Chapter 126

Chapter 126
## Chapter 126: Unstoppable Advance

The parley concluded without a hitch. Each party walked away with their objectives met, and the contractual obligations felt balanced for everyone involved.

With Taebaek LLC stepping in to manage logistics and sanitizing the primary fortifications we had already crushed during our trek, our path was clear to sprint forward with total focus. One of the standout traits of Taebaek was the immense volume of hunters they could deploy—a headcount that far surpassed any rival firm of their stature.

“Good grief, these walking rot-bags just don’t stop coming. Jeong!”

In the distance, a line of wagons came barreling forward, bouncing violently. They were piled high with an unthinkable number of cadavers. There were no animals pulling these transports; instead, severed limbs and torsos were wedged into the spokes of the wheels, their frantic, rhythmic pushing driving the carts toward us.

“Nina nina ni gorilla~”

Humming a strange tune, Jeong Oh-hoon slung his primary firearm over his shoulder and unclipped a compact launcher from his side. A dull metallic click sounded as the projectile took flight. It impacted the earth with a nauseating squelch, spraying a pale, viscous liquid in a wide radius.

The substance reacted instantly, foaming up into massive suds before setting into rock-hard barriers. The charging wagons slammed into these artificial boulders and flipped into the air, though the sheer force of the collision caused the white structures to crumble into dust as well.

“Nice work, Caped Crusader.”

I signaled my approval with a quick movement of my head. Jeong Oh-hoon then aimed his forearm toward a sturdy tree behind our position. A grappling hook hissed through the air, sinking deep into the wood, and he was pulled along the line at high speed. Perched in the high branches, he resumed his fire, picking off the approaching undead one by one.

When the hooded figures attempted to lock onto him and the corpses tried to mount a counter-offensive, his silhouette splintered into dozens of shimmering shards and vanished. He’d refined that particular trick back in Jaun Valley.

“He’s looking sharp.”

Han Sang-ah unsheathed her weapon and dove into the fray. To assist her advance, Jeong Oh-hoon squeezed off several rounds that impacted the dirt around her. Like triggered sprinklers, the bullets hissed and coated the surrounding area in a thick adhesive. With the enemy ranks bogged down by the tacky sludge, Han Sang-ah’s blade became a whirlwind.

“Who even dreams up gear like that?”

I stood back and watched the corpses struggle against the white grime, only to be sliced into ribbons moments later. I had to hand it to them; it was incredibly effective. There was no longer any requirement for me to step in and handle the grunt work. I drove my spear into the soft earth and leaned my weight against it, acting as a spectator to the coordinated dance of Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon.

“Watch your blind spot.”

Whenever I noticed a lapse in their form, I’d casually step in to remove the specific threat. Young warriors evolve through the heat of combat, and since Jeong Oh-hoon had committed to a total reconstruction of his combat doctrine, he needed the mileage to make it stick.

“Be careful where you aim those.”

Han Sang-ah narrowly sidestepped a bursting glue canister and tossed a sharp warning back at Jeong Oh-hoon.

“My bad, my bad.”

He stole a quick glance in my direction and called out, “Hey, aren’t you going to help me find a rhythm here?”

Still resting against my weapon, I replied, “Find a rhythm? For what? I’ll adjust to you. It’s just like a ballroom dance—the one with the better footwork leads and makes the other look good.”

“How much further until we hit Sariwon?” Jeong Oh-hoon asked, panting slightly.

I gave him a flat look. “We haven’t even reached Geumcheon yet.”

It was roughly 15 km to reach Geumcheon, and from that point, we still had a journey of over 80 km to reach Sariwon.

“Let me get a bird’s eye view.”

Jeong Oh-hoon pulled a drone from his gear and sent it buzzing into the sky.

“Wow, these guys have a dark sense of humor over there.”

The video transmission was telling. Geumcheon was bisected by the Yeoseong River, and the main Kaesong-Pyongyang highway we were following required a bridge crossing.

“They dropped the bridge.”

Not only had they sabotaged the structure, but they had also erected massive fortifications on the far side. They were using the river as a natural defensive trench. Naturally, several obelisks were visible behind the lines.

“Three of them this time.”

They were clearly determined to stop anyone from crossing that water. Once we made it past this point, the next major geographical bottleneck would be Pyongyang itself, protected by the Daedong River. However, while Pyongyang was the historic center of the North, our true objective wasn’t liberation. We were headed to Pyeongseong’s Samhyeol-dong to eradicate the Rank-1 Erosion Core.

“If we make it to Pyongyang, we could potentially skirt the city and strike Pyeongseong from the side.”

That explained their desperation to hold this line. Using a river as a shield made any siege significantly more grueling. There were no energy domes this time, though. They’d likely realized that a shield was useless against a concentrated assault—trying to manifest another would have been a waste of resources.

“There’s a peak right next to the shattered bridge. If I set up there, I’ll have a perfect line of sight across the bank.”

“Take the high ground and provide long-range support,” I commanded.

In the meantime, Han Sang-ah and I would navigate the remains of the bridge, clear the hostile presence on the other side, and demolish the obelisks.

“I’ll give the signal once I’m in position…”

Just as he spoke, a projectile streaked toward the drone hovering over the enemy bank. It detonated on impact. The monitor dissolved into grey static, displaying a bold “No Signal” message.

“That rig cost a fortune!”

“What’s the damage?”

I remembered Jeong Oh-hoon spending a lot of time browsing gear on his phone recently. Most of his current kit was from that shopping spree.

“That was at least an apartment security deposit. Why do you care?”

“Don’t take that tone with me. Was I the one who blew it up?”

The culprits were the river-dwelling corpses, not me. Jeong Oh-hoon muttered curses under his breath as he packed his controllers.

“Move out. They already know our coordinates from the noise. Those bastards… once I get my nest set up, I’m going to rain hell on them.”

Losing money really set him off. It wasn’t surprising; watching that much capital go up in smoke in an instant would make anyone see red. His fury was palpable the moment he radioed in from his vantage point.

“Those aren’t standard rounds.”

He had swapped a component on his primary rifle. Instead of lead, it was spitting out vibrant crimson beams of light with the fire rate of a rotary cannon.

“I recognize those. Wealthy families buy them through back channels for personal security. My folks have a couple,” I noted.

Usually, those weapons pulled mana from the environment to fire energized bolts, typically limited to ten shots before requiring a lengthy cooling period. However, as a hunter who could manipulate mana, he had obviously customized it. The thin red streaks lancing from the mountain peak across the water were quite a spectacle.

“He even threw up a temporary bunker using that hardening foam.”

—*What are you two doing standing around?*

Jeong Oh-hoon’s voice crackled through the comms. Under the umbrella of his laser fire, Han Sang-ah and I sprinted toward the riverbank. Right on cue, his rapid-fire beams shifted into a suppressive pattern to keep the enemy’s heads down.

“Can I clear this gap?” I asked.

Han Sang-ah didn’t bother answering. She reached toward the jagged ruins of the far side of the bridge, her body connecting to the stone with flickers of pale electricity.

“Want a lift?”

“I’m fine.”

She used the connection to pull herself across the void. I flooded my legs with mana, took a sharp breath, and launched myself into the air. A volley of arrows and magic spells rose to meet us. Han Sang-ah’s form suddenly became ethereal and translucent, allowing every incoming attack to pass through her without contact.

“I really need to get my hands on an ability like that.”

I was forced to swat away or dodge every projectile manually. She certainly had it easier thanks to the artifacts from Jaun Valley. As I deflected a concentrated burst aimed at my chest, Han Sang-ah—who had landed first—shouted back.

“The distance is shorter than it looks!”

“It’s not short. Focus on the targets.”

I thrust my spear forward, letting it extend to its full reach. The tip bit deep into the far bank, and I used it as a tightrope, sprinting along the shaft before pulling it free and sticking the landing.

—*Good—now for the grand finale!*

Jeong Oh-hoon’s voice boomed over the radio as a high-pitched whine cut through the air. A metallic sphere, roughly the size of a basketball, traced a perfect arc over the enemy frontline. It wasn’t moving particularly fast, which suggested it didn’t need to. Even if they shot it down, the job was already done.

A beam of dark energy lashed out with a screeching sound, shattering the sphere mid-air.

“A cluster bomb?”

A cloud of fine white powder billowed out from the debris, caught by the wind. Seeing the dust, Han Sang-ah and I instinctively retreated. Then, the flour-like particles ignited in a series of blinding, thunderous explosions.

—*Hah! Take that! That’s interest on my drone—and my deposit!*

The corpses caught in the center of the blasts were obliterated. It looked as if a wave of pure cremation had swept through. Those already dead were vaporized; the few that survived were mangled wrecks. I used my ring to flash-freeze the survivors, and Han Sang-ah followed up by shattering the ice blocks.

High above, Jeong Oh-hoon continued to pin down the distant reinforcements with his thermal sights and laser fire.

—*Let’s wipe them out! Those rotting freaks destroyed my drone—the one I planned on keeping for the rest of my life!*

He was acting like a man who would hunt down a world leader over a missed payment. He wasn’t motivated by greed, but he certainly knew the value of his investments.

In the middle of the chaos, I saw Han Sang-ah moving forward and suddenly lunged toward her.

“Damn it.”

I seized her by the collar and threw her backward. A split second later, jagged stone spikes erupted from the earth right where she had been standing. They were lethal, reaching nearly three meters in height. If I hadn’t moved her, she would have been impaled through the torso. The ground groaned and buckled as a creature the size of an armored vehicle burst through the surface.

“A stag beetle covered in dorsal spines.”

That was a close shave. It had been perfectly camouflaged. I almost missed it myself. The beetle’s mandibles peeled back, and a head emerged from within—the face of an old woman perched atop an impossibly elongated neck. It looked like a serpent wearing a grandmother’s mask.

—*It is you.*

Just like our previous encounter, this entity emitted a signature identical to Varea’s. This was the second time. There was no doubt that Samhyeol-dong was tied to her in some fashion.

“Hey, old lady, why are you leaking so much spit? That’s a nightmare for the nursing staff.”

Thick fluid leaked from the hag’s mouth. Her neck was circled by deep rope burns, looking as though she had ended her own life by hanging. A limp, pale tongue hung out, dragging through the dirt.

“It’s like looking at a phantom.”

The presence was so ghostly and faint. It was hard to process that it was physically standing there, especially given the size of the insect it was attached to.