Chapter 94 – Wrath of the Desert (3)
“The monsters are coming.”
“Get ready to fire!”
The terrorists were optimized for travel since they had to be ready to run away from the bombardments. The vehicles were equipped with various weapons, including machine guns.
Boo-roo-roo-roong.
Black smog was emitted as the ignitions were started. As the vehicles took a sharp turn, they pointed their vehicles towards the desert outside the base.
“Shoot them!”
Too-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.
“Kiehhhhk.”
Several hundred bullets flew through the air, striking the Skeleton Soldiers. When one hit the Skeleton’s skulls by luck, the Skeleton Soldier was destroyed. However, this only occurred to a small fraction of the Skeleton Soldiers.
Moreover, the Death Knights riding on top of the Phantom Steeds didn’t receive any damage.
“Bring the rocket launcher.”
A henchman quickly brought a RPG-7, aiming it at a Phantom Steed before firing.
Pee-shoooooong!
The warhead cut through the air towards a short Death Knight with an imposing presence. His Phantom Steed started running more fiercely.
[Ramson-nim is taking the field!]
He was a great warrior of the dwarf race. Ramson swung his large hammer.
Kwahhng!
The hammer collided with the warhead and completely absorbed the entire explosion.
Ramson possessed an innate skill called ‘Shock Absorption.’ The skill allowed him to absorb any physical impact. It didn’t matter if it was an explosion or a magical attack. The hammer stored it all.
Moreover, the shock that was stored inside the hammer could be expelled, and the force was amplified by several magnitude.
Even as bullets were raining down on him, the Phantom Steed was getting closer to the wall being used as a barricade. Ramson swung his hammer.
Kwahhhng!
The wall exploded and the debris acted as a deadly weapon. It swept towards the insurgents. The Phantom Steeds breached the location where the wall had exploded.
“S…shoot them!”
Too-doo-dooo-doo-dooo-doo.
The machine guns fired towards the Death Knights. However, all of the bullets bounced off of them, even at such a close distance. Kiba’s Phantom Steed reared back, crushing the vehicle with the machine gun.
Kwah-jee-jeek.
He looked at the gun men who died before they could let out a scream. Kiba let out a yell.
[Show them the Immortal’s majesty!!]
The Skeleton Soldiers crossed the broken wall, after which they started slaughtering the insurgents. When they jumped into the fight, it took only a brief moment before the lives within the base were extinguished.
The hostages looked at Woojin with fear in their eyes. Woojin took out a short sword from his inventory and he severed the cable tie of the nearest hostage. Then, he gave the short sword to him.
“Release the rest of them.”
The man asked a question when English came out of Woojin’s mouth.
“A…are you a US soldier? Did you come here to save us?”
“No.”
Woojin left the man and walked towards the base. The man prayed to his god as he looked at Woojin’s back.
His god had listened to his prayers.
His god had taken pity on this man who had been shaking in fear. A savior was sent to him.
After the man cut all the cable ties on the hostages, they headed towards the base where Woojin had walked towards to. No one needed to speak.
No matter what anyone said, the safest place right now was next to Woojin.
“Where are the rest of the hostages?”
Woojin looked around at the corpses that were strewn about the devastated base. Then he revived all of them as Skeleton Soldiers.
Pah-paht!
In a flash, the spiritless Skeletons rose up and were automatically put under the command of the Death Knights. Once the Skeletons were put on the Death Knight’s command, they would stand ready in the Summoning Room unless they were destroyed. They were summoned at the call of Death Knights.
“Where are the rest of the hostages?”
It happened before Woojin could go look for the captured hostages.
“Shit. Don’t move!”
Maybe, they couldn’t bring themselves to come out after hearing the commotion outside, but two sentries that had been guarding the hostages stepped forward. They dragged forward a hostage with a gun to his head. The man had lost the control of his bladder, so he walked forward awkwardly. It was none other than the weapons dealer, Roman.
“If you attack, I’ll kill this hostage.”
Their eyes were filled with fear.
[Goo-roo-roo-roong.]
The Death Knight growled like a wild beast. When their eyes met the red glow, the Ogre’s Fear swept over them and their bodies froze.
Woojin stretched out his hand and started using the Electric Shock.
Pah-jee-jee-jeek.
The Death Knight ‘Rakto’ walked towards the fallen two guards and stabbed his spear into their hearts.
“Huh-ooh-ook.”
After Roman was released from the Fear, he let out a cheer. Then he put out his hand after approaching Woojin.
“Hoo-ooh. Thank you for saving me. Are you a US soldier? If you tell me your name, I’ll be sure to pay you back.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Uh-huh. Is it because you are a soldier? I’ll send it to you in secret. The amount won’t disappoint you.”
Woojin summoned a Bone Spear and he aimed it at Roman’s heart.
“Blah blah blah. Why don’t you just shut up now?”
“…….”
He knew those who worked in the battle field were rough, but how could he treat an US citizen like this? Roman frowned.
“I won’t forget what happened here.”
He didn’t know if he should be repay him or hold a grudge, but Roman decided that this man who had rescued him was a Roused soldier.
Woojin smirked when he heard Roman’s words.
He had 53 loyal Death Knights waiting for his command, and over 600 Skeleton Soldiers were under their command.
‘Yes. A person of his disposition would deal in weapons..’
Woojin lowered the Bone Spear that had been pointed at his chest. Roman thought his words had gotten through to Woojin, so his face relaxed by a little bit. Unlike him, Woojin grin grew more wide.
“Hey. I’m so sorry about this. What should I do?”
“Haha. You don’t have to apologize to me. As a US citizen….”
“Do I look like an American?”
Woojin spoke as if he was very proud of the fact that he wasn’t an American, and Roman’s words were cut short. No, that wasn’t the only thing that was cut short.
Puh-uhk, too-doohk.
The Bone Spear was swung at an incredible speed, and it severed Roman’s head from his body. No, it was more accurate to say his neck bones were broken and his head was ripped off.
“Does he think I’m some kind of babysitter?”
The Undead instinctively became excited, and the living people fell into a state of shock.
“Heeek!”
The other hostages, who were herded out with Roman, witnessed the brutal sight. They had assumed they had been saved from being shot, but now their faces were filled with fear. No one dared to open their mouth.
“Everyone gather here.”
At Woojin words, everyone gathered in one place. It didn’t matter if they couldn’t understand Woojin’s words. They looked at their neighbors and followed their actions.
“Reporters step forward.”
“…….”
No one stepped forward at Wooijin’s words.
“If you don’t step forward on the count of 5, I’ll beat all of you. One, two….”
There was one one finger left when three men stood up at the same time.
“All right. You guys follow me. The rest of you should send a request for help.”
No one complained when they heard Woojin’s irresponsible words. They had seen Roman die in front of their eyes.
He told the hostages to use the communication equipment in the base to call for a rescue. Woojin waved the three reporters forward.
“Are you guys war correspondents?”
“Yes. I’m Tom, and this is Mark. We are Americans, and…”
“I’m Joni. I’m British.”
Woojin gave an order to the three of them.
“I want you guys to record everything I do as you follow me.”
“…What are we going to film?”
Rescue unknown people from pain… Freeing and rescuing… These weren’t actions befitting the Immortal. No, he wasn’t confident he’ll be able to pull it off.
Instead, he’ll act as the god of Destruction’s champion. As he embraced the pain, he’ll bring destruction and an end to his enemies. He was confident he could do that.
“The killing and the destruction.”
“…….”
Did this person lose his mind?
He seemed to be a psychopath amongst psychopaths. He disguised himself as a hostage to be captured like some Egyptian Pharaoh in the myths. He used the Undead to kill all the insurgents, and he also killed a hostage he rescued to prove a point…
Now he wanted them to film him kill people?
He was a pervert. They were sure of it.
“I’m going to put an end to the terrorist groups.”
“……!”
The context of the killing changed the opinions of others.
There was a fine line between being a murderer and a war hero.
They revised their opinions.
He wasn’t a pervert. A messiah had appeared.
*
Bagram Air Force Base’s Command Room.
“Look over here. Something is a bit off.”
Rachel tilted her head in puzzlement when she saw the satellite photo sent from her homeland.
It was a picture of a large dust cloud. It was as if a large convoy of vehicles were moving.
“What is this? Did the insurgent have this much fleet of vehicles?”
“They are heading towards the stronghold of the rebels.”
“Is there an internal conflict?”
“…I have no idea.”
There were enough people moving for it to be visible on a satellite photo….
David was tapping his forehead when his communications officer reported the missive he was waiting for.
“We received a message from the A team. They safely arrived at the destination. They have collected the 37 hostages. Unfortunately, Roman was found dead.”
“Hmmm. How fortunate. The casualties for the A team?”
“They are all unharmed.”
General David thought he had heard wrong, but his thoughts turned to praising the A team. They had taken no casualty, even though they had travelled deep within the territory of the rebels.
“They didn’t have a single engagement.”
“…….”
At that moment, Rachel quickly put up the data she was receiving up on her tablet. She then showed it to the general.
“These are the photos and videos that is rapidly spreading across the internet.”
“Mmmm.”
David scrolled down the tablet to look at various pictures.
It was pictures of the bases of the insurgent being burned to ground. There were people being freed, and there were even some rebels surrendering… There was a single video mixed in with the photos, so he clicked on it.
[Kee-kee-keek.]
[Agrak to Mahsh.]
Undecipherable words spoken in the Alphen language was heard, and David saw a battle between the living and the dead. A blue ghastly Phantom Steed was breaking apart a tank too easily.
Apparitions wearing armors rode the Phantom Steeds, and several hundred Skeleton Soldiers were following them.
“Is this some kind of a movie trailer?”
“…Please look at the footage towards the end.”
“Hmmmm.”
When he skipped to the latter part of the footage, he saw Woojin being guarded by a variety of Death Knights. No, he wasn’t being guarded. He was leading the horde from the front.
“Kahng-woojin?”
He wasn’t shown in the camera, but David could hear the war correspondent talking busily.
[A messiah has appeared. The Korean Roused Kahng-woojin has declared war against the terrorists, and his rage is sweeping across the desert. It seems his army won’t stop until he eradicates this terrorist group.]
Behind the reporter’s voice and face, one could see several thousand Skeleton Soldiers. The sight was enough to make one lose one’s nerves.
“Should I really believe this is actually happening? Where did this footage originate from?”
“He is a war correspondent from the SNS named Tom. It is being uploaded on the youtube channel of a British war correspondent also from the SNS.
“Huh-uh.”
The pieces fell into place.
The massive amount of people moving towards the stronghold of the insurgents were captured on the satellite photo.
The explosions and the massive amount of troops moving were causing dust clouds to form.
The rebels decided to gather their main force in one place. Moreover, Woojin was leading his Undead troops to the location.
These two large groups were on a collision course.
“It says he is a Necromancer. Is it possible for him to work on such a large scale?”
The Roused were supernatural beings, yet how was such a thing possible? A Necromancer that could control several thousand Undeads? Isn’t this something only seen in legends?
“He has become famous in such a short amount of time, so not a lot is known about his Roused abilities.”
“So, are you saying this is actually possible?”
How could he become so strong in such a short amount of time? It was as if he was a demigod that had dropped out of the sky.
It was pointless to argue about whether this was possible or not. It was already happening in front of their eyes.
“I’ve heard Holy Maiden Melody is well acquainted with Kahng-woojin.”
“Mmm. Bring her here. No, I’ll go see her. Where is she?”
“Normally, she stays in the infirmary.”
David decided to go visit her himself.
An angry Roused disguised himself as a hostage to infiltrate the rebel stronghold, and he was creating an uproar.
He caused serious change in only one day, and the rebel forces were gathering for the final battle.
A mere private citizen was about to finish a job that the US government couldn’t accomplish for the past couple years.
David found the Holy Maiden inside the empty infirmary.
Her abilities put the current medical knowledge on its head, and she was able to reduce the patients inside the Bagram Air Force base to 0. She was praying in front of a small statue of the goddess she had carved out of wood.
“Oh goddess. Please stop his wrath….”
He had to stop at an appropriate point. His overflowing rage will turn the world against him. It would lead both him and the world to their downfall.
