Chapter 520: Conquest of Seoul (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 520: Conquest of Seoul (7)
It was an unconventional twist on the classic strategy of feinting east to attack the west.
While Roman Dmitry launched an overt assault on Yeongdeungpo, the Incheon forces marched toward Geumcheon-gu.
"...Will he really be alright?" Lee Tae-seong asked.
When Roman Dmitry declared he would attack Yeongdeungpo alone, everyone except Park Min-woo had reacted with deep concern. It was only natural. The overly cautious Kim Jeong-tae had concentrated Seoul's main forces in Yeongdeungpo; attacking it meant taking on the entire capital head-on.
It wasn't that they lacked faith in Roman Dmitry. They just didn't see the need to take such a massive risk and do things the hard way.
Park Min-woo smiled. "Many of you are probably wondering why I swore allegiance to Lord Roman Dmitry. While it's true I was captivated by his sense of justice, the real reason stems from my inheritance ability. I know exactly what kind of existence Lord Roman Dmitry truly is."
Just moments ago, Park Min-woo hadn't been able to hide his disappointment when Roman Dmitry left alone. He had assumed they would fight side by side. He wanted to run wild alongside his liege, so being ordered to move with the Directly Controlled Unit had left him briefly disheartened. But Lee Tae-seong's worry had caught his attention. Seeing everyone's inability to comprehend Roman Dmitry's bold strategy made Park Min-woo feel special—like he was the only one privy to Roman Dmitry's true identity.
Perhaps that was why the words flowed so smoothly from his mouth.
"No matter what you might imagine, Lord Roman Dmitry is someone who has overcome adversities far beyond your wildest dreams. The Central Government? Even when an enemy incomparably more powerful than those bastards tried to crush him, he built his power from absolutely nothing and swallowed the entire world. You have no idea how incredible Lord Roman Dmitry was back then. It was truly overwhelming. In a world where the heavens were collapsing and the earth was turning upside down, Lord Roman Dmitry revealed his absolute presence and slaughtered all his enemies. So what is a mere Central Government to him? Even if all the great powers of this world stepped forward, not just the Central Government, they wouldn't be able to handle Lord Roman Dmitry alone. Ah, of course, I don't mean the current Lord Roman Dmitry, but rather the legacy of Lord Roman Dmitry that my inheritance experienced."
"...Are you saying Lord Roman Dmitry is also an Inheritor?"
"That's right."
Everyone's eyes widened.
Roman Dmitry was an Inheritor? This was the first time they were hearing of this.
Yet, it made perfect sense. Just as Dmitry's awakened individuals shared 'memories of inheritance,' it was obvious that Roman Dmitry possessed a special past. Furthermore, Park Min-woo, the White-haired Mage, was a figure steeped in rumors of being an Inheritor himself. Since the man speaking was considered the very epitome of justice, the people of Incheon had no reason to doubt his words.
They had no way of knowing the truth.
They didn't know that the enemy Park Min-woo spoke of—the one incomparably more powerful than the Central Government—was none other than Emperor Alexander himself.
Having faced that power directly through his inheritance, Park Min-woo could say it with absolute certainty.
The Central Government? China? The USA? He could only snort in derision.
Even back when Park Min-woo cast 9th Circle Magic and commanded the demons of the Demon Realm as his servants, Roman Dmitry had never once revealed his full power. What did numbers matter to an existence who retained such absolute might? He was certain this entire war would be wrapped up in less than a day. But what made Park Min-woo truly ecstatic was the fact that he was standing here as an ally, not an enemy.
'You fools. Do you have any idea how sweet the Heavenly Demon Coins are?'
Keeping that thought to himself, Park Min-woo spoke firmly. "Lord Roman Dmitry will never be defeated. We just need to be faithful to our mission."
"Understood."
Right on cue, the skyline of Geumcheon-gu appeared in the distance.
And just as expected, the district was still under siege by monsters.
* * *
On the final day of the Red Time, three Monster Waves had erupted near Seoul.
As luck would have it, one of them struck Geumcheon-gu, forcing Jo Dal-su to hurriedly leave Yeongdeungpo and return to his district. He had lived through hellish days ever since. After fighting fiercely day in and day out, he finally saw a glimmer of hope when the Chinese reinforcements arrived.
"Attack! Slaughter the monsters and destroy the Monster Wave!"
They had finally located the dimensional distortion.
If they could just thin out the horde and shatter the core of the Monster Wave, Geumcheon-gu would regain its peace. In his own way, Jo Dal-su was leading the forces on the battlefield. Although his "leadership" merely consisted of shouting at the top of his lungs from a safe distance where the monsters couldn't reach him, he genuinely considered himself a great commander.
'This is actually an opportunity for me. If I wipe out this Monster Wave, the President will see me in a new light.'
Roman Dmitry. His life had been completely ruined because of that man.
Because he had messed with the wrong person, Kim Jeong-tae had tried to offer Jo Dal-su up as a scapegoat. Fortunately, he had managed to keep his life when Roman Dmitry rebelled, but having been abandoned once, he knew it could easily happen again. Jo Dal-su had personally gone to China to secure their help. Feeling that wasn't enough of an achievement on its own, he had come out to the battlefield to prove his worth.
Victory was just around the corner. He raised his voice even higher.
But just as he was getting worked up—
"Fire Rain."
Whoosh!
Whoooosh!
Boom! Boom! Crash!
Suddenly, a torrential downpour of flames rained from the sky.
The soldiers of Geumcheon-gu screamed in agony. Jo Dal-su whipped his head around, his face pale with panic.
"W-What on earth is this?! Magic? Did a magic-using monster appear?!"
He frantically scanned the battlefield. But no matter how hard he looked, there was no such monster in sight. At that moment, he spotted a group of humans in the distance.
It was Park Min-woo and his forces.
"Those crazy bastards..."
Roman Dmitry utilized his forces with ruthless efficiency. While he launched a direct assault on Yeongdeungpo, he dispatched the Incheon forces to Geumcheon-gu, a district still struggling to resolve its crisis.
It wasn't his intention to wipe out Geumcheon-gu directly. It was the strategy of using barbarians to control barbarians. Geumcheon-gu was already locked in a desperate war against monsters. Unable to freely divert their troops, what would happen if Baek-il and Park Min-woo bombarded them with magic from afar? They would be completely helpless. Whether it was a cowardly tactic or not didn't matter. To achieve absolute dominance in this war, Roman Dmitry had judged it necessary to shake the enemy's foundations outside of Yeongdeungpo.
A fire had literally and figuratively been lit under Jo Dal-su's feet.
He had to counterattack somehow, but dealing with the monsters already took everything they had; there was no manpower left to handle Park Min-woo.
Whoosh!
Whoooosh!
"Save me!"
"Aaargh!"
His soldiers were being incinerated. Empowered by the chaos, the monsters pushed the human frontlines back with rising momentum.
"Damn it." Jo Dal-su gritted his teeth.
There was no other way. Even with the Chinese reinforcements, the situation was only going to deteriorate at this rate.
'China's core forces are all stationed in Yeongdeungpo. For now, we have to retreat and beg for their help.'
He had no way of knowing. He didn't know that Yeongdeungpo was already in ruins.
Jo Dal-su screamed, "Retreat! Fall back for now and reorganize our lines!"
* * *
Thirty minutes?
No, not even half of that. Less than fifteen minutes had passed.
Yeongdeungpo Square was already dyed red with blood. Though it felt like an eternity to the defenders, in a terrifyingly short amount of time, Roman Dmitry had reaped countless lives.
"...M-Monster!"
"Don't come near me!"
The soldiers could no longer bring themselves to charge forward. Only now did they realize that Roman Dmitry was an existence on a completely different level. They had arrogantly believed they could overwhelm him with sheer numbers, but no matter how relentlessly they attacked, they couldn't land a single meaningful blow.
The corpses scattered across the square didn't belong solely to ordinary soldiers. While the common infantry made up the bulk of the dead, the reality for the famous powerhouses of Seoul was no different from that of the lowest grunts.
The lightning-attribute user known as Thunderstorm? He lay sprawled on the ground with his head blown clean off. Specter, the infamous Hunter who had driven countless experts to their deaths? His limbs had been brutally torn apart. Individually, they were undoubtedly formidable existences, yet they met an end no different from that of a nameless foot soldier.
They were utterly overwhelmed.
Blood dripped steadily from Roman's sword. He was an opponent they simply could not face. From the moment he appeared alone in the heart of Yeongdeungpo, they should have realized his absolute confidence wasn't without reason.
Roman Dmitry spoke. "President Kim Jeong-tae. Stop this meaningless war of attrition and show yourself. You are likely hoping to exhaust my stamina, but no matter how many soldiers you sacrifice, the situation will not change. I will butcher every single person I have designated as an enemy. Since the outcome is already decided, shouldn't you try to save at least one more subordinate who would follow you if you were to win?"
Flick.
He casually shook the blood off his blade. The steel gleamed with a sharp, deadly light. Despite facing hundreds of terror-stricken gazes, Roman Dmitry's breathing remained perfectly even.
"I promise you this. You will not survive by running away."
He took a single step forward.
Right at that moment. Just as Roman Dmitry prepared to resume the slaughter, a figure finally revealed himself from behind the wall of soldiers.
"Stop!"
Kim Jeong-tae. The President of South Korea.
He had finally stepped forward.
* * *
The sheer speed of the massacre had left Kim Jeong-tae utterly astonished.
When Roman Dmitry first appeared in the middle of Yeongdeungpo, Kim Jeong-tae assumed the man was digging his own grave. But the display of power that followed was horrifying. His entire army couldn't handle a single man. Screams echoed from all directions. Though he had initially watched the situation calmly, he quickly realized that at this rate, every last one of his soldiers would be wiped out.
That was something he absolutely could not allow.
It wasn't because he valued the lives of his soldiers, but because he had to think about his reign after eliminating Roman Dmitry. The soldiers were the foundation of his power.
Kim Jeong-tae stepped forward. To be precise, he stood safely behind his soldiers. Terrified that Roman Dmitry might instantly attack him, he shouted from behind the thick protective wall of his Royal Guards.
"Roman Dmitry! No matter what you say, you cannot deny what I have done for South Korea! If I hadn't established the Central Government, if I hadn't led this nation as its President, do you think this country could have survived in this chaotic world? Never! It would have been impossible!"
His magically amplified voice reached the ordinary citizens. Though they were hiding far away, they carefully poked their heads out of windows and alleys to watch the standoff in the square.
"The sacrifice of the people in the provinces was inevitable! For a weak nation like South Korea to survive, hard choices had to be made about what was necessary for the country's future. And in the end, didn't we survive?! I merely shouldered the cruel responsibility that no one else wanted to bear for the sake of this nation!"
From a certain perspective, his words might have been right. Perhaps South Korea had only survived the apocalypse thanks to his ruthless choices. However, Roman Dmitry did not accept consequentialist survival as true 'justice'.
"If you were truly right, this war would never have started. If the majority of the people in this country did not support me, I might have simply followed your existing system. But this war broke out because our existences are fundamentally incompatible. You believe you are right, and I know you are wrong. This is a fight that will only end when one of us dies. As long as you draw breath and there are people who follow you, I will not stop."
His voice was cold and absolute.
Hearing it, Kim Jeong-tae became certain of one thing: if he did not kill Roman Dmitry right here, he would not survive the day.
Driven into a frenzy, Kim Jeong-tae screamed, "Royal Guards, heed my orders!"
"Awaiting your command, sir!"
"Execute Roman Dmitry right now! Even if you have to sacrifice your lives, kill that heinous monster!"
Clack.
Clack, clack.
The Royal Guards stepped forward in unison. Hundreds of elite Hunters. All of them were high-level experts, and the Captain of the Royal Guards leading them was a monster who had reached A-Rank over a decade ago. Rumor had it that he had already crossed the threshold into S-Rank but had deliberately avoided taking the exam to hide his true power. Together, they leveled their weapons at Roman Dmitry.
But that was not all.
"Lord Xiao Long. I ask for your assistance."
"Of course. It is my duty to help."
Xiao Long. He was a powerhouse Hunter from China. It was only because this man was present that Kim Jeong-tae had judged it safe to show himself to Roman Dmitry.
Led by Xiao Long, the Chinese Hunters drew their weapons.
Xiao Long smiled arrogantly. His words were seamlessly translated by a magic artifact. "I will admit that you are strong. But an individual cannot compare to the might of a great nation."
Srrng.
His confidence was not groundless. The moment Xiao Long stepped forward, the Royal Guards visibly regained their courage.
"Remember my name. I am Xiao Long. The man who will take your life."
An S-Rank Hunter from China. The monster who was said to have slaughtered a hundred thousand people single-handedly during the Great Chaos.
Sword Ghost Xiao Long—that was his true identity.