Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Main and Flank Assault Assignments
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Suddenly, the reason Choi Yeoreum and Seong Sihun were circling around protectively was simple.
Even if they could win a fight against me, the collateral damage would be enormous. They just didn't want the hassle. Both of them had sparred with me once before.
Among everyone here, aside from Lee Se-eun, they probably knew better than anyone just how exhausting it was to fight a Headhunter.
"There's one issue, though. Even if the Undead Legion spots a Headhunter, are you sure they'll halt their advance on Korea and turn around?"
It was a point raised by Mugunghwa 1st Team Leader Kim Chae-hyun. She wasn't entirely wrong.
"If they don't stop their advance, we'll just make them turn back."
If the enemy forces didn't retreat, that would mean the Undead Legion guarding Beijing had thinned out as much as those that marched toward Korea.
"The distance from Beijing to Seoul is far shorter than from Nanning to Beijing."
"Doesn't matter. We're not dragging our feet to waste time."
With that, I pointed my laser pointer at the map on the screen.
"They can't advance that quickly. We've obliterated Samhyeol-dong and Jaun Valley, and other hunters have cleared a good number of Erosion Cores in North Korea and Manchuria."
In other words, a huge chunk of the Erosion Zones connecting Beijing to Korea had vanished.
Those monsters could only operate within Erosion Zones unless they took circuitous routes through black ore deposits. No matter how fast the troops moved, expanding Erosion Zones took time.
"If we hustle, we can reach Beijing before the Undead Legion hits Korea."
Woo Il-seop nodded slightly at my words.
"That makes sense. From what the government's assessed, the daily expansion range of Erosion Zones created by the monsters has a clear limit."
Woo Il-seop did some quick calculations, made a call somewhere, and soon gave an answer.
"Calculations show the Undead Legion needs 45 days to reach the ceasefire line."
Seong Sihun raised his hand slightly.
"Manchuria has tons of private investment pouring in—it's under heavy development. If the Undead Legion pushes forward without turning back, the area south of the ceasefire line might be safe, but Manchuria and North Korea under development would take massive hits."
Another valid point, like Kim Chae-hyun's. But I had a counter.
"True. But do you think the Undead Legion knows that?"
Seong Sihun let out a thoughtful "Hmm." And I had another ace up my sleeve.
The descendants of Dangun. They weren't moving to help us per se, but Korea getting wrecked wouldn't do them any favors either. They couldn't join us openly, so they'd definitely stay behind in Korea as a contingency.
They might not hold the line perfectly, but they could at least buy time in Manchuria.
"They probably don't."
Seong Sihun nodded readily.
"Their goal is reaching Korea. They won't expect us to get bogged down by the damage in Manchuria or North Korea along the way."
So, the moment we showed up, they'd either turn back to catch us or to defend Gonsalok in Beijing. Either way, they'd retreat.
That was the key.
"Still, does that mean you have to take the main assault? We'll all end up facing the Undead Legion anyway, main or flank."
Choi Yeoreum eyed me as she made her point.
"Undead are mostly linked to their master. Even without going through the main path, if a Headhunter shows up to Gonsalok's undead, it'll naturally learn you're in China, not Korea."
She was right. And I figured someone like her would bring it up regardless.
We get that your presence is crucial. But it doesn't have to be you on the main assault.
"...Fair point."
And it didn't matter. If we dug in our heels here about taking the main assault, the other hunters in the meeting would push back even harder.
I'd planned to yield the main from the start. After pretending to mull it over, I replied.
"Got it. We just wanted to take responsibility for the mess we caused if possible. If you don't like Headhunters on the main, we'll handle one of the flanks."
I pointed the laser pointer at one of the flank paths on the map. The route from Jianye to Langya.
"We'll take this one. But to show our faces to Gonsalok ASAP, we'll advance at top speed."
In short, we'd lead the vanguard. No one could gripe about our pace—we had to hurry and reveal ourselves.
"I agree with that proposal. No flaws in it."
Lee Se-eun voiced her support, and Kang Hoon, sitting beside her, nodded too.
"Same here."
The two from Zanabi LLC had good ties with us, so they backed us quickly.
"I see no issues with Hunter Yoo Chan-seok's proposal either."
Major General Woo Il-seop agreed. Not out of favoritism, but because he genuinely thought it was sound.
"Well, when you put it like that."
The other hunters in the room were fixated on who got the main assault anyway.
And now Headhunter was stepping aside? No way they'd refuse.
With Headhunter out of the intense bidding war for the main, we three had breathing room to ponder the next topic.
"Troops."
How many hunters would we need? Amid the heated debate on main and flanks, we discussed that.
"More the better, but if supply lines snap..."
"Still, under 10,000 is too few."
"The main will get the bulk of the forces anyway."
It was called the main assault for a reason. It got the most troops, naturally.
"Around 20,000, maybe."
That was the minimum to make the main viable. As we tossed around force allocation ideas, Woo Il-seop spoke up.
"Then let's assign hunters to the main and flanks as follows."
The main went to Seong Sihun and Choi Yeoreum, with Lee Se-eun. They must have valued Seong Sihun's experience commanding large hunter groups.
I figured Choi Yeoreum would team with Jang Tae-seok... Guess the internal power struggles at Wonder Club split them up, like she said.
"The path from Nanjing to Linyi will be fully handled by the three Headhunters."
The rest of the hunters took the flank from Wuhan to Luoyang.
"Next, troop allocations per path. In principle, we'll group hunters with prior teamwork experience on the same path."
Teams that meshed well were more efficient. You couldn't just slap top hunters together and call it done.
"The government has already divided the participating hunters based on their records and skills."
For the units we'd command, each flank had about 10,000 hunters. Headcount-wise, like a division.
The main's hunters rivaled a legion in size. Woo Il-seop projected the breakdown and numbers for our commands, let us review, then continued.
"Command will follow a mission-type command structure. The Nanning HQ will give clear objectives to each main and flank. How you achieve them is up to you."
Woo Il-seop stepped forward beside the projector.
"Here they are."
The screen changed.
I glanced at the screen and spoke up.
"We can't set up the comms network ourselves. The military providing specialists?"
Woo Il-seop nodded.
"Once the objective's met, HQ moves from Nanning to Changsha, so a brigade-sized Korean military comms unit will accompany us."
So protecting them was part of it too. Three main roles.
"That breaks down to three tasks right now: protect the comms unit, stabilize supply lines, secure Changsha."
I studied the map and spoke.
"We'll punch through to Changsha."
Everything else—supply routes, comms—hinged on taking Changsha first. The crux.
"Why?"
Seong Sihun shot back immediately. Everyone wanted vanguard duty, naturally.
"Headhunter's flank thrusts up from Nanjing as a base. Nanjing's the farthest from Changsha."
Get to Changsha first, clean it up, then bolt to Nanjing. And...
"After Nanjing, we gotta crack Shanghai."
We couldn't airlift cargo ships or drop them in Wuhan. Ships entered via sea to river. Yangtze entry was through Shanghai.
And Shanghai had a nasty Erosion Zone. Not Gonsalok-scale, but enough to block shipping lanes.
"Even if we take Changsha via Wuhan, no Yangtze access means no supplies to the main at Hefei."
I continued, eyeing the map.
"Headhunter and our hunters will race to Nanjing right after securing Changsha."
Once Nanjing's taken, tidy up Shanghai's Erosion Zone. Seong Sihun nodded as he listened.
"Yeah, securing Nanjing quick lets the main—us—get support. True."
Seeing his buy-in, I turned to the others.
"I've explained why Headhunter should lead the Changsha push. Any lingering questions?"
As if. Nanjing really was farthest from Changsha. And opening sea lanes via Shanghai mattered.
Most here thought the main assault was key, but in this op, the Nanjing-Linyi flank was crucial.
Why? It hugged the coast.
On this vast landmass, massive armies couldn't keep resupplying endlessly via Nanning-Changsha. Lines would stretch impossibly long.
'Nanjing's got Shanghai. Langya's got Qingdao.'
Our path was lined with major ports. The Korean government's biggest sabotage play would be cutting supplies.
But if our advance opened new supply lines, blocking us was near impossible.
I glanced at Woo Il-seop. His stone face showed no intent to undermine us.