The Siege of the Ghost Gate
“That was pretty good.”
“Agreed...”
“Haa... haa...”
“Ma, Master... I feel like my back is going to break...”
“... Hahahaha...”
“You’re so vigorous...”
Jojun, Meiling, and even Eila and Bella. The four of them lay on the floor, which was slick with all sorts of bodily fluids, praising one another. Jojun, who had been dragged here and there lately and mounted like a dog, felt particularly satisfied, as if he had finally recovered his proper masculinity.
“Well then... shall we head back soon?”
“Ju, just a little more rest...”
“Alright.”
After all, one hour in the Narak was only one minute in reality. There were no side effects or penalties, other than the fact that staying too long would make you age faster.
“Let’s rest a bit more.”
In the end, Jojun decided to rest a little longer here. If this were reality, he would have covered the exhausted women with blankets and gone off to handle his backlog of work, but here, he could afford to be a bit more relaxed.
“Hey, Eila. Get your hand off...”
“No, unnie... Hehehe...”
Eila, who was stroking Jojun’s chest, and Bella, who was shouting at her to give her a turn, began to bicker over who would get to stroke his chest.
“You kids... Good grief...”
Eila and Bella, who usually couldn’t get close to Jojun because they were pushed aside by the other women, were incredibly excited at the thought that they could monopolize him here in the Narak. Eventually, Jojun stopped trying to stop them and tilted his head slightly to look at Meiling.
“Haa... haa...”
Meiling was still wearing a blindfold, her hands and feet tied, with the electric vibrator still inserted. It was a state she had requested herself.
“Whew.”
I rolled my shoulders to loosen up the stiff muscles. Today, I have to go and kill the Ten Kings that crawl out of the Ghost Gate. I decided to carry out this hunt by myself. There are two main reasons for this.
First, if I catch it alone, I can monopolize the experience points. Actually, I don’t know the exact structure of how experience points are distributed, but I feel like I’d get more if I killed it alone. And the second reason is that the bastard’s technique is too dangerous.
‘The Registry... I’m not sure exactly how it works, but...’
Once your name is written there, you’re completely screwed. Even the Evil Gods can’t do anything about it; it’s just game over. So, I need to learn the bastard’s patterns before I start the real hunt. If I just rush in with everyone, we might all die for nothing. Since I can’t resurrect them, I think my mentality would shatter if anyone in my party died.
‘For now, I’ll have to challenge it by filling the ranks with mushroom humans, parasitic tree hosts, pitch-black cockroaches... and the American mercenaries...’
I plan to watch the battle between the Ten Kings and my slaves from a distance with binoculars. Once I know what kind of bastard it is, I can kill it. Since I have plenty of slaves, the plan is to throw them in as cannon fodder, read the patterns, and then swoop in to take the kill.
‘If I could cancel it when my name is being written in the Registry... that would be the jackpot...’
For now, I had my slaves bring about 100 American Awakened to Korea. They were all ordinary Warrior or Fighter class Awakened, the kind of people for whom it wouldn’t be strange to die at any moment.
“Whoa. Those, those American jackals...”
“There are so many Americans.”
Juha and Eunha, who were from North Korea, were shocked to see the Americans crawling up from the Narak. It was a bit funny, especially since Juha, who still hadn’t washed off the North Korean communist influence, openly pointed her finger at the American Awakened slaves and called them jackals. Unlike her, Eunha, who had become completely “Hell-adapted,” sucked on a candy and laughed for a long time, saying it was funny to see the big Americans crawling out of the Narak hole one by one.
Certainly, the sight of humans walking out of the Narak hole in a line was quite unique. Moreover, they were wearing weapons and armor bestowed upon them by the Narak forge, so they looked incredibly imposing.
‘They all look healthy, too...’
Perhaps because full-scale potato production has started in the Narak lately, everyone’s complexion is good. Potatoes are the best food. They’re delicious boiled, and even better when fried.
“Alright, Anna. Translate what I say.”
“Yes...”
I decided to use Anna as an interpreter this time. They say you have to keep speaking, listening, and writing to improve a language, so I need to talk to her often to teach her Korean quickly.
“Follow me, everyone!!”
“Follow him!”
“Wooooo!!!”
With the shouts of a hundred people, we left the school and headed to the civic park near the Dongyoung Institute of Science and Technology, where the Ghost Gate opens. The area around Hyosun Girls’ High School was already cleaned up, so nothing special happened while leading them around.
-Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
The ground shook as over a hundred heavily armed Awakened, mushroom humans, and parasitic tree hosts marched in a line. Also, perhaps because the American slaves at the front were singing the American national anthem as they walked, I felt a slight thrill for no reason. It was amazing just to see hundreds of people walking expressionlessly with weapons in their hands, but the fact that they were all my slaves made my heart swell even more. On top of that, thousands, tens of thousands of cockroaches were scouring the buildings, killing the ghouls and zombies that were hiding.
“Kuh... This is it...”
I had the parasitic tree hosts carry a wooden board, and I climbed onto it. Yes, I was following the rear of the march in a palanquin. If this isn’t a king, what is?
“Kuhahaha!”
“Ugh...”
I even had Anna, whom I brought for translation, and Mer, who came along just in case, by my side. I laughed as I watched the legion’s march with a blonde woman tucked under each arm. Both of them had huge breasts. Moreover, Mer’s breasts were quite elastic, and Anna’s were soft enough for my fingers to sink right in.
“ENEMY IN FRONT!!!!”
Just then, an American walking at the front shouted.
“There’s an enemy ahead, Master.”
“Is that so? What is it? Zombies?”
I got up from the palanquin to check the enemy that had appeared in front. It was about thirty humans.
‘There were still survivors...’
It seems there were people who had been clinging to life in a world where the difficulty was cranked up to kill them. They were truly tenacious and amazing humans. I shouted toward the front.
“CATCH THEM!!!! CATCH!!”
I know at least this much English. Soon, the Awakened at the front let out a shout and grabbed the group of survivors, who looked like nothing more than beggars. No battle even took place. They were just people who had surrendered to us to survive.
“P, please spare us...!!”
“Su, surrender!! Unconditional surrender!!!”
Their appearance looked terrible. Even if the water and electricity were all cut off... I didn’t know they would be in such a filthy state. I asked the old man who seemed to be their leader.
“Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“Th, that is... suddenly a swarm of bugs came... and killed all the zombies... so we barely made it out... We were trapped in the gym all this time... sob... we barely survived on protein bars and water from the cooler...”
“Huh... You guys are amazing.”
I stamped their foreheads with my seal. Without even needing to torture them, they were already overwhelmed by our military might and had submitted.
“Wh, what do you intend to do with us...”
“Hmm...”
I pondered the old man’s question for a moment. Out of the thirty, about five were Awakened, but they weren’t particularly impressive classes.
“Tell me what you can do.”
“I, I’m good with facilities...”
“I can make shelves or furniture...”
“I, I was an English instructor for about two years...”
“Good. Very good.”
I can just throw them all into the Narak. They seem to have families, so it would be perfect to throw them all into the Narak and force them to do labor.
“Hey. You two there.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Yes. Shit, hurry up and get over here!”
I called two Americans and told them to drag all these people to the school. They shouldn’t die on the way. I also sent three mushroom humans along.
“Old man. Go to the school and find Ha Jin-seong. If you tell him that I ordered you to work in the Narak, he’ll take care of it.”
“Th, thank you...”
“Go.”
Soon, they headed toward the school, following the two American Awakened.
‘This... hunting for slaves while roaming around empty cities might be quite profitable...’
Slaves have many uses. Especially those with skills like the ones just now—sending them to the Narak to contribute to its development is perfect.
‘Come to think of it... I’ve only been in Seoul too much... Daejeon, Daegu, Busan... there’s Gwangju, too... I haven’t even conquered Korea yet...’
There’s a limit to sending out the pitch-black cockroaches. If they go beyond a certain range, the connection is lost or they die. Thanks to that, if I want to completely occupy the US, I’ll have to go around myself.
‘I’ll have to make the slaves go on expeditions to other regions...’
It would be much easier to move if I could connect portals or gates. If I could get a large quantity of Cracked Ankhs, I could use the Narak as a midpoint to move like a gate, but Eila said those were impossible to produce. She said they were limited in quantity, so just finding them was extremely difficult...
‘In the end, I have to find pilots as quickly and as many as possible...’
If I can reclaim airports and get the trains running again, occupying Korea will be simple. It’s a small enough country that I can travel everywhere just by car.
‘If I can operate ships and airplanes... I can also target Japan and China... Europe is a bit dangerous, so I’ll hold off on that for now...’
I’ve already secured two airplane pilots for now. I also have a private jet that’s in working order. The problem is that there’s almost no one to maintain the planes.
‘It would be good if I could at least operate ships...’
To improve the quality of life, I have to capture as many survivors as possible. If I make them slaves one by one, there will be pilots, captains, and engineers among them.
“Master. Isn’t that it?”
“Hmm? Ah. We’re here. STOP!!! STOP!!!”
Dreaming of world conquest, I arrived at the park. There are about 3 hours left until sunset. I’ll give the slaves their final rest time, and then I’ll take Mer and Anna for a walk.