IBMATG 38

chapter 38

Fwaaah!

The red claws of the Flamebird Slash Galatine cut several beast fusions in an arc with a 10-meter radius.

Just as I was about to use the Slash Shockwave Emitter…

“Kuh!”

One of the fusions lunged at me in an instant.

At a speed even I could hardly react to.

‘Damn it, this is nothing like yesterday…!’

The fusion I saw yesterday had extremely fast attack speed when approached, but its mobility as a whole was very limited.

But these ones appearing now were all different.

Some had fully developed legs like quadruped beasts and moved perfectly, while others could launch long-range attacks.

‘These guys… are evolving!’

Observing while fighting, I realized the beast fusions were gradually adapting into more suitable forms.

At first, like yesterday, they had been carelessly merged, ignoring efficiency or function.

But as I continued defeating them, they increasingly transformed into more plausible monster forms.

Thwack!

“Guaaaah!”

“Don’t get close to them!”

“Even if I try not to, these guys… kuh!”

The one shaped like a wild dog had two pairs of long spider legs extending from each shoulder.

They whipped like whips, mercilessly slaughtering my clan members.

Even if you tried to escape, their absurd mobility meant they caught up almost instantly.

With huge membranes connecting their front legs and sides—and even bat-like wings—these monsters not only ran fast but could also fly.

“P-please spare me! Uwaaaah!”

Our allies, pushed relentlessly, completely panicked and became combat ineffective.

“Damn it!”

Shyaaak!

I fought the fusions fiercely as well, but just defending myself was exhausting, and I had no good strategy.

“Retreat for now!”

In the end, I decided to give up on capturing the fortress.

Continuing to fight here might get all NPCs killed.

We needed to secure survivors and retreat, then reorganize until we could find a solution.

“Hero!”

“Adele!”

I exited the fortress and encountered Adele.

Fortunately, she seemed to have escaped the fusion’s encirclement without serious injury.

Not only that, but many of the troops moving with her had survived as well.

“Stick to the walls! It will limit their attacks!”

“The walls…? Ah!”

She seemed to have a strategy in mind.

The main attack of the beast fusions was swinging their four long spider legs like scythes.

But if the target stuck to a wall, there’s no space behind them, making it extremely difficult to land a hit.

She had accurately identified the fatal weakness of their scythe-like limbs.

“Everyone, stick to the walls!”

I immediately relayed her idea to everyone.

As clan leader, my orders likely reached not only the NPCs present but also other isolated troops farther away.

“What do we do now?”

“Find a retreat route.”

“The main gate is blocked! It’s full of fusions; we can’t break through!”

Chaaang! Poohwah!

Adele blocked an approaching fusion’s attack and stabbed it in the head as she spoke.

“Hero, if we make a hole in the wall like yesterday, we could escape…!”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why not?”

“The main wall is ordinary, so I could break it with my strength. But from here on, it’s a control point—systemically, it can’t be destroyed.”

This spot was the most crucial point in the siege.

Naturally, the walls around the capture point couldn’t be destroyed to prevent easy capture.

Thus, the fortress walls here were like transparent dungeon walls—completely indestructible.

“Huh? What do you mean…”

“In short, it can’t be done. If it could, those absurd spider legs would have cut you apart with the wall by now.”

“A…ah…”

Since Adele didn’t understand the existence of the ‘system,’ she struggled to follow my explanation, so I tried another approach.

“…Is there maybe a secret passage in the castle?”

“Uh…”

I remembered how she had meticulously mapped the inner fortress.

Maybe Adele knew another escape route besides the main gate.

But she shook her head negatively.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really… know this interior.”

“H-hey! I know that part!”

At that moment, another man answered my question instead of Adele.

He was a knight bearing the Markus Baron family crest on his armor.

“Follow me!”

We descended underground with the knight.

“Hero, can we trust him?”

Adele seemed unconvinced.

I felt the same way.

It was natural to be skeptical of an enemy who had just fought us trying to kill us, suddenly offering help.

“There’s no other choice.”

But given the situation, we had no other options.

We could either die fighting here or follow him.

Besides, the beast fusions attacked all humans indiscriminately.

He, too, would need help surviving.

“The enemy of our enemy is also our ally. Let’s trust him for now.”

“Yes.”

Even if there was a trap ahead, that would be fine—it would mean there was a way out.

Escaping a trap set by a human NPC was much better than fighting those monstrous beast fusions.

Creeeak. Clank.

Once all clan members reached the underground, the Baron’s knight quickly closed and locked the iron door.

Then he started moving objects in front of it.

“Don’t just watch—help me!”

He seemed to be blocking the entrance to prevent the fusions from following us.

“Move.”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t want to get hurt, move.”

I told him to clear the door.

Then I smashed the massive statue of Markus beside it with a punch.

Crarrack.

“Wha! That’s… His Highness’s…”

“It’s dead now, so it doesn’t matter.”

Bang! Crarrack!

I destroyed other heavy structures, using them as a barricade in front of the door.

“Next?”

“Ah, um… we go this way, but first…”

Instead of guiding me, the knight extended his hand.

“It’s proper to introduce ourselves first. I’m Sir Patrick.”

Even in this chaos, he kept formality.

I wondered why it mattered now, but I played along.

We needed him to guide us safely.

“Yoo Shin-woo.”

“I see. And your beautiful lady?”

“Huh?”

‘…So that’s why.’

Patrick cast a lingering gaze toward Adele.

I guessed he wanted to introduce himself because of her.

“Eh? Ah… I…”

“Just tell him. Nothing will happen.”

Good—it gave us leverage over him.

“…Adele.”

“Miss Adele, nice to meet you.”

She didn’t look happy.

Understandably so—this was a member of the enemy that killed her family.

“Enough with the formalities. Can you show us the way out?”

I interjected.

If Patrick lingered further, Adele’s morale could drop.

“Ahem. Alright.”

He frowned but started moving us again.

As we went deeper, the true nature of the place was revealed.

Clank clank.

“What’s going on out there?”

“Get us out!”

The prisoners inside rattled the bars, shouting.

This was the underground prison of the fortress.

“Those people…”

Adele looked at them with pity.

“Ignore them.”

I immediately blocked that thought.

‘In an escape, rescuing prisoners is a movie fantasy.’

These prisoners were criminals.

Not all may have been malicious in this oppressive, pre-modern world, but not all were innocent either.

Releasing them could let a real criminal into our group—very risky.

Actually, that’s a movie cliché: one of the released ones always causes trouble.

“Ugh…”

“If you really want to free them, do it after we capture the fortress, and only release those truly innocent.”

“…Understood.”

Adele looked determined.

This gave her motivation—enough to focus.

Step. Step.

We walked through the secret passage connected to the underground prison.

After a while, Patrick looked troubled.

“Why… isn’t it coming out?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just…”

“Did we take a wrong turn?”

“Impossible. I definitely came straight…”

I sighed.

I had been worrying about him betraying us, not that he might not know the way.

“…Why are we back where we started?”

“Have we been walking in circles?”

I hadn’t thought the path so complex, but somehow we returned to the original location.

‘Well, if everything’s blocked, that’s possible.’

I thought we just needed patience to find the exit.

But Patrick shook his head firmly.

“No, that doesn’t make sense.”

“Huh?”

“Unless we deliberately turned around, there’s no reason to end up at the same spot. This is… practically a straight corridor.”

“What?”

Murmurs.

Then we heard a sound up ahead.

It wasn’t from the clan members behind me.

Someone was making noise without caution.

Not one person, but several.

“What…?”

Through a door made of iron, shadows moved.

They looked very familiar.

But they shouldn’t have been here at all.

‘…I’m not imagining things, right?’

I approached the door like a possessed person and peered through.

It looked exactly like the underground prison we had just passed.

The difference?

Rarararrrak! Ka-hung!

“Huung Chak?”

All the prisoners and their guards were orcs.

As if they had always been there, the orcs looked completely natural in that place.