novelraw Chapter 128
Chapter 128
Chapter 128
In the world, once you get the hang of something, it tends to stay smooth for a while.
However, our undead friends from Samhyeoldong, who were facing us, couldn't figure out how on earth to deal with us.
If they installed a shield, it was instantly consumed by the Paradoxical Flame, wasting their power for nothing.
If they didn't install a shield, I used the Paradoxical Flame to smash the corpses to pieces.
“Pyongyang is finally right in front of us.”
We raced along the highway leading from Kaesong to Pyongyang and finally arrived at the gates of Pyongyang after passing Sariwon.
Five bases were established along our continuous route of movement.
And in those established bases, Taebaek's hunters were stationed along with the thirty hunters we'd received in advance.
We were facing a water bridge with the ridiculous name of the Bridge of Loyalty.
“Can't they bypass us and attack the bases?”
At Jung Oh-hoon’s words, I let out a laugh.
“Now? In this situation? Pyongyang is right in front of them, and you think they'll divert troops from their own home to hit our rear bases?”
I truly hoped they would.
If their numbers decreased, it would be much easier for us to stir things up in Pyongyang.
Alternatively, we could hear the news, move quickly, and sprint toward the base under attack.
“If those bastards aren't fools, they won't make that choice.”
The speed at which we reached Pyongyang was very fast.
From their perspective, leaving their home empty to strike somewhere else carried an immense risk.
“Once Pyongyang falls, we'll be staying there.”
Jung Oh-hoon smirked at my words and added a comment.
“I heard the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang has a gold plated roof. I wonder if it'll be profitable to strip that off and sell it.”
“I don't care about the stripping, but do your side job after the main job is finished.”
First, we needed to find out exactly what state Pyongyang was in.
When I looked at Jung Oh-hoon, he made a crying face.
“It's going to get broken again.”
“So, you want us to just ram into it with our bare bodies without knowing the situation?”
No matter how expensive a drone is, I don't think it's as expensive as our lives.
Stop whining and fly that fly already. Let's see what the situation is before we attack.
So the drone flew into the sky, took video, and was spectacularly smashed.
“…Damn it.”
“Ah, we can just split the cost of the drone into three and pay for it.”
As soon as he heard my words, Jung Oh-hoon’s expression cleared up instantly.
I clicked my tongue at him for a moment and examined the footage captured by the drone.
“Man, they really put in a lot of effort.”
There were several irritating points. Since it was a very important location for those bastards, a staggering number of corpses were guarding it.
Additionally, because it was a place where the fat Kims used to suck people's blood and enjoy themselves, the defensive facilities were extremely well equipped.
It seemed the corpses had occupied all those defensive facilities and worked hard to remodel them.
Actually, the defensive facilities were a problem, but….
“Hey, it looks like the corpses finished the building the Kims wanted to complete so badly.”
It was the Ryugyong Hotel.
If one had to pick the most stupid building in the world, a significant number of people would choose that building.
Since North Korea collapsed, I thought that idiotic hotel would never be finished.
“But it turned out like that.”
At the highest point of the Ryugyong Hotel, a giant eyeball was attached.
The four relatively low spires centered around that massive eye were each an obelisk.
In the first place, that building’s durability wasn't that good.
Perhaps that was why black vines were seen wrapped around the outer walls to prevent the building from collapsing.
“The Ryugyong Hotel isn't the only problem.”
Among the buildings in Pyongyang, anything that looked a bit tall was entirely turned into an obelisk that strengthened the undead.
“Wow, when are we going to finish smashing all of those.”
I wondered if there was some good way to blow this away in one shot. I really felt like bringing a nuke and just slamming it in.
Well, actually, even firing a nuke wouldn't cause much change. If they were creatures that could be handled that way, there would've been no reason for humanity to be tormented by these monsters.
“…Should we go back?”
Han Sang-ah replied to my words.
“We've invested too much so far. If we were going to give up at this point, we should've done it before reaching Sariwon….”
No, going back doesn't mean that. Those bastards have concentrated their forces in Pyongyang with their eyes turned inside out like that.
“If we follow the Taedong River up, we can reach the vicinity of Pyeongseong.”
If what's drawn on the map is true, it's about 8km from a specific point on the Taedong River to Pyeongseong.
It's an instant if we run, and a distance the three of us can cover in ten minutes if we sprint.
“Can you say that after seeing that river water? It looks like a river that goes straight to hell.”
Jung Oh-hoon pointed at the river water captured in the data sent by the drone. The river water was contaminated with a hideously intense malice.
Beyond the bubbling river water, almost tens of thousands of faces of screaming people were captured.
Instead of water, screaming souls were flowing.
If we just went by boat, I bet all those shapes would reach out and pull the boat we were on.
“The Taedong River turned into this mess because of something installed near Pyeongseong.”
If so, if we succeed in destroying it, the Taedong River will return to a normally flowing river instead of a crazy river where those hideous ghost faces float around.
“You two draw their attention here. I'll swim against the current and smash the facility in question.”
After that, Han Sang-ah and Jung Oh-hoon could also swim the river toward the vicinity of Pyeongseong.
At my words, Jung Oh-hoon and Han Sang-ah looked at me simultaneously.
“Aren't you going to die like that? You're going to swim through there?”
I answered Jung Oh-hoon's words simply.
“I won't die from just that much.”
There wasn't even a need to defend with something like the Paradoxical Flame. The resentment surging in that river water would originally be fatal to living people, but it didn't matter to me.
That level wasn't even a problem.
I could endure it even if the concentration of resentment was ten times thicker.
Jung Oh-hoon said it was a river that would be in hell, but a real river of hell isn't that diluted.
Anyway, it seemed they'd prepared a lot in their own way, but… there's a very good term to describe the current Pyongyang.
“It's practically a Maginot Line.”
If a place is difficult to break through, you just go around it.
Those bastards seemed to feel relieved because they made the Taedong River into that state.
“Yeah, well, it's true we're going around because it's hard to break through.”
There were three of us anyway.
Since they'd poured over 100,000 undead into Pyongyang just to block three people, the number of undead we'd have to face if we went around wouldn't be many.
“If you destroy the facility that made the river like that, those corpses will head to that location immediately.”
I smirked.
“How fast could that many corpses move even if they tried?”
Large scale forces are naturally poor at agile responses.
It didn't matter if they started moving after they noticed.
“After you guys join me, it'll be faster for us to reach Pyeongseong.”
After that, we would quickly clear a path with the crown and the ring and jump into the Erosion Core.
Anyway, if we succeed in destroying the core of the Erosion Core, all those obelisks that were glaring with blue eyes and strengthening the corpses will lose their meaning.
If we finish up to that point, grinding the remaining corpse fragments into sausages is a piece of cake.
Even if we didn't do it, Taebaek would jump in excitedly.
“It makes sense. If it's really okay for you to enter that river water.”
“I said it's fine.”
The color is black, and there are ghost like chunks inside. It's just like cold black bean sauce at most. It isn't that difficult.
“Alright. Then we'll be waiting for the signal.”
Han Sang-ah nodded and tapped the in-ear stuck in her ear with her index finger.
“Right, I'm off. Watch the house well. Don't open the door if a stranger comes.”
“Buy us some melona ice cream.”
Jung Oh-hoon replied while waving his hand. He’s full of it. Buy Melona? You're going to get hit with a Melona.
After finished giving my greetings, I packed the necessary items and stood up.
As I looked down at the river water, the ghosts surging beneath the surface were acting out and struggling to reach out toward me.
Looking at that sight made me feel like a superstar. I wondered if they'd let me surf if I just dropped down. Thinking those thoughts, I threw myself into the river.
As soon as my body touched the water, all sorts of grudges drifting in the river clung to me excitedly.
“The choice is yours. I'm in a hurry so I can't take photos, but shall I give you a handshake instead?”
Reaching out toward one of the countless hands extending toward me, I made a gesture of shaking it.
The grudges that pushed into my body while clinging were soon bounced out and vanished while struggling. And the regret is also yours.
Hundreds, thousands… countless spirits repeated entering and vanishing to try and take over my body. I didn't care and swam against the current at an incredible speed.
“Hey hey, don't put your hands in strange places.”
Ignoring the countless requests for handshakes, I continued up the river and arrived at the intended location about 3 or 4 hours later.
“Round and round, big potato, great! Red sweet potato~ It's too big that one person~ couldn't eat it all~”
Stepping onto the land after leaving the river, I hummed a dumb song while shaking the moisture off my body.
“What was the purpose of writing and composing a song like that when everyone is starving.”
To piss off the listeners? Come to think of it, North Korea was a very strange place.
After roughly shaking off the moisture, I scanned the surroundings.
“It's around here. Aha.”
Before long, I succeeded in finding the place that was discharging waste water that turned a perfectly good river into a sewage pit.
“It looks like a method similar to resentment collection.”
It was a format of collecting drifting weak resentment, amplifying it, and then pouring it out.
I saw a massive, bright red lump of flesh that made thumping sounds like flesh hitting flesh.
The massive structure, which had a shape like a jar, had a human face as large as the jar itself, and it was continuously vomiting resentments into the river.
The sight was like students who got wasted after the college entrance exam and were throwing up for the first time.
“Are you joking with me?”
After confirming the undead guarding the massive facility, I was speechless.
They'd created bodies by connecting flesh, bones, and organs. However, the upper bodies were the problem.
“Man, this is driving me crazy.”
Busts or portraits of the Kim dictators were replacing the heads of those undead.
“I can see why they used those, though.”
They didn't stick busts of the Kim dictators onto the undead just because they wanted to make me laugh.
In cases where the dead have a grudge against a specific target, it's much easier to draw resentment if you embed an object symbolizing that target as a catalyst.
Who would the people who died in North Korea resent the most?
Thinking about that point, it wasn't impossible to understand why they embedded those busts or portraits as catalysts in the process of creating the undead.
It was just that it was so damn funny to watch. My goodness. I had a very complicated feeling about what to even say. There seemed to be roughly 300 of them.
They were quite strong undead thanks to using a catalyst that was perfect for use in North Korea, even if it was a ridiculous one.
“The grudges clinging to them must have many truly unfair stories.”
But that doesn't mean I need to go easy on them. I kindled the Paradoxical Flame at the tip of my spear and rushed in while infusing mana into the crown I held in my left hand.