Chapter 81: To the Blockade Line

[Translator – Aren]

The place where we Supreme Archmages, Go Ryeoha, and the five soldiers came ashore was a Han River embankment blanketed in thick fog.

The moment we disembarked, we put our gas masks back on, pulled up the hoods of our military ponchos, and checked our firearms first.

For a while, the air filled with everyone’s heavy breathing as we simultaneously checked our gas-mask filters.

The entire process took barely more than 10 seconds.

Putting on a gas mask and completing an equipment check in one fluid motion had become basic knowledge for a civilian of the Republic of Korea in 2028.

Then, while we shouldered our backpacks, the pastor approached the soldier who had been handling the radio and asked,

"Hey, soldier. Why did we have to get off in Guri? We could’ve gone farther.”

The radio operator’s expression filled with irritation.

Apparently, his stress was on the verge of exploding after enduring such extreme conditions.

Thinking the situation might be moments from boiling over, I stepped toward them.

Then the soldier noticed the cross necklace hanging around the pastor’s neck inside his military poncho. His expression twisted strangely before he let out a sigh.

"There’s an offensive underway."

Beneath the camouflage paint, the radio operator swallowed down fear wrapped in exhaustion and irritation as he spoke.

It was as though he had no desire to explain anything more.

The pastor also read the countless emotions contained in the soldier’s voice and did not press him.

The other soldiers, though silent, appeared no different. The moment they climbed out of the boats, they began disabling the motors and kicking them with obvious frustration.

Their attitude inevitably wounded me as well.

Apparently, the soldiers regarded us as nothing more than globs of spit.

No matter how much they tried to restrain their emotions, even if protecting us was their mission objective, it was painfully obvious they believed we would be useless in such an extreme environment.

I inwardly sneered at their attitude.

How dare ordinary non-wizards look down on us Supreme Archmages, every one of whom possessed magic?

I turned my head toward the road and city streets that should lie atop the gentle rise beyond the embankment, hidden within the dense fog, and clicked my tongue.

Just then, Shin Nain and Lee Sejun, who had noticed the strange atmosphere, were approaching me.

"Jemin-ssi. I assume you understand what the soldiers are thinking without needing me to tell you.”

"Haah. Until just a little while ago, we were calling each other comrades and giving high fives.”

"It’s because their lives are on the line.”

Once Shin Nain and Lee Sejun joined me, the pastor and Hamza also approached, frowning at the soldiers’ distant behavior.

Go Ryeoha looked back and forth between us and the soldiers, smiled with her eyes, and trotted along behind the pastor.

"They’re pretty prickly. Then again, Seoul is a harsh place for people who are neither wizards nor possessors of unshakable faith.”

"I think being near our Aphorism… I mean, Supreme Archmages would be safest.”

"Why is everyone acting like this? Aren’t they exactly what soldiers are supposed to be like? They’re actually far kinder and more polite than what I’d heard!”

Everyone quietly closed their mouths at Go Ryeoha’s cheerful remark.

Because we understood.

To someone from Seoul, soldiers were simply enemies.

Unable to distinguish monsters from innocent people, the soldiers had shot civilians on sight.

They could probably tell the difference through scientific technology and precise examinations, but considering the time and expenses involved, simply shooting them was far more economical.

Time was likely the greatest concern.

The infection spread rapidly. Insisting on CT-scanning people one by one, checking every result, and making sure not a single innocent person was left behind was practically the same as abandoning the quarantine blockade altogether.

But from Go Ryeoha’s perspective as someone who had been trapped inside that blockade, soldiers who merely acted irritated probably seemed exceptionally kind.

At a loss for words, I smacked my lips and shrugged.

"These things should be settled through conversation. Let’s go.”

As the Supreme Wizard’s public face, I stepped forward to persuade the soldiers.

The radio operator was giving the other soldiers various instructions and hand signals when he noticed me approaching and immediately frowned. He held a gas mask in his left hand.

As the other soldiers also took out their gas masks and put them on, the radio operator asked curtly.

"Civilian Operator. Whatever you have to say, please make it quick.”

"How long are they keeping the route open?”

"One hour. Chemical munitions will be dropped on the outskirts of Guri in one hour.”

They had said that once the seasonal winds shifted, they would begin indiscriminately using chemical weapons and white-phosphorus incendiaries.

Apparently, they had meant it.

-Click.

I idly fiddled with my rifle and let out a short breath.

"If you want to break through within the hour, then trust us and follow our lead for a little while."

"Haah…Do you think we’re pushovers just because we’re speaking politely to you?”

I could say the same thing.

What exactly made these ordinary non-wizards outside Seoul think they could stand their ground against wizards like this?

They clearly weren’t ordinary soldiers and looked more like special forces, but did they really believe decades of grueling effort and training could protect them from magic?

Did they think magic was cheaper than decades of their lives?

How outdated.

The age of pathetic effort relying solely on natural talent and diligence was over.

This was now the age of equivalent exchange, where pain was offered in return for magic.

I stared at the soldiers for a moment, then had no choice but to unveil the secret finishing move I had only considered until now.

"Listen, soldier ahjussis. I know you’re having a hard time. That’s exactly why I’m saying we should cooperate properly and get out together.”

"Civilian Operator. Regardless of your confidence, we are trained personnel. In a situation like this, following our instructions is how you make it out safely. Compared to all of you, we…”

I pulled up my gas mask to expose my mouth, opened it slightly, and stuck out my tongue.

After seeing my tongue hanging in tatters from how often I had bitten it, the soldier’s eyes showed a faint flicker of unease mixed with irritation that plainly asked, 'So what?’

With my tongue still out, I said.

"I can use magic to make your desires amplify.”

"...Is that supposed to be a threat?”

"Let’s avoid violent language like 'threat.' I’m requesting involuntary consent.”

Upright Alteration-type, Tongue-branch, Stage 2.

The most vicious way [Desire Amplification] could be used against humans, while still causing no direct harm to human life.

"Quietly give your involuntary consent before I make your sex drives explode and leave you tangled up with one another.”

Everyone could surely tell just how noble and virtuous I, Baek Jemin, truly was from the fact that I had never used it this way before.

Once the chain of command had been established, the Supreme Archmages and soldiers began moving together at tremendous speed.

Even dense fog limiting visibility to 50 meters was useless before wizards.

We had Hamza, who judged danger through [Angel’s Intuition], Shin Nain, who could detect even the number and type of monsters through Ears-branch magic, and Go Ryeoha, who could draw out monsters lying in ambush with [Spirit Sight].

And that wasn’t all.

I, the Great Archmage Baek Jemin, and Lee Sejun, who would make the perfect companion if his personality were reformatted, served as our actual combat power.

The hordes of monsters that noticed us and came charging were nothing more than fodder, allowing us to display the tactics and formations we had honed in Seoul without holding anything back.

The soldiers advanced while watching every direction, with the Supreme Archmages and Go Ryeoha wedged in among them.

The moment Hamza raised his left hand, Shin Nain stopped briefly with his headset on and delivered a short, concise report.

"Five faces. Two spines.”

The moment I heard that, I rolled my tongue inside my mouth as well.

Target, monster, kill, 5 minutes, path.

The dense fog churned and cleared away, revealing perfectly transparent patches without a single particle remaining, where crimson footprints stood out sharply.

Among them, I aimed my rifle at the red footprints with the widest stride and the fastest approach. I left the Amalgams to the other Supreme Archmages.

Predator Spines were more dangerous, with their grotesque mobility, agile movements, and limited ability to deceive precognition.

Following my assessment of the threat priority, Shin Nain naturally redirected his rifle elsewhere.

Two out of ten.

Shin Nain and I were the first to confront the danger.

-Bang!

The bolt cycled, and the casing from the fired round spun away.

-Babang!

Each time I pulled the trigger, recoil pressed down against my shoulder blade and collarbone.

A skull that had once belonged to a human burst apart with a dull sound, and dozens of pairs of rib legs covered in bone-cancer-like growths writhed before slowly falling still.

The two fastest-approaching sets of red footprints disappeared.

While I blew apart two Predator Spines with headshots, Shin Nain focused more on marking targets and warning us of danger than on securing kills.

"Three this way! Two are circling around!”

On the riverside road, the only cover consisted of street trees, trees planted to form a park, and the thick, heavy fog.

It appeared the Amalgams had learned tactics for fighting humans within that natural cover, even in an environment where the fog put them at a disadvantage.

The red footprints I had been watching suddenly split apart and scattered in an attempt to surround us.

The masses of faces dragging human bodies behind them had fully learned how to fight infantry armed with guns.

I aimed my rifle at the red footprints making the widest detour, toward the small Amalgam sprinting beyond the fog while releasing sobbing sounds. I pulled the trigger, aiming toward the monsters’ faint voices mumbling for someone to save them.

-Babang! Bang!

"Soldiers, stay sharp!”

That was when Pastor Park Yohan’s booming voice rang through his gas mask as he aimed his rifle into the sky.

-Bang!

"Islam, point out wherever the danger is! Nain, help Jemin shoot the ones circling around! Sejun and Ryeoha-ssi, knock back anything that gets close! The soldiers and I will pour bullets wherever Islam points!”

The pastor’s judgment calmed the soldiers, who had been shaken by the conditions inside the blockade line near Seoul.

Even rotten, they were still special forces. Ordinary people or conscripts would have broken down completely here, but as a 5-man team that had infiltrated Seoul, their judgment and improvisation were swift.

"Follow orders. Establish a kill zone!”

Guns were humanity’s greatest power and its greatest curse.

Knowing that a single gunshot would draw even more monsters, we had no choice but to keep moving while fighting without pause.

Hamza in particular began retching after realizing that many lives now rested on his shoulders.

His face turned deathly pale beneath the crushing pressure as he pointed frantically in different directions.

"Th-this way!”

"Fire!"

Whenever the pastor gestured toward wherever Hamza pointed, the soldiers immediately formed a firing line and unleashed a hail of bullets.

But everyone could see a single mass of shadow splitting apart and scattering beyond the dense fog. The same thing the enormous Amalgam at Suwon Station had done long ago was now being reproduced with far greater precision.

Shin Nain and I handled the Amalgams that split apart and circled wide in an attempt to surround us, as well as the Predator Spines darting along the treetops.

-Bang, babang….

I shout down the most dangerous Predator Spines.

-Ratata!

Shin Nain killed the Amalgams I failed to stop as they circled around, but even then, we could not hold back every horde of monsters closing in from all directions.

The Amalgams split apart so many times that they eventually became impossible to distinguish by shape alone.

Civilians began running toward us from beyond the fog, screaming for help.

"Please save us!”

"S-soldiers! Please…don’t shoot!”

Within the 50-meter range of visibility.

The people breaking through the dense fog, weeping and begging to be saved, looked human to anyone.

There was a woman in her 20s, her face frozen in panic as tears, snot, and drool streamed down while she sobbed, a man in his 30s, even children barely into their teens. Each of them desperately raised both hands while waving torn clothes and stained shirts.

The sight of them stumbling and crawling forward while bawling was humanity gripped by terror itself.

Even the soldiers who had been firing blindly only moments before flinched at the sight and unconsciously took their index fingers off the triggers.

Only Shin Nain and I could aim our rifles at the civilians without hesitation.

"They’re monsters! Shoot!”

If a bullet struck the body instead of the head, there was no way to tell whether the target was truly human or monster.

The Amalgam’s fluids were only contained in the head. When one bled from the body, I shot it in the head to end its suffering, only to see it burst with the pus-like fluid characteristic of an Amalgam.

Without magic, there was no way to distinguish them in the field.

Because of that, even the soldiers who had hesitated soon found themselves frantically shooting down everything that approached while screaming.

No matter how highly trained they were, it was difficult to endure an environment inside the blockade line where monsters disguised as civilians screamed with human faces and voices and continued groaning even as they died.

"Hah, huff, hah.”

The soldiers were tiring much faster than we were.

But apparently sensing that the moment they tired would be the moment they died, they gradually began relying on the pastor without even realizing it.

Guiding them, the pastor shouted,

"Keep moving! Quickly!”

As the soldiers mentally exhausted, the firepower of their kill zone began dropping sharply.

The difference amounted to no more than an extra second spent reloading, or the muzzle wavering enough to reduce accuracy by the slightest degree. But against a horde of monsters, even that was fatal.

As more monsters slipped through the kill zone and increasing numbers split apart to form an encirclement, it became impossible for Shin Nain and me to handle them alone.

That was when Lee Sejun and Go Ryeoha stepped in.

-Bang!

A Predator Spine dangling from a tree burst apart. Go Ryeoha smiled as she shook out her hand, seemingly trying to cool the Fire-spewing Hands.

Then the invisible hand knocked the approaching monsters back.

Lee Sejun fired into our blind spots, and whenever he noticed a monster even Go Ryeoha had missed, he clenched his blood-soaked right fist and swung. It was an undeniably thrilling sight, but not even the soldiers had enough composure left to admire someone punching monsters until they exploded.

Only after we ran like mad, fired like mad, and killed without pause did the fog finally begin to thin.

We were leaving Guri.

But because I knew the thinning fog was not something we could simply celebrate, I volunteered to take the rear.

"Pastor, take Hamza and the soldiers ahead toward the blockade line. Stop the troops there from firing on us.”

"I’m leaving it to you, Jemin!”

"Urgh…Ugh..."

Dragging the retching Hamza along, the pastor led the soldiers out of the fog first.

The soldiers’ complicated gazes passed over us, but I ignored them.

Shin Nain, the Shitmaster who was nevertheless our best detector and an excellent marksman, understood my intention first and took his place beside me.

"Please focus on the Predator Spines. I’ll aim for the Amalgams’ legs as much as possible.”

Next came Lee Sejun, who approached after glancing around and reading the mood.

"Planning to show off?”

Last came Go Ryeoha. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but she was unquestionably valuable combat power.

"Ahaha, it’s been a long time since I fought together with others!”

A fanatic zealot. A hairy bastard who never stopped going on about his TS nonsense. And a lunatic bitch.

Not one of them was someone I would ever willingly choose as my companion, but with the world hurtling toward its end, I couldn’t afford to be picky.

-Click.

I changed magazines and loaded the taped one I had enchanted beforehand with [Blood of the Right Hand].

-Click.

Only the weight of this heavy lump of metal felt truly dependable.

I drew a short, sharp breath, then spoke.

"Supreme Archmages."

April 25th, 2028.

Day 11 of our expedition.

The final stretch.

I shouldered my rifle, aimed through the red-dot sight at the horde of monsters charging through the fog, and smiled.

"We hold them off as we make our way to the blockade line.”

Monsters.

The more humans they devoured, the more they learned about humanity.

And we were learning more about them in order to kill them.