Record of a Thousand Lives-Chapter 86

Kartheon’s mummies were very strong; theywere considered to be undead, but they had unconditional loyalty toward the ancient king. They marched while staying in formation, and they carried out any orders from the ancient king—no matter whatthey were.

“Kill the enemies,” Kartheon commanded. The mummies immediately charged as soon as his orderwas given.

The ancient king’s mummiescame in all shapes and sizes.Somewerethe size of adult humans, andotherswere the size of ogres. Some of them used their monstrous strength to crush their enemies, andothersused their bloodstained bandages to infect their enemies.

“The enemies are mummies! Be careful not to get caught by their bandages and focus on attacking!”theGrave Soldier commanded from the vanguard position as he cut down mummyafter mummy.

“The enemy leader is the ancient king Kartheon! All ranged units! Focus your fireon Kartheon!” the Grave Soldier commanded.

The Skeleton Archersdrewtheir bowstrings and fired. Kartheon waved his left hand, and a wall of mummies appeared in front of him and shielded him from the incoming arrows.

“The enemy numbers just a meager thousand! The enemy is powerless in front of us, whonumberseven thousand! Do notfalter and attack!” Kartheon commanded.

The undead army was severely outnumbered, and the tide of battle tilted heavily in favor of the ancient king, but Kartheon could not relax one bit.He thought,‘This istoo easy. Thereis no way they would have carried out an ambush that was certain to fail.’

The enemy had accurately pinpointed their location and launched an ambush, and judging by thepresenceof a commander, these were not average,run-of-the-mill undead. It seemedsomeone hadformally declared war against Kartheon.

‘Itmatters notwho comes at me. I will turn you all into dust,’ Kartheon thought.

At that moment, the Grave Soldier charged into the enemy lines and struck down three mummies with one swing of its sword.Itcharged deeper behind enemy linesandfinally reached Kartheon,swinging its swordat the neck of the ancient king.

However, Kartheon leisurely rolled back time five secondsby five seconds. Then, the ancient king avoided the Grave Soldier’s sword with relative ease and grabbed the undead assailant with his right hand.

“Ku-kuheok!”TheGrave Soldier struggled.

“Thatswordsmanship…It seemsfamiliar. Are you made up ofsomeone fromancient times?” Kartheon asked.

“I d-despise you!” the Grave Soldier shoutedangrily, its voice full of hostility.

“Well, it doesnot matter.” Kartheon shrugged andabsorbed theGrave Soldier’s life force.The ancient king’s level rose by 5, and he also obtained the sword used by the undead.

[Sword of Remaksia]

‘This isthe sword of the corrupt soldier I executed in the past,’Kartheon thought.The sword was still sharp despite the time that had passed.

The undead army was easily annihilated after they lost their commanding officer, and Kartheon cleanedthem up, turning them into temporal power.

Katz followed behind Kartheon, exclaiming,, “Phew! It’s a relief that the battle finished quickly.”

“The enemy’s strategy was so simple,Ididnoteven have time to scoff at it,” Kartheon said.

“Huh? What do youmean, yourmajesty?” Katz asked in confusion.

“The undead were only bait,” Kartheon said as he pointed toward thesurroundingswith his new sword.

The place they wereinwas surroundedbysand dunes. Acloud of dustrosefrom all four directions toward them, and then…

“Haaaaaah!”The coalition of Fire Trolls and elves charged toward Kartheon.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo used his Earth Staff to shift thedesert sandsand create traps. He continued to use the staffeven ashe was recovering his mana.

[The staff has reached its limits.]

[The staff’s durability will drop and the staff might be destroyed if you continue using it.]

Kang Yoon-Soo was not fazed at all, usingthe staff to its full capabilities to dig a large hole in the desert. The staff broke inhalf as soon as he finished digging the final trap.

Crack!

“Lure them here,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.The elf magicians nodded and transmitted the message to the army.

The Fire Trollsinthe vanguard clashed with the mummies;the mummies were instantly crushed without even having the chance to properly gauge the Fire Trolls’ strength.

Puseok!

A few of the mummies fell intothe traps,creatingan opening for the coalition army to charge deeper into the enemyforce.

The Fire Trolls released their body heat as they excitedly went on a rampage.

“It’s been a while since we had a battle like this!”

“My power is overwhelming!”

The Fire Trolls flexed their muscles, causing the blood vessels on their arms to swell,and swung their clubs at the mummies. Their overwhelming strength made the mummies explode as soon as they made contact with the trolls’ clubs.

“Mere weaklings,” Kartheon muttered.

A unit of large mummies appeared as the ancient king’s army changed their battle formation. The large mummies used their size and strength topick up the Fire Trollseasily. Twenty Fire Trollsat the forefront who had been rushing at the enemywere twisted likedollsandkilled instantly.

“Korkwi!”

“How dare you kill my brother?!”

Yanak barely managed to calm down the Fire Trolls, exclaiming,“Don’t get too worked up! Maintain formation! The elves will take care of the large mummies!”

The elveswho were casting spellsat the back waved their staves.

“May the fire of retribution burn our enemies!”

“Burn,children of darkness!”

Theelves'magic doused the large mummies in oilbeforefollowing up with fire magic. Their combined attacks burnedthe large mummiesaway.

“Team 3 of the 1st Battalion. Fire at will,” Kang Yoon-Soocommanded theelves.

The elves let loose their fire arrowstowardthe ancient king’s army. The elves were miles away from their targets, but the bows they used allowed them tovastlyoutrange any enemy.Five large mummies burnedaway.

“It’s not going to be easy,”Kang Yoon-Soo muttered to himself as he watched over the battle from atop a sand dune.

The coalition army thathad beendivided into four managed to corralthe ancient king’s army into one spot, but they didn’tmanage to reduce theenemy’snumbers by much.

‘It’sbecause of Kartheon'scommanding skills.’

The ancient king’s commanding style was different from Kang Yoon-Soo’s. Kang Yoon-Soo had to relay his orders to the Fire Trolls and elves, and they had to be able to fully follow his commands. However, all Kartheon had to do was wave his left hand and the mummies would follow his will to the letter.

‘He’ll just roll back time even if we manage to shootoffhis left hand or charge in and cut it off.’

The ancient kingwhocontrolled time was a very difficult opponent to deal with. The key to turning the tidesof warintheir favor would be to boost thecoalition army’s overall combat power.

Kang Yoon-Soo stretched out his right hand and muttered, “Summon Sally, White, Acle, and the Mini-Lich.”Hecalled outallthe summons he had in his summon dimension.

“What? Did you summon mein thedesert again?!” Acle screamedangrilytoward Kang Yoon-Soo.

Sally pulled on the boy’s shirt and said, “Acle, don’t yell at papa.”

“Hmph! I don’t want to listen to anything a weakling like you has to say!” Acleretorted with a scoff.

“Waaah! Papa! Acle is being mean to me!” Sally cried out to her father.

“Donot fight;you are siblings. Itisbad to fight,” the Mini-Lichsaid, tryingto ease the tension between the siblings.

The commotion fromcalling onall of his summons at once was chaos itself, but thatwas the precise reason why Kang Yoon-Soo had divided the coalition army into four groups.

“Pick one army each and join the battle,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Rimarikoro?”White asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and said, “The enemy leader can control time. Prioritize taking care of the mummies.”

Three summons all went their separate ways as theyeachjoined an army, and only Acle was left behind. The Ice Spirit glared at Kang Yoon-Soo,screaming at him with aface red with anger, “Damn it! What are you looking at?! That’s right, I’m useless in the desert! So what?!”

“I’ll lend you this,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he took out a crown from hisbackpackand tossed it to the Ice Spirit.

Acle quickly caught the crownand stuttered, “Hmm…You…You are quite the nice guy, aren’t you…? Hehehe…”

“You’llgo crazy if you overuse that crown, so be careful,” Kang Yoon-Soo warned him.Acle went down the sand dune to join the last remaining army, andKang Yoon-Soo stood up as he watched Acle descend.

The tides of war,whichhadpreviously been against them, beganto stabilize thanks to the four summons joining the fray. Sally absorbed the heat of the desert and unleashed fierce flames that burned the mummies away, the Mini-Lich replenished their troops by raising the dead as undead, White charged into the battlefield and wreaked havoc behind enemy lines, and Acle ecstatically unleashedice stormswhile laughing like a maniac.

‘The summons have grown stronger.’

They hadgrown enough to be able to adapt to the situation and fight according to their own combat styles.

[White’s wild instincts have beenunleashed after killing twenty mummies.]

[White has learned a new skill, ‘Wolf’sFear’.]

White hadlearned a new skill after participating in the war. War was never a pleasant thing, but ironically, it was the best fertilizerfor a fighter’s growth.

‘So far, so good.’

Kartheon was not an opponentKang Yoon-Soocould face at this point in time;it was safer forhimto attempt to assassinatethe ancient kingrather thanfacehim head-onin a war.

‘It’d beeasy to kill Kartheon alone.’

The easiest way Kang Yoon-Soo had used to deal with Kartheon in the past was by using sleeping drugs. He had wrapped himself in bandages and infiltrated the mummies’ camp, and he had laced the ancient king’s food with sleeping drugs.Kartheonhadnot even hadthe opportunity to turn back time, and Kang Yoon-Soo had used that opening to assassinate the ancient king.

‘Butthere’s nothing much to be gained by taking care of himthat way.’

Kartheon’s level was quite low because of his bodyhavingdegraded over time, and Kang Yoon-Soo would not be able to obtain manyexperience points by killing him. However, theancient king’s troopsdropped good loot and also handsomely rewarded whomever killed them with a lot of experience points.

‘There won’t be any casualties if Ichooseto assassinate him, but I have to grow as much as I can toface theDemon Lord.’

Kang Yoon-Soo purposely chose the hard way to maximize his growth in preparation for the final battle.

Kartheon soon massacred the elves. They were victimswho should nothave died, but they died anyway because of the choices Kang Yoon-Soo made. Those who would nothave been sacrificed were sacrificed, and the oneswho would not have hadto shed any tears had to shed tears at the loss of their loved ones.

‘I won’t make any excuses.’

Kang Yoon-Soohadlived too long to feel any guilt or remorse because of his actions; he focused only on hissole objective.There was only one solution to all the problems in theworld, after all.

‘That’sto kill the Demon Lord.’

The intense battle continued, but Kang Yoon-Soo just remained at the rear as he continuously gave out commands.

‘It’s still not time for me to join.’

He tracked thetrajectory of the sunset, and he could see that the appointed time was fast approaching.

‘It’s now time forthatto slowly make its entrance.’

A large shadow blocked the sun and turned the desert dark.An ear-splittingroar reverberated across the desert.“Krwwaaaaaaaah!”

Katz, whohad beenbusy running awayregardless ofwhich side he was on, suddenly shoutedfearfully,“I-it’s theIgnus Dragon! It’s the ruler of the Desert of Death!”

The dragon coveredinred scales flew over their heads; shewas large enough to cover the battlefield in hershadow.

Kartheon was amazed at the sight of the dragon,sayingin admiration, “Ithas become larger than the dragons of ancient times.”

“This isn’tthe time to admireit!” Katz shouted.However, he thought to himself,‘Wouldn’t it bebetter if Kartheon’s army gets annihilated by the dragon?’

However, Kartheon laughed as if he could read Katz’s mind and said, “Thereis no way that my army will lose. Even if the enemy is a dragon.”The ancient kingretained his composure,even in front of the mighty dragonwhowas feared by all.

TheIgnus Dragondescendedbeforethe thousands of mummies, and the pressure fromher wingbeatswas enough to stir up a sandstorm.She opened hermouth wide.

Fwaaaaaaah!

Dragon breath that was hotter than the fires of hell blasted out ofIgnus’mouth and engulfed theancient king’s mummies.

Kartheon waved his left hand in an attempt to make the mummies spread out, but hundreds of his mummieshadalreadybeen burnedto a crisp by the dragon.

“S-save me!” an elf screamed, running awayfrom a large mummy.

Ignusstepped on the chasing mummy; just like that, alarge mummy thatwould have requiredtens of coalition members to bring down was squashed like an ant.She flapped herwings and muttered, “O, winds of the desert. Sweep away everything in my sight!”

Adragon’s magic was incomparable to normal magic used by other creatures.The winds thathadgathered fromIgnus’wingbeatssuddenly grew into a fierce desert storm that threatened to swallow everything in its path.

Whirl! Whirl!

Hundreds of mummies flew into the airandwere swallowed by the storm, and their bodies weretorn to shreds. The storm was so intense that even the members of the coalition had to take care soas not tobe swept up by it.

“That’s a dragon!”

“The mighty being is with us!”

The morale of the coalition army rosesignificantlydue tothe appearance of one creature, and they feltthat victory was certainly on their side.

It was at that moment that Kartheon raised his left hand. Heremarked with a smirk,“Would it not bea bit too boring if this warendedjust because a dragonsuddenlydecided to appear out of nowhere?”

Suddenly, an enormouscreature stood up from the sand. The creature had no problem standingupeven though the storm was right overit, and asingle step from it felt as if thewhole desertwouldcollapse.

“What the hell?!”

“A giant? No! It’s much larger than a giant!”

The Colossusbegan to run, and the whole desert shook as if an earthquakehad begun in it.

“Graaaaaaahh!”Ignus roared, unleashing herdragon breath once more.

Fwaaah!

The Colossus ignored the flames as it charged straight for the dragon.ItgrabbedIgnus’wingwith its large hands—and rippeditoff the dragon.