Queen Hunting (2)
Queen Hunting (2)
Starting from the smashed crown of her head crushed by my descending iron club, cracks began spreading in every direction.
Jjeojeojeojeok!!
The queen's head, equipped with two hook-like fangs just like a real ant, split open—but the bastard wasn't dead yet.
All I had broken was the hard shell enveloping her body, identical to the one covering the rest of her.
Tudududuk-
As the shattered shell fragments fell away, the crimson eye on her head—turned sideways to dodge bullets—stared straight at me as if glaring.
A gaze so chilling it was drenched in murderous intent.
"Kkieeeeeeeee!!!!"
A shriek burst forth as her head rotated toward me, her hook-like fangs spreading wide, lunging at me suspended in midair.
A size and momentum that could easily split my torso clean in two.
But...
"What the fuck are you gonna do about it, you bastard?!"
Hwiik!!
Kwajik!!!
My knee, shooting upward with force that seemed to pierce the sky, smashed into the queen's jaw. With her chin lifted naturally, I drove my left fist down toward her face now pointed upward.
Precisely at that eerie crimson eyeball of hers.
Puuk!!
Her eyeball was so massive that my fist sank into it as if swallowed whole.
But this wasn't enough.
Puuk!!!
My left fist, thrust deeper until nearly my entire forearm was inside, I spread my clenched fingers and clawed around inside her skull.
Fuck! Isn't this where the brain should be?!
"Kkieeeee!!!!"
Unrelenting, the queen screeched again and violently shook her head to fling me off. I bent my left arm with all my strength, holding on desperately as I swung the iron club in my right hand down once more.
Peobeok!!!
The iron club lodged between her eyes, embedded deep.
Guess there's no shell on the face after all, huh.
But more important than that right now—the queen still wasn't dead.
This fucking bastard is seriously tenacious!
Ssuuk!!!
Tak!!
I wanted to finish this, but I yanked my left arm out of her eye socket first, pushed off her chin with both feet, and launched myself backward.
One of the queen's forelegs was swinging toward me as I dangled from her head.
Shwiik!!!
Jiik!!!
Whoa, fuck, that was close.
My T-shirt was torn diagonally across my chest, blood streaming down.
The wound didn't seem too deep, but the burning sensation told me it wasn't something to take lightly either.
Dududududu!!!
As the helicopter sound grew closer, Kim Hyunjun approached beside me—pistol in his right hand, dagger in his left.
"Don't be a hero and get yourself killed. Fall back."
"Is that concern for me?"
"Isn't it obvious? There's a chance you might actually kill that bastard, considering you survived being struck by lightning once—only to get struck again and die."
"...So you're not worried about me, but about yourself?"
"Why the hell would I worry about you? Are you out of your fucking mind?"
The hard shell on her head was already cracked. One eyeball was completely fucked up too.
At this point, she'd likely focus on me—the dangerous enemy who could kill her—naturally leaving openings for Kim Hyunjun.
With a pistol, Kim Hyunjun could finish the queen off easily.
No way I'm setting the table just to spoon-feed someone else.
"Hey! Over there!"
Hwik!!
At my urgent shout and hand gesture, Kim Hyunjun hastily twisted his head to the side. My hand shot out.
Tak!!
Like a hawk snatching prey, I grabbed the pistol from his grip and lunged forward, raising the gun toward the queen.
"Kkieeee!!!"
"Not screaming anymore? Then die!"
Bang! Bang!!!
Firing with my left hand instead of my right—while running—my accuracy was complete shit.
Of course, at this short distance, I didn't miss entirely, but the two bullets lodged into her lower jaw area near her snout instead of the upper part where her brain likely was.
And unlike before, she didn't finish her attacks with a downward smash. She flailed both forelegs wildly like a praying mantis, attacking me relentlessly.
Changing her fighting style mid-battle?
Seems like a minor change, but this new combat style made her far trickier.
Without finishing attacks with a downward smash and instead swinging like that, her follow-up moves came much faster and easier, making it hard to get close to her.
Sure, I could shoot from range, but dodging those two flailing forelegs to land a bullet in her head—maybe Kim Hyunjun behind me could pull it off, but it was impossible for me.
"You stupid son of a bitch! Mission success comes first!!"
"Don't worry. I'm destined to kill that bitch."
Shwiik!!!
The queen's foreleg swept diagonally toward me.
I'm tired of this. So fucking tired, you dumb bitch.
"Is this the only pattern you've got all day?!!"
Huoong!!
I stepped back slightly and swung my iron club down, striking her incoming foreleg precisely.
Kkaang!!!!
Kwakakaak!!!
With a deafening noise, the foreleg, redirected by my descending iron club, gouged into the ground and stuck deep.
Then her other foreleg dropped toward my head.
Kkwaaak!!!
"So what!!!"
Kkaang!!!
Twisting my entire body, I swung my iron club upward. It collided with her descending foreleg, sending it bouncing upward—but my knee couldn't withstand the impact and buckled.
Kung!!
I landed on my ass ungracefully, collapsing to the ground.
But unlike this bitch—who had lost all her attack options—I still had my left hand. I raised it toward the queen, who was looking down at me arrogantly with her remaining eye.
"Bet you feel fucked now, right?"
"Kkieeeee!!!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The increasingly intense recoil made my last shot miss, but the first three rounds struck the upper part of the queen's head precisely, blood spraying upward.
The queen staggered, her massive body swaying.
Seizing the moment, I got up and walked toward her, pulling the trigger nonstop.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!
One shot per step.
Extremely careful, as if determined not to miss a single round.
By the time I reached the queen's front...
Kuuung!!
Her heavy body and massive head crashed to the ground.
"Kkie... kkie..."
Even in her dying moments, she let out that grating sound, gasping for breath.
I raised my heat-soaked gun barrel and pressed it against the queen's head as if crushing it. Staring into that eerie crimson eye glaring at me, I spat out a final word.
"One round left."
"Kkiee..."
Taang!!! Bang! Bang!! Bang!!!
"...Sorry, it was four rounds."
"..."
No more sound from the queen.
But those unsettling eyes—crimson all the way through with no visible pupils—still seemed to be staring at me.
"Fuck, that's creepy."
Peobeok!!!
I swung my iron club, bursting even her left eyeball—now nearly flat against the ground—and turned around with a relieved feeling.
"Mission success."
Hwik-
The pistol arced gracefully through the air toward Kim Hyunjun as a message window appeared before my eyes.
[Acquired Trait: Tough Skin (D).]
"That's right!"
Yeah, there was a high chance of getting something like this—how could mission success come first?
Even if I failed, killing it myself was the priority.
Now, let's see what it is.
『Tough Skin (D) - Defense +10%, Pain Suppression +10%』
Defense and pain suppression, huh... Defense makes sense, but what the hell is pain suppression?
Fuck, an utterly useless stat tacked on.
Anyway, Steel Muscles already had 10% defense, so with this added, that's 20% now, right?
At this rate, am I gonna become invincible or something?
"Target down. Mission complete. Return immediately."
-Roger that.
"Oh~ They're still alive?"
"Don't state the obvious. So what did you get?"
"Don't state the obvious. You think I'd tell you?"
"..."
Dududududu!!!!
With the deafening propeller noise, wind rushed in through the shattered glass windows.
Kim Hyunjun stared at me for a moment, then confirmed his subordinates—shooting their way inside—and turned around.
"Let's go back."
Moving to the window, we threw ourselves out one by one, grabbing onto the cargo net dangling from the helicopter. The queen elimination mission was over.
Of course, it wasn't completely finished yet.
-Lieutenant Kim! How did it go?!
"We successfully eliminated the target."
-What about the zombies?! From here, it looks like they're chasing the helicopter... Are any movements toward the shelter observed??
"No such movements observed. Except for the zombies following the helicopter sound, the distant ones are scattering in directions other than the memorial hall and shelter."
-Ha... what a relief. My prediction was correct...
"Let me borrow this."
Deopseok!
Snatching Kim Hyunjun's radio—where Dr. Yeo Eunjung's voice was still coming through—I changed the channel and contacted James Lee, who must be waiting.
"Ah! Ah! Can you hear me, Obama?"
-I hear you.
"Is everything ready?"
-Yes, the preparations are complete. But a queen zombie elimination mission... if such a thing existed, we could have lent our strength...
"Already killed it. So let's just move past that."
-Then what about your request?
"Proceed as planned. But you're not still at the shelter, are you?"
-Of course not. We're 30 seconds out.
Dududududu!!!!
Dududududu!!!!
Two helicopters were in the sky now.
One flying toward the shelter, the other heading toward the memorial hall.
Spotting the US military helicopter flying at a higher altitude than ours, Kim Hyunjun frowned and asked.
"What are you plotting?"
"Plotting? I just prepared a contingency Plan B."
"Plan B?"
Two risks existed in this queen elimination mission.
First: failing to eliminate the queen. Second: the zombies invading the shelter to establish a new breeding ground even after the queen's death.
I simply prepared a Plan B for both scenarios.
Though, honestly, it's less Plan B and more the US military being reluctant to hand over coins directly—so I'm getting them another way.
Besides, seeing zombies gathered so neatly like this is rare.
"Then open it now."
-Yes, understood.
"Hey, tell the pilot to turn back toward the memorial hall."
"What are you trying to do?"
"You'll see."
Shrugging, I handed the radio back to Kim Hyunjun. He stared at me intently before instructing the pilot to circle back toward the memorial hall.
As long as we don't land, returning shouldn't be dangerous.
And from the US military helicopter, what I'd asked them to prepare began raining down.
"What are they dropping..."
Tuk- Tududuk-
Along with the falling objects, droplets suddenly splashed against my face.
Not just mine—Kim Hyunjun and the other soldiers hanging on the cargo net got splashed too.
More precisely, oil droplets, not water.
"Sniff sniff! Gasoline..?"
"Don't tell me you're planning to set a fire? Hoo... It's useless. Even if it's just to reduce zombie numbers, burning them with oil won't earn you coins."
"Have you tried it?"
"Of course."
"Hmm... Is that so?"
Burning zombies with oil won't give coins.
But I'm not trying to kill them with fire.
This is just an upgraded version of the method I've already confirmed earns coins.
"Don't worry. Fire is just the ignition—I'm going to blow them away even more spectacularly."
"What the hell are you trying to..."
As the US military helicopter completed its task and circled the memorial hall square before heading back to the shelter, I extended my hand toward Sergeant Kim Jihoon.
"Give me your rifle."
"Wh-why the rifle..?"
"You have ammo, right?"
"I do, but..."
"Then hand it over."
Tak!!
Snatching the rifle from Sergeant Kim Jihoon's hands, I wedged my left arm through the cargo net to secure myself and aimed the muzzle downward.
At the fifteen 3kg propane gas canisters the US military had dropped and doused with gasoline on top.
"When the fire catches, we need to bail immediately. Wouldn't want to get caught in the explosion and fall."
"W-wait a moment! That..! If those explode simultaneously, the helicopter could be caught in it..."
"Then tell them to move their asses if they don't want to die."
Taang!!
"One shot should hit."
Tadatadatadatadang!!!!
A single gunshot rang out, followed by indiscriminate spraying.
The propane canister hit by bullets spun around before suddenly bursting into flames.
Pwai-eo!!
"Increase altitude! We need to increase altitude!!"
"We need to escape! Escape!!"
At the urgent shouts from Kim Hyunjun and the soldiers, the pilot received the message and began raising altitude, moving away from the square.
But there's no need to flee so urgently.
Gas doesn't explode the moment it catches fire.
"D-did it fail..?"
"Hey, you! If you were going to do something like that, you should have told us beforehand! We almost got caught in the explosion!"
"Yeah! Thank God it failed! We almost all died because of you!!"
Fail?
No.
From my experience with butane canisters, just because the leaking gas catches fire doesn't mean the canister immediately explodes.
For a canister to explode, it needs consistent heating to raise the internal pressure or reach a certain temperature—then it blows.
Of course, this is just speculation based on my experience, not scientific fact. But after being engulfed in flames for that long, heating up...
Kwaaaaaaang!!!!!!
"Whoa!!"
"Wh-what?!"
"Uh..."
"Whew~~ That's hot!"
Fuck, this is nothing like butane canisters?!
It's like a missile just landed.
Even the helicopter—now a fair distance from the square—shook from the intense blast wave. A mushroom-shaped pillar of fire shot up as high as our current altitude.
And jet-black smoke blanketed the sky.
Heh heh heh... Explosives really are fucking amazing!
"How about it? Like it, Lieutenant Kim?"
"..."
Seeing him completely speechless, my surprise event must have scared the shit out of him.
"Kang Hajin.."
"What?"
"How many coins did it cost to prepare that?"
"I didn't use my own coins, but 942 coins."
"...You're an idiot."
"What?"
"Check how many coins you earned from that explosion."
"What the hell are you talking about? With that much, obviously... Fuck, what the hell is this?!!!"
"Idiot."
Checking the information window that appeared before me, I couldn't hide my shock.
Fuck, I should have just asked for 500 coins like I did with the Joint Chiefs of Staff!