Chapter 45 – Drive (2)

The car sped down the road.

The survivor group in Hanam had already been passed by.

The survivor group in Hanam was closer to an excuse to head south. Moreover, after seeing what the Hanam city looked like, they could no longer stop there.

Right now, we were on the southern road heading towards the upper Han River.

Fortunately, the road continued to stretch southeast.

“Are all the rivers in this world this big? Large ships could probably navigate through here.”

Hoffman muttered while looking at the river flowing on the right side of the road.

Come to think of it, the rivers in his world were mostly narrow.

He had heard that among the rivers in southern countries connected to the sea, there were rivers wider than the Han River, but in the kingdom and empire he was from, rivers were not this wide.

The cityscape that had continued along the road disappeared after a massive shopping mall.

After that, forests and mountains replaced the urban landscape.

They had left Hanam City.

No smoke or black soot could be seen, hidden by the forests and mountains.

Here, the forests were still intact, and the river flowed steadily.

The surrounding scenery was no different from the highways he had seen in his previous life.

If it weren’t for the abandoned cars blocking the way, it would have felt like a real drive.

“But is it okay to be driving so close to the river?”

While the road next to the city had parks and rowing stadiums between the road and the river, this road was right next to the river.

Having avoided rivers until now, it was natural for Hoffman to be worried about being this close to water.

“Initially, we had no choice but to cross through the city.”

“Is that so?”

Hoffman groaned and examined the map.

Though more sophisticated than maps from his world, the symbols were different, and there was no compass, making it difficult to read.

Of course, I could easily read the map, but I had no intention of sharing the map book.

This was because the car’s built-in navigation system turned on when I started the engine.

‘If GPS is working, the satellites must still be intact.’

After all, it had only been about a month since the Demon King crossed into this world.

Moreover, countries outside of Korea where the Demon King had entered might still be fine.

Of course, the lack of international support suggested that other countries were also experiencing problems.

“Is this also a map? The center shows our vehicle.”

Unlike Hoffman examining the map book, Zahina was intently studying the navigation system.

Furthermore, she had even opened the hood and was checking the car manual.

If she had time, she seemed ready to disassemble the car and understand its operating principles.

At this rate, she would become more of an expert than me in a few days.

I chose this road not only because it was the only highway where we could continue driving without obstruction but also because I knew the monster we had awakened was behind us.

At least knowing it wouldn’t emerge from the river meant we only needed to be cautious of corpse mermaids.

Moreover, corpse mermaids require corpses or zombies to form, so this area far from people would be relatively safe.

This was actually the more important reason, but I decided not to mention it to the two of them.

After examining the map for a while, Hoffman eventually threw the map book aside.

He looked out the window instead.

“Is that a dam? Looking at how the water is blocked, it seems to be a dam. But it’s different from the dam built by the first emperor. The size is larger here, though.”

Following Hoffman’s words, I glanced to the side and saw a dam spanning the river.

‘It must be Paldang Dam.’

The Han River was long, making the dam incredibly lengthy, but in fact, Paldang Dam wasn’t a particularly large dam.

If talking about large dams in Korea, perhaps the Soyang Dam would be more significant.

There was no need to dampen Hoffman’s excitement by mentioning the Soyang Dam.

Moreover, the largest dam on the continent, built by the imperial emperor, was an earth dam hardened by wizards, incomparable to dams in this world.

I inwardly smiled and passed by the dam.

Unlike the downstream with its bottom visible, the upstream reservoir was full of water.

“I wonder if it’s okay to have the water filled like that,” Hoffman commented.

I checked the dam again.

Water was lapping just below the dam’s top.

There was no visible high-water mark.

“Are there no people guarding the dam…?”

Paldang Dam wasn’t a flood control dam like Soyang Dam.

It would need to open its sluice gates with even a little extra rain.

At this rate, the water would surely overflow the dam.

Could the dam possibly collapse?

As that thought crossed my mind, I couldn’t press the accelerator.

I sighed and applied the brakes.

Squeak.

I glanced at Hoffman.

If he hadn’t noticed, we would have just passed by…

It seemed like we were just wasting time.

I turned the car around, carrying the two bewildered passengers, and drove in the opposite direction.

After moving back several dozen meters, I parked on the shoulder and got out of the car.

“Both of you, wait a moment.”

After giving instructions to the two, I climbed onto the sidewalk and looked towards Paldang Dam.

Sure enough, the opposite side of the reservoir had a dry riverbed.

They hadn’t drained the water even once since the incident.

Even if water overflowed the dam, it might not collapse.

However, I couldn’t just pass by believing that.

Unlike my party members who knew nothing about this world, I had memories of my previous life.

I knew that Seoul and Incheon lay below this Paldang Dam.

And what would happen if the dam collapsed.

While I didn’t believe the exaggerated claims that the 63 Building* would be partially submerged, I felt I needed to do something about this.

T/N- 63 Building is a famous skyscraper in the island of Yeouido,Seoul.

I reached into my space expansion pocket.

And thought about the item I wanted to retrieve.

Simultaneously, the object materialized in my hand.

Magic was truly amazing.

Not only was the pocket itself incredible for ignoring weight and volume, but it was also remarkable how you could find items just by thinking about them, and even retrieve objects larger than the pocket’s opening.

What I pulled out from the pocket was a 90mm recoilless rifle.

Though it was an old weapon that should have been discarded long ago, it was the most powerful weapon among those we’d collected from the base.

Following the manual’s instructions, I loaded the shell into the rifle and aimed at one of the floodgates in the center of the dam.

I had returned to make a hole in the dam before it collapsed.

Like deflating a balloon before it bursts, I planned to create a small hole in the floodgate to drain the water.

If we had time, it would have been better to find a way to open all the floodgates, but there wasn’t enough time.

One floodgate might not be enough, but this should be sufficient for my part.

Besides, we didn’t have enough shells to destroy all the floodgates.

“More importantly, I wonder if this will be enough to break it…”

Even though I was targeting the floodgate instead of the thick concrete dam, the gate itself was made of solid steel with considerable thickness.

This firepower might not be enough, but I’d have to rely on natural forces – the water pressure that had built up over time.

“No one behind me, so I’ll skip the verbal confirmation…”

I aligned the sight on the central floodgate and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh!

With an enormous blast of wind behind me, the shell shot forward.

I could see the projectile flying.

Despite being stored away for so long, the shell flew better than expected.

BOOM!

The shell hit the floodgate, and smoke enveloped it along with a brief flash of flame.

I kept watching the floodgate until the smoke cleared.

But the floodgate remained intact. Even with the help of water pressure, it wasn’t enough.

“As expected, it was too much to ask…”

Two shells remaining.

Looking at the undamaged floodgate, it seemed unlikely to break even if I used both.

“This is troublesome.”

In response to my sigh-filled words, I heard a reply.

“Shall I help?”

Zahina had somehow left the car and was standing beside me.

I frowned at her.

I was displeased that she had come out without my knowledge, but her disobedience was the bigger issue.

“That was dangerous. If you had been behind when I fired, you could have been hurt!”

Zahina bowed her head at my words.

“I came out when I sensed the water was unchanged. Ah! I’m sorry for not following instructions.”

Her apology was more sincere than expected.

Zahina was becoming increasingly different from the elf I knew.

It was a strange transformation, like someone who had forgotten who they were and was learning about themselves piece by piece.

While it wasn’t a bad change for me, it seemed to require closer observation.

“But why did you come out?”

“I thought I could help.”

At her words, I looked at the recoilless rifle in my hands.

Come to think of it, Zahina had previously infused bullets with mana to take down undead.

She had also imbued Hoffman’s arrows with mana.

“Could it work with shells too? But the floodgate isn’t undead, and just adding mana wouldn’t…”

Zahina pointed to the two recoilless rifle shells I had placed on the ground.

“I’m a nature artisan. I can make winds stronger, move earth, and make water spring forth.”

She placed her hand on the shell.

“Just as I can imbue bullets with mana, I can make this piece of metal heavier or sharper.”

Her hand began to glow.

“Right now, it needs to be sharp enough to pierce that steel gate, right?”

I had been mistaken.

The nature artisan Zahina spoke of wasn’t just a subclass of mage.

Nor was it like being a spirit master without spirits.

A nature artisan was more mage-like than mages, and far more powerful than alchemists in terms of enchantment.

Even in this place where she said she was extremely weakened, Zahina could produce such diverse powers.

I could now understand what she might be capable of at full strength.

And why the hero’s party had recruited her.

After a minute, I loaded the faintly glowing shell into the cooled recoilless rifle.

Zahina moved to my side, and I aimed at the floodgate once again.

Holding my breath, I pulled the trigger.

WHOOSH!

Though it was the same sound, even the firing sound seemed different.

The faintly glowing shell shot toward the dam and struck it again.

BOOM!

The sound of the shell hitting the floodgate was truly different.

With a sound like a ringing bell, or rather like something bursting, flames erupted from the floodgate.

The direction of the flames was different, and the smoke pattern was unlike before.

Finally, water burst through the smoke.

The floodgate had broken.

“Thank you. That was helpful.”

Looking at the broken floodgate, I expressed my gratitude to Zahina.

Zahina awkwardly lifted the corners of her mouth at my thanks.

“I’m glad too that the blocked water can flow again.”

Was she trying to smile?

Sorry, but it still looked like a malfunctioning robot.

“To think it could pierce the dam. The weapons of this world are truly frightening.”

When we returned to the car, Hoffman welcomed us with excitement.

Actually, Zahina’s help was more significant than the weapon itself, but it was hard to argue against his statement about this world’s weapons being frightening.

The real weapons hadn’t even appeared yet.

Thinking about how the Demon King’s army would also become stronger with such weapons, I started worrying about the second wave that would come through the gate soon.

It would be terrible if I got caught up with the second wave and had to go north.

I needed to find a way to avoid that somehow.

Of course, before that, I needed to reach where I lived in my previous life.

I drove south, leaving behind the dam that was now gushing water.

The sturdy RV pushed through abandoned cars and continued forward.