Chapter 386. Looming War Clouds (4)

A heavy silence fell over the room. No one opened their mouths, and everyone looked dazed. What could they possibly say? There was a limit to how bad a situation could get, but what they were facing now far surpassed that. All three factions—Demon Empire, the Abyss, and the Sernitas—were heading toward Shalyh. It almost felt like a dream rather than reality. Perhaps they were in a really bad nightmare.

After some time, a voice broke through the suffocating silence.

“We…have…to escape…” The voice was so faint that it sounded like it would break at any moment. “We can’t…win…ever…” Mangil murmured listlessly while he lay prone on the ground. He was saying what the majority of the attendees were thinking. This ordeal was too great to face. It was such an immense and enormous tsunami of dangers that they couldn’t imagine fighting against it; it seemed evident that they would all be swept away without a trace.

“T-There isn’t any time to waste!” Breaking out of the daze, Mangil quickly got up. “What are you all doing? We need to spread this news as fast as possible and flee! Thankfully, we still have some time to pack our goods and escape! Let’s quickly move!” Mangil was encouraging everyone to abandon Shalyh and retreat to the Cassiubia Mountain Range. It was the most logical course of action to take right now. All the Cassiubia League members thoughtlessly nodded in agreement.

Yet the heroes hesitated. They could empathize with Mangil’s sentiments, but the legend hung on their minds. If they abandoned the holy city and retreated far away, what would happen to the legend? He would be left alone forever.

“Are we really going to abandon Shalyh like this…?” Apoline asked in a disgruntled voice.

“What?! Are you saying that we should fight then?!” Mangil immediately retorted in anger. “Are you out of your mind?! Do you want all of us to die together?! Huh?!” He pointed at her and shouted so fiercely that his spit scattered in the air. He had already lost all sense of calm and composure.

“…What?” But that was the same for Apoline. “Hey! Watch the way you talk. Also, don’t you know that the legend is alone in Sernitas’ territory right now?”

“Yeah, so what! Who told him to go running there in the first place?!”

“W-What? Do you hear yourself talk?”

“Ah, what about our lives? Should everyone die because there might be a chance to save one person?!”

“Both of you, please calm down.” Unable to stand watching, Ru Amuh finally got up and intervened. Or he tried to, but neither of them could calm down. Their voices gradually grew louder and louder until there was a shouting match. Other people besides Ru Amuh tried to break them off as well, but then they also joined the shouting match. The mood became terribly foul in an instant. The rest didn’t even seem to have any desire to settle the situation. Alice stared relentlessly at the darkness outside the window, the Kobalos’ elder stood with his eyes closed, and Emmanuel buried his head into his arms.

“You should also say something! Do you think this could be a proper fight or not!”Mangil shouted at Dalgil, but Dalgil simply swiped his face anxiously.

“…” Then, after watching the mess quietly, Ismile raised one foot and brought it down to make a loud bang. A vibration swept the ground as if there was a small-scale earthquake. An empty chair almost tilted over, but barely managed to regain its balance in the end.

“I know how all of you are feeling, but…calm yourselves.” Ismile bared his teeth, and everyone faltered when they saw him. This was the first time they saw Ismile show any sort of aggression. There was no trace of his usual carefree, leisurely self, and Ismile’s eyes were filled with a deep bloodlust. He seemed ready to kill any of them if they uttered one more word. Perhaps his usual joking demeanor was just a mask, and this was the true face of Ismile Nahla. That was how unfamiliar this sudden change was, and because of it, the yelling instantly stopped.

It was only then that Ismile’s face softened somewhat. “It seems we have a difference in opinions…” And after inhaling slightly, Ismile glanced in one direction. “What do you think?”

Everyone turned to Chi-Woo, who was sitting quietly.

“We have to fight,” Chi-Woo declared.

“W-What?!” Mangil said in complete bafflement. “How could you…!” Considering who he was talking to, Mangil couldn’t speak as bluntly as before, but his thoughts remained the same.

“I know that our strength is lacking in Shalyh with humanity alone. That is why we have to receive help from the Cassiubia League members too.” Chi-Woo sounded firm. Everything he had done was for this moment. He had even gone back to the past and fought his brother at the risk of his life to revive the World. He wouldn’t let all that effort go to waste. Furthermore, he had to keep the promise he had made to the World with a pinky swear. Of course, Mangil, who was unaware of all that, couldn’t help but bemoan the reality of the situation.

“Do you think the Cassiubia League will even send their troops from the mountain range?” Mangil asked.

“They will.”

“What if they don’t?”

“We…will only know what will happen then, but I’m sure they will send us reinforcement,” Chi-Woo said with certainty, and there was a new glint in Ismile’s eyes.

“Please…! Come to your senses! Even if the Cassiubia League somehow sends reinforcements from the mountain range, it won’t solve anything! How will we face three factions when dealing with just one is such a strain? Even though it’s you of all people…!” Mangil sounded pleading and desperate now because knowing the authority the Seven Stars leader possessed, he began to worry that they might have to fight at this rate.

“…It really is a concern that the three factions have joined hands, but you can’t simply see it as a battle of 1 against 3.”

Mangil looked at Chi-Woo for clarification.

“After reorganizing their ranks, the number of the Demon Empire’s great demons dwindled from 66 to 36. Then to 34 recently.” And according to the information he just heard, only about 20 great demons were making their way toward Shalyh. “Though most of the single-digit ranking great demons including Bael are participating in this war, they aren’t fighting us with their full force.”

Chi-Woo continued, “It’s the same for the Abyss. After the Witch’s disappearance, their alliance of two armies and the respective three and six commanders dwindled to two and six commanders.” The most powerful leaders leading Abyss were the king and the queen who ruled over the remaining eight, now seven, commanders. “Current reports say that the Abyss’ main force is the king and his seven subordinates. The queen is nowhere in sight… It’s suspicious that there’s seven of them instead of six…but anyways, it’s hard to say that the Abyss is bringing their entire force.” Then, Chi-Woo proceeded to say it was the same for the Sernitas.

“The only force that the Sernitas are sending is from their Sky Castle. Of course, it’s a threatening power, but compared to their main force, it’s incomparably smaller.” Every point that Chi-Woo made was valid. No one in the room knew it, but the Sernitas hadn’t sent the majority of the troops they promised to deploy since they had to keep the legend in their territory in check.

“Still…!”

“Unlike the three factions who are still wary of each other in preparation for what would happen after their alliance, we can put all our minds and efforts together as one force. No, that is what we must do. If we lean onto our home ground advantage and the effects the holy sanctuary grants us, this would be a war worth fighting.”

Mangil looked very frustrated. He got what Chi-Woo was saying, but still seemed unconvinced. “If the legend had kept his position in this situation, maybe I would’ve thought differently. But look at where he is!”

“It’s pointless to think that. If the legend were here with us right now, the Sernitas would’ve brought forth a force matching that change.”

“Fine! Then let’s say we fight as you say. What if we lose?!” Mangil cried out while waving both of his arms. “That won’t just be the end of Shalyh! The Cassiubia League, the Cassiubia Mountain Range, and humanity! We would all be over!”

Chi-Woo closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. That could happen, and there was definitely a future where exactly that happened. But Chi-Woo retorted in a low voice, “…Then, what do you think will happen if we retreat?”

“Can you guarantee that even if we retreat from Shalyh and flee, the League would be able to preserve enough forces to protect the Cassiubia Mountain Range?”

“What?”

“Let’s say that we retreat from Shalyh. Do you think the three factions that have gone so far to form a coalition would be satisfied with conquering one city?” That could be the case, but one of the main goals of the three-faction alliance was to destroy Chi-Hyun’s foundation. That would serve as the basis for crushing humanity, which they had pinpointed as the cause for their plans failing.

Moreover, nothing was ever certain, especially in a world like Liber. Thus, Chi-Woo pointed out, “For example, what if the coalition coerces the Cassiubia League into not accepting humanity?”

Mangil was about to say something, but ended up shutting his mouth. It sounded too plausible to reject right away. There was no way their enemies would be satisfied with conquering only one city after going so far as to join hands. They would definitely try to take more.

“Let’s say that the Cassiubia League abandons humanity then. But what if the coalition doesn’t keep their promise and invades the Cassiubia Mountain Range too?” Chi-Woo asked. Mangil’s face paled. If that really happened, they would have only earned a temporary reprieve, and the fact that they were doomed would remain unchanged in the end. In that situation, they would regret not having joined hands with humanity and fought back.

Eventually, Mangil became quiet. He seemed to have come to agree with Chi-Woo to some extent, but he still looked conflicted. The situation seemed too dire for them to choose to fight.

“But…the legend…”

“Ah, stop going on about the legend! The legend!”

Mangil flinched when Chi-Woo suddenly shouted; it was Chi-Woo’s first time raising his voice.

“Let me ask you all one question.” After letting out a deep sigh, Chi-Woo crossed his fingers and looked around. “Do you think the legend needs to be here right now?” Everyone’s eyes turned wide at Chi-Woo’s unexpected question. “Is this room full of people who can’t do anything without the legend leading the way?”

It looked as if Chi-Woo’s words struck many of them to the core.

“Is that really it? Are you all puppets who either fight or retreat when he tells you to?”

“T-That’s…” Mangil couldn’t continue. He seemed a bit ashamed at Chi-Woo’s reproach. After a short silence, Chi-Woo quelled his frustrations and spoke up in a calmer voice.

“…Of course, I understand that all of you might feel anxious, but you should realize one thing.” Chi-Woo looked around and carefully scanned everything that made up the space. Then, he said, “We aren’t the only ones observing this situation right now. It’s not just humanity and the Cassiubia League either.” The earth and sky, the air and wind, all of nature, and everything that existed to make up this planet—they were all watching over them.

“Liber—the whole World is focusing on Shalyh right now.” The World didn’t die. She survived. She went through a time so difficult that it couldn’t be properly put into words. Everyone in this world had lived through lives of despair, fearing that they would die at any moment. They had lived lives without hopes and dreams. Yet there was room for change now, and for them to bring out real change, they needed to revive their dying determination and hope and cling to them firmly.

“We need to give them strength and bravery. We need to prove that there’s hope. We shouldn’t just tell people to endure and endure some more until they reach the end, but tell them that we can do something. That there’s hope for us to return to the past—to how things used to be.” Chi-Woo momentarily collected his breath. Then he addressed the dazed Mangil.

“…Please remember this one thing.”

“…”

“If you keep running backward, you’ll one day realize that there’s no more room to back into.”

There was no sanctuary to run away to. If they backed away here, they would have to keep doing that until they ran out of places to run to and had no companions to fight with.

Speechless, Mangil simply looked down at the floor blankly. Then, he gradually raised his head and looked up at Chi-Woo. Others responded similarly. The atmosphere changed in an instant, and everyone was mesmerized by Chi-Woo's speech. After listening to what he said, they all began to think that they had to fight for some reason. An unknown emotion boiled from the bottom of their hearts and shot upwards. It was as if they had all become determined to fight after realizing that was their only option.

“Is there…a way?” Mangil’s voice sounded slightly hoarse, and his words indicated his change in attitude.

Meanwhile, Ismile was impressed. ‘Look at him…’ he thought as he watched Chi-Woo. He was quite surprised. Currently, there was nobody and nothing that could replace Chi-Hyun. This was an irrefutable fact. Yet Chi-Woo managed to shift the mood of the room. If any other hero had said the same things, there would be dissents. Yet everyone understood and aligned with Chi-Woo because even though they did so unconsciously, they had trust and faith in him. Those factors made them think that maybe, maybe they really needed to fight; maybe it really was doable in this situation.

Was it because he was the legend’s younger brother? No. It was due to the path that Chi-Woo had taken until now and all the achievements he had made so far to prove himself. Each and every one of his actions and words carried weight one couldn’t dare ignore.

“Seems like…we’ve reached an agreement.” Ismile clapped twice and turned back to Chi-Woo with a polite smile.

“Then, does that mean we will fight depending on whether or not the Cassiubia League follows?” The Cassiubia League’s help was essential. If the Cassiubia League didn’t send their reinforcements and instead recalled their forces in Shalyh, there would really be no way out of this situation. But Chi-Woo wasn’t worried about that.

“They will come.”

“But they might not?” Ismile remarked.

Chi-Woo shook his head. “No, I can swear it. The Cassiubia League would send us their reinforcements.”

Chi-Woo was 100% certain. It was a promise made to him after all.