Ch.202202. Operation to Recapture Kyushu

After being selected as Hwarang, they had hoped to fulfill the masculine fantasy they had kept in their hearts, if only once.

But the battlefield to realize that masculine fantasy never came to them, and they only continued training after training within Seorabeol.

However, today, this operation to reclaim Kyushu became the battlefield where they could fulfill their fantasy.

“Transform!”

One Hwarang struck a pose on the battlefield and activated his transformation device that could summon dragon armor in the most impressive stance possible.

With red flames, the Hwarang transformed into a knight wearing silver armor over his entire body, with a helmet taking the form of a dragon, and began striking poses worthy of a special effects show.

This Hwarang was actually among the more modest ones.

“Transform!”

Taking advantage of the fact that the issued dragon armor could be individually modified if the Hwarang desired, some had even modified theirs to play upbeat music during transformation.

“Transform!”

Some had even modified their armor to show their transformation scene in slow motion for dramatic effect.

“Transform!”

There were even Hwarang who had painted their dragon armor in their preferred colors.

Thus, the Hwarang who arrived at the battlefield summoned their dragon armor and transformed into knights clad in Seorabeol’s proud dragon armor, and this intense transformation caught the eyes of the Japanese.

If this scene had occurred before the apocalypse, or if the dragon armor looked even slightly shabby, they might have been criticized for such antics in the midst of a dangerous war, but…

“W-wow… Amazing…!”

“A man’s fantasy… A Kamen Rider! A special effects hero has appeared before my eyes!”

Remember this.

Japan has always been the holy land of otaku, the country that created otaku culture.

Of course, they would know about special effects shows, and in this post-apocalyptic world, wouldn’t there be Awakened who secretly desired to become heroes from special effects shows?

Everyone had simply given up due to the limitations of reality, but many still harbored dreams and hopes of transforming into special effects heroes and saving people!

To such people, the Hwarang were men among men who had made real the fantasies they had only dared to dream about!

“From now on, we will carry out the Hwarang’s mission! Let us dedicate the glory of this battle to the Dragon Priestess!”

“Yes, sir!”

Moreover, the fact that this transformation wasn’t just for show but had practical applications was enough to draw their admiration.

The Hwarang, deployed in groups of four to each battlefield, showcased their flashy transformations into gleaming silver dragon armor, and simultaneously wrapped themselves in elemental magic of their choosing before charging at the enemy—a scene that could make anyone’s heart race.

The sight was no different from a scene in a hero show where the protagonist unleashes their power to defeat the despair before them.

What’s more, what surprised them was…

“Th-they’re flying in the sky!?”

“Is that even possible!?”

It was one of the many special abilities of the dragon armor.

Being wrapped in elemental magic was just one of the functions of the dragon armor; the real deal was the flight ability that allowed them to ignore terrain and soar through the sky.

When Seorabeol first learned of this ability, some judged that air superiority could now become one of the domains of the Awakened, and as if to prove that judgment correct, the Hwarang skillfully flew, conducting low-altitude flights to drop elemental magic and began crushing the enemy.

“Ha! Undead must be sanitized!”

What’s more frightening is that the less anti-air capability the enemy has, the more devastating the deployment of Hwarang becomes.

At least against undead armies with mages or archers, the Hwarang had to fly cautiously over the undead army’s heads.

“Ha! Monsters must be sanitized!”

But monster hordes with only wooden or iron age technology were quickly subdued and swept away as soon as the Hwarang were deployed, unable to resist.

“Ha! Raiders must be sani— no, captured!”

Of course, raiders targeting supply lines for this expedition were also helplessly subdued by the Hwarang if they had no mages.

“Th-this is cheating! Fight fair and square!”

“Oh? Then I’ll defeat you head-on!”

“Wait, you’re actually taking that seriously!?”

Above all, the difference in weapons was overwhelming.

The weapons and armor of raiders, reinforced only by looting civilian homes, lacked the attack power to penetrate the Hwarang’s armor.

There was still a good chance that mages among the raiders could shoot down the Hwarang, but unfortunately, the Hwarang’s armor was a national treasure-class weapon directly crafted by Bahamut.

“M-magic doesn’t work!?”

“Haha! Did you think you could overcome the magic resistance of Hwarang dragon armor with such weak magic? No way, no way, no way, no waaaay!”

Unless it was exceptionally powerful magic, it was impossible to even wound a Hwarang.

Excluding asymmetric weapons, they had essentially created a weapon that could change the tide of battle, and news of the Hwarang’s exploits soon reached the ears of Shiro, who was commanding the Kyushu front.

“As expected of the Dragon Priestess’s personal guard. Their skills match their reputation.”

“What should we do?”

Their performance was incomparable to ordinary mortals, befitting the reputation of the Dragon Priestess’s personal guard.

For Shiro, who needed many sacrifices to reclaim Kyushu territory, their contribution was helping to reduce unnecessary casualties.

The fronts where the Hwarang mainly operated were protecting supply lines—the lifeline of the army—or intercepting guerrilla forces that would otherwise tear into the main force.

“We can’t fall behind. Have the Hwarang focus on auxiliary fronts dealing with monsters and raiders.”

“Understood.”

So Shiro ordered the Hwarang to focus on guerrilla warfare to allow his main force to operate effectively.

Of course, if the Hwarang joined the main force, they could use their overwhelming firepower to make the reclamation of Kyushu proceed more smoothly.

Shiro was well aware of this fact, but…

‘If that happens, it would be Seorabeol’s victory, not ours. For independent national defense… even if there are some sacrifices here, we must show ourselves as equal alliance partners.’

Shiro didn’t want the Hwarang to play a more active role.

This was due to concerns about losing sovereignty over Fukuoka, and in reality, if all the credit went to the Hwarang alone, it could cause major problems in the distribution of spoils later.

Of course, since it had been agreed with Seorabeol that Shiro would be the allied forces’ commander-in-chief for this war, Shiro comfortably ordered the Hwarang to focus on auxiliary fronts, and Jin A-yeon showed no dissatisfaction with the order, deploying the Hwarang to auxiliary fronts so the main force could operate effectively.

With the Hwarang active on the auxiliary fronts, Shiro’s central force—the main body—could advance toward a single goal.

“We need to have our own achievements too. We need our own victory. A victory for the Japanese alone.”

That victory meant defeating the undead that had taken over Kyushu.

For this purpose, he had assigned the Hwarang to deal with monsters and raiders.

“All forces, launch a full-scale attack on Saga City. No matter what sacrifices are made, we must liberate Saga and Oita with our own hands.”

To fulfill his long-planned strategy, he first attacked Saga and Oita, which threatened his base in Fukuoka.

The appearance of powerful named undead who had taken control of the cities was inevitable in this attack, and as Shiro began his assault on the cities, named undead responded by leading their subordinates to counter-attack.

However…

“Named undead spotted ahead!”

“Load Bahamut Bullets! Fire them at the named undead the moment they come within range!”

They had stockpiled secret weapons for this moment.

While they had requested many uniforms from Seorabeol, they had also stockpiled Bahamut Bullets with each cycle to snipe these named undead.

They had built up resources in Fukuoka and established connections with Seorabeol by participating in international organizations, all to win this battle.

Failure was not an option; this was an objective that had to be achieved.

“Monsters are rampaging on the flanks of the main force! They seem to have been provoked by seeing us fighting the undead!”

“Tell the Hwarang to eliminate those monsters!”

“Raiders have appeared!”

“Send the Hwarang there too! We’ll handle the undead front, which is humanity’s enemy and our most important battlefront! I won’t accept any complaints! Let’s show the Japanese spirit!”

Even if monsters or raiders interfered, they had to accomplish their strategic objectives in this battle.

Ideally, they wanted to reclaim all of Kyushu, but if that wasn’t possible, they at least wanted to secure Saga Prefecture, Oita Prefecture, and Kumamoto Prefecture around Fukuoka.

If they could secure just those, it would create a buffer zone for Fukuoka, proving to the citizens that this expedition wasn’t a failure.

“We’ve taken it! Saga International Airport is now ours!”

“We’ve also confirmed many survivors remaining in Saga Prefecture! What should we do?”

Before long, they had advanced to Saga International Airport and successfully captured it.

Many survivors were confirmed to be in the city, scattered among raiders or survivor camps, but Shiro had no time to worry about them right now.

“Good! Tell the Hwarang to help with the military administration of Saga. They’ll be interested in eliminating the remaining undead in Saga anyway. It’s about distributing the spoils.”

“Understood.”

Having achieved the major victory of reclaiming Saga Prefecture, Shiro could decide how to distribute the spoils as he wished.

Therefore, Shiro gave the Hwarang what they wanted most among the spoils Seorabeol desired—experience points—and naturally, Jin A-yeon showed approval of Shiro’s distribution method.

“Oh? Are you really going to entrust us with eliminating the remaining undead?”

“Having achieved a major victory, what’s important to us is stabilizing Saga Prefecture, not leaving undead around.”

“I see. The Hwarang guys will be happy to have a chance to gain experience after so long.”

After all, in Seorabeol, the Hwarang had no opportunities to actively accumulate experience.

The Hwarang’s complaint was that they had few chances to level up as Awakened, and if Shiro generously gave them this opportunity, there would be no need for conflict over achievements with the local Hwarang.

This could create a problem where Shiro’s Awakened couldn’t grow, but…

‘There will be plenty of spoils to gain from now on. It’s not something that just 100 Hwarang can monopolize.’

The structure of future spoils wouldn’t allow the small elite force of Hwarang to monopolize everything, so he could confidently distribute them.

After the Kyushu reclamation war ended, the Hwarang would return home, and whatever they left behind would belong to the Japanese Awakened.

So the first reason was the calculation that if he distributed the spoils appropriately, the Hwarang would be satisfied.

‘Right now, the safety of Kyushu is more important than the growth of Awakened. We can’t leave elements of instability in our governance.’

Above all, as someone who had to govern Kyushu, he couldn’t leave even small elements of instability.

While wild monsters could be controlled by civilians as Seorabeol had done, wasn’t it impossible to control the undead population in the same way?

Rather than dealing with the troublesome task of eliminating the remaining undead in Saga Prefecture, it would be better to focus on Oita Prefecture as another prize, which was the most correct choice in terms of selection and concentration.

“The moment we take Oita Prefecture, we’ll have half of Kyushu! Just a little more to go!”

Riding this wave of victory, Shiro set out for Oita Prefecture.

This time too, it was simple.

Normally, they hunted undead with ordinary weapons, and when variant undead appeared, they concentrated firepower with Bahamut Bullets.

With just that, the once-powerful undead forces rapidly collapsed.

But…

“Damn those warlords, they’ve finally reacted! They’ve started attacking our supply lines.”

Warlords who disliked Shiro’s activities had begun to appear.

In particular, raiders or warlords who would be punished as criminals once Shiro gained sovereignty over Kyushu didn’t want Shiro to become the complete ruler of Kyushu.

They wanted Fukuoka to remain at least partially vulnerable to give themselves a chance for a comeback, and they began secretly attacking Shiro’s supply lines, gradually causing disruptions to the main force’s supplies.

“You can’t stop our expedition with such minor interference! This is an expedition we’ve prepared for half a year, enduring countless hardships and humiliations from you! You can’t stop me with such trivial obstacles!”

But this expedition was one where Shiro had staked his political life.

He already knew that his political opponents would openly attack the supply lines, and…

“Deploy the Hwarang. Our allies are being attacked by warlords.”

The Hwarang were what he had accepted to prepare for this.

“We’ll have to distribute more spoils, but it’s enough for us to gain Kyushu in exchange. Moreover, through continued fighting, our Japanese Awakened are gradually becoming stronger! The path to becoming superhumans is opening!”

Above all, the Japanese Awakened were gradually becoming stronger through this fight.

While the Hwarang were also growing stronger through battles with raiders, monsters, and undead remnants, there was bound to be a difference in experience gained compared to the Fukuoka forces fighting the main undead forces.

“We’re taking casualties.”

The problem was that injuries were unavoidable.

Due to the undead war and warlord raids, Awakened belonging to Shiro’s army were gradually getting injured or even dying, but…

“Send the wounded to the rear intensive care unit with the help of the medical corps. We can’t advance while caring for the wounded. We must win.”

Even if there were many sacrifices, Fukuoka had to snatch victory from their grasp.

That’s how hungry Fukuoka was for victory.