The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 415



Only Noblemtl

Episode 415

#415. I guess I joined for nothing.

BEXCO, Central Command Center.

The command center was conducting a defensive battle by setting up a situation room under the leadership of the Fighting Father Guild.

Operators quickly relayed reports from each front to their superiors.

Since the entire coastline of Busan was a front line, real-time situation reports poured in like a flood, making the situation room resemble a flea market.

Ki Seung-il, the leader of the strategy team of the Fighting Father Guild who was now in charge of the command center, felt a bitter taste in his mouth just from responding to the reports that came in and issuing orders.

There was no way he, a hunter, could be this tired. It felt like he was under a lot of mental stress.

“The situation at Gwang-An General Hospital has been lifted. The 2nd Squadron of the Fighting Faction has been moved to the operational area. One helicopter was damaged, but the pilot and copilot were safely rescued. There were two light casualties among the attackers. They will be put into operation immediately after being treated with potions.”

Ki Seung-il looked around after hearing the operator’s report. He saw Kang Mu-hyeok drinking coffee mix. Feeling his gaze, Kang Mu-hyeok held up a paper cup and said.

“Would you like a drink?”

“It’s okay. I just don’t like sweet things.”

“I don’t like it either. But right now, we need the party.”

Kang Mu-hyeok said, tapping his head. He had not been eating properly, so he was controlling his empty stomach with coffee.

Because so many annoying things kept happening to me, I felt like my brain would shut off if there wasn’t sugar in my coffee.

“It looks like the captain’s side is showing. It’s still green. That’s fortunate.”

At Kang Mu-hyeok’s words, Ki Seung-il turned his head back to the large tactical monitor installed on the wall.

A map of Busan was displayed on the monitor. The names of guilds and hunters in charge of coastal areas were displayed here and there, and the status of the front lines was expressed in color.

Dominant is green, balanced is yellow, and underdog is red.

Most of the front lines were painted green, but places where many Nagas had attacked, such as Haeundae and Gwangalli, were still painted yellow.

Occasionally, there would be wires that would suddenly turn red, like the hospital incident a little while ago, and there would be cases where the Nagas would sneak underwater through the sea and force their way through the wires.

‘Fortunately, we were able to turn around and block the moving attack force, but the front line that was supporting us almost ended up in danger. That was resolved by Captain Kang Mu-hyeok’s talent for turning it around.’

Instead of the 2nd attack force that was going to provide support, the guilds that were guarding their original areas of responsibility but had not yet been deployed to the coastal front were organized into a reserve force.

This was a problem that couldn’t be solved in one breath without knowing exactly which guild was in charge nearby, what their equipment was, and the level and number of their hunters.

‘Is this what Lady Bugil meant when she said it would be useful if you trusted and used it?’

I don’t know what Goyohan meant when he added that he should treat Kang Muhyeok well, but Ki Seungil definitely evaluated him as a helpful man.

As the entire coastal front regained stability, Ki Seung-il took a deep breath and asked Kang Mu-hyeok something he had been curious about for a while.

“Do you really know the entire Busan defense plan by heart?”

“yes.”

Kang Moo-hyuk answered without taking his eyes off the tactical monitor.

Ki Seung-il looked at the man with surprised eyes as he answered as if it was nothing and asked the question again.

“The metropolitan area… and why is the guild located in Bukpocheon in Busan…?”

“It’s convenient if you know. Just like now.”

Is it that convenient to have so many things? It seems like it will be more uncomfortable to memorize them?

“I find it easy to memorize things.”

Kang Mu-hyeok added, as if he had just come out of Ki Seung-il’s mind.

Ki Seung-il bit his lips to satisfy another curiosity.

“Do you have any conversation with our Lady Bugil?”

“I see, that’s what happened.”

The operator shouted at the same time as Kang Mu-hyeok muttered.

“Gwangalli Line, Red Line!”

Ki Seung-il stopped talking and checked the monitor. The Gwangalli area was highlighted in deep red.

“What exactly is the situation?!”

“Just a moment… I’m going to report now… … .”

The expression on the operator’s face turned pale as he took notes on the report coming in through the headset. Feeling ominous, Ki Seung-il urged him.

“Report!”

“Number, number, swimming only… A large Naga force is moving only to swimming.”

“How many people are coming in such a large number? Tell me clearly.”

“Impossible to measure. It filled the whole world!”

“!!”

Ki Seung-il gritted his teeth.

‘Even after attacking the entire city of Busan, there are still this many people? How many people are out there?’

The number of Nagas wasn’t the problem.

Suyeong Bay, which is connected to the sea, is connected to Suyeong River. Suyeong River leads to Hoedong Reservoir in northern Busan.

Along with the outgoing Muluk, it was a rare monster that could move both on and off water. As long as there was water, it would make the area around it its territory.

If a group of Nagas, riding on swimming boats, had reached the Hoedong Reservoir, the damage to the citizens of Busan would have been uncontrollable.

“Swimming will be fine.”

Kang Mu-hyeok came and said.

“What does that mean?”

“I think we should be more concerned about the command center here.”

“Here?”

Before Kang Mu-hyeok could answer Ki Seung-il’s question, the operator provided new information.

“We have taken control of the swimming bridge and the swimming bridge 2! The defense party is retreating!”

Ki Seung-il tilted his head, saying it was strange.

What could possibly happen if Nagaga takes over both of his legs?

Kang Moo-hyuk gave the answer to that.

“They will attack the command post.”

“You’re attacking this place?”

“They also realized that this was the center of the defense line. It was like a special force that would bypass and hit the enemy’s heads.”

“That’s ridiculous. How could a monster think of something like that…?”

“You know what? You never know what monsters and gates might do. Now the absurd has become a reality.”

It was a saying that every hunter would know.

Ki Seung-il blushed when someone other than a hunter pointed that out.

Kang Moo-hyuk went closer to the monitor and continued speaking while examining the wires.

“From the very first attack, it was so systematic that I was suspicious. They targeted hospitals, and they moved around as if they were trying to find a weak point. In particular, they were suspicious of concentrating their forces on open areas that were difficult to defend, and of trying to penetrate areas where people were crowded and where evacuation was difficult. In addition, during the first attack, the Nagas who came ashore scattered in all directions and made a fuss, which reminded me of guerrilla tactics.”

After hearing Kang Mu-hyeok’s explanation, Ki Seung-il was finally able to realize that the preceding situations were strange.

As the strategy team leader of the Tier Guild, he had experience with numerous gates and raids and was able to immediately come up with an answer based on Kang Mu-hyeok’s analysis.

“Does that mean there is a leader who rules over all these large-scale Nagas? And one with advanced intelligence that can deploy such tactics?!”

“With this many, he’s not just a simple leader. Roughly speaking… I guess we should call him ‘King of Nagas.’”

Ki Seung-il was terrified by the word king. As a seasoned hunter, he knew how dangerous it would be if a king appeared among monsters.

Especially in the case of sea monsters, it was not simply a matter of danger; it was a matter of a nation’s survival.

‘It is even more fatal for a country like Korea that lives off of trade.’

Kang Mu-hyeok woke up Ki Seung-il, who was distracted by something else.

“Let’s think about what happens next later. Let’s take care of this first.”

Ki Seung-il suddenly came to his senses.

“Defend BEXCO!”

“Yes. We have to stop this attack first before we can have another one.”

“There aren’t many troops here… No, there are some.”

New recruits who are just starting out as hunters.

Hunters who entered the second draft market were waiting inside the BEXCO event hall.

“We’re hastily taking stock from the weapons depot, but it’s not enough to arm everyone.”

“We lack experience and skill. Especially in large-scale monster battles. We’ll probably collapse as soon as we go out there.”

“Then, retreat?”

“No. I will intercept it.”

“Interception? Didn’t Captain Kang just say that the new recruits would collapse right away?”

“The hunters here must of course be prepared to fight, but they are not the main force.”

“The main force… is separate?”

“When we set up the defense line earlier, we placed the guilds around Bexco. We will move them and launch a battle of annihilation.”

Kang Moo-hyuk approached the large monitor and asked the operator to zoom in on the map around BEXCO.

“There are guild forces on standby as reserves at the department store at Centum City Station right after crossing Suyeong Bridge, the middle and high school near Suyeong 2 Bridge, the subway station behind BEXCO, the city art museum, and the shopping mall to the north. They are not large guilds, but they are small and medium-sized guilds with good skills.”

Ki Seung-il was surprised.

When did you start arranging those guilds?

Because I was so focused on the coastal front, I didn’t realize that guilds were being deployed in other areas. However, Kang Mu-hyeok had already anticipated this situation and prepared for it.

Ki Seung-il felt goosebumps all over again.

‘It turns out those guys who went to the integrated engineering school weren’t talking nonsense. It was Kang Mu-hyeok who came up with the engineering school raid tactics, and Seong Seon-je approved them without any objection… It turns out that it wasn’t a trick to hide their tactics from Slayer, but the truth.’

Everyone in the situation room was thinking similarly to Ki Seung-il.

Although there was a strategy team leader for the Tier Guild, the one who controlled this situation room was Kang Mu-hyeok.

The fact that Kang Mu-hyeok was an ordinary person was not a problem to them at all.

“Set up a defensive line with available troops in the parking lot in front of BEXCO 1st venue. If you hold out for a little while, hunters from department stores, schools, history museums, art galleries, and shopping malls will surround you.”

As Kang Moo-hyuk touched each location on the screen, the operator cleverly marked them on the map. An arrow was drawn from the marked location to BEXCO, and this turned into a siege net where buildings and hunters completely blocked the path.

Kang Moo-hyuk said, knocking on the center of the encirclement.

“It helps that Nagai is so smart at times like this.”

“Help?”

“Yes. If we had just followed the waterway as we were doing, many people would have died. Fortunately, they targeted us, so I am grateful.”

“iced coffee?”

Kang Mu-hyeok looked at the map.

“Those who came up here without even knowing that the land is human territory. I will not send back even one of them.”

* * *

“Run! You slowpokes! You’re going to catch monsters just by walking around like that! It’d be faster to watch the monsters catch you!”

“Are you guys cowards? Are you frozen?! ​​Aren’t you moving briskly?!”

“There’s nowhere to run anyway. Fight or give in. It’s one of the two!”

The hunters from each guild that remained in BEXCO began to harass the new hunters as soon as Ki Seung-il’s order was given.

Ki Seung-il’s order was simple: to prepare for battle by any means necessary.

Although there was a shortage of weapons and equipment, thanks to the distribution of equipment worn by each hunter, such as a sword, shield, dagger, and spear, commonly referred to as a hunting full set, everyone was able to somehow bear arms.

Instead, armor and shields were mainly distributed to tanks on the front lines.

Hangaram was also present at BEXCO, which was suddenly busy preparing for battle.

He had cold sweat on his back and blood running from his ears because the constant sound of curses was coming from both ears.

“Where did you get the momentum when you were receiving the captain’s blessing, you brat?! Have you come to your senses? This is a waste of time after pulling it out? Aren’t you going to die before you even have the initiation ceremony?!”

“Are you spreading rumors that you’re an E-rank, you little E-kid?! Can’t you wear your gear properly?! Get into position before I kick your butt!”

Noh Song-rin and Seo Dae-chi, who were known to be the most annoying people in the guild, were pushing the already crazy Han Garam even harder.

Hangaram’s head was filled with regret.

‘I guess I joined here for nothing.’