“…Really?”

Yuri heard Giwon’s words and…

“Everyone heard the Judge’s words?”

She shouted at the people. “Today’s training is over! Go take a break and be on standby!”

The trainees shouted in acknowledgment, but no one seemed to notice that her relaxed and cool posture was all but a lie. It was only Giwon who knew, and that’s why he asked after everyone left.

“Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Yuri asked back as she pointed at herself in disbelief.

“Why? You worried that I’m scared sh*tless? You know I’m not.”

“…”

Just like Giwon, Yuri was a veteran. She had lived tens of years in the previous life. The city was facing a giant battle they had never faced before, but there was a difference between that and all the hard situations they faced throughout their lifetimes.

“Ugh… Let me go take a cold shower.”

There was more on their mind than just their own safety.

“Good idea. Don’t take it too heavily and…”

“Say that to yourself.” Yuri snapped coldly, “You have mother and sister. And I heard you have a lady too? Thought you were living together.”

“…Even then, I won’t be held back by them to do my part.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

She spoke and reached to her back to bring up a hip flask. After the supply of food grew to be plenty, Yuri began to distill her own alcoholic beverages that she had been carrying around. She tried to bring it up to her mouth and stopped.

“It was a few months ago… but I told Mayor this. Don’t try to take all the burden… everyone is stronger than you think. Let them do their own thing.”

“You did.”

“Yeah, I did. I gave him advice as an ‘adult.’… and look at what I’ve become.”

She hadn’t known then. She never knew how this city, and what the people would mean to her eventually. She thought she had adapted to this world; she thought she had been transformed to not need something like this. But, they too needed this city. They just gave up because they knew they couldn’t get their hands on it.

Now, they had it.

“I should focus.”

Now, they couldn’t bear to let it be taken away from them.

“You go ahead.”

“Are you not entering the city? You have other business to take care of?”

“Yeah, I do.”

She closed the lid that she didn’t even drink from and pulled out her whip.

“I only concentrated on ‘commanding’ for a few months. I should condition myself too.”

She then waved Giwon off.

“Go on.”

“I can be of help if you are trying to practice…”

“Aren’t you busy? Go tell the people and have them organized.”

“…”

“That is your job here, smart boy.”

Giwon nodded and turned. He understood Yuri. Not only that, but he wanted to ready for the upcoming battle also.

‘We’ve changed.’

It wasn’t sure what this change was going to bring to them, but even if the result was going to be bad…

‘I will…’

Never regret. Giwon was certain of it.

“They’re moving,” Blass observed them and Dohyuk opened his eyes. They were on the watchtower. Dohyuk had already sent the watchman back to the city. It was 49 hours after the 7 regions had appeared.

“Slight right from the center. You’ll see it too.”

“Yeah.”

There was a small moving silhouette at the brown hill from afar. There were about twenty of them.

“There won’t be a lot.”

This was the information he got from the man who was abandoned by Grava. The ones that the gods took with them when they moved regions were the ones who were worth it. No matter the case, the number of enemies going down was a good sign. The bad part was that all the remaining ones were probably elite warriors.

From the six new regions of Antem, all the fighters were the strong ones that had been handpicked by him.

Dohyuk stood up and turned back. It was the opposite side of Antem’s region, and where his people were standing.

“Mr. Mayor!”

People gasped in astonishment as they watched Dohyuk.

“I won’t need… a speech.”

People knew what Dohyuk was going to say, so he shot his fist up to the sky and thrust it forward.

It was the signal. The war had started. Ten thousand people began to move. People quickly moved up to the second wall, and Dohyuk also moved back. The space on the watchtower wasn’t large. Dohyuk didn’t stop there and threw himself down from the tower. The landing was quiet. As he jumped down, he turned back. There were brown rocks all over.

-They live underground.

That was what Blass said. If there were tens of men outside the land, it meant that their attack was imminent. He heard his people preparing themselves on the wall. Dohyuk began to run. The wall was wide and there was a lot of people, so they would need time to get ready to defend. They couldn’t wait until Antem launched an ambush. Dohyuk was going to buy time first.

As he ran through the land, something soared from the ground beneath him. It was like a worm, but with millions of small legs.

-Rockstorm Worm-

Tens of meters of the long body emerged from the surface, but the remainder of the body was still underground. It then charged at Dohyuk, and he dodged the attack so the worm dived back down into the ground again. While it dug itself down, its small legs kicked up the dirt, spreading the rocks all over the place. Those rocks shot out like rifle bullets, hence the name ‘Rockstorm’.

Dohyuk did not dodge any of them, however. The rocks were strong, but Dohyuk had gained enough strength to withstand everything. The problem was its body. He couldn’t just strike it down.

“…”

Dohyuk took a deep breath and prepared to move. Twisting his waist, he kicked with a slicing motion on the worm. The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard, and something was ripped apart before it dropped onto the ground.

It was the worm. It was ripped into two pieces as it writhed in pain. Yet, its upper body was already in the ground, and it was still moving. Dohyuk then readied and jumped twenty meters into the sky. And from where he had been standing, the worm jumped out toward Dohyuk in the air.

“You have no chance,” he scoffed. Dohyuk kicked it down. It was a strong opponent. If it wasn’t for Dohyuk, the worm would’ve threatened the entire city. Thankfully, Dohyuk was more prepared.

He had all kinds of options he had absorbed through the equipment.

The worm’s head was crushed down and Dohyuk felt the soft tissue from within. And by using his heat, he baked it thoroughly.

“This..”

“It smells like shrimp,” someone said from the wall.