Chapter 82 – Deja Vu

Chapter 82 – Deja Vu

White House underground bunker. The calm-looking white man in his mid-70s looked around.

“How is the situation in the north?”

“Mr. President. It’s not good. The Canadian army has ultimately decided to abandon Ottawa.”

“So it has come to that…”

The President sighed quietly.

Ottawa, along with Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City, was one of the four major cities in Eastern Canada and the United States.

While it’s not always obvious due to the vast land, considering that a quarter of Canada’s population is in Toronto and another quarter is concentrated in the four major cities, it was similar to Korea.

Just as in Korea where half the country’s population lives in Seoul and the Gyeonggi Province Metropolitan Area, half the country’s population lives around Toronto.

Losing a part of such a city meant that the front line was being severely pushed back.

This was due to the [North American Front], similar to the Siberian Front. Monsters would establish nests in uninhabited areas, gather, and continuously launch attacks.

The Canadian army had a close alliance with the US Military. Among them, the United States was the only ally that could provide material support, thanks to the connected land route.

Despite the Canadian army surprisingly showing strong combat capabilities due to the overwhelming material support from the United States and its hunting culture, it had slowly begun to be pushed back.

“Canada has once again requested military support-“

“That’s not possible.”

However, the US President’s stance was firm.

They had no leisure to help other countries when their own country was under attack.

Even the United States had its own problems to deal with.

In the early stages of the Apocalypse Event, the United States seemed to be pushing back the Monsters for a while with an enormous amount of civilian firearms.

However, with the emergence of new Monsters, it wasn’t easy. This was especially true with the appearance of Mountain Fortress Slugs and Stone Giraffes, which significantly reduced the efficiency of ammunition.

Furthermore, after losing air superiority, it became difficult to even strike nests, forcing them to abandon significant portions of territory in states with low population density in the Midwest and Western United States, such as North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana.

As a result, the flow of goods between the Western United States coastal regions, consisting of California, Oregon, and Washington State, and the Eastern US coastal regions, such as New York, had almost completely ceased.

In short, it was a dire situation.

Meanwhile, there was another point to consider regarding resources.

“How is the supply of .223 caliber ammunition progressing?”

“You mean 5.56mm ammunition? It’s stable. We are currently operating the production facility in three shifts. In addition to the main factory, the Daegu cartridge factory is also being expanded.”

“Well, that’s rare good news.”

5.56mm ammunition was currently being used as currency in the United States instead of dollars. This was only possible in the United States, where gun culture was firmly established.

In addition to this, numerous emergency administrative measures were taken.

Firstly, they led the modification of civilian rifles, which were originally single-shot only, into automatic rifles.

Especially for widely distributed AR-15 rifles, they could be immediately converted into M-16 rifles by adding a small piece of metal.

Secondly, they provided gun training to civilians, primarily veterans and active-duty personnel, and imparted tactical theories.

Lastly, the most unconventional measure was to overwhelmingly increase production by handing over relatively simple infantry firepower support weapons like mortars and grenade launchers to civilians along with training.

Announcing that all laws related to automatic rifles and so-called destructive devices would not be enforced was a bonus.

The United States might have truly done everything humanity could have done in the pre-apocalypse. But even then, they were barely holding the front lines, let alone pushing them back.

That’s why.

Pushing back the front lines and pioneering new territory was……

thought to be impossible.

Until today, that is.

“Mr. President, this is Stringer from the Pentagon. I have something urgent to tell you.”

In his hand was a satellite photo of Incheon’s night view.

***

Meanwhile, I was once again busy with internal affairs management.

This was not a simple administration issue.

This was because after the Unification of Seoul, numerous factions were eagerly coming forward to offer to join my command.

Among them, the Merchant Alliance of Suwon-Dongtan-Osan, who had originally been on good terms with us, joined our faction under similar conditions to Gwak Sangyong, and my faction was experiencing rapid growth.

Finally, my faction had begun its full-scale southern advance.

At the same time, I encountered factions growing in the south. The immediate opponent was the Sejong-Cheongju-Daejeon Faction.

Their composition was truly surprising.

It was a faction composed of high-ranking officials from Sejong City and high-ranking officers from the Daejeon Army Headquarters.

‘But it’s… quite ambiguous.’

They were survivors, but…

They were operating a class-based society.

‘I’ll have to watch them more closely.’

I made up my mind. It wasn’t the first time I had seen a class-based society. It was much more common in the past world than it is now.

The problem was how to deal with them. They weren’t marauders, so it was inconvenient to just eliminate them, but accepting them was questionable given their ideology.

Meanwhile, I told Seoyeon and requested a background check on the key figures of that faction through a private appointment.

Choi Yongjin was in charge of clearing out monsters and remaining marauder forces and embracing civilians during the southern advance.

And… I was preparing for a northern advance.

‘Colossus Legion on the ground, Aerial Carrier Fleet in the sky, huh?’

I grinned.

It was around that time that unusual activity was observed.

[Observation Ship (Unit 2): Confirmation requested.]

“What is it?”

A confirmation notification came in from the Observation Ship.

Upon immediate confirmation, something appeared to be flying in the sky.

“Is this… a sailing ship?”

A water-related incident that would only be seen in the Age of Discovery…

Fluttering-

It was spreading its sails and sailing above the clouds.

“What, it’s Willi?”

I grinned.

The man was one of my former colleagues.

***

Willi was a nickname for William, and he was American.

He was also an officer of the Pacific Ocean Fleet.

His ability was as it appeared. He could strengthen the sailing ship he operated with mana and make it fly into the sky.

His profession was one thing, but his hobbies included sailing yachts with sails and even building sailing ships inside beer bottles.

He was a true castle sailing ship enthusiast.

The U.S. military, noticing his abilities, promoted him from major to brigadier general in one fell swoop and gave him the sailing ship he wanted.

And until the U.S. government and military disintegrated, he had been active as a naval officer as he always was.

‘It seems the United States is getting desperate.’

I thought as I looked at him.

Willi had said that he mainly operated as a contact ship, shuttling only between Australia and the United Kingdom. Since a sailing ship is not a container ship, significant water transportation in modern times could not be expected.

What he could do was exchange essential personnel or artifacts.

However, he could not come to Korea and Japan, also friendly nations, because the leadership of East Asia was quickly eliminated for some reason.

His coming to Korea was unprecedented in history.

‘I can certainly assume he’s come to meet me.’

I briefly wondered how to welcome this unexpected guest.

***

Meanwhile… the sailing ship USS Constitution flying in the air.

It was a United States-class frigate sailing ship, built in 1797 and operated by the U.S. Navy until modern times.

It was also the oldest among all the ships currently afloat. Although it was a wooden sailing ship of a floating museum class, its equipment was not from that era.

William mumbled to himself in the captain’s cabin, estimating the distance to the next destination while looking at the GPS flight chart.

“Hmm… Where should I land, exactly?”

Selecting a landing spot was a big problem. His ship was a sailing ship, not an airplane, so it needed to land on water.

Landing on water inevitably raised concerns about underwater monsters. Previously, he would only land in designated reservoirs with guaranteed safety.

But this operation was different.

The opponent was a civilian force with no established communication network.

He didn’t know how they would react to his sailing ship. In the worst-case scenario, he was even considering combat.

It was natural to be worried.

‘I wish I could just talk to them well……’

For this operation, he was even accompanied by the best second-generation Korean interpreter officers. And he also had several valuable items that could be exchanged.

‘Surely… they aren’t looters, are they?’

He was well aware of how other countries with worse security situations than the United States were operating.

In particular, the excessively rapid development of civilian attack capabilities was so alarming that the Pentagon had even established a separate specialized intelligence analysis department.

‘They even say they’re expanding their territory… If we fight, will I even be able to return home?’

It was at that moment, while he was pondering, that something was detected on the radar hastily installed on the mast.

Not only was it a size he had never encountered before, but its speed was also considerable.

“Is it a new type of monster?!”

William was astonished.

But the observation team’s reaction was even more surprising.

“It appears to be a metallic object based on the thermal imaging equipment!”

“So it’s a machine?”

“Yes! But-“

“But?”

“People! It appears there are people on board!”

The Man was, of course, Choi Yongjin.

***

A war of nerves ensued for a while after that.

Choi Yongjin indirectly showed that The Man was not threatening by shaking his wings this way and that. After a long struggle, The Man finally managed to land on the deck of the Sailing Ship.

Boom-

Of course, all the sailors murmured at The Man’s impact.

“What the hell is that?!”

“A dragon? You came on a dragon?”

“They say it’s a mechanical dragon?”

“What, that’s even cooler!”

“Damn, can’t I get a mechanical dragon too?”

William was once again flustered when he saw Choi Yongjin dismount from the mechanical dragon. The Man was because he was wearing Armor like a medieval knight, not to mention his massive muscular physique.

Choi Yongjin had accumulated enough mana to graduate from Magitech Armor, but he continued to wear Magitech Armor for the sake of Unification Castle Identity with the soldiers.

“Is that Knight Armor?”

“A knight riding a dragon?”

“Oh my… It’s a good thing my wife isn’t here. She would have definitely taken it!”

The Man was when everyone was murmuring.

“Who is the Captain here?”

Choi Yongjin asked in English. His English was not fluent, but he seemed familiar with military terms.

“My name is William. I am the Captain of the USS Constitution and a Brigadier General in the US Navy.”

William stepped forward and answered, not to be outdone by The Man.

Choi Yongjin grinned at The Man.

“The Ulchi training reminds me of it. Nice to meet you. I used to be a Republic of Korea Army Captain, but now I’m working as the Commander of the Volunteer Knights. My name is Choi Yongjin.”

“Volunteer Knights? Is that the name of your faction?”

“No… I’m under the Lord.”

“Lord? What’s the official faction name?”

“Huh? It’s The Man. Official faction name…”

Choi Yongjin’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t thought of it.

“I’ll have to ask about this.”

The Man quickly used Apoin to ask me. Watching all this with an Observation Probe, I… hesitated for a moment.

‘Now that I think about it, we don’t have a faction name.’

In the past, Humanity had operated as the Last City for a while, but that wasn’t an official faction name. Especially as time went on, there was no reason or luxury to have a faction name in the first place.

‘But this time will be different.’

Our name was our identity.

I looked around me for a moment. At the Ability Users surrounding me, the economy structure run by Magitech machinery and Mana Stones, and the Artifact workshops constantly spewing smoke.

Seeing all that, a name suddenly came to mind.

“Magitech Civilization would be a good name.”

Not the Successor of Magitech Civilization, but…

It was the moment we took a step towards becoming a true Magitech Civilization.