“The enemies coming by sea have been dealt with.”
-Thank you. Thanks to that, we’ll have a bit more breathing room. –
At the unexpected words of thanks, I curled up the corners of my mouth with a faint smirk.
“I’m doing this for a price, so it’s only right that I handle the job properly.”
-The war situation is not very good. Japan’s momentum is anything but ordinary, and besides…. it seems they have quite a few black mages as well. –
Japan’s black mages are vicious.
That was because they manifested their power in grotesque forms fused with folk beliefs.
Since they commanded undead by materializing things like shikigami or yōkai, anyone who did not know how to deal with such things would have no choice but to suffer for it.
On the other hand, there were also cases where they were easy to deal with if you knew the proper way to respond.
Moreover, since this was not their home territory, there were difficulties for them in operating shikigami or yōkai in Korea as well.
In many ways, they were difficult to face because of their grotesqueness, but they were not troublesome enemies. Besides, as the news had said, three great black mages had already headed there, and one great black mage was already living in Busan as well.
With four 7th Circle black mages being deployed on that battlefield, if they had the help of the regional Awakener Association and the various guilds, I judged that they would at least have enough strength to buy time and secure the front line until the regular army could make its way down to Busan.
“Stop whining. If you want to work me harder, then pay more.”
-This is driving me mad. Do you really not think about the country? –
“If you think about what the country has actually done for us, doesn’t the answer become simple?”
-For now…. there’s nothing more. Good work. –
Kim Dae-san hung up, and Go Yu-jin, who had been listening, laughed.
“Since the urgent fire has been put out, is he thinking that’s enough?”
“That may be the case. Besides, this won’t end with just one time.”
“But why are they so fixated on Incheon?”
The reason was not very complicated.
“Because it makes advancing easy. In practice, if they push out through Baengnyeong-do and down toward Kaeseong, their advance will be hindered by the various facilities spread across the inland. And even if, conversely, they enter through the West Sea and advance upward from below, they will suffer just as much.”
Seoul is such a deliberately planned city that it would not be an exaggeration to call it a fortress city.
Urban warfare is extremely dangerous even for Awakeners, which is why they made the same choice before, and why they are making it again now.
Besides, the forces concentrated in Seoul and the Capital Region have to be sent out to the northern front and the Busan area, where the invasion has only just begun, so it is easy to launch a surprise attack.
They would destroy the emptied capital as much as possible and concentrate the chaos there, then move massive forces and dispatch additional personnel.
Moreover, China may currently be deploying things like aircraft carriers in the West Sea and preparing to transport personnel on a grand scale.
“So they’re going to invade by sea?”
“They’ll probably try to make the fullest possible use of fishing boats and every other kind of vessel. In the previous war, China eradicated monsters throughout the West Sea and nearby waters as much as possible, and developed various industries because of it.”
It would not be an exaggeration to say that China now occupied all of Asia.
Its territorial expansion was enormous.
‘And yet the reason it still lacks room to spare is probably because of India, which it still has not conquered.’
Those two nations had shown an incredibly fierce pattern in the early wars, since their populations were similar, and the proportion in which Awakeners appeared was also roughly similar.
There is something many people say.
People even say that if China had not prioritized war with Korea, most of India’s land would now belong to China.
In reality, after the Daegyeokbyeon ended, China waged massive wars and subjugated many weakened countries and lands.
And now a gigantic nation of tremendous size has been created, but conversely, unable to restrain its greed, it went so far as to target Korea as well.
But the problem was that, contrary to their expectations, Korea not only endured China’s offensive by producing a great many high-ranking Awakeners, it even managed to win.
It was even regarded as a miracle that Korea had won a great victory by defeating not only China, but also Japan and North Korea, which had seized the chance to wage war as well. But the important point was that even though Korea had won such a great victory, it still could not help but grow much weaker.
In the early days of awakening, the proportion of people who could instantly obtain powerful strength was very high.
But as time passed, such cases sharply decreased, and in the end, many Awakeners began appearing, and the system changed into one where they had to be raised and trained, which in turn has now led to a shortage of forces.
On top of that, it had become a serious problem that some Awakeners with great power emigrated to other countries.
The reason was very simple.
They were sick of the current government’s control.
The idea that great power had to be accompanied by control had made many Awakeners utterly fed up.
“With the sea frozen this solid, they won’t be able to come by ship.”
“If ships cannot come, then won’t they simply run here on their own two feet?”
“I suppose…. that’s true, isn’t it?”
Go Yu-jin nodded, and with such an enormously vast stretch of sea frozen over, it seemed that, in a way, although it might be a little slippery, running across the frozen sea would be overwhelmingly faster.
“Do you really think they’ll run across the sea?”
“They will. Their objective is clear.”
It was certain that China would commit quite a large amount of force to this war.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to get Japan moving and scheming as well.
It was close enough to certainty that I began spreading my mana over a vast range once more, then pushed mana through the entire sea I had frozen and started enchanting it.
How much time had passed as I worked slowly and deliberately with plenty of leisure?
It was just before I completed the magic, engraving countless patterns.
At that moment, a rather large amount of mana was released, absorbed into the sea I was enchanting, and someone appeared who began reverse-calculating and unraveling the patterns I was creating.
“As expected, I thought someone would come, but this is quite something.”
“They’ve come?”
“It seems they’ve deployed an 8th Circle Master-level mage. They’re reading the mana patterns and unraveling them. Then…. shall we test how far they can go?”
Then I began engraving the reverse-calculated sections with patterns once more, step by step, and the other side clearly responded to my counter in kind.
I thought it was amusing, the way they answered provocation with provocation.
And when the other side began trying to unravel it with full force, I likewise gradually increased my speed, maintaining a certain “line” while beginning to induce an enormous expenditure of mana from the Chinese mage.
‘Not bad. Definitely not 9th Circle, but this confirms they are indeed an 8th Circle Master. And besides…. they’re quite perceptive. Because I was roughly matching their speed, they assumed I was at the same level and sent all of the Awakeners who had come with them out onto the sea. They probably think they can buy enough time.’
If I had still been a 7th Circle Master, I would certainly have been forced to suffer because of the actions and judgment of an 8th Circle mage.
Perhaps I would have quickly scattered my mana and prepared a different spell, but right now, I was almost grateful that the enemy was moving exactly as I intended.
“Should I get ready too?”
“We came out for a walk today. Yu-jin 씨 doesn’t need to concern herself with anything.”
Then I took her hand and began walking lightly along the shoreline.
The cold air rolled in and it was chilly, but she was not someone who would find that difficult.
Even with the country in chaos and the situation in turmoil, it was not to the point that we would lose our leisure here, and as the presences rushed across the sea in countless numbers up to the one-third point and began accelerating, I gradually raised my speed even further, contrary to the other mage’s intentions.
And when I could feel their growing urgency, with mana pouring in as they desperately tried to Dispel my magic somehow, I released a little more mana and then Multi-Cast, completing the spell in an instant.
Then, as if they could no longer keep it up, the very moment the flow of mana ceased, I activated the countless enchantments, engravings, and patterns that had been completed at high speed, gently covered Go Yu-jin’s ears with both hands, and spoke.
“It’s going to be a little loud.”
“What are you trying to do…?”
I answered with a smile instead, and the moment I activated the magic, a deep, great reverberation rang out with a jjeoeong sound as if the world itself were cracking apart, and in that instant, the ice filling the sea exploded upward as though countless spikes were erupting, filling the sky with beautiful fragments.
“Disintegration.”
It was a collapse spell, and the ice, torn to shreds by the fierce surge of mana, sublimated into countless fragments and scattered in all directions.
And as for those who had been around it, it was only natural that they suffered horrific damage. Most of the presences vanished to such an extent that it would not be an exaggeration to call it near-total annihilation.
Even the tiny number of presences that remained were sinking deep into the sea, which meant they were little more than dying flames that would soon go out.
‘An 8th Circle Master…. It would be troublesome if I don’t deal with them. They might not be very far away, so should I go check?’
“Would you wait here for a moment?”
“…You’re going to go confirm it, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Since I’ve taken the job, I should handle it properly. Besides…. there’s no benefit in leaving trouble for later, is there?”
“I know. I want to go with you, but I don’t want to get in your way. I’ll wait.”
She was a 7th Circle black mage. She would never be a hindrance, but it weighed on my mind that she still seemed to think of herself as not yet being a completed black mage.
“I’ll help you. So that you can reach the place you want. Then I’ll be back.”
“Bring Melona on your way back~”
At her playful words, I nodded and immediately used levitation magic to cut across the sea.
“They just keep coming without end.”
Han Sang-gil had received an urgent order in Suncheon and had moved to Jinju.
The Japanese army had launched a large-scale invasion through Busan and Geoje.
As a result, they had judged that Busan had to be defended with priority, so they had no choice but to be somewhat neglectful of the Japanese army advancing up from Geoje, and because of that, Han Sang-gil and the two black mages with him ended up facing the Japanese forces that had surged rapidly all the way near Jinju.
“All our people are going to die out.”
As Gong Baek-jin had said, all of the black mages who had moved with them were in a state of suffering injuries both large and small.
That was because they were defending against enemies numbering in the tens of thousands with a force of barely around two hundred people.
“We have only been told to buy time, so all we can do is endure.”
When Han Sang-gil took out the Necronomicon and injected mana into it, the corpses of the dead Japanese soldiers stirred and rose.
He had used Dead Rise, and some of the corpses of physical-type Awakeners were made into high-ranking undead as he reorganized the front line.
“Why are they all so fond of this cursed war….”
As Gong Baek-jin had said, everyone truly was sick of it. But since they were in a position where they had to fight to protect, they could not retreat, so each of them released mana and strengthened the undead Han Sang-gil had raised.
They armed the undead by using various support spells such as Bone Armor, Bone Sword, and Bone Helm.
As a result, the undead legion naturally became stronger, but certain that even this defense would not last more than a few hours, Han Sang-gil looked at Tae Young-su and spoke.
“Please focus on securing a retreat route.”
Using a 7th Circle black mage to secure a retreat route was itself far removed from sound strategy, but since Han Sang-gil was a man who considered the lives of black mages above all else, in a way it could be called only natural.
Thus, the thousands-strong undead army began charging toward the Japanese forces, and as a fierce battle unfolded, explosions and screams soon filled every corner.
‘What in the world were they thinking, telling us to buy time? Hah, at this rate all our people are going to die.’
As he grew older, Han Sang-gil’s heart was worn down by his own weakness, feeling that his spirit had grown too soft.
