Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Iron Fortress
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Iron Fortress.
After wrecking the total mobilization assembly, Yoo Seongwon and his group returned to Iron Fortress first, calling in Shin Somi, Shin Ayoung, and even Yu Cheong to exchange all the information they'd gathered so far.
The first piece of intel that came up was naturally the attack plan against the Slaughter King constellation's forces, obtained from the VVIP conference room.
“The government and the association have finally played a big hand. Even if it's a good move, it's not without risks... Even with preemptive bombardment or strikes, the scavengers aren't pushovers when it comes to holding territory. The fact that they're going with this plan anyway suggests they're in a hurry...”
“Whatever happens, we just grind dungeons and level up. We're sitting out that war. Because I stirred up hell there. Hahaha!”
“The old man’s gonna have something to say about that.”
“He already heard. Hahaha!”
Yoo Seongwon confessed it all upfront, as if he’d washed his hands of the consequences.
Yu Cheong, who had been listening quietly, was searching the internet here and there, deep in thought.
Yoo Seongwon shot him a curious glance, since the guy who always had suggestions the moment he opened his mouth was uncharacteristically silent.
*This feels like something out of a shojo manga. With that sculpted face, he looks good no matter what he does.*
“Hmm... I still can’t figure it out. There are just too many things that didn’t exist in our time...”
“You’re the one who’s always pushing me to do stuff, and now you’re quiet? That’s weird.”
“This humble servant thinks only of matters for Your Majesty at all times. In any case, the outcome of this battle will undoubtedly have a massive impact on our organization moving forward.”
“Yeah, it probably will.”
Setting aside the issue of reclaiming North Korean territory, this was a war where armies and guilds were marching into scavenger and monster territory.
The victors of this massive conflict would gain levels, please their patron constellations for even greater power, and that influence would inevitably ripple back to their organizations. So it made sense to think ahead.
“One thing’s for sure—no problem there. We won’t just be twiddling our thumbs while they buy time. Your Majesty, your servant Yu Cheong has another proposal.”
“...I was thinking we’d call it a day. What is it?”
“With knight summons, we need to bolster and reinforce the Heavenly Sword Army further.”
“Why?”
“In my prediction of this crisis’s future, no matter who wins, the survivors will come gunning for Your Majesty.”
If the Slaughter King’s side won, they’d feast on the human flesh from the war’s victory, grow several times stronger, and come south again. If the government and association smoothly reclaimed the north, they’d turn their sights on Yoo Seongwon’s uncooperative group after the chaos he caused at the total mobilization.
“No, isn’t targeting me specifically a bit of a stretch?”
“In any situation, it’s best to assume the worst and pursue your goals accordingly.”
“So you want to reinforce the Heavenly Sword Army?”
“Yes. Expanding the goblin forces that surrendered to Your Majesty is good, but the best option is for Your Majesty to fully summon the Heavenly Sword Army. The minimum threshold is 10,000. And boost the goblin units to 5,000, for a total of 15,000—at best, up to 30,000...”
*...Is this guy sane?*
Yu Cheong’s proposals always left Yoo Seongwon flustered, but today’s was especially bewildering.
It was blatantly telling him to build a private army, something no sane person would entertain.
Yet Yu Cheong pressed on with intense, sincere eyes.
“This servant is always in earnest, Your Majesty. Preparing for the storm isn’t a bad thing. If the Slaughter King forces defeat the invading armies and Awakeners, they’ll devour their flesh and descend even stronger. We must decide and act as swiftly as possible.”
“...Still, isn’t that crossing a line? A private army? Somi sis, talk some sense into him. He’s seriously trying to make me emperor.”
“The meeting was already a shitshow because of you, uncle. You’re the one who lit the fuse.”
Shin Ayoung, who’d been watching quietly, recalled the chaos at the total mobilization meeting—hunters, diplomats, and foreign executives all yelling.
Even on a global scale, S-Rank hunters were in critically short supply.
When rumors surfaced about Yoo Seongwon, who supposedly harbored anti-government sentiments, everyone must have come to Korea buzzing with excitement and expectations.
But the news they got was that he’d crashed the VVIP meeting and stormed out.
“Uh... huh?”
“Gathering seven S-Ranks was already crossing the line from the start, and you straight-up told the government and association to fuck off... Plus, you even tricked them by hiding two. At this point, 30,000 or 40,000 troops? It’s like setting a forest fire and then complaining about sparks.”
“Even Blue Dragon Guild has its own artificial island several times the size of Yeouido, complete with a city and units armed with magistone gear to support their hunters.”
With backup fire from both sides, Yoo Seongwon suddenly felt like the weird one.
According to them, he’d already leaped over the line, doused it in gasoline, and done a fire dance—yet he was balking at an army? It was absurd.
Under their gazes, he quickly realized he was in the wrong.
“Uh... my bad?”
“Yeah, uncle. You’ve pulled max aggro. That’s why the government’s going all-in to wipe out the Slaughter King forces now.”
“Having a unit or two would just be like, ‘He’s already flying around with magic-wielding golden dragon weapons, so what’s a few more...’ They’d brush it off as par for the course.”
At a loss for words, Yoo Seongwon scratched his head and pulled up his status window.
His current level was 64. He had one reward point left—after clearing the Goblin Empire dungeon last time, he’d spent two on combat endurance, going to zero, then earned one back from defeating Lemlem.
“No choice then. I’ve got one point now... Summoning knights with it doesn’t guarantee a Heavenly Sword Army member... Probably need to grab another skill first.”
Unlike summoning spells he could bait with bait, knight summons were unpredictable, so he planned to patch that with another skill before diving in.
He still intended to hold onto skill points and one or two rewards as emergency reserves, but with Yu Cheong stressing urgency, Yoo Seongwon hurriedly scanned his skill list.
“There are so many, finding stuff’s a chore. Anyway, grinding to level 70 from now gets me another reward point... But that’s just enough for one more. Unless I bag an archdemon-beast tier.”
Knight traits only rewarded strong foes at a certain level now—anything less than S-Rank yielded no special bonuses.
If he’d known, he’d have paced his growth to stockpile rewards, but the situations back then had been too urgent.
“No regression traits or skills? They’re all the rage in webnovels these days... I’d love to stack like 100 reward skills and binge-upgrade...”
“Isn’t that less regression and more fleeing to a parallel world? Whether it’s back to your awakening or right now.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah. We’d be left behind in the world where you vanished. Sure, regression stories usually send you back after losing everything—end of life, humanity’s doom, last-ditch moments.”
“Right. Not even considering that crap. So I need to hunt S-Rank monsters...”
The silver lining: even at SS+ rank, S-Rank monsters were special enough to yield rewards, so he’d focus there.
Yoo Seongwon opened the map, checking domestic S-Rank dungeons. Luck was on his side—one near Seoul.
“Oh yeah, there’s Bohaku under the new Gangnam, under the Mountain Ghost constellation. Why not just wipe them out?”
“Good idea. They’ll be too busy with the Slaughter King war to care, and clearing them secures Seoul. Problem is... Bohaku holes up in the Mountain Ghost core dungeon when it doesn’t come out...”
“Ah... core dungeon.”
Bohaku, the Mountain Ghost’s sole S-Rank monster.
A beastman pirate captain commanding massive battleship-shaped golems with barrages. It had come out fighting during the new Gangnam incident, but now lurked quietly in Mountain Ghost territory.
“Core dungeon, huh...”
The lifeline and heart of the Mountain Ghost forces. Losing it meant no more related dungeons.
Even for a weak constellation like Mountain Ghost, its core dungeon was no joke.
“Uh... we’ll think about that one. For now, baseline is sweeping surrounding dungeons and their power base. Plenty of B-Ranks there too. Raze them all, and it might flush out the core.”
“Yeah, sounds good. You and sis need levels anyway, and it’s close to Seoul. Let’s go with that.”
No telling who’d win between Slaughter King and the Korean government & association, but to prepare for any future, Yoo Seongwon’s group decided to gear up for striking the Mountain Ghost forces.
Long-term goal: full Heavenly Sword Army summon. For now, he’d save that last reward point.
Pre-buying skills was different from banking enough points for a mass Heavenly Sword Army summon.
***
One week later.
Association HQ ‘Slaughter King Subjugation Operation Command’.
The massive hunter event of total mobilization wrapped up after assemblies, with guilds, corporations, government, and association hashing out talks and deals.
Now, official cleanup ops for the Slaughter King war prep were announced.
In truth, major guilds had started a week prior. This was a week of war prep: warnings to scavengers, gangsters, mafias; cleaning out blatant troublemakers or herding them aside for control.
“As planned, southern gangsters, mafias, and scavengers have holed up in Neo Sinan Undercity.”
“Good. Let ’em hide. As long as they don’t cause headaches! Damn, without Choi Choong-seon, borders are a mess! Tell Jeon Ji-ah to keep eyes on it.”
“Yes. And good news: way more guilds applied than expected. Bait works wonders—applications are flooding. We’ll trim to top tiers for deployment.”
C-Rank dungeons were auctioned off by big three guilds and corp guilds for their reward efficiency, locking out smaller ones.
Hunters had level caps per dungeon grade—post-45, C-Rank mandatory.
Blocked like resource hoarding, guilds were frustrated.
But that drove a mountain of guilds to volunteer for this op.
“Thought it was insane at first... but helpful in ways.”
“Too hard to control with military alone—use cash and precious EXP instead. This op’s do-or-die for the nation. No room for error.”
“Understood.”
Days turned to a week more: full troop formations. Korea’s Defense Ministry mobilized five legions, reserves included.
Four legions assembled in Seoul and Gangwon under mobile training pretext for north advance. Over 200 hunter guilds prepped, confirming dungeon sites and clear plans.
“Jo Pil-seong, appointed ‘Unified Operation Commander’ for this op. Normally Army Ops Commander; specially picked to oversee Navy/Air too, but focused on land ops. Pleasure. Guild Master Go Cheonsu.”
“Likewise. Honored as Association-appointed guild coalition rep, but it’s just my personal strength and guild size. Guide us on front lines, please.”
“Hahaha, guide? I’m the one learning from you, hero of reversal and Blue Dragon’s warrior, Guild Master Go Cheonsu. Let’s do this.”
Guild coalition and military command structured next. Op date set.
Strike fast to exploit post-Pastor death scavenger chaos: two weeks post-mobilization plus one day.
Fifteen days after mobilization Day 1—about a month and a half after Pastor incident—a new war dawned.