Let’s fight, you stupid bastard!

...was what the letter started with, and it taunted Kang Chul-In while conveying the message that Franz wanted to fight.

• If you’re a man, then we’ll fight fair and square on the plains.
• The fight will be in 3 days, 1km in front of my territory, on the plains. The time will be at 10 am. 
• Like a man, we’ll finish this off in one bout.
• I will only activate 8 of my Atlases and use 21 of my Mechanic Knights and will not use any “underhanded tactics” whatsoever.
• You are allowed to bring up to 2000 of your soldiers.
• However, you’re not allowed to bring in any other Lords to this fight. Only fight with your power and that of your territory. My 8 Atlases are the full strength of my territory, and if you are a true man, then I believe that you wouldn’t resort to calling in help from other Lords.
• How are my conditions? Do you like them?
• And do you dare fight against me? 
• If you do have intentions of fighting, then put your thumbprint on this Soul Contract.
• If you do not agree to my conditions…
• I’ll call you a coward for eternity.

• From the Lord of the Mecha Dome territory, Franz. 
• To: ****ing b*tch

“This… he dares to talk about being a man in front of me?”

Crack! 

The whiskey bottle that Kang Chul-In was holding cracked to pieces, unable to withstand Kang Chul-In’s wrist strength.

“Milord!” 

Lucia hurriedly wrapped a white handkerchief around Kang Chul-In’s hands, afraid that they would bleed.

But they didn’t bleed.

He had leveled up 2 more times over the past few weeks, during which he had been conquering and fighting against other territories. Kang Chul-In had the strength to shatter glass and come out unscathed.

“Milord… this guy… is he a madman?” 

Kwak-Jung laughed, looking from the side. 

“This madman wants to crawl in front of us when we were thinking of ways to get him to come out of his small hole?”

It was as Kwak-Jung said.

While the Laputa territory was trying their best to try to make Franz come out of his territory, Franz himself invited Kang Chul-In to a frontal battle. It couldn’t be any better for Laputa.

“It actually makes sense.”

Kang Chul-In didn’t ridicule Franz for being stupid.

“I’m guessing that he has probably upgraded his Atlases and found ways to protect the joints. Or… maybe he has even done something stupid enough like putting 3 magic crystals into a single Atlas to amp up its power.”

Kang Chul-In had unknowingly seen through what Franz was thinking.

“Anyway… limiting my army to 2000 in number and getting rid of artillery too?”

Kang Chul-In laughed.

“And taunting me just in case I don’t respond to this fight of his… He’s tried to use his brain here. Going easy on me before backstabbing me and my army?”

Kang Chul-In was confident, knowing Franz’s thoughts.

Kang Chul-In himself had just bought enough trolls and minotaurs to join his anti-Atlas army from the Lord Shop and had used the head of blacksmithing in Laputa, Vulcanus, to make armor for the “anti-Atlas” army.

“Lucia.” 

Kang Chul-In spoke.

“Quickly, go get the Soul Core of Laputa.”

“Yes, milord. I will go immediately.”

Lucia didn’t care about the terms of the contract and left to go get Laputa’s Soul Core, showing the trust and faith she had in Kang Chul-In.

“Nilus.”  

This time, Kang Chul-In called on Nilus, who was the head of the mages and magicians in the territory.

“Yes, milord?”

“Are you able to use the spell: Blizzard?” 

At this, the other leading figures of the Laputa territory took in a deep breath, startled.

Blizzard was a 5th circle magic spell that caused a literal blizzard by causing the surroundings to freeze up and the temperature to drop. It was the spell among all 5th circle spells that was the hardest to cast, requiring lots and lots of mana. 

“Of course, milord. Even if this lowly one is to sacrifice his life for this task, I am still willing to do so for milord’s conquest!” 

 “... I don’t remember asking you to sacrifice yourself.”

Saying this, Kang Chul-In looked at Michael, the head of the White Lion knights.

“Michael, you’ve picked up the scraps from the destroyed Atlas, right?” 

“Yes, there was absolutely nothing left over.”

“You should have picked up some Magic Crystal fragments too, right?”

“Yes, sir.” 

“Then give them to Nilus. They are of not much use to me, and Nilus using it to perform his magic will be much more effective.” 

These Magic Crystals were very important items to magicians and mages. Even if they had lost some of their power, they still were extremely useful.

“But… milord,” Michael asked.

“Is there a special reason that you ordered Sir Nilus to use the spell Blizzard? If used in battle, there is a real chance that it could do more damage to our allies rather than the enemies…”

The answer came from Kwak-Jung, rather than Kang Chul-In.

“Uh… isn’t the spell blizzard one where it literally causes snow and hail?” 

“Yes, that’s right.”  “Well, then it’s probably not going to be used in battle at all. It is going to be used as a smokescreen before the battle even starts. Am I right, milord?”

Kang Chul-In nodded at Kwak-Jung’s words.

“Not bad.” 

“Kuku, it wasn’t much.” 

Hearing Kang Chul-In and Kwak-Jung’s conversation, the other leaders of the Laputa territory cocked their heads to the side, not fully understanding what they were talking about.

“Milord, the Soul Core.”

While they were still confused, Lucia handed Laputa’s Soul Core to Kang Chul-In.

BANG! 

Using the Soul Core, he stamped it onto the Soul Contract that Franz had given him.

“3 days, 3 days left.”  Kang Chul-In spoke.

“3 days later, we will feast on our lunch inside their territory.”

It meant that he would take down Franz in under an hour.

-------------

The day of the fight, 9 in the morning.

As the frozen ground started ripping apart, a golden igloo-looking structure started rising from the ground. It was the appearance of the Mecha Dome, the territory that Lord Franz controlled.

First, the hangar of the Dome opened.

Inside were 7 Atlases that looked even bigger and more upgraded than the Atlases that Kang Chul-In had fought before. Even the joints were covered with steel, meaning that the critical weakness it had before was now no longer there.

It was obvious that the Mecha Dome had spent almost all of its resources on upgrading these Atlases.

BANG! 

Soon after, the front door to the Mecha Dome also opened, and Franz, along with his personal guards in the Mecha Knights, came strutting out with pride.

“Huhu… just you wait, you stupid bastard.”

Franz walked into the middle of the plains with his Mecha Knights and his 7 Atlases. The last Atlas he had was nowhere to be seen and was to be used as his trump card.

“First snow, huh…?” 

Looking at the snow-covered plains, Franz muttered.

It seemed like the night before, the first snow of the year had come.

And no, it wasn’t the kind of snow that just poured down softly but was the kind of snowstorm that would happen once in a while.

“This snow-covered plains… will be reddened by the blood of our enemies by the end of the fight,” Franz swore to himself.

The first to arrive on the battlefield was Franz.

“This rotten bastard… he wants me to wait?” Franz swore in anger.

“Milord, please calm yourself. It is still 40 minutes before the promised time. But that doesn’t really matter though, does it? After all, we will be the ones that will triumph in this frontal battle.”

“Y-Yes, of course. You’re right.”  Nodding, Franz pretended that he still had patience. Of course, inwardly, he wanted to start the battle as soon as possible.

10 minutes passed.

The Laputan army didn’t show up.

20 minutes. 

Again, not a single ant showed up.

30 minutes.

Only a wild dog meandered around the snow-covered plains.

And… another 5 minutes passed.

“T-There! They’re coming!”

Schneider, the leader of the Mecha Knights, pointed far away, to the horizon. And over there, there was something, something that was rushing towards them with terrifying speed.

“W-What the hell?” 

Where Schneider was pointing, there was a tiger the size of a whole house. It was the Altaica.

“W-Wait!”

“The one riding on top of it then…”

Kuoooo!!

The Altaica that had found its enemy started roaring at Franz. Its killing intent found its way to Franz, startling him.

“Eek…”

Startled and forgetting about his position as Lord, Franz hid behind Schneider to protect himself.

“Hey, coward who can’t stand against even my mount.”

“Y-You… do you honestly think that even with that tiger of yours, you can win with just the two of you?”

“Hmm… I don’t know? Do I really need a large force to beat a coward like you? Someone that pisses his pants just by looking at my mount?”

“Y-You… do you really think you’ll be fine taunting me like that?!”

“Seems like you will live a long, happy life.” 

Those words were the final nail in the coffin.

“K-Kill him! Go, go and bring his head to me!” Franz shouted, losing his patience.

BANG! BANG! 

The Atlases, followed by 10 Mecha Knights, started stomping their way towards Kang Chul-In and Lucia at a frightening speed.

90m… 80m… 70m… and 50m! 

“Those pieces of scrap metal…”

“Crush them.”

With those words, the ground suddenly split apart, revealing a hole. The monsters waiting inside the hole came out and started fighting the Atlases.