Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2197 A shadow

Donara Planet—

At this moment, the evacuated half of Donara Planet was anything but empty.

Holak stood atop a shattered mountain ridge while staring at more than a hundred nascent space beasts blotting out the horizon itself.

The sight alone was enough to suffocate weaker minds.

Pitch black creatures floated across the skies like living fragments of an endless abyss.

No matter whether the beast possessed wings, tentacles, fins, claws, or stranger organs impossible to classify, every single one of them carried the same terrifying trait...

Absolute darkness.

Not merely dark-colored flesh.

No.

Their bodies seemed to devour light itself.

And with so many gathered together within such a relatively confined area, Donaraʼs daytime had become nearly indistinguishable from midnight.

Even the winds felt heavier.

The planet itself appeared frightened.

Each one of those creatures alone was enough to create a planetary-level disaster for a world the size of Donara.

Each one possessed enough destructive power to devastate continents, shatter civilizations, and eventually dig straight toward the planetʼs heart to devour its core if left unchecked for several hours.

One hundred nascent space beasts...

That number alone was horrifying by every standard imaginable.

Entire sectors lived in constant terror because of one or two of these creatures appearing nearby.

According to public estimations across the universe, the total number of known nascent space beasts barely exceeded two hundred, with most being relentlessly hunted by the Stellar Academies due to the catastrophic danger they represented.

Yet now...

Half that number was gathered above a single planet.

A scene that should have driven every living being into despair.

But strangely enough...

If an ordinary citizen witnessed this battlefield, they would likely end up feeling pity for the beasts instead.

”One two, one two, hopa hopa...” Holak stood beside the fully opened corridor gate clapping enthusiastically as though directing a festival rather than overseeing a massacre. Then he pointed toward a distant formation. ”Third Legion, your turn is almost here, prepare for the rotation.”

”Yes sir!!”

The thunderous response echoed behind him instantly.

...The space beasts that believed they had discovered freedom and an endless feast were instead welcomed by ten thousand Imperial Guards calmly waiting for them.

And because Holak had been granted permission to bring such overwhelming numbers, while also receiving direct orders from the boss himself that at least five thousand nascent space beast crystals had to be delivered this time...

He came up with a brutally simple solution.

A farming strategy.

Holak reorganized the Imperial Guard divisions entirely.

Instead of massive formations, every squad now consisted of only twenty-five Imperial Guards.

Each squad was assigned responsibility for one nascent space beast.

Then every hundred squads were grouped together into a legion.

Which meant...

The hundred beasts currently before Holak were only fighting against two thousand five hundred Imperial Guards.

What about the remaining three legions?

They were resting comfortably in the rear.

Some sat around consuming elixirs.

Others roasted chunks of meat sliced from fallen beasts.

A few squads even gathered around discussing battle strategies and ways to bring down targets faster in order to earn more contribution points.

Some laughed.

Some gambled.

Some meditated.

They were completely detached from the battlefield itself.

None of them cared what happened to the legion currently fighting.

They merely waited patiently for their turn to enter the slaughterhouse.

Meanwhile, the Royal Soul Masters remained stationed much farther back, silently observing the battlefield like supervisors overseeing routine labor.

They almost never interfered directly.

Their role was simple.

Prevent escape.

Whenever a beast attempted fleeing toward space, the massive arrays prepared beforehand would activate immediately to block its movement.

And if one of the arrays weakened or failed...

The Royal Soul Masters would personally interfere with overwhelming force, crushing the escape attempt before the beast could even breach the planetʼs atmospheric shell.

Afterward, the battlefield would pause temporarily while the Imperial Guards repaired the damaged arrays before combat resumed again as though nothing had happened.

Everything moved automatically.

Everyone knew their exact role.

The killing machine operated with terrifying smoothness.

Cold. Efficient. Merciless.

And what happened if another nascent beast attempted entering after the number had already reached one hundred?

”...One two, one two, one tw—” Holak continued clapping energetically until suddenly he felt something breathing against the back of his neck.

Warm.

Wet.

Disgusting.

His cheerful expression immediately vanished.

He turned around slowly with visible irritation.

Behind him stood a revolting creature...

A thing with an excessively wrinkled face lacking any visible features whatsoever, its skin twitching constantly while thick streams of a substance resembling black tar poured endlessly from its body like sweat.

The smell alone was nauseating.

”You filthy creature...” Holakʼs face twisted in anger after noticing the tar dripping onto the back of his neck. ”There isnʼt an open spot for you yet.”

Then his expression became colder.

”Get lost.”

BAAAAAAAAAAM

Holak pulled his arm backward before throwing a punch.

A punch.

Yet the terrifying force behind it caused the surrounding air to implode.

Massive waves of tremors exploded outward simultaneously, leaving the beast absolutely nowhere to evade.

The creatureʼs grotesque face instantly collapsed inward before its entire body was blasted backward like a broken meteor, violently hurled back through the corridor gate.

”Kkhhaaaaaa!!”

The beast released an agonized and furious scream from beyond the gate.

Even after suffering such a strike, the monster still had not abandoned its instincts.

Its enraged roar echoed from the darkness behind the portal as it prepared to charge through once more.

But instead, it found Holak standing directly in the middle of the entrance, casually pointing toward it with one finger as though blocking monstrous cosmic abominations was the most natural thing in existence.

”Go play with your brothers until your turn comes. If you come back again, Iʼll bite your face off!”

”..!!”

The beast did not understand a single word from Holakʼs loud shouting.

Not one.

But it understood the pressure radiating from him perfectly well.

That tiny creature standing before the gate...

Could absolutely kill it.

The instinctive fear engraved deep within the beastʼs primal soul immediately surged.

So the creature halted its charge midway, twisted its grotesque body awkwardly, then slowly began retreating into the distance while continuing to glare warily toward Holak.

Most likely, after wandering around for a while, it would completely forget what had just happened and eventually return again.

That was what happened with nearly every beast unfortunate enough to encounter Holak before its appointed turn.

Holak had personally taken that responsibility upon himself.

Otherwise, he would need to constantly request the boss to repeatedly open and close the corridor gate every single hour.

And according to him...

That process was exhausting.

And expensive.

Thus, Holak merely struck hard enough to blast the beasts backward and inflict enough pain for them to retreat temporarily, but not enough to actually kill them.

After all, if he fought seriously every single time, his own reserves would drain far too quickly.

In a strange sense...

He had assigned himself the role of the guardsʼ guard.

”...Hmm.” Holak narrowed his eyes slightly while returning his attention toward the battlefield below.

The number of active space beasts had already dropped to around ninety after several finally fell beneath the Imperial Guardsʼ relentless assault.

And once a beast died, the squads assigned to it immediately became free.

Those liberated squads would then join nearby teams to overwhelm additional targets faster.

Which created a terrifying chain reaction.

Every fallen beast accelerated the deaths of the remaining ones.

At this pace, the remaining nascent space beasts would likely all be wiped out within twenty or thirty minutes at most.

Then the next legion would rotate in.

And the same rhythm would begin again.

Over.

And over.

And over.

”....” Holak glanced toward the boss sitting near the edge of the cliff.

The man remained seated calmly while writing something with complete concentration, utterly unbothered by the apocalyptic slaughter unfolding directly beneath him.

Explosions.

Roars.

Collapsing mountains.

The cries of dying monsters.

None of it seemed capable of disturbing him even slightly.

Holak sighed.

Then turned toward another direction and shouted loudly,

”Hey, Bossʼs Relative!”

”Hmm?” The Royal Soul Master responsible for the current division smiled helplessly at the nickname before answering, ”What do you want?”

”Iʼm opening the gate for more nascent space beasts.” Holak casually announced. ”Starting now, two legions will operate simultaneously.”

Then he pointed toward the battlefield.

”Iʼll need you people to widen the perimeter slightly and stay more alert, thatʼs all.”

”Two legions?” The Royal Soul Masterʼs expression immediately worsened. ”Youʼre reducing rest time to a quarter, doubling the pressure on the arrays, and increasing our workload tenfold because weʼll have to constantly push the beasts away from the mountain where His Majesty resides. On top of that, we—”

”Third Legion, move out!” Holak suddenly shouted before casually stepping aside from the gate entrance.

RAAAAAAWR

The instant Holak moved away, horrifying soul-shaking roars immediately surged from beyond the corridor.

The atmosphere itself trembled.

”Hey!!” The Royal Soul Master shouted angrily, veins nearly bulging from his forehead, but ultimately restrained himself and began issuing commands toward his subordinates instead.

Trying to argue with the First Guard was completely pointless.

The manʼs brain simply operated differently from normal people.

At the very least...

This time Holak had shown him some respect and called him the Bossʼs Relative instead of some stranger nonsense.

”Alright alright, one two, one two, one—” Holak resumed clapping enthusiastically beside the gate while watching the newly arriving nascent space beasts flood onto the planet, only to be intercepted almost immediately by the advancing Third Legion.

The battlefield below had already transformed into a gigantic rotating grinder of flesh and blood.

Fresh Imperial Guards entered.

Exhausted ones withdrew.

Beasts died.

New beasts arrived.

The cycle repeated endlessly with terrifying efficiency.

And while watching it all, Holak had already begun constructing even more primitive new ideas inside his head.

Perhaps three legions simultaneously next time.

Perhaps increasing the beast count to one hundred fifty.

Perhaps splitting squads differently.

The primitive strategist inside him was evolving rapidly.

But suddenly...

Whooosh

Something entered through the gate.

Not a massive beast.

Not a gigantic shadow capable of darkening the sky.

Something small.