Chapter 167
Chapter 167
Episode 167. Huh? It's squirming (3)
While Meian was fighting Jonathan and encountered an uninvited guest(?).
Wen Wei, who had left the abandoned warehouse first, was fighting the 666 Unit Delta Squad in the forest.
Pffft— Pfft—
The Delta Squad leader, Shiobe Hisajiro, desperately aimed at Wei, who was moving busily between him and his subordinates.
However, it wasn't easy because he couldn't use his gun due to the close proximity, fearing he might hit his allies. Two subordinates had already fallen from his attacks and were unable to get up.
'Where did this guy come from?'
Whenever he saw an opening, Wei would either hide behind a tree or use a subordinate to block the line of sight, as if he had calculated it perfectly. All his movements seemed to grasp the entire surrounding field of vision.
Moreover, his fighting style wasn't that of typical martial arts. He primarily used his elbows and knees, interspersed with rapid, machine-gun-like punches that jabbed into faces and chests.
Pfft— Pffft—
Finally, the last remaining subordinate also fell, his chin snapping upwards.
Shiobe thought that was his chance and focused on the gun he had raised as he retreated.
Crack—
At that moment, a bullet flew from somewhere and embedded itself in Shiobe's shoulder, forcing his body back.
"Krrrk!"
Wei was already preparing to dodge his aim. But as Shiobe fell, he looked around.
The terrain was densely packed with trees, and there were no tall buildings or mountains nearby. The only conceivable sniper routes were through the trees.
"MANDU! Was the support HOUND?"
[BINGO—! Current sniper point is approximately 200m from the eastern outskirts of the forest.]
"He aimed all the way here through the trees from that distance?"
For a professional sniper, 200m isn't a great distance. But when the obstacles are not just a few trees but an entire forest, it's a different story.
The sniper's field of vision at that distance was barely a few millimeters. Add to that countless branches and leaves, and the wind blowing through them...
Hector Hammond, known by the codename HOUND, had hit Shiobe from that distance, overcoming numerous obstacles.
[He's a real madman.]
"I know. But why wasn't the communication connected?"
[We don't have our equipment with HOUND and RHINO. It's inconvenient to connect by phone in this situation.]
Wei was surprised by the explanation.
"RHINO is here too? Was he really with HOUND?"
[The mercenary called Hounds who helped with FEROX's mission in Yemen, that was them. RHINO should be at the abandoned warehouse point now.]
"RABBIT's? Let's finish this guy off first."
While they were talking, Wei stepped firmly on Shiobe's arm as he tried to reach for his gun.
"Aaaargh—!"
"Trying to play dirty when I'm hearing good news after so long?"
"Do you think this will end if you guys kill us like this?!"
"And if it doesn't end?"
Wei reached for the pistol lying nearby to finish him off.
Just then, Jang Man-soo's urgent voice was heard.
[These crazy bastards have deployed the Tiger HAP. It's within 100m, so get out as fast as you can!]
Its official name was EC-665 Tiger HAP.
It was an attack helicopter equipped with cannons and missiles supplied to the French military.
"What? An attack helicopter? What about HOUND?"
[He told me the D5 retreat point. He's told RHINO and RABBIT too, so you move!]
"They're really crazy. But what do we do if we can't finish them off?"
[I told you, you should have used your gun from the start! Who told you to just punch?!]
At 100m, an attack helicopter would arrive quickly.
Wei, unable to finish them off, began to run as fast as possible.
.
.
.
KABOOM—
In the abandoned warehouse, Rick, codenamed RHINO, was fighting Jonathan.
Pfft! Pfft!
Jonathan had dropped all his guns and was swinging his fists and knife. But every attack was blocked by Rick, and he was barely able to dodge Rick's heavy punches and kicks.
"He's like a tank!"
His body was so tough that even the attacks he managed to land didn't faze him.
Then, Rick quickly turned his body and cornered Jonathan.
"Got you now. Little rat."
"......"
A large fist flew towards Jonathan's face, with no time to dodge.
Of course, Jonathan had no intention of taking it easily and tried to slip away to the side.
But the previous attack was a feint. A fist came from Rick's left, which Jonathan had dodged, and landed squarely on his face.
BANG— BANG— BANG—
The punches didn't stop, and the abandoned warehouse vibrated as if it would collapse.
"Hey! You there! Big guy!"
At that moment, Meian called out to Rick from behind. But he was so focused that he didn't hear her, so she turned the blade of her handaxe backward and struck Rick's head.
CLANG—
Rick scratched his head. Then, his eyes glinted from beneath his mask as he turned around.
"...What?!"
"???Chinese?? (Do you speak Chinese?Knowing. (I do.)"
When the answer came in Chinese, Meian said urgently,
"A helicopter, called Tiger or something, is flying this way."
"...Tiger?"
"And you, they want you to answer your phone."
At Meian's words, Rick pulled out his phone from his pocket. But it was cracked all over, as if it had been damaged during his earlier intense movements.
"Argh—!"
Finally, Meian threw the earphones she was wearing to Rick.
After receiving them and putting them on, Rick could hear Jang Man-soo's voice.
[Why aren't you answering?! The Tiger HAP is coming! Get out with the Yaksa next to you!]
"My phone is broken. And I haven't finished these guys off yet?"
Jonathan, despite his face being mangled, was still breathing.
[Retreat is more important than that!]
"Damn it! What's our current location?"
[Almost there. But if we go out now, we'll be detected by IR EOTS.]
"You mean we need to divert their attention? Just tell me the direction!"
Meanwhile, Rick gathered stun grenades from the vests of the fallen 666 Unit members. He then connected the pins with a rope lying nearby.
[The direction is approaching from 20m above and to the northwest.]
"Ok—! You get ready too!"
"What are you going to do?"
Rick checked the direction and then powerfully swung the stun grenades towards it like a shot put. Not long after, flashes and explosions erupted consecutively around the helicopter that had approached nearby.
Pffft-pffft— Pfft—
At the same time, Rick, along with Meian, broke through the wall on the opposite side of the abandoned warehouse and ran into the forest.
"You guys! What the hell are you?!"
"Shut up and run, we can't get caught by IR EOTS!"
"What's that?"
"It's an aerial camera tracker! If we get caught, it's all for nothing!"
The latest IR EOTS was equipped with an infrared thermal imaging system, similar to what Jang Man-soo had used with his drone. If they became targets in that state, they would undoubtedly become prey for the helicopter's cannons or missiles.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
At that moment, as the sound of helicopter blades grew closer from a distance, Jang Man-soo's urgent voice echoed in Rick's ears.
[You guys keep running! I'll try to hold them off!]
"What are you going to do?"
[What else but self-destruct in this situation?]
He seemed to be planning to buy time by crashing his drone.
Rick also seemed to make a decision and stopped abruptly.
"Then charge towards the head when it gets as close as possible!"
[Do you have another idea?]
Helicopters are usually easier to damage on their tail rotor than their main rotor above, due to durability.
"No time to explain!"
Despite the brief answer, Jang Man-soo didn't complain. Then, the helicopter approached closer in the direction Rick and Meian were fleeing.
[Here I go—!]
At that moment, a drone hidden behind the trees charged towards the helicopter's main rotor blades.
KABOOM—
The drone exploded upon impact with the helicopter's blades.
Simultaneously, Rick pulled the pin of a fragmentation grenade he had kept along with the stun grenades, removed the clip, waited for about 2 seconds, and then threw it forcefully towards the helicopter.
WHOOSH— KABOOM!
The grenade hit the missile-equipped section on the helicopter's left and detonated. This caused the missiles to detonate in a chain reaction, and the helicopter, engulfed in flames, crashed into the forest.
"Take cover!"
The shockwave was greater than expected.
Rick, running along the retreat route, stopped briefly, embraced Meian as if to shield her, and leaped behind a tree.
KABLAM— KABAKABLAM—
Finally, numerous fragments and waves of fire from the fallen helicopter spread out in all directions.
[RHINO! RHINO—!]
Jang Man-soo's voice boomed from the earphones.
From behind the trees, Rick, his large frame wriggling, slowly got up.
"This is RHINO. Stop calling, my ears hurt."
[Are you okay?]
"Just a scratch. Fortunately, no serious injuries."
[I can't assess the situation from here, so hurry to the D5 point. KIRIN and HOUND will be waiting.]
Rick's mind, dazed by the explosions, finally cleared.
"Hoo—! I almost died."
[If you had, you would have died by my hand.]
The voice that came this time was Shinwoo's.
Rick, startled, smiled brightly from beneath his soot-covered mask.
"Captain!"
[I'm sorry. I had a meeting with people I needed to deal with since this morning, so I'm only checking now. Are you sure you're not hurt?]
Due to the 8-hour time difference with France, it was just past the start of the workday in Korea.
"I'm fine! Why else would they call me a tank?"
[That's good. Hurry to the retreat point.]
"But do I have to take this woman too? She was so noisy."
[Woman? Ah, RABBIT?]
"Her name is Rabbit?"
[It's her codename. But is RABBIT injured?]
As the adopted daughter of Yakuza Weishuan, who was in charge of DAX, she was someone he couldn't leave behind.
"She seems to have just fainted from the shock of the explosion."
[Bring her carefully. Don't just abandon her because she's noisy.]
"Roger— Captain!"
With a powerful reply, Rick picked up Meian and ran again towards the D5 point.
.
.
.
The dirt floor of the abandoned warehouse, which looked like it would collapse at any moment, began to stir. Then, hands emerged, pushing aside the dirt, and two people crawled out.
It was Na Seon-hwi and Ahn Deok-chil. They had managed to escape using rusty nails that Meian had buried and which had gotten mixed in with the dirt.
"Ptoo— Ptoo—! I almost died."
"...Indeed. Kaak— Ptoo!"
The two spat dirt onto the ground and looked around.
Then they discovered people lying fallen, as if impaled in the walls and floor.
"Are they from the French branch?"
They had seen the 666 Unit insignia attached to their combat uniforms.
Outside, explosions were echoing.
KABOOM—
Further explosions from the helicopter that had crashed earlier continued.
However, Na Seon-hwi, unaware of the situation, stumbled outside the abandoned warehouse. Flames soared into the sky at a short distance.
"...What happened? Ah—!"
He couldn't confirm the situation because all their radios had been confiscated.
Na Seon-hwi then approached the other fallen soldiers on the ground, trying to find a radio.
Swish—
At that moment, with a sharp sound like the wind being cut, Na Seon-hwi felt a chill on his neck.
"Krrrb......"
When Na Seon-hwi brought his hand to his neck, blood smeared his fingers. And Ahn Deok-chil, holding a piece of glass, walked out with a sinister smile.
"Now's my chance. Isn't it, Senior?"
"......"
Finally, Na Seon-hwi collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from his neck down his chest.
Ahn Deok-chil watched him and cracked his neck.
CRACK— CRACK—
"Ah~ That feels good!"