Ch.3030. The Self-Proclaimed Great Hwanguk People’s Sole Grand Alliance

September 24, 2■■■.

At this ceasefire-defense line located in northern Gyeonggi Province, a fierce battle was raging as usual to repel the monsters of the Pyongyang Hive Mind pouring down from the north.

“Fire! Fire!”

KWAAAAAAANG!

“Good!”

KEEEEEEEE—BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!

Lasers, energy shells, high-explosive rounds, armor-piercing shells, grenades, plasma blobs, and missiles.

All kinds of weapons rained down on the approaching monsters, but the creatures charged recklessly toward the humans, using their weapons regardless of the damage to their bodies.

The energy shooters and laser shooters attached to their bodies fired pure energy light bullets and high-powered lasers indiscriminately, while their psychics crushed turrets and protective shields whole, compressing the humans inside.

Occasionally, unlucky humans were torn to pieces by weapons wielded by monsters that had gotten too close, becoming their prey. Such situations occurred frequently across the frontline.

Of course, considering that thousands of monsters died to kill just one human, the exchange ratio was overwhelmingly in humanity’s favor.

However, while the Hive Mind’s monsters were merely expendable and mass-producible tools, human soldiers were difficult-to-replace resources and components of society.

The time and money spent on training, various equipment, and human life itself—nothing was unimportant. Thus, the government inevitably began enlisting civilian help to hunt monsters.

And this civilian help came in the form of professional monster hunters commonly known as Hunters.

“Team 1, advance. Teams 2 and 3, provide covering fire. Team 4, prepare fire support.”

“YES, SIR!!!”

In one part of the frontline, dozens of people wearing power suits painted primarily yellow and white—the 13th Division of Seonggwang Guild—were engaged in combat with various weapons.

At the very front, two Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) painted yellow and white, along with four Giant Armors—piloted exoskeletons about 4 meters tall—were supporting the aforementioned soldiers.

The IFVs served as shields, moving with the power of protective barriers and armor plates based on energy produced by the mounted bio-cores, while demonstrating overwhelming firepower with their mounted autocannons, laser machine guns, and anti-monster missiles.

Meanwhile, the four 4-meter Giant Armors functioned as massive infantry. Two boldly engaged monsters head-on with tactical shields equipped with field generators and close-combat weapons, while the other two provided fire support from the rear with heavy weapons.

Medium infantry in power suits positioned between these heavy equipment actively provided fire support with their weapons.

The weapons they carried boasted firepower at least equivalent to heavy machine guns, and some used unique weapon systems such as psychic flamethrowers or plasma weapons to respond appropriately to different situations.

While they fought hard at the front, steady support came from the rear. Using the same chassis as the IFVs but equipped with mortars instead, these support vehicles made a significant difference.

Though there were only four of them, their firepower—launching six anti-monster mortar shells per minute—was more effective against lower-grade monsters than any other weapon.

Finally, there was a special team with a completely different feel from these military-style teams.

Seonggwang Guild 13th Division Captain Lee Sujin, Deputy Captain Teresia with her 7-meter Giant Armor, and four mid-level psychic users.

These six psychic users alone were evaluated as having overwhelming combat power equal to the rest of Teams 1-4 combined.

“Hup!”

—SLASH!

First, Team Leader Lee Sujin. As a reinforcement-type psychic user specializing in physical enhancement, she possessed physical abilities comparable to a mid-grade monster while employing human techniques as a hunter.

Her preferred great sword and other weapons were psychic weapons that increased their power by flowing psychic energy across their surfaces. She had reached a level where she could even launch psychic energy slashes through certain techniques.

In contrast, the other four psychic users were ordinary mage-type psychics who deployed barriers and used telekinesis, but even this made them tremendous assets.

They could restrain monsters with telekinesis or protect allies with psychic barriers. They could burn enemies with psychic flames or crisp monsters with psychic lightning.

And there was one who contributed to the battlefield differently from these psychic users—Deputy Captain Teresia, who, despite having only low-level psychic abilities, used them to pilot a 7-meter Giant Armor.

Giant Armor: a bipedal war machine that linked with the pilot’s brain to synchronize all actions. While generally inferior to tanks on conventional battlefields, they were considered more efficient than any other weapon when facing monsters.

Their sizes ranged from wearable 2-meter models to those exceeding 10 meters, separately classified as Titan Armors. Among these, the 7-meter class, though slightly inferior to the currently popular 8-meter class, was still evaluated as a sufficiently powerful weapon.

The energy cannons mounted on both hands, though focused on rate of fire rather than power, could instantly kill mid-grade monsters caught unprepared, while laser autocannons placed throughout the machine simply shredded miscellaneous monsters.

With thick nanomachine armor plating, force fields, and psychic barriers, its defensive capabilities were comparable to a walking fortress. Additionally, boosters mounted on various joints made it surprisingly agile despite its size.

Ironically, because Giant Armors were both conspicuous and powerful, they were often the first targets for monsters on the battlefield.

Therefore, Giant Armor pilots were mostly top elites, and this was also true for Teresia, the pilot of this 7-meter Giant Armor.

Teresia, former leader of a stateless mercenary group that operated between North Korea and Manchuria, obtained South Korean citizenship and became a member of Seonggwang Guild after saving the life of Lee Sujin, the youngest daughter of the Seonggwang Group.

She began gaining public recognition for her activities during the invasion of the “Bomb Spider” Hive Mind in Gangwon Province, and recently continued her activities at the DMZ defense line, becoming nationally popular.

With an impressive record of eliminating 79 confirmed mid-grade monsters, she was also physically attractive—a Slavic beauty with perfect blonde hair and blue eyes.

The machine she piloted was a heavily modified 3rd generation 7-meter Giant Armor from Seonggwang Defense, which had become famous after appearing in a popular movie. Stories of how she had saved the lives of frontline soldiers multiple times had also made the news.

With all these factors contributing to her fame and popularity, she had become the face of Seonggwang Guild, even being selected as a promotional model for Seonggwang Defense’s new products.

And of course, not everyone was pleased with this meteoric rise.

※ ※ ※

After the appearance of monsters, the world naturally fell into chaos.

Countless people died, and vast territories were conquered by monsters.

Society falling into disorder was inevitable under these circumstances, leading to the emergence of various extremist groups.

True communists who disregarded private property… or rather, just reds, neo-Nazis, gender supremacists, extreme nationalists, and pro-■ factions claiming everything should be devoted to certain countries.

All kinds of lunatics gained power and expanded their influence, even openly fighting other groups in city centers to manipulate society according to their wishes.

However, by the present day—more than a hundred years after the appearance of monsters—these extremist groups had gradually faded as society stabilized and public order was restored…

But “faded” didn’t mean gone—such madmen still remained in South Korea.

“We execute today!”

“That fucking whore… finally we can kill her!”

“Let’s dismember her body and sell it! She’s made plenty of money selling herself to Seonggwang, so she must have expensive implants in her body!”

And one of these lunatic groups was the self-proclaimed “Great Korean People’s Sole Alliance”—an extreme nationalist organization targeting Teresia, who they resented for “daring” to obtain South Korean citizenship despite being a “disgusting Slav.”

Blinded by extreme nationalism and ethnocentrism, they had been killing naturalized foreigners in South Korea, and now they were planning to kill Teresia, who had recently gained popularity, simply because she irritated them.

One might wonder how such delusional psychopaths could target an active mid-grade hunter, but from their perspective, they saw a possibility worth planning for.

First, this “Great Korean Whatever” consisted of 14 members—barely worthy of being called an organization—all of whom were former contract workers at a large guild who had failed to secure permanent positions after being outperformed by immigrant hunters.

As such, they possessed monster-hunting equipment they had acquired themselves (since contract workers weren’t issued equipment by guilds) and had skills sufficient for contract work at a large guild.

However, not all mid-grade hunters are equal. For pilots, reflexes and judgment are more important than direct combat power, so they typically invest in implants related to those areas rather than combat.

Therefore, a pilot’s combat ability, even as a mid-grade hunter, isn’t particularly high—stronger than a low-grade hunter but considerably weaker than mid-grade hunters who engage directly in combat.

For this reason, the “Great Whatever Alliance” believed they had a good chance of success and prepared an ambush just in case.

The “Whatever” group occupied the entire alley that Teresia reportedly passed through on her way home, setting up weapons and traps throughout while waiting for her return.

One hour, two hours, three hours, and four hours… As the wait grew endlessly tedious, they received word through their radios that the target was approaching.

[Target approaching! Target approaching!]

Finally, the time for their reward had come.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thu—

CLANK—THUD!

The moment she entered deep into the alley, shutters suddenly came down at the entrance, completely sealing off the entire passage.

“…What’s this?”

Naturally startled by the situation, Teresia instinctively activated her psychic barrier and reached for the laser pistol at her waist—

“Fire!”

“DIEEEEEE!!!”

WHOOOOOOSH!!!!

Psychic flames suddenly poured toward her, weakening her barrier, followed by hundreds of laser beams raining down on the weakened shield.