Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Arnon (2)
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“No word from headquarters at all?”
Kang-hyuk's question drew a nod from the communications officer.
“Yes, sir. The full contingent of Spirit Race forces that crossed into China has pushed into the city of Hefei... so an immediate retreat isn't feasible. Chinese military and Hunters are already mobilizing.”
“As soon as Arbon reaches mid Grandmaster, we pull him back.”
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
While Kang-hyuk was away in another dimension, Arbon would safeguard the Korean Peninsula as Emperor of the Ryu Han Empire.
After a brief rest, the Ryu Han Empire forces resumed their advance.
“Move the wounded to the rear!”
“Your Majesty! We've found the armory!”
Kang-hyuk rushed to the armory.
It was stocked with rifles, ammunition, and artillery shells.
The Ryu Han Empire forces also succeeded in capturing numerous tanks.
Bombers and missiles, however, were all halted by Kang-hyuk's slashes.
“The... Spirit God has fallen?”
“Yeah. Croaked by my hand.”
Kang-hyuk unfurled his black wings and fixed his gaze on the Spirit Race man.
“Dra... Dragon God?!”
“Where are the nukes?”
“...Nukes?”
“Ah, right. You call them ‘Rispien’ here?”
“R-Rispien... what do you intend to do with them?”
“Obviously, take them back to Earth and use them as deterrents. Warn them that if they attack us, we'll launch the Rispien. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?”
The Spirit Race man furrowed his brow.
“Your lot must possess weapons rivaling Rispien.”
“The more attack options, the better. But we can't just let you fire them off. With even your Spirit God dead, who knows if you'd go berserk and launch them anyway?”
“...”
“Tell me the locations. Do that, and I'll halt the war. Accept you all as my subjects.”
It was a lie.
An obvious one.
Yet the Spirit Race general had no choice but to accept Kang-hyuk's offer.
Arnon was suffering devastating losses from the Ryu Han Empire's assault.
“Very well. I'll tell you.”
He had to pit the Dragonkin against the Ryu Han Empire forces.
The general revealed every Rispien location.
They were dispersed across three sites.
Kang-hyuk nodded once and jerked his head toward the division commander at his side.
“You've been laboring under a strange delusion... I am the Emperor of the Ryu Han Empire.”
“...?!”
Slash!
The division commander's blade severed the general's head.
“If this bastard's lying... we'll just capture another general.”
Kang-hyuk led the Ryu Han Empire forces to secure the Rispien.
BOOM!
“Gaaah!”
“Surrender!”
Ryu Han Empire soldiers who had reached a certain level aimed rifles at Arnon's troops.
“S-St-stop! There's Rispien here! If it goes off, you won't escape unscathed ei—!”
Rrrrip!
Kang-hyuk rendered the supreme commander and generals combat-ineffective, neutralizing the Spirit Race.
“Arrrgh!”
The supreme commander, stripped of limbs, screamed and collapsed to the ground.
“Surrender!”
“Surrender now!”
The Spirit Race soldiers frantically discarded their weapons, dropping to their knees with hands raised.
Ryu Han Empire reinforcements arriving by bus imprisoned the Spirit Race fighters and seized the base.
The Ryu Han Empire forces successfully secured the Rispien.
“...These mad bastards.”
Arnon's Rispien arsenal numbered over 100,000.
Enough to obliterate an entire world.
Kang-hyuk, through the surrendered Spirit Race elite warriors and generals, urged all Arnon Spirit Race to surrender.
The Spirit Race fell into terror.
The Spirit God dead, and now the Rispien seized too?!
“Su... Supreme Commander, what do we do...”
“...”
The Spirit God's disappearance was true.
But no one had mentioned its death.
As for the Rispien... they'd truly been taken by the enemy.
Contact from the storage sites had come from the Ryu Han Empire forces.
If the enemy launched the Rispien, this world would become hell.
'If they really defeated the Spirit God...'
Our power might not be enough.
But if the supreme commanders united...
“Contact all supreme commanders... no, every general and above. We must retake the Rispien.”
“Yes, sir!”
At last, supreme commanders and generals from across the world assembled and launched the Rispien reclamation operation.
“Your Majesty, the enemy is approaching the First Rispien Depot!”
“Withdraw all troops from the First Rispien Depot immediately!”
“Yes, sir!”
Kang-hyuk turned to the brigade commanders.
“You lot, with me.”
EXP was piling up.
He couldn't miss this chance.
The enemy wouldn't dare use spirit magic recklessly near Rispien either.
The supreme commanders and generals arriving at the First Rispien Depot wore bewildered expressions.
“What is this...”
“No sign of the depot overseers or guards. It's like they deliberately handed it over...”
“No way—they're going to detonate the Rispien and take us out?!”
The supreme commanders and generals hastily retreated from the depot.
But hours passed with no explosion.
“...What?”
“Why this...”
“For now, let's enter the depot and—”
At that moment, vehicles approached from the east.
“...Those are our vehicles.”
The issue was who rode in them.
“Any prior contact?”
“None.”
“Then high chance they're the enemy.”
Shing!
The supreme commanders and generals drew their weapons.
“Could be stragglers.”
“Even if friendly, in this situation...”
“Yes. Treat as hostiles.”
“Attack.”
The supreme commanders agreed and resolved to strike the vehicles.
“Attack—!”
A barrage of colorful spirit magic and massive slashes hurtled toward the vehicles.
But their assaults were blocked by black slashes.
KABOOOM!
“Enemies after all!”
“Keep attacking!”
As the supreme commanders and generals pressed their assault, Kang-hyuk leaped from a vehicle, wings spread, hurling himself forward.
Slash!
“He... he sliced my spirit magic?”
“Even my slash...!”
Kang-hyuk cleaved through every supreme commander and general's attacks, closing the distance.
“Dra... Dragonkin...!”
“Attack him from the air!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Mind the Rispien—don't hit them!”
As the Spirit Race took to the skies on wings, Kang-hyuk pursued with slashes.
Whoooosh!
“...?!”
High Grandmaster slashes engulfed the Spirit Race, triggering massive explosions.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The belatedly reacting supreme commanders and generals gritted their teeth.
Kang-hyuk's distance had shrunk to mere hundreds of meters.
“Damn, what kind of speed is that?!”
“Black dragon wings...!”
The supreme commanders and generals paled in horror.
“Could the Dragon God himself have come?!”
Kang-hyuk demolished their attacks and closed in instantly, swinging his blade.
Splatter!
“Gaaaaah!”
Blood sprayed through the air.
Generals bereft of limbs and wings plummeted one by one.
Even swordsmen among the Spirit Race mastered low-circle spirit magic.
They summoned winds just before impact, barely saving their lives.
Step step step
Ryu Han Empire officers approached them.
“Th-this fucking...!”
The generals who had narrowly survived soon lost their lives to the officers.
Slash! Stab!
“Kill them all!”
The brigade commanders slew the falling Spirit Race elites, raising their skill levels.
“Hah... EXP raining from the sky.”
“Haha...”
The brigade commanders let out hollow laughs as they cut down the Spirit Race officers one after another.
In the end, the brigade commanders surged to high to highest Sword Master realms in one go.
The First Rispien Depot fell back into Ryu Han Empire hands.
The Ryu Han Empire forces transmitted news of the supreme commanders' and generals' deaths to Spirit Race military bases.
In response to the Ryu Han Empire's surrender demand, Spirit Race forces began surrendering en masse.
At that moment, Kang-hyuk hurriedly crossed the dimensional gate and encountered association staff.
“How's the situation on the other side?”
“The war's still raging fiercely. Multiple supreme commanders attacked, so we fell back temporarily.”
“I... I see. How many supreme commanders?”
“At least ten or more. Though weaker than the one that hit Incheon.”
The association staffer nodded slightly.
“Oh, and word from the Ryu Han Empire side. The Emperor himself is crossing the dimensional gate to join the war against the Spirit Race.”
“The Emperor... personally?”
“He said the timing would be when Hunter Park Kang-hyuk returns to Earth.”
“Ah...”
Kang-hyuk nodded once.
“What's the Jeju situation?”
“All remnants eliminated. Korean citizens are toasting the reclamation with joy.”
“Haha...”
“The Arnon Spirit Race that fled to China have been nearly annihilated, surrounded by Chinese military and Hunters.”
“Good news.”
“You've done great work too, Hunter Park Kang-hyuk. Planning to head back to the mainland?”
“If the Emperor's mobilizing... yes, I am.”
“Understood.”
“I'll recall all GH Guild members too.”
“Pardon? Won't that leave the Ryu Han Empire forces vulnerable?”
“This war elevated most of their high officers to S2-rank equivalents. Some even hit S1-rank levels.”
“...?!”
That much military reinforcement?!
“Fueled by vengeance... they fought the Spirit Race like cornered beasts.”
“Whoa...”
The association staffer let out a small chuckle.
“Anyway, the GH Guild members will return soon. We're heading back to Seoul.”
“Yes, thank you for everything.”
Thanks to GH Guild and the Ryu Han Empire forces, Jeju had been safely reclaimed.
Scarcely anyone in Korea didn't know Park Kang-hyuk's name.
Among the young, he was hailed as a hero.
“GH Guild Teams 1 through 15 all returned.”
“Good. Let's head to Seoul.”
Kang-hyuk boarded a passenger ship with his guildmates, crossing to Jeolla Province.
There, buses from the waiting GH Guild picked up Kang-hyuk and the members.