Ch.257257. Catastrophe (3)

# The First Sighting of ‘Unexpected Reinforcements’

The first sighting of the ‘Unexpected Reinforcements’ was observed during a large-scale defensive battle near the government office, where numerous undead were swarming.

“B-block them!!”

“Don’t fall back─!!”

In a situation where the Chief of Police (equivalent to a modern police commissioner) had suddenly betrayed them by leading his subordinates against them, and the Magistrate of Dongnae, Jo Gap-hyun, had mysteriously disappeared…. The government office was definitely on the defensive.

While the government office side had only three mid-tier fighters at best, the undead army included as many as four mid-tier entities.

A skeleton knight born from the corpse of an aura user, a cursed specter formed from concentrated necromantic energy, and two ghoul priests on top of that.

The government forces were clearly at a disadvantage in terms of combat power, and the undead outnumbered them several times over…. Nevertheless, the defenders at the government office were putting up a tenacious delaying action, using the surrounding walls as a fortress.

Particularly, due to the historical characteristic of storing gunpowder and weapons in the government office, they had more than enough firepower available inside, allowing them to somehow hold out behind walls that weren’t originally designed for siege defense.

But…. such ‘good performance’ has its limits.

-Click.

“─?!! B-block─”

-─BOOOOOM!!!

As the skeleton knight, who had been observing from the rear, suddenly threw a large beam to collapse part of the wall, the tide of battle began to shift rapidly in favor of the undead.

As one section of the wall collapsed, nearby sections crumbled due to the unique construction technique, and the undead, though lacking intelligence but not judgment, began to exploit this gap.

Even hasty attempts to create temporary barricades from the collapsed debris seemed largely futile against the undead horde that charged forward with literal disregard for their bodies.

Starting with several soldiers being grabbed by the reaching undead and dragged into their midst, these countless undead finally succeeded in finding and breaking through a gap….

[Compassionate wind blown from the heavens, deny these unholy beings!]

-Whoooooosh….

At that moment, a miracle occurred.

After a clear, pure voice chanted in a language (Elvish) that they couldn’t understand.

A white light that began to pour from a point in the air soon took the form of a wind tinged with blue light and descended to the ground.

-WHOOOOOSH!!!

With the sudden gust, soldiers either grabbed onto heavy objects to barely hold on, or were blown away, crashing into something and collapsing.

But…. The damage inflicted on the undead by this wind was dozens of times more devastating than mere disruption of formation.

This wind, blown from the celestial realm, filled with celestial energy similar to holy power but purer and clearer, was essentially the embodiment of ‘positive’ energy.

For the undead, whose very essence is marked by negativity, it was like pouring acid on bare skin.

The celestial energy, traveling along the flow of wind and air, caused the undead bodies it touched to simply disintegrate.

Not only the army, which mostly consisted of crude low-tier undead, but also the mid-tier undead leading them suffered extreme damage.

Sofia, the one who changed the course of battle with just a single spell, the so-called ‘Unexpected Reinforcement,’ briefly looked at the people before moving to rescue others….

This phenomenon was occurring throughout Dongnae.

The thunder bird Corin, wrapped in golden electric currents and lightning, used his overwhelming mobility and attack range to rescue those in danger.

Proving that he wasn’t a raptor in appearance only, he rained down lightning like bombardment on any undead that came into his superior field of vision.

Of course, some undead—skeletons being a prime example—have resistance to electrical attacks, but Corin’s firepower is still enough to obliterate low-tier undead even with this annoying resistance.

Additionally, Astra was also a great help in this chaotic situation.

Though now essentially serving as a buffer, Astra, a silver deer specialized in healing abilities, moved swiftly between front and rear lines, scattering silver healing light.

The silver flashes scattered by Astra, who had invested most of his mid-tier (racial) resources in healing, didn’t lose much of their effectiveness despite healing hundreds to thousands of people simultaneously.

….Of course, the vast majority simply had low maximum life force (HP in game terms), which made the healing effects appear stronger.

Meanwhile, on another front, a trio with formidable individual combat power, supported by troops, was clearing areas one by one.

[■■■■■■─!!!]

Chompantlus Kezak, who exerts physical force through roars empowered with aura to create shockwaves, takes the lead.

With his size and the ability to borrow up to three abilities from other animal friends, Chompantlus’s cherry-picked special abilities resulted in combat power that no one could ignore.

He further enhanced his already exceptional physical abilities through Gretel’s aura, improved his combat sustainability using Hydra’s regeneration, and even gained the ability to deal flame-attribute attacks effective against undead through Meary’s ignition ability.

Already unmatched in physical abilities and known for his toughness as a primitive magical beast, it’s not surprising that he naturally took the lead on this battlefield.

Fighting on equal terms with Chompantlus Kezak was none other than Fenrir Robo, a naturally superior-tier species.

Although still under two years old and not yet a full-grown adult (superior-tier), being a naturally superior divine beast granted Robo most of the abilities a magical beast should possess.

Overwhelming strength and mass from his one-ton truck-sized body, combined with the incredible speed that comes from his wolf form, are just the basics.

Their silver fur is not only tough but also reduces damage from man-made weapons, and as a divine beast, Robo possesses excellent resistance to all sorts of magical attacks.

Add to that his ability to manipulate cold, which aims for both debuff and elemental damage effects simultaneously, plus his sense of smell that functions almost like radar due to his canine nature.

Undoubtedly the strongest among the animal friends in terms of pure combat power, Robo leaped over buildings and roads, trampling and tearing apart undead hordes that easily numbered in the thousands.

Additionally, the four animal friends who were originally assigned to protect Cheong-i volunteered to hunt undead in the slums at Sim Cheong’s earnest request.

Lancelot, who secretly aspired to be a knight of justice, received remote permission from Gregory and jumped into enemy lines, while Griffin Gretel, wearing dwarven runic armor, joined in coordination.

She pierced through enemies by gathering mythril vines into a lance form while wearing mythril triple swords, and didn’t forget to unleash aura in the form of shockwaves to sweep away enemies.

Of course, considering that aura was designed primarily to strengthen the body, this usage method incurs considerable consumption, but there’s no choice when facing thousands of enemies.

Beside her, Cretinus, enlarged through his unique ability, demolished buildings and swept away enemies in one go.

Cretinus’s choice to use enlargement instead of seawater manipulation (which was less effective far from the ocean) was excellent, but…. the material damage caused in the process might be best considered ‘unavoidable.’

Additionally, Won Sul was engaged in large-scale rescue operations using clones created through his Taoist arts.

By plucking his fur, applying Taoist magic, and scattering it, dozens of clones appeared on the spot.

Although their physical forms were so fragile that even the slightest damage would cause them to collapse (HP1), they still retained mid-tier attack power.

These clones, each possessing flexible self-awareness and minimal combat capability, were showing the most excellent performance in civilian rescue operations.

As everyone was running wild, clearing out undead, helping with civilian relief, and even Gregory, who had emerged after dealing with the Ghoul Lord underground, was lending his strength to the undead extermination….

“Pack it up! Burn it quickly!”

Jo Gap-hyun, who had quietly disappeared in the chaos, was busy destroying evidence in collusion with several other collaborators.