Chapter 139 – The Hero’s Party

It seemed that the hero’s party had split from the diversionary unit in the waters off Incheon and headed north.

They boarded a landing craft prepared by the U.S. military and waited in the waters off Nampo, near Pyongyang, for the Demon King’s army to move.

When the Demon King’s forces began to move south in large numbers, the hero’s party, the expeditionary force, and the U.S. military landed in Nampo and headed toward Pyongyang.

Their destination was the Ryugyong Hotel, a massive pyramid-shaped hotel in Pyongyang, identified via satellite as a likely location for the Demon King.

The plan was to use satellites to monitor enemy movements, with the U.S. military handling the modern weapons of the Demon King’s army, while the expeditionary force and the hero’s party dealt with the Demon King and his forces.

It didn’t seem like a bad plan to me.

“So, the hero is currently on their way to Pyongyang.”

Of course, if the hero attacked the Demon King, the main force of the Demon King’s army, which was moving south, might turn back north. But by then, it would already be too late for them to aid the Demon King.

“On top of that, we need to make sure the Demon King’s army can’t return.”

As I spoke, the U.S. squad leader who had been escorting David pointed to the northern sky.

Clear skies with white streaks.

*Whoosh.*

Even now, streaks continued to be drawn across the sky.

Those streaks were the trails of missiles fired from the U.S. fleet anchored off the coast of Incheon.

The missiles, which created those trails, were still striking the advancing front lines of the Demon King’s army at regular intervals.

“If the undead behavior you told us about is accurate, the Demon King’s army will come all the way here.”

The Demon King’s army currently moving south toward Seoul was an undead legion created by corrupting the soldiers from both sides of the armistice line with aura.

They were the new main force of the Demon King’s army, armed with modern weapons.

Though they were a massive number of undead with modern weapons, they were still undead—creatures that would kill the living if they saw them and retaliate if attacked.

If they kept getting bombarded by missiles and attacked by drones, they would naturally move toward the source of the missiles.

The area in front of the National Assembly Building was bustling.

Hovercrafts that had come ashore were parked in the Assembly’s parking lot, while U.S. soldiers, expeditionary forces, knights, and mages ran around in all directions.

Against the backdrop of the National Assembly Building, U.S. soldiers were setting up barbed wire, mounting machine guns, mages were laying magical traps on the ground, and the expeditionary force was digging trenches—an astonishing sight.

As I watched this scene, I was talking with the U.S. military representative.

The U.S. representative supporting the diversionary unit was someone I knew.

He was the officer who had been escorting David.

I had thought he was just a special forces squad leader, but it seemed he was more important than that.

My party members were sitting on the steps of the National Assembly Building, resting.

While everyone else was busy moving around, Yerim seemed a bit self-conscious about resting, but no one would dare say anything to the party that had taken down a general.

The reason we were talking outside the National Assembly Building was that the inside of the building hadn’t been cleared yet.

The National Assembly Building had been turned into a stronghold by the Demon King’s army that had occupied Seoul.

With a general stationed there, it was only natural that it had become a dungeon.

Even now, a team from the expeditionary force was inside the building, but there was still no word that the building had been cleared.

Unlike us on the steps, the expressions of the noble officers from the expeditionary force waiting at the entrance of the Assembly grew increasingly grim.

Seeing this, the U.S. soldier I was talking to approached them.

“It’s been a while, but it seems the clearing isn’t done yet.”

At his words, the noble officers’ expressions darkened further.

“Please wait a little longer. It’s our job to handle this, after all.”

Of course, it wasn’t something the U.S. military, who lacked mana, could handle.

The U.S. soldier shook his head at the noble officer’s words.

“I’m not saying we’ll do it. We’re running out of time, so why not leave it to them?”

He pointed at me.

“No, asking the party that just took down a general to do this again…”

The noble officer looked uncomfortable at the U.S. soldier’s suggestion.

After all, our party was the one that had taken down the Black Knight, the general.

Our party included a knight recognized by a sword master, a priestess who had become a potential saint, and, though her circumstances had changed, the child of a sacred tree.

It wouldn’t be easy for nobles to boss us around like before.

However, I was willing to move.

“I’ll go.”

Honestly, I wanted to rest, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

Moreover, I couldn’t ignore the U.S. soldier’s continued hints.

Perhaps because he had been escorting David, he also knew the secret David had told me.

That gold bars were hidden beneath the National Assembly Building.

I didn’t miss the opportunity he had created.

“Everyone, stay here and rest. I’ll handle this quickly.”

After speaking to my party, I headed toward the Assembly, which had become a dungeon.

“I’ll help too.”

Zahina followed me as I walked toward the Assembly.

“Just in case, I’ll come along.”

Yerim also followed.

“Then I’ll come too.”

As Yerim moved, Priest Benedict tried to follow, but Hoffman stopped him.

“Injured people might come looking for help, so it’s better if the priest and I stay here.”

Indeed, having the entire party participate in clearing the stronghold would be excessive.

At Hoffman’s words, Priest Benedict sat back down on the steps with a conflicted expression.

“Come back safely.”

Hoffman waved at me, and we bowed to the noble officers before entering the Assembly.

The National Assembly Building, which I had seen in various media in my past life, was different now.

* * *

At the same time.

The sky over Pyongyang was swirling with strange clouds.

Though it was still before sunset, the low-hanging clouds made the afternoon in Pyongyang incredibly dark.

Like the dark sky, Pyongyang, which had already become a city of the dead years ago, was unusually noisy today.

*Boom, ratatat, crash.*

The sounds of explosions, machine gun fire, and buildings collapsing.

All sorts of noises filled the dead city.

Perhaps because of the noise, the dead began to move.

Corpses began to appear one by one in the empty streets and rusted buildings.

The citizens of Pyongyang, who had died years ago, consumed by the aura that had engulfed the city, were waking up again.

Amid the reawakened undead, nearly a hundred living humans were running.

The hero, the saintess, the mages and knights supporting them, and the U.S. military.

The U.S. soldiers fired their machine guns at the approaching zombies and skeletons, but even as chunks of flesh were torn away, the undead didn’t stop.

“Damn it! They won’t stop even with machine gun fire?”

“Just take out their legs! Leave the killing to them!”

Following the U.S. officer’s orders, the soldiers used their machine guns to blast the legs off the zombies and skeletons, while the mages and knights finished off the immobilized undead.

The division of labor between the U.S. military and the expeditionary force had been more effective than expected since they had disembarked.

While modern weapons like guns couldn’t kill the undead, they could stop them from moving, and the immobilized undead became easy prey for the mages and knights.

Flames burned the skeletons, and the knights severed their limbs.

Zombies that had lost their legs and flailed on the ground were burned by the new saintess.

*Ping! Ping! Ting!*

Occasionally, bullets flew from afar, but they were blocked by the mages’ defensive barriers.

“Sniper on the roof of the three-story building, 300 meters ahead!”

The undead sniper was hit by a missile fired from a drone high in the sky, and the building was destroyed along with it.

As they continued their unhindered run from Nampo to Pyongyang, it wasn’t long before a pyramid-shaped building came into view.

The Ryugyong Hotel, the largest building in Pyongyang.

“That’s the hotel?”

Those who saw the Ryugyong Hotel, their destination, frowned.

“Just like the streets of Pyongyang we passed through, this hotel looks different from the satellite images.”

As the U.S. officer accompanying them spoke, they looked up at the hotel.

The streets of Pyongyang they had passed through had tall, unfamiliar buildings, but the Ryugyong Hotel, which should have been covered in glass after its final construction, was instead covered in pulsating blood vessels over broken glass.

“Is this the Demon King’s new dungeon, his castle? The Demon King’s dungeons are strange, but this building is bizarre too. The blood vessels covering it look like a magic circle.”

One of the mages clicked his tongue as he looked at the grotesque blood vessels covering the hotel.

Everyone felt the same.

Even the U.S. soldiers, who had seen many horrors while fighting the undead, and the expeditionary force, who had battled the Demon King, were shocked by the sight of the Ryugyong Hotel.

The hero and saintess, seeing this for the first time, were on the verge of retching.

“It’s already become a dungeon. If the Demon King is inside, it won’t be easy to capture him.”

An old mage clicked his tongue as he looked at the blood-covered building.

“What will you do? They say the Demon King is inside that building. Will you go in?”

At the old mage’s words, the hero looked at the blood-covered building.

Fear flickered across the young man’s face.

But the hero shook his head, dispelling his fear, and gripped his sword.

“We came to capture the Demon King. We can’t turn back now.”

At the hero’s words, the old mage and the others nodded.

Though still young, the hero’s ability to overcome fear showed that he had the makings of a true hero.

The old mage raised his staff with a satisfied expression.

“Spoken like a true hero. Then let’s go.”

The imperial court mage raised his staff toward the blood-covered building in the distance.

*Whoosh.*

A fireball formed above the staff and flew hundreds of meters across the city, striking the Ryugyong Hotel.

*Boom.*

Though small compared to the massive hotel, the fireball burned away all the blood vessels blocking the first-floor entrance.

“Then let’s go in.”

The mage pointed his staff at the now-cleared first-floor entrance.

*Gulp.*

The hero looked at the mage in surprise.

The blood vessels covering the building were surely the Demon King’s creation, yet they had been burned away so easily.

He had thought the mage was just an ordinary old man, but that wasn’t the case.

The hero’s expression darkened.

He had thought that becoming a hero meant he only needed to defeat the Demon King, but too many things he didn’t understand were happening.

People had told him he needed extensive training, but then they suddenly sent him here to fight the Demon King.

The saintess and the priest who had been supporting him had disappeared at some point, and he had no idea about the abilities or backgrounds of the knights and mages who had come with him.

On top of that, even though they were called the hero’s party, he rarely made any real decisions.

What kind of hero’s party was this?

This wasn’t the kind of adventure he had imagined.

In stories, the hero would defeat monsters with their party, find rare treasures, save people, and defeat the Demon King.

But he had simply arrived before the Demon King with people he barely knew.

Though this hero’s adventure was far different from what he had imagined, he didn’t forget that he was the hero.

The Demon King was before him.

The hero had to defeat the Demon King.

The hero channeled holy power into his sword.

The sword glowed brightly.

Now it was time to enter the building and defeat the Demon King.

But the hero didn’t get to enter the Ryugyong Hotel.

Before the hero could enter, the Demon King revealed himself.

On the rooftop of the Ryugyong Hotel, beneath the swirling clouds, the King of Death appeared.

The Demon King, shrouded in black aura, rose into the sky, and Pyongyang truly became a city of the dead.

Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of undead poured out from the Ryugyong Hotel and other buildings.

It was as if every person who had lived in Pyongyang had become undead and burst forth.