Murim Login - Chapter 390

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 390
Shhwooooosh!
Where the blade of qi sliced through, severed necks erupted skyward, spraying hot blood in all directions.
I leaped high, using the collapsing ogre’s corpse as a springboard. The sunlight warming the nape of my neck felt exquisite.
‘Perfect weather for a fight.’
Noon. Location: a barren wasteland devoid of a single tree.
My shadow, cast against the sun, fell across the center of a thousand gathered monsters.
The spear’s blade descended even as I plummeted—a seamless dance of death.
‘Heavenly Strike.’
Boom!
The fire dragon’s claws raked across the earth.
A deafening roar as if the sky itself split open. The ground sank several meters deep, earth and stone fragments scattering in all directions.
The whirlwind of scorching heat born from the battlefield’s center became a blade, sweeping through the monster horde.
Boom!
Ding. Ding. Ding….
Through the dust-clouded haze, system notifications of monster eliminations chimed as green blood poured down in torrents.
With a light wave of my hand, the dust dispersed, revealing monsters staring at me with vacant, bewildered expressions.
– Chirp?
– Croak?
Their eyes screamed confusion—what was happening? I drew a deep breath and unleashed a shout infused with qi.
“Charge—!”
And in the next instant.
「Roooaaaargh!」
A thousand hunters surged forward like a tidal wave, their deafening roar drowning out all else as they crashed upon the monster legion.
Crash crash crash!
Splatter!
Watching the monsters crumble without resistance, one certainty crystallized within me.
‘We’ve won this battle.’
The harvest begins once the planting is done.
I turned my steps toward what appeared to be the boss monster—the Twin Head Ogre.
For my precious experience points. Or rather, to minimize casualties among our forces.
「That one’s the leader! Ranged units!」
“Hey, hey! Back off! I’ll handle it, so don’t touch a single hair!”
I swear by the heavens, there’s not a shred of ulterior motive here.
“….”
Hmm, on second thought, there’s no need to swear at all.
– Treacherous human! Your greed to claim the spoils is transparent as glass. You didn’t even hide your avarice while slaughtering my legion!
“Shut it and do your job. Start the undead fratricide already.”
– I was about to. Rise now, skeleton warriors—wait, what?
“What’s wrong?”
– Why isn’t my power working? Could it be a bug?
“…Where on earth did you pick up that word?”
The increasingly modernized Skeleton Warlord spoke in a dejected voice.
– The deeper we venture, the stronger the Arch Lich’s dominion becomes. Alas, a commander without legions. Truly, this is lamentable. What difference is there between this and being dead?
“….”
What does this bastard think of himself?
I was already tired of telling him he was already dead. Suppressing an inward sigh, I charged toward the leader.
* * *
「A great victory! Another great victory!」
Shao Shen cried out with a flushed face. Having witnessed this scene more than ten times by now, both Choi Team Leader and I had grown accustomed to it.
‘Well, it’s exciting enough.’
Nearly a thousand monsters annihilated in just over two hours.
And we achieved it without a single casualty—a truly historic victory. In such circumstances, remaining composed would actually be strange.
「Our casualties amount to twenty-three seriously wounded and thirty lightly wounded. Ah, this is truly…!」
Shao Shen trembled like an excited puppy, gazing at me with sparkling eyes.
「How do you manage this every time?」
“Well. Isn’t it because I’m strong?”
At my answer, Choi Team Leader gave me a slightly bewildered look.
“Why?”
“Normally, wouldn’t you attribute it to luck or offer some modest disclaimer?”
“Normally, yes. But when it’s not luck but genuine strength, what can I do? Isn’t that right, Shen?”
Shao Shen nodded at tremendous speed.
「That’s right! Elder Brother is the best!」
“You rascal. A fine example of flattery.”
“….”
Choi Team Leader shook his head at our banter.
“What is it.”
“Nothing. Well, this is certainly typical of Jin Tae-kyung.”
Something about that sounded oddly irritating.
I shrugged and turned to Shao Shen.
“What about headquarters?”
「Ah, we already made contact before the battle began.」
Making contact meant I had sent several hunters under my command ahead.
One might wonder why messengers exist in this modern age, but there’s no helping it. With magic making communications and satellite surveillance impossible, we have no choice but to run ourselves ragged or use vehicles.
Still, we’re fortunate to have various supplies including flares.
“It’ll take a while then.”
「They were following behind, so it shouldn’t take too long.」
“They’ll be exhausted, so set up some tents and let them rest. Even though the battle ended quickly, people get drained after combat.”
「Shouldn’t we handle the larger monsters on our end? It seems headquarters would have difficulty transporting them…」
“That’s a fair point too.”
Headquarters refers to the military forces that move alongside us.
Hunters from the Public Security Armed Force, including myself, would strike down monsters from the vanguard, and the military forces following behind would ‘clean up’ the area and monster corpses.
The reason I use the term ‘cleanup’ is because the purpose isn’t to harvest byproducts.
This is literally cleanup. The military forces under my command on the Western Front spent most of their time dismembering dead monsters so they couldn’t be revived as undead, then transporting the remains to the rear.
「Um, Elder Brother.」
“Yeah, what is it?”
「I’ve been too embarrassed to mention this until now… but it seems some of the higher-ranking officers have been saying various things.」
“Things? What kind of things?”
Shao Shen whispered carefully, gauging my reaction.
「Well, they seem to have some complaints about the roles they’ve been assigned….」
“…?”
What in the world was he talking about?
It took me a considerable moment to understand Shao Shen’s words. After a heavy silence, I opened my mouth with a sense of dread.
“Are they saying they want to stop cleaning up monster corpses and start earning merit instead? Something like that?”
「…Yes.」
“Are you kidding me? These insane bastards.”
Curses spilled out naturally. While soldiers on other fronts were dying left and right, they were bored with cleaning up monster corpses.
Choi Team Leader, who had been listening quietly, spoke up calmly.
“Do not be alarmed. Chinese people are simply being Chinese.”
I wondered if that was something to say in front of nearly a thousand Chinese soldiers, but there was indeed a distinction between Chinese people and that particular stereotype.
Shao Shen’s face, the representative of good Chinese people, had already flushed with embarrassment.
「I, I apologize. However, it’s not all the officers—only some personnel seem to harbor such complaints.」
“Some personnel, I see. That makes sense. But I’m curious about one thing….」
I furrowed my brow and pointed over Shao Shen’s shoulder.
“Is that person approaching over there included in those ‘some personnel’?”
In the distance, roughly a hundred armored vehicles and tanks were approaching, kicking up clouds of dust.
* * *
Rumble, clang!
The vehicle bouncing along the desolate road jolted up and down. Through the window of the military transport I sat in, I could see ruined fields and paddies, collapsed civilian homes scattered here and there.
After the cleanup was complete, I—or rather, ‘we’—were heading toward a nearby small city.
「Ha ha, you’ve worked so hard! Jin!」
A belly that couldn’t be hidden even by a tight belt. A bald spot gleaming in the sunlight.
If it weren’t for the military uniform he wore and the three stars on his shoulder boards, I would never have had occasion to meet this middle-aged man.
「I received word from headquarters just this morning. The news of Jin’s victory has the entire UN Security Council and the whole world in an uproar! I don’t understand what they’re saying exactly, but apparently in Korea they’re calling today the anniversary of a certain event….」
I couldn’t bear to listen to his endless nonsense any longer. I couldn’t help but speak up.
“I don’t care whether that person lived or died. May I ask you one thing?”
「J, Jin?」
General Liao, the commander-in-chief of the 13th Group Army, which included seven divisions and brigades under the official Chinese military structure of the Chengdu Military District, looked at me with anxious eyes.
「Why, why are you like this? Has something happened?」
“I heard something strange today. I’m a bit on edge right now.”
“Who dares disturb Jin’s peace of mind! Ask whatever you wish.”
“Ah, yes. What I wanted to ask was…”
I stared directly at General Liao’s glistening, oily face and continued.
“I heard there’s considerable discontent among several officers who want to earn merit… I was wondering if you were aware of it.”
“Ahem.”
So he knew. And he let it slide anyway. The absurdity was so overwhelming that I’d actually grown calm about it.
Still, he was nominally our ally and a three-star general of a foreign power. I asked in the most composed and respectful tone I could manage.
“Could I see the faces of those bastards?”
“Ahem, ahem!”
“What the hell—what kind of lunatics want to earn merit in a situation like this? Frankly, they’re not the ones going out to fight. They’ll just stand in front of the regular soldiers and wave a baton from behind, won’t they?”
“Ahem, ahem, ahem!”
“Complaining about cleaning up monster corpses? Why? Have they grown so fond of them that they want to become corpses themselves? They need to actually die to come to their senses. Damn fools.”
“Ahem, ahem, ahem, ahem!”
“If there are any such bastards, just send them to me. I’ll equip them and put them on the front line. They’d make perfect meat shields…”
I was in the middle of my passionate tirade when I suddenly fell silent. Cold sweat was pouring from General Liao’s forehead like a sprinkler.
“…”
“…”
This man was one of those lunatics too.
From the moment he was talking about firing or not firing nuclear weapons from the Underground Bunker, I’d suspected he wasn’t just ordinarily insane. But it was clear he was mad to a considerable degree.
“…General. Are you in your right mind?”
“W-well, you see. We need to show something too. Some kind of… achievement…”
“No, things are going smoothly without casualties. The Hunters are opening the path ahead, the military is cleaning up behind and rescuing civilians. We’re doing well—what more do you need to show?”
Crack.
As I cracked my knuckles, General Liao hastily waved his hands.
“W-wait! Let’s not speak informally with each other. By age or rank, I’m not someone who should be treated this way by Jin.”
“I’m thinking of treating you by smashing your head in.”
“W-what?”
“Nothing. You must have misheard. Anyway, I understand. Don’t entertain any reckless ideas. From now on, we advance slowly with minimal casualties while rescuing civilians. Do you understand?”
“…”
Why was his reaction like this?
The moment I saw General Liao’s eyes darting around instead of answering, a chill ran down my spine.
Surely not…
“You’ve already issued the order, haven’t you?”
“W-well, that is. I’m currently involved in military supply corruption, and there’s a point where I need to accomplish something independently…”
“You son of a bitch!”
Crash!
My kick tore the bulletproof door clean off its hinges. The driver in the front seat slammed on the brakes in panic.
Screeeech!
“Aaaah!”
General Liao, curled up and trembling, answered in a stammering voice.
“W-we were concerned there might be monsters in the small city we’re approaching, so we deployed some Public Security Armed Force hunters from our reserve units….”
I didn’t need to hear more. Before I could even press him for details, a thunderous roar erupted from the city that had drawn closer.
Boom!
A massive explosion. Flames and smoke billowed upward.
And….
Ding.
A system notification announcing an emergency quest had arrived.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————