Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Northern Front – Uijeongbu Sector
Major Kim Taesik bolted upright from sleep and pressed his palm against the earthen wall of the trench.
His trait was [Vibration Detection].
It allowed him to read subtle tremors transmitted through the ground and detect enemies beyond his line of sight.
After awakening this ability, he had been promoted rapidly until he reached the rank of major.
Voom… vooom…
The soil beneath his fingertips vibrated rhythmically.
It felt like thousands of small drums being struck at once.
Major Kim’s face turned pale.
“…Damn.”
It wasn’t one or two.
A massive wave was approaching—large enough to cover the ground entirely.
“Large-scale vibration detected! All units prepare to fire!”
Fsshhh—
A red illumination flare burst into the sky, pushing away the darkness.
What appeared before the soldiers’ eyes looked like a vision of hell.
“Grrrr…”
Hundreds—no, thousands—of Blade Wolves.
Their front legs had mutated into sharp bone blades.
Drool hung from their mouths as they tore up the ground while charging forward.
And behind them—
Within the darkness, a massive shadow writhed.
Eight legs.
A body covered in steel-like hair.
Giant Elephant Spider
An A-Grade dangerous mutant that fired acid like artillery shells.
“If they break through, it’s over! Fire!”
Dududududud!
At Major Kim’s command, K-3 machine guns mounted throughout the trenches roared to life.
Riflemen carrying M203 grenade launchers also pulled their triggers.
Flashes of fire illuminated the battlefield.
At least—for the first minute.
Tick.
One machine gun stopped weakly.
“Hey! Another jam?!”
“The chamber won’t open!”
The gunner kicked the bolt in panic.
But the overheated barrel had already fused together with the chamber into a single lump of metal.
Only 100 rounds.
Just one ammunition belt—and the weapon was already ruined.
“Swap the barrel! Bring a spare barrel!”
A soldier hurriedly began replacing it, only to shout in frustration.
“The joint won’t fit! The specifications are defective!”
“Damn it!”
Curses erupted.
And it wasn’t just that.
Thunk—
A grenade landed in the middle of the wolf pack.
But the expected explosion never came.
Instead, the round fell with a hollow sound, becoming a dud as it buried itself in the dirt.
“Misfire!”
They had fired the grenade to slow the enemy’s advance.
Instead, the misfire left a gap.
Grrraaa!
The quick and intelligent Blade Wolves instantly changed direction toward the point where the dud had fallen.
“Fall back!”
“Maintain formation and retreat! Abandon the trench!”
“Shit! You bastards!”
The soldiers screamed in despair.
Gunpowder vulnerable to moisture.
Alloys vulnerable to heat.
The result of equipment pushed to the front lines without even proper inspection just to meet delivery deadlines.
BOOM!
Then an even more horrifying explosion erupted inside the trench.
A mortar detonated inside its own barrel.
The upper bodies of the operators disappeared instantly, and blood and flesh painted the trench walls red.
“Aaaagh!”
A huge gap opened in the defensive fire.
The wolves did not miss the opportunity.
Blade-like forelegs tore through sandbags as they leapt into the trench.
Slash!
A soldier’s neck flew off helplessly.
Screams, bones being cut, and the growls of the monsters merged into utter chaos.
The betrayal of the supply lines behind them shattered Major Kim’s fighting spirit.
‘Were we… abandoned?’
Capital Defense Command – Helicopter Landing Zone No.1
A black helicopter landed, cutting through the violent rotor wind.
The door opened.
A man stepped out.
Shin Gyuhwan, S-Grade Awakened and Supreme Commander of the Capital Defense Command.
The blood of a B-Grade Named mutant had dried across his combat uniform, making it look like crimson armor.
An officer approached him holding a clean towel.
It was Captain Kim, aide to Colonel Park Jinseop.
“You’ve worked hard, Commander.”
Shin Gyuhwan slapped the towel aside.
He glared coldly at the captain.
“Report the situation at the front.”
Captain Kim felt his heart drop.
The commander must have already heard the radio communications inside the helicopter.
“W-well… it appears there was a problem with the lot number from the Guro Foundry shipment. Colonel Park has already sent a formal protest and issued a recall request…”
Captain Kim recited the prepared excuse.
A simple defect.
A supplier mistake.
But Shin Gyuhwan already knew.
This was not a mistake.
Defects could happen.
But the reason the defensive line had collapsed was because inspections had been ignored after Park Jinseop accepted bribes.
Crunch—
The asphalt beneath Shin Gyuhwan’s foot cracked like a spider web and sank inward.
Captain Kim staggered backward, gasping as if an invisible giant hand had grabbed his collar.
“Tell Park Jinseop something.”
Shin Gyuhwan’s voice was ice cold.
“This will not be overlooked.”
With that, he turned and boarded the helicopter again.
“We’re heading north. Immediately.”
The helicopter roared into the night sky.
The battlefield had already become hell.
Altitude: fifty meters.
From the helicopter, Trench No. 3 was already overrun by wolves.
Beyond the barricade, the Giant Elephant Spider was spewing acid and melting the second defensive line.
“Damn.”
Without hesitation, Shin Gyuhwan jumped out of the helicopter.
The moment he landed—
The earth screamed.
Within a 30-meter radius, gravity intensified more than tenfold around him.
Blade Wolves within the area were crushed flat like aluminum cans.
Bones and flesh burst with dull cracking sounds.
But there were too many mutants.
He had already consumed enormous mana earlier while fighting a B-Grade Named creature.
As Shin Gyuhwan struggled to catch his breath, he saw the spider raising its acid-filled maw.
Fsssh!
Green venom poured toward him.
Shin Gyuhwan quickly deployed a gravity barrier.
The venom could not overcome the gravitational force and splattered onto the ground instead.
‘This is dangerous.’
With his remaining mana so low, he had to choose.
Either eliminate the Giant Elephant Spider—
Or ignore it and deal with the Blade Wolves.
Then—
Shhhhk! Shhhhk!
Dozens of grenades sliced through the darkness.
They formed a perfectly concentrated impact cluster above the wolf pack.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!
It was an extremely precise bombardment.
The wolves were blown apart and flung into the air like torn rags.
Shin Gyuhwan turned toward the rear.
On the ridge—
More than ten K-4 High-Velocity Grenade Machine Guns were firing.
At that rate of sustained fire, ordinary barrels would have melted long ago.
But the grenades kept coming.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A rain of steel poured down without stopping.
The Giant Elephant Spider tried to turn.
But the grenade barrage relentlessly hammered its head.
After repeated impacts—
Its skull burst like a watermelon.
“….”
Shin Gyuhwan released the gravity field and stared blankly at the scene.
The machine gun barrels smoked.
Yet they still searched for the next target as if nothing had happened.
“No barrel change?”
Forward Command Post
Shin Gyuhwan appeared in front of Lieutenant Colonel Kang Cheolmin.
“Report.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Kang Cheolmin, commander of the 7th Logistics Support Group. Deployment of new equipment completed.”
“New equipment?”
Shin Gyuhwan ran his hand across the still-hot barrel of a K-4.
“Where did this come from? It doesn’t look like something made by Guro.”
“It’s from Bomb Maker Workshop.”
That was the name Kang Sinhyeok had chosen, believing his workshop’s production would support the revival of humanity.
“A newly established manufacturer. But their technical capability surpasses Guro Foundry. To be honest… comparing their precision would be an insult.”
“Really…”
Shin Gyuhwan examined the weapon with interest.
“A normal K-4 barrel would have warped by now.”
“Yes. This one only begins to show signs after 300 rounds.”
“Before the collapse, even 100 rounds—or one minute of sustained fire—was the limit. What about the K-3?”
“It used to require barrel replacement after 50 rounds. Recently we lowered that to 30.”
“So it lasts nearly ten times longer.”
“Yes, sir.”
It was not an artifact enhanced with magic.
But it was a masterpiece pushed to the absolute limits of engineering.
“It’s strange that it isn’t an item. Disassemble one and inspect it thoroughly.”
“We already did. The metal is not ordinary steel—it’s high-purity alloy with precision heat treatment. The internal tolerances are extremely tight, which greatly reduces friction heat.”
At that explanation, Shin Gyuhwan looked at Kang Cheolmin.
Unlike Park Jinseop, the man handled things efficiently.
“And the heat dissipation fins have been modified. The design maximizes thermal discharge—”
Shin Gyuhwan raised his hand and stopped him.
“Colonel Kang.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“No need to explain further. I’ve already seen the performance myself. Can you obtain more of these?”
“With authorization, we can place large-scale orders.”
“Large-scale orders…”
Shin Gyuhwan smiled.
Cores were something he could provide as much as necessary.
“I’ll grant you full authority. Report directly to me without going through Park Jinseop.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Prioritize equipping my forces with this weapon. If the budget isn’t enough, create additional funding.”
In one corner of the [Storage], the sight of 500 F-Grade Cores piled like a mountain was impressive.
“Wow, boss! Just look at that shine! Isn’t it beautiful?”
Picker circled above the pile of cores excitedly.
Because his persona loved shiny things, I had taken them out once—and he had been acting like this ever since.
“If we sell all this, how much UP would that be? We could buy a building in Gangnam! No, wait, first I should upgrade my body with titanium and replace my lens with a premium model…”
“Why would we buy a building in Gangnam in a world like this?”
I cut off Picker’s daydream immediately.
“And before upgrading you, we need to spend this somewhere else.”
“Huh? What are you planning?”
“Money grows when it circulates. We’re reinvesting.”
I stood in front of the Central Control System.
“We’re producing 100 Honeybee units. And installing Mana Resonance Lenses on every single one.”
Picker’s camera lens nearly popped out.
“Boss?! Are you insane?!”
“Why?”
“Each lens costs one core to produce! A hundred lenses means 100 cores vanish instantly! That’s twenty percent of our assets in one move!”
“That’s right.”
“And that’s not all! Running 100 lenses will triple battery consumption! What about maintenance costs?! Can we even afford that?!”
Picker’s drone body trembled as he blocked my path.
He looked like a panicking shareholder at a company on the verge of bankruptcy.
“Please calm down, boss! You just made a fortune and it’s clouding your judgment!”
I chuckled and pushed him aside.
“Picker. What we need right now isn’t money.”
“Then what is it?!”
“Data.”
I pointed to the map of Mapo District displayed on the monitor.
“We need to read the mana flow across all of Mapo District in real time. Where Awakened individuals are located. What traits they possess. Where mutant species are nesting. If we gather enough mana pattern data…”
I clenched my fist.
“We can create a Combat Power Scanner.”
Not vague guesses like “strong” or “weak.”
Precise numbers.
Enemy combat power: 530,000.
If we had exact values like a scouter—
We could deploy the correct amount of force.
And achieve 100% success automated hunting.
Picker froze.
I could almost hear his calculation circuits spinning.
Then his attitude changed completely.
“If we collect mana data with 100 Honeybees… we really could build it quickly!”
“Now you’re finally thinking.”
“My judgment was shallow, boss. Please proceed immediately!”
Just moments earlier he had opposed the idea with absolute determination.
The speed of his change in attitude was astonishing.
Even with high processing ability, it seemed difficult for him to grasp the big picture.
I shook my head and gave Picker the order.
“Understood. Beginning production.”
Voom—clack! Clack!
Four robotic arms hanging from the ceiling began moving simultaneously.
Materials poured onto the conveyor belt.
Production time for drone bodies: 72 hours.
Lens processing and installation: 96 hours.
Total time: one week.
Long or short, depending on perspective.
But after that week—
All of Mapo District would lie within my palm.
‘It’s worth the wait.’
Watching the robotic arms precisely carving transparent crystals, I smiled with satisfaction.
This was real investment.
Just then, the U-Link terminal emitted a cheerful notification sound.
“Another order?”
I opened the attached file.
My eyes widened.
“…Wow.”
The order volume was staggering.
It was enough to fully arm an entire regiment.
“Run the numbers, Picker.”
“Yes! One moment!”
“K-4 units cost 15 cores each. Three hundred units equals 4,500 cores!”
“K-2 rifles cost 1 core each. Two thousand units equals 2,000 cores!”
“Total… 6,500 F-Grade Cores worth of orders!”
Six thousand five hundred.
An unimaginable sum.
The military truly was on a different scale.
“Boss… this is practically a marriage proposal. Colonel Kang must have fallen for you.”
“Fallen for me? It just means they’re desperate.”
The situation on the Northern Front was clearly worse than expected.
Still, producing everything immediately would raise suspicion.
“Check the production speed.”
K-2 rifle
Production time per unit: 30 minutes.
With four lines running simultaneously: 4 rifles every 30 minutes, 8 per hour.
Two thousand rifles required—
250 hours, about 10.5 days.
K-4 grenade machine gun
Production time: 3 hours per unit.
About 1.3 units per hour.
Three hundred units required—
230 hours, about 9.5 days.
Combined total:
Nearly 20 days.
Including the Honeybee production already underway, the workshop would need to run at full capacity for almost one month.
Too fast would raise suspicion.
Moderation was necessary.
I began negotiating with Kang Cheolmin.
The discussion ended quickly.
Delivery period: three months.
Weekly partial shipments.
10% advance payment.
“Ten percent… that’s 600 cores.”
More important than the amount was the fact that cores would arrive every week for the next three months.
A continuous income source.
In the ruined world—
That was the hardest and most powerful weapon to obtain.
I leaned back deeply in my chair and smiled.
“The world may have collapsed…”
The sound of robotic arms working across the ceiling echoed like coins being counted.
“But military contracts are sweet.”