Chapter 352: Massacre (2)

Persen's staff tapped the floor of the ark lightly.

[The shadow of the great Apostle, Hadronox, covers New York!]

Seueueueuk―.

The light of the entirety of New York went out.

And a terrible massacre began.

"U-uh? Magic isn't firing!"

As soon as the S-rank mages' mana touched the densely laid dark spiderwebs, it sizzled and vainly disappeared.

Taking advantage of that gap, a spider demonic beast the size of a house plunged its front legs toward Kane like a thunderbolt.

"Damn it! Move!"

Kane urgently blocked with his shield, but the front legs of the monster he thought was an ordinary spider demonic beast pierced through his SS-rank shield like a piece of paper.

Puuk―!

"……Keu, heok?"

The newly risen SS-rank tank Kane, whom the USA boasted of.

His body, pierced like a skewer in a single strike, was hoisted up into the empty air.

"K-Kane was defeated in a single strike?!"

"Oh my god……! Every single one of them is at least SS-rank or above…… Kkeuaaaaak!"

Overwhelming military power. The Shadow Cult, backed by the ark's power and the Apostle's strength, was a cunning and terrible army incomparable to the single Magenta of Shanghai.

"No! Step back! Maintain formation……!"

"Guild Leader! Please dodge!"

The USA's 1st rank Thompson urgently raised his shield and shouted.

To somehow open a path, he squeezed out his holy power to the limit, but even the blinding wave of light that spewed out was vainly swallowed without piercing even a single inch of the thick darkness of the veil deployed by the Apostle.

An absolute despair that swallowed even light.

In that darkness, everything was insufficient to block the downpour of spiderwebs pouring from the sky.

Even SS-rank Sophia, her mana blocked and covered in blood, was backing away while leading the injured S-rank Hunters.

Tens of thousands of S-rank Awakened were being butchered in the middle of New York in less than 10 minutes.

"Oh, God……."

Thompson, having fallen into despair, screamed while looking at the collapsing Empire State Building.

"……."

The White House underground bunker.

A suffocating silence lingered.

The Secretary of Defense, who had been shouting to advance until just a moment ago, was slumped down foaming at the mouth, and the faces of the secretaries and aides were pale as a blank sheet of paper.

"I-immediately deploy the military! Somehow save the Awakened!"

President Robert's spite-filled command fell.

The US military was immediately deployed.

They were state-of-the-art magical weapons whose destructive power had been amplified dozens of times using the highest-grade magic stones distributed by the Ilsung Group as their power source.

However, the domain of shadow spewed by the ark was a disaster transcending common sense.

"M-Mayday! The instrument panel is gone! Visibility zero! I can't see any…… Euaaaak!"

The moment the pitch-black veil covered Manhattan, all communication devices and electronic equipment went dead.

In the darkness where electricity was cut off and radars were paralyzed.

An F-35 magical squadron cut through the sky over Manhattan and tried to pour mana-condensing missiles toward the ark, but even targeting was impossible.

JDAM guided bombs that were forcibly launched and dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles flying from Aegis destroyers on standby in the Hudson River spewed fire.

There were still hundreds of thousands of citizens remaining in the middle of Manhattan, but it was an unavoidable decision.

If the ark was left alone like this, not just New York, but the entire East Coast of the United States was on the verge of being blown away as a sacrifice.

Furthermore, since the target ark was floating high up in the distant sky, it was a synchronized bombardment underpinned by the excuse and calculation that the damage on the ground caused by airbursts would be relatively small.

Kwakwakwakwang―!!!

The entirety of Manhattan vibrated violently as if an earthquake of magnitude 8 had struck.

The firepower created by dozens of magical missiles and Tomahawks detonating simultaneously in the sky was literally like descending a miniature sun into the sky over the city center.

A terrible flash and heat storm bursting out with high-density mana intertwined in millions of tons of explosive power.

It was an overwhelming destructive power that would evaporate even a decent SS-rank demonic beast without leaving a single bone.

The fierce wave of light that spewed out flashed as if it would tear even the thick veil of shadow in an instant.

The ark on the screen was completely covered by a massive cloud of flames, and it was the moment the secretaries in the bunker unclenched their tight fists and were about to breathe a sigh of relief.

Seueueueuk.

The smoke cleared.

Even after being hit directly by that immense firepower, not a single speck of soot, let alone a scratch, remained on the surface of the ark floating in the sky.

"……A lie."

A dazed groan leaked out from someone's mouth.

And the ark responded.

Hundreds of strands of white spiderwebs soared toward the sky, piercing the thick darkness, and snatched the F-35 squadron whole.

The state-of-the-art magical fighter jets crumpled like paper airplanes and crashed among the Manhattan forest of buildings.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwangkwangkwang―!

An M1A2 Abrams tank battalion modified with magic stones took position along Broadway and fired simultaneously, but a single spider demonic beast the size of a house that popped out from the darkness did not stop even after taking the shells head-on.

Rather, with a single stomp of its front leg, a 60-ton tank was crushed like a can.

Electronic equipment neutralized, visibility zero, mana annihilated.

In the absolute domain of darkness deployed by the Shadow Cult, the essence of modern warfare was nothing more than mere heaps of scrap metal.

Not a single shot worked.

"Nukes……."

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff muttered with trembling lips.

"We have to use tactical nukes."

The inside of the bunker froze.

President Robert looked back at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a blood-drained face.

"……In the middle of New York?"

"Your Excellency! Inside the domain of shadow, neither electricity nor communications work! Hunters and magical weapons can't even scratch that thing. The only means is―."

"The evacuation of the citizens hasn't finished yet!"

The Chief of Staff intervened with a voice close to a scream.

"There are still over 800,000 citizens trapped in Manhattan alone! The spiderwebs have blocked all the bridges and tunnels! If we use nukes, all the citizens too……!"

His words trailed off.

Everyone knew.

If they used a nuke, 800,000 citizens would evaporate along with the monsters.

If they didn't use it, the monsters would devour the 800,000 citizens.

Whichever side they chose, it was hell.

Robert's hands trembled violently.

New York was already a complete living hell.

“……Y-Your Excellency, Mr. President.”

The Chief of Staff opened his mouth with a shivering voice.

“If we go on like this…… the ten million citizens of New York will become sacrifices. The entire East Coast might be blown away whole.”

Blood oozed from President Robert's lips.

Pride? Hegemony?

With the country on the verge of being physically erased, and even their boasted state-of-the-art weapons being smashed like toys, what use was such arrogance.

Robert shouted with bloodshot eyes.

“Contact him! Contact Kim Minwoo right now! Tell him we will unconditionally accept the support he offered earlier! Beg him to please help us right now!”

＊ ＊ ＊

South Korea, Ilsung Group Headquarters.

“Haa. It ends up bursting like that in the end.”

Kim Minwoo let out a short sigh while looking at the live broadcast screen of New York displayed on the large monitor.

As soon as the ark showed signs of appearing, he had offered military support to the US side early on.

However, what returned was a firm refusal saying, "We will resolve it with our own strength."

‘Well, it's not like President Robert's choice is completely incomprehensible.’

The USA was the world's 1st ranked hegemonic power and a strict sovereign nation. No matter how fierce the world had become, there was no way they would welcome armed forces of another country entering their own bedroom with open arms.

He had expected them to regain their sense of reality and bow their heads only after being cleanly burned once, but the damage was far greater than he thought.

‘It would have been better if they came to Korea, I would have stepped on them in a single breath.’

The Shadow Cult bastards were cunning too.

Since they avoided Korea, where Kim Minwoo was glaring with his eyes wide open, and targeted the USA, which would be reluctant to call for foreign reinforcements right away due to pride.

Currently, Kim Minwoo and the guild members, whose stats had exploded after chewing and eating Baal's elixirs, were on standby having finished preparations to sortie alongside Merhen.

They wanted to fly over right away, but they couldn't invade another country's airspace without justification.

Until the other side perfectly raised the white flag and asked for help.

‘What should I receive in exchange for saving the USA for rumors to spread that I got a good deal.’

Kim Minwoo tapped the sofa armrest and ran calculations.

‘Should I take this opportunity to completely lay out the cult in the US mainland at the level of an official state religion?’

It was when he was lost in quite a constructive imagination.

Wiiiiiing―!

Kim Minwoo's phone began to ring.

[Robert]

He's finally here.

Kim Minwoo let out a fake cough once and then pressed the call button.

“Yes. This is Kim Minwoo.”

―Mr. Kim! Please, please save us! We were arrogant! We were stupid!

President Robert's desperate sobbing piercing through the speaker.

“I have been continuously watching the New York situation through the news and our information network.”

―If you saw it, you must know! Please just help us! I'll give you whatever you want! I don't care how expensive the price is! I'm even willing to give you the Pentagon budget whole, so please save our USA!

It was a perfect declaration of surrender.

Kim Minwoo slowly stood up from his seat.

“Understood. We'll settle the price slowly later. We are departing now.”

Ttuk.

Kim Minwoo, having cleanly hung up the phone, rested Hell Rhapsody on his shoulder.

“Everyone hasn't loosened up yet, right?”

“Bro, I thought I was going to die from itching to go.”

Namgung Min clicked his twin daggers and smiled fishily.

“Cedric, call it.”

At Kim Minwoo's call, the empty air tore open and a golden flame blazed.

The divine dragon Gleipnir, forged from the bones of an ancient dragon of antiquity and the bloodline of the abyss lord, finally revealed its overwhelming majesty.

Kim Minwoo and the guild members lightly leaped and mounted Gleipnir's back. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

With Gleipnir's transcendent flight that ignored spatial constraints and broke the speed of sound, reaching New York on the other side of the globe would literally be an instant.

To tear apart the veil of shadow that had covered the USA, Kim Minwoo grinned and gestured with his chin.

“Then shall we go.”