Chapter 37
Chapter 37
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 037
Chapter Title: Counterattack Begins, Kyonam-dong Recapture Operation (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.
I activated my unique skill.
Blood boiled throughout my body, stretching the world's time out long.
Fired off one round from the large-caliber rifle.
Ejected the spent casing. Reloaded. Fired again. Repeated the process and fired once more.
Three massive armor-piercing rounds.
They lost the acceleration of 《Super Acceleration》 after reaching a certain distance from Jeong Ha-kyeong and flew slowly.
And then.
The moment 《Super Acceleration》 ended.
The bullets flew almost simultaneously, smashing into the subordinate's head.
Kigigigi── Kaang!
A metallic screech like scraping and ricocheting off rock.
What the…… fuck?
These were armor-piercing rounds forged from meteorite iron in the <Forge>……
There was no time to be surprised.
An [info window] popped up right above its head.
=====
[Rampaging Despair, Arishel’rab]
[■■■■■, ■■■■■, ■■■■□]
=====
……As expected.
Fine. It doesn't matter.
I wasn't aiming for a lethal blow anyway.
「Shibelrak?」
The moment it turned around.
Hong Byeong-gyu and Yoon Geon-woo charged in side by side. Cha Seung-hyeon hurled all eight chakrams.
Right away.
The subordinate swung both hands down at the charging Hong Byeong-gyu.
It should have turned the target into mincemeat, but Hong Byeong-gyu wasn't that easy.
“Uuuuuaaaah!”
He planted his feet firmly on the ground.
Harden his entire body with his unique skill, 《Hardening》. Thunk. He blocked the subordinate's fists.
Was the impact tremendous?
The ground where Hong Byeong-gyu stood sank deep. Hong Byeong-gyu shouted.
“Now!”
Yoon Geon-woo kicked off the ground.
In the air, the chakrams swirled toward the subordinate's rear.
Good. Perfect.
At least one of them will land!
No matter how much of a subordinate it was, it couldn't block attacks from both front and back──
──Huh?
That was when.
The subordinate reared up its dragon head and unleashed a roar.
「PAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
It felt like my skull would shatter.
It was the madness of the outer void. The screams of the stars. A frenzied wail.
Something squirmed in my head…… like maggots…… star spirits……
“Uh…… Uaaah…….”
Drip.
All strength evaporated from my body, Jeong Ha-kyeong's form stiffened rigidly, then toppled over on the spot.
Splat. Splat. Splat.
Amid the ragged breaths.
Heavy footsteps approached, ignoring the fallen Hong Byeong-gyu and his group, coming this way.
Die?
Before the approaching death.
My body convulsed wildly.
Get up.
Get the fuck up, you goddamn body.
But it was impossible.
Forget moving, my consciousness was about to fly away first.
Splat.
Even as that happened, death drew nearer by the second.
Finally, the world darkened.
Had the subordinate's shadow engulfed Jeong Ha-kyeong's body? Overwhelming presence twisted even my breath.
……It's over.
I'd thought with how fucked the world was, I'd have no regrets dying.
- Let's do the same in the next raid too. All of us together again, not missing a single one.
My promise with everyone……
- Ha-kyeong isn't just anyone. You're the one who said you'd always be by my side, right?
……It scattered like morning mist.
Just as my consciousness was about to cut out.
「Shall I help?」
A playful girl's voice.
Rang in my head with formless power.
「Help me?」
What is it. Scary.
Squirm squirm. Disgusting.
Just hearing the voice made blood burst from my eyes, nose, and mouth.
「I'm asking you, bitch. Do you want to live?」
No way……?
This creepy presence.
Familiar. I knew it too well. The sensation I felt every time I used my unique skill.
「That dumbass head of yours finally recognizes me, huh.」
The first administrator of the contract holy apostle, Baladon?
「Hng…… Permission granted. Just one promise.」
……What promise?
「I'll help you now. In return, you help me when I want. No veto, or you die, bitch.」
At that moment, Jeong Ha-kyeong's thought was this.
Why the fuck does this holy apostle bitch switch between polite and rude……
「‘That bitch’ rigged the board cleverly, so it's hard for me to exert power directly. But since our attributes match, this loophole works. I'll just borrow your tongue for a bit.」
On her own.
Jeong Ha-kyeong's mouth opened.
Then her tongue and jaw moved on their own, producing a voice.
At the same time, a dizzying sensation throughout my body.
Disgusting yet ecstatic…… I must not lose consciousness.
「Stop, Arishel’rab.」
A language Jeong Ha-kyeong didn't know.
But thanks to transcendent authority? I could understand it. And…… the subordinate understood too.
「Agh, you fucking bitch. Look at you. Joined ‘that bitch's’ side and you're a total fuckup, a complete fuckup.」
「S…… Syal-yu?」
「What? You drooling braindead fuck, is that all you got?」
I couldn't believe it.
The fist about to crush Jeong Ha-kyeong.
It stopped right above her head, trembling.
「You used to talk just fine before. Now all you have is murderous impulse?」
「…………?」
「Hold on. You fucking bitch. You messing with me? Where'd you toss the divinity I gave you?」
……What.
They know each other?
「Can't even use your power without parasitizing some no-name kid? ‘That bitch’ took it all? Is that it? Huh?」
And it was clearly a superior-subordinate relationship.
From this fucked situation, it seemed the holy apostles were behind the nightmares after all.
「Anyway. I need this girl a bit. You don't want to die here to me if you wanna follow ‘that bitch's’ orders, right?」
What does that mean.
The nightmare…… has a different faction from the holy apostles?
‘That bitch’ seemed like the nightmare's master, but the hatred toward it was immense.
「Think it over. If you can even think.」
This was obvious bluffing.
Baladon's first administrator had clearly said [hard to exert power]. But the subordinate didn't seem to know.
「What? Get lost already. Scram with that ugly head of yours, bitch.」
Hesitation.
The subordinate withdrew its fist.
Then stepped back one step, two steps. Spread its wings with a snap and leaped high into the sky.
Chills ran down my spine.
For real? Scolded the subordinate and chased it off?
Right away.
The energy that had dominated my body ebbed away like the tide. In the end, Jeong Ha-kyeong vomited congealed blood and slammed her head into the muck.
「Promise. Never forget, and don't tell anyone we made it. Especially Kim Baek-jun. ‘That thing’ even more so.」
Finally, laughter.
It left a chilling warning and faded away.
「That'd be best. Hard to exercise divine authority, but killing one contract hunter is nothing……」
8.
“Right side!”
It was urgent.
Suddenly, the apartment building on the right collapsed, and a earth dragon species burst out.
“Fuck, our turn again.”
The support squad 3, made up of members from the 3-man raid team [Jordan River], sortied for the tenth time.
“Should we congratulate them on this or console them…….”
Leaping over the ruins of the abandoned cathedral.
Kim Gye-sang spoke, watching the backs of support squad 3. I glanced at my wristwatch.
12:11.
I kept checking the watch.
It was the only way to temporarily ease the tension making my hands shake……
Beiiiiiiii………………
The final sound warped in the air. Then it started ringing clearly again.
The heteromorphs' cackling.
The hunters' shouts and screams.
The giant species' roars.
A chill swept down my spine.
Even now, somewhere…… someone was fighting a nightmare and dying.
The breakthrough formation had scattered.
Just one minute since the first sonic round.
The [support squads] had gone out to fight in their respective interception zones, but only three had returned.
Vanguard squad 1. Left flank squad 2. Right flank squad 3.
The squads handling left and right flanks, 4 and 5, hadn't returned yet. Right flank squad 3 had just left.
That was when.
A hunter leaped down from a fairly tall building and ran up desperately.
Olive drab field coat.
It was the uniform of [Army Headquarters], in charge of the entire right flank [scout squad].
He ran alongside Choi Uk and poured out info in a breathless voice.
“Support squad 3 is on the verge of annihilation! One critically wounded, one dead.”
……Already on the verge of wipeout?
“Three giant species came at once. We're providing covering fire as we retreat, but they'll hit here soon.”
Choi Uk's crow-beak gas mask nodded.
“Good work. Scout mission ends now that the subordinate's lured. Kim Gye-sang, fire the disband signal.”
“Got it.”
Kim Gye-sang loaded a sonic round into his revolver cylinder and raised it. I plugged my ears for a moment.
……………………..
Sonic round after the final sonic round.
This ordered retreat for all sub-units except the [bait squad].
If we just hunt the subordinate, Kyonam-dong turns into paradise. No need to risk luring and taking down giant species.
“And rear scout stopped working one minute ago. Looks like they got hit first.”
The moment I unplugged my ears, my heart sank at the words.
……Right flank rear scout?
Isn't that where Jeong Ha-kyeong is?
……Understood.
“Good luck then!”
I shook my head.
To shake off the uneasy anxiety.
Jeong Ha-kyeong is strong.
She must have survived somehow…… I had to believe that and focus on my mission now.
“So, can we withdraw now too?”
Do Su-jin came up to Choi Uk and said.
“I'm worried about the others. Gotta go find them.”
“No, the main road's coming up soon. Cover us till we get through there.”
The pitch-black street stretched endlessly.
The moment we escaped the suffocating building blocks pressing in from both sides, our view suddenly widened.
A four-lane road.
This place…… yeah, that makes sense.
I get why Choi Uk asked for cover.
The strata were severely displaced.
To explain precisely, the strata jutted up jaggedly like the character for person (人).
I knew why.
From the first day of ruin. Traces of the Exalted One chasing me.
“With the situation like this.”
“Indeed…… we'll have to jump high or climb over.”
As Choi Uk and Kim Gye-sang exchanged words, Do Su-jin urged them.
“Got it, so hurry!”
“I'll go first.”
Im Yong-gon, the giant in [heavy armor].
Tall and ex-firefighter, he ascended that terrain with ease.
“Next. Come on.”
He reached out a hand and pulled us up one by one with immense strength.
That's when the nightmare came.
Precisely, when I, the last of the [bait squad], was being pulled up.
──Kwaaaaaaaaang!
Suddenly.
A eardrum-shattering roar.
A fierce earthquake shook, making the old town feel like it would collapse.
“……?!”
For a moment, I nearly tumbled to the ground, but luckily Im Yong-gon yanked me up with all his might.
“……What was that just now?”
As I sprang up asking, I saw a bizarre sight.
Choi Uk and Kim Gye-sang atop the strata. Support squads 1 and 2 below them. All staring vacantly at one spot.
I turned my head there and……
……What the hell is that?
Did a meteor crash or something?
A massive crater had formed on the other side of the main road. A foul dust pillar rose from it.
- It's a sonic round.
The Dawn Sword vibrated on my back. No time to ask why……
Combat memory took over my body, snatching the revolver and firing a sonic round.
That one instant.
Saved us from crisis.
PAAHAAA───Beiiiiiiii.
A roar burst from the dust.
That wasn't a normal roar. It hid an invisible power.
My heart chilled cold.
If the sonic round hadn't scattered that voice in the air…… what would have happened.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart raced exactly three times, a split-second silence.
Right then.
The nightmare burst through the dust cloud.
The nightmare ran on massive four legs, charged ferociously, plowing over the warped ground as it came.
「SHURIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKK!」
Dragon head.
Pale, snow-white giant spearhead body.
And deformed wings sprouting from its back.
It was him.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
I recognized it instantly. That's the one. The nightmare's subordinate.
“W-what the hell is thaaaat!”
“F-fucking hell, what speed!”
The support squad hunters panted in near-panic. I shouted urgently.
“Let's go!”
Choi Uk and Im Yong-gon were already running. I started running with Kim Gye-sang too.
“Go! We'll buy as much time as we can!”
Do Su-jin's voice came from across the displaced strata.
“No! Not needed!”
“But──”
“──I said not needed! Withdraw!”
About 80 meters to the induction point.
Just a 6…… 7 second race left. I didn't want more casualties.
“Kaaaak!”
Did someone finally provide support? A wretched scream rose once.
At the edge of my vision, a lump of flesh slammed into the ground, staining it crimson.
……Damn it.
I gritted my teeth.
The moment we crossed the main road and entered the opposite townscape.
“Get down!”