The spirit race clashed with the Ryuhan army near the southern defensive line.
Slash—!
"Gyaaagh!"
"Kill the enemy!"
"Fire on the enemy air units!"
The Legion Commanders loosed slash after slash at the sky.
Shwaaa—!
And the Division and Brigade Commanders charged out front, savaging the spirit-race warriors.
The Ryuhan soldiers, too, wielding the Black Moon Sword Art, clashed with the spirit-race warriors.
In quality, the Ryuhan army fell somewhat short.
But in sheer numbers, the Ryuhan army had the spirit-race warriors beat.
A full 1.8 million soldiers had been committed, after all.
Woaaaaah—!
At the endless tide of soldiers, the spirit-race warriors were forced to feel fear.
Had they been helpless ordinary people, it wouldn't have been so frightening.
But every one of them wielded sword energy.
And on top of their swordsmanship, they'd mastered combat technique.
At the sight of Ryuhan soldiers who had even resolved themselves to death, the spirit-race warriors' morale plummeted.
Splurrch!
"Kill them all!"
The scene was relayed to the Korean government via drones.
The President of Korea swallowed hard at the sight of the Ryuhan army.
He'd been told the numbers already.
But seeing 1.8 million soldiers in the flesh raised gooseflesh.
That many otherworlders had been living within Korean territory all this time?
The feeling he'd had when Hunter Park Kang-hyeok brought over his otherworlders suddenly felt like nothing at all.
"Send that footage to the press."
"Y-You're releasing it to the media?"
"To ease the public's fear, even a little."
Word of the Ryuhan army reached the military as well.
The Korean military and USFK held the southern front while giving the Ryuhan army a wide berth.
The problem was the war at sea.
The spirit fleet at last repelled the Korean navy and finally opened fire from off the coast of Incheon.
Thoom! Thoom-thoom!
Naval guns fired from the sea struck the islands near Incheon and Incheon International Airport, setting off explosions.
KABOOM! Ka-ka-ka-krash! Krash—!
Spirit-race warriors spread their wings and took to the sky, pouring spirit arts of every kind down on the Hunters stationed in Incheon.
Red fireballs, arrows woven from green wind, spears of blue water, and blades of ice.
The Hunters hurriedly counterattacked, blocking the assaults raining from above.
Fwoom! Fwoom-fwoom!
Enormous explosions bloomed in the sky.
Just then, Kang-hyeok stepped out to the front line and swung his blade at the sky.
Shwaaa—!
A black slash shot upward.
"What——?!"
KABOOM!
The huge slash Kang-hyeok loosed struck down a great many spirit-race warriors.
Watching, the Hunters let out cries of awe.
"Ah......"
"I-It's Park Kang-hyeok. Hunter Park Kang-hyeok has moved!"
"S-State-Power-Class Hunter——!"
Park Kang-hyeok raised mid-grade Grandmaster sword energy, leapt high into the sky, and loosed a slash at the spirit fleet.
"Hraah!"
Shwaaa—!
Not one.
Kang-hyeok swung his blade again and again, loosing over a dozen slashes.
At that, the supreme commander waiting aboard a warship — Spirit Race Grand General Aren — hurriedly gripped his straight sword and loosed a golden slash.
"Hraaah!"
CRASH! Ka-ka-ka-krash—!
Aren gritted his teeth.
His opponent had reached the threshold of mid-grade Grandmaster, the same as himself.
Park Kang-hyeok, the State-Power-Class Hunter newly born in Korea.
Kill him alone, and they could conquer Korea in short order.
'We cannot lose strength here.'
To face the beastman race, they had to keep their own losses to a minimum.
The instant Aren spread his wings—
Another slash came flying from the front.
"Damn it——!"
Driven by the need to protect his own, he swung his straight sword again to block the slash.
CRASH—!
The slashes never let up.
A stream of them flying in from Incheon.
Each one carried the power of a mid-grade Grandmaster.
CRASH! Ka-ka-krash! Kaboom!
"This is bullshit——!"
The collision of the two slashes raised an enormous gale, and the sea churned violently.
Some of the spirit race lost their balance and toppled to the deck.
"1st Air Squadron, draw his attention this instant!"
"Yes, understood!"
Beyond the 1st Air Squadron, the airborne spirit-race units poured spirit arts down on Incheon...... more precisely, on Park Kang-hyeok.
At that, the GH Guild members — who had reached high-grade Sword Master — hurriedly loosed slashes of their own.
CRASH! Ka-ka-ka-krash—!
"Protect the Master!"
The other Hunters, too, hastily poured spells at the sky.
"We have to protect Hunter Park Kang-hyeok! Attack them!"
"Keep attacking! We have to draw their attention!"
"Damn it! As expected of the Grand General......!"
"The Grand General is protecting the fleet, so he can't take to the sky! While Hunter Park Kang-hyeok pins them down, we must protect him at all costs!"
Even if they couldn't fell the Grand General, it didn't matter.
If they could just whittle down the Grand General's mana, that alone would seize them at least a sliver of victory.
Lee Ho-seok, the Hunter Association President who'd devised the plan, watched the scene on TV and truly breathed easier.
"Had Hunter Park Kang-hyeok not Re-Awakened......"
Thanks to the State-Power-Class Hunter that was Park Kang-hyeok, Korea could overcome its brush with annihilation.
Of course, he couldn't relax his guard yet.
The operation had only just begun.
Seoul's citizens were hurriedly fleeing to Gangwon Province.
'If Seoul falls, we pull back the military and Hunters at the border and lure the beastmen in.'
In other words, provoke a clash between the spirit race and the beastmen.
While the two races fought, Korea would regroup in Gangwon.
Chungcheong hadn't been fully occupied yet.
And part of Gyeongsang still functioned as Korean territory.
With the Ryuhan army alongside them, at least a minimal defense would be possible.
'If Hunter Park Kang-hyeok falls, and the Grand General lands on the peninsula and pushes to Gangwon...... at worst, we may have to abandon the peninsula.'
In other words, the nation of Korea would fall.
Ho-seok squeezed his eyes shut and stared at the TV.
Praying, with all his heart, that Hunter Park Kang-hyeok would fell the Grand General.
"If it's impossible, we must at least evacuate Hunter Park Kang-hyeok from Incheon without fail."
Like Lee Ho-seok, the President watched from the Blue House and the assemblymen from the National Assembly.
Their evacuation preparations were, of course, already complete.
They could board a helicopter and leave for Gangwon at a moment's notice.
The broadcasters, too, held their positions and relayed the scene.
Not a live broadcast.
To prepare for the worst, they kept a delay of about ten minutes.
"Th-That's a State-Power-Class Hunter......"
"So the enemy has power on the State-Power-Class level too?"
"Still, with Hunter Park Kang-hyeok there——!"
Watching Park Kang-hyeok's slashes, the citizens held onto a small sliver of hope.
As the spirit fleet scattered left and right, trying to slip out of the slashes' range, Kang-hyeok furrowed his brow and loosed a slash carrying the power of a mid-grade Grandmaster at his peak.
And in a continuous stream, at that.
He could loose mid-grade Grandmaster slashes to his heart's content.
His mana was overflowing to the point of rot, after all.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Aren realized the enemy's attacks had grown even stronger.
His own slashes were being pushed back.
"Th-This is bullshit——!"
Before he knew it, Kang-hyeok's slash was right in front of him.
"Damn it——!"
Aren frantically beat his wings and leapt into the sky, but evading Kang-hyeok's slash was impossible.
Because, as if it had anticipated his escape, the pitch-black slash came flying at a slightly upward angle.
"......!"
In the end, Aren was swallowed by the slash and torn to shreds.
Following that, Kang-hyeok's slash flew on at the fleet, setting off a massive explosion.
KABOOM! Ka-ka-ka-krash—!
At the sight, the airborne spirit race attacking Incheon's coast wore blank expressions.
Conversely, the Korean soldiers and Hunters stationed along Incheon's coast let out a roar of triumph.
Hunter Park Kang-hyeok had felled the Spirit Race Grand General.
And with his enormous slashes, he began destroying warships and landing craft one after another.
Ka-ka-krash—! Kaboom!
As countless warships were destroyed and experience came flooding in, Kang-hyeok lifted his head and swung his blade at the sky.
"Damn it——!"
"E-Evacuate——!"
The spirit race swallowed by the slashes were reduced to gobbets of flesh, not a trace left to find.
Kang-hyeok raised his blade high.
"The war isn't over yet! Everyone, attack the enemies in the sky!"
"Woaaaaah——!"
The soldiers pulled their triggers at the sky.
Then the Hunters, too, used their skills and began attacking the spirit race above.
From the President and assemblymen to the conglomerate chairmen and the Hunter Association President, all of them watched the scene in real time and let out cries of joy.
"Woaaaaah!"
Ho-seok let out a roar and clenched his fist.
A Korean Hunter had felled a demihuman Grand General.
As Ho-seok raised a commotion in the president's office—
Kang-hyeok's family, watching the scene on TV, went from anxious faces to expressions brimming with joy.
"O-Oppa took down the Grand General, I think! The spirit fleet is——!"
"Yes, our Kang-hyeok did it——!"
"Ahh......"
His mother, Su-yeon, sank onto the sofa as if the strength had drained from her.
In the brief peace, people had forgotten.
That the war with the demihumans wasn't over yet.
When that crisis came right up to their faces, everyone could only tremble in fear.
"I-In the south too, the Ryuhan army is pushing the spirit race back!"
Word of the Grand General's death reached the spirit race in the south as well.
With the Incheon landing turned into a failure, the spirit race in the south fell into disarray.
Seizing the chance, the Ryuhan army pressed its forces forward.
Woaaaaah—!
Amid the sudden commotion, even monsters gathered, and it turned into chaos, but the Ryuhan army plunged into the battle shouting the slogan, "For our ally!"
"R-Retreat!"
In the end, the spirit race, having taken losses close to annihilation, could only retreat.
And the Ryuhan army launched a sweeping campaign to hunt down the spirit race and monsters stationed in Jeolla and Gyeongsang.
The Ryuhan soldiers filmed the combat on smartphones and sent the footage to GH Guild.
GH Guild spread word of the Ryuhan Empire's exploits anonymously.
[For our ally!]
[Attack the enemy!]
As the spirit race massing on Incheon was annihilated, Korean politicians briefly reconsidered ceding North Korean territory to the Ryuhan Empire.
But as the Ryuhan army's combat footage spread, public opinion showed strong affection for the Ryuhan Empire.
They were laying down their lives fighting the enemy for their ally.
Break the existing contract in a situation like this?
The public might well be furious.
And with the footage of the Ryuhan army provided anonymously to the media, even people who didn't use social media took note of the Ryuhan army's efforts.
[CRASH! Ka-ka-krash! Drive out every last monster!]
Legion Commanders loosing slashes to cut down monsters.
At their strength, the public let out cries of awe.
"If we're with the Ryuhan Empire, we really might be able to take North Korean territory!"
"After we take it, we'll have to hold it! If 30% of North Korea becomes Ryuhan territory, that'll be a huge help in holding the land too!"
"The spirit race's attacks will keep coming! Having an ally sharing a border would be reassuring!"
The public's reaction wasn't bad.
In the end, the government too decided to honor the contract.