dragon robe, it defied its massive weight and hovered proudly in the air, exuding an imposing presence.
An overwhelming pressure surged forth, but.
In proportion to that.
“That’s…… really cool……”
Even for someone like me, who doesn’t usually enjoy mecha-themed media, the sight was majestic enough to leave a deep impression.
For the first time since entering the Great Hwan Empire, I felt myself starting to like this sham of a nation.
But there wasn’t much time to stand around admiring it.
Unfortunately, that thing was the enemy we had to face.
If I recall correctly, there was a cutscene in the event story where the damaged Armored-Taejo was restored, so I’d have to save my true appreciation for that moment.
“Your Majesty, please come to your senses now!”
The Princess, who had stepped forward, seemed like a fairly ordinary mecha musume compared to the Armored-Taejo, though I had initially thought she looked somewhat cool.
《Foolish. My daughter.》
“Guh……!”
The Emperor, whose mere swing of an oversized beam saber unleashed a violent gust of wind, spoke in a dry, lifeless voice.
《I never taught you to be like this.》
Thud──!
The Emperor took a single step forward, reducing what remained of the palace to rubble.
《Prove your strength. Isn’t that the law of our Dan family?》
His voice was quiet, but the murderous intent radiating from him was so thick that even I, standing far away, could feel it.
……I’m pretty sure he was brainwashed.
But for someone who’s brainwashed, he’s speaking pretty coherently, isn’t he?
For now, I tucked that question away in my heart.
“Heroes. This is our last task for today. Once we take care of that thing, we can rest.”
Even Alice seemed slightly tense, perhaps intimidated by the sight of the colossal machine.
I looked at each of the heroes, meeting their eyes one by one.
“Just like climbing a mountain, you can’t reach the summit in a single step. Let’s take it slow, one step at a time.”
* * *
Ari stood with a mix of fear and excitement swirling inside her— a duality of emotions.
Once again, she set aside the bow she had held all her life and shouldered a large rifle, holding her breath.
“Ari. Ari, you’re the key to this operation. It’s fine if you use a bow, and it’s fine if you use a gun. Just do whatever you’re comfortable with.”
If she were Ark, she would have scolded herself by now— Stop playing around with guns and just pick up the bow properly.
…And honestly, she knew that was the right answer.
Ever since entering the Tower, and especially after stepping into the Great Hwan Empire, Ari had been growing increasingly doubtful about the bow as a weapon.
It relied heavily on the tension of the string and the strength of the archer’s arm, yet the amount of magical energy she could channel into an arrow was disappointingly small compared to her actual reserves.
But the moment that truly made her consider abandoning the bow was when she saw Ark fire that revolver.
At first, she thought it was just a toy.
After all, when Arc had whined about losing his entire fortune, crying and flailing, she had thought, “Hmm… is that all it is?”
But this time was different.
Cheok Jungyeong— a warrior who seemed like an insurmountable wall, a perfect fighter she could never surpass no matter how hard she trained.
Even he had instinctively dodged that attack.
How could Ark, fragile and delicate as he was, unleash such overwhelming power?
From that moment on, Ari began to seriously consider firearms.
Whenever she had the chance, she pestered Ryua with questions, asking if there were any good guns available, studying how they worked, and even contemplating how to channel mana into them.
And now.
Ark had entrusted her with this mission.
That giant robot— even all the close-combat specialists charging at it couldn’t leave a single scratch.
But Ark had pointed out its weakness.
One: whenever it made a massive movement, a small opening would appear in the joints of its arms and legs.
She understood the idea perfectly.
If she could land a precise arrow or bullet there, it would be like severing a human’s joint— dealing critical damage.
But.
“Can I really do it…?”
Even if she picked up her bow now, she lacked confidence.
Despite its size, the robot moved with terrifying speed and agility.
The weak points exposed in the blink of an eye would vanish before she could even blink.
Ari lifted her head and looked at Arc.
Watching his back as he shouted encouragement to the others, lifting their spirits.
“I can do this! Ari can do this!”
The one who had breathed courage into her when she felt like an outsider among the warriors, the one who had helped her rediscover the vigor in life— her Guide.
No, her true hero.
Washing away the self-doubt in her heart, Ari held her breath.
And then—
The moment Saha barely deflected the massive blade of light with a swing of his hammer, the recoil slightly exposing the red joint in the left arm—
Ari pulled the trigger.