Chapter 152 – Main Camp [Forest of Undead]

In 2028, the operation prepared by the NAC in the Moscow Nonstandard Rank Dungeon ended in failure. As a result, the revolution planned by the prepared Hunters became impossible, and in 2029, the Chairman left only a message saying, “We must exercise restraint for the time being,” before vanishing without a trace.

The Chairman, who did not even show his face to George Goldenhil, who could be considered a core member of the NAC.

It was the Chairman’s secretary who appeared before him after a full four years.

“Surprised?”

The Chairman’s secretary smiled and asked George Goldenhil, who remained silent even after seeing her.

At her dazzlingly beautiful smile, George Goldenhil’s chest trembled intensely.

However, it was not a flutter born of her beauty.

Rather, it was closer to fear.

“You’ve been running the NAC as you pleased while the Chairman was in seclusion. Thanks to that, things that would have been unimaginable if the Chairman were present have occurred.”

In response to her words, smiling as she attacked his pride, George Goldenhil could offer no rebuttal or resistance.

He merely poured all his nerves into protecting himself from the sharp, needle-like Mana emanating from her, piercing his heart.

“The Chairman intended to overthrow the non-Awakened government and establish our own, not to become the lapdog of the non-Awakened government.”

The secretary, her whole body tense, arrived right in front of George Goldenhil, who was trembling and sweating coldly.

She still wore her beautiful smile as she used her small, soft white hand to wipe the sweat flowing from George Goldenhil’s forehead.

“But what can we do? The Hunter of our Goldenhil family has become the lapdog of the non-Awakened regime, hasn’t he?”

The secretary, gently rubbing George Goldenhil’s forehead with her finger, suddenly placed her hand on the crown of his head.

“Kgh…!”

Her hand placed on his crown.

The immense pressure from that soft, small hand, the force that seemed capable of crushing his brain, finally forced a pained groan from George Goldenhil’s mouth.

For a while, she said nothing, applying only pressure to George Goldenhil’s head.

George Goldenhil also only intermittently let out painful groans and trembled.

After a moment, the secretary slowly removed her hand from the crown of George Goldenhil’s head.

Simultaneously, George Goldenhil collapsed forward as if crumbling from the sofa and lay his body on the carpeted floor.

“Hah… Hah…”

Looking down at George Goldenhil, who was breathing heavily, the secretary spoke.

“Kill Ivan Ivanov and Lee Siguk… To be honest, it’s not entirely unrelated to our interests. After all, for the Awakened revolution we originally aimed for, Ivan Ivanov should have died in that Dungeon back then.”

By now, the smile had vanished from her face.

“But killing two people with just you and the spoiled brat from the Texon family? That’s something only non-Awakened would say.”

The secretary helped George Goldenhil up and sat him back on the sofa.

“You led the NAC while the Chairman was absent. Thanks to that, the NAC’s secrets were exposed to the non-Awakened of the CIA and FBI.”

The secretary smiled again.

“At least you suffered a blow to your pride regarding the order from the non-Awakened to kill two A-Rank Hunters. That wound, combined with practical calculations, is also making you hesitate.”

“……”

“That day, when you fight the final battle in Ululu Tumbebe’s kingdom, if you attempt to eliminate Ivan Ivanov and Lee Siguk, helpers will appear to assist you. If you do not attempt to eliminate them, likewise, no helpers will appear.”

The secretary straightened George Goldenhil’s disheveled hair and adjusted his clothes.

『However… whether you eliminate the two or not… once the Africa Expedition ends, things will begin.』

With those words, the secretary disappeared.

‘Hmm…’

Recalling that day, George Goldenhil quietly touched his head. Because the pain he felt then came back to him vividly.

‘What does she mean, things will begin?’

The secretary’s appearance was tantamount to saying the Chairman would reveal himself again.

The Chairman’s reappearance, demonstrating unpredictable strength.

And the beginning of the ‘things’ foretold by the secretary.

‘This is going to be exhausting.’

Thinking that, George Goldenhil lay down on a hammock placed in one corner of the barracks.

‘Helpers… Who could they be?’

American A-Rank Hunters belonging to the NAC, or unexpected figures planted by the Chairman.

George Goldenhil simply couldn’t predict.

The 3rd Corps had to lose 14 B-Rank Hunters due to the Undead Golem they encountered at Bondo Fortress.

Nevertheless, they ultimately won, gathered other scattered Collective Combat Units from the vicinity, and then marched straight toward Aketi Fortress.

Once they left the area of Bondo Fortress and entered the area of Aketi Fortress, the sky darkened again, and the surroundings grew gloomy.

“Keeeeeek-!”

And unlike the previous path, swarms of Monsters boldly charged toward the Assault Team.

Unlike Monsters emerging from Dungeons, these Monsters of the African jungle, which had evolved purely from exposure to the Mana emitted by Ululu Tumbebe and the Undead Legion in Congo, were not of a very high level and could be hunted quickly.

But the problem wasn’t whether they could be hunted.

“Damn it, again?!”

Bang-!

A B-Rank marksman, firing a Mana Bullet into the head of a Monster that seemed to be an evolved form of a meerkat, suddenly bursting from the ground, shouted in anger.

The other Hunters merely walked on in silence, keeping their mouths shut, only heightening their tension.

‘They’re too tense.’

Watching that scene with a concerned expression, Olande Pompidou thought.

‘Their tension was already high due to the ambush at Bondo Fortress, and now with these bizarrely evolved things popping up sporadically here and there… It’s not good if tension is too low, but it’s also not good if it’s too high…’

Amidst the concerns of Olande Pompidou, the Mobile Unit Captain, the 3rd Corps finally reached Aketi Fortress.

“That’s a fortress?”

And the moment they saw the appearance of that Aketi Fortress, all the Hunters of the 3rd Corps reacted with disbelief.

“Recon Unit Captain! What’s going on?!”

Alex Burke, the 3rd Corps Commander, growled as he looked at Recon Unit Captain Julia Texon.

“I-it was definitely a corpse wall, no different from the other fortresses, when our Recon Unit scouted it two days ago.”

“Then you explain it. Is that a corpse wall?”

Where Alex Burke pointed, instead of a corpse wall, a dense forest spread out.

If it weren’t for the Undead Legion roaming around it, anyone would see it as a jungle.

“Speak!”

As Alex Burke pressed Julia Texon, Olande Pompidou stepped forward.

“This is Ululu Tumbebe’s stronghold. It’s a place where anything could happen in two days without being strange. So, please don’t be so angry and let’s consider countermeasures, shall we?”

At his words, Alex Burke glared at Julia Texon for a moment, then turned back and went to the soldiers, ordering them to construct barracks.

Watching that, Olande Pompidou looked at Julia Texon and said.

“Don’t take it too much to heart. Hunter Burke is like that because of the side effects of his Berserker Skill.”

At that, Julia Texon forced a smile.

“I know. Well, it’s possible.”

However, due to the discomfort evident over her awkward smile, Olande Pompidou eventually had to quietly excuse himself.

A similar problem occurred with the 1st and 2nd Corps as well.

“Hmm… A forest… So, does that mean we don’t have to worry about Undead Golems?”

At Liu Yaofang’s question, the commanders of the 2nd Corps Collective Combat Unit all fell silent. Because nothing was certain.

Seeing everyone silent, Liu Yaofang thought to himself, ‘Useless people,’ and looked at Siguk.

Liu Yaofang asked Siguk, who stood with his arms crossed, listening as if to a story about another country.

“What does the Special Operations Unit Captain think?”

At Liu Yaofang’s question, everyone’s gaze turned to Siguk.

Siguk, who had been standing quietly with his arms crossed just listening, looked at Liu Yaofang and chuckled.

Neither Liu Yaofang nor the other commanders knew the meaning behind that laugh.

“Whether there are Undead Golems or not, is that important?”

At Siguk’s words, everyone made puzzled expressions.

“Anyway, there’s a fortress ahead that we must capture. Whether there’s a forest instead of walls, or something else instead of Undead Golems, is that important?”

At Siguk’s fundamental statement, everyone looked at Liu Yaofang with expressions that said, ‘Well, of course.’

However, Liu Yaofang still looked at Siguk and asked him.

“Do you have some other plan, perhaps?”

At that question, Siguk smiled and answered.

“Attach escort units to the Detectors and have them approach closer to the forest.”

At that, one of the commanders looked at Siguk and said.

“The Recon Unit has already finished scouting. What more scouting is there to do?”

Without even looking at him, Siguk said.

“Seeing from afar and seeing up close are different.”

“The Detectors have already scanned once. What’s different?”

“Detector Skills have different effects depending on distance, isn’t that common sense?”

“We could lose valuable Detectors.”

As an argument was about to break out between the two, Liu Yaofang intervened.

“I will personally lead the Detectors and go check.”

Then the argument subsided.

The meeting soon ended, and Liu Yaofang immediately led the Detectors and Recon Unit members, approaching within 300 meters of the forest.

There, the Detectors scanned again and, as Siguk had said, discovered new facts.

“What?!”

“You mean all the trees are Undead? Is that it?”

At the resumed officers’ meeting, Liu Yaofang informed them of the facts uncovered by the Recon Unit he led.

Upon hearing that powerful Mana was detected from the trees forming the forest, and that the Mana was identical to that felt from the Undead Legion, the officers’ faces clearly revealed their gloomy feelings.

“The area of the forest alone is three times that of the fortresses we’ve encountered before. How on earth can we properly deal with that…”

At Liu Yaofang’s words, everyone fell silent.

The faces of those who fell silent clearly showed imagination of a bleak prospect and the resulting gloom.

For a while, the interior of the barracks was submerged in gloomy silence.

As if no one intended to break it, the silence stretched on.

And that silence was broken by Siguk, the only one present whose expression did not reveal gloomy emotions.

“Why are you all looking so depressed?”

At Siguk’s words, everyone’s gaze focused on him.

Siguk, with his arms crossed, looked at each of them with a pitiful expression and continued.

“Have you forgotten where this is? This is Ululu Tumbebe’s stronghold. The place people also call the Demon Realm. Isn’t it normal for anything to happen here without being strange?”

No one could refute Siguk’s words.

“Anyway, that place is a fortress we must break through. To reach Kisangani, where Ululu Tumbebe is said to be, who knows how many of these fantastical fortresses we’ll have to break through. But if you’re all this gloomy already, what are you going to do going forward?”

“Ahem…”

The officers, all B-Rank Hunters of some renown, at Siguk’s pointed remark, could only cough awkwardly without saying anything else.

Siguk, looking at them with pitiful eyes, spoke to Liu Yaofang.

“Our Special Operations Unit will handle that fortress.”

Instantly, everyone’s gaze focused on Siguk again.

Liu Yaofang asked with a puzzled expression.

“The Special Operations Unit… will handle it alone?”

Siguk grinned and answered.

“Isn’t that what the Special Operations Unit is for, to be used in such unexpected situations?”