141. Recapture Operation (3)
The surprise raid was a resounding success. The Immortal Cult failed to mount an effective defense against the allied landing operation, unable to stop the platoon led by Jin A-yeon and Han Seong-geun from securing Ulsan Port's Pier 1.
What's more, Pier 1 at Ulsan Port was just a stone's throw from the Myeongchon Bridge and Ulsan Bridge—the most critical transportation hubs in the entire Ulsan warzone. In the blink of an eye, the decisive squad that had landed successfully could strike the rear of both bridges.
"The rest of the fleet will attack the Ulsan Bridge."
"Understood. All ships—prepare cannon fire. Time to deal with these undead bastards."
And here's another stroke of bad luck for the Immortal Cult: the undead forces stationed at the Ulsan Bridge couldn't dispatch reinforcements from their garrison toward Ulsan Port's Pier 1 where the decisive squad had landed. The Pohang fleet that ferried the allies ashore didn't retreat straight to port. Instead, it wheeled around and charged directly toward the Ulsan Bridge, clashing head-on with the undead army holding position there.
The fleet's onboard cannons opened fire, making the undead at the bridge acutely aware of the threat posed by the Pohang fleet while...
"Turn Undead!Turn Undead!"
...Baek Seol-hwa, the Dragon Priestess out on deck, unleashed Turn Undead on the undead swarming the bridge and pier. She etched into every onlooker's mind exactly why a Dragon Priestess was the undead's greatest nightmare.
The moment she pointed, even named undead crumbled to white ash in less than a second without fail. A single sweep of her hand felled over a hundred foes.
The Pohang fleet, well-accustomed to the sight, pressed on with their mission unflinchingly. But the allies...
"Haha, she's gotten even stronger."
"That's the Dragon Priestess we've heard so much about...!"
"Way more impressive than the rumors...?"
Son Sang-hee, leading the allies in a standoff against the enemy forces at the Ulsan Bridge, couldn't help but marvel at how much more powerful Baek Seol-hwa had become. Among the allied troops, veterans familiar with fighting alongside Choi Yu-na weren't overly surprised by her strength. But the fresh recruits from the Awakener Project and the soldiers who'd joined from Ulsan stared at Seol-hwa with eyes full of awe.
She's strong. The Balhut Cult touted her internally as their trump card, but there was a world of difference between hearing about it and witnessing it firsthand.
And then...
"The fleet's providing support. All forces—charge!"
What the allies had braced for as a grueling fight turned into a morale-boosting spectacle. Seol-hwa's display skyrocketed their spirits, and at Son Sang-hee's charge order, they surged toward the Ulsan Bridge without hesitation.
"Our allies are charging! Harass the enemy reinforcements to keep them from arriving—open suppressive fire!"
"Roger!"
True to the plan, Son Sang-hee deployed the troops held in reserve near the Ulsan Bridge. Kim Tae-sik immediately redirected his cannon fire from the bridge vicinity—aimed at blocking Immortal Cult reinforcements—toward the undead horde marching on the Ulsan Bridge.
Cannon barrels roared to life, the fleet concentrating its firepower on the approaching undead army. The undead had only their own short-range attacks to counter.
"Haha, their effective range is pitifully short!"
But range issues rendered those attacks useless against the Pohang fleet. The ships hammered away from maximum distance at full power, leaving the undead with no real means to retaliate—they could only eat the shells.
Skeleton Mages might have threatened the fleet with spells, but...
Sanctuary Deployment
"Kieeeek!"
Unfortunately for them, the fleet had Dragon Priestess Baek Seol-hwa aboard. Before contracting with Bahamut, she'd been a mage specializing in wide-area spells, excelling in large-scale battles. That hadn't changed post-contract. While Choi Yu-na boasted resurrection-level healing and single-target prowess...
"Healing Magic Circle. Echo of Salvation. Holy Imbue!"
⟨ Battlefield Support Arts ⟩
...Seol-hwa was a battlefield supporter, granting powerful buffs to masses of troops. Sanctuary Deployment spread a holy-attribute zone across the Ulsan Bridge, weakening undead while automatically buffing allies' physical abilities and healing wounds via Healing Magic Circle. Echo of Salvation offered a one-time escape from mortal peril, and Holy Imbue enchanted weapons with holy properties.
With her proper support, even ordinary soldiers could become holy warriors guaranteed to slay undead. This had been key to her string of victories against the ghost fleet in the East Sea.
"Turn Undead. And boom~ on those barricades!"
Sniping named undead with Turn Undead, blasting barricades and defenders with AoE spells—how could the undead holding the Ulsan Bridge possibly endure? Without reinforcements from the main force, they were nothing.
In moments, the Ulsan Bridge fell to the Pohang fleet and allies. With it secured, the fleet turned once more...
"Then let's head upriver along the Taehwa. Support the rest?"
"Aye aye. All hands—proceed up the Taehwa River."
...toward the fiercest hotspot: the Myeongchon Bridge.
Jin A-yeon and Han Seong-geun's elite allied unit was already locked in brutal combat there. Even the Immortal Cult's expeditionary force from North Ulsan had scrambled troops upon sensing trouble in South Ulsan, hitting the allies assaulting the Myeongchon Bridge. The area was utter chaos.
But amid the melee, the undead floundered in confusion, while the allies moved with singular purpose.
"Our goal is the Myeongchon Bridge! Secure the bridge—that's it! We don't need to push deep into South Ulsan! We hold here and block enemy reinforcements until Commander Jeong Dong-gun wipes out the North Ulsan foes!"
"Got it!"
Securing the Myeongchon Bridge would return North Ulsan's control to the Balhut Cult. With the Ulsan Bridge already taken, the other bridges would become optional once the Myeongchon fell—mere nice-to-haves. Why bother capturing detours when the two main bridges allowed a straight thrust into the Immortal Cult's heartland?
"Lady Seol-hwa, contact from the patrol fleet in the East Sea. Ghost fleet sighted."
"Looks like things are about to get busy."
As the Ulsan Bridge fell and the Myeongchon teetered on the brink, reports came in of the ghost fleet's sudden emergence. This confirmed suspicions of ties to the Immortal Cult. Frowning at Kim Tae-sik's report as she prepared to strike the undead at the Myeongchon, Baek Seol-hwa thought the timing too blatant.
Still...
"Return to the East Sea. Leave a few ships to support the allies—the rest intercept the ghost fleet there."
She couldn't abandon the vital East Sea fishing grounds. Halting her advance on the Myeongchon, she ordered a handful of vessels to aid Jin A-yeon while the rest turned back.
She wanted to fight to the end, but Bahamut's command to her was clear: defend the East Sea. How could she ignore a crisis when the exalted Dragon God had ordered her to safeguard it?
"A shame. This was our chance for major merits."
Kim Tae-sik regretted missing the pivotal contribution at this juncture but obeyed unflinchingly, leaving a few ships for Myeongchon support before withdrawing.
With the navy pulling out, the remnant flotilla couldn't provide the same level of aid—mere cannon support at best. But that was plenty for the decisive squad.
"The high ground's right there!"
"Hit 'em hard! We take the bridge today and split Ulsan in two!"
The nighttime raid had shattered enemy patterns and defenses. They'd summoned the ghost fleet just to force the navy back, but even that was too late to rebuild lines. Jin A-yeon and Han Seong-geun's elites blocked reinforcements to the Myeongchon, while the defenders there faced a two-front war and crumbled steadily.
These lunatics! It's only 7 a.m.?!
Above all, no one had anticipated a raid at this hour—the Immortal Cult's fatal miscalculation. Logically, they'd expect it around 10 or 11 p.m., bedtime. Not at 7 a.m., when folks were awake. But with the apocalypse killing streetlights and even gas lamps failing, the city was pitch-black. Sunset at 4 p.m. meant full night by 5—making this timing the perfect sucker punch.
"Good. Bridge secured!"
"Now mop up the split forces. Wipe every Immortal Cult remnant in North Ulsan."
Soon, Jeong Dong-gun's unit retook the Myeongchon Bridge, physically severing North and South Ulsan. North Ulsan's Immortal Cult survivors were now cut off from support.
Jeong Dong-gun vowed to eradicate them without mercy.
"Decisive squad—fortify with barricades! Seal the bridge, and we win!"
"Buy time for barricade setup! Any brave warriors follow me?!"
While Jeong focused on remnants, the squad turned the Myeongchon into a fortress, hunkering into all-around defense. Barricades airlifted from Ulsan Airport went up one by one, forming an impregnable zone. As Jin A-yeon led a small team on a rampage, the undead main force hesitated.
Memories of Ulsan Airport trauma kicked in as the squad dug in again, breaking their will to fight.
"Damn it all!"
With the squad stalling, Jeong Dong-gun captured the necromancers lingering in North Ulsan—field commanders from the front, high up in the Immortal Cult hierarchy.
"Oh ho. High levels on these guys. Mid-teens at least."
As Awakeners, a bit more effort and they'd hit Superhuman territory—prime talent. The Balhut Cult treated such as executives, so snagging them was a boon for the allies.
Jeong bound the necromancers and shipped them to Ulsan Airport HQ.
"Hey, better watch 'em. They might self-destruct."
"Right, like during the evac op?"
Spotting the necromancers at HQ, Jin A-yeon warned Jeong. He nodded, recalling the incident.
"Then seal their mana and solitary confinement it is."
"Mana seals possible?"
"Bahamut developed mana-sealing cuffs. Using 'em on one of our worst offenders right now."
This was around when Bahamut cracked mithril, yielding byproducts like mana-sealing items—not intentionally for this, though.
Trouble dealing with 'em. Offload to Jeong as busywork!
Bahamut saw little use in non-mithril stuff and, pondering disposal amid prepping for the international reconstruction conference, dumped the byproducts on Jeong. The commander, mulling uses for the magic items, found a gem: easier Awakener criminal restraint.
"Worst offender?"
"Local matter. Anyway, seal 'em with these and lock in solos. Comm devices for talk—no direct contact."
Thus, Jo Sun-do awaited execution with mana sealed, escape impossible. Rat poison for Awakeners. Jeong sealed the necromancers similarly, thorough against self-destructs.
"Name?"
"...Noh Tae-jun."
Realizing his powers sealed and isolated, the captive cooperated with interrogation. No human rights in the apocalypse—allies could torture non-cooperators easily. As necromancers who'd unleashed hell on Korea, few would pity them. Survival meant cooperating.
"Rank in the Immortal Cult?"
"Mid-level exec."
He spilled that readily, but...
"No interest in negotiating with us?"
"Negotiate? With the Balhut Cult? You're fated to kill or be killed!"
Jeong's query drew horrified shrieks of enmity. Han Seong-geun sighed.
"Pure evil left."
"Ulsan Airport fall soured 'em. Looks like the guy in charge there."
Jin A-yeon figured repeated failures bred hate. But despite the venom...
"No negotiation faction at all? We've nabbed a key figure, and the war's linchpin—Myeongchon Bridge—is ours."
...Jeong remained ice-cold, calmly declaring the allies' undeniable victory. No turning from reality now.
"The losing side isn't us anymore. It's you."