Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 400: 400 MCU 75

Of course, I asked Natasha to keep the origin of her ability a secret.

I used the excuse that others might cause trouble out of desire for powers, and fortunately, she understood and agreed.

The activation condition for the ability was also surprisingly easy to hide, since the [Barrier-Barrier Fruit] power could be activated with just one hand crossed.

So Natasha practiced making barriers with one hand crossed and shooting her pistol from behind them.

However, since she had only just gained the ability, she could only summon square barriers and couldn’t shape or deform them yet.

She could, however, push the barriers forward or move them sideways.

While I was preparing Natasha, T’Challa and the Dora Milaje arrived at the base.

"We’ve secretly installed energy shields over South Korea’s major cities and bases with the help of the South Korean government. The cities are now safe."

"That’s a relief. Good to know."

Then I received word from Secretary Ross that the war date had been set.

For this operation, not only the prepared Helicarrier but also both the Odyssey and the Aurea ships would be used, and since we didn’t know how long it would take, we prepared thoroughly and moved to the air force base.

As previously discussed, Vision, Myo Myo, Rhodey, and Tony boarded the Helicarrier, with Sharon Carter and other staff members managing overall operations.

Two hundred new drones were also loaded onto the Helicarrier.

The Odyssey carried Captain, Falcon, Bruce, Wanda, Jess, and Pietro’s team.

The first Aurea carried my team—me, Natasha, Cosmo, Vulture, and Hawkeye.

The second Aurea was assigned to T’Challa and the Dora Milaje.

After arriving at the air force base, special forces personnel were assigned to each team to assist with operations, and detailed plans were communicated and coordinated.

Ant-Man said he could no longer participate due to circumstances—he probably didn’t want to be involved in an actual war.

While we were preparing, Secretary Ross came to me and asked,

"Aren’t you going to use the Gundams?"

"The pilots are too young to participate in a war."

"That’s unfortunate. They would have been a great asset. Anyway, once the war starts and the Avengers and special forces neutralize the nuclear warheads and command structure, the U.S. forces in South Korea and the South Korean military will advance and quickly occupy Pyongyang. The Pacific Fleet will keep China and Russia in check. Time is of the essence in this operation, so I hope you secure the nuclear warheads quickly."

"Will do."

"And I’d like to use the Helicarrier for promotional purposes—is that alright? It’s to deter China and Russia from provoking."

"Sure, that’s fine. Go ahead."

"And about the drones on the Helicarrier—once the missile bases are secured, could you have them conduct a show of force near the border areas along the Yalu and Tumen Rivers? Just having them move in formation would be enough."

It seemed that was the real reason Secretary Ross had come to see me.

"You want to buy time until the leadership is neutralized."

"That’s right. You’re smart, so this is quick. If you do that, we can prevent engagement with China and save many soldiers’ lives."

"Hmm... Fine, I’ll send them. But only after the nuclear threat is gone. And this will be my personal deployment, not the Avengers’."

"Understood."

"And don’t forget to notify us if you find any super-soldier production facilities or Hydra-related sites."

"Will do."

With the agreement made, Secretary Ross began making noisy promotional videos on the Helicarrier the next day.

What was amusing was that Tony also joined in to film promotional material.

Seeing that made me slightly regret giving permission, but if it could prevent China and Russia from intervening, I decided to let it go.

When the operation day arrived, we boarded our respective ships and moved to the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula to wait.

After so many base raid missions lately, none of the members seemed particularly tense.

"I hope we won’t have to deal with Hydra again after this, but that’s probably impossible, right?"

Natasha asked with a sigh, and Hawkeye replied,

"I wish that too. Then I could rest at home. I haven’t been able to go home since coming straight from Wakanda."

"That’s rough."

Since Hawkeye had a family, it seemed hard for him to be away from home so often.

Just then, Secretary Ross suddenly appeared on the TV screen, introducing the Helicarrier and promoting the military.

Broadcasting such footage before the operation served as a warning to North Korea not to try anything, while also having political and military effects aimed at making China and Russia hesitate to intervene.

"We now live in a world where we no longer need to worry about nuclear threats. This Helicarrier is equipped with powerful lasers capable of 100% interception of ballistic missiles, and each shot costs only one dollar."

Ross read the specs I had provided and advertised the laser turrets installed on the Helicarrier.

He then unveiled the robots I had designed earlier, showcasing them with flashy music and lighting.

I was surprised they were already completed, but seeing Tony personally introducing them, he must have helped a lot.

The design resembled the military version of the Ingram from Patlabor, the Helldiver, but it was gray instead of military green and was armed with various missiles and machine guns.

The name was also similar—"Hellhound."

"Five of those already built. Looks like they’re planning to use them in this war. The Captain is going to hate that."

"Yeah."

After the promotional video ended, we immediately received word from the Helicarrier team that the operation had begun.

Our target was a missile base carved into a mountain near Kusong.

With me there, I had hacked the entire base, blocking not only nuclear launches but also external communications, so there was no chance of failure.

However, as a nuclear base, security was extremely tight and military discipline was strict.

Hawkeye began quietly taking out the perimeter guards with his arrows, while the special forces assisted with sniper rifles.

Since this operation directly involved nuclear weapons and was a wartime situation, simply subduing wasn’t enough—we needed to neutralize them permanently, and in that process, lethal outcomes (death) were inevitable.

This had been thoroughly discussed with the team beforehand.

Even the Captain had no objections this time.

He knew war better than anyone and could recognize that this was clearly different from his usual hero activities.

What was interesting was that Tony smirked at that sight.

He probably thought, "So even you have no choice eventually."

That was clearly a misunderstanding on Tony’s part, but I didn’t say anything to avoid another argument.

We continued advancing and entered the underground tunnels.

But the enemy seemed to sense something was wrong and began moving in five-man squads.

However, Natasha and Hawkeye subdued them instantly, not giving them time to react.

"We need to pick up the pace. They seem to realize something’s wrong. Let’s split into two teams as planned—one to take the control room, the other to secure the missile silos."

"Understood. Be careful."

"Yeah. You too."

Natasha, Cosmo, and Hawkeye headed to the control room, while Vulture and I went to the silos.

Vulture’s equipment made him quite large, so he initially planned to wait outside, but the facility was spacious enough for large mobile missile launchers to pass through, so even with his wings folded, it wasn’t a problem.

The special forces also split into two teams as agreed.

"Gah!"

"Argh!"

"Ugh!"

Vulture subdued enemies with the electric shockers mounted on his gear, while I used my sword or, for the first time in a while, a silenced gun I’d made in Cyberpunk to take them down.

"Boss, looks like we’re done here?"

"Yeah, keep watch. I’ll check the nuclear warheads."

"Got it."

I checked each nuclear missile and warhead individually, and what was amusing was that there were plenty of fake missiles made of paper.

What was interesting was that they were crafted with great care, making them nearly indistinguishable from real missiles.

"Confirmed: 14 missiles loaded with nuclear warheads, 8 additional warheads, and 34 conventional missiles of various types total."

A special forces operator pulled out communication gear and immediately reported the situation to higher command.

"Boss, I don’t see any super-soldiers here... Were they never deployed to this base?"

"Hard to say. They might have been deployed but taken out without us knowing. Super-soldiers aren’t bulletproof."

"I suppose... especially since we took this base without being detected."

Just then, Natasha’s team contacted us.

"We’re done too. We just need to separate the warheads from the missiles and load them onto the ship."

"Got it."

Missiles are large due to all the fuel, but warheads aren’t that big, so this was possible.

And since we had specialists with us, disassembly was smooth.

Meanwhile, Vulture and some special forces kept watch outside.

"Things seem to be going too well, don’t they? I wonder if the others are okay."

Hawkeye seemed a bit worried that things were going too smoothly.

"Let’s think positive. It’ll be fine."

"I hope so..."

Just then, Natasha asked,

"So we take the warheads to the Helicarrier and then deploy to wherever Hydra is?"

"Yeah, unless support requests come in. The rest is up to the U.S. and South Korean forces. By now, units like Navy SEALs are probably moving to neutralize North Korea’s leadership."

"If we just take out the leadership, occupation should be easy, right?"

"I don’t know. North Korea’s brainwashing of its people is extremely deep. Many still believe South Korea is poor."

"I heard they secretly watch South Korean movies and dramas, so they know the reality to some extent?"

"That’s only for those who can afford it. Ordinary people don’t. Getting a device to watch videos costs money."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I expect a lot of refugees heading to China, and some military factions will resist to the end."

"So casualties could be high."

"Right."

Having been brainwashed their entire lives, it was like a religion to them, and changing their beliefs was extremely difficult.

Even if unification were achieved, the cost of re-educating North Korean citizens in values, systems, and market economics would be enormous—as seen in the case of German unification.

"Warhead separation complete."

After the special forces operator reported, I informed the team.

We loaded the warheads onto vehicles and then onto the ship, then destroyed the remaining missiles and installed remote detonators to be triggered as soon as the war began.

"Let’s head back."

"No word from the others?"

"They’re still in operation, apparently. Sharon said we finished the fastest."

"Really? Did they get detected and end up in a firefight?"

"Not sure. We’ll find out when we get back to the Helicarrier."

Since the other teams might still be in operation, it was risky to contact them, so we just returned to the Helicarrier and waited.

When we arrived, Tony, Rhodey, and the staff welcomed us and immediately began unloading the warheads with the special forces.

"The other teams?"

I asked Tony, who replied with a slightly grumbling tone,

"No word from the Wakandans yet. The Captain’s team just reported they secured their warheads. They’ll be here soon. I knew I should have gone too—this is too boring."

Tony seemed restless from not being able to do more.

"Once the war starts and the leadership is neutralized, Secretary Ross promised to reveal where Hydra is holed up. So we can just intercept any incoming missiles until then and save our action for that moment. But be careful—we need to justify our participation in the war, so we’ll record our fights against Hydra and release the footage to the media as evidence. So try to avoid killing."

"Fine... Understood."

Tony replied with a dissatisfied look—his anger toward Hydra clearly hadn’t subsided.

After unloading all the warheads and resting for a while, the Captain’s team arrived and began unloading their warheads as well.

According to them, there was a firefight at the end, but the operation itself was largely the same as ours.

The time difference was probably thanks to my [Hacking] ability.

Meanwhile, Wakanda also contacted us—they had successfully secured their base as well.

With all the nuclear warhead storage bases secured, the U.S. President immediately declared war on North Korea, and the Pacific Fleet moved north while U.S. forces in South Korea and the South Korean military began advancing.

As soon as the war started, North Korea’s air bases and radar installations were bombed and neutralized, and countless bombers began striking key strongholds, making the advance smooth.

Many units surrendered immediately.

Of course, North Korea didn’t sit idle.

Numerous missiles and artillery from underground positions were launched toward Seoul.

Fortunately, the energy shields installed by Wakanda worked perfectly, blocking all attacks and preventing any damage.

We weren’t just sitting around either.

Fortunately, no nuclear missiles were launched, but ballistic missiles were coming from other unsecured bases.

The Helicarrier monitored all of North Korea, immediately detected them, and shot them down instantly with its laser turrets.

This entire situation was intentionally broadcast to the global media to prevent World War III, and many countries were shocked to see North Korea fall so easily—especially communist nations.

As the war progressed and ballistic missile launches became less frequent, we moved the drones to the border areas as promised and began formation flights as a show of force.

Refugees did cross the river into China, but the Chinese military never crossed over.

Meanwhile, the Wakanda team also returned, unloaded their warheads, and rested.

Unlike us, they had engaged super-soldiers at their base and seemed to have had a tougher time.

While resting, T’Challa made an unexpected proposal to me.

"About that ship we used—I really liked it. It seems essential for operating large numbers of personnel. Would you consider selling it or exchanging technology?"

T’Challa seemed to have been very impressed with the Aurea.

"I thought Wakanda’s technology would be more than enough to build something like that."

"It had many technologies we don’t have."

"Unfortunately, I can’t say 100% of the technology in that ship is mine. Tony’s tech is mixed in as well."

Hearing that, T’Challa thought for a moment and then said,

"Hmm... You’re trustworthy, but Tony I’m not so sure about. Wakanda’s technology could be leaked and misused, so I suppose it can’t be helped."

It seemed Tony didn’t have a great reputation in Wakanda either.