Chapter 89 – Operation Rapture

Chapter 89 – Operation Rapture

A week after occupying Hamhung. During that time, I was trying to move the military supplies stockpiled in Hamhung to the main base.

Moving military supplies that could explode with a single mistake and were also very heavy would normally not be an easy task.

Fortunately, there was no problem for me.

That was, of course -.

Ding!!

It was thanks to the worker bugs.

Watching the worker bugs move 170mm long-range artillery shells larger than their own bodies, I often felt proud.

After that, they just used the railway that extended all the way to Hamhung, moved to the main base, and did the exact opposite work.

Meanwhile, even while doing all this work, I had already sent a text message to William in the United States through Apoin.

[I have a lot of ammunition, want to make a deal?]

He sent a photo of the mine armory.

[Photo]

William seemed very excited after seeing the photo.

[Wow, where exactly is this! There are so many items!]

So when he explained the situation that had just happened, his emotion turned into astonishment this time.

[You occupied Hamhung? And you’re still advancing? So, you’re saying you’re pushing back the Siberian Front?]

It seemed hard to believe.

‘Well, he’ll find out soon enough through the castle’s intelligence.’

I thought that and finished the conversation, leaving him excited. However, the Siberian Front Northern Advance was also temporarily on hold.

The biggest reason for this was the geometric shape of the Korean Peninsula.

North of Pyongyang (Gaecheon)-Hamhung, the Korean Peninsula connects to the continent and gradually widens. In other words, the front line to cover becomes enormously wide.

Thanks to this shape, even a small advance would instantly multiply the distance that had to be defended several times, so I distributed the pace and temporarily fixed the front line.

There was nothing stopping me from pushing forward if I wanted to, but if I were to disperse my forces unnecessarily and encounter a special entity, I could lose an innocent Aerial Mothership or Colossus.

Considering the Adamantite, Mithril, and Aetherium that go into making super-large class units, I couldn’t carelessly enter into a war of attrition.

Monsters would become more numerous and stronger as time went on, so I couldn’t afford to waste resources already.

‘Further Northern Advance from here will only happen after more mana facilities are built.’

Of course, everything was in the works.

Gangbuk, where there were few people, was to expand its territory in a point shape, and furthermore, the Merchant Alliance of Suwon-Dongtan-Osan, which was within administrative reach, was to be incorporated and mana facilities installed there.

Although the exact numbers had not yet been perfectly determined, it was estimated that at least 20 mana facilities would be constructed, so there would be no problem in advancing North afterward.

Instead, what I decided to do was to clean up the South.

‘If I continue to advance North after that… it really will be unification.’

I grinned.

That was supposed to be the near future.

* * *

After a brief halt in the Northern Advance, Choi Yongjin was primarily engaged in touring the small cities of South Korea, incorporating them into his faction.

He mainly ventured into the eastern Gangwon Province region, which he was able to incorporate into his faction’s sphere of influence quite easily.

Unlike the West Coast or Southern Regions, which had an overwhelming number of humans but lacked water…

Gangwon Province was almost isolated due to the influence of the Taebaek Mountains. Thanks to the man, many people lost their lives, paradoxically resulting in a surplus of water.

There was no reason for them to fight each other, so they cooperated amicably. Furthermore, it seemed they had no choice but to cooperate due to the relentless onslaught of monsters.

Thus, they generally remained healthy survivor alliances, and most of them headed to Incheon according to their hopes, and were quickly absorbed into my faction.

The biggest problem in moving south was, of course, Daejeon.

Seeing Minju, who looked exhausted from repeated use of her abilities and work, playing a crucial role in the preliminary operation.

I was a little worried.

“Are you feeling a bit better these days?”

Minju was startled by my question, then quickly pulled out a small hand mirror, fixed her hair, and turned around. It seemed she didn’t want to show her exhaustion.

“Yes, it’s a rewarding job, after all, so I have to do it.”

She smiled awkwardly and answered lightly. It had been quite a while since we started living in the same place, but this was the first time I’d seen her struggling like this.

‘Did I push her too hard?’

I thought for a moment.

I thought it would be possible with her mana quantity, but it seemed I was mistaken. I was worried about her and explained that she didn’t have to overexert herself.

“Even so, I think you could take a break tomorrow.”

“No, I can’t rest.”

But she was adamant.

If she rested for even a day, the Daejeon citizens might starve. She didn’t want to see that happen.

“If that’s what you think… I’ll leave it to you.”

I nodded to her.

Meanwhile, it was also unexpected.

She had that side to her too.

When I first met the Woman in the last episode, and then rescued her from Daegu in the Western United States this time, what I felt from the Woman was a strong will to survive, and a kind of defeat.

It’s probably because of the Woman’s abilities.

I thought about it deeply. The Woman’s initial ability was extremely useful for escaping, but it was difficult to improve when facing a situation.

It was a kind of ‘evasion’ ability.

However, there was no way a paradise would exist where she fled to.

The Woman seemed to feel a profound sense of defeat at the Man.

But being with me, the Woman changed. She realized that with me, her loyalty ability was enough to help someone.

Especially with the addition of Yoon Sanghoon, who has healing ability, and taking on the role of quickly transporting the injured, it became even more so.

With the Man, the Woman seemed to be able to show her original, more devoted and loyal side.

It’s a good phenomenon.

I nodded. This operation was quite tricky, and it might have taken much longer without the Woman’s passion.

Even if a Gladiator was sent to cut off one of the Bureaucrats’ heads, they would quickly notice the change and try to respond.

And furthermore, it was obvious that they would find another person who could replace them organizationally. No matter how many times you cut off their heads, they would keep growing back.

If they were to engage in a large-scale firepower battle as they would with a Monster or a Marauder, innocent Citizens would be caught in the crossfire, possibly resulting in massive collateral damage.

I wanted to use Minju’s ability to evacuate all the Citizens, but Minju was exhausted after spending more than a day and a half just transporting relatively small amounts of food.

There was no way the Woman’s mana quantity could evacuate all the people in time, and if they were to evacuate them little by little every day, it was obvious that the change would be noticed and casualties would proliferate.

That’s why this operation was devised.

The content was this: First, with Seoyeon’s help, they divided the good and bad and examined each one.

Especially thanks to Apoin’s overwhelming usage rate, being able to weed out those who were acting as Bureaucrat spies among the Citizens was a huge advantage.

By providing food and other things to persuade the bad ones, they would then break the balance of power with the Bureaucrats. They would plant the power to resist in their hearts.

So that they could move on to the next stage of this operation.

It’s time to get ready.

I looked for Seoyeon.

* * *

A few days later. Early spring was approaching, and new buds were starting to sprout. This was a small house in Daejeon.

Today, as always, the men’s dining table was laden with luxurious food that they could never have imagined. There were six side dishes of spring greens and spicy stir-fried chicken.

The boy’s face lit up when he saw the food.

“Mom! Look! There’s more!”

“Indeed. That’s a relief.”

As the men sat down to eat, they noticed something else besides the food. Something a little different from usual.

[This is your last meal. If you wish to continue with us, put on this blue hood and wait outside the building at exactly 12 AM tonight.]

The woman’s pupils quivered as she read the memo.

‘This is the last meal… it was bound to happen.’

The woman was not a fool.

She didn’t think that in this world, such dreamlike meals would continue to be provided for free every day.

Most of all, the woman was worried about her son.

After her husband was executed as an example for rebelling against the bureaucrats’ oppression, their rations were drastically reduced, and they could barely make ends meet.

They had fallen out of favor.

They were alive for now, but she didn’t know when the authorities might find another strange fault and try to kill them too.

‘He’s at a critical age for growth… ‘

Of course, she was worried about her son, who was at a growing stage and always whined about being hungry.

But there was also hope in the memo.

‘If you want to be with us, wear a blue hood and wait outside the building?’

The woman tilted her head.

‘Are they going to pick us up in a car or something?’

Honestly, she didn’t quite understand.

The woman was not a fool.

Although they didn’t talk about it for fear of being caught, she had noticed that they weren’t the only ones receiving these meals.

It was even easier to realize this just by looking at the glowing faces and the noticeable decrease in children complaining about hunger.

Then…

How will they pick up so many people?

Daejeon was completely blocked off, and patrols were constantly making rounds. If they tried to rescue the men, a full-scale, large-scale battle would break out.

‘Isn’t this dangerous?’

Even as she worried…

She also had another thought for some reason.

‘But actually, if you think about it… these are the people who magically brought food every day, so wouldn’t there be a way?’

The rations were already dwindling. Anyway, if they just stayed like this, they would surely starve to death.

‘Alright, it’s all or nothing.’

She decided to trust them once.

* * *

And after a little while.

…Mom? Where are you going?

Wear this on your head.

What is this?

It was a blue hood placed on the table. As if they knew, there were exactly two hoods.

Come on, let’s wear it together, Mom.

They put on their hoods and went outside.

It was a chilly early spring night.

And…

[11:59]

When her digital wristwatch-

[12:00]

Pointed to exactly twelve o’clock.

Rumble-

With a strong vibrating sound…

Whoosh!

The mother and son began to ascend into the sky.

“Oh, Mom?!”

“Hold on tight!”

The startled woman instinctively hugged her son tightly, trembling with fear as she watched the ground get further and further away.

‘What on earth is going on?!’

Looking around, it wasn’t just the woman. Many people, including a family from the neighboring house and a young man living alone in Daejeon, were all wearing blue hoods and rising into the sky.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t just the humans who noticed the change.

“Those people are floating into the sky?”

“What?!”

“Damn it, they’re escaping!”

“What should we do?!”

Government officials on night patrol also witnessed this scene. The men argued for a while, and finally decided this:

“Shoot! Shoot them down!”

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tang-

Numerous gun muzzles spewing fire.

“Mom!”

Hearing the human cry, the boy began to cry, trembling amidst the gunfire.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! It’ll be okay!”

The woman comforting the boy that it would be okay also couldn’t hide her trembling body. But, as it turned out, the woman was right.

Piiing- Piiing- Tang!

The human bullets didn’t reach the citizens. They were all bouncing off, as if there was an invisible barrier.

“My goodness…”

As they rose to a certain height in the sky like that—.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-

A giant Beetle flew through the air, waiting for the men.

“Come in here.”

A young man in black armor reached out his hand. He was undoubtedly one of the Volunteer Knights, whom they had only heard about through rumors. The mother and son hesitated but took the man’s hand and entered the Beetle.

“You are safe now.”

The young man smiled at them.

It was a reassuring smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, once everyone had safely entered the armored transport plane,

‘Anti-Gravity Field deactivation.’

He deactivated the Anti-Gravity Field that had lifted them into the sky.

In addition to that, he also checked the Emitter that was deploying the Mana Barrier.

Fortunately, most of the Citizens were wearing their Blue Hoods intact, waiting for his instructions.

Of course, that didn’t mean abandoning those who couldn’t make it. Especially in a world like this, where people had been treated in such a way, it was understandable that they would be wary of trusting others.

“Minju, have all the other people been evacuated?”

They had Minju forcibly evacuate them for a while. Whether they joined Our Group later or left was their choice.

“Yes!”

As Minju replied-.

“Then… let’s begin.”

Boom-boom-

The bombardment from numerous Assault Cannons, Magitech Cannon Batteries, and Interceptors began…

Once again, the night sky began to glow brightly with light.

The first impact hadn’t even occurred yet-.

‘Now that this place is sorted… next up are Busan and Gwangju, perhaps.’

His mind was already moving on to the next location.