Chapter 98
Chapter 98
14. Sky Hole, Tearing Out the Roots -1
[Time remaining until invasion 45 : 02 : 45]
Bang!
"We have to stop a large-scale anomalous Gate incident within 45 hours. Let's think about what we need to do, without limiting our means or methods."
Inside the temporary leadership meeting room, I rapped on the desk as I spoke to Team Leader Park and Duke Yeon Arang, who were seated. The two of them began racking their brains with serious expressions.
"A major crisis has hit us as soon as we arrived in Seoul⋯⋯ A large-scale Gate, no less."
"⋯⋯Hmm."
If you're asking where the rest of the leadership went, since this is supposedly a leadership meeting—Minsik went out to handle mid-level management, Hyejin went to burn the forest, and Elijah went to help Hyejin.
We don't have the luxury of spending our precious hunter manpower on meetings. They need to be put to work in the field. Besides⋯⋯ these two should be enough. They're the ones who've been responsible for running Seoul and Donghae, after all.
"Listen while you think. I'll brief you on the information we've scraped together about the C-grade Gate. According to an informant called Glass Sword Lord—"
I scrawled diagrams across the whiteboard as I laid out what I knew. What level of danger was expected, and in the worst case, what kind of obstacles Donghae and Seoul would face.
Duke Yeon Arang had already heard a summary, so she kept her expression composed, but Team Leader Park's face rapidly darkened. He let out something close to a lament.
"If what you're saying is true, isn't this an EX-grade disaster⋯⋯?!"
"That's right. But we're not in those days when we were just A-rank and B-rank, are we, Team Leader Park?"
"⋯⋯That's certainly true. Just counting the B-rank hunters we can deploy right now, there are well over thirty. Team Leader Kim Minsik has also risen to A-rank⋯⋯"
"This isn't something to get scared of and give up on. It's different from back then."
Manpower, resources, time, and hope too. Compared to the day I received the 『System』, our situation is incomparably better. Hell, the difficulty is only C-grade, isn't it?
At this, Team Leader Park smacked his own forehead with his palm and furrowed his brow. It was as if he was trying to jump-start his sluggish brain. Then, with a somewhat settled gaze, he began offering his opinions.
"We need a defensive line, Hunter Noah Won. Our Seoul suffers from chronic manpower shortages. Every single person is precious. Our number one value must be 'prioritizing human life'!"
"I agree too, Noah Won. If we use this thing called the 『System』, we can obtain unlimited resources, right? In that situation, manpower equals growth potential. If we're thinking about the future, protecting people matters more than protecting buildings."
I agree.
Stopping this anomalous Gate won't end the plant crisis, so there's no reason to fight by throwing every hunter in Seoul and Donghae into the grinder. If it looks like we'll take losses, it's better to admit defeat and retreat.
⋯⋯The moment I had that thought, I got the feeling Serpent-Subduing Young Lord would be snickering at me.
Anyway.
Once the floodgates opened, Team Leader Park and Yeon Arang began pouring out opinions like a waterfall.
"If we go with the basic approach of whittling them down using firearms and ranged abilities, the defensive line should be built to the extent that it can block the plants' ranged projectiles—"
"We need a retreat operation plan. Since we have a hunter with an officer background, we can leave it to that guy⋯⋯ Ah, Team Leader Park was military too, wasn't he? I'll have him attach to that side, so you hold the authority—"
"We need a basic situation briefing. What the Seoul hunters heard on the way here was just 'Hunter Noah Won needs help,' so we need to clarify the objective and boost allied morale to maintain—"
"To force maximum damage with minimum preparation, I think how we use explosives is the most important thing—"
Words flew back and forth rapidly. I jumped into the discussion as well. By the time about 20 minutes had passed, we'd managed to produce a rough checklist and detailed action items for implementation.
1. Construct defensive line.
2. Boost allied morale.
3. Weaponize available resources.
4. Construct anti-plant zones.
5. Sub-plan: establish code of conduct for defeat and retreat operation plan.
"Good. Director Yeon Arang takes items 1, 2, and 3. Team Leader Park takes 4 and 5. I'll take overall command. Well, 'overall command' in name only—I'll be a firefighter going wherever help is needed most. Please proceed at your discretion without reporting back."
"⋯⋯Understood."
"Got it."
"Rest a bit before starting work. I'm counting on you both."
Meeting over.
Now we just had to push forward with all the plans attached to the checklist, doing our best for as long as time allowed. The work ahead of us was mountainous compared to what we'd done so far. We all knew that.
Yeon Arang let out a sigh, as if sensing the overwork to come, and said.
"Hah⋯⋯ One cup of coffee is fine, right? We'll be running without sleep from here on."
That much rest should actually be encouraged. People aren't built to produce unlimited energy just because you whip them. Besides, the most desperate one here was probably Yeon Arang, with Donghae on the line in this fight. I nodded.
Yeon Arang stretched, and Team Leader Park naturally rose from his seat and began making instant coffee. The Hunter Monarchy had collapsed, but the hierarchy of those days remained like a habit.
Yeon Arang flinched in surprise and apologized.
"Ah, sorry, Team Leader Park. You're not my subordinate anymore."
"No, it's fine."
"I'll make the coffee next time."
Three cups of coffee with warm steam rising were delivered. I sipped from the paper cup, letting the tension drain from my body and relaxing my muscles. I planned to rest my body until the caffeine started kicking in.
During the brief break, Team Leader Park and Yeon Arang chatted about how things had been going. How Seoul was running, how Donghae was being managed. That was probably half work too. They were gauging each other's available manpower pools.
And then this came up.
"The 『System』, huh⋯⋯ You must have been really surprised. You probably thought Noah Won had suddenly started spouting nonsense."
"Haha, yes. I was a bit flustered. But Hunter Noah Won isn't the type to make jokes like that, is he? So I was able to accept it quickly. But it's true I was thrown off—at the time, in my haste, I shoved a movie tape at him and told him to try making some kind of deal⋯⋯"
"A movie, ramen⋯⋯ Wait, are you talking about 『Waiting for the Autumn Wind』? The one where Noah Won played the club-hopping college senior? I don't have the tape for that one. If you still have it—"
Bang!
I shot up from my seat and shouted at the top of my lungs. With precious time ticking away even now, I couldn't afford to keep slacking off under the guise of rest.
"Let's start working!"
"W-wait⋯⋯ I haven't finished my coffee y—"
"I said let's start working!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
I chased the two of them out.
[Time remaining until invasion 36 : 04 : 11]
Thud! Thud! Thud! Screech— Screech—
"Move it, move it! We're tight on time if we want to make the deadline!"
"Left! Left! Turn it left, you thick-skulled bastard!"
Hunters in hard hats were hauling rebar. The sounds of hammering and shouting echoed from all directions. Every time superhuman strength swung a sledgehammer dozens of times, another building pillar rose.
They were literally human heavy equipment. This was the first time we'd mobilized hunters for large-scale manual labor like this, but honestly, I could get addicted to it.
It's like someone set the game speed to fast-forward—go grab a cup of coffee to help with the weeding, and by the time you're back, the landscape has visibly changed.
Of course, the hunters weren't the only ones working.
Off to the side, citizens who'd chosen to risk danger and earn money instead of evacuating were busy mixing concrete. The materials they produced were immediately put to use by the hunters. The overall construction was being supervised by an uncle who'd been a construction foreman before the collapse.
As a result of the entire city pooling its strength and pouring in manpower, about 14 hours had passed since the anomalous Gate situation was recognized, but the outline of the defensive line was already roughly taking shape.
It would have been impossible to even dream of if Elijah hadn't helped through the System Shop. Where else would the materials for a construction project this massive have come from?
The on-site management and supervision was Kim Minsik's job. I went looking for him to check on progress and pull a few people off the crew, and in the distance⋯⋯ I spotted a highly suspicious gathering.
"Wow⋯⋯ That person who always bought the merch and signed up for online events but never came to fan signings, for some weird reason. I never dreamed that person's true identity was Count Yeon Arang. How did you manage to hide your fan devotion all this time?"
"⋯⋯Every time a signing event came up, work piled up and I couldn't take leave. Anyway, do you still have that movie tape? Or the discontinued Noah Won bromide with the rabbit hat?"
"Of course I do. That Noah Won bastard threw a fit telling me to throw it away, but how could I throw away something that precious? I've got it safely stored in Seoul, so once the work's done, come on up and—"
Yeon Arang—!!
It's absolutely not because she was trying to dig up my dark past. It's that wasting even a few seconds during this busy time is infuriating. If you're going to rest, shutting your mouth and lying flat would be more efficient. This is extremely inefficient.
I walked over with a hardened expression, taking long strides. I should offer a few words of unsolicited advice.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!"
"Huh? Count Yeon Arang, where are you going all of a sudden?"
Whoosh!
Yeon Arang noticed my approach and bolted as if nothing had happened. Minsik stared at her retreating figure with a puzzled expression, then spotted me.
"Hey, Count Yeon Arang's one-pick baby white deer Noah Won—! You're looking mighty fine today, aren't you?"
"Shut up!"
"She's a fan, so why don't you act cute for her for old times' sake? You're good at that. Acting cute for your older female fans⋯⋯"
"You fucking bastard!"
He'd started in on me with a lecherous grin, scratching at me with everything he had. After that, I spent about three minutes wrestling with Minsik. I hit him a few times.
Anyway. Let's get to the point.
"Let me pull a few people."
"The defensive line construction is already busy enough. What do you need them for?"
To explain that, I need to lay out our strategy.
Our grand strategy is hit-and-run.
When the plant bastards show up, we pour firepower on them—when they flood in, we retreat to the next defensive line and project firepower again. We judged that repeating this to whittle down the enemy forces bit by bit was the most advantageous approach.
I don't know how much volume will pour out, but since the Gate is embedded in the center of the city-state of Donghae, defending the city is nearly impossible—and losing this place won't ruin our lives. So we abandon it cleanly.
The land around Donghae has been contaminated by the forest for a long time anyway. Even if those bastards occupy it, things won't get worse. So we abandon that cleanly too.
It's a scorched-earth strategy. We give up all this land and beat them one-sidedly.
But we save the people.
This⋯⋯ would have been an option we couldn't choose back when the country was intact. What about my real estate, how are all these people supposed to flee in two days, I'm going to die here no matter what so you protect it⋯⋯
But precisely because the world ended, there's no trouble. The evacuee count is small enough to cover, and there are only a couple of romantic souls stubborn enough to demand we hold Donghae no matter what. At this rate, we can push forward with room to spare.
"But will this be enough? They say C-grade can smash mountains. This anomalous Gate is also C-grade. So when you gather up all the plant bastards that appear, their combined combat power would be enough to flatten a mountain⋯⋯"
"Hmm."
Minsik, with dark circles sunk deep under his eyes, voiced his concern.
"I know, dumbass. Obviously this isn't everything."
I never thought for a second that this alone could hold them off. It's certain to be a fight several times harder than Joero, so would I really strut around relying on a single defensive line?
This defensive line is closer to a shield for preventing casualties. The dagger we'll drive into the Monster Trees is separate.
"Normally, Gates appear up in the sky. The plant bastards drop wrapped in shells like paratroopers and then start moving, so⋯⋯ suppressing the damage range was practically impossible. But this anomalous Gate appeared close to the ground, didn't it?"
"⋯⋯Right?"
"What do you think about digging into the ground?"
"Huh?"
Digging into the ground, I said.
We dig a pit as deep and wide as possible directly beneath the anomalous Gate. So that anything that isn't a flying plant has no choice but to plummet helplessly.
And then we cover the bottom of the pit entirely with concrete. The Monster Tree bastards are the type to bore through concrete and stubbornly root themselves into the ground, but⋯⋯ what if we pour it so thick that no matter how far they stretch, they can't reach?
It doesn't stop there. Let's bury explosives too. If an Elf bastard shows up mixed in, we'll set off fireworks and give them a violent welcome. Pouring a pit full of pesticide would be good too. We'll cram in everything that's bad for living things.
I don't know what kind of nerve made them open a Gate here, but⋯⋯
"Let's show them what happens when you build attached to the surface."
"⋯⋯So that's why the supply kids were walking around with ten shovels each! Alright, take the manpower. No, wait. That won't do. I should join too. This B-rank hunter Kim Minsik shall also dig the earth for the completion of that great undertaking— Gahk!"
"You need to command the field. Where do you think you're going?"
"I'll just take one shovel-load while I smoke one cigarette! I haven't sat down once since arriving in Donghae. Making me work without even ten minutes of rest—are you even human?!"
You can rest when you're dead.
After deploying the whining Minsik where he was needed, I headed over to join Hyejin's unit for the weeding operation.
Thanks to steady ability enhancement, more than half of the unit's members had already completed a one-step rank increase. Hundreds of skills had been ground away, but the harvest was worth it. The only place that probably has a hunter team this elite is New York.
They'd have no trouble burning the forest around Donghae without me, but it'd be faster if I helped.
On the way, I grabbed a can of fatigue recovery tonic from a mountain-like pile. Right now, everyone in Donghae—office workers and field workers alike—is being ground down together, so they'd stacked actual towers of fatigue recovery tonics at every section. Taking one wouldn't even make a dent.
Crack—
I popped the tab, downed it in one go, then crushed it flat with one hand. This trash can go in the pit. Plants can't break down aluminum.
From a distance, I could hear the shouts of hunters grinding down the forest.
"Burn it! Burn it all! Leave nothing behind!"
"Small acts to protect the Earth! A world full of trash!"
"Kill the forest, kill nature! Let's leave our children a cleanly destroyed nature!"
Their enthusiasm made me clench my fist too. Come on, you Monster Tree bastards.
I'll teach you, until your leaves tremble, that no species destroys the environment better than humans.
1. Construct defensive line. (Complete).
4. Construct anti-plant zones. (In progress).
5. Sub-plan: establish code of conduct for defeat and retreat operation plan. (Complete).