Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: 85. King (7)
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Shwoosh! Zing!
Fragments reminiscent of shotgun pellets vanished before us, leaving ripples of light like stones dropped into a transparent pond.
It was definitely the Awakener's power.
Without it, King and I would have been torn to shreds by the fragments and left sprawled on the ground.
Meanwhile, the fragments absorbed by the force field were funneled through a rift connected to another dimension, hurtling straight toward the monster.
The reflective effect of the reflective force field.
The generation point of the small rift serving as the force field's outlet was within its maximum range.
Thus, infinite reflections through the force field couldn't occur.
The barrage of fragments pelted the tofu-like mass around the monster's barrel.
Grayish-white flesh was torn and ripped away, but that was all.
These small fragments, effective against soft targets like humans, couldn't inflict meaningful damage on the monster.
They merely scratched the surface before the rift on the opposite side of the reflective force field dissipated rapidly.
We didn't stop advancing during that time.
Thud—
The distance was still 70 meters.
A full sprint could close it in one go, but Annihilator types could fire irregularly in bursts.
"SKELTON. No need to run yet?"
"Not yet."
There would be one more, maybe two.
And besides...
Scritch-scritch—
The spiderlings, which had briefly vanished, spotted us and began gathering.
They were at a distance, but they'd soon charge toward us.
"You're all going to die soon!"
Son Myeongju's hoarse shout came from behind.
"To dare challenge God's apostle head-on! How utterly stupid!"
Neither King nor I paid her any mind.
Her words weren't worth responding to.
But I did notice Jeon Si-hun beside her.
He was watching us.
I kept my eyes fixed ahead without a word, and King guarded my back, trusting me completely.
As we advanced silently, the spiderlings began swarming.
Still some distance away.
We maintained our pace.
Ignoring the spiderlings entirely.
No need to fuss over them one by one—another big one was coming.
Sure enough, a strange ripple formed around the Annihilator's barrel.
Second wave.
"Incoming!"
At 50 meters, dodging bullets isn't impossible just because they're fast; it's because the human eye can't track them well.
This monster's fragment shots were different.
Slower than gunpowder weapons by a clear margin, and I was focusing only on the larger, more visible mid-to-large fragments.
Ignoring the fine debris.
Boom!
With a shockwave, the Annihilator scattered grayish-white fragments in all directions.
The moment it unleashed them, I spotted the large, jagged clumps of gloomy hue flying toward us.
"Evade!"
I hurled my body sideways.
King did the same beside me, at nearly identical speed.
"Force field!"
Boom!
King deployed the force field.
Shoo—
The instant it activated, small fragments already within minimum range grazed my collar and hair.
"Damn."
I heard King's mutter from behind.
"Took a hit."
"Can you move?"
"Didn't I say it's nothing? Truth is, I'm the type with no blood or tears, literally."
"Let's go."
Nothing remained in the path swept by the fragments.
A few spiderlings had been there, but the scattering shot had obliterated them all.
Now, we were right at the minimum range of our respective reflective force fields.
A mid-tier Awakener's minimum range was about 15 meters.
We had to breach it.
But before we could start our charge, the monster lifted its head upward.
"Damn."
The worst option appeared.
Death Rain.
Like an incendiary bomb meant to devastate close-range hostiles, it was preparing to unleash Death Rain in all directions.
"How long can you hold?"
"A bit more. But it's getting tough."
King panted as he spoke.
Indeed, as an Over Level 5 Awakener, sustaining the reflective force field repeatedly was quite burdensome.
He hadn't blocked just one or two shots, but hundreds of fragments at once, which must have drained his mental energy immensely.
Perfect.
Time to gamble.
End it before it fires the scatter shot.
King was at his limit anyway.
Maintaining the force field for a full 30 seconds of Death Rain would be impossible for him.
"Stay there."
I discarded my firearm and sprinted at full speed.
My feet weren't exceptionally fast, but they weren't slow either.
And...
Slash!
If a few spiderlings lunged midway, I could fend them off with the axe.
Distance: about 25... 20... 18 meters.
Gauging the exact minimum range of the reflective force field by eye wasn't easy.
A slight miscalculation, and I might see my own bullets bouncing back at me.
But when time was critical, I'd have to risk it and fire at the monster.
Distance: about 15 meters.
No certainty.
Still, I drew the Harpooner and aimed at it.
Click!
I pressed the blue and green buttons simultaneously.
A light vibration hummed as the separated chemicals merged, rapidly gaining explosive volatility.
The Annihilator was already swelling up, head tilted to the sky.
It was about to unleash Death Rain.
A half-beat faster, I fired the harpoon at it.
Screeeeech—
Towing a long tail of flame, the Harpooner's warhead rocketed toward the monster's bulky body.
Direct hit.
However...
Boom!
It spewed Death Rain skyward as well.
The scatter shot detonated soon after.
Through the thick dust, I saw Death Rain pouring down.
In that instant, long-forgotten scenes flashed before my eyes.
Bodies draped in ponchos or on stretchers, limp limbs dangling lifelessly.
Corpses of comrades, seniors, juniors, brothers-in-arms.
In the irresistible haze of drowsiness, I gazed up at the Death Rain pouring toward me with bleary eyes once more.
"......"
Unlike what I'd imagined from school and barracks, my final moments held no heroism or fear.
Just a cheap fatalism swirling in my exhausted mind: what was coming had arrived.
I was slipping into complete slumber.
"SKELTON!"
A sudden shout echoed from behind.
King's voice.
Boom!
A shockwave erupted right behind me, and the Death Rain bearing down vanished in ripples of light.
Amid countless ripples blooming and fading like stars, I turned back.
"SKELTON. Nice shot."
King pointed ahead.
I looked where he indicated.
Beneath the Death Rain, the monster was disintegrating.
My harpoon had struck it dead center.
But the situation wasn't over.
Death Rain was still pouring around us in endless ripples even now, and from the shadows beneath the dark building, a massive spider-shaped behemoth emerged, flanked by hundreds of offspring resembling itself.
The lord of this erosion zone: Spider Type.
"Goddamn it."
King muttered, panting.
"You okay?"
"I'm the king. I can hold out longer than this."
His defiant words rang bold, but his trembling, precarious form lacked conviction.
Still, King endured the Death Rain.
"What now?"
Having expended all his strength, King slumped to the ground and looked up at me.
"......"
No weapons left now.
Just one pistol and two axes.
I looked ahead.
Not easy.
Nearly impossible.
A single Spider Type might be approachable and cleavable with an axe up close, but its minions were far too numerous.
Hundreds by eye alone.
That many spiderlings weren't a math problem anymore—they were statistics.
The sheer numbers overwhelmed every variable.
"......"
No choice but to try.
I quietly drew my axes and walked toward the countless spiderlings and the Spider atop them.
The innumerable spiderlings and Spider Type assumed threatening postures.
Axe in hand, I charged at them.
Dozens of spiders leaped toward me.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I rapidly emptied the pistol, tossed it aside, then...
Slash! Crunch!
...felled the oncoming horde with both axes.
Grayish-white masses tore, shredded, and exploded, scattering everywhere.
Yet they kept coming endlessly.
To these mindless, emotionless creatures without fear, a comrade's death meant nothing.
Likewise, fearless, I continued the silent slaughter.
Slash! Crunch!
I didn't count how many I killed.
I tracked only one thing.
The distance between me and the Spider Type.
End it up close.
However, this 3-year-old Spider Type differed from those I knew—it seemed to possess a sliver of intelligence.
Seeing my dance of death, it didn't charge; instead, it retreated under the guard of hundreds of spiderlings.
"......"
In that moment, inevitable defeat solidified.
Boom!
A shockwave reverberated.
Not King's.
Far greater, a heavy thrum that shook from the soul's depths.
The world seemed to brighten faintly for an instant.
No mistaking it.
This resonance...
"Si-hun, bro! What are you doing?!"
I turned around.
Jeon Si-hun was walking toward us.
His eyes blazing with fiery luminescence, his body rippling with faint spatial distortions.
"Sorry."
Jeon Si-hun nodded toward me.
Exhausted and seated, King let out a laugh.
"This bastard. Finally making a move."
Jeon Si-hun glared at the Spider Type.
He clenched his fist.
Boom!
An indescribable, intense shockwave rocked the battlefield once more, crumpling the spiders' king like a tin can.
*
A sweet aroma wafted from the end of the corridor, tickling my nose.
Women in revealing outfits wearing fox and bunny masks served us milk tea.
I expressed thanks with a nod and sipped the milk tea.
Savoring its sweet, profound flavor seeping into my body, I turned my head.
Beside me sat Jeon Si-hun with his head bowed and Son Myeongju sitting rigidly upright, keeping their distance.
After the battle ended, we'd escaped the erosion zone.
Son Myeongju had strongly objected, but Jeon Si-hun's will was stronger.
From beyond the corridor, a man in ornate robes and a lion mask approached us, arms spread wide.
"SKELTON! And Jeon Si-hun!"
Now was the time for a choice.
Though not mine—Jeon Si-hun's.
We'd come to King's palace together, but Jeon still hadn't decided his path.
King looked at me.
"SKELTON. Anything more to say?"
My piece was done.
So I had nothing to add.
I shook my head, and King led us to his office.
Only Jeon Si-hun and I were permitted entry.
Son Myeongju was stopped by the bunny-masked woman.
Receiving her wary glare, we entered King's office.
A lavish room reeking of overpowering incense mixed with the stench of corpses.
The iron cylinder still indifferently occupied one corner.
"Jeon Si-hun. Remember my promise earlier?"
King walked to the cylinder.
And opened it.
Inside was exactly what I'd expected.
"Uuuuugh......"
A zombie.
Chained, gagged, with an electrified collar nullifying lethality, it stared at us with vacant eyes devoid of any intellect, feebly waving its arms—the zombie we knew well.
King regarded the zombie and spoke.
"This is my predecessor."
Jeon Si-hun's face stiffened rigidly.
"Predecessor?"
"Do you know how I became an Awakener?"
"......?"
"My predecessor, who tried to build a new city in Sejong, was captured and tortured by raiders. For three days and nights, they tormented him, then brought in zombies to gnaw at his dying body. As the raiders expected, he began turning into a zombie as he died. But my predecessor's vitality was tougher than they imagined. Even on death's doorstep, transforming into a zombie, he didn't let his life's flame extinguish and awakened to a new power within him."
"......No way that's..."
"Yes. He awakened as an Awakener. And slaughtered all the raiders. Then he laid the foundation for this city."
Jeon Si-hun was overwhelmed by the atmosphere but didn't fully accept King's words.
He hesitantly voiced his doubt.
"You can become an Awakener that way? I've never heard of anything like..."
Then King removed his mask.
Beyond it, eyes rimmed in black makeup, was a gaunt face no different from the one in the cylinder—half-dead already.
No doubt.
A zombie.
Or rather, something neither fully human nor zombie yet.
Jeon Si-hun's eyes filled with undisguised horror.
"It's the method my father taught me."
"Fa... Father...?"
King pointed at the zombie.
"Yes. This zombie is my father."
"......"
Jeon Si-hun could no longer refute.
Not with irrefutable proof right before his eyes.
"I chose to follow in my father's footsteps using his method."
"......To become an Awakener like this..."
"This method has its weaknesses."
King donned his mask again.
Even I felt strong tension at that point.
King's way was what Jang Tae-young had hinted at, but my mentor hadn't detailed its end.
In the silence, King spoke again.
"......As you can see from my father, we ultimately become zombies. Father lost his mind quickly due to age, but I black out sometimes too."
"Why that method?!"
Jeon Si-hun demanded.
"I didn't want to become a zombie either. But I had no choice. Father's will was unyieldingly firm, his plea to me desperately earnest. After much deliberation, I followed his path. So now I live bearing his unfinished dream."
"......"
Jeon Si-hun's silence wasn't just from the shocking truth.
Witnessing a father-son bond so different from his own might have rippled through the heart of this maturing young man.
"Sometimes I wish I'd become something else. Fur sprouting, beastly face and claws—anything's better than a zombie, right?"
King turned to Jeon Si-hun.
"You're different from us. Born that way."
"......"
"Someday, this city's ruler might be elected by vote. But not now. Only those with power—Awakeners—can sustain it."
"I..."
"There are 30,000 people here. To you, it might look like a city of the oppressed and thugs. But it'll get better. Better until I go mad. But when I end up like Father someday, this city will need you."
"King."
Jeon Si-hun looked up at King.
Not with enmity or contempt, but some complex emotion even he couldn't name.
"What, no retirement plans yet anyway."
King grinned.
"So? Made up your mind?"
To King's question, Jeon Si-hun bowed his head briefly, then lifted it.
When he did, Jeon Si-hun seemed more grown-up than when I'd first met him.
*
To cut to the chase, Jeon Si-hun returned with me to U Min-hee.
He hadn't rejected King's offer.
"I'll go back. For now. Seeing Eom-chang—no, SKELTON—fight so fiercely despite having no powers... it hit me."
Jeon Si-hun gave me a thumbs-up.
"Gave me the feel of a true warrior—no, a hunter. For real! Eom-chang's cool, but you were thousands of times cooler!"
"......Yeah?"
"Reminded me of Commander Kang Han-min!"
King, who'd been listening, turned away with a wistful smile.
"If that's your decision, I won't stop you."
Jeon Si-hun faced King, clenching both fists vigorously.
"We can close the rift soon. Commander Kang said we're one step away!"
"Yeah?"
"Yes! I'll close it and come back. Just take good care of Myeongju. No funny business."
"I'd refuse even a truckload of crazy bitches like her."
And that was how Jeon Si-hun ended up riding the same armored vehicle as me.
Before departure, King called me aside.
"SKELTON."
His unmasked face had returned to fully human.
As a man, King laughed heartily.
"I recognize you as the king's ally."
"......"
"Need backup or women? Say the word anytime."
"......"
"And the doll masks too......"
"Pass on those."
At my refusal, King laughed heartily again.
"SKELTON, you bastard! You know the deal if shit hits the fan?"
The armored vehicle departed.
I gazed out the window alongside Jeon Si-hun.
Looking at Jeon inside and King outside, a thought struck me.
This world has countless fathers.
Fathers who abandon their children.
Fathers who burden their children unreasonably.
Unlike them, the contours of my bond with my father remain vague.
Maybe that's for the best.
And I see the ruined city.
Markets bustle, haggling echoes; in workshops and fields, people labor.
Thugs laugh and cause trouble, but workers clutch their own and hold fast.
Humans are resilient.
Their will, even more so.
Feeling that clichéd eternal truth, I quietly closed my eyes.
Just a quick nap.