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n97. Head for the Holy Land

n“Whoaaaaaaaaaa!”

nA pillar of fire rose from the titan’s mouth. He struggled in pain, scratching at his face and neck. He tried to put his hands in his mouth to put the fire out somehow, but the combination of gasoline and the fire created by the Spirits was persistent.

n“Huh… they did it. Are their hearts made of steel?”

nKunta didn’t believe it even though he watched them.

n‘We’re going to pour gasoline into his mouth. So please make a fire that won’t go out.’

nThat was what Ko Byeong-gap said earlier. He honestly thought it was crazy, and even just imagining it made his stomach ache. They were going to climb up on Titan and pour fuel inside of its mouth, surprisingly they actually were able to pull it off. After receiving the signal, the Spirits fired their most powerful fireballs, cutting their life force down. The fireballs formed the shape of meteorites.

n“The fire is up! Gather your firepower!”

n“Follow the fire!”

n“We can get it! We can take down Titan!”

nThe fire from the Spirits was powerful. Once Titan caught on fire, it was easy to amplify the damage and spread the coverage.

n“Whoa! Whoa–!”

nTitan stomped his feet. The fire had passed through his mouth and neck and then reached into his body.

n“Uh… uh! He’s coming over!”

nWooong!

nIn an instant, Titan stumbled and fell forward. Though the distance to the wall was still quite far, they couldn’t help feeling the cold air above their heads.

nCrouch!

nThe ground made a terrible noise, similar to that of a scream. As the sky and the Earth shook, the Spirit soldiers had to hold on to anything they could so that they wouldn’t fall. Kunta tried to view Titan through the thick clouds of dust. He wasn’t dead yet. If he were, the screams that seemed to tear his ears would’ve ceased. Soon, they saw the giant struggling to stand.

n“Everyone aim at Titan! If we don’t bring him down here, there’s no future!”

nKunta shouted like that and raised his power. As a Spirit of Wind, he created a storm aimed at Titan’s head. When the great fire met the wind, its size doubled. The other Spirit soldiers also poured out attacks with all their might. The excessive use of power made their bodies weak, but no one paid attention to it at this moment.

nAs lord Kunta said, if they failed to defeat Titan there, they would die anyway. The attack didn’t just come from the walls. On the other side, Ko Byeong-gap’s group continued to attack. He bet everything on the battle. There were only two scenarios left: to kill it or die.

nDozens of minutes to launch a full offensive, all while Titan could not lift a finger. The external wounds hurt him, but the internal injuries were fatal. His insides burned to black. Titan’s chest cracked, and flames soared out. Soon, his body began to scatter like ash, and with that scene, everyone was sure of victory.

n“Stop! Ceasefire!”

nKunta’s hoarse voice filled the air, stopping the spirit’s assault. They watched the titan crumble with its eyes resembling a dead fish. They couldn’t hear anything but the sound of their group gasping for breath.

nKunta shouted again in the hot silence.

n“We took down Titan! We got him!”

n“…”

n“We can now rest!”

nSmack!

nThe moment they were told to rest. All the Spirit soldiers on the wall fainted in harmony. Kunta also lost consciousness after taking a glance at them. The victory ceremony of the Spirits proceeded quietly like this.

n***

nHalf a day passed following the battle against Titan. The dark sky turned blue before long. The Spirit soldiers who forced themselves to draw power turned into half-corpses. Some seemed to be completely out of breath. Ko Byeong-gap bought plenty of Gold Dragon Meat for them at a high price. The meat was excellent for rejuvenation and would also help the Spirits recover.

nThe effect was certain. However, it didn’t mean that there were no casualties at all. As many as 14 Spirit soldiers died from exhaustion. They couldn’t be saved with potions or dumplings. It was a miracle that only 14 of them passed away after facing something as absurd as Titan.

nThe ordinary residents were mobilized to repair and clean up the fortress walls. Some harvested the scattered Gruggles, and he watched what they were doing with it as they spread them out in a sunny basin.

n“What are you doing? Are you going to eat them dry?”

n“…”

nKunta looked up at Ko Byeong-gap with his haggard eyes.

n“If you had nothing to eat, wouldn’t you eat Gruggles? It’s not that bad…”

n“I know a Spirit that ate them.”

n“Do you know any Spirits?”

n“Yes, there’s one in our garrison.”

n“Can you tell me what kind of Spirit it is?”

n“Are you talking about her kind? She said she was a Nefi.”

n“Nefi? Huh, a Spirit who deals with concepts. Their existence is pretty rare.”

n‘Is it rare?’

nCome to think of it, she was a precious thing. Valtadren’s restaurant wouldn’t be able to run without her.

n“If she sees you, she would be very pleased. She misses her people… anyways, why are you drying them?”

n“It’s not about drying. It’s about growing trees. Did you know that trees grow from their corpses?”

n“Of course I know. Sometimes small beasts also appear.”

n“Yes, we make a living out of the by-products of the Gruggle corpses. There’s more to it than just eating them.”

nKunta then added in a bitter voice.

n“Well, even so, the food situation is not that good. Not long ago, we ate only the bark of trees for 15 days.”

n“I’m sorry to hear that.”

n“I saw earlier that you just pulled the meat out of the air… I even thought, for a moment, that God had returned.”

n“Haha, this isn’t free either. It requires a considerable amount of goods. The meat we bought earlier would be worth the price of a few walls.”

n“How many walls? Are you going to ask us to pay for the meat?”

nKunta turned white, but Ko Byeong-gap waved his hands with a smile.

n“That’s enough. I’d rather skip the little things.”

n“…Thank you very, very much.”

nThe day passed. Originally, Ko Byeong-gap and his group planned to leave immediately but soon decided to stay one more day due to the unexpected battle. In the evening, he told Kunta his story as he promised the day before. Kunta was greatly impressed when he said that there was a colony of 1,500 Goblins in Valtadren and that he was the one who led it.

nKo Byeong-gap kept talking about the excellence of Valtadren, emphasizing the abundant food availability, strong and safe walls, and a large population. He didn’t mean to show off. It was the groundwork to recruit the Spirits.

n“How do you like it? Why don’t you follow me to Valtadren? If you want, we can provide a basin just for the Spirits.”

n“Hmm…”

n“It’ll be better there than here. I promise you there will be no exploitation of Spirits or excessive taxation since I’m aiming for something that fits with common sense.”

nKunta pondered for a long time.

n“I… want to. The same goes for the people of this castle, but I don’t think we can afford to move 2,500 miles away.”

n“Don’t worry about that. Let me solve that problem on my own.”

n“How?”

n“I’ll have to think about it, but there must be a way.”

nKo Byeong-gap highly valued the potential of the Spirits. If he had them in his employ, it would come in handy. Well… it wasn’t just for snobbish reasons. Weren’t the Spirits the only intelligent bodies left on the continent? It was wise to maintain a good relationship if they had to co-exist with them, whether he liked it or not.

n“Then I will think in a positive direction. If we are ready, we will either send an envoy or come directly.”

n“I see.”

nThe first discussion on the Chitosan merger ended like that. Of course, it was still only in the conception stage, so they would have to exchange letters several times in the future to make proper plans. Ko Byeong-gap imagined the Goblins and Spirits living together. The picture was pretty good.

nThe next day dawned. After having lunch at Chitosan, Ko Byeong-gap and his party set out on the back road. Lord Kunta stopped them and told them to stay longer, but they refused due to the journey they still had to take. By 6 pm, they were able to reach Hermonia, the last stopover. The appearance of the ruined castle wasn’t very different from the places they had passed before.

nHe wanted to go all the way to Vervonia at once, but the problem was that they were out of fuel. To make matters worse, they used up all the gasoline he brought when they fought Titan, so he had to stop by Earth.

n“Let’s go to my house and sleep today, and shoot for Vervonia tomorrow. Stay here and wait. I’ll pick you up later.”

n“Alright.”

n“Yes, Lord.”

n“It’ll take about three or forty minutes.”

nKo Byeong-gap crossed the door to Earth. It was a quiet vacant lot where he fell. Before going on the trip, he came here to send his car to Ashvilam. He hurriedly got into a taxi and headed home. It was a short walk to his office located in Yongsan-gu.

nWhen he got home, he went to Ashvilam again. Dorma and Marilyn were standing next to the car with blank expressions on their faces. When they noticed Ko Byeong-gap, their expressions improved immediately.

n“Oh! You’re back.”

n“Yes, both of you come over here.”

nDorma and Marilyn carefully crossed the door. They became the first Goblins to enter Ko Byeong-gap’s house.

n“How is it? Is it uncomfortable to breathe here or something?”

n“Breathing? I think I’m fine.”

n“I’m fine too.”

n“That’s a relief.”

n“By the way, it’s a very nice house.”

nDorma looked around incessantly with admiration. Marilyn didn’t show it, but there was a sense of surprise in her expression.

n“You live in a place like this. This clean and luxurious thing seems to go very well with Lord.”

n“Really?”

n“Yes, Lord’s house is perfect!”

n“Technically, it’s not my house but a lease….”

nWhile Ko Byeong-gap and Dorma talked about nothing, Marilyn approached the large window. She snapped open the blackout curtain. As the night view of Seoul spread wide before her, her mouth opened on its own.

n“Wow…”

n“What do you think? Isn’t it amazing?”

n“Yes! I’ve never seen anything so shiny in my life. By the way, are we floating in the sky right now? Everything’s under our feet!”

n“This is the top floor.”

nMarilyn looked down at the night view of Seoul for a long time. Her expression was as innocent as a child’s.

n‘She can make that kind of expression too.’

nOn this day, Ko Byeong-gap taught them the greatness of modern civilization and the excellence of Korean delivery culture. The short night passed quickly. They had an early breakfast and went straight to Ashvilam. Marilyn was sorry to part ways with the modern bathroom.

nKo Byeong-gap refueled his car with gasoline he had bought the night before. The fully charged car rolled on smoothly, and there were no obstacles in their way. Did they continue for about three more hours? They arrived at their destination, Vervonia, four days after they left Valtadren.

n…No, they only arrived on the horizon. Marilyn looked bewildered while Dorma scoured the vast area with a grim face.

n“Lord, do you think it’s the same as Somnium?”

n“Well, I guess so.”

nKo Byeong-gap reached out with a sullen look. His hands were blocked by a transparent membrane and couldn’t push beyond it. The inside of the clear membrane was filled with a hazy fog.

n“I’m not happy to see this fog again even though I haven’t seen it in such a long time.”

n“That’s right.”

nThat was it. Vervonia was fogged up like Somnium initially.

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