Ch.1313. Bahamut (1)

Choi Yu-na’s promised day was approaching for all survivor camps living in Gyeongju.

Yuni had heavily promoted this promised day using the cult she had conquered and controlled. The promotion and rumors must have spread well, as the number of survivors wanting to observe this event had greatly increased.

Most observers were either scouts dispatched from survivor camps in Gyeongju to gather information about Yu-na or the zombies, or they were information brokers looking to sell intelligence to outside cities or foreign countries.

Of course, the survivors Yu-na had personally persuaded were waiting on building rooftops with stern expressions, thinking only of Yu-na’s promise as the appointed day approached.

Each harboring different mindsets, they either anticipated or mocked Yu-na’s declaration. As the time Choi Yu-na had promised to the survivor camps drew near, she slowly began to reveal herself.

“Is she really planning to keep her promise? That’s truly dangerous.”

“That’s suicide. What she’s doing.”

People’s reactions varied as they watched Yu-na appear in the empty field.

Those lamenting Yu-na’s attempt to keep such an unreasonable promise were survivors who actually worried about her wellbeing.

From a high building rooftop, the Lee Hyeon-a and Lee Su-a sisters quietly watched Yu-na with concerned gazes as she revealed herself to keep her promise.

“Wow. Brother Jo Sun-do, look at that. A suicide volunteer has appeared.”

“I liked her appearance at least. What a shame.”

“Were you planning to eat her?”

“She may be young, but she’s fully developed, isn’t she?”

Some were impressed by Yu-na’s mysterious appearance visible through telescopes, while others harbored lustful thoughts.

They spoke obscenities, lamenting that Yu-na was keeping her promise, and mocked her commitment as merely providing them with entertainment after a long time.

“Is this really possible? Does she truly have the power to overcome this crisis?”

Though few in number, some held expectations about whether Yu-na’s promise would actually be fulfilled.

Her confident appearance suggested she might have some secret means—a vague expectation.

Jeong Dong-geon, who had been gaining momentum in Gyeongju recently, observed Yu-na through a telescope from a building rooftop, secretly holding expectations for her.

“I can feel the gazes. Perfect. No need to go overboard from the start.”

Standing on the stage to prove herself, Yu-na smiled brightly and muttered that this was good enough.

For her, the most important thing was to prove her power… no, to prove the power of the god she served.

With so many survivors watching, this was the perfect place to demonstrate her deity to all survivors in Gyeongju.

Feeling many eyes upon her, Yu-na slowly raised her hand toward the sky.

“Taunt Fire.”

What activated in her hand was fire magic.

The magic, shot into the air like fireworks, exploded with a “bang!” in a place visible to everyone living in Gyeongju.

At this unexpected fireworks display, not only observers but all survivors looked up at the sky.

Bright, shining flames flickered in the sky, and the noise caused all zombies living in Gyeongju to raise their heads.

“Grwaaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Grweh!! Grwehaaaaaaah!”

And the zombies that witnessed the flames began rushing toward the location where the flames were fired without a moment’s hesitation.

Zombies that couldn’t run walked, and those that couldn’t walk crawled forcibly toward where the flames had been fired.

Though zombies were already irrational beings, they now seemed excited by the light and noise of the flames, beginning to rampage wildly.

Trampling fallen comrades while running was expected, and getting caught on obstacles or slipping and breaking apart was commonplace.

“What?! What’s happening?!”

At the unexpected movement of zombies, survivors trembled in fear, but…

“Are they heading toward where the flames were fired?”

Survivors could understand where the zombies were heading.

Far from attacking nearby survivor camps, despite the presence of survivors nearby, the zombies’ attention was directed solely toward where the flames had been fired.

It was as if the command to head toward those flames had been forcibly imprinted in the minds of all zombies in Gyeongju.

“Grooooooh!”

“Kraaaaaaah!”

This was true even for mutant zombies and Zombie Awakened who had regained some intelligence.

The mutant zombies led their hordes toward where the flames had been fired with hateful gazes, more ferociously than other zombie groups. The fact that even mutant zombies were moving allowed survivor camps observing this movement to quickly realize the power of those flames.

Those flames had the power to lure even intelligent mutant zombies.

“If used well… isn’t that an extremely dangerous ability?”

“It seems to be magic that draws aggro from zombies. Fortunately, it was activated outside the city, so all zombies inside the city are heading outside.”

“I envy that.”

It was dangerous magic that, if used well, could even cause indirect murder of rival survivor camps.

Right now, since Yu-na had used the magic outside the city, zombies inside the city were all heading outward. But conversely, it could be seen as a weapon capable of gathering zombies in a zombie-free city.

Though the range of the magic was unknown, zombies inside the city were heading toward Yu-na’s location with one mind and heart, suggesting the range was considerable.

“I hope this ends in mutual destruction or both sides taking heavy losses.”

“You want Choi Yu-na to die?”

“Even if she survives, I hope she suffers great losses. We’ll reap the benefits of what Choi Yu-na leaves behind.”

Those with ambition coveted Yu-na’s ability but, recognizing her danger, hoped for mutual destruction with the zombies or heavy losses on both sides.

If mutual destruction occurred, they would harvest the peace Yu-na had achieved in the city. If both sides suffered heavy losses, they would benefit as bystanders.

It essentially meant they were hoping to take advantage without effort, and the advisors assisting the leader nodded in agreement.

“There’s no way she can defeat such an army alone.”

“That’s right. Even Awakened have limits.”

Though the ability she just demonstrated was impressive, the zombie army gathering in one place was beyond imagination.

Having drawn all zombies from Gyeongju’s downtown, their numbers began to exceed ten thousand.

With slight exaggeration, one might believe claims of a 100,000-strong army.

That’s how enormous the army was, with zombies gathered in one place appearing like dots or ants.

And the zombies were moving as a single colony toward where Yu-na was.

“Were there this many zombies in our city?”

“If they head back to our city again…”

The overwhelming numbers brought despair to powerless survivors not belonging to survivor camps.

Even now they risked their lives just to survive day by day, yet there were still so many zombies.

Though the zombies were moving outside the city now, if they returned to the city after this promise ended… they quickly judged they could never handle such numbers.

“No, I believe! I believe in her! She’s gone this far. She must have something up her sleeve!”

But simultaneously, there were those who burned with hope circuits and held expectations for the girl named Yu-na.

Of course, these were desperate cries from those who had despaired at the enormous zombie horde, but they were the ones most desperate for Yu-na’s victory.

If Yu-na were defeated here, they would be the first to be hunted by zombies.

Hoping she would deliver a magnificent performance that would give them faith… they observed Yu-na’s every move.

“Now, the time of our god approaches. Please, show your brave appearance to the people here.”

[…Alright.]

And Yu-na declared that the time of the god had come.

Sacrificing all her magic power, she tried to summon the great dragon sleeping(?) inside the temple to this place.

She set up a summoning magic circle in the sky so that all survivors living in Gyeongju could see its brave appearance.

And from that summoning magic circle…

“Eh?”

An enormous light fell.

The intense flash struck the eyes of survivors watching this scene.

At that intense light, survivors instinctively closed their eyes or lowered their heads, and simultaneously, a tremendous roar spread throughout the city.

The survivors couldn’t regain their senses from the noise that struck their ears, threatening to tear their eardrums.

The Awakened who had gained power by killing zombies quickly regained their senses and assessed the situation…

“Holy shit!”

And immediately cursed at the sight.

The enormous light emitted from the huge magic circle in the sky struck down on the zombie horde approaching Yu-na, and nothing remained where the flash had hit.

Awakened doubted their eyes and telescopes at the overwhelming sight and performance.

For good reason—when the flash blinked, the zombie horde approaching Yu-na vanished in an instant, and a huge crater formed where the zombies had been.

“No, it’s not over yet.”

“Right, she just fired her finishing move from the start.”

Of course, not all of the zombie horde had been annihilated—only a portion had vanished. They shouldn’t be surprised by just that much.

Yes, they should only harbor doubts that an Awakened alone couldn’t defeat such overwhelming numbers.

Otherwise, all the calculations they had made so far would be completely off.

“What is that?”

But survivors staring in the direction the flash had come from could only gape at the sight.

Stars continued to fall through the magic circle in the sky.

Meteors falling in the pitch-black night without a single cloud.

However, survivors could realize that these weren’t meteors but the flashes that had fallen earlier.

“What is this?!”

“What’s that sound?!”

“Ah! The end of god is coming!”

The flashes—no, meteors—falling from the sky gradually grew larger, emitting enormous light as they approached the ground, and continued to strike down on where the zombies were.

As they collided with the earth in succession, a massive explosion that roughly struck and paralyzed the survivors’ ears echoed throughout Gyeongju.

The explosion and earthquake-like disturbance made even survivors who weren’t watching this event and were just quietly staying in their hideouts or camps take interest in this situation.

“Mage! Analyze that immediately!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Of course, those who had been interested in this situation from the beginning began to analyze the strike by mobilizing experts affiliated with their camps.

If it had only progressed this far, they would have judged that Choi Yu-na had a trump card, which is why she could make such claims with confidence.

It was because she had such a trump card that she could boldly make absurd sophistry to survivor camps and surviving survivors.

However, the sight that followed made the survivor camps who had been mocking Yu-na unable to laugh at all.

“What is that?”

“What, what?!”

“Is that falling on us?!”

The survivors now saw the huge magic circle that had been hidden by the enormous light of the flash.

The magic circle enveloping the sky slowly took shape, and once formed, it began to create dark clouds in the dark night sky that had been without a single cloud.

Survivors feared that the flashes emerging from that magic circle might head toward them, and survivor camps with mages immediately ordered their mages to analyze the magic circle, but…

“Ah, hahahahaha!”

“W-What?!”

“It’s like having the sun right in front of me! Just looking at it feels like my eyes will go blind! It hurts! It hurts! It huuuurts! Ahahahahahaha!”

“Get a grip! Hey?!”

The mage stopped analyzing and refused to look at the magic circle due to the enormous magical power emanating from it.

Having awakened as a mage just a few months ago,

the magical power and formula felt from that huge magic circle had such enormous power that it made the mage stop not just resisting but even thinking.

“Hahahahaha! Just as the cult said, the end is truly coming! There’s no way we can resist that! We’re all dead!”

“Have you really gone mad?!”

The mages who had been boasting and showing off to other Awakened in the camp all stopped analyzing the magic circle and loudly proclaimed that resisting it was futile.

At the mage’s sudden maniacal laughter and nonsense, the survivor camp leader couldn’t hide his bewilderment and forcibly covered the mage’s mouth.

However, the mage’s words, once spoken, remained unforgotten in the minds of not only the leader but also the Awakened affiliated with the camp.

For them, mages were the ultimate weapons that could turn the tide of battle, and they couldn’t simply dismiss the claims made by such weapons.

“This is insane.”

And not long after… they could also understand why the mage had made such claims.

The magic circle seemed to have reached a critical point, and a tremendous roar like thunder and lightning began to echo throughout the city.

The magic circle, shaking with lightning, emitted intense light.

They feared that the flash that had blown away the zombie horde might come toward them, but…

“Eh?”

The expected flash didn’t come; instead, something began to descend through the magic circle like a meteor.

A huge object heading toward the ground, tracing an arc.

The object slowly spread its wings wide and gradually reduced its speed…

[According to the contract, I have arrived here.]

It landed lightly near Choi Yu-na with a tremendous noise.

And the survivors could clearly identify what that huge object was.

“A dragon?”

Yes, that object was none other than a massive dragon.