100. All-Out War (1)

“Cheorwon. I’d heard the talk, but it’s filthy cold up here.”
“Damn it. It’s freezing as it is, and now it’s snowing on top of it?”
“No wonder Wang Geon rose up in revolt, with a frozen place like this for a capital.”¹

A freight truck had hauled itself all the way up to Cheorwon, in Gangwon Province. The Hunters who clambered down from the cargo bed swore through chattering teeth, the cold seeping clear into their bones.

“What’s your name?”
“Oh Jeongsu, Squad Leader.”
“Skip the formalities. You’re only here to herd those kids around anyway, not me.”
“Then you’ll recognize my authority to command?”
“When have I ever cared about that sort of thing?”
“Understood.”
“In exchange, no nagging.”

Oh Jeongsu swallowed the sigh caught in his throat.

Kim Mijeong, the Rakshasa Guild’s number three, was reckoned second only to Park Jinsu in raw combat strength, yet the reason she stayed a mere action-squad head was simple. She never stepped up for anything that didn’t interest her.

‘Even if I’m not the one who answers for it, the cleanup’s still a pain.’

Oh Jeongsu grumbled to himself for a moment, then went back over the materials he’d received from the Arahan Guild. The borderlands: the vast erosion zone that cut across the heart of the Korean peninsula. In principle, entry required government permission, though the world, as ever, never ran on principle alone.

“You’re with the Rakshasa Guild, I take it?”
“Oh Jeongsu.”
“Hah. So you are. This way, please.”

The Rakshasa Guild members followed the smuggling route on the Cheorwon side. By the gap in the fence, some hundred and fifty Hunters blew on their hands, breath pluming white in the cold.

“Huh. We just follow those guys?”
“They said we were headed into the borderlands, so I figured poaching at most. This looks more like they’re about to start a war.”

These were mercenaries, quietly rounded up out of the Madam’s sight. Something in the Rakshasa members’ bearing was plainly no ordinary thing, so they muttered among themselves in little knots of two and three, but not one of them dropped out. Arahan’s capital was footing the bill, and they’d been handed several times what their skills were worth.

‘Once the job’s done, I’ll demand a bonus.’
‘It’s not like I’ll actually die, right?’

The Hunters the Rakshasa Guild had hired snickered to themselves, picturing the commission, never dreaming they were marching to their deaths.

“All right, let’s move out.”

— Clunk.

With the planks cleared away, the hole into the borderlands lay open and plain. The lead Rakshasa man went in first, and the mercenaries filed in after him.

“But hey, Oh Jeongsu. Isn’t it way too far, going all the way to Paju?”
“We can’t use the routes around the Gyeonggi area.”
“I heard the Red Spider got wiped out.”
“The black market’s running that route for them now, apparently.”

The Red Spider had been a large organization, its membership numbering in the hundreds. Yujin might have taken the top seat, but holding every corner of its territory was impossible, so the moment the spider hunt ended he’d sat the black market’s ruler, Mister Black, down at the negotiating table. And the black market had managed everything flawlessly, acting on Yujin’s authority in his stead.

“And the supply line?”
“We’ve arranged for help from the Arahan Guild around Yeoncheon and Paju.”

The Arahan Guild was slipping small strike teams into the borderlands; they’d see to the supply needs of the force pushing south along the old GOP line.

“They say even the Madam won’t pay this much mind.”
“How many mouths are there? You really think that’s going to cut it?”
“They say they’re emptying out every spatial pouch the guild holds.”
“Goddamn it. When we asked to borrow them, they pinched every last one.”

Kim Mijeong spat the complaint out in a needle-edged voice, and Oh Jeongsu only smiled wryly. The Galaxy Pub ran the finest intelligence network in the country. With the Madam and Yujin shaping up to be partners, at the very least, keeping this raid secret meant the Arahan Guild had to lay down a few of its own hidden cards as well.

“All right, we move.”

At Oh Jeongsu’s command, the great mass of them began heading south. They followed the side trails the soldiers had cut back in the Demilitarized Zone days, and the column stretched out long and thin.

“Orcs are attacking!”
“Damn it. The monsters just keep popping out!”
“Priest! Priest!”

A column drawn out long is a column all the more likely to be caught out by monsters, and fights flared up here and there along its length.

…

They fended off the monster raids with summons and detection traits, but the column was simply too long, and in an erosion zone where monsters respawned around the clock, a flawless defense was out of the question.

The ghastly energy gathered on the dagger swept across the troll’s neck. Blood beaded along the nape where the blue arc had caught it, then burst, red spattering in every direction.

“You planning to get your head straight?”
“Th-thank yo—”
“Maybe I should just let you all croak.”

Kim Mijeong muttered to herself, an edge of irritation in it.

Cheorwon to Paju ran a good hundred kilometers as the crow flew, and by the side trails the real distance was far greater. Even granting that every soul on the march was a Hunter, a superhuman a cut above ordinary people, it was no easy road. With monsters lunging out at all hours on top of that, the difficulty of the march climbed more than tenfold.

“I think I’ve got frostbite.”
“What’s the Priest doing?”

The bitter cold was a curse on the Rakshasa force too. They’d brought cold-weather gear, but on the march they were burning through it far faster than anyone had planned.

“Tch. What glory and riches did I think I’d win, taking a job like this?”
“Aren’t we headed down to Paju?”
“If that’s the deal, they should’ve just sent us in from Paju.”

Discontent seethed among the mercenaries. They’d been thrilled to squeeze out a fat advance, but after nearly a week tormented by monsters and cold, there was only so much money could soothe.

“Hey. Tell them the performance bonus is doubled.”
“Squad Leader, Arahan will have words about that.”
“How many of them do you think are going to make it back alive?”

Oh Jeongsu swallowed the admiration rising in him. She paid no mind to anything but what interested her, and yet Kim Mijeong’s insight cut razor-sharp. The men were as good as dead anyway; to lift morale, she could write all the rubber checks she pleased.

“Double, you say?”
“Aw. What’ve we got to complain about?”
“But what kind of job pays double? This doesn’t look like simple poaching.”

A few of them caught the suspicious scent behind the doubled rate, but one way or another, the mercenaries’ discontent eased a notch.

The march had begun at Cheorwon, and when a week had passed, the Rakshasa Guild’s massed force came up against a faint, whitish fog.

“This is the fog Arahan mentioned.”
“Skeleton Warriors are roaming around in packs.”
“You can see that?”
“You just reinforce your eyes with mana.”

A Hunter at the very peak of the 6th Rank, Kim Mijeong wielded mana as naturally as her own hands and feet, and she saw clean through the fog conjured from spirit-power. Beyond it, the ranks of undead swelled steadily.

Without warning, Kim Mijeong kicked off the ground and plunged into the fog.

“Action-squad head?”
“Going on ahead. Take your time.”

Oh Jeongsu let out a long, drawn-out sigh. Well, this was about as long as it could have held. Given Kim Mijeong’s notoriety, her sticking with the massed force this long was close to a miracle.

“Tell everyone to ready for battle.”

Oh Jeongsu gripped Rodriguez’s Staff, the weapon he’d trusted and wielded for years.

“That sure took a while.”

Yujin straightened up from the Skeleton Warrior he’d been bent over reinforcing, and muttered.

‘They’ve crossed into the domain.’

‘A hundred-odd enemies just stepped into the necromancy amplification range.’

A hundred-odd intruders had surfaced inside the Black Obelisk’s detection range. Fafnir had been smashing the monster colonies nearby at regular intervals, and lately it was almost unheard of for more than a hundred of anything to push into the territory at once.

He synced his senses with one of the wraiths he had posted here and there about the domain.

— Shaaak!

In that instant, a streak of blue energy came hurtling toward the wraith he’d linked his vision to, and the spell came undone in a heartbeat. The backlash of having the wraith, his spell’s very anchor, annihilated under him rattled through his guts.

“Khh.”

‘It’s the spell’s backlash.’

Had he canceled the Ghost Eye cast in time, he wouldn’t have taken anything like this much damage. But he didn’t even tend to the internal injury; he went straight back into Ghost Eye.

‘I have to confirm who the intruder is.’

He bore the pain of his guts twisting. Pinning down who had wiped out the wraith came first. And the instant he linked his vision to a wraith in that area, a blue flash came streaking in once more.

‘What a reaction speed.’

He pulled his spirit-power back at once. The moment his synced vision snapped back to normal, the System’s chime drifted past his ear.

‘Well, more or less.’

‘Ah. That’s not it.’

If she had sensed the wraith’s presence from the start, she wouldn’t have struck the instant he synced his vision through Ghost Eye. She must have read the ripple of spirit-power that goes off whenever a skill fires. A viciously sharp sixth sense on that one.

‘I already did.’

‘It’s a face I know.’

In the instant before the blue aura tore the wraith apart, he’d managed to make out the intruder’s identity.

‘Mad Dog Kim Mijeong.’

A girl who relished the act of fighting itself, grinning ear to ear every time she threw herself into a life-or-death struggle. A battle maniac. A thrill junkie. Watching Kim Mijeong’s face in a fight, it was hard to land on a word that fit her better than “mad dog.” Before the regression, she’d been a monster who’d climbed to the very peak of the 7th Rank.

‘The plan’s gone sideways.’

Yujin pressed his thumbs hard into his temples. Had the Mad Dog wormed her way into the Rakshasa Guild? Was this simply intel he’d never caught wind of before the regression, or was this, too, part of the butterfly effect? Kim Mijeong’s outrageous breakthrough power set his head pounding.

‘That’s true enough.’

Kronos’s counsel set his thoughts neatly back in order. Mad Dog or not, the moment she’d bared her fangs at him, there was nothing left to agonize over.

‘I just have to pull those fangs out, or kill her.’

Yujin smiled, murderous intent prickling off him, and read the battlefield through Ghost Eye.

Kim Mijeong was charging ahead, shattering the undead stationed across the domain with that abnormal breakthrough power of hers. Behind her, the Rakshasa Guild’s main body was cutting down the Returners and Skeleton Warriors deployed on the outskirts of the Necropolis.

‘This is actually good.’

Had Kim Mijeong kept step with the Rakshasa main body, she’d have made a thorny opponent.

“Fafnir.”

— Oh. Finally my turn?

“Head about five hundred meters off in the two-o’clock direction and you’ll run into a Hunter.”

— And I cut that one down.

“No. Just pin her down.”

Fafnir’s martial prowess sat around the middle of the 6th Rank. Built on the corpse of a Draconian, he carried hefty stat bonuses, and between the Martial-Mage trait and his Transcendent-grade Dragon-Scale Armor, his abilities were boosted enormously.

Even so.

“Avoid a head-on fight if you can.”

— She’s pretty strong, I take it?

“Yeah.”

The Mad Dog was no opponent to take lightly, not with that monstrous breakthrough power; let his guard slip for even an instant and he might lose Fafnir. The Life Force Vessel meant bringing him back would be no trouble, but losing him would still tear a wide hole in his forces, so caution was warranted.

“I’ll send Song Myeongseok and Jo Seungcheol along too.”

— My liege!

“Cut the nonsense and follow Fafnir’s lead.”

— Khhk.

Song Myeongseok let out a groan, his pride plainly stung. The blue ghost-flames flickering at the corners of Fafnir’s eyes curved into a grin.

— Let’s go. Lackey Number One.
— Damn it. I’m not a lackey, I keep telling you.
— Don’t like it? Fight me and win, then.
— Damn it. I’m telling you.

Song Myeongseok trailed after Fafnir, spitting curses.

“Boss. What do we do?”
“Stick to the plan as it is.”
“Got it.”

The Scraps finished their own battle prep in short order.

“Bro. Don’t die.”
“That’s my line for you. Die, and I’ll bring you back as a skeleton or a zombie.”
“Geck. I’d really rather not.”
“Not a zombie, no way.”

The three of them moved exactly as they’d been told in advance. Yujin drew his gaze back from the Scraps as the whitish currents of air swallowed them up.

‘Well then, shall we begin?’

Two weeks of prep nearly broke my back, I’ll have you know.

I do hope they’re satisfied.

Yujin rubbed his hands together lightly, then spread out his spirit-power.