A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

Chapter 73

"Enemy aaaa!!"

He instinctively shouted with all his strength.

At the same time, countless red glows flashed in the darkness of the forest.

"Uwaaah!"

"Monsters! They're monsters!"

What poured out from the forest and attacked them were not humans, contrary to their expectations.

It was an assault from grotesque and horrifying monsters they could never have imagined.

The soldiers holding shields hurriedly raised them and took a defensive stance, but it was impossible for ordinary people, unprepared as they were, to stop the charge.

Like infantry trampled by a heavy cavalry unit charging at full speed, the soldiers hastily forming a battle formation were crushed by the mid-sized legion soldiers.

Steel armor was torn apart like paper by sharp claws, and steel swords couldn't pierce their carapaces.

'What madness is this.'

The deputy director was so shocked he almost fainted but held himself together by the instinctive thought that if he faltered now, it would mean total annihilation.

"Everyone, over here!"

He moved his mana and instantly cast a spell, striking the ground with his hand to activate the magic.

From the spot where his hand touched, a glowing magical formula quickly spread across the ground, enveloping the people.

"This is!"

"It's an advanced protection spell!"

The soldiers cheered. The advanced magic used by the guild's executive class was that powerful.

Indeed, the claws, stingers, and other attacks from the legion soldiers all struck the translucent golden shield barrier, creating ripples but failing to penetrate.

"What on earth are these things...?"

"Is this really the time to worry about that? Attack!"

He, who had to maintain the magic, couldn’t take any other actions.

Fortunately, the mages who accompanied him, the defense captain, and a few elite soldiers wielded their magic and mana-infused weapons, attacking the monsters from within the shield barrier.

However, the monsters, as if receiving commands, moved uniformly and retreated to minimize damage.

"Forget them for now! Request reinforcements immediately!"

"Can you hear me? Request reinforcements now! We're under attack!"

In the meantime, they used the communication sphere to connect with the city.

Though they barely managed to hold on, they were still surrounded and unable to move a single step.

"Stay calm, everyone. Fortunately, it seems those monsters don’t have the ability to break through this shield barrier."

"Deputy Director. I remember hearing reports of anomalies in the labyrinth."

"...That's right. These creatures might indeed be the ones that escaped from the labyrinth."

In the fleeting moment of standoff, he broke out in a cold sweat as he glared at the monsters.

They were too bizarre and unnatural to be mere monsters.

'Are they really living beings?'

Having encountered outdated golems and various magic weapons before, he found something eerily familiar in the appearance of these black monsters.

Too silent and alien for living beings, they felt more like magic weapons acting by command rather than beasts.

"Huh?"

"A person...? A girl?"

And then, at that moment, a commotion erupted among those guarding the rear instead of the front he was focused on.

'A girl?'

Startled, he didn’t even have the time to look back.

Emerging through the monsters appeared a small figure, a girl, raising a sword made of crimson ore.

"Impossible! That sword..."

The defense captain was horrified at the sight, but a merciless dark crimson slash came first.

The slash, imbued with tremendous power, caused a massive explosion as it collided with the shield barrier.

"Urgh..."

The shield barrier, which he had painstakingly maintained, shattered in a single blow, and the deputy director coughed up blood as he collapsed to the ground.

"They're coming!"

"Stop them!"

Before the fallen deputy director could even regain his senses, the monsters charged toward them again, now unprotected by the shield barrier.

Screams, shouts, the clash of weapons, and the sounds of flesh being pierced and cut, spraying blood.

These were the typical sounds of a battlefield.

What stood out, however, was that all these sounds came only from their side.

The horrifying cries of allies and their dying breaths rang out, while the black beasts charged at their spears and swords without a hint of hesitation, sapping their will and morale.

'How foolish. So foolish.'

The deputy director, trembling like a bug on the ground, berated himself for his stupidity.

If they were creatures that could be held off by his level of power and a single shield spell, the moonlight fairies wouldn’t have sought their aid in the first place.

"Deputy Director?! Deputy Director!"

He crawled across the ground, stretching his hand toward a crystal sphere that had fallen to the floor.

On the screen of the overturned crystal sphere, a guild staff member left in the city was shouting desperately toward the ground.

"...You, no, you monster woman..."

However, just as he reached out, the crystal sphere was crushed under a foot, shattering into pieces.

A monster’s foot, adorned with sharp claws, entered his vision, and above it stood a masked woman clad in black armor, her jet-black hair swaying as she looked down at him.

"Fine. Let’s end this."

Sensing defeat and total annihilation, he forced his aching body to rise.

At the same time, he moved his mana, preparing a spell. A technique akin to self-destructing, overloading and expending all his mana.

'At least, I’ll take down these monsters—or that monster woman.'

He had already given up on living. Almost no one around him was left resisting.

Even those who had resorted to begging for their lives in despair were mercilessly slain by these black beasts.

"Though my skill may only be that of a mid-level manager in the guild, this final strike will be hard to withstand."

It was a desperate attack, unleashing everything a wizard could muster in their lifetime, even at the cost of their own life.

The air around him distorted with his mana.

'I’ll reduce their numbers here. That way, the city can hold out. If only a few hundred remain, proper defenses will be enough to stop them.'

Blood poured from his eyes, nose, and mouth as he aimed the completed spell forward.

It was a flame explosion, an advanced magic spell specializing in sheer firepower, a hallmark of the Blakel Academy.

Enhanced with overload, the fiery pillar’s power was magnified several times over, illuminating the dim forest as if it were broad daylight.

'Did I succeed?'

Burning even his own body, he watched as the opponent generated a dark red barrier around themselves and was thrown backward.

"What... are you?"

The forest, which had quickly returned to silence, now echoed only with the crackle of burning trees and grass.

One of his arms was completely incinerated as he lay sprawled on the ground, swallowing his pain, and stared blankly at the bright moon above.

'At least I reduced their numbers significantly...'

The red glow from the mask remained undeterred as it gazed down at him. There wasn’t even a trace of scorching on its surface.

His heart sank at that sight, but most of the other monsters had been obliterated by his spell.

Though he lay in ruins on the ground, he grinned as if he had won.

"Did you plan to attack the city? Hah, with only a few dozen of you... that’s impossible. Foolish creatures of the ancient labyrinth..."

Chuckling faintly, he used the last of his strength to taunt the enemy. Whether they understood or not didn’t matter.

"Soon... reinforcements... will come for you..."

"..."

The opponent raised their sword. He nodded as if he had expected this.

Still, he felt at peace. He had done what needed to be done.

Thus, he prepared to face his death proudly, preserving the honor and pride of a wizard.

"Ridiculous."

"...No way."

"You’ve accomplished nothing, you insignificant creature."

But his end was brutally crushed.

Another masked figure, speaking in human language, mocked him as they walked out of the shadows, their jet-black hair flowing behind them.

And with them, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of monsters emerged, shaking the air and ground as they advanced toward the city, traversing both sky and land.

In that moment, as he saw this, despair and emptiness filled him.

A sword fell upon his neck, and with a single stroke, he was decapitated.

The Legion's dispatched soldiers are heading toward the city.

- Is your purpose an assault, war, or devouring?

"No."

The Legion grinned while watching its soldiers rush forward.

The earlier battle was not merely a hunt.

It was the first skirmish against the indigenous species. Born as an invader, the Legion had already experienced countless wars to the point of weariness.

And through those wars, it had grown. The recent battle was merely a test to gauge the capabilities of the indigenous species.

"The prisoners worth capturing have self-destructed... but it doesn’t matter."

- Didn’t you aim to learn advanced magic?

"There are plenty of wizards. And... there’s plenty of time."

The Legion rubbed the soil ground beneath its feet.

From the start, the Legion's true goal, having grown this much, was not war.

'To devour everything in this forest, everything visible to my eyes right now, and everything in this world.'

The Legion's true objective was not invasion but corruption.

While the indigenous species were preoccupied with fighting off mere legion soldiers, who were nothing more than teeth and claws,

The Legion planned to consume the entire world, leaving not even an ant behind.

- With that nutrient, more legion soldiers will be produced, and their resistance will be crushed.

The first step had already been taken. The soil beneath the Legion's feet began to turn black.

This signified that the corruption which had begun in the labyrinth was now spreading, devouring everything around it.