Mountain Lord Battle Phase 2.
It was the stage of fighting the Mountain Lord directly.
At this time, its main attack had been mentioned before.
Chwachwachwachwa-
The tiger's black stripes rose upward as if alive.
Each one became a pillar and slammed down.
A powerful wide-area attack that pierced most Awakened in a single blow,
the so-called 'Black Pillar' pattern.
From the ranks of the Awakened, chaotic screams—
"Uoooh!"
—were not heard.
I, Alpha, was not so complacent as to keep suffering the same thing.
A card capable of countering the pillars had already been prepared.
That was….
Kaa-ang!
Kwon Noeul took the Black Pillar head-on with his chest!
Incredible muscles! Terrifying defense!
A well-trained Kwon Noeul could hardly be distinguished from a human or a monster!
He pounded his chest and shouted.
"This much is nothing! Right, boys!"
"Yes! Your Excellency!"
The reservists standing behind him answered in one voice.
Everyone had defended against the Black Pillars.
Of course, there were no other insane humans who received them barehanded,
but they used various shields and armor types.
They were the so-called 'Reserve Main Tanker Group,' nicknamed the Main Tank Association, an organization within the Reserve Forces.
All of them were Awakened who had cultivated their aura to the extreme in defense,
a direct unit under Brigadier General Kwon Noeul.
'Good. They have satisfied the defense level I required.'
I had already calculated the attack power of the Black Pillars several Iterations ago.
In truth, it was a simple calculation—one only needed to know the pillar's strength, mass, and velocity.
There had been the minor issue that the result exceeded the power of a tank shell….
In any case, I had handed that data to Kwon Noeul two years ago.
Now he had raised an excellent tanker unit.
A terrifying group had been born—one capable of stopping tank shells with armor alone.
However, it was impossible to have them defend against every pillar.
First of all, the pillars poured down in the hundreds,
and it was inefficient to assign all those talented in aura entirely to defensive forces.
So I had prepared another defensive unit of a different kind.
Chwachwachwak-!
Countless pillars slammed down upon the group right beside them.
The android unit led by Peace.
And astonishingly—
the pillars hardly hit.
Peace's monotonous voice reported the situation.
"Unit loss rate below 2%. Combat continuation possible."
If Kwon Noeul's side blocked with defense, this side evaded.
Androids could not use aura like the Awakened,
but they possessed reaction speeds incomparable to humans.
They calculated the trajectories of the descending pillars and avoided them.
[Growl…!]
Anger mixed into the Mountain Lord's rumbling throat.
After blocking the third pillar, Kwon Noeul shouted toward me.
"That thing's angry!"
"It seems displeased. Things are not going as it wishes."
"Figures. Even my house cat hates it when I stop it from knocking over flowerpots!"
"A foul-tempered creature…."
Whether that referred to Kwon Noeul's cat,
or the Mountain Lord towering over fifty meters tall, was not particularly important.
What mattered was that even that monster retained its original temperament.
"Now. Commence ranged attack!"
"Yes, sir!"
At my command, the Awakened in the rear ranks began unleashing their abilities.
It was a chaotic timing, as the Mountain Lord's Black Pillars were battering the formation.
Dududududu-!
Various attacks concentrated upon it—construction-site materials, fire, chunks of ice, and more.
A bolt of lightning even struck the bridge of the Mountain Lord's nose,
cast by the very Awakened I had once saved in the past.
Pupupung-
The Awakened's attack power was incomparably stronger than in previous Iterations.
Naturally, my efforts were involved here as well….
But that story would be told later.
For now, attention should be given to the Mountain Lord, flinching under the unexpected concentrated barrage.
It snarled fiercely, its face contorting.
[Growl!]
Even the sound waves alone generated shockwaves.
A tremendous force that pushed back the Awakened.
Of course, its actions did not end there.
With a growl, it swept its forepaw low.
"Kraaak!"
"Kuheok-!"
More than ten Awakened were swept away in a single blow.
To be precise, it was Kwon Noeul and his unit at the very front.
There was no helping it.
No matter how strong Kwon Noeul was, the coefficient of friction with the ground was not large enough.
In such a situation, they could only become like fallen leaves swept away by a broom.
"Damn it! What kind of strength is that…!"
"Do not stop! This is rather an opportunity!"
I did not waver and instead encouraged the Awakened.
Kwon Noeul and the others would not die from that much.
It was more advantageous to accumulate damage during this opening.
Dududududu-!
[Growl…!]
The building-sized tiger was not invincible.
The simultaneous barrage from hundreds of Awakened inflicted definite damage.
Under the pouring firepower, the Mountain Lord recoiled.
It must have been the first time in its life to suffer such a ferocious assault.
It let out a massive roar.
[ROOOAR!]
The moment the Awakened were thrown into disarray by the shockwave—
it leapt.
With a single kick against the ground, the road asphalt was completely pulverized.
That enormous body jumped an absurd distance,
landing on the opposite mountainside hundreds of meters away.
As its massive form struck the mountain's slope, tremendous vibrations and shockwaves followed.
"U-uaaah…!"
A display of overwhelming might that shook heaven and earth—
Even though I had given prior warning, all the Awakened stared with mouths agape in shock.
According to their own words, it had been nothing short of surreal.
At that moment, I alone likely did not panic.
'Up to here, I've done before in the previous Iteration. This time…!!'
The point at which the Mountain Lord began rampaging of its own accord.
The beginning of Phase 3.
The Mountain Lord did not move much by nature.
It would stroll leisurely, casually pick up and eat the tuna cans (humans) offered by the Changgwi,
and if there seemed to be plenty of food, it would skewer them all at once with the Black Pillars and devour them.
Its laziness was exactly that of a feline predator.
[Groooaaar-!!]
But once driven this far, it finally began to move.
Hunting mode.
The hunting mode of a feline apex predator, said to boast a high success rate even in nature.
I spoke in a low voice.
"Android unit. Assume attack formation."
"Yes, Commander."
Elite forces gathered around me.
Sixteen Combat androids.
Elites created by assembling Combat android bodies scraped together from across the country.
They were divided into four squads,
named respectively
For this day, their bodies had been modified,
and they were equipped with metal lances taller than a man.
'I have run simulations of this day over and over. Now it is the real battle…!'
The other Awakened dispersed as much as possible.
If they clustered together, they would be swept away en masse.
They had to disperse targets and force the enemy to incur losses.
And in less than a few seconds—
With a roar, the Mountain Lord flew in.
[Grrng-!]
A short breath and an immense leap.
From the distant mountainside, it assaulted the Awakened in a single bound.
A building-sized monster charging at supersonic speed…!
A distance of several hundred meters compressed into under one second.
A moment ordinary humans could scarcely even react to.
In the previous Iteration, everyone had been swept away here.
This time was different.
—Killing Squad, first strike.
—Yes!
At my signal, the android unit leapt.
For this moment, their composite elastic muscles had been modified.
With reverse-jointed legs like deer, these androids were optimized purely for jumping power.
[Krung?!]
The Mountain Lord's waist lurched violently to the side.
The lances of the Killing Squad struck its flank in a sudden assault.
Massive chunks of metal pierced in like needles.
Its expression of pain suggested it had suffered considerable damage.
—We have drawn its attention.
—Entering wave assault. Prepare.
—Yes!
The Mountain Lord's blazing gaze turned toward us.
I saw its body contract.
Exactly the behavior of a feline predator.
'It's coming…!'
You would remember how I once rushed at it and was swatted by its forepaw.
I wished to say it had been unavoidable.
To attack the Mountain Lord, I ultimately had to jump,
and in midair I could not avoid its absurdly fast feline strike.
…Could I avoid that feline strike now?
Impossible.
There was simply another method.
—Peace, leap!
At the precise timing, Peace Squad jumped.
They met it midair with exact synchronization—
and the Mountain Lord swung its forepaw.
This ultra-supersonic feline strike could send not just flowerpots but even passenger jets flying in a single blow.
An attack impossible to respond to—yet there was one problem….
It only had two forepaws.
"Hmph…!"
The instant Peace Squad was shattered and sent flying,
my body slipped in with a time difference.
Right before the Mountain Lord's massive head.
For the first time, I entered effective range.
Slash—
The Monomolecular Blade carved a deep line from the tip of its nose across its entire face.
Without hesitation, I even cut through one eye.
[KRUNG-!]
The Mountain Lord's body twisted violently.
This time—no, across all Iterations—I instinctively knew I had landed the most effective strike yet.
'Success.'
So long as it retained the form of a living creature,
losing vision in one eye would inevitably result in a tremendous reduction in combat power.
Kugung-!
Its massive body failed to land properly and crashed into the ground.
Even that alone pulverized over a hundred meters of asphalt in a catastrophic impact.
This opportunity had to be seized.
—So Far So Good, Rust! Attack!
The two squads drove their lances into the Mountain Lord's fore and hind legs.
Attacks that normally would never have connected.
But the present Mountain Lord was in no condition to evade nimbly.
It sat back on its two remaining intact legs and emitted a boiling growl.
[Grrrrr-!!]
From its wounds, pitch-black fluid poured out in torrents.
Its legs and flank bled so, but the gash across its face released an especially vast amount.
It seemed to dissolve into the air as it vanished—
It was not blood.
The Awakened appeared unsettled merely by looking at it.
"That is… the aura of the humans it devoured…!"
"Unfathomably ominous… It is closer to resentment…!"
"Alpha! Please finish it!"
Even without their urging, I was already rushing toward its cowering head.
It was the perfect chance for a killing blow.
But at that moment—
—Commander! Watch out—
—Tch?!
The android unit was swept away in an instant.
A surprise attack.
The Mountain Lord had swung its tail, thicker than a human body.
'Tch. This is a pattern I have not seen before.'
I had been caught.
Of course I had considered the possibility that it would use its tail.
But now, its tail was clearly different from before.
The stripes that should have marked it were completely black,
and it had elongated far beyond its body, writhing like a living whip.
'It has concentrated aura into its tail…!'
Sensing danger, I attempted to retreat.
However, the tail immediately lashed toward me.
In a situation I judged impossible to evade,
my body was suddenly shoved violently sideways.
—Commander! May fortune be with—!
—Killing…!
The Killing Squad, which had earlier struck the Mountain Lord's flank and withdrawn,
had returned at some point and tackled me aside.
They were struck directly by the tail in my place.
Kwaduk-
Rather than being sent flying, Killing Squad was instantly shattered into parts.
Truly terrifying power.
A few tail strikes were sufficient to completely annihilate the entire android unit.
'…Am I losing again in this Iteration….'
Though it happened in an instant, I still had time to think.
The cause of this defeat—
I had underestimated the Mountain Lord's ability to utilize aura.
It seemed the tactic of crippling it by targeting vital points had its limits.
'Should I target the tail first next time?'
At the very moment that thought crossed my mind—
[Krung!]
The Mountain Lord's clawed forepaw descended toward me.
When it was truly enraged, it extended its claws.
In this Iteration,
0.01 seconds before my limbs would be severed—
'…No. It is not over yet!'
With every ounce of strength, I evaded.