A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

Chapter 57

"This is... This is absurd..."

His breathing was rough, and his voice trembled uncontrollably.

Having just woken up, he had barely regained a sense of reality, and yet he managed to run as fast as he could to this place.

"At least I can catch my breath now."

He barely managed to secure a moment to breathe and calm his mind.

The ones chasing him had been shaken off, and the surroundings were filled with only silence.

The place he had rushed to was a dense forest filled with what looked like dried and withered trees of the Demon Realm.

"If I wake them, securing a guard force should be no problem."

Though he had fled in a panic, he hadn't come here without a plan.

This place was a type of sealing site.

Like himself, it was a place where ancient beings had been sealed.

His intention was to awaken the slumbering legion buried here and replenish his forces to counter the sudden upheaval of the world.

"Awaken! Loyal hounds of the Demon King's Army!"

He activated his magic and utilized the incantation placed on the sealing site.

The incantation began to function properly, glowing as it did.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

Those buried here were elite soldiers known for their combat prowess.

They would surely become the power needed to uncover what was happening in this land.

"Good. With this, those wretched traitors will..."

As the jet-black armor slowly revealed itself, he grinned wickedly.

The summoned soldiers, as expected, retained their exact appearance from the past.

"What?"

However, at that moment.

Something that tore through the air grazed—no, "shattered"—his horn as it passed.

"Aaaagh!"

Gripping his shattered horn, he screamed in excruciating pain.

The sound of the air being ripped apart reached him belatedly.

Twisting his face in agony, he turned his body.

"You... You bastards! Filthy mongrels like you!"

The one who had blown off the horn of a high-ranking member of the Demon Clan like him was none other than a lowly, unworthy lower demonic creature.

These were beings that some humans referred to as Noli for amusement.

The problem was that these creatures were the very ones he had intended to attack right after awakening from the seal.

"Our name is Ashukrud."

"W-What did you say..."

The first shock came from the realization that the Gnolls had followed him without his notice.

The second shock came when he realized that they could speak.

"What in the world is this?"

Only then did he carefully scan their appearances.

Their forms were undoubtedly those of Gnolls, just as he remembered.

But something was different—their equipment and the strange weapons they held in their hands.

"There's no need to waste time. Kill him quickly."

At that moment, one of the Gnolls, unusually tall, removed its hood.

His expression twisted grotesquely when he saw the unveiled face.

It belonged to a Kobold—a similarly lowly demonic creature that was unworthy of any interaction.

"Fire!"

At the Gnoll leader's command, bullets were fired in a barrage.

Gritting his teeth, he activated his magic, summoning a purple shield barrier in front of him.

The large and powerful bullets, capable of piercing through the tanks of the humans of Earth, caused cracks to form on the shield barrier, but they failed to penetrate it.

"I, Karka, Commander of the Legion of the Demon King's Army, will never fall to the likes of you!"

As he unleashed his power, his body rose slightly into the air, and his magic began to burn intensely.

It was a power befitting someone who had once led his legion to conquer an entire continent.

[Such power cannot be pierced with regular bullets. Use the beam weapon.]

"Beam."

The Gnolls received the command resounding in their heads.

They aimed the prepared new weapon at his body, surrounded by burning magic.

"Die, you wretches!"

[...Laughable. Who's the wretch here?]

The massive fireball projectile launched by Karka was met with a blue beam fired from the weapon's muzzle.

Karka's eyes widened in shock.

The beam disintegrated the fireball projectile into fragments, broke through the shield barrier, and then pierced through his astonished body.

"Too easy."

And with that, it was over. One of the Commanders of the Legion of the Demon King's Army, awakened from a long slumber, was effortlessly annihilated by the lowly creatures he had so disdainfully dismissed.

"Now, it's your turn."

"I know."

The Kobold smirked.

None of them paid any attention to Karka's corpse.

Though he had once been a high-ranking member of the Demon Clan, far beyond their reach, he was now irrelevant.

"Hmph... Now I see. So this is the so-called incantation of the Demon King's Army? Such pathetic nonsense. It’s nothing more than primitive, insignificant spells with no understanding of the True Essence of Demonic Power."

The glowing power spread out, forming intricate marks.

The Kobold stepped forward and stood before the hounds of the Demon King's Army, who had been released from the seal but had yet to determine a master.

In an instant, he deciphered and hacked the ancient incantation.

"Now. Your new master is not the Demon King. It is me."

The Kobold smirked as he began to command the army now bound to his will.

The name of the Demon King had once been absolute to those who lived in this land.

But not anymore. Now, beings greater than the Demon King existed for them.

"Hmm. It would be a waste to just leave it."

The Kobold sneered at Karka's pitiful corpse lying on the ground and then lifted his staff, poking it lightly.

At the same time, the corpse’s hand twitched and moved.

"Even as a rotting corpse, go fight for your precious Demon King. Humans of the Otherworld are marching on the Demon Realm with their legions, so kill those who disturb this land."

The cursed corpse violently spasmed before rising to its feet.

It began to move in tandem with the marching army of the past.

"Keep your promise."

"I know. It's an agreement among Players. There's no way we could betray it."

Just before parting, the Kobold nodded as if annoyed by the Gnoll leader's words.

They were now preparing to attack Earth's Allied Forces together.

Although they were units that could never originally unite, it was a strategic choice to defeat a greater enemy.

*

"Isn't this a breach of contract? We were supposed to stay at the encampment and guard the researchers after the battle..."

"If you think about it, that place is technically part of the encampment."

Robert let out a sigh as he quelled the complaints of his team members while crossing the path cleared by armored vehicles and tanks.

In reality, there wasn’t much to argue about. Their mission was to guard the researchers, and the researchers were also heading to the frontlines.

"Won't it be dangerous?"

"It's part of their duty, I suppose."

The researcher, who had introduced himself as Antonif after growing closer to him when he saved his life, spoke with determination despite his fear.

"If we research and analyze them, we can uncover a lot. In fact, we've already found several countermeasures that way."

"That's true."

It was undeniable. Thanks to thorough research and analysis, they had been able to fight more effectively against the enemies.

However, what weighed on his mind was the fact that their enemies were no longer mere demonic creatures.

The legion had advanced beyond common sense with the help they had received, evolving repeatedly and even toppling the formidable Destruction Fungus.

This deviation from the norm and their growth were characteristics of the units and Players.

"Recently, there have been a lot of oddities, but we'll figure them out."

Watching Antonif cling to hope, he chose to remain silent.

I struggled to grasp my situation.

I was just an ordinary civilian with only a weak power.

Even if I wanted to do something, it was a task for someone with abilities like Cha Jiyeon, a Player.

Military vehicles were running alongside us.

State-Affiliated Researchers were also moving along with us.

"There's no need to worry."

"I'm not particularly worried..."

"We will definitely win. Although we were ambushed during the movement, our firepower is sufficient."

A Commander with his hair partly balding reassured us with bold confidence.

It was true that their firepower was sufficient.

But the problem was that firepower alone wouldn't determine the outcome of this War.

"Whenever someone boasts like that, problems tend to arise. They say our superiors found and destroyed the Detached Force of enemies trying to ambush us just moments ago."

"Don't raise strange flags."

Leaving Robert, who was being reprimanded by Cox, I entered the assigned Encampment first.

I then took out two items from my possession.

In my left hand was an item that could detect whether there were Units or Players nearby.

Fortunately, the Ore did not glow.

In my right hand was another Sacrifice that the Legion had given me.

This item was purely for my safety.

"What is the Legion doing now?"

[It is still focused on reconnaissance activities. The digestion of the Great Colony is not yet complete.]

"...What about reconnaissance?"

[The passage blocked by the Great Colony will only appear once it has been fully digested.]

The Legion calculated efficiency and did not waste Energy to dig a bypass or physically sever and disassemble the Great Colony.

Instead, it decided to explore other places during this idle time.

The decision was aided by the Terrain Detection Ability of the Demonic Mole Crickets.

[Using that Terrain Detection Ability, the Legion, which can now sense even subtle underground flows, discovered anomalies within the walls and decided to dig into those spots.]

The Legion decided to excavate that area and quickly opened a path using more than a dozen Mining-Type Legion Soldiers.

"...Could it be a new Labyrinth?"

What was hidden there was a Cavern.

It was another space, uncertain whether it connected to the place we were currently in.

"Kyaaaak!"

A now-familiar Destruction Fungus Infected Entity charged at the Legion Soldiers.

[This is excellent. It's an opportunity to test whether we can use the Mental Resonance Ability against the brethren of the Destruction Fungus Great Colony we acquired this time.]

Of course, ordinary Destruction Fungus no longer posed much of a threat to us.