Chapter 236
Chapter 236
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 236
Chapter Title: 99. Four Axes (2)
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"This is Defender. Two enemy drones downed. Heading straight into John_nenon's server room now."
"The vehicles split up. Exact numbers unknown. The flare light's too bright."
"Coming from the south. Maybe two? Need to get closer to confirm."
There are plenty of reasons why it's hard to make judgments in the heat of battle, but one of the biggest is the imbalance of information.
Things are boringly quiet in peacetime, with zero info coming in. But once combat kicks off, a flood of data hits all at once—way too much to process.
Take me, for example.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Grrrrr!!!"
"Keurgh!"
Hundreds of zombies are chasing right behind me.
Not exact, but I think I felt a pulse too.
"Just now, I sensed a monster's pulse."
Ha Tae-hoon backed up my senses spot-on.
"Woke the zombies up. No idea how many'll head your way, so hunker down as best you can. They're all following me right now."
Humans have legs way slower than beasts, but instinct tells us our survival always hinges on those two legs.
Especially against opponents with two legs like ours.
"Uwaaaah!!"
These so-called Runners—the sprinting zombies—are the most dangerous type among them.
Simply because they're faster than the rest.
But from another angle, they're the limit of what zombies can do.
Ditch the Runners, and you can shake the others too.
The three shadows cast by the flare light raced dynamically as I climbed over the debris and leaped across.
The presences that had closed in like they were about to grab my hair by the roots started falling behind.
A few followed me over the obstacle-like wreckage, but by then I was eyeing a neighboring building, up the stairs and far enough to look precarious.
Acrobatics aren't my favorite, but if the situation demands it, I don't hesitate.
Feeling the zombies' footsteps closing in, I backed up, then sprinted full tilt, soaring across a decent gap in a brief flight.
Thud!
I rolled forward the moment I landed.
Of course, I didn't forget to grip the barrel and steady it.
Sensing the zombies glaring at me from the opposite building, I slipped casually into the darkness.
"This is Park Gyu. Shook the zombies for now. How's it over there?"
"Uh... They're coming. Go. The zombies are heading for the Chinese vehicles."
The high-altitude drones couldn't do much thanks to the flares, but Cheon Young-jae up high filled the gap.
Bang! Bang! Tatatatang!
Chinese rifle fire rang out.
The zombies that lost me spotted the more visible, noisier Chinese military vehicles.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Continuous gunfire followed.
Hiding in the shadows, I drew one axe and used its haft to brace the barrel, scanning the surroundings.
No zombie presences nearby.
The ones around me had heard the shots too and swarmed off toward the Chinese vehicles in a pack.
The Chinese specialty is overwhelming with numbers, but zombies pull off human-wave tactics even more aggressively.
Bang! Bang!
Boom!
Not just gunfire—a grenade launcher blast too, by the sound of it.
Ha Tae-hoon's voice came over the comms.
"Fuck, two zombies just crawled up here."
"Two's nothing for academy grads, right?"
"Obviously. Anyway, Professor. I'm seriously impressed. Pulling this off from here."
"How's the server side?"
"Yeah. Hm? Oh, shit. This is annoying."
"Problem?"
"Drones are converging there."
"They sniffed it out."
"Probably. Losing drones at their key spot. One of the vehicles that swerved earlier is heading that way too. Toward what looks like a camp."
"Got it."
Waking the Necromancer-type zombies bought us some time, but the flow showed the Chinese were ditching pursuit to reinforce the spirit temple defenses.
"Cheon Young-jae."
"Yeah."
"See any Chinese from up there?"
"Hm. One armored vehicle."
"Can you spook 'em with your rifle?"
"Why?"
"Need to tie up their feet."
"I'll try."
Gunfire erupted right after comms cut.
"One down."
Academy-level skill, as expected.
"What's the play?"
"Pull back from current position, move to next spot."
"Roger."
Two voices overlapped mid-comms.
"It's John_nenon's room! Found it!"
One was Da-jeong's.
"Necromancer type. Advancing on Chinese forces. Contact imminent."
The other, Ha Tae-hoon's.
Thud—
A shockwave followed, prickling my skin all over.
I set priorities on the fly.
"Open the lead door and go in. Server, machines... and probably one corpse."
"John_nenon?"
"Yeah. Find the desk. Secret compartment under the first drawer—backup disk inside."
"Got it. Looking now."
I was about to end with Da-jeong when noise burst in, followed by a fake cough and unknown Chinese speech.
I don't speak Chinese.
But Ha Tae-hoon does, apparently.
"This... fuck. They listening?"
He asked us.
"These bastards hacked our freq. They're hearing everything!"
Amid the blaring Chinese voice on comms, trouble arrived.
The bipedal drones that had chased us now appeared before John_nenon's spirit temple.
Three of them.
"Fanning out to surround. Even if we get the disk, can't get out."
Ha Tae-hoon's voice trembled.
His stress tolerance was lower than I thought.
"Defender. They hearing everything, right?"
"Yeah."
Da-jeong's tone had sunk far lower than at battle's start.
"Hold tight just a bit. Soon..."
"Remember original Dongtanmom?"
"Original?"
"Not the idiot who got tricked into China. That guy."
"Oh~ that asshole?"
"Yeah. Let's do it like him."
"How?"
"Smash the disk. His style."
"Dongtanmom style?"
"Yeah. Dongtanmom style."
Ha Tae-hoon's voice came right after comms.
"For real?"
"Dead serious."
He wouldn't get it.
Our Viva! Apocalypse! old-timers' lore.
How could the Chinese understand Korean even we struggle with?
"Senior Park! Necromancer type popped up right in front of the Chinese."
"Yeah?"
"Whoa? Blue Dragon Blade. The Blue Dragon Blade guy got out."
Something interesting was unfolding on the Chinese side.
I moved.
Toward Ha Tae-hoon's hideout.
"Ah."
Da-jeong's voice.
"This."
Hers quivered lightly.
"John_nenon, right?"
I couldn't see, but she was probably looking at my role model's corpse.
"Holding twin axes. Arms crossed like an X. Back to the server... died standing..."
"A fine death."
"...Desk. There's a desk over there."
Da-jeong had never liked John_nenon or even felt fondness for him.
But before the death of a fellow user who'd breathed the same air, moved in the same space, interacted with us—she felt the solemnity too.
"First drawer open. And..."
She continued in a choked voice.
"Disk found."
I nodded.
"Hey! Hong Jeong-ho little sis! Chinese drones heading your way! All three!"
Ha Tae-hoon urgently directed her himself.
I smiled faintly at Da-jeong.
"Now it's all on you."
"Yeah."
"What? Weren't you smashing the disk?!"
Ha Tae-hoon sounded baffled.
"Code between us."
"Code?! Dongtanmom?"
"Something like that. Anyway..."
I could see it.
Zombie corpses sprawled black under the flare, the Necromancer type towering atop them, and a man standing tall before the monster, one Blue Dragon Blade in hand.
I watched quietly from my approach to the hideout.
The man with the Blue Dragon Blade charged forward.
The Necromancer type traced a lightning-like preliminary trajectory in the air and fired a death ray.
The man read the path in an instant, kept charging through the blind spot the beam couldn't reach, and swung his massive halberd at the monster.
Crack!
True to its polearm nature, the destructive power dwarfed my axes.
One blow twisted the Necromancer type's torso sideways.
The Necro flailed its arms in counterattack, but a ferocious combo dismantled it in seconds.
Less than ten seconds into the fight, the monster began dissolving into particles of light.
"Whoa. Fuck. That guy's no joke? Insanely strong. For real."
Cheon Young-jae, uncharacteristically shaky, as I returned to position.
One truck hidden under camo netting, a suspiciously placed sex doll beside it.
Climb those stairs next to it, and our hideout appears.
"Senior, coming in."
Up the stairs, Ha Tae-hoon's hostile gaze greeted me, rifle trained.
ID confirmed, he lowered it instantly.
"Look here. Our drone recovered the disk."
He pointed to the disk gripped in the drone's manipulator, but my eyes were on the corner— the man turned to light.
"John_nenon..."
As Da-jeong said, he'd died guarding his server.
His server still lived, blinking with countless lights.
An intruder entered that sacred spirit temple.
Bang! Tatatatatang!
Super Skeleton Ho's guns blazed.
The burst shredded the enemy drone's camera and head like tofu.
"One drone combat ineffective."
Super Skeleton Ho sidestepped and took cover behind the server.
Another drone appeared from the stairs.
Tatatatang!
Super Skeleton Ho's fury spat fire again.
But the enemy pilot wasn't dumb—evaded immediately.
Bullets only scratched the armored torso.
The enemy drone crouched, then charged us.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Firing single shots.
Unknown range, but jockeying for position.
Then the feed shook hard.
Super Skeleton Ho leaped suddenly, vaulted the server, and landed atop it.
"What the—"
Ha Tae-hoon's exclamation as Super Skeleton Ho's guns roared.
Tatatang!
Bullets smashed the enemy drone's head dead-on.
Ha Tae-hoon whooped unwittingly.
"No way. This thing's a pro drone pilot?"
"Two drones combat ineffective. One left."
Da-jeong's calm voice.
But then.
"Huh?"
Click.
Click.
Click.
Metallic jamming sounds over the speaker.
Ha Tae-hoon and I exchanged glances.
Ammo jam.
"This is why Made in China sucks!!"
"Defender. Any other weapons?"
"Nope. Fists only."
Worst-case scenario.
One drone left, and weaponless.
"Fist durability?"
I asked Ha Tae-hoon.
"Robot hands are just manipulators for controls. Can't punch out enemy bots like in cartoons."
"Kick?"
"Uh... well. Those drones don't fall easy, but once down, hard to get up."
"Kicks sealed too."
In the darkening mood, another bad report hit.
Weeeeng—
A drone flew right overhead.
The recon/combat type we'd smashed plenty before.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
We downed it quick, but that was it.
They'd swarm here soon.
"..."
I tallied enemies.
Chinese heading here initially: 30.
Transferred in four vehicles.
Two went to HQ.
So, about 15 left against us.
Still hopeless, but better than 30.
Believing it's better helps mentally.
"Da-jeong."
I called her name without thinking.
"Skeleton?!"
She startled.
Mistake, but no time to show it.
I watched the spirit temple feed on the tablet—endless frozen blinks—like time had stopped.
"Close quarters. Can you do it?"
"If I had a weapon."
"Got a weapon, don't you?"
"Weapon. Where... Ah...!!"
She got it.
"John_nenon's axes...?"
"Yeah."
"You sure? Skeleton. You idolize him so much? Even copied his corny post style..."
"It's fine. He'd understand. Because he's..."
I eyed the mummified corpse on-screen.
"A true Hunter."
The view bobbed: a nod of affirmation.
"I'll do it."
"Fail's okay. Means skipping Jeju, that's all. So kill like always. You're good at killing, right?"
"Jeju?"
True Defender's voice cut in suddenly.
They'd all heard.
"...Yeah, circumstances. Hurry! We're pressed here too."
"Got it! We gotta talk Jeju later for sure?"
"Yeah, sure."
I brushed it off to end comms when the foreseen disaster hit reality.
"Hey. Senior Park. Senior Ha. Chinese heading there. Including that monster Blue Dragon Blade guy..."
Ha Tae-hoon's face went white at "Blue Dragon Blade."
"Baitou... Baitou's coming...!!"
He'd seen the Chinese up close, felt his skill firsthand.
I patted Ha Tae-hoon's shoulder gently.
"Senior."
"?"
I stared him down, voice low.
"Forget who I am?"
His eyes changed as he looked at me.
"Professor...!"
I drew the axes.
The two danced at my fingertips like they had minds of their own.
"Speak good Chinese?"
He nodded.
"Decent."
"Tell that Blue Dragon Blade clown."
The dancing axes halted like magic, locking steady in my gloved hands.
"Professor wants a round."