Resolve To Move Forward (2)

“It wasn’t your fault, Captain.”

More than half of the company had died, and even the survivors were in no state to be deployed to the battlefield for a long time because of their severe injuries.

It was enough to leave trauma, and the very fact that a single turncoat had pushed us into the worst possible situation and caused such immense losses created an anxiety that made it impossible to trust anyone.

My hands trembled, and some of the surviving unit members looked at me with pity as they tried to comfort me, but it felt like something I could not overcome right away, and my head was only filled with confusion.

On top of that, I was not even in a position to properly thank Battalion Commander Go Yu-jin, the one who had saved us.

Japan was trying to fully commit Awakeners through Busan and expand the front lines.

A great number of fleets had appeared off the coast of Busan, and in order to stop them, Korea’s navy and Awakeners had risen in large numbers and entered a standoff, to the point that people were saying it would not be strange at all if the war escalated immediately.

So at that moment, I felt like abandoning everything and fleeing the battlefield.

‘We overcame even the Great Cataclysm…. But wounds made by betrayal from people are not easy to bear.’

Although I had been in fierce competition with the commander of the 1st Company, I had never imagined something like this would happen, and the reality that one man’s betrayal had caused most of the people I knew to die or be injured was unbearably painful.

The guilt of having survived alone felt like it was grabbing my ankle and dragging me into a swamp, and it was then.

“How long are you going to stay like that?”

At the sudden voice, I turned my head and saw a woman covered all over in small wounds looking down at me, and startled by the sight, I stood up and said,

“I’m sorry. My thoughts are in turmoil….”

“I understand. Countless comrades died before your eyes, and the trauma left by the betrayal of someone you had trusted with your back is by no means a light thing. But aren’t you angry?”

Angry?

I was so furious that if the commander of the 1st Company had been in front of me right then, I would have torn him apart, shredded even his soul into pieces, and sealed him away to suffer eternal pain.

“There is hardly any reason stronger than revenge for why a person seeks to become stronger. But I do not want to tell you to rely on that too much. You are not worth so little that you should be destroyed by being consumed by those emotions.”

“…What is my worth?”

“Find it yourself. Find a way to prove with your own hands the worth that others hope to see in you. It will be difficult. Hardship that is anything but easy will be waiting for you, and in the end, pain harsher than what you are feeling now will endlessly strike and hammer at you.”

“When that happens…. What should I do?”

“Endure it. Endure and endure the countless hammer blows that will harden you, and keep moving upward. That is the only advice I can give you.”

Then, as if she had no intention of hearing my answer, she turned away, and after saying one last thing, disappeared.

“The next time I see you, I hope you’ll look better than you do now.”

I only lowered my head silently toward Go Yu-jin’s back.

‘The next time we meet, I’ll be in better form than I am now.’

That was the manifestation of the will that kept me alive for the moment.

After many twists and turns, I came to meet Han Sang-gil, and with his help, I gradually and steadily built up my power by making use of the Necronomicon.

I looked at Go Yu-jin as she prepared a separate memorial rite for the dead.

The war was still in full swing, yet Go Yu-jin wanted to console the hearts of the many deceased who had died such futile deaths.

Moreover, because of the Chinese forces, among whom black mages were suspected to exist, it also carried the meaning of soothing those souls and sending them to where they ought to go, so that their souls could not be used recklessly.

“This is all I can do. I’m sorry. I came too late.”

Countless souls swayed around Go Yu-jin as she spoke in a small whisper.

Not all of them would be allies, but since every one of them was close to a mass of ‘residual will’ left in the world through unjust and resentful deaths, using a method like this was certainly not a bad thing.

So the memorial rite of a black mage, scattering those lingering wills and returning them to nature, was not splendid. Rather, it felt plain and shabby, yet for that very reason it created a solemn atmosphere through its sincerity.

Many Awakeners and residents bowed their heads and looked up tearfully at the souls scattering into the air and vanishing, and after leaving those disappearing souls behind, Go Yu-jin shouted to everyone.

“We will exact the full price for all those who were sacrificed by this barbaric atrocity.”

“Even if that price is stained with blood!”

Everyone answered that resolute declaration with silence, and it felt as though all hearts had become one.

‘There’s no answer in acting only on the defensive, so now it’s right for us to take the initiative and attack the enemy.’

Their momentum had already waned.

As long as there was enough strength to exploit the gaps, we could certainly strike the enemy, and I had already thought of a good way to vent our resentment.

“Please pass along the word for everyone to dress warmly.”

By chance, standing beside me was the commander of the Jeolla-do front, and he looked at me strangely as he asked,

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’ll freeze the sea and make it possible for us to aim directly at where the enemy is. Shouldn’t we let out all of these feelings?”

At that, he nodded and busily began using the Awakeners around him to pass on the orders.

That was enough.

After that, we spent quite a busy time gathering people and checking their equipment, but even in the meantime, perhaps because they still did not grasp the situation, the Chinese forces showed no sign of moving.

Thanks to that, after about an hour of busily preparing, I looked at the people gathered around me and said,

“We’re going to freeze the sea. If you run for about five minutes, you’ll reach where the enemy is, and they’ll be strong. Their equipment will be vastly superior to ours, and they’ll be better trained, but trust us.”

After confirming the group of Awakeners answering my words with silence, I engraved a pattern into the mana I had released.

Then, so that people could run and reach the desired position, I began freezing the sea while also reinforcing it so it could withstand an appropriate amount of force.

Through ‘Ice Enchant,’ freezing the sea over a vast area consumed an enormous amount of mana, but now that I had become 8th Circle, I could freeze as much sea as I wanted with only about one-third of my mana, so after making the path without much trouble so everyone could advance to the destination, I said,

“Let’s go. Time to finish it.”

At those words, countless Awakeners began running forward, shouting, “Let’s go!”

‘There may be massive casualties, but the most important thing for us is the fact that we protected it with our own hands.’

Solidarity. Right now, it was the mindset this country needed most, and Go Yu-jin too seemed to have steeled herself this time, as she filled her Sub-space with a large amount of soil and asked me,

“Together?”

“Of course.”

Having returned to the dignified Go Yu-jin I had seen before, she matched everyone’s pace and ran across the frozen sea with them.

‘Your end will never be now.’

I will make sure of that.

Korea had begun pushing back the Chinese forces, and even the many ordinary troops stationed inland in China withdrew far to the rear, resulting in an overall retreat of the Chinese military.

As word spread to the world that the damage they had suffered was at a level that could not even be fully counted, it became known that Korea’s strength was not yet dead, and at just that moment, Kim Dae-san began his address to everyone.

“We have suffered massive damage in this war. But we are winning, and in this war as well, we will leave an unforgettable memory upon those who invaded us and drive them back into their own land.”

Kim Dae-san fell silent for a moment, then revealed a piece of data and began speaking.

“Many citizens are currently mistaken about the situation our Republic of Korea is facing.”

The data contained several wartime situations, and among them one battlefield not widely known to the public was marked.

It even stated that a great victory had been achieved there, and that more than ten thousand enemies, along with an aircraft carrier and others, had been captured, shocking everyone. Kim Dae-san pointed to that place and explained the course of the war, saying that the Chinese Communist forces had attempted a surprise attack there, and that we had defended it and seized a tremendous victory.

He also disclosed the situations on various other battlefields and spoke of the response policy.

“If these two countries do not withdraw and apologize, then we must make a decision.”

A brief silence followed once more, and everyone waited tensely for what would come next from Kim Dae-san’s mouth.

“We will issue a stern warning to China and Japan, who are filled with greed to steal the chimera research technology in which we are ahead. Through the research materials we have obtained, we will mass-produce many chimeras, and up to the limits specified by international law, we will raise, operate, and introduce them into the war against these two countries.”

There was bound to be a great deal of curiosity and doubt over what exactly those chimeras were.

That was because what China had demanded, and what had become the hidden beginning of the first war, was a request for cooperation so that Wang Sun, China’s hero, who had been forcibly used and abused in chimera research, could be returned to them and laid to rest.

But the government disclosed the details, and that decision ended up enraging the entire nation.

Now, everyone became furious, swearing that they would no longer allow what was ours to be taken away.

On top of that, the government also announced Japan’s atrocities, not limited to looting and the fighting between states and armies, but extending to the shameless acts of targeting civilians as well, capturing them and sending them to Japan.

Whether it was true or not, this caused the emotional divide to deepen even further, and separately from that, many Awakeners who knew Kim Dae-san were astonished as they watched him actively call for the cooperation of citizens who possessed strong power or wished to volunteer for the war, even promising sweeping rewards after the war was over.

“How interesting. He really gives the impression that he’s determined to settle everything in this war. What do you think?”

At Han Sang-gil’s question, the two masters pondered deeply before speaking.

“That man has always been sincere, and serious. So isn’t he simply determined this time to crush either China or Japan?”

“That’s right. If they can really deploy a large number of monstrous chimeras like Wang Sun, then it’s essentially the same as mass-producing units with overwhelming power. Why would he fear those two countries?”

In truth, no one could judge how far the research had actually progressed, but in terms of sheer technical capability alone, the Republic of Korea could be said to surpass any other country.

And chimera research was not simply research conducted on humans.

If they could take the chimera research applied to Wang Sun and Bak Hyeok and apply it to powerful monsters, thereby mass-producing monster chimeras as military weapons?

It was plain as day that they would come to possess a tremendous power capable of seizing hegemony over an era.

So it was only right to see those two countries as desperately rushing in because they wanted Korea to reveal or surrender the results of that insane research.

“If we protect it, the world will be remade.”

“We can protect it. In truth, isn’t this a war where the pressure itself is even greater?”

As for Japan, once its warlords lost their strength, it would be finished. Moreover, since news had come that Baek Da-gyeong in Daegu was secretly carrying out an operation, it was possible that Kim Dae-san was drawing attention in order to help Baek Da-gyeong.

“I’ve really felt this for a long time, but Kim Dae-san really is the kind of man who will use anything for victory. Something big is probably going to happen, so let’s prepare in advance.”

That was Han Sang-gil’s prediction, and as if his words had become a prophecy, it began to rage from beyond the sea.