Chapter 389

It was a day when the cold snap had finally eased.

Students at last freed from the college entrance exam were busy either preparing to retake it or having fun, while office workers with dark circles under their eyes packed onto public transportation.

Then, amid that peaceful, ordinary routine, a bombshell no one had seen coming dropped.

Urgent Breaking News—Major Announcement from the United Nations Security Council

The video, just over thirty minutes long, began with Chairman Xiao Yang staring gravely into the camera.

“I stand before you as the ninth Chairman of the People’s Republic of China and a member of the United Nations Security Council to speak about the massive Monster Wave unfolding in Sichuan Province.”

It was a bombshell that seized the world’s attention and shook all of Asia.

One day passed, then two, then three. Even after four days, the situation showed no sign of calming down.

There had been countless incidents and disasters since the Great Cataclysm, but the Monster Wave in Sichuan Province was unprecedented in scale.

Chairman Xiao Yang of China officially declared martial law, and with the approval of the United Nations Security Council, peacekeeping forces were deployed to the front.

The entire world was watching.

The Asian countries bordering China were especially on edge.

Korea was no exception. Once again, the Hunter Issues section of the country’s largest online forum was boiling like a cauldron over hot coals.

Here’s a summary of the situation so far.

There isn’t anyone here who hasn’t watched the Security Council’s major announcement video, right? If there is, go die somewhere. This is a genuine emergency. The supreme leader up north has probably already watched the whole thing on iTube and is lurking on this board, too.

Anyway, so many insect bastards kept asking someone to summarize a situation their own lives depended on that I finally got fed up and wrote this.

1. An unexplained massive Wave occurred in Sichuan Province. Current estimated casualties: at least 300,000.

Of course, that figure is from a week ago, so there’s probably no comparison with the number now. At this point, I doubt accurate statistics are even possible.

2. The Chinese government stepped in, but the scale was far crazier than anyone expected.

A monster army numbering at least in the tens of thousands has gathered around something called an Arch Lich.

The People’s Liberation Army and Air Force got absolutely wrecked, while more than two thousand Hunters from the Public Security Armed Forces Department have gone missing. Magical interference cut off communications and neutralized satellite surveillance, so they can’t even confirm whether those Hunters are still alive.

3. The Chinese government secretly contacted several countries and hired a number of S-rank Hunters to suppress the situation as quickly as possible. United Nations peacekeeping forces were deployed to the front two days ago, and they’re fighting desperately.

The Security Council is posting updates on the fighting, so anyone interested can check them here.

(Link attached.)

Everything below this is just my personal opinion, so feel free to skip it.

4. Anyone with a properly functioning brain already knows this, but the current situation isn’t merely serious. Mainland China is practically hell on earth.

They’re pulling every useful Hunter they can find and sending them to the front. Other Gates are being neglected as a result, and their mana levels are becoming unstable. Prices are also hyperinflating across the board.

The truly frightening thing is that if the front collapses and the monster army advances beyond Sichuan… I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

5. So go to the supermarket and stock up on emergency food before we’re all completely screwed. Of course, I’m not telling you to hoard supplies and profiteer.

6. It felt like a shame to end it here, so I’m throwing in some national pride.

Our Lord Fuck and the Ares Guild’s Jung Dragon¹ are active on the front. Keep hyping them up as hard as you have been.

Teh end.

Within hours of being uploaded, the post passed 100,000 views, and the comments caught fire as netizens following the situation weighed in.

└ Best comment: The situation really is as serious as the post says, but the author is setting the mood way too hard lol. They say S-rank Hunters are fighting alongside 100,000 ordinary Hunters. What’s there to worry about? Is the military just sitting around?

└ Yeah. They’re sitting around in maintenance depots right now.

└ ……?

└ Didn’t you watch the news? All the Chinese military’s Equipment broke down this time, exposing the largest military procurement corruption scandal ever. They say it’s worth at least tens of trillions of won.² Apparently, more than one or two divisions are stuck in place.

└ Huh. This sounds like something I’ve heard a lot before.

└ Please change the canteens already, you motherfuckers. I got out last year, but why did the water in my canteen still taste like it came from Normandy?³ After one sip, I couldn’t even tell whether my name was Kim Cheol Soo or James.

└ Corporal Kim. Tonight’s dinner is boneless pollock braised in sauce.

└ I’m not eating, fuck.

└ Anyway, the military being stuck because of broken Equipment is a problem, but they’ve got manpower to spare, so they’re probably fine. Hunters are the only ones who can actually inflict meaningful damage on monsters, after all. The real problem is something else.

└ What?

└ The monster population has broken through 100,000.

└ ??

└ ?????

└ What do you mean, 100,000? Don’t talk bullshit.

└ It’s not bullshit. It’s official information announced by the United Nations Security Council. Follow the link in the post and check it yourself. It was posted five minutes ago.

└ Wow…… fuck.

└ Judging by the reaction to the comment above, I guess it’s true. Holy shit.

└ No. That’s just because it’s all in English and I don’t understand what it says. I’m running it through Gargle Translator right now.

└ Is this guy insane?

└ Hey, but if the number of monsters really has broken through 100,000, isn’t that a huge problem? Until now, the largest Monster Wave we’d ever seen hadn’t even reached a thousand monsters, had it?

└ Naturally, this Wave wasn’t anywhere near this large in the beginning. The problem is that there’s an Arch Lich over there. Even an ordinary Lich appearing would be a major incident, but that one is an apex named Monster unknown even to academia. Practically speaking, most of the monsters fighting right now are undead resurrected by the Arch Lich.

└ Arch Lich: “Kaioken, times one hundred.”⁴

└ Then can’t we just kill the Arch Lich? If most of the monsters are undead, killing the controller should end everything, right?

└ ???????

└ Who’s going to kill the Arch Lich, and how, you fucking idiot? The guy who uses an Aura Blade with his keyboard has nothing but a mouth.

A fierce debate raged on.

Some commenters watched from a safe distance, as though the whole thing were a fire across the river, while others took the crisis seriously.

Even as doomsday predictions and blind optimism ran rampant, new information continued to pour in.

└ Best comment: Security Council official report: The front in the east-west sector was breached one hour ago. Fortunately, Faye Chen arrived with reinforcements and stopped the damage from spreading.

└ Holy shit, it’s real.

└ If it’s the east-west front, isn’t that where Wu Heixing is?

└ Yeah. That Chinese junkie.

└ But why did it get breached? He’s an S-rank Hunter.

└ Because he’s a Chinese-made S-rank Hunter.

└ Ah……

└ If Faye Chen hadn’t been there, this could’ve become a real disaster. Maybe it’s because Faye Chen is a well-made Hunter forged by the Great Cataclysm.

└ Faye Chen is Hong Kong-made. Her parents had Hong Kong citizenship.

└ Do you work for the comment quality-control committee? That was fucking clear.

└ While we’re at it, does anyone have news about the Korean Hunters?

└ Jung Dragon¹ has taken charge of the northern front and is gaining the upper hand. I heard Lord Fuck won two or three times on the western front, but there hasn’t been any news since then, so I guess he’s maintaining the current situation.

└ Hmm…… I’m not worried about Lee Jungryong, since everyone knows how skilled he is, but is Lord Fuck safe? He’s still an A-rank Hunter, after all.

└ ?? LOL

└ LOL

└ There’s still an innocent idiot who treats Lord Fuck like an A-rank Hunter, lol. As a current A-rank Hunter, all I can do is laugh. That Jin Taekyung guy is just a monster, lol.

└ Hey, hey, h-hey!! The Se-Security Council just posted an update on the w-western front!

└ Oh, news about Lord Fuck. It’s been a while.

└ You sound frantic as hell. What does it say about the western front?

└ It says it was breached?

└ Huh?

└ Huh?

└ What are you talking about? Don’t tell me Lord Fuck died…?

└ Wait. What the hell does this mean? I’m going to watch it again. It’s on the main page, so check it yourselves.

└ Shit. I’m suddenly freaking out. I’m going in right now.

└ Go go go go go.

The netizens who had been gleefully hammering out comments rushed to the United Nations Security Council website.

The sudden flood of visitors overloaded the site, leaving them waiting for ages. When the announcement finally appeared on the main page, they could only doubt their own eyes and ears.

“…What is that?”

A map showed the opposing lines in the standoff against the monster army. The front formed an oval, with the western side driven deep into it like the tip of an awl.

└ I just checked. It really was breached.

└ Is Jin Taekyung dead? How bad are the casualties?

└ No, the monsters’ side was breached.

└ ??

└ ???

└ The breakthrough was so fast that the updates couldn’t keep up.

└ …Does that even make sense?

└ Shut your mouth and pull down the shutters. Today is the Lady of the House’s memorial day….⁵

The battlefield where a fierce clash would soon erupt was packed. An endless wasteland stretched before us, filled with more monsters than I could count.

The wind carried their thick killing intent and stench toward us.

“Fuck me. They sure gathered a lot of them.”

Team Leader Choi, standing beside me, answered my mutter.

“No matter how many we kill, there’s no end to them.”

It was the fourth day since we had been deployed to the western front and the fighting had begun in earnest. There was no trace left of Team Leader Choi’s usually immaculate appearance.

Covered in blood and dust, he regarded me with calm, somber eyes.

“When do we begin?”

“Well, we’ll have to hear what our little commander thinks. Right?”

The last question wasn’t directed at Team Leader Choi.

The twenty-one-year-old “little commander” who had remained at my side the entire time, Xiao Shen, answered.

“I’ll follow Teacher Jin’s orders!”

His sparkling eyes made me snort.

“You’re still calling me Teacher? You were the one who told me to drop the formalities first. I told you to call me hyung⁶ instead.”

“A-are you really sure that’s all right?”

“I told you it was fine as long as you were okay with it. But is this really all right in front of your men? You said you’re getting promoted to major general now, didn’t you?”

Xiao Shen shook his head at lightning speed.

“No problem at all! H-hyung, hyung!”⁶

He was frighteningly calm in battle, so I had no idea why he stammered so much in everyday life.

I looked at the Hunters from the Public Security Armed Forces Department lined up behind him. There were roughly a thousand of them.

Their fever-bright eyes shone with admiration and awe for the strong.

Of course, Xiao Shen stood out above all the rest.

“Give the order, h-hyung.”⁶

“The order, huh?”

I suddenly looked up at the sky.

An eagle circled overhead on enormous outstretched wings.

I had a good feeling today, too.

“Follow me. Just as you’ve done until now.”

“…!”

“Right now.”

I stepped forward as I answered.

Crack.

The ten thousand geun⁷ of force concentrated in my toes split the ground like a spiderweb and made it cave inward.

Then, in the next instant—

Boom!

With a deafening roar, I shot forward like a streak of light.

Flamefire Path.

The cold wind heated into a scorching blast.

The earth, the wind, and the scenery streaked past. Then a tremendous roar erupted behind me.

“Charge! Charge!”

“Descendants of Zhonghua!⁸ People! Sweep them all away!”

“Waaaaaaah!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Kyaaaauuuuu!

The shouts of humans and the howls of monsters rang across heaven and earth. A tremendous vibration shook the foundations of the world.

At the threshold of that chaos, I swung the White Flame with all my strength.

Fwoooosh!

The Extreme Yang Force surging from the spearhead cut through everything in its path.