Chapter 81
Joining the Blockade Line
The place where our Supreme Mages, Goryeoha, and five soldiers disembarked was a riverside embankment along the Han River, shrouded in thick fog.
The moment we got off, we put our gas masks back on, pulled up the hoods of our ponchos, and checked our weapons first.
For quite a while, the air was filled with damp breathing sounds as everyone simultaneously checked their gas mask filters.
The entire process took no more than ten seconds.
Putting on a gas mask and completing a status check in one smooth motion had become basic common knowledge for civilians in South Korea by 2028.
As we shouldered our backpacks, the pastor approached the soldier operating the radio and asked,
“Hey. Soldier. Why get off at Guri? We could've gone farther.”
The radio operator frowned irritably.
It looked like the stress of this extreme situation had pushed him right to the edge of exploding.
Just as I took a step toward them, thinking things might escalate at any moment—
The soldier noticed the cross hanging around the pastor’s neck beneath his poncho.
His expression twisted strangely before he let out a sigh.
“It’s an offensive operation.”
The radio operator spoke while swallowing down the fear hidden beneath exhaustion and irritation under his camouflage paint.
As if he had no desire to explain further.
The pastor seemed to read the countless emotions in the soldier’s voice and decided not to press the matter.
The other soldiers weren't much different.
The moment they got off the boat, they deliberately smashed the motor and kicked at it irritably.
Watching their behavior, even I couldn't help feeling offended.
It seemed the soldiers regarded us as baggage.
No matter how much they tried to suppress their emotions, it was obvious they didn't think we'd be much help in this environment, even if we were their mission objective.
I sneered inwardly.
Ordinary non-mages daring to look down on us Supreme Mages, every single one of us a wizard?
Clicking my tongue, I turned my gaze toward the road and city district that should have been beyond the embankment, hidden behind the dense fog atop a gentle rise.
At that moment, Shin Nain and Lee Sejun, having noticed the strange atmosphere, approached me.
“Mr. Jemin. You can probably tell what the soldiers are thinking without anyone saying it.”
“Haah. Just a little while ago they were high-fiving each other like comrades.”
“Because now it's a matter of life and death.”
As Shin Nain and Lee Sejun joined me, the pastor and Hamza also approached, frowning at the soldiers' distant attitude.
Goryeoha alternated her gaze between us and the soldiers, smiling mischievously as she trotted along behind the pastor.
“They’re prickly, huh. Then again, for people who aren't mages and don't have unwavering faith, Seoul is a pretty terrifying place to enter.”
“Our Aphorism... I think being beside the Supreme Mages is probably the safest place.”
“Why is everyone acting like that? Aren't they acting exactly like soldiers? They're actually way kinder and more polite than I'd heard!”
Everyone quietly shut their mouths at Goryeoha's cheerful remark.
Because we knew.
To the people of Seoul, soldiers were simply enemies.
Unable to easily distinguish monsters from innocent civilians, soldiers had shot civilians on sight for years.
Sure, science and detailed testing could tell the difference.
But considering the time and cost involved, simply shooting them was far more economical.
Time was probably the biggest factor.
The infection spread rapidly, and insisting on giving every single person a CT scan and ensuring not one innocent person was left behind was practically the same as abandoning quarantine altogether.
But from Goryeoha's perspective—someone who had lived under quarantine—the soldiers merely venting their frustration probably seemed remarkably kind.
I swallowed my words and simply shrugged.
“Things like this are supposed to be solved through conversation. Let's go.”
As the public face of the Supreme Mages, I headed over to persuade the soldiers.
The radio operator was issuing orders and hand signals to the others.
The moment he noticed me approaching, he frowned.
A gas mask hung from his left hand.
As the other soldiers pulled out their masks and put them on, he asked curtly,
“Civilian Operations Officers. If you have something to say, please keep it short.”
“How long are you clearing the route for us?”
“One hour. Chemical shells will be deployed on the outskirts of Guri City in one hour.”
Right.
They had said they'd start using chemical weapons and white-phosphorus incendiaries indiscriminately once the seasonal winds shifted.
Looks like they meant it.
Click.
I absentmindedly fiddled with my rifle and let out a short breath.
“If you want to break through within an hour, then trust us and follow our lead for a little while.”
“Haah... Do you think we're a joke because we're speaking politely to you?”
That's exactly what I wanted to ask.
What exactly gave these ordinary non-mages outside Seoul the confidence to act so stubborn toward mages?
At a glance, they weren't ordinary soldiers. Probably special forces.
Did decades of grueling training make them think they could stop magic?
Did they think the value of a lifetime of effort couldn't be casually eclipsed by magic?
How outdated.
The age of relying solely on innate talent and diligence had ended.
This was now the age of equivalent exchange—offering pain in return for magic.
As I stared at the soldiers, I finally decided to pull out the trump card I'd been saving.
“Listen, soldiers. I know you're having a hard time. Since I know that, I'm saying we should cooperate and get out of here together.”
“Civilian Operations Officer. Regardless of your confidence, we're trained professionals. In a situation like this, following our instructions is the safest way to survive. Compared to you, we—”
I pulled down my gas mask, exposing my mouth, and slowly stuck out my tongue.
The tongue was ragged from how much I'd bitten it over the years.
The soldier's eyes showed a flicker of unease, mixed with irritation that seemed to say, So what?
In that state, I spoke.
“I can use magic to make your desires explode.”
“...Is that supposed to be a threat?”
“Let's use more refined language instead of violent words like threat. Think of it as a request for involuntary consent.”
Directional Alteration-Type Tongue Magic, Stage 2.
Desire Explosion.
One of the most vicious applications it had against humans—yet one that caused no direct physical harm.
“Let's get that involuntary consent before I make all of you so overwhelmed by lust that you end up tangled together.”
I, Baek Jemin, am such a noble and virtuous individual.
Everyone should appreciate that I hadn't been using it like this all along.
***
Once the chain of command had been established, cooperation between the Supreme Mages and the soldiers proceeded at incredible speed.
Even visibility limited to fifty meters by dense fog was meaningless in front of mages.
We had Hamza, who could sense danger through Angel's Intuition.
We had mages whose auditory magic could track the numbers and locations of monsters.
The Amalgam could be left to the other Supreme Mages.
The Devouring Spine was more dangerous due to its bizarre mobility, agility, and limited ability to deceive precognition.
Following my threat assessment, Shin Nain naturally shifted her rifle toward another target.
Two out of ten.
Shin Nain and I engaged the highest-priority threats first.
Bang!
Every pull of the trigger sent recoil crashing into my shoulder blade and collarbone.
A skull that had once belonged to a human burst apart with a wet crack.
Dozens of rib-like legs covering its body—along with grotesque growths protruding like tumors—twitched violently before falling still.
The two red footprints that had been approaching the fastest disappeared.
While I was blowing apart two Devouring Spines with headshots, Shin Nain focused less on killing and more on identifying targets and warning us of danger.
We had Shin Nain, who could detect not only numbers but even species, and Goryeoha, who could drag out even ambushing monsters with Spirit Sight.
And that wasn't all.
The great mage Baek Jemin and Lee Sejun—who would have been the perfect teammate if his personality were reformatted—served as our practical combat power.
The hordes of monsters that noticed us and charged in were nothing more than presentation material, sacrifices upon which we could demonstrate the tactics and formations we had honed in Seoul.
The soldiers advanced while maintaining all-around vigilance, with the Supreme Mages and Goryeoha wedged among them.
Whenever Hamza raised his left hand first, Shin Nain would pause briefly with her headset on and then speak in a short, decisive voice.
“Five heads. Two spines.”
The moment I heard that, I rolled my tongue inside my mouth.
Target. Monster. Kill. Five minutes. Route.
The dense fog swirled and parted, revealing clear patches where crimson footprints stood out vividly.
Among them, I aimed at the widest-striding, fastest-approaching set of footprints.
The bolt slid back, ejecting a shell casing as a round was chambered.
Bang-bang!
“Three coming this way! Two are circling around!”
Along the riverside road, the only cover available was the roadside trees and the thick, suffocating fog itself.
The Amalgams seemed to have learned how to fight humans even in an environment unfavorable to them.
The crimson footprints I had been watching suddenly split apart and scattered, attempting to encircle us.
The masses of faces carrying human bodies like ornaments had fully mastered the art of fighting armed infantry.
I aimed at the largest detouring footprint among them, at the small Amalgams sprinting through the fog while emitting sobbing cries.
Toward the monster faintly mumbling for help, I pulled the trigger.
Bang-bang! Bang!
“Soldiers, get a grip!”
That was when Pastor Park Yohan shouted thunderously through his gas mask and pointed his rifle skyward.
Bang!
“Shoot the ones circling! Sejun and Ryeoha, handle the ones getting close! The soldiers and I will pour fire wherever Hamza points!”
The pastor's judgment calmed the soldiers' agitation after witnessing the reality inside the blockade zone near Seoul.
Special Forces were still Special Forces.
Ordinary people—or conscripts—would have broken down completely by now.
But these five soldiers, who had infiltrated Seoul itself, adapted quickly.
“Following orders. Establish a fire network!”
Guns were humanity's greatest strength and greatest curse.
Knowing that every gunshot would attract even more monsters, we had no choice but to keep moving while fighting.
Especially Hamza.
Realizing that countless lives now rested on his shoulders, he suddenly began retching.
His face pale from pressure, he pointed frantically in different directions.
“Th-this way!”
“Fire!”
“Islam—just point wherever you sense danger! Nain, help Jemin!”
Whenever the pastor gestured toward the direction Hamza indicated, the soldiers immediately formed firing lines and unleashed a barrage of bullets.
Yet anyone could see what was happening beyond the dense fog.
A single shadow would split into many.
The phenomenon that the giant Amalgam at Suwon Station had displayed was now being reproduced with even greater precision.
Shin Nain and I were responsible for dealing with the splitting Amalgams trying to surround us and the Devouring Spines leaping from tree to tree.
Bang. Bang-bang-bang...
I killed the most dangerous Devouring Spines.
Bang-bang-bang!
Shin Nain picked off the Amalgams I couldn't finish.
Even so, we couldn't stop every monster flooding in from all directions.
The Amalgams split so many times that they eventually became impossible to distinguish by shape alone.
Then civilians began emerging from the fog.
Running toward us.
Crying for help.
“Please save us!”
“S-soldiers! Please... don't shoot!”
Visibility was less than fifty meters.
The people stumbling through the fog, weeping and begging for their lives, looked unmistakably human.
A woman in her twenties sobbing uncontrollably.
A man in his thirties.
Even children barely in their early teens.
Their clothes were tattered and stained.
Both hands raised desperately.
Crawling forward while crying.
They looked like terrified humans in every conceivable way.
Even the soldiers, who had been firing relentlessly moments earlier, flinched and unconsciously eased their fingers off the triggers.
Only Shin Nain and I aimed our rifles at them without hesitation.
“They’re monsters! Shoot!”
If a bullet struck the body instead of the head, there was no way to tell whether it was a real human or a monster.
The Amalgam's distinctive fluids only existed in the head.
More than once, we'd seen something bleed like a human from the body, only for its head to burst apart into the Amalgam's characteristic glue-like fluid when finished off.
Without magic, it was impossible to tell in the field.
Because of that, even the hesitant soldiers eventually spent their time screaming and shooting down every approaching figure.
Boom!
No matter how trained they were, enduring this environment was nearly impossible.
Inside the blockade zone, monsters disguised as civilians screamed with human faces and voices.
Even while dying, they continued moaning like people.
“Haah... haaah... haaah...”
The soldiers were exhausting themselves faster than we were.
But perhaps realizing that exhaustion meant death, they gradually began relying on the pastor.
Leading them onward, Pastor Park shouted,
“Keep moving! Faster!”
As the soldiers' mental fatigue mounted, the intensity of the firing network began to decline.
Reloading took one second longer.
Their muzzles wavered slightly.
Accuracy dropped by the tiniest margin.
Against a swarm of monsters, even that was fatal.
More monsters slipped through the fire network.
More split apart and expanded the encirclement.
Eventually, even Shin Nain and I could no longer hold them back alone.
That was when Lee Sejun and Goryeoha stepped in.
One of the Devouring Spines hanging from a tree exploded apart.
Goryeoha laughed while shaking her hand as though cooling it off.
Then an invisible force blasted away monsters trying to approach.
Lee Sejun fired into blind spots, and whenever a monster slipped past even Goryeoha's notice, he clenched his pale, exhausted right hand and swung it.
The sight of a monster bursting apart from a punch should have inspired awe.
But no soldier had the luxury to admire it.
Only after running like mad, shooting like mad, and killing without pause did the fog finally begin to thin.
We were leaving Guri behind.
But I knew thinning fog wasn't necessarily good news.
So I volunteered to take the rear guard.
“Pastor, take Hamza and the soldiers and move to the front near the blockade line. Stop them from opening fire on us.”
“Jemin! I'm leaving it to you!”
“Ugh... urgh...”
Dragging the vomiting Hamza along, the pastor led the soldiers out of the fog first.
The soldiers cast complicated looks toward us as they passed.
I ignored them.
Shin Nain—who might be a cowardly crybaby but was unmatched in detection and marksmanship—noticed my intention first and stepped beside me.
“Please focus on the Devouring Spines. I'll aim for the Amalgams' legs as much as possible.”
Next came Lee Sejun, glancing over before approaching.
“Trying to show off?”
Lastly, though reluctant, even Goryeoha joined us.
“Ahaha, it's been a while since we all fought together!”
A fanatical Christian.
A hairy lunatic obsessed with ranting about TS nonsense.
A crazy woman.
Honestly, not a single one of them was someone I'd have chosen as a teammate.
But with the world rushing toward its end, I couldn't afford to be picky.
Click.
I swapped magazines and loaded the taped magazine I'd enchanted beforehand using the fatigue stored in my right hand.
Clack.
The weight of cold steel was still the most reliable thing in the world.
I exhaled slowly.
“Supreme Mages.”
April 25, 2028.
Day 11 of the expedition.
The final day.
Shouldering my rifle, I aimed through the red-dot sight at the monsters charging through the fog and smiled.
“We hold the line and join the blockade.”
The monsters.
The more humans they devour, the more they learn from humanity.
And we, too, are learning them—
because we must kill them.