Chapter 79

Chapter 79
## Chapter 79: The Vanguard Advance

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At last, our extensive groundwork was ready to yield results.

Our force consisted of exactly 837 hunters. We had organized a massive stockpile of supplies to outfit the recruits and secured a fleet of transport vehicles to move the entire unit. The Seagull Team had signed on to assist us without a moment’s pause, likely due to the rapport Lee Se-eun and I had established with them during our previous joint operation.

The partnership required a staggering investment, but the Seagull Team’s reputation as elite logistical and operational specialists made them worth every credit.

With everything in place, it was time to move. The strategy was straightforward.

“A lead element of roughly 50 hunters, including our core group, will act as the vanguard. We’ll depart from Vladivostok and carve a secure path toward Harbin.”

The unnatural mist originating from Ziyun Valley had drifted from Changchun up toward the northern Songyuan lowlands. Fortunately, Harbin sat further north, remaining outside the fog’s reach for now.

“If we arrive to find Harbin compromised, we’ll shift our objective toward Mudanjiang.”

While Mudanjiang was a greater distance from Changchun, its proximity to Vladivostok—our most dependable and secure port—offered a strategic advantage.

A shorter supply line would simplify logistics, providing a stable platform from which to maintain our position while we prepared for the final push toward Changchun City.

“Still, if we’re looking at the long-term aftermath of the raid, Harbin remains the superior choice for a permanent base.”

The region north of Harbin was riddled with several Erosion Zones.

By successfully reclaiming Harbin and neutralizing the Grade 1 Erosion Core located in the Ziyun Valley to the south, we could transform the city into a vital forward hub for all future hunter operations. It was a move designed to sever the enemy’s central nervous system.

“Let’s aim for Harbin if the situation allows. Good grief, the cold is still brutal out here.”

The 50 of us assigned to the vanguard—myself included—were currently traveling in trucks, rattling along the road from Vladivostok toward Harbin.

“You aren’t feeling the chill?”

The vanguard wasn’t just composed of me, Han Sang-ah, and Jeong Oh-hoon; Adakawa Nanami was also riding with us.

Predictably, Nanami was decked out in the same elaborate, frilly pink ensemble I’d seen her in before. Along the Vladivostok coastline, the mercury had dipped to negative ten degrees Celsius.

“That’s hardly appropriate attire for a battlefield in this weather.”

Jeong Oh-hoon clicked his tongue in disapproval, leaning in to whisper after I spoke.

“Try naming a single place where that outfit *would* be appropriate.”

He had a point. Nanami’s gaze shifted toward the two of us.

“If you keep making those rude remarks, I might just have to cast a spell to fix your personalities.”

“A spell to make us ‘nice’?”

In response to my question, Nanami let out a playful “pop” sound with her lips before clarifying.

“All those nasty thoughts start in your brain, don’t they?”

A glowing, heart-shaped cluster of pink mana materialized over her palm. Despite the cute shape, I knew better than to think it represented peace or affection.

Wisely, Jeong Oh-hoon and I chose to stay quiet. Getting blasted by that thing would definitely leave a mark.

“This is actually quite fascinating.”

Nanami leaned her chin on her hand, peering at the Exorcism Talisman I had etched onto the frame of the truck. I had taken the time to engrave these onto every single transport vehicle in our convoy.

“Does it actually do anything?”

Nanami didn’t hesitate to answer Jeong Oh-hoon’s doubtful question.

“It does. I can sense the surrounding mana being filtered through the script to trigger the effect.”

In reality, I knew the weakening aura it projected would be subtle at best, but every little bit helped.

As time ticked by, our convoy crossed from Vladivostok into an active Erosion Zone. This wasn’t an extension of Ziyun Valley, but rather a pocket created by smaller, local Erosion Cores.

The second we crossed the threshold, Nanami casually lifted her left hand.

“I didn’t even say anything this time!”

Jeong Oh-hoon protested, looking defensive. Three motes of pink light flared above Nanami’s fingers, beginning a slow, rhythmic orbit.

“Is that a detection spell?”

Nanami looked genuinely startled by my observation.

“Oh my, how did you figure that out?”

I was the one who was truly surprised. I hadn’t expected her to possess utility magic like detection. It didn’t seem like an innate trait; she had likely put in significant work to develop it herself.

It functioned exactly like a radar.

I had to give her credit; it was a sophisticated piece of magic. While the internal logic was simple enough that a high-level mage might be able to bypass it, its efficiency was undeniable, and the range seemed quite broad.

So, she really was a practitioner. As I watched the pink lights circle her hand, Nanami gathered a massive sphere of pink energy in her other hand and launched it toward the clouds.

The orb soared into the sky, pulsed violently for a second, and then transformed into a searing bolt of light that streaked toward the horizon.

“That’s a hell of a trick.”

Both Jeong Oh-hoon and Nanami were long-range specialists. However, if Oh-hoon was a precision sniper, Nanami was a heavy artillery battery. He focused on high-value targets with surgical strikes; she simply erased entire grids from the map.

In terms of pure efficiency, Jeong Oh-hoon was superior. But when it came to thinning out massive waves of monsters in a single heartbeat, Nanami was unmatched.

Furthermore, her effective range was significantly greater. Of course, range is useless without a way to aim, but Nanami’s ‘radar’ solved that problem perfectly.

Nanami offered a playful wink as she spoke.

“It’s easy for anyone with the right attitude and a heart that’s pure.”

I highly doubted that. The world rarely rewarded ‘purity’ with that kind of firepower. Still, the underlying structure of her radar felt intuitive enough that I felt I could replicate something similar with enough effort.

“The smarter monsters might dodge the initial blast. But my magic doesn’t really distinguish between friend or foe once it hits…”

“Message received.”

Any creature that managed to survive Nanami’s opening barrage would be our responsibility to mop up. If they could survive that, they were guaranteed to be dangerous.

Her bombardment range seemed to perfectly overlap with her detection grid. She kept a close eye on the floating spell above her hand while continuously raining down pink destruction.

“They’re coming.”

Inevitably, the monsters that had bypassed her radar began to show themselves. Just as our scouts had reported, the inhabitants of this region were the restless dead.

They were animated corpses draped in shredded, ancient armor, clutching blades stained with rusted blood. They appeared so brittle that a strong breeze might shatter them, yet the mana radiating from them was dense and heavy. They weren’t going to be easy to put down.

The shambling horde suddenly jerked their heads up as they limped forward. A malicious, sickly light burned in their empty sockets.

“What’s wrong with them? Are they having seizures?”

The undead suddenly halted and began to vibrate with terrifying intensity. They shook so violently they became a blur of afterimages, closing the gap between us at a speed that defied logic.

The movement was skin-crawling. It wasn’t traditional running; they remained locked in that convulsive state, essentially teleporting short distances with every shudder.

It was like watching a ghost story come to life.

“Get ready to fight!”

As the ghouls entered our immediate vicinity, the Exorcism Talismans flared to life. Wisps of black vapor began to leak from the advancing bodies and spirits.

“Just as I thought—it’s only a slight debuff.”

We couldn’t just ignore them. Our mission wasn’t just to reach Harbin; it was to secure the route for those following behind us.

Nanami continued to thin the herd of weaker undead using her radar and artillery, leaving the elite survivors for the rest of us. It was a simple, effective division of labor.

“Let’s show them what we’ve been practicing, Jeong.”

“I’m on it!”

The air was filled with the rhythmic staccato of gunfire as Jeong Oh-hoon began peeling off rounds. The corpses attempted to evade with their stuttering, supernatural movements, but the bullets curved in mid-air as if they were seeking heat, eventually finding a home in the center of their foreheads.

The impact made a dull, wet sound.

“Did that even do anything?”

“They’re already dead. Were you expecting them to complain?”

The heads of the struck undead snapped back under the force, only to reset instantly. The bullets were pushed out of the wounds by some internal force and fell uselessly to the dirt.

“Tell me I’ve gotten better.”

“You don’t need me to tell you what you already know.”

The attacks weren’t failing; we were definitely dealing damage. They just seemed unstoppable because the dead don’t feel pain or hesitation. Nearby, other hunters from the following trucks were drawing their steel to engage the swarming monsters.

“Chan-seok, get in there!”

“Stop barking, Jeong.”

Gripping my spear, I threw myself into the thick of the rotting soldiers and hungry spirits. One undead, wielding a jagged, rusted blade, swung at my head.

Simultaneously, a second, decayed arm erupted from its ribcage, reaching for my throat. I caught the extra limb mid-air, incinerating it instantly with Paradox Flame as I growled.

“Right… the perks of being dead.”

Their bodies weren’t bound by the limits of living anatomy; they could twist their spines and snap their joints into impossible angles. They were walking nightmares where a chest might open into a mouth or a heel might sprout a blade.

The more advanced undead were fond of those gruesome surprises. The most bizarre one I’d ever fought was a creature that held swords in its hands and literally turned its upper body into a spinning meat grinder.

Their movements were erratic and unpredictable, driven by a total lack of self-preservation and fueled by a bottomless malice toward anything with a heartbeat.

“Aaaagh!”

In the middle of the fray, a hunter let out a curdling shriek, falling back while clutching a bloody stump where his arm used to be. He’d clearly been caught off guard by one of those anatomical tricks.

That was the reality of our profession—death was always a fraction of a second away. I couldn’t afford to stop for him. There was nothing I could do in the heat of the moment, and every hunter knew the risks.

Lost a limb? Retreat, stop the bleeding, and try to find the part. If it was destroyed? Then it was time to start thinking about a new career.

The sounds of tearing meat and cracking bone filled the air, punctuated by the occasional cry of pain.

I drove my spear through the skull of a corpse and ignited it, while simultaneously grabbing a translucent wraith by the neck with a hand wreathed in dark fire.

The spirit was instantly consumed by the Paradox Flame, and the fire roared outward—contained only by the limits of my will.

The ground turned into a sea of blue fire, swallowing the surrounding ghouls and ghosts.

“Again.”

The expanding ring of fire surged back toward me, coating my body. Shrouded from head to toe in the flickering blue of the Paradox Flame, I became a streak of azure light, carving a path of destruction through the undead ranks.

“He’s tearing through them like a lawnmower.”

Jeong Oh-hoon remarked as he continued to provide cover fire. While many hunters were using ranged attacks, his stood out for their surgical precision and perfect timing. His support made the frontline work significantly more manageable.

And that was exactly what I needed from him. The finishing blows were best left to Han Sang-ah and me.