The Overlord of Blood and Iron

"...!"

Neptune Spear was completely taken aback and couldn't hide his surprise.

"W-What is…!"

It was an unbelievable sight. One military ship had been split into two with just one stroke of a sword. He couldn't tell if this was a dream or reality.

"Is Kang Chul-In… human?"

It seemed he lived up to his reputation. Rumors were always twisted and blown out of proportion, but it seemed that in Kang Chul-in's case, they were all true.

"How can that…"

It was then...

Kwaaang! The second military ship, [Nemesis], exploded, and the bridge came toppling down in seconds.

"...!"

Everyone was shocked.

"Aaaack! D-Don't shoot…! Save me!"

A blonde young man wearing a shining red gauntlet was smashing Nemesis to pieces, screaming at the others to let him live.

"Just who is that crazy bastard…!?"

Another unbelievable sight was played out in front of Neptune Spear's eyes. He couldn't pull himself together.

"His Majesty! That crazy blonde guy is…!"

"...?"

"Dorian Explorer!"

"What!? Was that loser that strong…!?"

Neptune Spear couldn't acknowledge that Dorian was strong. He didn't know how he was maintaining his high rank, but from what he had seen so far, Dorian was just a lucky loser. Furthermore, Neptune Spear had a tendency of looking down on Lords who ruled territory on the ground. It was the pride of one who ruled over the rough seas.

Kwaang! But unlike his bias, Dorian was breaking apart his ship with just his fists.

"That damned…!"

Neptune Spear shouted with fury. However…

Kwooooo! A roar that shook the skies! The center of the Valhalla Kingdom's forces, the Full Metal Dragon, began to split through the sky.

-Shoot, pause! Pause!

-Change all the guns to anti-aircraft guns! Change all the guns to anti-aircraft guns!

Ding… click! Clack, clack! The first and second naval ships under Neptune Spear stopped their attack on Venetz and responded to the Full Metal Dragon's air raid instead.

-Enemies in the back! It's a flagship-rank plane!

Neptune Spear's fleet felt danger once more at Zeppelin's arrival.

-I-It's Temeraire…! Temeraire has joined the battle…!

The arrival of the strongest weapon of Pangaea made everyone in his fleet uneasy.

Crunch! Neptune Spear grounded his teeth. They would be at a disadvantage because they didn't have any forces in the air.

"So you're gonna stand against me through the air… fine, do whatever you can…"

However, Neptune Spear didn't feel threatened in the slightest by Temeraire, Zeppelin, or the Full Metal Dragon. He had already experienced air forces. Lords had air forces in the South as well. Kang Chul-In was undefeated over land, and Neptune Spear was undefeated overseas. That meant that he already qualified to fight back.

"I'll get rid of all of them."

As he muttered to himself, he gripped his Soul Core, the trident [Triton].

[Activating anti-aircraft system!]

['Exocet' system online!]

[The angles of the guns are being adjusted…]

[All guns are ready to attack at 360°!]

Neptune Spear activated the system, Exocet, that allowed him to dominate over the South.

[The barrier is being set up!]

['Barrier of the Sea God' system online!]

[Intensity of the barrier increases by 40%!]

Also, he strengthened the barrier that protected his ship from attacks from enemies.

-Speaking to all ships.

Neptune Spear commanded.

-Of the three, for the dragon and the plane, endure with the barrier and be on guard only against Temeraire. Speaking to all ships again. Our target is only Temeraire!

It was a wise judgment. Although Zeppelin and the Full Metal Dragon were hard to deal with, they weren't comparable to Hecate's Temeraire. The moment that all 74 guns speed fire, even the greatest ship in Neptune Spear's fleet, the one that he was on, [Poseidon], could become a clump of scrap metal. Because of that, it was wisest to ignore Zeppelin and the Full Metal Dragon and focus only on Temeraire.

"Kang Chul-In…"

Neptune Spear didn't stop there.

"I admit you're strong, but…"

A confident attitude. He was surprised to see Kang Chul-In split his ship into two, but he didn't feel discouraged by it.

"I'll show you how scary the seas can be… will you be able to fly around like that when you're facing the horrors of the deep-sea?"

At the same time, Neptune Spear thrust Triton up.

"Emerge, monsters of the deep sea…! Show that arrogant and foolish one the fury of the great sea…!"

It was a summoning. It was a calling. The monsters of the abyss that Neptune Spear was calling for weren't from somewhere far away but from under the Hartum River. Under the surface of the water, a dark shadow reached the shores, and "it" revealed itself.

Kyaaaak! Kyak..! Krrrr…!

It didn't have just one head. It had nine of them. It had multiple heads attached to its long green body. A monster that was once the ruler of the South was a pet of Neptune Spear that only he could handle with his Authority. It was a hydra serpent, a monster that lived in the ocean and was about 100 meters long. On top of that, it had 9 scary heads.

"Kill him."

Neptune Spear commanded.

"Rip him to shreds and swallow him!"

As soon as he finished,

Kyaaaaak!

The invincible head that was at the center of the hydra serpent's head screamed and moved towards Kang Chul-In.

***

In a moving carriage in the camp of the Valhalla soldiers...

"Ahh, humans~! These poor humans that can only walk~!"

"..."

"They should just fly."

"..."

"Everyone's so useless."

"..."

"Hey, lazybones."

"..."

"Do you have any more of that thing called ice cream?"

Desdemona spoke as she licked the ice cream cone in her hand.

"This is so good…"

"You're already on your 5th one."

Kwak Jung narrowed his eyes and glared at Desdemona.

Fuck… is she going to take responsibility if my blood sugar runs low…?

Kwak Jung didn't like Desdemona. He used his head all the time and he quit smoking, so he always moved with a magic icebox with ice cream in it, but Desdemona had eaten everything, and he felt extremely frustrated.

"You'll get sick if you have too many of those."

"Nah, it's okay."

"..."

"Getting sick is what humans do; I'm unaffected even when I swallow an entire ogre."

"..."

"But."

"Yes?"

"Do you have any more of these macarons?"

"..."

"Those sweet things are sticking to my mouth just right."

Dragons could probably build up and save sugar like stocks for humans.

"Hey."

Kwak Jung, who was already angry because his sweets were taken, growled at Desdemona.

"Hm?"

"I mean, if you're a dragon, you should act like one. Why are you following us around in battle and stealing all my sweets?"

"Are you mad?"

"..."

"What a stingy bastard. Will it hurt you to share?"

"That's not what you're doing right now!"

"Stingy bastard!"

"What do you mean by stingy? This is a warzone! What are you trying to do by taking all my desserts? Hm?"

"I'll buy some for you! I'll buy more!"

"I don't need it! Can you please leave the carriage!? Please!?"

"No!"

"Why don't you want to!? Why!?"

"It's boring sitting around in the kingdom!"

"..."

"I want to watch humans fight each other!"

"Do you perhaps struggle from voyeurism…"

Desdemona's fist landed on Kwak Jung's solar plexus.

"O-Ow…"

"Bastard."

Desdemona looked at Kwak Jung pathetically.

"I let you live and you're acting up."

"I-I apologize…"

"Being stingy over snacks."

She wasn't completely wrong. Even if she had eaten everything up, Desdemona was still Kwak Jung's savior.

"Mm…"

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Enough with that. Let me ask you something."

"What do you want to know?"

"Do you think your leader will become the Emperor?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you think he'll be the Emperor?"

"T-That's…"

Kwak Jung seemed confused at Desdemona's question, but he spoke of his opinion without hesitation.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Hmmm…"

"Of course, the power of our kingdom isn't that great, but it isn't something we can't overcome."

"Really?"

"Also, that strength of his… His Majesty has the strength to destroy an army of machines. To be honest, he doesn't have any rivals."

"Mm… I see…"

"...?"

"That rude bastard has the regeneration of the world in his hands…"

"Pardon?"

"N-Never mind."

Desdemona, who had been muttering something, looked away.

"Hm?"

"Desdemona?"

Kwak Jung narrowed his eyes at Desdemona with suspicion.

"Why are you not finishing your sentence?"

"You don't have to know, kiddo."

"Argh…!"

"So just go ahead and bring more snacks."

"..."

"This is pretty good."

Rustle, rustle! Desdemona finished her ice cream while they were exchanging conversation and now started on a Choco pie.

Stuff yourself with your own money! Don't take others' food!

Kwak Jung let out a silent scream. If his snacks were stolen like this every time, he would return to smoking again.

***

"Huh?"

A vile smile spread across Kang Chul-In's face when he saw the hydra serpent. This monster of 95 levels had the monstrous regenerative ability to grow two heads in the place where one was cut off (after some time, one of the two would fall off naturally) and had a deadly poison that could kill tens of thousands with just one drop. However…

"What are you looking at?"

Kang Chul-In faced off the monster, but there wasn't any trace of fear on his face.

Heh.

Rather, he was laughing.

"You're trash compared to the octopus… you dare to open your mouth wide in front of me…?"

Kang Chul-In called it an octopus, but it was actually a monster that Kang Chul-In had hunted in the past. It was a leviathan. A monster that could use vortexes to bring disaster upon sea cities. Even Kang Chul-In admitted that it was strong. In the past, Kang Chul-In had experience slicing up the monster for sushi. But a hydra serpent? It probably wouldn't even be a single meal. From Neptune Spear's perspective, it might've been a hidden card that he prepared, but the problem was that the opponent was too strong.

Kyaakkkk…! The hydra serpent screamed horrifyingly towards Kang Chul-In to threaten him.

"That fucker…"

Kang Chul-In muttered to himself in an annoyed voice and tightened his hold on Kaiforce and Mitra.

"I'll make sushi out of you."

Kang Chul-In didn't plan on fighting the water snake any longer than he had to and tossed his body at the great monster.

Kwaaang! Kang Chul-in's fancy sword technique followed his extreme speed.

Swooooosh! The edges of the blades of darkness and light crossed each other to create a great net that was ranged 2 kilometers around Kang Chul-In. The hydra serpent froze in place like stone and couldn't move. Rather, it couldn't even if it wanted to. This was because…

The hydra serpent's body had begun to come apart.

Splash! Splash, splash! Pieces of the hydra serpent's body began to fall into the Hartum River. Even if it had an amazing regenerative ability, its entire body was cut into pieces, so it was impossible to survive.

"You dare aim your guns at my territory?"

Kang Chul-In didn't stop there. He didn't raise his swords to play catch with the hydra serpent. He needed to show the country bumpkin how things went around here. Kang Chul-In kicked off from the surface of the water. He couldn't fly in the sky, but running across the water wasn't hard for Kang Chul-In. After Kang Chul-In jumped up high into the air,

Koong! He landed on the deck of Poseidon, right in front of Neptune Spear.

"K-Kang Chul-In…!"

"Hey, fisherman."

Kang Chul-In had a vicious smile on his face.

Crunch! His fists let out a violent noise with Kaiforce and Mitra inside of them.

"T-That's not what I…"

Neptune Spear tried to excuse himself, but Kang Chul-In's hand was already holding his head.

Then…

"Aaaaaack!"

A horrifying scene began.