Ch.116116. International Diplomacy (1)

Unfortunately, Bahamut’s problem wasn’t just Hyeon-a Lee’s rampage.

Currently, the Balhut Cult was at war with the ghost fleet appearing in the East Sea, including the Cult of Immortality they were engaged with at Ulsan Airport. Bahamut and Yu-na were responsible for overseeing both of these conflicts.

If one had to identify the most important front…

‘It’s Ulsan Airport. Our only route to Busan is by sea. The Cult of Immortality is right next to Busan.’

This was the Ulsan front, where forces clashed directly in this apocalypse.

The moment the Ulsan front fell, not only would all of Ulsan be lost, but nearby Busan would also fall into the hands of the Cult of Immortality.

Considering the scale of these major cities, Ulsan and Busan, they were far beyond the Balhut Cult’s capacity. That’s why the Balhut Cult needed to disrupt the Cult of Immortality’s growth before they became even stronger.

‘Jeong Dong-geon is doing well. If he can just maintain this stalemate, we should be able to counterattack by spring.’

For the front against the Cult of Immortality, which could be considered a large-scale conflict between major forces, they had dispatched the trusted commander Jeong Dong-geon. Moreover, Jeong wasn’t fighting alone—they had solid allies.

Particularly since the Balhut Cult had resolved a long-standing issue for their ally at Ulsan Airport, the connection and trust between the allied forces had become firmly established. This meant the Ulsan front wouldn’t easily collapse even without Bahamut’s direct involvement.

The problem was…

“What’s the situation in the East Sea?”

[We’re trying to engage their fleet in decisive battle. But they’re the ones running away.]

The East Sea front, managed by Baek Seol-hwa, was the problem.

In fact, thanks to Seol-hwa’s efforts, they had been winning consecutive battles on the East Sea front.

Unlike the front against the Cult of Immortality where they were on the defensive, the East Sea front had Seol-hwa, the Dragon Priestess, directly participating. With her overwhelming counter, Turn Undead, the ghost fleet had been suffering consecutive defeats and was constantly fleeing from the POSCO fleet.

Yes, from the ghost fleet’s perspective, they had to avoid fleet battles at all costs and keep running.

“So you haven’t been able to achieve a decisive victory. The ghost fleet is definitely being controlled by someone.”

[Yes. It doesn’t make sense for undead to be conducting guerrilla operations.]

Despite their continued victories, the fact that they couldn’t achieve a decisive victory was the most frustrating part.

The ghost fleet was employing irregular guerrilla tactics, ambushing the POSCO fleet and threatening shipping lanes used by the Balhut Cult.

To be precise, they would threaten fishing boats or container ships using trade routes, test the waters, and then immediately flee when the POSCO fleet arrived in response.

The enemy had begun using tactics that avoided fleet battles as much as possible while accumulating economic damage.

“It’s likely a high-ranking undead who understands human society. The problem is that we’ve never detected such a high-ranking undead.”

[Then… who could be controlling them?]

This meant the opponent had intelligence about human society… particularly someone who could target the Balhut Cult’s vulnerabilities.

Bahamut first suspected a high-ranking undead who would know about human society, but the problem was the lack of sightings.

If something with that level of intelligence existed, there should have been sightings elsewhere, but unfortunately, no information about intelligent zombies had been posted in the Korean community.

‘Or maybe those who saw it were completely wiped out and couldn’t leave any witnesses. Though that seems unlikely.’

Even considering the worst possibility, if internet access was available, a large survivor camp being wiped out in an instant would quickly become news elsewhere.

So rather than hypothesizing about a high-ranking undead, Bahamut suspected:

“It’s highly likely that whoever is controlling the ghost fleet belongs to the Cult of Immortality.”

This was a reasonably grounded suspicion.

The Cult of Immortality had already demonstrated the ability to control or rule over zombies, and they could even create undead by raising buried corpses as skeletons.

Even now, they were waging war against the allied forces with an undead army numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

If this was a guerrilla operation set up by the Cult of Immortality to prevent the POSCO fleet from joining the allied forces, it would be a perfectly reasonable explanation for what the ghost fleet was doing.

[Then should we stop fighting the ghost fleet and concentrate on Ulsan?]

“No. That’s impossible.”

Baek Seol-hwa immediately suggested abandoning the fight against the ghost fleet and joining the allied forces in Ulsan, but Bahamut rejected the proposal.

The reason was simple.

“We can’t give up the East Sea, which allows us to trade with America. Abandoning the East Sea means giving up all the economic benefits we’ve gained so far. The reason our Balhut Cult can promote civilian competition and use war supplies without worry is because of the massive supplies and Texas oil we purchase with Bahamut coins from America.”

[I understand. So we can’t join the Ulsan offensive.]

The East Sea was the Balhut Cult’s interest.

Not only the food resources produced through fishing, but the reason they could use massive supplies and fuel without worry was because of the many container ships flowing from America to Pohang.

If trade with America were cut off, they would immediately have to worry about fuel for the navy.

In other words, the navy defending against the ghost fleet in the East Sea was actually helping the allied forces who were fighting with those supplies.

“Of course, if we could annihilate the ghost fleet through a decisive naval battle, participation would be possible.”

[Is that possible?]

“Probably not. For a decisive fleet battle, the other side needs to be willing to fight. But they have no intention of fighting at all.”

Above all, the other side had no intention of fighting.

With no intention to fight and only engaging in guerrilla warfare, they were truly annoying.

‘But despite having such massive forces, the reason the Ulsan front is in a stalemate… could it be that just as I’m afraid there might be someone like me, they’re afraid of Seol-hwa?’

Perhaps the enemy was afraid of Baek Seol-hwa’s Turn Undead and extremely fearful of fighting her.

It seemed a bit strange to say that already-dead undead could feel fear, but the one controlling them wasn’t undead but a living mage.

After seeing Baek Seol-hwa’s power, they became afraid and didn’t want to confront her directly.

“In the end, until the weather improves, we must secure control of the East Sea. Even if the ghost fleet is somewhat annoying, we have no choice but to endure it.”

[Everything according to the Dragon Lord’s will.]

The East Sea belongs to the Balhut Cult.

At the Dragon Lord Bahamut’s declaration, Baek Seol-hwa bowed her head, indicating that his will would be carried out.

“I’m sorry. I’m making you go through unnecessary hardship.”

[Not at all. All of this is for a paradise where people can live comfortably.]

“I-Is that so? Well, keep up the good work.”

The last part was a bit problematic, but it couldn’t be helped.

Creating a paradise in reality where people could live comfortably was Baek Seol-hwa’s reason for fighting.

And when resolving issues in the East Sea, one couldn’t forget the cult’s allied nation.

Yes, improving relations with America was also Dragon Lord Bahamut’s responsibility.

“Again?”

“Yes, we need more again.”

At least this wasn’t a problem at all.

The special envoy Steven himself was very favorable toward Bahamut and knew the potential of the Bahamut coins he produced.

Moreover, Bahamut had recently informed Steven in advance about developing something new using minerals imported through America, so he seemed quite expectant about this new development.

However, this was Steven’s personal feeling, and as America’s special envoy, he was demanding value from the Balhut Cult as an ally.

Yes, he was once again requesting the Bahamut coins, which had now become a strategic asset.

‘Actually, this isn’t a bad thing. Just one click and… we’re in a boom.’

In fact, it was a mutually beneficial trade since they received that much in supplies and Texas oil.

The Balhut Cult could mobilize armored forces left in the Marine Corps military warehouse, and the numerous supplies coming in from America made the civilian economy prosperous.

In this gap, bourgeois Awakened who made a lot of money and guilds formed to protect their interests were born, and the civilian economy was essentially booming.

Both Gyeongju and Pohang were undergoing new redevelopment and rebuilding parts that hadn’t been reconstructed yet, so a construction boom was inevitable.

“Until a month ago, the demand was at an understandable level. But lately, the requested amount has increased too much. Is there any reason for this?”

“Well, when demand overflows, supply is desired. Isn’t this a common economic policy change?”

Still, wanting to know why America was requesting Bahamut coins, he asked Steven for the reason, and Steven simply replied that demand had increased.

There were too many Awakened in America who wanted Bahamut coins, so America was demanding more Bahamut coins from Bahamut to supply them.

Steven introduced this phenomenon as a common change in economic policy.

“I-Is that so?”

“Yes. The world is now changing to an Awakened-centered economy. While ordinary people still remain now, in the somewhat distant future, society will be composed of Awakened who have awakened the talent of magic power.”

“You’re not wrong.”

In fact, the Balhut Cult had also developed a method to awaken ordinary people and was artificially awakening ordinary people who couldn’t fight based on this.

As Steven said, if we reach the somewhat distant future, the world will demand new economic policies rather than existing ones, and that will be new economic policies suitable for an Awakened society.

In this apocalypse, the ones who use and consume the most money are the Awakened.

“Are the coins I made that popular?”

“Yes, they’re extremely popular. Our Awakened consider them such good items that they can’t get enough. Even our fat one has increased the number of collectors who collect coins according to the production date just because the Dragon Lord made them.”

“T-That much?”

And the popularity of Bahamut coins, which were friendly to such Awakened, could only soar.

Especially since they had the advantage of being able to be melted down to make powerful weapons, hadn’t the Balhut Cult manufactured them into bullets to create one-time killing weapons?

Even now, the cult’s weapons research institute was creating something new using the coins to develop new weapons using these bullets.

“By the way, are you also making weapons with them?”

“Yes. We also make weapons like the Balhut Cult in some cases. That’s right. We have also succeeded in developing technology through Bahamut coins, just like the Balhut Cult.”

It was the same for America.

America also needed powerful weapons that could be safely used inside cities.

Especially for America, which had political issues with launching missiles or drones within its own country, they somehow had to recapture cities through urban warfare.

And Bahamut bullets were exactly the weapons America wanted, and they were trying to develop new weapons or technologies through Bahamut coins, the raw material, and it seems they’ve recently seen results.

“Oh? That’s something to celebrate. What kind of technology?”

And at this fact, Bahamut asked Steven what kind of technology they had developed, as if truly surprised.

“Haha. I’m honored that the Dragon Lord congratulates me so much. As for the technology, I thought the Lord Bahamut would know about it, so I’ll answer honestly.”

‘No, I didn’t know at all.’

Steven seemed to take those words as congratulations, saying it was a technology that Bahamut would know about, and said he would answer honestly.

At this, Bahamut thought he didn’t know about it at all, but didn’t show that reaction.

No matter what, it would be awkward to openly say “I don’t know.”

“It’s Weapon Enhancement.”

‘What? That’s somehow an unsettling technology name.’

It was a technology name that would be traumatic for those living in Korea.

Oh no, my hand… Ah, is that a different story?