novelraw Chapter 123
Chapter 123
Chapter 123
Jung Oh-hoon was concentrating his mind. Even while the helicopter shook back and forth, the eyes of the deeply focused Jung Oh-hoon remained calm.
After watching the fellow for a moment, I slapped the back of his head.
“D-Damn it! Why did you hit me?!”
At Jung Oh-hoon’s words, I gestured with my chin toward Kaesong’s shield, which was faintly visible in the distance, and spoke.
“Concentrate on that. Don't think about useless things.”
“I am concentrating.”
I replied to Jung Oh-hoon’s words.
“The life you have lived until now, the hardships and efforts you have put in so far, the goals you want to achieve someday. Memories of failure, the will and determination to hit it this time no matter what.”
At my words, Jung Oh-hoon fell silent.
“Things like that are exactly what I mean by idle thoughts.”
Firing a bayonet to make it reach that shield, those kinds of thoughts didn't help at all.
Rather, they only acted as an interference. If you wanted to pass an exam, you shouldn't stick a sign on your desk saying ‘I can do it!’ but instead study during the time it took to stick that up.
“If you must leave anything, leave only the thought that you can do it. And think only about how you can achieve it. Everything else is unnecessary.”
Instead of answering my words, Jung Oh-hoon exhaled slowly.
“Think about the things that help with the success of the action. What kind of trajectory you should draw, and how you should react if the opponent tries to intercept the bayonet. Not things like you are the strongest or that your efforts until now won't betray you.”
The mana being infused into the bayonet gradually stabilized.
“This much should be....”
At Jung Oh-hoon’s words, I nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Do more. Go all the way. Concentrate until your body truly cannot do any more, rather than you thinking that you can't do it anymore.”
If one considered this training, there would be no better training than this. Amidst the pressure that he must not fail, he concentrated his mind and repeated countless hypotheses and predictions.
Sweat flowed down from Jung Oh-hoon’s forehead. The sweat that flowed down soaked his eyebrows and ran down his cheeks.
“Huff... huff....”
Jung Oh-hoon’s hand gripping the rifle trembled. The bayonet fixed to the end of the rifle also vibrated lowly with the mana filling the inside.
“More. It hasn't stabilized yet.”
At my words, Jung Oh-hoon added strength to the hand gripping the rifle once more.
“It feels as if... in this world, there is only me, this gun in my hand... and the target.”
“Yes, it is just a feeling. Don't talk nonsense. You're seeing everything with your own eyes.”
There was no such thing. No matter how Jung Oh-hoon felt about the world right now, this world was full of many things. And that kind of thing didn't matter anyway.
Quietly observing Jung Oh-hoon’s physical condition, I opened my mouth after a moment.
“You worked hard. Now fire it.”
The bayonet was fired. The bayonet, which flew off with a zip, soon poured out a massive storm toward the rear and charged toward the target point, Kaesong’s shield.
The burning Paradoxical Flame left a trajectory like a comet’s tail behind the racing bayonet.
To intercept the bayonet racing through the sky, the purple lumps of light installed on the Star Fort built in Kaesong emitted an eerie light.
“....”
Jung Oh-hoon didn't say a word and only glared at Kaesong’s shield. The lumps of light from the fortress breathed out purple rays.
“Heh.”
And, the dagger fired by Jung Oh-hoon approached the shield while changing its orbit several times in a short moment.
Leaving a black orbit that flashed like a tracer bullet, the bayonet bent in zigzags in the sky and drew spirals, showcasing all sorts of techniques.
It was flashy, but there were no useless movements. Every time the racing bayonet performed an acrobatics, the flashes fired from the fortress to intercept the bayonet cut through the air.
The distance itself wasn't that far. The speed of the bayonet fired just now boasted 3.8 km/s. It meant that if it raced in a straight line, 2 or 3 seconds would be enough.
But it couldn't do that. It had to approach while evading all of the hundreds of interceptions breathed out from that fortress.
“The offensive is rough.”
Even to the point that, to evade that fire net, the bayonet had to stop its charge and even run in reverse from moment to moment.
“D-Damn it... all!”
With the sound of teeth grinding, Jung Oh-hoon bit his lips and glared at Kaesong. Whether it was because he was angry or because he was concentrating his mind, the veins on his temples bulged out.
500 meters.
Finally, the distance between the shield surrounding Kaesong and the bayonet had shortened to that extent. Now he only had to advance a little more.
“Ah.”
As soon as that thought occurred, it seemed one of the interception flashes poured out by the fortress with a flash finally struck the bayonet.
It seemed the interception performance of the fortress was superior to Jung Oh-hoon’s bayonet control skill.
When the bayonet was destroyed, Jung Oh-hoon’s expression stiffened.
“It is okay. Ya bastard. Let's return quickly.”
There was nothing that could be done about the immediate failure. If we kept the helicopter up any longer, they could counterattack from over there.
“Not, finished yet.”
The moment I was about to say something more, Jung Oh-hoon did something while his body trembled.
“Crazy bastard. Oh, my boy, I’m so damned proud.”
I was about to say something, but then I gave him such praise. The pieces of the shattered bayonet still held mana. And, they were still burning with the Paradoxical Flame I created.
And, the pieces of the broken bayonet breathed out wind in the air once more and charged toward the shield while embroidering a series of complex curves and straight lines all at once.
“Ha, damn... I did it.”
And, two of those pieces managed to touch the shield somehow.
Riding the massive shield, pitch-black flames spread out. It was a small spark like a matchstick thrown onto a pile of dry firewood, but the black flames that began to spread burned the shield in an instant and created a huge hole.
“You worked hard. Now, it is Han Sang-ah’s and my turn. You go back and rest.”
Originally, Jung Oh-hoon should have joined and the three of us should have pushed in, but this guy was at his limit right now.
“Just because I am dropping out now, don't reduce the money we split. Got it?”
“I won't, you bastard.”
He was talking about money even in this situation. I didn't know why he needed money that much, but it was truly tenacious. Finishing my words, I jumped from the helicopter.
“Bye.”
“Right, let's run.”
Jumping from the helicopter, I landed with a thud. And, Han Sang-ah was waiting with her sword drawn. Without deciding who went first, we ran toward Kaesong.
“That black flame.”
“I will maintain it until the Kaesong subjugation is finished.”
Han Sang-ah nodded at my words.
“Then, I won't be able to utilize it for this attack.”
“That is not necessarily the case.”
The Paradoxical Flame clinging to Kaesong’s shield was in the middle of burning the shield’s durability. I couldn't burn multiple concepts at once, but if I maintained burning one concept....
I flared up Paradoxical Flame on my spearhead. It was fine even like this.
“That is a relief then.”
Han Sang-ah replied briefly while looking at the Paradoxical Flame wrapped around the spearhead.
“Worry about yourself. You went through so much hell in Cheorwon, so if you don't run wild properly here, I will give you a flogging when we return.”
While racing, a pile of corpses popped out in front of us. I took out the crown, held it with my left hand, and infused mana.
The crown radiated white light, and the undead let out screams.
With a flash, the heads of the undead fell in heaps. And, lightning spread along the trajectory where the sword was swung, roasting the corpses whose heads had flown off.
“It is manageable. At this rate, I think even thousands of them won't be a problem.”
That was the evaluation Han Sang-ah made after delivering a strike.
“I told you it would be sufficiently manageable.”
Han Sang-ah nodded her head slightly.
A large meatball made by loosely connecting corpses rolled toward us. The corpses constituting the meatball were screaming while being crushed and broken as they rolled.
“What is this now.”
I reached out my hand and caught that meatball, then I threw it as it was. The meatball that flew off crushed other undead that were charging toward us from far away.
Swinging the spear and sword, we sliced through rotten flesh and broke discolored bones. Swinging flames and lightning, we swept away the moving corpses so they couldn't move again.
Cutting, burning, stabbing, and roasting. We continued to advance like that.
“They will be hiding over there.”
But even in the middle of that, I didn't entrust my body to instinct. I analyzed the surroundings and grasped them. I continued to judge and speculate on how I would act if it were me, and what kind of threat would be here.
“Something is flying in. Be careful.”
From the fortress located far away, green lumps of flame smelling of foul sulfur and arrows as large as pillars flew toward us. Instead of answering Han Sang-ah’s words, I swung my spear and struck the huge arrow that flew in.
In an instant, the huge arrow stopped right in the air and then flew far away with a roar.
“At this rate, we really might be able to finish Kaesong with just the three of us.”
Han Sang-ah spoke while swinging her sword to shake off the rotten body fluids clinging to the blade.
“It might be so, or it might not be.”
Situations were always prone to change. Seeing the atmosphere of how things were rolling, if it seemed like we were enough, we just had to push through.
If the situation suddenly changed, we would have to pull back then.
Han Sang-ah, who had jumped into the sky, fell into the center of the corpses and drove her sword into the ground. Lightning ran wild and wiped out the surrounding corpses.
“Don't waste too much mana. You can wipe them out enough without using that much.”
I told you not to show off unnecessarily. At my words, Han Sang-ah slightly lowered the output she had momentarily raised excessively.
“I finally see it. It seems they prepared hard for the guest welcome.”
The castle gate was firmly closed. And, hundreds of catapults and ballistae were aiming at us. Huge arrows wrapped in green flames and stones rained down toward us.
“Huff.”
With a deep breath, the arrows that were flying toward us became entangled with each other. The arrows whose orbits were twisted and whose power was lost were driven into the ground with a thud. It was something Han Sang-ah achieved. After all, the tips of the huge arrows fired by the ballistae were metal.
Making them into magnets wouldn't be that difficult for the current Han Sang-ah.
“It looks very sturdy. Breaking that gate is....”
Before Han Sang-ah, who arrived at the castle gate, could finish her words, I swung my spear successively toward the gate. With the sound of wood splintering, the shape of the huge gate was crumpled, and then it fell backward with a creaking sound.
“What about the gate.”
“Nothing.”
We stepped beyond the shattered gate.
“Hello friends, take your guests.”
The corpses inside the fortress trembled their bodies, and their hideous appearances began to change slightly. The tattered rotten flesh was entangled and connected, and the broken bones were fitted together.
Eyeballs that were dangling while hanging from optic nerves found their places again.
Of course, despite that, they still couldn't completely hide their hideous appearances....
It was certain that the corpses guarding this place were being strengthened because of those fellows. It didn't matter.
“Oh, right, I brought a gift out of courtesy too.”
At the same time, the crown I held in my left hand radiated light once more. Because I pushed in more mana than just before, it radiated a more intense light.
Holding a huge flail and armored, a corpse looked at me while making sounds like kugh, ugh.
“What are you looking at, you pig.”
With a sound like uwaaaaaa!, the bastard swung the huge flail he held in his hand. With the sound of air being torn, the heavy iron ball attached to the end of the flail struck me.
With a thud, the ground beneath my feet was deeply gouged. The iron ball that struck my head fell to the floor with a thud.
“Oh dear, that hurts.”
There was no wound. My head was no longer weak enough to be wavering just from being hit by an iron ball like that. After grabbing the iron ball that fell on the floor and pulling it, the huge corpse flew toward me.
“You take a hit too, bastard.”
I swung the large iron ball toward the head of the flying bastard. Sadly, the bastard’s head seemed not to have been as hard as my own.
The bastard’s head took on an appearance like a watermelon struck by a pickaxe.