Episode 184: The Wandering Knight, Goo Dae-seong (3)
The Tumen River in December was so cold that you could walk on it.
“Is everyone wearing their underwear well?”
“It’s fine.”
Captain Kim Do-han said while wearing the winter clothes sent as supplies.
“This is ridiculously warm? What material is it? Is it duck down?”
“I’ve heard that Sir Yapi is a new material or something.”
“The Iron Grail Knight makes all sorts of things.”
The supplies for reconnaissance support are winter equipment, new armor, and drones. And–
“Why isn’t this working?”
The container-sized drone that came to deliver the supplies to them didn’t return even after unloading them.
I was worried that someone might steal it if I left it here, but Goo Dae-seong told what he had heard.
“Leave it alone. If nothing goes wrong, they say to collect it when you return.”
Some of the Man-at-Arms were puzzled by that statement, but they thought there would be no loopholes because it was the work of the mechanic.
“Then Jo Mal-soon.”
“Ah, yep!”
Koo Dae-sung told Cho Mal-soon, a North Korean defector who came to inform the truth about the concentration camp and receive help.
“Yes, that, that…”
Jo Mal-soon looked anxious. Captain Kim Do-han puts his hand on his shoulder.
“It’s okay. We’ll protect you, so just show us the way to the camp.”
“······yes.”
Jo Mal-soon nodded while swallowing a gulp. While staying with Man at Arms at the Yanbian Hotel, he heard a lot of news from South Korea.
“Guy, Guiltyman… is the Pantheon really such a great place?”
“Sure. Our pantheon is a place ruled by demigods, agents of the gods.”
“Above, that’s a dangerous statement. The only God in this world is Comrade Kim Il-sung, the sun of the nation—”
“Ugh, this person sounds like a big deal!”
Kim Do-han got angry and yelled at Jo Mal-soon. Other Man-at-Arms also gave sharp eyes.
“I know what kind of education Comrade Cho received after living in North Korea for a long time, but I really get offended when he says such things in front of our Majesty.”
“You’re right. If you say in front of Your Majesty that Kim Il-Sung is God and the sun, you’ll die that day, right?”
What Leon hates as much as the devil are the pseudos who call themselves gods and force false beliefs.
Even North Koreans who had been brainwashed by Leon for the rest of their lives did not know what kind of anger they would endure if Kim Il-sung was the god or the sun.
“It’s not too far across the river. Just follow me.”
As Jo Mal-soon had said, it was only a few kilometers away from the Hoeryong prison camp across the Tuman River.
From the moment you cross the river, it is North Korea’s territory. Compared to the 3.8th parallel, the Heilong People’s Republic of Korea and North Korea’s territory along the Tumen River basin were extremely close, but military facilities were spread out to prevent defection from North Korea.
However, crossing the Tumen River was not difficult than I thought, as the Yanbian Korean-Chinese usually used the route for smuggling with North Koreans.
“At the time of the Arduous March, the government of the Republic gave the people self-reliance. Smugglers who sold goods in the marketplace did a lot of business with Yanbian people at that time.”
Jo Mal-soon himself was one of those smugglers.
“If I stabbed the soldiers with a few pennies or a few things, they would turn a blind eye to it.”
Goo Dae-seong, who was listening to the story, looked up and asked.
“Hmm? But why was Jo Mal-soon imprisoned? Didn’t you say you were imprisoned for smuggling?”
“That’s strange. As usual, I was going to stab the People’s Army for a few pennies, but isn’t that son of a bitch hitting me with a butt? That’s how I was taken to the camp.”
“Suddenly?”
“I heard that I was going to be sent to Pyongyang, but fortunately I escaped before then. If you have a lot of money, the people will be bothered so much, so I won…”
There were many incomprehensible parts of the original administration of North Korea, so the South Koreans who were tired of it passed on.
The place I arrived at was Hoeryong City. The Hoeryong camp was in the middle of this Hoeryong city, which until recently had a population of its own, was surprisingly quiet.
“It’s not such a small city, so why can’t people see it? Curfew?”
“There is a curfew, but… it’s strange. Even soldiers used to go around, but until I escaped three months ago, there weren’t many people like this…”
“Three months?”
Captain Kim Do-han thought that the timing was wrong at those words. He said.
“The recent large-scale gate outbreak occurred three months ago.”
“Then… do you think the city was destroyed by the dungeon break that occurred in this city at that time?”
“It’s not impossible. The Heilong People’s Bureau also opened the gate on the day of the fictional anniversary, but wouldn’t North Korea be better?”
If so, it would explain why there were so many monsters in this area recently.
The monsters released by the dungeon break crossed the Tumen River and reached the People’s Republic of Heilong.
“The city is too clean for that.”
“Didn’t you evacuate all the people knowing that the dungeon break would explode? North Korea must have protocols like that.”
It was a time when I was moving against the backdrop of the city’s silence.
“Wait, the drones caught the monster in the lead.”
Man at Arms, who stopped all at once at Koo Dae-sung’s words. Squad leaders gathered among them to check the drone footage.
“It’s a hellhound. There are three of them.”
“Why are there so many bastards in this town?”
The monster he hunted last time was also a saber tiger. They are specialized in hunting people because they have fast legs and are good at tracking.
He was bigger than an adult man, so it was hard to beat him except for Goo Dae-seong on horseback.
“Let’s do it like last time. I’ll lure it in. Put it on silent mode.”
“then.”
Team leader Kim Do-han showed the infantry fire extinguishers held by the firing squad.
Originally, the railguns for infantry made by Yapi to supply the long-range gunners under the Kikkiruk tribe had low noise, but when converted to subsonic mode through reduced output, they became almost silent.
“I will bring you.”
“be careful.”
Koo Dae-seong left team leader Kim Do-han and Man at Arms alone and rode his horse to the Hellhound.
Soon, he found Hellhounds loitering in the location the drone had captured, and Koo Dae-seong threw a stone at them.
-Kong?
The hellhounds found Gu Dae-seong and turned their heads.
“Follow me!”
As Koo Dae-sung turned his horse’s head and ran in the direction he had come from, he heard the sound of hellhounds kicking on the floor. But that’s not all.
– Kwah!
“Wow!”
A mass of fire brushes right next to Goo Dae-seong. It passed by and hit the concrete house, melting it.
Unlike normal monsters, Hellhounds emit flames from their mouths. Its power is truly incomparable, and it can melt even military armor plates at once.
It’s a monster with a basic physical level of B, but because of this, the difficulty level is B+.
‘Even if I could only use the Holy Law!’
Similar monsters were attacked several times in South Korea, but each time they were blocked by the knight’s defense method.
It’s new, but I realize how great the law of long-distance nullification is.
Still, since becoming a pilgrim knight, Goo Dae-seong has constantly trained the virtues of a knight.
Among them was equestrianism, and his talent for handling horses was comparable to that of other knights.
In other words, it is said that the amount of effort has increased.
“Okay, Mr. Gu! Well done!”
Captain Kim Do-han shouted after seeing the hellhounds shooting fireballs behind Goo Dae-seong.
“Back row! Ready to fire the railgun!”
The dense shields and the elongated guns pushed through the shields.
“Shoot!”
Between shields and shields, electromagnetic energy propelling bullets fired from dense formations lined up like hedgehogs pierced the monsters.
It was similar to the aspect of hunting wild beasts when mankind first got a gun. But the monsters are also formidable. Even after being hit by dozens of electromagnetic bullets, they flinch and wait for an opportunity.
-Kreung…!
Hellhound fireballs pouring down like a counterattack. A primitive shield blocks the cannon-like bombardments.
-thud!
-Kukung!
At best, the fireballs thrown by the hellhounds were blocked by the cluster of shields.
Characteristics are added to man-at-arms who have been trained repeatedly and equipped with suitable equipment.
【Man at Arms – Solid Barrier】
The system’s professed increase in the defense of the dense barrier. Lionheart’s man-at-arms became stronger with their solidarity and also trained to block the strongest charge of Lionheart from the front–
-Kroaaa!
thud! coo kung!
Giant monsters colliding in succession. But the barrier doesn’t fall.
After training to block the charge of the strongest assaulter, they came up with a way to block the charge of the disorderly beast.
“I’m pushed because I’m big! Show me why hedgehogs are scary!”
Following the instructions of Captain Kim Do-han, the soldiers push back the monsters and stab them with swords and spears.
“I’ll turn around and join you. 3 groups! 5 groups! Surround yourself in the form of wings!”
Following Koo Dae-seong’s instructions, the left and right rear row shields spread out to the sides. In an instant, the Hellhounds were surrounded.
“Dry slowly and die!”
“Advance!”
Their shields were hard enough that monsters dared not break them, and their swords and spears were sharp enough to pierce leather.
The battle lasted less than ten minutes.
* * * *
After that, I was able to reach the camp without much fighting.
There, they witnessed the horrors of the prison camp.
“It’s the end of the world. Monsters took over the city and used people like slaves to eat them.”
“They say that there are more giants with more wisdom than you think.”
giant.
A boss monster of quite a few gates, and a powerful entity that starts at least quasi-A.
They use tools like humans, and some individuals bred animals to use as hunting dogs.
It was the giant and his hounds who occupied the empty camp in Hoeryong City.
They occupied the camp and substituted for food by killing and eating the camp’s political prisoners.
“The city seems to have been emptied due to the dungeon break, but it seems that the people from the camp were not taken out.”
“I mean. Did you think it wouldn’t matter if you died?”
Goo Dae-seong asked the drone soldiers who had finished reconnaissance drones.
“Did you figure out how many monsters there are in the camp?”
“It’s a giant… It looks like there are more than 20 monsters raised by a giant?”
“Twenty Marira…”
Assuming that the specs are similar to the hellhounds I faced earlier, there are about 20 B-B+ monsters.
It is a formidable force if you add up from the semi-A rank to the hitting giant.
“It’s risky.”
“Even with the hounds, the giant is a problem.”
Giants are A-class even if you catch them at a minimum. Even in the Pantheon, at least a knight-level would have been able to deal with it.
“The best way is to call for support. With a name like Cheon So-yeon or Hari’s priestess.”
“That will take time. Since we cannot use North Korean airspace right away, we have to go round and round, but if we can’t, it will take two days.”
In the meantime, at least dozens are preyed upon. It is highly likely that the monsters here crossed the Tumen River and went to Heilong People’s Republic to find food.
The giant forgot the people in the camp like a snack even now, watching it with a drone.
It was a large camp with quite a few people, but there were only a few hundred people left, so a few people would be eaten every hour.
“I’m going to ask Lord Yapi for satellite weapons support. It will be much easier with just that charged particle cannon support.”
I contacted Yapi for assistance, but received a disappointing response.
-The orbit position of the current military satellite is not in Asian orbit. It needs 4 hours to reach East Asian orbit.
Except for geostationary orbits that are 30,000 km from Earth, satellites are constantly moving according to the Earth’s rotation.
Yapi had recently lowered its geostationary space armament platform into low Earth orbit to bombard and assassinate a group of demon followers it had spotted in Europe, and now there are only reconnaissance satellites in the airspace.
– Reconnaissance support is available.
“Okay. Then we’ll do it alone.”
Ultimately, they have to do this on their own.
“I hope it goes as planned.”
“Guide Daesung’s strategy isn’t bad.”
As a commander, Koo Dae-seong came up with a decent strategy.
First, they use drones to attract the attention of hounds and giants. After the hounds lure the drones as much as possible, they destroy the remaining monsters individually.
“Come on, there’s no pointy number, so let’s believe it and try it.”
Captain Kim Do-han encouraged his subordinates. Soon after, he turned his attention to Gu Dae-seong, the commander of this unit.
“Honestly, I’d let go of Daguri, but it’s hard to let go of the giant scratch with our equipment. Mr. Gu has to do his best.”
“Yes, I know.”
Goo Dae-seong held on tightly to his horse and heavy jousting spear.
Even though he was a wandering knight, he was the one who could exert the most power here as a cavalry soldier.
“Okay! I scratched my temper with a machine gun, and they’re coming right after me! I pulled out ten of them!”
When the soldier who was piloting the drone called for joy, Captain Kim Do-han immediately shouted.
“Han, good at piloting the drone! Keep the hounds as far away as possible!”
Han’s drones lured the hounds to the other side of the unit. Goo Dae-seong exclaimed as the giant lured the hound to a rather far distance.
“let’s go!”
Goo Dae-seong on a horse and the Man-at-Arms following him. They were soon confronted by 7m tall giants and hounds the size of houses that occupied the center of the camp.
“Uh… I guess they’re a bit bigger than normal giants?”
“Dog, the individual value seems to be rather good.”
The giant is bigger than expected and bizarrely black. In addition, the tattoos engraved on the skin even felt magical energy somewhere.
Dark Giant.
Like the dark trolls I saw at the floating gate of the Sphero Kingdom the other day, something that even felt evil…
“Let’s attack with vigilance.”
-Guuuh…!
When the giant saw the man-at-arms and gave orders with a scream, the hounds rushed at them all at once.
“shield!”
Man at Arms moving in perfect order. It greets the hounds with spear blades built densely like hedgehogs in a classic square.
Each of the hounds was larger than a human, but not strong enough to break down the barriers defending the site from the front.
“It’s big…! This one is a bit heavier than the ones I just caught!”
“You can hold on! A giant!?”
“Coming soon!”
When the hounds couldn’t break through the square, the giant took a club himself and stepped forward.
As skilled soldiers, their barriers are thick, but not strong enough to overcome the overwhelming mass.
Goo Dae-sung kicked off his horse and drew the giant’s attention.
“It’s here!”
Although giants are said to be wise, it is limited to the monster’s level. Goo Dae-seong rode a horse and caught the giant’s attention. but······.
-Geuhhahaha…!
The giant sneered as if he had read Daesung’s intentions and ran straight to the barrier.
“Uhh, why are you coming this way!”
Goo Dae-seong, who became impatient at the bewildered captain Kim Do-han’s cry, charged at the giant. At that very moment–
– Kwak Kwa Kwak!
A spark rose from the giant’s skin and shot toward Goo Dae-seong, who was running towards him.
“Keuheuk…!”
“Gu-san…!!”
Even before team leader Kim Do-han’s cry was over, Koo Dae-sung fell from his horse.
