There Is No World For ■■
Chapter 161: 19530305 (6)

* * *

Soon, flames erupted from the tank’s main gun, followed by a deafening roar.

A 125mm smoothbore gun.

Now faced with a shell fired by the steel behemoth weighing dozens of tons, Kahal Magdu flung the Southern Count Palatine backward without hesitation or a second thought.

Even the mightiest dragon had no means of fending off a surprise attack unleashed by a tank.

BOOM!!

With an ear-splitting explosion, the skull shattered into pieces, and the surrounding concrete was scattered all over.

“Ugh!”

Shortly after, the Southern Count Palatine, who had barely rolled out of the explosion’s range, lay sprawled on the corridor floor.

As he tried to rise despite the shock, his gaze caught sight of the tank’s main gun swiveling.

[Ha-ha! Go die!]

A sonorous voice echoed from inside the tank. The Southern Count Palatine held back a curse and rapidly deployed protective shields.

The only reason the first attack had worked was because it caught them off-guard. If a true Mage decided to focus seriously on defense, it wouldn’t be difficult to block a tank’s main gun.

The problem was that the tank wasn’t his only enemy.

Sharp ice spikes fired by Yeomyeong came flying in through the protective shields the Count Palatine had deployed.

Each ice spike followed a distinct arc, aiming for lethal spots such as the neck or vital organs.

If he tried to block the ice spikes, he’d be struck by the gun. If he focused on the gun, the ice spikes would kill him.

Caught in this cruel dilemma, the Southern Count Palatine was frozen in indecision.

When suddenly, Kahal Magdu’s shattered skull, rolling on the ground, spoke.

- A tank? How utterly unromantic of you.

A sinister voice, laced heavily with twisted mana, resonated throughout the corridor.

Soon after, piece by piece, the shattered bone fragments began to float into the air and intercept the ice spikes.

It endured even after taking a direct hit from a tank gun? As expected, those weren’t any ordinary bones.

While Yeomyeong frowned and slashed at the nearest fragments, the remaining bones began to twist and swell.

Although it wasn’t clear what magic it was, it felt like a bad idea to leave it unchecked.

[How dare you!]

Perhaps sharing Yeomyeong’s sentiment, Neti had the tank’s gun fire once more.

While the bone fragments caught in the blast of the 125mm shell scattered and fell to the ground, more than half of them managed to complete their magic.

- Countless are my forms. Call me a legion.

With an eerie incantation, each floating bone fragment transformed into a fully-formed skeleton.

[…It is not even a zombie, and yet the skeleton is multiplying?]

As Neti, watching the scene from inside the tank, recoiled in disbelief, dozens of skeletons landed in the corridor.

Each one a replica of Kahal Magdu’s avatar, flickering with blue flames.

- These are the Dragon Fang Soldiers I created with my own teeth. If I can’t even manage this much, what’s the point of being here?

The voices of the countless Kahal Magdus echoed in unison.

- Now, shall we start again?

Start again, my foot. Leaving the swarm of skeletons behind, Yeomyeong climbed on top of the tank. Knocking on the hatch, he spoke.

“Neti, just crush everything with the tank.”

[What?]

“Just do it.”

[But what about the magic…?]

“Just drive. I’ll handle the magic.”

No further explanation was needed. The engine roared to life as Yeomyeong raised his sword while standing atop the tank.

Watching the tank barrel forward down the corridor leading to the armory, which was just wide enough for it to squeeze through, the Southern Count Palatine shouted.

“You lunatics!”

He cast an invisible force spell in the tank’s path, intending to destroy the wheels and force it to a halt. However, Yeomyeong’s Sword Aura sliced the spell in half.

“Undead Dragon! What the hell are you doing? Stop that tank already!”

Responding to the Count Palatine’s screams, dozens of Kahal Magdu’s skeletons began weaving spells.

And right when the countless spells erupted simultaneously, Yeomyeong, too, unleashed a spell, scattering golden feathers of the Black Wing Flow.

The ice spike intercepted a fireball shot at the driver’s seat.

An ice spear aimed at freezing the floor was redirected through Telekinesis.

Finally, Yeomyeong countered the lightning bolt, targeting the track, with his own lightning spell.

Crack! Kahal Magdu’s crimson lightning collided with Yeomyeong’s golden lightning, neutralizing each other.

- *Lightning? Had you been hiding this or did you just learn it in the meantime?*

Whether Kahal Magdu was impressed or not, Yeomyeong continued countering his spells relentlessly.

His blood vessels burst under the strain of the overwhelming mana collision and the taste of iron filled his mouth, but he did not stop.

Finally, the 40-ton tank crushed the Dragon Fang Soldiers under its weight, scattering broken bone fragments everywhere.

“O Night of Hilaria, song of the Deep Tower, heed my call… damn it!”

The Southern Count Palatine tried to belatedly prepare a grand spell, only for the tank’s gun to interrupt each time with a blast.

Unless it was in a wide open space, the only viable defense against the tank gun in such a narrow hallway was a shield.

- *Ha-ha-ha! Magnificent! Truly magnificent!*

For some reason, even as he was forced to flee under the tank’s relentless advance, Kahal Magdu found the situation hilarious.

A stark contrast to the Southern Count Palatine, who looked on the verge of tears.

Having trampled dozens of Dragon Fang Soldiers, the tank finally came to a stop only after crushing them all the way to the entrance of another storage room.

After the Count Palatine and Kahal Magdu were relentlessly pushed back and narrowly slipped past the iron door, the tank came to a stop, completely blocking the entrance.

Thud!

More accurately, it jammed itself into the doorway. So even if the Count Palatine and the Dragon wanted to open the steel door again, they would have a hard time doing so.

Of course, this was just a tactic to stall for time. Yeomyeong tapped on the turret hatch.

“Come out, both of you. It’s time to retreat.”

The turret hatch clanged open, and Neti was the first to emerge, her face beaming with joy as if she had just fulfilled a lifelong wish. Her body, on the other hand, was drenched in sweat.

“…Are you okay?”

“Me? Of course! Sure, it was tough operating a tank meant for three with just two people, but thanks to the autoloader system, I only had to focus on using Telekinesis to drive…”

As her long-winded began, Seti, who followed her out of the tank, cut her off.

“Neti, that’s enough.”

As she shook her head like someone plagued by motion sickness, Seti noticed the blood trickling from Yeomyeong’s lips and frowned.

However, before she could speak, Yeomyeong preempted her.

“Let’s get moving. We need to get out before they push the tank out of the way.”

Seti sighed.

“…What about your business in the armory?”

The nuclear weapon that lay dormant in the armory’s basement—Unless the enemy had the launch code, retreat was the wiser choice for now.

Especially since one of Kahal Magdu’s allies was yet to appear.

Yeomyeong shook his head as he replied.

“It’s not like they can touch it. For now, regrouping is the right call.”

Seti nodded, then followed Yeomyeong as they leaped down from the tank.

As the group made their way toward the armory entrance, Kahal Magdu’s voice echoed from beyond the tank.

- Clean your neck well and wait for me, Cheon Yeomyeong. I’ll make sure to kill you.

His tone was casual, as if arranging a meeting with a friend. In response, Yeomyeong used Telekinesis to shove the tank, causing the walls to tremble.

With Kahal Magdu’s laughter serving as background noise, Yeomyeong and his group left the armory behind.

* * *

After passing through the warehouse filled with tanks, the entrance piled high with corpses of the Shepherds, and the stairs leading to the sewers, Yeomyeong finally reached the body of the Western Count Palatine.

And just as he was about to ascend back into the sewer, someone called out to him.

“I wouldn’t go into the sewers if I were you.”

He turned around to find a familiar figure sitting on the steps—a one-armed elf drenched in so much blood that the floor beneath him was sticky.

“…Finel? Did you come looking for me?”

Finel nodded silently.

Yeomyeong didn’t bother asking how he managed to find him. It wasn’t exactly difficult as only Yeomyeong and the crystal bore the World Tree’s unique mana in this entire city.

The elf hesitated briefly before taking a deep breath and speaking.

“Things are… bad out there. The Rat Beastfolk legion has flooded the sewers. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before they take over the entire city.”

Artificial soldiers mass-produced using the World Tree’s crystal.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Yeomyeong alternated his gaze between the stairs below and Finel before opening his mouth.

“…Have you found the thief who stole the World Tree’s crystal?”

“The Eastern Count Palatine.”

Yeomyeong wore a bitter smile upon hearing his immediate answer.

The Eastern, Western, and Southern Count Palatine—each one of them was conspiring with one mind and one purpose.

The Southern Count Palatine and the Skeletal Dragon below and the Eastern Count Palatine and the Rat Beastfolk legion above.

“…What a mess.”

“Yeah, it’s truly a mess.”

Having said that, Finel coughed violently, spitting blood. His mana had weakened considerably, and his breathing was shallow. Yeomyeong could sense he was dying.

Seti seemed to have noticed it, too, as she sought Yeomyeong’s permission before pulling out a healing potion from her bag.

“…I wasn’t planning to accept help.”

Even as he said that, the elf didn’t refuse the potion. He drained it quickly and continued, looking slightly better.

“It feels a little too late to bring this up, but… Yeomyeong, I have a favor to ask.”

“…A favor?”

As Yeomyeong questioned him, Finel pulled out a gleaming object from his pocket.

The World Tree’s crystal—it was smaller than the one in the dream but still larger than a fist.

“I stole this from the Eastern Count Palatine. While I’d like to ask you to return it to our forest, … that seems impossible under these circumstances.”

“…”

“Take it.”

Yeomyeong caught the World Tree’s crystal as Finel tossed it to him. However, despite his anticipation, the crystal didn’t speak.

“Why are you giving this to me? What if I just consume it?”

“…If that’s your choice, then so be it.”

“What?”

Finel let out a deep breath for a while, steadied himself, and stood up before continuing.

“I saw the World Tree speak to you. If that being has intervened, then it’s not my place to question your actions.”

“…”

Yeomyeong said nothing, glancing at the crystal and Finel.

Seemingly intrigued, Neti was about to ask a question, but Seti preemptively covered her mouth.

A brief silence, a moment of contemplation.

Then, having made up his mind, Yeomyeong tucked the crystal into his coat.

“Finel, let’s head to our base camp for now.”

“Base camp? I appreciate the offer, but… I don’t think I can make it in this state.”

Finel shrugged his remaining shoulder in response. While he was no longer at death’s door thanks to the potion, he certainly wasn’t in a condition to fight either.

“Are you afraid that you’ll be a burden? No need to worry about that. There won’t be any fighting.”

“Cheon Yeomyeong, let me remind you—the Rat Beastfolk have already taken over the city…”

His words trailed off as Yeomyeong’s face suddenly transformed into that of a Rat Beastfolk.

The Blood Tear’s illusion. Yeomyeong then spoke while wearing the Rat Beastfolk’s appearance.

“This much should suffice, right?”

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.