World-Saving is a Skill

Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Before dawn, the second wave arrived.

Seagull operators immediately took quick reports over the in-ears and relayed the information.

“Looks like Jung Oh-hoon’s still alive.”

Han Sang-ah muttered that.

“Why, are you disappointed he’s alive?”

“No.”

Han Sang-ah drew her sword and examined the blade with care.

“If he dies, that’s a disaster. We lose an eye.”

“Right.”

Watching the cloud patterns shimmer on the blade, Han Sang-ah asked,

“How strong do you think I’ve become? I’m curious about your take.”

I answered simply.

“If you and Nanami went all out to kill each other, it’d be hard to predict the result.”

“Oh,” Han Sang-ah said offhand at my words.

“I didn’t think it was to that extent. Then what about Jung Oh-hoon?”

“Well, if a few conditions line up, he could give you some challenge.”

Han Sang-ah nodded.

“So I’m still stronger for now.”

“Pretty much.”

While Han Sang-ah and I talked, hundreds of people were busily preparing to sweep Harbin.

— Let me reconfirm. Hunter Yoo Chan-seok and Hunter Han Sang-ah will operate solo.

The main force would enter Harbin from the east via the ring road along the outskirts. After that, Han Sang-ah and I would split off. Han Sang-ah would take the ring road north and push down from the top.

I would peel off south, then punch upward.

“Are we really fine doing it this way?”

“No problem.”

Both Han Sang-ah and I had the skill to back it up. In my case, I didn’t even need to exert myself. I said nothing more and looked at the ring on my finger.

The undead swarming Harbin were crude. They couldn’t resist this ring. I could do nothing but walk and simply release the power of this blue ring. Any undead that approached would turn into frozen pork belly.

“Don’t put much hope in the others. Assume you’ll do everything.”

If you hold expectations, you get betrayed. If you think others besides me will work hard too, you’re more likely to end up in a bad spot.

“They came here to fight together.”

“I know.”

But if something we didn’t plan for happens, it’s hard to expect real help.

“We’ve got a lot to lose. The other Hunters who joined don’t.”

If the situation turns ugly, chances are high they’ll ditch everything and run. Han Sang-ah slid her sword back into the scabbard and eyed a bottle on the floor. Her hand flickered, papak, and a heartbeat later the bottle lay on the ground split into a cross.

I checked the shards, then gave my assessment.

“Good condition. About twenty percent faster than usual.”

“Right. Pretty good. I think you can expect a lot.”

— We’re ready. Current time is 5:38 a.m. We’ll begin moving in seven minutes. Hunter Yoo Chan-seok and Hunter Han Sang-ah will operate separately. Your call signs from now on are Left Wing for Hunter Yoo Chan-seok, and Right Wing for Hunter Han Sang-ah.

“Tch,” I said.

“I don’t really want to sound political.”

The Seagull operator didn’t answer. Apparently they weren’t into banter.

— When calling you both together, the call sign is Paired Wings. Over.

“A fellow who doesn’t joke around huh.”

Keeping it brief, I stood and took a pull from my canteen. Meanwhile, the Seagull operators kept sorting Hunters and issuing call signs.

Adakawa Nanami was Cannon. Jung Oh-hoon, spending lonely hours at Harbin Longta, was Lighthouse. The rest of the Hunters were grouped in twenties and given each team’s call sign and number.

— We begin now. Proceed to the coordinates you received.

“Alright, let’s meet again alive.”

We started moving. As we drew closer to Harbin, a report came through the in-ears.

— From Lighthouse. A large portion of Harbin’s threats are shifting east.

They must’ve sensed our advance. I’d expected as much. When hundreds of Hunters move, only an idiot fails to notice.

“We’ll proceed as planned.”

— Copy.

As expected. Nothing changed.

“This is where we need to put on a show.”

Sensing our movement, a mass of undead surged in to block us. After we mowed these down once, Han Sang-ah and I would push to our designated zones.

Chances were we wouldn’t get another opportunity to show overwhelming force and boost the other Hunters’ morale. We needed to go wild and lock in their expectation of victory.

“There sure are a lot.”

Dawn crept into the black sky. In the distance, the undead thronged together.

— Confirmation complete. The threat ahead is roughly a hundred and fifty thousand undead.

And we were in the hundreds. Our numbers were overwhelmingly smaller. In this kind of fight, being outnumbered usually dents people’s spirit.

That was why I’d just told Han Sang-ah she and I needed to rampage.

“Adakawa, give me one celebratory shot.”

At my words, Nanami stretched her arm out to the side. A sparkly, slightly childish-looking magic wand popped into her hand.

The kind of design you’d expect to go ‘sparkle’ when you push a button.

Nanami gripped the wand and pointed its tip forward.

“Quite a spectacle.”

A complex, intricate magic circle of pink lines and shapes appeared ahead. It looked like some great spell, but in truth it was just bundled mana made to look impressive.

Still, the mana packed into it was savage. One look told you, whatever that circle spits out, getting caught in it won’t leave you a good-looking corpse. It exuded grandeur that inspired conviction.

Against these crude, motley undead, a good hit in the right spot could wipe out thousands in one go.

“After this barrage, stop worrying about this front, Adakawa.”

Once we went to close quarters, she wouldn’t be able to fire. Instead, Jung Oh-hoon at Harbin Longta would designate suitable targets for Nanami to strike from his overview of the whole area.

Then Nanami would bombard those spots. She answered with a crisp thumbs-up.

“Heave-ho!”

She swung the wand, smashing down the completed ornate sigil.

A flood of mana burst into a gigantic pink beam and roared forward, a scene like a deluge scraping mud from the earth.

“She’s killing it.”

Literally. Well, they were undead, so maybe not killing? Swept by the light, the undead all turned to ash, and the pink tide of mana didn’t stop its advance, splitting the horde cleanly down the middle like Moses’ staff.

It was now time to go in. Without needing to say who first, Han Sang-ah and I sprinted with spear and sword in hand.

“Hello, friends.”

They weren’t worth the kind of thoughts that complicate a fight. Their only advantage was numbers.

We were an anteater razing an anthill, a giant hornet invading a beehive.

No matter how they flailed, they couldn’t do a thing before us. I could use the ring here too and flash-freeze every nearby undead in an instant, but…

That didn’t have enough visual impact. To boost the other Hunters’ morale, it looked better to scythe them down ourselves with spearwork.

I swept the spear and left blue trails in the air.

“…”

Behind me, crackling sparks fanned out and roasted dozens of undead at once.

No sparks clung to Han Sang-ah’s blade, but each swing unleashed a pallid bolt, a lash of lightning.

“Oh, it’s no time to stare at that.”

I marked a point where I stood and another where I wanted to go, then drew a line.

Along that path, rotten bodies came apart and flew in pieces.

It was like shaving with a razor.

“Are the rest of you just standing around?!”

At my shout, the other Hunters belatedly joined in. As you’d expect, the moment they grabbed one and smacked it a few times, they learned these things weren’t much. It was just the numbers.

“Just watch for the ones that explode. Only that!”

Or make sure they don’t explode. Honestly, if one starts to blow, you can just punt it far away. Then the exploding undead sweeps others along with it.

“The lethal radius is about five meters from the blast center. It takes roughly five seconds to explode.”

In other words, when you face an about-to-blow undead, you have five seconds to sprint five meters and boot it before it pops. Anyone who made it here can manage that.

If you mess up? It’ll hurt a lot. Maybe you die.

A battlefield isn’t generous about mistakes. Dying when you slip up is normal, and if you somehow survive, be grateful for the luck.

— Lighthouse reports additional reinforcements incoming.

“Damn, a snow-removal operation huh.”

It was a perfect likeness. Like snow that keeps falling no matter how much you clear it, corpses kept pouring in no matter how much we swept them away. Of course, like soldiers roused from winter sleep and mad with anger, we kept blankly mowing them down in piles.

As expected, there was no end. Given the number of undead in Harbin, it couldn’t be helped.

“Which means we pull out about now.”

Over the in-ear, I told Seagull we’d start peeling off.

— Copy. Left Wing pulling back. Right Wing, pull back as well and move to the designated point.

This was the main thrust, but the truly important job was for Han Sang-ah and me. When I moved Jung Oh-hoon to Harbin Longta earlier, I managed to trace back the shoddy, amateur magic commanding these undead.

Which meant I knew the base.

“When we get close, I’ll report. Be ready to fire the Cannon on that timing.”

— No problem.

While the undead tangled with the main force, Han Sang-ah and I would punch quickly into Harbin. The one directing the undead was below the Science and Technology Museum on Sun Island, Taiyang, in Harbin.

If we reached it, Nanami would shell the spot and blow a hole.

Then Han Sang-ah and I would go in and cut the commander’s throat. The mass of undead would lose their leader.

They’d still lunge at living people to chew hot flesh and blood, but they wouldn’t pack together and crash like a tide under someone’s orders.

Cleanup would get much easier.

“There’s still a lot.”

Even with many drawn away, the sheer numbers meant the city was still packed with undead. From here, I didn’t need to show off. No one was watching anyway.

The ring on my finger began to glow. I didn’t even need to swing the spear.

As the ring unleashed its power, every undead that stepped within a set range froze solid on its own and shattered.”