WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 117: 117

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The conference room at Northern Theater Command headquarters.

One by one, the staff officers began voicing their opinions.

"We can't stop him with the forces currently deployed along the coast."

"The 80th Group Army in the rear needs more time to arrive!"

"This is an enemy unlike anything we've encountered before. We need to establish new tactics. If this continues, we'll only accumulate needless losses."

"We should withdraw for now and reorganize, Comrade Commander!"

Every staff officer at the Northern Theater Command was calling for a retreat and reorganization.

Their gazes turned toward the figure seated at the head of the conference table.

An elderly man in a rumpled military uniform, with grave eyes. His insignia bore the rank of a three-star general.

He was the commander-in-chief of the Northern Theater Command's 200,000 troops.

"Comrade Commander, please make a decision...!"

The Commander of the Northern Theater Command, Huang Weiguo.

The staff officers urged him to make a decision.

After a moment of consideration, Huang Weiguo slowly nodded.

"Hmm. The staff comrades are right. Until the 80th Group Army completes its assembly, we should withdraw and reorganize for now. Therefore..."

Just as he was about to issue the order to retreat and reorganize...

"That won't do, Comrade Commander!"

Someone interrupted him.

Tsk.

Huang Weiguo frowned in annoyance.

There was only one person who could interrupt the Commander of the Northern Theater Command like that.

"Comrade Political Commissar Li Jingyu."

"He's only one bangzi! Does it make any sense to pull back our forces because we're afraid of one bangzi?"

It was General Li Jingyu, the political commissar.

Unlike Huang Weiguo, an elite soldier, Li Jingyu was an elite of the Party. Li Jingyu was also someone who checked Huang Weiguo's authority at every turn.

Li Jingyu continued.

"How can we retreat because of one mere bangzi? What would the Party think of our Northern Theater Command? We must not retreat. We must fight to the end with an unyielding spirit!"

"But the casualties are too high. And since this is an enemy type we've never faced before, we need to establish new tactics. If we keep throwing forces in recklessly, it'll amount to feeding them in piecemeal. We'll just be tossing him prey. We'd be better off concentrating our forces and overwhelming him all at once..."

"Enough! I will not permit a retreat! The Party leadership is watching this situation! Beijing will not tolerate defeatist thinking that harms morale! If you decide to retreat, I will exercise my veto. Understood?"

Li Jingyu forcefully pressured Huang Weiguo, the Commander of the Northern Theater Command.

At first glance, it was a strange sight. Li Jingyu was interfering with the command authority of the Northern Theater Command's commander-in-chief.

But that was the Chinese military.

The Northern Theater Command did not have a single supreme commander.

There was the commander who moved the military, and the political commissar trusted by the Party. It was a dual leadership system.

So even if the commander was highly capable, the Chinese military would immediately fall apart if the political commissar was incompetent.

Commissar Li Jingyu barked.

"Commander Huang Weiguo. If you keep talking about retreating like a coward... I'll report directly to Beijing! I'm sure Chairman Xi Jinping will be very pleased!"

"..."

"And think about it. That bastard is throwing around all kinds of Unique-grade artifacts without restraint! He'll run out of Points soon enough. Every single one of those attacks must cost at least several thousand, maybe even ten thousand Points... How many more times do you think he can use them?"

"..."

"So we must keep pushing. We can't retreat. We have to drive him out without help from the Central Theater Command, so that we have something to say to the Party!"

Commissar Li Jingyu argued for continuing the attack.

His argument had some merit.

The artifacts Baek Jiho used clearly consumed an enormous number of Points.

So if they continued sending in troops, his Points would eventually be exhausted, leaving him with no choice but to be subdued.

The political commissar's authority.

The pressure of being reported to Beijing.

And an opinion backed by a certain amount of logic.

In the end...

"...I'll follow Comrade Li Jingyu's proposal. Continue the attack."

"You've made the right choice, Commander Huang! If we just kill him, the Party won't punish us too severely! He's the one who destroyed the East Sea Fleet, isn't he?"

"..."

"On the contrary, we'll have dealt with the one the East Sea Fleet failed to catch. We might even receive a favorable evaluation. Hahaha! If things go well, I might even get transferred to the Central Military Commission!"

"..."

Li Jingyu was delighted at the thought of killing Baek Jiho and using the opportunity to increase Li Jingyu's power.

Huang Weiguo watched Li Jingyu with an uneasy expression.

And so the Northern Theater Command continued committing troops.

But they didn't know.

Baek Jiho, that man, would have returned to the Republic of Korea on his own if they had simply stopped sending troops.

Instead, they kept sending forces in, making him stay and continue fighting.

The Chinese military was foolishly feeding in troops piecemeal, prolonging a battle it never needed to fight.

* * *

KWA-AAAANG!

A blue trail streaked through the air and blew up an armored vehicle.

Tsk. I clicked my tongue and muttered.

"These Chink bastards. They really just keep coming without end."

I looked down at the scene below with fed-up eyes.

The wreckage of burning armored vehicles, fallen attack helicopters, missile fragments scattered everywhere.

Thick smoke rose into the sky.

Fires burning all over the place drove back the darkness.

It was the devastation I'd caused.

I'd ground down the enemy forces that came charging in before I could go home.

Of course, dealing with them was easy.

I just had to fly through the sky, blast Railguns, drop Fireballs, and unleash Storms.

Attack helicopters and armored vehicles exploded one after another, so I could wipe them out without much trouble.

What I was sick of was China's sheer numbers.

Why the hell were armored vehicles and attack helicopters pouring in without end...?

Rumble...

Dust billowed up from the north, accompanied by the rumble of treads bearing down on the ground.

New enemies had appeared again.

This time, they had not only armored vehicles, but tanks and anti-aircraft guns as well.

As time passed, the scale of the Chinese forces showing up kept growing.

I screeched.

"You insane Chink bastards! Stop sending your army after me! Let me go home already!!!"

-Iing?

"Iing Iing, remember this. The Extreme Lunatic Hell Longbow Apache doesn't go home with enemies in front of him. A wound on the back is a swordsman's shame."

-Iing!

"But they're seriously sending troops with no end in sight. I was originally going to wreak a little havoc and head home."

Whenever I wiped out one enemy unit and tried to go home, another appeared.

When I wiped that one out, another appeared.

When I thought things had finally quieted down, fighter jets came flying in.

When I thought it was really over, self-propelled artillery shells came raining down from afar.

In fact, it was happening even now.

KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAANG!

Rumble...!

Self-propelled artillery fire from the distance began turning the ground into a wasteland.

Why were they firing self-propelled artillery?

I was in the sky.

Still, I couldn't let the insolent bastards who dared fire shells at me off the hook.

I'd have to deal with the artillery unit later.

Anyway.

I couldn't help realizing something.

"Is this the continent's sheer numbers? Human wave tactics? Ah...! Ancestors of the Korean people! I respect you! You held back this kind of force for thousands of years!"

Was this how our ancestors felt when they faced the Chinese army's swarming numbers during the Korean War?

Was this how Goguryeo soldiers felt when they faced Sui's million-strong army?

It was truly an absurd, maddening amount of troops.

"The continent. What an amazing place. Don't those bastards value human lives at all? Why do they keep shoving people in when they know they'll die?"

There were so many coming that I stopped counting the troops I'd taken out halfway through.

I'd probably smashed at least a thousand armored vehicles.

A sigh escaped me.

"I've definitely burned through a ton of mana."

I gauged the amount of mana in my body.

Then...

"...Huh?"

I couldn't help feeling a little flustered.

The amount of Blue Motes nestled in my heart had decreased quite a lot.

'What the hell? I only have enough left for around 1,000 Fireballs? When did I use this much mana?!'

Mana equivalent to 4,000 Fireballs, which had originally been the capacity of my mana pool.

A mana reserve as vast as the sea, sea, sea!

It had somehow plummeted to 25%!!!

Well, it was only natural.

I'd been firing off magic nonstop since dawn.

I'd fired Railguns, unleashed Storms, thrown Fireballs, and even dropped Super-Fireballs.

I'd destroyed fleets, brought down planes, crushed armored units, and blocked bullets pouring in from every direction.

It had been a battle where mana had no choice but to drain away.

It took a truly enormous amount of mana to handle those insane numbers.

And I'd been fighting like that for hours.

Even my seemingly endless mana was starting to show its limits.

Tsk.

I furrowed my brow.

"Am I reaching my limit now...? Do I really have to go home?"

-Iing...

"Iing Iing. Looks like even I can't go head-to-head with a whole country. The mana limit is rough."

As expected of the continent.

It was a terrifying country.

It had forced me to spend so much mana through sheer numbers alone.

Was facing an entire nation's military still too much for me, no matter how strong I was?

As long as I was constrained by my total mana...

Was I ultimately just one individual who couldn't defeat a group...?

Sob!

A wave of sorrow washed over me.

"I thought I'd gotten pretty strong... but I still haven't become a National Power-Level Hunter!"

It had been forty-two days since I'd become a Hunter.

During that time, I'd met countless people.

My master and Senior Uncles from the Goblin Sect, who taught me magic on the Tutorial Floor and Floor 10.

The Orc Shaman, the first powerful enemy I'd faced.

The Black Mages, followers of the fake church who believed in and followed me.

My noona, who had supported me in every way.

Han Seonga, the incompetent but pretty National Intelligence Service agent.

Na Hyeji, the button-clicking freeloading porter.

And even cute, adorable, lovable Iing Iing.

Thanks to all their support and effort, I had overcome every hardship as the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter, growing and improving along the way.

They had made sacrifices for me, who would someday become a National Power-Level Hunter.

But.

I.

Still.

Had not.

Become a National Power-Level Hunter.

Still!!!

Still!!!

"It's been a whole forty-two days since I became the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter... and I still haven't reached National Power-Level Hunter status...! Was my talent actually nothing special? Was I... just an ordinary man after all?! Heavens! Primordial Heavenly Venerable!!!"

-Iing Iing...

Pat, pat.

Iing Iing comforted me as I despaired.

Thanks, Iing Iing.

You're the only one I have.

Anyway, after throwing a goddamn shit fit for a while, I sheepishly got to my feet.

Hmm.

No matter how strong I was, it seemed I still couldn't beat a country.

I'd gained confidence from winning battle after battle, but the difference in weight class between one person and a country was just too great.

There had to be limits.

'Well... it can't be helped. Let's just run for it.'

I only had 25% mana left.

And honestly, I felt like I'd sufficiently achieved my goal of revenge and a show of force.

It was probably fine to head back now.

Of course, leaving while Chinese forces were still pouring in would hurt my pride a little.

But it couldn't be helped.

I'm Baek Jiho.

A man who gives up quickly.

When I see a losing position, I'm the kind of man who surrenders without regret and queues for the next game.

No matter how strong I was, now that I'd realized my total mana was too low to stand against a country, I should give up and go home.

"Let's go, Iing Iing."

-Iing Iing.

Fwoosh.

Using Iing Iing's telekinetic flight, I was just about to return east.

Then, suddenly.

A thought flashed through my head.

'Wait a second. Can't I get more mana?'

What came to mind was the High Black Mage I'd seen on Tower Floor 39.

It had used the Earth-Piercing Life-Sucking Technique to kill the land and pollute the environment.

It stole all the mana in a certain area, converted it into black mana, and turned it into a place where people couldn't live.

It polluted the environment and sucked up the mana of the land.

That was why it was called...

The magic that kills the continent.

And where I was now was none other than...

The continent.

I muttered quietly.

"The eco-friendly Hunter service is over...!"

In its place...

The self-styled environment-wrecking "Chink Hunter," Baek Jiho, is coming!

I raised my staff.

Footnotes:

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