Chapter 103: You Messed with the Wrong People... Do You Know Who We Are?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 103: You Messed with the Wrong People... Do You Know Who We Are?
What is the ideal level of skill in a zombie apocalypse?
Everyone has different standards, but usually, it's based on how well you kill zombies.
Since there are so many weapons you can use in a zombie apocalypse, rather than asking if you're good with a sword or a gun, it's more about a subjective assessment of how cleanly you can take down a zombie overall.
Because of that, evaluations of other people's skills tend to divide opinions more than you'd think.
Even when someone shows truly flawless movement, some loser who can't even kill a Level 2 Zombie will leave backseat-gaming comments.
But if there is an absolute standard amidst all that, it's guns.
Guns can't be subjective.
Just like in the military, judging someone's skill with a gun is always tied to accuracy.
How well you hit your target.
Hitting a stationary target is the bare minimum.
Beyond that, how quickly you can hit a moving target serves as the most basic benchmark of skill in a zombie apocalypse.
You might ask what the standard is for melee weapons, but the Zombie Apocalypse Gallery doesn't care about things like that.
You're expected to be good with melee weapons by default; gun accuracy is what truly defines your skill.
In that sense, I've mentioned practicing my shooting before.
If I had to define the most perfect, ideal marksmanship, it would be fast reloading.
I consider firing without aiming—what people call a "moving shot"—and hitting a vital spot dead-on to be the ultimate form of shooting in a zombie apocalypse.
Having the experience and skill to aim by pure instinct without even looking down the sights.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
If you can make your gunshots ring out like that with zero delay, you are an undeniable master.
But I had gone beyond that.
This could only be described as transcending the limits of physical technique.
"Fuck... this is fucking insane."
Even though it was my first time using it, I had applied it so well that it looked like I fired four shots at once. I was practically drooling with self-praise. The thought of how I could use "Slowly" and "Quickly" to basically cast magic in this world got my blood pumping.
In practice, I used "Slowly" to dodge the trajectories of the enemy's cover fire coming from behind as I looked for cover, and then used "Quickly" to dodge the bullets flying toward my cover, fire back, and slip back into hiding.
Since there were so many cars around, they provided plenty of protection against the bullets flying from the drug cartel members on all sides.
"Whew. My mana..."
Of course, I couldn't just spam it.
With my mana stat at 17, using "Quickly" and "Slowly" together consumed 5 mana each time, meaning I could only use it three times at most.
Since I had already used it once and also used "Slowly," I had about half my mana left.
"If I pick up a mana recovery skill or something, I need to level it up immediately."
Until now, mana hadn't been a very important stat for me.
At first, it was completely useless. When I got "Cat Step," I had to convert my Predation stats into mana just to use it once.
But now that I had acquired an incredibly broken skill, the value of mana had skyrocketed.
Well, it was bound to happen.
Just like with Kim Ji-hee, "modes" were skills akin to superpowers.
And mana, the resource required to use those skills, recovered at a fixed rate of 1 every 10 minutes.
I was no exception.
Of course, with a +2 from my Predation stats, my current mana was 19, but still.
"I need to use it sparingly."
Oh Yoon-seop's performance was outstanding.
Activating his Battle Stance, he used his high stats to pop heads with absolute precision—one shot, one kill.
You'd think a lieutenant colonel wouldn't even remember the last time he fired a gun, but Oh Yoon-seop handled his weapon as if he used it every day. The other members of the Hunting Squad were also shooting quite well, whether because of their military service or sheer concentration.
Even so, if this standoff dragged on, we were bound to take casualties.
Right now, the enemies were focused on me, allowing Oh Yoon-seop's side to aim and shoot comfortably. But if their attention shifted past me, the difference in numbers would eventually catch up to us.
"Phew."
I quickly scanned my surroundings.
I checked my ammo and reloaded.
I peeked out slightly to draw their crosshairs toward me.
At the same time, I activated "Slowly," "Quickly," and "Cat Step," sprinting in the opposite direction at full speed.
Everything around me slowed down as if a slow-motion filter had been applied.
I could see everyone aiming at the car I had been hiding behind.
No one noticed me slipping out from the opposite side.
Just like that, I slipped inside the building where the drug cartel members were holed up.
I shot the heads of the bastards I saw as I entered.
Bang! Bang!
Even with "Slowly" active, a bullet was still a bullet.
Thanks to my Agility stat being close to 20, I could actually see the afterimage of the flying bullets.
Without wasting time watching the bullets pierce their skulls, I ran around, pumping lead into the bastards who were still focused on the empty spot where I used to be.
Exactly 19 seconds.
An incredibly short amount of time.
But when you move several times faster than everyone else, those seconds are worth more than a minute.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
The moment "Slowly" and "Quickly" wore off.
A deafening roar of gunshots erupted all at once, making me wince.
It was a combination of my own pistol shots and the sound of these bastards firing at the spot where I had been.
Nearly twenty guys collapsed at once, holes blown through their heads.
A strange rush of pleasure warmed my body.
I ejected my pistol's magazine, reloaded, and scanned for the remaining enemies.
"What the fuck?!"
"Why are they dead?"
"Ugh..."
"They all just dropped dead out of nowhere!"
"Inside! He's inside!"
Panic.
No matter how rough a life you've lived with a gun in your hand, everyone is equal in the face of death.
The fear of dying without even realizing it is enough to drive anyone insane.
On top of that, they couldn't even pinpoint my location.
They only assumed I was inside because their comrades in the building had died, but because of Oh Yoon-seop's cover fire, they couldn't even check the area where the cars were.
Is he in front?
Is he behind?
It was enough to drive them mad, and to make matters worse, they had no escape route.
Abandoning even Dong Seoul Terminal and running away?
For them, that was a choice with no turning back.
"Group up! Group up and watch all sides!"
In truth, the battle was already as good as over.
Because I wasn't the only one they had to deal with.
Oh Yoon-seop and the ten members of the Hunting Squad were also firing with fully loaded magazines.
Yet, instead of watching them, they were grouping up to guard against me, who might be inside?
Oh Yoon-seop was no fool; there was no way he would miss such an opening.
The net was tightening.
When the bastards noticed and tried to fire outside, I slipped out and blew holes through the heads of two of them.
Since I only had enough mana left to use "Slowly" and "Quickly" together one last time, I saved it and only used "Cat Step."
That alone was more than enough.
Bang! Bang!
Heads whipped toward the sound of the gunshots.
But before their sights could lock onto me, I erased my presence and hid behind a pillar. They had no way of detecting my movements.
"Fuck! Do something!"
"He's in here! He's definitely in here! There are fourteen of us!"
It seemed one of them had a detection skill.
Seeing how they knew there was one extra person added to the thirteen survivors gathered together.
But at this point, such an ability was pretty useless.
"You don't know where? Fuck, the bullets just came from over there!"
"They're shooting from the other side too, what do we do?"
"Return fire for now... Fuck!"
Bang!
My single-shot warning fires weren't just random shots; they dropped a man with every pull of the trigger.
Ultimately, squeezed from both front and back, they were forced to make a decision.
"Let's pull back for now. We're all going to die at this rate."
Humans become calm in the face of mortal terror.
When the realization hits that they might actually die.
They either freeze up in panic or assess the situation with extreme, cold rationality.
"...Fuck. I think we messed with the wrong guy."
And the guy leading the survivors seemed to be the latter.
He had a look of complete resignation on his face.
He ran, glancing at the corpses of his comrades scattered all over.
"Run!"
The Dong Seoul Terminal building was quite large.
It looked like they planned to escape through the main entrance, but just because they wanted to didn't mean they could.
The moment they showed their backs, Oh Yoon-seop and the Hunting Squad wouldn't hesitate to pick up the pace and give chase.
The same went for me.
The completion of Quest 4-1.
Until that message popped up, I couldn't let a single one of them leave alive.
It was time to wrap things up.
I burned the rest of my mana and plunged right into their midst.
Bang-bang-bang!
The three lagging furthest behind went first.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
Along with five others who tried to look back.
I holstered my pistol, drew my dagger, and incapacitated the rest.
It had been a while since I'd had a clean, bloodless fight.
But because I got a bit carried away at the end, I was drenched in blood once again.
I looked down at the guy gasping for breath, his limbs severed.
Of the remaining five, I had stabbed three to death, severed the legs of one, and only cut the tendons in the limbs of the last guy—the one who had made the decision to run.
"How... are you so strong?"
he asked.
"That's the most realistic question I've heard yet."
Out of all the bastards who had died by my hand, he was the first to ask something so novel.
But then again, maybe it was the most natural question to ask.
A human stronger than zombies.
When some are struggling just to survive while another possesses power transcending humanity, it's only natural to be curious.
I didn't answer him.
Would he even understand if I did?
Even if I told him I was the host of this server and was strong because of the cheat modes granted to the host, would he even comprehend it?
It seemed he hadn't really expected an answer anyway.
Since he kept talking without waiting for a reply.
"But... you messed with the wrong people."
"That's also a novel thing to say."
What an amusing guy.
Making two amusing remarks in a row.
"I'm the one who messed with you, right?"
"Do you know who we are?"
"A bunch of druggies."
"...Heh."
The guy sneered, a self-deprecating smile on his face.
"Aren't you curious how we got so many weapons? But I won't tell you. You're all going to die soon anyway."
Perhaps because he already anticipated his death, his eyes were calm.
He was certainly better than the bastards who cried and begged for their lives.
So, I showed him some courtesy by playing along with his guessing game.
"Well, at best, you've probably taken over a military base as your stronghold. To fully arm a branch of this size, it would have to be at least regiment-level. Hmm... where is there a military base nearby?"
I saw his eyes flicker slightly.
"Did you raid a US military base or something?"
At that, the guy closed his eyes.
"Huh? Is it a US military base? Where is there a US military base near here... Yongsan?"
"Just kill me."
"Hey, you motherfucker. It's no fun if you react like that."
I couldn't just kill him after he'd given me such a nice present.
I told Oh Yoon-seop, who had approached, to secure him.