The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 182

182. The Meaning of the Elite Squad (1)

The creatures with red scales were Sledimans, massive, snake-like monsters, the smallest of which was 10 meters long.

Sledimans are known for swallowing their prey whole with their massive mouths, similar to those of basking sharks.

They also possess incredibly elastic stomachs, allowing them to eat anything they come across without ever feeling full.

Most of the life within the Han River was wiped out by the Sledimans.

Some Sledimans, in search of dwindling prey, even ventured onto the riverbanks to hunt humans.

The speed at which they leaped out of the water to snatch their prey was several times faster than that of a common crocodile.

Once their prey was in their mouth, escape was impossible.

Even the citizens of Seoul avoided drawing water from the Han River because of the Sledimans.

Even launching a boat was out of the question.

The largest among them was so massive that it could collapse a Han River bridge.

The reason Mapo Bridge still stands is due to the intervention of the Administrator [a powerful, possibly supernatural, entity].

The Administrator placed a restriction on Mapo Bridge, ensuring it would ‘never collapse due to monster attacks.’

The Administrator took measures to prevent the complete severing of exchange between the north and south of Seoul.

Thus, Mapo Bridge, connected to Yeouido [an island in Seoul], is essentially the only passage connecting the north and south of Seoul.

Sledimans are predators that hunt by the scent of blood.

The strong scent of blood emanating from Jin Jaehee became a sweet temptation, drawing them in.

At that moment, a massive maw surged from the river, engulfing Jin Jaehee.

Swoosh-!

The sight of its savagely gaping mouth was truly terrifying.

A human caught by it would experience extreme fear before slowly suffocating to death.

But this time, the Slediman had chosen the wrong opponent.

Jin Jaehee didn’t even wield her sword; she simply reached out her hand.

Instantly, the Holy Swords, acting on her command, sliced the Slediman into pieces.

Swish-! Swish, swish, swish!

The severed pieces of the Slediman’s corpse fell onto the riverbank like meteorites.

Her aides, witnessing the scene, could only gape in astonishment.

The Sledimans that followed, upon seeing her powerful strength, changed their target, devouring the flesh of their dismembered kin and fleeing back into the river.

But she didn’t let even the fleeing ones escape.

Jin Jaehee lightly flicked her fingers downward, as if an orchestra conductor wielding a baton.

Then, the Holy Swords displayed precise movements, penetrating the water’s surface following their master’s command.

The three Holy Swords plunged from the sky into the water, beginning to hunt the Sledimans.

The Holy Swords repeatedly dove in and out, like seagulls hunting fish beneath the surface.

Each time, the corpse of a hunted, massive Slediman was thrown towards the riverbank.

Thump-!

Monsters with enormous bodies floated into the air and crashed onto the riverbank.

Thud…!!! Thud! Thud!

Jin Jaehee’s other aides, watching this, couldn’t help but be astonished once more.

“The Captain is treating those monsters like she’s catching eels…?”

“It’s like she lives in a different dimension from us.”

“I feel a sense of inferiority rising up…”

Jin Jaehee roughly finished the hunt and gazed at the Slediman still wriggling alive.

The characteristic of Slediman meat is that it’s incredibly delicious.

The flesh is full of oil, like pork trotters, with a chewy texture and a flavor as savory as beef.

This meat was the most delicious of all the monsters she had tasted in her previous life.

Jin Jaehee had deliberately walked all the way to the Han River to eat this Slediman.

‘He’ll like it, right?’

She smiled faintly as she looked at the meat.

* * *

Kang Si-on’s army, after occupying Gwanak and Dongjak [districts in Seoul], crossed Yeongdeungpo [another district] and attacked Yeouido.

Yeouido had a considerable defensive force, but they were brutally crushed by Mangyeong’s ogres.

The difference in combat power between the two forces was already clear.

Even attacking with guns, they couldn’t withstand Mangyeong’s soldiers.

Mangyeong’s forces began to set up bases among the buildings towering high in the sky of Yeouido.

The wide bridge stretching to the horizon was filled with barricades set up by the Metro forces.

Furthermore, there was a passage made by connecting city buses in the right lane of the bridge.

Although the interior was destroyed, it used to be a path for merchants of the Metro forces. It was a structure created because they refused to live on the polluted surface.

Besides that, judging from the enemy’s barricades, it was an impregnable fortress that could not be breached by any ordinary means.

Mangyeong’s rapid advance eventually stopped at Mapo Bridge.

* * *

I put on a mask and entered the tent.

Inside the tent, there was a small light and a desk.

On top of it lay a corpse.

A doctor inside the tent matter-of-factly explained to me.

“This is a guy who died today. Since you wanted the corpse to be in good condition, I brought someone who was strangled to death.”

I looked down at the corpse and said.

“Strip it.”

“Yes.”

The doctor stripped the corpse and gathered the clothes in one place.

The corpse was a hunter.

As my subordinate said, it was in very good condition because it had been strangled to death.

It was a body suitable for making a zombie.

If a bone was broken or a part of the body was missing, a bizarrely twisted zombie like something out of a movie would be born.

I reached out and activated the skill.

Wooong.

A red ring formed in my palm and soon enveloped the surrounding space.

At that moment, the corpse twitched.

Twitch-.

When the corpse didn’t show any signs of rising, I applied more force.

Then, the light of the ring shone even more intensely inside the tent.

Twitch-. Ssssk-.

The zombie raised its upper body.

A minion that attacks the target relentlessly according to the master’s command.

The zombie reeked of decay, but it didn’t matter.

The aggressiveness of the zombies I met in Bitnam [likely a location from a previous chapter] was proven.

The subordinate next to me covered his nose with the back of his hand and opened his mouth.

“Amazing. With this ability, you can instantly reverse even an overwhelming power difference.”

I replied to the subordinate, who only considered the positive aspects.

“It’ll be impossible.”

“…Yes? Why is that?”

“I’ll only be able to move a maximum of 20 of them.”

The calculation wasn’t exact.

I had only calculated it based on the dizziness I felt while using the artifact skill.

When I was trapped in the pension by Lee Seokjin [character name], I wasn’t just making seeds [euphemism for planning].

I also checked the frequency of dizziness according to the artifact consumption.

Since my temples are only slightly throbbing now, I’ll probably only be able to use the skill about 19 more times if I use it all.

I commanded.

“Get up.”

The zombie got off the desk and stood up.

Thump!

I commanded the zombie, who stood up straight.

“Cross the river. And kill every living thing you see.”

The zombie was silent for a moment, then left the tent without any reaction.

I followed the zombie out of the tent.

The zombie ran well with long strides.

It was proof that the corpse was in very good condition.

The zombie immediately approached Mapo Bridge.

And without fear, it began to cross Mapo Bridge.

When the zombie got close to the enemy’s defense line, a gunshot rang out.

Bang-!

The zombie immediately fell to the ground.

But it immediately got up and ran again.

Another gunshot.

Bang-!

Another gunshot.

Bang-!

The zombie repeatedly fell and got up, moving forward.

The destructive power of one zombie is insignificant, but it must be a very cumbersome existence from their point of view.

Because it doesn’t die.

The doctor standing next to me said.

“Amazing. This way, you can get rid of all the glass shards they set up as traps, and above all, you can instill fear in them. Are you going to keep making these human zombies?”

The doctor’s naive question.

But that was too one-dimensional of a thought.

I looked at the guys on the opposite riverbank and said.

“No. I don’t plan to do that. There’s no need to waste mental energy. It’ll be a different story if I turn those guys into zombies, though.”

“Yes…? What do you mean…? Ah.”

The doctor followed my gaze to the riverbank and then made a sound of realization.

There, an ogre was squatting and looking at the river.

Then, when a giant snake-like monster popped out, it would engage in a bloody battle and start eating it.

That snake monster may be a source of fear for the citizens of Seoul, but it had quite a useful value on the battlefield.

It solved the food problem for the hundreds of tons of ogres.

Anyway, if I’m going to make a zombie, it’s much more efficient to make it with a larger entity than a human.

Of course, since there haven’t been any ogre losses yet, I haven’t secured a sample to turn into a zombie.

Besides, I don’t know how much more mental energy it would require to turn an ogre into a zombie than to turn a human into a zombie.

The biggest weakness of zombification is its short duration.

But if I understand this skill and increase its utilization value, it’s an ability that I can use enough.

Looking at those guys right now, that’s what I thought.

The zombie was running towards the hunter beyond the barricade.

The doctor said to me.

“Anyway, it seems like the day we cross Mapo Bridge is not far off. No matter how tightly they set up their defense walls like an impregnable security, we’ll be able to break through easily.”

My army easily occupied Gwanak and Dongjak, advanced and advanced again, and arrived in Yeouido, right in front of Mapo Bridge.

The dense enemy garrison was building a defense line from the center of Mapo Bridge, and the enemies had a solid defense system by stacking dump trucks and barricades in layers.

They used their heads in their own way.

They filled the entire bridge floor with broken glass shards.

This was to stop the advance of the soldiers and prevent the ogres from rushing recklessly.

In addition, the barricades stacked in several layers on the bridge were a solid barrier that could not be easily penetrated no matter how much we attempted to break through.

But that was just their complacent thinking.

Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t understand their method.

At this point, it was impossible to cross the river without crossing the bridge, and to cross the Han River, we had no choice but to use Mapo Bridge.

If we block only Mapo Bridge, the traffic between the north and south of Seoul will be completely cut off.

So they are desperately trying to block Mapo Bridge by any means.

Since they had invaded Dongjak-gu, they were expecting Mangyeong’s army to cross Mapo Bridge.

In fact, I gathered all the troops who had set out for the Seoul occupation in Yeouido, and they must be seeing our appearance.

But I had no intention of crossing the ‘bridge.’

Of course, conquering Gangbuk [area north of the Han River] was the primary goal.

The monsters of Gangbuk and the Metro forces will be in Gangbuk.

Logically, to kill their monsters, we would have to cross the bridge.

But I thought differently.

Instead of crossing Mapo Bridge, I will destroy it.

That way, I will take over all the areas south of the Han River by taking advantage of their thinking.

My strategy is to drive the enemy to the brink by inducing carelessness.

Tonight, Choi Myungjoon’s elite squad will slowly begin their operation.

Then those guys will slowly move their main force now.

As the wind blew, my bangs fluttered.

As I grabbed my hair with my hand, I naturally looked at the riverbank, where Jin Jaehee was walking, with the vast Han River in the background.

In the sky, a giant Holy Sword was flying, piercing through a Slediman.

* * *

Third day in Yeouido.

The Slediman meat that Jin Jaehee had caught was a comfort to the soldiers exhausted from the long battle.

The soldiers tasted the meat and exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow-! This is crazy.”

“It’s more delicious than Hanwoo [high-quality Korean beef]? I don’t remember the taste of Hanwoo, though.”

“The oil is crazy. Wow-.”

Because it was grilled whole over the fire, the skin was charred black, but if you peeled off the charred part, the white flesh was revealed.

The soldiers were clinging to the flesh like ants, filling their hungry stomachs.

Kang Si-on was drinking water and watching it.

At that time, Jin Jaehee approached him and handed him a skewer.

It was a Slediman skewer that she had cooked herself.

When Kang Si-on thanked her and received it, she asked.

“How is it? Does it suit your taste?”

Kang Si-on pursed his lips, glanced at her, and replied.

“I just ate it?”

At his words, she laughed without a word.

Kang Si-on swallowed the meat and said.

“It’s delicious. Is that why you went to the Han River this morning?”

At Kang Si-on’s words, Jin Jaehee smiled and replied.

“I wanted to feed it to you when I came here. It was also the meat you liked the most in your previous life.”

“Hmm. It’s worth liking. It’s delicious. But more than that, I like the fact that those monsters can be a great food source for the ogres.”

“There’s no problem with supplies, right?”

“There’s no problem with supplies, but I can’t deplete Mangyeong’s food. We have to consume the monsters’ food, and we have to pay attention to the defense battle.”

Kang Si-on seemed to like the meat, and he ate even the small pieces of flesh attached to the skewer without leaving any behind.

While watching him, Jin Jaehee suddenly spoke about the information she had received from her subordinate.

“Oh, right. Do you remember hoarding cigarettes and alcohol?”

“Of course, I remember. It hasn’t been that long.”

“There are scouts dispatched near Gangseo [district west of the Han River]. The guys I gathered mainly with ability users under me.”

“Yeah.”

Kang Si-on had scattered artifact awakeners with excellent disguise and infiltration abilities throughout Seoul, except for Gangbuk.

It was Kang Si-on’s preparation work that he had been doing since before the war.

They were becoming Kang Si-on’s eyes and ears during the war.

Jin Jaehee said.

“But there seems to be an outsider who wants to hold the lord who hoarded responsible.”

“Responsible?”

At her words, Kang Si-on snorted.

“I didn’t think it was serious information, so I was quiet. They caused a terror at the checkpoint and fled. I’m not sure of their destination, but they’ll probably come to Mangyeong too. I thought it would be good to know.”

Unlike her words, Kang Si-on didn’t care much about them.

Because he didn’t have time to do so.

He finished speaking while turning the bottle cap.

“Leave them alone.”

Si-on judged that the outsiders would not cause any major changes.

But that outsider was two subordinates of Si-on’s younger brother, Kang Junho.

(Continued in the next episode)