Chapter 206 – Panam Subway Station (3)

The collapsed building had blocked all the passages that Zahina had created. As a result, the staircase leading to the platform was once again sealed, plunging the area back into darkness. Despite this, the atmosphere wasn’t too bad. Seo-eun was overjoyed that her husband had returned alive, and her husband was equally grateful for his survival. Seung-ah felt the same way.

“Why are you so late!” she scolded me, but her eyes were smiling. However, I couldn’t bring myself to smile back. One of her arms was missing.

“Losing an arm is nothing. I almost died last time. No, this time I really thought I was going to die,” she said, waving her severed arm with a grin. “Besides, if it weren’t for the potion you gave me back then, I’d still be lying down.”

When I visited Jeonju earlier, I had given her a potion just in case. But seeing her so cheerful after using it made me think she might be developing a dependency on it.

“When we were trapped in the department store, I really thought I was going to die. Zombies and skeletons were everywhere, and the subway station was blocked, so there was no way to escape. If it weren’t for the sounds coming from underground, I would have died there.”

Seung-ah, perhaps because she was lucky to be alive, was quite excited. She kept talking, not caring who was listening.

“Who would have thought there’d be no food in the department store? I almost starved to death trying to find supplies. And to make matters worse, the guy I was with was a married man, so it wasn’t exactly uplifting.”

At Seung-ah’s words, Seo-eun’s husband, Jae-ha, shook his head. “It’s all my fault. If she were alone, she could have flown back.”

Seung-ah waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, come on. If we got caught, they’d find out where we were hiding. If we got caught this time, it would have been over.”

Her words were a bit ambiguous, but no one misunderstood her. The couple was busy checking on each other, and Seung-ah was smiling as she watched them.

Everyone had a lot to talk about, but I decided to move. “If you’re feeling okay, let’s get going. We don’t want to draw attention by staying here too long. Besides, Yerim is at Panam Station. The sooner we get back, the sooner we can fix that arm.”

Seung-ah’s eyes widened at my words. “Wait… can you really fix this arm? It’s been a while since it was cut off…”

She didn’t know how much Yerim had changed. “Yes, it’s possible.”

In the past, I wouldn’t have been able to say that, but now that she had been confirmed as a Saintess, I could say it with confidence. In the previous life, according to the novels I’d read, the dead couldn’t be brought back to life, but a Saintess could easily regenerate a severed arm. It was the same in this world.

At my words, Seung-ah grabbed the flashlight from Seo-eun and flew off into the tunnel. “I’ll go ahead.”

She flew off with a half-smile, not even caring if she was hungry. We followed her.

Thanks to the building I had collapsed, the undead on the surface didn’t follow us. We made it back to Panam Station safely, and Seung-ah’s arm was regenerated.

After regenerating Seung-ah’s arm and healing the wounded, Yerim was once again praised by the people. Those who had been exhausted from hunger regained their strength with the food we brought. We also learned about the situation in Daejeon from them.

“The corpses are still coming down from the north. Zombies and skeletons are filling the Gyeongbu Expressway.”

Others said the same thing, and Seung-ah, who had floated around Daejeon using telekinesis, confirmed it. The undead were endlessly pouring in from the north. However, they didn’t mention the tanks I had seen.

“Did you happen to see any tanks or modern weapons?” I asked.

Seung-ah shook her head with a puzzled expression. “Oh, right. When we were trapped in the department store, I did hear the sound of tanks moving. But when I secretly checked the expressway earlier, there were only corpses.”

“What about near the gate?”

“No, I didn’t get close to that area.”

“You heard the sound of tanks moving, but didn’t see any?”

At my question, Yelena, who had been quietly listening, spoke up. “There’s probably a portal near the gate.”

That made sense. Human mages often used portals, so there was no reason the Demon King couldn’t use them. While it was unlikely that portals were used to transport zombies or skeletons, modern weapons were a different story.

“There’s no way they drove tanks all the way from China to Daejeon.”

Even if there were humans who had surrendered to the Demon King, it was unlikely that the Demon King’s army had transported tanks and cannons all the way to Daejeon.

“So, we need to destroy the portal along with the gate.”

In the end, destroying the gate would be the final step, but if we left the portal intact, reinforcements from the Demon King’s army would keep pouring in until we destroyed the gate. We had lured the Demon King’s army here, but we couldn’t let them call in more reinforcements.

“We’ll need to confirm the location of the portal before executing the operation.”

At Hoffman’s words, I shook my head. “No, I don’t think we need to confirm it. I think I know where it is.”

If it wasn’t visible on the surface but only the sound was heard… then the portal had to be underground. The gate was currently located in the safe zone at Hanbuk University. There was an underground tunnel there that we had used before. When the Korean government was still functioning, there was an emergency evacuation tunnel connecting Daejeon Station to the underground. The portal had to be there.

After confirming the portal’s location, we also gathered more information about the situation in Daejeon. We checked if there were any blocked roads and which route would lead us quickly to the gate—or rather, the safe zone. Of course, if the undead broke through, the situation would change, but having this much information was still a big help.

“Then, send the message. Let’s start the operation.”

At my words, Yelena cast a message spell. It was a message spell sent to the mage traveling with the Hero. The Hero, the Saintess, two swordsmen, a few knights, and mages had already left Jeonju and were close to the ceasefire line. To avoid detection by the undead, they had taken a treacherous path through the Sobaek Mountains and Gangwon Province. They were a group of swordsmen, the Hero, royal knights, and mages. They had departed after we left but had already entered Gangwon Province and were approaching the ceasefire line.

A short while later, a reply came to Yelena’s message spell.

[Understood. We’ll start moving openly now.]

If we were planning to ambush the Demon King, it would have been better to sneak all the way to Pyongyang. However, the Hero’s group’s goal wasn’t to capture the Demon King but to lure him. More precisely, their goal was to lure the undead in Daejeon. So, it didn’t matter if the Demon King wasn’t in Pyongyang. Moreover, they didn’t even need to go all the way to Pyongyang. They just needed to make the Demon King’s army believe that the Hero was heading toward the Demon King. That’s why two swordsmen had joined the Hero’s group.

As I confirmed the message spell, Seo-eun asked, “So, what should we do now? Should we just wait?”

Before contacting Jeonju, I had given the people here a rough explanation. No matter what, they would be caught up in a big battle, and we couldn’t proceed without telling them this time. If there had been a way, I would have sent them elsewhere, but there was no way to do that now. Yelena could create a portal connecting to Jeonju, but doing so would immediately alert the undead on the surface. For that reason, we couldn’t call the knights and mages waiting in Jeonju right away. They would only come here when the Hero’s group was detected and the undead on the surface started moving.

“Soon, a lot of people will be coming over. We need to prepare space for them.”

At my words, Seo-eun nodded while watching Yerim draw a magic circle. “You’re right. The waiting room and platform won’t be enough.”

Even though they would only be staying briefly after crossing the gate, there would be over a hundred people. It wouldn’t be easy to accommodate everyone in the ruined subway station.

As the Hero’s group deliberately revealed themselves and headed north, we also got busy. Yelena and her disciples continued drawing the portal magic circle, and Zahina dug into the ground again. I checked my physical condition in preparation for the operation, and Yerim moved around healing people. Meanwhile, Hoffman went out on a reconnaissance mission.

“This place is really dangerous. Maybe you shouldn’t go out on reconnaissance this time,” I said.

Hoffman shook his head. “It’s because it’s dangerous that we need reconnaissance. We need to confirm the current situation.”

“That’s true, but…”

He wasn’t wrong. Even now, when the undead were moving, we needed someone to see and report back. And Hoffman was the perfect person for that job.

“Then, I’ll go.”

Hoffman had changed since the battle in Jeonju. Before, he had been passive, but after that day, even though he talked about retiring, he kept taking the lead like this. It was as if he had resigned himself to death. I wanted to stop him, but seeing his expression, I couldn’t refuse the request of an old soldier. What was he trying to leave behind?

As I watched the old soldier, the former thief, leave, I fell into thought.

—

The undead in Daejeon began to move two days later, when the Hero’s group crossed the ceasefire line and arrived at Sariwon, 50 kilometers from Pyongyang. At the same time, a message spell came to Yelena.

[It’s going to be difficult to go any further. The Demon King’s army has come out to meet us from Pyongyang.]

The mage on their side relayed the Duke’s words, followed by the Hero’s.

[There are so many of them. I even saw some powerful undead… It’s a shame. I wish I could have seen the Demon King.]

Then came the words of the Grand Mage.

[How is the operation going?]

I replied, “It’s a success.”

[……That’s a relief.]

Even though it was just Yelena relaying the message, I could feel the relief in her voice. As I had told them, the operation was a success. The undead on the surface were moving so much that we could feel it from down here. Their morale and vibrations were all heading north. As expected, the Demon King seemed intent on finishing off the Hero’s group.

The Hero’s group had done their part. Now it was our turn.

As I nodded, Yelena stretched her hand toward the magic circle. “I’ll open it!”

As soon as Yelena finished speaking, mana burst from her hand.

Whoooosh.

The brightly glowing magic circle illuminated the dark platform. Soon, people began to appear on the glowing magic circle. They were the knights and mages from Jeonju. They had started crossing over safely.

As soon as they appeared, they looked at me with confused expressions. It was understandable. Another portal was being created right in front of them. Yelena was opening two portals simultaneously. It was a high-level spell that would have been difficult for anyone but her. One of the portals she created was connected to Jeonju, as planned. The other portal, the one I was standing on, was a portal to the Hero.

After using the Hero as bait, they wanted me to become the Hero. I had no intention of doing that. So, I planned to bring the Hero through this portal.

Whoooosh.

A bright light enveloped me, and I crossed through space.