Chapter 815: Advance (2)
Zombies fundamentally lack reason.
However, a small number of zombies repeatedly evolve and gain reason.
And zombies without reason generally follow the commands of individuals stronger than themselves.
“When I was trapped inside that lord’s body, I also looked around this world once.”
“Did you?”
“The island across the sea had already been submerged, so none of our kind remained there. But...... the nearby continent was different.”
And the one talking with me here.
The Prince of Death was a zombie who possessed power so great that even a divinity from outside the world had sought to take his body as its own.
Naturally.
‘A zombie stronger than this guy...... I cannot say with absolute certainty that none exist, but at the very least, they cannot be common.’
In other words.
If this prince and the zombies who followed him joined us, then zombies were no longer enemies.
There had not even been any need to go through the trouble of asking for their help.
“Thanks to the recipe you made for us, we can now continue surviving through means other than devouring our own kind.”
That had been this guy’s objective from the beginning.
They were a race created not for survival, but for the destruction of another world.
Escaping from that fate of theirs and surviving.
“Even at this very moment, there must be many of our kind instinctively attacking other living beings and devouring one another as they eat away at this world...... so I intend to gather them.”
Thanks to the ‘recipe’ created not long ago with Howard and Doyun’s help, they too could now eat through ordinary means.
For those who sought the survival of their kind, the zombies still following their instincts were beings whose numbers could decrease at any moment as they devoured one another.
-......We are still not accustomed to an alliance with those living beings.
-But if it is the prince’s will.
-If it is for the future of our kind, we will cooperate.
That chancellor had compared their kind who had not yet awakened reason to ‘children.’
They seemed to want to save those children as quickly as possible.
Not only the prince, but even the zombies who had not yet become [Awakened] were cooperative with us.
‘One highly evolved zombie will participate in each expeditionary force spreading out in every direction.’
Their mission was simple.
To turn the zombies in each region into our forces rather than our enemies.
Once there was no longer any need to remain wary of the zombies.
Naturally, the mana needed to maintain the barrier created to stop the zombies was no longer necessary either.
That meant Bimana, which had been supplying that mana, was free to move as well.
“Bimana will first land in nearby Japan, then decide its next course through discussions with the awakened there.”
From northern Japan, passing through the Kuril Islands and crossing the Bering Strait would lead to Alaska, the gateway to North America.
If they headed south, they could advance into the continent of Oceania by way of Taiwan and the Philippines.
If they moved with only a single Bimana, they would have no choice but to select only one route.......
‘In the scene I saw, Japan’s awakened were handling a strange power.’
A power obtained from a monster called the Master of the Deep Sea.
Japan’s awakened were probably still fighting that monster.
And judging by what I had seen.
‘It seemed to be an ability related to the sea.’
The unmanned vessels the Legion had sent far out just in case had all lost contact not long after entering the sea.
That meant powerful monsters were lurking in the sea as well.
The Legion’s power was overwhelming on land, but that did not mean the same was true at sea.
Because of that, when considering an advance across the ocean, only an aerial advance using Bimana had been taken into account.
Actually traveling across the sea itself had never even been considered from the beginning.
‘If we solve the problem in nearby Japan...... perhaps we might be able to secure a powerful naval force.’
If we secured forces capable of fighting the monsters of the sea without suffering losses.
Then both aerial travel through Bimana and maritime travel across the sea would become possible.
That would allow us to dispatch forces through both routes extending from Japan.
The ground forces led by Corporal Jeon Gwangil would handle the regions of Europe and Africa that could be reached overland from Asia.
The expeditionary force aboard Bimana, commanded by Corporal Seo Suhyeok, would handle the continents across the sea.
And.
“While the soldiers advance, we will take care of the survivors discovered in those regions.”
While they dealt with the monsters in each region and advanced.
There would be survivors they encountered in various places.
Managing them would be handled by the faction that had occupied the southern region of the Korean Peninsula.
[Awakened: Lee Haein]
The personnel of the [Church].
‘Whatever else might be said about these guys, they were highly capable when it came to managing the survivors’ mental state.’
Our Legion had been forced to rely on [Special Sauce] in order to manage the survivors’ mental state.
But they had managed the survivors’ mental condition almost perfectly without borrowing the power of such abilities.
Although that leech ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) had been hiding behind it all.
They had actually constructed separate wards for mental care and looked after patients while dealing with them.
At least in that field, they were at a level where even the Legion had something to learn from them.
The members of the Church would remain in each region and manage the survivors.
The Legion would leave them behind and continue advancing.
“Everyone already knows this, but once you arrive in another region, don’t forget to install relay stations first.”
“Yes, Sergeant Lee Minjae.”
After reaching each region.
𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
The first thing they would do was install relay stations in areas the radio waves had previously been unable to reach.
‘From what we found after the barrier opened...... the radio waves we had been transmitting barely reached even a tiny portion of southern China.’
It was a radio broadcast being transmitted in multiple languages in an effort to help people all across the world.
But outside Korea, there had been very few places where that radio broadcast actually reached.
‘Not anymore.’
Now that physical movement was possible.
It had become possible to install relay stations that transmitted radio waves to distant places as well.
Personally, I would have liked to launch an artificial satellite into the sky.
And surprisingly.
‘......They said it wasn’t actually impossible to launch something similar to a satellite?’
It was not something entirely detached from reality.
-The Legion Commander may not know this, but in the past, there were occasionally missile tests disguised as rocket experiments.
-Huh? Really?
-Yes. They launched a rocket intended to reach space, but the launch failed...... and then, by sheer coincidence, that failed rocket happened to arrive in the waters of another country...... and purely by chance, a vessel capable of recovering the failed rocket was already waiting nearby, or something along those lines.......
-.......
The Legion’s technology had primarily developed around artillery and missiles.
And missile technology directed toward an enemy and rocket technology directed toward space had certain similarities.
-In our case, it is the reverse. Since we possess missile technology, launching a rocket should not be that difficult either.
Thanks to that, they said it was entirely possible to actually launch something as far as the atmosphere.
Well, when I recalled the size of those things attached to Bimana called Giant David or whatever...... it did not seem entirely impossible to launch something into space through sheer physical force without even using a propulsion system.
There were two problems.
One was.......
‘The sky. More precisely, we have not secured the safety of the orbit where an artificial satellite would be positioned.’
Monsters did not exist only in the sea, but in the sky as well.
There were even monsters flying near the boundary between the sky and outer space.
According to everything we had confirmed so far, most of the artificial satellites that had once flown through the sky had already been destroyed by such monsters.
‘At the altitude where Bimana flies, interception would at least be possible...... but even so, that is far too high.’
There was no way to safely protect a satellite against enemies located at that altitude.
Well, that was not the only problem.
It was possible to somehow launch something into space.
But settling what had been launched into an appropriate orbit, predicting its movements, and so on.......
Aerospace technology was an entirely separate field from missile technology, and it was still an area the Legion’s engineers had not reached.
Because of that, the plan to launch an artificial satellite was postponed for the time being.
‘So what we chose instead were relay stations.’
At the very least, the Legion’s ground forces could protect relay stations.
Because radio waves had strong straight-line propagation, they normally could not reach such distant places.
Even with relay stations installed, transmitting radio waves to other regions without an artificial satellite would require relay stations of an enormous scale.......
‘Well, the engineers of the expeditionary forces will work hard and solve that!’
And.
Once we somehow dispatched forces in every direction.
If they connected the relay stations and communication throughout each region became linked through Sergeant Lee Minjae’s mana.
If we joined the awakened in those regions through the connected communications and continued expanding our territory.
Then someday, even real-time communication with the opposite side of the Earth, like what had existed before the destruction, would not be impossible.
***
And so.
The Legion finally left the Korean Peninsula and began advancing into other regions.
And...... while the two combat-class awakened divided and advanced in both directions.
As for the role assigned to me.
‘None!’
There was none.
Even while such an important advance of the Legion was underway.
I did not participate in the operation and remained with the Legion.
In fact, I was not the only one who remained.
Production-class awakened including me, Sergeant Lee Minjae, who had to handle communications from the center, and others.
Several soldiers still remained with the Legion.
‘Well, in my case, it wasn’t necessarily because I was a production class.’
In fact, I had considered joining one of the two sides and advancing with them.
Although I was a production class, it was now difficult to call me extremely weak even as empty flattery.
Since there was no telling what dangers might be lurking, I thought that perhaps I should fight alongside them as well.
But I did not go.
There were two reasons,
‘One is...... because I do not know which side will be more dangerous.’
My sight, having reached the rank of a ‘demigod,’ now extended across the entire world.
But there were still places even that sight of mine could not see.
Places such as the inside of [Gates] were representative examples.
‘And I myself was also a case of hiding from the beings outside with Mirinae’s help.’
Complete divinities would probably be able to discover even hidden beings once the veil opened.
But I was still only near that level.
If an existence deliberately concealed itself, it might be difficult for me to discover it in advance.
Therefore.
‘I will provide support wherever danger occurs.’
The armies departing from here in two different directions.
Naturally, the center of both forces could only be this place, the Korean Peninsula.
The main base responsible for supplies and the main base dispatching reinforcements could only be here.
I decided to remain here so that I could quickly provide support no matter which side encountered trouble.
‘And as it happened...... we had recently acquired a way to quickly provide support wherever a problem occurred.’
And.
The other reason was.
“Whew...... it has been a long time since I came here too.”
After the deal with those demons had ended.
Originally, I too had intended to focus on solving the problems of this land.......
But I had received entirely unexpected new problems.
Therefore.
[423rd Battalion]
After walking up a mountain.
I found an old sign attached near the summit.