Chapter 84 – Northern Advance

Chapter 84 – Northern Advance

William, who had officially finished his conversation with Siwoo, was….

He was once again confused.

“So you’re saying this… it grows plants, spits out concrete, and does odd jobs?”

“Ding!?”

The Man was facing a Worker Bug.

“Oh my goodness, sir, it’s not concrete, it’s Lava!”

The market vendor shouted as if frustrated.

Apoin was translating everything The Man said, preserving every nuance without a single error.

William flinched at that, yet he continued to ask what he was curious about with conviction.

“How much is one of these?”

“What’s the exchange rate these days?”

“Exchange rate?”

“There’s a Worker Bug Exchange over there, so go there. You can exchange it for Worker Bug Coins.”

William was flustered.

‘Are they using a new type of currency called Worker Bug Coin?’

What he felt while traveling between the United Kingdom and Australia as a Contact Ship was that all economies had shifted to a real economy.

Currency was now just a piece of paper from the past, manipulated by fire.

However, it seemed to be different here.

‘This is troublesome… I only brought bullets with me.’

William pondered like that, then carefully asked.

“Worker Bug Coin? Do you perhaps not accept bullets?”

“Bullets? Hmm… With Magitech Armor around, does anyone even use guns these days? Maybe I could sell them at the Scrap Metal Dealer behind there.”

William, having gone to the Scrap Metal Dealer like that…

couldn’t help but be astonished once again.

‘What kind of price is this?!’

The price of bullets was incredibly cheap, almost like a dump sale!

He thought they might be overcharging him because he was an outsider, but upon closer inspection, that wasn’t it either. It seemed the Scrap Metal Dealer handled a considerable amount of bullets, even if it wasn’t for William.

‘This… this is serious.’

It was a situation William couldn’t comprehend with his common sense.

He had thought that even if not many bullets were secured, there would probably be many guns left on the Korean Peninsula.

That was because the Republic of Korea was a military power with a standing army of 600,000. He had expected that even if not civilian firearms, over-harvested military firearms would be circulating in the market.

Considering hunting rifles, reserve force items, and police officer firearms… it was by no means a small number of guns, so he had thought that bullet consumption would be equally high.

‘I thought just bringing bullets would be enough… ‘

It was the moment his common sense collapsed.

‘But then, how should we handle supplies?’

After returning to the ship, William immediately gathered all high-ranking officers, including the Logistics Officer, and held an emergency meeting regarding water and supplies.

* * *

The solution they eventually came up with was this:

Bullets would be given to their own soldiers and officers, who could assign practical value to them, and then they would buy valuable items from their personal possessions.

Then, they would sell those items again in the market, and this method had much more demand than expected.

In particular, DVDs-rays containing music or movies, game consoles, and luxury goods were selling like wildfire.

“These people… they have the leisure to watch movies?”

“They even bought game consoles? It seems electricity is common.”

“Why would they need luxury watches when they have digital watches…”

The very fact that there was demand for items not directly related to survival was surprising to all of them.

Meanwhile, William was also deploying troops to conduct reconnaissance on Siwoo’s faction’s military capabilities. He was very eager to find out how they were securing their territory.

This was also one of the missions given to The Man.

When the personnel who went out on reconnaissance like The Man returned…

“They say Magitech Armor, a Watergun, replaces firearms.”

“They also say bullets aren’t needed.”

“They say a Watergun called an Assault Cannon replaces mortars and self-propelled artillery.”

“They say it’s even stronger than a tank’s main gun.”

Of course, there was information that was somewhat plausible.

“There’s a person who kills all the monster hordes by themselves.”

“Fighter jets emerge from a large aircraft carrier-like Watergun that covers the sky, shooting light and killing all the harpies nearby.”

“They say some machine can flip over a tank with its bare hands, just like The Man?”

There was also a lot of information that was hard to believe. However, given that the information was repeatedly cross-referenced, it could only be considered true.

‘This… writing a report will be a bit difficult.’

William let out a deep sigh.

* * *

And about a week later.

The USS Constitution rose into the sky once again.

It seemed William had spent a very busy week.

Especially when he asked if I could lend not only observation probes but also about two worker bugs and two magitech armors each, I even agreed to do so with various conditions.

William, who had even completed market research, said he would return with more helpful Waterguns next time and would also negotiate various things with the US Government.

This was not merely The Man’s arbitrary decision but a fact confirmed directly by the US President via an old-fashioned phone call, so it would surely be helpful.

Meanwhile, William was not the only one who was busy.

“Hmm…”

I briefly examined the old-style aircraft, which I couldn’t understand how it floated. It was a large-class aircraft, with an additional explanation that it had been unlocked due to Mana Barrier Essence.

‘Mana Barrier reinforcement seems possible on Ganghwa Island as well… ‘

Mana Barrier reinforcement was a supplementary function attached to the observation ship, a function that strengthened its own Mana Shield and, furthermore, the Mana Barrier.

However, this machine, the Emitter, was different.

Although they consumed a lot of Aetherium, these entities could use their Loyalty mana to strengthen or even bestow Mana Barriers on other beings. For example, they could give a thick Mana Barrier to a Worker Bug, which normally has a weak inherent barrier.

“Of course, there wouldn’t be much reason to use it on a Worker Bug…”

“Ding!?!”

Its biggest advantage was that it could also cast barriers on people. This also meant that casualties could be minimized in locations where an Emitter was present.

‘This means an insane level of troop preservation is possible.’

But that wasn’t all.

Because space was also included in ‘existence.’

In other words, the other ‘existence’ didn’t necessarily have to be a tangible object like a person. This meant it could create a barrier in thin air to block attacks.

‘I’ll block the Civilization Bulldozer with this.’

I grinned.

That’s when Choi Yongjin called me.

“Siwoo, there’s been a report that the situation at the front is unusual.”

It seemed… it was about to begin.

***

In Paju City, which was responsible for preventing the Siberian Front’s southward advance north of the Han River, something terrible was happening.

Charrr- Chweeeek- Cheeeek-

Mountain Fortress Slugs that melted their surroundings and emitted poisonous smoke with every movement. They used to appear with the frequency of special entities, not just occasionally, but this time was different.

This time, it was different.

“Ugh… they’re like a swarm of maggots.”

A massive swarm of Mountain Fortress Slugs, enough to make anyone’s heart drop, was advancing as if to melt away all the water around them.

And a characteristic of the Mountain Fortress Slugs was that even their bodies were made of Mountain Fortress, making them difficult to hit.

Whoooosh- Papapapak!

Occasionally, rocks were thrown or they were hit by ammunition. But they continued to advance southward, as if it didn’t matter.

“Damn it! Why won’t they die!”

“You country bumpkin. Haven’t you ever seen a Mountain Fortress Slug before!”

“Your abilities aren’t good for this Castle! Don’t do anything useless, save your mana!”

Only Ability Users with fire, electricity, and other abilities that could fight the Mountain Fortress Slugs could step forward and fight. But the problem was… the Mountain Fortress Slugs weren’t the only ones approaching.

“Kieeeek!”

In the sky, there were also Mountain Fortress Moths.

Klik-kiriririk-klik-

And behind the slugs, Mountain Fortress Spiders were also gathering and advancing.

The world was about to change once again.

* * *

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Mountain Fortress continued to spew forth.

Chiriririk-

Even their attack patterns were different from before.

Before, they simply followed their instincts and only sought out humans to kill… but now, they were showing an even more aggressive demeanor.

Whether humans were visible or not…

The creatures attacked everything indiscriminately. They were turning cars, roads, rice paddies, and railways into a mess without exception.

“No, why that perfectly good rice paddy!”

“Is there anyone in that house?”

“Oh my god, that Sports Car! I had my eye on it!”

Everyone was surprised by the destructive sight.

And that emotion soon turned into despair.

“Th-this is…”

“Isn’t this just trying to erase all traces of humanity…?”

“No… this can’t be…”

The war with the Monsters is not a war with humans.

It was not a war to take what the other had, or to utilize what the other had.

This was a war for mere survival, for The Man.

It was The Man itself, a war of kill or be killed.

Perhaps it was natural, but countless ordinary people were only now realizing The Man.

* * *

The battle continued for a while.

Those in charge of Paju City were doing their best, but…

There was clearly a limit.

Damn it! We have to stop the advance!

Don’t run away!

B-but if we do that, we’ll be The Man!

It was when everyone was in such a state of chaos, like The Man.

Whoosh-

Boom-

Screech-

The cry of the Interceptor echoed across the battlefield.

The front line of the Monsters began to collapse under The Man’s light cannon.

But that wasn’t all of The Man.

Whoosh-

A barrier was put up in front of them with an enormous amount of mana.

Splash- Splash- Splash-

Many Mountain Fortresses poured over The Man’s barrier, but…

Crash-

The mana barrier was effortlessly eliminating The Man’s Mountain Fortresses.

It had begun to protect the City.

Then the man-.

Whoosh-

Several armored transport planes were flying, struggling to hold the Colossus with the legs attached to their undersides.

And when the man dropped the Colossus from the front-.

Whoosh! Bang!

All the Colossus fell, creating a large cloud of dust.

And then the armored transport planes landed, and Assault Cannons and Volunteer Knights began pouring out from inside.

“Shoot! Shoot!”

The tide of battle was turning in an instant.

“They’re here.”

“Finally…….”

“The Legion of the Magitech Civilization is here!”

Of course, everyone cheered.

* * *

I looked with satisfaction at my machines defending Paju City and then turned my gaze. It wasn’t just Paju City that I was protecting.

As a result of running the super large production facility non-stop for the past few days.

There were as many as 12 Aerial Motherships floating across the entire Korean Peninsula. They were each blocking the southward advance of the Civilization Bulldozers within their respective operational radii.

Many of them were engaged in combat in the Gangwon Province Forest, but…….

In large cities, an Emitter was placed in each to prevent damage to the city, and Assault Cannons and Colossus were deployed along the roads to block the enemy’s advance.

They were also slowly advancing.

At this point, it was hard to tell if this was ‘defense’ or ‘offense’.

Of course, it was intentional.

“Was it ‘lunch in Pyongyang and dinner in Sinuiju’?”

I grinned.

“Just like this, we push forward.”

It was the beginning of the Northern Advance.