Chapter 55: Sacramento Defense Battle (1)

Sacramento is one of the largest and oldest cities in California, and one of the most famous and extreme examples of the tragedies that erupted from the Gate crisis.

Especially in the United States.

Well, that was only true in the early days of the incident.

After more than a thousand days had passed, even counting the number of burned cities became an exhausting task.

Also, it became a subject of much research.

People wondered how they could have quarantined the Sacramento Gate, or at the very least, how they could have avoided such a comprehensive disaster.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The Senate Chair brought down the gavel once again.

“Excuse me, shouldn’t we proceed with the hearing? Please quiet down. Give the witness some time to speak—”

But the Senate Chair’s words were once again swallowed up in the uproar of the senators.

The Chairperson was saying something, but the noise drowned it out, making it impossible to understand.

I strained my ears, trying to catch what these people were saying.

“Please speak, Chairperson.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. If you send our team to the Sacramento site, based on our past experience and results, we can liberate the city within forty-eight hours.”

In truth, Dr. Yeon’s team hadn’t actually taken part in the Kaesong battle, but there was no need to mention that.

“Doctor Lee Han. What’s the difference between your team and all those other people who tried and failed to liberate Sacramento?”

“Uh… Our record.”

This was something I could answer confidently.

Our record was different from those who failed there; our experience with both victory and defeat set us apart.

“We have a different track record, don’t we?”

Even before my regression, I’d struggled and fought for a long time.

“Our team has already succeeded in subduing Monster hordes and liberating cities with just two members. Above all, we’ve succeeded in quarantining every Gate that’s opened within Korea.”

At my words, the hearing room quieted.

The mood was almost on my side.

“The most dramatic example may be that, but it’s the same in other fields. Korea… No, I can do it.”

Now it was time to state the real purpose of coming to this hearing.

“If you wish to purchase a thousand tanks or a thousand howitzers from Korea, I can connect you to the relevant agencies. If you want to jointly research advanced machines utilizing Supernatural Phenomena, we can collaborate. And if you wish to cooperate with the Korea Hunter Association, I can arrange that as well.”

Another uproar.

Again, loud voices filled the hearing room.

The Senate Chair, looking utterly exhausted, banged the gavel again, but this time the situation was completely out of control.

I couldn’t quite make out the shouting, but it seemed that senators who weren’t supposed to speak were bombarding me with questions.

“Yes, Texas… Remington, sir.”

“Hey, the witness shouldn’t be getting questions out of order—”

“What do you mean by weapons procurement, exactly?”

And the chaos grew.

The more chaotic the hearing became, the more certain it was to make headlines.

“Just as I said. Korea has succeeded in quarantining Gates, so its factories are operating at full capacity, and Korean defense companies are still capable of supplying thousands of armored vehicles. Though, I can’t say what will happen if orders suddenly flood in.”

In other words, they should hurry and place their orders.

If all fifty states started placing competitive orders, the price could soar like an auction.

My original reason for coming to the hearing, like arguing for a cut in the Navy budget, had long since left these people’s minds.

I bowed my head and greeted the hearing.

“Then, I’ll see you in Sacramento.”

The hearing wrapped up successfully.

Now, all that remained was to find a way to liberate Sacramento.

***

Only a few minutes after the U.S. Senate hearing was broadcast, every phone and landline at the government offices and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance began ringing at the same time, as if they were exploding.

The whole building was filled with ringing phones.

“Is there another war? What the heck…”

Even on the first day of the Gate crisis, it hadn’t been like this.

The Minister of Strategy and Finance picked up his cell phone with a troubled expression.

Just in the last five minutes, there had been thirty-five missed calls.

“Good grief.”

It was the kind of situation where so many people were calling at once that glitches started occurring.

The cell phone had frozen up, overwhelmed by the flood of messages and chat notifications all at once.

After wrestling with his phone for a while, he finally managed to get a call through. It was a call from the Prime Minister’s number.

Muttering a curse, the Minister of Strategy and Finance answered.

“What on earth is going on?”

“Yes. The won has appreciated by one percent in just an hour, and several defense industry stocks hit the upper limit, so the Circuit Breaker was triggered. We’re trying to figure out the cause.”

“Doesn’t the Ministry of Strategy and Finance have a television?”

He hastily turned on the news.

The broadcast was filled with reports about the U.S. Senate hearing.

In summary, the U.S. Senate hearing had mentioned that Korea had succeeded in quarantining all Gates.

“Haha, what is all this…”

A wry laugh escaped the Minister’s lips.

Just a few minutes earlier.

With talk of defense cooperation and the mention of several defense companies during the hearing, such an explosive reaction had broken out.

“Wait, was this coordinated?”

“We’re calling an emergency National Security Council meeting right now. I’m going crazy, since this guy is at the hearing as part of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces operation, so we can’t even put a leash on him if he causes trouble…”

“Well, it’s a good thing, I suppose. It means we’re escaping the effects of inflation caused by supply chain collapse.”

The top senior researcher at the Supernatural Science Research Institute, Lee Han.

He was undeniably capable, but separate from that, he also had a knack for making things happen while evading headquarters’ oversight.

***

At least in Korea, there wouldn’t be any Gates opening for a few days.

So now, while there was still time, the best thing to do was to head overseas as soon as possible.

Dr. Yeon was flipping through documents inside the plane.

It was probably material related to the Sacramento Defense Battle.

“What kind of fighter is this, that it can fly straight from Korea to the United States? Do we even do in-flight refueling?”

“That’s classified.”

“Okay.”

It didn’t seem to be a publicly known military aircraft.

It’s not common to have a plane that can cross the Pacific Ocean in one go.

Dr. Yeon closed the documents and let out a deep sigh.

“Goodness…”

Dr. Yeon was a soldier to the core.

He usually had a stiff, emotionless demeanor, but he seemed to have been quite concerned about this hearing in his own way.

The relief he showed at its successful conclusion proved it.

“You did well, Doctor Lee.”

“Not at all.”

Even though I’d suffered a lot in front of the cameras, the hearing went exactly as we’d prepared. Everything went according to plan.

“It’s a relief that things will quiet down for a while, but do you really think we can liberate Sacramento?”

“Yes. I promised because it’s possible.”

Dr. Yeon still seemed skeptical.

A strange silence fell, and I quietly gazed at him.

Soon, Dr. Yeon looked at his tablet screen and spoke.

“There are three main problems with the Sacramento Defense Battle. The reasons nothing could be resolved until now. Did you see the materials?”

I nodded.

I’d studied the Sacramento Defense Battle even before my regression, and of course I reviewed it again after.

“They’re not much different from each other.”

With a relaxed expression, I began my explanation.

First problem.

“The Gate opened underground, right? Its location, and the interference from electromagnetic waves, made it impossible to pinpoint its exact location. The Monsters coming out of the Gate are Slime-type creatures.”

“Yes. What do you think, Doctor Lee?”

If things had stopped at just this, it would’ve been manageable.

But that wasn’t the case, so things went wrong.

“Slimes are troublesome because paper and fire don’t work well on them, but against Hunters, they’re at a disadvantage. They seem relatively easy to deal with.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

Dr. Yeon nodded his agreement.

Second problem.

Insect Monsters. Currently, inside the city, Slimes and Insect Monsters are competing. If Hunters enter the city, they could be attacked from both sides, which is a serious problem.”

“Won’t the Monsters fight each other?”

Interactions between Monsters.

One might think the Monsters would tire each other out fighting, but in my experience, it rarely worked that way.

The Monsters that entered the city were likely fiercely competing over territory and prey.

If anything, they would attack people even more aggressively.

“Not necessarily. They’d compete, but to secure buildings and potential prey, they’d attack people more aggressively.”

“I see your point.”

“And the problem is, we need two different response strategies. Still, there’s a high chance the Insect Monsters have a concentrated leadership. If we deal with that, things should improve.”

Just like in Kaesong, if we take out the Queen, the enemy might collapse.

Dr. Yeon nodded several times and swiped to the next screen on the tablet.

“You have a lot of combat records, Doctor. But…”

“Yes?”

“The Kaesong Defense Battle is similar to our situation. You paralyzed and wiped out the enemy group by killing their commander-type Monsters.”

“That alone isn’t enough to solve the problem.”

There was still the issue of the roaming Slimes, and more importantly, the third problem that haunted Sacramento.

Probably the root cause of the failed containment.

“…Fallen Angel.”

From what I gathered before my regression, the black angel wasn’t an ordinary Monster.

“A being that shows the will of the Gate itself.”

It wasn’t that there weren’t Monsters stronger than the black angel, but they were exceedingly rare.

Perhaps because of that, they usually managed the operation of the Gate.

Sometimes they engaged in bizarre behaviors, like rearranging the terrain around the Gate, beyond human understanding.

Given their traits and roles, they were the strongest and most fearsome Monsters.

“Their identity is unknown.”

The most important thing was that these beings were worshipped as gods by Gate cultists.

They were opponents to be absolutely avoided.

“First,”

How to break through the three problems.

“We’ve dealt with Insect Monsters many times before. Spray insecticide and prioritize targeting their commanders.”

“I see. Yes, understood.”

Next are the Slimes.

Slimes die if you destroy their core.

Since bullets often ricochet off their liquid surfaces, guns didn’t work, though.

“Those things have low intelligence. Maybe we can lure a large number of them and pit them against the ants.”

With a faint smile, I turned to Dr. Yeon.

“Slimes are unintelligent and poor at situational judgment. I’ll lure a bunch of Slimes and get them to fight the bugs.”

“Ah, that’s a good idea too.”

Finally, the Fallen Angel.

Is there any particular way to kill a Fallen Angel?

This one had no particular weakness.

I’d killed one before, and I’d seen Level 5 Ability Users take them down a few times.

“We just beat the hell out of them.”

It always came with a lot of sacrifices.

Since there’s no special method, the only way is to resolve the other two problems as quickly as possible and then take them on.

“In Sacramento, two American Level 5 Ability Users have already died. Doctor, you’ll be the third going in.”

“Most people wish each other luck.”

At my words, Dr. Yeon gave an awkward nod.