Ch.5858. Recapturing Pohang (1)

Of course, the concerns of the three major camps in Pohang remained just that, and Balhut Cult’s plans to recapture Pohang Airport showed no signs of stopping.

For the Balhut Cult, attacking Pohang Airport represented a perfect opportunity to absorb—no, to bring under their wing—a tasty medium-sized survivor camp that didn’t belong to the three major powers, as well as an excellent chance to increase the growth potential of the cult’s Awakened.

Even now, they needed to send expeditions to help their Awakened grow, but Pohang was filled with zombies that could readily facilitate the Awakened’s development.

Particularly, the mutant spider zombies provided massive experience points, so it was advantageous for the cult to have their Awakened eliminate them and level up before Bahamut’s arrival.

“So that’s what happened.”

“Hehe. Of course, our operation to recapture Pohang Airport won’t be stopping.”

After finishing the meeting and returning to the forward base, Jeong Dong-geon arrived near Pohang Airport via the Yeongil Bay Road secured by the cult.

There, he met with Son Sang-hui, who was assisting the cult’s Awakened, and told her what had happened at the meeting.

“That happened,” was Son Sang-hui’s assessment of Jeong Dong-geon’s report that they had secured internal communication lines, if not cooperation.

The meeting had concluded so smoothly that there was nothing to criticize.

Rather, in response to Son Sang-hui’s calm statement, Jeong Dong-geon jokingly said that even with the meeting, the operation to recapture Pohang Airport wouldn’t stop.

“You’ve already captured most of it anyway.”

“We haven’t attacked inside Pohang Airport yet. The recapture of Pohang Airport isn’t over.”

Son Sang-hui responded with a cold gaze, saying they had already completed most of the capture.

While they hadn’t attacked Pohang Airport itself, Jeong Dong-geon and the cult’s soldiers had long since captured the civilian and industrial facilities around the airport.

Having occupied most of the civilian areas surrounding Pohang Airport, all they needed to do was storm the airport and sweep away any zombies inside, and it would be over.

Of course, there were still some zombies the cult hadn’t dealt with, but those could be easily eliminated through security operations.

The Balhut Cult had already taken part of Pohang.

“Shouldn’t we prioritize understanding the movements of Pohang’s three major powers?”

“Well, they all have their own thoughts and will act accordingly. We don’t need to comment on their movements.”

“But for the recapture of Pohang, wouldn’t we need the cooperation of the three powers?”

Son Sang-hui asked if understanding the movements of the three major powers in Pohang wasn’t more important than focusing on the airport, which was already on the verge of being captured.

Her point wasn’t wrong.

With the Balhut Cult controlling Yeongil Bay Road, there were only two paths left for them to advance.

What was strange was that Jeong Dong-geon, who had always been serious about capturing Pohang, was now showing leniency, saying there was no need to monitor them.

“We do need it. To govern Pohang in the future, we’ll need the help of the three local camps.”

“Then shouldn’t we move together? If they selfishly think only of their own interests, it could cause great harm to the cult.”

Of course, thinking about the future, the help of the three camps would be essential for governance.

However, if the three camps had other ideas, it could result in significant losses, and they should move together to prepare for that.

Son Sang-hui’s words weren’t wrong.

“I understand their feelings. I used to act like them at first.”

“What?”

However, Jeong Dong-geon was sympathetic to the three camps’ mindset.

Rather, as if understanding their actions, he justified their potentially selfish behavior.

“By understanding… do you mean you were once a survivor camp leader, Jeong Dong-geon?”

“Yes. Before joining the cult, I was the leader of a survivor camp that had some influence in Gyeongju. Well, in Pohang terms, it would be easier to say I was a leader of one of the three major camps.”

“So you were quite successful.”

In response to Son Sang-hui’s question, Jeong Dong-geon smiled bitterly and said he had been in a similar position to the three camps.

If he had been such a successful leader, why was he now serving as a soldier of the Balhut Cult?

Son Sang-hui was rather confused by Jeong Dong-geon’s words.

“That’s why I understand the actions of the three camps. If the Balhut Cult fails, they would have to bear all the aftermath. We have Gyeongju as our rear base, and even if we fail, we can hold out behind the protective walls of the forward base, but they can’t do that.”

“Ah.”

Until now, the Balhut Cult had only experienced victories, so they hadn’t considered it, but they needed to keep in mind the possibility that the Balhut Cult could be defeated.

If the Balhut Cult failed and retreated from Pohang to Gyeongju, the three camps would have to deal with all the consequences.

The cult could fall back to the forward base and retreat to Gyeongju, but the three camps couldn’t do that.

This was the difference between the cult with Gyeongju as its rear base and the three Pohang camps without one.

“Besides, the one we serve won’t care much about their potential betrayal.”

“Are you talking about Lady Yuna?”

“Yes, her too. I’m talking about the Dragon God we serve.”

Moreover, he believed that their actions wouldn’t concern those they served.

At first, Son Sang-hui thought he was referring to Yuna, but Jeong Dong-geon mentioned both Yuna and the Dragon God Bahamut.

“…Does it really exist? This Dragon God you speak of.”

“Yes, it does.”

However, Son Sang-hui, who had never seen the Dragon God, couldn’t help but express doubt about its existence.

She had heard Bahamut’s voice before but had never seen its form, so her doubt was understandable.

Still…

“If you say so, I’ll believe you.”

“Hmm. When you say it so confidently, it’s a bit burdensome.”

Son Sang-hui said she would believe him based on what she had seen of Jeong Dong-geon so far.

He seemed a bit embarrassed by her trust, blushing and stepping back.

But that embarrassment was only momentary.

“The time has come. Turn your telescope toward Jeokgye Pond area, not Pohang Airport.”

“What? Isn’t that farmland? I heard most of the crops were discarded because they missed the harvest season…”

The promised time was approaching.

Jeong Dong-geon told her to turn her telescope toward the area where Bahamut was scheduled to appear, and Son Sang-hui, wondering why he mentioned a meaningless farmland, followed his instruction.

There was only a pond and farmland there, and as Son Sang-hui said, it was a worthless land with crops that had missed their harvest time and were essentially waste.

“Yes, right there. It’s farmland that has lost much of its value with winter approaching, but it’s a wide open space perfect for operating him.”

“What do you mean by ‘operating’? Does it require a large area?”

“Yes. If you increase the magnification of your telescope, you should be able to see Lady Yuna near Jeokgye Pond.”

Just how massive was this thing that required such a large area to operate?

Son Sang-hui looked at Jeong Dong-geon with a bewildered expression, and he simply smiled lightly, saying that if she increased the telescope’s magnification, she would see the Balhut Cult’s leader, Yuna.

With Jeong Dong-geon’s confident demeanor, Son Sang-hui half-doubtingly increased the telescope’s magnification and…

“Ah. It’s true.”

Just as Jeong Dong-geon had said, Yuna was indeed there alone.

She was standing leisurely in the middle of the vast farmland, but without any guards around her.

It was a dangerous situation where the Balhut Cult’s leader could potentially be kidnapped by non-believers. Just as Son Sang-hui was thinking this…

“What… what is that?”

“Lady Yuna said it’s a provocation spell.”

Yuna raised one hand and shot a flame toward the sky.

The flame began to illuminate the entire Pohang area, and Son Sang-hui also looked up at the Pohang sky following the flame, asking Jeong Dong-geon what it was.

He replied that it was a provocation spell used by Yuna.

“By provocation…”

“Yes. She said it’s a magic that forcibly generates what’s commonly called ‘aggro.’ She plans to use it to draw zombies from within the city to that location.”

Put that way, it wasn’t that strange.

If they wanted to recapture the city safely without destroying it, they needed to lure the zombies outside the city.

“Yes, that’s not strange, but the range…”

“It covers the entire city of Pohang.”

“What?”

But the range of the provocation was unusual.

Son Sang-hui initially thought she had misheard.

If it covered the entire city, why had they been fighting inside the city until now?

Moreover…

“Are they planning to eliminate everything in one go? You mentioned the Bahamut Bullet, right? Is it possible to wipe them all out at once with that?”

Does the cult have the strength to fight all the zombies in the city?

Of course, with the Bahamut Bullet that the Balhut Cult boasted about, they could certainly counter them.

Knowing that there were high-powered bullets among the ammunition, Son Sang-hui judged that there must be similarly powerful weapons.

“Hehe. It’s true we’re eliminating them in one go, but we’re not using the Bahamut Bullet. Those bullets are expensive items.”

However, he said they weren’t using the Bahamut Bullet.

While the Bahamut Bullet was powerful, each one was expensive, so they needed to save them whenever possible.

“Then how…”

“You’ll see. Look, the zombies are falling for Lady Yuna’s provocation and heading toward the farmland near Jeokgye Pond.”

While they were chatting, zombies from within Pohang city began to respond to the provocation, all rushing toward where Yuna was.

Of course, there seemed to be regular zombies hiding near Pohang Airport where Son Sang-hui was, as they too began walking toward the farmland, drawn by Yuna’s magic.

Observing this, Son Sang-hui thought, “So it affects even hidden zombies.”

“Hmm. It doesn’t seem to work well on intelligent mutant spider zombies. Only the weaker ones are being drawn in.”

Jeong Dong-geon noted that it wasn’t working well on the intelligent mutant spider zombies.

Looking through the telescope at the mutant spider zombies inside Pohang Airport, he observed that only relatively weak individuals among them were affected by the provocation spell.

Of course, for the Balhut Cult, which needed to level up their Awakened, having mutant spider zombies that provided a lot of experience points remaining was good news.

“That’s perfect. For the growth of our Awakened, we need the mutant spider zombies to remain. And I think we can make new equipment from their spider webs if we use them well.”

“Um, there are no troops deployed around Lady Yuna?”

However, Son Sang-hui seemed to sense something strange and mentioned that there were no troops around Yuna.

Indeed, there were no Balhut Cult armies either around Yuna or in the vicinity.

“Yes, the main force is at the forward base now. They’re all probably watching this scene from the observation deck.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

Jeong Dong-geon responded to Son Sang-hui’s observation by saying that the cult’s main force was at the forward base, and most were likely watching this scene from the observation deck.

Son Sang-hui, concerned for Yuna who was alone, asked if it wasn’t dangerous.

“Dangerous, you say…”

To be honest, Yuna was the safest person in this world.

“Looking at that magnificent sight in the sky, I dare say it’s not dangerous. Even I, who am watching it now, think so.”

“Huh?”

How could one possibly be in danger when witnessing the great Dragon God descending from the sky?

Jeong Dong-geon proudly declared to the world as he watched the massive Dragon God falling from the sky like a giant meteor.

And only then did Son Sang-hui notice the Dragon God descending from the sky in the form of a meteor, leaving her speechless.