WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 148: Holy Nuclear Explosion
──────
The National Weather Center of the Korea Meteorological Administration in Dongjak District, Seoul.
The observation room was as quiet as usual at dawn.
The National Weather Center also monitored seismic waves and weather conditions in North Korea. It was also a place that commonly observed nuclear tests.
Beeeeeeep!
Then a sharp alarm tore through the silence.
"W-What is that?!"
"Team leader! Seismic waves!"
"Where from?!"
"North Korea! The northern interior! We're analyzing the coordinates now! This isn't natural!"
Waveforms spiked across the screen.
The amplitude was changing far too abruptly for a natural earthquake.
Signals caught almost simultaneously by several observation stations all pointed to a single location.
"The epicenter is..."
The analyst stopped speaking.
"Isn't this... a North Korean missile base?"
"It's Yongrim Missile Base."
When artificial seismic waves were detected in North Korea, they usually came from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
But these waves were far from Punggye-ri.
"T-There may have been an artificial earthquake. We'll calculate the magnitude!"
"Don't tell me what may have happened, find out what caused it! Pull up data from every nearby observation station! Notify the military and the National Intelligence Service too!"
Phones began ringing one after another.
At the same time.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff command and control center had been busy for some time already.
"Confirmed! The silos at Yongrim Missile Base have opened! We've detected signs of a ballistic missile launch!"
"What the hell are those bastards doing all of a sudden?!"
Reconnaissance satellites that monitored North Korea around the clock were scrambling to track the sudden opening of the silos at Yongrim Missile Base.
Signs of war?
But there were no movements from other North Korean military units.
Everyone in the military high command knew there was a North Korean missile base at Yongrim.
They also knew that the base housed intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Those silos opening meant the beginning of nuclear war.
That meant all-out war, so why were North Korean units not moving?
Then the observer monitoring Yongrim Base gave a report with a stunned expression.
"An abnormal heat signature has been detected at Yongrim Base in North Korea!"
"A heat signature? If they're preparing to launch missiles..."
The Chief of Staff went pale when he saw the screen.
A mushroom cloud.
A mushroom cloud was rising over Yongrim.
"...It's a nuclear explosion, right?"
"For now... yes."
Had they suddenly opened the missile silos only to blow themselves up?
"Report to the presidential office and the National Security Office immediately. Prepare to raise the situation to a national security crisis level!"
"What in the world is happening?"
"How the hell should I know?! We can only hope those Red bastards tried to launch nukes and blew up their own base!"
What on earth was happening in North Korea?
* * *
Yohan's consecration ability operated on an entirely different level.
He was the descendant of Solomon whom God had sent to this land, one who devoured demons and kept them as slaves.
He was one who had descended as God's Chariot.
He stood alongside an entity that acted as God's strength.
Thus, he was one whose power wrought miracles.
What happened when something received Yohan's sincere consecration?
When he had created countless holy relics in preparation for the Kyoto Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, the weapons that underwent sacred relic transformation had wrought miracles.
A powerful effect against evil?
That did not begin to describe it.
Weapons transformed into sacred relics annihilated only evil.
Only evil.
They ignored every ordinary law of physics, including blast effects and secondary damage.
Only evil.
Objects and terrain, however, were not among what they protected.
The first explosion.
When the sacred nuclear missile exploded, its blast swept over the demons.
The force of the explosion wiped out the entire base, destroying all eight nuclear missiles that had been preparing to launch.
Then radiation spread through the valley and village where the base had stood.
It was holy radiation.
"Cough! Cough! Good grief..."
I brushed the dust from the explosion off myself and looked around.
Everything had been blown away cleanly.
The surrounding area had literally crumbled into dust and scattered. It made me wonder if this was really the power of a nuclear bomb.
"Was it lucky because it was too powerful? If it had been middling in power, we might've been buried under collapsed buildings and died."
The holy nuke's power was incredible.
It had literally smashed both demons to pieces in a single strike.
"Welcome to the ring, Slave No. 7 and Slave No. 26."
The eyes opened within the brass ring twitched.
I could practically feel their rage and bitterness.
"Got it? This is why you don't screw around with nukes anymore."
Pffft!
"Oh, Gari! You're all right after all?"
Cough! Cough!
So Gari could cough in all this dust too.
Gari might look fierce, but there was something human about them.
"Everyone! Are you all right? Raise your hand if you're alive!"
"I-I'm alive."
【Po...】
"You actually set off a nuclear bomb... If my lord had been born during the Japanese occupation, my lord would've dropped one on Tokyo."
"Heh heh... Is that all? Our lord is destined to become the Kirishitan Tennō..."
Okay. Everyone was alive.
It had been a desperate move, but the holy nuke had definitely erased only evil.
After making sure everyone was safe, I leaped to the entrance of the base and looked over the village.
"Wow... It got completely wiped out."
Crack! Crack!
The village had vanished without a trace.
The villagers had all been monsters anyway, so there should not have been any human casualties. The problem was the radiation from the nuke...
"It should be fine, right? We're all okay."
If we had been exposed to radiation, there was no way we would still be alive.
The radiation must have been holy radiation too.
I looked at the mushroom cloud still rising into the sky.
For all I knew, North Korean authorities would come swarming in soon.
"Everyone! Let's get out of here!"
First, we had to escape North Korea.
* * *
One week after the Yongrim nuclear explosion, North Korean investigators approached in protective suits.
"What... what in the world happened here?"
"Even the surrounding village has been swept away. The valley has been half buried by landslides."
Yongrim Base and the surrounding area had become a wasteland.
It was fortunate that the missile base had been hidden underground deep within the valley. If the explosion had happened on open ground, the disaster would have been far worse.
"What are the radiation levels?"
"...Normal. Low enough that we could take off our protective suits and walk around without any problem."
"Does that make any sense? There were nine nuclear missiles stored at Yongrim! They all exploded, so how can the radiation levels be normal?!"
Major Park Cheolmin, the leader of the investigation team, did not trust the Geiger counter that showed normal readings.
It was Republic-made equipment. Maybe it was broken.
How could radiation levels be normal after so many nukes had exploded?
"The valley is a mess, so let's cross over the mountainside."
"But aren't they lending us a helicopter? How are we supposed to cross this?"
"If the helicopter breaks down from radiation exposure, who's taking responsibility?"
Then what about people?
The subordinate soldiers did not ask such an obvious question.
In the Republic, people were the cheapest thing there was.
Wearing their heavy protective suits, they barely managed to cross the mountainside and reach the missile base.
Ground zero of the nuclear explosion.
There would be nothing at the missile base, erased from the map, except collapsed ground and melted concrete structures.
Come to think of it, the higher-ups had said something strange.
For a site where a nuclear explosion had occurred, it was far too clean.
Something that should never have been found had been found.
They did not know what the higher-ups had seen, but they were lab rats.
Experimental mice sent in because it did not matter if they died.
Still, when the Party gave an order, all they could do was obey.
After barely detouring around the collapsed valley and reaching the missile base, they found something they had never expected.
"W-What is this?"
What they saw was a grassy field.
Not a blackened wasteland, but a field spreading with green.
No, it was more than grass having grown.
Wildflowers of unknown names bloomed among weeds that reached their knees, while moss filled the cracks between the rocks.
The ground that should have melted like glass in the heat of the blast was covered in black, rich soil.
And beneath their feet, a bug crawled out.
Behind it marched a colony of ants.
"This is impossible..."
Major Park Cheolmin unconsciously stepped back.
This was land where a nuclear explosion had occurred.
It should have been contaminated by radiation, land where even approaching should have been forbidden.
The blast had flattened the entire area, and only one week had passed.
Yet nature was flourishing like this?
It was as if the nuclear explosion had blessed nature.
At that astonishing sight, Park Cheolmin took off the helmet of their protective suit.
"Comrade Major! You can't! The residual radiation...?!"
After removing their helmet, they took a deep breath and inhaled the air of restored nature.
Unlike other North Korean mountains left bare, the air was so clean and clear that it even felt holy.
Tears ran from their eyes.
* * *
After the nuclear explosion, we escaped North Korea through a week-long trek.
Getting everyone together had been the difficult part. There hadn't been much danger otherwise.
North Korea itself seemed to be in complete disarray over the nuclear explosion on its own soil.
After regrouping, we returned to South Korea in secret through the Exorcist Network.
"Man, that was rough! Everyone, eat something good and get plenty of rest for a while!"
We had stopped nuclear missiles from launching.
Maybe not a world war, but we had prevented a war between North and South Korea.
I parted with Pastor Park and spoke with Father Falkenstein as well.
"Are you returning right away, Father?"
"Hmm. I believe I'll remain in Korea for a while."
In Korea? What would a Vatican Inquisitor do here?
"The demons are currently plotting around Brother Yohan. Wouldn't it be more efficient to stay in Korea and hunt them?"
"That makes sense. If the police surround you or you get into an awkward situation, contact me. I'll teleport you out."
"Ha ha. That is certainly something to look forward to. Ah, and..."
Father Falkenstein rummaged through his clothes, took something out, and handed it to me.
"Uh, isn't this Helena's Holy Nail? Why are you giving this to me...?"
"I thought you would need it more than I would, Brother."
"No, this is a holy relic. Can you really just give it away like this...?"
"I have already received permission from Cardinal Rosinald. Someday, we will try to take out the Iron Crown as well."
Could national-treasure-level artifacts really be taken out so easily?
"Brother Yohan, I heard you recovered Pastor Kim's collection."
"Yes. Ah, do I need to return it?"
There were several Christian holy relics among the Pastor Kim Collection.
Those treasures did not seem like private collectibles. Shouldn't they be kept in a museum?
"That is not what I mean. Among his relics, there should have been a spear. Have you seen it?"
There had been several spears, but I thought I knew which one he meant.
"Longinus' Spear?"
"Yes."
I recalled the Pastor Kim Collection.
As far as I knew, Longinus' Spear had not been on the list I organized.
"No, it wasn't there. Wasn't it at the Vatican?"
"...Strange. I heard it directly from him. He said that during a struggle with the Nazis, he found Longinus' Spear that Hitler had hidden away."
Why were Nazis and Hitler suddenly coming up here?
"Hmm... It seems part of his collection is still hidden. I will look for it."
I was starting to get scared.
Pastor Kim, what exactly had you been doing when you were alive?
Anyway, I also parted with Father Falkenstein and the Inquisitors.
Well, rather than parting with them, I guided them to Yurim Hotel.
Their wounds should heal if they recuperated in the Holy Vein Hot Springs.
I should check myself into the hot springs again soon.
But before that, I had something to do.
"My slaves. Let's see what kind of magic you can use."
Future Sight.
Subspace Consecration.
It was time to test the powers of my new slaves.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
