Chapter 248 – Reclaiming the Korean Peninsula

A month after opening the gate connected to Earth, we were in Daejeon.

Many things had happened during that month.

We requisitioned the remaining destroyer and the oil tanker we had taken from Busan, and landed in Busan again.

Then, we searched for survivors and advanced northward.

After clearing many undead and rescuing people, we managed to reach Daejeon in a month.

And here in Daejeon, we decided to temporarily halt our northward advance.

This was because it was impossible for us, the people from Jeju Island, and those we had rescued to reclaim Seoul and the metropolitan area above Daejeon.

“I’m back!”

Zahina descended in front of me on the rooftop of the school building.

She had flown to Seoul to check the situation in the north.

Landing in front of me, Zahina shook her head.

“It seems impossible, as expected.”

“Is that so…”

“There are too many of them. Moreover, the city is full of buildings, making it difficult to sweep them away with magic or sword energy. I looked for a way, but it seems difficult for now.”

“I understand. I already knew that anyway. I just wanted to confirm one last time.”

Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, with hundreds of thousands of undead remaining.

The apartments and high-rise buildings in Seoul and the metropolitan new cities made it even more difficult to save the city from the undead than to defend against a North Korean invasion.

After stopping at Daejeon, we kept sending mages to check if there was any way, but it was still impossible.

While I was feeling disappointed at Zahina’s words, I heard Yerim shouting from below the building.

“Come down now! We’re about to create a safe zone!”

At Yerim’s words, we jumped down from the building.

Unlike Zahina, who used magic to lighten her body and descend slowly, I just fell down crudely.

Thud.

With a sound that shook the ground, I landed below the building.

“Come down gently! You’re scaring people!”

Yerim scolded me when she saw me land.

She wasn’t genuinely angry, but rather admonishing me with a smiling face.

Since returning to Daejeon, Yerim had become more energetic than before.

This was probably because she had returned to her hometown and reunited with people she had been close to.

And behind her, many people had gathered.

Seo-eun and her husband, as well as other refugees who had evacuated to Jeju Island.

Plus, the people we had rescued on our way from Busan to here.

The people gathered on the central road of this school seemed to number in the thousands.

Far more people than those who had taken refuge in the safe zone that used to be here.

Even if we restored the original safe zone, it would be difficult to accommodate all of them.

Moreover, despite saying she was creating a safe zone, there were no holy relics visible where Yerim was standing.

To create a safe zone, an excellent priest and holy relics were needed.

We had two Saintesses who could create safe zones, but the fixed safe zone we were trying to establish here needed to be maintained even without a Saintess.

For the safe zone to be maintained even when they were absent, holy relics were necessary.

In my domain, in my city, we used holy relics salvaged from the destroyed royal palace for the safe zone, but there were no such relics here in Daejeon.

The wooden cross of the martyr that had created the safe zone here in the past had turned to ashes, and Daejeon wasn’t like Jeonju, where two religions’ holy sites coexisted.

But Yerim’s expression was bright.

Neither I nor the party members were worried.

This was because there were substitutes for holy relics in Daejeon.

No, not just in Daejeon.

At least in Korean cities, there were plenty of holy relics that could create safe zones.

“Please bestow God’s blessing upon this place!”

At Yerim’s words, bright light rose from the university where the safe zone had been.

Simultaneously, hundreds of red crosses that appeared in the sky across the ruined city soared upward, radiating light.

They were all crosses that had been installed throughout Daejeon.

In any case, they were holy relics filled with the believers’ faith.

They weren’t holy relics full of divine power like the martyr’s wooden cross, but the lacking divine power could be sufficiently compensated for by their numbers.

No, it was more than just compensation.

The newly created safe zone expanded beyond the area of the previous safe zone, spreading to the surroundings.

It embraced the nearby university buildings and even included the train station a bit further away.

Thus, the new safe zone encompassed a much larger area than before.

It was large enough to accommodate the thousands of refugees here.

As the safe zone was created, Yerim raised both hands high.

“It’s done! This is the fourth safe zone on the Korean Peninsula!”

As Yerim said, this Daejeon wasn’t the first safe zone she had created on Earth.

Excluding the safe zone in my domain that she had created with Zahina, the safe zones Yerim had created were in Jeju Island, Busan, Jeonju, and now Daejeon, making four in total.

All those safe zones were created using crosses found in each city, just like here in Daejeon.

Yerim was indeed the Saintess of Earth.

It didn’t seem difficult for her to create multiple safe zones on Earth.

Perhaps because they believed in the same God, the crosses scattered throughout the cities were also effective.

Thanks to this, even the people from Busan who had evacuated to Jeju Island could return to Busan.

Jeonju, where there had originally been a safe zone, also attracted more people.

Now, centered around these safe zones, this country would recover again.

Although there were still an enormous number of undead swarming in Gyeonggi Province above here, fortunately, there was no Demon King or his subordinates to give orders to those undead.

As long as we didn’t provoke them, there wouldn’t be much danger.

Before disturbing that field of undead, we first needed to reclaim all of the south.

And now, that was a task for the people themselves.

“Since the urgent matters seem to be resolved…”

Although we had prioritized clearing the Korean Peninsula as a forward base because the gate was here and people we knew were here, in reality, Earth was still a world of undead.

China and Russia had already fallen and become lands of undead, and the Americas and Europe had suffered the same fate.

The emergence of undead, satellite crashes, and dimensional fusion on top of that.

No country or city could withstand these continuous disasters.

In the end, what we had accomplished in a month was just the tip of the iceberg.

“But this is enough, right? Asking me to do more would be unconscionable.”

Hearing my words, Yerim looked up at the sky and replied.

“God doesn’t say anything else either.”

“Good. Then, is there only one thing left?”

I looked at Zahina.

Seeing me look at her, Zahina smiled.

Behind the smiling Zahina, I could see people scattering in all directions.

Now that the safe zone had been created, it was time for them to build their homes here.

That’s when it happened.

Whoosh!

A strange sound came from high in the sky.

A sound I hadn’t heard for a long time.

It was the engine sound of an airplane, a jet.

I was the first to look up at the sky, followed by my party members, and finally, everyone else raised their heads.

And far away, breaking through the clouds, we could see an airplane descending.

“That’s…”

“A Global Hawk, perhaps.” A long-winged aircraft with a dolphin-like head.

The approaching aircraft was clearly the high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, RQ-4 Global Hawk.

A reconnaissance aircraft that Korea had once possessed four of.

But looking at the markings on the approaching aircraft’s fuselage, it was clearly a US military aircraft.

“Even the Americans aren’t so noble.”

Hearing Zahina use a Korean proverb, Yerim opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Zahina was certainly right.

How had they managed to arrive so timely?

Could it be that there was still a functioning reconnaissance satellite?

The reconnaissance aircraft dropped a small parachute as it passed over Daejeon.

A small parachute fluttering down.

When I picked up the fallen parachute, there was a satellite phone attached to it.

“Did they fly that expensive reconnaissance aircraft from the mainland just to send one satellite phone?”

Well, most US military bases in East Asia had been destroyed, and the one remaining submarine had also exploded, so they had no choice but to contact us this way.

I turned on the satellite phone while watching the reconnaissance aircraft still circling in the sky.

[Crackle… crackle… Can you hear me?]

The words flowing from the phone were in English, which I hadn’t heard for a long time.

Moreover, it was a voice I knew.

“Yes, I can hear you.”

[It’s been half a year, no, almost a year. This is the President of the United States.]

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

I had thought they wouldn’t have survived the dimensional fusion, but the US President and the US government had better survival skills than I expected.

[Yes. Thanks to being with the Atlantic Fleet, both I and the US government were able to survive the incident six months ago.]

From what I heard, the US government and the President had been taking refuge with the Atlantic Fleet off the coast of New York.

[We were only able to confirm your return recently with a satellite we barely managed to salvage. That’s why we sent the reconnaissance aircraft right away.]

That was indeed the United States.

Even in this situation, they had managed to salvage a reconnaissance satellite and fly a reconnaissance aircraft all the way from the US to here.

But thinking about it, I understood why the US was so eagerly monitoring this area.

The US still didn’t know that the Demon King had been destroyed.

[What happened to the Demon King? I know you couldn’t kill him in Pyongyang that day. But less than a month later, we noticed the undead had changed. The powerful undead died, and the other undead became disorganized. Could it be that the Demon King…]

As expected, the President first asked about the Demon King.

“Yes. The Demon King has been destroyed.”

[Is that true?]

“Yes. It’s certain. We defeated him ourselves in Ea.”

[Ah…]

The President was speechless at my words.

[That’s truly fortunate. Thank you. Thank you.]

And then came expressions of gratitude.

[I’d like to meet you in person to express my gratitude, but I’m sorry we have to do this over the phone.]

The US President set aside his dignity and thanked me.

I shook my head at his words.

“You can do it in person. We’ll come to you.”

[What?]

“As it happens, we have business there.”

[What?]

Ignoring the President’s confused responses, I asked Yelena:

“Yelena, is it possible?”

“Of course. I’ve been to New York before, and we have a medium right here.”

In response to my question, Yelena pointed to Irene.

Irene raised her hand at her master’s words.

As Irene raised her hand, a magic circle began to form around her.

“Oh, can you make it by yourself?”

“Yes. It’s my hometown.”

“As expected, my disciple is a genius.”

“I’m trying to be like my master.”

I shook my head at the start of another exchange of compliments between master and disciple.

Then I picked up the phone and said to the President:

“We’ll visit you right away.”

[Ah… yes.]

While the surprised President’s response came through, Irene began to open a portal.

A portal connected to New York.

Looking at the portal that had formed in the center of the magic circle, I said to Zahina:

“Let’s go. Now it’s time to visit the land of the Divine Tree.”

“Yes.”

Zahina nodded at my words.

And we entered the portal Irene had created.

Our next destination was the gate in New York.

We planned to go to the land of the Divine Tree through the gate in New York.