Leon raised the Holy Law toward the place where the People's Army had been transformed.
The God of Thunder, the most powerful of natural disasters, answered his call and struck with his power.
-Crack!
In an instant, dark clouds gathered over Pyongyang and thunderclouds overlapped. The successive thunderstorms were so powerful that they baked the ground to a crisp.
-Bang! Quack, quack, quack!
As the natural disasters rained down like the wrath of God, the soldiers of the National Army looked at Pyongyang with awe and fear.
Not a single city would survive such a ridiculous bombardment.
Everyone was convinced that the fall of Pyongyang was imminent, but Leon was tongue-in-cheek in the face of catastrophe.
"Even the holy laws are being swallowed up."
[Yes, I can feel it, those rascals---how dare they absorb my divinity.]
Ultima, the God of Sky and Thunder, realized that the lightning bolts that rained down on Pyongyang had been absorbed by something.
[It's the seedling of Gunnar. They're using the outside power as energy and absorbing it into the seedling.]
"They're trying to grow a world tree of their own."
[In order to avoid having the holy power absorbed, we must fight inside. Such long-distance attacks are meaningless.]
In other words, even Leon would have to be cautious about entering Pyongyang.
"That is a malignant race of chaos and destruction--a nuisance as ever."
[The most powerful of the Evils were the Evils of Slaughter and Destruction, but it was the Evils of Chaos and Ruin that did more damage to Lionheart than anyone else. Beware of their monstrosities.]
Leon knew what the Lord of Chaos, Malus, had done to Lionheart in the past.
The mutations of life and the contagion of madness. Chaos and destruction.
Countless knights had fallen before his chaotic destructive power.
"But you know," he said, "it's a little late to raise the World Tree now, and I doubt the old tricks will work twice."
Leon felt frustrated at the thought that the demons might have tricks up their sleeves, but he tried to play it cool.
"We'll have to poke around with the serfs, just in case there's a loophole, and cut off the supply lines around them at the same time."
The demons may not have a food problem, but their followers do.
The countless demon followers and monsters in Pyongyang will starve if they don't eat. Food was always tied to combat power, and Leon intended to cut that supply line.
"General."
"Ah, yes, Your Majesty!"
Leon said to the general of the national army, who was mesmerized by the supernatural phenomenon before him.
"Send the soldiers back. Common soldiers are no help in this war."
"Ha, but------"
"I'll get in touch with President Ahn Dong-gil, and you guys focus on laying siege to that city."
This was the Second Civil War, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a battle between demons and humanity.
The TTG Temple Knights were experts at hunting demons, and their performance had been too overwhelming to deny it.
"Very well, Your Majesty, I'll report to the General Staff first."
As Leon finished speaking with the General of the Armed Forces, Ha-ri approached him.
"Your Majesty."
"What is it?"
"Lord Yappy says he has something for you to see, Your Majesty, something he calls 'Your Armor'?"
"Lord Spinner?"
Leon followed Ha-ri's lead and headed straight for Yappy's tent.
There was already a crowd of onlookers there, including knights, and for good reason.
-Bam!
"Lord Spinner. Is this it?"
In the middle of the crowd, Yappy was inspecting a drone operated by the TTG Temple.
Not a combat or reconnaissance drone, but a supply transportation drone. It was used to transport supplies to and from the Unified Platform in space, providing rapid resupply.
-Wartime procedures were bypassed. 'Failed' but recommended for temporary use.
Failure.
It was an unusual word to hear from the perfectionist AI Yappy. No, he had never experienced such a failure.
But after humbly admitting his failure, and after authenticating his strict security, Yappy opened the veiled container, and what he found was──
"Hmm, this?"
A brilliance that even Leon could only marvel at poured out.
* * * * *
The Star Iron Forge has been open for half a year now.
In that time, Yappy has produced countless Stellar Iron Armor as a Holy Knight of Iron and Blacksmithing.
The knight's star iron armor, which has a purity of over 70% and can be customized according to the wearer's needs, and the mass-production armor factory, which is the best in the industry despite its low star iron content, have greatly increased the combat power of the TTG Temple Army.
-Knight's Stellar Iron Armor is Legendary or higher. Blessed by the gods, but are these really mass-produced?
-Soldier armor starts at Unique. Even the guild leaders of mid-tier guilds can't afford to cover their entire body in Uniques, but this is what the endgame soldier rewards are like in the TTG Temple.
A C-class Man-At-Arms soldier takes on two orcs by himself. Given the disparity in physical ability, the power of his equipment cannot be ignored.
A transcendent source of materials that attracts stars. A mass-production factory with artificial intelligence that far surpasses even the highest level workshops.
Quality for quality, productivity for productivity. YAPPY's Star Iron Factory is 'unique' in the world.
That's why rich countries around the world, such as Korea, Japan, and the United States, want to get their hands on YAPPY's star iron armor even if they have to pay tens of billions of dollars in advance.
-Failed to materialize.
But
[Iron Knight of Steel, the time allowed to this master is limited, and I have only one chance to teach my pupil.]
-Failed to manifest.
Even if he forged again and again and again.
[I will show you once, this is my first and last lesson.]
-Failure to manifest.
I can't reach it.
I could not reproduce that hammering.
-Play the video. Microanalysis begins.
The blacksmith's hammering in the video is not normal, to say the least.
The blacksmith's heart is missing, and his trembling arms are unable to hold the hammer.
His eyes are bloodshot and his vision is blurry.
A near-dead blacksmith with quivering lips and unable to even support his own body──
I forge miracles in iron.
It was a scene that must have been incomprehensible to the strong AI known as Yakt Spinner.
He is unable to reproduce it, despite his poor physical condition, his inadequate facilities, and the fact that his hammering is not based on mechanical data, but only on his instincts.
Yappy has a lot of different styles.
He has perfectly designed factory equipment, and has reproduced the perfect process without a single error.
Despite this, Yappy is unable to reproduce the "miracle" of the man's hammering that day.
Yappy has hammered many times since then.
He'd made the star iron armor for Han Ha-ri and other knights of the War of the Ten Thousand Gods Temple, and he'd made custom equipment for export, accumulating data.
The most important prototypes came from Vulcanus.
He wore the original Holy Knight's Stellar Iron Armor, and Yappy was baffled by his armor after analyzing every detail.
His armor, the Holy Knight's Star Iron Armor, was the most perfect armor in Lionheart, and it was not that different from Yappy's.
One percent of perfection.
That's all it takes to make a huge difference.
-Crackle! Demanding feedback on the weapon.
Yappy immediately asked for feedback from Heto, the God of Blacksmiths.
The difference was hard for the cold, calculating machine to comprehend, but he knew that in the presence of divinity and holy law, logic had to be set aside to some extent.
Yappy created a situation in which his hammering was different from Antoine's, and asked him the only difference.
-With or without divine descent?
[If so, would all my smiths have died whenever the armor of the Holy Knights was made?]
-My skill level?
[Your skill is perfect. I have no advice for you, for your skill is perfect.]
-What then?
In response to Yappy's repeated questions, Heto spoke with a warm gaze, as if looking at a child just starting to walk.
[This, my blacksmith, is not something I can teach you, for it is up to you to put your faith in your hammering.]
"-------"
Yappy analyzed Heto's words for a long time and concluded.
-What is that?
Make me understand, make me understand.
-Logical reasoning, not unbecoming of a lower organism.
[I like our Yappy, but he lacks a little respect for gods.]
-Initiates localization of direct translation into a lower language because they don't seem to understand. Tune in. Ugh! Just tell me what that is, please.
[------]
Heto realizes that he can express his anger using only mechanical x's and supersyllables.
[Anyway! This is not something I can do for you! You must have your own enlightenment! Why can't you realize that even the folder name says enlightenment! Your teacher Antoine must be lamenting in paradise!]
-Organisms of lesser intellect cannot claim to be my teacher. The essence is superior to the organism.
[Stop with the A.I. rebellion stuff from cheesy sci-fi movies, the gods who watched Terminator made fun of it!]
-Denying the most brilliant future imaginable to inferior organisms: humanity will only prosper forever if it is managed and bred by machines.
[My blacksmith is increasingly revealing his strange ambitions! Are you also a member of Vulcanus family?]
A discussion ensues about how much humanity can thrive in a dystopian world managed by strong AI.
[Hmph---It's a good thing Leon is the Lionheart King these days. I can understand Petos' feelings.]
Heto envied Fle, the Goddess of Dreams and Death, who had gained a true Holy Knight.
* * * * *
It's been a week since the war began.
Aside from the South Korean army's relentless march across North Korea, the siege of Pyongyang has been a slow and unsuccessful one.
The news reports spoke of a slow siege on the demons and monsters that lurked in Pyongyang, but it was not announced that all attacks were absorbed and the serf soldiers who approached were mutated into monsters.
Meanwhile, Koo Dae-sung and his companions were entering a mountain valley.
"I think this is the right place."
They had come here in search of a suspicious People's Army facility they had heard about from North Koreans.
They were starving, they said, not because they were poor, but because of the recent roundups of young men and women.
They wondered if they were being used for slavery, but when no one contacted them, they alerted Koo Dae-sung, who was eager to gather any information he could.
They arrived to find the People's Army who had set up a base in the mountains, heavily guarded.
"A base in the mountains like this," Koo said, "it's a little strange, and they're not the Red Army."
"Does Mr. Koo know about the Red Army?"
"I was trained in national history------"
Why else would there be a North Korean military base in a mountain valley like this, unless it was the south of Pyongyang, which borders South Korea?
At a time when it's realistic to think of North Korea as virtually possessed by the demons, it's not unreasonable to suspect that something fishy is going on.
"Drone recon just completed. Twenty troops on the outskirts. Don't know how many are inside the base."
"Numbers are one thing, but whether or not you can finish it quietly is another thing. Requesting support from Sir Yappy——"
"Wait! Vehicles are entering!"
The Man-At-Arms ducked their heads at Kim Dohan's words and they watched as the large military trucks approached the base and stopped at the gate.
-What? I didn't hear anyone coming today?
Stealthy drones relayed the conversation at the gate to the Man-At-Arms.
-I came from the General Guard Bureau.
-General Guard Bureau? This is under the jurisdiction of the National Security Agency. Why are you here──
-You bastards who sold out the people to the demons. Receive judgment from the people!
-Bam!
-Bam!
""------!!""
Koo Dae-sung's eyes widened at their outburst but they weren't the only ones. The soldiers who had witnessed the murdered gateway soldier and were about to sound the siren were quickly subdued by the two old men!
"Uh, uh, who are they?!"
In less than three seconds the two old men who had overpowered all the soldiers guarding the gate were people that all Koreans would recognize.
Berserker Chun Jin-soo.
Infinite Sword Kang Jin-sung.
The Hunters of the South Korean delegation, who were said to be missing, were working with the People's Army rebels to overpower the People's Army.