Chapter 390

Whoosh!

Where the blade force swept past, hot blood spurted as heads sprang into the air.

I planted a foot on the ogre’s body as it collapsed like a bundle of straw and sprang high into the air. The sunlight on the back of my neck was warm.

Perfect weather for a fight.

It was noon. The location was a wasteland without a single tree.

With the sun at my back, my shadow fell across the thousand or so monsters gathered below, the spearhead within it slashing downward as I dove.

Heavenly Strike.

Boom!

The Flame Dragon’s Claw raked the earth.

The roar sounded as if the sky itself had split apart. The ground sank several meters, sending dirt and fragments of stone flying in every direction.

A vortex of hot air that erupted at the center of the battlefield became a blade and swept through the monsters.

Boom!

Ding. Ding. Ding…

Through my dust-clouded vision, green blood poured down in rapid splatters as System notifications announced the monsters’ deaths.

I waved my hand lightly, scattering the dust cloud. The monsters staring at me with blank faces came into view.

“Chirrik?”

“Krrk?”

Their eyes seemed to ask what the hell had just happened. I drew a deep breath and shouted, pouring internal energy into my voice.

“Wipe them out—!”

And then—

“Waaaaaaah!”

With an earsplitting roar, more than a thousand Hunters who had rushed in before I knew it crashed over the monster army like a wave.

Crack-crack-crack!

Wham!

Watching the monsters crumble helplessly, I became certain of one thing.

We’ve won this battle.

The farming was over. Now it was time to harvest.

I headed toward the Twin-Headed Ogre that appeared to be the boss monster.

For the sake of my precious EXP. No—for the sake of minimizing our casualties.

“That one’s the leader! Ranged units!”

“Hey, hey! Hands off! I’ll take care of it, so don’t touch a single hair on its head!”

I swear to heaven, I didn’t have the slightest ulterior motive.

…

Well, thinking it over, there was no need to swear.

“Insidious human. Your scheme to claim the byproducts is plain to see. You didn’t hide your greed even while slaughtering my legion!”

“Shut up and do your job. Hurry up and raise them as undead so they can start slaughtering their own kind.”

“I was going to do that anyway. Grow, my sea of skeletons… Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Why isn’t my power working? Could this be a bug?”

“…Where did you even pick up a word like that?”

The Skeleton Warlord, growing more modern by the day, spoke in a dejected voice.

“The farther inside I go, the stronger the Arch Lich’s control seems to become. Ah, a commander without a legion. Truly, I cannot contain my grief. At this rate, I might as well be dead!”

“…”

What the hell did this bastard think he was?

I was tired of reminding him that he was already dead. With an inward sigh, I charged at the leader.

“It’s a crushing victory! Another crushing victory!”

Shao Shen shouted, his face flushed. Team Leader Choi and I had seen this more than ten times by now, so we simply took it in stride.

Well, I can understand why he’s excited.

It had taken barely two hours to annihilate an army of more than a thousand monsters.

We had done it without losing a single person, too. It really was a victory worth commemorating. Acting calm in a situation like this would have been stranger.

“Our only casualties are twenty-three seriously wounded and thirty lightly wounded. Ah, this is really…!”

Shao Shen trembled like a dog desperate to pee and stared at me with shining eyes.

“How do you manage this every time?”

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because I’m strong.”

Team Leader Choi gave me a slightly incredulous look.

“Why?”

“Usually, this is when people say something modest, like that they were lucky.”

“Usually, yes. But this wasn’t luck. I really am this strong, so what am I supposed to do? Right, Shen?”

Shao Shen nodded at tremendous speed.

“That’s right! Hyung-nim is the best!”

“Good lad. You’re a fine specimen of flattery.”

“…”

Team Leader Choi shook his head as he watched us banter.

“What?”

“Nothing. Though I suppose this is very much like you, Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

Somehow, that sounded vaguely insulting.

I shrugged and turned to Shao Shen.

“More importantly, what about headquarters?”

“Ah, right. I contacted them before the battle began.”

Contacting them meant that he had dispatched several Hunters under his command beforehand.

Sending messengers in this day and age sounded ridiculous, but we had no choice. Magic had made communications and satellite surveillance impossible, so our only options were to run ourselves or use vehicles.

At least we still had things like signal flares.

“It’ll take them a while.”

“They were already following us, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

“You’re tired, but put up some tents and let the men rest. The battle ended quickly, but fighting drains you completely.”

“Shouldn’t we take care of the large monsters ourselves? They might be difficult for headquarters to move…”

“That’s a fair point.”

Headquarters referred to the military forces moving with us.

When Hunters from the Public Security Armed Forces, myself included, defeated the monsters at the front, the military forces following behind would “clean up” the area and the monster corpses.

I called it cleaning because their purpose wasn’t to collect the byproducts.

It was literally cleanup. The army assigned to my western front spent most of its time chopping up the dead monsters so they couldn’t rise again as undead, then transporting the remains to the rear.

“Um, hyung-nim.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I was too embarrassed to mention this before, but… it seems that some of the senior officers have been making various complaints.”

“Complaints? What kind?”

Shao Shen watched my expression and cautiously whispered.

“They’re… somewhat dissatisfied with the role they’ve been assigned.”

“…?”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

It took me a while to understand Shao Shen’s words. After a heavy silence passed, I finally parted my lips, half expecting the worst.

“Do they want to stop cleaning up monster corpses and earn some merit themselves? Is that it?”

“…Yes.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

The profanity came out on its own. Soldiers were dying every day on the other fronts, and these people were complaining that cleaning up monster corpses was boring.

Team Leader Choi, who had been listening quietly, spoke in a calm voice.

“Don’t be alarmed. The chinks are just being chinks.”

I wasn’t sure that was something he should say in front of nearly a thousand Chinese people, but the Chinese and chinks were, strictly speaking, two entirely different races.

Shao Shen, a model representative of the good Chinese, had gone red with embarrassment.

“I-I’m sorry. But it isn’t all the officers. As far as I know, only some of them are dissatisfied.”

“Only some, huh? I’m sure. But there’s one thing I’m curious about…”

I frowned and pointed over Shao Shen’s shoulder.

“Does that include the guy coming over there?”

In the distance, more than a hundred armored vehicles and tanks approached us, raising a cloud of dust.

Rattle, clunk!

The vehicle bounced up and down as it raced along the ruined road. Through the window of the military vehicle I was sitting in, I began to see ruined rice paddies and fields, along with collapsed houses scattered here and there.

After the cleanup was finished, I—or rather, we—were heading toward a nearby small city.

“Ha-ha! You’ve really worked hard, Teacher Jin!”

A belly even a tightly cinched belt couldn’t hide. A bald crown gleaming beneath the sun.

If not for the military uniform he wore and the three stars on his shoulder strap, I would never have had any reason to meet the middle-aged man in front of me.

“I contacted the higher-ups this morning, as it happens. The entire world, not to mention the United Nations Security Council, is in an uproar over Teacher Jin’s victory report! I don’t know what they mean, but apparently people in Korea are calling today Jumo’s death anniversary…”¹

I had reached my limit for listening to his nonstop stream of nonsense. Unable to hold back any longer, I cut in.

“I don’t care whether Jumo is dead or alive. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Te-Teacher Jin?”

Under China’s official military structure, this was the Chengdu Military Region. More specifically, the man before me was Senior General Liao, commander-in-chief of the Thirteenth Group Army, which included seven divisions and brigades.

He looked at me anxiously.

“Why, why are you acting like this? Did something happen?”

“I heard something strange today, so I’m a little on edge.”

“Who dared upset Teacher Jin? Ask me anything.”

“Ah, yes. What I wanted to ask was…”

I stared at Senior General Liao’s greasy, glistening face and continued.

“I heard that some officers are extremely dissatisfied because they want to earn merit. Did you know about that?”

“Ahem.”

So he knew.

He had known and done nothing. It was so absurd that I had gone beyond anger and come out numb on the other side.

Still, he was technically an ally and a three-star general from another country. I kept my tone as calm and polite as possible.

“Could I see the faces of those fucking bastards?”

“Ahem!”

“What kind of lunatics throw a fit about earning merit at a time like this? It’s not like they’ll be fighting themselves. They’ll put ordinary soldiers out front and wave their command batons from the rear, won’t they?”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

“What the fuck do they mean, they’re tired of cleaning up monster corpses? What, have they seen so many that they’ve grown fond of them and want to become corpses too? Do they need to actually die before they come to their senses? Fucking assholes.”

“Ahem! Ahem! Ahem!”

“If there are any bastards like that, tell them to come see me. I’ll gear them up and put them in the vanguard. They’d make perfect meat shields—”

I suddenly shut my mouth.

Cold sweat was pouring from Senior General Liao’s forehead like water from a sprinkler.

“…”

“…”

This man was one of those lunatics too.

I’d suspected he was no ordinary madman ever since he’d kicked up that whole goddamn fuss in an underground bunker over whether or not to launch a nuke. But he was clearly insane on an entirely different level.

“General, are you out of your mind?”

“Well, that is… We also have to show them something. We have to prove that we can do something too…”

“We haven’t lost anyone, and everything’s moving forward smoothly—what more do you want to show them? The Hunters are breaking through the path ahead, while the army is cleaning up behind them and rescuing civilians. We’re doing a good job. What else do you want to show?”

Crack.

I cracked my knuckles. Senior General Liao hurriedly waved his hands.

“Now, now! Let’s not speak informally to each other. Whether you consider my age or my rank, I’m not someone who should be treated this way by Teacher Jin.”

“How about I give your skull the serving-bowl treatment and crack it wide open?”

“Wh-What?”

“Nothing. You misheard me. Anyway, I understand. Don’t get any foolish ideas. From now on, let’s advance slowly, minimize casualties, and rescue civilians. Understood?”

“…”

What was wrong with this man’s reaction?

The moment I saw Senior General Liao’s eyes darting about instead of answering, a chill ran down my spine.

No way…

“Have you already issued an order?”

“Well, I’m also implicated in a military procurement corruption case, and it’s time for me to accomplish something independently…”

“You fucking bastard!”

Bang!

My kick tore the armored door off its hinges. The driver sitting in the front seat hurriedly slammed on the brakes.

Screech!

“Eek!”

Senior General Liao curled into himself, trembling as he stammered out an answer.

“I-I thought there might be monsters in the small city we’re heading toward, so I deployed some of the Public Security Armed Forces Hunters we were holding in reserve…”

I didn’t need to hear any more. Before I could press him further, a roar rang out from the city that had suddenly drawn close.

Boom!

A massive explosion. Flames and smoke surged into the sky.

And then—

Ding.

A System notification announced an Unexpected Quest.