Ah... No.  
How did it end up like this...?

General Hong Ki-young was at a loss for words as he watched the scene unfold before him.

How the hell are we supposed to respond to this?

"AAHHH!"  
"Be careful!"  
"W-What is that?!"  
"Run, just run!!"

*Fwoosh- fwoosh-  
Fwoosh- fwoosh-*

"Shield bearers, move forward!"  
"Shields are useless!"  
"Ugh!"  
"Where are the archers! Get the archers ready! Set up a crossfire and drive them back! Even if they fly, there will be limits!!"

The sight of the Demon Sect members flying through the sky on flat metal fragments.

Is this how the Heavenly Army looks when they descend from the sky?

"Deputy... What in the world is that?"  
"Th-That... I don't know either..."  

The troops who had proudly declared "Destroy the Traitors" and set out for battle were now faced with an unimaginable sight.

Flying... Demon Sect members!

"They’re few in number! Don’t be afraid! Archers! Protect the archers!"  
"White units! Occupy the landing spots in advance!"  
"That one wearing the bizarre helmet is their commander! Shoot them down!"

Thankfully, their numbers weren’t that large.  
If they had been any more numerous, there might have been nothing they could do.

Thus…

General Hong Ki-young gathered himself and gave orders.

"They’re only trying to delay our advance."  

While they were slowly whittling away at the troops from the outskirts, they hadn’t made any bold moves. It was as if they were trying to bind our feet.

*‘If they think that’s the case, they’re mistaken. Demon Sect scum.’*

This isn’t the main force.  
We’re just the left flank of the vanguard.

They’re sporadically launching ambushes to slow us down, but it’s not to the extent that we need to retreat.  
“Being delayed by a mere twenty of them while we have forty thousand soldiers is unacceptable.”  

General Hong’s eyes burned with intensity.  
This was humiliating.  
Forty thousand soldiers of the great army, struggling to move because of just twenty people.

"Focus on minimizing damage and creating a crossfire with arrows and fire weapons! They’re not invincible!"

That’s right. The Demon Sect members flying around on metal scraps, dressed in metal scrap themselves, weren’t invincible.  
Two of them had already been forced off the battlefield after taking direct hits from fire weapons.  
While we can’t claim we’ve completely defeated them, we know they’re not invincible.  

"Don’t be afraid! We have a million-man army behind us!!"  
"Destroy the Demon Sect!! Let’s wipe them out!"

General Hong’s powerful voice revitalized the troops.  

*Waaaah~*

*Thud— thud—*

With the sound of war drums, the grand army began to march.

*Thud— thud—*

It almost felt like an earthquake.

"Don’t be afraid! We are the sword and spear of the great Emperor!!"

That’s right. It’s unthinkable for morale to drop because of just twenty men!

---

Meanwhile, the twenty Demon Sect members facing off against the forty thousand soldiers.

"Ugh! That hurts!"  
"Heh, careful."  
"Haha. It’s a stroke of luck that we can still talk after taking a direct hit from the fire weapon."  
"Agh, I’m gonna die."

The armor had small dents.  
For the injured soldier, with a white cloth tied to his arm, it wasn’t a problem to send him back into the battlefield.  

"Haha. Disqualified? The Vice Leader is going to scold you, huh?"  
"Dammit! Why did they come flying when my vision was blocked?!"  

That’s right.  
If the armor takes too much impact, the wearer gets disqualified and must leave the battlefield.  

"The Sect Leader is, of course, great and all, but... why did they make such a disqualification rule?"  
"Heh. Maybe it’s because they don’t want you fighting with just your mind missing?"  
"And we even have a bullet limit..."  
"Anyway, I’m out. I’ll have to stay at the headquarters for at least three days."  
"Tsk tsk. Should’ve been more careful."  
"Haha. Well then, let’s start the next mission as per the Vice Leader’s orders."  
"Right. We just need to slow their advance, anyway."

It was hard to believe this was the conversation of Demon Sect members during a war.

---

***

"What in the world is this?!"  
"Th-That..."  
"Commander! Is what I’m seeing in the reports true?!"

The head of the left command, Hwang Mu-geuk, looked down as the Governor-General’s head hung low.

"What... how am I supposed to report this to the Emperor?!"  
"...."

The left flank of the vanguard was decimated.  
It had seemed at first that the speed of their advance was only slowing down, but before long, they were wiped out in a surprise attack.

Moreover, the right flank was now being chased by a bizarre unit, suffering half their forces.  

"Commander! If you have something to say, say it now!!"

*Bang bang—*  
Even the sound of the desk being slammed didn’t make the Commander lift his head.

"Haah. Release the main forces."  
"But those troops are..."  

*Thwack—*

"Ugh!"  
"Are you out of your mind? Whether you use a knife for a chicken or a sword for a pig, you have to solve the problem somehow!"  
"Yes, sir, you're absolutely right."  
"Send the punishment units, made up of criminals, toward the Demon Sect. And speed up the advance of the main force. This doesn’t feel right."

"Yes, sir. I’ll pass the orders along."  
"Haah...."

But was it too late for Hwang Mu-geuk’s worries?

Reports of defeat began pouring in from all sides.  
From the destruction of the punishment units...  
Complete annihilation or partial destruction.  
Total defeat or retreat.  
Not a single victory report reached them.

But the Empire’s misfortune didn’t end there.

"Insane!"  
"How the hell are we supposed to deal with that?!"  
"Run!!"  
"AAHHH!"

*Flash-*

*Kukung-*

The metallic orbs that occasionally appeared in the sky.  

From them, beams of light struck, causing dozens of supply wagons to burst into flames.  

A few warriors used light body techniques to hurry and pursue, but by the time they arrived, the giant metal orb had already vanished.  

Ah... The supplies!

"Lord, luckily, there don’t seem to be any troop casualties! This is a huge relief!"

No, we can’t be happy about this.

The supply officer, in charge of supplies, gripped his head.  
The most important factor supporting a grand army, no matter what anyone says, is the supply line. Without supplies, a grand army is nothing but a rabble.  
To maintain such a large army, supplies are essential.

"Lord! What should we do?"  
"Send a messenger to the other supply units..."  
"Lord! A messenger has arrived from the 23rd Supply Unit!"  
"What?! That’s great! Hurry, bring them here..."  
"...It seems like they’re in the same situation as us."

"What?!"  

The supply officer felt as if the sky had fallen.

This wasn’t happening in just one unit.

The Demon Sect, using never-before-seen foreign powers, employed every military tactic and left without a trace.  

*All sorts of strategies, from *Total Enemy Strategy*, *Great Victory Strategy*, *Response Strategy*, *Deception Strategy*, *Offensive and Defensive Strategy*, *Movement Strategy*, *Unexpected Strategy*, *Surprise Strategy*, *Divide and Conquer Strategy*, *Oblique Strategy*, *Do Not Exhaust Strategy*...*

There were too many to count. It was as if they were testing out all the tactics they knew.

It was maddening.

While strategies could be countered, what about this?

*Flying in the sky?*  
*Invisible arrows?*  
*Illusions that weren’t illusions? What did we actually see?*  
*Invisibility techniques that even the assassination squads can’t detect...?*  
*Our supplies...!*  
*The entire unit suddenly lost consciousness?!*  
*A giant hole appeared in the advance route, and we couldn’t pass...?!*  
*Suddenly, a flash blinded us!*  
*The 3rd and 4th Divisions wiped out...?*  
*General! You need to escape!*

How are we supposed to stop these impossible foreign powers?

All kinds of bad news flew up the chain of command.

They hadn’t even reached the Demon Sect’s stronghold yet, and things were already spiraling out of control.

The only direction this was headed... was annihilation or defeat.

If there was any hope left…!  

"We’ll have to rely on the Zealot Units."  
"They say you can change the entire Imperial dynasty if you just gather them."  
"Be careful with your words."  
"Haha. Just a joke. But isn’t this the way things are going?"  
"Ugh, still..."

  
"They say a mercenary unit of ten thousand, skilled in martial arts, has already arrived at the Great Thousand Mountain. It's practically over, isn't it? Hahaha."  
"I just hope the operation succeeds safely."  
"Haha. You’re so full of worry."

The mercenary army against the martial world, the strongest unit.  
The Zealot Unit’s infiltration was imminent.

---

***  

Birdel, too, was deep in thought.  

Should I reduce my forces further?  
Should I limit the firepower?

If Je-gal Hyun had heard, he would have jumped at the thought, but Birdel didn’t care.

It couldn’t be helped. If I used everything, this war wouldn’t even be possible.

A war is only possible between opponents of similar strength.

The gap between children and adults was greater than that.

That’s why it was necessary to impose limits on myself while learning by observing the war.

"I’m sure he has something unimaginably grand in mind for this war."

As always, she would just do her best. How it appeared to others didn’t matter to her.

"The Galactic Church..."  

He had shown an interest in martial artists.

[Administrator message received.]
- Enhanced physical specs, aggressive, and quick? Hm. Might not be bad for mercenaries?

Birdel realized something.

Mercenaries? Troops?

So...?

She wasn’t thinking of creating a grand regular army.  
Just a mercenary guerrilla force she could use like pawns when necessary.

Considering the 'Dimensional Gate' ability she just acquired, it wouldn’t be impossible.

"Hmm."

At that moment, she realized how much more she still lacked.

War wasn’t something one could do alone.

She had destroyed empires on her own, but she had no experience in large-scale wars with multiple forces.

So for now, she planned to watch and learn as much as possible.

"After this, it might be good to build a proper unit."

The support funds she had received were still more than enough.

As she observed the progression of the war, she realized that it wasn’t as helpful as she had hoped.

"Sect Leader!!"  
"Vice Leader?"  
"Gasp! Currently, over ten thousand martial artists are encamped and heading toward the main base!"  
"Hmm?"

Perhaps, due to the ban on using reconnaissance communication devices for smooth operations, they hadn’t noticed yet.

"Ten thousand?"  
"What should we do?"

Je-gal Hyun, who had always smiled when witnessing the Galactic Church’s progress, now rushed in as fast as he could.

"What…? If they came this far, I’ll just wipe them out…."

Then, Birdel came to a realization.

Ten thousand martial artists?

...Maybe?

After all, when it came to prisoners, the captor decided how to use them.

Birdel’s lips twisted into a sinister smile.