Ch.219219. Omens of War (2)

3 AM, North Ulsan frontline base shrouded in thick fog.

While Seorabeol’s soldiers maintained their nightly watch without fail, complaints began to surface among them.

“Damn it. War again.”

“I thought it would be quiet for a few months… but war has started again quickly.”

Of course, when war broke out, the workload for soldiers on the frontline increased dramatically.

During periods when the Cult of Immortality showed no activity, the otherwise boring night shifts were handled rather casually. But as signs of impending war appeared, Jeong Dong-geon quickly restored military discipline and monitored the Cult’s movements through nightly patrols without missing a single day.

Consequently, soldiers who had been on night duty without a break began expressing their fatigue to the command, but there was no choice.

Once signs of war appeared, to prevent Seorabeol from falling victim to the Cult of Immortality’s sudden ambushes, despite the soldiers’ complaints of fatigue, they needed to maintain ironclad night watches to prevent surprise attacks.

“Those Cult of Immortality fellows sure are diligent. Ah, couldn’t the undead take over our night shifts?”

“Seems like it!”

“We can’t have someone take our night shifts for us. So we have to do them ourselves.”

The problem was that there was no way to replace the night watch.

The Cult of Immortality solved the problem of boring night shifts by replacing them with undead, but Seorabeol couldn’t do that.

A soldier on night watch sighed as he observed the undead through his night vision goggles.

“Well, what can we do? It’s not like we can control undead either.”

“True. That would be problematic. Imagine a comrade who was fine yesterday turning into an undead overnight and taking my shift. That’s something you’d see in a horror movie.”

“That’s right!”

Raising and controlling undead was certainly possible for any mage affiliated with Seorabeol if they had the will to learn.

It wasn’t that they were completely unfamiliar with necromancy, and if one intended to learn it academically without misusing it, the cabinet would even grant permission to acquire necromantic skills.

“Well, I learned it academically.”

“But using that would be crossing a line, wouldn’t it?”

However, Seorabeol’s mages, having experienced the zombie apocalypse, were reluctant to learn necromancy for both psychological and ethical reasons. Even if they did learn it, they didn’t prefer using undead raised through necromancy as substitute labor.

“The military also opposes the introduction of necromancy.”

“Then we should use it only for researching the Cult of Immortality.”

After all, if a comrade next to you turned into an undead and took your shift, it might be physically convenient, but psychologically, it meant your dead comrade couldn’t rest even in death and was still on duty. Plus, the pressure of knowing you could end up the same way was too great.

That’s why the military strictly prohibited the use of necromancy and preferred solutions involving human resources.

“Wait, something’s not right…”

“What’s wrong, Sergeant?”

As they engaged in small talk while keeping watch, a soldier frowned at a sudden anomaly.

Through his night vision goggles, he could see crimson magical energy gradually rising in the darkness.

Recognizing this sign, which he had encountered several times at the frontline, the sergeant immediately took his eyes off the night vision goggles and rushed to the communication device installed at the outpost to report this to headquarters.

“Reporting! Multiple magical energy signatures detected in the sector!”

“S-Sergeant! They’re coming! The undead are trying to cross the fortified bridge!”

“The undead have begun crossing. The Cult of Immortality is launching an attack!”

By the time this was transmitted over the radio, it had already become reality.

Finally, the Cult of Immortality broke its long silence and launched an attack, initiating a full-scale offensive to recapture the bridge that had been serving as a border.

“No need to panic! All troops prepare for battle! Before all forces are deployed, we’ll initiate the planned delaying action!”

The Ulsan headquarters, as if they had been waiting for this, calmly issued battle preparation signals throughout the base without any confusion.

In response, soldiers who had completed their full gear in just three minutes began emerging from their quarters stationed in various areas, and troops started deploying to the defensive zones prepared by the military.

Meanwhile, hundreds, even thousands of undead began crossing the bridge.

“Fire! Fire! Fire! Build a wall with the remains of the undead!”

Heavy weapons stationed at each outpost began firing, and the bridge started to pile up with undead corpses, forming a wall of bodies.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Determined to recapture North Ulsan, skeleton warriors charged forward wrapped in crimson flames, and a patchwork giant, seemingly made of combined corpses and standing over 10 meters tall, absorbed the heavy weapons’ firepower while advancing step by step.

“Fire the shells!”

Mortars deployed at the frontline also began firing, but the patchwork giant merely paused momentarily when shells hit it, quickly recovering and continuing its advance.

This terrifying sight could instill fear in the soldiers on watch, but…

“Focus! Change from regular ammunition to Bahamut Bullets! If we hold out for just three more minutes, all troops will be fully deployed!”

“Roger!”

Son Sang-hui, the field commander, shouted not to be afraid and ordered all troops to switch their ammunition to Bahamut Bullets. Once they did and began firing…

“Grooooar…!”

“Good. We can halt the monster’s advance a bit longer!”

As Seorabeol’s masterpiece, the Bahamut Bullets, came into use, even that terrifying giant had to temporarily halt its advance under the military’s concentrated firepower.

“Damn! The bullets aren’t working!”

“What is that monster!? Even Bahamut Bullets aren’t effective!?”

But that was only temporary. As it grew accustomed to the Bahamut Bullets’ firepower, it began advancing bit by bit, instilling despair that even Seorabeol’s prized Bahamut Bullets were useless.

“Reinforce the barricades! That damn giant will break through our barricades in one hit!”

“Don’t spare the Bahamut Bullets! Even if we can’t take it down, the firepower is at least slowing its steps!”

However, the troops deployed at the front seemed to have anticipated this and focused on reinforcing the barriers installed on the bridge.

Even if Bahamut Bullets couldn’t take down the giant, their role was merely to buy time.

The purpose of this unit was to delay their advance as much as possible until the main force could be deployed on the battlefield.

“Watch your heads! That giant bastard is grabbing nearby undead and throwing them at us!”

But the Cult of Immortality, having suffered greatly from Bahamut Bullets, had already prepared countermeasures.

The undead giant currently on display was the Cult’s countermeasure against Seorabeol’s Bahamut Bullets. Its immense magical resistance was already proven, and even if concentrated firepower halted its steps, it could grab nearby undead and use them as projectiles for long-range attacks.

From the Cult’s perspective, undead were abundant, and the surrounding undead essentially became ammunition for the undead giant.

“The wall was breached in one hit!”

“Damn it! Is this the Cult of Immortality’s new weapon?”

“Hide in the buildings! If you don’t get hit directly, you can avoid instant death!”

The power was so devastating that even the barricades reinforced by the frontline troops were breached with a single throw.

Realizing that if a regular Awakened were hit, they would die instantly without even leaving bones, Seorabeol’s forces began taking shelter inside buildings that could serve as barriers.

The undead giant’s throws had formidable power but lacked precision to hit targets accurately, so hiding in constructed buildings and projecting firepower wasn’t a bad strategy.

“The giant has crossed the river!”

However, as a consequence, they couldn’t actively defend the bridge, and the bridge they had recaptured a few months ago fell into the hands of the Cult of Immortality.

“Frontline troops, retreat as planned. We’ll handle the rest by deploying the Hwarang.”

“Finally, reinforcements have arrived!”

“All troops, retreat!”

If the Cult of Immortality had developed the undead giant as a weapon, Seorabeol had established the Hwarang as a special unit.

Jeong Dong-geon, seeing the bridge quickly breached by the undead giant’s power, decided to deploy the Hwarang, and the frontline troops, following his orders, began retreating from the frontline without hesitation.

And those who replaced them were…

“Transform.”

The Hwarang.

As magic circles activated, the Hwarang, now equipped with dragon armor created by the Dragon God, began deploying to the North Ulsan frontline.

All bridges under Seorabeol’s control were breached by the undead giants showcased by the Cult of Immortality, and massive undead legions began pouring through the captured bridges.

As if to repay Seorabeol in kind for what they had suffered before, ghost fleets began rising from the sea, with banshees and skeleton mages aboard firing curses and spells to support the undead giants.

It was a declaration of war, as if to prove that the Cult of Immortality was the dominant force on the Korean Peninsula by occupying North Ulsan this time.

“Our carefully prepared city defense network has been breached? How much preparation did those bastards do?”

“Who knows. But what matters is that we can dedicate this battle to the Dragon God.”

“Haha, that’s true!”

If the Cult of Immortality had prepared undead giants, the Balhut Cult had prepared the Hwarang.

The Hwarang drew their weapons, enveloped themselves in their elemental magic, and began leaping into the battlefield. In an instant, the entire North Ulsan area began to be colored by the Hwarang’s magical energy.

The Hwarang, without hesitation, charged at the undead giants deployed in various areas, and witnessing this, Jeong Dong-geon ordered all troops on the frontline:

“Let the Hwarang focus on battling the undead giants. We’ll concentrate on the ghost fleet and the undead army.”

“Understood.”

While the Hwarang engaged the undead giants, the military’s job was simply to confront the ghost fleet and undead army.

Of course, in terms of numbers, these were the undead armies that the Cult of Immortality boasted about, and they were exhibiting tremendous power because they were supporting the undead giants.

To perfect this combination, the Cult of Immortality had undergone much preparation and trial and error.

“This is a special undead entity that appeared in Kyushu. I never thought it would be a creation of the Cult of Immortality.”

“Has the Yamato Alliance engaged with them before?”

“Yes. Many Awakened of the Alliance who shouldn’t have died were killed because of that undead giant.”

They had already showcased it during the Kyushu recapture operation before deploying it to the Korean Peninsula.

The military attaché dispatched from the Yamato Alliance looked at the undead giant with hatred, and when Jeong Dong-geon questioned him, he received the answer that it was the cause of significant casualties for the Yamato Alliance.

“Then, it’s all the more reason for the Hwarang to confront it. Understood? Regular Awakened should not approach the giants.”

Therefore, it was necessary to make detailed adjustments to ensure that the troops deployed on the frontline did not encounter the undead giants.

“Captain Jeong Dong-geon. We’ve confirmed that the Cult of Immortality, having seen the deployment of the Hwarang, is now deploying necromancers to the frontline. What should we do?”

But the Cult of Immortality was not to be underestimated.

Determined to win this time, they began deploying their most crucial force, the necromancers, to the frontline. With the necromancers deployed, the precision of the undead forces on the frontline increased, and they began launching more violent and fierce attacks.

Zombies and skeletons that had been randomly breaking formation now firmly held their positions, either becoming ammunition for the undead giants or serving as walls, emerging as threats on the frontline.

“Deploy the prepared snipers. Kill on sight.”

“Yes.”

In response, Jeong Dong-geon also deployed snipers to target the necromancers on the frontline.

Although the necromancers were hiding among the undead army, he had already obtained information that a specific magical pattern was required to enhance or command the undead army.

Accordingly, Jeong Dong-geon formed teams of two, consisting of a scout who could accurately detect the necromancer’s magical energy and a sniper capable of long-distance shooting based on the scout’s detection. When the Cult of Immortality deployed necromancers to the frontline, these teams would immediately move out to form a special unit dedicated to eliminating necromancers.

“Ugh!”

“S-sniper! Take cover!”

As snipers were deployed and began killing necromancers without any intention of capturing them, the necromancers’ movements began to become restricted.

It’s unclear how many necromancers were killed by the snipers, but from Jeong Dong-geon’s perspective, as long as the necromancers’ movements were restricted by the snipers, that was satisfactory.

Consequently, the Cult of Immortality also had to come up with countermeasures against the snipers, but since this was the first time snipers had been deployed to the frontline, they couldn’t properly counter them.

“This battle is also our victory. The necromancers are restricted. All troops, push forward.”

With the necromancers’ control gone, the undead army’s movements also became restricted, and the undead giants couldn’t use these troops as ammunition.

The undead weren’t voluntarily approaching the giants to become ammunition, and each undead giant was being engaged by one of Seorabeol’s Hwarang, preventing them from showcasing their might as siege weapons.

Thus, the frontline that had been advancing with momentum began to stalemate, and soon after, the tide began to turn in Seorabeol’s favor.

“Push them beyond the bridge! The undead giants can no longer use the undead army as ammunition!”

With the most threatening attack gone, Seorabeol’s formidable firepower began to accurately hit the undead army, and unlike their initial momentum, the undead army began to be pushed back continuously.

The undead giants, busy dealing with the Hwarang, couldn’t shield against the Bahamut Bullets, so they couldn’t serve as walls for the undead army, and the terrifying power of the Bahamut Bullets was now fully manifesting.

Bullets were fired without restraint, and the undead army, which had numbered in the thousands, began to be pushed back to South Ulsan.

“A Hwarang has taken down an undead giant!”

And then, a glowing sword held by one of the Hwarang pierced straight through an undead giant’s chest, and the giant’s patchwork body instantly collapsed, reverting to hundreds of individual corpses.

That seemed to be the decisive blow, as the undead giants began to retreat, and the Hwarang set out to pursue them relentlessly.

“Enough! We’ve succeeded in defense, so today’s battle ends here.”

From Seorabeol’s perspective, pursuing without restoring the breached defensive line required significant resolve, so Jeong Dong-geon immediately and strictly prohibited the Hwarang from pursuing.

Thus, the first skirmish ended in Seorabeol’s victory, but…

‘This probably isn’t the end.’

Jeong Dong-geon already sensed that this wasn’t the end.

After all, the Cult of Immortality he knew was a formidable adversary that could command an unlimited number of troops larger than this, and they couldn’t be underestimated.