“Y-you actually brought this much oil...!”
“We just got lucky, that’s all.”
“What kind of luck would you need for something like this to happen!”
One way or another, we’d succeeded in mass-producing fuel.
Once we were able to operate the tanks—
“But we should tweak them a bit before we use them.”
“Tweak them?”
“The higher the defensive power, the better.”
I spoke to Jo Beomseok.
I advised him that we needed to reinforce the protection on this hardware.
Of course, they’re military assets, so they’re already pretty damn sturdy as is.
Even so, among monsters there are plenty that go way beyond anything you can imagine.
There were maniacs out there that could tear apart a normal tank with their bare hands.
Even in our unit, we hadn’t started using our equipment until after the engineers finished reinforcing it.
“...Our group doesn’t have anyone with that kind of tech.”
The problem was this.
Jo Beomseok’s group might be structured similarly to a military unit on the surface...
...but as far as I could see, they didn’t have engineers like ours.
“Can’t be helped. I’ll ask another group.”
“Another group?”
“There’s one person who might be able to do it.”
So.
As part of following my advice, Jo Beomseok went to find the man he thought was most suited for the job.
[Awakener: Kim Jongdu]
[Intermediate Architect Lv.27]
He went to find Eastern Branch’s Kim Jongdu.
“Construction personnel, assemble!”
“Yes, sir!!! All personnel assembled!”
That same Kim Jongdu shouted.
And as I watched the Eastern Branch Awakeners crowding toward him at his shout, I thought:
Those guys aren’t combat jobs?
When I first heard he’d try asking Eastern Branch...
...since even among their leaders they had production Jobs mixed in, I figured, is this a group with a lot of production types?
But.
Among the people who actually gathered, the only production Job was Kim Jongdu himself.
He’d gathered combat Jobs who were basically useless for construction work.
I was wondering what the hell he was trying to do with that...
“Under my command, commence work!”
“Commence!!!”
The moment he shouted to the people he’d gathered—
A strange wave of magic power spread out from his body.
Then:
“All right, everyone, let’s get to work!”
Yelling energetically, they ran up to the tanks.
People who should originally have had no abilities beyond combat-related Skills...
CLACK CLACK CLACK.
...Huh?
At an incredible speed—
They started throwing up things like barriers around the tanks, layering them on top.
What the hell, I definitely saw all of them were pure combat Jobs, though?
To say they were just strong and that’s why they were good at physical labor...
...the speed and precision of their work was way too much for that.
Puzzled, I watched them work.
And only then did I notice one thing.
[Intermediate Warrior Lv.15]
[Trait]
[Lowest-Grade Construction (Temporary)]
Each and every one of their status windows—
Had an extra Trait line added.
What the fuck.
And.
It wasn’t hard to figure out the cause.
[Awakener: Kim Jongdu]
[Intermediate Architect Lv.27]
[Skill: Construction Command]
[Under your command, gather day laborers and carry out large-scale construction.]
[If the targets of this ability agree, they will be temporarily granted the Trait ‘Lowest-Grade Construction’ and move according to the Architect’s directions.]
[Warning!]
[This is a work method that drags in non-professionals.]
[If the blueprint for the structure is complex, the chance of construction failure rises sharply.]
[If construction is completed through this Skill, the total experience gained from that structure can be reduced by up to 50%, and all participants in the construction will share the experience.]
“...What a busted bullshit Skill.”
Come to think of it—
There had been one thing that felt a little strange.
Those Walls built all over Gyeonggi Province... there were too many of them.
It was way too many Walls for a single Architect to have built alone.
On top of that, there were places where he’d built two of them within a ten–twenty-minute walking distance, only for one to end up completely useless.
No matter how specialized an Awakener is in a specific field...
...I’d thought, does it make any sense that one guy built that many Walls by himself?
Of course he didn’t do it alone!
From the start—
He hadn’t done it on his own.
By using that Skill to mobilize laborers granted the [Construction] Skill—
He could build structures at incredible speed, which is how he managed to put up that many Walls.
Now I see why he stuck to building Walls like that.
Since it was a method that dragged in people with no construction-related Jobs...
There was a line saying it would be hard to build complicated structures.
But Walls don’t have to be complicated.
You just make them high and tough, and that’s that.
“...But still.”
Right then.
Howard, who was watching the tank modification scene with me, spoke.
“Isn’t that guy an Architect?”
“Yeah.”
“...How can an Architect modify tanks?”
Kim Jongdu was an Architect.
But what he was modifying right now was a tank.
Sure.
If you’re just a normal person, you’d wonder if something like this was even possible.
“That guy’s figured out a lot about his Job.”
“Huh?”
“It’s similar to what you did earlier.”
I hadn’t asked him personally, but—
It wasn’t hard to know how he could pull something like that off.
“Think about it. They call tanks ‘moving fortresses,’ right?”
“Ah...”
“Once he perceives those tanks as wheeled structures—a kind of moving building—that nickname becomes real, and tanks also become valid targets for his construction Skills.”
By the same logic, that meant:
That Architect guy understood that the scope of his Skills changed depending on his own perception.
No wonder he reached that level despite being a production Job.
It made me reaffirm something.
I’d never met that so-called Chair in person, so I didn’t know about him.
But this one Architect—
He was probably the biggest reason humans in Gyeonggi Province had been able to survive at all.
“Perception is... that important, huh.”
“Well, since he’s an Architect, it’s not like there are no issues. I’m guessing the only thing he can really do is boost their defensive power.”
At that—
Howard tilted his head and asked.
“Huh? Is there anything else we need beyond that?”
“...Well, that alone is more than enough.”
But.
From my point of view, there were things I found lacking.
When it comes to Wall-building, he blows our engineers out of the water, but when it comes to war machines, he’s still way behind.
Our unit’s [Engineer] Awakeners—
Back when their levels were still at the point where you could count them on one hand, they were already able to at least toughen up military hardware.
Later on, after they went further and started tearing down tank engines and rebuilding them to reinforce everything—
The specs of those tanks climbed to a level that couldn’t even be compared to what they’d been originally.
An engineer’s real job is manufacturing instruments of war. Things like tank modifications are literally their main line of work.
But this guy was an Architect.
He could probably, by perceiving tanks as moving fortresses, reinforce their outer walls like they were fortress walls.
But large-scale overhauls like what our engineers managed were out of the question.
Well, whatever!
Now, we had the titans of modern warfare—machines with enormous firepower and massive defensive power—
Tanks and armored vehicles—added to our combat strength.
“If we’ve got gear like this on our side...”
“Isn’t our combat strength about the same level as the Chair’s strike force back then?”
“No, we might be stronger than that now...”
With the addition of that equipment—
People became convinced that they’d secured a level of force similar to what the Chair himself had commanded in the past.
“You should get ready too.”
“...?”
“As soon as that modification is done.”
Meaning—
It was finally time to leave.
“The expedition is going to begin.”
*****
THOOOONG...
The gate in the thick Wall opened.
“All units, deploy!”
“Uwooooooh!”
From within...
A massive number of Awakeners deployed first.
DUDUDUDU...
Dozens of military vehicles and armored vehicles—
And behind them, the tanks followed.
“People who were notified beforehand will board the vehicles!”
“Everyone else advances behind the tanks!”
Once all the tanks rolled out—
People either climbed aboard those vehicles, or moved behind the tanks to minimize the effect of the blizzard.
“Never thought I’d get to see tanks moving in this world.”
“...The presence they give off is insane.”
“Honestly, I used to think if you gathered enough Awakeners, they might be stronger than a military unit? But seeing these tanks, I’m completely changing my mind, man.”
“Well, they’re tanks.”
Even though real combat hadn’t properly started yet—
People were already murmuring at the dignified appearance of those machines, living up to the nickname “moving fortresses.”
Right then.
A few people reacted with confusion.
“The fuel consumption must be insane, right? How are they even running these things?”
“I don’t know the exact details either. Was it Northern Branch or Central Branch—anyway, they said some bigshot solved it.”
“What do you mean, ‘solved’?”
“Is there some kind of Job like Oil King or something? How would that even be possible?”
When talk of me and Howard came up—
I couldn’t help feeling a little proud.
“Uh... but, you know.”
Right then—
One of the Awakeners walking behind the tank spoke up.
“...Don’t you smell grilled pork belly from somewhere?”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. What the hell? This is making me hungry.”
GRRRRRGLE...
As soon as they caught a whiff of the smell—
The Awakeners started talking about how hungry they were.
At that sight, I... how should I put it.
...Ahem!
I could only clear my throat inwardly.
I mean.
We’d had to secure that much oil.
It’s not like there wouldn’t be any side effects at all.
At the end of the day... that’s still animal fat, you know?
If you run engines by burning animal fat—
It’s perfectly natural that you’d get the smell of grilled meat.
Of course—
Compared to the performance, it was a trivial side effect.
“I’m hungry.”
“Thinking about it, I haven’t had meat in forever. It’s been, what, over half a year at least...”
“Ah, talking about this is just making me hungrier. Shut it and keep moving.”
People found it strange, sure—
But since it wasn’t really a problem, they advanced according to the operation.
I squeezed in among them as well—
And as we moved forward through the blizzard, I thought:
If we follow the plan... we’re going to retake the Walls Kim Jongdu built and advance steadily, right.
If I wanted to check on my parents’ condition, every second counted...
But in the end, this was the fastest way.
Same went for them.
It would be hard to endure several months waiting for the Legion to come help.
But even if we advanced slowly using this method—
It was a situation where we expected things to be decided within, at most, a month.
In the end, everyone had concluded that a stable, methodical offensive was the most reliable approach.
They said the first planned capture point was relatively close, didn’t they.
Since it was an area completely out of human hands, there’d be a lot of monsters.
But in terms of distance, it was still pretty far from the Source of the Cold, so the chance we’d immediately run into our current main objective felt low.
If there was anything to worry about...
Well.
THUD...!
“Scouts are reporting in!”
“A massive monster horde is approaching!”
Given that we were moving as a large group—
It only made sense that the number of monsters we’d run into along the way would be considerable.
*****
Once the monsters started swarming in—
The expeditionary force immediately began to respond.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
[The shout of command resounds.]
When Jo Beomseok shouted in a voice far too powerful for his age—
A wide-area buff washed over the entire expeditionary force.
Back when we were ambushed last time, that buff hadn’t affected me.
But this time, maybe because I was being treated as an ally fighting alongside them—
The buff’s effect applied to me as well.
About on par with, or maybe slightly weaker than, First Lieutenant Kim?
[Commander] was a Job more specialized in large-scale battles ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) than any other.
That went for me even as a chef.
I might have excellent ability as a buffer—but I needed at least the minimum process of feeding people for the buff to take effect.
In contrast, commander-type Jobs—
All they had to do was yell, and the buffs went in.
It’s not like the Commander has no drawbacks at all, though.
If you followed his orders, you gained tremendous stats.
But if you didn’t follow that order, your stats could actually drop instead.
There were penalties of that sort.
What mattered was—
Those drawbacks are basically meaningless in practice.
Situations where you wouldn’t follow a commander’s order...
...barely came up.
As long as the commander gave accurate orders, it was a drawback you could completely ignore.
And compared to the overwhelming advantage of being able to grant powerful buffs to a massive number of troops through such a simple process—
It was hard to even call it a drawback.
Since it was a Job that got stronger as the scale of battle increased—
Jo Beomseok’s shout just now had to be producing a massive effect.
“Whole army!”
But.
That wasn’t the end.
“Act according to the Strategist’s operation!”
“...?”
The Strategist’s operation?
I wondered what that meant—
“Northern Branch’s Park Junggu will take five troops and move to the three o’clock direction...”
The soldier with the model officer’s face standing next to Jo—
Jo Jun stared up at the sky, as if he could see something in the air, and began issuing operational orders.
At the same time—
[The Strategist’s operation has been issued!]
[This is an excellent operation, devised with the Intermediate Strategist’s full effort.]
[Combat actions that follow the operation receive a bonus.]
[The contents of the operation are engraved in the combatants’ minds.]
Inside my head—
I felt an image emerge.
This is...!
What appeared in my mind was an image of this battlefield we were standing on.
And in that battlefield, even what actions each person should be taking.
As I read through what was being jammed into my brain, I thought:
It’s an extremely precise, meticulous operation.
On top of that—
All of those concrete details were pushed directly into my head.
Since it wasn’t being delivered verbally, there was no way to get mixed up about anything.
People say he’s weaker than a Commander, but he can also throw out a wide-area buff... and on top of that, he crafts operations like this, then rams them directly into everyone’s heads?
Eyes widening—
I stared at the man responsible.
“...It’s nothing special.”
Jo Jun scratched his cheek, embarrassed.
But.
My thoughts as I looked at him were completely different.
The bigger the scale of battle gets... beyond buffs, the influence of the operation itself becomes critical.
He might think he was nothing special compared to Jo Beomseok.
And yeah, in terms of pure buff numbers, Jo Beomseok was better.
So in terms of raw capability at this moment, he might be behind Jo Beomseok.
He’s a talent.
The Legion already had a [Commander]—First Lieutenant Kim.
So to be honest, General Jo Beomseok wasn’t that tempting a talent.
But.
This guy didn’t just have insane synergy with a commander-type Job.
By nature of being a Job that devises operations—
In battles on an even larger scale, he’d be able to exert more influence than a commander.
Since arriving in Gyeonggi Province—
This was the first time, since that [Architect] Kim Jongdu, that I’d run into someone like this.
If he survives this, he’s someone I have to drag into the Legion somehow!
He was a talent I wanted.
*****
“You all got your orders, right?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Move out!”
Once all the buffers had finished their buffs—
The combat Jobs of the expeditionary force began full-scale combat.
“Ka-ha ha ha! You insect-like vermin! Look at me!!!”
“Damn it, boss!”
“Stop charging in by yourself!”
Among the combat Jobs—
The one showing the most outstanding performance was none other than Park Junggu.
As expected... that guy’s pretty strong.
If he’d belonged to our unit from the beginning—
I had the feeling he might have reached right up to the brink of level 30 as well.
“Ugh, the squad that went to the twelve o’clock direction is taking heavier losses than expected!”
“Can’t be helped. Partial adjustment to the operation! Of those guarding the tanks, three will reinforce the twelve o’clock direction...”
While the battle raged—
The command staff, shielded near the various combat vehicles, were busy fighting their own kind of battle.
I watched Jo Jun, who immediately crafted a revised operation the moment something deviated from the plan.
Even when the operation hits a snag, he doesn’t panic and adjusts right away...
He couldn’t possibly have that much experience yet, and he was still this good.
The more I looked at him, the more he was a talent I wanted.
And.
With the command and operations of Jo Beomseok and Jo Jun—
Along with the military hardware that Kim Jongdu had reinforced—
Seeing strong fighters like Park Junggu slicing down enemies on the front line—
I could be sure.
This expeditionary force is strong!
The potential that the Awakeners of Gyeonggi Province had been holding—
Was far more powerful than I’d imagined.
*****
Like that—
Thanks to the expeditionary force fighting even better than I’d hoped—
We seemed on track to get through this massive monster assault without much trouble.
“...General!”
“Scouts. What is it?”
“A massive monster horde!”
“I’m aware, we’re already fighting—”
“Not that one!”
The scout who ran up in a panic spoke with a pale face.
“There’s another massive horde approaching!”
“...!”
“They don’t seem to be that strong, but... there are a lot of them!”
This horde, we might be able to handle relatively smoothly—
But if another group of enemies joined up with them, the story changed.
Especially...
Even if we somehow dealt with the second horde too, it’d be impossible to prevent the number of wounded and dead from increasing.
Our goal wasn’t to wipe out the monsters we’d just run into.
Our true objective was to reach the Source of the Cold, defeat the monsters there, and restore the climate to normal.
To do that, we had to keep moving south while preserving as much of our combat strength as possible.
“Of all times, it has to be now...!”
If this were after the battle, that’d be one thing.
But right now, in the middle of an ongoing fight, it was hard to retreat.
“Where are they?”
“Sir?”
“...Where are those monsters coming from?”
For me—
This was.
The best possible timing.
