Chapter 80: Deadly Jaehwang
“It’s a rank four monster wave warning!” One of the guards had shouted.
The employees of the service office rushed out of their rooms to look at the warning broadcast.
“Four… Rank four? That’s bad news!”
“Quickly, get moving! If it’s a rank four then we have to be prepared!” One of them yelled.
“The people that are using the gate can guard it! The hunters inside can protect everything in there! For those who were outside, prepare our vehicles!”
“And don’t push and shove while trying to get around!”
They got everything in order and even after what they had said, people still flocked into the gate to save themselves. Jaehwang left a little earlier and he went around to ask the nearby guard if they got the situation under control.
They then gave him a bit of information so he could understand the situation a bit more. Jaehwang then asked, “How are you going to do that?”
He replied back as he looked at Jaehwang’s clothes which were drenched with sweat. “An unconfirmed Oak Army had appeared 40 kilometers northeast from the Justin point branch.”
“Oaks? What about the scout platoons?”
“Until then I still need to…”
-The estimated number is 5,000! It’s 5,000! We’ll be changing its previous rank to five.
A voice rang through the headset and the man that talked to Jaehwang turned pale.
“It’s rank five… Darn it!”
He started to panic and Jaehwang was taken aback since a fifth rank monster could cause a national disaster. He realized that there was no time to waste so he took out his smartphone and called Joonghwi.
He turned on the phone. It rang a few times as he continued to walk faster.
-What is it?
-Are you checking in?
It didn’t take long for him to answer. Although he was discharged from the military alone, he wanted to check and see if they were alive before he left.
He followed the Alousu immigrant training evacuation manual and Jaehwang walked out of the entrance gate. He prepared to quickly move through the entrance and he saw all the hunters gathering on one side of the office. He thought that maybe they were all under the nation mobilization order.
Their faces looked tensed and irritated. The officer checked all of their hunter licenses and their IDs. He then gave them their card termination date and registered them as participants.
-Rank two Hybrid hunter Jeon Jaehwang… You are not a summoned candidate.
He got Jaehwang’s license card termination date and looked at him with a surprised face. He was a level two hybrid hunter but he wasn’t a summoned candidate. It was something that he didn’t understand.
“There’s a reason for that but I just need to ride the bus to get somewhere.”
“Ah… I understand.” He gave him a nod. He knew that Justin point needed every hunter that they could give.
It wasn’t long before they made their way towards Justin point along with the other hunters that got on. One of the service men then talked to him.
-There’s about 5,000 Oaks marching 35 kilometers away from the branch base.
They eventually got to the fortress and they were divided to play a role in their overall strategy. Ten minutes have passed and they were only now five kilometers away from their base. Jaehwang immediately got off and ran out of the parking lot.
The platoon members were inspecting their equipment. Joonghwi saw Jaehwang and he opened his mouth in surprise. They just said their farewells a while ago but now he’s back with them once more.
“What’s going on?”
“Jaehwang,You’re back again.”
“I heard the news of the wave and came as soon as I could. But, why didn’t you answer your phone?” Jaehwang asked and Joonghwi and the platoon members broke out with a laugh.
“They went through the border and every servicepersons’ cord came undone. These guys…”
“I see.” Jaehwang replied. “What’s going on?”
Jaewhang asked and Joonghwi’s face got stiff. “It’s not good. The contrast is undone and the troops appeared out of nowhere. They appeared from the northeast side but they shouldn’t be there. There’s estimated to be 5,000 of them but it looks like there was much more than that. They are everywhere, big and small, they’re rallying together.”
Jaehwang’s face had turned cold. “It’s surprising. Haha… But we’ll take care of it. I’ve dealt with situations much more serious than this in the past. The mobilization order had been done so I came back again so let’s get going. They would work as an independent platoon and if there’s no one to serve as a middleman then we would be at a disadvantage. Our luck is not that bad but even if we went out early everyday, I doubt that we would see anything like this.
Joonghwi felt sorry that Jaehwang still helped them even after he was exempted and even though it was his choice to come back. He was smiling but Jaehwang could still feel his anxiety.
“Do you really think that everything would be okay?” One of the platoon members asked.
“Yes. So, let’s get moving. Let’s leave and install the walls.” Joonghwi said and everyone got to work.
Jaehwang could tell that the platoon members were nervous. It was a risky task but they had to do something. He didn’t mention how many sacrifices would come along the way.
“How will we do the platoon arrangements? Will we send a message from above?” One of them inquired.
“It seems like we’ll grab a mercury strand first. We’ll listen and the oaks won’t see the siege lumber that we’re gonna use. It’ll be hard to find big trees in this neighborhood but there’s a big machine gun in the military bus that we could rely on. The base outside the military bus is surrounded and so a shield would be formed. That should be enough of a distance where everyone could fight off the oaks without having too much casualties.”
“Got it” They all gave him a nod.
Justin point was surrounded with a barrier, they were told where the weapons were located and went on with the plan. There was an earthen anti aircraft gun in each strategic point of the defense. There were a lot of excellent 30mm Gatling machine guns but if they fired all at once, it could result into a crossfire. The platoon then decided to make do what they have on the bus to make their gun more powerful compared to the others.
They went through their stocked supplies. They had a lot even though their support had been at its lowest for the past ten years. They were just doing fine even if there were hunters everywhere and when they had assembled, there were over 5,000 of them.
The platoon soon left off of the parking ramp. They tried to relax but they could barely even think straight. Even if fighting that monster didn’t help them level up, they had to hunt every last one of them. They were still had a long way towards the base’s shield and if they begin their attack, they would have to take something as a souvenir even if there would be no treasure left to be found.
Jaehwang headed towards the store. He was short on consumable supplements and needed to get more. If he was in the servicepersons’ position then he could go to an exclusive dissemination store but he had to go to a civilian store since he was out of time.
“The situation is really bad. Everyone needs to evacuate if possible!” He heard a dry voice that stopped him in his tracks.
“Yes. we need a minimum of twenty flags. The information actually said that 20 wasn’t enough but if there was more than that then the Oak leader would have to command them. There’s a lot of them… It’s been the best turnout in ten years. If it becomes long-term then…”
He came close enough where he could see his face. He was wearing a hat and he looked to be in his early 40s along with his shabby shield. There was the voice of a woman coming out of the phone he was talking on. There was a big action cam on his right shoulder and he had another camera in his right hand.
“Okay. I don’t bother being in Justin point but it’s just that you’re so far away. Come through the gate. Okay. Okay…. Does it sound like I’m speaking nonsense? I’m super stressed out here too. Has the patrol platoon been arranged? The oak leader gave the okay and the oak fighter is also there but there’s a barrier.”
Jaehwang then walked up to the guy on the phone. “What are you talking about?”
“Huh? Uh.. I don’t know what you’re talking about!” The guy replied.
He saw Jaehwang’s clothes and then Jaehwang asked him another question saying, “The walls are being built right now?”
He was avoiding eye contact when Jaehwang asked him. He then said goodbye to the lady on the phone, he hung up and said, “Why are you asking me this?”
He looked glared at Jaehwang. He wasn’t saying anything ridiculous, he had no reason to explain anything to him but the urgency of the situation made him reconsider.
Jaehwang just stared at him without saying anything else. He could feel his heart beating and he couldn’t avoid Jaehwang’s stare. He soon started to quiver. He was like a predator being exposed to have the heart of a herbivore. “I…I’ll tell you. Th… This is a little….”
Jaehwang continued to keep his eyes on him. His heart continued to pound and he spoke once again. “What do you want to know?”
“What kind of skills can you expect from the Oaks?” Jaehwang asked, he thought about it for a little while and then answered.
“Uhh. Well, this is difficult so they know to it associate with the hunters… But I’ve been a BJ in Justin point for over ten years but I heard that this oak situation was unusual.”
“Unusual?”
“There’s 20 flags. Don’t you know what that means? A flag is a strength multiplier and the Oak’s basic strength starts with 500.
Jaehwang did some quick calculations and answered, “So they could be ten thousand strong?”
“Yes. But I don’t know exactly…Ah, I got it.” Jaehwang gave him a confused look so he followed, “Just as you said, there could be 10,000. The problem is that now the patrol platoon can’t be contacted to help with the attack. They won’t know that it’s surely a wide range of troops. Like the drones that can’t float on earth and the radio we depend on here for hunter information.”
“I see.” Jaehwang tightly gathered his hand into a fist thinking about there could be more of them. It was a simple doubled difference. Their machine guns won’t be enough to take them and he wasn’t done talking yet.
“Besides, the biggest problem is the Oaks on the northeast side. As you know, there weren’t any oaks on that side. So what’s going on? They went there to form an expedition on the Drakus’ land and made it their new land. But the worst thing is…”
Draku… One of the three tribes that ruled the Alousu. Although the three tribes are said to be weak, they are one of the ancient tribes still living today and they are said to be a mysterious kind. Their closure exchange with humans never happened. Maybe if everything worked out before then…
“10,000 Oaks and Drakus is something that’s never happened before.” Jaehwang finished his sentence.
“Yes. and were lucky to have that many come to Justin point… Maybe if we worked together and rush towards the gate then Justin point wouldn’t be isolated. It had a large shield but isolation is its greatest weakness.”
He finished talking and Jaehwang realized that his palms were sweating. Listening to him talk made it felt as if it was a war.
“Thank you for the helpful information.” Jaehwang got the fourth tier energy from the shop and ran out.
“Wait!” He suddenly got what he needed and rushed out. He tried to tell him something before he left but Jaehwang just continued to run.
There were a few stores that appeared down the alleyways and he went into one of them. The door clicked as he walked in and he grabbed his phone. He heard a loud voice of someone that saw him and he hung it up immediately.
“Oh… Today’s deal…” The employee was about to speak but she was interrupted.
“I need all the arrows you have, please.” Jaehwang placed his money on the counter. The store employee looked and the money and shook her head.
“We don’t have those kind of products, they were banned.”
“This…” Jaehwang then started to look a little mad. There were about 2,000 arrow heads left but just as he expected, that wasn’t enough. Jaehwang then sunk deep into his thoughts and the store employee tilted her head.
“How much do you need? Maybe we can work something out. Since you’re a hunter we can give you a discount so you can get everything you need… Of course with a quantitative restriction but…”
“I need kind of a lot more, sorry not just a little but a whole lot more.”
Deadly Jaehwang, The end.