Ch.1414. Bahamut (2)

The enormous dragon landed near Choi Yu-na, displaying its powerful presence to the survivors.

It appeared larger than most villas or apartment buildings, standing majestically on its sturdy legs at the outskirts of the city.

Despite the numerous zombies before it, the dragon showed no fear, instead seeming to observe the approaching zombies with composure.

“What size…”

From the dragon’s perspective, the zombie horde was no different from ants.

The dragon, which appeared to be well over 50 meters tall, had such an enormous build that it could kill zombies like stepping on ants just by walking with its massive feet.

Those watching the dragon were overwhelmed by its massive size and presence, and at the dragon’s appearance, the mage simply laughed maniacally, shouting that the end had finally come.

[Climb on.]

“Ah, thank you.”

While various reactions emerged from the survivor camp, Bahamut prioritized the safety of Yu-na, his contractor.

Landing beside Yu-na, he immediately knelt down, extended his hand to her, and retrieved her.

Sitting on Bahamut’s broad shoulders, she could look down at the zombie horde with a similar perspective as Bahamut…

“Hahaha. Looking at them like this, the zombies that have been tormenting us look so insignificant!”

From Bahamut’s perspective, the zombie horde looked utterly trivial.

Seeing Yu-na laugh brightly like a villain at the zombie horde that now appeared the size of passing ants, Bahamut contemplated his next action.

‘Should I just sweep them all away with magic?’

With Yu-na’s remaining magical power, he could easily wipe out all the zombies gathered here.

‘No, it’s time to show my physical power here too.’

Though he wanted to demonstrate overwhelming strength, if he only showed magic, people might think he was just a large dragon who was good at magic. With this in mind, Bahamut decided on his next course of action.

Looking at the approaching zombie horde, he raised his powerful foot and…

“Hmm!”

He stomped his massive foot down on the ground as if stomping.

With a deafening “BOOM!” an earthquake-like shock spread throughout the city.

“Amazing! Amazing! All those zombies disappeared with a single blow!”

[Easy task.]

The zombies closest to the impact were torn apart without even leaving proper forms.

The zombies that were just emerging from the outskirts of the city survived as they were far from the shockwave, but they continued to approach Bahamut, trampling over the corpses of their fellow zombies, unable to even think of fleeing.

‘The rest are just cleanup. Easy work.’

Confirming that some zombies had survived the shockwave, Bahamut began to move his massive body.

Despite his enormous size, he demonstrated incredible agility, quickly reaching the city outskirts where he tore apart the zombies trying to leave the city by slashing or stabbing with his claws.

Upon contact with his sharp claws, the fragile bodies of the zombies couldn’t withstand Bahamut’s attacks and were torn apart.

After confirming that all the remaining zombies had been eliminated…

“UOOOOOOOH!!”

He let out a victorious roar toward the sky.

At that roar, the survivors who had been watching the dragon’s advance in a daze finally came to their senses.

“Behold! This is my god!”

And Choi Yu-na seized this moment to introduce him as her god.

‘Wow. Hearing that just makes me lose motivation drastically.’

For Bahamut, who had unconsciously let out a victory roar in the joy of his perfect first sortie, Yu-na’s statement was like cold water on his body that had been heated by battle.

* * *

A giant dragon appeared and annihilated the zombie horde in Gyeongju City!

Naturally, this incredible event spread throughout Korea via the internet, but the reactions were lukewarm.

-The fact is that’s a composite.

-The fact is Gyeongju City got healthier.

-It must be a composite or game CG.

-If a dragon of that size had been rampaging, our country would have been ruined long ago.

Most couldn’t believe it. It must be game CG.

If this were true, our country would have already collapsed.

Some spoke jokingly, but most responded with disbelief, asking how such a dragon could exist in reality.

-Even though we’ve experienced a zombie apocalypse straight out of novels, that’s really crossing the line lol

-For real lol

-Just keep saying “for real lol.”

Despite the zombie apocalypse and the fact that killing zombies could make one an Awakened with the ability to open a status window, many people still relied on their existing common sense.

So they couldn’t accept the fact that such a huge dragon had suddenly appeared without ever being detected by satellites.

But…

-Found goblins in the mountains.

-Went near the mountains to avoid zombies and met an orc, please upvote.

-Who’s the idiot trying to get upvotes in this situation?

-Something’s strange about the towns and villages near the mountains. No human corpses or zombies at all.

Information about fantasy-like monsters such as goblins and orcs being sighted spread across internet communities.

As a result, the direction of the discussion about the dragon that appeared in Gyeongju, which had been considered attention-seeking, changed dramatically.

-Could that dragon be real too?

-Boom boom. The fact is everything was true.

While Korean online communities were thrown into confusion by the appearance of fantasy-like monsters, the most confused people were none other than the citizens of Gyeongju.

“Did we see an illusion?”

“I don’t know.”

Both the survivors who had been barely living day by day to avoid zombies and the survivor camps that had been asserting their power in Gyeongju were equally dumbfounded.

Since all the zombies in the city had been annihilated by the dragon, the safety of the city interior had been relatively secured.

This meant it was a golden opportunity to recover resources that couldn’t be retrieved due to the zombie threat, or even to take control of the infrastructure within the city.

“…Don’t panic! This is Choi Yu-na’s trap!”

However, the appearance of the giant dragon that had swept away all the zombies in the city simultaneously made the survivor camps hesitant to move and filled them with fear and terror.

The numerous survivor camps in Gyeongju became fearful of the dragon’s intimidating presence and began to hold back, and the only group moving within Gyeongju city was…

“Now, as promised, it’s time to start the Gyeongju reconstruction project.”

Only Choi Yu-na, who had taken over Shincheonji with pure force as they were expanding their influence in Gyeongju, and the Shincheonji members who had been forced to follow Yu-na after being subjugated by her.

“””As the leader wishes!”””

…However, from today, the cult members belonged to the cult not because they were forcibly subjugated, but because they voluntarily decided to follow Yu-na.

She had proven her worth and power to the numerous survivor camps in Gyeongju, and the Shincheonji cult, which had watched this until the end, unhesitatingly abandoned the doctrines and teachings of their previous leader and converted to Yu-na’s teachings, pledging loyalty to her.

Abandoning the religious teachings they had believed in until now was a difficult task, but surprisingly, many followers of Shincheonji abandoned their beliefs without hesitation and converted.

“Now you all finally understand the true faith.”

“Thanks to your words, leader, our eyes have finally opened.”

Most of the converts were followers who had been born out of the disaster situation of the zombie apocalypse, and they were a group that had failed to properly cope with the disaster situation.

In a mentally vulnerable state due to the disaster, they were persuaded by Shincheonji’s apocalyptic logic that the zombie apocalypse was God’s judgment, and they were the type who had been convinced by that logic.

“If Bahamut god exists, we can survive!”

“We believe!”

“Long live Leader Yu-na!”

Of course, if one directly witnesses such a massive being and power, belief naturally arises even if one doesn’t want to believe.

The massive flash that annihilated the zombie horde created a sense of faith in their hearts to serve a god, and when they realized that the powerful being was Choi Yu-na’s god, their mouths were already shouting conversion.

This was true not only for ordinary followers but also for the executives.

“Yu-na, here are the ledgers that the previous leader had hidden. I’ve marked the secretly hidden supplies.”

“I see. He hid quite a lot.”

While ordinary followers were in the cult for faith, peace of mind, or religious comfort, the executives were the type who sought to gain power and profit by using religion.

When the leader was defeated by Yu-na, they were in a state of giving up, preparing to flee.

Naturally, they were the ones who had been waiting for Yu-na to leave the cult to find the supplies hidden by the former leader, and when Yu-na left the cult on the promised day, they unhesitatingly tried to flee with the supplies.

But they too witnessed it.

The massive flash that pierced the sky and the appearance of the giant dragon.

When they heard that the dragon was the god that Choi Yu-na served, the executives knelt on the spot and pledged unwavering loyalty to Choi Yu-na.

‘If we follow her, we can aim for survival… no, even wealth and glory!’

‘If that dragon protects us, there’s absolutely no reason to leave the safety-guaranteed cult!’

Of course, there were some calculating aspects.

Some wanted to follow Yu-na for personal gain, while others longed for a safe place in the disaster situation.

“Should we get rid of them when they’re no longer useful?”

[…Is there a need for that? They’re all just trying to survive, so let’s overlook it.]

Yu-na could easily detect their impious thoughts and asked Bahamut if she should purge them once their usefulness ended.

In response to Yu-na’s brutal statement, Bahamut tried to appear calm, suggesting that they too were just trying to survive, so they should let it slide.

“Even though they’re followers who might betray us?”

[Right now, aren’t they all voluntarily following us? If we continue to prove our strength, they won’t betray us and can become reliable allies.]

“Indeed! You mean if we prove our strength, there’s no problem!”

Of course, from Bahamut’s perspective, those executives were a kind of practical staff who knew the internal affairs of the cult.

If they were purged as Yu-na suggested, it would take time to identify the hidden supplies within the cult, which was the second reason.

‘At this rate, we’re really going to become an evil cult like in novels!’

The first reason he didn’t want to purge them was for personal reasons.

‘…Is this really okay? Is it really alright?’

In reality, this foolish dragon panicked as he realized he was truly becoming the god of a cult.

To be frank, he had thought they would just eat and leave, but when the Shincheonji cult members chose to convert after Yu-na’s evangelism(?), Yu-na unhesitatingly accepted all those who converted.

Bahamut, who had become the god worshipped by cult followers without any benefit, engaged in self-criticism, wondering where the problem had started… but no answer came.

In the end, since you chose Yu-na, endure it with evil and grit.

“Then the first thing we need to do is decide on a name. We will no longer use the existing name Shincheonji. We no longer believe in the doctrines of Shincheonji.”

After gaining the loyalty of the cult’s followers and executives, the first thing Yu-na did was to break away from the former cult, Shincheonji.

Declaring that she would abandon the name Shincheonji and be born as a new cult, a follower asked Yu-na:

“Then what will be the name of our cult?”

“The name of our cult…? Ah, then I’ll ask for our god’s opinion first.”

When asked about the name of the newly born cult, Yu-na fell into thought, then decided to use her “god card.”

Yu-na immediately took out the Scrying Mirror she had received from the god, which allowed her to communicate with the deity.

“God! God!”

[What is it?]

“What should we name our cult?”

[…What?]

Bahamut fell silent at the mention of a cult name.

After a brief silence, Bahamut wondered if he had misheard and asked Yu-na again.

[…Name?]

“Yes! The name of the cult! I’ve determined that it’s best for you to decide!”

But unfortunately, all that came back was Yu-na’s bright response.

However, for Bahamut, that content was far from bright; it was more like an express train to hell.

‘Somehow I’ve become a cult god…’

Where did it all go wrong?

The foolish dragon was frozen and confused, but even in his confused state, his mouth seemed to move properly.

[Let’s call it Balhut.]

That was another name or nickname for Bahamut.

Without thinking, this foolish dragon who just thought, “Wow! That sounds really good,” ended up using his alternate name as the name of the cult.

“Indeed! The Balhut Cult. From now on, we are the Balhut Cult! The Balhut Cult that serves the dragon god Bahamut!”

‘Wait a minute. Did I really become the god of a cult while I wasn’t paying attention?!’

But the bus had already departed, and this foolish dragon had now become the god of the Balhut Cult.

Bahamut, though it was too late, tried to protest to Yu-na that there was no need for this, but…

“””Long live Bahamut! Long live the Balhut Cult!”””

‘I don’t know what that is, but it’s scary.’

Many people were already enthusiastically cheering for the name of the cult and his name.

Bahamut got goosebumps seeing that scene, but…

[…Alright.]

Conversely, he wasn’t cruel enough to forcibly shatter that expectation.

With them cheering like that and looking at Yu-na with expectant eyes, if he were to destroy that expectation himself, it would be like the symbol of unity destroying the reason for unity.

Still, for this foolish dragon who was moving to rebuild order as Yu-na wished, he could only smile and accept those headache-inducing cheers with a “Tsk! Can’t be helped.”

‘Well, if a real religion appears soon, this cult will be quickly refuted and disappear!’

Of course, his careless handling of matters related to himself hadn’t improved at all.

The Balhut Cult will disappear naturally when a proper religion appears?

How could that be?

It was precisely because the teachings of those proper religions had no meaning in this apocalypse that cults explaining this phenomenon through apocalyptic theories were thriving.

In other words, thinking that proper religions still existed at this point was itself a vain hope circuit.

‘Yes, let’s go all-in on the coin that we’ll be refuted by proper religions!’

That was as foolish as investing all one’s assets in a coin that would soon crash, so wise people should take this foolish dragon’s coin investment strategy with a grain of salt.