The main party swept through the beetles with ease.
The new recruits watching their performance let out voices filled with astonishment.
"Are they, are they even human...?"
"Is this the elite of the Monster Frontline...?"
Following that, they looked at me with eyes filled with awe and fear, aware of the mythic prowess of the heroes under my command.
"..."
Feeling their gazes, I, who had been surveying the battle through my telescope, casually smiled and lowered it, thinking to myself.
‘Wow, that's scary.’
I just... after somehow managing to save the Sky Knights, had instructed them to parachute down to the ground using the parachutes I had previously prepared and distributed.
The Knight Duo immediately switched from their rescue mission to annihilation mode, sweeping through the beetles.
Jumping on the beetles like it's a platform game...
Damien and Junior also switched to long-range sniping and magical attacks, erasing even the enemy's rear waves, barely visible from here. Have you guys turned into map weapons?
‘...Right, this is the third year.’
A time when monsters become disgustingly numerous and annoyingly strong, but also,
A time when our heroes complete their awakening and achieve cheat-like performance.
‘If I keep awakening each of our allied heroes and turning them into overpowered characters like this...’
Clearing the true ending might not be such a distant dream.
While I was lost in these thoughts,
"Your Highness!"
Damien, who had been tirelessly sniping, suddenly stopped and called out to me, his face slightly tense.
"An enemy legion commander is approaching!"
"This is where the boss shows up."
In the distant clouds, I could see the shadow of a giant form flickering.
I grinned mischievously.
I couldn't just sit idle while my subordinates were filming such an awesome mad movie.
It was time for me to step up for the boss raid.
***
Grrrrrrrr-!
The creature that emerged, cutting through the clouds, was a giant rhinoceros beetle monster.
It resembled the Hercules beetle, known to be the largest among earth's beetle species, only monstrously larger.
With a long, thick horn protruding from its head and thin, glass-like wings stretched out on either side.
Its six legs, unable to support its weight, hung down like brutal clubs.
And its eyes, glowing red.
A creature that could be called the strongest among those tagged as ‘beetles’. The arrival of the Beetle Legion Commander.
"Wha-?!"
"What the heck is this thing...!"
Lucas and Evangeline, who had broken through the other beetle waves to confront the commander, swung their weapons,
Clang!
Both Lucas and Evangeline's attacks bounced off, unable to penetrate the creature's carapace.
Though they were somewhat exhausted from the previous fight... the Beetle Legion Commander's defense was transcendently strong.
The Legion Commander swung one of its front legs indifferently at the two knights buzzing around its head.
Thump!
"Argh...!"
"Aaaaah-"
Lucas and Evangeline were thrown far away, each activating the parachutes they had been given before the operation.
White parachutes popped open in the air. They would land safely. But they wouldn't be able to participate in this battle anymore.
‘They did enough.’
After internally commending the two knights, I turned to see Damien and Junior looking at me, panicked.
"Our attacks aren't working!"
"Its carapace is unimaginably tough...!"
Among my heroes, Damien and Junior are the top when it comes to dealing damage.
Their inability to make a dent was a testament to the Beetle Legion Commander's transcendent defense.
It was the same in the game.
This massive beetle, a veritable airborne fortress, deflected all external attacks with its sturdy carapace, advancing silently through the air.
Then, what could be the weak point of this monster?
"Mind control, of course!"
Concentrating my magic power, I shouted.
"Junior, you're ready, right?"
"Of course, Your Highness."
I had instructed Junior to prepare a spell from the start of the battle, and Junior had been waiting, having completed the casting long ago, intercepting enemies with the remaining magic power.
I nodded, and Junior extended the staff forward with a swift motion.
Zing!
A dazzling halo appeared above the head of the Beetle Lord, and cracks began to flow in the surrounding sky.
Junior's ultimate move, the strongest against boss monsters.
[Elemental Disassembly] exploded. Junior, having completed the casting, gasped for breath and reported.
"The target is too far and too large, so the duration will be very short!"
"How short exactly?"
"It seems it won't even last a minute...!"
"That's more than enough!"
I smirked and concentrated magic power in my eyes.
It feels like it's been a while since I've used this!
[Using the Eye of Command.]
[Please make eye contact with the target of the skill.]
Suddenly, the world slowed down, and the distinctive light blue interface of skill use spread densely over the world.
I captured the Beetle Legion Commander and the other beetles flying around it within my sight.
[Target captured: 100 entities]
[Please state your command.]
"Hey, Beetles!"
Flying monsters are formidable.
The fact that they can use the sky, forbidden to humanity, as their stage, is certainly a cumbersome condition to deal with.
However, but.
That's why there are strategies like this.
"Everyone, dive head-first!"
[Command difficulty: Easy]
[Contrasting the user's Intelligence stat with the target's Magic Power stat.]
[Calculating the success rate. Starting resistance roll...]
Ding!
As soon as the resistance roll began, a completion sound effect rang out with a flash of light blue light in front of me.
Basically, monsters with the beetle tag have very low resistance to mind control.
Even more so when [Elemental Disassembly] has been used on the higher-ranking Legion Commander, whittling down its magic stat.
Of course!
All of them!
[Judgment complete!]
>Success: 100 entities
[Executing forced command.]
Success!
The next moment, the monsters flying in formation across the sky simultaneously bent down.
Like a choreographed dance, the sight of all performing the same action was a spectacle of a different kind.
And then – straight to the ground, heads first. They fell.
Bang! Boom! Kaboom...!
Crack! Crackling! Crack-!
The 100 beetles dropped on the southern plain in front of the wall, all smashing their heads into the ground simultaneously.
The biggest weakness of flying monsters?
Obviously, falling from a great height means certain death.
Most battles with flying monsters boil down to how to make them crash, but I have the area-wide mind control [Eye of Command], and its proficiency has skyrocketically increased.
So, I could use it like this!
The beetles, fallen from high altitude, each had a weight as heavy as their defense was strong. Forced to crash head-first into the ground.
They crushed their horns and died instantly.
"This is the power of potential energy-!"
While I was making a dated joke and waving my fist, in the plain clouded by dust from the hundred monsters' simultaneous fall... one monster twitched and started to move.
The Beetle Legion Commander.
The great and splendid horn was broken off, and the carapace covering its body was crushed by the impact of the fall. Yet, with its tenacious vitality, the creature struggled to its feet.
But its wings were already torn.
Flight was impossible.
Still, trembling, it tried to lift its massive body and spread its torn wings, attempting to take off again.
"Hmm..."
I stroked my chin, observing the monster commander.
Its magical defense was already shredded by [Elemental Disassembly], and its carapace, the source of its physical defense, was also ruined.
Normally, this would be the time to finish it off with concentrated firepower, but...
‘[Become Mine!] It’s tempting.’
It’s hard to resist using a combo move when the table is set.
"Hey, Rhino Beetle!"
I uttered the activation word of the skill.
"Become mine!"
Ssssssh!
Then, something resembling a dog collar with chains appeared in the air and tightly wrapped around the neck of the Beetle Legion Commander.
Ding!
[You have incorporated the Beetle Lord Hercules (SSR) into your forces!]
- Current Loyalty: 20/100
- Absolute Command Authority: 1 time
"Hey, you're lucky."
I was going to dispose of it immediately if the loyalty was 0, but it was as high as 20.
I wasn't planning to recruit a legion commander using [Become Mine!] due to their high likelihood of disobedience, to reduce unnecessary variables.
But with this level of loyalty, there's enough room to make use of it.
‘But why is the loyalty so high? Because it’s not a Nightmare Legion Commander? Or because my skill proficiency increased?’
It seems multiple factors are at play, but anyway, it's all good.
The Beetle Legion Commander – Hercules, half-risen in the plain, slowly looked up at me standing atop the wall.
I grinned and said to it.
"A greeting?"
Then, the giant beetle slowly bowed its head to me.
Satisfied, I nodded back and flicked my finger. Hercules's massive body slowly disintegrated into magical particles.
It would have been contained in my summoning space. I hope the seniors already residing there would educate it well.
I looked up at the sky. No more monsters were visible. The ones I had just caused to crash were the last wave.
"Phew."
Taking a breath and turning around, I belatedly realized that people's gazes were pouring in.
If the new recruits were amazed and astonished by the elite artillery's simultaneous firing, Lucas and Evangeline's aerial battle, and the overwhelming firepower of Damien and Junior,
The look they now gave me was one of disbelief, as if they had witnessed something far beyond their understanding.
Well, but as I said again, this is the third year on the Monster Frontline.
Dirty and vile enemies are defeated by even dirtier and more vile cheat-level means.
And I, too, had become one of those cheats.
"Welcome to Crossroad."
I spread my arms wide and smiled brightly.
"Welcome to the Monster Frontline, rookies."
***
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The returning Sky Knights landed one by one on top of the wall.
All of them were bloodied and tired, but fortunately, there were no casualties.
A few knights with severe injuries were seen, but the medics waiting in reserve quickly carried them away on stretchers.
"..."
Mikhail pursed his small lips, watching his knights being carried away.
I slowly approached and stood behind Mikhail.
"It's good that you're safe. Mikhail."
"..."
After patting the silent Mikhail on the shoulder, I turned my head towards the wall.
"Thanks to you, we were able to smoothly get through this defense battle. The Sky Knights are indeed strong."
"..."
"It's fortunate that no one was seriously injured. Leave the rest and take a rest."
Perhaps, it was the first failure she had ever experienced in her life.
This young Crown Prince might need time to sort out his feelings. Thinking so, I decided to stop teasing him unnecessarily and was about to leave.
But then.
"Prince Ash!"
Mikhail called out to me first.
Turning around, Mikhail was staring at me with his large, crimson eyes.
"It's frustrating, but I'll admit what needs to be admitted."
"Hmm?"
"I completely lost this bet."
The first failure. The first defeat.
As a life-long Crown Prince, a genius magic swordsman, and the master of the Sky Knights, he had never experienced such a situation.
His face was actually flushed with frustration, but Mikhail gritted his teeth and acknowledged it.
"You won, Prince Ash. I will never covet command here again."
"..."
"And, thank you for the salvation."
Following that, Mikhail slowly bowed his head.
"If you hadn't sent your subordinates... my knights would have been annihilated there. I'm truly, grateful."
--TL Notes--
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