Chapter 212 – Back to Pyongyang (1)

The party members, upon learning the situation, were half in shock.

They had crossed the gate after hearing Yelena’s message spell, but they had never imagined something like this would happen.

They wondered if I or Yelena had made a mistake, but with the mountain range that shouldn’t exist visible on the northern horizon, such thoughts were impossible.

Still, having experienced shocking situations several times while traveling with me, they quickly regained their composure.

However, this wasn’t entirely positive.

First, Yerim sighed after hearing the story.

“Is this what it means to become a saintess? To go through such incredible events? The novels and games I’ve seen weren’t this extreme…”

While Yerim was close to complaining, Hoffman’s face turned ashen.

He muttered in a choked voice, as if he had committed some great sin.

“I messed up. I almost stayed there.”

He seemed to regret not following my advice.

“This is beyond what I can handle. The story of a hero’s party trying to prevent the destruction of three planets… A mere soldier like me has no place here.”

However, what he regretted wasn’t his own endangered life.

What depressed him was his own inadequacy in such a situation.

With a comrade digging into the ground like that, I wanted to offer words of comfort, but I had nothing to say.

From a different perspective, his words weren’t wrong.

In this situation, his strength, inferior to that of this world’s awakened, wouldn’t be of much help.

Moreover, there was someone else to offer comfort.

“What are you talking about! How much help have you been, Uncle Hoffman! If it weren’t for you, I would have just run away!”

Yerim crouched in front of Hoffman, glaring at him and poking the ground with her finger.

“Do you want to see me digging the ground beside you?”

Hoffman stared blankly at her, then shook his head.

“…I can’t do that. I can’t let our saintess suffer.”

Hoffman had indeed been traveling with us because of Yerim.

He had been looking after her since the first time he saw her.

Even now that she had become a saintess, he was doing his best to protect her.

Was he following her as a believer? Or did he see her as a daughter?

Either way, Hoffman could be left to Yerim.

Meanwhile, Zahina was having a serious conversation with Yelena.

“Is it certain that the land of the divine tree is also being integrated?”

“Yes. I’ve checked several times.”

“I see…”

Zahina’s face was almost expressionless, but I knew she was deeply troubled.

Was she worried about her kin who had abandoned her?

But it seemed I was wrong again.

“This is serious. If the dimensions merge, even the divine trees will struggle to withstand the shock.”

She was worried about the divine trees, not her kin.

“You’re concerned about the divine trees?”

“Yes. Even though I’m independent now, I was once a child of the divine trees.”

Her expression suggested that being a child of the divine trees wasn’t just about her race.

Whatever the meaning, our task remained the same.

In that case, I needed to confirm one last thing.

The result was predictable from Yelena’s hurried summoning of the party members, but I needed to hear it directly.

“Is it true that the gate can’t be reopened?”

At my question, Yelena nodded with a stiff expression.

“Yes. All the existing coordinates have been disrupted. Moreover, with the higher magic being cast, connecting the two dimensions through a gate is impossible.

In fact, creating a gate itself doesn’t make sense. The dimensions are already mixing due to the Demon King’s magic. As time passes, the three dimensions will become one.”

Her answer confirmed my question and also warned that we couldn’t rest easy just because we had time.

In the end, we had to hurry.

I looked around.

Around me were our party members, steeling themselves, and Irene, biting her lip. On one side were the locals, staring in shock at the northern sky.

“This is no time to be picky.”

Among them, only Seo-eun’s husband and Seung-ah could be of help.

We were short on people.

But with the gate closed, we had to face the Demon King with the people here.

I took out a radio from my pocket. A satellite phone connected to one of the few remaining satellites.

A phone that connected directly to the President of the United States.

I had thought I wouldn’t need to use it, but there was no choice.

Now was the time to borrow even a cat’s paw.

Fortunately, the remaining satellites were still operational.

The U.S. President answered the call immediately.

[I heard there’s a big problem in Korea. Couldn’t you return? It’s good you called.]

The President seemed unaware of the situation here.

While a detailed explanation was necessary, I cut to the chase.

“We need support.”

At my words, the President—no, the United States—seemed shocked.

After hearing my story and hastily ending the call, the President called me back shortly after.

And he promised full support.

[Earthquakes are occurring across the American continent. It seems cities and lands are disappearing, and unfamiliar terrains are appearing.

If this is because of the Demon King… What do you need immediately?]

After hanging up, he must have verified my story.

He had no choice but to believe it.

Even in a world where the dead attacked the living and skeletons roamed, the idea of dimensions—three planets—merging was hard to believe.

But with the evidence before his eyes, he had no choice but to believe.

At his words, I told him what we needed.

[We need everything that can fight.]

We immediately left Jeonju and headed to Gunsan.

The only local coming with us was Seung-ah.

Seo-eun’s husband decided to take the locals in Jeonju to Jeju Island.

In this situation, we couldn’t leave Seo-eun and the locals in the Jeonju safe zone.

It was hard to predict how far the damage would spread while fighting the Demon King, who was casting the dimension-merging magic.

In the end, we had to move as far away from the plains as possible, so we had to send them to Jeju.

After a brief farewell, we set off with Seung-ah and headed to Gunsan, which bordered the West Sea.

Moving as quickly as possible along the river, as we had when coming to Jeonju, we reached the Gunsan coastline in half a day.

Upon arriving at the beach, we saw a submarine floating offshore.

It was the same submarine we had seen several times before, even boarding it once.

The only remaining U.S. nuclear submarine in East Asia.

It was our means of transportation to North Korea.

After boarding the submarine, it immediately headed north.

The submarine ignored the shallow waters of the West Sea, risking damage to its hull as it continued north.

Screech…

“Will it be okay?”

“It should hold. At least until we reach our destination.”

Perhaps the submarine’s captain had heard about the situation.

He didn’t seem worried about the submarine being damaged.

However, what concerned him was my request.

“Fortunately, this submarine has already been converted to a Tomahawk launch platform, with over half of its missile launchers filled with Tomahawks—nearly 100. The other half are nuclear missiles.”

“That’s more than I expected. Good.”

“But if even nuclear missiles don’t work, will these be enough?”

During the satellite call, I had requested missile launch authority from the U.S. President.

The authority to use the conventional missiles on this submarine and all remaining operational conventional missiles in Guam and Japan.

Fortunately, the President agreed.

“It’s fine. The magic circle the Demon King is using converts nuclear explosions into mana. Conventional missiles won’t be effective.”

That was what Yelena had told me, and I had seen it myself before.

Of course, it wasn’t 100% certain, but this wasn’t the time to debate probabilities.

If there was a chance, we had to try.

“And even if the effect isn’t significant, it doesn’t matter. These missiles are just decoys.”

They were weapons to divert the Demon King’s army’s attention when we entered Pyongyang.

The missiles I had requested from the U.S. were for that purpose.

“Using these missiles as decoys… I never imagined such a thing.”

The captain looked deeply regretful at my words.

Was it because the submarine’s main weapons were being used like this?

But if even this had an effect, we should be grateful.

In the worst case, they could be absorbed by the magic circle, just like the nuclear missiles.

Listening to the sound of the submarine scraping the seabed, we continued north and arrived off the coast of Nampo that evening.

“We’ll wait here for your signal.”

At the captain’s words, I nodded and left the submarine with the party members.

Behind us, the submarine floated on the starry night sea as we headed to the shore on a rubber boat.

The crew had come out to see us off.

They stood in line, saluting us.

They had come out not just to see us off, but because the submarine could no longer move.

Having patrolled East Asian waters alone without repairs, the nuclear submarine had been struggling to move even before we boarded.

Pushing it so recklessly had inevitably damaged it.

Of course, the captain and crew had prepared for this, but seeing the crew saluting us left me with mixed feelings.

The party members seemed to feel the same.

Looking at the submarine disappearing into the darkness with regretful eyes, Yerim asked, “If we defeat the Demon King—no, if we stop his magic—will they survive?”

I couldn’t answer her question.

Even if we stopped the magic and the dimensions returned to normal, and even if we were lucky enough to kill the Demon King, the undead filling the land wouldn’t disappear immediately.

Moreover, if the submarine launched missiles, the Demon King’s army wouldn’t just stand by.

But they knew this and still came out to see us off.

While I was struggling just to survive, they were sacrificing themselves.

Feeling my face grow hot, I turned away, avoiding their farewell.

And so, the submarine disappeared into the darkness, and the coastline approached under the starlight.

The darkened port of Nampo lay before us.