Chapter 83
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Bunny as Bait
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The next day, surveillance cameras along the road captured Diablo prowling the riverbank multiple times. As I had predicted, the creature hadn't lost interest in us.
Even so, since it wasn't attempting to enter the island, it was probably conducting some kind of reconnaissance in its own way. Or perhaps setting up an ambush.
Of course, whichever it was, it boiled down to a battle of time—and that didn't put us at a disadvantage. It could wait out there for a hundred days, but if we didn't go out, that was that. Supplies and food were automatically replenished.
If we held out like this, we could probably last until the power plant shut down. But even then, I felt an impatience creeping in.
It was because of the treasure dropped by the golden goblin—the Paradise Merchants' baggage.
Right now, that baggage from the Paradise Merchants was scattered across the roads. Precious supplies that were hard to obtain even in Scenario 2 areas, let alone Scenario 3.
The longer time passed, the higher the chance those valuables would vanish.
Either survivors would take them, the Salvation Church would, or they'd get swept away in a zombie wave, or any number of things... They might already have been looted by now.
We needed to secure that baggage intact and bring it into the island. And to do that, we had to chase off or capture Diablo.
'The best option is to lure it onto the island and take it down.'
It's no exaggeration to say our forces would be cut to half or less outside the island. We'd lose support from the sentry guns, upgraded sentry guns, and above all, android robots like Hercules.
In short, fighting on the island would let us take the battle far more advantageously. What could we use to lure it in...? As I pondered, I tried various methods.
I sniped at it from long range with a railgun, rode a boat to draw it out, even built a bridge and invited it over.
But they all failed.
It didn't even react to the railgun rounds. When I tried luring it with the boat, it looked downright mocking. And it never approached the bridge I built.
As if it were saying, 'I'm in a better position in this waiting game, so you come out.'
Maybe its transcendent perception had already detected the dangers on the island.
As I racked my brain for a solution, my thoughts turned to 'Bunny.' If we used the resonance Queen mentioned, maybe we could easily lure it in.
「I believe there's potential. However, how much potential is unknown.」
A positive response from Queen. Since she'd explained the principles of resonance, her words were probably accurate.
"That's good enough."
I had the residents summon Bunny.
The summoned Bunny kept glancing at me nervously with rabbit-like eyes, clearly uneasy about why I'd called him. I chuckled and spoke to him.
"Bunny."
"Wh-what? Why are you looking at me like that again?"
Bunny's scraggly goatee quivered as he snapped irritably right off the bat. As if he already had a hunch what I was about to say.
Even as a fake, he came from the real deal—sharp instincts on this old man.
"You've probably heard, but Diablo—Clone 37—has come right up to the opposite shore of the island."
"I-I heard. But it's not crossing over, right?"
"I want to make it cross."
"Are you in your right mind?"
"Absolutely. As long as it's there, our shelter might as well be isolated."
"...Fair point."
"Even with our shelter's abundant supplies, this isolation won't last forever—they'll run out eventually."
Bunny replied skeptically.
"...That's odd. Queen told me we'd have enough until your power source runs dry."
"No. That was a lie."
I lied so brazenly that my eyes met Queen's. Her face was expressionless, but I felt a pang of conscience.
Still, I couldn't just come clean, so I feigned composure and continued.
"Anyway, to break this isolation, we need to capture or kill it."
To be precise, capture it alive.
Scenario 2's boss hadn't died yet, but killing Scenario 3's boss could trigger Scenario 4 immediately.
If Scenario 4 hit, Shelter C or whatever—every shelter from alpha to beta would be doomed without question. Our shelter would be forcibly isolated against our will.
I didn't want that.
"You're right, but... As I told you, it's a monster. I heard about it from Miss Sophia too. It swallowed the Paradise Merchant leader—who'd undergone body enhancement surgery—whole."
Even for Diablo, devouring the Paradise Merchant leader in one gulp was surprising. That leader was one of the rare event NKs who'd received body enhancement in Paradise.
When I first heard, I even thought Sophia was exaggerating.
"It's nothing compared to a Tyrant."
"...I've never seen a Tyrant."
Oh, right—Bunny hadn't seen one.
"Think of Diablo as something a Tyrant could swallow whole in one bite."
Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. If they clashed head-on, the Tyrant would probably win, but not 100% certainty.
Sure, size-wise, it could gulp it down...
"Don't lie. Even the Salvation Church didn't have monsters like that. I get you're underrating it because of your own superior abilities, but..."
"Bunny. I know Diablo well. Even that Warren Jones named the red ruby in its eye."
"How do you...? That's a secret even the Salvation Church archbishops don't know... No, you've been suspicious from the start. Are you with the Salvation Church...? No, that can't be..."
He looked utterly flustered. And rightly so. Only Warren Jones himself or Archbishops like Max Swell would know that.
Of course, having played the game hundreds or thousands of times, I knew it naturally. In this world's terms, maybe a thousand lifetimes?
"But Bunny, that's the point. I've never underestimated it once. I'm just facing it squarely."
No underestimation, no overestimation. Diablo was exactly the level of monster we could 'comfortably' take down right now. Bunny's head nodded heavily.
"Alright. What do you need me to do?"
"Be the bait to lure it in."
"...You'll save me before Clone 37 eats me? Come to think of it, it licks its chops whenever it sees me. Must think I look tasty."
"Of course. Zixuan will put a shield on you too."
Even if it broke through a barrage of shells and reached Bunny, it'd be fine. Zixuan's shield could block two direct hits from Diablo head-on.
And so the bait operation began. I headed to the riverbank with Bunny. Across from us, Diablo was already there. Bunny's body trembled.
"It's really Clone 37..."
Of course it's the real Clone 37—what, you think it's fake? The retort swirled in my mouth but stayed put. The creature had spotted us too, twitching unusually.
Like a dog readying itself to pounce.
"Bunny, can you taunt it?"
"I-I'll try."
Bunny licked his lips, then raised a hand and beckoned weakly. It looked more like a timid girl than a taunt...
Maybe because of that, Diablo just twitched in place without moving.
I had Bunny try other taunts, but after staring at us for a while, Diablo vanished.
"Not much effect?"
"There probably was some."
Yeah, probably.
「Diablo expression analysis: Interest 20%, curiosity 20%, fear 20%...」
I cut off Queen and asked.
"So, will it cross?"
「...I'm not sure.」
"Whatever. If it doesn't come after all this, nothing we can do."
If it wouldn't show, we'd have to hunt it down ourselves. I prepared the residents. But that preparation proved unnecessary—deep into the night, it crossed the bridge and invaded the island.
Watching through Queen, I, victorious in the waiting game, let out a chuckle.
Truth be told, Diablo didn't care much what happened to Clone 113. Sure, it looked tasty, but the outside world had even tastier prey aplenty.
But upon actually facing Clone 113, its mind went blank. Caution vanished, replaced by Warren Jones—the original's—gaze.
Bring me Clone 113.
It tried to resist, but the command was impossible to defy. Knowing full well the island was dangerous, it had no choice but to enter.
Worried the bridge might collapse like last time, but fortunately, it crossed without incident.
Clone 113's presence had vanished. Yet it instinctively knew he was on the island. It began racing wildly across it.
Beep-beep-beep. A sharp signal blared. As it ran, it glanced at the ground. In that instant, the buried bombs detonated in unison.
Diablo tried to dodge, but with so many explosives planted, it couldn't. The damage wasn't great, but it looked ahead.
Something was flying toward it. Thunk, thunk. Flashing lights. The upgraded sentry gun's autocannon hammered mercilessly into it.
Its elastic skin deflected most, but the occasional rocket slipped through.
Flee?
It hesitated for a split second, glancing back—the bridge it'd just crossed had collapsed. Escaping meant swimming across.
Abandoning flight, it charged straight into the bullet storm. It slashed its claws at the sentry gun firing at it.
The claws rent the sentry gun. But more surrounded it. Diablo let out a tearing shriek. An instinctive howl to intimidate lifeforms.
But against lifeless sentry guns, it was useless. In the end, Diablo had no choice but to charge head-on.
And... Park Si-hyun watched the scene through the cameras.