In the far distance, towering over the thick jungle canopy, stood the heart of the Severian Dungeon.
Only after hours of non-stop combat and navigation did the expedition party catch their first glimpse of it—a staggering, monumental sight. A colossal, ancient banyanified mega-tree dominated the horizon, its gargantuan root system so vast and powerful that it had physically hoisted the entire central landmass dozens of meters into the sky. The lifted earth formed a sheer, dark wall of subterranean stone and tangled wood, honeycombed with thousands of cave entrances—a fortress built by nature itself.
But before the Kinzoku elites could make their approach, the ground beneath their boots began to violently shudder. A deep, rhythmic thudding echoed through the jungle, accompanied by the harsh metallic clanking of heavy treads and the sharp hiss of vented steam.
It was no mere scouting party. It was an endless, churning army of iron and gunpowder.
Mikan's brown eyes widened as she took in the staggering, endless numbers blocking their path. She immediately held up a hand, turning to the advancing Kinzoku forces.
"Stop, It's the Nochus Kingdom! " Mikan called out urgently. "There's too many of them to fight head-on! We need to fall back and report this to Senior Ephraim!"
As a kingdom far smaller than Sekigahara, the Kingdom of Nochus had emptied their vaults and deployed their entire national military for this campaign.
Hundreds of disciplined infantry in matching uniforms marched in dense, unending ranks, flanked by dozens of heavy, iron-plated steam-tanks and regiments of Martial Apprentices armed with long-barreled, high-caliber muskets. The sheer scale of their army transformed the lush jungle into a marching fortress as they gunned down beasts and chopped down the trees in their way.
Several Kinzoku nobles scoffed, smirking in open disdain at her warning.
"Retreat? Apologies, but you're far too cautious, Lady Mikan," one noble sneered, crossing his arms with a dismissive chuckle. "Sekigahara has crushed the Nochus kingdom before, and we'll do it again. They rely on noisy, clumsy metal toys that couldn't hit a moving target if their lives depended on it!"
Another elite snorted, resting his hand casually on his hilt. "Honestly, the Nochus would be lucky if any of their shots even hit a static training dummy!"
Laughter echoed among the vanguard as the arrogant elites ignored her warning entirely.
Ignoring their dismissive chatter, Mikan leaped higher into the sky, vaulting past the dense leafy canopy to gain an unobstructed view of the distant Nochus army.
"Hawk Sight"
Activating her Observation technique, her perception zoomed across the miles separating the two forces.
She froze.
Atop the lead steam-tank, a Nochus martial apprentice stood motionless. His eyes glowed with sharp, focused perception—and he was staring dead directly back at her.
A cold shudder ran straight down her spine.
They know we're here!
Before the warning could even leave her throat, a series of deafening cracks split the air.
Long-range, high-velocity shots tore through the tree line with terrifying precision. Screams erupted as several Kinzoku martial artists were struck down instantly, their bodies thrown backward as blood sprayed into the foliage.
"AAAAGGGH!"
"I'VE BEEN HIT! I'VE BEEN HIT!"
"Cowardly bastards!" an enraged noble roared, his face twisting with fury. "What cheap tactics!"
Furious and humiliated, the remaining elites drew their weapons and surged out from the trees into the open clearing, fully confident in their ability to dodge and deflect ordinary bullets in combat.
To an ordinary Martial Apprentice, due to their increased cognition, an ordinary soldier in the act of pulling a trigger moved in agonizing slow motion, and stepping out of a single bullet's path was trivial. Defensive martial techniques could even easily stop bullets! This was the difference between non-martials and a Martial Apprentice.
But their arrogance was met with brutal, calculated annihilation. The Nochus firing lines were already pre-aimed and calibrated; waiting for the Kinzoku to step into the kill zone.
"FIRE!"
A wall of thunder erupted across the clearing.
The nobles relied on their vision, expecting to dodge effortlessly. But Nochus understood the limits of martial artists. Hundreds of gunners and steam-tanks discharged simultaneously, overlapping their trajectories to construct a solid wall of lead.
More than that, even their Martial Apprentices wielded guns and added their own ranged techniques into the mix.
The noble who had just joked about training dummies didn't even have time to gasp.
The storm of grapeshot and heavy bullets hit him full-force, tearing through his unguarded flesh and vaporizing him in a fraction of a second.
"NOOOO!"
"SHIT! THEY JUST KILLED LORD HUBEI!"
Terrified screams replaced their earlier arrogant laughter.
Blood soaked the mud as the clearing turned into a meat grinder.
Mikan's heart hammered violently against her ribs. Run or fight? The sheer destruction was unlike anything she had ever witnessed. Her instincts screamed at her to retreat alone, to pull back before the entire unit was wiped out.
"Lady Mikan! What do we do?!" a surviving noble shrieked, scrambling backward on his hands and knees, all his previous pride evaporating into pure panic. The remaining elites turned toward her in desperation.
Despite her inexperience, Mikan forced her panic down and swallowed hard.
"Into the canopy!" she roared, her voice cutting through the gunfire. "Fall back into the trees, break line of sight, and run back to camp!"
The Kinzoku martial artists didn't need to be told twice. Terrified by the devastating salvo, the survivors scrambled into the shadowy upper branches.
Spotting a detached unit of Nochus martial artists separating from the main army to rush their position, Mikan retreated from tree to tree. She laid down hasty trap networks—weaving thick silver tripwires and webbed walls between trunks to slow the enemy's charge.
Her rapid disruption, however, drew the focused wrath of the Nochus vanguard.
"Watch out for the threads! Target the orange-haired bitch!" a squad leader roared.
Mid-leap, just as her boots were about to touch a massive oak branch ahead, a Portia thread line behind her snapped backward with violent, terrifying strength.
The sudden pull yanked her body mid-air milliseconds before the target tree was blown to splinters by a concentrated storm of high-caliber lead.
BOOM.
She had severely underestimated their marksmen's accuracy. Even with the rescue, she couldn't escape the dense radius destruction.
"AAAARRGGGH!" Mikan shrieked in agony as a spray of lead mowed through her right leg.
The force spun her wildly through the air before she crashed into the thick shadowed foliage of a lower branch. Gasping for breath, blood dripping rapidly through the leaves, she gritted her teeth against the blinding pain. Frantically ripping off pieces of her dougi, she used her Portia strands to bind the fabric with vicious tension around her bullet wounds, creating an emergency tourniquet to stop the heavy bleeding.
Footsteps and steel echoed through the canopy. Expecting to be left behind, Mikan braced herself to fight off the pursuers alone.
She tried to forcefully calm herself down as she decided to try healing her wounds using ki as Merun did, to give her a chance at fighting back the Nochus detachment.
But before she could do so, three Kinzoku martial apprentices suddenly dropped down beside her. Shocked, Mikan watched as they threw her arms over their shoulders, their faces pale but resolute.
"We've got you, Lady Mikan!" one grunted, heaving her up.
Pulling her to safety as the thunder of the Nochus army echoed behind them, Mikan glanced back into the deep shadows.
As the Kinzoku martial artists vanished deep into the shadowy canopy, the colossal warrior in dark iron kabuto armor stood motionless, his heavy hand slowly releasing the invisible silver filament floating between his fingers.
"…In the original timeline, they all would have been wiped out," he muttered softly behind his iron faceguard. "Sigh. Hopefully things will still end up the same."
Before the echo of his voice could fade, the detached Nochus squad burst into the clearing. Spotting the lone figure standing in the shadows, the martial artists didn't hesitate for a single second.
"An enemy heavy! Kill him!"
They attacked simultaneously. The martial artists' techniques whistled through the humid air and point-blank musket fire exploded toward his chest.
CLANG
BOOM
To their horror, their refined martial strikes bounced harmlessly off his bare skin. High-velocity lead shattered against his throat and chest, leaving not even a smudge of soot. The man didn't even bother to raise a guard.
"He's a defensive martial artist! Use your gas and—"
With blinding, terrifying speed, his heavy gauntleted hand shot forward. His fingers clamped around the lead martial artist's throat like a vice, hoisting the full weight of the grown man high into the air.
The captive thrashed frantically, choking out helpless, gurgling gasps.
"Fool! We don't care if you've taken a hostage!" A martial artist sneered.
Unbothered by the struggling prey and the bullets aimed at his head, the man calmly unsheathed his colossal greatsword with his free hand.
Then, as if casually hammering a nail, he brought the heavy steel down straight onto the man's head.
CRACK
The choking thrashes ceased instantly. The man's face was utterly destroyed, caved into a horrific pulp unable to form a scream. Dead. Without a second glance, the man tossed the silent, lifeless corpse aside like a piece of worthless trash. It hit the muddy jungle floor with a sickening, wet thud as carnivorous vines quickly took hold and began pulling the corpse toward the underbrushes.
The surrounding Nochus soldiers completely froze.
Cold sweat poured down their pale faces, their lungs seizing as absolute, primal terror gripped the clearing.
"R-RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND DAMN IT, AAAAAH!"
Screaming in panic, the apprentices abandoned all formation, turned tail, and sprinted back toward the main army as fast as their legs could carry them.
Silence returned to the shadowy woods. The giant warrior rested the bloodied greatsword over his massive shoulder and let out a long, weary sigh into the jungle.
"Honestly… this is simply bullying, isn't it?" he muttered to no one at all.
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The Severian Dungeon Arcs directly coincides with the Main Character Rui's Arc (400-500 Ch) So it's difficult to timeline stuff and to write about it. If I make mistakes, that's on me. Thanks for reading!