Ch.275275. Preliminary Skirmish (1)

Of course, the Cult of Immortality wasn’t simply watching the Seoul Allied Forces’ invasion. They tried to defend against the attack by reusing the Han River defense line that had previously earned Kim Su-ho his reputation as Seoul’s hero.

Unfortunately for the Cult of Immortality, the hero who had designed that Han River defense line from start to finish was now part of this attack. Upon seeing the Han River defense line he had built, Kim Su-ho made just one comment.

“We need a single breakthrough point. The weakness of the Han River defense line is that the entire Han River becomes the frontline, and all defensive positions must work organically to be effective. In other words, the defense of any single bridge isn’t actually that strong.”

The strike team’s operation was a focused breakthrough.

Rather than attacking multiple fronts at specific times to create confusion within the Cult of Immortality, their strategy was to select the most vulnerable defensive position and concentrate all their forces on that single point to break through the bridge.

“The Han River frontline is too long. Now that they’ve lost Incheon as an undead supply base, the Cult of Immortality must deploy limited troops to the bridges, just as I did in the past.”

Indeed, the Cult of Immortality had expected the Seoul Allied Forces to attack all defensive positions when crossing the Han River, so they had precisely distributed undead to each defensive position. As a result, the number of undead at any single position wasn’t particularly large.

Above all, there were easily over 20 bridges connecting Gangnam and Gangbuk, which limited the Cult’s options. This was their best defensive strategy given the circumstances.

The Cult believed that if the Seoul Allied Forces discovered a poorly defended bridge, they would persistently attack that weak point—and indeed, Kim Su-ho began his attack exactly as the Cult had feared.

“Break through! If we can cross the bridge somehow, victory is ours! Maintain your speed, but don’t bother securing a retreat path! The Gangnam Bridge is just a passage to cross!”

Targeting the early dawn hours when surveillance was weakest, Kim Su-ho crossed the Gangnam Bridge like lightning and declared to his strike team that they didn’t need to secure a retreat path.

What he demanded from the strike team was just one thing: to break through the defensive line controlling the Gangnam Bridge. There was a real risk of suffering heavy casualties if they were intercepted by Skeleton Mages before completely crossing the river, so urgency was essential.

However, Kim Su-ho and his strike team swept through like wildfire, and most of the strike team managed to cross the Gangnam Bridge before the Cult of Immortality could detect their attack. As for the Death Knight blocking the bridge…

“A-yeon!”

“I know!”

Kim Su-ho and Jin A-yeon took it on themselves.

They used acceleration magic built into their dragon armor to rush at the Death Knight trying to block the bridge, swinging their weapons to prevent it from sealing off the passage.

They struck downward as if to split its head, and while the Death Knight successfully defended against their first attack…

“Die!”

It lacked the strength to block their second strike.

Jin A-yeon shattered the Death Knight’s waist with her spear, while Kim Su-ho instantly closed in, grabbed the skeletal neck that was barely held together by skin, and slammed it into the ground.

With a tremendous crash, the Death Knight that Jin A-yeon had fought was split between upper and lower body, while the one Kim Su-ho had pinned had its head completely shattered, rendering it motionless.

With the Death Knights that posed the greatest threat to controlling the Gangnam Bridge subdued, the rest was remarkably easy.

Following the two heroes, the strike team poured across the Gangnam Bridge, and the undead stationed there quickly began to fall back under the strike team’s assault.

“Destroy them completely. Make sure they can never return to the Cult of Immortality!”

Most of the undead deployed on the bridge were Skeleton Mages capable of ranged magical attacks.

This was partly because they could repel crossing enemies with magic attacks, and partly because the Cult was confident that with barriers and powerful Death Knights stationed at the Han River defense line, most attacks wouldn’t break through.

Moreover, apart from the Death Knights, the remaining undead were dispersed throughout Seoul as needed, so deploying troops optimally to defensive positions was the best the Cult of Immortality could do.

‘The enemy’s thinking isn’t wrong. If I were in the Cult’s position, I’d also place ranged undead on the bridges, protected by powerful Death Knights, while installing barriers to restrict enemy movement—a kind of optimization.’

This was indeed the operational method Kim Su-ho had used for the Han River defense line, and it had proven sufficient under normal circumstances.

Even Kim Su-ho acknowledged that the Cult’s approach wasn’t wrong, and even with this successful breakthrough…

“Death Knight cavalry charging toward our left flank! The Death Knights appear to be supported by Necromancers!”

“Skeleton Warriors appearing ahead! Their numbers reach a thousand! There seem to be Skeleton Mages and Archers mixed among them!”

“Zombie hordes swarming on our right!”

Reinforcements from other defensive positions could arrive quickly.

Having quickly realized that the Gangnam Bridge had fallen to the Seoul Allied Forces, the Cult of Immortality mobilized troops from other bridges and central reserves toward the Gangnam Bridge, effectively surrounding Kim Su-ho and his strike team on three sides.

“Our retreat path through the Gangnam Bridge has been cut off!”

Through coordinated efforts from other areas, they had even succeeded in blocking the strike team’s retreat path. However, Kim Su-ho and his followers had no intention of returning to their main force.

Kim Su-ho observed the approaching forces, made some quick calculations, and then turned to the right.

“There are only zombies on the right. We’ll break through there.”

He intended to break through the Cult’s encirclement and overturn the entire Gangbuk region. Following his order, the strike team prepared themselves and followed Kim Su-ho as he charged ahead.

“So where are we heading?”

“Yongsan. There’s a forward base I used in the past still remaining in Yongsan. The Cult of Immortality is likely using it in my place, but we can just take it back.”

As they broke through the zombie horde approaching from the right, the zombies couldn’t withstand the impact—black blood and flesh flew through the air as corpses piled on the ground.

Some used magic built into their dragon armor to explode zombies, while others electrocuted or froze them with personal magic.

Some crushed zombies with the superhuman strength of Awakened, others cut them in half with weapons, and some strike team members simply pushed zombies aside with a wave of their hand.

“Change direction. Head toward the enemy’s center.”

“Understood.”

After reaching the center of the zombie horde, the strike team immediately changed direction toward where the Skeleton Warriors were pursuing them. The pursuing Skeleton Warriors became entangled with the zombie horde, preventing them from properly using their strength.

The strike team, hiding among the zombie masses, continued to create confusion so the Skeleton Warriors couldn’t demonstrate their full capabilities while entangled with the zombies. Sensing the strike team’s strategy, the Necromancers controlling the Skeleton Warriors recognized the danger and tried to pull their forces back to prevent their warriors from getting mixed up with the expendable zombies. Unfortunately, the Skeleton Mages and Archers positioned in the middle blocked the Warriors’ path, and conversely, the Warriors’ presence interfered with these ranged units’ attacks due to friendly fire concerns.

“It’s already too late.”

And from the moment the vanguard turned their backs to the enemy, they became prey for the strike team.

This time, Kim Su-ho and the strike team broke through the center of the Skeleton Warrior formation with a focused attack, demonstrating overwhelming mobility that made fools of the Necromancers. They began causing havoc in the middle of the formation with unstoppable momentum.

Only then did the Cult try to gather the Skeleton Warriors to surround Kim Su-ho and his strike team in the center of the formation. But the strike team was quick to notice, and whenever signs of encirclement appeared, they would find a weak point in the formation, break through it, and escape the encirclement—making the situation extremely frustrating for the Cult of Immortality.

“Send the Death Knight cavalry charging in immediately! Even if we take losses, we need to inflict damage on them too.”

But the Cult’s decision-making was also swift. They were willing to sacrifice Skeleton Warriors to force damage on Kim Su-ho and his strike team through a Death Knight cavalry charge.

The Death Knight cavalry’s charge was like a hellish army, mercilessly trampling not only expendable zombies but even the elite Skeleton Warriors if they blocked their advance.

It was indeed a bold charge that would have forced losses on the strike team if faced head-on, but…

“Let’s flee to Dongho Bridge.”

“Hehe. We’re running away! Everyone retreat!”

When the Death Knight cavalry began their unstoppable charge, ignoring their own forces to target them, Kim Su-ho and his strike team retreated without hesitation.

They could be called cowards lacking the courage to fight, and it might seem cowardly at first glance, but Kim Su-ho wasn’t running away because he feared the Death Knight cavalry’s charge.

Rather, he chose to retreat without hesitation because he believed fleeing would provoke the Cult of Immortality further. Far from giving up the fight, retreat was actually part of his strategy.

“You cowards!”

“That’s right! We’re cowards! So what? What have you ever done for us?”

When the Cult of Immortality criticized the retreating strike team for their cowardice, the strike team retorted with a “so what?” attitude.

It’s strange to expect villains and heroes to fight fairly in the first place.

Who decided that allies of justice must always fight honestly while villains must always fight cowardly? Allies of justice can also shout “cowardly” and “despicable” while tricking villains, and villains can also pursue fair competition.

“Chase them! We can’t let them return to Seongnam in one piece!”

The charging Death Knight cavalry immediately began pursuing the retreating strike team. The strike team quickly subdued the barriers and Death Knights blocking Dongho Bridge and began crossing.

The one fortunate thing for the Cult of Immortality was that the other side was still their territory, so they could deploy undead stationed in the city to block the strike team’s exit.

Of course, with the strike team’s strength, any undead blocking the exit would be swept away in seconds, but in superhuman combat, even those few seconds were an enormous amount of time.

The Death Knight cavalry could catch up to the strike team in those few seconds, so the Cult of Immortality tried to contact the Necromancers positioned on the other side to block the entrance, but…

“Protect. And Turn Undead.”

Unfortunately, the exit the strike team would pass through had already been captured by Yu-na.

Waiting at the exit to Gangnam for the strike team, Yu-na blocked the path of the pursuing Death Knights with a wall of magic as soon as the strike team passed through. The Death Knights raised their charging lances to penetrate Yu-na’s wall, but despite thrusting with all their might, they couldn’t even scratch the magical barrier she had created.

Then she mercilessly cast Turn Undead on the approaching Death Knights. This terrifying spell, essentially an instant death curse for undead, caused even the Death Knights—the strongest existing undead—to have their physical forms instantly disintegrate.

Terrified by Yu-na’s presence blocking the path, the Cult of Immortality immediately ordered the Death Knights to retreat, though they surely knew how many Death Knights they had lost to this decoy.

“The first offensive is complete.”

And this was just the first offensive, while simultaneously…

“Before we begin the second offensive, please restore our strength.”

“Leave it to me.”

It was also the beginning of the second offensive.

Kim Su-ho and his strike team recovered their strength through Yu-na’s healing, received powerful support magic, and then crossed Dongho Bridge again, this time charging toward the location of Banpo Bridge.