Ch.226226. Forced Termination (2)

The war was over.

The Dragon God descended, its immense power directed toward South Ulsan, and the Dragon God’s breath swallowed the entire city.

When the light that raged like a storm and its ashen flames died out, Ulsan was no longer the great metropolis that had once been known as Ulsan Metropolitan City.

“This is supposed to be Ulsan?”

Despite considerable time having passed, massive magical remnants still remained, preventing even Awakened from approaching South Ulsan. In this situation, only the Hwarang wearing dragon armor could enter the place where South Ulsan once existed.

The Hwarang began walking with a dejected expression across the land that had been transformed into a massive crater by the Dragon God’s breath. As the Hwarang walked, a continuous sizzling sound came from beneath their feet.

Though all Hwarang were protected by their dragon armor and thus unaffected, it wasn’t difficult to imagine that the environment outside the armor would be difficult for even an Awakened to survive in.

“There’s no reason to search like this. The observation team can handle all the reconnaissance.”

“Indeed.”

To begin with, all the high ground that could have obstructed the observation team’s view had disappeared.

Historical buildings and heritage sites that had stood for hundreds of years were gone, and the numerous modern buildings that had brought prosperity to Ulsan didn’t even leave shadows behind.

The roads that connected the city had long since melted away, and all that remained was the railway connected to the outside, which was twisted like scrap metal at the outskirts, forcibly bent toward the sky.

“It’s completely melted.”

“We can’t find anything intact. Finding survivors from the Cult of Immortality would be hopeless too.”

As they began to move away from the center, scattered remnants of buildings started to appear, and the magical storm that had been roughly pressing against their bodies even with dragon armor on began to feel somewhat mitigated.

But even so, the misery of the metropolis destroyed by the Dragon God’s breath only intensified.

All the Hwarang could see was cement melted by extreme heat and tangles of unidentifiable steel rebar with blue flames burning among the ruins, and only the Hwarang were quietly searching the area.

“At this point, I almost wish we could find survivors.”

“I know.”

It had built up its own history and grown into the metropolitan city of Ulsan.

But as this historic city was annihilated in a single strike, the Hwarang’s hearts grew heavier.

Of course, since this was the apocalypse, they had prepared themselves for even more severe situations, but they were greatly shocked by the fact that this miserable situation was caused not by the Cult of Immortality but by Seorabeol itself.

What made the Hwarang’s hearts even heavier was that this wasn’t just the upper leadership acting alone—the Hwarang themselves were clearly perpetrators in this incident.

“Is this the outcome we chose?”

“…”

“At first, I complained about not using something as simple as the Dragon God. But seeing this… my thoughts have completely changed.”

“Mine too.”

The Hwarang spoke their true feelings while staring at the burning streets, but there was no sign of survivors there either.

From the beginning, this wasn’t the kind of strike one could survive just by being a little away from the center.

Even now, without the dragon armor they wore, the high-density magical energy still actively moving in this place would heat up and crush any Awakened present.

“We won. We won.”

The Cult of Immortality stationed in Ulsan had been completely annihilated.

So it could be said that Seorabeol had achieved complete victory, but none of the Hwarang who entered Ulsan shouted or celebrated this victory.

Instead, they looked at the devastated ruins of Ulsan with even heavier expressions, keeping their words to themselves.

“Is this… what we protected?”

One of the Hwarang sat down under a collapsed steel tower and muttered.

They had been searching for hours without rest, but there was no sign of survivors from the Cult of Immortality.

All the Hwarang could see was the flame of the Dragon God Bahamut burning on the collapsed ground.

“This is nature’s wrath.”

It was indeed a scene that would be recorded as legendary.

However, one Hwarang thought with tears in his eyes that this scene would be recorded not as Seorabeol’s perfect victory but as nature’s wrath.

Yes, it was nature’s wrath to judge the arrogance of humans who tried to exploit the Dragon God at their convenience.

“It was best when we knew nothing.”

At first, the Hwarang had marveled at the Dragon God’s descent.

“Is this… the power of the Dragon God?”

“With that power, we could defeat the Cult of Immortality… no, any enemy!”

Before their eyes, the damned Cult of Immortality collapsed, the evil threatening the Korean peninsula disappeared, and Seorabeol’s justice prevailed.

When the light faded, the smoke cleared, and they set foot there, everything was gone.

They had betrayed the hearts of the Ulsan citizens whom they were supposed to protect and liberate.

“So that’s why! That’s why!”

A young Hwarang standing on a collapsed overpass began to cry out toward the sky darkened by the magical storm.

The childish dreamer who had sought the romance of being a Hwarang and called for more wars to prove himself was gone, and a warrior who hated meaningless war was being born.

“Was this the reason the Hwarang were created? The reason the Dragon God didn’t intervene directly?”

One Hwarang stared at the ruins with a hollow expression and muttered to himself.

“I think I understand now why it’s called a god. Even though we’ve gained tremendous power as Awakened that can change fate…”

They had achieved victory using the Dragon God, but the Hwarang had not won.

Rather, the very fact that the Dragon God had to intervene was the Hwarang’s defeat, and the Hwarang vowed to exert themselves so that such a thing would never happen again.

After all, if they didn’t want to see such a terrible scene again, the Hwarang needed to take more initiative and achieve victory themselves.

Otherwise, they would witness another city perish like Ulsan.

“This is the price of summoning the Dragon God unprepared. So everyone, kneel and observe a moment of silence.”

Jeong Dong-geon, seeing the city’s misery, told his troops that this disaster was partly their responsibility too.

The troops felt ashamed at Jeong Dong-geon’s words and bowed their heads, and Jeong Dong-geon spoke to them.

“This moment of silence is not for the city we liberated. It’s for those we ignored.”

No one celebrated the victory in the Ulsan War.

Seorabeol’s flag was planted in Ulsan, but under that flag, the troops and Hwarang chose silence instead of joy.

“This is not our victory! We Hwarang have been defeated!”

“Even if a moment comes when the Dragon God’s power is needed, we Hwarang must win the war in place of the Dragon God! Otherwise, we will create another disaster like this Ulsan tragedy!”

“For peace, the Hwarang must train harder! All for one, one for all!”

Not long after, the Hwarang returning from the Ulsan front declared that the Hwarang had been defeated in the Ulsan War, and they became more fervent anti-war advocates than anyone, refusing to use the Dragon God’s power.

Of course, they weren’t refusing war itself.

The Hwarang were a group who knew better than anyone that in this apocalypse, war was an unavoidable fate, and avoiding it would only lead to destruction.

Therefore, they wanted to participate in this terrible war more than anyone else, and they prayed that the Dragon God Bahamut would not descend in that war.

They believed that if they worked hard and won the war themselves, they could regain the honor of recapturing a city rather than causing a disaster like what happened in Ulsan.

“Samyeonggeol was right! It was natural for the Dragon Priestess to express concern!”

“The cabinet should reflect! You said there would be no problem in this war if we used the Dragon God’s power? Well, you were half right! We won the war! But that half did something deadly!”

“If you claim to have persuaded the concerned Dragon God for Ulsan’s sake, then that responsibility also lies with the cabinet!”

And they held the cabinet accountable more than anyone else for claiming that everything would be fine if the Dragon God descended.

Yes, this power was not simply a means to be used casually when needed, but rather a last resort that one hoped not to use even when necessary.

This was a power that should never be easily summoned in order to protect the hope remaining in the apocalypse.

“Ah. Aaaah. Aaaaargh!”

“What have I done!”

“With one choice of mine… Ulsan was destroyed? No! No! I never thought of that! I never intended to destroy the city!”

“I was just being greedy… for my hometown…”

The cabinet itself had fallen into a state of panic upon hearing that Ulsan had been destroyed by the Dragon God’s descent.

After all, what the cabinet had in mind was a limited descent to prevent the Cult of Immortality from entering a state of war, not destroying Ulsan to defeat the Cult of Immortality.

They had never even thought about Ulsan’s destruction; it was just a wish for their hometown to prosper that had caused this disaster. The cabinet had essentially fallen into a brain-dead state with members blaming each other, and because of that…

“For now, let’s reorganize Ulsan as an administrative district of Seorabeol.”

“Let’s do that.”

Prime Minister Hwang Geun-chul and Park Cheol-gon, who had opposed the Dragon God’s descent, were given enormous authority.

The two reorganized Ulsan as an administrative district of Seorabeol with heavy hearts and declared the area as belonging to Seorabeol, but they did nothing beyond that.

They didn’t boast to the public about the tactical victory of destroying the Cult of Immortality’s stronghold, nor did they mention anything about finally conquering South Ulsan.

“Sigh. The cabinet will also walk the path of reform.”

While worrying about the upcoming chaos, there was also expectation that the cabinet could finally be reformed into a form suitable for the reality of the apocalypse.

“The price is too heavy, but it can’t be helped.”

“Yes, it can’t be helped. I suppose we should be thankful there were no civilian casualties.”

However, it was fortunate that although a metropolis had been annihilated, there were no civilian casualties.

More precisely, the members of the Cult of Immortality in South Ulsan had been so thoroughly eliminated that they couldn’t even be counted.

“Instead, everyone belonging to the Cult of Immortality was massacred. Among them… there might have been those who joined the cult just to survive.”

“Considering the karma the Cult of Immortality has accumulated, I don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t tell me you’re sympathizing with them?”

Park Cheol-gon said with a bitter expression that there might have been people who joined the Cult of Immortality just to survive, but Hwang Geun-chul simply shook his head with a resigned expression, saying it was the karma the Cult of Immortality had accumulated.

Considering what the Cult of Immortality had done, their karma was overflowing… too much to call them pitiful enough to sympathize with.

“No, I never sympathized with them and don’t intend to. I think it’s the karma for what they did… At the very least, they too can leave a line in Seorabeol’s history.”

Park Cheol-gon said he had never sympathized with them, yet he commented that this incident would certainly be recorded in history.

Yes, in history…

“Haha. A line in history. Perhaps it should be recorded as the Ulsan Tragedy.”

“The Ulsan Tragedy. Yes, it’s a tragedy. Because Seorabeol’s wrong choice ultimately made the Dragon God intervene.”

It would be recorded as the Ulsan Tragedy.